International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Ardites — Aschenaz
Ardites
Ardites - ar'-dits: Patronymic of ARD, which see.
Ardon
Ardon - ar'-don ('ardon, meaning unknown): One of the three sons of Caleb and Azubah, of the tribe of Judah (1 Chronicles 2:18).
Areli
Areli - a-re'-li ('ar'eli, apparently the gentilic form of a compound that would mean "God's lioness," or "God's hearth"): One of the sons of Gad the son of Jacob (Genesis 46:16; Numbers 26:17). "Arelites" (which see) is exactly the same word.
Arelites
Arelites - a-re'-lits: In Numbers 26:17.
See ARELI.
Areopagite
Areopagite - ar-e-op'-a-jit.
See DIONYSIUS.
Areopagus
Areopagus - ar-e-op'-a-gus (Areios pagos; Acts 17:19, 22. Mars' Hill, Acts 17:22 the King James Version): A sort of spur jutting out from the western end of the Acropolis and separated from it by a very short saddle. Traces of old steps cut in the rock are still to be seen. Underneath are deep grottoes, once the home of the Eumenides (Furies). On the flat surface of the summit are signs still visible of a smoothing of the stone for seats. Directly below to the North was the old Athenian agora, or market-place. To the East, on the descent from the Acropolis, could be seen in antiquity a small semicircular platform--the orchestra--from which rose the precipitous rock of the citadel. Here the booksellers kept their stalls; here the work of Anaxagoras could be bought for a drachma; from here his physical philosophy was disseminated, then, through Euripides, the poetic associate of Socrates and the sophists, leavened the drama, and finally reached the people of Athens. Then came the Stoics and Epicureans who taught philosophy and religion as a system, not as a faith, and spent their time in searching out some new thing in creed and dogma and opinion. Five centuries earlier Socrates was brought to this very Areopagus to face the charges of his accusers. To this same spot the apostle Paul came almost five hundred years after 399 BC, when the Attic martyr was executed, with the same earnestness, the same deep-rooted convictions, and with even greater ardor, to meet the philosophers of fashion. The Athenian guides will show you the exact place where the apostle stood, and in what direction he faced when he addressed his audience. No city has ever seen such a forest of statues as studded the market-place, the streets and the sides and summit of the Acropolis of Athens. A large part of this wealth of art was in full view of the speaker, and the apostle naturally made this extraordinary display of votive statues and offerings the starting-point of his address. He finds the Athenians extremely religious. He had found an altar to a god unknown. Then he develops theme of the great and only God, not from the Hebrew, but from the Greek, the Stoic point of view. His audiences consisted, on the one hand, of the advocates of prudence as the means, and pleasure as the end (the Epicureans); on the other, of the advocates of duty, of living in harmony with the intelligence which rules the world for good. He frankly expresses his sympathy with the nobler principles of the Stoic doctrine. But neither Stoic nor Epicurean could believe the declarations of the apostle: the latter believed death to be the end of all things, the former thought that the soul at death was absorbed again into that from which it sprang. Both understood Paul as proclaiming to them in Jesus and Anastasis ("resurrection") some new deities. When they finally ascertained that Jesus was ordained by God to judge the world, and that Anastasis was merely the resurrection of the dead, they were disappointed. Some scoffed, others departed, doubtless with the feeling that they had already given audience too long to such a fanatic.
The Areopagus, or Hill of Ares, was the ancient seat of the court of the same name, the establishment of which leads us far back into the mythical period long before the dawn of history. This court exercised the right of capital punishment. In 594 BC the jurisdiction in criminal cases was given to the archons who had discharged the duties of their office well and honorably, consequently to the noblest, richest and most distinguished citizens of Athens. The Areopagus saw that the laws in force were observed and executed by the properly constituted authorities; it could bring officials to trial for their acts while in office, even raise objections to all resolutions of the Council and of the General Assembly, if the court perceived a danger to the state, or subversion of the constitution. The Areopagus also protected the worship of the gods, the sanctuaries and sacred festivals, and the olive trees of Athens; and it supervised the religious sentiments of the people, the moral conduct of the citizens, as well as the education of the youth. Without waiting for a formal accusation the Areopagus could summon any citizen to court, examine, convict and punish him. Under unusual circumstances full powers could be granted by the people to this body for the conduct of various affairs of state; when the safety of the city was menaced, the court acted even without waiting for full power to be conferred upon it. The tenure of office was for life, and the number of members without restriction. The court sat at night at the end of each month and for three nights in succession. The place of meeting was a simple house, built of clay, which was still to be seen in the time of Vitruvius. The Areopagus, hallowed by the sacred traditions of the past, a dignified and august body, was independent of and uninfluenced by the wavering discordant multitude, and was not affected by the ever-changing public opinion. Conservative almost to a fault, it did the state good service by holding in check the too rash and radical younger spirits. When the democratic party came to power, after Cimon's banishment, one of its first acts was to limit the powers of the Areopagus. By the law of Ephialtes in 460 the court lost practically all jurisdiction. The supervision of the government was transferred to the nomophulakes (law-guardians). At the end of the Peloponnesian war, however, in 403 its old rights were restored. The court remained in existence down to the time of the emperors. From Acts 17:19, 22 we learn that it existed in the time of Claudius. One of its members was converted to the Christian faith (Acts 17:34). It was probably abolished by Vespasian.
As to whether Paul was "forcibly apprehended and formally tried," see Conybeare and Howson, The Life and Epistles of Paul, chapter x, and The Expositor, 5th series,II , 209 f, 261 f (Ramsay).
LITERATURE.
P. W. Forchhammer, De Areopago (Kiel, 1828); Philippi, Der A. und die Epheten (Leipzig, 1874); Lange, Die Epheten und der A. vor Solon (Leipzig, 1874).
J. E. Harry
Areopolis
Areopolis - ar-e-op'-o-lis. The Greek name of AR (which see).
Ares
Ares - a'-res, ar'-es (Ares = Arah (Ezra 2:5; Nehemiah 7:10)): 756 of the sons of Ares returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel (1 Esdras 5:10).
Aretas
Aretas - ar'-e-tas (Aretas): The name is a common one among Arabian princes and signifies "virtuous or pleasing."
1. 2 Maccabees 5:8: It is mentioned several times in Biblical literature and in Josephus. Here it refers to an Arabian king, who was a contemporary of Antiochus Epiphanes (circa 170 BC), before whom Jason the high priest was accused.
2. Obodas: Another Arabian prince of this name, surnamed Obodas (Ant., XIII, xv, 2; xvi, 2; XVI, ix, 4) defeated Antiochus Dionysius and reigned over Coele-Syria and Damascus. He participated with Hyrcanus in the war for the Jewish throne against his brother Aristobulus, but the allies were completely defeated at Papyron, by Aristobulus and Scaurus, the Roman general. The latter carried the war into Arabia and forced Aretas to make an ignominious peace, at the price of three hundred talents of silver. Of that event a memorial denarius still exists, with a Roman chariot in full charge on the one side and a camel on the other, by the side of which an Arab is kneeling, who holds out a branch of frankincense.
3. Aeneas: The successor of Obodas was apparently surnamed Aeneas and this is the Arabian king who figures in the New Testament (2 Corinthians 11:32; compare Acts 9:24). The Aretas, here mentioned, is the father-in-law of Herod Antipas, who divorced his wife to marry Herodins, the wife of his brother Philip (Matthew 14:3; Mark 6:17; Luke 3:19). Josephus (Ant., XVIII, v, 1,3) gives us a circumstantial narration of the events leading up to and following the conduct of Antipas. Coupled with a boundary dispute, it occasioned a bitter w ar between the two princes, in which Antipas was completely overwhelmed, who thereupon invoked the aid of the Romans. Tiberius ordered Vitellius, proconsul of Syria, to make war on Aretas and to deliver him dead or alive into the hands of the emperor. On the way, at Jerusalem, Vitellius received intelligence of the death of Tiberius, March 16, 37 AD, and stopped all warlike proceedings (Ant., XVIII, v, 1,3). According to 2 Corinthians 11:32, Damascus, which had formerly belonged to the Arabian princes, was again in the hands of Are tas, when Paul escaped from it, not immediately after his conversion, but on a subsequent visit, after his Arabian exile (Galatians 1:16-17). It is inconceivable that Aretas should have taken Damascus by force, in the face of the almost omnipotent power of Rome. The picture moreover, which Josephus draws of the Herodian events, points to a passive rather than an active attitude on the part of Aretas. The probability is that Cajus Caligula, the new emperor, wishing to settle the affairs of Syria, freely gave Damascu s to Aretas, inasmuch as it had formerly belonged to his territory. As Tiberius died in 37 AD, and as the Arabian affair was completely settled in 39 AD, it is evident that the date of Paul's conversion must lie somewhere between 34 and 36 AD. This date is further fixed by a Damascus coin, with the image of King Aretas and the date 101. If that date points to the Pompeian era, it equals 37 AD, making the date of Paul's conversion 34 AD (Mionnet, Descript. des medailles antiques, V, 284-85).
Henry E. Dosker
Argob (1)
Argob (1) - ar'-gob ('argobh, "story"): A locality or a person mentioned in the obscure passage 2 Kings 15:25. The context deals with Pekah's conspiracy against Pekahiah; but it is not clear, owing to the state of the text, whether Argob and his associate Arieh (if these are the names of men) were officers of Pekahiah who were slain with him, or fellow-conspirators with Pekah. The vulg takes them as names of places; they may then be considered glosses that have crept into the text. Rashi holds that Argob was the royal palace. Argob is more likely the name of a place than a person.
See ARIEH.
H. J. Wolf
Argob (2)
Argob (2) - ar'-gob (ha-'argobh; ha-argobh or Argob): A region East of the Jordan which in Deuteronomy 3:4-5 is equivalent to the kingdom of Og in Bashan, and in Deuteronomy 3:13 is referred to as "all the region of Argob, even all Bashan." Deuteronomy 3:14 is evidently corrupt. Havvoth-jair lay not in Bashan but in Gilead (Judges 10:4; Numbers 32:40 f; 1 Kings 4:13). It contained threescore cities. "All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates and bars; besides the unwalled towns a great many." Deuteronomy 3:14 seems to say that it marched with Geshur and Maacah; but we cannot lay stress on this. We may take it that Argob lay in the land of Bashan; beyond this, on available data, we cannot certainly go.
The word chebhel, translated "region," means primarily a line or cord, then "a measuring line," then "the portion measured," e.g. "the part of the children of Judah" (Joshua 19:9), the "lot" or "portion" of an inheritance (Deuteronomy 32:9; Joshua 17:14, etc.). Chebhel precedes Argob in each of the four cases where it is named. This has led many to think that a district with very clearly marked borders is intended. No region so well meets this condition as el-Leja', a volcanic tract lying about 20 miles South of Damascus, and 30 miles East of the Sea of Galilee. It is roughly triangular in form, with the apex to the North, and is about 25 miles long, with a base of some 20 miles. The lava which has hardened into this confused wilderness of black rock, rent and torn by countless fissures, flowed from the craters whose dark forms are seen on the East. It rises to an average height of about 20 ft. above the plain, on which it lies like an island on a sea of emerald, the edges being sharply defined. At all points it is difficult of entrance, and might be defended by a few resolute men against an army. To this fact doubtless it owes its name el-Leja', "the refuge." There are many traces of considerable cities in the interior. The present writer collected there the names of no fewer than seventy-one ruined sites. See further TRACHONITIS. This identification is supported by taking 'argobh as the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek trachon, "stony." This is possible only if, as Gesenius assumes, the root raghabh is cognate with ragham, an extremely precarious assumption. "Clod" is the translation of the word reghebh in Job 21:33; 38:38; probably therefore 'argobh should be tendered "a region of clods," i.e. "arable land." This practically rules out el-Leja'. We have seen above that the term chebhel need have no reference to the clearly marked rocky boundaries. As regards the great cities, all Bashan is studded with the ruins of such. The splendid remains that everywhere meet the traveler's eye were thought by Porter (Giant Cities of Bashan) and others, to be the wreck of the great cities that struck the invading Israelites with wonder. It is now clear that the ruins above ground are not older than the beginning of our era. The Greek and Roman architecture is easily recognized. Probably, however, excavation will prove that in very many cases the sites have been occupied from very ancient times. Cave dwellings, chambers cut in the rock and covered with stone vaults, and what may be described as subterranean cities, have been found in different parts, the antiquity of which it is impossible to estimate. There is nothing which enables us to identify the region of Argob. The whole country of Bashan., with the exception of el-Leja', is "arable land." The soil is very fertile, composed of lava detritus. In almost every district might have been found the threescore cities. Guthe suggests the western part of el-Chauran, stretching from Edrei (Der`ah) to Nawa. Buhl would locate it in the district of ec-Cuweit, to the Southeast of the low range of ez-Zumleh. This however seems too far to the South. The Southwest slopes of Jebel ed-Druze seem to meet the conditions as well as any. They form quite a wellmarked district; they are very fertile, and the strong cities in the region must have been numerous.
W. Ewing
Argue
Argue - ar'-gu: Only in the Revised Version (British and American) in Job 40:2. yakhach, which it translates, literally means "to be right," and in the causative form "reason with," "answer back," and is found in the King James Version rendered "reproach."
Ariarathes
Ariarathes - a-ri-a-ra'-thez.
See ARATHES.
Aridai
Aridai - ar'-i-di, a-rid'-a-i ('aridhay: a son of Haman (Esther 9:9)): The name may be related to the Persian Hari-dayas, "delight of Hari"; the text is very uncertain.
Aridatha
Aridatha - ar-i-da'-tha, a-rid'-a-tha ('aridhatha'): A son of Haman (Esther 9:8). It may be related to the Persian Hari-data, "given by Hari." The Septuagint reads Pharadatha.
Arieh
Arieh - a'-ri-e: "(the) Lion."
See ARGOB.
Ariel
Ariel - a'-ri-el ('ariy'el or 'ari'el, "lioness of God"): But the word occurs in Ezekiel 43:15-16, and is there translated in the Revised Version (British and American) "ALTAR HEARTH."
(1) According to the Revised Version (British and American) a man of Moab whose two sons were slain by David's warrior Benaiah the son of Jehoiada (2 Samuel 23:20; 1 Chronicles 11:22). Here the King James Version translates "two lionlike men of Moab."
(2) A name applied to Jerusalem (Isaiah 29:1-2, 7). The many explanations of the name are interesting, but mainly conjectural.
(3) One of the members of the delegation sent by Ezra to the place Casiphia, to secure temple ministers for his expedition to Jerusalem (Ezra 8:16).
Willis J. Beecher
Aright
Aright - a-rit': "In a right way," "correctly," "going straight to the point," without error or deviation. "Set aright" (Job 11:13; Wiener, Pentateuchal Studies 78 8). Its use in Psalms 50:23 is without authority in the Hebrew text; hence in italics.
Arimathaea
Arimathaea - ar-i-ma-the'-a (Arimathaia): "A city of the Jews," the home of Joseph in whose sepulchre the body of Jesus was laid. Its identity is the subject of much conjecture. The Onomasticon of Eusebius and Jerome identifies it with Ramathaim-Zophim in the hill-country of Ephraim (1 Samuel 11:1-15), which is Ramah the birthplace and burial-place of Samuel (1 Samuel 1:19; 25:1), and places it near Timnah on the borders of Judah and Dan. G. A. Smith thinks it may be the modern Beit Rima, a village on an eminence 2 miles North of Timnah. Others incline to Ramallah, 8 miles North of Jerusalem and 3 miles from Bethel (Matthew 27:57; Mark 15:43; Luke 23:51; John 19:38).
S. F. Hunter
Arioch
Arioch - ar'-i-ok: ('aryokh):
(1) The name of the vassal king of Ellasar, under Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Amraphel, king of Shinar (Babylonia), who took part in the expedition against Sodom, Gomorrah and other states (Genesis 14:1, 9). Assyriologists generally, and probably rightly, identify Arioch with Eri-Aku (which see), king of Larsa, Ellasar being for Al-Larsa (now Sinqara in central Babylonia).
Texts Referring to the Reign of Arioch:
For an account of the expedition see AMRAPHEL, and for the Babylonian texts bearing upon the reign, see ERI-AKU. In Genesis 14:1, 9, where the names of the allied kings who marched against the Cities of the Plain are given, that of Arioch follows his more immediate suzerain, Amraphel, and not Chedorlaomer, who, however, appears to have been the real overlord (verse 4), which agrees with the indications of the Bah records. No details of the expedition are available from Babylonian sources. Besides Larsa, Eri-Aku's inscriptions inform us that Ur (Muqayyar, Mugheir) was in the principality of which Larsa was the capital.
(2) The Arioch of Daniel 2:14, 25 was captain of the bodyguard of King Nebuchadnezzar. Nothing else is known about him except that it was he who was commanded to slay the "wise men" who failed to repeat to the king his dream and its interpretation; and who communicated to his royal master that Daniel had undertaken the task.
T. G. Pinches
Arisai
Arisai - ar'-i-sai, a-ris'-a-i ('aricai): Probably a Persian word of unknown meaning. One of Haman's sons, slain by the Jews (Esther 9:9).
Aristarchus
Aristarchus - ar-is-tar'-kus (Aristarchos, "best ruler"): He was one of those faithful companions of the apostle Paul who shared with him his labors and sufferings. He is suddenly mentioned along with Gaius as having been seized by the excited Ephesians during the riot stirred up by the silversmiths (Acts 19:29). They are designated "men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel." We learn later that he was a native of Thessalonica (Acts 20:4; 27:2). They were probably seized to extract from them information about their leader Paul, but when they could tell nothing, and since they were Greeks, nothing further was done to them.
When Aristarchus attached himself to Paul we do not know, but he seems ever after the Ephesian uproar to have remained in Paul's company. He was one of those who accompanied Paul from Greece via Macedonia (Acts 20:4). Having preceded Paul to Troas, where they waited for him, they traveled with him to Palestine. He is next mentioned as accompanying Paul to Rome (Acts 27:2). There he attended Paul and shared his imprisonment. He is mentioned in two of the letters of the Roman captivity, in the Epistle to the church at Col (Acts 4:10), and in the Epistle to Philem (Acts 1:24), in both of which he sends greetings. In the former Paul calls him "my fellow-prisoner." According to tradition he was martyred during the persecution of Nero.
S. F. Hunter
Aristobulus
Aristobulus - ar-is-to-bu'-lus (Aristoboulos, "best counselor"):
(1) Son of the Maccabean, John Hyrcanus, who assumed the power and also the title of king after his father's death (105 BC) and associated with him, as co-regent, his brother Antigonus (Ant., XIII, xi), though by the will of his father the government was entrusted to his mother. Three other brothers and his mother he cast into prison, where they died of starvation. He murdered Antigonus, and died conscience-stricken himself in 104 BC.
See MACCABEES.
(2) Aristobulus, nephew of the former, dethroned his mother, Alexandra (69 BC), and forced his brother Hyrcanus to renounce the crown and mitre in his favor. In 64 Pompey came to Palestine and supported the cause of Hyrcanus. See HYRCANUS. Aristobulus was defeated and taken prisoner, and Hyrcanus was appointed ethnarch in 63 BC. Aristobulus and his two daughters were taken to Rome, where he graced the triumph of Pompey. The father escaped later (56 BC) and appeared in Palestine again as a claimant to the throne. Many followers flocked to his standard, but he was finally defeated, severely wounded and taken prisoner a second time and with his son, Antigonus, again taken to Rome. Julius Caesar not only restored him to freedom (49 BC), but also gave him two legions to recover Judea, and to work in his interest against Pompey. But Quintus Metellus Scipio, who had just received Syria as a province, had Aristobulus poisoned as he was on his way to Palestine.CR #(3) Grandson of the preceding, and the last of the Maccabean family.
See ASMONEANS.
(4) The Jewish teacher of Ptol. VII (2 Maccabees 1:10).
(5) An inhabitant of Rome, certain of whose household are saluted by Paul (Romans 16:10). He was probably a grandson of Herod and brother of Herod Agrippa, a man of great wealth, and intimate with the emperor Claudius. Lightfoot (Philippians, 172) suggests that "the household of Aristobulus" were his slaves, and that upon his death they had kept together and had become the property of the emperor either by purchase or as a legacy, in which event, however, they might, still retain the name of their former master. Among these were Christians to whom Paul sends greeting.
M. O. Evans
Arithmetic
Arithmetic - a-rith'-me-tik.
See NUMBER.
Arius
Arius - a-ri'-us, a'-ri-us (Ares): The reading of the Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) adopted in the Revised Version (British and American) for the former reading Areus and Areios of Josephus. A king of Sparta (309-265 BC) who wrote the letter to Onias, the high priest, given in 1 Maccabees 12:7, 20-23. There were two Spartan kings named Arius, and three high priests named Onias. Chronology requires the letter mentioned to have been written by Arius I to Onias I, most probably in the interval between 309 and 300 BC.
See LACEDAEMONIANS.
Ark
Ark - see ARK OF BULRUSHES; ARK OF THE COVENANT; ARK OF NOAH
Ark of Bulrushes
Ark of Bulrushes - ark, bool'-rush-iz (tebhah; Egyptian tebt; Septuagint thibis, "a chest," "a vessel to float").
1. Definitions: The Hebrew word here translated "ark" is used in the Old Testament only of the ark of Noah (Genesis 6:14 ff) and of the ark of bulrushes (Exodus 2:3), and always in the secondary meaning, a vessel to float. The Septuagint translates it of Noah's ark by kibotos, "a casket," and of the ark of bulrushes by thibis, a little basket made of osiers or flags. For the Ark of the Covenant, the Hebrew employed a different word ('aron, "a chest"). Bulrushes (gome', "papyrus"): This species of reed was used by the Egyptians for many different vessels, some of which were intended to float or even to be used as a skiff. Slime (chemar, "bitumen"), pitch (zepheth, "pitch") was probably the sticky mud of the Nile with which to this day so many things in Egypt are plastered. In this case it was mixed with bitumen. Flags (cuph, "sedge") were reeds of every kind and tall grass growing in the shallow water at the edge of the river.
2. History: Thus the ark of bulrushes was a vessel made of papyrus stalks and rendered fit to float by being covered with a mixture of bitumen and mud. Into this floating vessel the mother of Moses placed the boy when he was three months old, and put the vessel in the water among the sedge along the banks of the Nile at the place where the ladies from the palace were likely to come to bathe. The act was a pathetic imitation of obedience to the king's command to throw boy babies into the river, a command which she had for three months braved and which now she so obeyed as probably to bring the cruelty of the king to the notice of the royal ladies in such way as to arouse a womanly sympathy,
A similar story is related of Sargon I of Babylonia (Records of the Past, 1st series, V, 1-4; Rogers, Hist. Babylonian and Assyrian, I, 362).
The one story in no wise discredits the other. That method of abandoning children, either willingly or by necessity, is as natural along the Nile and the Euphrates, where the river is the great artery of the land and where the floating basket had been used from time immemorial, as is the custom in our modern cities of placing abandoned infants in the streets or on door-steps where they are likely to be found, and such events probably occurred then as often as now.
M. G. Kyle
Ark of Noah
Ark of Noah - ark, no'-a: A structure built by Noah at the command of God to preserve from the Flood a remnant of the human race and of the animals associated with man. It was constructed of "gopher wood" (Genesis 6:14)--very likely the cypress used extensively by the Phoenicians for ship-building. It was divided into rooms or nests, and was three stories high, pitched within and without with bitumen or "asphalt," of which there are extensive deposits at Hit, in the Euphrates valley, a little above Babylon. It was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits broad, 30 cubits high, which according to Petrie's estimate of a cubit as 22.5 inches would make it to be 562 1/2 ft. long, 93 2/3 ft. wide, 56 1/4 ft. deep, which are natural proportions of a ship of that size. The dimensions of the "Great Eastern," built in 1858, were 692 ft. long, 83 ft. broad, 58 ft. deep; those of the "Celtic" built in 1901 are 700 ft. long, 75 ft. wide, 49 1/3 ft. deep. It is extremely improbable that such reasonable dimensions should have been assigned to the Ark except they were based on fact. Unrestrained tradition would have been sure to distort the proportions, as is shown by what actually occurred in other accounts of the Ark. The cuneiform tablets represent it as six stories high, with the length, width, and depth, each as 140 cubits (262 ft.), and having a mast on top of all, and a pilot to guide the impossible craft (see Deluge Tablet, ll.22, 23, 38-41). Berosus, the Greek historian, represents it to have been five stadia (3,000 ft.) long and two stadia (1,200 ft.) broad, while Origen, in order to confound Celsus (Against Celsus 4.41) gave the figures an interpretation which made the Ark 25 miles long and 3/4 of a mile wide.
It is needless to speculate upon the capacity of the Ark for holding absolutely all the species of animals found in the world, together with the food necessary for them, since we are only required to provide for such animals as were native to the area to which the remnants of the human race living at that time were limited, and which (see DELUGE OF NOAH) may not have been large. But calculations show that the structure described contained a space of about 3,500,000 cubic feet, and that after storing food enough to support several thousand pairs of animals, of the average size, on an ocean voyage of a year, there would remain more than 50 cubic feet of space for each pair.
No mention is made in the Bible of a pilot for the Ark, but it seems to have been left to float as a derelict upon the waters. For that purpose its form and dimensions were perfect, as was long ago demonstrated by the celebrated navigator, Sir Walter Raleigh, who notes it had "a flat bottom, and was not raised in form of a ship, with a sharpness forward, to cut the waves for the better speed"--a construction which secured the maximum of storage capacity and made a vessel which would ride steadily upon the water. Numerous vessels after the pattern of the Ark, but of smaller dimensions, have been made in Holland and Denmark and proved admirably adapted for freightage where speed was not of the first importance. They would hold one-third more lading than other vessels, and would require no more hands to work them. The gradual rise and subsidence of the water, each continuing for six months, and their movement inland, render the survival of such a structure by no means unreasonable. According to Genesis 6:3; 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5, warning of the Flood was given 120 years beforehand, and during that time Noah, while preparing the Ark, became a preacher of righteousness. For evidence that there was a gradual destruction of the race previous to the Flood, see DELUGE OF NOAH.
George Frederick Wright
Ark of Testimony
Ark of Testimony - test'-i-mo-ni.
See ARK OF THE COVENANT.
Ark of the Covenant
Ark of the Covenant - kuv'-e-nant ('aron ha-berith):
I. The Statements of the Old Testament Concerning the Ark of the Covenant.
1. Pentateuch: In Exodus 25:10 ff, Moses receives the command to build an ark of acacia wood. Within this ark were to be placed the tables of the law which God was about to give to Moses. Upon the top of the ark, probably not as a lid but above the lid, the kapporeth, in the New Testament to hilasterion (Hebrews 9:5), is to be placed, which was a golden plate upon which two cherubim, with raised wings and facing each other, covered the ark. From the place between the two cherubim God promises to speak to Moses, as often as He shall give him commands in reference to the Israelites.
The portion of the Pentateuch in which this is recorded is taken from the so-called Priest Codex (P). The reports of the Elohist (E) and the Jahwist (Jahwist) on this subject are wanting; but both of these sources report concerning the important role which the ark played in the entrance of Israel into Canaan, and these documents too must have contained the information that the people had received this ark. It can further with certainty be stated concerning the Elohist, and with some probability concerning the Jahwist, in what part of these documents these accounts were to be found. For Elohist reports in Exodus 33:6 that the Israelites, in order to demonstrate their repentance on account of the golden calf, had at God's command laid aside their ornaments. In 33:7-10 there follows a statement concerning the erection of the sacred tent; but this is explained only by the fact that between 33:6 and 7 a report concerning the erection of the ark of the covenant must have been found, which the R of the Pentateuch (since before this he had already made use of the much more exhaustive account of the Priest Codex) was compelled to omit. But that at this place the Elohist must have reported not only concerning the erection of the sacred tent but also of the construction of the ark of the covenant, is in itself probable, and can too be concluded from this, that according to the Deuteronomist, the composition of which is also conditioned upon that of the Elohist and the Jahwist, the ark was built on this occasion. We further conclude that it was not so much the tabernacle which could serve as a consolation to the people, something that at that time they needed, but rather the ark, which was to symbolize to them that God was on the march with them. In the Jahwist we do not indeed find at this place any statement concerning this sacred structure, but we do find the statement that the Israelites, out of sorrow because of the bad news brought by Moses, discarded their ornaments. For Exodus 33:4 is taken from the Jahwist, since the Elohist contains the command to discard the ornaments later on, and hence could not have written Exodus 33:4. Now it is a justifiable surmise that the Jahwist has also reported what use was made of the ornaments that had been discarded; and as this author, just as is the case with the Elohist, must have at some place contained a report concerning the construction of the ark, he certainly must have given this just at this place. The corresponding account in the Deuteronomist is found in Deuteronomy 10:1-5. Accordingly, then, all the four Pentateuch documents reported that Moses had built the ark at Sinai. The Deuteronomist, like the Priestly Code (P), says, that it was built of acacia wood. In the Elohistic narrative the subject is mentioned again in Numbers 10:33 ff, where we read that the ark had preceded the people as they broke camp and marched from Sinai. At this place too the words are found which Moses was accustomed to speak when the ark began to move out and when it arrived at a halting-place.
2. Joshua: According to the narrative in Joshua 3:1-17 the ark cooperated at the crossing of the Jordan in such a way that the waters of the river ceased to continue flowing as soon as the feet of the priests who were carrying the ark entered the water, and that it stood still above until these priests, after the people had crossed over, again left the bed of the river with the ark. In the account of the solemn march around Jericho, which according to Joshua 6:1-27 caused the walls of the city to fall, the carrying of the ark around the city is regarded as an essential feature in Joshua 6:4, 7, 11. In chapter 7 it is narrated that Joshua, after the defeat of the army before Ai, lamented and prayed before the ark. In chapter 8 this is mentioned in connection with Mount Ebal.
3. Other Historical Books: At the time of Eli the ark stood in the sanctuary at Shiloh (1 Samuel 3:3). From this place it was taken after Israel had been defeated by the Philistines at Ebenezer, in order to assure the help of Yahweh to the people; but, instead of this, the ark fell into the hands of the Philistines (1 Samuel 4:1-22). But the various misfortunes that now afflicted the Philistines induced these to regard the possession of the ark as a calamity (1 Samuel 5:1-12) and they sent it back to Israel (1 Samuel 6:1-21). It was brought first to Bethshemesh in the tribe of Judah, near the borders of the Philistines, and soon after to Kiriath-jearim, about 7.5 miles Northwest of Jerusalem. There the ark remained for years in the house of a man by the name of Abinadab, whose son was its guardian (1 Samuel 7:1), until David brought it to Mount Zion, after he had established his camp and court there. He there placed it in a tent prepared for it (2 Samuel 6:1-23; 1 Chronicles 13:1-14; 1 Chronicles 15:1-29). In David's time again the ark was taken along into battle (2 Samuel 11:11). When David fled from the presence of Absalom, the priests wanted to accompany him with the ark, but he sent it back (2 Samuel 15:24 f). David had also intended to build a temple, in which the ark was to find its place, since before this it had always found its resting-place in a tent. But God forbade this through Nathan, because He was willing to build a house for David, but was not willing that David should build one for Him (2 Samuel 7:1-29). Solomon then built the temple and placed the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies of this temple, where it was placed under the wings of two mighty cherubim images (1 Kings 8:1-66; 2 Chronicles 5:1-14).
4. Prophetical and Poetical Books: Jeremiah in the passage 3:16, which certainly was written after the destruction of Jerusalem, states that in the future new Jerusalem nobody will any more concern himself about the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and no one will again build such a one. In the post-exilic Psalms 132:1-18 (verse 8), Yahweh is petitioned to occupy together with the ark, the symbol of His omnipotent presence, also the sanctuary that has been erected for Him, the poet describing himself and those who sing this psalm as participants in the home-bringing of the ark by David. No further mention is made of the ark of the covenant in the Psalter or the prophetical books.
5. The New Testament: In the New Testament the ark of the covenant is mentioned only in Hebrews 9:4 in the description of the Solomonic temple.
II. The Form of the Ark of the Covenant. According to the statements in the Priestly Code (P), the ark of the covenant was a chest made out of acacia wood, 2 1/2 cubits (about equal to 4 ft.) long, 1 1/2 cubits wide and 1 1/2 high. That it was made out of acacia wood is also stated by the Deuteronomist in Deuteronomy 10:3. According to P it was covered with gold within and without, and was ornamented with a moulding of gold running all around it. At its four feet rings were added, through which the gold-covere d carrying-staves were put. These staves are also mentioned in 1 Kings 8:7-8; 2 Chronicles 5:8-9, and mention is often made of those who carried the ark (2 Samuel 6:13; 15:24). The correctness of these statements cannot be proved, but yet there is no reason to doubt them. Rather we might have reason to hesitate in clinging to the view that on the old ark there was really a golden kapporeth, but only because in olden times the possession of such valuables and their use for such a purpose would be doubtful. But on the basis of such reasons we could at most doubt whether the lid with its cherubim consisted of solid gold. That the cherubim were attached to or above the ark is not at all improbable. That Solomon placed the ark in the Holy of Holies between two massive cherubim figures (1 Kings 6:19, 23 ff; 1 Kings 8:6) does not prove that there were no cherubim figures on the ark itself, or even that those cherubim figures, which according to Exodus 25:19 were found on the ark, were nothing else than those of Solomon's days in imagination transferred back to an earlier period (Vatke, Biblische Theologie, 1835, 333; Popper, Der biblische Bericht uber die Stiftshutte, 1862). In recent times the view has been maintained that the ark in reality was no ark at all but an empty throne. It was Reichel, in his work Vorhellenische Gotterkulte, who first expressed this view, and then Meinhold, Die Lade Jahwes, Tubingen, 1910, and Theologische Studien und Kritiken, 1901, 593-617, who developed this view in the following manner. It is claimed that in the days of Moses a throne-like rock at Mount Sinai was regarded as the seat of Yahweh, and when the Israelites departed from Sinai they made for themselves a portable throne, and Yahweh was regarded as sitting visibly enthroned upon this and accompanying His people. In the main the same view was maintained by Martin Dibellius (Die Lade Jahwes, Gottingen, 1906; Hermann Gunkel, Die Lade Jahwes ein Thronsitz, reprinted from the Zeitschrift fur Missionskunde und Religionswissenschaft, Heidelberg, 1906). The occasion for this view was given by the fact that among the Persians and other people there were empty thrones of the gods, which were carried or hauled around in processions. The reasons for finding in the ark of the covenant such an empty throne are found chiefly in this, that the passages in the Old Testament, in which it seems that the presence of God is made conditional on the presence of the ark (compare Numbers 14:42-44), can be explained if the ark is regarded as a throne of Yahweh. However, empty thrones of the gods are found only among the Aryan people, and all of the passages of the Old Testament which refer to the ark can be easily explained without such a supposition. This view is to be rejected particularly for this reason, that in the Old Testament the ark is always described as an ark, and never as a throne or a seat; and because it is absolutely impossible to see what reason would have existed at a later period to state that it was an ark if it had originally been a throne. Dibelius and Gunkel appeal also particularly to this, that in several passages, of which 1 Samuel 4:4; 2 Samuel 6:2 are the oldest, Yahweh is declared to be enthroned on the cherubim. But this proves nothing, because He is not called "He who is enthroned on the ark," and the cherubim and the ark are two different things, even if there were cherubim on the lid of the ark. Compare the refutation of Meinhold and Dibelius by Budde (ZATW , 1901, 193-200, and Theol. Studien und Kritiken, 1906, 489-507).
III. The Contents of the Ark of the Covenant. According to the Priestly Code the two tables of the law constituted the contents of the ark. In Exodus 25:16; 40:20, as also Deuteronomy 10:5, and, too, in 1 Kings 8:9, we have the same testimony. The majority of the modern critics regard this as an unhistorical statement first concocted by.the so-called "Deuteronomistic school." Their reasons for this are the following: (1) The critics deny that the existence of the Mosaic tables of the law is a historical fact; (2) The critics declare that if these tables had really been in possession of the Israelites, they would not have been so foolish as to put them into a box which it was forbidden to open; (3) The critics declare that the views entertained in olden times on the importance of the ark cannot be reconciled with the presence of the tables in the ark. But we reply: (1) that the actual existence of the two tables of the law is denied without sufficient reasons; that the ten principal formulas of the Decalogue, as these are given in Exodus 20:1-26 and Deuteronomy 5:1-33, come from Moses, must be insisted upon, and that according to Exodus 34:1-35 other ten commandments had been written on these tables is incorrect. The laws in Exodus 34:17-26 are not at all declared there to be the ten words which God intended to write upon the tables. But if Moses had prepared the tables for the commandments, then it is (2) only probable that he caused to be made a suitable chest for their preservation and their transportation through the desert. Now it might be thought that the view that the ark was so holy that it dared not be opened had originated only after the time of Moses. However, it is just as easily possible, that that importance had already been assigned by Moses to the tables in the ark which the sealed and carefully preserved copy of a business agreement would have and which is to be opened only in case of necessity (Jeremiah 32:11-14). Such a case of necessity never afterward materialized, because the Israelites were never in doubt as to what was written on these tables. On a verbatim reading no stress was laid in olden times. (3) With regard to the importance of the ark according to the estimate placed upon it in the earlier period of Israel, we shall see later that the traditions in reference to the tables harmonize fully with this importance.
Of the modern critics who have rejected this tradition, some have thought that the ark was empty, and that the Israelites thought that Yahweh dwelt in it (Guthe, Geschichte des Volkes Israel, 39), or that the empty chest was a kind of fetish (Schwally, Semitische Kriegsaltertumer, 1901, I, 10). As a rule they believe that a stone image of Yahweh or two stones had been placed in the ark, these being possibly meteor stones, in which it was thought that some divine power was dwelling (Stade, Geschichte Israels, I, 458); or possibly stones that in some battle or other had been hurled and through which a victory had been won (Couard, ZATW, XII, 76); or possibly they were the stones which at the alliance of the tribes that dwelt about Mount Sinai were first set up as testimonials of this covenant (Kraetzschmar, Die Bundesvorstellung im Alten Testament, 216). Of these views only the one which declares that the ark contained meteor stones deserves any notice, because it could indeed be thought possible that Israel would have taken with them on their journey through the desert such stones which they could have regarded as pledges of the Divine Presence fallen from heaven and could have preserved these in a sacred ark. But it is impossible to show that this view is probable, not to speak of proving it to be correct. The only extant tradition says that the ark contained the tables of the law, and this is the only view that is in harmony with what we must think of the whole work of Moses. Finally we must again remember that it is probable that Elohist and Jahwist, who speak both of the ark and also of the tables of the law, in the portions of these documents which have not been preserved, reported also that the tables were placed in the ark.
IV. The Names of the Ark of the Covenant. The name "ark of the covenant of Yahweh" was not originally found everywhere where it now stands, but in many places the words "of the covenant" were added later. However, the expression "ark of the covenant" is found in the oldest source of the Book of Sam (2 Samuel 15:24), and in 1 Kings 3:15 in the old source for the history of Solomon, of which the Deuteronomistic author of the Book of Kings made use; in 1 Kings 8:1, a very old account of the building of the temple; and the genuineness of the expression "ark of the covenant" in these passages is not with any good reasons to be called into question. Further the expression is found in the books of Numbers and Joshua, in a number of passages (Numbers 10:33; 14:44; Joshua 3:3, 6, 8; 9, 18; 6, 8), which in all probability belong to the document of Elohist. It appears that the Elohist designates the ark as the "ark of the covenant of God," or more briefly; as the "ark of the covenant," unless in a connected narrative he writes only " the ark," while in the Jahwist the principal appellation was "ark of Yahweh, the Lord of the whole earth" (compare Lotz, Die Bundeslade, 1901, 30-36). From this we must conclude that the appellation "ark of the covenant of Yahweh" must go back to very ancient times, and we must reject the view that this term took the place of the term "ark of Yahweh" in consequence of a change of views with reference to the ark, brought about through Deuteronomy. Indeed, since the name "ark of the covenant," as is proved by the Elohist, was nowhere mor e in use than in Ephraim, where they did not possess the ark and accordingly would have had the least occasion to introduce a new name for it, it can be accepted that the name originated in the oldest times, namely those of Moses. The other expression "ark of Yahweh" may be just as old and need not be an abbreviation of the other. It was possible to designate the ark as "ark of Yahweh" because it was a sanctuary belonging to Yahweh; and it was possible to call it also "the ark of the covenant of Yahweh," because it was a monument and evidence of the covenant which Yahweh had made with Israel. It is for this reason not correct to translate the expression 'aron berith Yahweh by "the ark of the law of Yahweh," as equivalent to "the ark which served as a place for preserving the law of the covenant." For berith does not signify "law," even if it was possible under certain circumstances to call a covenant "law" figuratively and synecdochically the "covenant"; and when 1 Kings 8:21 speaks of "the ark wherein is the covenant of Yahweh," the next words, "which he made with our fathers," show that covenant does not here mean "law," but rather the covenant relationship which in a certain sense is embodied in the tables.
In P the ark is also called "the ark of the testimony," and this too does not signify "ark of the law." For not already in P but only in later documents did the word `edhuth receive the meaning of "law" (Lotz, Die Bundeslade, 40). P means by "testimony" the Ten Words, through the proclamation of which the true God has given evidence of His real essence. But where this testimony is found engraved in the handwriting of God on the tables of stone, just there also is the place where He too is to be regarded as locally present.
V. The History of the Ark of the Covenant. According to the tradition contained in the Pentateuch the sacred ark was built at Mount Sinai and was taken by the Israelites along with them to Canaan. This must be accepted as absolutely correct. The supposition is groundless, that it was a shrine that the Israelites had taken over from the Canaanites. This view is refuted by the high estimate in which in Eli's time the ark was held by all Israel (1 Samuel 1:1-28 ff; 1 Samuel 2:22); and especially by the fact that the ark was at that time regarded as the property of that God who had brought Israel out of Egypt, and accordingly had through this ark caused the Canaanites to be conquered (1 Samuel 4:8; 6:6; 2 Samuel 7:6; 1 Kings 12:28). The opinion also that the ark was an ancient palladium of the tribe of Ephraim or of the descendants of Joseph and was only at a later period recognized by all Israel (Stade, Geschichte des Volkes Israel, I, 458) is not tenable, for we hear nothing to the effect that the descendants of Joseph concerned themselves more for the ark than the other tribes did. In the time of Eli the ark stood in the sanctuary at Shiloh. When Israel had been conquered by the Philistines, the ark was taken from Shiloh in order that Yahweh should aid His people. But notwithstanding this the Philistines yet conquered and captured the ark (1 Samuel 5:1-12). But the many misfortunes that overtook them made them think that the possession of the ark was destructive to them and they sent it back (1 Samuel 6:1-21). The ark first came to Bethshemesh, in the tribe of Judah, and then to Kiriath-jearim (or Baale-judah, 2 Samuel 6:2), about 7.5 miles Northwest of Jerusalem. There the ark remained for many years until David, after he had taken possession of Mount Zion, took it there (2 Samuel 6:1-23) and deposited it in a tent. Solomon brought it into the Holy of Holies in the temple (1 Kings 8:3-8), where in all probability it remained until the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar; for Jeremiah 3:16 proves that the Israelites felt that they were in possession of the ark up to this time.
VI. The Significance of the Ark. According to many investigators the ark was originally a war sanctuary. In favor of this it can be urged that Israel took it into their camp, in order that they might receive the help of Yahweh in the battle with the Philistines (1 Samuel 4:1-22); and further that also in the time of David the ark was again taken along into battle (2 Samuel 11:11; compare Psalms 24:1-10); note also the word of Moses, which he spoke when the ark was taken up to be carried: "Rise up, O Yahweh, and let thine enemies be scattered" (Numbers 10:35). However, nothing of what we know or presuppose concerning the form and the contents of the ark points to an original military purpose of the same; and in the other statements that are found elsewhere concerning the ark, a much more general significance is assigned to it. The significance which the ark had for the Israelites in connection with their wars is only the outcome of its signification as the symbol of the presence of Yahweh, who was not at all a God of war, but when His people were compelled to fight was their helper in the struggle.
A Symbol of the Divine Presence:
That the ark was designed to be a symbol of the presence of God in the midst of His people is the common teaching of the Old Testament. According to the Elohist the ark was made to serve as a comfort to the people for this, that they were to leave the mountain where God had caused them to realize His presence (Exodus 30:6). According to the Priestly Code (P), God purposed to speak with Moses from the place between the cherubim upon the ark. According to Judges 2:1 ff, the angel of Yahweh spoke in Bethel (Bochim) in reproof and exhortation to the people, after the ark of the covenant had been brought to that place; for the comparison of Numbers 10:33 ff and Exodus 23:20 ff shows that Judges 2:1 is to be understood as speaking of the transfer of the ark to Bethel. When Israel in the time of Eli was overpowered by the Philistines, the Israelites sent for the ark, in order that Yahweh should come into the camp of Israel, and this was also believed to be the case by the Philistines (1 Samuel 4:3 ff). After the ark had come to Bethshemesh and a pestilence had broken out there, the people did not want to keep the ark, because no one could live in the presence of Yahweh, this holy God (1 Samuel 6:20); and Jeremiah says (1 Samuel 3:16-17) that an ark of the covenant would not be again made after the restoration of Israel, but then Jerusalem would be called the "throne of Yahweh," i.e. it would so manifestly be the city of God that it would guarantee the presence of God at least just as much as the ark formerly did.
In olden times these things appeared more realistic to the people than they do to us; and when the ark was considered the visible representation of the presence of Yahweh, and as guaranteeing His presence, a close material connection was thought to exist between the ark and Yahweh, by virtue of which Divine powers were also thought to be present in the ark. The people at Bethshemesh were not willing to keep the ark any longer in their midst, because they could not live in its near presence. David's dancing before the ark is regarded by him and by the narrator of the event as a dancing before the Lord (2 Samuel 6:5, 14, 21), and in 2 Samuel 7:5 ff God says, through Nathan, that He had wandered around in a tent since He had led the Israelites out of Egypt.
But the view advocated by some of the modern critics, that the Israelites had thought that the ark was the dwelling-place or the throne-seat of Yahweh, is nevertheless not correct. This opinion cannot be harmonized with this fact, that in the sources, dating from the same olden times, mention is made of His dwelling in many places in Canaan and outside of Canaan, so that the idea that His presence or even He Himself is confined to the ark is impossible. The statement of Moses, "Rise up, O Yahweh, and let thine enemies be scattered" (Numbers 10:35), is not the command addressed to those who carry the ark to lift it up and thereby to lift Yahweh up for the journey, but is a demand made upon Yahweh, in accordance with His promise, to go ahead of Israel as the ark does. According to 1 Samuel 4:3 the Israelites did not say "We want to go and get Yahweh," but "We want to go and get the ark of Yahweh, so that He may come into our midst." They accordingly only wanted to induce Him to come by getting the ark. This, too, the priests and the soothsayers of the Philistines say: "Do not permit the ark of the God of the Israelites to depart without sending a gift along," but they do not speak thus of Yahweh. That Samuel, who slept near the ark, when he was addressed by Yahweh, did not at all at first think that Yahweh was addressing him, proves that at that time the view did not prevail that He was in the ark or had His seat upon it. Ancient Israel was accordingly evidently of the conviction that the ark was closely connected with Yahweh, that something of His power was inherent in the ark; consequently the feeling prevailed that when near the ark they were in a special way in the presence of and near to the Lord. But this is something altogether different from the opinion that the ark was the seat or the dwelling-place of Yahweh. Even if the old Israelites, on account of the crudeness of antique methods of thought, were not conscious of the greatness of this difference, the fact that this difference was felt is not a matter of doubt. That the ark was built to embody the presence of God among His people is just as clear from the statements of the Elohist, and probably also of the Jahwist, as it is from those of the Priestly Code (P); and if these have accordingly regarded the tables of the law as constituting the contents of the ark, then this is in perfect harmony with their views of this purpose, and we too must cling to these same views. For what would have been better adapted to make the instrument which represents the presence of God more suitable for this than the stone tables with the Ten Words, through which Yahweh had made known to His people His ethical character? For this very purpose it had to be an ark. The words on these tables were a kind of a spiritual portrait of the God of Israel, who could not be pictured in a bodily form. In this shape nobody in ancient Israel has formulated this thought, but that this thought was present is certain.
Wilhelm Lotz
Arkite
Arkite - ark'-it (`arqi): An inhabitant of the town of Arka, situated some ten or twelve miles Northeast of Tripoils, Syria, and about four miles from the shore of the sea. The Arkites are mentioned in Genesis 10:17 and 1 Chronicles 1:15 as being the descendants of Canaan, and they were undoubtedly of Phoenician stock. The place was not of much importance, but it is mentioned in the Assyrian inscriptions, under the name Irkatah and taken by Tiglathpileser III in 738 BC. Not being on the sea its trade was small and it probably belonged to Tripoli or Botrys originally. It was the birthplace of Alexander Severus, hence its Roman name, Caesarea Libani. Its site is marked by a high mound near the foothills of Lebanon.
H. Porter
Arm
Arm - arm (zeroa`, 'ezroa`, dera`; brachion; chotsen, katheph): The usual form is zeroa` from the root zara`, "to spread." The arm may be "stretched out." 'Ezroa` is this form with prosthetic 'aleph (Job 31:22; Jeremiah 32:21), and dera` is the Aramaic form. Chotsen is really "bosom," thus the Revised Version (British and American) (Isaiah 49:22); and katheph is "shoulder," thus the Revised Version (British and American) (Job 31:22). Compare cheir, also, in Acts 11:21.
Figurative: The arm denotes influence, power, means of support or conquest. The arms of Moab (Jeremiah 48:25) and of Pharaoh (Ezekiel 30:21 ff) are broken. The arm of Eli and the arm of his father's house are to be cut off (1 Samuel 2:31). Because the arm wielded the sword it signified "oppression" (Job 35:9). The arms are the means of support, therefore to refuse to aid the fatherless is to break their arms (Job 22:9).
Applied anthropomorphically to God, the arm denotes also His power, power to deliver, support, conquer. His "outstretched arm" delivered Israel from Egypt (Exodus 6:6; Deuteronomy 4:34, etc.). They support: "Underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deuteronomy 33:27). His arm protects (Isaiah 40:11). Yahweh is sometimes likened to a warrior and smites with His arm (Psalms 89:10; Isaiah 63:5; Jeremiah 21:5). The arm of Yahweh is holy (Psalms 98:1; Isaiah 52:10). Many other passages of Scripture might be quoted showing how the power of God to redeem, judge, protect, punish is expressed by the idea of "the arm of Yahweh."
S. F. Hunter
Armageddon
Armageddon - ar-ma-ged'-on Armageddon: Revelation 16:16; the Revised Version (British and American) "HAR-MAGEDON") (which see).
Armenia
Armenia - ar-me'-ni-a:
I. GEOGRAPHY
II. ANCIENT HISTORY
1. Turanian Armenians
Their Religion
2. Aryan Armenians: History to 114 AD
LITERATURE
I. Geography. 'araraT (Sumerian Ar, "region," plus ar "high," plus Tu, "mountain," plus "high mountainous region"): in Assyrian, UrTu, UrarTu, UrasTu: in AEgyp, Ermenen (= "Region of the Minni") Wiener, Origin of the Pentateuch, Armina, Armaniyqa (Armenia): in Hecataeus of Miletus, circa 520 BC, the people are Armenioi (Genesis 8:4; 2 Kings 19:37; Isaiah 37:38; Jeremiah 51:27). Throughout the Bible, this is a country, not a mountain. Armenia Major was bounded on the North by the River Cyrus (Kour), Iberia, Colchis, and the Moschici Mts.; on the West by Asia Minor and the Euphrates; on the South by Mesopotamia and Assyria; on the East by the Caspian and Media. (Armenia Minor lay between the Euphrates and the Halys.) Ararat was originally the name of the central district. Most of Armenia is between 8,000 and 3,000 feet above sea-level, and slopes toward Euphrates, Cyrus, and the Gaspian. Mt. Massis (generally called Greater Ararat) is 16,969 ft. and Lesser Ararat, 12,840 ft. Both are of igneous origin, as is Aragds (A`la Goz), 13,436 ft. Sulphur springs and earthquakes still attest volcanic activity. The largest rivers are the Euphrates, Tigris and Araxes. The latter, swift and famed for violent floods, joins the Cyrus, which falls into the Caspian. The lakes Van, Urmi and Sevan are veritable inland seas. The many mountain chains, impassable torrents and large streams divide the country into districts far less accessible from one another than from foreign lands. Hence, invasions are easy and national union difficult. This has sadly affected the history of Armenia. Xenophon (Anab. iv.5) describes the people as living in houses partly underground, such as are still found. Each village was ruled by its chief according to ancient customary laws. He well describes the severity of the winters. In summer the climate in some places is like that of Italy or Spain. Much of Armenia is extremely fertile, producing large herds of horses and cattle, abundant crops of cereals, olives and fruit. It is rich in minerals, and is probably the home of the rose and the vine.
LITERATURE.
Minas Gaphamatzean; Garagashean; Palasanean; Entir Chatouadsner, I; Rawlinson, Seven Anc. Monarchies; Strabo; Xenophon; Petermann, Mittheilungen for 1871; Bryce, Transcaucasia and Ararat.
II. Ancient History. 1. Turanian Armenians: The country is first mentioned in Genesis 8:4 as the land upon (some one of) the mountains of which Noah's Ark rested. (According to Jewish tradition this was one of the Kurdish mountains.) It is next spoken of by Sargon I of Agade, circa 3800 BC, as among his conquests. In early Babylonian legends Armenia figures as an almost unknown land far to the North, full of high mountains and dense forests, containing the entrance to the Lower World (Mad Nu-ga, "Land of No Return"). On its borders stood Mt. Nisir where the gods dwelt and Cit-napistim's "ship" stopped. This "Mountain of the World" was the present Jabal Judi, South of Lake Van. Next came Egyptian influence. Thothmes III, in his twenty-third year (circa 1458 BC), after a great victory over the Rutennu or Ludennu (Mesopotamians and Lydians), received the submission of the "chiefs of Ermenen" and others. It is remarkable that the name by which the land is still known to foreigners (Armenians call it Chaiastan) should occur so early. In his thirty-third year, Thothmes III mentions the people of Ermenen as paying tribute when he held his court at Nineveh, and says that in their land "heaven rests upon its four pillars." In Seti I's Hall of Columns at Karnak we see the people of Ermenen felling trees in order to open a way through their forests for that king's armies. Rameses II in his twenty-first year, in war with Kheta-sira, king of the Hittites, probably subdued Armenia (compare Tacitus Ann. ii.60). Many places conquered by Rameses III, and mentioned in the Medinet Habu lists, were probably in Armenia. The Assyrian king Uras-Pal-acur (circa 1190-1170 BC) made a raid into Armenia, and mentions the central district (UrarTu proper, near Lake Van), the land of the Manna (Minni, Jeremiah 51:27), Nahri ("the Rivers"), Ashguza (Ashkenaz, ib), etc. Another invader was Tiglath-pileser I (circa 1110-1090 BC). Asshut-nacir-pal in 883 BC advanced to UrarTu. A little later he mentions as articles of Armenian tribute chariots, horses, mules, silver, gold, plates of copper, oxen, sheep, wine, variegated cloths, linen garments. Again and again he carried fire and sword through the country, but it constantly revolted. Under Shalmaneser II (860-825 BC) and afterward for centuries wars continued. By uniting and forming powerful kingdoms (of which the principal was Biainash around Lake Van) the Armenians resisted. Finally in 606 BC they took part in the destruction of Nineveh, and in that of Babylon later. Shalmaneser II tells of the wickerwork coracles on Lake Van. The Balawat bronzes depict Armenians dressed like the Hittites (to whom they were sometimes subject) in tunics and snow-shoes with turned-up and pointed ends, wearing helmets, swords, spears and small round shields. Sayce compares their faces in form to the Negro type. Possibly they were Mongolians.
The founder of the kingdom of Biainash was Sardurish I, about 840 BC, who built as his capital Tushpash, now Van. He ruled most of Armenia, defending it against the Assyrians, and apparently, inflicting a check on Shalmaneser II in 833 BC. He introduced the cuneiform characters, and his inscriptions are in Assyrian. His son Ishpuinish adapted the Assyrian syllabary to his own tongue, which bears a slight resemblance to Georgian in some points. The next king, Menuash, has left inscriptions almost all over Armenia, telling of his victories over the Hittites, etc. The kingdom of Biainash reached its acme under the great monarch Argishtish I, who succeeded in defending his country against Shalmaneser III (783-772 BC). But in his son's reign Tiglath-pileser IV (748-727 BC: Pul) crushed the Armenians to the dust in a great battle near Commagene in 743. Pul failed to capture Van in 737, but he ravaged the country far and wide. Rusash I, at the head of an Armenian confederacy, began a great struggle in 716 with Sargon (722-705), who in 714 captured Van with Rusash's family. After 5 months' wandering Rusash committed suicide. His brother Argishtish II to some degree recovered independence. His successor Erimenash gave an asylum to Adrammelech and Sharezer (Assur-sar-ucur) in 680 (2 Kings 19:37; Isaiah 37:38) after the murder of their father Sennacherib. Invading Assyria in the same year, they were defeated by Esar-haddon I. Armenia from the Cyrus River to the South of Lake Van was ravaged by the Kimmerians (679-677). Rusash II (circa 660-645) and his son Sandurish III (the latter circa 640 or soon after) submitted to Ashurbanipal (668-626). Nebuchadnezzar (604-561) boasts of reaching Van in his conquests, though the Armenians had probably their share in the destruction of Nineveh in 606. Jer (51:27) mentioned the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz about 595, and said they would help in the overthrow of Babylon (in 538). Cyrus had therefore probably subdued or won them over after capturing Ekbatana (549). After this the Turanians gradually gave place in Armenia to the Aryan Armenians of later times.
Their Religion.
The supreme god of the Turanian Armenians was Chaldish, who was father of all the rest. They were styled "children of mighty Chaldish." He, with Teishbash, god of the atmosphere, and Ardinish, the Sun-god, formed "the company of the mighty gods." Auish, god of water; Ayash, god of the earth; Shelardish, the Moon-god; Sardish, the Year-god; and 42 other gods are mentioned. Sari was a goddess, probably corresponding to Ishtar. Adoration was offered to the spirits of the dead also. Somewhat strangely, some of the divine names we have mentioned remind one of certain Aryan (Greek and Old Pers) words, however this may be accounted for.
LITERATURE.
Valdemar Schmidt, Assyriens og AEgyptens Gamle Historie; Maspero, Dawn of Civilization; Rawlinson, West. Asiat. Inscrs; Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek (Schrader, editor); Airarat, 1883; Sayce in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, new series, XIV; Records of the Past; Hastings, End of Religion and Ethics, I.
2. Aryan Armenians: History to 114 AD: The ancestors of the present Armenians (who call themselves Chaik'h, i.e. Pati-s, "Lords") may have settled in the country in the 8th century BC, when Sargon mentions a king of part of Armenia who bore the Aryan name Bagadatti (= Theodore). They came from Phrygia (Herod. vii.73), used the Phrygian dress and armor (Dion. of Halicarnassus; Eudoxius; Herod.) and spoke the same language (Herod. i.171). In the Bible they are called the "House of Togarmah" (Genesis 10:3; 1 Chronicles 1:6; Ezekiel 27:14; 38:6) and "Ashkenaz" (Genesis 10:3; 1 Chronicles 1:6; Jeremiah 51:27; the Assyrian Ashguza), as by their own writers of later times. Xenophon in the Cyropedia mentions a Median conquest of Armenia, Strabo their Median attire; yet Armenian girls could not understand Xenophon's Persian interpreter (Anab. iv.5). Three of the four Armenians mentioned by Darius have Aryan names. The Armenians joined the Median noble Fravartish in his revolt against Darius I (519 BC). Much of the consequent fighting took place in Armenia, which was with difficulty subdued (517). It formed part of Darius' thirteenth Nome, and afterward two satrapies (apparently Armenia Major and Minor). The government (of Armenia Major) was made hereditary in the family of Vidarna (Hydarnes) for helping to put down Fravartish. Xenophon's interesting description of the country and people and the severity of its winters is well known. Herodotus tells of Armenians in skin and wicker-work coracles bringing wine, etc., to Babylon. Xenophon says they and the Chaldeans traded with India. Strabo mentions their caravan trade across central Asia. The satrap of Armenia had to present 20,000 young horses annually to the king of Persia at the great annual festival of Mithra. A large body of Armenian soldiers served in Xerxes' invasion of Greece. At the battle of Arbela (331 BC), 40,000 of their infantry and 7,000 cavalry took part. Armenia then became a portion of Alexander's empire, and later of that of Seleucus (301 BC), under a native satrap, Artavasdes. Armenia revolted after Antiochus' defeat at Magnesia (190 BC), and the Romans encouraged the two satraps to declare themselves kings. Artaxias, king of Armenia Major, used Hannibal's aid in fortifying his capital Artaxata (189 BC). Artaxias was overthrown by Antiochus Epiphanes in 165, but was restored on swearing allegiance. Civil confusion ensued. The nobles called in the Parthians under Mithridates I (150 BC), who became master of the whole Persian empire. He made his brother Valarsaces king of Armenia. Thus the Arsacide dynasty was established in that country and lasted till the fall of the Parthian empire (226 AD), the Armenian kings very generally recognizing the Parthian monarchs as their suzerains. The greatest Armenian king was Tigranes I. (96-55 BC), a warrior who raised Armenia for a time to the foremost position in Asia. He humbled the Parthians, joined Mithridates VI in war with Rome, ruled Syria for over 14 years, built near Mardin as his capital Tigranocerta, and assumed the Assyrio-Persian title of "King of Kings." Lucullus defeated Tigranes and destroyed Tigranocerta in 69 BC. Tigranes surrendered to Pompey near Artaxata (66 BC), paid 6,000 talents, and retained only Armenia. Under him Greek art and literature flourished in the country. Armenia as a subjectally of Rome became a "buffer state" between the Roman and Parthian empires. Tigranes' son and successor Artevasdes joined in the Parthian invasion of Syria after Crassus' overthrow at Sinnaca 53 BC. He treacherously caused great loss to Antony's army in 36 BC. Antony carried him in chains to Egypt, where Cleopatra put him to death in 32 BC. After this, Armenia long remained subject to the Romans whenever not strong enough to join the Parthians, suffering much from intrigues and the jealousy of both powers. There is no proof of the later Armenian story that Armenia was subject to Abgarus, king of Edessa, in our Lord's time, and that the gospel was preached there by Thaddaeus, though the latter point is possible. In 66 AD, Tiridates, elder brother of the Parthian king Vologeses, having defeated the Romans under Paetus and established himself on the throne of Armenia, went by land to Rome and received investiture from Nero. Peace between Rome and Parthia ensued, and Armenia remained closely united to Parthia till Trajan's expedition in 114 AD.
LITERATURE.
Spiegel, Altpers. Keilinschriften; Herodotus; Xenophon; Arrian; Tacitus; Velleius Patroculus; Livy; Polybius; Ammianus Marcellinus.
W. St. Clair Tisdall
Armenian Versions, of the Bible
Armenian Versions, of the Bible - ar-me'-ni-an vur'-shuns, bi'-bl.
I. ANCIENT ARMENIAN
1. Circumstances under Which Made
2. The Translators
Apocrypha Omitted
3. Revision
4. Results of Circulation
5. Printed Editions
II. MODERN ARMENIAN VERSIONS
1. Ararat-Armenian
2. Constantinopolitan-Armenian
III. ARMENIAN LANGUAGE
LITERATURE
I. Ancient Armenian. 1. Circumstances under Which Made: Armenia was in large measure Christianized by Gregory Lousavorich ("the Illuminator": consecrated 302 AD; died 332), but, as Armenian had not been reduced to writing, the Scriptures used to be read in some places in Greek, in others in Syriac, and translated orally to the people. A knowledge of these tongues and the training of teachers were kept up by the schools which Gregory and King Tiridates had established at the capital Vagharshapat and elsewhere. As far as there was any Christianity in Armenia before Gregory's time, it had been almost exclusively under Syrian influence, from Edessa and Samosata. Gregory introduced Greek influence and culture, though maintaining bonds of union with Syria also. When King Sapor of Persia became master of Armenia (378 AD), he not only persecuted the Christians most cruelly, but also, for political reasons, endeavored to prevent Armenia from all contact with the Byzantine world. Hence his viceroy, the renegade Armenian Merouzhan, closed the schools, proscribed Greek learning, and burnt all Greek books, especially the Scriptures. Syriac books were spared, just as in Persia itself; but in many cases the clergy were unable to interpret them to their people. Persecution had not crushed out Christianity, but there was danger lest it should perish through want of the Word of God. Hence several attempts were made to translate the Bible into Armenian. It is said that Chrysostom, during his exile at Cucusus (404-407 AD), invented an Armenian alphabet and translated the Psalter, but this is doubtful. But when Arcadius ceded almost all Armenia to Sapor about 396 AD, something had to be done. Hence in 397 the celebrated Mesrob Mashtots and Isaac (Sachak) the Catholicos resolved to translate the Bible. Mesrob had been a court secretary, and as such was well acquainted with Pahlavi, Syriac and Greek, in which three languages the royal edicts were then published. Isaac had been born at Constantinople and educated there and at Caesarea. Hence he too was a good Greek scholar, besides being versed in Syriac and Pahlavi, which latter was then the court language in Armenia. But none of these three alphabets was suited to express the sounds of the Armenian tongue, and hence, an alphabet had to be devised for it.
2. The Translators: A council of the nobility, bishops and leading clergy was held at Vagharshapat in 402, King Vramshapouch being present, and this council requested Isaac to translate the Scriptures into the vernacular. By 406, Mesrob had succeeded in inventing an alphabet--practically the one still in use--principally by modifying the Greek and the Pahlavi characters, though some think the Palmyrene alphabet had influence. He and two of his pupils at Samosata began by translating the Book of Proverbs, and then the New Testament, from the Greek Meanwhile, being unable to find a single Greek manuscript in the country, Isaac translated the church lessons from the Peshitta Syriac, and published this version in 411. He sent two of his pupils to Constantinople for copies of the Greek Bible. These men were present at the Council of Ephesus, 431 AD. Probably Theodoret (De Cura Graec. Affect., I, 5) learned from them what he says about the existence of the Bible in Armenian. Isaac's messengers brought him copies of the Greek Bible from the Imperial Library at Constantinople--doubtless some of those prepared by Eusebius at Constantine's command. Mesrob Mashtots and Isaac, with their assistants, finished and published the Armenian (ancient) version of the whole Bible in 436. La Croze is justified in styling it Queen of versions Unfortunately the Old Testament was rendered (as we have said) from the Septuagint, not from the Hebrew. But the Apocrypha was not translated, only "the 22 Books" of the Old Testament, as Moses of Khorene informs us. This was due to the influence of the Peshitta Old Testament.
Apocrypha Omitted.
Not till the 8th century was the Apocrypha rendered into Armenian: it was not read in Armenian churches until the 12th. Theodotion's version of Daniel was translated, instead of the very inaccurate Septuagint. The Alexandrine text was generally followed but not always.
3. Revision: In the 6th century the Armenian version is said to have been revised so as to agree with the Peshitta. Hence, probably in Matthew 28:18 the King James Version, the passage, "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you," is inserted as in the Peshitta, though it occurs also in its proper place (John 20:21). It reads "Jesus Barabbas" in Matthew 27:16-17--a reading which Origen found "in very ancient manuscripts." It contains Luke 22:43-44. As is well known, in the Etschmiadzin manuscript of 986 AD, over Mark 16:9-20, are inserted the words, "of Ariston the presbyter"; but Nestle (Text. Criticism of the Greek New Testament, Plate IX, etc.) and others omit to notice that these words are by a different and a later hand, and are merely an unauthorized remark of no great value.
4. Results of Circulation: Mesrob's version was soon widely circulated and became the one great national book. Lazarus Pharpetsi, a contemporary Armenian historian, says he is justified in describing the spiritual results by quoting Isaiah and saying that the whole land of Armenia was thereby "filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." But for it, both church and nation would have perished in the terrible persecutions which have now lasted, with intervals, for more than a millennium and a half.
5. Printed Editions: This version was first printed somewhat late: the Psalter at Rome in 1565, the Bible by Bishop Oskan of Erivan at Amsterdam in 1666, from a very defective MS; other editions at Constantinople in 1705, Venice in 1733. Dr. Zohrab's edition of the New Testament in 1789 was far better. A critical edition was printed at Venice in 1805, another at Serampore in 1817. The Old Testament (with the readings of the Hebrew text at the foot of the page) appeared at Constantinople in 1892 ff.
II. Modern Armenian Versions. There are two great literary dialects of modern Armenian, in which it was necessary to publish the Bible, since the ancient Armenian (called Grapar, or "written") is no longer generally understood. The American missionaries have taken the lead in translating Holy Scripture into both.
1. Ararat-Armenian: The first version of the New Testament into Ararat Armenian, by Dittrich, was published by the British and Foreign Bible Society at Moscow in 1835; the Psalter in 1844; the rest of the Old Testament much later. There is an excellent edition, published at Constantinople in 1896.
2. Constantinopolitan-Armenian: A version of the New Testament into Constantinopolitan Armenian, by Dr. Zohrab, was published at Paris in 1825 by the British and Foreign Bible Society. This version was made from the Ancient Armenian. A revised edition, by Adger, appeared at Smyrna in 1842. In 1846 the American missionaries there published a version of the Old Testament. The American Bible Society have since published revised editions of this version.
III. Armenian Language. The Armenian language is now recognized by philologists to be, not a dialect or subdivision of ancient Persian or Iranian, but a distinct branch of the Aryan or Indo-European family, standing almost midway between the Iranian and the European groups. In some respects, especially in weakening and ultimately dropping "t" and "d" between vowels, it resembles the Keltic tongues (compare GaelicA (th)air, Arm. Chair = Pater, Father). As early as the 5th century it had lost gender in nouns, though retaining inflections (compare Brugmann, Elements of Comp. Greek of Indo-German Languages).
LITERATURE.
Koriun; Agathangelos; Lazarus Pharpetsi; Moses Khorenatsi (= of Chorene); Faustus Byzantinus; Chhamchheants; Chaikakan Hin Dprouthian Patm; Chaikakan Thargmanouthiunk'h Nak'hneants; The Bible of Every Land; Tisdall, Conversion of Armenia; Nestle, Textual Criticism of the Greek New Testament; Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible (five volumes); N.Y. Cyclopaedia of Biblical. and Theol. Lit.; Hauck, Real-encyklopadie fur protest. Theol. und Kirche.
W. St. Clair Tisdall
Armenian; Aryan; Religion
Armenian; Aryan; Religion - ar-me'-ni-an, ar'-i-an. This greatly resembled that of Persia, though Zoroastrianism and its dualistic system were not professed. We are thus enabled to judge how far the religion of the Avesta is due to Zoroaster's reformation. Aramazd (Ahura Mazda), creator of heaven and earth, was father of all the chief deities. His spouse was probably Spandaramet (Spenta Armaiti), goddess of the earth, who was later held to preside over the underworld (compare Persephone; Hellenistic). Among her assistants as genii of fertility were Horot and Morot (HaurvataT and AmeretaT), tutelary deities of Mt. Massis (now styled Ararat). Aramazd's worship seems to have fallen very much into the background in favor of that of inferior deities, among the chief of whom was his daughter Anahit (Anahita), who had temples in many places. Her statues were often of the precious metals, and among her many names were "Golden Mother" and "Goddess of the Golden Image." Hence to the present day the word "Golden" enters into many Armenian names. White heifers and green boughs were offered her as goddess of fruitfulness, nor was religious prostitution in her honor uncommon. Next in popularity came her sister Astghik ("the little star"), i.e. the planet Venus, goddess of beauty, wife of the deified hero Vahagn (Verethraghna). He sprang from heaven, earth, and sea, and overthrew dragons and other evil beings. Another of Anahit's sisters was Nane (compare Assyrian Nana, Nannaea), afterward identified with Athene. Her brother Mihr (Mithra) had the sun as his symbol in the sky and the sacred fire on earth, both being objects of worship. In his temples a sacred fire was rekindled once a year. Aramazd's messenger and scribe was Tiur or Tir, who entered men's deeds in the "Book of Life." He led men after death to Aramazd for judgment. Before birth he wrote men's fates on their foreheads. The place of punishment was Dzhokhk'h (= Persian Duzakh). To the sun and moon sacrifices were offered on the mountain-tops. Rivers and sacred springs and other natural objects were also adored. Prayer was offered facing eastward. Omens were taken from the rustling of the leaves of the sacred Sonean forest. Armavir was the religious capital.
Among inferior spiritual existences were the Arlezk'h, who licked the wounds of those slain in battle and restored them to life. The Parikk'h were evidently the Pairakas (Peris) of Persia. The Armenian mythology told of huge dragons which sometimes appeared as men, sometimes as worms, or basilisks, elves, sea-bulls, dragon-lions, etc. As in Persia, the demons made darts out of the parings of a man's nails to injure him with. Therefore these parings, together with teeth and trimmings of hair, must be hidden in some sacred place.
LITERATURE.
Eznik Goghbatzi; Agathangelos; Moses of Khorene; Eghishe; Palasanean; Faustus Byzantinus; Chhamchheantz; Plutarch; Strabo; Tacitus. See my "Conversion of Armenia," R.T.S.; The Expositor T, II, 202 ff.
W. St. Clair Tisdall
Armhole
Armhole - arm'-hol: The Hebrew word 'atstsil, is used in Jeremiah 38:12 in the sense of armpits. When the prophet was pulled up out of the pit by ropes, the armpits were protected with rags and old garments. The meaning in Ezekiel 13:18 the King James Version (the Revised Version (British and American) "elbows," the Revised Version, margin "joints of the hands") is far from clear. The phrase is used, without doubt, of some ornament or article of dress worn by the false prophetesses and priestesses of Ashtaroth in order to allure the unwary and tempt the simple. The "pillows" were probably "amulets" supposed to have magical virtues, and worn on the arms or wrists.
W. W. Davies
Armlet
Armlet - arm'-let: The word translated "bracelet" in 2 Samuel 1:10 the King James Version, probably denotes an "armlet," or "arm-band," worn on the upper arm. But it is the same word which with a different context is rendered "ankle-chains" (in Numbers 31:50 the Revised Version (British and American)). The "bracelet" of Sirach 21:21 the King James Version, worn upon the right arm, was an "armlet," as is seen from the list given of Judith's ornaments: who "decked herself bravely with her armlets (the Revised Version (British and American) `chains') and her bracelets, and her rings, and her ear-rings, and all her ornaments" (Judith 10:4). The nature of the ornaments given in the Revised Version (British and American) as "armlets," Exodus 35:22; Numbers 31:50, and in the King James Version as "tablets," is uncertain. For full and distinguishing, descriptions of "arm-lets," "anklets," "bracelets," etc., found in ancient graves, see PEFS , 1905, 318 ff.
See also ORNAMENT.
George B. Eager
Armoni
Armoni - ar-mo'-ni ('armoni, "belonging to the palace"): One of the two sons of Saul by Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah (2 Samuel 21:8). David delivered them over to the blood vengeance of the Gibeonites.
Armor; Arms
Armor; Arms - ar'-mer, arms.
I. ARMOR IN GENERAL--OLD TESTAMENT
II. IN THE NEW TESTAMENT; POLYBIUS
III. OFFENSIVE WEAPONS
1. Rod
2. Sling
3. Bow and Arrows
4. Spear--Javelin
5. Sword
IV. DEFENSIVE WEAPONS
1. Shield
2. Helmet
3. Coat of Mail
4. Greaves
5. Girdle
LITERATURE
I. Armor in General--Old Testament. (maddim; 1 Samuel 17:38; 14:1 the Revised Version (British and American) APPAREL; nesheq, 1 Kings 10:25; Job 39:21; kelim; ta hopla): Under this head it may be convenient to notice the weapons of attack and defense in use among the Hebrews, mentioned in Scripture. There are no such descriptions given by the sacred writers as are to be found in Homer, who sets forth in detail the various pieces of armor worn by an Achilles or a Patroclus, and the order of putting them on. There is an account of the armor offensive and defensive of the Philistine Goliath (1 Samuel 17:5-7); and from a much later time we read of shields and spears and helmets and habergeons, or coats of mail, and bows and slings with which Uzziah provided his soldiers (2 Chronicles 26:14). In Jeremiah's ode of triumph over the defeat of Pharaoh-neco, there is mention of the arms of the Egyptians: "Prepare ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle. Harness the horses, and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, put on the coats of mail" (Jeremiah 46:3-4). Of the arms of Assyrian, Chaldean, Egyptian and Hittite soldiery there have come down to us sculptured representations from their ancient monuments, which throw light upon the battlepieces of the Hebrew historians and prophets.
II. In the New Testament; Polybius. In the New Testament, Paul describes the panoply of the Christian soldier, naming the essential pieces of the Roman soldier's armor--the girdle, the breastplate, the footgear, the shield, the helmet, the sword--although it is to be noticed that his most characteristic weapon, the pilum or spear, is omitted (Ephesians 6:10-17). In a similar context the same apostle speaks of "the armor" of light (Romans 13:12), "of righteousness on the right hand and on the left" (2 Corinthians 6:7). Of the equipment of the Roman soldier in detail, the most useful illustration is the account given by Polybius (vi.23): "The Roman panoply consists in the first place of a shield (thureos). .... Along with the shield is a sword (machaira). .... Next come two javelins (hussoi) and a helmet (perikephalaia), and a greave (knemis). ..... Now the majority, when they have further put on a bronze plate, measuring a span every way, which they wear on their breasts and call a heart-guard (kardiophulax), are completely armed, but those citizens who are assessed at more than 10,000 drachmae wear instead, together with the other arms, cuirasses made of chain mail (halusidotous thorakas)."
III. Offensive Weapons. 1. Rod: The commonest weapon in the hands of the shepherd youth of Palestine today is the rod (shebheT; rhabdos), a stick loaded at one end, which he carries in his hand, or wears attached to his wrist by a loop of string, ready for use. It is of considerable weight and is a formidable weapon whether used in self-defense or in attacking a foe. With such a weapon David may well have overcome the lion and the bear that invaded the fold. This shepherd's rod, while used for guidance, or comfort, or for numbering the flock (Psalms 23:4; Leviticus 27:32), was also a weapon with which to strike and punish (Psalms 2:9; Isaiah 10:5, 15). In this sense it has for a synonym maTTeh (Isaiah 9:4; Ezekiel 7:11), and both came to have the derived meaning of spearheads (shebheT, 2 Samuel 18:14; maTTeh, 1 Samuel 14:27). They may have been the original of the maul or hammer (mephits, Proverbs 25:18; Jeremiah 51:20, where Cyrus, as God's battle-axe, is to shatter Babylon and its inhabitants for the wrongs they have done to His people Israel).
2. Sling: Scarcely less common and equally homely is the sling (qela`; sphendone) (1 Samuel 17:40). It consists of plaited thongs, or of one strip of leather, made broad at the middle to form a hollow or pocket for the stone or other contents, the ends being held firmly in the hand as it is whirled loaded round the head, and one of them being at length let go, so that the stone may take its flight. It is used by the shepherd still to turn the straying sheep, and it can also be used with deadly effect as a weapon of war. The slingers (ha-qalla`im, 2 Kings 3:25) belonged to the light infantry, like the archers. The Benjamites were specially skilled in the use of the sling, which they could use as well with their left hand as the right (Judges 20:16). The sling was a weapon in use in the armies of Egypt and Babylonia, and Jeremiah in a powerful figure makes the Lord say to Jerusalem in a time of impending calamity: "Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time" (Jeremiah 10:18; compare 1 Samuel 25:29).
3. Bow and Arrows: A very important offensive weapon in the wars of Israel was the bow (qesheth) and arrows (chitstsim), and the archers whether mounted or on foot formed a powerful element of the fighting forces of the Philistines, Egyptians and Assyrians (s.v. ARCHERY; BOW).
4. Spear--Javelin: The spear has various words to represent it. (1) The chanith had a wooden staff or shaft of varying size and length with a head, or blade, of bronze, or, at a later time, of iron (1 Samuel 17:7). In the King James Version it is sometimes translated "javelin," but in the Revised Version (British and American) "spear" (see 1 Samuel 13:22; 18:11). Saul's spear, stuck in the ground, betokened the abode of the king for the time, just as today the spear in front of his tent marks the halting-place of the Bedouin Sheikh (1 Samuel 22:6; 26:7). Nahum, describing the arms of the Assyrians, joins together the flashing sword and the glittering spear (Nahum 3:3). The bearers of the chanith belonged to the heavy-armed troops. (2) The romach, also translated in the King James Version "javelin," was of the character of a lance. It does not appear to have differed much from the chanith--they appear as synonyms in Joel 3:10, where romach is used, and in Isaiah 2:1-22, 4 where chanith is used, of spears beaten into pruning hooks. It describes the Egyptian spear in Jeremiah 46:4. The bearers of the romach also belonged to the heavy-armed troops. (3) The kidhon was lighter than either of the preceding and more of the nature of a javelin (gaison in the Septuagint, Joshua 8:18 and Polybius vi.39, 3; Job 41:29; Jeremiah 6:23). (4) In the New Testament the word "spear" occurs only once and is represented by the Greek logche, the equivalent no doubt of chanith as above (John 19:34).
5. Sword: The sword (cherebh) is by far the most frequently mentioned weapon in Scripture, whether offensive or defensive. The blade was of iron (1 Samuel 13:19; Joel 3:10). It was hung from the girdle on the left side, and was used both to cut and to thrust. Ehud's sword (Judges 3:16) was double-edged and a cubit in length, and, as he was left-handed, was worn on his right thigh under his clothes. The sword was kept in a sheath (1 Samuel 17:51); to draw the sword was the signal for war (Ezekiel 21:3). Soldiers are "men who draw the sword." It is the flashing sword (Nahum 3:3); the oppressing sword (Jeremiah 46:16); the devouring sword (2 Samuel 18:8; Jeremiah 12:12); the sword which drinks its fill of blood (Isaiah 34:5-6). The sword of the Lord executes God's judgments (Jeremiah 47:6; Ezekiel 21:9-10 ff).
Figurative: In the highly metaphorical language of the prophets it stands for war and its attendant calamities (Jeremiah 50:35-37; Ezekiel 21:28).
In the New Testament machaira is employed for sword in its natural meaning (Matthew 26:47, 51; Acts 12:2; Hebrews 11:34, 37). Paul calls the Word of God the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17); and in the Epistle to Hebrews the Word of God is said to be sharper than any two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12). As a synonym the word rhomphaia is used in the Apocrypha alone of the New Testament books, save for Luke 2:35. It was the Thracian sword with large blade, and is classed by the ancients rather as a spear. The word is used frequently in the Septuagint like machaira to translate cherebh. In Revelation 1:16 the sharp two-edged sword of judgment, rhomphaia is seen in vision proceeding out of the mouth of the glorified Lord (compare Revelation 19:15). Xiphos is still another word for sword, but it is found only in the Septuagint, and not in the New Testament.
IV. Defensive Weapons. 1. Shield: The most ancient and universal weapon of defense is the shield. The two chief varieties are (1) the tsinnah, Latin scutum, the large shield, worn by heavy-armed infantry, adapted to the form of the human body, being made oval or in the shape of a door; hence, its Greek name, thureos, from thura, a door; and (2) the maghen, Latin clypeus, the light, round hand-buckler, to which pelte is the Greek equivalent. The two are often mentioned together (Ezekiel 23:24; 38:4; Psalms 35:2).
The tsinnah was the shield of the heavy-armed (1 Chronicles 12:24); and of Goliath we read that his shield was borne by a man who went before him (1 Samuel 17:7, 41) The maghen could be borne by bowmen, for we read of men of Benjamin in Asa's army that bare shields and drew bows (2 Chronicles 14:8). The ordinary material of which shields were made was wood, or wicker-work overlaid with leather. The wood-work of the shields and other weapons of Gog's army were to serve Israel for fuel for seven years (Ezekiel 39:9). The anointing of the shield (2 Samuel 1:21; Isaiah 21:5) was either to protect it from the weather, or, more probably, was part of the consecration of the warrior and his weapons for the campaign. Solomon in his pride of wealth had 200 shields (tsinnoth) of beaten gold, and 300 targets (maghinnim) of beaten gold made for himself, and hung in the house of the forest of Lebanon (1 Kings 10:16-17). They were only for show, and when Shishak of Egypt came up against Rehoboam and carried them off, Rehoboam replaced them with others of bronze (1 Kings 14:27). On the march, the shield was strapped over the shoulder and kept in a cover, which was removed before the battle (Isaiah 22:6). Both words are used of the mechanical device known to the Romans as the testudo employed by the besiegers of a city against the darts and stones and blazing torches thrown out by the besieged (Isaiah 37:33; Ezekiel 26:8).
Figurative: Yahweh is spoken of as the Shield and Protector of His people--of Abraham (Genesis 15:1); of Israel (Deuteronomy 33:29); of the Psalmist (Psalms 18:30; 35:2, and many other passages). In his description of the panoply of the Christian soldier, Paul introduces faith as the thureos, the large Greek-Roman shield, a defense by which he may quench all the fiery darts of the evil one.
2. Helmet: The helmet, qobha` or kobha`, seems to have been originally in the form of a skull-cap, and it is thus figured in representations of Hittites on the walls of Karnak in Egypt. In the earliest times it is found worn only by outstanding personages like kings and commanders. When King Saul armed David with his own armor he put a helmet of brass upon his head (1 Samuel 17:38). Uzziah at a later time provided his soldiers with helmets, as part of their equipment (2 Chronicles 26:14). The men of Pharaoh-neco's army also wore helmets (Jeremiah 46:4), and the mercenaries in the armies of Tyre had both shield and helmet to hang up within her (Ezekiel 27:10). The materials of the helmet were at first of wood, linen, felt, or even of rushes; leather was in use until the Seleucid period when it was supplanted by bronze (1 Maccabees 6:35); the Greek and Roman helmets both of leather and brass were well known in the Herodian period.
Figurative: Paul has the helmet, perikephalaia, for his Christian soldier (Ephesians 6:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:8). In the Septuagint perikephalaia occurs eleven times as the equivalent of the Hebrew term.
3. Coat of Mail: Body armor for the protection of the person in battle is mentioned in the Old Testament and is well known in representations of Egyptian, Persian and Parthian warriors. The shiryon, translated "habergeon" in the King James Version, rendered in the Revised Version (British and American) "coat of mail," is part of the armor of Nehemiah's workers (Nehemiah 4:16), and one of the pieces of armor supplied by King Uzziah to his soldiers. (2 Chronicles 26:14). Goliath was armed with a shiryon, and when Saul clad David in his own armor to meet the Philistine champion he put on him a coat of mail, his shiryon (1 Samuel 17:5, 38). Such a piece of body armor Ahab wore in the fatal battle of Ramoth-gilead (1 Kings 22:34). In the battle of Bethsura in the Maccabean struggle the Syrian war-elephants were protected with breastplates, the word for which, thorax, represents the shiryon in the Septuagint (1 Maccabees 6:43).
Figurative: Isaiah in a striking figure describes Yahweh as putting on righteousness for a coat of mail and salvation as a helmet, where thorax and perikephalaia are the Greek words of the Septuagint to render shiryon and kobha`. It is from this passage (Isaiah 59:17) that Paul obtains his "breastplate of righteousness" (Ephesians 6:14).
4. Greaves: Greaves (mitschah; knemides) are mentioned once in Scripture as part of the armor of Goliath (1 Samuel 17:6). They were of brass or leather, fastened by thongs round the leg and above the ankles.
5. Girdle: The girdle (chaghorah; Greek zone) was of leather studded with nails, and was used for supporting the sword (1 Samuel 18:4; 2 Samuel 20:8).
See GIRDLE.
Figurative: For figurative uses see under the separate weapons.
LITERATURE.
Nowack, Hebraische Archaeologie, I, 359-67; Benzinger, Herzog, RE, article "Kriegswesen bei den Hebraern"; McCurdy, HPM, I, II; Woods and Powell, The Hebrew Prophets for English Readers, I, II; G. M. Mackie, Bible Manners and Customs; Browne, Hebrew Antiquities, 40-46; corresponding articles in Kitto, Hastings, and other Bible dictionaries.
T. Nicol.
Armor-bearer
Armor-bearer - ar'-mer-bar'-er (nose' keli; Greek uses a phrase, ho airon ta skeue, literally "the one carrying the armor"): One who carried the large shield and perhaps other weapons for a king (1 Samuel 31:4), commander-in-chief (2 Samuel 23:37), captain (1 Samuel 14:7) or champion (1 Samuel 17:7). All warriors of distinction had such an attendant. Rather than perish by the hand of a woman, Abimelech called upon his armor-bearer to give him the finishing stroke (Judges 9:54), and when King Saul's armor-bearer refused to do this office for him that he might not become the prisoner of the Philistines, he took a sword himself and fell upon it (1 Samuel 31:4). David became Saul's armor-bearer for a time, and Jonathan's armor-bearer was a man of resource and courage (1 Samuel 14:7). The shield-bearer was a figure well known in the chariots of Egypt and Assyria and the Hittites, his business being to protect his fighting companion during the engagement.
T. Nicol.
Armory
Armory - ar'-mer-i: (1) ('otsar; thesauros): A storehouse (1 Kings 7:51; Nehemiah 10:38), but employed figuratively of the stored-up anger of Yahweh which breaks forth in judgments (Jeremiah 50:25). (2) (nesheq): Identical with Solomon's "house of the forest of Lebanon," the arsenal close to the temple (1 Kings 10:17; Nehemiah 3:19; Isaiah 22:8), in which were stored the shields and targets of beaten gold. (3) (talpiyoth): A puzzling word rendered "armory" in our versions (Song of Solomon 4:4)--"the tower of David builded for an armory, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men." the Revised Version margin renders "builded with turrets."
T. Nicol.
Army
Army - ar'-mi (chayil, "army," tsabha', "host," ma`arakhah, "army in battle array" gedhudh, "troop"):
1. The First Campaign of History
2. In the Wilderness
3. The Times after the Conquest
4. In the Early Monarchy
5. From the Time of Solomon Onward
6. Organization of the Hebrew Army
7. The Army in the Field
8. The Supplies of the Army
9. In the New Testament
The Israelites were not a distinctively warlike people and their glory has been won on other fields than those of war. But Canaan, between the Mediterranean and the desert, was the highway of the East and the battle-ground of nations. The Israelites were, by the necessity of their geographical position, often involved in wars not of their own seeking, and their bravery and endurance even when worsted in their conflicts won for them the admiration and respect of their conquerors.
1. The First Campaign of History: The first conflict of armed forces recorded in Holy Scripture is that in Genesis 14:1-24. The kings of the Jordan valley had rebelled against Chedorlaomer, king of Elam--not the first of the kings of the East to reach the Mediterranean with his armies--and joined battle with him and other kings in the Vale of Siddim. In this campaign Abraham distinguished himself by the rescue of his nephew Lot, who had fallen with all that he possessed into the hands of the Elamite king. The force with which Abraham effected the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him was his own retainers, 318 in number, whom he had armed and led forth in person in his successful pursuit.
2. In the Wilderness: When we first make the acquaintance of the Israelites as a nation, they are a horde of fugitives who have escaped from the bitter oppression and hard bondage of Pharaoh. Although there could have been but little of the martial spirit in a people so long and grievously oppressed, their journeyings through the wilderness toward Canaan are from the first described as the marching of a great host. It was according to their "armies" ("hosts" the Revised Version (British and American)) that Aaron and Moses were to bring the Children of Israel from the land of Egypt (Exodus 6:26). When they had entered upon the wilderness they went up "harnessed" ("armed" the Revised Version (British and American)) for the journeyings that lay before them--where "harnessed" or "armed" may point not to the weapons they bore but to the order and arrangements of a body of troops marching five deep (hamushshim) or divided into five army corps (Exodus 13:18). On the way through the wilderness they encamped (Exodus 13:20; and passim) at their successive halting-places, and the whole army of 600,000 was, after Sinai, marked off into divisions or army corps, each with its own camp and the ensigns of their fathers' houses (Numbers 2:2). "From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel," the males of the tribes were numbered and assigned to their place in the camp (Numbers 1:3). Naturally, in the wilderness they are footmen (Numbers 11:21), and it was not till the period of the monarchy that other arms were added. Bow and sling and spear and sword for attack, and shield and helmet for defense, would be the full equipment of the men called upon to fight in the desert. Although we hear little of gradations of military rank, we do read of captains of thousands and captains of hundreds in the wilderness (Numbers 31:14), and Joshua commands the fighting men in the battle against the Amalekites at Rephidim (Exodus 17:9 ff). That the Israelites acquired in their journeyings in the wilderness the discipline and martial spirit which would make them a warlike people, may be gathered from their successes against the Midianites, against Og, king of Bashan, toward the close of the forty years, and from the military organization with which they proceeded to the conquest of Canaan.
3. The Times after the Conquest: In more than one campaign the Israelites under Joshua's leadership established themselves in Canaan. But it was largely through the enterprise of the several tribes after that the conquest was achieved. The progress of the invaders was stubbornly contested, but Joshua encouraged his kinsmen of Ephraim and Manasseh to press on the conquest even against the invincible war-chariots of the Canaanites--"for thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots, and though they are strong" (Joshua 17:18). As it was in the early history of Rome, where the defense of the state was an obligation resting upon every individual according to his stake in the public welfare, so it was at first in Israel. Tribal jealousies, however, impaired the sentiment of nationality and hindered united action when once the people had been settled in Canaan. The tribes had to defend their own, and it was only a great emergency that united them in common action. The first notable approach to national unity was seen in the army which Barak assembled to meet the host of Jabin, king of Hazor, under the command of Sisera (Judges 4:5). In Deborah's war-song in commemoration of the notable victory achieved by Barak and herself, the men of the northern tribes, Zebulun, Naphtali, Issachar, along with warriors of Manasseh, Ephraim and Benjamin, are praised for the valor with which they withstood and routed the host--foot, horse and chariots--of Sisera. Once again the tribes of Israel assembled in force from "Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead" (Judges 20:1) to punish the tribe of Benjamin for condoning a gross outrage. The single tribe was defeated in the battle that ensued, but they were able to put into the field "26,000 men that drew sword," and they had also "700 chosen men left-handed; every one could sling stones at a hair-breadth, and not miss" (Judges 20:15-16).
4. In the Early Monarchy: Up to this time the fighting forces of the Israelites were more of the character of a militia. The men of the tribes more immediately harassed by enemies were summoned for action by the leader raised up by God, and disbanded when the emergency was past. The monarchy brought changes in military affairs. It was the plea of the leaders of Israel, when they desired to have a king, that he would go out before them and fight their battles (1 Samuel 8:20). Samuel had warned them that with a monarchy a professional soldiery would be required. "He will take your sons, and appoint them unto him, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and they shall run before his chariots; and he will appoint them unto him for captains of thousands, and captains of fifties; and he Will set some to plow his ground, and reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and the instruments of his chariots" (1 Samuel 8:11-12). That this was the course which military reform took in the period following the establishment of the monarchy may well be. It fell to Saul when he ascended the throne to withstand the invading Philistines and to relieve his people from the yoke which they had already laid heavily upon some parts of the country. The Philistines were a military people, well disciplined and armed, with 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen at their service when they came up to Michmash (1 Samuel 13:5). What chance had raw levies of vinedressers and herdsmen from Judah and Benjamin against such a foe? No wonder that the Israelites hid themselves in caves and thickets, and in rocks, and in holes, and in pits (1 Samuel 13:6). And it is quoted by the historian as the lowest depth of national degradation that the Israelites had to go down to the Philistines "to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock" (1 Samuel 13:20) because the Philistines had carried off their smiths to prevent them from making swords or spears.
It was in this desperate condition that King Saul was called to begin the struggle for freedom and national unity in Israel. The victories at Michmash and Elah and the hotly contested but unsuccessful and fatal struggle at Gilboa evince the growth of the martial spirit and advance alike in discipline and in strategy. After the relief of Jabesh-gilead, instead of disbanding the whole of his levies, Saul retained 3,000 men under arms, and this in all probability became the nucleus of the standing army of Israel (1 Samuel 13:2). From this time onward "when Saul saw any mighty man, or any valiant man, he took him unto him" (1 Samuel 14:52). Of the valiant men whom Saul kept round his person, the most notable were Jonathan and David. Jonathan had command of one division of 1,000 men at Gibeah (1 Samuel 13:2), and David was captain of the king's bodyguard (1 Samuel 18:5; compare 18:13). When David fell under Saul's jealousy and betook himself to an outlaw life in the mountain fastnesses of Judah, he gathered round him in the cave of Adullam 400 men (1 Samuel 22:1-2) who were ere long increased to 600 (1 Samuel 23:1, 3). From the story of Nabal (1 Samuel 25:1-44) we learn how a band like that of David could be maintained in service, and we gather that landholders who benefited by the presence of an armed force were expected to provide the necessary supplies. On David's accession to the throne this band of warriors remained attached to his person and became the backbone of his army. We can identify them with the gibborim--the mighty men of whom Benaiah at a later time became captain (2 Samuel 23:22-23; 1 Kings 1:8) and who are also known by the name of Cherethites and Pelethites (2 Samuel 8:18). These may have received their name from their foreign origin, the former, in Hebrew kerethi being originally from Crete but akin to the Philistines; and the latter, in Hebrew pelethi being Philistines by birth. That there were foreign soldiers in David's service we know from the examples of Uriah the Hittite and Ittai of Gath. David's gibborim have been compared to the Praetorian Cohort of the Roman emperors, the Janissaries of the sultans, and the Swiss Guards of the French kings. Of David's army Joab was the commander-in-chief, and to the military' genius of this rough and unscrupulous warrior, the king's near kinsman, the dynasty of David was deeply indebted.
5. From the Time of Solomon Onward: In the reign of Solomon, although peace was its prevailing characteristic, there can have been no diminution of the armed forces of the kingdom, for we read of military expeditions against Edom and Syria and Hamath, and also of fortresses built in every part of the land, which would require troops to garrison them. Hazor, the old Canaanite capital, at the foot of Lebanon; Megiddo commanding the rich plain of Jezreel; Gezer overlooking the Philistine plain; the Bethhorons (Upper and Nether); and Tadmor in the wilderness; not to speak of Jerusalem with Millo and the fortified wall, were fortresses requiring strong garrisons (1 Kings 9:15). It is probable that "the levy," which was such a burden upon the people at large, included forced military service as well as forced labor, and helped to create the dissatisfaction which culminated in the revolt of Jeroboam, and eventually in the disruption of the kingdom. Although David had reserved from the spoils of war in his victorious campaign against Hadadezer, king of Zobah, horses for 100 chariots (2 Samuel 8:4), cavalry and chariots were not an effective branch of the service in his reign. Solomon, however, disregarding the scruples of the stricter Israelites, and the ordinances of the ancient law (Deuteronomy 17:16), added horses and chariots on a large scale to the military equipment of the nation (1 Kings 10:26-29). It is believed that it was from Musri, a country of northern Syria occupied by the Hittites, and Kue in Cilicia, that Solomon obtained horses for his cavalry and chariotry (1 Kings 10:29; 2 Chronicles 1:16, where the best text gives Mutsri, and not the Hebrew word for Egypt). This branch of the service was not only looked upon with distrust by the stricter Israelites, but was expressly denounced in later times by the prophets (Isaiah 2:7; Hosea 1:7; Micah 5:10). In the prophets, too, more than in the historical books, we are made acquainted with the cavalry and chariotry of Assyria and Babylon which in the days of Sargon, Sennacherib, and Nebuchadnezzar had become so formidable. Their lancers and mounted archers, together with their chariots, gave them a sure ascendancy in the field of war (Nahum 3:2-3; Habakkuk 1:8; Jeremiah 46:4). In comparison with these, the cavalry of the kings of Israel and Judah was insignificant, and to this Rabshakeh contemptuously referred (2 Kings 18:23) when he promised to the chiefs of Judah from the king of Assyria 2,000 horses if Hezekiah could put riders upon them.
6. Organization of the Hebrew Army: As we have seen, every male in Israel at the age of twenty, according to the ancient law, became liable for military service (Numbers 1:3; 26:2; 2 Chronicles 25:5), just as at a later time every male of that age became liable for the half-shekel of Temple dues. Josephus is our authority for believing that no one was called upon to serve after the age of fifty (Ant., III, xii, 4). From military service the Levites were exempt (Numbers 2:33). In Deuteronomic law exemption was allowed to persons betrothed but not married, to persons who had built a house but had not dedicated it, or who had planted a vineyard but had not eaten of the fruit of it, and to persons faint-hearted and fearful whose timidity might spread throughout the ranks (Deuteronomy 20:1-9). These exemptions no doubt reach back to a high antiquity and in the Maccabean period they still held good (1 Maccabees 3:56). The army was divided into bodies of 1,000, 100, 50, and in Maccabean times, 10, each under its own captain (Sar) (Numbers 31:14; 1 Samuel 8:12; 2 Kings 1:9; 2 Chronicles 25:5; 1 Maccabees 3:55). In the army of Uzziah we read of "heads of fathers' houses," mighty men of valor who numbered 2,600 and had under their hand a trained army of 307,500 men (2 Chronicles 26:12-13), where, however, the figures have an appearance of exaggeration.
Over the whole host of Israel, according to the fundamental principle of theocracy, was Yahweh Himself, the Supreme Leader of her armies (1 Samuel 8:7 ff); it was "the Captain of the Lord's host," to whom Joshua and all serving under him owned allegiance, that appeared before the walls of Jericho to help the gallant leader in his enterprise. In the times of the Judges the chiefs themselves, Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, led their forces in person to battle. Under the monarchy the captain of the host was an office distinct from that of the king, and we have Joab, Abner, Benaiah, named as commanders-in-chief. An armor-bearer attended the captain of the host as well as the king (1 Samuel 14:6; 1 Samuel 31:4-5; 2 Samuel 23:37). Mention is made of officers who had to do the numbering of the people, the copher, scribe, attached to the captain of the host (2 Kings 25:19; compare 2 Samuel 24:2; 1 Maccabees 5:42), and the shoTer, muster-master, who kept the register of those who were in military service and knew the men who had received authorized leave of absence (Deuteronomy 20:5, Driver's note).
7. The Army in the Field: Before the army set forth, religious services were held (Joel 3:9), and sacrifices were offered at the opening of a campaign to consecrate the war (Micah 3:5; Jeremiah 6:4; 22:7). Recourse was had in earlier times to the oracle (Judges 1:1; 20:27; 1 Samuel 14:37; 23:2; 28:6; 30:8), in later times to a prophet (1 Kings 22:5 ff; 2 Kings 3:13; 19:2; Jeremiah 38:14). Cases are mentioned in which the Ark accompanied the army to the field (1 Samuel 4:4; 14:18), and before the engagement sacrifices also were offered (1 Samuel 7:9; 13:9), ordinarily necessitating the presence of a priest (Deuteronomy 20:2). Councils of war were held to settle questions of policy in the course of siege or a campaign (Jeremiah 38:7; 39:3). The signal for the charge or retreat was given by sound of a trumpet (Numbers 10:9; 2 Samuel 2:28; 18:16; 1 Maccabees 16:8). The order of battle was simple, the heavy-armed spearmen forming the van, slingers and archers bringing up the rear, supported by horses and chariots, which moved to the front as need required (1 Samuel 31:3; 1 Kings 22:31; 2 Chronicles 14:9). Strategy was called into play according to the disposition of the opposing forces or the nature of the ground (Joshua 8:3; 11:7; Judges 7:16; 1 Samuel 15:5; 2 Samuel 5:23; 2 Kings 3:11 ff).
Although David had in his service foreign soldiers like Uriah the Hittite and Ittai of Gath, and although later kings hired aliens for their campaigns, it was not till the Maccabean struggle for independence that mercenaries came to be largely employed in the Jewish army. Mercenaries are spoken of in the prophets as a source of weakness to the nation that employs them (to Egypt, Jeremiah 46:16, 21; to Babylon, Jeremiah 50:16). From the Maccabean time onward the princes of the Hasmonean family employed them, sometimes to hold the troublesome Jews in check, and sometimes to support the arms of Rome. Herod the Great had in his army mercenaries of various nations. When Jewish soldiers, however, took service with Rome, they were prohibited by their law from performing duty on the Sabbath. Early in the Maccabean fight for freedom, a band of Hasideans or Jewish Puritans, allowed themselves to be cut down to the last man rather than take up the sword on the Sabbath (1 Maccabees 2:34 ff). Cases are even on record where their Gentileadversaries took advantage of their scruples to inflict upon them loss and defeat (Ant., XIII, xii, 4; XIV, iv, 2).
8. The Supplies of the Army: Before the army had become a profession in Israel, and while the levies were still volunteers like the sons of Jesse, the soldiers not only received no pay, but had to provide their own supplies, or depend upon rich landholders like Nabal and Barzillai (1 Samuel 25:1-44; 2 Samuel 19:31). In that period and still later, the chief reward of the soldier was his share of the booty gotten in war (Judges 5:30 f; 1 Samuel 30:22 ff). By the Maccabean period we learn that an army like that of Simon, consisting of professional soldiers, could only be maintained at great expense (1 Maccabees 14:32).
9. In the New Testament: Although the first soldiers that we read of in the New Testament were Jewish and not Roman (Luke 3:14; Mark 6:27), and although we read that Herod with his "men of war" joined in mocking Jesus (Luke 23:11), it is for the most part the Roman army that comes before us. The Roman legion, consisting roughly of 6,000 men, was familiar to the Jewish people, and the word had become a term to express a large number (Matthew 26:53; Mark 5:9). Centurions figure most honorably alike in the Gospels and the Acts (kenturion, Mark 15:39; hekatontarches, hekatontarchos, Matthew 8:5; Luke 23:47; Acts 10:1; 25, 27). "The Pretorium" is the residence of the Roman procurator at Jerusalem, and in Caesarea (Matthew 27:27; Acts 23:35), or the praetorian guard at Rome (Philippians 1:13). The Augustan band and the Italian band (Acts 10:1; 27:1) are cohorts of Roman soldiers engaged on military duty at Caesarea. In Jerusalem there was one cohort stationed in the time of Paul under the command of a chiliarchos, or military tribune (Acts 22:24). It was out of this regiment that the dexiolaboi (Acts 23:23) were selected, who formed a guard for Paul to Caesarea, spearmen, or rather javelin-throwers.
Figurative: Among the military metaphors employed by Paul, who spent so much of his time in the later years of his life among Roman soldiers, some are taken from the weapons of the Roman soldier (see ARMS ), and some also from the discipline and the marching and fighting of an army. Thus, "campaigning" is referred to (2 Timothy 2:3-4; 2 Corinthians 10:3-6); the "order and solid formation of soldiers" drawn up in battle array or on the march (Colossians 2:5); the "triumphal procession" to the capitol with its train of captives and the smoke of incense (2 Corinthians 2:14-16); and "the sounding of the trumpet," when the faithful Christian warriors shall take their place every man in his own order or "division" of the resurrection army of the Lord of Hosts (1 Corinthians 15:52-53). (See Dean Howson, Metaphors of Paul--"Roman Soldiers.")
The armies which are in heaven (Revelation 19:14, 19) are the angelic hosts who were at the service of their Incarnate Lord in the days of His flesh and in His exaltation follow Him upon white horses clothed in fine linen white and pure (see Swete's note).
See further ARMOR,ARMS .
T. Nicol.
Army, Roman
Army, Roman - ar'-mi, ro'-man; The treatment of this subject will be confined to (I) a brief description of the organization of the army, and (II) a consideration of the allusions to the Roman military establishment in the New Testament.
I. Organization. There were originally no standing forces, but the citizens performed military service like any other civic duty when summoned by the magistrates. The gradual development of a military profession and standing army culminated in the admission of the poorest class to the ranks by Marius (about 107 BC). Henceforth the Roman army was made up of a body of men whose character was essentially that of mercenaries, and whose term of continuous service varied in different divisions from 16 to 26 years.
The forces which composed the Roman army under the Empire may be divided into the following five groups: (1) the imperial guard and garrison of the capital, (2) the legions, (3) the auxilia, (4) the numeri, (5) the fleet. We shall discuss their organization in the order mentioned.
1. The Imperial Guard: The imperial guard consisted of the cohortes praetoriae, which together with the cohortes urbanae and vigiles made up the garrison of Rome. In the military system as established by Augustus there were nine cohorts of the praetorian guard, three of the urban troops, and seven of the vigiles. Each cohort numbered 1,000 men, and was commanded by a tribune of equestrian rank. The praetorian prefects (praefecti praetorii), of whom there were usually two, were commanders of the entire garrison of the capital, and stood at the highest point of distinction and authority in the equestrian career.
2. The Legions: There were 25 legions in 23 AD (Tacitus Annals 4, 5), which had been increased to 30 at the time of the reign of Marcus Aurelius, 160-180 AD (CIL, VI, 3492 a-b) and to 33 under Septimius Severus (Dio Cassius, iv. 23-24). Each legion was made up, ordinarily, of 6,000 men, who were divided into 10 cohorts, each cohort containing 3 maniples, and each maniple in turn 2 centuries.
The legatus Augustus pro praetore, or governor of each imperial province, was chief commander of all the troops within the province. An officer of senatorial rank known as legatus Augusti legionis was entrusted with the command of each legion, together with the bodies of auxilia which were associated with it. Besides, there were six tribuni militum, officers of equestrian rank (usually sons of senators who had not yet held the quaestorship) in each legion. The centurions who commanded the centuries belonged to the plebeian class. Between the rank of common soldier and centurion there were a large number of subalterns, called principales, who correspond roughly to the non-commissioned officers and men detailed from the ranks for special duties in modern armies.
3. The "Auxilia": The auxilia were organized as infantry in cohortes, as cavalry in alae, or as mixed bodies, cohortes equitatae. Some of these divisions contained approximately 1,000 men (cohortes or alae miliariae), but the greater number about 500 (cohortes or alae quingenariae). They were commanded by tribuni and praefecti of equestrian rank. The importance of the auxilia consisted originally in the diversity of their equipment and manner of fighting, since each group adhered to the customs of the nation in whose midst it had been recruited. But with the gradual Romanization of the Empire they were assimilated more and more to the character of the legionaries.
4. The "Numeri": The numeri developed out of the provincial militia and began to appear in the 2nd century AD. They maintained their local manner of warfare. Some were bodies of infantry, others of cavalry, and they varied in strength from 300 to 90 (Mommsen, Hermes, XIX, 219 f, and XXII, 547 f). Their commanders were praepositi, praefecti or tribuni, all men of equestrian rank.
5. The Fleet: The fleet was under the command of prefects (praefecti classis), who took rank among the highest officials of the equestrian class. The principal naval stations were at Misenum and Ravenna.
6. Defensive Arrangements: Augustus established the northern boundary of the Empire at the Rhine and at the Danube, throughout the greater part of its course, and bequeathed to his successors the advice that they should not extend their sovereignty beyond the limits which he had set (Tacitus Annals i.11; Agricola 13); and although this policy was departed from in many instances, such as the annexation of Thrace, Cappadocia, Mauretania, Britain, and Dacia, not to mention the more ephemeral acquisitions of Trajan, yet the military system of the Empire was arranged primarily with the view of providing for the defense of the provinces and not for carrying on aggressive warfare on a large scale. Nearly all the forces, with the exception of the imperial guard, were distributed among the provinces on the border of the Empire, and the essential feature of the disposition of the troops in these provinces was the permanent fortress in which each unit was stationed. The combination of large camps for the legions with a series of smaller forts for the alae, cohorts, and numeri is the characteristic arrangement on all the frontiers. The immediate protection of the frontier was regularly entrusted to the auxiliary troops, while the legions were usually stationed some distance to the rear of the actual boundary. Thus the army as a whole was so scattered that it was a difficult undertaking to assemble sufficient forces for carrying out any considerable project of foreign conquest, or even to cope at once with a serious invasion, yet the system was generally satisfactory in view of the conditions which prevailed, and secured for the millions of subjects of the Roman Empire the longest period of undisturbed tranquillity known to European history.
7. Recruiting System: In accordance with the arrangements of Augustus, the cohortes praetoriae and cohortes urbanae were recruited from Latium, Etruria, Umbria, and the older Roman colonies (Tacitus Annals 4, 5), the legions from the remaining portions of Italy, and the auxilia from the subject communities of the Empire (Seeck, Rheinisches Museum, XLVIII, 616).
But in course of time the natives of Italy disappeared, first from the legions, and later from the garrison of the capital. Antoninus Plus established the rule that each body of troops should draw its recruits from the district where it was stationed. Henceforth the previous possession of Roman citizenship was no longer required for enlistment in the legions. The legionary was granted the privilege of citizenship upon entering the service, the auxiliary soldier upon being discharged (Seeck, Untergang der antiken Welt, I, 250).
II. Allusions in the New Testament to the Roman Military Establishment.
Such references relate chiefly to the bodies of troops which were stationed in Judea. Agrippa I left a military establishment of one ala and five cohorts at his death in 44 AD (Josephus, Ant, XIX, ix, 2; BJ, III, iv, 2), which he had doubtless received from the earlier Roman administration. These divisions were composed of local recruits, chiefly Samaritans (Hirschfeld, Verwaltungsbeamte, 395; Mommsen, Hermes, XIX, 217, note 1).
The Ala I gemina Sebastenorum was stationed at Caesarea (Josephus, Ant, XX, 122; BJ, II, xii, 5; CIL, VIII, 9359).
1. Augustan Band: Julius, the centurion to whom Paul and other prisoners were delivered to be escorted to Rome (Acts 27:1), belonged to one of the five cohorts which was stationed at or near Caesarea. This Speira Sebaste (Westcott-Hort), "Augustus' Band" (the Revised Version (British and American) "Augustan band"; the Revised Version, margin "cohort"), was probably the same body of troops which is mentioned in inscriptions as Cohors I Augusta (CIL, Supp, 6687) and Speira Augouste (Lebas-Waddington 2112). Its official title may have been Cohors Augusta Sebastenorum (GVN). It will be observed that all divisions of the Roman army were divided into companies of about 100 men, each of which, in the infantry, was commanded by a centurion, in the cavalry, by a decurion.
2. Italian Band: There was another cohort in Caesarea, the "Italian band" (Cohors Italica, Vulgate) of which Cornelius was centurion (Acts 10:1: ek speires tes kaloumenes Italikes). The cohortes Italicae (civium Romanorum) were made up of Roman citizens (Marquardt, Romische Staatsverwaltung, II, 467).
3. Praetorian Guard: One of the five cohorts was stationed in Jerusalem (Matthew 27:27; Mark 15:16), the "chief captain" of which was Claudius Lysias. His title, chiliarchos in the Greek (Acts 23:10, 15, 17, 19, 22, 26; 24:7 the King James Version), meaning "leader of a thousand men" (tribunus, Vulgate), indicates that this body of soldiers was a cohors miliaria. Claudius Lysias sent Paul to Felix at Caesarea under escort of 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen, and 200 spearmen (Acts 23:23). The latter (dexiolaboi, Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in Greek) are thought to have been a party of provincial militia. Several centurions of the cohort at Jerusalem appear during the riot and subsequent rescue and arrest of Paul (Acts 21:32; Acts 22:25-26; 17, 23). The cohortes miliariae (of 1,000 men) contained ten centurions. A centurion, doubtless of the same cohort, was in charge of the execution of the Saviour (Matthew 27:54; Mark 15:39, 44-45; Luke 23:47). It was customary for centurions to be entrusted with the execution of capital penalties (Tacitus Ann. i.6; xvi.9; xvi.15; Hist. ii.85).
The the King James Version contains the passage in Acts 28:16: "The centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard" (stratopedarches), which the Revised Version (British and American) omits. It has commonly been held that the expression stratopedarches was equivalent to praetorian prefect (praefectus praetorius), and that the employment of the word in the singular was proof that Paul arrived in Rome within the period 51-62 AD when Sex. Afranius Burrus was sole praetorian prefect. Mommsen (Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Akademie (1895), 491-503) believes that the sentence in question embodies an ancient tradition, but that the term stratopedarches could not mean praefectus praetorius, which is never rendered in this way in Greek. He suggests that it stands for princeps castrorum peregrinorum, who was a centurion in command of the frumentarii at Rome. These were detachments of legionary soldiers who took rank as principales. They served as military couriers between the capital and provinces, political spies, and an imperial police. It was probably customary, at least when the tradition under discussion arose, for the frumentarii to take charge of persons who were sent to Rome for trial (Marquardt, Romische Staatsverwaltung, II, 491-94).
LITERATURE.
Comprehensive discussions of the Roman military system will be found in Marquardt, Romische Staatsverwaltung, II, 319-612, and in Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopadie, article "Exercitus."
George H. Allen
Arna
Arna - ar'-na (Latin Arna): One of the ancestors of Ezra given in 2 Esdras 1:2, evidently identical with Zerahiah of Ezra 7:4 and Zaraias of 1 Esdras 8:2.
Arnan
Arnan - ar'-nan (`arnan, "joyous"): A descendant of David and founder of a family (1 Chronicles 3:21). The Septuagint has Orna.
Arni
Arni - ar'-ni (Arnei, found only in Luke 3:33 the Revised Version (British and American), following Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in Greek): The name of an ancestor of Jesus Christ. But in the King James Version, following Textus Receptus of the New Testament, and in the genealogical list of Matthew 13:4 the same person is called Aram (Greek: Aram) in both the King James Version and the Revised Version, margin. In Mt the Revised Version (British and American), however, the form is Ram, which is nearest to the Old Testament name Ram (ram, "high"). Ram was great-grandson of Judah and ancestor of David (Ruth 4:19; 1 Chronicles 2:9-10).
Arnon
Arnon - ar'-non ('arnon; Arnon): Is first mentioned in Numbers 21:24 as the border between Moab and the Amorites. "The valleys of Arnon" in the next verse undoubtedly indicate the numerous wadies contributary to the main stream. It formed the southern boundary of the land assigned to Reuben (Deuteronomy 3:12). The city of Aroer stood on the northern edge of the valley (Deuteronomy 2:36; Judges 12:2, etc.). Arnon was claimed by the Ammonites as having marked the southern limit of their territory when Israel invaded the land (Judges 11:13). They, however, had already been driven out by the Amorites, and the region north of Arnon was held by Sihon. From the inscription of Mesha on the Moabite Stone we gather that Moab had established herself on the north of the Arnon before the time of Omri. Under Omri and Ahab she was confined to the south of the river. A rebellion under Mesha was put down by Jehoram son of Ahab (2 Kings 3:1-27), and the expedition of Hazael against Israel reached the valley of the Arnon (2 Kings 10:33). But according to Mesha he regained for Moab the lost land; and this agrees with Isaiah 15:1-9; Isaiah 16:1-14, where cities north of Arnon are located in Moab, e.g. Heshbon.
The modern name of Arnon is Wady el-Mojib, which enters the Dead Sea from the East about 11 miles North of el-Lisan. Some 13 miles East of the Dead Sea two streams, Seil es-Sa`ideh from the South, and Wady Enkeileh from the East, unite their waters and flow westward in the bottom of an enormous trench. The waters of Wady Welch come in from the Northeast. A wide stretch of country thus drains into the valley by means of a great network of smaller wadies--the "valleys of Arnon." The "fords of the Arnon" (Isaiah 16:2) were doubtless crossed by Mesha's highway which he claims to have built in Arnon; and may be marked by the traces of the old Roman road and bridge immediately to the West of where, on the northern edge of the Wady, stands `Ara`ir, the ancient Aroer.
W. Ewing
Arod
Arod - a'-rod, ar'-od ('arodh): The sixth son of Gad (Numbers 26:17). His descendants are called Arodi or Arodites (Genesis 46:16; Numbers 26:17).
Arodi
Arodi - ar'-o-di.
See AROD.
Arodites
Arodites - a'-rod-its.
See AROD.
Aroer
Aroer - a-ro'-er (`aro'er; Aroer):
(1) A city of the Amorites which stood on the northern edge of the Arnon (Deuteronomy 2:36, etc.). Taken by Israel, it shared the vicissitudes of the country north of the river, and when last named (Jeremiah 48:19) is again in the hands of Moab. It is one of the cities which Mesha claims to have built, i.e. fortified. It was within the territory allotted to Reuben, yet its building (fortification) is attributed to Gad (Numbers 32:34). Thus far came the Syrian, Hazael, in his raid upon Israel (2 Kings 10:33). The Roman road across the valley lay about an hour to the West of Khirbet `Ara`ir.
(2) A city in Gilead described as "before Rabbah," on the boundary between Gad and the Ammonites (Joshua 13:25). No name resembling this has yet been recovered in the district indicated.
(3) A city in the territory of Judah named only in 1 Samuel 30:28. Probably however in Joshua 15:22 we should read `ar`arah instead of `adh`adhah, which may be the same city, and may be identical with `Ar`ara, a site with cisterns and some remains of ancient buildings about Joshua 14:1-15 miles Southeast of Beersheba.
W. Ewing
Aroerite
Aroerite - a-ro'-er-it (ha-`aro`eri): A native of Aroer. The Aroerite was Hotham, father of two of David's heroes (1 Chronicles 11:44).
Arom
Arom - a'-rom (Arom): The sons of Arom returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel (1 Esdras 5:16). Omitted in Ezra and Nehemiah. Hashum is found in place of Arom in Ezra 2:19.
Arpachshad
Arpachshad - ar-pak'-shad.
See ARPHAXAD.
Arpad; Arphad
Arpad; Arphad - ar'-pad; ar'-fad ('arpadh, "support"): A city of Syria, captured frequently by the Assyrians, and finally subjugated by Tiglath-pileser III in 740 BC, after a siege of two years. It is now the ruin Tell Erfad, 13 miles Northwest of Aleppo. Arpad is one of the conquered cities mentioned by Rabshakeh, the officer of Sennacherib, in his boast before Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:34; 19:13; Isaiah 36:19; 37:13; the King James Version Arphad). Isaiah puts a boast about its capture in the mouth of the Assyrian king (Isaiah 10:9), and Jeremiah mentions it as "confounded" because of evil tidings, in the oracle concerning Damascus (Jeremiah 49:23). On every occasion Arpad is mentioned with Hamath.
S. F. Hunter
Arphaxad
Arphaxad - ar-fak'-sad: (1) the King James Version form (Genesis 10:22, 24; Genesis 11:12-13; 1 Chronicles 1:17) of the Revised Version (British and American) ARPACHSHAD, which see. See also TABLE OF NATIONS. (2) In Apocrypha (Judith 1) a king of the Medes, who reigned in Ecbatana. He was defeated and slain by Nebuchadrezzar.
Array
Array - a-ra' ((1) labhesh, `aTah; periballo, enduomai, himatismos. (2) `arakh, shith): "Array," composed of prefix "ar-" and "rai," "order," is used in two senses, (1) in reference to clothing and (2) in reference to the disposition of an army.
(1) (a) Labhesh is the most common Hebrew word meaning "to clothe," and is used in all cases but one in the Old Testament for "array" (compare Genesis 41:42: Pharaoh "arrayed him (Joseph) in vestures of fine linen"; see also 2 Chronicles 28:15; Esther 6:9, 11; Job 40:10; 2 Chronicles 5:12). (b) `ATah, meaning "to veil," "to cover," is once used. Nebuchadrezzar "shall array himself with the land of Egypt" (Jeremiah 43:12). (c) Periballo, "to throw around," is used 6 times in the New Testament. It is the word used of Herod's "arraying" Jesus "in gorgeous apparel" (Luke 23:11; the other references are Matthew 6:29; Luke 12:27; Revelation 7:13; 17:4; 19:8). (d) Enduomai, middle or passive of enduo, "to enter," means, therefore, "to be entered into" clothing. Once it is used in reference to Herod (Acts 12:21). (e) Himatismos, "clothing," is translated once "array" = raiment (from same root). This is the only occurrence of "array" in this sense (1 Timothy 2:9).
(2) (a) `Arakh is the common word in the Old Testament, used in reference to the disposition of an army, and is translated "to put in array," "to set in array," the object being "the battle" or the army. The root meaning is that of orderly arrangement, and the verb is used in other senses than the military, e.g. arranging the table of shewbread. In 1 Chronicles 12:33 the Revised Version (British and American) has "order the battle array" for the King James Version "keep rank," translation of Hebrew `adhar. (b) Shith, "to set, to place," used once for battle array: "and the horsemen set themselves in array at the gate" (Isaiah 22:7).
S. F. Hunter
Arrest, and Trial of Jesus
Arrest, and Trial of Jesus - a-rest', see JESUS CHRIST,THE ARREST AND TRIAL OF .
Arrive
Arrive - a-riv': Originally a nautical term (Latin: ad ripam) for reaching shore, is used in the literal sense in Luke 8:26, and, in the figurative sense for Greek phthano, instead of "attain to," the Revised Version (British and American) in Romans 9:31.
Arrogancy
Arrogancy - ar'-o-gan-si: Excessive pride, leading to boastfulness and insolence (1 Samuel 2:3; Proverbs 8:13; Isaiah 13:11; Jeremiah 48:29).
Arrow
Arrow - ar'-o.
Arrows, Divination by
Arrows, Divination by - See AUGURY,IV , 1.
Arrowsnake
Arrowsnake - ar'-o-snak: In Isaiah 34:15 the Hebrew word kippoz, which in the King James Version is rendered "great owl," is in the English Revised Version rendered "arrowsnake," and in the American Standard Revised Version "dart-snake." Gesenius, who translates "arrowsnake," says "so called from the spring with which it propels itself." Others, from the mention of "make her nest, lay, and hatch," think some kind of bird is meant.
Arsaces
Arsaces - ar-sa'-sez ar'-sa-sez (Arsakes): The common name assumed by all the Parthian kings, is mentioned in 1 Maccabees 14:1-3, and in 15:22 in connection with the history of Demetrius, one of the Greek, or Seleucid, kings of Syria, and successor to Antiochus Epiphanes, the oppressor of the Jews, who caused the uprising against the Syrian domination under the leadership of the Maccabees. This particular Arsaces was the sixth of the line of independent Parthian rulers which had been founded in 250 BC by Arsaces I, who revolted from Antiochus Theos, killed the Syrian satraps, and with his successor Tiridates I firmly established the independence of the Parthian kingdom. About 243 BC, Tiridates added Hyrcania to his dominions; but it was not till the reign of Arsaces VI, whose pre-regnal name was Mithridates, that Parthia through the conquest of Bactria, Media, Persia, Armenia, Elymais and Babylonia, threatened the very existence of the kingdom of the Seleucids and became a dangerous competitor of Rome itself. It was this king who about 141 BC was attacked by Demetrius Nicator, king of Syria. According to the account preserved in 1 Maccabees 14:1-3, Arsaces sent one of his captains, who went and smote the host of Demetrius, and took him alive, and brought him to Arsaces, by whom he was put in ward. At first, the captive king was treated with great severity, being carried in triumph from city to city and exhibited to his enemies. Later, however, Arsaces gave him his daughter in marriage and assigned him a residence in Hyrcania. Some time after the death of Arsaces, Demetrius was sent back to Syria by Phraates, the son of Mithridates, and reigned from 128 to 125 BC. Arsaces VI is mentioned, also, in 1 Maccabees 15:22, as one of the kings whom the Romans forbade to make war on their Jewish allies.
LITERATURE.
See 1 Maccabees 14:1-3, and 15:22; Ant,XIII , v, 11;XIV , viii, 5; Appian, Syria, 67; Strabo,XI , 515;XV , 702; Justin,XLI , 5, 6;XXXVI , 1; Orosius, V, 4; Rawlinson's Parthia, in the Story of the Nations series and Die Herrschaft der Parther in Justi's Geschichte des alten Persiens in Oncken's Allgemeine Geschichte, I, 4.
R. Dick Wilson
Arsareth
Arsareth - ar'-sa-reth.
See ARZARETH.
Arsiphurith
Arsiphurith - ar-si-fu'-rith (Arsiphourith; the King James Version Azephurith): 112 of the sons of Arsiphurith returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel (1 Esdras 5:16). The name is omitted in Ezra and Nehemiah, but the number corresponds to those mentioned with Jorah (Ezra 2:18) and Hariph (Nehemiah 7:24).
Artaxerxes
Artaxerxes - ar-taks-urk'-sez (Artaxerxes): Is the Greek and Latin form of one, and perhaps of two or three kings of Persia mentioned in the Old Testament.
(1) All are agreed that the Artaxerxes at whose court Ezra and Nehemiah were officials is Artaxerxes I, the son of Xerxes, commonly called Longimanus, who reigned from 465 to 424 BC. This Artaxerxes was the third son of Xerxes and was raised to the throne by Artabanus, the murderer of Xerxes. Shortly after his accession, Artaxerxes put his older brother Darius to death; and a little later, Artabanus, who perhaps aimed to make himself king, was killed. Hystaspes, the second brother, who seems to have been satrap of Bactria at the time of his father's death, rebelled, and after two battles was deprived of his power and probably of his life. The reign of Artaxerxes was further disturbed by the revolt of Egypt in 460 BC, and by that of Syria about 448 BC. The Egyptians were assisted by the Athenians, and their rebellion, led by Inarus and Amyrtaeus, was suppressed only after five years of strenuous exertions on the part of the Persians under the command of the great general Megabyzus. After the re-conquest of Egypt, Artaxerxes, fearing that the Athenians would make a permanent subjugation of Cyprus, concluded with them the peace of Callias, by which he retained the island of Cyprus; but agreed to grant freedom to all Greek cities of Asia Minor. Shortly after this Megabyzus led a revolt in Syria and compelled his sovereign to make peace with him on his own terms, and afterward lived and died in high favor with his humiliated king. Zopyrus, the son of Megabyzus at a later time, while satrap of Lycia and Caria, led a rebellion in which he was assisted by the Greeks. It is thought by some that the destruction of Jerusalem which is lamented by Nehemiah occurred during the rebellion of Syria under Megabyzus. Artaxerxes I died in 424 BC, and was succeeded by his son Xerxes II, and later by two other sons, Sogdianus and Ochus, the last of whom assumed the regnal name of Darius, whom the Greeks surnamed Nothus.
(2) Ewald and others have thought that the Artaxerxes of Ezra 4:7 was the pseudo-Smerdis. The principal objection against this view is that we have no evidence that either the pseudo-Smerdis, or the real Smerdis, was ever called Artaxerxes. The real Smerdis is said to have been called Tanyoxares, or according to others Oropastes. Ewald would change the latter to Ortosastes, which closely resembles Artaxerxes, and it must be admitted that many of the Persian kings had two or more names. It seems more probable, however, that Artaxerxes I is the king referred to; and there is little doubt that the identification of the Artaxerxes of Ezra 4:7 with the pseudo-Smerdis would never have been thought of had it not been for the difficulty of explaining the reference to him in this place.
(3) The Greek translation of the Septuagint renders the Ahasuerus of the Book of Esther by Artaxerxes, and is followed in this rendering by Josephus. There is no doubt that by this Artaxerxes Josephus meant the first of that name; for in the Antiquities, XI, vi, 1 he says that "after the death of Xerxes, the kingdom came to be transferred to his son Cyrus, whom the Greeks called Artaxerxes." He then proceeds to show how he married a Jewish wife, who was herself of the royal family and who is related to have saved the nation of the Jews. In a long chapter, he then gives his account of the story of Vashti, Esther and Mordecai. In spite of this rendering of the Septuagint and Josephus, there is no doubt that the Hebrew achashwerosh is the same as the Greek Xerxes; and there is no evidence that Artaxerxes I was ever called Xerxes by any of his contemporaries. The reason of the confusion of the names by the Septuagint and Josephus will probably remain forever a mystery.
R. Dick Wilson
Artemas
Artemas - ar'-te-mas (Artemas): One of the seventy disciples and bishop of Lystra, according to Dorotheus (Bibl. Maxima (Lugd. 1677), III, 429). He is mentioned in Titus 3:12 as one of the faithful companions of Paul. The name is probably Greek, a masculine form of Artemis, or, as has been suggested, a short form of Artemidorus, a common name in Asia Minor. These contracted forms were by no means rare in the Greek world. The Athenian orator, Lysias, was doubtless named after his grandfather, Lysanias, and at first may even have been called Lysanias himself.
Artemis
Artemis - ar'-te-mis.
See DIANA.
Artificer
Artificer - ar-tif'-i-ser.
See CRAFTS.
Artillery
Artillery - ar-til'-er-i (keli): In 1 Samuel 20:40 (the King James Version) of Jonathan's bow and arrows, replaced in the Revised Version (British and American) by WEAPONS; and in 1 Maccabees 6:51 (the King James Version) where the Greek words are translated in the Revised Version (British and American) "instruments for casting fire and stones."
Artisan
Artisan - ar'-ti-zan.
See CRAFTS.
Arts
Arts - See CRAFTS.
Arubboth; Aruboth
Arubboth; Aruboth - a-rub'-oth, ar'-u-both (ha-'arubboth; the King James Version Aruboth): One of the 12 districts from which victuals for Solomon's household were obtained (1 Kings 4:10). With Arubboth are mentioned "Socoh, and all the land of Hepher," and as Socoh lay in the Shephelah (Joshua 15:35), Arubboth probably lay in the southern part of the Shephelah.
Arumah
Arumah - a-roo'-ma (arumah, "lofty"): The town in which Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal (Gideon), dwelt when driven from Shechem (Judges 9:41). The ruins El-Ormeh, 6 miles Southeast of Shechem, may be on the site, though its position is not known with certainty.
Arvad; Arvadites
Arvad; Arvadites - ar'-vad, ar'-vad-its ('arwadh; Arados; modern Ruad): An island city off the coast of Syria some 30 miles North of Tripolis, and the race inhabiting it. It was a barren rock covered with fortifications and houses several stories in height. The island was about 800 ft. long by 500 wide, surrounded by a massive wall, and an artificial harbor was constructed on the East toward the main land. It developed into a trading city in early times, as did most of the Phoenician cities on this coast. It had a powerful navy, and its ships are mentioned in the monuments of Egypt and Assyria. It seems to have had a sort of hegemony over the northern Phoenician cities, from Mt. Cassius to the northern limits of Lebanon, something like that of Sidon in the South. It had its own local dynasty and coinage, and some of the names of its kings have been recovered. Its inhabitants are mentioned in the early lists of Gen (10:18), and Ezek (27:8,11) refers to its seamen and soldiers in the service of Tyre. It brought under its authority some of the neighboring cities on the main land, such as Marathus and Simyra, the former nearly opposite the island and the latter some miles to the South. Thothmes III, of Egypt, took it in his campaign in north Syria (1472 BC) and it is noticed in the campaigns of Rameses II in the early part of the 13th century BC (Breasted, Ancient Records). It is also mentioned in the Tell el-Amarna Lettersas being in league with the Amorites in their attacks upon the Egyptian possessions in Syria (44 and 28, B.M. Tell el-Amarna Letters). About the year 1200, or later, it was sacked by invaders from Asia Minor or the islands, as were most of the cities on the coast (Paton, Syria and Palestine, 145) but it recovered when they were driven back. Its maritime importance is indicated by the inscriptions of the Assyrian kings. Tiglath-pileser I (circa 1020) boasts that he sailed in the ships of Arvad. Asshur-nazir-pal (circa 876) made it tributary, but it revolted and we find 200 men of Arvad mentioned among the allies of Benhadad, of Damascus, at the great battle of Quarqar, when all Syria seems to have been in league against Shalmaneser II (circa 854). At this time the king of Arvad was Mattan Baal. It was afterward tributary to Tiglath-pileser III and Sennacherib, the king who paid it to the latter being Abd-ilihit (circa 701). Ashurbanipal (circa 664) compelled its king Yakinlu to submit and send one of his daughters to become a member of the royal harem (Rawlinson, Phoenicia, 456-57). Under the Persians Arvad was allowed to unite in a confederation with Sidon and Tyre, with a common council at Tripolis(ib 484). When Alexander the Great invaded Syria in 332 BC Arvad submitted without a struggle under her king Strato, who sent his navy to aid Alexander in the reduction of Tyre. It seems to have received the favor of the Seleucid kings of Syria and enjoyed the right of asylum for political refugees. It is mentioned in a rescript from Rome about 138 BC, in connection with other cities and rulers of the East, to show favor to the Jews. It was after Rome had begun to interfere in the affairs of Judea and Syria, and indicates that Arvad was of considerable importance at that time (see 1 Maccabees 15:16-23). The town is not mentioned in the New Testament, and in modern times has sunk to a small village, chiefly inhabited by fishermen.
See ARADUS.
H. Porter
Arza
Arza - ar'-za ('artsa'): A steward of King Elah, in whose house at Tirzah Zimri murdered the king at a drinking debauch. The text is not quite clear, and Arza might have been a servant of Zimri (1 Kings 16:9).
Arzareth
Arzareth - ar'-za-reth, ar'-sareth (the King James Version, Arsareth): This is the land to which the ten tribes were deported (2 Esdras 13:45). It is described as "another land" lying a year and a half's journey beyond the river, i.e. the Euphrates. It probably answers to the Hebrew 'erets 'achereth (Deuteronomy 29:28). In Josephus' time the people were still believed to be there in countless numbers (Ant., XI, v, 2).
As
As - az: Conj. and adverb (usually Greek hos hosper, kathos), designating: (1) Likeness: (a) between nouns (Genesis 3:5; Judges 6:5; Philippians 2:8; Hebrews 11:27, 29); (b) between verbs (Luke 6:36; John 5:30; 1 Corinthians 10:7); (c) between adjectives (1 Corinthians 15:48). (2) Limitation (with respect to a particular aspect or relation) (1 Peter 4:15-16). (3) Time (Luke 8:5; 15:25; Acts 8:36). (4) Cause (1 Corinthians 4:1). (5) Concession (John 7:10; 2 Corinthians 11:21). (6) Illustration, in numerous passages, beginning "as it is written," "as it is said," etc.
Asa
Asa - a'-sa ('aca', "healer"; Asa):
(1) A king of Judah, the third one after the separation of Judah and Israel. He was the son of Abijah and grandson of Rehoboam. Maacah, his mother, or rather grandmother, was daughter of Abishalom (Absalom) (1 Kings 15:1 ff). The first ten years of his reign were prosperous and peaceful (2 Chronicles 14:1). He introduced many reforms, such as putting away the sodomites or male prostitutes, removing idols from holy places, breaking down altars, pillars and Asherim. He even deposed the "queen mother" because of her idolatrous practices, and of the image which she had made for Asherah (1 Kings 15:12 ff; 2 Chronicles 14:3). Though the king himself, in the main, was a zealous reformer, his subjects did not always keep pace with him (1 Kings 15:17). With an army of 580,000 he repelled an attack of Zerah, the Ethiopian, and routed him completely at Mareshah in the lowlands of Judah (2 Chronicles 14:6 ff). Directed and encouraged by Azariah the prophet, he carried on a great revival. Having restored the great altar of burnt offering in the temple, he assembled the people for a renewal of their covenant with Yahweh. On this occasion 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep were offered in sacrifice. For the next twenty years there was apparently great prosperity and peace throughout his kingdom, but in the thirty-sixth year of his reign, Judah was attacked by Baasha, king of Israel, at all times hostile to Judah (1 Kings 15:32). Baasha continued to encroach and finally fortified Ramah as a frontier fortress. Asa, faint-hearted, instead of putting his entire trust in Yahweh, made an alliance with Ben-hadad, of Damascus. The Syrian king, in consideration of a large sum of money and much treasure from the temple at Jerusalem, consented to attack the northern portion of Baasha's territory. It was at this favorable moment that Asa captured Ramah, and with the vast building material collected there by Baasha, he built Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah (1 Kings 15:16-22). This lack of faith in Yahweh was severely criticized by Hanani the prophet. Asa, instead of listening patiently to this prophet of God, was greatly offended and enraged and Hanani was put in prison (2 Chronicles 16:1-10). Three years later, Asa was attacked by gout or some disease of the feet. Here again he is accused of lack of faith, for "he sought not to Yahweh, but to the physicians" (2 Chronicles 16:12). Having ruled forty-one years, he died and was buried with great pomp in a tomb erected by himself in the city of David, i.e. Jerusalem. On the whole his reign was very successful, but it is sad to chronicle that as the years rolled on he became less and less faithful to Yahweh and His law.
(2) A son of Elkanah, a Levite, who dwelt in one of the villages of the Netophathites (1 Chronicles 9:16).
W. W. Davies
Asadias
Asadias - as-a-di'-as (Asadias): An ancestor of Baruch (Baruch 1:1).
Asael
Asael - a'-sa-el, as'-a-el.
See ASIEL (Apocrypha).
Asahel
Asahel - as'-a-hel (`asah'el, "God hath made"; Asael):
(1) The brother of Joab and Abishai. The three were sons of Zeruiah, one of David's sisters (1 Chronicles 2:15-16; 2 Samuel 2:18, etc.). The three brothers seem to have been from the beginning members of David's troop of strangely respectable brigands. Asahel was distinguished for his swift running, and this fact brought misfortune upon him and upon Israel. When Abner and the forces of Ish-bosheth were defeated near Gibeon, Asahel pursued Abner. Abner knew that he could outright Asahel, though he could not outrun him. He also knew that the time had come for making David king, and that a blood feud among the leaders would be a calamity. He expostulated with Asahel, but in vain. It came to a fight, and Abner slew Asahel (2 Samuel 2:3). As a result the coming of David to the throne of all Israel was delayed; and when at last Abner brought it about, he himself was treacherously killed by Joab in alleged blood revenge for Asahel. Asahel is mentioned as sixth in the list of David's "mighty men" (2 Samuel 23:24; 1 Chronicles 11:26). The earlier of the names in this list are evidently arranged in the order of seniority. If it be assumed that the list was not made till after the death of Asahel, still there is no difficulty in the idea that some of the names in the list were placed there posthumously. Asahel is also mentioned as the fourth of David's month-by-month captains (1 Chronicles 27:7). Superficial criticism describes this position as that of "commander of a division of David's army," and regards the statement, "and Zebadiah his son after him," as a note added to explain the otherwise incredible assertion of the text. This criticism is correct in its implication that the fourth captain was, as the text stands, the dead Asahel, in the person of his son Zebadiah. Coming from an annotator, the criticism regards this meaning as intelligible; is it any the less so if we regard it as coming from the author? In fact, the statement is both intelligible and credible. The second of David's month-by-month captains is Dodai, the father of the second of David's "mighty men"; and the fourth is Asahel, with his son Zebadiah. With these two variations the twelve month-by-month captains are twelve out of the nineteen seniors in the list of mighty men, and are mentioned in practically the same order of seniority. The 24,000 men each month were not a fighting army mobilized for war. The position of general for a month, whatever else it may have involved, was an honor held by a distinguished veteran. There is no absurdity in the idea that the honor may in some cases have been posthumous, the deceased being represented by his father or his son or by someone else.
(2) A Levite member of the commission of captains and Levites and priests which Jehoshaphat, in his third year, sent among the cities of Judah, with the book of the law, to spread information among the people (2 Chronicles 17:7-9).
(3) One of the keepers of the storechambers in the temple in the time of Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 31:13).
(4) The father of Jonathan who was one of the two men who "stood upon this," at the time when Ezra and the people appointed a court to consider the cases of those who had married foreign wives (Ezra 10:15). The text of the Revised Version (British and American) translates "stood up against this," while the margin has "were appointed over this."
Willis J. Beecher
Asahiah
Asahiah - as-a-hi'-a (`asayah, "Yahweh hath made"; the King James Version form; the Revised Version (British and American) ASAIAH): "The king's servant" sent by Josiah with Hilkiah, the priest, and others to inquire of Yahweh concerning the words of the book found in the temple (2 Kings 22:12, 14; 2 Chronicles 34:20).
Asaiah
Asaiah - a-sa'-ya ([`asayah], "Yahweh has made," written Asahiah twice in the King James Version (2 Kings 22:12, 14)):
(1) A Levite of the family of Merari, and one of those who helped bring the ark from the house of Obed-edom to Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 6:30; 6, 11).
(2) A leading man of the tribe of Simeon. He was in the incursion which attacked and dispossessed the MEUNIM (which see), or the shepherd people, in the valley of Gedor (1 Chronicles 4:36).
(3) An officer of Josiah sent to Huldah the prophetess for advice regarding the law book found by Hilkiah (2 Kings 22:12, 14; see ASAHIAH).
(4) A Shilonite resident of Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 9:5). He is called Maaseiah in Nehemiah 11:5.
W. W. Davis
Asana
Asana - as'-a-na (Asana, Assana) = Asnah (Ezra 2:50); omitted in Nehemiah. The sons of Asana (temple-servants) returned with Zerubbabel to Jerusalem (1 Esdras 5:31).
Asaph
Asaph - a'-saf ('acaph): Is the name of three men in the Old Testament, of whom one is the reputed author of Psalms 50:1-23 and Psalms 73:1-28 through Psalms 83:1-18. He was one of David's three chief musicians, the other two being Heman, and Ethan or Jeduthun, and we first hear of him when the ark was taken to Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 15:16-19). He conducted with cymbals the music performed in the tent where the ark was housed (1 Chronicles 16:4-5, 7, 37), while his two coadjutors discharged the same office at Gibeon (1 Chronicles 16:41-42). In 1 Chronicles 25:1 ff we are told that four of his sons were appointed to conduct under him detachments of the great chorus, the families of Heman and Jeduthun also furnishing leaders, and all took part at the dedication of the temple (2 Chronicles 5:12). A., H., and J. were called the king's seers (1 Chronicles 25:1-31; 2 Chronicles 35:15), no doubt an official title of rank or dignity. The "Sons of Asaph" are mentioned in later times. They formed a guild, and played a prominent part at each revival of the national religion.
See MUSIC; PSALMS.
James Millar
Asara
Asara - as'-a-ra (Asara; the King James Version Azara): The sons of Asara (temple-servants) returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel (1 Esdras 5:31). Omitted in Ezra and Nehemiah.
Asaramel
Asaramel - a-sar'-a-mel (Asaramel or Saramel): A name of uncertain origin occurring in 1 Maccabees 14:28, in the inscription set up in memory of Simon and the Maccabean family. "On the eighteenth day of Elul, in the hundred and seventy and second year, and this is the third year of Simon the high priest, in Asaramel, in a great congregation of priests and people and princes of the nation, and of the elders of the country," etc. The phrase "in Asaramel" has been taken as referring to a place, and as the name of a title of Simon. Ewald and others take it to be the equivalent of ba-chatsar `am 'el, "in the court of the people of God." Another reading is "in Saramel." The majority prefer to take the phrase as a title of Simon; the original phrase is then taken to have been wesar `am 'el, "and prince of the people of God," i.e. ethnarch. If the translator mistook the waw (w) for beth (b) and read 'en, he might have left the phrase untranslated because he supposed it to be the name of a place. Schurer disposes of the en by taking it as a corruption of segen = ceghen, which is equivalent to the Greek strategos (GVI, I, 197, note 17).
H. J. Wolf
Asareel
Asareel - a-sa'-re-el, a-sar'-e-el.
See ASAREL.
Asarel
Asarel - as'-ar-el ('asar'el, "God is ruler"; the King James Version Asareel): A descendant of Judah and a son of Jehallelel (1 Chronicles 4:16).
Asarelah
Asarelah - as-a-re'-la.
See ASHARELAH.
Asbacaphath
Asbacaphath - as-bak'-a-fath.
See ASBASARETH.
Asbasareth
Asbasareth - as-bas'-a-reth (Septuagint: Asbakaphath, or Asbasareth): The Greek rendering of the Assyrian Asshur-ach-iddina ("Esarhaddon") (1 Esdras 5:69; compare also Ezra 4:2, 10).
See OSNAPPAR.
Ascalon
Ascalon - as'-ka-lon (Askalon): In Apocrypha, both the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) (Judith 2:28; 1 Maccabees 10:86; 11:60; 12:33).
See ASHKELON.
Ascend
Ascend - a-send': By derivation the English word implies motion from a lower place to (not merely toward) a higher one; and usage tends to restrict it to cases where the beholder is in the lower, not the higher, position. the King James Version uses it 39 times in all: (1) of the going up of vapor (Psalms 135:7), flame (Judges 20:40), or smoke (Revelation 8:4); (2) of travel from one place to another (Acts 25:1) or of the course of a boundary (Joshua 15:3); (3) of coming up from the underworld (1 Samuel 28:13; Revelation 11:7; 17:8); and (4) of the going up (of men, angels, our Lord) from earth to the skies or to heaven (Genesis 28:12; John 3:13). the Revised Version (British and American) uses the appropriate form of "to go up" in all cases falling under (2) and (3); in those under (4) it retains "ascend" with an occasional change in tense; under (1) it retains "ascend" everywhere in Old Testament (Exodus 19:18; Joshua 8:20-21; Psalms 135:7 parallel Jeremiah 10:13 parallel Jeremiah 51:16) except Judges 20:40, but substitutes "went up," "goeth up," in New Testament (Revelation 8:4; 14:11). The like change in the Old Testament passages would make the usage of the Revised Version (British and American) uniform.
F. K. Farr
Ascension
Ascension - a-sen'-shun: Most modern Lives of Christ commence at Bethlehem and end with the Ascension, but Christ's life began earlier and continued later. The Ascension is not only a great fact of the New Testament, but a great factor in the life of Christ and Christians, and no complete view of Jesus Christ is possible unless the Ascension its consequences are included. It is the consummation of His redemptive work. The Christ of the Gospels is the Christ of history, the Christ of the past, but the full New Testament picture of Christ is that of a living Christ, the Christ of heaven, the Christ of experience, the Christ of the present and the future. The New Testament passages referring to the Ascension need close study and their teaching careful observation.
I. In the Gospels. 1. Anticipations: The Ascension is alluded to in several passages in the Gospels in the course of our Lord's earthly ministry (Luke 9:31, 51; John 6:62; 7:33; 12:32; 12, 28; 5, 10, 17, 28; 20:17). These passages show that the event was constantly in view, and anticipated by our Lord. The Ascension is also clearly implied in the allusions to His coming to earth on clouds of heaven (Matthew 24:30; 26:64).
2. Records: If with most modern scholars we regard Mark's Gospel as ending with 16:8, it will be seen to stop short at the resurrection, though the present ending speaks of Christ being received up into heaven, of His sitting at the right hand of God, and of His working with the disciples as they went preaching the word (Mark 16:19-20). In any case this is a bare summary only. The close of the Third Gospel includes an evident reference to the fact of the Ascension (Luke 24:28-53), even if the last six words of Luke 24:51, "and was carried up into heaven" are not authentic. No difficulty need be felt at the omission of the Fourth Gospel to refer to the fact of the Ascension, though it was universally accepted at the time the apostle wrote (John 20:17). As Dr. Hort has pointed out, "The Ascension did not lie within the proper scope of the Gospels .... its true place was at the head of the Acts of the Apostles" (quoted Swete, The Ascended Christ, 2).
II. In the Acts. 1. Record: The story in Acts 1:6-12 is clear. Jesus Christ was on the Mount of Olives. There had been conversation between Him and His disciples, and in the course of it He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight (Acts 1:9). His body was uplifted till it disappeared, and while they continued to gaze up they saw two men who assured them that He would come back exactly as He had gone up. The three Greek words rendered "taken up" (eperthe) (Acts 1:9); "went" (poreuomenou) (Acts 1:10); "received up" (analemphtheis) (Acts 1:11); deserve careful notice. This account must either be attributed to invention, or to the testimony of an eye-witness. But Luke's historicity now seems abundantly proved.
2. References: The Ascension is mentioned or implied in several passages in Acts 2:33 ff; Acts 3:21; 7:55 f; Acts 9:3-5; Acts 22:6-8; Acts 26:13-15. All these passages assert the present life and activity of Jesus Christ in heaven.
III. In the Pauline Epistles. 1. Romans: In Romans 8:34 the apostle states four facts connected with Christ Jesus: His death; His resurrection; His session at God's right hand; His intercession. The last two are clearly the culminating points of a series of redemptive acts.
2. Ephesians: While for its purpose Romans necessarily lays stress on the Resurrection, Ephesians has as part of its special aim an emphasis on the Ascension. In 1:20 God's work wrought in Christ is shown to have gone much farther than the Resurrection, and to have "made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places," thereby constituting Him the supreme authority over all things, and especially Head of the church (1:20-23). This idea concerning Christ is followed in 2:6 by the association of believers with Christ "in the heavenly places," and the teaching finds its completest expression in 4:8-11, where the Ascension is connected with the gift of the heavenly Christ as the crowning feature of His work. Nothing is more striking than the complementary teaching of Romans and Ephesians respectively in their emphasis on the Resurrection and Ascension.
3. Philippians: In Philippians 2:6-11 the exaltation of Christ is shown to follow His deep humiliation. He who humbled Himself is exalted to the place of supreme authority. In 3:20 Christians are taught that their commonwealth is in heaven, "whence also we wait for a Saviour."
4. Thessalonians: The emphasis placed on the second advent of Christ in 1 Thess is an assumption of the fact of the Ascension. Christians are waiting for God's Son from heaven (1:10) who is to "descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God" (4:16).
5. Timothy: The only allusion to the Ascension in the Pastoral Epistles is found in the closing statement of what seems to be an early Christian song in 1 Timothy 3:16. He who was "manifested in the flesh .... received up in glory."
IV. In Hebrews. In Hebrews there is more recorded about the Ascension and its consequences than in any other part of the New Testament. The facts of the Ascension and Session are first of all stated (1:3) with all that this implies of definite position and authority (1:4-13). Christians are regarded as contemplating Jesus as the Divine Man in heaven (2:9), though the meaning of the phrase, "crowned with glory and honor" is variously interpreted, some thinking that it refers to the result and outcome of His death, others thinking that He was "crowned for death" in the event of the Transfiguration (Matheson in Bruce, Hebrews, 83). Jesus Christ is described as "a great High Priest, who hath passed through the heavens" (4:14), as a Forerunner who is entered within the veil for us, and as a High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek (6:20). As such He "abideth for ever," and "ever liveth to make intercession" (7:24,25). The chief point of the epistle itself is said to be "such a high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens" (8:1), and His position there implies that He has obtained eternal redemption for His people and is appearing before God on their behalf (9:12,24). This session at God's right hand is also said to be with a view to His return to earth when His enemies will have become His footstool (10:12,13), and one of the last exhortations bids believers to look unto Jesus as the Author and Perfecter of faith who has "sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (12:2).
V. In the Petrine Epistles. The only reference to the Ascension is in 1 Peter 3:22, where Christ's exaltation after His sufferings is set forth as the pattern and guarantee of Christian glorification after endurance of persecution.
VI. In the Johannine Writings. 1. Epistles: Nothing is recorded of the actual Ascension, but 1 John 2:1 says that "we have an Advocate with the Father." The word "Advocate" is the same as "Comforter" in John 14:16, where it is used of the Holy Spirit. Christ is the Comforter "in relation to the Father," and the Holy Spirit is the Comforter dwelling in the soul.
2. Apocalypse: All the references in the Apocalypse either teach or imply the living Christ who is in heaven, as active in His church and as coming again (Revelation 1:7, 13; Revelation 5:5-13; Revelation 6:9-17; Revelation 14:1-5).
VII. Summary of New Testament Teaching. 1. The Fact: The New Testament calls attention to the fact of Ascension and the fact of the Session at God's right hand. Three words are used in the Greek in connection with the Ascension: anabainein (ascendere), "to go up"; analambanesthai (adsumi), "to be taken up"; poreuesthai "to go." The Session is connected with Psalms 110:1-7, and this Old Testament passage finds frequent reference or allusion in all parts of the New Testament. But it is used especially in He in connection with Christ's priesthood, and with His position of authority and honor at God's right hand (Swete, The Ascended Christ, 10-15). But the New Testament emphasizes the fact of Christ's exaltation rather than the mode, the latter being quite secondary. Yet the acceptance of the fact must be carefully noticed, for it is impossible to question that this is the belief of all the New Testament writers. They base their teaching on the fact and do not rest content with the moral or theological aspects of the Ascension apart from the historic reality. The Ascension is regarded as the point of contact between the Christ of the gospels and of the epistles. The gift of the Spirit is said to have come from the ascended Christ. The Ascension is the culminating point of Christ's glorification after His Resurrection, and is regarded as necessary for His heavenly exaltation. The Ascension was proved and demanded by the Resurrection, though there was no need to preach it as part of the evangelistic message. Like the Virgin birth, the Ascension involves doctrine for Christians rather than non-Christians. It is the culmination of the Incarnation, the reward of Christ's redemptive work, and the entrance upon a wider sphere of work in His glorified condition, as the Lord and Priest of His church (John 7:39; 16:7).
2. The Message: We may summarize what the New Testament tells us of our Lord's present life in heaven by observing carefully what is recorded in the various passages of the New Testament. He ascended into heaven (Mark 16:19; Luke 24:51; Acts 1:9); He is seated on the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3; 8:1; 10:12); He bestowed the gift of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 4:9, 33); He added disciples to the church (Acts 2:47); He worked with the disciples as they went forth preaching the gospel (Mark 16:20); He healed the impotent man (Acts 3:16); He stood to receive the first martyr (Acts 7:56); He appeared to Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:5); He makes intercession for His people (Romans 8:26; Hebrews 7:25); He is able to succor the tempted (Hebrews 2:18); He is able to sympathize (Hebrews 4:15); He is able to save to the uttermost (Hebrews 7:25); He lives forever (Hebrews 7:24; Revelation 1:18); He is our Great High Priest (Hebrews 7:26; 8:1; 10:21); He possesses an intransmissible or inviolable priesthood (Hebrews 7:24); He appears in the presence of God for us (Hebrews 9:24); He is our Advocate with the father (1 John 2:1); He is waiting until all opposition to Him is overcome (Hebrews 10:13). This includes all the teaching of the New Testament concerning our Lord's present life in heaven.
VIII. Problems. There are two questions usually associated with the Ascension which need our attention.
1. Relation to the Laws of Nature: There is no greater difficulty in connection with the Ascension than with the Resurrection, or the Incarnation. Of our Lord's resurrection body we know nothing. All we can say is that it was different from the body laid in the tomb and yet essentially the same; the same and yet essentially different. The Ascension was the natural close of Our Lord's earthly life, and as such, is inseparable from the Resurrection. Whatever, therefore, may be said of the Resurrection in regard to the laws of nature applies equally to the Ascension.
2. Localization of the Spiritual World: The record in Acts is sometimes objected to because it seems to imply the localization of heaven above the earth. But is not this taking the narrative in too absolutely bald and literal a sense? Heaven is at once a place and a state, and as personality necessarily implies locality, some place for our Lord's Divine, yet human person is essential. To speak of heaven as "above" may be only symbolical, but the ideas of fact and locality must be carefully adhered to. And yet it is not merely local, and "we have to think less of a transition from one locality than of a transition from one condition to another. .... the real meaning of the ascension is that .... our Lord withdrew from a world of limitations" to that higher existence where God is (Milligan, Ascension and Heavenly Priesthood, 26). It matters not that our conception today of the physical universe is different from that of New Testament times. We still speak of the sun setting and rising, though strictly these are not true. The details of the Ascension are really unimportant. Christ disappeared from view, and no question need be raised either of distance or direction. We accept the fact without any scientific explanation. It was a change of conditions and mode of existence; the essential fact is that He departed and disappeared. Even Keim admits that "the ascension of Jesus follows from all the facts of His career" (quoted, Milligan, 13), and Weiss is equally clear that the Ascension is as certain as the Resurrection, and stands and fails therewith (Milligan, 14).
IX. Its Relation to Christ Himself. The Ascension was the exaltation and glory of Jesus Christ after His work was accomplished (Philippians 2:9). He had a threefold glory: (1) as the Son of God before the Incarnation (John 17:5); (2) as God manifest in the flesh (John 1:14); (3) as the exalted Son of God after the Resurrection and Ascension (Luke 24:26; 1 Peter 1:21). The Ascension meant very much to Christ Himself, and no study of subject must overlook this aspect of New Testament teaching. His exaltation to the right hand of meant (1) the proof of victory (Ephesians 4:8); (2) the position of honor (Psalms 110:1); (3) the place of power (Acts 2:33); (4) the place of happiness (Psalms 26:11); (5) the place of rest ("seated"); (6) the place of permanence ("for ever").
X. Its Teaching for Christians. The importance of the Ascension for Christians lies mainly in the fact that it was the introduction to our Lord's present life in heaven which means so much in the believer's life. The spiritual value of the Ascension lies, not in Christ's physical remoteness, but in His spiritual nearness. He is free from earthly limitations, and His life above is the promise and guarantee of ours. "Because I live ye shall live also."
1. Redemption Accomplished: The Ascension and Session are regarded as the culminating point of Christ's redemptive work (Hebrews 8:1), and at the same time the demonstration of the sufficiency of His righteousness on man's behalf. For sinful humanity to reach heaven two essential features were necessary: (a) the removal of sin (negative); and (b) the presence of righteousness (positive). The Resurrection demonstrated the sufficiency of the atonement for the former, and the Ascension demonstrated the sufficiency of righteousness for the latter. The Spirit of God was to convict the world of "righteousness" "because I go to the Father" (John 16:10). In accord with this we find that in the Epistle to the He every reference to our Lord's atonement is in the past, implying completeness and perfection, "once for all."
2. High Priesthood: This is the peculiar and special message of He. Priesthood finds its essential features in the representation of man to God, involving access into the Divine presence (Hebrews 5:1). It means drawing near and dwelling near to God. In He, Aaron is used as typical of the work, and Melchizedek as typical of the person of the priest; and the two acts mainly emphasized are the offering in death and the entrance into heaven. Christ is both priest and priestly victim. He offered propitiation and then entered into heaven, not "with," but "through" His own blood (Hebrews 9:12), and as High Priest, at once human and Divine, He is able to sympathize (Hebrews 4:15); able to succor (Hebrews 2:18); and able to save (Hebrews 7:25).
See CHRIST AS KING, PRIEST, PROPHET.
3. Lordship: The Ascension constituted Christ as Head of the church (Ephesians 1:22; 10, 15; Colossians 2:19). This Headship teaches that He is the Lord and Life of the church. He is never spoken of as King in relation to His Body, the Church, only as Head and Lord. The fact that He is at the right hand of God suggests in the symbolical statement that He is not yet properly King on His own throne, as He will be hereafter as "King of the Jews," and "King of Kings."
4. Intercession: In several New Testament passages this is regarded as the crowning point of our Lord's work in heaven (Romans 8:33-34). He is the perfect Mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 8:6); our Advocate with the Father (1 John 2:1). His very presence at God's right hand pleads on behalf of His people. There is no presentation, or representation, or pleading, of Himself, for His intercession is never associated with any such relation to the sacrifice of Calvary. Nor is there any hint in the New Testament of a relation between the Eucharist and His life and work in heaven. This view popularized by the late Dr. William Milligan (The Ascension, etc., 266), and endorsed from other standpoints in certain aspects of Anglican teaching (Swete, The Ascended Christ, 46), does not find any support in the New Testament. As Westcott says, "The modern conception of Christ, pleading in heaven His passion, `offering His blood,' on behalf of man, has no foundation in this epistle" (Hebrews, 230). And Hort similarly remarks, "The words, `Still .... His prevailing death He pleads' have no apostolic warrant, and cannot even be reconciled with apostolic doctrine" (Life and Letters, II, 213). our Lord's intercession is He says as in what He is. He pleads by His presence on His Father's throne, and he is able to save to the uttermost through His intercession, because of His perpetual life and His inviolable, undelegated, intransmissible priesthood (Hebrews 7:24-25).
5. The Gift of the Spirit: There is an intimate and essential connection between the Ascension of Christ and the descent of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was given to Christ as the acknowledgment and reward of His work done, and having received this "Promise of the Father" He bestowed Him upon His people (Acts 2:33). By means of the Spirit the twofold work is done, of convincing sinners (John 16:9), and of edifying believers (John 14:12; see also John 14:25-26; John 16:14-15).
6. Presence: It is in connection with the Ascension and our Lord's life in heaven that we understand the force of such a passage as "Lo, I am with you always" (Matthew 28:20). "He ever liveth" is the supreme inspiration of the individual Christian and of the whole church. All through the New Testament from the time of the Ascension onward, the one assurance is that Christ is living; and in His life we live, hold fellowship with God, receive grace for daily living and rejoice in victory over sin, sorrow and death.
7. Expectation: Our Lord's life in heaven looks forward to a consummation. He is "expecting till his enemies be made his footstool" (Hebrews 10:13 the King James Version). He is described as our Forerunner (Hebrews 6:18 ff), and His presence above is the assurance that His people will share His life hereafter. But His Ascension is also associated with His coming again (Philippians 3:20-21; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; Hebrews 9:28). At this coming there will be the resurrection of dead saints, and the transformation of living ones (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17), to be followed by the Divine tribunal with Christ as Judge (Romans 2:16; 2 Timothy 4:1, 8). To His own people this coming will bring joy, satisfaction and glory (Acts 3:21; Romans 8:19); to His enemies defeat and condemnation (1 Corinthians 15:25; Hebrews 2:8; 10:13).
Reviewing all the teaching of our Lord's present life in heaven, appearing. on our behalf, interceding by His presence, bestowing the Holy Spirit, governing and guiding the church, sympathizing, helping and saving His people, we are called upon to up "lift our hearts," for it is in occupation with the living that we find the secret of peace, the assurance of access, and the guaranty of our permanent relation to God. Indeed, we are clearly taught in He that it is in fellowship with the present life of Christ in heaven that Christians realize the difference between spiritual immaturity and maturity (Hebrews 6:1; 10:1), and it is the purpose of this epistle to emphasize this truth above all others. Christianity is "the religion of free access to God," and in proportion as we realize, in union with Christ in heaven, this privilege of drawing near and keeping near, we shall find in the attitude of "lift up your hearts" the essential features of a strong, vigorous, growing, joyous Christian life.
LITERATURE.
Milligan, Ascension and Heavenly Priesthood of our Lord; Swete, The Appearances of the Risen Lord; The Ascended Christ; Lacey, The Historic Christ; Lives of Christ, by Neander, B. Weiss, Edersheim, Farrar, Geikie, Gilbert; Fairbairn, Studies in the Life of Christ; Knowling, Witness of the Epistles; Bernard in The Expositor T, 1900-1901, 152-55; Bruce in The Expositor. Greek Test, I; Swete, Apostles' Creed; Westcott, Historic Faith, chapter vi; Revelation of the Risen Lord, chapters x, xi; Epesians to Hebrews; article "Ascension" in Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible (five volumes); Paget, Studies in the Christian Character, sermons xxi, xxii; Findlay, Things Above; article. "Priest" in Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible (five volumes) (in New Testament), "Hebrews"; Davidson, Hebrews, special note on "Priesthood of Christ"; Dimock, Our One Priest on High; The Christian Doctrine of Sacerdotium; Perowne, Our High Priest in Heaven; Rotherham, Studies in He; Soames, The Priesthood of the New Covenant; Hubert Brooke, The Great High Priest; H. W. Williams, The Priesthood of Christ; J. S. Candlish, The Christian Salvation (1899), 6; G. Milligan, The Theol. of Ep. to Heb (1899), 111; R. C. Moberly, Ministerial Priesthood (1897); A. S. Peake, "Hebrews" in Century Bible; Beyschlag, New Testament Theol., II, 315; article "Ascension" in Hastings, Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels; article "Assumption and Ascension" in HDRE; article "Ascension" in JE; Charles, The Book of Enoch; The Slavonic Secrets of En; The Book of Jub; The Apocalypse of Bar; The Ascension Isaiah.; Assumption of Moses; M. R. James, "Testament of Abraham" TS, II, 2, 1892; Martensen, Christian Dogmatics.
W. H. Griffith Thomas
Ascension of Isaiah
Ascension of Isaiah - See APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE.
Ascent
Ascent - a-sent':
(1) The rendering in the King James Version twice, the Revised Version (British and American) 14 times correctly, of Hebrew ma`aleh, "ascent," "pass," as a geographical term (the King James Version Numbers 34:4; 2 Samuel 15:30; the Revised Version (British and American) Joshua 10:10; Judges 8:13, etc.).
(2) The rendering in the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) of `olah in 1 Kings 10:5, "his ascent by which he went up unto the house of Yahweh"; but `olah everywhere else means "burnt-offering," and all ancient versions support the Revised Version, margin, "his burnt-offering which he offered" (caused to go up), etc.
(3) In 2 Chronicles 9:4 (parallel 1 Kings 10:5) a very slight textual correction (supported by Septuagint) gives us the same words as in 1 Ki instead of the difficult `aliyah, "upper chamber," not "ascent" as the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) render it against all usage elsewhere.
(4) In the Revised Version (British and American) Ezekiel 40:31, 34, 37; Nehemiah 12:37, of a flight of steps, stairs.
(5) In the Revised Version (British and American) (Hebrew `aliyah), Nehemiah 3:31-32, margin "upper chamber" is to be preferred to text "ascent."
F. K. Farr
Aschenaz
Aschenaz - ash'-e-naz.
See ASHKENAZ.