Edom
(1.) The name of Esau (q.v.), Gen. 25:30 , “Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage [Heb. haadom, haadom, i.e., ‘the red pottage, the red pottage’] ...Therefore was his name called Edom”, i.e., Red. (2.) Idumea ( Isa. 34:5 , 6 ; Ezek. 35:15 ). “The field of Edom” ( Gen. 32:3 ), “the land of Edom” ( Gen. 36:16 ), was mountainous (Obad. 1:8, 9, 19, 21). It was called the land, or “the mountain of Seir,” the rough hills on the east side of the Arabah. It extended from the head of the Gulf of Akabah, the Elanitic gulf, to the foot of the Dead Sea ( 1 Kings 9:26 ), and contained, among other cities, the rock-hewn Sela (q.v.), generally known by the Greek name Petra ( 2 Kings 14:7 ). It is a wild and rugged region, traversed by fruitful valleys. Its old capital was Bozrah ( Isa. 63:1 ). The early inhabitants of the land were Horites. They were destroyed by the Edomites ( Deut. 2:12 ), between whom and the kings of Israel and Judah there was frequent war ( 2 Kings 8:20 ; 2 Chr. 28:17 ). At the time of the Exodus they churlishly refused permission to the Israelites to pass through their land ( Num. 20:14-21 ), and ever afterwards maintained an attitude of hostility toward them. They were conquered by David ( 2 Sam. 8:14 ; comp. 1 Kings 9:26 ), and afterwards by Amaziah ( 2 Chr. 25:11 , 12 ). But they regained again their independence, and in later years, during the decline of the Jewish kingdom ( 2 Kings 16:6 ; R.V. marg., “Edomites”), made war against Israel. They took part with the Chaldeans when Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem, and afterwards they invaded and held possession of the south of Palestine as far as Hebron. At length, however, Edom fell under the growing Chaldean power ( Jer. 27:3 , 6 ). There are many prophecies concerning Edom ( Isa. 34:5 , 6 ; Jer. 49:7-18 ; Ezek. 25:13 ; 35:1-15 ; Joel 3:19 ; Amos 1:11 ; Obad.; Mal. 1:3 , 4 ) which have been remarkably fulfilled. The present desolate condition of that land is a standing testimony to the inspiration of these prophecies. After an existence as a people for above seventeen hundred years, they have utterly disappeared, and their language even is forgotten for ever. In Petra, “where kings kept their court, and where nobles assembled, there no man dwells; it is given by lot to birds, and beasts, and reptiles.” The Edomites were Semites, closely related in blood and in language to the Israelites. They dispossessed the Horites of Mount Seir; though it is clear, from Gen. 36 , that they afterwards intermarried with the conquered population. Edomite tribes settled also in the south of Judah, like the Kenizzites ( Gen. 36:11 ), to whom Caleb and Othniel belonged ( Josh. 15:17 ). The southern part of Edom was known as Teman.
Edrei
Mighty; strength. (1.) One of the chief towns of the kingdom of Bashan ( Josh. 12:4 , 5 ). Here Og was defeated by the Israelites, and the strength of the Amorites broken ( Num. 21:33-35 ). It subsequently belonged to Manasseh, for a short time apparently, and afterwards became the abode of banditti and outlaws ( Josh. 13:31 ). It has been identified with the modern Edr’a, which stands on a rocky promontory on the south-west edge of the Lejah (the Argob of the Hebrews, and Trachonitis of the Greeks). The ruins of Edr’a are the most extensive in the Hauran. They are 3 miles in circumference. A number of the ancient houses still remain; the walls, roofs, and doors being all of stone. The wild region of which Edrei was the capital is thus described in its modern aspect: “Elevated about 20 feet above the plain, it is a labyrinth of clefts and crevasses in the rock, formed by volcanic action; and owing to its impenetrable condition, it has become a refuge for outlaws and turbulent characters, who make it a sort of Cave of Adullam...It is, in fact, an impregnable natural fortress, about 20 miles in length and 15 in breadth” (Porter’s Syria, etc.). Beneath this wonderful city there is also a subterranean city, hollowed out probably as a refuge for the population of the upper city in times of danger. (See BASHAN .) (2.) A town of Naphtali ( Josh. 19:37 ).
Egypt
The land of the Nile and the pyramids, the oldest kingdom of which we have any record, holds a place of great significance in Scripture. The Egyptians belonged to the white race, and their original home is still a matter of dispute. Many scholars believe that it was in Southern Arabia, and recent excavations have shown that the valley of the Nile was originally inhabited by a low-class population, perhaps belonging to the Nigritian stock, before the Egyptians of history entered it. The ancient Egyptian language, of which the latest form is Coptic, is distantly connected with the Semitic family of speech. Egypt consists geographically of two halves, the northern being the Delta, and the southern Upper Egypt, between Cairo and the First Cataract. In the Old Testament, Northern or Lower Egypt is called Mazor, “the fortified land” ( Isa. 19:6 ; 37 : 25, where the A.V. mistranslates “defence” and “besieged places”); while Southern or Upper Egypt is Pathros, the Egyptian Pa-to-Res, or “the land of the south” ( Isa. 11:11 ). But the whole country is generally mentioned under the dual name of Mizraim, “the two Mazors.” The civilization of Egypt goes back to a very remote antiquity. The two kingdoms of the north and south were united by Menes, the founder of the first historical dynasty of kings. The first six dynasties constitute what is known as the Old Empire, which had its capital at Memphis, south of Cairo, called in the Old Testament Moph ( Hos. 9:6 ) and Noph. The native name was Mennofer, “the good place.” The Pyramids were tombs of the monarchs of the Old Empire, those of Gizeh being erected in the time of the Fourth Dynasty. After the fall of the Old Empire came a period of decline and obscurity. This was followed by the Middle Empire, the most powerful dynasty of which was the Twelfth. The Fayyum was rescued for agriculture by the kings of the Twelfth Dynasty; and two obelisks were erected in front of the temple of the sun-god at On or Heliopolis (near Cairo), one of which is still standing. The capital of the Middle Empire was Thebes, in Upper Egypt. The Middle Empire was overthrown by the invasion of the Hyksos, or shepherd princes from Asia, who ruled over Egypt, more especially in the north, for several centuries, and of whom there were three dynasties of kings. They had their capital at Zoan or Tanis (now San), in the north-eastern part of the Delta. It was in the time of the Hyksos that Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph entered Egypt. The Hyksos were finally expelled about B.C. 1600, by the hereditary princes of Thebes, who founded the Eighteenth Dynasty, and carried the war into Asia. Canaan and Syria were subdued, as well as Cyprus, and the boundaries of the Egyptian Empire were fixed at the Euphrates. The Soudan, which had been conquered by the kings of the Twelfth Dynasty, was again annexed to Egypt, and the eldest son of the Pharaoh took the title of “Prince of Cush.” One of the later kings of the dynasty, Amenophis IV., or Khu-n-Aten, endeavoured to supplant the ancient state religion of Egypt by a new faith derived from Asia, which was a sort of pantheistic monotheism, the one supreme god being adored under the image of the solar disk. The attempt led to religious and civil war, and the Pharaoh retreated from Thebes to Central Egypt, where he built a new capital, on the site of the present Tell-el-Amarna. The cuneiform tablets that have been found there represent his foreign correspondence (about B.C. 1400). He surrounded himself with officials and courtiers of Asiatic, and more especially Canaanitish, extraction; but the native party succeeded eventually in overthrowing the government, the capital of Khu-n-Aten was destroyed, and the foreigners were driven out of the country, those that remained being reduced to serfdom. The national triumph was marked by the rise of the Nineteenth Dynasty, in the founder of which, Rameses I., we must see the “new king, who knew not Joseph.” His grandson, Rameses II., reigned sixty-seven years (B.C. 1348-1281), and was an indefatigable builder. As Pithom, excavated by Dr. Naville in 1883, was one of the cities he built, he must have been the Pharaoh of the Oppression. The Pharaoh of the Exodus may have been one of his immediate successors, whose reigns were short. Under them Egypt lost its empire in Asia, and was itself attacked by barbarians from Libya and the north. The Nineteenth Dynasty soon afterwards came to an end; Egypt was distracted by civil war; and for a short time a Canaanite, Arisu, ruled over it. Then came the Twentieth Dynasty, the second Pharaoh of which, Rameses III., restored the power of his country. In one of his campaigns he overran the southern part of Palestine, where the Israelites had not yet settled. They must at the time have been still in the wilderness. But it was during the reign of Rameses III. that Egypt finally lost Gaza and the adjoining cities, which were seized by the Pulista, or Philistines. After Rameses III., Egypt fell into decay. Solomon married the daughter of one of the last kings of the Twenty-first Dynasty, which was overthrown by Shishak I., the general of the Libyan mercenaries, who founded the Twenty-second Dynasty ( 1 Kings 11:40 ; 14:25 , 26 ). A list of the places he captured in Palestine is engraved on the outside of the south wall of the temple of Karnak. In the time of Hezekiah, Egypt was conquered by Ethiopians from the Soudan, who constituted the Twenty-fifth Dynasty. The third of them was Tirhakah ( 2 Kings 19:9 ). In B.C. 674 it was conquered by the Assyrians, who divided it into twenty satrapies, and Tirhakah was driven back to his ancestral dominions. Fourteen years later it successfully revolted under Psammetichus I. of Sais, the founder of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty. Among his successors were Necho ( 2 Kings 23:29 ) and Hophra, or Apries ( Jer. 37:5 , 7 , 11 ). The dynasty came to an end in B.C. 525, when the country was subjugated by Cambyses. Soon afterwards it was organized into a Persian satrapy. The title of Pharaoh, given to the Egyptian kings, is the Egyptian Per-aa, or “Great House,” which may be compared to that of “Sublime Porte.” It is found in very early Egyptian texts. The Egyptian religion was a strange mixture of pantheism and animal worship, the gods being adored in the form of animals. While the educated classes resolved their manifold deities into manifestations of one omnipresent and omnipotent divine power, the lower classes regarded the animals as incarnations of the gods. Under the Old Empire, Ptah, the Creator, the god of Memphis, was at the head of the Pantheon; afterwards Amon, the god of Thebes, took his place. Amon, like most of the other gods, was identified with Ra, the sun-god of Heliopolis. The Egyptians believed in a resurrection and future life, as well as in a state of rewards and punishments dependent on our conduct in this world. The judge of the dead was Osiris, who had been slain by Set, the representative of evil, and afterwards restored to life. His death was avenged by his son Horus, whom the Egyptians invoked as their “Redeemer.” Osiris and Horus, along with Isis, formed a trinity, who were regarded as representing the sun-god under different forms. Even in the time of Abraham, Egypt was a flourishing and settled monarchy. Its oldest capital, within the historic period, was Memphis, the ruins of which may still be seen near the Pyramids and the Sphinx. When the Old Empire of Menes came to an end, the seat of empire was shifted to Thebes, some 300 miles farther up the Nile. A short time after that, the Delta was conquered by the Hyksos, or shepherd kings, who fixed their capital at Zoan, the Greek Tanis, now San, on the Tanic arm of the Nile. All this occurred before the time of the new king “which knew not Joseph” ( Ex. 1:8 ). In later times Egypt was conquered by the Persians (B.C. 525), and by the Greeks under Alexander the Great (B.C. 332), after whom the Ptolemies ruled the country for three centuries. Subsequently it was for a time a province of the Roman Empire; and at last, in A.D. 1517, it fell into the hands of the Turks, of whose empire it still forms nominally a part. Abraham and Sarah went to Egypt in the time of the shepherd kings. The exile of Joseph and the migration of Jacob to “the land of Goshen” occurred about 200 years later. On the death of Solomon, Shishak, king of Egypt, invaded Palestine ( 1 Kings 14:25 ). He left a list of the cities he conquered. A number of remarkable clay tablets, discovered at Tell-el-Amarna in Upper Egypt, are the most important historical records ever found in connection with the Bible. They most fully confirm the historical statements of the Book of Joshua, and prove the antiquity of civilization in Syria and Palestine. As the clay in different parts of Palestine differs, it has been found possible by the clay alone to decide where the tablets come from when the name of the writer is lost. The inscriptions are cuneiform, and in the Aramaic language, resembling Assyrian. The writers are Phoenicians, Amorites, and Philistines, but in no instance Hittites, though Hittites are mentioned. The tablets consist of official dispatches and letters, dating from B.C. 1480, addressed to the two Pharaohs, Amenophis III. and IV., the last of this dynasty, from the kings and governors of Phoenicia and Palestine. There occur the names of three kings killed by Joshua, Adoni-zedec, king of Jerusalem, Japhia, king of Lachish ( Josh. 10:3 ), and Jabin, king of Hazor (11:1); also the Hebrews (Abiri) are said to have come from the desert. The principal prophecies of Scripture regarding Egypt are these, Isa. 19 ; Jer. 43 : 8-13; 44:30; 46; Ezek. 29 -32; and it might be easily shown that they have all been remarkably fulfilled. For example, the singular disappearance of Noph (i.e., Memphis) is a fulfilment of Jer. 46:19 , Ezek. 30:13 .
Ekron
Firm-rooted, the most northerly of the five towns belonging to the lords of the Philistines, about 11 miles north of Gath. It was assigned to Judah ( Josh. 13:3 ), and afterwards to Dan (19:43), but came again into the full possession of the Philistines ( 1 Sam. 5:10 ). It was the last place to which the Philistines carried the ark before they sent it back to Israel ( 1 Sam. 5:10 ; 6:1-8 ). There was here a noted sanctuary of Baal-zebub ( 2 Kings 1 : 2, 3, 6, 16). Now the small village Akir. It is mentioned on monuments in B.C. 702, when Sennacherib set free its king, imprisoned by Hezekiah in Jerusalem, according to the Assyrian record.
Elam
Highland, the son of Shem ( Gen. 10:22 ), and the name of the country inhabited by his descendants (14:1, 9; Isa. 11:11 ; 21:2 , etc.) lying to the east of Babylonia, and extending to the shore of the Mediterranean, a distance in a direct line of about 1,000 miles. The name Elam is an Assyrian word meaning “high.” “The inhabitants of Elam, or ‘the Highlands,’ to the east of Babylon, were called Elamites. They were divided into several branches, speaking different dialects of the same agglutinative language. The race to which they belonged was brachycephalic, or short-headed, like the pre-Semitic Sumerians of Babylonia. “The earliest Elamite kingdom seems to have been that of Anzan, the exact site of which is uncertain; but in the time of Abraham, Shushan or Susa appears to have already become the capital of the country. Babylonia was frequently invaded by the Elamite kings, who at times asserted their supremacy over it (as in the case of Chedorlaomer, the Kudur-Lagamar, or ‘servant of the goddess Lagamar,’ of the cuneiform texts). “The later Assyrian monarchs made several campaigns against Elam, and finally Assur-bani-pal (about B.C. 650) succeeded in conquering the country, which was ravaged with fire and sword. On the fall of the Assyrian Empire, Elam passed into the hands of the Persians” (A.H. Sayce). This country was called by the Greeks Cissia or Susiana.
Eliab
To whom God is father. (1.) A Reubenite, son of Pallu ( Num. 16:1 , 12 ; 26:8 , 9 ; Deut. 11:6 ). (2.) A son of Helon, and chief of the tribe of Zebulun at the time of the census in the wilderness ( Num. 1:9 ; 2:7 ). (3.) The son of Jesse, and brother of David ( 1 Sam. 16:6 ). It was he who spoke contemptuously to David when he proposed to fight Goliath ( 1 Sam. 17:28 ). (4.) One of the Gadite heroes who joined David in his stronghold in the wilderness ( 1 Chr. 12:9 ).
Elon
Oak. (1.) A city of Dan ( Josh. 19:43 ). (2.) A Hittite, father of Bashemath, Esau’s wife ( Gen. 26:34 ). (3.) One of the sons of Zebulun ( Gen. 46:14 ). (4.) The eleventh of the Hebrew judges. He held office for ten years ( Judg. 12:11 , 12 ). He is called the Zebulonite.
Epaphroditus
Fair, graceful; belonging to Aphrodite or Venus the messenger who came from Phillipi to the apostle when he was a prisoner at Rome ( Phil. 2:25-30 ; 4:10-18 ). Paul mentions him in words of esteem and affection. On his return to Philippi he was the bearer of Paul’s letter to the church there.
Ephraim, The tribe of
Took precedence over that of Manasseh by virtue of Jacob’s blessing ( Gen. 41:52 ; 48:1 ). The descendants of Joseph formed two of the tribes of Israel, whereas each of the other sons of Jacob was the founder of only one tribe. Thus there were in reality thirteen tribes; but the number twelve was preserved by excluding that of Levi when Ephraim and Manasseh are mentioned separately ( Num. 1:32-34 ; Josh. 17:14 , 17 ; 1 Chr. 7:20 ). Territory of. At the time of the first census in the wilderness this tribe numbered 40,500 ( Num. 1:32 , 33 ); forty years later, when about to take possession of the Promised Land, it numbered only 32,500. During the march (see CAMP ) Ephraim’s place was on the west side of the tabernacle ( Num. 2:18-24 ). When the spies were sent out to spy the land, “Oshea the son of Nun” of this tribe signalized himself. The boundaries of the portion of the land assigned to Ephraim are given in Josh. 16:1-10 . It included most of what was afterwards called Samaria as distinguished from Judea and Galilee. It thus lay in the centre of all traffic, from north to south, and from Jordan to the sea, and was about 55 miles long and 30 broad. The tabernacle and the ark were deposited within its limits at Shiloh, where it remained for four hundred years. During the time of the judges and the first stage of the monarchy this tribe manifested a domineering and haughty and discontented spirit. “For more than five hundred years, a period equal to that which elapsed between the Norman Conquest and the War of the Roses, Ephraim, with its two dependent tribes of Manasseh and Benjamin, exercised undisputed pre-eminence. Joshua the first conqueror, Gideon the greatest of the judges, and Saul the first king, belonged to one or other of the three tribes. It was not till the close of the first period of Jewish history that God ‘refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim, but chose the tribe of Judah, the Mount Zion which he loved’ ( Ps. 78:67 , 68 ). When the ark was removed from Shiloh to Zion the power of Ephraim was humbled.” Among the causes which operated to bring about the disruption of Israel was Ephraim’s jealousy of the growing power of Judah. From the settlement of Canaan till the time of David and Solomon, Ephraim had held the place of honour among the tribes. It occupied the central and fairest portions of the land, and had Shiloh and Shechem within its borders. But now when Jerusalem became the capital of the kingdom, and the centre of power and worship for the whole nation of Israel, Ephraim declined in influence. The discontent came to a crisis by Rehoboam’s refusal to grant certain redresses that were demanded ( 1 Kings 12 ).
Esau
Hairy, Rebekah’s first-born twin son ( Gen. 25:25 ). The name of Edom, “red”, was also given to him from his conduct in connection with the red lentil “pottage” for which he sold his birthright (30, 31). The circumstances connected with his birth foreshadowed the enmity which afterwards subsisted between the twin brothers and the nations they founded (25:22, 23, 26). In process of time Jacob, following his natural bent, became a shepherd; while Esau, a “son of the desert,” devoted himself to the perilous and toilsome life of a huntsman. On a certain occasion, on returning from the chase, urged by the cravings of hunger, Esau sold his birthright to his brother, Jacob, who thereby obtained the covenant blessing ( Gen. 27:28 , 29 , 36 ; Heb. 12:16 , 17 ). He afterwards tried to regain what he had so recklessly parted with, but was defeated in his attempts through the stealth of his brother ( Gen. 27:4 , 34 , 38 ). At the age of forty years, to the great grief of his parents, he married ( Gen. 26:34 , 35 ) two Canaanitish maidens, Judith, the daughter of Beeri, and Bashemath, the daughter of Elon. When Jacob was sent away to Padan-aram, Esau tried to conciliate his parents ( Gen. 28:8 , 9 ) by marrying his cousin Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael. This led him to cast in his lot with the Ishmaelite tribes; and driving the Horites out of Mount Seir, he settled in that region. After some thirty years’ sojourn in Padan-aram Jacob returned to Canaan, and was reconciled to Esau, who went forth to meet him (33:4). Twenty years after this, Isaac their father died, when the two brothers met, probably for the last time, beside his grave (35:29). Esau now permanently left Canaan, and established himself as a powerful and wealthy chief in the land of Edom (q.v.). Long after this, when the descendants of Jacob came out of Egypt, the Edomites remembered the old quarrel between the brothers, and with fierce hatred they warred against Israel.
Esdraelon
The Greek form of the Hebrew “Jezreel,” the name of the great plain (called by the natives Merj Ibn Amer; i.e., “the meadow of the son of Amer”) which stretches across Central Palestine from the Jordan to the Mediterraanean, separating the mountain ranges of Carmel and Samaria from those of Galilee, extending about 14 miles from north to south, and 9 miles from east to west. It is drained by “that ancient river” the Kishon, which flows westward to the Mediterranean. From the foot of Mount Tabor it branches out into three valleys, that on the north passing between Tabor and Little Hermon ( Judg. 4:14 ); that on the south between Mount Gilboa and En-gannim ( 2 Kings 9:27 ); while the central portion, the “valley of Jezreel” proper, runs into the Jordan valley (which is about 1,000 feet lower than Esdraelon) by Bethshean. Here Gideon gained his great victory over the Midianites ( Judg. 7:1-25 ). Here also Barak defeated Sisera, and Saul’s army was defeated by the Philistines, and king Josiah, while fighting in disguise against Necho, king of Egypt, was slain ( 2 Chr. 35:20-27 ; 2 Kings 23 -29). This plain has been well called the “battle-field of Palestine.” “It has been a chosen place for encampment in every contest carried on in this country, from the days of Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, in the history of whose wars with Arphaxad it is mentioned as the Great Plain of Esdraelon, until the disastrous march of Napoleon Bonaparte from Egypt into Syria. Jews, Gentiles, Saracens, Crusaders, Frenchmen, Egyptians, Persians, Druses, Turks, and Arabs, warriors out of every nation which is under heaven, have pitched their tents in the plain, and have beheld the various banners of their nations wet with the dews of Tabor and Hermon” (Dr. Clark).
Exile
(1.) Of the kingdom of Israel. In the time of Pekah, Tiglath-pileser II. carried away captive into Assyria ( 2 Kings 15:29 ; comp. Isa. 10:5 , 6 ) a part of the inhabitants of Galilee and of Gilead (B.C. 741). After the destruction of Samaria (B.C. 720) by Shalmaneser and Sargon (q.v.), there was a general deportation of the Israelites into Mesopotamia and Media ( 2 Kings 17:6 ; 18:9 ; 1 Chr. 5:26 ). (See ISRAEL, KINGDOM OF .) (2.) Of the kingdom of the two tribes, the kingdom of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim ( Jer. 25:1 ), invaded Judah, and carried away some royal youths, including Daniel and his companions (B.C. 606), together with the sacred vessels of the temple ( 2 Chr. 36:7 ; Dan. 1:2 ). In B.C. 598 ( Jer. 52:28 ; 2 Kings 24:12 ), in the beginning of Jehoiachin’s reign ( 2 Kings 24:8 ), Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive 3,023 eminent Jews, including the king ( 2 Chr. 36:10 ), with his family and officers ( 2 Kings 24:12 ), and a large number of warriors (16), with very many persons of note (14), and artisans (16), leaving behind only those who were poor and helpless. This was the first general deportation to Babylon. In B.C. 588, after the revolt of Zedekiah (q.v.), there was a second general deportation of Jews by Nebuchadnezzar ( Jer. 52:29 ; 2 Kings 25:8 ), including 832 more of the principal men of the kingdom. He carried away also the rest of the sacred vessels ( 2 Chr. 36:18 ). From this period, when the temple was destroyed ( 2 Kings 25:9 ), to the complete restoration, B.C. 517 ( Ezra 6:15 ), is the period of the “seventy years.” In B.C. 582 occurred the last and final deportation. The entire number Nebuchadnezzar carried captive was 4,600 heads of families with their wives and children and dependants ( Jer. 52:30 ; 43:5-7 ; 2 Chr. 36:20 , etc.). Thus the exiles formed a very considerable community in Babylon. When Cyrus granted permission to the Jews to return to their own land ( Ezra 1:5 ; 7:13 ), only a comparatively small number at first availed themselves of the privilege. It cannot be questioned that many belonging to the kingdom of Israel ultimately joined the Jews under Ezra, Zerubbabel, and Nehemiah, and returned along with them to Jerusalem ( Jer. 50:4 , 5 , 17 -20, 33-35). Large numbers had, however, settled in the land of Babylon, and formed numerous colonies in different parts of the kingdom. Their descendants very probably have spread far into Eastern lands and become absorbed in the general population. (See JUDAH, KINGDOM OF ; CAPTIVITY .)