Sadducees
(followers of Zadok), ( Matthew 3:7 ; 16:1 , 6 , 11 , 12 ; 22:23 , 31 ; Mark 12:18 ; Luke 20:27 ; Acts 4:1 ; 5:17 ; 23:6 , 7 , 8 ) a religious party or school among the Jews at the time of Christ, who denied that the oral law was a revelation of God to the Israelites. and who deemed the written law alone to be obligatory on the nation, as of divine authority. Except on one occasion. ( Matthew 16:1 , 4 , 6 ) Christ never assailed the Sadducees with the same bitter denunciations which he uttered against the Pharisees. The origin of their name is involved in great difficulties, but the most satisfactory conjecture is that the Sadducees or Zadokites were originally identical with the sons of Zadok, and constituted what may be termed a kind of sacerdotal aristocracy, this Zadok being the priest who declared in favor of Solomon when Abiathar took the part of Adonijah. ( 1 Kings 1:32-45 ) To these sons of Zadok were afterward attached all who for any reason reckoned themselves as belonging to the aristocrats; such, for example, as the families of the high priest, who had obtained consideration under the dynasty of Herod. These were for the most part judges, and individuals of the official and governing class. This explanation elucidates at once ( Acts 5:17 ) The leading tenet of the Sadducees was the negation of the leading tenet of their opponents. As the Pharisees asserted so the Sadducees denied, that the Israelites were in possession of an oral law transmitted to them by Moses, [ Pharisees ] In opposition to the Pharisees, they maintained that the written law alone was obligatory on the nation, as of divine authority. The second distinguishing doctrine of the Sadducees was the denial of man’s resurrection after death . In connection with the disbelief of a resurrection by the Sadducees, they likewise denied there was “angel or spirit,” ( Acts 23:8 ) and also the doctrines of future punishment and future rewards. Josephus states that the Sadducees believed in the freedom of the will, which the Pharisees denied. They pushed this doctrine so far as almost to exclude God from the government of the world. Some of the early Christian writers attribute to the Sadducees the rejection of all the sacred Scriptures except the Pentateuch ; a statement, however, that is now generally admitted to have been founded on a misconception of the truth, and it seems to have arisen from a confusion of the Sadducees with the Samaritans. An important fact in the history of the Sadducees is their rapid disappearance from history after the first century, and the subsequent predominance among the Jews of the opinions of the Pharisees. Two circumstances contributed, indirectly but powerfully, to produce this result: 1st. The state of the Jews after the capture of Jerusalem by Titus; and 2d. The growth of the Christian religion. As to the first point, it is difficult to overestimate the consternation and dismay which the destruction of Jerusalem occasioned in the minds of sincerely-religious Jews. In their hour of darkness and anguish they naturally turned to the consolations and hopes of a future state; and the doctrine of the Sadducees, that there was nothing beyond the present life, would have appeared to them cold, heartless and hateful. Again, while they were sunk in the lowest depths of depression, a new religion, which they despised as a heresy and a superstition, was gradually making its way among the subjects of their detested conquerors, the Romans. One of the causes of its success was undoubtedly the vivid belief in the resurrection of Jesus and a consequent resurrection of all mankind, which was accepted by its heathen converts with a passionate earnestness of which those who at the present day are familiar from infancy with the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead call form only a faint idea. To attempt to chock the progress of this new religion among the Jews by an appeal to the temporary rewards and punishments of the Pentateuch would have been as idle as an endeavor to check an explosive power by ordinary mechanical restraints. Consciously, therefore, or unconsciously, many circumstances combined to induce the Jews who were not Pharisees, but who resisted the new heresy, to rally round the standard of the oral law, and to assert that their holy legislator, Moses, had transmitted to his faithful people by word of mouth, although not in writing, the revelation of a future state of rewards and punishments.
Saffron
(yellow). (Song of Solomon 4:14) Saffron has front the earliest times been in high esteem as a perfume. “It was used,” says Rosenmuller, “for the same purposes as the modern pot-pourri.” The word saffron is derived from the Arabic zafran, “yellow.” (The saffron (Crocus sativus) is a kind of crocus of the iris family. It is used its a medicine, as a flavoring and as a yellow dye. Homer, Virgil and Milton refer to its beauty in the landscape. It abounds in Palestine name saffron is usually applied only to the stigmas and part of the style, which are plucked out and dried.—ED.)
Samuel, Books Of
are not separated from each other in the Hebrew MSS., and, from a critical point of view, must be regarded as one book. The present, division was first made in the Septuagint translation, and was adopted in the Vulgate from the Septuagint. The book was called by the Hebrews: “Samuel,” probably because the birth and life of Samuel were the subjects treated of in the beginning of the work. The books of Samuel commence with the history of Eli and Samuel, and contain all account of the establishment of the Hebrew monarchy and of the reigns of Saul and David, with the exception of the last days of the latter monarch which are related in the beginning of the books of Kings, of which those of Samuel form the previous portion. [ Kings, First And Second Books Of , B00KS OF] Authorship and date of the book,— As to the authorship. In common with all the historical books of the Old Testament, except the beginning of Nehemiah, the book of Samuel contains no mention in the text of the name of its author. It is indisputable that the title “Samuel” does not imply that the prophet was the author of the book of Samuel as a whole; for the death of Samuel is recorded in the beginning of the 25th chapter. In our own time the most prevalent idea in the Anglican Church seems to have been that the first twenty-four chapters of the book of Samuel were written by the prophet himself, and the rest of the chapters by the prophets Nathan and Gad. This, however, is doubtful. But although the authorship cannot be ascertained with certainty, it appears clear that, in its present form it must have been composed subsequent to the secession of the ten tribes, B.C. 975. This results from the passage in ( 1 Samuel 27:6 ) wherein it is said of David, “Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day wherefore Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah to this day:” for neither Saul, David nor Solomon is in a single instance called king of Judah simply. On the other hand, it could hardly have been written later than the reformation of Josiah, since it seems to have been composed at a time when the Pentateuch was not acted on as the rule of religious observances, which received a special impetus at the finding of the Book of the Law at the reformation of Josiah. All, therefore, that can be asserted with any certainty is that the book, as a whole, can scarcely have been composed later than the reformation of Josiah, and that it could not have existed in its present form earlier than the reign of Rehoboam. The book of Samuel is one of the best specimens of Hebrew prose in the golden age of Hebrew literature. In prose it holds the same place which Joel and the undisputed prophecies of Isaiah hold in poetical or prophetical language.
Sarothie
are among the sons of the servants of Solomon who returned with Zerubbabel. 1 Esd. 6:34 .
Scribes
(Heb.sopherim), I. Name .— (1) Three meanings are connected with the verb saphar, the root of sopherim— (a) to write, (b) to set in order, (c) to count. The explanation of the word has been referred to each of these. The sopherim were so called because they wrote out the law, or because they classified and arranged its precepts, or because they counted with scrupulous minuteness every elapse and letter It contained. (2) The name of Kirjath-sepher, ( Joshua 15:15 ; Judges 1:12 ) may possibly connect itself with some early use of the title, and appears to point to military functions of some kind. ( Judges 5:14 ) The men are mentioned as filling the office of scribe under David and Solomon. ( 2 Samuel 8:17 ; 20:25 ; 1 Kings 4:3 ) We may think of them as the king’s secretaries, writing his letters, drawing up his decrees, managing his finances. Comp ( 2 Kings 12:10 ) In Hezekiah’s time transcribed old records, and became a class of students and interpreters of the law, boasting of their wisdom. ( Jeremiah 8:8 ) After the captivity the office became more prominent, as the exiles would be anxious above all things to preserve the sacred books, the laws, the hymns, the prophecies of the past. II. Development of doctrine .—Of the scribes of this period, with the exception of Ezra and Zadok, ( Nehemiah 13:13 ) we have no record. A later age honored them collectively as the men of the Great Synagogue. Never perhaps, was so important a work done so silently. They devoted themselves to the careful study of the text, and laid down rules for transcribing it with the most scrupulous precision. As time passed on the “words of the scribes” were honored above the law. It was a greater crime to offend against them than against the law. The first step was taken toward annulling the commandments of God for the sake of their own traditions. ( Mark 7:13 ) The casuistry became at once subtle and prurient, evading the plainest duties, tampering with conscience. ( Matthew 15:1-6 ; 23:16-23 ) We can therefore understand why they were constantly denounced by our Lord along with the Pharisees. While the scribes repeated the traditions of the elders, he “spake as one having authority,” “not as the scribes.” ( Matthew 7:29 ) While they confined their teachings to the class of scholars, he “had compassion on the multitudes.” ( Matthew 9:36 ) While they were to be found only in the council or in their schools, he journeyed through the cities and villages. ( Matthew 4:23 ; 9:35 ) etc. While they spoke of the kingdom of God vaguely, as a thing far off, he proclaimed that it had already come nigh to men. ( Matthew 4:17 ) In our Lord’s time there were two chief parties: the disciples of Shammai, conspicuous for their fierceness, appealing to popular passions, using the sword to decide their controversies. Out of this party grew the Zealots. The disciples of Hillel, born B.C. 112, and who may have been one of the doctors before whom the boy Jesus came in the temple, for he lived to be 120 years old. Hillel was a “liberal conservative, of genial character and broad range of thought, with some approximations to a higher teaching.” In most of the points at issue between the two parties, Jesus must have appeared in direct antagonism to the school of Shammai, in sympathy with that of Hillel. So far, on the other hand, as the temper of the Hillel school was one of mere adaptation to the feeling of the people, cleaving to tradition, wanting in the intuition of a higher life, the teaching of Christ must have been felt as unsparingly condemning it. III. Education and life.—The special training for a scribe’s office began, probably, about the age of thirteen. The boy who was destined by his parents to the calling of a scribe went to Jerusalem and applied for admission in the school of some famous rabbi. After a sufficient period of training, probably at the age of thirty the probationer was solemnly admitted to his office. After his admission there was a choice of a variety of functions, the chances of failure and success. He might give himself to any one of the branches of study, or combine two or more of them. He might rise to high places, become a doctor of the law, an arbitrator in family litigations, ( Luke 12:14 ) the head of a school, a member of the Sanhedrin. He might have to content himself with the humbler work of a transcriber, copying the law and the prophets for the use of synagogues, or a notary, writing out contracts of sale, covenants of espousals, bills of repudiation. The position of the more fortunate was of course attractive enough. In our Lord’s time the passion for distinction was insatiable. The ascending scale of rab, rabbi, rabban, presented so many steps on the ladder of ambition. Other forms of worldliness were not far off. The salutations in the market-place, ( Matthew 23:7 ) the reverential kiss offered by the scholars to their master or by rabbis to each other the greeting of Abba, father ( Matthew 23:9 ) the long robes with the broad blue fringe, ( Matthew 23:5 )—all these go to make up the picture of a scribe’s life. Drawing to themselves, as they did, nearly all the energy and thought of Judaism, the close hereditary caste of the priesthood was powerless to compete with them. Unless the Priest became a scribe also, he remained in obscurity. The order, as such, became contemptible and base. For the scribes there were the best places at feasts, the chief seats in synagogues. ( Matthew 23:6 ; Luke 14:7 )
Sea, Molten
In the place of the laver of the tabernacle Solomon caused a laver to be cast for a similar purpose, which from its size was called a sea. It was made partly or wholly of the brass, or rather copper, which was captured by David from “Tibhath and Chun, cities of Hadarezer king of Zobah.” ( 1 Kings 7:23-26 ; 1 Chronicles 18:8 ) It is said to have been 15 feet in diameter and 7 1/2 feet deep, and to have been capable of containing 2000, or according to ( 2 Chronicles 4:5 ) 3000 Baths (16,000 to 24,000 gallons). The lever stood on twelve oxen three toward each quarter of the heavens, and all looking outward. It was mutilated by Ahaz by being removed from its basis of oxen and placed on a stone base, and was finally broken up by the Assyrians. ( 2 Kings 16:14 , 17 ; 25:13 )
Seba
(pl. Sebaim ; in Authorized Version incorrectly rendered Sabeans) heads the list of the sons of Cush. Besides the mention of Seba in the lists of the pens of Cush, ( Genesis 10:7 ; 1 Chronicles 1:9 ) there are but three notices of the nation— ( Psalms 72:10 ; Isaiah 43:3 ; 45:14 ) These passages seem to show that Seba was a nation of Africa bordering on or included in Cush, and in Solomon’s time independent and of political importance. It may perhaps be identified with the island of Meroe. Josephus says that Saba was the ancient name of the Ethiopian island and city of Meroe, but he writes Seba, in the notice of the Noachian settlements, Sabas. The island of Meroe lay between the Astaboras, the Atbara, the most northern tributary of the Nile, and the Astapus, the Bahr el-Azrak, “Blue River,” the eastern of its two great confluents.
Sheba
one of the towns of the allotment of Simeon, ( Joshua 19:2 ) probably the same as Shema. ( Joshua 15:26 ) (seven, or all oath). A son of Raamah son of Cush. ( Genesis 10:7 ; 1 Chronicles 1:9 ) A soil of Joktan. ( Genesis 10:28 ; 1 Chronicles 1:22 ) A son of Jokshan son of Keturah. ( Genesis 25:3 ; 1 Chronicles 1:32 ) We shall consider, first, the history of the Joktanite Sheba; and secondly, the Cushite Sheba and the Keturahite Sheba together. I. The Joktanites were among the early colonists of southern Arabia, and the kingdom which they there founded was for many centuries called the kingdom of Sheba, after one of the sons of Joktan. The visit of the queen of Sheba to King Solomon. ( 1 Kings 10:1 ) is one of the familiar Bible incidents. The kingdom of Sheba embraced the greater part of the Yemen, or Arabia Felix. It bordered on the Red Sea, and was one of the most fertile districts of Arabia. Its chief cities, and probably successive capitals, were Seba, San’a (Uzal), and Zafar (Sephar). Seba was probably the name of the city, and generally of the country and nation. II. Sheba, son of Raamah son of Cush settled somewhere on the shores of the Persian Gulf. It was this Sheba that carried on the great Indian traffic with Palestine, in conjunction with, as we hold, the other Sheba, son of Jokshan son of Keturah, who like Dedan appears to have formed, with the Cushite of the same name, one tribe. (on oath), the son of Bichri, a Benjamite, ( 2 Samuel 20:1-22 ) the last chief of the Absalom insurrection. The occasion seized by Sheba was the emulation between the northern and southern tribes on David’s return. ( 2 Samuel 20:1 , 2 ) Sheba traversed the whole of Palestine apparently rousing the population, Joab following in full pursuit to the fortress Abel Beth-maachah, where Sheba was beheaded. ( 2 Samuel 20:3-22 )
Shechem
(back or shoulder). An important city in central Palestine, in the valley between mounts Ebal and Gerizim, 34 miles north of Jerusalem and 7 miles southeast of Samaria. Its present name, Nablus, is a corruption of Neapolis, which succeeded the more ancient Shechem, and received its new name from Vespasian. On coins still extant it is called Flavia Neapolis. The situation of the town is one of surpassing beauty. It lies in a sheltered valley, protected by Gerizim on the south and Ebal on the north. The feet of these mountains, where they rise from the town, are not more than five hundred yards apart. The bottom of the valley is about 1800 feet above the level of the sea, and the top of Gerizim 800 feet higher still. The sit of the present city, which was also that of the Hebrew city, occurs exactly on the water-summit; and streams issuing from the numerous springs there flow down the opposite slopes of the valley, spreading verdure and fertility in every direction. Travellers vie with each other in the language which they employ to describe the scene that here bursts so suddenly upon them on arriving in spring or early summer at this paradise of the holy land. “The whole valley,” says Dr. Robinson, “was filled with gardens of vegetables and orchards of all kinds of fruits, watered by fountains which burst forth in various parts and flow westward in refreshing streams. it came upon us suddenly like a scene of fairy enchantment. We saw nothing to compare with it in all Palestine.” The allusions to Shechem in the Bible are numerous, and show how important the place was in Jewish history. Abraham, on his first migration to the land of promise, pitched his tent and built an altar under the oak (or terebinth) of Moreh at Shechem. “The Canaanite was then in the land;” and it is evident that the region, if not the city, was already in possession of the aboriginal race. See ( Genesis 12:6 ) At the time of Jacob’s arrival here, after his sojourn in Mesopotamia, ( Genesis 33:18 ; 34 ) Shechem was a Hivite city, of which Hamor, the father of Shechem, was the headman. it was at this time that the patriarch purchased from that chieftain “the parcel of the field” which he subsequently bequeathed, as a special patrimony, to his son Joseph. ( Genesis 33:19 ; Joshua 24:32 ; John 4:5 ) The field lay undoubtedly on the rich plain of the Mukhna, and its value was the greater on account of the well which Jacob had dug there, so as not to be dependent on his neighbors for a supply of water. In the distribution of the land after its conquest by the Hebrews, Shechem fell to the lot of Ephraim, ( Joshua 20:7 ) but was assigned to the Levites, and became a city of refuge. ( Joshua 21:20 , 21 ) It acquired new importance as the scene of the renewed promulgation of the law, when its blessings were heard from Gerizim and its curses from Ebal, and the people bowed their heads and acknowledged Jehovah as their king and ruler. (27:11; Joshua 24:23-25 ) it was here Joshua assembled the people, shortly before his death, and delivered to them his last counsels. ( Joshua 24:1 , 25 ) After the death of Gideon, Abimelech, his bastard son, induced the Shechemites to revolt from the Hebrew commonwealth and elect him as king. ( Judges 9:1 ) ... In revenge for his expulsion after a reign of three years, Abimelech destroyed the city, and as an emblem of the fate to which he would consign it, sowed the ground with salt. ( Judges 9:34-45 ) It was soon restored, however, for we are told in ( 1 Kings 12:1 ) ... that all Israel assembled at Shechem, and Rehoboam, Solomon’s successor, went thither to be inaugurated as king. here, at this same place, the ten tribes renounced the house of David, and transferred their allegiance to Jeroboam, ( 1 Kings 12:16 ) under whom Shechem became for a time the capital of his kingdom. From the time of the origin of the Samaritans, the history of Shechem blends itself with that of this people and of their sacred mount, Gerizim. [ Samaria ] Shechem reappears in the New Testament. It is the Sychar of ( John 4:5 ) near which the Saviour conversed with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. The population of Nablus consists of about 5000, among whom are 500 Greek Christians, 150 Samaritans, and a few Jews. The enmity between the Samaritans and jews is as inveterate still as it was in the days of Christ. The Mohammedans, of course, make up the bulk of the population. The well of Jacob and the tomb of Joseph are still shown in the neighborhood of the town. The well of Jacob lies about a mile and a half east of the city, close to the lower road, and just beyond the wretched hamlet of Balata . The Christians sometimes call it Bir es-Samariyeh— “the well of the Samaritan woman.” The well is deep—75 feet when last measured—and there was probably a considerable accumulation of rubbish at the bottom. Sometimes it contains a few feet of water, but at others it is quite dry. It is entirely excavated in the solid rock, perfectly round, 9 feet in diameter, with the sides hewn smooth and regular. Of all the special localities of our Lord’s life, this is almost the only one absolutely undisputed. The tomb of Joseph lies about a quarter of a mile north of the well, exactly in the centre of the opening of the valley. It is a small between Gerizim and Ebal. It is a small, square enclosure of high whitewashed walls, surrounding a tomb of the ordinary kind, but with the peculiarity that it is placed diagonally to the walls, instead of parallel as usual. A rough pillar used as an altar and black with the traces of fire is at the head and another at the foot of the tome. In the walls are two slabs with Hebrew inscriptions, and the interior is almost covered with the names of pilgrims in Hebrew Arabic and Samaritan. Beyond this there is nothing to remark in the structure itself. The local tradition of the tomb, like that of the well is as old as the beginning of the fourth century. The son of Hamor, the chieftain of the Hivite settlement of Shechem at the time of Jacob’s arrival. ( Genesis 33:19 ; 34:2-26 ; Joshua 24:32 ; Judges 9:28 ) A man of Manasseh, of the clan of Gilead. ( Numbers 26:31 ) A Gileadite, son of Shemida, the younger brother of the foregoing. ( 1 Chronicles 7:19 )
Shechinah
(dwelling). This term is not found in the Bible. It was used by the later Jews, and borrowed by Christians from them, to express the visible majesty of the divine Presence especially when resting or dwelling between the cherubim on the mercyseat. In the tabernacle and in the temple of Solomon, but not in the second temple. The use of the term is first found in the Targums, where it forms a frequent periphrasis for God, considered its dwelling among the children of Israel. The idea which the different accounts in Scripture convey is that of a most brilliant and glorious light, enveloped in a cloud, and usually concealed by the cloud, so that the cloud itself was for the most part alone visible but on particular occasions the glory appeared. The allusions in the New Testament to the shechinah are not unfrequent. ( Luke 2:9 ; John 1:14 ; Romans 9:4 ) and we are distinctly taught to connect it with the incarnation and future coming of the Messiah as type with antitype.
Shepherd
In a nomadic state of society every man, from the sheikh down to the slave, is more or less a shepherd. The progenitors of the Jews in the patriarchal age were nomads, and their history is rich in scenes of pastoral life. The occupation of tending the flocks was undertaken, not only by the sons of wealthy chiefs, ( Genesis 30:29 ) ff.; Genesis37:12 ff., but even by their daughters. ( Genesis 29:6 , 8 ; Exodus 2:10 ) The Egyptian captivity did march to implant a love of settled abode, and consequently we find the tribes which still retained a taste for shepherd life selecting their own quarters apart from their brethren in the transjordanic district. ( Numbers 32:1 ) ff. Thenceforward in Palestine proper the shepherd held a subordinate position. The office of the eastern shepherd, as described in the Bible, was attended with much hardship, and even danger. He was exposed to the extremes of heat and cold, ( Genesis 31:40 ) his food frequently consisted of the precarious supplies afforded by nature, such as the fruit of the “sycamore” or Egyptian fig, ( Amos 7:14 ) the “husks” of the carob tree, ( Luke 15:16 ) and perchance the locusts and wild honey which supported the Baptist, ( Matthew 3:4 ) he had to encounter the attacks of wild beasts, occasionally of the larger species, such as lions, nerves, panthers and bears, ( 1 Samuel 17:34 ; Isaiah 31:4 ; Jeremiah 5:6 ; Amos 5:12 ) nor was he free from the risk of robbers or predators hordes. ( Genesis 31:39 ) To meet these various foes the shepherd’s equipment consisted of the following articles: a mantle, made probably of sheep skin with the fleece on, which he turned inside out in cold weather, as implied in the comparison in ( Jeremiah 43:12 ) (cf. Juv. xiv. 187.); a scrip or wallet, containing a small amount of food ( 1 Samuel 17:40 ) a sling, which is still the favorite weapon of the Bedouin shepherd, ( 1 Samuel 17:40 ) and lastly, a which served the double purpose of a weapon against foes and a crook for the management of the flock. ( 1 Samuel 17:40 ; Psalms 23:4 ; Zechariah 11:7 ) If the shepherd was at a distance from his home, he was provided with a light tent, (Song of Solomon 1:8; Jeremiah 35:7 ) the removal of which was easily effected. ( Isaiah 38:12 ) In certain localities, moreover, towers were erected for the double purpose of spying an enemy at a distance and of protecting the flock; such towers were erected by Uzziah and Jotham, ( 2 Chronicles 26:10 ; 27:4 ) while their existence in earlier times is testified by the name Migdal-edar ( Genesis 35:21 ) Authorized Version “a tower of Edar;” ( Micah 4:8 ) Authorized Version “tower of the flock.” The routine of the shepherd’s duties appears to have been as follows: In the morning he led forth his flock from the fold ( John 10:4 ) which he did by going before them and calling to them, as is still usual in the East; arrived at the pasturage he watched the flock with the assistance of dogs, ( Job 30:1 ) and should any sheep stray, he had to search for it until he found it, ( Ezekiel 34:12 ; Luke 15:4 ) he supplied them with water, either at a running stream or at troughs attached to wells, ( Genesis 29:7 ; 30:38 ; Exodus 2:16 ; Psalms 23:2 ) at evening he brought them back to the fold, and reckoned them to see that none were missing, by passing them “under the rod” as they entered the door of the enclosure ( Leviticus 27:32 ; Ezekiel 20:37 ) checking each sheep, as it passed, by a motion of the hand, ( Jeremiah 33:13 ) and, finally, he watched the entrance of the fold throughout the night, acting as porter. ( John 10:3 ) [See Sheepfold, under Sheep ] The shepherd’s office thus required great watchfulness, particularly by night. ( Luke 2:8 ) cf. Nahu 3:18 It also required tenderness toward the young and feeble, ( Isaiah 40:11 ) particularly in driving them to and from the pasturage. ( Genesis 33:13 ) In large establishments there are various grades of shepherds, the highest being styled “rulers,” ( Genesis 47:6 ) or “chief shepherds,” ( 1 Peter 5:4 ) in a royal household the title of abbir “mighty,” was bestowed on the person who held the post. ( 1 Samuel 21:7 ) [ Sheep ]
Shiloh
(place of rest), a city of Ephraim. In ( Judges 21:19 ) it is said that Shiloh is “on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem and on the south of Lebonah.” In agreement with this the traveller of our own city, going north from Jerusalem, lodges the first night at Beitin, the ancient Bethel; the next day, at the distance of a few hours, turns aside to the right, in order to visit Seilun, the Arabic for Shiloh; and then passing through the narrow wady which brings him to the main road, leaves el-Lebban, the Lebonah of Scripture, on the left, as he pursues “the highway” to Nublus, the ancient Shechem. [ Shechem ] Shiloh was one of the earliest and most sacred of the Hebrew sanctuaries. The ark of the covenant, which had been kept at Gilgal during the progress of the conquest, ( Joshua 17:1 ) seq., was removed thence on the subjugation of the country, and kept at Shiloh from the last days of Joshua to the time of Samuel. ( Joshua 18:10 ; Judges 18:31 ; 1 Samuel 4:3 ) It was here the Hebrew conqueror divided among the tribes the portion of the west Jordan region which had not been already allotted. ( Joshua 18:10 ; 19:51 ) In this distribution, or an earlier one, Shiloh fell within the limits of Ephraim. ( Joshua 16:5 ) The ungodly conduct of the sons of Eli occasioned the loss of the ark of the covenant, which had been carried into battle against the Philistines, and Shiloh from that time sank into insignificance. It stands forth in the Jewish history as a striking example of the divine indignation. ( Jeremiah 7:12 ) In the Authorized Version of the Bible Shiloh is once used as the name of a person, in a very difficult passage, in ( Genesis 49:10 ) “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” Supposing that the translation is correct, the meaning of the word is peaceable or pacific, and the allusion is either to Solomon, whose name has a similar signification, or to the expected Messiah, who in ( Isaiah 9:6 ) is expressly called the Prince of Peace. [ Messiah ] Other interpretations, however, of the passage are given, one of which makes it refer to the city of this name. [See the following article] It might be translated “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, till he shall go to Shiloh.” In this case the allusion would be to the primacy of Judah in war, ( Judges 1:1 , 2 ; 20:18 ; Numbers 2:3 ; 10:14 ) which was to continue until the promised land was conquered and the ark of the covenant was solemnly deposited at Shiloh.
Shimei
(renowned). Son of Gershon the son of Levi, ( Numbers 3:18 ; 1 Chronicles 6:17 , 29 ; 23:7 , 9 , 10 ; Zechariah 12:13 ) called Shimi in ( Exodus 6:17 ) (B.C. after 1706.) Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite of the house of Saul, who lived at Bahurim. (B.C. 1023.) When David and his suite were seen descending the long defile, on his flight from Absolom, ( 2 Samuel 16:5-13 ) the whole feeling of the clan of Benjamin burst forth without restraint in the person of Shimei. He ran along the ridge, cursing and throwing stones at the king and is companions. The next meeting was very different. The king was now returning from his successful campaign. Just as he was crossing the Jordan, ( 2 Samuel 19:18 ) the first person to welcome him was Shimei who threw himself at David’s feet in abject penitence. But the king’s suspicions were not set at rest by this submission; and on his death-bed he recalls the whole scene to the recollection of his son Solomon. Solomon gave Shimei notice that from henceforth he must consider himself confined to the walls of Jerusalem, on pain of death. ( 1 Kings 3:36 , 37 ) For three years the engagement was kept. At the end of that time for the purpose of capturing two slaves who had escaped to Gath, he went out on his ass, and made his journey successfully. Ibid. ( 1 Kings 2:40 ) On his return the king took him at his word, and he was slain by Benaiah. Ibid. ( 1 Kings 2:41-46 ) One of the adherents of Solomon at the time of Adonjah’s usurpation. ( 1 Kings 1:8 ) (B.C.1015.) Solomon’s commissariat officer in Benjamin. ( 1 Kings 4:18 ) Son of Pedaiah, and brother of Zerubbabel. ( 1 Chronicles 3:19 ) (B.C. 536.) A Simeonite, son of Zacchur. ( 1 Chronicles 4:26 , 27 ) Son of Gog, a Reubenite. ( 1 Chronicles 5:4 ) A Gershonite Levite, son of Jahath. ( 1 Chronicles 6:42 ) Son of Jeduthun, and chief of the tenth division of the singers. ( 1 Chronicles 25:17 ) The Ramathite who was over David’s vineyards. ( 1 Chronicles 27:27 ) A Levite of the sons of Heman, who took part in the purification of the temple under Zedekiah. ( 2 Chronicles 29:14 ) (B.C. 726.) The brother of Cononiah the Levite, in the reign of Hezekiah. ( 2 Chronicles 31:12 , 13 ) Perhaps the same as the preceding. A Levite in the time of Ezra who had married a foreign wife. ( Ezra 10:23 ) One of the family of Hashum, who put away his foreign wife at Ezra’s command. ( Ezra 10:33 ) A son of Bani, who had also married a foreign wife, and put her away. ( Ezra 10:38 ) (B.C. 459.) Son of Kish, a Benjamite, and ancestor of Mordecai. ( Esther 2:5 ) (B.C. before 479).
Shisha
(Jehovah contends), father of Elihoreph and Ahiah, the royal secretaries in the reign of Solomon. ( 1 Kings 4:3 ) He is apparently the same as Shavsha, who held the same position under David. (B.C. 1000.)
Shishak
king of Egypt, the Sheshonk I. of the monuments, first sovereign of the Bubastite twenty-second dynasty. His reign offers the first determined syncronism of Egyptian and hebrew history. The first year of Shishak would about correspond to the 26th of Solomon (B.C. 989), and the 20th of shishak to the 5th of Rehoboam. Shishak at the beginning of his reign received the fugitive Jeroboam, ( 1 Kings 11:40 ) and it was probably at the instigation of Jeroboam that he attacked Rehoboam. “He took the fenced cities which [pertained] to Judah, and came to Jerusalem.” he exacted all the treasures of his city from Rehoboam, and apparently made him tributary. ( 1 Kings 14:25 , 26 ; 2 Chronicles 12:2-9 ) Shishak has left a record of this expedition sculptured on the wall of the great temple of El-Karnak. It is a list of the countries, cities and tribes conquered or ruled by him, or tributary to him.
Shulamite, The
one of the personages in the poem of Solomon’s (Song of Solomon 6:13) The name denotes a woman belonging to a place called Shulem, which is probably the same as Shunem. [ Shunem ] If, then, Shulamite and Shunammite are equivalent, we may conjecture that the Shunammite who was the object of Solomon’s passion was Abishag, the most lovely girl of her day, and at the time of David’s death the most prominent person at Jerusalem.
Silk
The only undoubted notice of silk in the Bible occurs in ( Revelation 18:12 ) where it is mentioned among the treasures of the typical Babylon. It is however, in the highest degree probable that the texture was known to the Hebrews from the time that their commercial relations were extended by Solomon. The well-known classical name of the substance does not occur in the Hebrew language.
Siloam
(sent). Shiloach, ( Isaiah 8:6 ) Siloah, ( Nehemiah 3:15 ) Siloam, ( John 9:11 ) Siloam is one of the few undisputed localities in the topography of Jerusalem; still retaining its old name (with Arabic modification, Silwan), while every other pool has lost its Bible designation. This is the more remarkable as it is a mere suburban tank of no great size, and for many an age not particularly good or plentiful in its waters, though Josephus tells us that in his day they were both “sweet and abundant.” A little way below the Jewish burying-ground, but on the opposite side of the valley, where the Kedron turns slightly westward and widens itself considerable, is the fountain of the Virgin, or Um’ed’Deraj, near the beginning of that saddle-shaped projection of the temple hill supposed to be the Ophel of The Bible and the Ophlas of Josephus. At the back part of this fountain a subterraneous passage begins, through which the water flows, and through which a man may make his way, sometimes walking erect, sometimes stooping, sometimes kneeling, and sometime crawling, to Siloam. This conduit is 1708 feet long, 16 feet high at the entrance, but only 16 inches at its narrowest tributaries which sent their waters down from the city pools or temple wells to swell Siloam. It enters Siloam at the northwest angle; or rather enters a small rock-cut chamber which forms the vestibule of Siloam, about five or six feet broad. To this you descend by a few rude steps, under which the water pours itself into the main pool. This pool is oblong, about 52 feet long, 18 feet broad and 19 feet deep; but it is never filled, the water either passing directly through or being maintained at a depth of three or four feet. The present pool is a ruin, with no moss or ivy to make it romantic; its sides fallen in; its pillars broken; its stair a fragment; its walls giving way; the edge of every stone was round or sharp by time; in some parts mere debris, though around its edges wild flowers, and among other plants the caper trees, grow luxuriantly. The present pool is not the original building; it may be the work of crusaders, perhaps even improved by Saladin, whose affection for wells and pools led him to care for all these things. Yet the spot is the same. This pool, which we may call the second, seems anciently to have poured its waters into a third before it proceeded to water the royal gardens. This third is perhaps that which Josephus calls “Solomon’s pool,” and which nehemiah calls the “king’s pool.” ( Nehemiah 2:14 ) The expression in ( Isaiah 8:6 ) “waters of Shiloah that go softly,” seems to point to the slender rivulet, flowing gently though once very profusely out of Siloam into the lower breadth of level where the king’s gardens, or royal paradise, stood, and which is still the greenest spot about the holy city. Siloam is a mere spot even to the Moslem; much more to the Jew. It was to Siloam that the Levite was sent with the golden pitcher on the “last and great day of the feast” of Tabernacles; it was from Siloam that he brought the water which was then poured over the sacrifice, in memory of the water from the rock of Rephidim; and it was to this Siloam water that the Lord pointed when he stood in the temple on that day and cried, “If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink.” The Lord sent the blind man to wash, not in, as our version has it, but at (eis), the pool of siloam; for it was the clay from his eyes that was to be washed off.
Silver
In very early times silver was used for ornaments, ( Genesis 24:53 ) and for vessels of various kinds. Images for idolatrous worship were made of silver or overlaid with it, ( Exodus 20:23 ; Hosea 13:2 ); Habb 2:19 Bar. 6:39 , and the manufacture of silver shrines for Diana was a trade in Ephesus. ( Acts 19:24 ) But its chief use was as a medium of exchange, and throughout the Old Testament we find “silver” used for money, like the French argent . Silver was brought to Solomon from Arabia, ( 2 Chronicles 9:14 ) and from Tarshish, ( 2 Chronicles 9:21 ) which supplied the markets of Tyre. ( Ezekiel 27:12 ) From Tarshish it came int he form of plates, ( Jeremiah 10:9 ) like those on which the sacred books of the Singhalese are written to this day. Spain appears to have been the chief source whence silver was obtained by the ancients. Possibly the hills of Palestine may have afforded some supply of this metal. Silvers mixed with alloy is referred to in ( Jeremiah 6:30 ) and a finer kind, either purer in itself or more thoroughly purified, is mentioned in ( Proverbs 8:19 )
Solomon
(peaceful). I. Early life and occasion to the throne .—Solomon was the child of David’s old age, the last born of all his sons. ( 1 Chronicles 3:5 ) The yearnings of the “man of war” led him to give to the new-horn infant the name of Solomon (Shelomoth, the peaceful one). Nathan, with a marked reference to the meaning of the king’s own name (David, the darling, the beloved one), calls the infant Jedidiah (Jedid’yah), that is, the darling of the Lord. ( 2 Samuel 11:24 , 25 ) He was placed under the care of Nathan from his earliest infancy. At first, apparently, there was no distinct purpose to make him the heir. Absalom was still the king’s favorite son, ( 2 Samuel 13:37 ; 18:33 ) and was looked on by the people as the destined successor. ( 2 Samuel 14:13 ; 15:1-6 ) The death of Absalom when Solomon was about ten years old left the place vacant, and David pledged his word in secret to Bath-sheba that he, and no other, should be the heir. ( 1 Kings 1:13 ) The words which were spoken somewhat later express, doubtless, the purpose which guided him throughout. ( 1 Chronicles 28:9 ; 20 ) His son’s life should not he as his own had been, one of hardships and wars, dark crimes and passionate repentance, but, from first to last, be pure, blameless, peaceful, fulfilling the ideal of glory and of righteousness after which he himself had vainly striven. The glorious visions of ( Psalms 72:1 ) ... may be looked on as the prophetic expansion of these hopes of his old age. So far, all was well. Apparently his influence over his son’s character was one exclusively for good. Nothing that we know of Bath-sheba lends us to think of her as likely to mould her son’s mind and heart to the higher forms of goodness. Under these influences the boy grew up. At the age of ten or eleven he must have passed through the revolt of Absalom, and shared his father’s exile. ( 2 Samuel 15:16 ) He would be taught all that priests or Levites or prophets had to teach. When David was old and feeble, Adonijah, Solomon’s older brother attempted to gain possession of the throne; but he was defeated, and Solomon went down to Gihon and was proclaimed and anointed king. A few months more and Solomon found himself, by his father’s death, the sole occupant of the throne. The position to which he succeeded was unique. Never before, and never after, did the kingdom of Israel take its place among the great monarchies of the East. Large treasures, accumulated through many years, were at his disposal. II. Personal appearance .—Of Solomon’s personal appearance we have no direct description, as we have of the earlier kings. There are, however, materials for filling up the gap. Whatever higher mystic meaning may be latent in ( Psalms 45:1 ) ... or the Song of Songs, we are all but compelled to think of them us having had at least a historical starting-point. They tell of one who was, in the eyes of the men of his own time, “fairer than the children of men,” the face “bright, and ruddy” as his father’s, (Song of Solomon 5:10; 1 Samuel 17:42 ) bushy locks, dark as the raven’s wing, yet not without a golden glow, the eyes soft as “the eyes of cloves,” the “countenance as Lebanon excellent as the cedars,” “the chiefest among ten thousand, the altogether lovely.” (Song of Solomon 5:13-18) Add to this all gifts of a noble, far-reaching intellect large and ready sympathies, a playful and genial humor, the lips “full of grace,” and the soul “anointed” as “with the oil of gladness,” ( Psalms 45:1 ) ... and we may form some notion of what the king was like in that dawn of his golden prime. III. Reign .—All the data for a continuous history that we have of Solomon’s reign are— (a) The duration of the reign, forty sears, B.C. 1015-975. ( 1 Kings 11:4 ) (b) The commencement of the temple in the fourth, its completion in the eleventh, year of his reign. ( 1 Kings 6:1 , 37 , 38 ) (c) The commencement of his own palace in the seventh, its completion in the twentieth, year. ( 1 Kings 7:1 ; 2 Chronicles 8:1 ) (d) The conquest of Hamath-zobah, and the consequent foundation of cities in the region of north Palestine after the twentieth year. ( 2 Chronicles 8:1-6 ) IV. Foreign policy .— Egypt. The first act of the foreign policy of the new reign must have been to most Israelites a very startling one. He made affinity with Pharaoh, king of Egypt, by marrying his daughter ( 1 Kings 3:1 ) The immediate results were probably favorable enough. The new queen brought with her as a dowry the frontier city of Gezer. But the ultimate issue of alliance showed that it was hollow and impolitic. Tyre. The alliance with the Phoenician king rested on a somewhat different footing. It had been a part of David’s policy from the beginning of his reign. Hiram had been “ever a lover of David.” As soon as he heard of Solomon’s accession he sent ambassadors to salute him. A correspondence passed between the two kings, which ended in a treaty of commerce. The opening of Joppa as a port created a new coasting-trade, and the materials from Tyre were conveyed to that city on floats, and thence to Jerusalem. ( 2 Chronicles 2:16 ) In return for these exports, the Phoenicians were only too glad to receive the corn and oil of Solomon’s territory. The results of the alliance did not end here. Now, for the first time in the history of the Jews, they entered on a career as a commercial people. The foregoing were the two most important to Babylon alliances. The absence of any reference to Babylon and Assyria, and the fact that the Euphrates was recognized as the boundary of Solomon’s kingdom, ( 2 Chronicles 9:26 ) suggests the inference that the Mesopotamian monarchies were at this time comparatively feeble. Other neighboring nations were content to pay annual tribute in the form of gifts. ( 2 Chronicles 9:28 ) The survey of the influence exercised by Solomon on surrounding nations would be incomplete if we were to pass over that which was more directly personal the fame of his glory and his wisdom. Wherever the ships of Tarshish went, they carried with them the report, losing nothing in its passage, of what their crews had seen and heard. The journey of the queen of Sheba, though from its circumstances the most conspicuous, did not stand alone. V. Internal history .— The first prominent scene in Solomon’s reign is one which presents his character in its noblest aspect. God in a vision having offered him the choice of good things he would have, he chose wisdom in preference to riches or honor or long life. The wisdom asked for was given in large measure, and took a varied range. The wide world of nature, animate and inanimate, the lives and characters of men, lay before him, and he took cognizance of all but the highest wisdom was that wanted for the highest work, for governing and guiding, and the historian hastens to give an illustration of it. The pattern-instance is, in all its circumstances, thoroughly Oriental. ( 1 Kings 3:16-28 ) In reference to the king’s finances, the first impression of the facts given us is that of abounding plenty. Large quantities of the precious metals were imported from Ophir and Tarshish. ( 1 Kings 9:28 ) All the kings and princes of the subject provinces paid tribute in the form of gifts, in money and in kind, “at a fixed rate year by year.” ( 1 Kings 10:25 ) Monopolies of trade contributed to the king’s treasury. ( 1 Kings 10:28 , 29 ) The total amount thus brought into the treasury in gold, exclusive of all payments in kind, amounted to 666 talents. ( 1 Kings 10:14 ) It was hardly possible, however, that any financial system could bear the strain of the king’s passion for magnificence. The cost of the temple was, it is true, provided for by David’s savings and the offerings of the people; but even while that was building, yet more when it was finished one structure followed on another with ruinous rapidity. All the equipment of his court, the “apparel” of his servants was on the same scale. A body-guard attended him, “threescore valiant men,” tallest and handsomest of the sons of Israel. Forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen made up the measure of his magnificence. ( 1 Kings 4:26 ) As the treasury became empty, taxes multiplied and monopolies became more irksome. A description of the temple erected by Solomon is given elsewhere. After seven years and the work was completed and the day came to which all Israelites looked back as the culminating glory of their nation. We cannot ignore the fact that even now there were some darker shades in the picture. He reduced the “strangers” in the land, the remnant of the Canaanite races, to the state of helots, and made their life “bitter with all hard bondage.” One hundred and fifty-three thousand, with wives and children in proportion, were torn from their homes and sent off to the quarries and the forests of Lebanon. ( 1 Kings 5:15 ; 2 Chronicles 2:17 , 18 ) And the king soon fell from the loftiest height of his religious life to the lowest depth. Before long the priests and prophets had to grieve over rival temples to Molech, Chemosh, Ashtaroth and forms of ritual not idolatrous only, but cruel, dark, impure. This evil came as the penalty of another. ( 1 Kings 11:1-8 ) He gave himself to “strange women.” He found himself involved in a fascination which led to the worship of strange gods. Something there was perhaps in his very “largeness of heart,” so far in advance of the traditional knowledge of his age, rising to higher and wider thoughts of God, which predisposed him to it. In recognizing what was true in other forms of faith, he might lose his horror at what was false. With this there may have mingled political motives. He may have hoped, by a policy of toleration, to conciliate neighboring princes, to attract larger traffic. But probably also there was another influence less commonly taken into account. The widespread belief of the East in the magic arts of Solomon is not, it is believed, without its foundation of truth. Disasters followed before long as the natural consequence of what was politically a blunder as well as religiously a sin. VI. His literary works.—little remains out of the songs, proverbs, treatises, of which the historian speaks. ( 1 Kings 4:32 , 33 ) Excerpts only are given from the three thousand proverbs. Of the thousand and five songs we know absolutely nothing. His books represent the three stages of his life. The Song of Songs brings before us the brightness of his -youth. Then comes in the book of Proverbs, the stage of practical, prudential thought. The poet has become the philosopher, the mystic has passed into the moralist; but the man passed through both stages without being permanently the better for either. They were to him but phases of his life which he had known and exhausted, ( Ecclesiastes 1:1 ; Ecclesiastes 2:1 ) ... and therefore there came, its in the confessions of the preacher, the great retribution.
Solomon, Wisdom Of
[ Wisdom, The, Of Solomon , BOOK OF]
Solomons Porch
[ Palace ; Temple ].
Solomons Servants
( Children OF). ( Ezra 2:55 , 58 ; Nehemiah 7:57 , 60 ) The persons thus named appear in the lists of the exiles who returned from the captivity. They were the descendants of the Canaanites who were reduced by Solomon to the helot state, and compelled to labor in the king’s stone-quarries and in building his palaces and cities. ( 1 Kings 5:13 , 14 ; 9:20 , 21 ; 2 Chronicles 8:7 , 8 ) They appear to have formed a distinct order, inheriting probably the same functions and the same skill as their ancestors.
Solomons Song
[ Canticles ]
Sophereth
(writing). “The children of Sophereth” were a family who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel among the descendants of Solomon’s servants. ( Ezra 2:55 ; Nehemiah 7:57 ) (B.C. before 536.)
Sotai
(changeful). The children of Sotai were a family of the descendants of Solomon’s servants who returned with Zerubbabel. ( Ezra 2:55 ; Nehemiah 7:57 ) (B.C. before 536.)
Spice, Spices
Heb. basam, besem or bosem . In (Song of Solomon 5:1) “I have gathered my myrrh with my spice,” the word points apparently to some definite substance. In the other places, with the exception perhaps of (Song of Solomon 1:13; 6:2) the words refer more generally to sweet aromatic odors, the principal of which was that of the balsam or balm of Gilead; the tree which yields this substance is now generally admitted to be the Balsam-odendron opobalsamum . The balm of Gilead tree grows in some parts of Arabia and Africa, and is seldom more than fifteen feet high, with straggling branches and scanty foliage. The balsam is chiefly obtained from incisions in the bark, but is procured also from the green and ripe berries. Necoth . ( Genesis 37:25 ; 43:11 ) The most probable explanation is that which refers the word to the Arabic naku’at i.e. “the gum obtained from the tragacanth” (Astragalus). Sammim, a general term to denote those aromatic substances which were used in the preparation of the anointing oil, the incense offerings, etc. The spices mentioned as being used by Nicodemus for the preparation of our Lord’s body, ( John 19:39 , 40 ) are “myrrh and aloes,” by which latter word must be understood not the aloes of medicine, but the highly-scented wood of the Aquilaria agallochum .
Spikenard
(Heb. nerd) is mentioned twice in the Old Testament viz. in (Song of Solomon 1:12; 4:13,14) The ointment with which our Lord was anointed as he sat at meat in Simon’s house at Bethany consisted of this precious substance, the costliness of which may be inferred from the indignant surprise manifested by some of the witnesses of the transaction. See ( Mark 14:3-5 ; John 12:3 , 5 ) (Spikenard, from which the ointment was made, was an aromatic herb of the valerian family (Nardostachys jatamansi). It was imported from an early age from Arabia India and the Far East. The costliness of Mary’s offering (300 pence=) may beat be seen from the fact that a penny (denarius, 15 to 17 cents) was in those days the day-wages of a laborer. ( Matthew 20:2 ) In our day this would equal at least or .-ED.)
Stones, Precious
Precious stones are frequently alluded to in Scriptures; they were known and very highly valued in the earliest times. The Tyrians traded in precious stones supplied by Syria. ( Ezekiel 27:16 ) The merchants of Sheba and Raamah in south Arabia, and doubtless India and Ceylon supplied the markets of Tyre with various precious stones. The art of engraving on precious stones was known from the very earliest times. ( Genesis 38:18 ) The twelve atones of the breastplate were engraved each one with the name of one of the tribes. ( Exodus 28:17-21 ) It is an undecided question whether the diamond was known to the early nations of antiquity. The Authorized Version gives if as the rendering of the Heb. yahalom, but it is probable that the jasper is intended. Precious stones are used in Scripture in a figurative sense, to signify value, beauty durability, etc., in those objects with which they are compared. See (Song of Solomon 5:14; Isaiah 54:11 , 12 ; Lamentations 4:7 ; Revelation 4:3 ; 21:10 , 21 )
Street
The streets of a modern Oriental town present a great contrast to those with which we are familiar, being generally narrow, tortuous and gloomy, even in the best towns. Their character is mainly fixed by the climate and the style of architecture, the narrowness being due to the extreme heat, and the gloominess to the circumstance of the windows looking for the most part into the inner court. The street called “Straight,” in Damascus, ( Acts 9:11 ) was an exception to the rule of narrowness: it was a noble thoroughfare, one hundred feet wide. divided in the Roman age by colonnades into three avenues, the central one for foot passengers, the side passages for vehicles and horsemen going in different directions. The shops and warehouses were probably collected together into bazaars in ancient as in modern times. ( Jeremiah 37:21 ) That streets occasionally had names appears from ( Jeremiah 37:21 ; Acts 9:11 ) That they were generally unpaved may be inferred from the notices of the pavement laid by Herod the Great at Antioch, and by Herod Agrippa II. at Jerusalem. Hence pavement forms one of the peculiar features of the ideal Jerusalem. Tob. 13:17 ; ( Revelation 21:21 ) Each street and bazaar in a modern town is locked up at night; the same custom appears to have prevailed in ancient times. (Song of Solomon 3:3)
Suretyship
In the entire absence of commerce the law laid down no rules on the subject of suretyship; but it is evident that in the time of Solomon commercial dealings had become so multiplied that suretyship in the commercial sense was common. ( Proverbs 6:1 ; 11:15 ; 17:18 ; 20:16 ; 22:26 ; 27:13 ) But in older times the notion of one man becoming a surety for a service to be discharged by another was in full force. See ( Genesis 44:32 ) The surety of course became liable for his client’s debts in case of his failure.
Syria
is the term used throughout our version for the Hebrew Aram, as well as for the Greek Zupia . Most probably Syria is for Tsyria, the country about Tsur or Tyre which was the first of the Syrian towns known to the Greeks. It is difficult to fix the limits of Syria. The limits of the Hebrew Aram and its subdivisions are spoken of under Aram . Syria proper was bounded by Amanus and Taurus on the north by the Euphrates and the Arabian desert on the east, by Palestine on the south, by the Mediterranean near the mouth of the Orontes, and then by Phoenicia on the west. This tract is about 300 miles long from north to south, and from 50 to 150 miles broad. It contains an area of about 30,000 square miles. General physical features .—The general character of the tract is mountainous, as the Hebrew name Aram (from a roof signifying “height”) sufficiently implies. The most fertile and valuable tract of Syria is the long valley intervening between Libanus and Anti-Libanus. Of the various mountain ranges of Syria, Lebanon possesses the greatest interest. It extends from the mouth of the Litany to Arka, a distance of nearly 100 miles. Anti-Libanus, as the name implies, stands lover against Lebanon, running in the same direction, i.e. nearly north and south, and extending the same length. [ Lebanon ] The principal rivers of Syria are the Litany and the Orontes. The Litany springs from a small lake situated in the middle of the Coele-Syrian valley, about six miles to the southwest of Baalbek. It enters the sea about five miles north of Tyre. The source of the Orontes is but about 15 miles from that of the Litany. Its modern name is the Nahr-el-Asi, or “rebel stream,” an appellation given to it on account of its violence and impetuosity in many parts of its course. The chief towns of Syria may be thus arranged, as nearly as possible in the order of their importance: 1, Antioch; 2, Damascus; 3, Apamea; 4, Seleucia; 5, Tadmor or Palmyra; 6, Laodicea; 7, Epiphania (Hamath); 8, Samosata; 9, Hierapolis (Mabug); 10, Chalybon; 11, Emesa; 12, Heliopolis; 13, Laodicea ad Libanum; 14, Cyrrhus; 15, Chalcis; 16, Poseideum; 17, Heraclea; 18, Gindarus; 19, Zeugma; 20, Thapsacus. Of these, Samosata, Zeugma and Thapsacus are on the Euphrates; Seleucia, Laodicea, Poseideum and Heraclea, on the seashore, Antioch, Apamea, Epiphania and Emesa (Hems), on the Orontes; Heliopolis and Laodicea ad Libanum, in Coele-Syria; Hierapolis, Chalybon, Cyrrhus, Chalcis and Gindarns, in the northern highlands; Damascus on the skirts, and Palmyra in the centre, of the eastern desert. History.—The first occupants of Syria appear to have been of Hamitic descent—Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, etc. After a while the first comers, who were still to a great extent nomads, received a Semitic infusion, while most Probably came to them from the southeast. The only Syrian town whose existence we find distinctly marked at this time is Damascus, ( Genesis 14:15 ; 15:2 ) which appears to have been already a place of some importance. Next to Damascus must be placed Hamath. ( Numbers 13:21 ; 34:8 ) Syria at this time, and for many centuries afterward, seems to have been broken up among a number of petty kingdoms. The Jews first come into hostile contact with the Syrians, under that name, in the time of David. ( Genesis 15:18 ; 2 Samuel 8:3 , 4 , 13 ) When, a few years later, the Ammonites determined on engaging in a war with David, and applied to the Syrians for aid, Zolah, together with Beth-rehob sent them 20,000 footmen, and two other Syrian kingdoms furnished 13,000. ( 2 Samuel 10:6 ) This army being completely defeated by Joab, Hadadezer obtained aid from Mesopotamia, ibid. ver. 16, and tried the chance of a third battle, which likewise went against him, and produced the general submission of Syria to the Jewish monarch. The submission thus begun continued under the reign of Solomon. ( 1 Kings 4:21 ) The only part of Syria which Solomon lost seems to have been Damascus, where an independent kingdom was set up by Rezon, a native of Zobah. ( 1 Kings 11:23-25 ) On the separation of the two kingdoms, soon after the accession of Rehoboam, the remainder of Syria no doubt shook off the yoke. Damascus now became decidedly the leading state, Hamath being second to it, and the northern Hittites, whose capital was Carchemish, near Bambuk, third. [ Damascus ] Syria became attached to the great Assyrian empire, from which it passed to the Babylonians, and from them to the Persians, In B.C. 333 it submitted to Alexander without a struggle. Upon the death of Alexander, Syria became, for the first time the head of a great kingdom. On the division of the provinces among his generals, B.C. 321, Seleucus Nicator received Mesopotamia and Syria. The city of Antioch was begun in B.C. 300, and, being finished in a few years, was made the capital of Seleucus’ kingdom. The country grew rich with the wealth which now flowed into it on all sides. Syria was added to the Roman empire by Pompey, B.C. 64, and as it holds an important place, not only in the Old Testament but in the New, some account of its condition under the Romans must be given. While the country generally was formed into a Roman province, under governors who were at first proprietors or quaestors, then procounsuls, and finally legates, there were exempted from the direct rule of the governor in the first place, a number of “free cities” which retained the administration of their own affairs, subject to a tribute levied according to the Roman principles of taxation; secondly, a number of tracts, which were assigned to petty princes, commonly natives, to be ruled at their pleasure, subject to the same obligations with the free cities as to taxation. After the formal division of the provinces between Augustus and the senate, Syria, being from its exposed situation among the province principis, were ruled by legates, who were of consular rank (consulares) and bore severally the full title of “Legatus Augusti pro praetore.” Judea occupied a peculiar position; a special procurator was therefore appointed to rule it, who was subordinate to the governor of Syria, but within his own province had the power of a legatus. Syria continued without serious disturbance from the expulsion of the Parthians, B.C. 38, to the breaking out of the Jewish war, A.D. 66. in A.D. 44-47 it was the scene of a severe famine. A little earlier, Christianity had begun to spread into it, partly by means of those who “were scattered” at the time of Stephen’s persecution, ( Acts 11:19 ) partly by the exertions of St. Paul. ( Galatians 1:21 ) The Syrian Church soon grew to be one of the most flourishing ( Acts 13:1 ; 15:23 , 35 , 41 ) etc. (Syria remained under Roman and Byzantine rule till A.D. 634, when it was overrun by the Mohammedans; after which it was for many years the scene of fierce contests, and was finally subjugated by the Turks, A.D. 1517, under whose rule it still remains.—ED.)