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Smith's Bible Dictionary
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Paarai
In the list of (2 Samuel 23:35) "Paarai the Arbite" is one of
David's men. In (1 Chronicles 11:37) he is Naarai the son of
Ezbai." (B.C. 1015.)
Padan
(field). Padan-aram. (Genesis 48:7)
Padanaram
By this name, which signifies the table-land of Aram, i.e.
Syriac, the Hebrews designated the tract of country which they
otherwise called the Aram-naharaim, "Aram of the two of
rivers," the Greek Mesopotamia, (Genesis 24:10) and "the field
(Authorized Version,'country') of Syria." (Hosea 12:13) The
term was perhaps more especially applied to that portion which
bordered on the Euphrates, to distinguish if from the
mountainous districts in the north and northeast of
Mesopotamia. It is elsewhere called [936]Padan simply. (Genesis
48:7) Abraham obtained a wife for Isaac from Padan-aram.
(Genesis 25:20) Jacob's wives were also from Padan-aram,
(Genesis 28:2,5,6,7; 31:1-8; 33:18)
Padon
(deliverance) the ancestor of a family of Nethinim who returned
with Zerubbabel. (Ezra 2:41; Nehemiah 7:47) (B.C. before 529.)
Pagiel
(God allots) the son of Ocran and chief of the tribe of Asher
at the time of the exodus. (Numbers 1:13; 2:27; 7:72,77; 10:26)
(B.C. 1491.)
Pahathmoab
(governor of Moab), head of one of the chief houses of the
tribe of Judah. Of the individual or the occasion of his
receiving so singular a name nothing is known certainty but as
we read in (1 Chronicles 4:22) of a family of Shilonites, of
the tribe of Judah, who in very early times "had dominion in
Moab," it may be conjectured that this was the origin of the
name.
Pai
(blessing). [[937]Pau]
Paial
(judge), the son of Uzai who assisted in restoring the walls of
Jerusalem in the time of Nehemiah, (Nehemiah 3:25) (B.C. 446.)
Paint
(as a cosmetic). The use of cosmetic dyes has prevailed in all
ages in eastern countries. We have abundant evidence of the
practice of painting the eyes both in ancient Egypt and in
Assyria; and in modern times no usage is more general. It does
not appear, however, to have been by any means universal among
the Hebrews. The notices of it are few; and in each instance it
seems to have been used as a meretricious art, unworthy of a
woman of high character. The Bible gives no indication of the
substance out of which the dye was formed. The old versions
agree in pronouncing the dye to have been produced from
antimony. Antimony is still used for the purpose in Arabia and
in Persia, but in Egypt the kohl is a root produced by burning
either a kind of frankincense or the shells of almonds. The
dye-stuff was moistened with oil and kept in a small jar.
Whether the custom of staining the hands and feet, particularly
the nails, now so prevalent in the past, was known to the
Hebrews is doubtful. Painting as an art was not cultivated by
the Hebrews, but they decorated their buildings with paint.
Palace
Palace in the Bible, in the singular and plural, is the
rendering of several words of diverse meaning. (1 Chronicles
29:1; Ezra 4:14; Amos 4:3) etc. It often designates the royal
residence, and usually suggests a fortress or battlemented
house. The word occasionally included the whole city as in
(Esther 9:12) and again, as in (1 Kings 16:18) it is restricted
to a part of the royal apartments. It is applied, as in (1
Chronicles 29:1) to the temple in Jerusalem. The site of the
palace of Solomon was almost certainly in the city itself on
the brow opposite to the temple, and overlooking it and the
whole city of David. It is impossible, of course, to be at all
certain what was either the form or the exact disposition of
such a palace; but, as we have the dimensions of the three
principal buildings given in the book of Kings and confirmed by
Josephus, we may, by taking these as a scale, ascertain pretty
nearly that the building covered somewhere about 150,000 or
160,000 square feet. Whether it was a square of 400 feet each
way, or an oblong of about 550 feet by 300, must always be more
or less a matter of conjecture. The principal building situated
within the palace was, as in all eastern palaces, the great
hall of state and audience, called "the house of the forest of
Lebanon," apparently from the four rows of cedar pillars by
which it was supported. It was 100 cubits (175 feet) long, 50
(88 feet) wide, and 30 (52 feet) high. Next in importance was
the hall or "porch of judgment," a quadrangular building
supported by columns, as we learn front Josephus, which
apparently stood on the other side of the great court, opposite
the house of the forest of Lebanon. The third edifice is merely
called a "porch of pillars." Its dimensions were 50 by 30
cubits. Its use cannot be considered as doubtful, as it was an
indispensable adjunct to an eastern palace. It was the ordinary
place of business of the palace, and the reception-room when
the king received ordinary visitors, and sat, except on great
state occasions, to transact the business of the kingdom.
Behind this, we are told, was the inner court, adorned with
gardens and fountains, and surrounded by cloisters for shade;
and there were other courts for the residence of the attendants
and guards, and for the women of the harem. Apart from this
palace, but attached, as Josephus tells us, to the hall of
judgment, was the palace of Pharaoh's daughter-too proud and
important a personage to be grouped with the ladies of the
harem, and requiring a residence of her own. The recent
discoveries at Nineveh have enabled us to understand many of
the architectural details of this palace, which before they
were made were nearly wholly inexplicable. Solomon constructed
an ascent from his own house to the temple, "the house of
Jehovah," (1 Kings 10:5) which was a subterranean passage 250
feet long by 42 feet wide, of which the remains may still be
traced.
Palestina And Palestine
(land of strangers). These two forms occur in the Authorized
Version but four times in all, always in poetical passages; the
first in (Exodus 15:14) and Isai 14:29 The second (Joel 3:4) In
each case the Hebrew is Pelesheth, a word found, besides the
above, only in (Psalms 60:8; 83:7; 87:4) and Psal 108:9 In all
which our translators have rendered it by "Philistia" or
"Philistines." Palestine in the Authorized Version really means
nothing but Philistia. The original Hebrew word Pelesheth to
the Hebrews signified merely the long and broad strip of
maritime plain inhabited by their encroaching neighbors; nor
does it appear that at first it signified more to the Greeks.
As lying next the sea, and as being also the high road from
Egypt to Phoenicia and the richer regions no of it, the
Philistine plain became sooner known to the western world than
the country farther inland, and was called by them Syria
Palestina-Philistine Syria. From thence it was gradually
extended to the country farther inland, till in the Roman and
later Greek authors, both heathen sad Christian, it became the
usual appellation for the whole country of the Jews, both west
and east of Jordan. The word is now so commonly employed in our
more familiar language to destinate the whole country of Israel
that although biblically a misnomer, it has been chosen here as
the most convenient heading under which to give a general
description of THE HOLY LAND, embracing those points which have
not been treated under the separate headings of cities or
tribes. This description will most conveniently divide itself
Into three sections:-- I. The Names applied to the country of
Israel in the Bible and elsewhere. II. The Land; its situation,
aspect, climb, physical characteristics in connection with its
history, its structure, botany and natural history. III. The
History of the country is so fully given under its various
headings throughout the work that it is unnecessary to
recapitulate it here. I. [THE [938]Names].--Palestine, then, is
designated in the Bible by more than one name.
+ During the patriarchal period, the conquest and the age of
the Judges and also where those early periods are referred to
in the later literature (as) (Psalms 105:11) it is spoken of
as "Canaan," or more frequently "the land of Canaan," meaning
thereby the country west of the Jordan, as opposed to "the
land of Gilead." on the east.
+ During the monarchy the name usually, though not frequently,
employed is "land of Israel." (1 Samuel 13:19)
+ Between the captivity and the time of our Lord the name
"Judea" had extended itself from the southern portion to the
whole of the country, and even that beyond the Jordan.
(Matthew 19:1; Mark 10:1)
+ The Roman division of the country hardly coincided with the
biblical one, and it does not appear that the Romans had any
distinct name for that which we understand by Palestine.
+ Soon after the Christian era we find the name Palestina in
possession of the country.
+ The name most frequently used throughout the middle ages, and
down to our own time, is Terra Sancta--the Holy Land. II. THE
LAND.-The holy land is not in size or physical
characteristics proportioned to its moral and historical
position as the theatre of the most momentous events in the
world's history. It is but a strip of country about the size
of Wales, less than 140 miles in length and barely 40 in
average breadth, on the very frontier of the East, hemmed in
between the Mediterranean Sea on the one hand and the
enormous trench of the Jordan valley on the other, by which
it is effectually cut off from the mainland of Asia behind
it. On the north it is shut in by the high ranges of Lebanon
and Anti-Lebanon, and by the chasm of the Litany. On the
south it is no less enclosed by the arid and inhospitable
deserts of the upper pert of the peninsula of Sinai.
+ Its position.--Its position on the map of the world--as the
world was when the holy land first made its appearance in
history--is a remarkable one. (a) It was on the very
outpost-- an the extremist western edge of the East. On the
shore of the Mediterranean it stands, as if it had advanced
as far as possible toward the west, separated therefrom by
that which, when the time arrived proved to be no barrier,
but the readiest medium of communication-the wide waters of
the "great sea." Thus it was open to all the gradual
influences of the rising communities of the West, while it
was saved from the retrogression and decrepitude which have
ultimately been the doom of all purely eastern states whose
connections were limited to the East only. (b) There was,
however, one channel, and but one, by which it could reach
and be reached by the great Oriental empires. The rivals road
by which the two great rivals of the ancient world could
approach one another--by which alone Egypt could get to
Assyria and Assyria to lay along the broad hat strip of coast
which formed the maritime portion of the holy land, and
thence by the plain of the Lebanon to the Euphrates. (c)
After this the holy land became (like the Netherlands in
Europe) the convenient arena on which in successive ages the
hostile powers who contended for the empire of the East
fought their battles.
+ Physical features.--Palestine is essentially a mountainous
country. Not that if contains independent mountain chains, as
in Greece for example but that every part of the highland is
in greater or less undulation. But it is not only a
mountainous country. The mass of hills which occupies the
centre of the country is bordered or framed on both sides,
east and west, by a broad belt of lowland, sunk deep below
its own level. The slopes or cliffs which form, as if it
were, the retaining walls of this depression are furrowed and
cleft by the torrent beds which discharge the waters of the
hills and form the means of communication between the upper
and lower level. On the west this lowland interposes between
the mountains and the sea, and is the plain of Philistia and
of Sharon. On the east it is the broad bottom of the Jordan
valley, deep down in which rushed the one river of Palestine
to its grave in, the Dead Sea. Such is the first general
impression of the physiognomy of the land. It is a
physiognomy compounded of the three main features already
named--the plains the highland hills, and the torrent beds
features which are marked in the words of its earliest
describers, (Numbers 13:29; Joshua 11:16; 12:8) and which
must be comprehended by every one who wishes to understand
the country and the intimate connection existing between its
structure and its history. About halfway up the coast the
maritime plain is suddenly interrupted by a long ridge thrown
out from the central mass, rising considerably shove the
general level and terminating in a bold promontory on the
very edge of the Mediterranean. This ridge is Mount Carmel.
On its upper side the plain, as if to compensate for its
temporary displacement, invades the centre of the country,
and forms an undulating hollow right across it from the
Mediterranean to the Jordan valley. This central lowland,
which divides with its broad depression the mountains of
Ephraim from the mountains of Galilee is the plain of
Esdraelon or Jezreel the great battle-field of Palestine.
North of Carmel the lowland resumes its position by the
seaside till it is again interrupted and finally put an end
to by the northern mountains, which push their way out of the
sea, ending in the white promontory of the Ras Nakhura .
Above this is the ancient Phoenicia. The country thus roughly
portrayed is to all intents and purposes the whole land of
israel. The northern portion is Galilee; the centre, Samaria;
the south, Judea. This is the land of Canaan which was
bestowed on Abraham,--the covenanted home of his descendants.
The highland district, surrounded and intersected by its
broad lowland plains, preserves from north to south a
remarkably even and horizontal profile. Its average height
may betaken as 1600 to 1800 feet above the Mediterranean. It
can hardly be denominated a plateau; yet so evenly is the
general level preserved and so thickly do the hills stand
behind and between one another, that, when seen from the
coast or the western part of the maritime plain, it has quite
the appearance of a wall. This general monotony of profile is
however, relieved at intervals by certain centers of
elevation. Between these elevated points runs the watershed
of the country, sending off on either hand--to the Jordan
valley on the east and the Mediterranean on the west--the
long, tortuous arms of ifs many torrent beds. The valleys on
the two sides of the watershed differ considerably in
character. Those on the east are extremely steep and rugged
the western valleys are more gradual in their slope.
+ Fertility .--When the highlands of the country are more
closely examined, a considerable difference will be found to
exist in the natural condition and appearance of their
different portions. The south, as being nearer the arid
desert and farther removed from the drainage of the
mountains, is drier and less productive than the north. The
tract below Hebron, which forms the link between the hills of
Judah and the desert, was known to the ancient Hebrews by a
term originally derived from its dryness--Negeb . This was
the south country. As the traveller advances north of this
tract there is an improvement; but perhaps no country equally
cultivated is more monotonous, bare or uninviting in its
aspect than a great part of the highlands of Judah and
Benjamin during the larger portion of the year. The spring
covers even those bald gray rocks with verdure and color, and
fills the ravines with torrents of rushing water; but in
summer and autumn the look of the country from Hebron up to
Bethel is very dreary and desolate. At Jerusalem this reaches
its climax. To the west and northwest of the highlands, where
the sea-breezes are felt, there is considerably more
vegetation, Hitherto we have spoken of the central and
northern portions of Judea. Its eastern portion--a tract some
nine or ten miles in width by about thirty-five in length,
which intervenes between the centre and the abrupt descent to
the Dead Sea--is far more wild and desolate, and that not for
a portion of the year only, but throughout it. This must have
been always what it is now--an uninhabited desert, because
uninhabitable. No descriptive sketch of this part of the
country can be complete which does not allude to the caverns,
characteristic of all limestone districts, but here existing
in astonishing numbers. Every hill and ravine is pierced with
them, some very large and of curious formation--perhaps
partly natural, partly artificial--others mere grottos. Many
of them are connected with most important and interesting
events of the ancient history of the country. Especially is
this true of the district now under consideration. Machpelah,
Makkedah, Adullam En-gedi, names inseparably connected with
the lives, adventures and deaths of Abraham, Joshua, David
and other Old-Testament worthies, are all within the small
circle of the territory of Judea. The bareness and dryness
which prevail more or less in Judea are owing partly to the
absence of wood, partly to its proximity to the desert, sad
partly to a scarcity of water arising from its distance from
the Lebanon. But to this discouraging aspect there are some
important exceptions. The valley of Urtas, south of Bethlehem
contains springs which in abundance and excellence rival even
those of Nablus the huge "Pools of Solomon" are enough to
supply a district for many miles round them; and the
cultivation now going on in that Neighborhood shows whet
might be done with a soil which required only irrigation and
a moderate amount of labor to evoke a boundless produce. It
is obvious that in the ancient days of the nation, when Judah
and Benjamin possessed the teeming population indicated in
the Bible, the condition and aspect of the country must have
been very different. Of this there are not wanting sure
evidences. There is no country in which the ruined towns bear
so large a proportion to those still existing. Hardly a
hill-top of the many within sight that is not covered with
vestiges of some fortress or city. But, besides this, forests
appear to have stood in many parts of Judea until the
repeated invasions and sieges caused their fall; and all this
vegetation must have reacted on the moisture of the climate,
and, by preserving the water in many a ravine and natural
reservoir where now it is rapidly dried by the fierce sun of
the early summer, must have influenced materially the look
and the resources of the country. Advancing northward from
Judea, the country (Samaria) becomes gradually more open and
pleasant. Plains of good soil occur between the hills, at
first small but afterward comparatively large. The hills
assume here a more varied aspect than in the southern
districts, springs are more abundant and more permanent until
at last, when the district of Jebel Nablus is reached--the
ancient Mount Ephraim-the traveller encounters an atmosphere
and an amount of vegetation and water which are greatly
superior to anything he has met with in Judea and even
sufficient to recall much of the scenery of the West. Perhaps
the springs are the only objects which In themselves, and
apart from their associations, really strike an English
traveller with astonishment and admiration. Such glorious
fountains as those of Ain-jalud or the Ras el-Mukatta--where
a great body of the dearest water wells silently but swiftly
out from deep blue recesses worn in the foot of a low cliff
of limestone rock and at once forms a considerable
stream--are rarely to be met with out of irregular, rocky,
mountainous countries, and being such unusual sights can
hardly be looked on by the traveler without surprise and
emotion. The valleys which lead down from the upper level in
this district to the valley of the Jordan are less
precipitous than in Judea. The eastern district of the Jebel
Nablus contains some of the most fertile end valuable spots
in the holy land. Hardly less rich is the extensive region
which lies northwest of the city of Shechem (Nablus), between
it and Carmel, in which the mountains gradually break down
into the plain of Sharon. Put with all its richness and all
its advance on the southern part of the country there is a
strange dearth of natural wood about this central district.
It is this which makes the wooded sides of Carmel and the
park-like scenery of the adjacent slopes and plains so
remarkable. No sooner however, is the plain of Eadraelon
passed than a considerable improvement Is perceptible. The
low hills which spread down from the mountains of Galilee,
and form the barrier between the plains of Akka and
Esdraelon, are covered with timber, of moderate size it is
true, but of thick, vigorous growth, and pleasant to the eye.
Eastward of these hills rises the round mass of Tabor dark
with its copses of oak, and set on by contrast with the bare
slopes of Jebel ed-Duhy (the so called "Little Hermon") and
the white hills of Nazareth. A few words must be said in
general description of the maritime lowland, which intervenes
between the sea and the highlands. This region, only slightly
elevated above the level of the Mediterranean, extends
without interruption from el-Arish, south of Gaza, to Mount
Carmel. It naturally divides itself into two portions each of
about half its length; the lower one the wider the upper one
the narrower. The lower half is the plain of the
Philistines-Philistia, or, as the Hebrews called it, the
Shefelah or Lowland. The upper half is the Sharon or Saron of
the Old and New Testaments. The Philistine plain is on an
average 15 or 16 miles in width from the coast to the
beginning of the belt of hills which forms the gradual
approach to the high land of the mountains of Judah. The
larger towns, as Gaza and Ashdod, which stand near the shore,
are surrounded with huge groves of olive, sycamore and, as in
the days King David. (1 Chronicles 27:28) The whole plain
appears to consist of brown loamy soil, light but rich and
almost without a stone. It is now, as it was when the
Philistines possessed it, one enormous cornfield; an ocean of
wheat covers the wide expense between the hills and the sand
dunes of the seashore, without interruption of any kind--no
break or hedge, hardly even a single olive tree. Its
fertility is marvellous; for the prodigious crops which if
raises are produced, and probably have been produced almost
year by year for the last forty centuries, without any of the
appliances which we find necessary for success. The plain of
Sharon is much narrower then Philistia. It is about 10 miles
wide from the sea to the foot of the mountains, which are
here of a more abrupt character than those of Philistia, and
without the intermediate hilly region there occurring. The
one ancient port of the Jews, the "beautiful", city of Joppa,
occupied a position central between the Shefelah and Sharon.
Roads led from these various cities to each other to
Jerusalem, Neapolis and Sebaste in the interior, and to
Ptolemais and Gaza on the north and south. The commerce of
Damascus, and beyond Damascus, of Persia and India, passed
this way to Egypt, Rome and the infant colonies of the West;
and that traffic and the constant movement of troops backward
and forward must have made this plain, at the time of Christ,
one of the busiest and most populous regions of Syria.
+ The Jordan valley .--The chacteristics already described are
hardly peculiar to Palestine, but there is one feature, as
yet only alluded to, in which she stands alone. This feature
is the Jordan--the one river of the country. The river is
elsewhere described; [[939]Jordan] but it and the valley
through which it rushes down its extraordinary descent must
be here briefly characterized. This valley begins with the
river at its remotest springs of Hasbeiya, on the northwest
side of Hermon, and accompanies it to the lower end of the
Dead Sea, a length of about 1,50 miles. During the whole of
this distance its course is straight and its direction nearly
due north and south. The springs of Hasbeiya are 1700 feet
above the level of the Mediterranean and the northern end of
the Dead Sea is 1317 feet below it, so that between these two
points the valley falls with more or less regularity through
a height of more than 3000 feet. But though the river
disappears at this point, the valley still continues its
descent below the waters of the Dead Sea till it reaches a
further depth of 1308 feet. So that the bottom of this
extraordinary crevasse is actually more than 2600 feet below
the surface of the ocean. In width the valley varies. In its
upper and shallower portion, as between Banias and the lake
of Merom (Huleh), it is about five miles across. Between the
lake of Merom and the Sea or Galilee it contracts, and
becomes more of an ordinary ravine or glen. It is in its
third and lower portion that the valley assumes its more
definite and regular character. During the greater part of
this portion it is about seven miles wide from the one wall
to the other. The eastern mountains preserve their straight
line of direction, and their massive horizontal wall-like
aspect, during almost the whole distance. The western
mountains are more irregular in height, their slopes less
vertical. North of Jericho they recede in a kind of wide
amphitheatre, and the valley becomes twelve miles broad--a
breadth which it thenceforward retains to the southern
extremity of the Dead Sea. Buried as it is between such lofty
ranges, and shielded from every breeze, the climate of the
Jordan valley is extremely hot and relaxing. Its enervating
influence is shown by the inhabitants of Jericho. All the
irrigation necessary for the cultivation which formerly
existed is obtained front the torrents of the western
mountains. For all purposes to which a river ordinarily
applied the Jordan is useless. The Dead Sea, which is the
final receptacle of the Jordan, is described elsewhere.
[[940]Sea, The Salt, THE SALT.)
+ Climate .--"Probably there is no country in the world of the
same extent which has a greater variety of climate than
Palestine. On Mount Hermon, at its northern border there is
perpetual snow. From this we descend successively by the
peaks of Bashan and upper Galilee, where the oak and pine
flourish, to the hills of Judah and Samaria, where the vine
and fig tree are at home, to the plains of the seaboard where
the palm and banana produce their fruit down to the sultry
shores of the Sea, on which we find tropical heat and
tropical vegetation." McClintock and Strong . As in the time
of our Saviour (Luke 12:64) the rains come chiefly from the
south or southwest. They commence at the end of October or
beginning of November and continue with greater or less
constancy till the end of February or March. It is not a
heavy, continuous rain so much as a succession of severe
showers or storms, with intervening periods of fine, bright
weather. Between April and November there is, with the rarest
exceptions, an uninterrupted succession of fine weather and
skies without a cloud. Thus the year divides itself into two
and only two seasons--as indeed we see it constantly divided
in the Bible-" winter and summer" "cold and heat," "seed-time
and harvest."
+ Botany .--The botany of Syria and Palestine differs but
little from that of Asia Minor, which is one of the most rich
and varied on the globe. Among trees the oak is by far the
most prevalent. The trees of the genus Pistacia rank next to
the oak in abundance, and of these there are three species in
Syria. There is also the carob or locust tree (Ceratonia
siliqua), the pine, sycamore, poplar and walnut. Of planted
trees large shrubs the first in importance is the vine, which
is most abundantly cultivated all over the country, and
produces, as in the time of the Canaanites, enormous bunches
of grapes. This is especially the case in the southern
districts, those of Eshcol being still particularly famous.
Next to the vine, or even in some respects its superior in
importance, ranks the olive, which nowhere grows in greater
luxuriance and abundance than in Palestine, where the olive
orchards form a prominent feature throughout the landscape,
and have done so from time immemorial. The fig forms another
most important crop in Syria and Palestine. (Besides these
are the almond, pomegranate, orange, pear, banana, quince and
mulberry among fruit trees. Of vegetables there are many
varieties, as the egg plant, pumpkin, asparagus, lettuce,
melon and cucumber. Palestine is especially distinguished for
its wild flowers, of which there are more than five hundred
varieties. The geranium, pink, poppy, narcissus, honeysuckle,
oleander, jessamine, tulip and iris are abundant. The various
grains are also very largely cultivated.--ED.)
+ Zoology.--It will be sufficient in this article to give a
general survey of the fauna of Palestine, as the reader will
find more particular information in the several articles
which treat of the various animals under their respective
names. Jackals and foxes are common; the hyena and wolf are
also occasionally observed; the lion is no longer a resident
in Palestine or Syria. A species of squirrel the which the
term orkidaun "the leaper," has been noticed on the lower and
middle parts of Lebanon. Two kinds of hare, rats and mice,
which are said to abound, the jerboa, the porcupine, the
short-tailed field-mouse, may be considered as the
representatives of the Rodentia . Of the Pachydermata the
wild boar, which is frequently met with on Taber and Little
Hermon, appears to be the only living wild example. There
does not appear to be at present any wild ox in Palestine. Of
domestic animals we need only mention the Arabian or
one-humped camel, the ass, the mule and the horse, all of
which are in general use. The buffalo (Bubalus buffalo) is
common. The ox of the country is small and unsightly in the
neighborhood of Jerusalem, but in the richer pastures the
cattle, though small, are not unsightly The common sheep of
Palestine is the broadtail, with its varieties. Goats are
extremely common everywhere. Palestine abounds in numerous
kinds of birds. Vultures, eagles, falcons, kites, owls of
different kinds represent the Raptorial order. In the south
of Palestine especially, reptiles of various kinds abound. It
has been remarked that in its physical character Palestine
presents on a small scale an epitome of the natural features
of all regions, mountainous and desert, northern and
tropical, maritime and inland, pastoral, arable and volcanic.
+ Antiquities .--In the preceding description allusion has been
made to many of the characteristic features of the holy land;
but it is impossible to close this account without mentioning
a defect which is even more characteristic--its luck of
monuments and personal relies of the nation which possessed
it for so many centuries and gave it its claim to our
veneration and affection. When compared with other nations of
equal antiquity--Egypt, Greece Assyria--the contrast is truly
remarkable. In Egypt and Greece, and also in Assyria, as far
as our knowledge at present extends, we find a series of
buildings reaching down from the most remote and mysterious
antiquity, a chain of which hardly a link is wanting, and
which records the progress of the people in civilization art
and religion as certainly as the buildings of the medieval
architects do that of the various nations of modern Europe.
But in Palestine it is not too much to say that there does
not exist a single edifice or part of an edifice of which we
call be sure that it is of a date anterior to the Christian
era. And as with the buildings, so with other memorials, With
one exception, the museums of Europe do not possess a single
piece of pottery or metal work, a single weapon or household
utensil, an ornament or a piece of armor of Israelite make,
which can give us the least conception of the manners or
outward appliances of the nation before the date of the
destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. The coins form the single
exception. M. Renan has named two circumstances which must
have had a great effect in suppressing art or architecture
amongst the ancient Israelites, while their very existence
proves that the people had no genius in that direction. These
are (1) the prohibition of sculptured representations of
living creatures, and (2) the command not to build a temple
anywhere but at Jerusalem.
Pallu
(distinguished), the second son of Reuben, father of Eliab,
(Isaiah 6:14; Numbers 26:5,8; 1 Chronicles 5:3) and founder of
the family of Palluites.
Palluites
(descendants of Pullu), The. (Numbers 26:5)
Palm Tree
(Heb. tamar). Under this generic term many species are
botanically included; but we have here only to do with the date
palm, the Phoenix dactylifera of Linnaeus. While this tree was
abundant generally in the Levant, it was regarded by the
ancients as peculiarly characteristic of Palestine and the
neighboring regions, though now it is rare. ("The palm tree
frequently attains a height of eighty feet, but more commonly
forty to fifty. It begins to bear fruit after it has been
planted six or eight years, and continues to be productive for
a century. Its trunk is straight, tall and unbroken,
terminating in a crown of emerald-green plumes, like a diadem
of gigantic ostrich-feathers; these leaves are frequently
twenty feet in length, droop slightly at the ends, and whisper
musically in the breeze. The palm is, in truth, a beautiful and
most useful tree. Its fruit is the daily food of millions; its
sap furnishes an agreeable wine; the fibres of the base of its
leaves are woven into ropes and rigging; its tall stem supplies
a valuable timber; its leaves are manufactured into brushes,
mats, bags, couches and baskets. This one tree supplies almost
all the wants of the Arab or Egyptian."--Bible Plants.) Many
places are mentioned in the Bible as having connection with
palm trees; Elim, where grew three score and ten palm trees,
(Exodus 15:27) and Elath. (2:8) Jericho was the city of "palm
trees." (31:3) Hazezon-tamar, "the felling of the palm tree,"
is clear in its derivation. There is also Tamar, "the palm."
(Ezekiel 47:19) Bethany means the "house of dates." The word
Phoenicia, which occurs twice in the New Testament-- (Acts
11:19; 15:3)--is in all probability derived from the Greek word
for a palm. The, striking appearance of the tree, its
uprightness and beauty, would naturally suggest the giving of
Its name occasionally to women. (Genesis 38:6; 2 Samuel 13:1;
14:27) There is in the Psalms, (Psalms 92:12) the familiar
comparison, "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree."
which suggests a world of illustration whether respect be had
to the orderly and regular aspect of the tree, its
fruitfulness, the perpetual greenness of its foliage, or the
height at which the foliage grows, as far as possible from
earth and as near as possible to heaven. Perhaps no point is
more worthy of mention, we wish to pursue the comparison, than
the elasticity of the fibre of the palm and its determined
growth upward even when loaded with weights. The passage in
(Revelation 7:9) where the glorified of all nations are
described as "clothed with white robes and palms in their
hands," might seem to us a purely classical image; but palm
branches were used by the Jews in token of victory and peace.
(To these points of comparison may be added, its principle of
growth: it is an endogen, and grows from within; its
usefulness; the Syrians enumerating 360 different uses to which
it may be put; and the statement that it bears its best fruit
in old age.--ED.) It is curious that this tree, once so
abundant in Judea, is now comparatively rare, except in the
Philistine plain and in the old Phoenicia about Beyrout .
Palmerworm
(Heb. gazam) occurs (Joel 1:4; 2:25; Amos 4:9) It is maintained
by many that gazam denotes some species of locust. but it is
more probably a caterpillar.
Palsy
(contracted from paralysis). The loss of sensation or the power
of motion, or both, in any part of the body. The infirmities
included under this name in the New Testament were various:--
+ The paralytic shock affecting the whole body, or apoplexy.
+ That affecting only one side.
+ Affecting the whole system below the neck.
+ Catalepsy, caused by the contraction of the muscles in the
whole or a part of the body. This was very dangerous and
often fatal. The part affected remains immovable and
diminishes in size and dries up. A hand thus affected was
called "a withered hand." (Matthew 12:10-13)
+ Cramp. This was a most dreadful disease caused by the chills
of the nights. The limbs remain immovably fixed in the same
position as when seized as it, and the person seems like one
suffering torture. It is frequently followed in a few days by
death. Several paralytics were cured by Jesus. (Matthew 4:24;
8:13) etc.
Palti
(whom Jehovah delivers), the Benjamite spy, son of Raphu.
(Numbers 13:9) (B.C.1490.)
Paltiel
(whom God delivers), the son of Azzan and prince of the tribe
of Issachar. (Numbers 34:26) He was one of the twelve appointed
to divide the land of Canaan among the tribes west of Jordan.
(B.C. 1450.)
Pamphylia
(of every tribe), one of the coast-regions in the south of Asia
Minor, having Cilicia on the east and Lycia on the west. In St.
Paul's time it was not only a regular province, but the emperor
Claudius had united Lycia with it, and probably also a good
part of Pisidia. It was in Pamphylia that St. Paul first
entered Asia Minor, after preaching the gospel in Cyprus. He
and Barnabas sailed up the river Cestrus to Perga. (Acts 13:13)
The two missionaries finally left Pamphylia by its chief
seaport Attalia. Many years afterward St. Paul sailed near the
coast. (Acts 27:5)
Pan
Of the six words so rendered in the Authorized Version, two
seem to imply a shallow pan or plate, such as is used by the
Bedouine and Syrians for baking or dressing rapidly their cakes
of meal, such as were used in legal oblations; the others, a
deeper vessel or caldron for boiling meat, placed during the
process on three stones.
Pannag
(sweet), an article of commerce exported from Palestine to
Tyre, (Ezekiel 27:17) the nature of which is a pure matter of
conjecture, as the term occurs nowhere else. A comparison of
the passage in Ezekiel with (Genesis 43:11) leads to the
supposition that pannag represents some of the spices grown in
Palestine.
Paper
[[941]Writing]
Paphos
(boiling, or hot), a town at the west end of Cyprus, connected
by a react with Salamis at the east end. It was founded B.C.
1184 (during the period of the judges in Israel). Paul and
Barnabas travelled, on their first missionary expedition,
"through the isle" from the latter place to the former, (Acts
13:6) The great characteristic of Paphos was the worship of
Aphrodite or Venus, who was fabled to have here risen from the
sea. Her temple, however, was at "Old Paphos" now called Kuklia
. The harbor and the chief town were at "New Paphos," ten miles
to the northwest. The place is still called Baffa .
Parable
(The word parable is in Greek parable (parabole) which
signifies placing beside or together, a comparison, a parable
is therefore literally a placing beside, a comparison, a
similitude, an illustration of one subject by
another.--McClintock and Strong. As used in the New Testament
it had a very wide application, being applied sometimes to the
shortest proverbs, (1 Samuel 10:12; 24:13; 2 Chronicles 7:20)
sometimes to dark prophetic utterances, (Numbers 23:7,18; 24:3;
Ezekiel 20:49) sometimes to enigmatic maxims, (Psalms 78:2;
Proverbs 1:6) or metaphors expanded into a narrative. (Ezekiel
12:22) In the New Testament itself the word is used with a like
latitude in (Matthew 24:32; Luke 4:23; Hebrews 9:9) It was
often used in a more restricted sense to denote a short
narrative under which some important truth is veiled. Of this
sort were the parables of Christ. The parable differs from the
fable (1) in excluding brute and inanimate creatures passing
out of the laws of their nature and speaking or acting like
men; (2) in its higher ethical significance. It differs from
the allegory in that the latter, with its direct
personification of ideas or attributes, and the names which
designate them, involves really no comparison. The virtues and
vices of mankind appear as in a drama, in their own character
and costume. The allegory is self-interpreting; the parable
demands attention, insight, sometimes an actual explanation. It
differs from a proverb in that it must include a similitude of
some kind, while the proverb may assert, without a similitude,
some wide generalization of experience.--ED.) For some months
Jesus taught in the synagogues and on the seashore of Galilee
as he had before taught in Jerusalem, and as yet without a
parable. But then there came a change. The direct teaching was
met with scorn unbelief hardness, and he seemed for a time to
abandon it for that which took the form of parables. The worth
of parables as instruments of teaching lies in their being at
once a test of character and in their presenting each form of
character with that which, as a penalty or blessing, is adapted
to it. They withdraw the light from those who love darkness.
They protect the truth which they enshrine from the mockery of
the scoffer. They leave something even with the careless which
may be interpreted and understood afterward. They reveal on the
other hand, the seekers after truth. These ask the meaning of
the parable, and will not rest until the teacher has explained
it. In this way the parable did work, found out the fit hearers
and led them on. In most of the parables it is possible to
trace something like an order.
+ There is a group which have for their subject the laws of the
divine kingdom. Under this head we have the sower, (Matthew
13:1; Mark 4:1; Luke 8:1)... the wheat and the tares (Matthew
13:1) ... etc.
+ When the next parables meet us they are of a different type
and occupy a different position. They are drawn from the life
of men rather than from the world of nature. They are such as
these--the two debtors, (Luke 7:1) ... the merciless servant,
(Matthew 18:1) ... the good Samaritan, (Luke 10:1) ... etc.
+ Toward the close of our Lord's ministry the parables are
again theocratic but the phase of the divine kingdom on which
they chiefly dwell is that of its final consummation. In
interpreting parables note-- (1) The analogies must be real,
not arbitrary; (2) The parables are to be considered as parts
of a whole, and the interpretation of one is not to override
or encroach upon the lessons taught by others; (3) The direct
teaching of Christ presents the standard to which all our
interpretations are to be referred, and by which they are to
be measured.
Paradise
This is a word of Persian origin, and is used in the Septuagint
as the translation of Eden. It means "an orchard of pleasure
and fruits," a "garden" or "pleasure ground," something like an
English park. It is applied figuratively to the celestial
dwelling of the righteous, in allusion to the garden of Eden.
(2 Corinthians 12:4; Revelation 2:7) It has thus come into
familiar use to denote both that garden and the heaven of the
just.
Parah
(heifer-town) one of the cities in the territory allotted to
Benjamin, named only in the lists of the conquest. (Joshua
18:23)
Paran, Elparan
(peace of caverns), a desert or wilderness, bounded on the
north by Palestine, on the east by the valley of Arabah, on the
south by the desert of Sinai, and on the west by the wilderness
of Etham, which separated it from the Gulf of Suez and Egypt.
The first notice of Paran is in connection with the invasion of
the confederate kings. (Genesis 14:6) The detailed itinerary of
the children of Israel in (Numbers 33:1) ... does not mention
Paran because it was the name of a wide region; but the many
stations in Paran are recorded, chs. 17-36. and probably all
the eighteen stations were mentioned between Hazeroth and
Kadesh were in Paran. Through this very wide wilderness, from
pasture to pasture as do modern Arab tribes, the Israelites
wandered in irregular lines of march. This region through which
the Israelites journeyed so long is now called by the name it
has borne for ages--Bedu et-Tih, "the wilderness of wandering."
("Bible Geography," Whitney.) "Mount" Paran occurs only in two
poetic passages, (33:2); Habb 3:3 It probably denotes the
northwestern member of the Sinaitic mountain group which lies
adjacent to the Wady Teiran . (It is probably the ridge or
series of ridges lying on the northeastern part of the desert
of Paran, not far from Kadesh.--ED.)
Parbar
(open apartment), a word occurring in Hebrew and Authorized
Version only in (1 Chronicles 26:18) It would seem that Parbar
was some place on the west side of the temple enclosure,
probably the suburb mentioned by Josephus as lying in the deep
valley which separated the west wall of the temple from the
city opposite it.
Parchment
[[942]Writing]
Parlor
a word in English usage meaning the common room of the family,
and hence probably in Authorized Version denoting the king's
audience-chamber, so used in reference to Eglon. (Judges
3:20-25)
Parmashta
(superior), one of the ten sons of Haman slain by the Jews in
Shushan. (Esther 9:9) (B.C. 473.)
Parmenas
(abiding), one of the seven deacons, "men of honest report,
full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom." (Acts 8:5) There is a
tradition that he suffered martyrdom at Philippi in the reign
of Trajan.
Parnaeh
(delicate), father or ancestor of Elizaphan prince of the tribe
of Zebulun. (Numbers 34:25) (B.C. before 1452.)
Parshandatha
(given by prayer), the eldest of Haman's ten sons who were
slain by the Jews in Shushan. (Esther 9:7) (B.C. 473.)
Parthians
This name occurs only in (Acts 2:9) where it designates Jews
settled in Parthia. Parthia proper was the region stretching
along the southern flank of the mountains which separate the
great Persian desert from the desert of Kharesm. It lay south
of Hyrcania, east of Media and north of Sagartia. The ancient
Parthians are called a "Scythic" race, and probably belonged to
the great Turanian family. After being subject in succession to
the Persians and the Seleucidae, they revolted in B.C. 256. and
under Arsaces succeeded in establishing their independence.
Parthia, in the mind of the writer of the Acts, would designate
this empire, which extended from India to the Tigris and from
the Chorasmian desert to the shores of the Southern Ocean;
hence the prominent position of the name Parthians in the list
of those prevent at Pentecost. Parthia was a power almost
rivalling Rome--the only existing power which had tried its
strength against Rome and not been worsted in the encounter.
The Parthian dominion lasted for nearly five centuries,
commencing in the third century before and terminating in the
third century after our era. The Parthians spoke the Persian
language.
Partridge
(Heb. kore) occurs only (1 Samuel 26:20) and Jere 17:11 The
"hunting this bird upon the mountains," (1 Samuel 26:20)
entirely agrees with the habits of two well-known species of
partridge, viz. Caccabis saxatilis, the Greek partridge (which
is the commonest partridge of the holy land), and Ammoperdix
heyii . Our common partridge, Perdix cinerea, does not occur in
Palestine. (The Greek partridge somewhat resembles our
red-legged partridge in plumage, but is much larger. In every
part of the hill country it abounds, and its ringing call-note
in early morning echoes from cliff to cliff alike amid the
barrenness of the hills of Judea and in the glens of the forest
of Carmel. Tristram's Nat. Hist. of Bible . The flesh of the
partridge and the eggs are highly esteemed as food, and the
search for the eggs at the proper time of the year is made a
regular business.-ED.)
Paruah
(flourishing), the father of Jehoshaphat, Solomon's
commissariat officer in Issachar. (1 Kings 4:17) (B.C. about
1017.)
Parvaim
(Oriental regions), the name of an unknown place or country
whence the gold was procured for the decoration of Solomon's
temple. (2 Chronicles 3:6) We may notice the conjecture that it
is derived from the Sanscrit purva, "eastern," and is a general
term for the east.
Pasach
(cut off), son of Japhlet, of the tribe of Asher. (1 Chronicles
7:33)
Pasdammim
(boundary of blood). [EPHES-DAMMIM]
Paseah
(lame).
+ Son of Eshton, in an obscure fragment of the genealogies of
Judah. (1 Chronicles 4:12)
+ The "sons of Paseah" were among the Nethinim who returned
with Zerubbabel. (Ezra 2:49)
Pashur
(freedom).
+ One of the families of priests of the chief house of
Malchijah. (1 Chronicles 9:12; 24:9; Nehemiah 11:12; Jeremiah
21:1; 38:1) In the time of Nehemiah this family appears to
have become a chief house, and its head the head of a course.
(Ezra 2:38; Nehemiah 7:41; 10:3) The individual from whom the
family was named was probably Pushur the son of Malchiah, who
in the reign of Zedekiah was one of the chief princes of the
court. (Jeremiah 38:1) (B.C. 607.) He was sent, with others,
by Zedekiah to Jeremiah at the time when Nebuchudnezzar was
preparing his attack upon Jerusalem. (Jeremiah 21:1) ...
Again somewhat later Pashur joined with several other chief
men in petitioning the king that Jeremiah might be put to
death as a traitor. (Jeremiah 38:4)
+ Another person of this name, also a priest, and "chief
governor of the house of the Lord," is mentioned in (Jeremiah
20:1) He is described as "the son of Immer." (1 Chronicles
24:14) probably the same as Amariah. (Nehemiah 10:3; 12:2)
etc. In the reign of Jehoiakim he showed himself as hostile
to Jeremiah as his namesake the son of Malchiah did
afterward, and put him in the stocks by the gate of Benjamin.
For this indignity to God's prophet Pashur was told by
Jeremiah that his name was changed to Magor-missabib (terror
on every side) and that he and all his house should be
carried captives to Babylon and there die. (Jeremiah 20:1-6)
(B.C. 589.)
Passage
Used in the plural, (Jeremiah 22:20) probably to denote the
mountain region of Abarim on the east side of Jordan. It also
denotes a river ford or mountain gorge or pass.
Passover
the first of the three great annual festivals of the Israelites
celebrated in the month Nisan (March-April, from the 14th to
the 21st. (Strictly speaking the Passover only applied to the
paschal supper and the feast of unleavened bread followed,
which was celebrated to the 21st.) (For the corresponding dates
in our month, see Jewish calendar at the end of this volume.)
The following are the principal passages in the Pentateuch
relating to the Passover: (Exodus 12:1-51; 13:3-10; 23:14-19;
34:18-26; Leviticus 23:4-14; Numbers 9:1-14; 28:16-25; 16:1-6)
Why instituted .--This feast was instituted by God to
commemorate the deliverance of the Israelites from Egyptian
bondage and the sparing of their firstborn when the destroying
angel smote the first-born of the Egyptians. The deliverance
from Egypt was regarded as the starting-point of the Hebrew
nation. The Israelites were then raised from the condition of
bondmen under a foreign tyrant to that of a free people owing
allegiance to no one but Jehovah. The prophet in a later age
spoke of the event as a creation and a redemption of the
nation. God declares himself to be "the Creator of Israel." The
Exodus was thus looked upon as the birth of the nation; the
Passover was its annual birthday feast. It was the yearly
memorial of the dedication of the people to him who had saved
their first-born from the destroyer, in order that they might
be made holy to himself. First celebration of the Passover
.--On the tenth day of the month, the head of each family was
to select from the flock either a lamb or a kid, a male of the
first year, without blemish. If his family was too small to eat
the whole of the lamb, he was permitted to invite his nearest
neighbor to join the party. On the fourteenth day of the month
he was to kill his lamb, while the sun was setting. He was then
to take blood in a basin and with a sprig of hyssop to sprinkle
it on the two side-posts and the lintel of the door of the
house. The lamb was then thoroughly roasted, whole. It was
expressly forbidden that it should be boiled, or that a bone of
it should be broken. Unleavened bread and bitter herbs were to
be eaten with the flesh. No male who was uncircumcised was to
join the company. Each one was to have his loins girt, to hold
a staff in his hand, and to have shoes on his feet. He was to
eat in haste, and it would seem that he was to stand during the
meal. The number of the party was to be calculated as nearly as
possible, so that all the flesh of the lamb might be eaten; but
if any portion of it happened to remain, it was to be burned in
the morning. No morsel of it was to be carried out of the
house. The lambs were selected, on the fourteenth they were
slain and the blood sprinkled, and in the following evening,
after the fifteenth day of the had commenced the first paschal
meal was eaten. At midnight the firstborn of the Egyptians were
smitten. The king and his people were now urgent that the
Israelites should start immediately, and readily bestowed on
them supplies for the journey. In such haste did the Israelites
depart, on that very day, (Numbers 33:3) that they packed up
their kneading troughs containing the dough prepared for the
morrow's provisions, which was not yet leavened. Observance of
the Passover in later times .--As the original institution of
the Passover in Egypt preceded the establishment of the
priesthood and the regulation of the service of the tabernacle.
It necessarily fell short in several particulars of the
observance of the festival according to the fully-developed
ceremonial law. The head of the family slew the lamb in his own
house, not in the holy place; the blood was sprinkled on the
doorway, not on the altar. But when the law was perfected,
certain particulars were altered in order to assimilate the
Passover to the accustomed order of religious service. In the
twelfth and thirteenth chapters of Exodus there are not only
distinct references to the observance of the festival in future
ages (e.g.) (Exodus 12:2,14,17,24-27,42; 13:2,5,8-10) but there
are several injunctions which were evidently not intended for
the first Passover, and which indeed could not possibly have
been observed. Besides the private family festival, there were
public and national sacrifices offered each of the seven days
of unleavened bread. (Numbers 28:19) On the second day also the
first-fruits of the barley harvest were offered in the temple.
(Leviticus 23:10) In the latter notices of the festival in the
books of the law there are particulars added which appear as
modifications of the original institution. (Leviticus 23:10-14;
Numbers 28:16-25; 16:1-6) Hence it is not without reason that
the Jewish writers have laid great stress on the distinction
between "the Egyptian Passover" and "the perpetual Passover."
Mode and order of the paschal meal .--All work except that
belonging to a few trades connected with daily life was
suspended for some hours before the evening of the 14th Nisan.
It was not lawful to eat any ordinary food after midday. No
male was admitted to the table unless he was circumcised, even
if he were of the seed of Israel. (Exodus 12:48) It was
customary for the number of a party to be not less than ten.
When the meal was prepared, the family was placed round the
table, the paterfamilias taking a place of honor, probably
somewhat raised above the rest. When the party was arranged the
first cup of wine was filled, and a blessing was asked by the
head of the family on the feast, as well as a special, one on
the cup. The bitter herbs were then placed on the table, and a
portion of them eaten, either with Or without the sauce. The
unleavened bread was handed round next and afterward the lamb
was placed on the table in front of the head of the family. The
paschal lamb could be legally slain and the blood and fat
offered only in the national sanctuary. (16:2) Before the lamb
was eaten the second cup of wine was filled, and the son, in
accordance with (Exodus 12:26) asked his father the meaning of
the feast. In reply, an account was given of the sufferings of
the Israelites in Egypt and of their deliverance, with a
particular explanation of (26:5) and the first part of the
Hallel (a contraction from Hallelujah), Psal 113, 114, was
sung. This being gone through, the lamb was carved and eaten.
The third cup of wine was poured out and drunk, and soon
afterward the fourth. The second part of the Hallel, Psal 115
to 118 was then sung. A fifth wine-cup appears to have been
occasionally produced, But perhaps only in later times. What
was termed the greater Hallel, Psal 120 to 138 was sung on such
occasions. The Israelites who lived in the country appear to
have been accommodated at the feast by the inhabitants of
Jerusalem in their houses, so far its there was room for them.
(Matthew 26:18; Luke 22:10-12) Those who could not be received
into the city encamped without the walls in tents as the
pilgrims now do at Mecca. The Passover as a type .--The
Passover was not only commemorative but also typical. "The
deliverance which it commemorated was a type of the great
salvation it foretold."--No other shadow of things to come
contained in the law can vie with the festival of the Passover
in expressiveness and completeness. (1) The paschal lamb must
of course be regarded as the leading feature in the ceremonial
of the festival. The lamb slain typified Christ the "Lamb of
God." slain for the sins of the world. Christ "our Passover is
sacrificed for us." (1 Corinthians 5:7) According to the divine
purpose, the true Lamb of God was slain at nearly the same time
as "the Lord's Passover" at the same season of the year; and at
the same time of the day as the daily sacrifice at the temple,
the crucifixion beginning at the hour of the morning sacrifice
and ending at the hour of the evening sacrifice. That the lamb
was to be roasted and not boiled has been supposed to
commemorate the haste of the departure of the Israelites. It is
not difficult to determine the reason of the command "not a
bone of him shall be broken." The lamb was to be a symbol of
unity--the unity of the family, the unity of the nation, the
unity of God with his people whom he had taken into covenant
with himself. (2) The unleavened bread ranks next in importance
to the paschal lamb. We are warranted in concluding that
unleavened bread had a peculiar sacrificial character,
according to the law. It seems more reasonable to accept St,
Paul's reference to the subject, (1 Corinthians 5:6-8) as
furnishing the true meaning of the symbol. Fermentation is
decomposition, a dissolution of unity. The pure dry biscuit
would be an apt emblem of unchanged duration, and, in its
freedom from foreign mixture, of purity also. (3) The offering
of the omer or first sheaf of the harvest, (Leviticus 23:10-14)
signified deliverance from winter the bondage of Egypt being
well considered as a winter in the history of the nation. (4)
The consecration of the first-fruits, the firstborn of the
soil, is an easy type of the consecration of the first born of
the Israelites, and of our own best selves, to God. Further
than this (1) the Passover is a type of deliverance from the
slavery of sin. (2) It is the passing over of the doom we
deserve for your sins, because the blood of Christ has been
applied to us by faith. (3) The sprinkling of the blood upon
the door-posts was a symbol of open confession of our
allegiance and love. (4) The Passover was useless unless eaten;
so we live upon the Lord Jesus Christ. (5) It was eaten with
bitter herbs, as we must eat our passover with the bitter herbs
of repentance and confession, which yet, like the bitter herbs
of the Passover, are a fitting and natural accompaniment. (6)
As the Israelites ate the Passover all prepared for the
journey, so do we with a readiness and desire to enter the
active service of Christ, and to go on the journey toward
heaven.--ED.)
Patara
(city of Patarus), a Lycian city situated on the southwestern
shore of Lycia, not far from the left bank of the river
Xanthus. The coast here is very mountainous and bold.
Immediately opposite is the island of Rhodes. Patara was
practically the seaport of the city of Xanthus, which was ten
miles distant. These notices of its position and maritime
importance introduce us to the single mention of the place in
the Bible-- (Acts 21:1,2)
Pathros
(region of the south), a part of Egypt, and a Mizraite tribe
whose people were called Pathrusim. In the list of the
Mizraites the Pathrusim occur after the Naphtuhim and before
the Caluhim; the latter being followed by the notice of the
Philistines and by the Caphtorim. (Genesis 10:13,14; 1
Chronicles 1:12) Pathros is mentioned in the prophecies of
Isaiah, (Isaiah 11:11) Jeremiah (Jeremiah 44:1,15) and Ezekiel.
(Ezekiel 29:14; 30:13-18) It was probably part or all of upper
Egypt, and we may trace its name in the Pathyrite name, in
which Thebes was situated.
Pathrusim
people of Pathros. [[943]Pathros]
Patmos
(Revelation 1:9) a rugged and bare island in the AEgean Sea, 20
miles south of Samos and 24 west of Asia Minor. It was the
scene of the banishment of St. John in the reign of Domitian,
A.D. 95. Patmos is divided into two nearly equal parts, a
northern and a southern, by a very narrow isthmus where, on the
east side are the harbor and the town. On the hill to the
south, crowning a commanding height, is the celebrated
monastery which bears the name of "John the Divine." Halfway up
the descent is the cave or grotto where tradition says that St.
John received the Revelation.
Patriarch
(father of a tribe), the name given to the head of a family or
tribe in Old Testament times. In common usage the title of
patriarch is assigned especially to those whose lives are
recorded in Scripture previous to the time of Moses, as Adam,
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ("In the early history of the Hebrews
we find the ancestor or father of a family retaining authority
over his children and his children's children so long as he
lived, whatever new connections they might form when the father
died the branch families did not break off and form new
communities, but usually united under another common head. The
eldest son was generally invested with this dignity. His
authority was paternal. He was honored as central point of
connection and as the representative of the whole kindred. Thus
each great family had its patriarch or head, and each tribe its
prince, selected from the several heads of the families which
it embraced."--McClintock and Strong.) ("After the destruction
of Jerusalem, patriarch was the title of the chief religious
rulers of the Jews in Asia and in early Christian times it
became the designation of the bishops of Rome, Constantinople,
Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem."--American Cyclopedia .)
Patrobas
(paternal),a Christian at Rome to whom St. Paul sends his
salutation. (Romans 16:14) Like many other names mentioned in
Roma 16 this was borne by at least one member of the emperor's
household. Suet. Galba. 20; Martial, Ep. ii. 32, 3. (A.D. 55.)
Pau
(bleating) (but in (1 Chronicles 1:50) [944]Pai), the capital
of Hadar king of Edom. (Genesis 36:39) Its position is unknown.
Paul
(small, little). Nearly all the original materials for the life
St. Paul are contained in the Acts of the Apostles and in the
Pauline epistles. Paul was born in Tarsus, a city of Cilicia.
(It is not improbable that he was born between A.D. and A.D.
5.) Up to the time of his going forth as an avowed preacher of
Christ to the Gentiles, the apostle was known by the name of
Saul. This was the Jewish name which he received from his
Jewish parents. But though a Hebrew of the Hebrews, he was born
in a Gentile city. Of his parents we know nothing, except that
his father was of the tribe of Benjamin, (Philemon 3:5) and a
Pharisee, (Acts 23:6) that Paul had acquired by some means the
Roman franchise ("I was free born,") (Acts 22:23) and that he
was settled in Tarsus. At Tarsus he must have learned to use
the Greek language with freedom and mastery in both speaking
and writing. At Tarsus also he learned that trade of
"tent-maker," (Acts 18:3) at which he afterward occasionally
wrought with his own hands. There was a goat's-hair cloth
called cilicium manufactured in Cilicia, and largely used for
tents, Saul's trade was probably that of making tents of this
hair cloth. When St. Paul makes his defence before his
countrymen at Jerusalem, (Acts 22:1) ... he tells them that,
though born in Tarsus he had been "brought up" in Jerusalem. He
must therefore, have been yet a boy when was removed, in all
probability for the sake of his education, to the holy city of
his fathers. He learned, he says, at the feet of Gamaliel." He
who was to resist so stoutly the usurpations of the law had for
his teacher one of the most eminent of all the doctors of the
law. Saul was yet "a young man," (Acts 7:58) when the Church
experienced that sudden expansion which was connected with the
ordaining of the seven appointed to serve tables, and with the
special power and inspiration of Stephen. Among those who
disputed with Stephen were some "of them of Cilicia." We
naturally think of Saul as having been one of these, when we
find him afterward keeping the clothes of those suborned
witnesses who, according to the law, (17:7) were the first to
cast stones at Stephen. "Saul," says the sacred writer
significantly "was consenting unto his death." Saul's
conversion . A.D. 37.--The persecutor was to be converted.
Having undertaken to follow up the believers "unto strange
cities." Saul naturally turned his thoughts to Damascus. What
befell him as he journeyed thither is related in detail three
times in the Acts, first by the historian in his own person,
then in the two addresses made by St. Paul at Jerusalem and
before Agrippa. St. Luke's statement is to be read in (Acts
9:3-19) where, however, the words "it is hard for thee to kick
against the pricks," included in the English version, ought to
be omitted (as is done in the Revised Version). The sudden
light from heaven; the voice of Jesus speaking with authority
to his persecutor; Saul struck to the ground, blinded,
overcome; the three-days suspense; the coming of Ananias as a
messenger of the Lord and Saul's baptism,--these were the
leading features at the great event, and in these we must look
for the chief significance of the conversion. It was in
Damascus that he was received into the church by Ananias, and
here to the astonishment of all his hearers, he proclaimed
Jesus in the synagogues, declaring him to be the Son of God.
The narrative in the Acts tells us simply that he was occupied
in this work, with increasing vigor, for "many days," up to the
time when imminent danger drove him from Damascus. From the
Epistle to the Galatians, (Galatians 1:17,18) we learn that the
many days were at least a good part of "three years," A.D.
37-40, and that Saul, not thinking it necessary to procure
authority to teach from the apostles that were before him, went
after his conversion to Arabia, and returned from thence to us.
We know nothing whatever of this visit to Arabia; but upon his
departure from Damascus we are again on a historical ground,
and have the double evidence of St. Luke in the Acts of the
apostle in his Second Epistle the Corinthians. According to the
former, the Jews lay in wait for Saul, intending to kill him,
and watched the gates of the city that he might not escape from
them. Knowing this, the disciples took him by night and let him
down in a basket from the wall. Having escaped from Damascus,
Saul betook himself to Jerusalem (A.D. 40), and there "assayed
to join himself to the disciples; but they were all afraid of
him, and believed not he was a disciple." Barnabas'
introduction removed the fears of the apostles, and Saul "was
with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem." But it is not
strange that the former persecutor was soon singled out from
the other believers as the object of a murderous hostility. He
was,therefore, again urged to flee; and by way of Caesarea
betook himself to his native city, Tarsus. Barnabas was sent on
a special mission to Antioch. As the work grew under his hands,
he felt the need of help, went himself to Tarsus to seek Saul,
and succeeded in bringing him to Antioch. There they labored
together unremittingly for a whole year." All this time Saul
was subordinate to Barnabas. Antioch was in constant
communication with Cilicia, with Cyprus, with all the
neighboring countries. The Church was pregnant with a great
movement, and time of her delivery was at hand. Something of
direct expectation seems to be implied in what is said of the
leaders of the Church at Antioch, that they were "ministering
to the Lord and fasting," when the Holy Ghost spoke to them:
"Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have
called them." Everything was done with orderly gravity in the
sending forth of the two missionaries. Their brethren after
fasting and prayer, laid their hands on them, and so they
departed. The first missionary journey. A.D. 45-49.--As soon as
Barnabas and Saul reached Cyprus they began to "announce the
word of God," but at first they delivered their message in the
synagogues of the Jews only. When they had gone through the
island, from Salamis to Paphos, they were called upon to
explain their doctrine to an eminent Gentile, Sergius Paulus,
the proconsul, who was converted. Saul's name was now changed
to Paul, and he began to take precedence of Barnabas. From
Paphos "Paul and his company" set sail for the mainland, and
arrived at Perga in Pamphylia. Here the heart of their
companion John failed him, and he returned to Jerusalem. From
Perga they travelled on to a place obscure in secular history,
but most memorable in the history of the Kingdom of
Christ--Antioch in Pisidia. Rejected by the Jews, they became
bold and outspoken, and turned from them to the Gentiles. At
Antioch now, as in every city afterward, the unbelieving Jews
used their influence with their own adherents among the
Gentiles to persuade the authorities or the populace to
persecute the apostles and to drive them from the place. Paul
and Barnabas now travelled on to Iconium where the occurrences
at Antioch were repeated, and from thence to the Lycaonian
country which contained the cities Lystra and Derbe. Here they
had to deal with uncivilized heathen. At Lystra the healing of
a cripple took place. Thereupon these pagans took the apostles
for gods, calling Barnabas, who was of the more imposing
presence, Jupiter, and Paul, who was the chief speaker,
Mercurius. Although the people of Lystra had been so ready to
worship Paul and Barnabas, the repulse of their idolatrous
instincts appears to have provoked them, and they allowed
themselves to be persuaded into hostility be Jews who came from
Antioch and Iconium, so that they attacked Paul with stones,
and thought they had killed him. He recovered, however as the
disciples were standing around him, and went again into the
city. The next day he left it with Barnabas, and went to Derbe,
and thence they returned once more to Lystra, and so to Iconium
and Antioch. In order to establish the churches after their
departure they solemnly appointed "elders" in every city. Then
they came down to the coast, and from Attalia, they sailed;
home to Antioch in Syria, where they related the successes
which had been granted to them, and especially the opening of
the door of faith to the Gentiles." And so the first missionary
journey ended. The council at Jerusalem.--Upon that missionary
journey follows most naturally the next important scene which
the historian sets before us--the council held at Jerusalem to
determine the relations of Gentile believers to the law of
Moses. (Acts 15:1-29; Galatians 2) Second missionary journey .
A.D. 50-54.--The most resolute courage, indeed, was required
for the work to which St. Paul was now publicly pledged. He
would not associate with himself in that work one who had
already shown a want of constancy. This was the occasion of
what must have been a most painful difference between him and
his comrade in the faith and in past perils, Barnabas. (Acts
15:35-40) Silas, or Silvanus, becomes now a chief companion of
the apostle. The two went together through Syria and Cilicia,
visiting the churches, and so came to Derbe and Lystra. Here
they find Timotheus, who had become a disciple on the former
visit of the apostle. Him St. Paul took and Circumcised. St.
Luke now steps rapidly over a considerable space of the
apostle's life and labors. "They went throughout Phrygia and
the region of Galatia." (Luke 16:6) At this time St. Paul was
founding "the churches of Galatia." (Galatians 1:2) He himself
gives some hints of the circumstances of his preaching in that
region, of the reception he met with, and of the ardent though
unstable character of the people. (Galatians 4:13-15) Having
gone through Phrygia and Galatia, he intended to visit, the
western coast; but "they were forbidden by the Holy Ghost to
preach the "word" there. Then, being on the borders of Mysia,
they thought of going back to the northeast into Bithynia; but
again the Spirit of Jesus "suffered them not," so they passed
by Mysia and came down to Troas. St. Paul saw in a vision a
man,of Macedonia, who besought him, saying, "Come over into
Macedonia and help us." The vision was at once accepted as a
heavenly intimation; the help wanted, by the Macedonians was
believed to be the preaching of the gospel. It is at this point
that the historian, speaking of St. Paul's company, substitutes
"we" for "they." He says nothing of himself we can only infer
that St. Luke, to whatever country he belonged, became a
companion of St. Paul at Troas. The party thus reinforced,
immediately set sail from Troas, touched at Samothrace, then
landed on the continent at Neapolis, and thence journeyed to
Philippi. The first convert in Macedonia was Lydia, an Asiatic
woman, at Philippi. (Acts 18:13,14) At Philippi Paul and Silas
were arrested, beaten and put in prison, having cast out the
spirit of divination from a female slave who had brought her
masters much gain by her power. This cruel wrong was to be the
occasion of a signal appearance of the God of righteousness and
deliverance. The narrative tells of the earthquake, the
jailer's terror, his conversion and baptism. (Acts 16:26-34) In
the morning the magistrates sent word to the prison that the
men might be let go; but Paul denounced plainly their unlawful
acts, informing them moreover that those whom they had beaten
and imprisoned without trial; were Roman citizens. The
magistrates, in great alarm, saw the necessity of humbling
themselves. They came and begged them to leave the city. Paul
and Silas consented to do so, and, after paying a visit to "the
brethren" in the house of Lydia, they departed. Leaving St.
Luke, and perhaps Timothy for a short time at Philippi, Paul
and Silas travelled through Amphipolis and Apollonia and
stopped again at Thessalonica. Here again, as in Pisidian
Antioch, the envy of the Jews was excited, and the mob
assaulted the house of Jason with whom Paul and Silas were
staying as guests, and, not finding them, dragged Jason himself
and some other brethren before the magistrates. After these
signs of danger the brethren immediately sent away Paul and
Silas by night. They next came to Berea. Here they found the
Jews more noble than those at Thessalonica had been.
Accordingly they gained many converts, both Jews and Greeks;
but the Jews of Thessalonica, hearing of it, sent emissaries to
stir up the people, and it was thought best that Paul should
himself leave the city whilst Silas and Timothy
remained-behind. Some of the brethren went with St. Paul as far
as Athens, where they left him carrying back a request to Silas
and Timothy that they would speedily join him. Here the apostle
delivered that wonderful discourse reported in (Acts 17:22-31)
He gained but few converts at Athens, and soon took his
departure and went to Corinth. He was testifying with unusual
effort and anxiety when Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia
and joined him. Their arrival was the occasion of the writing
of the First Epistle to the Thessalonians. The two epistles to
the Thessalonians--and these alone--belong to the present
missionary journey. They were written from Corinth A.D. 52, 53.
When Silas and Timotheus came to Corinth, St. Paul was
testifying to the Jews with great earnestness, but with little
success. Corinth was the chief city of the province of Achaia,
and the residence of the proconsul. During St. Paul stay the
proconsular office was held by Gallio, a brother of the
philosopher Seneca. Before him the apostle was summoned by his
Jewish enemies, who hoped to bring the Roman authority to bear
upon him as an innovator in religion. But Gallio perceived at
once, before Paul could "open his mouth" to defend himself,
that the movement was due to Jewish prejudice, and refused to
go into the question. Then a singular scene occurred. The
Corinthian spectators, either favoring Paul or actuated only by
anger against the Jews, seized on the principal person of those
who had brought the charge, and beat him before the
judgment-seat. Gallio left these religious quarrels to settle
themselves. The apostle therefore, was not allowed to be
"hurt," and remained some time longer at Corinth unmolested.
Having been the instrument of accomplishing this work, Paul
departed for Jerusalem, wishing to attend a festival there.
Before leaving Greece, he cut off his hair at Cenchreae, in
fulfillment of a vow. (Acts 18:18) Paul paid a visit to the
synagogue at Ephesus, but would not stay. Leaving Ephesus, he
sailed to Caesarea, and from thence went up to Jerusalem,
spring, A.D. 54, and "saluted the church." It is argued, from
considerations founded on the suspension of navigation during
the winter months, that the festival was probably the
Pentecost. From Jerusalem the apostle went almost immediately
down to Antioch, thus returning to the same place from which he
had started with Silas. Third missionary journey, including the
stay at Ephesus . A.D. 54-58. (Acts 18:23; Acts 21:17)--The
great epistles which belong to this period, those to the
Galatians, Corinthians and Romans, show how the "Judaizing"
question exercised at this time the apostle's mind. St. Paul
"spent some time" at Antioch, and during this stay as we are
inclined to believe, his collision with St. Peter (Galatians
2:11-14) took place. When he left Antioch, he "went over all
the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all
the disciples," and giving orders concerning the collection for
the saints. (1 Corinthians 18:1) It is probable that the
Epistle to the Galatians was written soon after this
visit--A.D. 56-57. This letter was in all probability sent from
Ephesus. This was the goal of the apostle's journeyings through
Asia Minor. He came down to Ephesus from the upper districts of
Phrygia. Here he entered upon his usual work. He went into the
synagogue, and for three months he spoke openly, disputing and
persuading concerning "the kingdom of God." At the end of this
time the obstinacy and opposition of some of the Jews led him
to give up frequenting the synagogue, and he established the
believers as a separate society meeting "in the school of
Tyrannus." This continued for two years. During this time many
things occurred of which the historian of the Acts chooses two
examples, the triumph over magical arts and the great
disturbance raised by the silversmiths who made shrines
Diana--among which we are to note further the writing of the
First Epistle to the Corinth A.D. 57. Before leaving Ephesus
Paul went into Macedonia, where he met Titus, who brought him
news of the state of the Corinthian church. Thereupon he wrote
the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, A.D. 57, and sent it by
the hands of Titus and two other brethren to Corinth. After
writing this epistle, St. Paul travelled throughout Macedonia,
perhaps to the borders of Illyricum, (Romans 15:19) and then
went to Corinth. The narrative in the Acts tells us that "when
he had gone over those parts (Macedonia), and had given them
much exhortation he came into Greece, and there abode three
months." (Acts 20:2,3) There is only one incident which we can
connect with this visit to Greece, but that is a very important
one--the writing of his Epistle to the Romans, A.D. 58. That
this was written at this time from Corinth appears from
passages in the epistle itself and has never been doubted. The
letter is a substitute for the personal visit which he had
longed "for many years" to pay. Before his departure from
Corinth, St. Paul was joined again by St. Luke, as we infer
from the change in the narrative from the third to the first
person. He was bent on making a journey to Jerusalem, for a
special purpose and within a limited time. With this view he
was intending to go by sea to Syria. But he was made aware of
some plot of the Jews for his destruction, to be carried out
through this voyage; and he determined to evade their malice by
changing his route. Several brethren were associated with him
in this expedition, the bearers no doubt, of the collections
made in all the churches for the poor at Jerusalem. These were
sent on by sea, and probably the money with them, to Troas,
where they were to await Paul. He, accompanied by Luke, went
northward through Macedonia. Whilst the vessel which conveyed
the rest of the party sailed from Troas to Assos, Paul gained
some time by making the journey by land. At Assos he went on
board again. Coasting along by Mitylene, Chios, Samos and
Trogyllium, they arrived at Miletus. At Miletus, however there
was time to send to Ephesus, and the elders of the church were
invited to come down to him there. This meeting is made the
occasion for recording another characteristic and
representative address of St. Paul. (Acts 20:18-35) The course
of the voyage from Miletas was by Coos and Rhodes to Patara,
and from Patara in another vessel past Cyprus to Tyre. Here
Paul and his company spent seven days. From Tyre they sailed to
Ptolemais, where they spent one day, and from Ptolemais
proceeded, apparently by land, to Caesarea. They now "tarried
many days" at Caesarea. During this interval the prophet
Agabus, (Acts 11:28) came down from Jerusalem, and crowned the
previous intimations of danger with a prediction expressively
delivered. At this stage a final effort was made to dissuade
Paul from going up to Jerusalem, by the Christians of Caesarea
and by his travelling companions. After a while they went up to
Jerusalem and were gladly received by the brethren. This is St.
Paul's fifth an last visit to Jerusalem. St. Paul's
imprisonment: Jerusalem . Spring, A.D. 58.--He who was thus
conducted into Jerusalem by a company of anxious friends had
become by this time a man of considerable fame among his
countrymen. He was widely known as one who had taught with
pre-eminent boldness that a way into God's favor was opened to
the Gentiles, and that this way did not lie through the door of
the Jewish law. He had thus roused against himself the bitter
enmity of that unfathomable Jewish pride which was almost us
strong in some of those who had professed the faith of Jesus as
in their unconverted brethren. He was now approaching a crisis
in the long struggle, and the shadow of it has been made to
rest upon his mind throughout his journey to Jerusalem. He came
"ready to die for the name of the Lord Jesus," but he came
expressly to prove himself a faithful Jew and this purpose is
shown at every point of the history. Certain Jews from "Asia,"
who had come up for the pentecostal feast, and who had a
personal knowledge of Paul, saw him in the temple. They set
upon him at once, and stirred up the people against him. There
was instantly a great commotion; Paul was dragged out of the
temple, the doors of which were immediately shut, and the
people having him in their hands, were going to kill him. Paul
was rescued from the violence of the multitude by the Roman
officer, who made him his own prisoner, causing him to be
chained to two soldiers, and then proceeded to inquire who he
was and what he had done. The inquiry only elicited confused
outcries, and the "chief captain" seems to have imagined that
the apostle might perhaps be a certain Egyptian pretender who
recently stirred up a considerable rising of the people. The
account In the (Acts 21:34-40) tells us with graphic touches
how St. Paul obtained leave and opportunity to address the
people in a discourse which is related at length. Until the
hated word of a mission to the Gentiles had been spoken, the
Jews had listened to the speaker. "Away with such a fellow from
the earth," the multitude now shouted; "it is not fit that he
should live." The Roman commander seeing the tumult that arose
might well conclude that St. Paul had committed some heinous
offence; and carrying him off, he gave orders that he should be
forced by scourging to confess his crime. Again the apostle
took advantage of his Roman citizenship to protect himself from
such an outrage. The chief captain set him free from bonds, but
on the next day called together the chief priests and the
Sanhedrin, and brought Paul as a prisoner before them. On the
next day a conspiracy was formed which the historian relates
with a singular fullness of detail. More than forty of the Jews
bound themselves under a curse neither to eat nor drink until
they had killed Paul. The plot was discovered, and St. Paul was
hurried away from Jerusalem. The chief captain, Claudius Lysias
determined to send him to Caesarea to Felix, the governor or
procurator of Judea. He therefor put him in charge of a strong
guard of soldiers, who took him by night as far as Antipatris.
From thence a smaller detachment conveyed him to Caesarea,
where they delivered up their prisoner into the hands of the
governor. Imprisonment at Caesarea. A.D. 58-60.--St. Paul was
henceforth to the end of the period embraced in the Acts, if
not to the end of his life, in Roman custody. This custody was
in fact a protection to him, without which he would have fallen
a victim to the animosity of the Jews. He seems to have been
treated throughout with humanity and consideration. The
governor before whom he was now to be tried, according to
Tacitus and Josephus, was a mean and dissolute tyrant. After
hearing St, Paul's accusers and the apostle's defence, Felix
made an excuse for putting off the matter, and gave orders that
the prisoner should be treated with indulgence and that his
friends should be allowed free access to him. After a while he
heard him again. St. Paul remained in custody until Felix left
the province. The unprincipled governor had good reason to seek
to ingratiate himself with the Jews; and to please them, be
handed over Paul, as an untried prisoner, to his successor,
Festus. Upon his arrival in the province, Festus went up
without delay from Caesarea to Jerusalem, and the leading Jews
seized the opportunity of asking that Paul might be brought up
there for trial intending to assassinate him by the way. But
Festus would not comply with their request, He invited them to
follow him on his speedy return to Caesarea, and a trial took
place there, closely resembling that before Felix. "They had
certain questions against him," Festus says to Agrippa, "of
their own superstition (or religion), and of one Jesus, who was
dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive. And being puzzled for my
part as to such inquiries, I asked him whether he would go to
Jerusalem to be tried there." This proposal, not a very likely
one to be accepted, was the occasion of St. Paul's appeal to
Caesar. The appeal having been allowed, Festus reflected that
he must send with the prisoner a report of "the crimes laid
against him." He therefore took advantage of an opportunity
which offered itself in a few days to seek some help in the
matter. The Jewish prince Agrippa arrived with his sister
Bernice on a visit to the new governor. To him Festus
communicated his perplexity. Agrippa expressed a desire to hear
Paul himself. Accordingly Paul conducted his defence before the
king; and when it was concluded Festus and Agrippa, and their
companions, consulted together, and came to the conclusion that
the accused was guilty of nothing that deserved death or
imprisonment. "Agrippa"s final answer to the inquiry of Festus
was, "This man might have been set at liberty, if he had not
appealed unto Caesar." The voyage to Rome and shipwreck.
Autumn, A.D. 60.--No formal trial of St. Paul had yet taken
place. After a while arrangements were made to carry "Paul and
certain other prisoners," in the custody of a centurion named
Julius, into Italy; and amongst the company, whether by favor
or from any other reason, we find the historian of the Acts,
who in chapters 27 and 28 gives a graphic description of the
voyage to Rome and the shipwreck on the Island of Melita or
Malta. After a three-months stay in Malta the soldiers and
their prisoners left in an Alexandria ship for Italy. They
touched at Syracuse, where they stayed three days, and at
Rhegium, from which place they were carried with a fair wind to
Puteoli, where they left their ship and the sea. At Puteoli
they found "brethren," for it was an important place and
especially a chief port for the traffic between Alexandria and
Rome; and by these brethren they were exhorted to stay a while
with them. Permission seems to have been granted by the
centurion; and whilst they were spending seven days at Puteoli
news of the apostle's arrival was sent to Rome. (Spring, A.D.
61.) First imprisonment of St. Paul at Rome . A.D. 61-63.--On
their arrival at Rome the centurion delivered up his prisoners
into the proper custody that of the praetorian prefect. Paul
was at once treated with special consideration and was allowed
to dwell by himself with the soldier who guarded him. He was
now therefore free "to preach the gospel to them that were at
Rome also;" and proceeded without delay to act upon his
rule--"to the Jews first," But as of old, the reception of his
message by the Jews was not favorable. He turned, therefore,
again to the Gentiles, and for two years he dwelt in his own
hired house. These are the last words of the Acts. But St.
Paul's career is not abruptly closed. Before he himself fades
out of our sight in the twilight of ecclesiastical tradition,
we have letters written by himself which contribute some
particulars to his biography. Period of the later epistles.--To
that imprisonment to which St. Luke has introduced us--the
imprisonment which lasted for such a tedious time, though
tempered by much indulgence--belongs the noble group of letters
to Philemon, to the Colossians, to the Ephesians and to the
Philippians. The three former of these were written at one
time, and sent by the same messengers. Whether that to the
Philippians was written before or after these we cannot
determine; but the tone of it seems to imply that a crisis was
approaching, and therefore it is commonly regarded us the
latest of the four. In this epistle St. Paul twice expresses a
confident hope that before long he may be able to visit the
Philippians in person. (Philemon 1:25; 2:24) Whether this hope
was fulfilled or not has been the occasion of much controversy.
According to the general opinion the apostle was liberated from
imprisonment at the end of two years, having been acquitted by
Nero A.D. 63, and left Rome soon after writing the letter to
the Philippians. He spent some time in visits to Greece, Asia
Minor and Spain, and during the latter part of this time wrote
the letters (first epistles) to Timothy and Titus from
Macedonia, A.D. 65. After these were written he was apprehended
again and sent to Rome. Second imprisonment at Rome . A.D.
65-67.--The apostle appears now to have been treated not as an
honorable state prisoner but as a felon, (2 Timothy 2:9) but he
was allowed to write the second letter to Timothy, A.D. 67. For
what remains we have the concurrent testimony of ecclesiastical
antiquity that he was beheaded at Rome, by Nero in the great
persecutions of the Christians by that emperor, A.D. 67 or 68.
Pavement
[[945]Gabbatha]
Pavilion
a temporary movable tent or habitation.
+ Soc, properly an enclosed place, also rendered "tabernacle,"
"covert" and "den;" once only "pavilion." (Psalms 27:5)
(Among the Egyptians pavilions were built in a similar style
to houses, though on a smaller scale in various parts of the
country, and in the foreign districts through which the
Egyptian armies passed, for the use of the king--Wilkinson .)
+ Succah, Usually "tabernacle" and "booth."
+ Shaphrur and shaphrir, a word used once only, in (Jeremiah
49:10) to signify glory or splendor, and hence probably to be
understood of the splendid covering of the royal throne.
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Table of Contents
Peacocks
(Heb. tuccyyim). Among the natural products which Solomon's
fleet brought home to Jerusalem, mention is made of "peacocks,"
(1 Kings 10:22; 2 Chronicles 9:21) which is probably the
correct translation. The Hebrew word may be traced to the
Talmud or Malabaric togei, "peacock."
Pearl
(Heb. gabish). The Hebrew word in (Job 28:18) probably means
"crystal." Pearls, however are frequently mentioned in the New
Testament, (Matthew 13:45; 1 Timothy 2:9; Revelation 17:4;
21:21) and were considered by the ancients among the most
precious of gems, and were highly esteemed as ornaments. The
kingdom of heaven is compared to a "pearl of great price." In
(Matthew 7:6) pearls are used metaphorically for anything of
value, or perhaps more especially for "wise sayings." (The
finest specimens of the pearl are yielded by the pearl oyster
(Avicula margaritifera), still found in abundance in the
Persian Gulf and near the coasts of Ceylon, Java and Sumatra.
The oysters grow in clusters on rocks in deep water, and the
pearl is found inside the shell, and is the result of a
diseased secretion caused by the introduction of foreign
bodies, as sand, etc., between the mantle and the shell. They
are obtained by divers trained to the business. March or April
is the time for pearl fishing. A single shell sometimes yields
eight to twelve pearls. The size of a good Oriental pearl
varies from that of a pea to about three times that size. A
handsome necklace of pearls the size of peas is worth,000.
Pearls have been valued as high as,000 or,000 apiece.--ED.)
Pedahel
(whom God redeems), the son of Ammihud, and prince of the tribe
of Naphtali. (Numbers 34:28)
Pedaiah
(whom Jehovah redeems).
+ The father of Zebudah, mother of King Jehoiakim. (2 Kings
23:38) (B.C. before 648.)
+ The brother of Salathiel or Shealtiel and father of
Zerubbabel who is usually called the "son of Shealtiel,"
being, as Lord A. Hervey conjectures, in reality his uncle's
successor and heir, in consequence Of the failure of issue in
the direct line. (1 Chronicles 3:17-19) (B.C. before 536.)
+ Son of Parosh, that is, one of the family or that name, who
assisted Nehemiah in repairing the walls of Jerusalem.
(Nehemiah 3:25) (B.C. about 446.)
+ Apparently a priest; one of those who stood on the left hand
of Ezra when he read the law to the people. (Nehemiah 8:4)
(B.C. 445.)
+ A Benjamite, ancestor of Sallu. (Nehemiah 11:7)
+ A Levite in the time of Nehemiah, (Nehemiah 13:13) apparently
the same as 4.
+ The father of Joel, prince of the half tribe of Manasseh in
the reign of David. (1 Chronicles 27:20) (B.C. before 1013.)
Pedarhzur
(whom the rock (i.e. God) redeems), father of Gamaliel, the
chief of the tribe of Manasseh at the time of the exodus.
(Numbers 1:10; 2:20; 7:54,59; 10:23) (B.C. 1491.)
Pekah
(open-eyed), son of Remaliah, originally a captain of Pekaiah
king of Israel, murdered his master seized the throne, and
became the 18th sovereign of the northern kingdom, B.C.
757-740. Under his predecessors Israel had been much weakened
through the payment of enormous tribute to the Assyrians (see
especially) (2 Kings 15:20) and by internal wars and
conspiracies. Pekah seems to have steadily applied himself to
the restoration of power. For this purpose he contracted a
foreign alliance, and fixed his mind on the plunder of the
sister kingdom of Judah. He must have made the treaty by which
he proposed to share its spoil with Rezin king of Damascus,
when Jotham was still on the throne of Jerusalem (2 Kings
10:37) but its execution was long delayed, probably in
consequence of that prince's righteous and vigorous
administration. (2 Chronicles 27:1) ... When however his weak
son Ahaz succeeded to the crown of David, the allies no longer
hesitated, but entered upon the siege of Jerusalem, B.C. 742.
The history of the war is found in 2Kin 13 and 2Chr 28. It is
famous as the occasion of the great prophecies in Isai 7-9. Its
chief result was the Jewish port of Elath on the Red Sea; but
the unnatural alliance of Damascus and Samaria was punished
through the complete overthrow of the ferocious confederates by
Tiglath-pileser. The kingdom of Damascus. was finally
suppressed and Rezin put to death while Pekah was deprived of
at least half his kingdom, including all the northern portion
and the whole district to the east of Jordan. Pekah himself,
now fallen into the position of an Assyrian vassal was of
course compelled to abstain from further attacks on Judah.
Whether his continued tyranny exhausted the patience of his
subjects, or whether his weakness emboldened them to attack
him, is not known; but, from one or the other cause, Hoshea the
son of Elah conspired against him and put him to death.
Pekahiah
(whose eyes Jehovah opened), son and successor of Menahem was
the 17th king of the separate kingdom of Israel, B.C. 759-757.
After a brief reign of scarcely two years a conspiracy was
organized against him by Pekah, who murdered him and seized the
throne.
Pekod
(visitation), an appellative applied to the Chaldeans.
(Jeremiah 50:21; Ezekiel 23:23) Authorities are undecided as to
the meaning of the term.
Pelaiah
(distinguished by Jehovah).
+ A son of Elioenai, of the royal line of Judah. (1 Chronicles
3:24) (B.C. after 400.)
+ One of the Levites who assisted Ezra in expounding the law,
(Nehemiah 8:7) He afterward sealed the covenant with
Nehemiah. (Nehemiah 10:10) (B.C.445.)
Pelaliah
(judged by Jehovah), the son of Amzi and ancestor of Adaiah.
(Nehemiah 11:12)
Pelatiah
(delivered by Jehovah).
+ Son of Hananiah the son of Zerubbabel. (1 Chronicles 3:21)
(B.C. after 536.)
+ One of the captains of the marauding band of Simeonites who
in the reign of Hezekiah made an expedition to Mount Seir and
smote the Amalekites. (1 Chronicles 4:42) (B.C. about 700.)
+ One of the heads of the people, and probably the name of a
family who sealed the covenant with Nehemiah. (Nehemiah
10:22) (B.C. about 440.)
+ The son of Benaiah. and one of the princes of the people
against whom Ezekiel was directed to utter the words of doom
recorded in (Ezekiel 11:5-12) (B.C. about 592.)
Peleg
(division, part), son of Eber and brother of Joktan. (Genesis
10:25; 11:16) The only incident connected with his history is
the statement that "in his days was the earth divided." an
event embodied in the meaning of his name--"division." The
reference is to a division of the family of Eber himself, the
younger branch of which (the Joktanids) migrated into southern
Arabia, while the elder remained in Mesopotamia.
Pelet
(liberation),
+ A son of Jahdai in an obscure genealogy. (1 Chronicles 2:47)
+ The son of Azmaveth, that is, either a native of the place of
that name or the son of one of David's heroes. (1 Chronicles
12:3) (B.C. about 1015.)
Peleth
(swiftness).
+ The father of On the Reubenite who joined Dathan and Abiram
in their rebellion. (Numbers 16:1) (B.C. 1490.)
+ Son of Jonathan and a descendant of Jerahmeel. (1 Chronicles
2:33)
Pelethites
(couriers). [[946]Cherethites]
Pelican
(Heb. kaath, sometimes translated "cormorant," as (Isaiah
34:11; Zephaniah 2:14) though in the margin correctly rendered
"pelican"), a voracious waterbird, found most abundantly in
tropical regions. It is equal to the swan in size. (It has a
flat bill fifteen inches long, and the female has under the
bill a pouch capable of great distension. It is capacious
enough to hold fish sufficient for the dinner of half a dozen
men. The young are fed from this pouch, which is emptied of the
food by pressing the pouch against the breast. The pelican's
bill has a crimson tip, and the contrast of this red tip
against the white breast probably gave rise to the tradition
that the bird tore her own breast to feed her young with her
blood. The flesh of the pelican was forbidden to the Jews.
(Leviticus 11:18)--ED.) The psalmist in comparing his pitiable
condition to the pelican, (Psalms 102:6) probably has reference
to its general aspect as it sits in apparent melancholy mood,
with its bill resting on its breast.
Pelonite, The
Two of David's men, Helez and Ahijah, are called Pelonites. (1
Chronicles 11:27,36) (B.C. about 1015.) From (1 Chronicles
27:10) it appears that the former was of the tribe of Ephraim,
and "Pelonite" would therefore be an appellation derived from
his place of birth or residence. "Ahijah the Pelonite" appears
in (2 Samuel 23:34) as "Eliam the son of Ahithophel the
Gilonite," of which the former is a corruption.
Pen
[[947]Writing]
Peniel
(face of God) the name which Jacob gave to the place in which
he had wrestled with God: "He called the name of the place
'face of El,' for I have seen Elohim face to face." (Genesis
32:30) In (Genesis 32:31) and the other passages in which the
name occurs, its form is changed to [948]Penuel. From the
narrative it is evident that Peniel lay somewhere on the north
bank of the Jabbok, and between that torrent and the fords of
the Jordan at Succoth, a few miles north of the glen where the
Jabbok falls into the Jordan.
Peninnah
(coral or pearl), one of the two wives of Elkanah. (1 Samuel
1:2) (B.C. 1125.)
Penny, Pennyworth
In the New Testament "penny," either alone or in the compound
"pennyworth," occurs as the rendering of the Roman denarius .
(Matthew 20:2; 22:10; Mark 6:37; 12:15; Luke 20:24; John 6:7;
Revelation 6:6) The denarius was the chief Roman silver coin,
and was worth about 15 to 17 cents.
Pentateuch, The
is the Greek name given to the five books commonly called the
"five books of Moses." This title is derived from "pente",five,
and "teucos") which, meaning originally "vessel" "instrument,"
etc., came In Alexandrine Greek to mean "book" hence the
fivefold book. In the time of Ezra and Nehemiah it was called
"the law of Moses," (Ezra 7:6) or "the book of the law of
Moses," (Nehemiah 8:1) or simply "the book of Moses." (2
Chronicles 25:4; 35:12; Ezra 6:13; Nehemiah 13:1) This was
beyond all reasonable doubt our existing Pentateuch. The book
which was discovered the temple in the reign of Josiah, and
which is entitled, (2 Chronicles 34:14) "a book of the law of
Jehovah by the hand of Moses," was substantially, it would seem
the same volume, though it may afterward have undergone some
revision by Ezra. The present Jews usually called the whole by
the name of Torah, i.e. "the Law," or Torath Mosheh "the Law of
Moses." The division of the whole work into five parts was
probably made by the Greek translators; for the titles of the
several books are not of Hebrew but of Greek origin. The Hebrew
names are merely taken from the first words of each book, and
in the first instance only designated particular sections and
not whole books. The MSS. of the Pentateuch form a single roll
or volume, and are divided not into books but into the larger
and smaller sections called Parshiyoth and Sedarim . The five
books of the Pentateuch form a consecutive whole. The work,
beginning with the record of creation end the history of the
primitive world, passes on to deal more especially with the
early history of the Jewish family, and finally concludes with
Moses' last discourses and his death. Till the middle of the
last century it was the general opinion of both Jews and
Christians that the whole of the Pentateuch was written by
Moses, with the exception of a few manifestly later
additions,--such as the, 34th chapter of Deuteronomy, which
gives the account of Moses death. The attempt to call in
question the popular belief was made by Astruc, doctor and
professor of medicine in the Royal College at Paris, and court
physician to Louis XIV. He had observed that throughout the
book of Genesis, and as far as the 6th chapter of Exodus,
traces were to be found of two original documents, each
characterized by a distinct use of the names of God; the one by
the name Elohim, and the other by the name Jehovah. [[949]God]
Besides these two principal documents, he supposed Moses to
have made use of ten others in the composition of the earlier
part of his work. The path traced by Astruc has been followed
by numerous German writers; but the various hypotheses which
have been formed upon the subject cannot be presented in this
work. It is sufficient here to state that there is evidence
satisfactory that the main bulk of the Pentateuch, at any rate,
was written by Moses, though the probably availed himself of
existing documents in the composition of the earlier part of
the work. Some detached portions would appear to be of later
origin; and when we remember how entirely, during some periods
of Jewish history, the law seems to have been forgotten, and
again how necessary it would be after the seventy years of
exile to explain some of its archaisms, and to add here and
there short notes to make it more intelligible to the people,
nothing can be more natural than to suppose that such later
additions were made by Ezra and Nehemiah. To briefly sum up the
results of our inquiry--
+ The book of Genesis rests chiefly on documents much earlier
than the time of Moses though it was probably brought to very
nearly its, present shape either by Moses himself or by one
of the elders who acted under him.
+ The books of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers are to a great
extent Mosaic. Besides those portions which are expressly
declared to have been written by him other portions, and
especially the legal sections, were, if not actually written,
in all probability dictated by him.
+ Deuteronomy, excepting the concluding part, is entirely the
work of Moses as it professes to be.
+ It is not probable that this was written before the three
preceding books, because the legislation in Exodus and
Leviticus, as being the more formal, is manifestly the
earlier whilst Deuteronomy is the spiritual interpretation
and application of the law. But the letter is always before
the spirit; the thing before its interpretation.
+ The first composition of the Pentateuch as a whole could not
have taken place till after the Israelites entered Cannan. It
is probable that Joshua and the elders who were associated
with him would provide for its formal arrangement, custody
and transmission.
+ The whole work did not finally assume its present shape till
its revision was undertaken by Ezra after the return from the
Babylonish captivity. For an account of the separate books
see [950]Genesis, [951]Exodus, [952]Leviticus, [953]Numbers,
[954]Deuteronomy.
Pentecost
that is, the fiftieth day (from a Greek word meaning fiftieth),
or Harvest Feast, or Feast of Weeks, may be regarded as a
supplement to the Passover. It lasted for but one day. From the
sixteenth o