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International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

RI


RIB

(tsela`, tsal`ah; Aramaic `ala`): The Hebrew words designate the "side," "flank," thence the "ribs." They are found thus translated only in connection with the creation of Eve: "He (Yahweh) took one of his (Adam's) ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof: and the rib, which Yahweh God had taken from the man, made he (margin "builded he into") a woman" (Gen 2:21,22). The Aramaic word is only found in Dan 7:5.

Twice the Revised Version (British and American) uses the word "rib" in a figurative sense of two beams or rafters built in to the ark of the covenant and the altar of incense, on which the golden rings were fastened, which served to carry ark and altar by means of staves (Ex 30:4; 37:27).

A curious mistranslation has crept into the King James Version, which here follows Jewish commentators or etymologists, in four passages in 2 Samuel (2:23; 3:27; 4:6; 20:10), where the "fifth rib" is mentioned as the place of the body under which spears or swords are thrust, so as to cause lethal wounds. The Hebrew word chomesh, which indeed means "fifth," is here a noun, derived from a root meaning "to be staunch," "stalwart," "stout" "fleshy," "obese" (compare chamush, "armed," "equipped soldier"; Arabic el khamis (el chamis), "the army," which, however, Arabic lexicographers explain as meaning "fivefold," namely, vanguard, right and left wing, center and rear guard). The word is to be translated "abdomen," "belly." the Revised Version (British and American) renders correctly "into the body."

H. L. E. Luering


RIBAI

ri'-ba-i, ri'-bi (ribhay; Septuagint Rheiba, with variants): A Benjamite, the father of ITTAI (which see), one of David's "mighty men" (2 Sam 23:29 parallel 1 Ch 11:31).


RIBBAND

rib'-and, rib'-an (pathil (Nu 15:38 the King James Version)).

See COLOR , (2);CORD , (4).


RIBLAH

rib'-la (ribhlah; Rheblatha, with variants):

(1) Riblah in the land of Hamath first appears in history in 608 BC. Here Pharaoh-necoh, after defeating Josiah at Megiddo and destroying Kadytis or Kadesh on the Orontes, fixed his headquarters, and while in camp he deposed Jehoahaz and cast him into chains, fixed the tribute of Judah, and appointed Jehoiakim king (2 Ki 23:31-35). In 588 BC Nebuchadnezzar, at war with Egypt and the Syrian states, also established his headquarters at Riblah, and from it he directed the subjugation of Jerusalem. When it fell, Zedekiah was carried prisoner to Riblah, and there, after his sons and his nobles had been slain in his presence, his eyes were put out, and he was taken as a prisoner to Babylon (2 Ki 25:6,20; Jer 39:5-7; 52:8-11). Riblah then disappears from history, but the site exists today in the village of Ribleh, 35 miles Northeast of Baalbek, and the situation is the finest that could have been chosen by the Egyptian or Babylonian kings for their headquarters in Syria. An army camped there had abundance of water in the control of the copious springs that go to form the Orontes. The Egyptians coming from the South had behind them the command of the rich corn and forage lands of Coele-Syria, while the Babylonian army from the North was equally fortunate in the rich plains extending to Hamath and the Euphrates. Lebanon, close by, with its forests, its hunting grounds and its snows, ministered to the needs and luxuries of the leaders. Riblah commanded the great trade and war route between Egypt and Mesopotamia, and, besides, it was at the dividing-point of many minor routes. It was in a position to attack with facility Phoenicia, Damascus or Palestine, or to defend itself against attack from those places, while a few miles to the South the mountains on each side close in forming a pass where a mighty host might easily be resisted by a few. In every way Riblah was the strategical point between North and South Syria. Riblah should probably be read for Diblah in Ezek 6:14, while in Nu 34:11 it does not really appear. See (2).

(2) A place named as on the ideal eastern boundary of Israel in Nu 34:11, but omitted in Ezek 47:15-18. The Massoretic Text reads "Hariblah"; but the Septuagint probably preserves the true vocalization, according to which we should translate "to Harbel." It is said to be to the east of `Ain, and that, as the designation of a district, can only mean Merj `Ayun, so that we should seek it in the neighborhood of Hermon, one of whose spurs Furrer found to be named Jebel `Arbel.

W. M. Christie


RICHES

rich'-ez, rich'-iz: Used to render the following Hebrew and Greek words: (1) `Osher, which should, perhaps, be considered the most general word, as it is the most often used (Gen 31:16; Eccl 4:8; Jer 9:23). It looks at riches simply as riches, without regard to any particular feature. Alongside this would go the Greek ploutos (Mt 13:22; Eph 2:7). (2) Chocen (Prov 27:24; Jer 20:5), nekhacim and rekhush (Gen 36:7; Dan 11:13,14 the King James Version) look at riches as things accumulated, collected, amassed. (3) Hon looks upon riches as earnings, the fruit of toil (Ps 119:14; Prov 8:18; Ezek 27:27). (4) Hamon regards riches in the aspect of being much, this coming from the original idea of noise, through the idea of a multitude as making the noise, the idea of many, or much, being in multitude (Ps 37:16 the King James Version). (5) Chayil regards riches as power (Ps 62:19; Isa 8:4; 10:14). (6) Yithrah means "running over," and so presents riches as abundance (Jer 48:36 the King James Version). Along with this may be placed shua`, which has the idea of breadth, and so of abundance (Job 36:19 the King James Version). (7) Qinyan regards riches as a creation, something made (Ps 104:24; compare margin); (8) (chrema) looks at riches as useful (Mk 10:23 f parallel). Like the New Testament, the Apoe uses only ploutos and chrema.

Material riches are regarded by the Scriptures as neither good nor bad in themselves, but only according as they are properly or improperly used. They are transitory (Prov 27:24); they are not to be trusted in (Mk 10:23; Lk 18:24; 1 Tim 6:17); they are not to be gloried in (Jer 9:23); the heart is not to be set on them (Ps 62:10); but they are made by God (Ps 104:24), and come from God (1 Ch 29:12); and they are the crown of the wise (Prov 14:24). Material riches are used to body forth for us the most precious and glorious realities of the spiritual realm. See, e.g., Rom 9:23; 11:33; Eph 2:7; Phil 4:19; Col 1:27.

Compare MAMMON ;TREASURE ;WEALTH .

E. J. Forrester


RID; RIDDANCE

rid, rid'-ans: "Rid" originally meant "rescue" (the King James Version Gen 37:22; Ex 6:6; Ps 82:4; 144:7,11), whence the meaning "remove" or "clean out" (Lev 26:6 the King James Version, with "riddance" in Lev 23:22; Zeph 1:18). The word occurs in the American Standard Revised Version and in the English Revised Version in Ex 6:6.


RIDDLE

rid'-'-l (chidhah; ainigma).

See GAMES .


RIE

ri "Rye" (King James Version, Ex 9:32; Isa 28:25).

See SPELT .


RIGHT

rit (yashar, mishpaT; dikaios, euthus): Many Hebrew words are translated "right," with different shades of meaning. Of these the two noted are the most important: yashar, with the sense of being straight, direct, as "right in the sight" of Yahweh (Ex 15:26; Dt 12:25, etc.), in one's own eyes (Jdg 17:6), "right words" (Job 6:25 the King James Version, yosher), "right paths" (Prov 4:11 the King James Version); and mishpaT "judgment" "cause" etc., a forensic term, as "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen 18:25). In Job 34:17, the Revised Version (British and American) has "justice" (34:6, "right"), etc. The word tsedheq, tsedhaqah, ordinarily translated "righteousness," are in a few cases rendered "right" (2 Sam 19:28; Neh 2:20; Ps 9:4; 17:1; 119:75; Ezek 18:5, etc.). In the New Testament the chief word is dikaios, primarily "even," "equal" (Mt 20:4; Lk 12:57, etc.); more generally the word is rendered "just" and "righteous." Euthus, used by Septuagint for yashar (1 Sam 12:23; Hos 14:9), occurs a few times (Acts 8:21; 13:10; 2 Pet 2:15); so orthos, "straight," "upright" (Lk 10:28).

"Right-hand" or "side" represents Hebrew yamin and kindred forms (Gen 48:13,14,17; Ex 15:6, etc.); the Greek, in this sense, is dexios (Mt 6:3; 20:21, etc.).

Revised Version, among other changes, has "right" for the King James Version "judgment" in Job 27:2; 34:5, and for "right" in the King James Version substitutes "straight" in Ezr 8:21, "skillful" in Eccl 4:4, margin "successful," etc. In Jn 1:12 the Revised Version (British and American) reads, "the right to become children of God" for the King James Version "the power" (exousia); in Mt 20:7,15 "right" is omitted, with the larger part of the verse. In 2 Tim 2:15 "rightly dividing" (orthotomeo) is changed to "handling aright" with margin "holding a straight course in the word of truth. Or, rightly dividing the word of truth."

W. L. Walker


RIGHTEOUSNESS

ri'-chus-nes (tsaddiq, adjective, "righteous," or occasionally "just" tsedheq, noun, occasionally = "riahteousness," occasionally = "justice"; dikaios, adjective, dikaiosune, noun, from dike, whose first meaning seems to have been "custom"; the general use suggested conformity to a standard: righteousness, "the state of him who is such as he ought to be" (Thayer)):

1. Double Aspect of Righteousness: Changing and Permanent

2. Social Customs and Righteousness

3. Changing Conception of Character of God: Obligations of Power

4. Righteousness as Inner

5. Righteousness as Social

6. Righteousness as Expanding in Content with Growth in Ideals of Human Worth

LITERATURE

1. Double Aspect of Righteousness: Changing and Permanent:

In Christian thought the idea of righteousness contains both a permanent and a changing element. The fixed element is the will to do right; the changing factor is the conception of what may be right at different times and under different circumstances. Throughout the entire course of Christian revelation we discern the emphasis on the first factor. To be sure, in the days of later Pharisaism righteousness came to be so much a matter of externals that the inner intent was often lost sight of altogether (Mt 23:23); but, on the whole and in the main, Christian thought in all ages has recognized as the central element in righteousness the intention to be and do right. This common spirit binds together the first worshippers of God and the latest. Present-day conceptions of what is right differ by vast distances from the conceptions of the earlier Hebrews, but the intentions of the first worshippers are as discernible as are those of the doers of righteousness in the present day.

2. Social Customs and Righteousness:

There seems but little reason to doubt that the content of the idea of righteousness was determined in the first instance by the customs of social groups. There are some, of course, who would have us believe that what we experience as inner moral sanction is nothing but the fear of consequences which come through disobeying the will of the social group, or the feeling of pleasure which results as we know we have acted in accordance with the social demands. At least some thinkers would have us believe that this is all there was in moral feeling in the beginning. If a social group was to survive it must lay upon its individual members the heaviest exactions. Back of the performance of religious rites was the fear of the group that the god of the group would be displeased if certain honors were not rendered to him. Merely to escape the penalties of an angry deity the group demanded ceremonial religious observances. From the basis of fear thus wrought into the individuals of the group have come all our loftier movements toward righteousness.

It is not necessary to deny the measure of truth there may be in this account. To point out its inadequacy, however, a better statement would be that from the beginning the social group utilized the native moral feeling of the individual for the defense of the group. The moral feeling, by which we mean a sense of the difference between right and wrong, would seem to be a part of the native furnishing of the mind. It is very likely that in the beginning this moral feeling was directed toward the performance of the rites which the group looked upon as important.

See ALMS .

As we read the earlier parts of the Old Testament we are struck by the fact that much of the early Hebrew morality was of this group kind. The righteous man was the man who performed the rites which had been handed down from the beginning (Dt 6:25). The meaning of some of these rites is lost in obscurity, but from a very early period the characteristic of Hebrew righteousness is that it moves in the direction of what we should call today the enlargement of humanity. There seemed to be at work, not merely the forces which make for the preservation of the group, not merely the desire to please the God of the Hebrews for the sake of the material favors which He might render the Hebrews, but the factors which make for the betterment of humanity as such. As we examine the laws of the Hebrews, even at so late a time as the completion of the formal Codes, we are indeed struck by traces of primitive survivals (Nu 5:11-31). There are some injunctions whose purpose we cannot well understand. But, on the other hand, the vast mass of the legislation had to do with really human considerations. There are rules concerning Sanitation (Lev 13), both as it touches the life of the group and of the individual; laws whose mastery begets emphasis, not merely upon external consequences, but upon the inner result in the life of the individual (Ps 51:3); and prohibitions which would indicate that morality, at least in its plainer decencies, had come to be valued on its own account. If we were to seek for some clue to the development of the moral life of the Hebrews we might well find it in this emphasis upon the growing demands of human life as such. A suggestive writer has pointed out that the apparently meaningless commandment, "Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother's milk" (Ex 23:19), has back of it a real human purpose, that there are some things which in themselves are revolting apart from any external consequences (see also Lev 18).

3. Changing Conception of Character of God: Obligations of Power:

An index of the growth of the moral life of the people is to be found in the changing conception of the character of God. We need not enter into the question as to just where on the moral plane the idea of the God of the Hebrews started, but from the very beginning we see clearly that the Hebrews believed in their God as one passionately devoted to the right (Gen 18:25). It may well be that at the start the God of the Hebrews was largely a God of War, but it is to be noticed that His enmity was against the peoples who had little regard for the larger human considerations. It has often been pointed out that one proof of the inspiration of the Scriptures is to be found in their moral superiority to the Scriptures of the peoples around about the Hebrews. If the Hebrew writers used material which was common property of Chaldeans, Babylonians, and other peoples, they nevertheless used these materials with a moral difference. They breathed into them a moral life which forever separates them from the Scriptures of other peoples. The marvel also of Hebrew history is that in the midst of revoltingly immoral surroundings the Hebrews grew to such ideals of human worth. The source of these ideals is to be found in their thougth of God. Of course, in moral progress there is a reciprocal effect; the thought of God affects the thought of human life and the thought of human life affects the thought of God; but the Hebrews no sooner came to a fresh moral insight than they made their moral discovery a part of the character of God. From the beginning, we repeat, the God of the Hebrews was a God directed in His moral wrath against all manner of abominations, aberrations and abnormalities. The purpose of God, according to the Hebrews, was to make a people "separated" in the sense that they were to be free from anything which would detract from a full moral life (Lev 20:22).

We can trace the more important steps in the growth of the Hebrew ideal. First, there was an increasingly clear discernment that certain things are to be ruled out at once as immoral. The primitive decencies upon which individual and social life depended were discerned at an early period (compare passages in Leviticus cited above). Along with this it must be admitted there was a slower approach to some ideals which we today consider important, the ideals of the marriage relations for example (Dt 24:1,2). Then there was a growing sense of what constitutes moral obligation in the discharge of responsibilities upon the part of men toward their fellows (Isa 5:8,23). There was increasing realization also of what God, as a moral Being, is obligated to do. The hope of salvation of nations and individuals rests at once upon the righteousness of God.

By the time of Isaiah the righteousness of God has come to include the obligations of power (Isa 63:1). God will save His people, not merely because He has promised to save them, but because He must save them (Isa 42:6). The must is moral. If the people of Israel show themselves unworthy, God must punish them; but if a remnant, even a small remnant, show themselves faithful, God must show His favor toward them. Moral worth is not conceived of as something that is to be paid for by external rewards, but if God is moral He must not treat the righteous and the unrighteous alike. This conception of what God must do as an obligated Being influences profoundly the Hebrew interpretation of the entire course of history (Isa 10:20,21).

Upon this ideal of moral obligation there grows later the thought of the virtue of vicarious suffering (Isaiah 53). The sufferings of the good man and of God for those who do not in themselves deserve such sufferings (for them) are a mark of a still higher righteousness (see HOSEA ). The movement of the Scriptures is all the way from the thought of a God who gives battle for the right to the thought of a God who receives in Himself the heaviest shocks of that battle that others may have opportunity for moral life.

These various lines of moral development come, of course, to their crown in the New Testament in the life and death of Christ as set before us in the Gospels and interpreted by the apostles. Jesus stated certain moral axioms so clearly that the world never will escape their power. He said some things once and for all, and He did some things once and for all; that is to say, in His life and death He set on high the righteousness of God as at once moral obligation and self-sacrificing love (Jn 3:16) and with such effectiveness that the world has not escaped and cannot escape this righteous influence (Jn 12:32). Moreover, the course of apostolic and subsequent history has shown that Christ put a winning and compelling power into the idea of righteousness that it would otherwise have lacked (Rom 8:31,32).

4. Righteousness as Inner:

The ideas at work throughout the course of Hebrew and Christian history are, of course, at work today. Christianity deepens the sense of obligation to do right. It makes the moral spirit essential. Then it utilizes every force working for the increase of human happiness to set on high the meaning of righteousness. Jesus spoke of Himself as "life," and declared that He came that men might have life and have it more abundantly (Jn 10:10). The keeping of the commandments plays, of course, a large part in the unfolding of the life of the righteous Christian, but the keeping of the commandments is not to be conceived of in artificial or mechanical fashion (Lk 10:25-37). With the passage of the centuries some commandments once conceived of as essential drop into the secondary place, and other commandments take the controlling position. In Christian development increasing place is given for certain swift insights of the moral spirit. We believe that some things are righteous because they at once appeal to us as righteous. Again, some other things seem righteous because their consequences are beneficial, both for society and for the individual. Whatever makes for the largest life is in the direction of righteousness. In interpreting life, however, we must remember the essentially Christian conception that man does not live through outer consequences alone. In all thought of consequences the chief place has to be given to inner consequences. By the surrender of outward happiness and outward success a man may attain inner success. The spirit of the cross is still the path to the highest righteousness.

5. Righteousness as Social:

The distinctive note in emphasis upon righteousness in our own day is the stress laid upon social service. This does not mean that Christianity is to lose sight of the worth of the individual in himself. We have come pretty clearly to see that the individual is the only moral end in himself. Righteousness is to have as its aim the upbuilding of individual lives. The commandments of the righteous life are not for the sake of society as a thing in itself. Society is nothing apart from the individuals that compose it; but we are coming to see that individuals have larger relationships than we had once imagined and greater responsibilities than we had dreamed of. The influence of the individual touches others at more points than we had formerly realized. We have at times condemned the system of things as being responsible for much human misery which we now see can be traced to the agency of individuals. The employer, the day-laborer, the professional man, the public servant, all these have large responsibilities for the life of those around. The unrighteous individual has a power of contaminating other individuals, and his deadliness we have just begun to understand. All this is receiving new emphasis in our present-day preaching of righteousness. While our social relations are not ends in themselves, they are mighty means for reaching individuals in large numbers. The Christian conception of redeemed humanity is not that of society as an organism existing on its own account, but that of individuals knit very closely together in their social relationships and touching one another for good in these relationships (1 Cor 1:2; Rev 7:9,10). If we were to try to point out the line in which the Christian doctrine of righteousness is to move more and more through the years, we should have to emphasize this element of obligation to society. This does not mean that a new gospel is to supersede the old or even place itself alongside the old. It does mean that the righteousness of God and the teaching of Christ and the cross, which are as ever the center of Christianity, are to find fresh force in the thought of the righteousness of the Christian as binding itself, not merely by commandments to do the will of God in society, but by the inner spirit to live the life of God out into society.

6. Righteousness as Expanding in Content with Growth in Ideals of Human Worth:

In all our thought of righteousness it must be borne in mind that there is nothing in Christian revelation which will tell us what righteousness calls for in every particular circumstance. The differences between earlier and later practical standards of conduct and the differences between differing standards in different circumstances have led to much confusion in the realm of Christian thinking. We can keep our bearing, however, by remembering the double element in righteousness which we mentioned in the beginning; on the one hand, the will to do right, and, on the other, the difficulty of determining in a particular circumstance just what the right is. The larger Christian conceptions always have an element of fluidity, or, rather, an element of expansiveness. For example, it is clearly a Christian obligation to treat all men with a spirit of good will or with a spirit of Christian love. But what does love call for in a particular case? We can only answer the question by saying that love seeks for whatever is best, both for him who receives and for him who gives. This may lead to one course of conduct in one situation and to quite a different course in another. We must, however, keep before us always the aim of the largest life for all persons whom we can reach. Christian righteousness today is even more insistent upon material things, such as sanitary arrangements, than was the Code of Moses. The obligation to use the latest knowledge for the hygienic welfare is just as binding now as then, but "the latest knowledge" is a changing term. Material progress, education, spiritual instruction, are all influences which really make for full life.

Not only is present-day righteousness social and growing; it is also concerned, to a large degree, with the thought of the world which now is. Righteousness has too often been conceived of merely as the means of preparing for the life of some future Kingdom of Heaven. Present-day emphasis has not ceased to think of the life beyond this, but the life beyond this can best be met and faced by those who have been in the full sense righteous in the life that now is. There is here no break in true Christian continuity. The seers who have understood Christianity best always have insisted that to the fullest degree the present world must be redeemed by the life-giving forces of Christianity. We still insist that all idea of earthly righteousness takes its start from heavenly righteousness, or, rather, that the righteousness of man is to be based upon his conception of the righteousness of God. Present-day thinking concerns itself largely with the idea of the Immanence of God. God is in this present world. This does not mean that there may not be other worlds, or are not other worlds, and that God is not also in those worlds; but the immediate revelation of God to us is in our present world. Our present world then must be the sphere in which the righteousness of God and of man is to be set forth. God is conscience, and God is love. The present sphere is to be used for the manifestation of His holy love. The chief channel through which that holy love is to manifest itself is the conscience and love of the Christian believer. But even these terms are not to be used in the abstract. There is an abstract conscientiousness which leads to barren living: the life gets out of touch with things that are real. There is an experience of love which exhausts itself in well-wishing. Both conscience and love are to be kept close to the earth by emphasis upon the actual realities of the world in which we live.

LITERATURE.

G. B. Stevens, The Christian Doctrine of Salvation; A. E. Garvie, Handbook of Christian Apologetics; Borden P. Bowne, Principles of Ethics; Newman Smyth, Christian Ethics; A. B. Bruce, The Kingdom of God; W. N. Clarke, The Ideal of Jesus; H. C. King, The Ethics of Jesus.

Francis J. McConnell


RIMMON (1)

rim'-on:

(1) The rock Rimmon (cela` rimmon; he petra Rhemmon): The place of refuge of the 600 surviving Benjamites of Gibeah (Jeba`) who "turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon, and abode in the rock of Rimmon four months" (Jdg 20:45,47; 21:13). Robinson's identification (RB, I, 440) has been very generally accepted. He found a conical and very prominent hill some 6 miles North-Northeast of Jeba` upon which stands a village called Rummon. This site was known to Eusebius and Jerome (OS 146 6; 287 98), who describe it as 15 Roman miles from Jerusalem. Another view, which would locate the place of refuge of the Benjamites in the Mugharet el jai, a large cavern on the south of the Wady Suweinit, near Jeba`, is strongly advocated by Rawnsley and Birch (see PEF ,III , 137-48). The latter connects this again with 1 Sam 14:2, where Saul, accompanied by his 600, "abode in the uttermost part of Gibeah" under the pomegranate tree (Rimmon).

(2) (rimmon; Eremmon, or Rhemmoth): A city in the Negeb, near the border of Edom, ascribed to Judah (Josh 15:32) and to Simeon (Josh 19:7; 1 Ch 4:32, the King James Version "Remmon"). In Zec 14:10 it is mentioned as the extreme South of Judah--"from Geba to Rimmon, South of Jerusalem." In the earlier references Rimmon occurs in close association with `Ain (a spring), and in Neh 11:29, what is apparently the same place, `Ain Rimmon, is called En-rimmon (which see).

(3) (rimmon (Josh 19:13), rimmonah, in some Hebrew manuscripts dimah (see DIMNAH ) (Josh 21:35), and rimmono (1 Ch 6:77)): In the King James Version we have "Remmon-methoar" in Josh 19:13, but the Revised Version (British and American) translates the latter as "which stretcheth." This was a city on the border of Zebulun (Josh 19:13) allotted to the Levites (Josh 21:35, "Dimnah"; 1 Ch 6:77). The site is now the little village of Rummaneh on a low ridge South of the western end of the marshy plain el Battauf in Galilee; there are many rock-cut tombs and cisterns. It is about 4 miles North of el Mesh-hed, usually considered to be the site of Gath-hepher. See PEF , I, 363, ShVI .

E. W. G. Masterman


RIMMON (2)

(rimmon, "pomegranate"; see RIMMON-PEREZ ):

(1) A Syrian god. Naaman the Syrian leper after being cured is troubled over the fact that he will still have to bow down in the house of the Syrian god, Rimmon, when his master goes into the house to worship leaning on his hand (2 Ki 5:18). Elisha answers him ambiguously: "Go in peace." Judging from Naaman's position and this incident, Rimmon must have been one of the leading gods of the Syrians worshipped in Damascus. He has been identified with Rammanu, the Assyrian god of wind, rain and storm. The name appears in the Syrian personal names HADADRIMMON and TABRIMMON (which see) and its meaning is dubious (ramamu, "to thunder" (?))

(2) A Benjamite of Beeroth, whose sons Baanah and Rechab assassinated Ish-bosheth (2 Sam 4:2,5,9).

Nathan Isaacs


RIMMON, ROCK OF

See RIMMON , (1).


RIMMON-PEREZ

rim-mon-pe'-rez (rimmon perets; the King James Version Rimmon-parez): A desert camp of the Israelites (Nu 33:19 f), unidentified. Gesenius translates rimmon as "pomegranate," the place deriving its name from the abundance of pomegranates. But Conder derives it from ramam, "to be high," and translates it "cloven height."

See WANDERINGS OF ISRAEL .


RIMMONAH; RIMMONO

rim-mo'-na, rimmo'-no.

See RIMMON , (3).


RING

(Anglo-Saxon, Hring, "ring"): The word renders (the American Standard Revised Version) two Hebrew words (in the King James Version and the English Revised Version three) and two Greek words. Tabba`ath, the principal Hebrew word, is from Tabha`, "sink," either because the ring is something "cast" or molded, or, more probably, since the principal use of the ring was as a seal, because it "sank" into the wax or clay that received the impression. In Exodus, Tabba`ath, "ring," is a detail of furniture or equipment, as the rings of the ark through which the staves were thrust (Ex 25:12, etc.), rings for curtains, in the high priest's ephod (Ex 28:28; 39:21), etc. Its other use was perhaps the original, to describe the article of personal adornment worn on the finger, apparently in the Old Testament always a signet-ring, and as such an indispensable article of masculine attire. Such a ring Pharaoh gave Joseph as a symbol of authority (Gen 41:42); and Ahasuerus gave Haman (Est 3:10); with it the royal missive was sealed (Est 3:12; 8:8 twice,10). It was also a feminine ornament in Isaiah's list of the fashionable feminine paraphernalia, "the rings and the nose-jewels" (quite likely rings also) (Isa 3:21). Either as ornaments or for their intrinsic value, or both, rings were used as gifts for sacred purposes from both men and women: "brooches, and ear-rings, and signet-rings" (margin "nose-rings") (Ex 35:22); "bracelets, rings (the American Standard Revised Version "signet-rings"), ear-rings" (Nu 31:50 the King James Version). chotham, "signet," mentioned in Gen 38:18,25; Ex 28:11,21,36; Ex 39:6,14,30; Jer 22:24; Hag 2:23, etc., was probably usually a seal ring, but in Gen 38 and elsewhere the seal may have been swung on wire, and suspended by a cord from the neck. It was not only an identification, but served as a stamp for signature. galil, "circle" (compare "Galilee," "Circle" of the Gentiles), rendered "ring" in Est 1:6; Song 5:14, may rather mean "cylinder" or "rod" of metal. Earring (which see) in the King James Version is from totally different words: nezem, whose etymology is unknown, aghil, "round," or lachash, "amulet"; so the Revised Version (British and American). The "rings" of the wheels in Ezek 1:18 (the King James Version) are gabh, "curved," and mean "rims" (American Standard Revised Version), "felloes." Egyptians especially wore a great profusion of rings, principally of silver or gold, engraved with scarabaei, or other devices. In the New Testament the ring, daktulios, "finger-ring," is a token of means, position, standing: "put a ring on his hand" (Lk 15:22). Perhaps also it included the right to give orders in his father's name. To be chrusodaktulios, "golden-ringed," perhaps with more than one, indicated wealth and social rank: "a man with a gold ring" (Jas 2:2).

See also EARRING ;SIGNET ;SEAL .

Philip Wendell Crannell


RINGLEADER

ring'-led-er: In Acts 24:5 the translation of protostates, "one who stands first." Not an opprobrious word in the Greek.


RINGSTREAKED

ring'-strekt (the King James Version and the English Revised Version ringstraked): Gen 30:35,39,40; 31:8 (twice),10,12 for `aqodh. In the context of Gen 30:35, etc., `aqodh certainly denotes defective coloring of some sort, but the exact meaning of the word is uncertain. The translation "ringstreaked" ("marked with circular bands") comes from connecting the word with the Hebrew root `-q-d, "to bind" (Gen 22:9), but this connection is dubious.


RINNAH

rin'-a (rinnah, "praise to God"; Septuagint: Codex Vaticanus Ana; Codex Alexandrinus Rhannon): A Judahite, according to Massoretic Text a son of Shimon (1 Ch 4:20). But the Septuagint makes him a son of Hanan (Codex Vaticanus Phana; Codex Alexandrinus Anan) by reading "ben" in the next name (Ben-hanan) as "son of."


RIOT

ri'-ut: Properly, "unrestrained behavior" of any sort, but in modern English usually connoting mob action, although such phrases as a "riotous banquet" are still in common use. the King James Version uses the word in the first sense, and it is retained by the Revised Version (British and American) in Lk 15:13; Tit 1:6; 1 Pet 4:4 for asotos, asotia, "having no hope of safety," "profligate]." In Prov 23:20; 28:7 the Revised Version (British and American) has preferred "gluttonous," "glutton," in Rom 13:13, "revelling," and in 2 Pet 2:13, "revel."

Burton Scott Easton


RIPHATH

ri'-fath (riphath): A son of Gomer, the eldest son of Japhet (Gen 10:3; 1 Ch 1:6, where Massoretic Text and the Revised Version (British and American) read DIPHATH (which see)). Josephus (Ant., I, vi, 1) identifies the Ripheans with the Paphlagonians, through whose country on the Black Sea ran the river "Rhebas" (Pliny, NH, vi.4).


RISING

riz'-ing (se'eth, "a tumor," "swelling" (Lev 13:2,10, etc.)).

See LEPROSY .


RISSAH

ris'-a (riccah, "dew"): A camp of the Israelites in the wilderness wanderings between Libnah and Kehelathah (Nu 33:21 f).

See WANDERINGS OF ISRAEL .


RITHMAH

rith'-ma (rithmah, "broom"): A desert camp of the Israelites (Nu 33:18,19). The name refers to the white desert broom.

See WANDERINGS OF ISRAEL .


RIVER

riv'-er:

(1) The usual word is nahar (Aramaic nehar (Ezr 4:10, etc.)), used of the rivers of Eden (Gen 2:10-14), often of the Euphrates (Gen 15:18, etc.), of Abana and Pharpar (2 Ki 5:12), the river of Gozan (2 Ki 17:6), the river Chebar (Ezek 1:1), the rivers (canals?) of Babylon (Ps 137:1), the rivers of Ethiopia (Isa 18:1; Zeph 3:10). Compare nahr, the common Arabic word for "river."

(2) ye'or, according to BDB from Egyptian iotr, 'io'r, "watercourse," often of the Nile (Ex 1:22, etc.). In Isa 19:6, for ye'ore matsor, the King James Version "brooks of defense," the Revised Version (British and American) has "streams of Egypt." In Isa 19:7,8, for ye'or, the King James Version "brooks," and Zec 10:11, the King James Version "river," the Revised Version (British and American) has "Nile." In Job 28:10, the King James Version "He cutteth out rivers among the rocks," the Revised Version (British and American) has "channels," the Revised Version margin "passages."

(3) There are nearly 100 references to nachal. In about half of these the King James Version has "brook" and in about half "river." the Revised Version (British and American) has more often "brook" or "valley." But the Revised Version (British and American) has river in "whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers" (Lev 11:9); "the river Jabbok" (Dt 2:37; Josh 12:2); the stream issuing from the temple (Ezek 47:5-12). the Revised Version (British and American) has "brook of Egypt," i.e. el-`Arish (Nu 34:5; Josh 15:47; 1 Ki 8:65; 2 Ki 24:7; 2 Ch 7:8; Am 6:14, "of the Arabah"); "brook (the King James Version "river") of Kanah" (Josh 16:8); "valley (the King James Version "river") of the Arnon" (Dt 2:24). English Versions of the Bible has "valley": of Gerar (Gen 26:17), of Zered (Nu 21:12), but "brook Zered" (Dt 2:13), of Eschol (Nu 32:9), of Sorek (Jdg 16:4), of Shittim (Joel 3:18). English Versions of the Bible has "brook": Besor (1 Sam 30:10), Kidron (2 Sam 15:23), Gaash, (2 Sam 23:30), Cherith (1 Ki 17:3); also the feminine nachalah, "brook (the King James Version "river") of Egypt" (Ezek 47:19; 48:28). The torrent-valley (wady) is often meant.

(4) pelegh, with feminine pelaggah, the King James Version "river," is in the Revised Version (British and American) translated "stream," except English Versions of the Bible "river of God" (Ps 65:9); "streams of water" (Ps 1:3; Prov 5:16; Isa 32:2; Lam 3:48); "streams of honey" (Job 20:17); "streams of oil" (Job 29:6).

(5) 'aphiq, the King James Version "river," except English Versions of the Bible "water brooks" (Ps 42:1), is in the Revised Version (British and American) "watercourses" (Ezek 6:3; 31:12; 32:6; 34:13; 35:8; 36:4,6), "water-brooks" (Song 5:12; Joel 1:20).

(6) yubhal, English Versions of the Bible "river" (Jer 17:8). 'ubhal, and 'ubhal, English Versions of the Bible "river" (Dan 8:2,3,6).

(7) potamos: of the Jordan (Mk 1:5); Euphrates (Rev 9:14); "rivers of living water" (Jn 7:38); "river of water of life" (Rev 22:1). So always in Greek for "river" in the Revised Version (British and American) Apocrypha (1 Esdras 4:23, etc.).

See BROOK ;STREAM ;VALLEY .

Alfred Ely Day


RIVER OF EGYPT

See BROOK OF EGYPT .


RIVER, THE (GREAT)

See EUPHRATES .


RIVERS OF EDEN

See EDEN (1).


RIZIA

riz'-i-a (ritsya'): An Asherite (1 Ch 7:39).


RIZPAH

riz'-pa (ritspah, "hot stone"; Josephus, Rhaispha): In 2 Sam 3:7 the subject of a coarse slander. 2 Sam 21 contains the pathetic story of Rizpah's faithful watch over the bodies of her dead sons Mephibosheth and Armoni (21:10,11). Did this story suggest Tennyson's "Rizpah"? A three years' famine had made David anxious, and in seeking a reason for the affliction he concluded that it lay in Saul's unavenged conduct to the Gibeonites (21:2). To appease Yahweh he gave up to the Gibeonites the two sons of Saul, Mephibosheth and Armoni, as well as Saul's 5 grandsons (whether by Michal or Merab; see MERAB ). These seven were hanged at Gibeah. Rizpah watched 5 months over their exposed bodies, but meanwhile the famine did not abate. Word was brought to David of Rizpah's act (21:10,11), and it is possible that her action suggested to David his next step in expiation. At any rate, he remembered the uncared-for bones of Jonathan and Saul lying in ignominy at Jabesh-gilead, whither they had been carried by stealth after the Philistines had kept them hung in the streets of Beth-shan for some time. The bones were recovered and apparently mingled with the bones Rizpah had guarded, and they were together buried in the family grave at Zelah. We are told that then "God was entreated for the land" (21:14).

Henry Wallace



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