Smith's Bible Dictionary

S

Sabachthani — Sele-ucia

Sabachthani

Sabachtha’ni, or Sabach’thani (why hast thou forsaken me?), a part of Christ’s fourth cry on the cross. Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34. This, with the other words uttered with it, as given in Mark, is Aramaic (Syro-Chaldaic), the common dialect of the people of Palestine in Christ’s time, and the whole is a translation of the Hebrew (given in Matthew) of the first words of the Psalm 22.—Ed.

Sabaoth The Lord of

Sab’aoth, The Lord of, occurs in Romans 9:29; James 5:4, but is more familiar through its occurrence in the Sanctus of Te Deum—“Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth.” Sabaoth is the Greek form of the Hebrew word tsebâôth, “armies,” and is translated in the Authorized Version of the Old Testament by “Lord of hosts,” “Lord God of hosts.” In the mouth and the mind of an ancient Hebrew, Jehovah-tsebâôth was the leader and commander of the armies of the nation, who “went forth with them,” Psalm 44:9, and led them to certain victory over the worshippers of Baal, Chemosh, Molech, Ashtaroth, and other false gods.

Sabbath

Sabbath (shabbâth, “a day of rest,” from shâbath, “to cease to do,” “to rest”). The name is applied to diverse great festivals, but principally and usually to the seventh day of the week, the strict observance of which is enforced not merely in the general Mosaic code, but in the Decalogue itself. The consecration of the Sabbath was coeval with the creation. The first scriptural notice of it, though it is not mentioned by name, is to be found in Genesis 2:3, at the close of the record of the six-days creation. There are not wanting indirect evidences of its observance, as the intervals between Noah’s sending forth the birds out of the ark, an act naturally associated with the weekly service, Genesis 8:7-12, and in the week of a wedding celebration, Genesis 29:27, Genesis 29:28; but when a special occasion arises, in connection with the prohibition against gathering manna on the Sabbath, the institution is mentioned as one already known. Exodus 16:22-30. (All this is confirmed by the great antiquity of the division of time into weeks, and the naming the days after the sun, moon, and planets.) And that this was especially one of the institutions adopted by Moses from the ancient patriarchal usage is implied in the very words of the law, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” But even if such evidence were wanting, the reason of the institution would be a sufficient proof. It was to be a joyful celebration of God’s completion of his creation. It has indeed been said that Moses gives quite a different reason for the institution of the Sabbath, as a memorial of the deliverance from Egyptian bondage. Deuteronomy 5:15. The words added in Deuteronomy are a special motive for the joy with which the Sabbath should be celebrated, and for the kindness which extended its blessings to the slave and the beast of burden as well as to the master: “that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.” Deuteronomy 5:14. These attempts to limit the ordinance proceed from an entire misconception of its spirit, as if it were a season of stern privation rather than of special privilege. But, in truth, the prohibition of work is only subsidiary to the positive idea of joyful rest and recreation, in communion with Jehovah, who himself “rests and was refreshed.” Exodus 31:17; comp. Exodus 23:12. It is in Exodus 16:23-29 that we find the first incontrovertible institution of the day, as one given to and to be kept by the children of Israel. Shortly afterward it was re-enacted in the Fourth Commandment. This beneficent character of the Fourth Commandment is very apparent in the version of it which we find in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 5:12-15. The law and the Sabbath are placed upon the same ground, and to give rights to classes that would otherwise have been without such—to the bondman and bondmaid, nay, to the beast of the field—is viewed here as their main end. “The stranger,” too, is comprehended in the benefit. But the original proclamation of it in Exodus places it on a ground which, closely connected no doubt with these others, is yet higher and more comprehensive. The divine method of working and rest is there proposed to man as the model after which he is to work and to rest. Time then presents a perfect whole. It is most important to remember that the Fourth Commandment is not limited to a mere enactment respecting one day, but prescribes the due distribution of a week, and enforces the six days’ work as much as the seventh day’s rest. This higher ground of observance was felt to invest the Sabbath with a theological character, and rendered it the great witness for faith in a personal and creating God. It was to be a sacred pause in the ordinary labor by which man earns his bread; the curse of the fall was to be suspended for one day; and, having spent that day in joyful remembrance of God’s mercies, man had a fresh start in his course of labor. A great snare, too, has always been hidden in the word work, as if the commandment forbade occupation and imposed idleness. The terms in the commandment show plainly enough the sort of work which is contemplated—servile work and business. The Pentateuch presents us with but three applications of the general principle—Exodus 16:29; Exodus 35:3; Numbers 15:32-36. The reference of Isaiah to the Sabbath gives us no details. The references in Jeremiah and Nehemiah show that carrying goods for sale, and buying such, were equally profanations of the day. A consideration of the spirit of the law and of Christ’s comments on it will show that it is work for worldly gain that was to be suspended; and hence the restrictive clause is prefaced with the positive command, “Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work”; for so only could the sabbatic rest be fairly earned. Hence, too, the stress constantly laid on permitting the servant and beast of burden to share the rest which selfishness would grudge to them. Thus the spirit of the Sabbath was joy, refreshment, and mercy, arising from remembrance of God’s goodness as the Creator and as the Deliverer from bondage. The Sabbath was a perpetual sign and covenant, and the holiness of the day is connected with the holiness of the people; “that ye may know that I am Jehovah that doth sanctify you.” Exodus 31:12-17; Ezekiel 20:12. Joy was the key-note of their service. Nehemiah commanded the people, on a day holy to Jehovah, “Mourn not, nor weep: eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions t them for whom nothing is prepared.” Nehemiah 8:9-13. The Sabbath is named as a day of special worship in the sanctuary. Leviticus 19:30; Leviticus 26:2. It was proclaimed as a holy convocation. Leviticus 23:3. In later times the worship of the sanctuary was enlivened by sacred music. Psalm 68:25-27; Psalm 150, etc. On this day the people were accustomed to consult their prophets, 2 Kings 4:23, and to give to their children that instruction in the truths recalled to memory by the day which is so repeatedly enjoined as the duty of parents; it was “the Sabbath of Jehovah” not only in the sanctuary, but “in all their dwellings.” Leviticus 23:3.

When we come to the New Testament we find the most marked stress laid on the Sabbath. In whatever ways the Jew might err respecting it, he had altogether ceased to neglect it. On the contrary, wherever he went its observance became the most visible badge of his nationality. Our Lord’s mode of observing the Sabbath was one of the main features of his life, which his Pharisaic adversaries most eagerly watched and criticized. They had invented many prohibitions respecting the Sabbath of which we find nothing in the original institution. Some of these prohibitions were fantastic and arbitrary, in the number of those “heavy burdens and grievous to be borne” which the latter expounders of the law “laid on men’s shoulders.” Comp. Matthew 12:1-13; John 5:10. That this perversion of the Sabbath had become very general in our Saviour’s time is apparent both from the recorded objections to acts of his on that day and from his marked conduct on occasions to which those objections were sure to be urged. Matthew 12:1-15; Mark 3:2; Luke 6:1-5; Luke 13:10-17; John 5:2-18; John 7:23; John 9:1-34. Christ’s words do not remit the duty of keeping the Sabbath, but only deliver it from the false methods of keeping which prevented it from bestowing upon men the spiritual blessings it was ordained to confer. The almost total silence of the epistles in relation to keeping the Sabbath doubtless grew out of the fact that the early Christians kept the Sabbath, and that this period was one of change from the seventh to the first day of the week, and any definite rules would have been sure to be misunderstood. For many years both the first and the seventh days of the week were kept as Sabbaths; and gradually the first day of the week, the Lord’s day, took the place among Christians of the seventh day, and they had the fullest warrant for the change. [LORD&RSQUO;S DAY.]

(The Fourth Commandment of the Decalogue is just as binding now as it ever was, or as any other of the Ten Commandments. Those who argue that God has abolished this Sabbath, but has written the Sabbath law in our very natures, must have strange ideas of the wisdom of a God who abolishes a command he has made it necessary to keep. Christians in keeping the Lord’s day keep the Fourth Commandment, as really as do those who keep what is called the seventh day. They keep every seventh day, only the counting starts from a different point. As to the method of keeping the Sabbath no rules are laid down; but no one can go far astray who holds to the principles laid down:—(1) Rest. Nothing is to be done in daily business, and no recreation taken which destroys the rest of others or takes from any the privileges of the Sabbath. (2) Spiritual nurture. One day in seven is to be set apart for the culture of the spiritual nature. These two principles of Sabbath-keeping will always go together. Only a religious Sabbath, which belongs to God, can be retained among men as a day of rest. If men can sport on the Sabbath, they will soon be made to work. The only barrier that can keep the world out of the Sabbath, that can preserve it to the working people as a day of rest, is God’s command to keep it sacred to him. When Sunday becomes a day of pleasure, it ceases to be a day of rest. So important is the Sabbath to man that no people can have the highest religious life, the truest freedom, the greatest prosperity, unless they be a Sabbath-keeping people, whose Sabbath is one of rest and of religion—(a) Because man needs the rest for his whole system. More is accomplished in six days than can be in seven days of work. (b) Because man needs it to care for his spiritual nature, for religion, and preparing for immortal life. (c) Because man needs it as a day for moral training and instruction; a day for teaching men about their duties, for looking at life from a moral standpoint. (d) It is of great value as a means of improving the mind. The study of the highest themes, the social discussion of them in the Sabbath-school, the instruction from the pulpit, the expression of religious truth in the prayer-meeting, give an ordinary person more mental training in the course of his life than all his school-days give. (e) So long as the best welfare of the individual and of the nation depends chiefly on their mental and moral state, so long will the Sabbath be one of God’s choicest blessings to man, and the command contained within it a heavenly privilege and blessing.—Ed.)

Sabbath-day’s journey

Sabbath-day’s journey. Acts 1:12. The law as regards travel on the Sabbath is found in Exodus 16:29. As some departure from a man’s own place was unavoidable, it was thought necessary to determine the allowable amount, which was fixed at 2000 paces, or about six furlongs, from the wall of the city. The permitted distance seems to have been grounded on the space to be kept between the ark and the people, Joshua 3:4, in the wilderness, which tradition said was that between the ark and the tents. We find the same distance given as the circumference outside the walls of the Levitical cities to be counted as their suburbs. Numbers 35:5. The terminus á quo was thus not a man’s own house, but the wall of the city where he dwelt.

Sabbatical year

Sabbatical year. Each seventh year, by the Mosaic code, was to be kept holy. Exodus 23:10, Exodus 23:11. The commandment is to sow and reap for six years, and to let the land rest on the seventh, “that the poor of thy people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat.” It is added in Deuteronomy 15 that the seventh year should also be one of release to debtors. Deuteronomy 15:1-11. Neither tillage nor cultivation of any sort was to be practiced. The sabbatical year opened in the sabbatical month, and the whole law was to be read every such year, during the Feast of Tabernacles, to the assembled people. At the completion of a week of sabbatical years, the sabbatical scale received its completion in the year of jubilee. [JUBILEE.] The constant neglect of this law from the very first was one of the national sins that were punished by the Babylonian captivity. Of the observance of the sabbatical year after the captivity we have a proof in 1 Maccabees 6:49.

Sabeans

Sabe’ans. [SHEBA.]

Sabtah

Sab’tah (striking), Genesis 10:7, or Sab’ta, 1 Chronicles 1:9, the third in order of the sons of Cush. (b.c. 2218.)

Sabtech

Sab’tech, or Sab’techah (striking), Genesis 10:7; 1 Chronicles 1:9, the fifth in order of the sons of Cush. (b.c. 2218.)

Sacar

Sa’car (wages).

1. A Hararite, father of Ahiam. 1 Chronicles 11:35.

2. The fourth son of Obed-edom. 1 Chronicles 26:4.

Sackbut

Sackbut, Daniel 3:5, Daniel 3:7, Daniel 3:10, Daniel 3:15, the rendering in the Authorized Version of the Chaldee sabbeca. If this musical instrument be the same as the Greek and Latin sambuca, the English translation is entirely wrong. The sackbut was a wind-instrument [see MUSIC]; the sambuca was a triangular instrument, with strings, and played with the hand.

Sackcloth

Sackcloth, cloth used in making sacks or bags, a coarse fabric, of a dark color, made of goat’s-hair, Isaiah 50:3; Revelation 6:12, and resembling the eilicium of the Romans. It was used also for making the rough garments used by mourners, which were in extreme cases worn next the skin. 1 Kings 21:27; 2 Kings 6:30; Job 16:15; Isaiah 32:11.

Sitting in Sackcloth.

Sacrifice

Sacrifice. The peculiar features of each kind of sacrifice are referred to under their respective heads.

I. (A) Origin of Sacrifice.—The universal prevalence of sacrifice shows it to have been primeval, and deeply rooted in the instincts of humanity. Whether it was first enjoined by an external command, or whether it was based on that sense of sin and lost communion with God which is stamped by his hand on the heart of man, is a historical question which cannot be determined. (B) Ante-Mosaic History of Sacrifice.—In examining the various sacrifices recorded in Scripture before the establishment of the law, we find that the words specially denoting expiatory sacrifice are not applied to them. This fact does not at all show that they were not actually expiatory, but it justifies the inference that this idea was not then the prominent one in the doctrine of sacrifice. The sacrifices of Cain and Abel are called minchah, and appear to have been eucharistic. Noah’s, Genesis 8:20, and Jacob’s at Mizpah, were at the institution of a covenant, and may be called federative. In the burnt offerings of Job for his children, Job 1:5, and for his three friends, ch. Job 42:8, we for the first time find the expression of the desire of expiation for sin. The same is the case in the words of Moses to Pharaoh. Exodus 10:25. Here the main idea is at least deprecatory. (C) The Sacrifices of the Mosaic Period.—These are inaugurated by the offering of the Passover and the sacrifice of Exodus 24. The Passover indeed is unique in its character; but it is clear that the idea of salvation from death by means of sacrifice is brought out in it with a distinctness before unknown. The law of Leviticus now unfolds distinctly the various forms of sacrifice: (a) The burnt offering: Self-dedicatory. (b) The meat offering (unbloody); the peace offering (bloody): Eucharistic. (c) The sin offering; the trespass offering: Expiatory. To these may be added, (d) The incense offered after sacrifice in the holy place, and (on the Day of Atonement) in the holy of holies, the symbol of the intercession of the priest (as a type of the great High Priest), accompanying and making efficacious the prayer of the people. In the consecration of Aaron and his sons, Leviticus 8, we find these offered in what became ever afterward their appointed order. First came the sin offering, to prepare access to God; next the burnt offering, to mark their dedication to his service; and third the meat offering of thanksgiving. Henceforth the sacrificial system was fixed in all its parts until he should come whom it typified. (D) Post-Mosaic Sacrifices.—It will not be necessary to pursue, in detail, the history of the post-Mosaic sacrifice, for its main principles were now fixed forever. The regular sacrifices in the temple service were—(a) Burnt offerings. 1, the daily burnt offerings, Exodus 29:38-42; Exodus 2, the double burnt offerings on the Sabbath, Numbers 28:9, Numbers 28:10; Numbers 3, the burnt offerings at the great festivals; Numbers 28:11-29:39. (b) Meat offerings,

1. the daily meat offerings accompanying the daily burnt offerings, Exodus 29:40, Exodus 29:41; Exodus 2, the shewbread, renewed every Sabbath, Leviticus 24:5, Leviticus 24:9; Leviticus 3, the special meat offerings at the Sabbath and the great festivals, Numbers 28, Numbers 29; Numbers 4, the first-fruits, at the Passover, Leviticus 23:10-14, at Pentecost, Leviticus 23:17-20, the first-fruits of the dough and threshing-floor at the harvest time. Numbers 15:20, Numbers 15:21; Deuteronomy 26:1-11. (c) Sin offerings. 1, sin offering each new moon, Numbers 28:15; Numbers 2, sin offerings at the Passover, Pentecost, Feast of Trumpets and Tabernacles, Numbers 28:22, Numbers 28:30; Numbers 29:5, Numbers 29:16, Numbers 29:19, Numbers 29:22, Numbers 29:25, Numbers 29:28, Numbers 29:31, Numbers 29:34, Numbers 29:38; Numbers 3, the offering of the two goats for the people and of the bullock for the priest himself, on the Great Day of Atonement. Leviticus 16. (d) Incense. 1, the morning and evening incense, Exodus 30:7, Exodus 30:8; Exodus 2, the incense on the Great Day of Atonement. Leviticus 16:12. Besides these public sacrifices, there were offerings of the people for themselves individually.

II. By the order of sacrifice in its perfect form, as in Leviticus 8, it is clear that the sin offering occupies the most important place; the burnt offering comes next, and the meat offering or peace offering last of all. The second could only be offered after the first had been accepted; the third was only a subsidiary part of the second. Yet, in actual order of time, it has been seen that the patriarchal sacrifices partook much more of the nature of the peace offering and burnt offering, and that under the law, by which was “the knowledge of sin,” Romans 3:20, the sin offering was for the first time explicitly set forth. This is but natural, that the deepest ideas should be the last in order of development. The essential difference between heathen views of sacrifice and the scriptural doctrine of the Old Testament is not to be found in its denial of any of these views. In fact, it brings out clearly and distinctly the ideas which in heathenism were uncertain, vague, and perverted. But the essential points of distinction are two. First, that whereas the heathen conceived of their gods as alienated in jealousy or anger, to be sought after and to be appeased by the unaided action of man, Scripture represents God himself as approaching man, as pointing out and sanctioning the way by which the broken covenant should be restored. The second mark of distinction is closely connected with this, inasmuch as it shows sacrifice to be a scheme proceeding from God, and, in his foreknowledge, connected with the one central fact of all human history.

From the prophets and the Epistle to the Hebrews we learn that the sin offering represented that covenant as broken by man, and as knit together again, by God’s appointment, through the “shedding of blood.” The shedding of the blood, the symbol of life, signified that the death of the offender was deserved for sin, but that the death of the victim was accepted for his death by the ordinance of God’s mercy. Beyond all doubt the sin offering distinctly witnessed that sin existed in man, that the “wages of that sin was death,” and that God had provided an atonement by the vicarious suffering of an appointed victim. The ceremonial and meaning of the burnt offering were very different. The idea of expiation seems not to have been absent from it, for the blood was sprinkled round about the altar of sacrifice; but the main idea is the offering of the whole victim to God, representing, as the laying of the hand on its head shows, the devotion of the sacrificer, body and soul, to him. Romans 12:1. The death of the victim was, so to speak, an incidental feature. The meat offerings, the peace or thank offering, the first-fruits, etc., were simply offerings to God of his own best gifts, as a sign of thankful homage, and as a means of maintaining his service and his servants. The characteristic ceremony in the peace offering was the eating of the flesh by the sacrificer. It betokened the enjoyment of communion with God. It is clear from this that the idea of sacrifice is a complex idea, involving the propitiatory, the dedicatory, and the eucharistic elements. Any one of these, taken by itself, would lead to error and superstition. All three probably were more or less implied in each sacrifice, each element predominating in its turn. The Epistle to the Hebrews contains the key of the whole sacrificial doctrine. The object of the epistle is to show the typical and probationary character of sacrifices, and to assert that in virtue of it alone they had a spiritual meaning. Our Lord is declared (see 1 Peter 1:20) “to have been foreordained” as a sacrifice “before the foundation of the world,” or, as it is more strikingly expressed in Revelation 13:8, “slain from the foundation of the world.” The material sacrifices represented this great atonement as already made and accepted in God’s foreknowledge; and to those who grasped the ideas of sin, pardon, and self-dedication symbolized in them, they were means of entering into the blessings which the one true sacrifice alone procured. They could convey nothing in themselves; yet as types they might, if accepted by a true though necessarily imperfect faith, be means of conveying in some degree the blessings of the antitype. It is clear that the atonement, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, as in the New Testament generally, is viewed in a twofold light. On the one hand it is set forth distinctly as a vicarious sacrifice, which was rendered necessary by the sin of man, and in which the Lord “bare the sins of many.” It is its essential characteristic that in it he stands absolutely alone, offering his sacrifice without any reference to the faith or the conversion of men. In it he stands out alone as the mediator between God and man; and his sacrifice is offered once for all, never to be imitated or repeated. Now, this view of the atonement is set forth in the epistle as typified by the sin offering. On the other hand the sacrifice of Christ is set forth to us as the completion of that perfect obedience to the will of the Father which is the natural duty of sinless man. The main idea of this view of the atonement is representative rather than vicarious. It is typified by the burnt offering. As without the sin offering of the cross this our burnt offering would be impossible, so also without the burnt offering the sin offering will to us be unavailing. With these views of our Lord’s sacrifice on earth, as typified in the Levitical sacrifices on the outer altar, is also to be connected the offering of his intercession for us in heaven, which was represented by the incense. The typical sense of the meat offering or peace offering is less connected with the sacrifice of Christ himself than with those sacrifices of praise, thanksgiving, charity, and devotion which we, as Christians, offer to God, and “with which he is well pleased,” Hebrews 13:15, Hebrews 13:16, as with an “odor of sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable to God.” Philippians 4:18.

Sadducees

Sad’ducees (followers of Zadok), Matthew 3:7; Matthew 16:1, Matthew 16:6, Matthew 16:11, Matthew 16:12; Matthew 22:23, Matthew 22:34; Mark 12:18; Luke 20:27; Acts 4:1; Acts 5:17; Acts 23:6, Acts 23:7, Acts 23:8, a religious party or school among the Jews at the time of Christ, who denied that the oral law was a revelation of God to the Israelites, and who deemed the written law alone to be obligatory on the nation, as of divine authority. Except on one occasion, Matthew 16:1, Matthew 16:4, Matthew 16:6, Christ never assailed the Sadducees with the same bitter denunciations which he uttered against the Pharisees. The origin of their name is involved in great difficulties, but the most satisfactory conjecture is that the Sadducees or Zadokites were originally identical with the sons of Zadok, and constituted what may be termed a kind of sacerdotal aristocracy, this Zadok being the priest who declared in favor of Solomon when Abiathar took the part of Adonijah. 1 Kings 1:32-34. To these sons of Zadok were afterward attached all who for any reason reckoned themselves as belonging to the aristocracy; such, for example, as the families of the high priest, who had obtained consideration under the dynasty of Herod. These were for the most part judges, and individuals of the official and governing class. This explanation elucidates at once Acts 5:17. The leading tenet of the Sadducees was the negation of the leading tenet of their opponents. As the Pharisees asserted, so the Sadducees denied, that the Israelites were in possession of an oral law transmitted to them by Moses. [PHARISEES.] In opposition to the Pharisees, they maintained that the written law alone was obligatory on the nation, as of divine authority. The second distinguishing doctrine of the Sadducees was the denial of man’s resurrection after death. In connection with the disbelief of a resurrection by the Sadducees, they likewise denied there was “angel or spirit,” Acts 23:8, and also the doctrines of future punishment and future rewards. Josephus states that the Sadducees believed in the freedom of the will, which the Pharisees denied. They pushed this doctrine so far as almost to exclude God from the government of the world. Some of the early Christian writers attribute to the Sadducees the rejection of all the sacred Scriptures except the Pentateuch; a statement, however, that is now generally admitted to have been founded on a misconception of the truth, and it seems to have arisen from a confusion of the Sadducees with the Samaritans. An important fact in the history of the Sadducees is their rapid disappearance from history after the first century, and the subsequent predominance among the Jews of the opinions of the Pharisees. Two circumstances contributed, indirectly but powerfully, to produce this result: 1st. The state of the Jews after the capture of Jerusalem by Titus; and 2d. The growth of the Christian religion. As to the first point, it is difficult to overestimate the consternation and dismay which the destruction of Jerusalem occasioned in the minds of sincerely-religious Jews. In their hour of darkness and anguish they naturally turned to the consolations and hopes of a future state; and the doctrine of the Sadducees, that there was nothing beyond the present life, would have appeared to them cold, heartless, and hateful. Again, while they were sunk in the lowest depths of depression, a new religion, which they despised as a heresy and a superstition, was gradually making its way among the subjects of their detested conquerors, the Romans. One of the causes of its success was undoubtedly the vivid belief in the resurrection of Jesus, and a consequent resurrection of all mankind, which was accepted by its heathen converts with a passionate earnestness of which those who at the present day are familiar from infancy with the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead can form only a faint idea. To attempt to check the progress of this new religion among the Jews by an appeal to the temporary rewards and punishments of the Pentateuch would have been as idle as an endeavor to check an explosive power by ordinary mechanical restraints. Consciously, therefore, or unconsciously, many circumstances combined to induce the Jews who were not Pharisees, but who resisted the new heresy, to rally round the standard of the oral law, and to assert that their holy legislator, Moses, had transmitted to his faithful people by word of mouth, although not in writing, the revelation of a future state of rewards and punishments.

Sadoc

Sa’doc (Greek form of Zadok, just).

1. Zadok the ancestor of Ezra. 2 Esdras 1:1; comp. Ezra 7:2.

2. A descendant of Zerubbabel in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Matthew 1:14. (b.c. about 220.)

Saffron

Saffron (yellow). Song of Solomon 4:14. Saffron has from the earliest times been in high esteem as a perfume. “It was used,” says Rosenmuller, “for the same purposes as the modern pot-pourri.” The word saffron is derived from the Arabic zafran, “yellow.” (The saffron (Crocus sativus) is a kind of crocus of the iris family. It is used as a medicine, as a flavoring and as a yellow dye. Homer, Virgil, and Milton refer to its beauty in the landscape. It abounds in Palestine. The name saffron is usually applied only to the stigmas and part of the style, which are plucked out and dried.—Ed.)

Sala

Sa’la, or Sa’lah (sprout), the son of Arphaxad, and father of Eber. Genesis 10:24; Genesis 11:12-14; Luke 3:35. (b.c. 2307.)

Salamis

Sal’amis (salt), a city at the east end of the island of Cyprus, and the first place visited by Paul and Barnabas, on the first missionary journey, after leaving the mainland at Seleucia. Here alone, among all the Greek cities visited by St. Paul, we read expressly of “synagogues” in the plural, Acts 13:5; hence we conclude that there were many Jews in Cyprus. And this is in harmony with what we read elsewhere. Salamis was not far from the modern Famagousta. It was situated near a river called the Pediæus, on low ground, which is in fact a continuation of the plain running up into the interior toward the place where Nicosia, the present capital of Cyprus, stands.

Salathi-el

Sala’thi-el (I have asked of God). 1 Chronicles 3:17. The Authorized Version has Salathiel in 1 Chronicles 3:17, but everywhere else in the Old Testament Shealtiel.

Salcah

Sal’cah, or Sal’chah (migration), a city named in the early records of Israel as the extreme limit of Bashan, Deuteronomy 3:10; Joshua 13:11, and of the tribe of Gad. 1 Chronicles 5:11. On another occasion the name seems to denote a district rather than a town. Joshua 12:5. It is identical with the town of Sulkhad (56 miles east of the Jordan, at the southern extremity of the Hauran range of mountains. The place is nearly deserted, though it contains 800 stone houses, many of them in a good state of preservation.—Ed.)

Salcah in Bashan.

Salem

Sa’lem (peace).

1. The place of which Melchizedek was king. Genesis 14:18; Hebrews 7:1, Hebrews 7:2. No satisfactory identification of it is perhaps possible. Two main opinions have been current from the earliest ages of interpretation:

1. That of the Jewish commentators, who affirm that Salem is Jerusalem, on the ground that Jerusalem is so called in Psalm 76:2. Nearly al Jewish commentators hold this opinion. 2. Jerome, however, states that the Salem of Melchizedek was not Jerusalem, but a town eight Roman miles south of Scythopolis, and gives its then name as Salumias, and identifies it with Salem, where John baptized.

2. Psalm 76:2. It is agreed on all hands that Salem is here employed for Jerusalem.

Salim

Sa’lim (peace), a place named John 3:23 to denote the situation of Ænon, the scene of St. John’s last baptisms; Salim being the well-known town, and Ænon a place of fountains or other waters near it. [SALEM.] The name of Salim has been discovered by Mr. Van de Velde in a position exactly in accordance with the notice of Eusebius, viz., six English miles south of Beisân (Scythopolis), and two miles west of the Jordan. Near here is an abundant supply of water.

Salma

Sal’ma, or Sal’mon (garment), Ruth 4:20, Ruth 4:21; 1 Chronicles 2:11, 1 Chronicles 2:51, 1 Chronicles 2:54; Matthew 1:4, Matthew 1:5; Luke 3:32, son of Nahshon, the prince of the children of Judah, and father of Boaz, the husband of Ruth. (b.c. 1296.) Bethlehem-ephratah, which was Salmon’s inheritance, was part of the territory of Caleb, the grandson of Ephratah; and this caused him to be reckoned among the sons of Caleb.

Salmon

Sal’mon, a hill near Shechem, on which Abimelech and his followers cut down the boughs with which they set the tower of Shechem on fire. Judges 9:48. Its exact position is not known. Referred to in Psalm 68:14.

Salmon

Sal’mon, the father of Boaz. [SALMA.]

Salmone

Salmo’ne (clothed), the east point of the island of Crete. Acts 27:7. It is a bold promontory, and is visible for a long distance.

Salome

Salo’me (peaceful).

1. The wife of Zebedee, Matthew 27:56; Mark 15:40, and probably sister of Mary the mother of Jesus, to whom reference is made in John 19:25. The only events recorded of Salome are that she preferred a request on behalf of her two sons for seats of honor in the kingdom of heaven, Matthew 20:20, that she attended at the crucifixion of Jesus, Mark 15:40, and that she visited his sepulchre. Mark 16:1. She is mentioned by name on only the two latter occasions.

2. The daughter of Herodias by her first husband, Herod Philip. Matthew 14:6. She married in the first place Philip the tetrarch of Trachonitis, her paternal uncle, and secondly Aristobulus, the king of Chalcis.

Salt

Salt. Indispensable as salt is to ourselves, it was even more so to the Hebrews, being to them not only an appetizing condiment in the food both of man, Job 11:6, and beast, Isaiah 30:24, see margin, and a valuable antidote to the effects of the heat of the climate on animal food, but also entering largely into the religious services of the Jews as an accompaniment to the various offerings presented on the altar. Leviticus 2:13. They possessed an inexhaustible and ready supply of it on the southern shores of the Dead Sea. [SEA, THE SALT.] There is one mountain here called Jebel Usdum, seven miles long and several hundred feet high, which is composed almost entirely of salt. The Jews appear to have distinguished between rock-salt and that which was gained by evaporation, as the Talmudists particularize one species (probably the latter) as the “salt of Sodom.” The salt-pits formed an important source of revenue to the rulers of the country, and Antiochus conferred a valuable boon on Jerusalem by presenting the city with 375 bushels of salt for the temple service. As one of the most essential articles of diet, salt symbolized hospitality; as an antiseptic, durability, fidelity, and purity. Hence the expression “covenant of salt,” Leviticus 2:13; Numbers 18:19; 2 Chronicles 13:5, as betokening an indissoluble alliance between friends; and again the expression “salted with the salt of the palace,” Ezra 4:14; not necessarily meaning that they had “maintenance from the palace,” as the Authorized Version has it, but that they were bound by sacred obligations of fidelity to the king. So in the present day, “to eat bread and salt together” is an expression for a league of mutual amity. It was probably with a view to keep this idea prominently before the minds of the Jews that the use of salt was enjoined on the Israelites in their offerings to God.

Salt City of

Salt, City of, the fifth of the six cities of Judah which lay in the “wilderness.” Joshua 15:62. Dr. Robinson expresses his belief that it lay somewhere near the plain at the south end of the Salt Sea.

Salt Sea

Salt Sea, or Dead Sea. [SEA, THE SALT.]

Salt Valley of

Salt, Valley of, a valley in which occurred two memorable victories of the Israelite arms:

1. That of David over the Edomites. 2 Samuel 8:13; 1 Chronicles 18:12. 2. That of Amaziah. 2 Kings 14:7; 2 Chronicles 25:11. It is perhaps the broad open plain which lies at the lower end of the Dead Sea, and intervenes between the lake itself and the range of heights which crosses the valley at six or eight miles to the south. This same view is taken by Dr. Robinson. Others suggest that it lay nearer to Petra. What little can be inferred from the narrative as to its situation favors the latter theory.

Salu

Sa’lu (weighed), the father of Zimri the prince of the Simeonites, who was slain by Phinehas. Numbers 25:14. Called also Salom. (b.c. 1452.)

Salutation

Salutation. Salutations may be classed under the two heads of conversational and epistolary. The salutation at meeting consisted in early times of various expressions of blessing, such as “God be gracious unto thee,” Genesis 43:29; “The Lord be with you”; “The Lord bless thee.” Ruth 2:4. Hence the term “bless” received the secondary sense of “salute.” The salutation at parting consisted originally of a simple blessing, Genesis 24:60, but in later times the form “Go in peace,” or rather “Farewell,” 1 Samuel 1:17, was common. In modern times the ordinary mode of address current in the East resembles the Hebrew Esʒselâm aleykum, “Peace be on you,” and the term “salam,” peace, has been introduced into our own language to describe the Oriental salutation. In epistolary salutations the writer placed his own name first, and then that of the person whom he saluted. A form of prayer for spiritual mercies was also used. The concluding salutation consisted generally of the term “I salute,” accompanied by a prayer for peace or grace.

Modes of Salutation in the East.

Samaria

Sama’ria (watch mountain). This city is situated 30 miles north of Jerusalem and about six miles to the northwest of Shechem, in a wide basin-shaped valley, six miles in diameter, encircled with high hills, almost on the edge of the great plain which borders upon the Mediterranean. In the center of this basin, which is on a lower level than the valley of Shechem, rises a less elevated oblong hill, with steep yet accessible sides and a long flat top. This hill was chosen by Omri as the site of the capital of the kingdom of Israel. He “bought the hill of Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver, and built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of the owner of the hill, Samaria.” 1 Kings 16:23, 1 Kings 16:24. From the date of Omri’s purchase, b.c. 925, Samaria retained its dignity as the capital of the ten tribes, and the name is given to the northern kingdom as well as to the city. Ahab built a temple to Baal there. 1 Kings 16:32, 1 Kings 16:33. It was twice besieged by the Syrians, in b.c. 901, 1 Kings 20:1, and in b.c. 892, 2 Kings 6:24-7:20; but on both occasions the siege was ineffectual. The possessor of Samaria was considered de facto king of Israel. 2 Kings 15:13, 2 Kings 15:14. In b.c. 721 Samaria was taken, after a siege of three years, by Shalmaneser king of Assyria, 2 Kings 18:9, 2 Kings 18:10, and the kingdom of the ten tribes was put an end to. Some years afterward the district of which Samaria was the center was repeopled by Esarhaddon. Alexander the Great took the city, killed a large portion of the inhabitants, and suffered the remainder to settle at Shechem. He replaced them by a colony of Syro-Macedonians, who occupied the city until the time of John Hyrcanus, who took it after a year’s siege, and did his best to demolish it entirely. (b.c. 109.) It was rebuilt and greatly embellished by Herod the Great. He called it Sebaste=Augusta, after the name of his patron, Augustus Cæsar. The wall around it was 2½ miles long, and in the center of the city was a park 900 feet square, containing a magnificent temple dedicated to Cæsar. In the New Testament the city itself does not appear to be mentioned, but rather a portion of the district to which, even in older times, it had extended its name. Matthew 10:5; John 4:4, John 4:5. At this day the city is represented by a small village retaining few vestiges of the past except its name, Sebustiyeh, an Arabic corruption of Sebaste. Some architectural remains it has, partly of Christian construction or adaptation, as the ruined church of St. John the Baptist, partly, perhaps, traces of Idumæan magnificence. St. Jerome, whose acquaintance with Palestine imparts a sort of probability to the tradition which prevailed so strongly in later days, asserts that Sebaste, which he invariably identifes with Samaria, was the place in which St. John the Baptist was imprisoned and suffered death. He also makes it the burial-place of the prophets Elisha and Obadiah.

Samaria Country of

Sama’ria, Country of. Samaria at first included all the tribes over which Jeroboam made himself king, whether east or west of the river Jordan. 1 Kings 13:32. But whatever extent the word might have acquired, it necessarily became contracted as the limits of the kingdom of Israel became contracted. In all probability the territory of Simeon and that of Dan were very early absorbed in the kingdom of Judah. It is evident from an occurrence in Hezekiah’s reign that just before the deposition and death of Hoshea, the last king of Israel, the authority of the king of Judah, or at least his influence, was recognized by portions of Asher, Issachar, and Zebulun, and even of Ephraim and Manasseh. 2 Chronicles 30:1-26. Men came from all those tribes to the Passover at Jerusalem. This was about b.c. 726. Samaria (the city) and a few adjacent cities or villages only represented that dominion which had once extended from Bethel to Dan northward, and from the Mediterranean to the borders of Syria and Ammon eastward. In New Testament times Samaria was bounded northward by the range of hills which commences at Mount Carmel on the west, and, after making a bend to the southwest, runs almost due east to the valley of the Jordan, forming the southern border of the plain of Esdraelon. It touched toward the south, as nearly as possible, the northern limits of Benjamin. Thus it comprehended the ancient territory of Ephraim and that of Manasseh west of Jordan. The Cuthæan Samaritans, however, possessed only a few towns and villages of this large area, and these lay almost together in the center of the district. At NƟblûs the Samaritans have still a settlement, consisting of about 200 persons. [SHECHEM.]

Samaritans

Samar’itans. Strictly speaking, a Samaritan would be an inhabitant of the city of Samaria; but the term was applied to all the people of the kingdom of Israel. After the captivity of Israel, b.c. 721, and in our Lord’s time, the name was applied to a peculiar people whose origin was in this wise: At the final captivity of Israel by Shalmaneser, we may conclude that the cities of Samaria were not merely partially but wholly depopulated of their inhabitants in b.c. 721, and that they remained in this desolated state until, in the words of 2 Kings 17:24, “the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava (Ivah, 2 Kings 18:34), and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.” Thus the new Samaritans were Assyrians by birth or subjugation. These strangers, whom we will now assume to have been placed in “the cities of Samaria” by Esar-haddon, were of course idolaters, and worshipped a strange medley of divinities. God’s displeasure was kingdled, and they were annoyed by beasts of prey, which had probably increased to a great extent before their entrance upon the land. On their explaining their miserable condition to the king of Assyria, he despatched one of the captive priests to teach them “how they should fear the Lord.” The priest came accordingly, and henceforth, in the language of the sacred historian they “feared the Lord, and served their graven images, both their children and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.” 2 Kings 17:41. A gap occurs in their history until Judah has returned from captivity. They then desire to be allowed to participate in the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem; but on being refused, the Samaritans throw off the mask, and become open enemies, frustrate the operations of the Jews through the reigns of two Persian kings, and are only effectually silenced in the reign of Darius Hystaspes, b.c. 519. The feud thus unhappily begun grew year by year more inveterate. Matters at length came to a climax. About b.c. 409, a certain Manasseh, a man of priestly lineage, on being expelled from Jerusalem by Nehemiah for an unlawful marriage, obtained permission from the Persian king of his day, Darius Nothus, to build a temple on Mount Gerizim for the Samaritans, with whom he had found refuge. The animosity of the Samaritans became more intense than ever. They are said to have done everything in their power to annoy the Jews. Their own temple on Gerizim they considered to be much superior to that at Jerusalem. There they sacrificed a passover. Toward the mountain, even after the temple on it had fallen, wherever they were they directed their worship. To their copy of the law they arrogated an antiquity and authority greater than attached to any copy in the possession of the Jews. The law (i.e., the five books of Moses) was their sole code; for they rejected every other book in the Jewish canon. The Jews, on the other hand, were not more conciliatory in their treatment of the Samaritans. Certain other Jewish renegades had from time to time taken refuge with the Samaritans; hence by degrees the Samaritans claimed to partake of Jewish blood, especially if doing so happened to suit their interest. Very far were the Jews from admitting this claim to consanguinity on the part of these people. The traditional hatred in which the Jew held the Samaritan is expressed in Sirach 50:25, Sirach 50:26. Such were the Samaritans of our Lord’s day; a people distinct from the Jews, though lying in the very midst of the Jews; a people preserving their identity, though seven centuries had rolled away since they had been brought from Assyria by Esar-haddon, and though they had abandoned their polytheism for a sort of ultra Mosaicism; a people who, though their limits had gradually contracted, and the rallying-place of their religion on Mount Gerizim had been destroyed one hundred and sixty years before by John Hyreanus (b.c. 130), and though Samaria (the city) had been again and again destroyed, still preserved their nationality, still worshipped from Shechem and their impoverished settlements toward their sacred hill, still retained their peculiar religion, and could not coalesce with the Jews.

Ruins of the Temple of Manasseh, Samaria.

Samaritan Pentateuch

Samaritan Pentateuch, a recension of the commonly-received Hebrew text of the Mosaic law, in use among the Samaritans, and written in the ancient Hebrew or so-called Samaritan character. The origin of the Samaritan Pentateuch has given rise to much controversy, into which we cannot here enter. The two most usual opinions are—

1. That it came into the hands of the Samaritans as an inheritance from the ten tribes whom they succeeded. 2. That it was introduced by Manasseh at the time of the foundation of the Samaritan sanctuary on Mount Gerizim. It differs in several important points from the Hebrew text. Among these may be mentioned—

1. Emendations of passages and words of the Hebrew text which contain something objectionable in the eyes of the Samaritans, on account either of historical improbability or apparent want of dignity in the terms applied to the Creator. Thus in the Samaritan Pentateuch no one in the antediluvian times begets his first son after he has lived 150 years; but one hundred years are, where necessary, subtracted before, and added after, the birth of the first son. An exceedingly important and often-discussed emendation of this class is the passage in Exodus 12:40, which in our text reads, “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.” The Samaritan has “The sojourning of the children of Israel [and their fathers who dwelt in the land of Canaan and in the land of Egypt] was four hundred and thirty years”; an interpolation of very late date indeed. Again, in Genesis 2:2, “And God [?] had finished on the seventh day,” is altered into “the sixth,” lest God’s rest on the Sabbath day might seem incomplete. 2. Alteration made in favor of or on behalf of Samaritan theology, hermeneutics and domestic worship.

Samgar-nebo

Sam’gar-ne’bo (sword of Nebo), one of the princes or generals of the king of Babylon. Jeremiah 30:3.

Samlah

Sam’lah (garment), Genesis 36:36, Genesis 36:37; 1 Chronicles 1:47, 1 Chronicles 1:48, one of the kings of Edom, successor to Hadad or Hadar.

Samos

Samos, a Greek island off that part of Asia Minor where Ionia touches Caria. Samos comes before our notice in the detailed account of St. Paul’s return from his third missionary journey. Acts 20:15.

Samothrace

Samothra’ce. In the Revised Version for Samothracia.

Samothracia

Samothra’cia. Mention is made of this island in the account of St. Paul’s first voyage to Europe. Acts 16:11; Acts 20:6. Being very lofty and conspicuous, it is an excellent landmark for sailors, and must have been full in view, if the weather was clear, throughout that voyage from Troas to Neapolis.

Samson

Sam’son (like the sun), son of Manoah, a man of the town of Zorah, in the tribe of Dan, on the border of Judah. Joshua 15:33; Joshua 19:41. (b.c. 1161.) The miraculous circumstances of his birth are recorded in Judges 13; and the three following chapters are devoted to the history of his life and exploits. Samson takes his place in Scripture, (1) as a judge—an office which he filled for twenty years, Judges 15:20; Judges 16:31; (2) as a Nazarite, Judges 13:5; Judges 16:17; and (3) as one endowed with supernatural power by the Spirit of the Lord. Judges 13:25; Judges 14:6, Judges 14:19; Judges 15:14. As a judge his authority seems to have been limited to the district bordering upon the country of the Philistines. The divine inspiration which Samson shared with Othiniel, Gideon, and Jephthah assumed in him the unique form of vast personal strength, animated by undaunted bravery. It was inseparably connected with the observance of his vow as a Nazarite: “his strength was in his hair.” He married a Philistine woman whom he had seen at Timnath. One day, on his way to that city, he was attacked by a lion, which he killed; and again passing that way, he saw a swarm of bees in the carcass of the lion, and he ate of the honey, but still he told no one. He availed himself of this circumstance, and of the custom of proposing riddles at marriage feasts, to lay a snare for the Philistines. But Samson told the riddle to his wife, and she told it to the men of the city, whereupon Samson slew thirty men of the city. Returning to his own house, he found his wife married to another, and was refused permission to see her. Samson revenged himself by taking 300 foxes (or rather jackals) and tying them together two by two by the tails, with a firebrand between every pair of tails, and so he let them loose into the standing corn of the Philistines, which was ready for harvest. The Philistines took vengeance by burning Samson’s wife and her father; but he fell upon them in return, and smote them “hip and thigh with a great slaughter,” after which he took refuge on the top of the rock of Etam, in the territory of Judah. The Philistines gathered an army to revenge themselves, when the men of Judah hastened to make peace by giving up Samson, who was bound with cords; these, however, he broke like burnt flax, and finding a jawbone of an ass at hand, he slew with it a thousand of the Philistines. The supernatural character of this exploit was confirmed by the miraculous bursting out of a spring of water to revive the champion as he was ready to die of thirst. This achievement raised Samson to the position of a judge, which he held for twenty years. After a time he began to fall into the temptations which addressed themselves to his strong animal nature; but he broke through every snare in which he was caught so long as he kept his Nazarite vow. While he was visiting a harlot in Gaza, the Philistines shut the gates of the city, intending to kill him in the morning; but at midnight he went out and tore away the gates, with the posts and bar, and carried them to the top of a hill looking toward Hebron. Next he formed his fatal connection with Delilah, a woman who lived in the valley of Sorek. Thrice he suffered himself to be bound with green withes, with new ropes, but released himself, until finally, wearied out with her importunity, he “told her all his heart,” and while he was asleep she had him shaven of his seven locks of hair. His enemies put out his eyes, and led him down to Gaza, bound in brazen fetters, and made him grind in the prison. Then they held a great festival in the temple of Dagon, to celebrate their victory over Samson. They brought forth the blind champion to make sport for them, and placed him between the two chief pillars which supported the roof that surrounded the court. Samson asked the lad who guided him to let him feel the pillars, to lean upon them. Then, with a fervent prayer that God would strengthen him only this once, to be avenged on the Philistines, he bore with all his might upon the two pillars; they yielded, and the house fell upon the lords and all the people. “So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.” In Hebrews 11:32 his name is enrolled among the worthies of the Jewish Church.

Samuel

Sam’uel was the son of Elkanah and Hannah, and was born at Ramathaimzophim, among the hills of Ephraim. [RAMAH, No. 2.] (b.c. 1171.) Before his birth he was dedicated by his mother to the office of a Nazarite; and when a young child, 12 years old according to Josephus, he was placed in the temple, and “ministered unto the Lord before Eli.” It was while here that he received his first prophetic call. 1 Samuel 3:1-18. He next appears, probably twenty years afterward, suddenly among the people, warning them against their idolatrous practices. 1 Samuel 7:3, 1 Samuel 7:4. Then followed Samuel’s first and, as far as we know, only military achievement, ch. 1 Samuel 7:5-12; but it was apparently this which raised him to the office of “judge.” He visited, in the discharge of his duties as ruler, the three chief sanctuaries on the west of Jordan—Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpeh. ch. 1 Samuel 7:16. His own residence was still his native city, Ramah, where he married, and two sons grew up to repeat under his eyes the same perversion of high office that he had himself witnessed in his childhood in the case of the two sons of Eli. In his old age he shared his power with them, 1 Samuel 8:1-4; but the people, dissatisfied, demanded a king, and Saul was finally anointed under God’s direction, and Samuel surrendered to him his authority, 1 Samuel 12, though still remaining judge. ch. 1 Samuel 7:15. He was consulted far and near on the small affairs of life. 1 Samuel 9:7, 1 Samuel 9:8. From this fact, combined with his office of ruler, an awful reverence grew up around him. No sacrificial feast was thought complete without his blessing. Ibid. 1 Samuel 9:13. A peculiar virtue was believed to reside in his intercession. After Saul was rejected by God, Samuel anointed David in his place, and Samuel became the spiritual father of the psalmist-king. The death of Samuel is described as taking place in the year of the close of David’s wanderings. It is said with peculiar emphasis, as if to mark the loss, that “all the Israelites were gathered together” from all parts of this hitherto-divided country, and “lamented him,” and “buried him” within his own house, thus in a manner consecrated by being turned into his tomb. 1 Samuel 25:1. Samuel represents the independence of the moral law, of the divine will, as distinct from legal or sacerdotal enactments, which is so remarkable a characteristic of all the later prophets. He is also the founder of the first regular institutions of religious instruction, and communities for the purposes of education.

Samuel Books of

Samuel, Books of, are not separated from each other in the Hebrew MSS, and, from a critical point of view, must be regarded as one book. The present division was first made in the Septuagint translation, and was adopted in the Vulgate from the Septuagint. The book was called by the Hebrews “Samuel,” probably because the birth and life of Samuel were the subjects treated of in the beginning of the work. The books of Samuel commence with the history of Eli and Samuel, and contain an account of the establishment of the Hebrew monarchy and of the reigns of Saul and David, with the exception of the last days of the latter monarch, which are related in the beginning of the books of Kings, of which those of Samuel form the previous portion. [KINGS, BOOKS OF.] Authorship and date of the book.—

1. As to the authorship. In common with all the historical books of the Old Testament, except the beginning of Nehemiah, the book of Samuel contains no mention in the text of the name of its author. It is indisputable that the title “Samuel” does not imply that the prophet was the author of the book of Samuel as a whole; for the death of Samuel is recorded in the beginning of the 1 Samuel 25th chapter. In our own time the most prevalent idea in the Anglican Church seems to have been that the first twenty-four chapters of the book of Samuel were written by the prophet himself, and the rest of the chapters by the prophets Nathan and Gad. This, however, is doubtful. 2. But although the authorship cannot be ascertained with certainty, it appears clear that, in its present form, it must have been composed subsequent to the secession of the ten tribes, b.c. 975. This results from the passage in 1 Samuel 27:6, wherein it is said of David, “Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: wherefore Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah to this day”: for neither Saul, David, nor Solomon is in a single instance called king of Judah simply. On the other hand, it could hardly have been written later than the reformation of Josiah, since it seems to have been composed at a time when the Pentateuch was not acted on as the rule of religious observances, which received a special impetus at the finding of the Book of the Law at the reformation of Josiah. All, therefore, that can be asserted with any certainty is that the book, as a whole, can scarcely have been composed later than the reformation of Josiah, and that it could not have existed in its present form earlier than the reign of Rehoboam. The book of Samuel is one of the best specimens of Hebrew prose in the golden age of Hebrew literature. In prose it holds the same place which Joel and the undisputed prophecies of Isaiah hold in poetical or prophetical language.

Sanballat

Sanbal’lat (strength), a Moabite of Horonaim. Nehemiah 2:10, Nehemiah 2:19; Nehemiah 13:28. He held apparently some command in Samaria at the time Nehemiah was preparing to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, b.c. 445, Nehemiah 4:2, and from the moment of Nehemiah’s arrival in Judea he set himself to oppose every measure for the welfare of Jerusalem. The only other incident in his life is his alliance with the high priest’s family by the marriage of his daughter with one of the grandsons of Eliashib; but the expulsion from the priesthood of the guilty son of Joiada by Nehemiah promptly followed. Here the scriptural narrative ends.

Sandal

Sandal was the article ordinarily used by the Hebrews for protecting the feet. It consisted simply of a sole attached to the foot by thongs. We have express notice of the thong (Authorized Version “shoe-latchet”) in several passages, notably Genesis 14:23; Isaiah 5:27; Mark 1:7. Sandals were worn by all classes of society in Palestine, even by the very poor; and both the sandal and the thong or shoe-latchet were so cheap and common that they passed into a proverb for the most insignificant thing. Genesis 14:23; Sirach 46:19. They were dispensed with in-doors, and were only put on by persons about to undertake some business away from their homes. During mealtimes the feet were uncovered. Luke 7:38; John 13:5, John 13:6. It was a mark of reverence to cast off the shoes in approaching a place or person of eminent sanctity. Exodus 3:5; Joshua 5:15. It was also an indication of violent emotion, or of mourning, if a person appeared barefoot in public. 2 Samuel 15:30. To carry or to unloose a person’s sandal was a menial office, betokening great inferiority on the part of the person performing it. Matthew 3:11.

Sandals.

Sanhedrin

San’hedrin (from the Greek συνέδριον, “a council-chamber”; commonly but incorrectly Sanhedrim), the supreme council of the Jewish people in the time of Christ and earlier.

1. The origin of this assembly is traced in the Mishna to the seventy elders whom Moses was directed, Numbers 11:16, Numbers 11:17, to associate with him in the government of the Israelites; but this tribunal was probably temporary, and did not continue to exist after the Israelites had entered Palestine. In the lack of definite historical information as to the establishment of the Sanhedrin, it can only be said in general that the Greek etymology of the name seems to point to a period subsequent to the Macedonian supremacy in Palestine. From the few incidental notices in the New Testament, we gather that it consisted of chief priests, or the heads of the twenty-four classes into which the priests were divided, elders, men of age and experience, and scribes, lawyers, or those learned in the Jewish law. Matthew 26:57, Matthew 26:59; Mark 15:1; Luke 22:66; Acts 5:21. 2. The number of members is usually given as 71. The president of this body was styled nasi, and was chosen on account of his eminence in worth and wisdom. Often, if not generally, this pre-eminence was accorded to the high priest. The vice-president, called in the Talmud “father of the house of judgment,” sat at the right hand of the president. Some writers speak of a second vice-president, but this is not sufficiently confirmed. While in session the Sanhedrin sat in the form of a half-circle. 3. The place in which the sessions of the Sanhedrin were ordinarily held was, according to the Talmud, a hall called Gazzith, supposed by Lightfoot to have been situated in the southeast corner of one of the courts near the temple building. In special exigencies, however, it seems to have met in the residence of the high priest. Matthew 26:3. Forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem, and consequently while the Saviour was teaching in Palestine, the sessions of the Sanhedrin were removed from the hall Gazzith to a somewhat greater distance from the temple building, although still on Mount Moriah. After several other changes, its seat was finally established at Tiberias, where it became extinct a.d. 425. As a judicial body the Sanhedrin constituted a supreme court, to which belonged in the first instance the trial of false prophets, of the high priest and other priests, and also of a tribe fallen into idolatry. As an administrative council, it determined other important matters. Jesus was arraigned before this body as a false prophet, John 11:47, and Peter, John, Stephen, and Paul as teachers of error and deceivers of the people. From Acts 9:2 it appears that the Sanhedrin exercised a degree of authority beyond the limits of Palestine. According to the Jerusalem Gemara the power of inflicting capital punishment was taken away from this tribunal forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem. With this agrees the answer of the Jews to Pilate. John 19:31. The Talmud also mentions a lesser Sanhedrin of twenty-three members in every city in Palestine in which were not less than 120 householders.

The Sanhedrin in Council.

Sansannah

Sansan’nah (palm branch), one of the towns in the south district of Judah, named in Joshua 15:31 only.

Saph

Saph (tall), one of the sons of the giant slain by Sibbechai the Hushathite. 2 Samuel 21:18. In 1 Chronicles 20:4 he is called Sippai. (b.c. about 1050.)

Saphir

Saph’ir (fair), one of the villages addressed by the prophet Micah, Micah 1:11, is described by Eusebius and Jerome as “in the mountain district between Eleutheropolis and Ascalon,” perhaps represented by the village es-Sawafir, seven or eight miles to the northeast of Ascalon.

Sapphira

Sapphi’ra. [ANANIAS.]

Sapphire

Sapphire (Heb. sappir), a precious stone, apparently of a bright-blue color, see Exodus 24:10; the second stone in the second row of the high priest’s breast-plate, Exodus 28:18; extremely precious, Job 28:16; it was one of the precious stones that ornamented the king of Tyre. Ezekiel 28:13. The sapphire of the ancients was not our gem of that name, viz. the azure or indigo-blue, crystalline variety of corundum, but our lapis lazuli (ultra-marine).

Sara

Sa’ra, Greek form of Sarah.

Sarah

Sa’rah (princess).

1. The wife and half-sister, Genesis 20:12, of Abraham, and mother of Isaac. Her name is first introduced in Genesis 11:29 as Sarai. The change of her name from Sarai, my princess (i.e., Abraham’s), to Sarah, princess (for all the race), was made at the same time that Abram’s name was changed to Abraham—on the establishment of the covenant of circumcision between him and God. Sarah’s history is of course that of Abraham. [ABRAHAM.] She died at Hebron at the age of 127 years, 28 years before her husband, and was buried by him in the cave of Machpelah. (b.c. 1860.) She is referred to in the New Testament as a type of conjugal obedience in 1 Peter 3:6, and as one of the types of faith in Hebrews 11:11.

2. Sarah, the daughter of Asher. Numbers 26:46.

Sara-i

Sa’ra-i (my princess), the original name of Sarah, the wife of Abraham.

Saraph

Sa’raph (burning), mentioned in 1 Chronicles 4:22 among the descendants of Judah.

Sardine Sardius

Sardine, Sardius (red) (Heb. ôdem), the stone which occupied the first place in the first row of the high priest’s breast-plate. Exodus 28:17. The sard, which is probably the stone denoted by ôdem, is a superior variety of agate, sometimes called earnelian, and has long been a favorite stone for the engraver’s art. Sards differ in color: there is a bright-red variety, and perhaps the Hebrew ôdem, from a root which means “to be red,” points to this kind.

Sardis

Sar’dis, a city of Asia Minor, and capital of Lydia, situated about two miles to the south of the river Hermus, just below the range of Tmolus, on a spur of which its acropolis was built. It was 50 miles northeast of Smyrna. It was the ancient residence of the kings of Lydia, among them Crœsus, proverbial for his immense wealth. Cyrus is said to have taken $600,000,000 worth of treasure from the city when he captured it, b.c. 548. Sardis was in very early times, both from the extremely fertile character of the neighboring region and from its convenient position, a commercial mart of importance. The art of dyeing wool is said to have been invented there. In the year 214 b.c. it was taken and sacked by the army of Antiochus the Great. Afterward it passed under the dominion of the kings of Pergamos. Its productive soil must always have continued a source of wealth; but its importance as a central mart appears to have diminished from the time of the invasion of Asia by Alexander. The massive temple of Cybele still bears witness in its fragmentary remains to the wealth and architectural skill of the people that raised it. On the north side of the acropolis, overlooking the valley of the Hermus, is a theatre near 400 feet in diameter, attached to a stadium of about 1000. There are still considerable remains of the ancient city at Sert-Kalessi. Travellers describe the appearance of the locality as that of complete solitude. The only passage in which it is mentioned in the Bible is Revelation 3:1-6.

Sardites The

Sar’dites, The, descendants of Sered the son of Zebulun. Numbers 26:26. (In the Revised Version of Revelation 4:3 for sardine stone. The name is derived from Sardis, where the stone was first found.)

Sardonyx

Sardonyx, a name compounded of sard and onyx, two precious stones, varieties of chalcedony or agate. The sardonyx combines the qualities of both, whence its name. It is mentioned only in Revelation 21:20. The sardonyx consists of “a white opaque layer, superimposed upon a red transparent stratum of the true red sard.” It is, like the sard, merely a variety of agate, and is frequently employed by engravers for signet-rings.

Sarepta

Sarep’ta. [ZAREPHATH.]

Sargon

Sar’gon (prince of the sun), one of the greatest of the Assyrian kings, is mentioned by name but once in Scripture—Isaiah 20:1. He was the successor of Shalmaneser, and was Sennacherib’s father and his immediate predecessor. He reigned from b.c. 721 to 702, and seems to have been a usurper. He was undoubtedly a great and successful warrior. In his annals, which cover a space of fifteen years, from b.c. 721 to 706, he gives an account of his warlike expeditions against Babylonia and Susiana on the south, Media on the east, Armenia and Cappadocia toward the north, Syria, Palestine, Arabia and Egypt toward the west and southwest. In b.c. 712 he took Ashdod, by one of his generals, which is the event which causes the mention of his name in Scripture. It is not as a warrior only that Sargon deserves special mention among the Assyrian kings. He was also the builder of useful works, and of one of the most magnificent of the Assyrian palaces.

Sarid

Sa’rid (survivor), a chief landmark of the territory of Zebulun. Joshua 19:10, Joshua 19:12. All that can be gathered of its position is that it lay to the west of Chislothtabor.

Saron

Sa’ron, the district in which Lydda stood, Acts 9:35 only; the Sharon of the Old Testament. [SHARON.]

Sarothie

Saro’thie. “The sons of Sarothie” are among the sons of the servants of Solomon who returned with Zerubbabel. 1 Esdras 5:34.

Sarsechim

Sarse’chim (prince of the eunuchs), one of the generals of Nebuchadnezzar’s army at the taking of Jerusalem. Jeremiah 39:3. (b.c. 588.)

Saruch

Sa’ruch, Luke 3:25; Serug the son of Reu.

Satan

Sa’tan. The word itself, the Hebrew sâtân, is simply an “adversary,” and is so used in 1 Samuel 29:4; 2 Samuel 19:22; 1 Kings 5:4; 1 Kings 11:14, 1 Kings 11:23, 1 Kings 11:25; Numbers 22:22, Numbers 22:32; Psalm 109:6. This original sense is still found in our Lord’s application of the name to St. Peter in Matthew 16:23. It is used as a proper name or title only four times in the Old Testament, viz. (with the article) in Job 1:6, Job 1:12; Job 2:1; Zechariah 2:1, and (without the article) in 1 Chronicles 21:1. It is with the scriptural revelation on the subject that we are here concerned; and it is clear, from this simple enumeration of passages, that it is to be sought in the New rather than in the Old Testament. I. The personal existence of a spirit of evil is clearly revealed in Scripture; but the revelation is made gradually, in accordance with the progressiveness of God’s method. In the first entrance of evil into the world, the temptation is referred only to the serpent. In the book of Job we find for the first time a distinct mention of “Satan,” the “adversary” of Job. But it is important to remark the emphatic stress laid on his subordinate position, on the absence of all but delegated power, of all terror and all grandeur in his character. It is especially remarkable that no power of spiritual influence, but only a power over outward circumstances, is attributed to him. The captivity brought the Israelites face to face with the great dualism of the Persian mythology, the conflict of Ormuzd with Ahriman, the co-ordinate spirit of evil; but it is confessed by all that the Satan of Scripture bears no resemblance to the Persian Ahriman. His subordination and inferiority are as strongly marked as ever. The New Testament brings plainly forward the power and the influence of Satan. From the beginning of the Gospel, when he appears as the personal tempter of our Lord, through all the Gospels, Epistles, and Apocalypse, it is asserted or implied, again and again, as a familiar and important truth. II. Of the nature and original state of Satan, little is revealed in Scripture. He is spoken of as a “spirit” in Ephesians 2:2, as the prince or ruler of the “demons” in Matthew 12:24-26, and as having “angels” subject to him in Matthew 25:41; Revelation 12:7, Revelation 12:9. The whole description of his power implies spiritual nature and spiritual influence. We conclude therefore that he was of angelic nature, a rational and spiritual creature, superhuman in power, wisdom and energy; and not only so, but an archangel, one of the “princes” of heaven. We cannot, of course, conceive that anything essentially and originally evil was created by God. We can only conjecture, therefore, that Satan is a fallen angel, who once had a time of probation, but whose condemnation is now irrevocably fixed. As to the time, cause, and manner of his fall Scripture tells us scarcely anything; but it describes to us distinctly the moral nature of the evil one. The ideal of goodness is made up of the three great moral attributes of God—love, truth, and purity or holiness; combined with that spirit which is the natural temper of the finite and dependent creature, the spirit of faith. We find, accordingly, that the opposites of these qualities are dwelt upon as the characteristics of the devil. III. The power of Satan over the soul is represented as exercised either directly or by his instruments. His direct influence over the soul is simply that of a powerful and evil nature on those in whom lurks the germ of the same evil. Besides this direct influence, we learn from Scripture that Satan is the leader of a host of evil spirits or angels who share his evil work, and for whom the “everlasting fire is prepared.” Matthew 25:41. Of their origin and fall we know no more than of his. But one passage—Matthew 12:24-26—identifies them distinctly with the “demons” (Authorized Version “devils”) who had power to possess the souls of men. They are mostly spoken of in Scripture in reference to possession; but in Ephesians 6:12 they are described in various lights. We find them sharing the enmity to God and man implied in the name and nature of Satan; but their power and action are little dwelt upon in comparison with his. But the evil one is not merely the “prince of the demons”; he is called also the “prince of this world” in John 12:31; John 14:30; John 16:11, and even the “god of this world” in 2 Corinthians 4:4; the two expressions being united in Ephesians 6:12. This power he claimed for himself, as a delegated authority, in the temptation of our Lord, Luke 4:6; and the temptation would have been unreal had he spoken altogether falsely. The indirect action of Satan is best discerned by an examination of the title by which he is designated in Scripture. He is called emphatically ὁ διάβολος, “the devil.” The derivation of the word in itself implies only the endeavor to break the bonds between others and “set them at variance”; but common usage adds to this general sense the special idea of “setting at variance by slander.” In the application of the title to Satan, both the general and special senses should be kept in view. His general object is to break the bonds of communion between God and man, and the bonds of truth and love which bind men to each other. The slander of God to man is best seen in the words of Genesis 3:4, Genesis 3:5. They attribute selfishness and jealousy to the Giver of all good. The slander of man to God is illustrated by the book of Job. Job 1:9-11; Job 2:4, Job 2:5. IV. The method of satanic action upon the heart itself. It may be summed up in two words—temptation and possession. The subject of temptation is illustrated, not only by abstract statements, but also by the record of the temptations of Adam and of our Lord. It is expressly laid down, as in James 1:2-4, that “temptation,” properly so called, i.e., “trial,” is essential to man, and is accordingly ordained for him and sent to him by God, as in Genesis 22:1. It is this tentability of man, even in his original nature, which is represented in Scripture as giving scope to the evil action of Satan. But in the temptation of a fallen nature Satan has a greater power. Every sin committed makes a man the “servant of sin” for the future, John 8:34; Romans 6:16; it therefore creates in the spirit of man a positive tendency to evil, which sympathizes with, and aids, the temptation of the evil one. On the subject of possession, see DEMONIACS.

Satyr

Satyr (sa’tyr or sat’yr), a sylvan deity or demigod of Greek mythology, represented as a monster, part man and part goat. Isaiah 13:21; Isaiah 34:14. The Hebrew word signifies “hairy” or “rough,” and is frequently applied to “he-goats.” In the passages cited it probably refers to demons of woods and desert places. Comp. Leviticus 17:7; 2 Chronicles 11:15.

Saul

Saul (desired), more accurately Shaul.

1. One of the early kings of Edom, and successor of Samlah. Genesis 36:37, Genesis 36:38; 1 Chronicles 1:48. (b.c. after 1450.)

2. The first king of Israel, the son of Kish, and of the tribe of Benjamin. (b.c. 1095–1055.) His character is in part illustrated by the fierce, wayward, fitful nature of the tribe, and in part accounted for by the struggle between the old and new systems in which he found himself involved. To this we must add a taint of madness, which broke out in violent frenzy at times, leaving him with long lucid intervals. He was remarkable for his strength and activity, 2 Samuel 1:23, and, like the Homeric heroes, of gigantic stature, taller by head and shoulders than the rest of the people, and of that king of beauty denoted by the Hebrew word “good,” 1 Samuel 9:2, and which caused him to be compared to the gazelle, “the gazelle of Israel.” His birthplace is not expressly mentioned; but, as Zelah in Benjamin was the place of Kish’s sepulchre, 2 Samuel 21:14, it was probably his native village. His father, Kish, was a powerful and wealthy chief, though the family to which he belonged was of little importance. 1 Samuel 9:1, 1 Samuel 9:21. A portion of his property consisted of a drove of asses. In search of these asses, gone astray on the mountains, he sent his son Saul. It was while prosecuting this adventure that Saul met with Samuel for the first time at his home in Ramah, five miles north of Jerusalem. A divine intimation had made known to him the approach of Saul, whom he treated with special favor, and the next morning descending with him to the skirts of the town, Samuel poured over Saul’s head the consecrated oil, and with a kiss of salutation announced to him that he was to be the ruler of the nation. 1 Samuel 9:25-10:1. Returning homeward, his call was confirmed by the incidents which, according to Samuel’s prediction, awaited him. 1 Samuel 10:9, 1 Samuel 10:10. What may be named the public call occurred at Mizpeh, when lots were cast to find the tribe and family which was to produce the king, and Saul, by a divine intimation, was found hid in the circle of baggage which surrounded the encampment. 1 Samuel 10:17-24. Returning to Gibeah, apparently to private life, he heard the threat issued by Nahash king of Ammon against Jabesh-gilead. He speedily collected an army, and Jabesh was rescued. The effect was instantaneous on the people, and the monarchy was inaugurated anew at Gilgal. 1 Samuel 11:1-15. It should be, however, observed that according to 1 Samuel 12:12 the affair of Nahash preceded and occasioned the election of Saul. Although king of Israel, his rule was at first limited; but in the secord year of his reign he began to organize an attempt to shake off the Philistine yoke, and an army was formed. In this crisis, Saul, now on the very confines of his kingdom at Gilgal, impatient at Samuel’s delay, whom he had directed to be present, offered sacrifice himself. Samuel, arriving later, pronounced the first curse, on his impetuous zeal. 1 Samuel 13:5-14. After the Philistines were driven back to their own country occurred the first appearance of Saul’s madness in the rash vow which all but cost the life of his son. 1 Samuel 14:24, 1 Samuel 14:44. The expulsion of the Philistines, although not entirely completed, ch. 1 Samuel 14:52, at once placed Saul in a position higher than that of any previous ruler of Israel, and he made war upon the neighboring tribes. In the war with Amalek, ch. 1 Samuel 14:48; 1 Samuel 15:1-9, he disobeyed the prophetical command of Samuel, which called down the second curse, and the first distinct intimation of the transference of the kingdom to a rival. The rest of Saul’s life is one long tragedy. The frenzy which had given indications of itself before now at times took almost entire possession of him. In this crisis David was recommended to him. From this time forward their lives are blended together. [DAVID.] In Saul’s better moments he never lost the strong affection which he had contracted for David. Occasionally, too, his prophetical gift returned, blended with his madness. 1 Samuel 19;1 Samuel 19:24. But his acts of fierce, wild zeal increased. At last the monarchy itself broke down under the weakness of its head. The Philistines re-entered the country, and just before giving them battle Saul’s courage failed, and he consulted one of the necromancers, the “Witch of Endor,” who had escaped his persecution. At this distance of time it is impossible to determine the relative amount of fraud or of reality in the scene which follows, though the obvious meaning of the narrative itself tends to the hypothesis of some kind of apparition. ch. 1 Samuel 28. On hearing the denunciation which the apparition conveyed, Saul fell the whole length of his gigantic stature on the ground, and remained motionless till the woman and his servants forced him to eat. The next day the battle came on. The Israelites were driven up the side of Gilboa. The three sons of Saul were slain. Saul was wounded. According to one account, he fell upon his own sword, 1 Samuel 31:4, and died. The body on being found by the Philistines was stripped and decapitated, and the headless trunk hung over the city walls, with those of his three sons. ch. 1 Samuel 31:10. The head was deposited (probably at Ashdod) in the temple of Dagon. 1 Chronicles 10:10. The corpse was buried at Jabesh-gilead. 1 Samuel 31:13.

3. The Jewish name of St. Paul.

Saw

Saw. Egyptian saws, so far as has yet been discovered, are single-handed. As is the case in modern Oriental saws, the teeth usually incline toward the handle, instead of away from it like ours. They have, in most cases, bronze blades, apparently attached to the handles by leathern thongs. No evidence exists of the use of the saw applied to stone in Egypt, but we read of sawn stones used in the temple. 1 Kings 7:9. The saws “under” or “in” which David is said to have placed his captives were of iron. The expression in 2 Samuel 12:31 does not necessarily imply torture, but the word “cut” in 1 Chronicles 20:3 can hardly be understood otherwise.

Scapegoat

Scapegoat. [ATONEMENT, DAY OF.]

Scarlet

Scarlet. [COLORS.]

Sceptre

Sceptre. This word originally meant a rod or staff. It was thence specifically applied to the shepherd’s crook, Leviticus 27:32; Micah 7:14, and to the wand or sceptre of a ruler. The allusions to it are all of a metaphorical character, and describe it simply as one of the insignia of supreme power. Genesis 49:10. We are consequently unable to describe the article from any biblical notice; we may infer that it was probably made of wood. The sceptre of the Persian monarch is described as “golden,” i.e., probably of massive gold. Esther 4:11.

Sceva

Sce’va, a Jew residing at Ephesus at the time of St. Paul’s second visit to that town. Acts 19:14-16. (a.d. 52.)

Schools

Schools. (In the early ages most of the instruction of young children was by the parents. The leisure hours of the Sabbaths and festival days brought the parents in constant contact with the children. After the captivity schools came more into use, and at the time of Christ were very abundant. The schools were in connection with the synagogues, which were found in every city and in almost every village of the land. Their idea of the value of schools may be gained from such sayings from the Talmud as “The world is preserved by the breath of the children in the schools;” “A town in which there are no schools must perish;” “Jerusalem was destroyed because the education of children was neglected.” Josephus says, “Our principal care is to educate our children.” The Talmud states that in Bechar there were 400 schools, having each 400 teachers, with 400 children each, and that there were 4000 pupils in the house of Rabban Simeon Ben-Gamaliel. Maimonides thus describes a school: “The teacher sat at the head, and the pupils surrounded him as the crown the head, so that every one could see the teacher and hear his words. The teacher did not sit in a chair while the pupils sat on the ground, but all either sat on chairs or on the ground.” The children read aloud to acquire fluency. The number of school-hours was limited, and during the heat of the summer was only four hours. The punishment employed was beating with a strap, never with a rod. The chief studies were their own language and literature, the chief school-book the Holy Scriptures; and there were special efforts to impress lessons of morality and chastity. Besides these they studied mathematics, astronomy and the natural sciences. Beyond the schools for popular education there were higher schools or colleges scattered throughout the cities where the Jews abounded.—Ed.)

Scorpion

Scorpion (Heb. ˒akrâb), a well-known venomous insect of hot climates, shaped much like a lobster. It is usually not more than two or three inches long, but in tropical climates is sometimes six inches in length. The wilderness of Sinai is especially alluded to as being inhabited by scorpions at the time of the exodus, and to this day these animals are common in the same district, as well as in some parts of Palestine. Scorpions are generally found in dry and in dark places, under stones and in ruins. They are carnivorous in their habits, and move along in a threatening attitude, with the tail elevated. The sting, which is situated at the end of the tail, has at its base a gland that secretes a poisonous fluid, which is discharged into the wound by two minute orifices at its extremity. In hot climates the sting often occasions much suffering, and sometimes alarming symptoms. The “scorpions” of 1 Kings 12:11, 1 Kings 12:14; 2 Chronicles 10:11, 2 Chronicles 10:14, have clearly no allusion whatever to the animal, but to some instrument of scourging—unless indeed the expression is a mere figure.

Scorpion.

Scourging

Scourging. The punishment of scourging was common among the Jews. The instrument of punishment in ancient Egypt, as it is also in modern times generally in the East, was usually the stick, applied to the soles of the feet—bastinado. Under the Roman method the culprit was stripped, stretched with cords or thongs on a frame and beaten with rods. (Another form of the scourge consisted of a handle with three lashes or thongs of leather or cord, sometimes with pieces of metal fastened to them. Roman citizens were exempt by their law from scourging.)

Flagellum or Scourge.

Scourging.

Scribes

Scribes (Heb. sôpherı̂m). I. Name.—(1) Three meanings are connected with the verb sâphar, the root of sôpherı̂m—(a) to write, (b) to set in order, (c) to count. The explanation of the word has been referred to each of these. The sôpherı̂m were so called because they wrote out the law, or because they classified and arranged its precepts, or because they counted with scrupulous minuteness every clause and letter it contained. (2) The name of Kirjath-sepher, Joshua 15:15; Judges 1:12, may possibly connect itself with some early use of the title, and appears to point to military functions of some kind. Judges 5:14. The men are mentioned as filling the office of scribe under David and Solomon. 2 Samuel 8:17; 2 Samuel 20:25; 1 Kings 4:3. We may think of them as the king’s secretaries, writing his letters, drawing up his decrees, managing his finances. Comp. 2 Kings 12:10. In Hezekiah’s time they transcribed old records, and became a class of students and interpreters of the law, boasting of their wisdom. Jeremiah 8:8. After the captivity the office became more prominent, as the exiles would be anxious above all things to preserve the sacred books, the laws, the hymns, the prophecies of the past. II. Development of doctrine.—Of the scribes of this period, with the exception of Ezra and Zadok, Nehemiah 13:13, we have no record. A later age honored them collectively as the men of the Great Synagogue. Never, perhaps, was so important a work done so silently. They devoted themselves to the careful study of the text, and laid down rules for transcribing it with the most scrupulous precision. As time passed on the “words of the scribes” were honored above the law. It was a greater crime to offend against them than against the law. The first step was taken toward annulling the commandments of God for the sake of their own traditions. Mark 7:13. The casuistry became at once subtle and prurient, evading the plainest duties, tampering with conscience. Matthew 15:1-6; Matthew 23:16-23. We can therefore understand why they were constantly denounced by our Lord along with the Pharisees. While the scribes repeated the traditions of the elders, he “spake as one having authority,” “not as the scribes.” Matthew 7:29. While they confined their teachings to the class of scholars, he “had compassion on the multitudes.” Matthew 9:36. While they were to be found only in the council or in their schools, he journeyed through the cities and villages. Matthew 4:23; Matthew 9:35, etc. While they spoke of the kingdom of God vaguely, as a thing far off, he proclaimed that it had already come nigh to men. Matthew 4:17. In our Lord’s time there were two chief parties: 1, the disciples of Shammai, conspicuous for their fierceness, appealing to popular passions, using the sword to decide their controversies. Out of this party grew the Zealots. 2. The disciples of Hillel, born b.c. 112, and who may have been one of the doctors before whom the boy Jesus came in the temple, for he lived to be 120 years old. Hillel was a “liberal conservative, of genial character and broad range of thought, with some approximations to a higher teaching.” In most of the points at issue between the two parties, Jesus must have appeared in direct antagonism to the school of Shammai, in sympathy with that of Hillel. So far, on the other hand, as the temper of the Hillel school was one of the mere adaptation to the feeling of the people, cleaving to tradition, wanting in the inuition of a higher life, the teaching of Christ must have been felt as unsparingly condemning it. III. Education and life.—The special training for a scribe’s office began, probably, about the age of thirteen. The boy who was destined by his parents to the calling of a scribe went to Jerusalem and applied for admission in the school of some famous rabbi. After a sufficient period of training, probably at the age of thirty the probationer was solemnly admitted to his office. After his admission there was a choice of a variety of functions, the chances of failure and success. He might give himself to any one of the branches of study, or combine two or more of them. He might rise to high places, become a doctor of the law, an arbitrator in family litigations, Luke 12:14, the head of a school, a member of the Sanhedrin. He might have to content himself with the humbler work of a transcriber, copying the law and the prophets for the use of synagogues, or a notary, writing out contracts of sale, covenants of espousals, bills of repudiation. The position of the more fortunate was of course attractive enough. In our Lord’s time the passion for distinction was insatiable. The ascending scale of rab, rabbi, rabban, presented so many steps on the ladder of ambition. Other forms of worldliness were not far off. The salutations in the market-place, Matthew 23:7, the reverential kiss offered by the scholars to their master or by rabbis to each other, the greeting of Abba, father, Matthew 23:9, the long robes with the broad blue fringe, Matthew 23:5—all these go to make up the picture of a scribe’s life. Drawing to themselves, as they did, nearly all the energy and thought of Judaism, the close hereditary caste of the priesthood was powerless to compete with them. Unless the priest became a scribe also, he remained in obscurity. The order, as such, became contemptible and base. For the scribes there were the best places at feasts, the chief seats in synagogues. Matthew 23:6; Luke 14:7.

Scribes.

A Jewish Scribe.

Scrip

Scrip. The Hebrew word thus translated appears in 1 Samuel 17:40 as a synonym for the bag in which the shepherds of Palestine carried their food or other necessaries. The scrip of the Galilean peasants was of leather, used especially to carry their food on a journey, and slung over their shoulders. Matthew 10:10; Mark 6:8; Luke 9:3; Luke 22:35. The English word “scrip” is probably connected with scrape, scrap, and was used in like manner for articles of food.

Scripture

Scripture. [See BIBLE.]

Scythian

Scyth’ian occurs in Colossians 3:11 as a generalized term for rude, ignorant, degraded. The name often included all the nomadic tribes, who dwelt mostly on the north of the Black and the Caspian Sea, stretching thence indefinitely into inner Asia, and were regarded by the ancients as standing extremely low in point of intelligence and civilization.

Scythopolis

Scythop’olis. [BETH-SHEAN.]

Sea

Sea. The sea, yâm, is used in Scripture to denote—

1. “The gathering of the waters,” “the Ocean.” Genesis 1:2, Genesis 1:10; Deuteronomy 30:13, etc. 2. Some portion of this, as the Mediterranean Sea, called the “hinder,” the “western” and the “utmost” sea, Deuteronomy 11:24; Deuteronomy 34:2; Joel 2:20; “sea of the Philistines,” Exodus 23:31; “the great sea,” Numbers 34:6, Numbers 34:7; Joshua 15:47; “the sea.” Genesis 49:13; Psalm 80:11. Also frequently of the Red Sea. Exodus 15:4. [RED SEA.] 3. Inland lakes termed seas, as the Salt or Dead Sea. [See the special article.] 4. Any great collection of waters, as the river Nile, Isaiah 19:5 and the Euphrates. Jeremiah 51:36.

Sea Molten

Sea, Molten. In the place of the laver of the tabernacle, Solomon caused a laver to be cast for a similar purpose, which from its size was called a sea. It was made partly or wholly of the brass, or rather copper, which was captured by David from “Tibhath and Chun, cities of Hadarezer king of Zobah.” 1 Kings 7:23-26; 1 Chronicles 18:8. It is said to have been 15 feet in diameter and 7½ feet deep, and to have been capable of containing 2000, or, according to 2 Chronicles 4:5, 3000 baths (16,000 to 24,000 gallons). The laver stood on twelve oxen, three toward each quarter of the heavens, and all looking outward. It was mutilated by Ahaz by being removed from its basis of oxen and placed on a stone base, and was finally broken up by the Assyrians. 2 Kings 16:14, 2 Kings 16:17; 2 Kings 25:13.

The Brazen or Molten Sea.

Sea The Salt

Sea, The Salt, the usual and perhaps the most ancient name for the remarkable lake which to the western world is now generally known as the Dead Sea.

I. Names.—(1) The Salt Sea, Genesis 14:3; (Genesis 14:2) Sea of the Arabah (Authorized Version “sea of the plain,” which is found in Deuteronomy 4:49); (3) The East Sea, Joel 2:20; (4) The sea, Ezekiel 47:8; (5) Sodomitish Sea, 2 Esdras; (6) Sea of salt, and Sea of Sodom, in the Talmud; (7) The Asphaltic Lake, in Josephus; (8) The name “Dead Sea” appears to have been first used in Greek by Pausanias and Galen, and in Latin (mare mortuum) by Justin xxxvi. 3, §6, or rather by the older historian Trogus Pompeius (cir. b.c. 10), whose work he epitomized. (9) The Arabic name is Bahr Lût, the “Sea of Lot.”

II. Description.—The so-called Dead Sea is the final receptacle of the river Jordan, the lowest and largest of the three lakes which interrupt the rush of its downward course. It is the deepest portion of that very deep natural fissure which runs like a furrow from the Gulf of Akabah to the range of Lebanon, and from the range of Lebanon to the extreme north of Syria. Viewed on the map, the lake is of an oblong form, of tolerably regular contour, interrupted only by a large and long peninsula which projects from the eastern shore near its southern end, and virtually divides the expanse of the water into two portions, connected by a long, narrow and somewhat devious passage. Its surface is from north to south as nearly as possible 40 geographical or 46 English miles long. Its greatest width is about 9 geographical or 10½ English miles. Its area is about 250 geographical square miles. At its northern end the lake receives the stream of the Jordan; on its eastern side the Zúrka Ma˒ı̂n (the ancient Callirrhoë, and possibly the more ancient en-Eglaim), the Mojib (the Arnon of the Bible), and the Beni-Hemâd; on the south the Kurâhy or el-Ahsy; and on the west that of Ain Jidy. The depression of its surface, and the depth which it attains below that surface, combined with the absence of any outlet, render it one of the most remarkable spots on the globe. The surface of the lake in May, 1848, was 1316.7 feet below the level of the Mediterranean at Jaffa. Its depth, at about one third of its length from the north end, is 1308 feet. The water of the lake is not less remarkable than its other features. Its most obvious peculiarity is its great weight. Its specific gravity has been found to be as much as 12.28; that is to say, a gallon of it would weight over 12¼ lbs., instead of 10 lbs., the weight of distilled water. Water so heavy must not only be extremely buoyant, but must possess great inertia. Its buoyancy is a common theme of remark by the travellers who have been upon it or in it. Dr. Robinson “could never swim before, either in fresh or salt water,” yet here he “could sit, stand, lie, or swim without difficulty.” (B. R. i. 506.) The remarkable weight of the water is due to the very large quantity of mineral salts which it holds in solution. Each gallon of the water, weighing 12¼ lbs., contains nearly 3 1/3 lbs. of matter in solution—an immense quantity when we recollect that sea-water, weighing 10¼ lbs. per gallon, contains less than ½ a lb. Of this 3½ lbs. nearly 1 lb. is common salt (chloride of sodium), about 2 lbs. chloride of magnesium, and less than ½ a lb. chloride of calcium (or muriate of lime). The most usual ingredient is bromide of magnesium, which exists in truly extraordinary quantity. It has been long supposed that no life whatever existed in the lake; but recent facts show that some inferior organizations do find a home even in these salt and acrid waters. The statesments of ancient travellers and geographers to the effect that no living creature could exist on the shores of the lake, or bird fly across its surface, are amply disproved by later travellers. The springs on the margin of the lake harbor snipe, partridges, ducks, nightingales, and other birds, as well as frogs; and hawks, doves, and hares are found along the shore. The appearance of the lake does not fulfill the idea conveyed by its popular name. “The Dead Sea,” says a recent traveller, “did not strike me with that sense of desolation and dreariness which I suppose it ought. I thought it a pretty, smiling lake—a nice ripple on its surface.” The truth lies, as usual, somewhere between these two extremes. On the one hand, the lake certainly is not a gloomy, deadly, smoking gulf. In this respect it does not at all fulfill the promise of its name. At sunrise and sunset the scene must be astonishlingly beautiful. But on the other hand, there is something in the prevalent sterility and the dry, burnt look of the shores, the overpowering heat, the occasional smell of sulphur, the dreary salt marsh at the southern end, and the fringe of dead driftwood round the margin, which must go far to excuse the title which so many ages have attached to the lake, and which we may be sure it will never lose. The connection between this singular lake and the biblical history is very slight. In the topographical records of the Pentateuch and the book of Joshua it forms one among the landmarks of the boundaries of the whole country, as well as of the inferior divisions of Judah and Benjamin. As a landmark it is once named in what appears to be a quotation from a lost work of the prophet Jonah, 2 Kings 14:25, itself apparently a reminiscence of the old Mosaic statement. Numbers 34:8, Numbers 34:12. Besides this the name occurs once or twice in the imagery of the prophets. In the New Testament there is not even an allusion to it. There is, however, one passage in which the “Salt Sea” is mentioned in a manner different from any of those already quoted, viz. as having been in the time of Abraham the vale of Siddim. Genesis 14:3. In consequence of this passage it has been believed that the present lake covered a district which in historic times had been permanently habitable dry land. But it must not be overlooked that the passage in question is the only one in the whole Bible to countenance the notion that the cities of the plain were submerged; a notion which does not date earlier than the Christian era. [SODOM; ZOAR] The belief which prompted the idea of some modern writers that the Dead Sea was formed by the catastrophe which overthrew the “cities of the plain” is a mere assumption. It is not only unsupported by Scripture, but is directly in the teeth of the evidence of the ground itself. Of the situation of those cities, we only know that, being in the “plain of the Jordan,” they must have been to the north of the lake. Of the catastrophe which destroyed them, we only know that it is described as a shower of ignited sulphur descending from the skies. Its date is uncertain, but we shall be safe in placing it within the limit of 2000 years before Christ. (It is supposed that only the southern bay of the Dead Sea was formed by the submergence of the cities of the plain, and this is still probable. If Hugh Miller’s theory of the flood is correct—and it is the most reasonable theory yet propounded—then the Dead Sea was formed by the depression of that part of the valley through which the Jordan once flowed to the Red Sea. But this great depression caused all the waters of the Jordan to remain without outlet, and the size of the Dead Sea must be such that the evaporation from its surface just balances the amount of water which flows in through the river. This accounts in part for the amount of matter held in solution by the Dead Sea waters; for the evaporation is of pure water only, while the inflow contains more or less of salts and other matter in solution. This theory also renders it probable that the lake was at first considerably larger than at present, for in earlier times the Jordan had probably a larger flow of water.—Ed.) The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah may have been by volcanic action, but it may be safely asserted that no traces of it have yet been discovered, and that, whatever it was, it can have had no connection with that far vaster and far more ancient event which opened the great valley of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, and at some subsequent time cut it off from communication with the Red Sea by forcing up between them the tract of the Wady Arabah.

The Salt or Dead Sea. After a Sketch by Major Wilson.

Dead Sea.

Seal

Seal. The importance attached to seals in the East is so great that without one no document is regarded as authentic. Among the methods of sealing used in Egypt at a very early period were engraved stones, pierced through their length and hung by a string or chain from the arm or neck, or set in rings for the finger. The most ancient form used for this purpose was the scarabaeus, formed of precious or common stone, or even of blue pottery or porcelain, on the flat side of which the inscription or device was engraved. In many cases the seal consisted of a lump of clay, impressed with the seal and attached to the document, whether of papyrus or other material, by strings. In other cases wax was used. In sealing a sepulchre or box, the fastening was covered with clay or wax, and the impression from a seal of one in authority was stamped upon it, so that it could not be broken open without discovery. The signet-ring was an ordinary part of a man’s equipment. Genesis 38:18. The ring or the seal as an emblem of authority in Egypt, Persia and elsewhere is mentioned in Genesis 41:42; 1 Kings 21:8; Esther 3:10, Esther 3:12; Esther 8:2; Daniel 6:17; and as an evidence of a covenant, in Jeremiah 32:10, Jeremiah 32:44; Nehemiah 9:38; Nehemiah 10:1; Haggai 2:23. Engraved signets were in use among the Hebrews in early times. Exodus 28:11, Exodus 28:36; Exodus 39:6.

Seal with Frame.

Seal and Signets.

Seba

Se’ba (pl. Sebaim; in Authorized Version incorrectly rendered Sabeans) heads the list of the sons of Cush. Besides the mention of Seba in the lists of the sons of Cush, Genesis 10:7; 1 Chronicles 1:9, there are but three notices of the nation—Psalm 72:10; Isaiah 43:3; Isaiah 45:14. These passages seem to show that Seba was a nation of Africa, bordering on or included in Cush, and in Solomon’s time independent and of political importance. It may perhaps be identified with the island of Meroë. Josephus says that Saba was the ancient name of the Ethiopian island and city of Meroë, but he writes Seba, in the notice of the Noachian settlements, Sabas. The island of Meroë lay between the Astaboras, the Athara, the most northern tributary of the Nile, and the Astapus, the Bahr el-Azrak or “Blue River,” the eastern of its two great confluents.

Sebat

Se’bat (a rod). [MONTH.]

Secacah

Sec’acah, or Seca’cah (thicket), one of the six cities of Judah which were situated in the Midbar (“wilderness”), that is, the tract bordering on the Dead Sea. Joshua 15:61. Its position is not known.

Sechu

Se’chu (the watch-tower), a place mentioned once only—1 Samuel 19:22—apparently as lying on the route between Saul’s residence, Gibeah, and Ramah (Ramathaim-zophim), that of Samuel. It was notorious for “the great well” (or rather cistern) which it contained. Assuming that Saul started from Gibeah (Tuleil el-Ful), and that Neby Samwil is Ramah, then Bir Neballa (the well of Neballa), just south of Beeroth, alleged by a modern traveller to contain a large pit, would be in a suitable position for the great well of Sechu.

Secundus

Secun’dus (fortunate), a Thessalonian Christian. Acts 20:4. (a.d. 55.)

Seer

Seer. [PROPHET.]

Segub

Se’gub (elevated).

1. The youngest son of Hiel the Bethelite, who rebuilt Jericho. 1 Kings 16:34. (b.c. about 910.)

2. Son of Hezron. 1 Chronicles 2:21, 1 Chronicles 2:22. (b.c. about 1682.)

Seir

Se’ir (hairy, shaggy).

1. We have both “land of Seir,” Genesis 32:3; Genesis 36:30, and “Mount Seir.” Genesis 14:6. It is the original name of the mountain range extending along the east side of the valley of Arabah, from the Dead Sea to the Elanitie Gulf. The Horites appear to have been the chief of the aboriginal inhabitants, Genesis 36:20; but it was ever afterward the possession of the Edomites, the descendants of Esau. The Mount Seir of the Bible extended much farther south than the modern province, as is shown by the words of Deuteronomy 2:1-8. It had the Arabah on the west, vs. Deuteronomy 2:1 and Deuteronomy 2:8; it extended as far south as the head of the Gulf of Akabah, ver. Genesis 2:8; its eastern border ran along the base of the mountain range where the plateau of Arabia begins. Its northern border is not so accurately determined. There is a line of “naked” white hills or cliffs which run across the great valley about eight miles south of the Dead Sea, the highest eminence being Mount Hor, which is 4800 feet high.

2. Mount Seir, an entirely different place from the foregoing; one of the landmarks on the north boundary of the territory of Judah. Joshua 15:10 only. It lay westward of Kirjath-jearim, and between it and Beth-shemesh. If Kuriel el-Enab be the former and Ain-shems the latter of these two, then Mount Seir cannot fail to be the ridge which lies between the Wady Aly and the Wady Ghurab. In a pass of this ridge is the modern village of Sair.

Seirath

Se’irath (the shaggy), the place to which Ehud fled after his murder of Eglon. Judges 3:26, Judges 3:27. It was in “Mount Ephraim,” ver. Judges 3:27, a continuation, perhaps, of the same wooded, shaggy hills which stretched even so far south as to enter the territory of Judah. Joshua 15:10. (It is probably the same place as MOUNT SEIR, 2.)

Sela

Se’la, or Se’lah (the rock), 2 Kings 14:7; Isaiah 16:1; so rendered in the Authorized Version in Judges 1:36; 2 Chronicles 25:12; probably the city later known as Petra, the ruins of which are found about two days journey north of the top of the Gulf of Akabah, and three or four south from Jericho, and about halfway between the southern end of the Dead Sea and the northern end of the Gulf of Akabah. It was in the midst of Mount Seir, in the neighborhood of Mount Hor, and therefore Edomite territory, taken by Amaziah, and called Joktheel. In the end of the fourth century b.c. it appears as the headquarters of the Nabatheans, who successfully resisted the attacks of Antigonus. About 70 b.c. Petra appears as the residence of the Arab princes named Aretas. It was by Trajan reduced to subjection to the Roman empire. The city Petra lay, though at a high level, in a hollow three quarters of a mile long and from 800 to 1500 feet wide, shut in by mountain cliffs, and approached only by a narrow ravine, through which, and across the city’s site, the river winds. There are extensive ruins at Petra of Roman date, which have been frequently described by modern travellers.

Sela-Hammahlekoth

Se’la-Hammahle’koth (the cliff of escapes or of divisions), a rock or cliff in the wilderness of Maon, southeast of Hebron, the scene of one of those remarkable escapes which are so frequent in the history of Saul’s pursuit of David. 1 Samuel 23:28.

Selah

Se’lah. This word, which is found only in the poetical books of the Old Testament, occurs seventy-one times in the Psalms and three times in Habakkuk. It is probably a term which had a meaning in the musical nomenclature of the Hebrews, though what that meaning may have been is now a matter of pure conjecture. (Gesenius and Ewald and others think it has much the same meaning as our interlude—a pause in the voices singing, while the instruments perform alone.)

Seled

Se’led (exultation), one of the sons of Nadab, a descendant of Jerahmeel. 1 Chronicles 2:30. (b.c. after 1450.)

Sele-ucia

Sele-u’cia, or Sele-uci’a (named after its founder, Seleucus), near the mouth of the Orontes, was practically the seaport of Antioch. The distance between the two towns was about 16 miles. St. Paul, with Barnabas, sailed from Seleucia at the beginning of his first missionary circuit. Acts 13:4. This strong fortress and convenient seaport was constructed by the first Seleucus, and here he was buried. It retained its importance in Roman times, and in St. Paul’s day it had the privileges of a free city. The remains are numerous.