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International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

LI


LIBANUS

lib'-a-nus.

See LEBANON .


LIBATION

li-ba'-shun.

See SACRIFICE .


LIBERAL; LIBERALITY; LIBERALLY

lib'-er-al, lib-er-al'-i-ti, lib'-er-al-i: The different forms of the word all refer to one who is generous, bountiful, willing and ready to give and to help. Both the Hebrew words of the Old Testament and the Greek words of the New Testament translated into the English word "liberal" have a deeper and nobler meaning than is generally conveyed by the English word. In Prov 11:25, the liberal soul (nephesh berakhah) means a soul that carries a blessing. In Isa 32:5, the American Standard Revised Version has "bountiful" where the King James Version has "liberal," and in Isa 32:8 "noble" takes the place of "liberal" (nadhibh). The principal Greek words are haplotes literally, "simplicity," "sincerity," and charis, "grace," "favor." In 1 Cor 16:3, "bounty" substitutes "liberality." It is well to bear in mind that a Biblical liberality can spring only out of a noble soul, and is Godlike in its genesis and spirit.

G. H. Gerberding


LIBERTINES

lib'-er-tinz, li-bur'-tinz (Libertinoi): These were among Stephen's opponents: "There arose certain of them that were of the synagogue called (the synagogue) of the Libertines, and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and Asia, disputing with Stephen" (Acts 6:9).have a deeper and nobler meaning than is generally conveyed by the English word. In Prov 11:25, the liberal soul (nephesh berakhah) means a soul that carries a blessing. In Isa 32:5, the American Standard Revised Version has "bountiful" where the King James Version has "liberal," and in Isa 32:8 "noble" takes the place of "liberal" (nadhibh). The principal Greek words are haplotes literally, "simplicity," "sincerity," and charis, "grace," "favor." In 1 Cor 16:3, "bounty" substitutes "liberality." It is well to bear in mind that a Biblical liberality can spring only out of a noble soul, and is Godlike in its genesis and spirit.

1. "Synagogue of the Libertines":

How many synagogues are denoted? The answer may aid in the interpretation of "Libertines": (1) The words may be read as denoting one synagogue (Calvin). However (a) the number of worshippers would be extremely large, (b) the bond of union is not obvious, (c) rabbinic tradition speaks of 480 synagogues in Jerusalem. (2) The double ton ("of them") seems to denote two parties, the one consisting "of them that were of the synagogue called (the synagogue) of Libertines and Cyrenians and Alexandrians," the other "of them of Cilicia and Asia", (Winer, Wendt, Holtzmann). But the second ton is dependent on synagogue. "As Cyrenians and Alexandrians both belong to towns .... a change of designation would be necessary when the Jews of whole provinces came to be mentioned: this being the case, the article could not but be repeated, without any reference to the ton before" (Alford). (3) There were three synagogues: (a) that of the Libertines, (b) that of the Cyrenians and Alexandrians and (c) that "of them of Cilicia and Asia" (Alford). There is no grammatical reason for this division, but it is based on an interpretation of "Libertines." There were "Libertines," Africans and Asiatics. (4) Each party had a separate synagogue (Schurer, Hausrath). The number of worshippers, their different origin and connections, and the number of synagogues in Jerusalem give weight to this view.

2. Interpretation of "Libertines":

(1) They are "freedmen," liberated slaves or their descendants. Against this it is held that the Greek equivalent (apeleutheroi) would have been used in this case. However, the Roman designation would be common all over the empire. In what sense were they "freedmen"? Various answers are given: (a) they were freedmen from Jewish servitude (Lightfoot); (b) they were Italian freedmen who had become proselytes; (c) they were "the freedmen of the Romans" (Chrysostom), the descendants of Jewish freedmen at Rome who had been expelled by Tiberius. In 63 BC Pompey had taken prisoners of war to Rome. These, being liberated by those who had acquired them as slaves, formed a colony on the banks of the Tiber (Philo, Legat. ad Caium). Tacitus relates that the senate decreed (19 AD) that a number of Jewish Libertines should be transported to Sardinia, and that the rest should leave Italy, unless they renounced, before a certain day, their profane customs (Ann. ii, 85; see also Josephus, Ant,XVIII , iii, 5). Many would naturally seek refuge in Jerusalem and build there a synagogue.

(2) They are an African community. There were two synagogues, one of which was Asiatic. In the other were men from two African towns (Cyrene and Alexandria), therefore the Libertines must have been African also, all forming an African synagogue. Various explanations are given: (a) They were inhabitants of Libertum, a town in Africa proper: an "Episcopus Ecclesiae Catholicae Libertinensis" sat in the Synod of Carthage (411 AD). (b) Some emend the text; Wetstein and Blass, following the Armenian VS, conjecture Libustinon, "of the Libystines." Schulthess reads for "Libertines and Cyrenians" (Libertinon kai Kurenaion) "Libyans, those about Cyrene" (Libuon ton kata Kurenen) (compare Acts 2:10).

These emendations are conjectural; the manuscripts read "Libertines." It seems, therefore, that 2, (1) (c) above is the correct interpretation.

S. F. Hunter


LIBERTY

lib'-er-ti (deror, rachabh; eleutheria): The opposite of servitude or bondage, hence, applicable to captives or slaves set free from oppression (thus deror, Lev 25:10; Isa 61:1, etc.). Morally, the power which enslaves is sin (Jn 8:34), and liberty consists, not simply in external freedom, or in possession of the formal power of choice, but in deliverance from the darkening of the mind, the tyranny of sinful lusts and the enthrallment of the will, induced by a morally corrupt state. In a positive respect, it consists in the possession of holiness, with the will and ability to do what is right and good. Such liberty is possible only in a renewed condition of soul, and cannot exist apart from godliness. Even under the Old Testament godly men could boast of a measure of such liberty (Ps 119:45, rachabh, "room," "breadth"), but it is the gospel of Christ which bestows it in its fullness, in giving a full and clear knowledge of God, discovering the way of forgiveness, supplying the highest motives to holiness and giving the Holy Spirit to destroy the power of sin and to quicken to righteousness. In implanting a new life in the soul, the gospel lifts the believer out of the sphere of external law, and gives him a sense of freedom in his new filial relation to God. Hence, the New Testament expressions about "the glorious liberty" of God's children (Rom 8:21 the King James Version; compare Gal 2:4; 5:13, etc.), about liberty as resulting from the possession of the Spirit (2 Cor 3:17), about "the perfect law of liberty" (Jas 1:25). The instrument through which this liberty is imparted is "the truth" (Jn 8:32). Christians are earnestly warned not to presume upon, or abuse their liberty in Christ (Gal 5:13; 1 Pet 2:16).

James Orr


LIBNAH

lib'-na (libhnah "whiteness," "transparency," "pavement" (compare Ex 24:10 where libhnath, is translated "paved work" or a "compact foundation"); Lebna):

(1) A desert camp of the Israelites between Rimmon-perez and Rissah (Nu 33:20,21). Probably the same as Laban (Dt 1:1).

See WANDERINGS OF ISRAEL .

(2) A town in the Shephelah of Judah (Josh 15:42). "Joshua passed from Makkedah, and all Israel with him, unto Libnah, and fought against Libnah: and Yahweh delivered it also, and the king thereof, into the hand of Israel. .... And Joshua passed from Libnah, and all Israel with him, unto Lachish, and encamped against it, and fought against it" (Josh 10:29-31; 12:15). It was one of the cities given to the "children of Aaron" (Josh 21:13; 1 Ch 6:57). In the reign of Joram, Libnah joined the Edomites in a revolt against the king of Judah (2 Ki 8:22; 2 Ch 21:10). In the reign of Hezekiah, Libnah was besieged by Sennacherib (2 Ki 19:8; Isa 37:8). The wife of King Josiah was "Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah," she was the mother of Jehoahaz and Zedekiah (2 Ki 23:31; 24:18; Jer 52:1).

The site of this important stronghold remains unknown. In the Eusebius, Onomasticon it is described, under the name Lobana or Lobna, as near Eleutheropolis (Beit Jebrin). All the indications point to a site in the Southwest of the Shephelah, not very far from Lachish. The Palestine Exploration Fund surveyors suggested (PEF, III, 259) the commanding site `Arak el Menshiyeh, or rather the white chalky mound 250 ft. high to the North of this village, and Stanley proposed Tell es Cafi. (Both these identifications are due to the interpretation of Libnah as meaning "whiteness.") In the PEFS (1897, Sh XX) Conder suggests a ruin called el Benawy, 10 miles Southeast of Lachish.

E. W. G. Masterman


LIBNI

lib'-ni (libhni):

(1) Son of Gershon (Ex 6:17; Nu 3:18; 1 Ch 6:17,20). Families who traced their descent from Libni are called Libnites (Nu 3:21; 26:58).

(2) A son of Merari (1 Ch 6:29).

See LADAN .


LIBNITES

lib'-nits (ha-libhni).

See LIBNI .


LIBRARIES

li'-bra-riz, li'-brer-iz:

1. The Bible a Library

2. Mythological and Apocryphal Libraries

3. Libraries for the Dead

4. Memory Libraries

5. Prehistoric and Primitive Libraries

6. Mesopotamian Period

7. Patriarchal Period

8. Egyptian Period

9. The Exodus

10. Palestine at the Conquest

11. Period of the Judges

12. Saul to the Maccabees

13. New Testament Times

14. Bookcases and Buildings

LITERATURE

A library is a book or books kept for use, not for sale. A one-book library is just as much a library as a one-cell animal is animal. The earliest libraries, like the earliest plants and animals, were very simple, consisting of a few books or perhaps only a single tablet or manuscript. An archive is a library of official documents not in active use; a registry, a library of going documents.

1. The Bible a Library:

The Bible is itself a library. During the Middle Ages it was commonly called, first, "The Divine Library," and then, "The Library" (Bibliotheca), in the same exclusive sense as it is now known as "The Book" (Biblia as Latin singular). Even the word "Bible" itself is historically "Library" rather than "Book" (for it was originally the neuter plural Biblia, "The Books"; compare Dan 9:2). The Bible is also a library in that it is an organized collection of books rather than a single work.

This fact that the Bible is itself a library is increasingly mentioned of late, especially in Old Testament studies (Kent, Narratives of the Beginnings of Hebrew History, 1, "The Old Testament as a Library"; Delitzsch, Babel and Bible, 4, "the Old Testament, that small library of books of the most multifarious kind"). Its profound bearing on the theory of the composition and inspiration of the Bible (compare BOOK ) has given the fact new significance and makes an understanding of the nature of a library one of the best tools for the interpretation of the Bible in the face of modern problems. While it is not possible to elaborate this within these limits, it may be said briefly that the logical end of the application of the doctrine of evolution to books and libraries is that the Bible is, like man, the result of natural selection, and is as unique among books as man among the animals. And, whatever may be true of men, in the case of books the formation of a book-library by natural selection tends toward the elimination of error. The more numerous the individuals and the longer the period, the greater the reduction of error, so that the logical inference as to the Bible is that on purely natural grounds it may be, or is, the nearest approximation to inerrancy among books, because of its history as a library. This does not quite lead to the position that the Bible is as unique among books as Jesus Christ among men, but under the doctrine of a creative Providence, it does imply what may be called real superhuman authorship and authority.

2. Mythological and Apocryphal Libraries:

Somewhat apart from historical libraries, but closely connected with Bible study, are the alleged superhuman libraries, libraries of, or written by, the gods, libraries for the dead and apocryphal libraries. The Vedas are said to have existed as a collection even before the Creator created Himself (Manu 1 21). All religions have their book-gods--Thoth and Seshait, Apollo, Hermes, Minerva, Ida, Bridget, Soma, Brahma, Odin, Kvasir, Ygdrasil and many others. To the ancient Babylonians the whole firmament was a library of "celestial tablets." The mythological ideas often have important bearing on Biblical doctrines, e.g. the Creation, the Word, the Tree of Life, the Book of Life, the Holy Spirit. Apocryphal libraries include the library which Yahweh is alleged to have formed on the 7th day of creation on a mount East of the Garden of Eden, and other libraries ascribed to Enoch, Noah and Seth. See for this the Old Testament pseudepigrapha.

3. Libraries for the Dead:

Another class of collections of real books, written or gathered for mythological purposes, is what may be called libraries for the dead. It is well known that in most countries of antiquity, at one time or another, and among primitive people like the American Indians, in modern times, it has been the custom to bury with the dead the things which friends thought would be useful in the Elysian fields or happy hunting grounds, or on the way thither--the bow and horse of the warrior, the ushabti servants, children's playthings, the models of food objects, and so on. This same motive led also to the burying of books with the dead. For long periods in the history of Egypt every Egyptian of any position was buried with one or more books. These books were not his chance possessions, buried with him as, in some burials, all a man's personal belongings are, but books selected for their usefulness to him after death. For the most part these were of the nature of guidebooks to the way to the heavenly world, magic formulas for the opening of doors, instruction as to the right method of progress toward, or introduction into, paradise, etc. These books were afterward gathered together and form what is now known as "the Book of the Dead" and other such books.

4. Memory Libraries:

In modern times the actor or professional story-teller often has in memory a collection of remembered books which is in effect a library. Among primitive peoples the medicine-man was literally a library of tribal traditions. The priests of India and the minstrels of Greece or of the Middle Ages often had a large repertory. By the prevailing theory of the origin of the books of the Old Testament such memory traditions, transmitted orally, were the chief source of the Hexateuch, but in view of what is now known of the library situation of the time, this must be doubted.

5. Prehistoric and Primitive Libraries:

In general terms it may be said that when man began not only to make but to keep records, libraries began. Even a memorial stone contains the germ of a mnemonic library. The primitive medicine-man's collection of notched message sticks, tallies, quipus or wampum belts is a great advance in complexity on these, and the simplest collection of picture narratives of Hottentot or American Indian, an advance on this. A combination of pictures with signs is still another forward step, and this step is already to be found in the Pyrenean caves of the Stone Age (see WRITING ). Most of these earliest libraries were kept at the sanctuary. The gathering together of books in libraries had its origin in the ideas of (1) preservation, (2) gathering together like books in order to join together their contents, and (3) circulation--the great modern expansion of the idea. The owner of flocks and herds gathers together his lists of cattle or other possessions, his receipts for purchases and record of sales, whether these are recorded on the walls of his cave or on wooden tallies or on knotted cords or on clay tablets gathered in little jars and buried under the floor of his house. Large owners and sovereigns and the temples of Egypt and Assyria gathered large stores of these archival records and with them records of tribute, oracles, etc. As early as 2700 BC we have the account of King Dedkere Isesi, his archival library and his librarian Senezemib. The annals of Thutmose III were preserved in the palace library as well as cut in selections on the walls of the temple. A few years later, and we know that the archival records were kept in a special room in the palace at Amarna--and many of the records themselves were found there. All this was before the year 1300.

6. Mesopotamian Period:

Bible history through Genesis 10 covers the whole civilized world, but its main line up to about 2000 BC is almost wholly Mesopotamian. Up to the time of Abram's migration from Haran, the history of Biblical libraries and the history of Babylonian and Sumerian libraries are one. Most of the cities mentioned in this period are now known to have had collections of books in those days. At the time when Abram left Haran there were hundreds of collections of written documents in scores of different geographical localities and containing millions of tablets.

7. Patriarchal Period:

From Abram's emigration out of Haran to Jacob's emigration to Egypt was, on the face of Biblical data, mainly a time of wandering in Palestine, but this was not wholly nomad nor wholly Palestinian. Whether there were libraries in Palestine at this time or not, the Patriarchs were all in close personal contact with the library lands of Babylonia and Egypt. Abram himself was familiar with both Mesopotamia and Egypt. His son Ishmael married an Egyptian, his son Isaac a Mesopotamian. His grandson Jacob married two wives from between the rivers, and had himself 20 years' residence in the region. While it does not appear that Isaac lived at any time either in Syria or in Egypt, during most of his life all the members of his nearest family, father, mother, wife, sons' wives, had had from one to three score years' life in the mother-country. Whether there were public records in this region at this time is another matter, but it would seem that the whole region during the whole period was under the influence of the Babylonian civilization. It was freely traversed by trading caravans, and the Hittite and Mesopotamian records extend at least a little back into this period.

8. Egyptian Period:

The Egyptian period of Bible history begins with the immigration of Jacob and his sons, but fringes back to the visit of Abram (Gen 12:10-20), if not to Mizraim of Gen 10:6. On the other hand, it ends properly with the exodus, but fringes forward through frequent points of contact to the flight of the Virgin and Pentecost. Whether the sojourn was 430 or 215 years, or less, it was a long residence at a time when libraries were very flourishing in Egypt. Already at the time of Abram's visit, collections of books, not only of official accounts, but of religious texts, medical texts, annals, and the like, had been common in Egypt for nearly 1,000 years, and had perhaps existed for 1,000 years or more before that.

Under the older of the modern datings of the exodus, the period of the sojourn included the times of Thothmes III (Thutmose), and in this reign there are peculiarly interesting records, not only of the existence of temple and palace libraries, but of the nature of their contents. The official recorder of Thothmes III, accompanying him on his campaign in Syria and Palestine, set down each day the events of the day, while he or others also made lists of tribute, spoils, commissary matters, etc. These daily records were deposited in the palace library, as it appears, but a narrative compiled from these and written on a leather roll was deposited in the temple library, and from this roll in turn an abstract was engraved on the walls of the temple, where it remains to this day. This probably gives the library situation of the time in a nutshell: (1) the simple saving of utilitarian documents, often on papyrus or wood tablets, (2) the gathering of books written for information on more durable material, (3) preserving choice books for posterity by a local series of inscriptions.

The rolls must have been kept in chests or small boxes, like the box containing the medical papyri of King Neferikere some 1,300 years before, or the "many boxes" at Edfu long after. Many pictures of these book-chests or bookcases are found in the monuments (Birt, Buchrolle, 12, 15 ff).

Again, the palace library of King Akhnaton (circa 1360 BC) at Amarna, which contained collections of the royal foreign correspondence on clay tablets, has been excavated. Its bricks bear the inscription, "Place of the records of the palace of the king," and some hundreds of tablets from this spot have been recovered.

At the time of the exodus there were thus probably libraries in all palaces, temples and record offices, although the temple libraries were by no means confined to sacred writings or the palace to secular. There were also at least archives, or registers, in the royal treasury and in all public departments. Schools for scribes were, it would seem, held in the palace, temple and treasury libraries. There were, therefore, apparently, at this time millions of documents or books, in hundreds of organized collections, which could be called archives or libraries.

9. The Exodus:

Supposing any exodus at all, Moses and Aaron and all the Hebrew "officers" ("scribes" or writers) under the Egyptian taskmasters (Ex 5:6,10,14,15,19), brought up as they were in the scribal schools, were of course quite familiar with the Egyptian ways of keeping their books. It is not surprising, therefore, to find the first and chief provision which Moses made for the Tabernacle was a book-chest for the preservation of the sacred directions given by Yahweh. It makes little difference whether the account is taken in its final form, divided horizontally into Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy and Joshua, or divided perpendicularly into J, E, D, the Priestly Code (P), the fact of the ark and enough of its details are given even in the very oldest sources to show that the authors understood the ark to be a glorified book-chest in or near which were kept written documents: the tables of stone, the inscribed rod, all the testimony given from the mercy-seat which formed its lid, and perhaps the Book of Deuteronomy. The ark is in fact much the size and shape of a portable bookcase, and the Septuagint translation renders the word by the ordinary technical Greek word for the book-chest (kibotos; compare Birt, op. cit., 248-49). It appears also to have been the later Hebrew word for book-chest (compare Jewish Encyclopedia,II , 107 ff). At the exodus, whenever that may have been, Moses is alleged to have made the ark the official library, and in it apparently he is thought to have kept the oracles as uttered from time to time and the record of his travels from day to day (as well as the tables of stone), precisely as the scribe of Thutmose recorded his Syrian campaigns from day to day. This record (if it was a record) was in all likelihood on a leather roll, since this became the traditional form of books among the Hebrews, and this too was like the annals of Thutmose. When the tribes separated to North and South, the books may have been either separated or copied, and doubtless they suffered much wear and tear from the harsh times until we find Dt turning up again in a temple library (2 Ki 22:8 ff; 2 Ch 34:14 ff).

The evidence from Egyptian Babylonian, Mitannian, Amorite and Hittite documents shows the existence of official chanceries and by implication of archives throughout the whole region of Syria and Palestine at the time when the "Hebrew" invasion began (Winckler, Tell el-Amarna Tablets).

10. Palestine at the Conquest:

The Tell el-Amarna Letters and the tablets from the Hittite archives at Boghaz-keui (Winckler, Deutsche Orientalische Gesellschaft Mitt., 1907, number 35) include actual letters from the princes, elders and governors of dozens of places, scattered all over this region from Egypt to the land of the Hittites and the Mitannians. These places include among others Jerusalem, Damascus, Tyre, Sidon, Acco, Ashkelon, Gaza, Lachish, Keilah and Aijalon.

Remains of two of such archival libraries have been dug up--one at Lachish and one at Taanach near Megiddo, both dating back to the 14th century BC.

Whether there were temple libraries as well does not appear so clearly from external evidence but may probably be inferred from the names, Debir and (perhaps) Nebo, as well as from the well-known fact that each of the many city-lands must have had its center of worship. When it was thought that writing did not exist to any extent in Palestine before the time of David, it was the fashion to account for the name of the city of "Kirjath Sepher," the "City of Books," by curious tours de force of conjectural emendation (Sephur for Sepher, Tabor for Debir), but with the recent progress of excavation the possibility of the name has been fully established and the insight of Sayce probably justified.

11. Period of the Judges:

That the situation at the Conquest continued also during the period of the Judges appears from sundry considerations: (1) The fact that all the surrounding nations, Moabites, Edomites, Amorites, Hittites, Mitannians, etc., were literate nations with public archives. (2) The high state of organization under David requires an evolutionary background. (3) Even the extreme (and quite untenable) theory that the Hebrews were illiterate wild Arab nomads and remained so for a long time would actually demonstrate the matter, for, as has been pertinently observed (Sellin, Einl, 7), many at least of the Canaanite cities were not destroyed or even occupied for a long time, but were surrounded by the Hebrews, and finally occupied and assimilated. It follows, therefore, that the archival system continued, and, under this theory, for a long time, until the Hebrews absorbed the culture of their neighbors--and, by inference, libraries with the rest. (4) Taking the evidence of the documents as they stand, the matter is simple enough; various works were kept in or near the ark. Joshua added to these at least the report of a boundary commission (Josh 18:9,10) which was brought to the sanctuary, and Samuel "laid up" the book that he wrote "before Yahweh," i.e. at the ark. Moreover, the Books of Jasher, the Wars of Yahweh, etc., imply a literature which in turn implies libraries. Whenever or however composed, there is no good reason to distrust their historical existence. (5) Even on the extreme critical hypothesis, "Most of the stories found in the first 8 books of the Old Testament originated before or during the age of song and story (circa 1250-1050)" (Kent, Beginnings, 17). (6) To this may also be added, with all reservations, the mysterious metal ephod which appears only in this period. The ephod seems to have been either (a) a case (BDB, 66) or (b) an instrument for consulting an oracle (BDB, 65). The linen ephod had a pouch for the Urim and Thummim. The metal ephod seems to be distinguished from the image and may have contained the written oracular instructions (torah?) as well as the oracular instruments. (7) The Kenite scribes of Jabez (1 Ch 2:55); the simple fact that a chance captive from Succoth could write out a list of names and some one at least of the rudest 300 survivals of Gideon's 32,000 primitive warriors in those bloody frontier times could read it, the reference to the staff of the muster-master, marshal or scribe, and the "governors" (inscribers), in Deborah's Song, point in the same direction.

While, therefore, the times were doubtless wild, the political unity very slight, and the unity of worship even less, there is evidence that there were both political and religious libraries throughout the period.

12. Saul to the Maccabees:

Beginning with the monarchy, the library situation among the Israelites appears more and more clearly to correspond with that of the surrounding nations. The first act the recorded after the choice and proclamation of Saul as king was the writing of a constitution by Samuel and the depositing of this in the sacred archives (1 Sam 10:25). This document Septuagint biblion) was perhaps one of the documents ("words") of Samuel whose words (1 Ch 29:29, history, chronicles, acts, book, etc.) seem to have been possibly a register kept by him, perhaps from the time that he succeeded Eli, as later the high-priestly register (day-book) of Johannes Maccabeus was certainly kept from the beginning of his high-priesthood (1 Macc 16:24).

Whether these "words" of Samuel were equivalent to the technical register or "book of the words of days" or not, such registers were undoubtedly kept from the time of David on, and there is nothing so illuminating as to the actual library conditions of the times as the so-called chronicles, histories or acts--the registers, journals or archives of the time. The roll-register seems to be called in full "the book of the words of days," or with explanatory fullness "book of the records of the words of days," but this appears to be an evolution from "words of days" or even "words," and these forms as well as the abbreviations "book of days" and "book" are used of the same technical work, which is the engrossing in chronological book-form of any series of individual documents--all the documents of a record-office, general or local. The name is used also of histories written up on the basis of these register-books (the Books of Chronicles are in Hebrew, "words of days") but not themselves records. These charter-books, of course, so far as they go, mirror the contents of the archives which they transcribe, and the key to the public-library history of the period, both sacred and royal, as regards contents, at least, is to be found in them, while in turn the key to the understanding of this technical book-form itself lies in the understanding of the "word" as a technical book-form.

The "word" in Hebrew is used of books, speeches, sayings, oracles, edicts, reports, formal opinions, agreements, indictments, judicial decisions, stories, records, regulations, sections of a discourse, lines of poetry, whole poems, etc., as well as acts, deeds, "matters," "affairs," events and words in the narrowest sense. It is thus very exactly, as well as literally, translated in the Septuagint by logos, which as a technical book-term (Birt, Antikes Buchwesen, 28, 29) means any distinct composition, long or short, whether a law, an epigram, or a whole complex work. The best English equivalent for this "work-complete-in-itself," in the case of public records, is "document," and in the case of literary matters, it is "work or writing." The "words" of Samuel or David thus are his "acts" or "deeds" in the sense, not of doings, but of the individual documentary records of those doings quite in the modern sense of the "acts and proceedings" of a convention, or the "deeds" to property.

In the plural, dibhre and logoi or logia alike mean a collection of documents, works or writings, i.e. "a library." Sometimes this is used in the sense of archives or library, at other times as a book containing these collected works.

These collected documents in register-form constituted apparently a continuous series until the time when the Book of Chronicles was written and were extant at that time: the "words" of Samuel, "chronicles" and "last words" of David (1 Ch 23:27; 27:24), the "book of the words (acts) of Solomon" (1 Ki 11:41), the book of the words of days of the kings of Judah, and the book of the words of days of the kings of Israel--the kingdoms after division each having naturally its own records.

The general situation during the period as to archival matters is pretty well summarized by Moore in the EB. From the time of Solomon, and more doubtfully from the time of David, he recognizes that "records were doubtless kept in the palace," and that "the temples also doubtless had their records," while there may have been also local records of cities and towns. These records contained probably chief events, treaties, edicts, etc.--probably brief annals "never wrought into narrative memoirs." The temple records contained annals of succession, repairs, changes, etc. (EB, II, 2021-28). The records were, however, probably not brief, but contained treaties, etc., verbatim in full. To this should moreover be added the significant fact that these archives contained not only business records but also various works of a more or less literary character. Those mentioned include letters, prophecies, prayers, and even poems and Wisdom literature. The "words" of the kings of Israel contained prayers, visions and other matter not usually counted archival. The "acts" (words) of Solomon also contained literary or quasi-literary material. According to Josephus the archives of Tyre contained similar material and this was also true of the Amarna archives (circa 1380 BC) and those at Boghazkeui, as well as of the palace archives of Nineveh and the great temple archives of Nippur and Abu Habeh (Sippara). So, too, in Egypt the palace archives of King Neferikere contained medical works and those of Rameses III, at least, magical works, while the temple archives in the time of Thutmose III (Breasted, Ancient Records) contained military annals, and those of Denderah certainly many works of a non-registerial character. The temples of early Greece also contained literary works and secular laws as well as temple archives proper.

In short, the palace collections of Israel were no exception to the general rule of antiquity in containing, besides palace archives proper, more or less of religious archives and literary works, while the temple collections contained more or less political records and literary works.

This record system in Israel and Judah, as appears from the Old Testament itself, was the system of Persia in Old Testament times. It was the system of the Jews in Maccabean times, of Egypt during this whole period and for centuries before and after, and of Northern Syria likewise at about this time (Zakar-Baal, of Gebal, circa 1113 BC). The books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, whenever written, reveal the same system, Exodus to Numbers being in the form of a register, and Dt represented as an abstract prepared for engraving on stone, a use which Joshua is said to have made of it. We have, therefore, the same system existing before and after and on all sides geographically.

All this neighboring practice points to a system of (1) archival collections, (2) contemporary book registers, (3) contemporary publication by inscription, and, in the light of these, the Old Testament method, from the time of David at least, becomes clear, certainly as to archival collections and registers and hardly less so as to the setting-up of inscriptions in permanent material. Even if D is not earlier than 621 BC, it assumes public inscription long before that time, quite comparable in extent to the inscriptions of Thutmose III or King Mesha of Moab, and, although few long inscriptions have been recovered thus far, there is at least the Siloam inscription (compare also Isa 30:8; Job 19:23,24; Isa 8:1; Jer 17:1; also the Decalogue). Each one of these three elements (even the collection of inscriptions in the temple) was, it must be remembered, called in antiquity a "library."

The reference to "the books" in Dan (9:2) may possibly point to or foreshadow the synagogue library.

Little weight is generally and properly given to the statement of 2 Macc 2:13, that Nehemiah founded a library and gathered into it the writings "about the kings, the prophets and David, and the letters of the kings concerning votive offerings," but it is, as a matter of fact, evident that he, as well as Judas Maccabeus, who is linked with him in the statement, must have done just this.

From the time of the Septuagint translated, the idea of the library (bibliotheke) and even the public library ("books of the people," i.e. public records) was familiar enough, the Septuagint itself also, according to Josephus, linking the temple library of Jerusalem with the Alexandrian library through the furnishing of books by the former to the latter for copying.

13. New Testament Times:

With the Roman conquest and the rise of the Idumeans, naturally the methods developed in accordance with Roman practice. It appears from the frequent references of Josephus that the public records were extensive and contained genealogical records as well as official letters, decrees, etc. The triple method of record continues. It appears, further (Blau, 96; Krauss, III, 179), that there were libraries and even lending libraries in the schools and synagogues, not of Palestine only, but wherever Jews were settled. Josephus and Chrysostom with the Mishna confirm the already very clear inference from Luke's account of our Lord's teaching in the synagogue that at this time, and probably from the beginning of the synagogue, the books, the manner of their keeping and the ritual of their using were already essentially as in the modern synagogue. The first preaching-places of the Christians were the synagogues, and when churches succeeded these, the church library naturally followed, but whether in Bible times or not is a matter of conjecture; they appear at least in very early churches.

Whether the rich secular literature to which Josephus had access was in public or private libraries does not appear directly. It is well known that it was as much a part of Roman public policy in Herod's time to found public libraries in the provinces as it was to restore temples. Twenty-four such provincial libraries, chiefly temple libraries, are known.

The Roman practice of the time still mixed literary with the archival material, and it is likely therefore that the public records of the Jewish temple had in them both Greek and Latin secular books in considerable quantity, as well as the Greek Apocrypha and a large amount of Aramaic or late Hebrew literature of Talmudic character.

14. Bookcases and Buildings:

As to the receptacles and places in which the books were kept, we have reference even in the Hebrew period to most of the main forms used among the nations: the wooden box, the clay box or pot, the pouch, and on the other hand, once, the "house of books" so familiar in Egyptian use and apparently referring to an individual chamber or semi-detached building of temple or palace. Most significant, however, is the statement that the books were kept in the palace and temple treasuries or storehouses.

The sacred ark ('aron), whatever it may have originally contained, was looked on when D was written as a sacred wooden book-chest, and the ark in which the teaching priests carried the law about for public reading was in fact likewise a chest.

Such chests were common among the Jews later, some with lids and some with side-opening (Jewish Encyclopedia, II, 107-108; Blau, 178). It is tempting to find in D, where the book is to be put "by (the King James Version "in") the side of the ark" (Dt 31:26), a chest having both lid and openings in the side, but more likely perhaps D means a separate chest, like the coffer or pouch with the golden mice, which was also put "by the side" (matstsadh) of the ark (1 Sam 6:8).

In the New Testament the "cloak" which Paul left behind at Troas (2 Tim 4:13) was probably (Wattenb., 614; see also Birt and Gardthausen), if not a wooden "capsa," at least some sort of bookcase or cover.

The earthen vessel in which Jeremiah (32:14) puts the two "books" (translated "deeds"), one sealed and one unsealed, was one of the commonest bookcases of the ancient world. This information has lately been widely reinforced and associated with Biblical history by the discovery of the Elephantine papyri, which were, for the most part, kept in such clay jars (Meyer, Papyrusfund, 15). The word Pentateuch perhaps harks back to a five-roll jar, but more likely to a basket or wooden box with five compartments (Blau, 65; Birt, Buchrolle, 21, 22). It was the collective label of a five-roll case, whether of earthenware, wood or basket work.

The pouch or bag bookcase has perhaps its representative in the phylactery (Mt 23:5), which was a sort of miniature armarium in that each of the four little rolls of its four compartments was technically a "book" (cepher). This name is commonly explained as an amulet guarding against evil spirits, but the term actually occurs in the papyri (Bibliophylax) of the preservation of books.

The "house of books" (Ezr 6:1 margin) or "place of books" is a very close parallel to bibliotheke, by which (in the plural) it is translated in the Septuagint. The phrase was a common term in Egypt for library, perhaps also sometimes for scriptorium or even registry, and it points to a chamber or semi-detached room or building where the book-chests, jars, etc., were kept. That at Edfu is a semi-detached room and contained many such cases.

While there is little record of libraries in Biblical times, the very formation of the Canon itself, whether by the higher critical process, or by natural processes of gathering whole literary works, implies the gathering together of books, and the temple libraries common to both Egypt and Assyria-Babylonia are almost inevitably implied wherever there was a temple or sanctuary, whatever may be the facts as to the temple libraries. According to Hilprecht there were certainly such libraries and from very ancient times. The palace library of Assurbani-pal, though itself a discovery of the last times, brings the story down to the times of the written history. For the rest of the story see literature below, especially Dziatzko, Bibliotheken, and the article on "Libraries" in the Encyclopedia Britannica (11th edition).

See also NINEVEH ,LIBRARY OF .

In the earlier period at least and including for the Jews the New Testament times, the particular locality in palace or temple seems to have been the treasury. In the Book of Ezra, search for the decree of Cyrus was to be made in the king's treasure-house (Ezr 5:17), and was made in the "house of books where the treasures were laid up" (Ezr 6:1 m). The document was finally found in the palace at Ecbatana--so too in 1 Macc 14:49 the archives are placed in the treasury.

In New Testament times there had already been a good deal of development in the matter of library buildings. A general type had been evolved which consisted of (1) a colonnade, (2) a lecture-room, a reading-room or assembly room, (3) small rooms for book storage. Such accounts as we have of the Alexandrian libraries, with the excavations at Pergamus, Athens and Rome, reveal the same type--the book-rooms, the colonnade where masters walked or sat and talked with their pupils, the rooms for assembly where the senate or other bodies sometimes sat. In short, as long before in Egypt, whether in palace or temple, the place of teaching was the place of books.

It is significant thus that our Lord taught in the Treasury, which in Herod's Temple was in the court of the temple proper--probably the porticos under the women's gallery, some of the adjoining rooms being used for books. As this was within the barrier which no Gentile could pass, Herod must have had also a library of public records in the outer colonnade.

See further,NINEVEH ,LIBRARY OF .

LITERATURE.

Ludwig Blau, Studien zum althebraischen Buchwesen, Strassburg i, E, 1902, 178-80: Sam. Krauss, Talmudische Archaologie, Leipzig, 1912, III, 193-98; J.W. Clark, Care of Books, Cambridge, 1901; E. C. Richardson, Biblical Libraries: A Sketch of Library History from 3400 BC to 150 AD. London. Oxford University Press, 1914.

See the literature underWRITING .

E. C. Richardson


LIBRARY OF NINEVEH

See NINEVEH ,LIBRARY OF .


LIBYA; LIBYANS

lib'-i-a, lib'-i-anz: In the Old Testament the word occurs in the King James Version in 2 Ch 12:3; 16:8; Nah 3:9 for "Lubim" (thus the Revised Version (British and American)). the Revised Version (British and American), however, retains "Libyans" in Dan 11:43. In Jer 46:9; Ezek 30:5; 38:5, the words are replaced in the Revised Version (British and American) by PUT (which see). In the New Testament the word "Libya" (Libue) occurs, in close connection with CYRENE (which see) (Acts 2:10). Greek and Roman writers apply the term to the African continent, generally excluding Egypt.

See LUBIM .


LICE

lis (kinnim (Ex 8:17,18; Ps 105:31), kinnim (Ex 8:16), kinnam (Ex 8:17,18); Septuagint skniphes (Ex 8:16,18), ton sknipha, once in Ex 8:18; sknipes (Ps 105:31); Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) scniphes; according to Liddell and Scott, under the word sknips, Slav. sknipa = culex): The references, both in Exodus and in Psalms, are all to the plague of "lice." the Revised Version margin suggests "fleas" or "sandflies." The Septuagint rendering would favor "sandflies" or "mosquitoes," between which two insects the Old Testament writers would hardly be expected to discriminate. Mosquitoes belong to the order of Diptera, family Culicidae; the sandfly (Plebotomus papataci) to the family of Simuliidae of the same order. The sandflies are much smaller than mosquitoes, and are nearly noiseless, but give a sharp sting which may leave an unpleasant irritation. They are abundant in the Levant. In Southern Europe they cause the "three-day fever" or "papataci." As stated under GNAT (which see), there is little ground other than the authority of the Septuagint for deciding between "lice," "fleas," "sand-flies," or "mosquitoes" as translations of kinnim. See also underGNAT the note on ken, the Revised Version margin "gnat" (Isa 51:6).

Alfred Ely Day


LICENCE

li'-sens: This word is not found at all in the Revised Version (British and American) (except in Judith 11:14; Ecclesiasticus 15:20; 1 Macc 1:13), and twice only in the King James Version (except in 2 Macc 4:9), both times in Acts. In Acts 21:40 (as translation of epitrepo) the American Standard Revised Version has "leave" where the King James Version has "licence." In Acts 25:16, "opportunity to make his defense" (as translation of topon apologias) takes the place of "have licence to answer for himself."


LIDEBIR

lid'-e-ber (lidhebhir): For "of Debir" in EV; the Revised Version margin suggests the name "Lidebir" (Josh 13:26), a city in the territory of Gad. It is probably identical with LO-DEBAR (which see).


LIE; LYING

li, (sheqer (usually, e.g. Isa 9:15; Zec 13:3), or kazabh verb (Job 34:6; Mic 2:11); pseudos (Jn 8:44; Rev 21:27), "to speak falsely," "to fabricate," "to make a false statement"; pseudomai, in Acts 5:3,1):

1. Lying Defined:

In its very essence, a lie is something said with intent to deceive. It is not always a spoken word that is a lie, for a life lived under false pretenses, a hypocritical life, may be a lie equally with a false word (Jer 23:14). A vain thing, like an idol, may be a lie (Isa 59:4), as also a false system (Rom 3:7). Error, as opposed to truth, is a lie (1 Jn 2:21). The denial of the deity of Jesus Christ is regarded as "the" lie (1 Jn 2:22).

The origin of lies and lying is traced to Satan who is called "a liar, and the father thereof" (Jn 8:44; Acts 5:3). Satan's dealing with Eve (Gen 3) furnishes us with a splendid illustration of the first lie, so far as we have any record of it.

2. A Racial Sin:

The whole race is guilty of this sin: "The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies" (Ps 58:3). It is a part of the old Adamic nature, "the old man" (Col 3:9), which the believer in Jesus Christ is called upon to put off. So prominent a factor is it in the experience of the race that among the condensed catalogue of sins, for the commission of which men are finally condemned, the sin of lying finds its place: "All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone" (Rev 21:8 the King James Version).

3. God's Attitude to It:

God's attitude toward this sin is strongly marked throughout both the Old Testament and New Testament. The righteous are called upon to hate lying (Prov 13:5), to avoid it (Zeph 3:13), to respect not those who lie, and utterly reject their company (Ps 40:4; 101:7), to pray to be delivered from it (Ps 119:29). The wicked are said to love lying (Ps 52:3), to delight in it (Ps 62:4), to seek after it (Ps 4:2), and to give heed to it (Prov 17:4). Lying leads to worse crimes (Hos 4:1,2).

4. The Penalty:

The punishment to be meted out to liars is of the severest kind. They are positively and absolutely excluded from heaven (Rev 21:27; 22:15), and those who are guilty of this sin are cast into the lake of fire (Rev 21:8). We are reminded of the awful fate meted out to Ananias and Sapphira when they lied to God and man (Acts 5:1-11). God will "destroy them that speak lies" (Ps 5:6), and "he that uttereth lies shall not escape" (Prov 19:5), yea "a sword is upon the liars" (Jer 50:36 the King James Version). The liar is thereby debarred from rendering any true and acceptable worship unto the Lord (Ps 24:4).

The Scriptures abound with illustrations of lying and the results and penalties therefor. A careful study of these illustrations will reveal the subtlety of falsehood. Sometimes a lie is a half-truth, as set forth in the story of Satan's temptation of Eve (Gen 3). Cain's lie (Gen 4:9) was of the nature of an evasive answer to a direct question. Jacob's deception of his father, in order that he might inherit the blessing of the firstborn, was a barefaced and deliberate lie (Gen 27:19). The answer which Joseph's brethren gave to their father when he asked them concerning the welfare of their brother Joseph is an illustration, as well as a revelation, of the depth of the wickedness of hearts that deliberately set themselves to falsify and deceive (Gen 37:31,32). Even good men are sometimes overtaken in a lie, which, of course, is no more excusable in them than in the wicked; indeed, it is more shameful because the righteous are professed followers of the truth (David in 1 Sam 21:2). What more striking example of the heinousness of lying in the sight of God can we have than the fate which befell Gehazi who, in order to satisfy a covetous desire for possessions, misrepresented his master Elisha to Naaman the Syrian whom the prophet had healed of his leprosy: "The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow" (2 Ki 5:22-27)? The story of Peter's denial of his Lord, and his persistent asseverations that he did not know Him and was not one of His followers, makes us shudder to think that it is possible for a follower of Christ so far to forget himself as not only to lie, but buttress lying with swearing (Mt 26:72).

5. Pseudos United with Other Words:

Throughout the Scriptures we find pseudos joined to other words, e.g. "false apostles" (pseudapostolos, 2 Cor 11:13), so called probably because a true apostle delivers the message of another, namely, God, while these "false apostles" cared only for self. Such are from Satan, and, like him, they transform themselves into angels of light, and sail under false colors. We read also of "false prophets" (pseudoprophetes, Mt 7:15; compare Jer 23:16 f),thereby meaning those who falsely claim to bring messages from God and to speak in behalf of God. Mention is made also of "false brethren" (pseudadelphos, 2 Cor 11:26), meaning Judaizing teachers, as in Gal 2:4; "false teachers" (pseudodidaskalos, 2 Pet 2:1), men whose teaching was false and who falsely claimed the teacher's office. We read further of "false witnesses" (pseudomartus, Mk 26:60); by such are meant those who swear falsely, and testify to what they know is not true. So, too, we find mention of the "false Christs" (pseudochristoi, Mt 24:24; Mk 13:22). This personage does not so much deny the existence of a Christ, but rather, on the contrary, builds upon the world's expectations of such a person, and falsely, arrogantly, blasphemously asserts they he is the Christ promised and foretold. It is the Antichrist who denies that there is a Christ; the false Christ affirms himself to be the Christ. Of course there is a sense in which the man of sin will be both Antichrist and a false Christ.

See CHRISTS ,FALSE ;FALSE PROPHETS ;FALSE SWEARING ,FALSE WITNESS .

William Evans


LIERS-IN-WAIT

li-erz-in-wat' (Jdg 9:25; 16:12; 20:36 ff).

See AMBUSH .


LIEUTENANT

lu-ten'-ant, lef-ten'-ant.

See SATRAPS .


LIFE

lif (chayyim, nephesh, ruach, chayah; zoe, psuche, bios, pneuma):

I. THE TERMS

II. THE OLD TESTAMENT TEACHING

1. Popular Use of the Term

2. Complexity of the Idea

III. IN THE APOCRYPHA

IV. IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

1. In the Synoptic Gospels

2. In the Fourth Gospel

3. In the Acts of the Apostles

4. In the Writings of Paul

5. In the Writings of John

6. In the Other Books of the New Testament

LITERATURE

I. The Terms.

Of the Hebrew terms, chayah is the verb which means "to live," "to have life," or the vital principle, "to continue to live," or "to live prosperously." In the Piel it signifies "to give life, or preserve, or quicken and restore life." The Hiphil is much like the Piel. The noun hayyim generally used in the plural is an abstract noun meaning "life," i.e. the possession of the vital principle with its energies and activities. Nephesh often means "living being" or "creature." Sometimes it has the force of the reflexive "self." At other times it refers to the seat of the soul, the personality, the emotions, the appetites--passions and even mental acts. Frequently it means "life," the "seat of life," and in this way it is used about 171 times in the Old Testament, referring to the principle of vitality in both men and animals. Ruach signifies "wind," "breath," principle or source of vitality, but is never used to signify life proper.

II. The Old Testament Teaching.

1. Popular Use of the Term:

The term "life" is used in the Old Testament in the popular sense. It meant life in the body, the existence and activity of the man in all his parts and energies. It is the person complete, conscious and active. There is no idea of the body being a fetter or prison to the soul; the body was essential to life and the writers had no desire to be separated from it. To them the physical sphere was a necessity, and a man was living when all his activities were performed in the light of God's face and favor. The secret and source of life to them was relationship with God. There was nothing good or desirable apart from this relation of fellowship. To overcome or be rid of sin was necessary to life. The real center of gravity in life was in the moral and religious part of man's nature. This must be in fellowship with God, the source of all life and activity.

2. Complexity of the Idea:

The conception of life is very complex. Several meanings are clearly indicated: (1) Very frequently it refers to the vital principle itself, apart from its manifestations (Gen 2:7). Here it is the breath of life, or the breath from God which contained and communicated the vital principle to man and made him a nephesh or living being (see also Gen 1:30; 6:17; 7:22; 45:5, etc.). (2) It is used to denote the period of one's actual existence, i.e. "lifetime" (Gen 23:1; 25:7; 47:9; Ex 6:16,18,20, etc.). (3) The life is represented as a direct gift from God, and dependent absolutely upon Him for its continuance (Gen 1:11-27; 2:7; Nu 16:22). (4) In a few cases it refers to the conception of children, denoting the time when conception was possible (Gen 18:10,14 margin; 2 Ki 4:16,17 margin). (5) In many cases it refers to the totality of man's relationships and activities, all of which make up life (Dt 32:47; 1 Sam 25:29; Job 10:1, etc.). (6) In a few instances it is used synonymously with the means of sustaining life (Dt 24:6; Prov 27:27). (7) Many times it is used synonymously with happiness or well-being (Dt 30:15,19; Ezr 6:10; Ps 16:11; 30:5; Prov 2:19, and frequently). (8) It is always represented as a very precious gift, and offenses against life were to be severely punished (Gen 9:4,5; Lev 17:14; 24:17).

Capital punishment is here specifically enjoined because of the value of the life that has been taken. The lexicon talionis required life for life (Ex 21:23; Dt 19:21); and this even applies to the beast (Lev 24:18). The life was represented as abiding in the blood and therefore the blood must not be eaten, or lightly shed upon the ground (Lev 17:15; Dt 12:23). The Decalogue forbids murder or the taking of human life wrongfully (Ex 20:13; Dt 5:17). Garments taken in pledge must not be kept over night, for thereby the owner's life might be endangered (Dt 24:6). That life was considered precious appears in 2 Ki 10:24; Est 7:7; Job 2:4; Prov 4:23; 6:26. The essence of sacrifice consisted in the fact that the life (the nephesh) resided in the blood; thus when blood was shed, life was lost (Dt 12:23; Lev 17:11). Oppression on the part of judges and rulers was severely condemned because oppression was detrimental to life.

(9) Long life was much desired and sought by the Israelites, and under certain conditions this was possible (Ps 91:16). The longevity of the ante-diluvian patriarchs is a problem by itself (see ANTEDILUVIANS ). It was one of the greatest of calamities to be cut off in the midst of life (Isa 38:10-12; 53:8); that a good old age was longed for is shown by Ex 20:12; Ps 21:4; 34:12; 61:6, etc. This long life was possible to the obedient to parents (Ex 20:12; Dt 5:16), and to those obedient to God (Dt 4:4; Prov 3:1,2; 10:27); to the wise (Prov 3:16; 9:11); to the pure in heart (Ps 34:12-14; 91:1-10; Eccl 3:12,13); to those who feared God (Prov 10:27; Isa 65:18-21; 38:2-5, etc.). (10) The possibility of an immortal life is dimly hinted at in the earliest writing, and much more clearly taught in the later. The Tree of Life in the midst of the garden indicated a possible immortality for man upon earth (Gen 2:9; 3:22,24) (see TREE OF LIFE ).

Failing to partake of this and falling into sin by partaking of the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil," they were driven forth from the garden lest they should eat of the tree of life and become immortal beings in their sinful condition. To deprive man of the possibility of making himself immortal while sinful was a blessing to the race; immortality without holiness is a curse rather than a blessing. The way to the tree of life was henceforth guarded by the cherubim and the flame of a sword, so that men could not partake of it in their condition of sin. This, however, did not exclude the possibility of a spiritual immortality in another sphere. Enoch's fellowship with God led to a bodily translation; so also Elijah, and several hundred years after their deaths, God called Himself the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, implying that they were really alive then. In Isa 26:19 there is a clear prophecy of a resurrection, and an end of death. Dan 12:2 asserts a resurrection of many of the dead, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Some of the psalmists firmly believed in the continuity of the life in fellowship with God (Ps 16:10,11; 17:15; 23:6; 49:15; 73:24,25). The exact meaning of some of these statements is difficult to understand, yet this much is clear: there was a revolt against death in many pious minds, and a belief that the life of fellowship with God could not end or be broken even by death itself.

See IMMORTALITY .

(11) The fundamental fact in the possession of life was vital relationship with God. Men first lived because God breathed into them the breath of life (Gen 2:7). Man's vital energies are the outflowing of the spirit or vital energies of God, and all activities are dependent upon the vitalizing power from God. When God sends forth His spirit, things are created, and live; when He withdraws that spirit they die (Ps 104:30). "In his favor is life" (Ps 30:5 the King James Version). He is the fountain of life (Ps 36:9; 63:3). "All my fountains are in thee" (Ps 87:7). The secret of Job's success and happiness was that the Almighty was with him (Job 29:2). This fellowship brought him health, friends, prosperity and all other blessings. The consciousness of the fellowship with God led men to revolt against the idea of going to Sheol where this fellowship must cease. They felt that such a relationship could not cease, and God would take them out of Sheol.

III. In the Apocrypha.

A similar conception of life appears here as in the Old Testament. Zoe and peuche are used and occur most frequently in the books of The Wisdom of Solomon and Ecclus. In 1 and 2 Esdras the word is little used; 2 Esdras 3:5; 16:61 are but a quotation from Gen 2:7, and refer to the vital principle; 2 Esdras 14:30, Tobit, Judith, Ad Esther use it in the same sense also. Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus use it in several senses closely resembling the use in Proverbs (compare Ecclesiasticus 4:12; Prov 3:18; 10:16). In general there is no additional meaning attached to the word. The Psalms of Solomon refer to everlasting life in 3:16; 13:10; 14:2,6.

IV. In the New Testament.

Of the Greek terms bios is used at times as the equivalent of the Hebrew chayyim. It refers to life extensively, i.e. the period of one's existence, a lifetime; also to the means of sustaining life, such as wealth, etc. Psuche is also equivalent to chayyim at times, but very frequently to nephesh and sometimes to ruach. Thus, it means the vital principle, a living being, the immaterial part of man, the seat of the affections, desires and appetites, etc. The term zoe corresponds very closely to chayyim, and means the vital principle, the state of one who is animate, the fullness of activities and relationship both in the physical and spiritual realms.

The content of the word zoe is the chief theme of the New Testament. The life is mediated by Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament this life was through fellowship with God, in the New Testament it is through Jesus Christ the Mediator. The Old Testament idea is carried to its completion, its highest development of meaning, being enriched by the supreme teaching and revelation of Jesus Christ. In the New Testament as well as in the Old Testament, the center of gravity in human life is in the moral and religious nature of man.

1. In the Synoptic Gospels:

The teaching here regarding life naturally links itself with Old Testament ideas and the prevailing conceptions of Judaism. The word is used in the sense of (1) the vital principle, that which gives actual physical existence (Mt 2:20; Mk 10:45; Lk 12:22 f; 14:26). (2) It is also the period of one's existence, i.e. lifetime (Lk 1:75; 16:25). (3) Once it may mean the totality of man's relationships and activities (Lk 12:15) which do not consist in abundance of material possessions. (4) Generally it means the real life, the vital connection with the world and God, the sum total of man's highest interests. It is called "eternal life" (Mt 19:29; 25:46). It is called "life" (Mt 18:8,9; 19:17; Mk 9:43,45,46). In these passages Jesus seems to imply that it is almost equivalent to "laying up treasures in heaven," or to "entering the kingdom of God." The entering into life and entering the kingdom are practically the same, for the kingdom is that spiritual realm where God controls, where the principles, activities and relationships of heaven prevail, and hence, to enter into these is to enter into "life." (5) The lower life of earthly relationship and activities must be subordinated to the higher and spiritual (Mt 10:39; 16:25; Lk 9:24). These merely earthly interests may be very desirable and enjoyable, but whoever would cling to these and make them supreme is in danger of losing the higher. The spiritual being infinitely more valuable should be sought even if the other relationship should be lost entirely. (6) Jesus also speaks of this life as something future, and to be realized at the consummation of the age (Mt 19:29; Lk 18:30), or the world to come.

This in no wise contradicts the statement that eternal life can be entered upon in this life. As Jesus Himself was in vital relationship with the spiritual world and lived the eternal life, He sought to bring others into the same blessed state. This life was far from being perfect. The perfection could come only at the consummation when all was perfection and then they would enter into the perfect fellowship with God and connection with the spirit-world and its blessed experiences. There is no conflict in His teaching here, no real difficulty, only an illustration of Browning's statement, "Man never is but wholly hopes to be." Thus in the synoptists Jesus teaches the reality of the eternal life as a present possession as well as future fruition. The future is but the flowering out and perfection of the present. Without the present bud, there can be no future flower.

(7) The conditions which Jesus lays down for entering into this life are faith in Himself as the one Mediator of the life, and the following of Him in a life of obedience. He alone knows the Father and can reveal Him to others (Mt 11:27). He alone can give true rest and can teach men how to live (Mt 11:28 f). The sure way to this life is: "Follow me." His whole ministry was virtually a prolonged effort to win confidence in Himself as Son and Mediator, to win obedience, and hence, bring men unto these spiritual relationships and activities which constitute the true life.

2. In the Fourth Gospel:

The fullest and richest teachings regarding life are found here. The greatest word of this Gospel is "life." The author says he wrote the Gospel in order that "ye may have life" (Jn 20:31). Most of the teachings recorded, circle around this great word "life." This teaching is in no way distinctive and different from that of the synoptists, but is supplementary, and completes the teaching of Jesus on the subject. The use of the word is not as varied, being concentrated on the one supreme subject. (1) In a few cases it refers only to the vital principle which gives life or produces a lifetime (Jn 10:11,15-18; 13:37; 15:13). (2) It represents Jesus the Loges as the origin and means of all life to the world. As the preincarnate Loges He was the source of life to the universe (Jn 1:4). As the incarnate Loges He said His life had been derived originally from the Father (Jn 5:26; 6:57; 10:18). He then was the means of life to men (Jn 3:15,16; 4:14; 5:21,39,40); and this was the purpose for which He came into the world (Jn 6:33,34,51; 10:10). (3) The prevailing reference, however, is to those activities which are the expression of fellowship with God and Jesus Christ. These relationships are called "eternal life" (Jn 3:15,16,36; 4:14, etc.). The nearest approach to a definition of eternal life is found in Jn 17:3. Though not a scientific or metaphysical definition, it is nevertheless Jesus' own description of eternal life, and reveals His conception of it. It is thus more valuable than a formal definition. It is "to know God and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent."

This knowledge is vastly more than mere intellectual perception or understanding. It is moral knowledge, it is personal acquaintance, it is fellowship, a contact, if we may so speak, of personality with personality, an inner affinity and sympathy, an experience of similar thoughts, emotions, purposes, motives, desires, an interchange of the heart's deepest feelings and experiences. It is a bringing of the whole personality of man into right relationship with the personality of God. This relation is ethical, personal, binding the two together with ties which nothing can separate. It is into this experience that Jesus came to bring men. Such a life Jesus says is satisfying to all who hunger and thirst for it (Jn 4:14; 6:35); it is the source of light to all (Jn 1:4; 8:12); it is indestructible (Jn 6:58; 11:26); it is like a well of water in the soul (Jn 4:14); it is procured by personally partaking of those qualities which belong to Jesus (Jn 6:53).

(4) This life is a present possession and has also a glorious future fruition. (a) To those who exercise faith in Jesus it is a present experience and possession (Jn 4:10; 5:24,40). Faith in Him as the Son of God is the psychological means by which persons are brought into this vital relationship with God. Those who exercised the faith immediately experienced this new power and fellowship and exercised the new activities. (b) It has a glorious fruition in the future also (Jn 4:36; 5:29; 6:39,44,54). John does not give so much prominence to the eschatological phase of Jesus' teachings as to the present reality and actual possession of this blessed life.

(5) It has been objected that in speaking of the Loges as the source of life John is pursuing a metaphysical line, whereas the life which he so much emphasizes has an ethical basis, and he makes no attempt to reconcile the two. The objection may have force to one who has imbibed the Ritschlian idea of performing the impossible task of eliminating all metaphysics from theology. It will not appeal very strongly to the average Christian. It is a purely academic objection. The ordinary mind will think that if Jesus Christ is the source of ethical and eternal life it is because He possesses something of the essence and being of God, which makes His work for men possible. The metaphysical and the ethical may exist together, may run concurrently, the one being the source and seat of the other. There is no contradiction. Both metaphysics and ethics are a legitimate and necessary exercise of the human mind.

3. In the Acts of the Apostles:

In His intercessory prayer, John 17, Jesus said His mission was to give eternal life to as many as the Father had given Him (17:2). The record in Acts is the carrying out of that purpose. The word "life" is used in several senses: (1) the vital principle or physical life (17:25; 20:10,24; 27:10,22); (2) also the sum total of man's relationships and activities upon earth (5:20; 26:4); (3) Jesus Christ is regarded as the source and principle of life, being called by Peter, "the Prince of life" (3:15). Also the life eternal or everlasting is spoken of with the same significance as in the Gospels (11:18; 13:46,48).

4. In the Writings of Paul:

Here also the words for "life" are used in various senses: (1) the vital principle which gives physical vitality and existence (Rom 8:11,38; 11:15; 1 Cor 3:22; Phil 1:20; 2:30); (2) the sum total of man's relationships and activities (1 Cor 6:3,4; 1 Tim 2:2; 4:8; 2 Tim 1:1; 3:10 the King James Version); (3) those relationships with God and with Christ in the spiritual realm, and the activities arising therefrom which constitute the real and eternal life. This is mediated by Christ (Rom 5:10). It is in Christ (Rom 6:11). It is the free gift of God (Rom 6:23). It is also mediated or imparted to us through the Spirit (Rom 8:2,6,9,10; 2 Cor 2:16; 3:6; Gal 6:8). It comes through obedience to the word (Rom 7:10; Phil 2:16); and through faith (1 Tim 1:16). It may be apprehended in this life (1 Tim 6:12,19). It is brought to light through the gospel (2 Tim 1:10). It is a reward to those who by patience in well-doing seek it (Rom 2:7). It gives conquering power over sin and death (Rom 5:17,18,21). It is the end or reward of a sanctified life (Rom 6:22). It is a present possession and a hope (Tit 1:2; 3:7). It will be received in all its fullness hereafter (Rom 2:7; 2 Cor 5:4). Thus Paul's use of the word substantially agrees with the teaching in the Gospels, and no doubt was largely based upon it.

5. In the Writings of John:

In the Johannine Epistles and Revelation, the contents of the term "life" are the same as those in the Fourth Gospel. Life in certain passages (1 Jn 3:16; Rev 8:9; 11:11; 12:11) is mere physical vitality and existence upon earth. The source of life is Christ Himself (1 Jn 1:1 f; 5:11 f,16). The blessed eternal life in Christ is a present possession to all those who are in fellowship with the Father and the Son (1 Jn 5:11,12). Here is an echo of the words of Jesus (Jn 17:3) where John describes the life, the eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. It is virtually fellowship with the Father and with the Son (1 Jn 1:2,4). Life is promised to those who are faithful (Rev 2:7); and the crown of life is promised to those who are faithful unto death (Rev 2:10). The crown of life doubtless refers to the realization of all the glorious possibilities that come through fellowship with God and the Son. The thirsty are invited to come and drink of the water of life freely (Rev 21:6; 22:17). The river of life flows through the streets of the New Jerusalem (Rev 22:1), and the tree of life blooms on its banks, bearing twelve manner of fruit (22:2,14).

See TREE OF LIFE .

6. In the Other Books of the New Testament:

The Epistle to the Hebrews speaks of our lifetime or periods of existence upon earth (2:15; 7:3), likewise of the power of an indissoluble life (7:16); James promises the crown of life to the faithful (1:12). This reward is the fullness of life's possibilities hereafter. Our lifetime is mentioned in 4:14 and represented as brief as a vapor. Peter in 1 Pet 3:7 speaks of man and wife as joint-heirs of the grace of life, and of loving life (1 Pet 3:10), referring to the totality of relationships and activities. The "all things that pertain unto life and godliness" (2 Pet 1:3) constitute the whole Christian life involving the life eternal.

LITERATURE.

Articles on "Life" in HDB, DCG, Jewish Encyclopedia;on "Soul," "Spirit," etc., ibid, and in Encyclopedia Brit, EB, Kitto, Smith, Standard, etc.; Laidlaw, Bible Doctrine of Man; Delitzsch, A System of Biblical Psychology; cornms. on the various passages; Davidson, Old Testament Theology; Oehler and Schultz, Old Testament Theology; Stevens, Johannine Theology and Pauline Theology; Holtzmann, New Testament Theology, I, 293 ff; G. Dalman, Words of Jesus; Phillips Brooks, More Abundant Life; B.F. Westcott, Historic Faith; F.J.A. Hort, The Way, the Truth, the Life; J.G. Hoare, Life in John's Gospels; E. White, Life and Christ; Salmond, The Christian Doctrine of Immortality; R.J. Knowling, Witness of the Epistles and The Testimony of Paul to Christ; commentaries on the various passages; McPherson, "The New Testament View of Life," The Expositor, I, set. v, 72 ff; Massie, "Two New Testament Words Denoting Life," The Expositor, II, series iv, 380 ff; Schrenk, Die Johannistische Anschauung yom Leben.

J. J. Reeve


LIFE, TREE OF

See TREE OF LIFE .


LIFT

To make lofty, to raise up. A very common word in English Versions of the Bible representing a great variety of Hebrew and Greek words, although in the Old Testament used chiefly as the translation of nasa'. Of none of these words, however, is "lift" used as a technical translation, and "lift" is interchanged freely with its synonyms, especially "exalt" (compare Ps 75:5; 89:24) and "raise" (compare Eccl 4:10; 2 Sam 12:17). "Lift" is still perfectly good English, but not in all the senses in which it is used in English Versions of the Bible; e.g. such phrases as "men that lifted up axes upon a thicket" (Ps 74:5), "lift up thy feet unto the perpetual ruins" (Ps 74:3, etc.), and even the common "lift up the eyes" or "hands" are distinctly archaic. However, almost all the uses are perfectly clear, and only the following need be noted. "To lift up the head" (Gen 40:13,19,20; 2 Ki 25:27; Ps 3:3; Sirach 11:13; Lk 21:28) means to raise from a low condition (but on Ps 24:7,9 see GATE ). To "lift up the horn" (Ps 75:5) is to assume a confident position, the figure being taken from fighting oxen (see HORN ). "Lift up the face" may be meant literally (2 Ki 9:32), or it may denote the bestowal of favor (Ps 4:6); it may mean the attitude of a righteous man toward God (Job 22:26), or simply the attitude of a suppliant (Ezr 9:6).

Burton Scott Easton


LIGHT

lit ('or, ma'or; phos; many other words):

1. Origin of Light

2. A Comprehensive Term

(1) Natural Light

(2) Artificial Light

(3) Miraculous Light

(4) Mental, Moral, Spiritual Light

3. An Attribute of Holiness

(1) God

(2) Christ

(3) Christians

(4) The Church

4. Symbolism

5. Expressive Terms

1. Origin of Light:

The creation of light was the initial step in the creation of life. "Let there be light" (Gen 1:3) was the first word of God spoken after His creative Spirit "moved" upon the primary material out of which He created the heavens and the earth, and which lay, until the utterance of that word, in the chaos of darkness and desolation. Something akin, possibly, to the all-pervasive electro-magnetic activity of the aurora borealis penetrated the chaotic night of the world. The ultimate focusing of light (on the 4th day of creation, Gen 1:14) in suns, stars, and solar systems brought the initial creative process to completion, as the essential condition of all organic life. The origin of light thus finds its explanation in the purpose and very nature of God whom John defines as not only the Author of light but, in an all-inclusive sense, as light itself: "God is light" (1 Jn 1:5).

2. A Comprehensive Term:

The word "light" is Divinely rich in its comprehensiveness and meaning. Its material splendor is used throughout the Scriptures as the symbol and synonym of all that is luminous and radiant in the mental, moral and spiritual life of men and angels; while the eternal God, because of His holiness and moral perfection, is pictured as "dwelling in light unapproachable" (1 Tim 6:16). Every phase of the word, from the original light in the natural world to the spiritual glory of the celestial, is found in Holy Writ.

(1) Natural Light.

The light of day (Gen 1:5); of sun, moon and stars; "lights in the firmament" (Gen 1:14-18; Ps 74:16; 136:7; 148:3; Eccl 12:2; Rev 22:5). Its characteristics are beauty, radiance, utility. It "rejoiceth the heart" (Prov 15:30); "Truly the light is sweet" (Eccl 11:7); without it men stumble and are helpless (Jn 11:9,10); it is something for which they wait with inexpressible longing (Job 30:26; compare Ps 130:6). Life, joy, activity and all blessings are dependent upon light.

Light and life are almost synonymous to the inhabitants of Palestine, and in the same way darkness and death. Theirs is the land of sunshine. When they go to other lands of clouded skies their only thought is to return to the brightness and sunshine of their native land. In Palestine there is hardly a day in the whole year when the sun does not shine for some part of it, while for five months of the year there is scarcely an interruption of the sunshine. Time is reckoned from sunset to sunset. The day's labor closes with the coming of darkness. "Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labor until the evening" (Ps 104:23).

The suddenness of the change from darkness to light with the rising sun and the disappearance of the sun in the evening is more striking than in more northern countries, and it is not strange that in the ancient days there should have arisen a worship of the sun as the giver of light and happiness, and that Job should mention the enticement of sun-worship when he "beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness" (Job 31:26). The severest plague in Egypt next to the slaying of the firstborn was the plague of darkness which fell upon the Egyptians (Ex 10:23). This love of light finds expression in both Old Testament and New Testament in a very extensive use of the word to express those things which are most to be desired and most helpful to man, and in this connection we find some of the most beautiful figures in the Bible.

(2) Artificial Light.

When natural light fails, man by discovery or invention provides himself with some temporary substitute, however dim and inadequate. The ancient Hebrews had "oil for the light" (Ex 25:6; 35:8; Lev 24:2) and lamps (Ex 35:14; Mt 5:15). "There were many lights. (lampas) in the upper chamber" at Troas, where Paul preached until midnight (Acts 20:8); so Jer 25:10 the Revised Version (British and American), "light of the lamp;" the King James Version, "candle."

(3) Miraculous Light.

When the appalling plague of "thick darkness," for three days, enveloped the Egyptians, terrified and rendered them helpless, "all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings" (Ex 10:23). Whether the darkness was due to a Divinely-ordered natural cause or the light was the natural light of day, the process that preserved the interspersed Israelites from the encompassing darkness was supernatural. Miraculous, also, even though through natural agency, was the "pillar of fire" that gave light to the Israelites escaping from Pharaoh (Ex 13:21; 14:20; Ps 78:14), "He led them .... all the night with a light of fire." Supernatural was the effulgence at Christ's transfiguration that made "his garments .... white as the light" (Mt 17:2). Under the same category Paul classifies `the great light' that `suddenly shone round about him from heaven' on the way to Damascus (Acts 22:6; compare 9:3). In these rare instances the supernatural light was not only symbolic of an inner spiritual light, but instrumental, in part at least, in revealing or preparing the way for it.

(4) Mental, Moral, Spiritual Light.

The phenomena of natural light have their counterpart in the inner life of man. Few words lend themselves with such beauty and appropriateness to the experiences, conditions, and radiance of the spiritual life. For this reason the Scriptures use "light" largely in the figurative sense. Borrowed from the natural world, it is, nevertheless, inherently suited to portray spiritual realities. In secular life a distinct line of demarcation is drawn between intellectual and spiritual knowledge and illumination. Education that enlightens the mind may leave the moral man untouched. This distinction rarely obtains in the Bible, which deals with man as a spiritual being and looks upon his faculties as interdependent in their action.

(a) A few passages, however, refer to the light that comes chiefly to the intellect or mind through Divine instruction, e.g. Ps 119:130, "The opening of thy words giveth light"; so Prov 6:23, "The law is light." Even here the instruction includes moral as well as mental enlightenment.

(b) Moral: Job 24:13,16 has to do exclusively with man's moral attitude to truth: "rebel against the light"; "know not the light." Isa 5:20 describes a moral confusion and blindness, which cannot distinguish light from darkness.

(c) For the most part, however, light and life go together. It is the product of salvation: "Yahweh is my light and my salvation" (Ps 27:1). "Light," figuratively used, has to do preeminently with spiritual life, including also the illumination that floods all the faculties of the soul: intellect, conscience, reason, will. In the moral realm the enlightenment of these faculties is dependent wholly on the renewal of the spirit. "In thy light .... we see light" (Ps 36:9); "The life was the light of men" (Jn 1:4).

Light is an attribute of holiness, and thus a personal quality. It is the outshining of Deity.

3. An Attribute of Holiness:

(1) God.

"God is light, and in him is no darkness at all" (1 Jn 1:5). Darkness is the universal symbol and condition of sin and death; light the symbol and expression of holiness. "The light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame" (Isa 10:17). God, by His presence and grace, is to us a "marvellous light" (1 Pet 2:9). The glory of His holiness and presence is the "everlasting light" of the redeemed in heaven (Isa 60:19,20; Rev 21:23,14; 22:5).

(2) Christ.

Christ, the eternal Word (logos, Jn 1:1), who said "Let there be light" (Gen 1:3), is Himself the "effulgence of (God's) glory" (Heb 1:3), "the light which lighteth every man, coming into the world" (Jn 1:9) (compare the statements concerning Wisdom in The Wisdom of Solomon 7:25 f and concerning Christ in Heb 1:3; and see CREEDS ;LOGOS ;JOHANNINE THEOLOGY ;WISDOM ). As the predicted Messiah, He was to be "for alight of the Gentiles" (Isa 42:6; 49:6). His birth was the fulfillment of this prophecy (Lk 2:32). Jesus called Himself "the light of the world" (Jn 8:12; 9:5; 12:46); As light He was "God .... manifest in the flesh (1 Tim 3:16 the King James Version). "The Word was God" (Jn 1:1). Jesus as logos is the eternal expression of God as a word is the expression of a thought. In the threefold essence of His being God is Life (zoe) (Jn 5:26; 6:57); God is Love (agape) (1 Jn 4:8); God is Light (phos) (1 Jn 1:5). Thus Christ, the logos, manifesting the three aspects of the Divine Nature, is Life, Love and Light, and these three are inseparable and constitute the glory. which the disciples beheld in Him, "glory as of the only begotten from the Father" (Jn 1:14). In revealing and giving life, Christ becomes "the light of men" (Jn 1:4). God gives "the light of the knowledge of (his) glory in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor 4:6), and this salvation is called "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ" (2 Cor 4:4). Christ is thus the Teacher, Enlightener ("Christ shall give thee light," Eph 5:14 the King James Version), Guide, Saviour of men.

(3) Christians.

All who catch and reflect the light of God and of Christ are called "light," "lights." (a) John the Baptist: "a burning and a shining light" (Jn 5:35 the King James Version). It is significant that this pre-Christian prophet was termed luchnos, while the disciples of the new dispensation are called phos (Mt 5:14): "Ye are the light of the world." (b) Henceforth Christians and saints were called "children of light" (Lk 16:8; Jn 12:36; Eph 5:8), and were expected to be "seen as lights in the world" (Phil 2:15). (c) The Jew who possessed the law mistakenly supposed he was "a light of them that are in darkness" (Rom 2:19).

(4) The Church.

Zion was to "shine" because her `light had come' (Isa 60:1). The Gentiles were to come to her light (Isa 60:3). Her mission as the enlightener of the world was symbolized in the ornamentations of her priesthood. The Urim of the high priest's breastplate signified light, and the name itself is but the plural form of the Hebrew 'or. It stood for revelation, and thummim for truth. The church of the Christian dispensation was to be even more radiant with the light of God and of Christ. The seven churches of Asia were revealed to John, by the Spirit, as seven golden candlesticks, and her ministers as seven stars, both luminous with the light of the Gospel revelation. In Ephesians, Christ, who is the Light of the world, is the Head of the church, the latter being His body through which His glory is to be manifested to the world, "to make all men see," etc. (Eph 3:9,10). "Unto him be the glory in the church" (Eph 3:21), the church bringing glory to God, by revealing His glory to men through its reproduction of the life and light of Christ.

4. Symbolism:

Light symbolizes: (1) the eye, "The light of the body is the eye" (Mt 6:22, the King James Version; Lk 11:34); (2) watchfulhess, "Let your lights (the Revised Version (British and American) "lamps") be burning," the figure being taken from the parable of the Virgins; (3) protection, "armor (Rom 13:12), the garment of a holy and Christ-like life; (4) the sphere of the Christian's daily walk, "inheritance of the saints in light" (Col 1:12); (5) heaven, for the inheritance just referred to includes the world above in which "the Lamb is the light thereof"; (6) prosperity, relief (Est 8:16; Job 30:26), in contrast with the calamities of the wicked whose "light .... shall be put out" (Job 18:5); (7) joy and gladness (Job 3:20; Ps 97:11; 112:4); (8) God's favor, the light of thy countenance" (Ps 4:6; 44:3; 89:15), and a king's favor (Prov 16:15); (9) life (Ps 13:3; 49:19; Jn 1:4).

5. Expressive Terms:

Expressive terms are: (1) "fruit of the light" (Eph 5:9), i.e. goodness, righteousness, truth; (2) "light in the Lord" (Eph 5:8), indicating the source of light (compare Isa 2:5); (3) "inheritance of the saints in light" (Col 1:12), a present experience issuing in heaven; (4) "Father of lights" (Jas 1:17), signifying the Creator of the heavenly bodies; (5) "marvellous light" (1 Pet 2:9), the light of God's presence and fellowship; (6) "Walk in the light" (1 Jn 1:7), in the light of God's teaching and companionship; (7) "abideth in the light" (1 Jn 2:10), in love, Divine and fraternal; (8) "Light of the glorious gospel of Christ "; "light of the knowledge of the glory of God" (2 Cor 4:4,6 the King James Version).

Dwight M. Pratt


LIGHT; LIGHTNESS

lit'-nes: "Light" is used in Scripture, as in ordinary speech, in the sense of what is small, slight, trivial, easy; "lightness" with the connotation of vacillation or lasciviousness. Thus in the Old Testament, "a light thing," a small, easy, slight thing (qalal, 2 Ki 3:18; Isa 49:6; Ezek 8:17; 22:7, in the last case "to treat slightingly"). "Lightness" (qol) occurs in Jer 3:9 ("the lightness of her whoredom"); in 23:32, the Revised Version (British and American) changes "lightness" (a different word) to "vain boasting." In the New Testament the phrase occurs in Mt 22:5, "made light of it" (ameleo), i.e. "treated it with neglect"; and Paul asks (2 Cor 1:17), "Did I show lightness?" (the Revised Version (British and American) "fickleness"). These examples sufficiently illustrate the meaning.

James Orr


LIGHTNING

lit'-ning (baraq, chaziz; astrape): Lightning is caused by the discharge of electricity between clouds or between clouds and the earth. In a thunder-storm there is a rapid gathering of particles of moisture into clouds and forming of large drops of rain. This gathers with it electric potential until the surface of the cloud (or the enlarged water particles) is insufficient to carry the charge, and a discharge takes place, producing a brilliant flash of light and the resulting thunder-clap. Thunder-storms are common in Syria and Palestine during the periods of heavy rain in the spring and fall and are often severe. Lightning is usually accompanied by heavy rainfall or by hail, as at the time of the plague of hail (Ex 9:24).

See HAIL .

In the Scriptures it is used: (a) indicating the power of God: The power of God is shown in His command of the forces of Nature, and He is the only one who knows the secrets of Nature: "He made .... a way for the lightning" (Job 28:26); "He directeth .... his lightning" (Job 37:3 the King James Version); "Canst thou send forth lightnings, that they may go?" (Job 38:35); "Ask ye of Yahweh .... that maketh lightnings" (Zec 10:1). See also Ps 18:14; 97:4; 135:7; Job 36:32; Jer 10:13; (b) figuratively and poetically: David sings of Yahweh, "He sent .... lightnings manifold, and discomfited them" (Ps 18:14); used for speed: "The chariots .... run like the lightnings" (Nah 2:4): "His arrow shall go forth as the lightning" (Zec 9:14); "The living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning" (Ezek 1:14). The coming of the kingdom is described by Jesus as the shining of the lightning from one part of heaven to another, even "from the east unto the west" (Mt 24:27; Lk 17:24); (c) meaning bright or shining: Daniel in his vision saw a man and "his face (was) as the appearance of lightning" (Dan 10:6). See also Rev 4:5; 8:5; 16:18.

Alfred H. Joy


LIGN-ALOES

lin-al'-oz, lig-nal'-oz.

See ALOES .


LIGURE

lig'-ur (Ex 28:19; 39:12 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "jacinth").

See STONES ,PRECIOUS .


LIKE; LIKEN; LIKENESS; LIKING

lik, lik'-n, lik'-nes, lik'-ing: (1) As a noun, "like" in modern English is virtually obsolete, except in the phrase "and the like," which is not found in English Versions of the Bible. "The like," however, occurs in 1 Ki 10:20 parallel 2 Ch 9:19; 2 Ch 1:12; Ezek 5:9; 18:10 (the Revised Version (British and American) "any one of these things"--the text is uncertain); 45:25; Joel 2:2; The Wisdom of Solomon 16:1 (the Revised Version (British and American) "creatures like those"); Sirach 7:12. "His like" is found in Job 41:33; Sirach 13:15; "their like" in Sirach 27:9. "And such like" (Gal 5:21) is only slightly archaic, but "doeth not such like" (Ezek 18:14) is quite obsolete.

(2) As an adjective "like" is common in the King James Version in such combinations as "like manner" (frequently), "like weight" (Ex 30:34), "like occupation" (Acts 19:25), etc. Modern English would in most cases replace "like" by "the same," as has been done in 1 Thess 2:14 the Revised Version (British and American) (compare Rom 15:5; Phil 2:2). So the Revised Version (British and American) has modernized the archaic "like precious faith" of 2 Pet 1:1 by inserting "a" before "like." The King James Version's rendering of 1 Pet 3:21, "the like figure whereunto," could not have been very clear at any time, and the Revised Version (British and American) has revised completely into "after a true likeness" (margin, "in the antitype").

(3) As an adverb "like" is used in Jer 38:9, "He is like to die"; Jon 1:4, "like to be broken." the Revised Version (British and American) could have used "likely" in these verses. Most common of all the uses of "like" is the quasi-prepositional construction in "He is like a man," etc. This is of course good modern English, but not so when "like" is enlarged (as it usually is in the English Versions of the Bible) into the forms "like to" (Dan 7:5), "like unto" (very common), "like as" (Isa 26:17, etc.). These forms and the simple "like" are interchanged without much distinction, and the Revised Version (British and American) has attempted little systematizing beyond reducing the occurrences of "like as" (compare Mt 12:13, and the American Standard Revised Version Isa 13:4; Jer 23:29).

(4) The verb "like" has two distinct meanings, "be pleased with" and "give pleasure to." The latter sense occurs in Dt 23:16 (The King James Version, the English Revised Version), "in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best," and in Est 8:8; Am 4:5 the King James Version; Sirach 33:13 (the American Standard Revised Version has "pleaseth" in the three Old Testament passages). The other use of "like" belongs also to modern English, although in a much weakened sense. On account of this weakening, 1 Ch 28:4 the King James Version, "liked me to make me king" and Rom 1:28 the King James Version "did not like to retain God," have become in the Revised Version (British and American) "took pleasure in" and "refused to" (margin "did not approve"). It would have been better if Dt 25:7,8, "like not to take," had been modified also into "hath no wish to take." From this use of "like" is derived liking in the modern sense in The Wisdom of Solomon 16:21, tempered itself to every man's liking" (the Revised Version (British and American) "choice"). In 1 Esdras 4:39, "All men do well like of her works" is a further obsolete use.

(5) Liken and "make like" are common. To be noted only is that, in Heb 7:3, "made like unto the Son of God," the sense really is "likened to," "presented by the writer with the qualities of." Likeness normally means "a copy of," but in Ps 17:15 it means the actual form itself ("form" in the American Standard Revised Version, the English Revised Version margin); compare Rom 6:5; 8:3; Phil 2:7, and perhaps Acts 14:11. Closely allied with likeness" is an obsolete use of "liking" (quite distinct from that above) in Job 39:4 the King James Version the English Revised Version, "Their young ones are in good liking" Dan 1:10, "see your faces worse liking." The meaning is "appearance," "appearing," and the American Standard Revised Version renders "their young ones become strong," "see your faces worse looking." Likewise varies in meaning from the simple conjunction "and" to a strong adverb, "in exactly the same way." the Revised Version (British and American) has made some attempt to distinguish the various forces (e.g. compare the King James Version with the Revised Version (British and American) in Lk 22:36; 15:7; 22:20). But complete consistency was not attainable, and in certain instances was neglected deliberately, in order to preserve the familiar wording, as in Lk 10:37, "Go, and do thou likewise."

Burton Scott Easton


LIKHI

lik'-hi (liqchi): A descendant of Manasseh (1 Ch 7:19).


LILITH

lil'-ith, li'-lith.

See NIGHT-MONSTER .


LILY

lil'-i (shushan (1 Ki 7:19), shoshannah (2 Ch 4:5; Song 2:1 f; Hos 14:5); plural (Song 2:16; 4:5; 5:13; 6:2 f; 7:2; Ecclesiasticus 39:14; 50:8); krinon (Mt 6:28; Lk 12:27)): The Hebrew is probably a loan word from the Egyptian the original s-sh-n denoting the lotus-flower, Nymphaea lotus. This was probably the model of the architectural ornament, translated "lily-work," which appeared upon the capitals of the columns in the temple porch (1 Ki 7:19), upon the top of the pillars (1 Ki 7:22) and upon the turned-back rim of the "molten sea" (1 Ki 7:26).

Botanically the word shoshannah, like the similar modern Arabic Susan, included in all probability a great many flowers, and was used in a way at least as wide as the popular use of the English word "lily." The expression "lily of the valleys" (Song 2:1) has nothing to do with the plant of that name; the flowers referred to appear to have been associated with the rank herbage of the valley bottoms (Song 4:5); the expression "His lips are as lilies" (Song 5:13) might imply a scarlet flower, but more probably in oriental imagery signifies a sweet-scented flower; the sweet scent of the lily is referred to in Ecclesiasticus 39:14, and in 50:8 we read of "lilies by the rivers of water." The beauty of the blossom is implied in Hos 14:5, where Yahweh promises that repentant Israel shall "blossom as the lily." A "heap of wheat set about with lilies" (Song 7:2) probably refers to the smoothed-out piles of newly threshed wheat on the threshing-floors decorated by a circlet of flowers.

The reference of our Lord to the "lilies of the field" is probably, like the Old Testament references, quite a general one.

The Hebrew and the Greek very likely include not only any members of the great order Liliaceae, growing in Palestine, e.g. asphodel, squill, hyacinth, ornithogalum ("Star of Bethlehem"), fritillaria, tulip and colocynth, but also the more showy irises ("Tabor lilies" "purple irises," etc.) and the beautiful gladioli of the Natural Order. Irideae and the familiar narcissi of the Natural Order Amaryllideae.

In later Jewish literature the lily is very frequently referred to symbolically, and a lotus or lily was commonly pictured on several Jewish coins.

E. W. G. Masterman


LILY-WORK

The ornament of the capitals on the bronze pillars, Jachin and Boaz, in front of Solomon's temple (1 Ki 7:19,22).

See LILY ;TEMPLE ;JACHIN AND BOAZ .


LIME

lim ((1) sidh; compare Arabic shad, "to plaster"; (2) gir; compare Arabic jir, "gypsum" or "quick-lime"; (3) 'abene-ghir): Sidh is translated "lime" in Isa 33:12, "And the peoples shall be as the burnings of lime, as thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire," and in Am 2:1, "He burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime." It is translated "plaster" in Dt 27:2, "Thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaster them with plaster," also in Dt 27:4. Gir is translated "plaster" in Dan 5:5, "wrote .... upon the plaster of the wall." In Isa 27:9 we have, "He maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones" ('abhene-ghir).

Everywhere in Palestine limestone is at hand which can be converted into lime. The lime-kiln is a thick-walled, cylindrical or conical, roofless structure built of rough stones without mortar, the spaces between the stones being plastered with clay. It is usually built on the side of a hill which is slightly excavated for it, so that the sloping, external wall of the kiln rises much higher from the ground on the lower side than on the upper. The builders leave a passage or tunnel through the base of the thick wall on the lower side. The whole interior is filled with carefully packed fragments of limestone, and large piles of thorny-burner and other shrubs to serve as fuel are gathered about the kiln. The fuel is introduced through the tunnel to the base of the limestone in the kiln, and as the fire rises through the mass of broken limestone a strong draft is created. Relays of men are kept busy supplying fuel day and night. By day a column of black smoke rises from the kiln, and at night the flames may be seen bursting from the top. Several days are required to reduce the stone to lime, the amount of time depending upon the size of the kiln and upon the nature of the fuel. At the present day, mineral coal imported from Europe is sometimes employed, and requires much less time than the shrubs which are ordinarily used.

See CHALKSTONE ;CLAY .

Alfred Ely Day


LIMIT

lim'-it (gebhul, "bound"): Occurs once in Ezek 43:12 ("limit" of holy mountain). "Limited" (Ps 78:41) and "limiteth" (horizo, Heb 4:7) are changed in the Revised Version (British and American) to "provoked" (the margin retains "limited") and "defineth" respectively.


LINE

lin (qaw, chebhel): Usually of a measuring line, as Jer 31:39; Ezek 47:3; Zec 1:16 (qaw); Ps 78:55; Am 7:17; Zec 2:1 (chebhel). Other Hebrew words mean simply a cord or thread (Josh 2:18,21; 1 Ki 7:15; Ezek 40:3). In Ps 19:4 (qaw, "Their line is gone out through all the earth"), the reference is probably still to measurement (the heaven as spanning and bounding the earth), though the Septuagint, followed by Rom 10:18, takes it as meaning a musical cord phthoggos). The "line," as measure, suggests rule of conduct (Isa 28:10). For "line" in Isa 44:13, the Revised Version (British and American) reads "pencil," margin "red ochre" (seredh), and in 2 Cor 10:16, "province," margin "limit" (kanon).

See also MEASURING LINE ;WEIGHTS AND MEASURES .

James Orr


LINEAGE

lin'-e-aj (patria): Found only once in Lk 2:4 (the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "family"), and signifying the line of paternal family descent. A word pregnant in meaning among the Jews, who kept all family records with religious care, as may be seen from the long genealogical records found everywhere in the Old Testament.


LINEN

lin'-en (badh, "white linen," used chiefly for priestly robes, buts, "byssus," a fine white Egyptian linen, called in the earlier writings shesh; pesheth, "flax," cadhin; bussos, othonion, linon, sindon): Thread or cloth made of flax.

1. History:

Ancient Egypt was noted for its fine linen (Gen 41:42; Isa 19:9). From it a large export trade was carried on with surrounding nations, including the Hebrews, who early learned the art of spinning from the Egyptians (Ex 35:25) and continued to rely on them for the finest linen (Prov 7:16; Ezek 27:7). The culture of flax in Palestine probably antedated the conquest, for in Josh 2:6 we read of the stalks of flax which Rahab had laid in order upon the roof. Among the Hebrews, as apparently among the Canaanites, the spinning and weaving of linen were carried on by the women (Prov 31:13,19), among whom skill in this work was considered highly praiseworthy (Ex 35:25). One family, the house of Ashbea, attained eminence as workers in linen (1 Ch 4:21; 2 Ch 2:14).

2. General Uses:

Linen was used, not only in the making of garments of the finer kinds and for priests, but also for shrouds, hangings, and possibly for other purposes in which the most highly prized cloth of antiquity would naturally be desired.

3. Priestly Garments:

The robes of the Hebrew priests consisted of 4 linen garments, in addition to which the high priest wore garments of other stuffs (Ex 28; 39; Lev 6:10; 16:4; 1 Sam 22:18; Ezek 44:17,18). Egyptian priests are said to have worn linen robes (Herod. ii.37). In religious services by others than priests, white linen was also preferred, as in the case of the infant Samuel (1 Sam 2:18), the Levite singers in the temple (2 Ch 5:12), and even royal personages (2 Sam 6:14; 1 Ch 15:27). Accordingly, it was ascribed to angels (Ezek 9:2,3,11; 10:2,6,7; Dan 10:5; 12:6,7). Fine linen, white and pure, is the raiment assigned to the armies which are in heaven following Him who is called Faithful and True (Rev 19:14). It is deemed a fitting symbol of the righteousness and purity of the saints (Rev 19:8).

4. Other Garments:

Garments of distinction were generally made of the same material: e.g. those which Pharaoh gave Joseph (Gen 41:42), and those which Mordecai wore (Est 8:15; compare also Lk 16:19). Even a girdle of fine linen could be used by a prophet as a means of attracting attention to his message (Jer 13:1). It is probable that linen wrappers of a coarser quality were used by men (Jdg 14:12,13) and women (Prov 31:22). The use of linen, however, for ordinary purposes probably suggested unbecoming luxury (Isa 3:23; Ezek 16:10,13; compare also Rev 18:12,16). The poorer classes probably wore wrappers made either of unbleached flax or hemp (Ecclesiasticus 40:4; Mk 14:51). The use of a mixture called sha'aTnez, which is defined (Dt 22:11) as linen and wool together, was forbidden in garments.

5. Shrouds:

The Egyptians used linen exclusively in wrapping their mummies (Herod. ii.86). As many as one hundred yards were used in one bandage. Likewise, the Hebrews seem to have preferred this material for winding-sheets for the dead, at least in the days of the New Testament (Mt 27:59; Mk 15:46; Lk 23:53; Jn 19:40; 20:5 ff) and the Talmud (Jerusalem Killayim 9:32b).

6. Hangings:

The use of twisted linen (shesh moshzar) for fine hangings dates back to an early period. It was used in the tabernacle (Ex 26:1; 27:9; 35; 36; 38; Josephus, Ant, III, vi, 2), in the temple (2 Ch 3:14), and no doubt in other places (Mishna, Yoma', iii.4). Linen cords for hangings are mentioned in the description of the palace of Ahasuerus at Shushan (Est 1:6).

7. Other Uses:

Other uses are suggested, such as for sails, in the imaginary ship to which Tyre is compared (Ezek 27:7), but judging from the extravagance of the other materials in the ship, it is doubtful whether we may infer that such valuable material as linen was ever actually used for this purpose. It is more likely, however, that it was used for coverings or tapestry (Prov 7:16), and possibly in other instances where an even, durable material was needed, as in making measuring lines (Ezek 40:3).

Ella Davis Isaacs


LINTEL

lin'-tel.

See HOUSE ,II , 1, (4).


LINUS

li'-nus (Linos (2 Tim 4:21)): One of Paul's friends in Rome during his second and last imprisonment in that city. He was one of the few who remained faithful to the apostle, even when most of the Christians had forsaken him. And writing to Timothy when he realized that his execution could not be very far distant--for he was now ready to be offered, and the time of his departure was at hand (2 Tim 4:6)--he sends greeting to Timothy from four friends whom he names, and Linus is one of them. There is a tradition that Linus was bishop of the church at Rome. "It is perhaps fair to assume, though of course there is no certainty of this, that the consecration of Linus to the government of the Roman church as its first bishop was one of the dying acts of the apostle Paul" (H.D.M. Spence, in Ellicott's New Testament Commentary on 2 Tim).

Irenaeus--bishop of Lyons about 178 AD--in his defense of orthodox doctrine against the Gnostics "appeals especially to the bishops of Rome, as depositories of the apostolic tradition." The list of Irenaeus commences with Linus, whom he identifies with the person of this name mentioned by Paul, and whom he states to have been "entrusted with the office of the bishopric by the apostles ..... With the many possibilities of error, no more can safely be assumed of Linus .... than that he held some prominent position in the Roman church" (Lightfoot's "Dissertation on the Christian Ministry," in Commentary on Phil, 220 f).

"Considering the great rarity of this Greek mythological name as a proper name for persons, we can hardly doubt that here, as Irenaeus has directly asserted, the same Roman Christian is meant who, according to ancient tradition, became after Peter and Paul the first bishop of Rome. Among the mythical characters in Apostolical Constitutions, vii, 46 occurs Linos ho Klaudias, who is declared to have been ordained by Paul as the first bishop of Rome. He is thus represented as the son or husband of the Claudia whose name comes after his in 2 Tim 4:21.

"These meager statements have been enlarged upon by English investigators. The Claudia mentioned here is, they hold, identical with the one who, according to Martial, married a certain Pudens (85-90 AD), and she, in turn, with the Claudia Rufina from Britain, who is then made out to be a daughter of the British king, Cogidumnus, or Titus Claudius Cogidubnus. For a refutation of these assumptions, which, even chronologically considered, are impossible, see Lightfoot, Clement, I, 76-79" (Zahn, Introduction to the New Testament, 20).

John Rutherfurd


LION

li'-un: (1) Occurring most often in the Old Testament is 'aryeh, plural 'ardyoth. Another form, 'ari, plural 'arayim, is found less often.

1. Names:

Compare 'ari'el, "Ariel" (Ezr 8:16; Isa 29:1,2,7); char'el, "upper altar," and 'ari'el, "altar hearth" (Ezek 43:15); 'aryeh, "Arieh" (2 Ki 15:25); 'ar'eli, "Areli" and "Arelites" (Gen 46:16; Nu 26:17). (2) kephir, "young lion," often translated "lion" (Ps 35:17; Prov 19:12; 23:1, etc.). (3) shachal, translated "fierce lion" or "lion" (Job 4:10; 10:16; 28:8; Hos 5:14). (4) layish, translated "old lion" or "lion" (Job 4:11; Prov 30:30; Isa 30:6).

Compare Arabic laith, "lion": layish, "Laish," or "Leshem" (Josh 19:47; Jdg 18:7,14,27,29); layish, "Laish" (1 Sam 25:44; 2 Sam 3:15). (5) lebhi, plural lebha'im, "lioness"; also labhi', and 'lebhiya' (Gen 49:9; Nu 23:24; 24:9); compare town in South of Judah, Lebaoth (Josh 15:32) or Beth-lebaoth (Josh 19:6); also Arabic labwat, "lioness "; Lebweh, a town in Coele-Syria. (6) aur, gor, "whelp," with 'aryeh or a pronoun, e.g. "Judah is a lion's whelp," gur 'aryeh (Gen 49:9); "young ones" of the jackal (Lam 4:3). Also bene labhi', "whelps (sons) of the lioness" (Job 4:11); and kephir 'arayoth, "young lion," literally, "the young of lions" (Jdg 14:5). In Job 28:8, the King James Version has "lion's whelps" for bene shachats, the Revised Version (British and American) "proud beasts." the Revised Version margin "sons of pride"; compare Job 41:34 (Hebrew 26). (7) leon, "lion" (2 Tim 4:17; Heb 11:33; 1 Pet 5:8; Rev 4:7; 5:5; The Wisdom of Solomon 11:17; Ecclesiasticus 4:30; 13:19; Bel and the Dragon 31,32,34). (8) skumnos, "whelp" (1 Macc 3:4).

2. Natural History:

The lion is not found in Palestine at the present day, though in ancient times it is known to have inhabited not only Syria and Palestine but also Asia Minor and the Balkan peninsula, and its fossil remains show that it was contemporary with prehistoric man in Northwestern Europe and Great Britain. Its present range extends throughout Africa, and it is also found in Mesopotamia, Southern Persia, and the border of India. There is some reason to think that it may be found in Arabia, but its occurrence there remains to be proved. The Asiatic male lion does not usually have as large a mane as the African, but both belong to one species, Fells leo.

3. Figurative:

Lions are mentioned in the Bible for their strength (Jdg 14:18), boldness (2 Sam 17:10), ferocity (Ps 7:2), and stealth (Ps 10:9; Lam 3:10). Therefore in prophetical references to the millennium, the lion, with the bear, wolf, and leopard, is mentioned as living in peace with the ox, calf, kid, lamb and the child (Ps 91:13; Isa 11:6-8; 65:25). The roaring of the lion is often mentioned (Job 4:10; Ps 104:21; Isa 31:4 (the Revised Version (British and American) "growling"); Jer 51:38; Ezek 22:25; Hos 11:10). Judah is a "lion's whelp" (Gen 49:9), likewise Dan (Dt 33:22). It is said of certain of David's warriors (1 Ch 12:8) that their "faces were like the faces of lions." David's enemy (Ps 17:12) "is like a lion that is greedy of his prey." "The king's wrath is as the roaring of a lion" (Prov 19:12). God in His wrath is "unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah" (Hos 5:14). "The devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Pet 5:8). "Lion" occurs in the figurative language of Ezekiel, Daniel, and Revelation. The figures of lions were used in the decorations of Solomon's temple and throne (1 Ki 7:29,36; 10:19 f).

4. Narrative:

Nearly all references to the lion are figurative. The only notices of the lion in narrative are of the lion slain by Samson (Jdg 14:5); by David (1 Sam 17:34 f); by Benaiah (2 Sam 23:20; 1 Ch 11:22); the prophet slain by a lion (1 Ki 13:24; also 1 Ki 20:36); the lions sent by the Lord among the settlers in Samaria (2 Ki 17:25); Daniel in the lions' den (Dan 6:16). In all these cases the word used is 'aryeh or 'ari.

5. Vocabulary:

The Arabic language boasts hundreds of names for the lion. Many of these are, however, merely adjectives used substantively. The commonest Arabic names are sab`, 'asad, laith, and labwat, the last two of which are identified above with the Hebrew layish and labhi'. As in Arabic, so in Hebrew, the richness of the language in this particular gives opportunity for variety of expression, as in Job 4:10,11:

"The roaring of the lion ('aryeh), and the voice of the fierce lion (shachal),

And the teeth of the young lions (kephirim), are broken.

The old lion (layish) perisheth for lack of prey,

And the whelps of the lioness (bene labhi') are scattered abroad."

In Jdg 14:5-18, no less than three different terms, kephir 'arayoth, aryeh, and 'ari, are used of Samson's lion.

Alfred Ely Day


LIP

(saphah, sepheth, "lip," "language," "speech," "talk" (also "rim," "border," "shore," "bank," etc.), sapham, "(upper) lip," "moustache," "beard"; cheilos, "lip" (also once, "shore" in the quotation Heb 11:12 = Gen 22:17)): (1) Lips stand in oriental idiom for speech or language, like "mouth," "tongue"; therefore they stand in parallelism. "The lip of truth shall be established for ever; but a lying tongue is but for a moment" (Prov 12:19). "To shoot out the lip" (Ps 22:7) means to make a mocking, contemptuous, scornful face. As the lips are the chief instrument of speech, we find numerous idiomatic phrases for "speaking," such as: "the utterance of the lips" (Nu 30:6,8), "to proceed out of the lips" (Nu 30:12), "to open the lips" (Job 32:20), "to go out of the lips" (Ps 17:1). These expressions do not convey, as a rule, the idea that the utterance proceeds merely out of the lips, and that it lacks sincerity and the consent of the heart, but occasionally this is intended, e.g. "This people draw nigh unto me, and with their mouth and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me" (Isa 29:13; compare Mt 15:8). The "fruit of the lips" (Isa 57:19 = Heb 13:15) and "calves of the lips" (Hos 14:2 the King James Version) designate the praise and thanksgiving due to God. "Fervent (the King James Version "burning") lips" (Prov 26:23) are synonymous with eloquence. "To refrain the lips" (Ps 40:9; Prov 10:19) means to keep silence, where the godless or unwise would wish to assert his rights.

Numerous other expressions need no further explanation, such as "perverse lips" (Prov 4:24), "uncircumcised lips" (Ex 6:12,30), "feigned lips" (Ps 17:1), "lying lips" (Ps 31:18; Prov 10:18; 12:22), "wicked (or false) lips" (Prov 17:4), "unclean lips" (Isa 6:5), "strange (the King James Version "stammering") lips" (Isa 28:11), "flattering lips" (Ps 12:2,3; Prov 7:21), "righteous lips" (Prov 16:13).

(2) The Hebrew word sapham is found only in the phrase "to cover the lip or lips," which is an expression of mourning, submission and shame. The Oriental covers his lips with his hand or a portion of his garment, when he has been sunk into deep grief and sorrow. He expresses, thereby, that he cannot open his mouth at the visitation of God. Differently, however, from common mourners, Ezekiel was forbidden of God "to cover his lips" (Ezek 24:17; see also 24:22), i.e. to mourn in the usual way over Israel's downfall, as Israel had brought these judgments upon himself. The leper, victim of an incurable disease, walks about with rent clothes and hair disheveled, covering his lips, crying: "Unclean, unclean!" (Lev 13:45). The thought here is that even the breath of such a one may defile. The prophet calls upon all seers and diviners, to whom God has refused the knowledge of the future, to cover their lips in shame and confusion (Mic 3:7).

H. L. E. Luering


LIQUOR

lik'-er: Every sort of intoxicating liquor except the beverage prepared from the juice of the grape (yayin), according to the usage of the Old Testament, is comprehended under the generic term shekhar (compare shakhar, to "be drunk"), rendered "strong drink" (compare Greek sikera in Lk 1:15). The two terms, yayin and shekhar, "wine" and "strong drink," are often found together and are used by Old Testament writers as an exhaustive classification of the beverages in use among the ancient Hebrews (Lev 10:9; 1 Sam 1:15; Prov 20:1, etc.).

See WINE ;DRINK ,STRONG .


LIST

A variant of "lust" (see LUST ), meaning "to wish," found in the King James Version of Mt 17:12 parallel Mk 9:13; Jn 3:8, as translation of thelo, and in Jas 3:4 as translation of boulomai. The last case the English Revised Version has rendered "will," and the American Standard Revised Version has made the same change throughout. The word is obsolete in modern English, but Jn 3:8 is still used proverbially, "The wind bloweth where it listeth."


LITERATURE, SUB-APOSTOLIC, 1

lit'-er-a-tur, sub-ap-os-tol'-ik (Christian):

I. EPISTLE OF CLEMENT TO THE CORINTHIANS

1. Authorship and Date

2. Occasion and Contents

3. Apologetic Testimony

4. Doctrinal Testimony

5. Office-Bearers and Organization

6. Ritual

II. THE DIDACHE

1. Disappearance and Recovery

2. Date

3. Standpoint, Authorship and Object

4. Testimony to New Testament Writings

5. Contents and Notabilia

III. EPISTLES OF IGNATIUS

1. Author and Date

2. Genuineness

3. Leading Ideas

4. Other Notabilia

IV. EPISTLES OF POLYCARP

1. Date and Genuineness

2. Occasion and Contents

3. Notabilia

V. PAPIAS FRAGMENTS

1. Author and Date

2. Testimony to Matthew and Mark

3. Other Notabilia

VI. EPISTLE OF BARNABAS

1. Authorship

2. Date

3. Object and Contents

4. Notabilia

VII. PASTOR (SHEPHERD) OF HERMAS

1. Authorship and Date

2. Object and Contents

3. Notabilia

VIII. SECOND EPISTLE OF CLEMENT

1. Nature and Document

2. Date and Authorship

3. Contents

4. Notabilia

IX. APOLOGY OF ARISTIDES

1. Recovery and Date

2. Contents

3. Notabilia

X. JUSTIN MARTYR

1. Incidents of Life

2. First Apology

3. Second Apology

4. Dialogue with Trypho the Jew

5. Notabilia

XI. EPISTLE TO DIOGNETUS

1. Date and Authorship

2. Contents

LITERATURE

The Sub-apostolic Age is usually held to extend from the death of John, the last surviving apostle, about 100 AD, to the death of Polycarp, John's aged disciple (155-56 AD). The Christian literature of this period, although as a whole of only moderate intrinsic value, is of historical interest and importance. This is owing to the light which it throws back on apostolic times, and the testimony borne to Christian life, thought, worship, work and organization during an age when the church was under the guidance, mainly, of men who had been associated with the apostles and who might be supposed, therefore, to know their mind. Some writings are omitted from this review, having been dealt with in previous articles. For the Protevangelium of James and the Gospel and Apocalypse of Peter see APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS ;APOCRYPHAL ACTS . For an account of extant fragments of Basilides and Valentinus, see GNOSTICISM . For pseudo-Clementine writings see PETER ,EPISTLES OF ;SIMON MAGUS .

I. Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians.

1. Authorship and Date:

Only the larger part had previously been extant, when the complete epistle was recovered in 1875 by Bryennios, bishop of Nicomedia. The high honor in which it was held by early Christendom is attested (1) by its position in Codex Alexandrinus, at the end of the New Testament, and in an ancient Syriac MS, between the Catholic and Pauline Epistles; (2) by its being publicly read in many churches down to the 4th century. (Historia Ecclesiastica, III, 16). The work is anonymous, but sent in the name of the Roman church. Dionysius of Corinth (170 AD) refers to it as written by the agency of (dia) Clement (Historia Ecclesiastica, IV, 23); Clement of Alexandria states distinctly the Clementine authorship (Strom., iv.17). The writer is evidently leading office-bearer of his church, and is identified with the Clement whom Eusebius designates as third "bishop" (or chief presbyter) of Rome after Peter, and as holding office between 92 and 101 AD (Historia Ecclesiastica, III, 34). Clement is further identified by Origen (Commentary on John) and in HE, III, 15 with the Clement of Phil 4:3; but the name is too common and the interval too long to render this identity more than possible. Some conjecture the writer to be the consul, Flavius Clemens, whom Domitian (his cousin) put to death in 95 AD for alleged "atheism," i.e. probably, profession of Christianity (see Harnack, Gesch. Lit., I, 253, note 1). But Clement the "bishop" is never otherwise referred to as a martyr, and a member of the imperial family would hardly have been head of the Roman church without so signal a fact being noted by some contemporary or later writer. Lightfoot, with some probability, supposes (Apostolic Fathers, I, 61) that Clement was a "freedman or the son of freedman, belonging to the household of Flavius Clemens." From Paul's time (Phil 4:22) the imperial household included Christians; and many slaves were men of culture. To such a Christian freedman's influence the consul's conversion may have been due. Internal evidence points to Clement having been a Hellenist Jew or proselyte of Judaism; for he writes with some classical culture and with knowledge of Old Testament history and of the Septuagint; his style, moreover, has a "strong Hebraistic tinge" (Lightfoot, p. 59). The date of the epistle is fixed approximately by a reference to a persecution at Rome in progress or very recent; this persecution (during Clement's "episcopate") was doubtless that by Domitian in 95 AD. Clement's Epistle is thus not strictly within the Sub-apostolic Age, but it is uniformly included in sub-apostolic literature.

2. Occasion and Contents:

The occasion was a church feud at Corinth, and the expulsion of some faithful presbyters. The writer seeks to procure their restoration and to heal the dissension. He quotes Old Testament examples of the evil issue of envy and strife, and of the blessedness of humility, submission and concord. He adduces as a pattern the peace and harmony of Nature. In this connection occurs an anticipation of geographical discovery, when the author writes (chapter xx) of "the impassable ocean and the worlds beyond it" (compare Seneca, Medea ii.375; Strabo i.4; Plut. Mor. ix.41). Paul's warnings in 1 Corinthians about party spirit are recalled; a not unworthy echo of 1 Cor 13 is embodied; and the erring community is solemnly monished.

In the course of the letter, with obvious reference to 1 Cor 15, Clement introduces the resurrection, for which he argues from the Old Testament and from natural analogies. He refers to the phoenix which lives 500 years, and, when dissolution approaches, builds a nest of spices into which it enters to die. As the flesh decays, however, a "worm is generated, which is nurtured from the dead bird's moisture and putteth forth wings." The fable is mentioned by Herodotus and Pliny.

A lengthy prayer of intercession for "all sorts and conditions of men" is abruptly introduced near the end, in order, presumably, to imbue Corinthian Christians with that charity which they needed and which is the chief incentive to intercession. The epistle closes with a hopeful anticipation of restored concord and peace.

3. Apologetic Testimony:

Apologetic testimony is found to (1) books of the New Testament, namely, to the Pauline authorship of I Corinthians; to Mark's Gospel, through which (chapter xv) he quotes Isa 29:13, reproducing Mark's variations from the Septuagint; to Acts, through which he similarly quotes (chapter xviii) 1 Sam 13:14; to Romans, Ephesians, 1 Timothy, Titus, James, 1 Peter (chapters xxxv, xlvi, xxi, ii, xlvi, xlix, respectively). The parallels between Clement and He are so numerous that the latter work has from early times been ascribed to him by some (Historia Ecclesiastica, VI, 25). But the general type both of thought and of diction is dissimilar; (2) against the Tubingen theory of essential divergence between the doctrine of Peter and of Paul. The chief presbyter of Rome could not have been ignorant of such divergence; yet he refers the partisanship of which the two apostles were victims entirely to the Corinthians, not at all to the apostles (chapter xlix).

4. Doctrinal Testimony:

Doctrinal testimony is found: (1) to the Trinity, "As God liveth and the Lord Jesus Christ liveth, and the Holy Spirit" (chapter lviii); (2) to the personality of Christ, "The Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the majesty forever." In union and communion with Christ we have life, are sanctified, possess love, manifest godliness (chapter i, xxxvi); (3) to the atonement: Clement ascribes to Christ's death not merely subjective moral influence, but objective vicarious efficacy in securing our salvation, without any attempt, however, to explain the mystery. Christ hath "given his flesh for our flesh, his life for our lives" (chapter xlix); (4) to justification which is distinctly enunciated as before God through faith (chapter xxxii). But this faith (as in Paul's writings) is a "faith which worketh" (chapter xxxv), and such justification is consistent with our being justified by works before men; (5) to the inspiration of Scripture, which is real ("the Holy Spirit saith"), but not verbal; for quotations are often inexact. Apocryphal books are quoted, but not with a formula indicating Divine authority.

5. Office-Bearers and Organization:

(1) The basis of authority is not sacerdotal, but a combination of official succession and popular call; office-bearers are appointed "by the apostles or afterward by men of repute with consent of the whole ecclesia." (2) Clement indicates no distinction between presbyter and bishop. Office-bearers designated as presbyters (chapters xlvii, liv) are referred to (chapters xlii, xliv) as filling the office of bishop. Addressing a church on congregational strife and insubordination, he refers to no single bishop in authority over the church. Had the episcopate, in the post-New Testament sense of mono-episcopate, been apostolically enjoined, surely the injunction would have been obeyed or enforced in Corinth. (3) None the less we discern in Clement's own position and action the anticipation of the later episcopate. Clement is an example of how, through the personal qualities and ecclesiastical services of the man, the status of presiding presbyter developed out of seniority into superiority, out of representativeness into official authority. (4) The early germ of the papacy is disclosed in the passage: "If certain persons should be disobedient unto the words spoken by God through us, let them understand that they will entangle themselves in no slight transgression and peril" (chapter lix). Such assumption by a revered man like Clement might give no offense, and the Corinthians plainly needed correction. Still we have here the first stage in the process which ultimately issued in the Roman claim to universal spiritual supremacy. The assumption, however, is not grounded on Clement's own official position (he speaks always in the 1st person plural), but on the superior dignity of the Roman church. The later theory of supremacy builds Roman authority on the primacy of Peter and his successors; but here the authority of the leading presbyter, in dealing with a provincial church, rests on the suggested primacy of the ecclesia in which he presides.

6. Ritual:

(1) The long prayer (chapters lix-lxi) bears internal evidence of liturgical character, through its balanced and rhythmical style, its somewhat remote relevance to the special object of the ep., and greater suitability for congregational worship, than as part of a counsel to a sister church. This internal testimony is confirmed by the correspondence of the prayer in certain verbal details with the earliest extant liturgies, particularly those of Mark and James, pointing to the early use in the Roman church of forms of prayer afterward incorporated into these liturgies. While there is evidence that down at least to the time (148 AD) of Justin's 1st Apology (chapter lxvii) a minister offered up prayers of his own composition, this prayer of Clement's Epistle indicates that before the close of the Apostolic Age, forms of supplication had begun to be introduced, not to the exclusion of "free prayer," but simply as a mode of congregational devotion countenanced by a venerated leader of the church at Rome. (2) In chapter lvi Clement writes about "compassionate remembrance of them (i.e. the erring brethren) before God and the saints." By the saints, however, are most probably meant, not the beatified dead, but the living Christian brotherhood, as in 1 Cor 1:2; 2 Cor 8:4.

This epistle leaves on readers' minds two different yet mutually compatible impressions--impressions both apparently made on the early church, by which the letter was widely read at public worship and yet excluded from the Canon of Scriptures. We realize, on the one hand, the inferiority of this writing to epistles of apostles. Clement's mind is receptive, not creative; and the freshness of thought characteristic of New Testament writers is absent. What New Testament book, moreover, contains such a foolish legend as that of the phoenix? On the other hand, this epistle breathes much of the spirit, as it adopts in considerable measure the phraseology and style of apostolic writings. It is as if, although the sun of special inspiration had sunk below the horizon, there remained to the church for a while a spiritual afterglow.

II. The "Didache"

1. Disappearance and Recovery:

The "Didache" or Teaching (longer title, "The Teaching of the Lord, by (dia) the Twelve Apostles, to the Gentiles").--This work is quoted as "Scripture," without being named, by Clement of Alexandria (circa 170 AD, in Strom., i.20). It is mentioned in HE, III, 25 as the "Teachings so-called of the Apostles," "recognized by most ecclesiastical writers," although "not a genuine" composition of apostles. Athanasius (Fest. Epistle, 39) denies its canonicity, but acknowledges its utility. The latest ancient reference to the work from personal knowledge is by Nicephoros (9th century) who includes it among apocryphal writings. Thenceforth it disappears until its recent recovery in 1875 by Bryennios.

2. Date:

There is no reliable external testimony to date. Resemblances too considerable to be accidental exist between the Didache and the Epistle of Barnabas; but opinion is divided as to priority of composition. Lightfoot and others favor a common lost source. As to internal evidence the simplicity of the Eucharist and of baptism as here described, with no formal admission to the catechumenate (chapter vii); the use of "bishop" to denote the same office-bearer as presbyter; and the expectation of an impending Second Advent--point to an early date. On the other hand it is unlikely that a writing which professes to give the Teaching of the Twelve would be issued until all or most apostles had passed away; and the writer seems to be acquainted with writings of John (Didache, ix.2; x.2; x.5; see Schaff, Oldest Church Manual, 90). Probably the document went through a series of recensions (Harnack in Sch-Herz; Bertlet in DB, V), and the date or dates of composition may be put between 80 and 120 AD.

3. Standpoint, Authorship and Object:

The work does not profess to be written by apostles; but the author seems to be a Jewish Christian, for he calls Friday "Preparation Day," and the style and diction are Hebraic. The work is neither Judaistic nor Ebionite: circumcision, the Sabbath, and special Mosaic observances, are ignored. From the book in whole or in part being addressed specially, although not exclusively, to Gentiles, we infer that the community among whom it was composed, while mainly Jewish Christian, made special provision for conversion and instruction of Gentiles. The doctrinal standpoint is neither Pauline nor anti-Pauline, but resembles that of Jas. Canon Spence (Teaching) conjectures plausibly that the author may be Simeon, cousin of James the Lord's brother, who became chief presbyter of the Jewish Christian community, first at Jerusalem, afterward at Pella, until his martyrdom in 107 AD.

4. Testimony to New Testament Writings:

Mt was certainly in the writer's hands; for the Didache contains 22 quotations from, or reminiscences of, that Gospel, extending over ten chapters of it. Particularly notable is Didache, viii.2, "Neither pray ye as the hypocrites, but as the Lord commanded in His Gospel; after this manner pray ye, Our Father," etc. (see also vii.1; ix.5; xvi.6). There are also references to the Gospel of Luke (Didache, iii.5, 16); John's writings (see above); Acts (Didache, iv.8), Romans (Didache, iv.5), 2 Thess (Didache, xiv.1), 1 Pet (Didache, i.4). No extra-canonical saying of our Lord is recorded.

5. Contents and Notabilia:

The contents and notabilia may be examined as follows:

(1) Didactic (Chapters i through vi):

Intended for catechumens in preparation for baptism. This catechetical manual (the earliest of its kind) opens with the words: "There are two ways: one of life and one of death" (suggested probably by Jer 21:8). From this text the writer gives a summary of Christian duty especially toward our neighbor, based on the Decalogue, the Golden Rule, and the Sermon on the Mount, which is frequently quoted.

Among notable precepts is a command to fast as well as pray for enemies; a warning against infanticide which, in the case of sickly infants, heathenism approved, and against augury and astrology as generating idolatry; an admonition not to" stretch out one's hands for receiving and to draw them in for giving"; an injunction to " share all things with thy brethren, and not to say that they are thine own"; a command to "love some above thine own life"; and a quaint corrective against indiscriminate and ill-informed beneficence: "Let thine alms sweat into thy hands until thou know to whom thou shouldest give." A precept to "give with thy hands a ransom for sin" may not mean more than that sinful habits are subdued by good works, but it suggests and paves the way for the error of the atoning efficacy of almsgiving. The summary of duty relates chiefly to the second Table of the Law; duty toward God is afterward (so far) dealt with under "worship." This may account for obedience to parents being strangely omitted; for among the Jews the Fifth Commandment was included in the First Table.

(2) Devotional: Worship and Rites (Chapters vii through x, xiv).

The Lord's Prayer is to be used thrice a day. "Heaven" and "debt" are found instead of "heavens" and "debts." The Doxology is added (with "kingdom" omitted)--its earliest recorded use in this connection. Christians are to fast on Wednesday and Friday, the days of the betrayal and crucifixion. Fasting is enjoined for a day or two before baptism, both on baptizer and on baptized; it is recommended to "others who can." There is no mention of oil, salt, or exorcism. The baptismal formula, "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost," is commanded, confirming the historical trustworthiness of Mt 28:19. Triple immersion in "living water" is assumed to be normal; but where this is impracticable, other water and affusion are permitted (see TRINE IMMERSION ). The Lord's Supper is dealt with only on its eucharistic side, the writer's object being not to expound the nature of the rite, but to give models of thanksgiving.

The phrase, "after being filled give thanks," suggests that the Agape was still associated with the sacrament: the dissociation had begun when Pliny wrote to Trajan in 112 AD. A liturgical element in sacramental worship is indicated by the prescription of forms of thanksgiving for the cup, the broken bread, and spiritual mercies. "Give thanks thus." The thanksgiving for the cup is as follows: "We give thanks to thee our Father, for the holy vine of David, thy servant, which thou hast made known to us through Jesus Christ." But nothing suggests that the entire service is liturgical, and the forms supplied are not rigidly imposed; for prophets are to offer thanks in such terms as they choose. On the Lord's Day congregational worship and eucharistic bread-breaking, after confession to God and reconciliation with men, are distinctly enjoined.

(3) Ecclesiastical (Chapters xi through xiii, xv).

Of church office-bearers, two classes are mentioned, ordinary and extraordinary. Of the former (essential to congregational organization) only bishops and deacons are mentioned, i.e. those entrusted with rule and oversight, with their assistants. Presbyter and bishop appear to be still identical, as the former is not specified (compare Phil 1:1). Popular election of these functionaries is indicated: "Elect for yourselves"; without denial, however, of those already in office having a share in the settlement. In the second class, apostles, prophets and teachers are included. "Apostle" is used, not in the narrower sense of men called to the office personally by Christ, but in the wider sense which embraces all whose call to be His ambassadors has been signalized by Divine gifts-specially accredited evangelists unconnected with any particular community. (Among Jewish Christians the designation survived to the 4th century, for the Theodosian Code of that period refers to Jewish presbyters and to those "quos ipsi apostolos vocant.") These apostles were to be received as the Lord," and hospitably entertained; but, unlike apostles in the special sense, they were not to remain anywhere longer than "one or two days." Their function was to scatter the seed widely, and any expression of desire to remain longer was to be discouraged, while a demand for salary from a particular community would be evidence of false apostleship. The special function of prophets and teachers, on the other hand, was the instruction and comfort of church members. They accordingly might be encouraged to settle in a community and receive "first-fruits" for their support. These prophets and teachers, however, were not to supersede the "bishops" or presbyters in ruling, but were to undertake only those functions for which they were specially qualified. On the other hand, bishops and deacons were not to be excluded from preaching and teaching by the settlement of prophets and official teachers in particular communities; and in the Didache may be traced the transition, then being gradually accomplished, of the preaching and teaching functions from extraordinary to ordinary office-bearers. "They also (the bishops and deacons) minister to you the ministry of prophets and teachers: therefore despise them not." Even before the close of Paul's ministry, the episkopos, whose essential function was rule and oversight, was expected, if not required, also to be didatikos, "qualified to teach," i.e. along with teachers specially set apart for the purpose (1 Tim 3:2; 5:17). By the middle of the 2nd century, the prophets had disappeared, and their preaching function had been vested in the office of bishop or presbyter, assisted by the diaconate.

(4) Eschatological (Chapter xvi).

This concluding section consists chiefly of exhortations to watchfulness in view of the Second Advent. The premonitory signs of that Coming are given, with reminiscences from Christ's eschatological discourses, namely, rise of false prophets, decline of love, persecution, lawlessness, and the appearance of Antichrist, who is designated the World-deceiver. Without definitely stating chiliastic doctrine, the writer suggests it; for in referring to the immediate signals of Christ's advent (opening in heaven, voice of trumpet, resurrection of dead) he is careful to add "Not of all the dead; but the Lord shall come, and all the saints with Him"--implying that the general resurrection would take place at an after-stage, presumably, as Millennialists held, after the 1,000 years had expired. Without dogmatic authority, and with only moderate spiritual value, the Didache is important historically as a witness to the church's beliefs, usages and condition during the transition between the Apostolic and the Post-apostolic Age. During that transition period, we see much of the freedom of primitive Christianity mingled with rudiments of ecclesiastical regulations and formularies; and while we cannot assume that every belief and usage recorded in the Didache were sanctioned by apostles, we may reasonably ascribe them to apostolic times, and regard them as not opposed by those apostles within whose view they must have come.

III. Epistles of Ignatius.

1. Author and Date:

Ignatius was bishop of Antioch early in the 2nd century Origen (Hom. vi on Luke) refers to him as "second after Peter"; Euodius came between (Historia Ecclesiastica, III, 22). As he calls himself ektroma, "untimely born" (compare 1 Cor 15:8), he was probably converted in mature life: the legend of his being the "child" of Mt 18:3 rests on misinterpretation of his designation "Theophotos." Traditions current in the 4th century represent him as a disciple of John (Eusebius, Chron.) and ordained by Paul (Apostolical Constitutions, vii.46).

The Martyrium of Ignatius (6th century) dates his trial at Antioch in the 9th year of Trajan's reign (107-8 AD) and represents it as conducted before the emperor. Only one visit, however, of Trajan to Antioch is known, in 114-15; neither any Ignatian letter nor Eusebius, nor any other early writer refers to so memorable a circumstance as the presidency of an emperor over a Christian's trial, and Ignatius speaks of a proposed attempt by Roman friends to secure a reversal of the sentence, which would have been impossible had Trajan personally pronounced it. His alleged presence, therefore, must be rejected as a later embellishment.

The epistles, so far as genuine, were written after Ignatius' condemnation, on his way to martyrdom at Rome.

2. Genuineness:

The epistles are extant in 3 editions: (1) the longer Greek, of 15 letters now admitted to be largely spurious; (2) a Syriac recension of three letters, now generally held to be a mere epitome; (3) the shorter Greek edition, containing 7 letters of intermediate length, to the Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallians, Philadelphians, Smyrneans, Romans, and Polycarp. Lightfoot, Zahn, and most recent critics accept the substantial genuineness of these seven. The chief external evidence is that of Polycarp (Phil., xiii), who, soon after Ignatius' death, writes of a letter addressed to himself, of another to the Smyrneans, and of "all the rest which we have by us." Now 2 Ignatian epistles are addressed to Polycarp and the Christians of Smyrna, while 4 profess to be written by Ignatius at Smyrna, harmonizing well with copies of these being in Polycarp's possession.

Further external evidence is supplied by Irenaeus (v.29) who quotes a saying from Ignat., Romans, iv, as that of a martyr, and who uses 8 notable phrases borrowed apparently from Ignatius. This external testimony (only got rid of by an arbitrary assumption of Polycarp's Epistle being wholly or partly spurious) is supported by strong internal and cumulative evidence:

(1) Frequent Grammatical Dislocation:

Natural in letters written on a journey but unaccountable on the supposition of a later forgery (Rom., i; Mag., ii; Eph., i).

(2) Geographical Particulars:

E.g. Ignatius goes by land from Antioch to Smyrna--an unusual route which a forger would hardly invent.

(3) Historical Illustrations:

E.g. conveyance of prisoners from distant provinces to Rome harmonizes with the account by Dion Cassius (lxviii.15) of the magnitude of amphitheatrical exhibitions under Trajan causing extensive orders for human victims from all parts.

(4) Theological Evidence:

E.g. these epistles refer to Judaistic error combined with a type of doctrine denying any real incarnation--a combination which ceased after Ignatius' time.

(5) Ecclesiastical Usage:

Thus, the Agape still includes the Eucharist (Smyr., viii), whereas soon after Ignatius' death these were separated (Pliny, Epistle 96; Just., 1 Ap., 65,67).

(6) Personal References.

The writer shows an excess and affectation of self-depreciation--"last of Antiochene Christians" (Trall., xiii) "not worthy to be counted one of the brotherhood" (Rom., ix)--such as a later forger would hardly have introduced.

3. Leading Ideas:

(1) Joy and Glory of Martyrdom.

Heroic courage and loyalty to Christ are united with fanatical craving after a martyr's death: "I would rather die for Christ than reign over the whole earth" (Rom., vi); "He who is near the sword is near to God" (Smyr., iv). This is noble; but when he writes, "Entice wild beasts to become my sepulchre" (Rom., iv); "May I have joy of the wild beasts and find them prompt"; "Though they be unwilling I will force them" (Rom., iv.5), we realize how Aurelius (recalling perhaps some such case) was moved to write that "death was to be encountered, not as by the Christians like a military display, but solemnly, and not as if one acted in a tragedy" (Med. xi.3).

(2) Evil and Peril of Heresy and Schism.

"Abstain from heresy"; "These heretics mix up Jesus Christ with their own poison" (Trall., vi); "Flee those evil outshoots, which produce death-bearing fruit" (Trall., xi); "Avoid all divisions as the beginning of evils"; "Nothing is better than unity" (To Polyc., i; Phil., iii).

(3) Submission to Office-Bearers, Especially to the Bishop.

"Do nothing without your bishop, and be subject to the presbyters" (Mag., vii); "Be on your guard against heresy: and this will be, if ye continue in intimate union with Christ and with the bishop"; "He who does anything without the bishop's knowledge serveth the devil" (Smyr., ix). The bishop here is higher than "primus inter pares"; he is a new and separate office-bearer. Yet, without going beyond these epistles, we discern that such an episcopate was not an express apostolic institution. For had Ignatius been able to magnify the office as apostolically enjoined, so zealous a champion of episcopal authority would have adduced such injunction as the most cogent reason for submission. His zeal for the episcopate apparently sprang only from its high ecclesiastical expediency as the most effective agency for maintaining the church's unity against heresy and schism.

4. Other Notabilia:

(1) References to the Gospel of John.

The Gospel of John is never quoted, but numerous phrases suggest that it was in the writer's hands. He speaks of Christ "proceeding from the Father," "doing nothing without the Father," "in all things pleasing Him who sent Him." Christ is the "Door of the Father" and "Living water." Satan is the" Prince of this world." "The Holy Spirit knoweth whence He cometh and whither He goeth."

(2) Doctrine.

Ignatius asserts emphatically Christ's true Divinity: "Our God" (Eph., xviii; Trall, vii). The Trinity is frequently suggested, although not expressly affirmed. Christians are "established in the Son, the Father, and the Spirit"; "subject to Christ and the Father, and the Spirit." With strong support of episcopal authority no sacerdotalism is united. "Priest" occurs only once, "The priests are good: but Christ, the High Priest, is better." Here, as the context shows, the imperfect Levitical priesthood is contrasted with perfect high-priesthood of Christ.

(3) Ecclesiastical Usage.

Ignatius contains one of the latest references to the Agape as still conjoined with the Eucharist. The letter to Polycarp (chapter iv) contains the earliest allusion to the practice of redeeming Christian slaves at the cost of the congregation. Slaves are not to "long to be set free," thus implying that such emancipation, while not required as a duty, was often conferred as a privilege.

(4) General Characteristics.

Ignatius presents striking contrast, as a writer, to Clement. Clement is calm, cultured, chaste in diction, but somewhat commonplace and deficient in originality; his best passages are echoes of Scripture. The diction and style of Ignatius are impassioned, rugged, turgid, but pithy, fresh and individualistic.

IV. Epistles of Polycarp.

1. Date and Genuineness:

Polycarp was born not later, perhaps considerably earlier, than 70 AD; for at his martyrdom, of which the now accepted date is 155 or 156 (Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers, II, i, 629), he declared, when invited to abjure his faith, that he had "served Christ for 86 years" (Mart. Pol., ix). He was disciple of John, who ordained him as bishop or leading presbyter of Smyrna before 100 AD (Iren., iii.3, 4). Of several letters by Polycarp, only this epistle remains: it professes (chapter xiii) to have been written soon after the martyrdom of Ignatius. The genuineness of the letter is attested by Irenaeus, Polycarp's own disciple (in the place cited), whose evidence cannot be set aside on the ground of its testimony to the Ignatian letters without an obvious begging of the question. The supposition that the Ignatian letters and Polycarp's Epistle are parts of one great forgery is otherwise negatived by the very marked difference of style and standpoint between those writings (Lightfoot, l.c., 577).

2. Occasion and Contents:

The epistle replies to a letter from the Philippian church inviting his counsel, and asking for epistles of the recently martyred Ignatius. He acknowledges their kind ministry to that martyr and to others, "entwined with saintly fetters," who had "set a pattern of all patience." He sends what he has of the letters of Ignatius and asks in return for any information which they might possess. He commends to their careful study Paul's epistle to themselves, acknowledging his inability to attain to the apostle's wisdom. With much Scripture language, interwoven with his own matter, and giving to his letter the semblance of an apostolic echo, he exhorts his readers to righteousness and godliness, charity and mercy, and warns them against covetousness, evil-speaking and revenge. He dwells on the mutual relations and obligations of presbyters and deacons, on the one hand, and of the congregation on the other. He repeats John's admonition against teachers who denied the reality of the incarnation: "Every spirit that confesseth not," etc. (1 Jn 4:3). He grieves over the lapse of a Philippian presbyter, Valens, who, along with his wife had flagrantly sinned; but he bids his readers not count such as enemies, but seek to recall them from their wanderings.

3. Notabilia:

(1) Polycarp mentions only one book of the New Testament, namely, Philippians, but within the brief compass of 200 lines he quotes verses or reproduces phrases from 12 New Testament writings, Matthew, 1 Peter, 1 John, and 9 Pauline Epistles, including three whose early date has been disputed in modern times (1 and 2 Timothy and Ephesians). The absence of any quotation from the Gospel of John is notable, considering his relation to the apostle; but the shortness of the letter prevents any conclusion being drawn against the authenticity of that Gospel; and he quotes (as we have seen) from 1 John, which is a kind of appendix to the Gospel (Lightfoot).

(2) At a time when Ignatius had been emphasizing the paramount duty of submission to the bishop, Polycarp, even when enjoining subjection to presbyters, does not mention a bishop. These two inferences are irresistible: (a) there was then no episkopos, in the post-New Testament, sense, at Philippi; (b) Polycarp did not consider the defect (?) sufficiently important to ask the Philippians to supply it. Had John instituted the mono-episcopate as the one proper form of church government, surely his disciple Polycarp would have embraced the opportunity, when the Philippians invited his counsel, to inform them of the apostolic ordinance, and to enjoin its adoption.


LITERATURE, SUB-APOSTOLIC, 2

V. Papias Fragments.

1. Author and Date:

Papias is called by his younger contemporary Irenaeus (v.33) a "disciple of John and friend of Polycarp." Eusebius writes (Historia Ecclesiastica, III, 36) that he was episkopos of Hierapolis in Phrygia. The Chronicon Paschale (7th century, but embodying materials from older documents) states that he was martyred about the same time as Polycarp (155-56). His work, Exposition of our Lord's Sayings, was extant in the 13th century, but only fragments quoted by Irenaeus, Eusebius, etc., remain. These bear out the twofold description of Papias by Eusebius, as a "man of little judgment" yet "most learned and well acquainted with the Scriptures" (Historia Ecclesiastica, III, 39, 36). (But the words of praise in verse 36 may be a gloss.) Papias states that he subjoins to his expositions "whatsoever I learned carefully from the elders and treasured up in my memory .... I was wont to put questions regarding the words of the elders (i.e. presumably men of an earlier generation), what Andrew or Peter said, or what Philip or Thomas, or James, or what John or Matthew, or any other of the Lord's disciples said, as well as regarding what Aristion, and the presbyter John, the disciple of the Lord, have to say."

It is disputed whether Papias here refers to two Johns, the apostle and another disciple of the same name; or to John the apostle in two different relations, i.e. first as one about whose testimony Papias heard from others, and second, as one with whom, also, he held personal communication. In favor of the first view is, (1) Eusebius' own opinion (in the place cited); (2) the alleged unlikelihood of the same John being twice mentioned in one sentence; (3) a statement by Eusebius (Historia Ecclesiastica, III, 39) that in his day two monuments (mnemata) of "John" existed at Ephesus. For the latter view is, (1) no other writer until Eusebius hints the existence of a presbyter John distinct from the apostle; (2) the change in the quotation from "said" to "say" seems to give a reason for John being twice mentioned; some things stated by John having been heard by Papias through "elders," others having been told him by the apostle himself. The fact that John is called presbyter, instead of apostle, is no insuperable objection, since John so designates himself in 2 John and 3 John; and Jerome denies that the two mnemata were both tombs. See Lightfoot, Essay on Papias, and Nicol, Four Gospels, 187 if, who come to divergent conclusions.

2. Testimony to Matthew and Mark:

On the testimony to Matthew and Mark see MATTHEW ,THE GOSPEL OF ;MARK ,THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO .

3. Other Notabilia:

(1) According to Eusebius, Papias relates the story of "a woman accused before our Lord"--the story, presumably, which eventually crept into Jn 8; so that to him, in part, is due the preservation of a narrative, which, whether historical or not, finely illustrates the union in our Lord of holy purity and merciful charity.

(2) Papias is quoted by the Chronicler Georgius Hamartolos (in a manuscript of the 9th century) as declaring in his Expositon that John "was put to death by the Jews," and a similar quotation is made by Philip of Side (Epitome manuscript of the 7th-8th centuries). On the bearing of this upon the question of the apostle's residence at Ephesus see JOHN ,THE APOSTLE .

(3) Irenaeus (v.32) quotes Papias as writing about a Post-resurrection millennium, and as reporting, on John's authority, how the Lord said, "The days will come when vines shall grow having each 10,000 branches, and on each branch 10,000 twigs, and on each twig 10,000 shoots," etc. This may be an exaggerated record (misunderstood by Papias) of some parabolic utterance of Christ, indicating prophetically the wonderful extension of the church.

VI. Epistle of Barnabas.

1. Authorship:

This book is first expressly quoted by Clement of Alexandria (circa 190 AD) as the composition of Barnabas, companion of Paul (Strom., ii.6). Origen concurs, and calls it a "Catholic ep." (Con. Celsum, i.63), thus suggesting canonical position; Eusebius (Historia Ecclesiastica, III, 25) testifies to the widespread ascription of it to this Barnabas, although he himself regards it as "spurious." Codex Sinaiticus places it immediately after the New Testament, as being read in churches, and thus suggests its composition by a companion at least of apostles. Against this external testimony, however, to authorship by the Barnabas of Acts, is strong internal evidence: (1) apostolic sinfulness prior to discipleship is spoken of in exaggerated terms hardly credible in a writer who knew the Twelve--"exceedingly lawless beyond all (ordinary) sin" (chapter v)--an echo apparently of Paul's "sinners of whom I am chief"; (2) ignorance of Jewish rites incomprehensible in a Levite who had lived in Jerusalem, e.g. the priests are said to eat goat's flesh on the great Day of Atonement; (3) extreme anti-Judaism (see below), inconsistent with the representation of Barnabas in Acts and Galatians. The writer may have been some other Barnabas, a converted Alexandrian Jew, or, more probably, a converted Gentileproselyte, trained in Philo's school, but ignorant of Jewish rites as practiced at Jerusalem, and possessing little real sympathy with Judaism.

2. Date:

The epistle must be dated after 70 AD, as the destruction of Jerusalem is referred to (chapter xvi); also after the publication of the Gospel of Jn, of which there are several reminiscences. But the absence of any reference to the rebuilding of Jerusalem under Hadrian, in 120 AD, in a passage (chapter xvi) where such allusion might have been expected, suggests a date prior to that year. We may place the writing between 90 and 120 AD.

3. Object and Contents:

The object is to deter both Jewish and Gentile Christians from Judaistic lapse by a bold application of the allegorizing method to the Old Testament, far beyond what Philo would have sanctioned. Jewish sacrifices, festivals, Sabbath enactments, temple-worship, distinction of clean and unclean food, are not only not of perpetual obligation, but never were binding at all, even on Jews. Belief in their obligatoriness rests on a slavishly liberal exegesis of the Old Testament, which, properly interpreted, is not a preparation for Christ but Christianity itself in allegorical disguise.

Ceremonies are simply allegorical enforcements of spiritual worship; distinctions of clean and unclean are merely pictorial representations of the necessity of separation from vice and vicious men; interdict of swine's flesh means no more than "associate not with swinish men." The only circumcision really commanded by God is circumcision of the heart. Barnabas ignores what Paul realized, that Jewish laws and rites, even literally interpreted, are a Divine discipline of wholesome self-restraint, neighborly consideration and obedience to God. Barnabas not only explains away Old Testament enactments, but finds in trivial Old Testament statements Christian fact and truth. Thus, in Abraham's circumcision of the 318 men of his house, the 10 and 8 are significantly denoted by the Greek letters "I" and "H", the initial letters of Iesous (Jesus); while the 300 represented by the Greek "T", points to the cross. The writer self-complacently intimates that "no one has been admitted by me to a more genuine piece of knowledge than this!" (chapter ix).

When Barnabas, however, leaves obscure allegory for plain exhortation, he writes effectively of the "two ways" of light and darkness. Among edifying admonitions the following are outstanding: "Thou shalt not go to prayer with an evil conscience"; "Thou shalt not let the word of God issue from lips stained with impurity"; "Be not ready to stretch forth thine hands to take, while thou contractest them to give"; "Thou shalt not issue orders with bitterness to thy servant, lest thou fail in reverence to God who is above you both"; "Thou shalt not make a schism, but shalt bring together them who contend"; "The way of darkness is crooked"; "In this way are (among others mentioned) those who labor not to aid him who is overdone with toil" (chapters xix, xx).

4. Notabilia:

(1) The Divinity of Christ is emphasized: "Lord of all the world"; "Joint Creator, with the Father, of mankind" (chapter v). (2) The writer, while following the Alexandrian method of allegorical interpretation, is free from the Alexandrian doctrine of the essential evil of matter; the necessity of a real incarnation is affirmed (chapter v). (3) In chapter xi, he writes, "We go down into the water full of sins and filth, and come up bearing fruit in our heart, having the fear of God and trust in Jesus in our spirit." This has been interpreted as involving the doctrine of baptismal regeneration; but the reference may be rather to the regeneration which baptism symbolizes. (4) In chapter xv, the words, "We keep the 8th day with joy, the day on which Jesus rose again," are the earliest express testimony that the observance of the Lord's Day was a memorial of our Lord's resurrection. This observance is distinguished from Jewish Sabbath-keeping which is called an error; the Sabbath really intended to be kept being a period of 1,000 years after the 6,000 years in which all things will be finished (chapter xv). (5) Testimony to New Testament Books, (a) the existence and canonical authority of the Gospel of Mt are attested (chapter iv) by the quotation of Mt 22:14, "Many are called, but few chosen," introduced by the formula, "It is written"; (b) various passages taken together testify to the writer having the Gospel of John in his hands: "Whoso eateth of these shall live for ever" (chapter xi and Jn 6:58); "Abraham looking before in Spirit to Jesus" (chapter ix and Jn 8:58); "the new law of our Lord Jesus Christ" (chapter ii and Jn 13:34); a reference to the brazen serpent as a type of Christ's suffering, glory and healing power (chapter xii and Jn 3:14); (c) "Thou shalt not say that anything is thine own" (chapter xix) appears to be a reminiscence of Acts 4:32; (d) the passage in xv, "The day of the Lord shall be as a thousand years," seems to be an echo of 2 Pet 3:8, and, if so, is the earliest testimony to the existence of that writing, and thus proves its great antiquity, although not its canonicity.

VII. Pastor (Shepherd) of Hermas.

1. Authorship and Date:

This work is the earliest example, on a large scale, of Christian allegory, and was hardly less popular in the early church than the Pilgrim's Progress in later times. It was reckoned by many almost, by some altogether, as "Scripture." Irenaeus quotes it as "Scripture" (iv.20); Clement of Alexandria refers to it as "containing revelations Divinely imparted" (Strom., i.29); Origen regards it as "Divinely inspired" (Commentary on Romans 16:14). It is placed with the Epistle of Barnabas in the Codex Sinaiticus at the close of the New Testament, and was read in many churches down to Jerome's time (Works, II, 846). The writer represents himself as a slave sold to a Roman Christian lady. He afterward obtained freedom, lived with his family in Rome, became earnestly religious, and saw visions which he imparted the community in this book with a view to repentance and spiritual well-being.

Origen (followed by Eusebius, Jerome, etc.) ascribes the work to the Hermes of Rom 16:14; but his opinion is pure conjecture (puto). The Canon Muratori (170 AD) of Italian authorship describes the work as "recently composed at Rome by the brother of Plus during the latter's episcopate" (137-54). This distinct local testimony has been widely accepted (Hefele, Lightfoot, Charteris, Cruttwell, etc.). Yet the writer represents himself (Vision, ii.4) as enjoined to send his book to Clement as man in authority in the church, whom it is natural to identify with the chief presbyter of Rome between 92 and 101. This reference, along with the absence of any allusion to Gnosticism or to the mono-episcopate, has led Schaff, Zahn, and others to fix the date of the work at about 100 AD. The external and internal evidence, thus apparently divergent, may be reconciled by supposing (with Kruger and Harnack) that the book was not "written in a single draft"; that portions were issued successively during Clement's episcopate; and that under Plus (circa 140) the separate issues were gathered into a volume under the title of The Pastor. In Rome, where the author was known, the Canon Muratori attested at once its religious usefulness as a "book to be read" and the absence of any claim to canonical authority.

2. Object and Contents:

The purpose of the book is not doctrinal but ethical; it is an allegorical manual of Christian duty with earnest calls to individual repentance and church revival in view of the near Advent.

The book consists of (1) Five Visions, (2) Twelve Mandates, (3) Ten Similitudes or Parables. In (1) the church appears' to the writer as a venerable matron, then as a tower near completion, thereafter as a Holy Virgin. In the last vision, the Angel of Repentance, in pastoral garb, delivers to him the Mandates and Similitudes. The Mandates deal with chastity, truth, patience, meekness, reverence, prayer, penitence, and warn against grieving the Spirit. In the similitudes the church is again a tower whose stones are examined for approbation or reprobation. Similitudes are also drawn from trees. The vine clinging to the elm signifies union of rich and poor in the church; a large willow from which a multitude receive branches or twigs, some of these blossoming or fruit-bearing, others dry or rotten, symbolizes the diverse effect of law and gospel on different souls. The author, although a Gentile, writes from the standpoint of James rather than of Paul. The closing words summarize his combined ethical and eschatological purpose: "Ye who have received good from the Lord, do good works, lest while ye delay, the tower be completed, and you be rejected."

3. Notabilia:

(1) Montanistic Affinity.

Hermas, indeed, differs from Montanists in permitting, though not encouraging, second marriage, and recognizing one possible repentance after post-baptismal flagrant sin; but he is also their fore-runner, through his disallowance of readmission after second lapse, through emphatic expectation of an impending Advent, and through his rigorous view of fasting: "On the fast day taste nothing but bread and water."

(2) Fasting, However, Is Regarded Not as an End but as a Means

A discipline toward humility, purity, charity. Fasting for charity is illustrated by the injunction (Sim., v.3) to "reckon up the price of what you meant to eat, and give that to one in want."

(3) Absence of Names "Jesus" and "Christ."

The names" Jesus and "Christ" never occur. He is "Son of God" and "Lord of His people," whom "God made to dwell in flesh," by whom "the whole world is sustained," who "endured great sufferings that He might do away with the sins of His people" (Sim., .v.6; ix. 14).

(4) Church Organization.

Hermas is charged (Via., ii.4) to "read his writings to (or along with) the presbyters who preside over the church" in Rome. It is reasonable to conclude that no one in that community could then be called "bishop" in the later sense of the holder of an office distinct from and superior to the presbyterate. Episkopoi ("bishops") are mentioned (Sim., ix.27) as "given to hospitality," the description of the episkopos in 1 Tim 3:2, where admittedly bishop = presbyter.

VIII. Second Epistle of Clement.

1. Nature of Document:

This writing is doubly miscalled: it is neither an epistle nor a composition of Clement. Style, thought, and standpoint differ from those of the accepted Ep., and HE, III, 38, suggests that the Clementine authorship was not generally recognized. The recent recovery by Bryennios of the previously lost conclusion proves that the writing is a sermon (chapter xix).

Antiquity is indicated by (1) the use, as an authority, of the lost heretical Gospel of the Egyptians, which by the time of the Canon Muratori (175 AD) had ceased to be regarded as Scripture by Catholics; (2) the adoption, without Gnostic intention, of phrases which became notably associated,

after 150 AD with Gnosticism: "God made male and female: the male is Christ, the female, the church" (chapter xiv).

2. Date and Authorship:

The date usually assigned is 120-150 AD (Lightfoot, Part I, volume II, 201). The author is a Gentilepresbyter; he had "worshipped stocks and stones." The sermon was probably preached at Corinth, for the preacher describes many arriving by sea for the race-course, without mentioning a port, which would be appropriate in a sermon preached to Corinthians.

3. Contents:

No text is given, but the sermon starts from Isa 54:1, without express quotation; this chapter had probably been read at the service. The discourse, without great literary merit, is earnest and practical. There are exhortations to repentance and good works, to purity, charity, prayer and fasting, with special reference to coming judgment. The standpoint is that of James. "Be not troubled (so the sermon concludes) because we see the unrighteous with abundance, and God's servants in straits. Let us have faith, brethren and sisters. Had God recompensed the righteous speedily, we should have had training not in piety but in bargaining; and our uprightness would be a mere semblance, since our pursuit would be not of godliness but of gain."

4. Notabilia:

(1) The sermon is the oldest extant in post-New Testament times, and appears to have been read (chapter xix) to a congregation. (2) Sayings of Christ not in our Gospels are quoted: (a) "The Lord, being asked when His kingdom would come, answered: When the two shall be one (i.e. when harmony shall prevail?), and when the outside shall be as the inside (i.e. when men shall be as they seem?); and the male with the female, neither male nor female" (interpreted by this preacher ascetically as discountenancing marriage, presumably because "the time is short," but explained mystically by Clement of Alexandria in Strom., iii.13, as indicating the abolition of all distinctions in God's kingdom). Clement assigns the passage to the lost Gospel of the Egyptians. (b) "The Lord saith, ye shall be as lambs among wolves. Peter answered: What if the wolves tear the lambs? Jesus said: Let not the lambs fear the wolves: and ye, also, fear not them which kill you, and can do nothing more to you." (3) No episcopate, apparently, in the post-New Testament sense, existed in the church where this sermon was delivered. Unfaithful men are represented as confessing, "We obeyed not the presbyters when they told us of salvation." Had a bishop in the later sense been head of the community, obedience to his admonitions would surely have been inculcated. (4) The Christology is high; "We ought to think of Christ as of God"; "When we think mean things of Christ, we expect to receive mean things" (chapter i).

IX. Apology of Aristides.

1. Recovery and Date:

Aristides was an Athenian philosopher, who (according to HE, IV, 3) presented an Apology to Hadrian, presumably when the emperor was at Athens (125 AD). After disappearance in the 17th century, a fragment in an Armenian version was discovered in 1878, and the entire Apology in Syriac was found in 1889. It was then found that almost the whole treatise was imbedded anonymously in a Greek medieval romance, Barlaam and Josaphat. The Apology in the Syriac is inscribed to Antoninus; it may have been addressed to both emperors successively, or the real date may be 137, when they were colleagues in the empire.

2. Contents:

The treatise refers to oppression, imprisonment, and other maltreatment endured by Christians, and pleads for their protection against persecution, because of their true and noble creed, and their pure and benevolent lives. The writer compares the Christian doctrine of Godhead with that of barbarians, Greeks, Egyptians, Jews, and dwells on the elevating influence of Christian belief in Jesus Christ and in a future life. He refers to the abstention of Christians from unchastity, dishonesty and other vices; to their abounding charity and brotherliness which are shown particularly to the widow, the orphan, the poor, the stranger, the oppressed, and even their oppressors. All who become Christians, of however low a station, are brethren. This bright picture has, however, its shadows: "If Christians see that one of their number has died in his sins, over him they weep bitterly as over one about to go into punishment." This frank acknowledgment of some black sheep gives point to his general testimony, "Blessed is the race of Christians above all men."

3 Notabilia:

(1) A distinct reference to a collection of Christian writings, and especially of Gospels, designated the Gospel, and indicating the existence of a kind of rudimentary New Testament Canon. (2) Similar indication of a rudimentary Apostles' Creed. Christians are said to believe in God, "the Maker of Heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ who was born of a Hebrew virgin, who was transfixed by the Jews; he died and was buried; and Christians state that after three days he rose again and ascended into heaven." In this early time the virgin birth was apparently a settled matter--part of the Creed. (3) Aristides describes a familiar custom among poor Christians of fasting two or three days, so as to supply with needful food Christians poorer still (Compare Hermas). (4) The Apology is interesting as the earliest known literary tribute of a philosopher to Christianity, and probably the earliest extant defense of the faith, if the Epistle to Diognetus be not ancient. It is notable also as a treatise on Christian evidence drawn not from miraculous credentials, but from the self-evidencing excellence and effect of Christianity. Finally, it is interesting as the earliest detailed record of harvest reaped at Athens from seed sown by Paul 80 or 90 years before. Athens appeared at first a barren soil; but by and by this church in a university city took the lead, as this treatise and another lost apology by Quadratus show, in the literary defense of the Christian faith. Quadratus is stated in HE IV, 3, to have presented his Apology to Hadrian, and is described by Jerome as "a disciple of the apostles." In a fragment preserved in HE, he attests the survival ("to our own day") of some whom Christ had healed.

X. Justin Martyr.

1. Incidents of Life:

Born of pagan parents at Flavia Neapolis (Nablous), in Samaria about 100 AD--a seeker for truth, who, after trying Stoic, Peripatetic, Pythagorean and Platonic philosophies, found in Christ and Christianity the satisfaction of philosophic cravings and spiritual needs. He became a Christian apostle and apologist, wearing still the philosopher's mantle in token of continued quest after wisdom, but making it now his life-work, not as presbyter, but as itinerating Christian teacher, to impart to pagan, to Jew and also to heretic the truth which he himself had found and prized. After long Christian service, he suffered martyrdom under Aurelius in 166 AD.

2. First Apology:

It is addressed to Antoninus and dated 138-48. He approaches the emperor without flattery, and asks judgment after searching inquiry. He answers three charges against Christians: (1) atheism: Justin replies that Christians were atheists only as Socrates was; they disbelieved in so-called gods who were wicked demons or humanly fashioned images; but they worshipped the Father of Righteousness; (2) immorality: Justin admits the existence of pretended Christians who are evil-doers; but Christianity makes the evil good, the licentious chaste, the covetous generous, the revengeful forgiving; (3) disloyalty: this is calumny based on the preaching of Christ's kingdom which is spiritual, not temporal. Christians are taught and are wont to pay tribute promptly and to pray for rulers regularly. Justin then sets forth the credibility and excellence of Christianity, adducing, (1) its pure morality as contrasted with vices condoned by heathens, (2) its noble doctrines--immortality, resurrection, future judgment, incarnation, (3) Old Testament prophecy regarding the Divinity and sufferings of the Christ. His reference to the prediction of a virgin bringing forth Emmanuel (chapter xxxiii) shows that in his day the virgin birth was accepted, although Jews understood by virgin (in Isaiah) merely a young woman, (4) foreshadowings of Christian truth by philosophy, referring especially to Plato's teaching about the Divine Logos and judgment to come. To refute prevalent calumny Justin describes Sunday service and administration of sacraments in his time. On the Lord's Day Christians assembled for worship; prophetic Scriptures and "memoirs" by apostles and their followers were read; prayers and thanksgivings were offered and an address delivered by the "president"; bread and wine were distributed and sent by deacons to those absent; and an offering for charitable purposes was made. "As many as believe what is taught, and undertake to live accordingly, are, after prayer and fast, baptized" (chapters lxv, lxvii).

3. Second Apology:

This is probably a postscript to the first; Eusebius quotes from both as from one work. After a protest against a recent summary execution of three Christians without proper trial, Justin deals with two popular taunts: (1) "If at death they went to heaven, why did they not commit suicide?": "We do not shrink from death but from opposing God's will." (2) "If God is really on the Christians' side, why does He allow them to be persecuted?": "The world by Divine decree is meanwhile under the dominion of angels who have become demons." Justin here contrasts Christ with Socrates, whom yet he describes as a preacher of the "true but then unknown God" (chapter x): "No one put such faith in Socrates as to die for his convictions." Christ hath won the faith, "not only of philosophers, but of simple folk who through faith can despise death." Justin, however, testifies clearly and warmly to the Christian element by anticipation, in the higher teachings and aspirations of heathen philosophy through an implanted seed of the Divine Logos; and he recognizes thus a pre-advent ministry of the Son of God, not only in the sheltered fold of Judaism, but in the broad open of heathendom.

4. Dialogue with Trypho the Jew:

This Dialogue indicates the attitude of some cultured Jews of that day to Christianity, and the mode in which their objections to it were met. Trypho argued that Jesus did not fulfill Old Testament prophecy which represented the Messiah as establishing a glorious and everlasting kingdom; whereas Jesus was a humble peasant who died an ignominious death; Justin pleads Isa 53. Trypho charges Christianity with treason to theocracy through exalting Jesus to Godhead, thus trenching on the Divine unity, and also through repudiating the perpetual obligation of the Law. Justin, in reply, quotes Genesis, "Let us make man," and also Psalms 45, 72, 110, with Isa 7 about Emmanuel. The Mosaic Law was intended to be temporary, and was now superseded by the Law of Christ; moreover, the destruction of Jerusalem rendered complete fulfillment of the Jewish Law impracticable. The disputants part on friendly terms, "I have been particularly pleased with this conference," says Trypho. "If we could confer oftener we should be much helped in reading the Scriptures." "For my part," replies Justin, "I would have wished to repeat our conference daily; but since I am about to set sail, I bid you give all diligence in this struggle after salvation." Of other works ascribed to Justin, two (On the Resurrection and Appeal to the Greeks) may or may not be genuine; the others are spurious.

5. Notabilia:

(1) Justin's Quotations:

Bearing of Justin's quotations from "memoirs" on the Age of Our Gospels (see GOSPELS ).

(2) Testimony to Harmony of Apostolic Doctrine.

Justin is a disciple of Paul, and a strong anti-Judaist; yet he recognizes thoroughly the Twelve as the true source of Christian teaching, "sent by Christ to teach to all the Word of God" (1 Ap., 39,49; Dial., 42, 109).

(3) Diffusion of Christianity:

From personal knowledge as a traveler, Justin testifies to the wide diffusion of Christianity: "No race of men exists among whom prayers are not offered up to the Father through the name of the crucified Jesus (Dial., 117).

(4) Authorship of Revelation:

"John, one of the apostles, prophesied, by a revelation made to him, that believers would dwell 1,000 years in Jerus" (Dial., 81)--the earliest direct witness to Johannine authorship, by one who had resided at Ephesus.

(5) Belief of the Primitive Church in Our Lord's True Divinity:

Writing in the name of Christians as a body, he declares, "Both Him (the Father) and the Son who came forth from Him we adore" (1 Ap., 5). He speaks also of some "who held that Jesus was a mere man" as a small and heretical minority (Dial., 48). He writes elsewhere (1 Ap., 13) of the Son as the object of worship "in the second place"; but this statement, made long before the Arian Controversy necessitated precision of language, does not invalidate his other testimonies.

(6) The Holy Spirit:

As to the Holy Spirit, Justin refers to baptism as administered in "the name of Father, Son, and Spirit" (1 Ap., 61), implying the Divinity of the Third Person; although elsewhere he appears to subordinate Him to the Son, as the Son to the Father. He is to be "worshipped in the third order" (1 Ap., 13).

(7) Millenarianism:

"I and others are assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead and 1,000 years in Jerusalem which will be built, adorned and enlarged" (Dial., 80). He admits, however, that many pure and pious Christians think otherwise.

(8) Future punishment: On this subject Justin speaks with two voices. In 1 Ap., 8, he writes of "condemned souls suffering eternal punishment, not for a millennial period only." But in Dial., 5, he introduces an old man who was the immediate means of his conversion as saying that "the wicked shall be punished as long as God shall will them to exist."

(9) Angel-worship:

In 1 Ap., 6, Justin, when refuting the charge of atheism, writes: "We reverence and worship the Father, and the Son, and the host of other good messengers (or angels), and the Prophetic Spirit." The context, however, shows that this cult does not necessarily amount to what is usually meant by worship, but simply to veneration and homage. The Greek words here, sebomai and proskuneo, are often used in this lower sense; and the train of thought seems to be this: "You call us atheists; the charge is not true, for we not only believe in one God and Father of all, but in one who is preeminently the Son of God, who was sent by God. We believe further in other heavenly messengers from God, a host of angelic spirits; yea we believe in one who is preeminently God's Spirit, by whom prophets were inspired. All these are the object in different degrees of our veneration and homage." Undoubtedly, however, the statement is at best unguarded and misleading.

(10) Doctrine of the Sacraments:

Justin uses "regenerate" as the synonym of "baptized" (1 Ap., 61), but he identifies the two, not as essentially inseparable, but as uniformly associated. As regards the Lord's Supper, while emphasizing the ideas of commemoration, communion, and thanksgiving, he in one place speaks of the bread and wine being the flesh and blood of the Incarnate Jesus, "from which, by a transmutation, our flesh and blood are nourished" (1 Ap., 66). These words tend to transubstantiation; but, in the absence of any controversy at the time, may be no more than a strongly figurative representation of a spiritual participation.

XI. Epistle to Diognetus.

1. Date and Authorship:

This short apologetic work is mentioned by no ancient writer, and was unknown until its discovery in 1592 by Henry Stephens in a manuscript which perished in the Strassburg fire of 1870. The manuscript appears to ascribe it to the author of another work (To the Greeks); and this, again, is attributed with some probability on the authority of a Syriac document (600-700 AD) to one Ambrosius, "chief among the Greeks" otherwise unknown (see Birks inDCB , "Ep. to D."). If genuinely ancient, the epistle probably belongs to the Sub-apostolic Age, for it refers to Christianity as "having only now entered the world, not long ago"; and in chapter xi (written, however, by a different hand or at a different time) the author calls himself a "disciple of the apostles." Diognetus was a very common Greek name, so that his identification with the tutor of Marcus Aurelius (130-40 AD) is a mere conjecture. Donaldson (Chr. Lit., II, 142) inclines to the belief that the work was composed by one of the many Greeks who came westward in the 14th century and that the author intended merely to write a "good declamation in the old style." The smart but superficial way in which heathenism and Judaism are dealt with is more befitting a medieval rhetorical exercise than the serious treatment, by a cultured writer, of prevalent religions.

2. Contents:

The author, after welcoming the inquiry of Diognetus about Christianity, pours contempt on the pagan worship of gods of wood, stone and metal, without any apparent realization that for cultured heathens of that time such images were not objects, but only symbolic media of worship; and he ridicules Mosaic observances without any recognition of their significance as a Divine educative discipline. But when he proceeds (chapters vii through xii) to describe Christianity, the work merits Hefele's designation, praestantissima Epistola. Into a world, yea, into human hearts, which had become degenerate and wicked, "God sent no mere servant or angel, but His own Son," and Him, not as a condemning Judge, or fear-inspiring Tyrant, but as a gracious Saviour. To the inquiry, "If Christianity is so precious, why was Christ sent so late?" the author replies: "In order first to bring home to mankind their unworthiness to attain eternal life through their own works" and their incapacity for salvation apart from Him "who is able to save even what it was impossible (formerly) to save." But faith in the Son of God now revealed, would lead to "knowledge of the Father"; knowledge of God to "love of Him who hath first so loved us"; and love of God to "imitation of Him and of His lovingkindness." And wherein consists such imitation? Not in "seeking lordship over those weaker," or in "showing violence toward those below us"; but in "taking on oneself the burden of one's neighbor," even as "God took on Himself the burden of our iniquities, and gave His own Son as a ransom for us." "He who in whatsoever he may be superior is ready to benefit another who is deficient; he who, by distributing to the needy what he has received from God, becomes a god to those who receive his benefits: he is an imitator of God."

LITERATURE.

Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers, larger and smaller editions; in Clark's "Ante-Nicene Libary," Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, and Recently Discovered Additions to Early Christian Literature (American edition, The Ants-Nicene Fathers); Eusebius, HE, particularly McGiffert's translation with excellent notes; James Donaldson, Critical History of Christian Literature; Cruttwell, Literary History of Early Christianity; Kruger, History of Early Christian Literature, translation by Gillett; Harnack, Geschichte der altchr. Litt.; Zahn, Geschichte des New Testament Kanons; Forschungen zur Gesch. des New Testament Kanons und der altchr. Lift.; Robinson, Texts and Studies, Aristides; Schaff, Oldest Christian Manual: H.D.M. Spence, Teaching of the Twelve Apostles; Bartlet, article on "Didache" in HDB; Cunningham, Epistle of Barnabas; articles in DCB (Smith and Wace).

Henry Cowan


LITTER

lit'-er (tsabh): (1) Used upon backs of camels for easy riding, made of a wooden frame with light mattress and pillows, also a covering above, supported by upright pieces, sometimes having also side awnings for protection from the sun's rays. Mule litters were made with pairs of shafts projecting before and behind, between which the animals were yoked (Isa 66:20). Litter-wagons ('eghloth tsabh) are mentioned in Nu 7:3; the horse litter (phorion) is mentioned in 2 Macc 9:8; compare 3:27. (2) miTTah, "palanquin" or "litter of Solomon" (Song 3:7; compare 3:9).

See PALANQUIN .


LITTLE GENESIS

See BOOK OF JUBILEES .


LIVELY; LIVING

liv'-li, liv'-ing (chay; zao): "Living," sometimes "lively," is the translation of chay (often also translated "life"); it denotes all beings possessed of life (Gen 1:21,24; 2:7,19; Ex 21:35, "live"); we have frequently the phrase, "the land of the living" (as contrasted with she'ol, the abode of the dead), e.g. Job 28:13; Ps 27:13; 52:5; Isa 38:11; the characteristically Biblical expression, "the living God," also frequently occurs (Josh 3:10; 1 Sam 17:26,36; 2 Ki 19:4; Ps 84:2); also frequently in the New Testament as the translation of zao (Mt 16:16; 26:63; Jn 6:57, "the living Father"; Acts 14:15); "lively" in Ex 1:19 (chayeh) and Ps 38:19 denotes fullness of life, vigor; chayyah, "a living being," is mostly confined to Ezekiel, translated "living creatures" (1:5,13,14, etc.), also Gen 1:28; 8:17, "living thing"; "living" is sometimes applied figuratively to that which is not actually alive; thus we have the phrase "living waters" (Jer 2:13; 17:13; Zec 14:8, "Living waters shall go out from Jerusalem") in contrast with stagnant waters--waters that can give life; so Jn 4:10,11 (bubbling up from the spring at bottom of the well); 7:38; Rev 7:17 the King James Version; "living bread" (Jn 6:51); a new and living way (Heb 10:20), perhaps equivalent to "ever-living" in Christ; "living stones" (1 Pet 2:4,5) are those made alive in Christ; a "living hope" (a hope full of life), 1 Pet 1:3; "living" (zao)is sometimes also "manner of life" (Lk 15:13; Col 2:20); diago, "to lead or go through," is also so translated (Tit 3:3); bios is "means of life," translated "living" (Mk 12:44; Lk 8:43); "living," in this sense, occurs in Apocrypha as the translation of zoe, "Defraud not the poor of his living" (Ecclesiasticus 4:1).

The Revised Version (British and American) has "living" for "alive" (Lev 14:4), for "the lively" (Acts 7:38), for "quick" (Heb 4:12), for "lively" (1 Pet 1:3; 2:5), for "conversation" (1 Pet 1:15; 2 Pet 3:11); "living creatures" for "beasts" (Rev 4:6; 5:6, etc.); "every living thing" for "all the substance" (Dt 11:6); "living things" for "beasts" (Lev 11:2,47 twice); for "living" (Ps 58:9), "the green" (thorns under the pots), margin "Wrath shall take them away while living as with a whirlwind"; for "the book of the living" (Ps 69:28), "the book of life"; for "(I am) he that liveth" (Rev 1:18), "the Living one"; for "living fountains of waters" (Rev 7:17), "fountains of waters of life"; for "trade" (Rev 18:17), "gain their living," margin "work the sea"; for "Son of the living God" (Jn 6:69), "the Holy One of God" (emended text).

W. L. Walker


LIVER

liv'-er (qabhedh, derived from a root meaning "to be heavy," being the heaviest of the viscera; Septuagint hepar): The word is usually joined with the Hebrew yothereth (see CAUL ) (Ex 29:13,22; Lev 9:10,19) as a special portion set aside for the burnt offering.

This represents the large lobe or flap of the liver, Lobos tou hepatos (thus, Septuagint and Josephus, Ant, III, ix, 2, (228)). Others, however, interpret it as the membrane which covers the upper part of the liver, sometimes called the "lesser omenturn." Thus, the Vulgate: reticulurn iecoris. It extends from the fissures of the liver to the curve of the stomach. Still others consider it to be the "fatty mass at the opening of the liver, which reaches to the kidneys and becomes visible upon the removal of the lesser omentum or membrane" (Driver and White, Leviticus, 65).

As in the scholastic psychology of the Middle Ages, the liver played an important part in the science of Semitic peoples. It was the seat of feeling, and thus became synonymous with temper, disposition, character (compare Assyrian kabittu, "liver", "temper," "character," and Arabic kabid, vulgar kibdi). Thus, Jeremiah expresses his profound grief with the words: "My liver is poured upon the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people" (Lam 2:11). The liver is also considered one of the most important and vital parts of the body (compare Virgil, cerebrum, iecur domicilia vitae). A hurt in it is equivalent to death. So we find the fate of a man enticed by the flattering of a loose woman compared to that of the ox that "goeth to the slaughter .... till an arrow strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life" (Prov 7:22,23; the rest of the verse is obscure as to its meaning).

In a few passages of the Old Testament, kabhedh ("liver") and kabhodh ("glory") have been confounded, and we are in uncertainty as to the right translation Several authors, to give but one example, would read kabhedh in Ps 16:9, for reasons of Hebrew poetical parallelism: "Therefore my heart is glad and my liver (English Versions of the Bible, "glory") rejoiceth." While this is quite possible, it is not easy to decide, as according to Jewish interpretation "my glory" is synonymous with "my soul," which would present as proper a parallelism.

The liver has always played an important role in heathen divination, of which we have many examples in old and modern times among the Greeks, Etrurians, Romans and now among African tribes. The prophet Ezekiel gives us a Biblical instance. The king of Babylon, who had been seeking to find out whether he should attack Jerusalem, inquired by shaking "arrows to and fro, he consulted the teraphim, he looked in the liver" (Ezek 21:21 (Hebrew 21:26); compare Tobit 6:4 ff; 8:2).

See ASTROLOGY , 3;DIVINATION .

H. L. E. Luering


LIVING CREATURE

liv'-ing kre'-tur: (1) (nephesh chayyah, or nephesh hachayyah (nephesh, "breath" or "living things"; chayyah, "living"; compare Arabic nefs, "breath," chaiy, "living")): In the account of the creation this term is used of aquatic animals (Gen 1:21), of mammals (Gen 1:24) and of any animals whatsoever (Gen 2:19).

(2) ([chayyoth], plural of chayyah): The name of the "living creatures" of Ezek 1:5-25, which had wings and the faces of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle; compare Ezek 10:1-22. (3) (zoon, "living thing," "animal"): The four "living creatures" (the King James Version "beasts") of Rev 4:6, etc., the first like a lion, the second like a calf, the third having a face as of a man, and the fourth like an eagle, having each six wings.

See CREATURE ,LIVING .

Alfred Ely Day


LIZARD

liz'-ard: The list of unclean "creeping things" in Lev 11:29,30 contains eight names, as follows:

1. Names:

(1) choledh, English Versions of the Bible "weasel" (which see); (2) `akhbar, English Versions of the Bible "mouse" (which see); (3) tsabh, the King James Version "tortoise," the Revised Version (British and American) "great lizard" (which see); (4) 'anaqah, the King James Version "ferret," the Revised Version (British and American) "gecko" (which see); (5) koach, the King James Version "chameleon," the Revised Version (British and American) "land-crocodile" (which see); (6) leTa'ah, English Versions of the Bible "lizard"; compare Arabic laTa', "to cling to the ground"; (7) chormeT, the King James Version "snail," the Revised Version (British and American) "sand-lizard" (which see); (8) tinshemeth, the King James Version "mole," the Revised Version (British and American) "chameleon" (which see). In Prov 30:28, we find (9) semamith, the King James Version "spider," the Revised Version (British and American) "lizard."

Since (1), (3), (4), (5), (6) and (7) occur as names of animals only in this passage, and as the philological evidence available is in most cases not very convincing, their determination is difficult and uncertain. the Revised Version margin to "gecko" (Lev 11:30) has "Words of uncertain meaning, but probably denoting four kinds of lizards."

2. Lizards of Palestine:

Among the many lizards of Palestine, the monitor and thorny-tailed lizard are remarkable for their size, and the chameleon for its striking appearance and habits. On etymological grounds, koach, the King James Version "chameleon," the Revised Version (British and American) "land-crocodile," Septuagint chamaileon, has been taken to be the monitor; tsabh, the King James Version "tortoise," the Revised Version (British and American) "great lizard," Septuagint krokodeilos chersaios, to be the thorny-tailed lizard; and tinshemeth, the King James Version "mole," the Revised Version (British and American) "chameleon," Septuagint aspalax, to be the chameleon. On the same grounds, choledh, English Versions of the Bible "weasel," Septuagint gale, might be the mole-rat.

See CHAMELEON ;TORTOISE ;WEASEL .

The commonest lizard of Palestine is the rough-tailed agama, Agama stellio, Arabic chirdaun or chirdaun, which is everywhere in evidence, running about on the ground, rocks or walls, frequently lying still basking in the sun, or bobbing its head up and down in the peculiar manner that it has.

The gecko, Ptyodactylus lobatus, is common in houses. By means of adhesive disks on the under sides of its toes, it clings with ease to smooth walls which other lizards cannot scale. Although perfectly harmless, it is believed to be poisonous, and is much feared. It is called abu-brais, "father of leprosy," either on account of its supposed poisonous qualities or because it has a semi-transparent and sickly appearance, being of a whitish-yellow color with darker spots. It utters a little cry, which may be the reason why the Revised Version (British and American) has "gecko" for 'anaqah; the King James Version has "ferret."

Various species of the genus Lacerta and its allies, the true lizards, may always be found searching for insects on trees and walls. They are scaly, like all lizards, but are relatively smooth and are prettily colored, and are the most attractive members of the group which are found in the country. They are called by the Arabs saqqaiyeh or shammuseh.

The skinks include Scincus officinalis, and allied species. Arabic sa qanqur = Greek skigkos (skinkos). They are smooth, light-colored lizards, and are found in sandy places. They cannot climb, but they run and burrow in the sand with remarkable rapidity. The dried body of Scincus officinalis is an important feature of the primitive oriental materia medica, and may be found in the shops (officinae) of the old-style apothecaries.

3. Identifications:

Semamith (Prov 30:28, the King James Version "spider," the Revised Version (British and American) "lizard") is one of the "four things which are little .... but .... exceeding wise." the Revised Version (British and American) reads:

"The lizard taketh hold with her hands,

Yet is she in kings' palaces."

The Septuagint (Septuagint) has kalabotes, which according to Liddell and Scott = askalabotes, "a spotted lizard." There is no other lizard which fits this passage as does the gecko. If Gesenius is correct in deriving semamith from the root samam (compare Arabic samma, "to poison"), we have another reason for making this identification, in which case we must rule out the rendering of the Revised Version margin, "Thou canst seize with thy hands."

For none of the names in Lev 11:29,30 have we as many data for identification as for semamith. For leTa'ah, English Versions of the Bible "lizard," the Septuagint has chalabotes, which is another variant of askalabotes. If we follow the Septuagint, therefore, we should render leTa'ah "gecko." Tristram quotes Bochart as drawing an argument that leTa'ah is "gecko" from the Arabic laTa', "to cling to the ground." This view is at least in accordance with Septuagint. It is of course untenable if 'anaqah is "gecko," but (see FERRET ) the writer thinks it quite possible that 'anaqah may mean the shrew or field-mouse, which is also in agreement with Septuagint. It will not do to follow Septuagint in all cases, but it is certainly safe to do so in the absence of a clear indication to the contrary.

There seems to be little evidence available for deciding the identity of chomeT, the King James Version "snail," the Revised Version (British and American) "sand-lizard." Septuagint has saura, and Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) lacerta, both words for lizard. Gesenius refers the word to an obsolete chamaT, "to bow down," "to lie upon the ground." Tristram, NHB, cites Bochart as referring to a word meaning "sand." Hence, perhaps the Revised Version (British and American) "sand-lizard." If by this is meant the skink, there is no inherent improbability in the identification.

We have thus more or less tentatively assigned various words of the list to the monitor, the thorny-tailed lizard, the chameleon, the gecko and the skink, but we have done nothing with the rough-tailed agama and the Lacertae, or true lizards, which are the commonest lizards of Palestine, and this fact must be reckoned against the correctness of the assignment. The translation of the Revised Version (British and American) has this to commend it, that it gives two small mammals followed by six lizards, and is therefore to that extent systematic. It is, however, neither guided in all cases by etymological considerations, nor does it follow Septuagint.

As none of the etymological arguments is very cogent, the writer can see no harm in consistently following Septuagint, understanding for (1) gale, weasel or pole-cat; for (2) mus, mouse; for (3) krokodeilos chersaios, some large lizard, either the monitor or the thorny-tailed lizard; for (4) mugale, shrew or field-mouse; for (5) chamaileon, chameleon; for (6) chalabotes, gecko; for (7) saura, a Lacerta or true lizard; for (8) aspalax, mole-rat. On the other hand, if etymological considerations are to be taken into account and Septuagint abandoned when it conflicts with them we might have (1) holedh, mole-rat; (2) `akhbar, mouse; (3) tsabh, thorny-tailed lizard; (4) 'anaqah, field-mouse; (5) koach, monitor; (6) leTa'ah, gecko; (7) chomeT, skink; (8) tinshemeth, chameleon.

Neither of these lists has the systematic arrangement of that of the Revised Version (British and American), but we must remember that the Biblical writers were not zoologists, as is seen in the inclusion of the bat among birds (Lev 11:19; Dt 14:18), and of the hare and coney among ruminants (Lev 11:5,6; Dt 14:7).

Alfred Ely Day



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