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Smith's Bible Dictionary
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Taanach
(sandy), an ancient Canaanitish city whose king is enumerated
among the thirty-one kings conquered by Joshua. (Joshua 12:21)
It came into the half tribe of Manasseh, (Joshua 17:11; 21:25;
1 Chronicles 7:29) and was bestowed on the Kohathite Levites.
(Joshua 21:25) Taanach is almost always named in company with
Megiddo, and they were evidently the chief towns of that fine
rich district which forms the western portion of the great
plain of Esdraelon. (1 Kings 4:12) It is still called Ta'annuk,
and) stands about four miles southeast of Lejjun and 13 miles
southwest of Nazareth.
Taanathshiloh
(approach to Shiloh), a place named once only-- (Joshua
16:6)--as one of the landmarks of the boundary of Ephraim.
Perhaps Taanath was the ancient Canaanite name of the place,
and Shiloh the Hebrew name.
Tabbaoth
(rings). The children of Tabbaoth were a family of Nethinim who
returned with Zerubbabel. (Ezra 2:43; Nehemiah 7:46) (B.C.
before 536.)
Tabbath
(celebrated), a place mentioned only in (Judges 7:25) in
describing the flight of the Midianite host after Gideon's
night attack; (probably the present Tubukhat-Fahil, a very
striking natural bank 600 feet high, with a long horizontal
top, embanked against the western face of the mountains east of
the Jordan, and descending with a steep front to the
river.--Robinson, Bib. Res.)
Tabeal
(God is good). The son of Tabeal was apparently an Ephraimite
in the army of Pekah the son of Remaliah, or a Syrian in the
army of Rezin, when they went up to besiege Jerusalem in the
reign of Ahaz. (Isaiah 7:6) The Aramaic form of the name favors
the latter supposition. (B.C. before 738.)
Tabelel
(God is good), an officer of the Persian government in Samaria
in the reign of Artaxerxes. (Ezra 4:7) His name appears to
indicate that he was a Syrian. (B.C.519.)
Taberah
the name of a place in the wilderness of Paran. (Numbers 11:3;
9:22) It has not been identified.
Tabering
an obsolete English word used in the Authorized Version of
(Nahum 2:7) The Hebrew word connects itself with toph, "a
timbrel." The Authorized Version reproduces the original idea.
The "tabour" or "tabor" was a musical instrument of the drum
type which with the pipe formed the band of a country village.
To "tabour," accordingly, is to beat with loud strokes, as men
beat upon such an instrument.
Tabernacle
The tabernacle was the tent of Jehovah, called by the same name
as the tents of the people in the midst of which it stood. It
was also called the sanctuary and the tabernacle of the
congregation. The first ordinance given to Moses, after the
proclamation of the outline of the law from Sinai, related to
the ordering of the tabernacle, its furniture and its service
as the type which was to be followed when the people came to
their own home and "found a place" for the abode of God. During
the forty days of Moses' first retirement with God in Sinai, an
exact pattern of the whole was shown him, and all was made
according to it. (Exodus 25:9,40; 26:30; 39:32,42,43; Numbers
8:4; Acts 7:44; Hebrews 8:5) The description of this plan is
preceded by an account of the freewill offerings which the
children of Israel were to be asked to make for its execution.
I. THE TABERNACLE ITSELF.--
+ Its name .--It was first called a tent or dwelling, (Exodus
25:8) because Jehovah as it were, abode there. It was often
called tent or tabernacle from its external appearance.
+ Its materials .--The materials were-- (a) Metals: gold,
silver and brass. (b) Textile fabrics: blue, purple, scarlet
and fine (white) linen, for the production of which Egypt was
celebrated; also a fabric of goat's hair, the produce of
their own flocks. (c) Skins: of the ram, dyed red, and of the
badger. (d) Wood the shittim wood, the timber of the wild
acacia of the desert itself, the tree of the "burning bush."
(e) Oil, spices and incense for anointing the priests and
burning in the tabernacle. (f) Gems: onyx stones and the
precious stones for the breastplate of the high priest. The
people gave jewels, and plates of gold and silver and brass;
wood, skins, hair and linen; the women wove; the rulers
offered precious stones, oil, spices and incense; and the
artists soon had more than they needed. (Exodus 25:1-8;
35:4-29; 36:5-7) The superintendence of the work was
intrusted to Bezaleel, of the tribe of Judah, and to Aholiab,
of the tribe of Dan, who were skilled in "all manner of
workmanship." (Exodus 31:2,6; 35:30,34)
+ Its structure.--The tabernacle was to comprise three main
parts,--the tabernacle more strictly so called, its tent and
its covering. (Exodus 35:11; 39:33,34; 40:19,34; Numbers
3:25) etc. These parts are very clearly distinguished in the
Hebrew, but they are confounded in many places of the English
version. The tabernacle itself was to consist of curtains of
fine linen woven with colored figures of cherubim, and a
structure of boards which was to contain the holy place and
the most holy place; the tent was to be a true tent of goat's
hair cloth, to contain and shelter the tabernacle; the
covering was to be of red ram-skins and seal-skins, (Exodus
25:5) and was spread over the goat's hair tent as an
additional protection against the weather. It was an oblong
rectangular structure, 30 cubits in length by 10 in width (45
feet by 15), and 10 in height; the interior being divided
into two chambers, the first or outer, of 20 cubits in
length, the inner, of 10 cubits, and consequently and exact
cube. The former was the holy place, or first tabernacle,
(Hebrews 9:2) containing the golden candlestick on one side,
the table of shew-bread opposite, and between them in the
centre the altar of incense. The latter was the most holy
place, or the holy of holies, containing the ark, surmounted
by the cherubim, with the two tables inside. The two sides
and the farther or west end were enclosed by boards of
shittim wood overlaid with gold, twenty on the north and
twenty on the south side, six on the west side, and the
corner-boards doubled. They stood upright, edge to edge,
their lower ends being made with tenons, which dropped into
sockets of silver, and the corner-boards being coupled at the
tope with rings. They were furnished with golden rings,
through which passed bars of shittim wood, overlaid with
gold, five to each side, and the middle bar passing from end
to end, so as to brace the whole together. Four successive
coverings of curtains looped together were placed over the
open top and fell down over the sides. The first or inmost
was a splendid fabric of linen, embroidered with figures of
cherubim in blue, purple and scarlet, and looped together by
golden fastenings. It seems probable that the ends of this
set of curtains hung down within the tabernacle, forming a
sumptuous tapestry. The second was a covering of goats' hair;
the third, of ram-skins dyed red and the outermost, of
badger-skins (so called in our version; but the Hebrew word
probably signifies seal-skins). It has been commonly supposed
that these coverings were thrown over the wall, as a pall is
thrown over a coffin; but this would have allowed every drop
of rain that fell on the tabernacle to fall through; for,
however tightly the curtains might be stretched, the water
could never run over the edge, and the sheep-skins would only
make the matter worse as when wetted their weight would
depress the centre and probably tear any curtain that could
be made. There can be no reasonable doubt that the tent had a
ridge, as all tents have had from the days of Moses down to
the present time. The front of the sanctuary was closed by a
hanging of fine linen, embroidered in blue, purple and
scarlet, and supported by golden hooks on five pillars of
shittim wood overlaid with gold and standing in brass
sockets; and the covering of goat's hair was so made as to
fall down over this when required. A more sumptuous curtain
of the same kind, embroidered with cherubim hung on four such
pillars, with silver sockets, divided the holy from the most
holy place. It was called the veil, (Sometimes the second
veil, either is reference to the first, at the entrance of
the holy place, or as below the vail of the second
sanctuary;) (Hebrews 9:3) as it hid from the eyes of all but
the high priest the inmost sanctuary, where Jehovah dwells on
his mercy-seat, between the cherubim above the ark. Hence "to
enter within the veil" is to have the closest access to God.
It was only passed by the high priest once a year, on the Day
of Atonement in token of the mediation of Christ, who with
his own blood hath entered for us within the veil which
separates God's own abode from earth. (Hebrews 6:19) In the
temple, the solemn barrier was at length profaned by a Roman
conqueror, to warn the Jews that the privileges they had
forfeited were "ready to vanish away;" and the veil was at
last rent by the hand of God himself, at the same moment that
the body of Christ was rent upon the cross, to indicate that
the entrance into the holiest of all is now laid open to all
believers by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way
which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is
to say, his flesh." (Hebrews 10:19,20) The holy place was
only entered by the priests daily, to offer incense at the
time of morning and evening prayer, and to renew the lights
on the golden candlesticks; and on the sabbath, to remove the
old shew-bread, and to place the new upon the table. II. THE
SACRED FURNITURE AND INSTRUMENTS OF THE TABERNACLE.--These
are described in separate articles, and therefore it is only
necessary to give a list of them here.
+ In the outer court. The altar of burnt offering and the
brazen laver . [[1183]Altar; [1184]Laver]
+ In the holy place. The furniture of the court was connected
with sacrifice; that of the sanctuary itself with the deeper
mysteries of mediation and access to God. The first sanctuary
contained three objects: the altar of incense in the centre,
so as to be directly in front of the ark of the covenant (1
Kings 6:22) the table of shew-bread on its right or north
side, and the golden candlestick on the left or south side.
These objects were all considered as being placed before the
presence of Jehovah, who dwelt in the holiest of all, though
with the veil between. [[1185]Altar; SHEW-BREAD;
[1186]Candlestick, [1187]Candlestick]
+ In the holy of holies, within the veil, and shrouded in
darkness, there was but one object, the ark of the covenant,
containing the two tables of stone, inscribed with the Ten
Commandments. [[1188]Ark Of The Covenant] III. THE
[1189]Court OF THE TABERNACLE, in which the tabernacle itself
stood, was an oblong space, 100 cubits by 50 (i.e. 150 feet
by 75), having its longer axis east and west, with its front
to the east. It was surrounded by canvas screens--in the East
called kannauts-- 5 cubits in height, and supported by
pillars of brass 5 cubits apart, to which the curtains were
attached by hooks and filets of silver. (Exodus 27:9) etc.
This enclosure was broken only on the east side by the
entrance, which was 20 cubits wide, and closed by curtains of
fine twined linen wrought with needlework and of the most
gorgeous colors. In the outer or east half of the court was
placed the altar of burnt offering, and between it and the
tabernacle itself; the laver at which the priests washed
their hands and feet on entering the temple. The tabernacle
itself was placed toward the west end of this enclosure. IV.
HISTORY.--"The tabernacle, as the place in which Jehovah
dwelt, was pitched in the centre of the camp, (Numbers 2:2)
as the tent of a leader always is in the East; for Jehovah
was the Captain of Israel. (Joshua 5:14,15) During the
marches of Israel, the tabernacle was still in the centre.
(Numbers 2:1) ... The tribes camped and marched around it in
the order of a hollow square. In certain great emergencies
led the march. (Joshua 3:11-16) Upon the tabernacle, abode
always the cloud, dark by day and fiery red by night, (Exodus
10:38) giving the signal for the march, (Exodus 40:36,37;
Numbers 9:17) and the halt. (Numbers 9:15-23) It was always
the special meeting-place of Jehovah and his people. (Numbers
11:24,25; 12:4; 14:10; 16:19,42; 20:6; 27:2; 31:14) "During
the conquest of Canaan the tabernacle at first moved from
place to place, (Joshua 4:19; 8:30-35; 9:6; 10:15) was
finally located at Shiloh. (Joshua 9:27; 18:1) Here it
remained during the time of the judges, till it was captured
by the Philistines, who carried off the sacred ark of the
covenant. (1 Samuel 4:22) From this time forward the glory of
the tabernacle was gone. When the ark was recovered, it was
removed to Jerusalem, and placed in a new tabernacle (2
Samuel 6:17; 1 Chronicles 15:1) but the old structure still
had its hold on the veneration of the community and the old
altar still received their offerings. (1 Chronicles 16:39;
21:29) It was not till the temple was built, and a fitting
house thus prepared for the Lord, that the ancient tabernacle
was allowed to perish and be forgotten. V.
SIGNIFICANCE.--(The great underlying principles of true
religion are the same in all ages and for all men; because
man's nature and needs are the same, and the same God ever
rules over all. But different ages require different methods
of teaching these truths, and can understand them in
different degrees. As we are taught in the Epistle to the
Hebrews, the tabernacle was part of a great system of
teaching by object-lessons, and of training the world to
understand and receive the great truths which were to be
revealed in Jesus Christ and thus really to save the Jews
from sin By Jesus dimly seen in the future, as we clearly see
him in the past. (1) The tabernacle and its services enabled
the Jews, who had no visible representation of God, to feel
the reality of God and of religion. (2) The tabernacle as the
most beautiful and costly object in the nation and ever in
the centre of the camp, set forth the truth that religion was
the central fact and the most important, in a persons life.
(3) The pillar of cloud and of fire was the best possible
symbol of the living God,--a cloud, bright, glowing like the
sunset clouds, glorious, beautiful, mysterious, self-poised,
heavenly; fire, immaterial, the source of life and light and
comfort and cheer, but yet unapproachable, terrible, a
consuming fire to the wicked. (4) The altar of burnt
offering, standing before the tabernacle was a perpetual
symbol of the atonement,--the greatness of sin, deserving
death, hard to be removed and yet forgiveness possible, and
offered freely, but only through blood. The offerings, as
brought by the people were a type of consecration to God, of
conversion and new life, through the atonement. (6) This
altar stood outside of the tabernacle, and must be passed
before we come to the tabernacle itself; a type of the true
religious life. Before the tabernacle was also the laver,
signifying the same thing that baptism does with us, the
cleansing of the heart and life. (8) Having entered the holy
place, we find the three great means and helps to true
living,--the candlestick, the light of God's truth; the
shew-bread, teaching that the soul must have its spiritual
food and live in communion with God; and the altar of
incense, the symbol of prayer. The holy of holies, beyond,
taught that there was progress in the religious life, and
that progress was toward God, and toward the perfect keeping
of the law till it was as natural to obey the law as it is to
breathe; and thus the holy of holies was the type of
heaven.--ED.)
Tabernacles, The Feast Of
(Exodus 23:16) ("the feast of ingathering"), the third of the
three great festivals: of the Hebrews, which lasted from the
15th till the 22d of Tisri.
+ The following are the principal passages in the Pentateuch
which refer to it: (Exodus 23:16; Leviticus 23:34-36; 39-43;
Numbers 29:12-38; 16:13-15; 31:10-13) In Nehe 8, there is an
account of the observance of the feast by Ezra.
+ The time of the festival fell in the autumn, when the whole
of the chief fruits of the ground, the corn, the wine and the
oil, were gathered in. (Exodus 23:16; Leviticus 23:39;
15:13-15) Its duration was strictly only seven days, (16:13;
Ezekiel 45:25) but it was followed by a day of holy
convocation, distinguished by sacrifices of its own, which
was sometimes spoken of as an eighth day. (Leviticus 23:36;
Nehemiah 8:18) During the seven days the Israelites were
commanded to dwell in booths or huts formed of the boughs of
trees. The boughs were of the olive palm, pine, myrtle and
other trees with thick foliage. (Nehemiah 8:15,16) According
to rabbinical tradition each Israelite used to tie the
branches into a bunch, to be carried in his hand to which the
name lulab was given. The burnt offerings of the Feast of
Tabernacles were by far more numerous than those of any other
festival. There were offered on each day two rams, fourteen
lambs and a kid for a sin offering. But what was most
peculiar was the arrangement of the sacrifices of bullocks,
in amounting to seventy. (Numbers 29:12-38) The eighth day
was a day of holy convocation of peculiar solemnity. On the
morning of this day the Hebrews left their huts and
dismantled them, and took up their abode again in their
houses. The special offerings of the day were a bullock a
ram, seven lambs and a goat for a sin offering. (Numbers
29:36,38) When the Feast of Tabernacles fell on a sabbatical
year, portions of the law were read each day in public, to
men, women, children and strangers. (31:10-13) We find Ezra
reading the law during the festival "day by day, from the
first day to the last day." (Nehemiah 8:18)
+ There are two particulars in the observance of the Feast of
Tabernacles which appear to be referred to in the New
Testament, but are not noticed in the Old. These were the
ceremony of pouring out some water of the pool of Siloam and
the display of some great lights in the court of the women.
We are told that each Israelite, in holiday attire, having
made up his lulab, before he broke his fast repaired to the
temple with the lulab in one hand and the citron in the
other, at the time of the ordinary morning sacrifice. The
parts of the victim were laid upon the altar. One of the
priests fetched some water in a golden ewer from the pool of
Siloam, which he brought into the court through the
water-gate. As he entered the trumpets sounded, and he
ascended the slope of the altar. At the top of this were
fixed two silver basins with small openings at the bottom.
Wine was poured into that on the eastern side, and the water
into that on the western side, whence it was conducted by
pipes into the Cedron. In the evening, both men and women
assembled in the court of the women, expressly to hold a
rejoicing for the drawing of the water of Siloam. At the same
time there were set up in the court two lofty stands, each
supporting four great lamps. These were lighted on each night
of the festival. It appears to be generally admitted that the
words of our Saviour, (John 7:37,38)--"If a man thirst, let
him come unto me drink. He that believeth on me as the
Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of
living water"--were suggested by the pouring out of the water
of Siloam. But it is very doubtful what is meant by "the last
day, that great day of the feast." It would seem that either
the last day of the feast itself, that is, the seventh, or
the last day of the religious observances of the series of
annual festivals, the eighth, must be intended. The eighth
day may be meant and then the reference of our Lord would be
to an ordinary and well-known observance of the feast, though
it was not, at the very time, going on. We must resort to
some such explanation if we adopt the notion that our Lord's
words (John 8:12)--"I am the light of the world "-- refer to
the great lamps of the festival.
+ Though all the Hebrew annual festivals were seasons of
rejoicing, the Feast of Tabernacles was, in this respect,
distinguished above them all. The huts and the lulabs must
have made a gay end striking spectacle over the city by day,
and the lamps, the flambeaux, the music and the joyous
gatherings in the court of the temple must have given a still
more festive character to the night. The main purposes of the
Feast of Tabernacles are plainly set forth in (Exodus 23:16)
and Levi 23:43 It was to be at once a thanksgiving for the
harvest and a commemoration of the time when the Israelites
dwelt in tents during their passage through the wilderness.
In one of its meanings it stands in connection with the
Passover. as the Feast of Abib, and with Pentecost, as the
feast of harvest; in its other meaning, it is related to the
Passover as the great yearly memorial of the deliverance from
the destroyer and from the tyranny of Egypt. But naturally
connected with this exultation in their regained freedom was
the rejoicing in the more perfect fulfillment of God's
promise in the settlement of his people in the holy blessing.
But the culminating point of was the establishment of the
central spot of the national worship in the temple at
Jerusalem. Hence it was evidently fitting that the Feast of
Tabernacles should be kept with an unwonted degree of
observance at the dedication of Solomon's temple, (1 Kings
8:2,65) Joseph. Ant. viii. 4,5; again, after the rebuilding
of the temple by Ezra, (Nehemiah 8:13-18) and a third time by
Judas Maccabaeus when he had driven out the Syrians and
restored the temple to the worship of Jehovah. 2 Macc.
10:5-8.
Tabitha
(gazelle), also called Dorcas by St. Luke, a female disciple of
Joppa, "full of good works" among which that of making clothes
for the poor is specifically mentioned. While St. Peter was at
the neighboring town of Lydda, Tabitha, died; upon which the
disciples at Joppa sent an urgent message to the apostle
begging him to come to them without delay. Upon his arrival
Peter found the deceased already prepared for burial, and laid
out in an upper chamber, where she was surrounded by the
recipients and the tokens of her charity after the example of
our Saviour in the house of Jairus, (Matthew 9:25; Mark 5:40)
"Peter put them all forth," prayed for the divine assistance,
and then commanded Tabitha to arise. Comp. (Mark 5:41; Luke
8:51) She opened-her eyes and sat up, and then, assisted by the
apostle, rose from her couch. This great miracle, as we are
further told produced an extraordinary effect in Joppa, and was
the occasion of many conversions there. (Acts 9:38-42) The name
"Tabitha" is an Aramaic word signifying a "female gazelle." St.
Luke gives "Dorcas" as the Greek equivalent of the name.
Tabor
is mentioned in the lists of 1Chr 6 as a city of the Merarite
Levites, in the tribe of Zebulun. ver. (1 Chronicles 6:77) The
list of the towns of Zebulun. Josh 19 contains the name of
Chisloth-tabor. ver. (Joshua 19:12) It is, therefore, possible,
either that Chisloth-tabor is abbreviated into Tabor by the
chronicler, or that by the time these later lists were compiled
the Merarites had established themselves on the sacred
mountain, and that Tabor is Mount Tabor.
(a mound), or Mount Tabor, one of the most interesting and
remarkable of the single mountains in Palestine. It rises
abruptly from the northeastern arm of the plain of Esdraelon,
and stands entirely insulated, except on the west where a
narrow ridge connects it with the hills of Nazareth. It
presents to the eye, as seen from a distance, a beautiful
appearance, being symmetrical in its proportions and rounded
off like a hemisphere or the segment of a circle, yet varying
somewhat as viewed from different directions. The body of the
mountain consists of the peculiar limestone of the country. It
is now called Jebel-et-Tur . It lies about six or eight miles
almost due east from Nazareth. The ascent is usually made on
the west side, near the little village of Deburieh--probably
the ancient Daberath, (Joshua 19:12)--though it can be made
with entire ease in other places. It requires three quarters of
an hour or an hour to reach the to the top. The top of Tabor
consists of an irregular platform, embracing a circuit of half
an hour's walk, and commanding wide views of the subjacent
plain from end to end. Tabor does not occur in the New
Testament, but makes a prominent figure in the Old. The book of
Joshua (Joshua 19:22) mentions it as the boundary between
Issachar and Zebulun, See ver. 12. Barak, at the command of
Deborah, assembled his forces on Tabor, and descended thence,
with "ten thousand men after him," into the plain, and
conquered Sisera on the banks of the Kishon. (Judges 4:6-15)
The brothers of Gideon each of whom "resembled the children of
a king," were murdered here by Zebah and Zalmunna. (Judges
8:18,19) There are at present the ruins of a fortress round all
the summit of Tabor. The Latin Christians have now an altar
here at which their priests from Nazareth perform an annual
mass. The Greeks also have a chapel, where, on certain
festivals they assemble for the celebration of religious rites.
The idea that our Saviour was transfigured on Tabor prevailed
extensively among the early Christians, and still reappears
often in popular religious works. It is impossible, however, to
acquiesce in the correctness of this opinion. It can be proved
from the Old Testament and from later history that a fortress
or town existed on Tabor from very early times down to B.C. 53
or 50; and as Josephus says that he strengthened the
fortifications there about A.D. 60, it is morally certain that
Tabor must have been inhabited during the intervening Period
that is in the days of Christ. Tabor, therefore, could not have
been the Mount of Transfiguration [see [1190]Hermon]; for when
it is said that Jesus took his disciples "up into a high
mountain apart, and was transfigured before them (Matthew
17:1,2) we must understand that he brought them to the summit
of the mountain, where they were alone by themselves.
Tabor, The Plain Of
This is an incorrect translation, and should be THE [1191]Oak
OF [1192]Tabor, [1193]Tabor. It is mentioned in (1 Samuel 10:3)
only, as one of the points in the homeward journey of Saul
after his anointing by Samuel.
Tabret
[[1194]Timbrel, Tabret]
Tabrimon
(properly Tabrimmon, i.e. good is Rimmon, the Syrian god) the
father of Ben-hadad I., king of Syria in the reign of Asa. (1
Kings 15:18) (B.C. before 928.)
Tache
The word thus rendered occurs only in the description of the
structure of the tabernacle and its fittings, (Exodus
26:6,11,33; 35:11; 36:13; 39:33) and appears to indicate the
small hooks by which a curtain is suspended to the rings from
which it hangs, or connected vertically, as in the case of the
veil of the holy of holies, with the loops of another curtain.
Tachmonite, The
"The Tachmonite that sat in the seat," chief among David's
captains, (2 Samuel 23:8) Isa in 1Chr 11:11 Called "Jashobeam
an Hachmonite," or, as the margin gives it, "son of Hachmoni."
Kennicott has shown that the words translated "he that sat in
the seat" are a corruption of Jashobeam, and that "the
Tachmonite" is a corruption of the "son of Hachmoni," which was
the family or local name of Jashobeam. Therefore he concludes
"Jashobeam the Hachmonite" to have been the true reading.
Tadmor
(city of palms), called "Tadmor in the wilderness," is the same
as the city known to the Greeks and Romans under the name of
Palmyra. It lay between the Euphrates and Hamath, to the
southeast of that city, in a fertile tract or oasis of the
desert. Being situated at a convenient distance from both the
Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf, it had great advantages
for caravan traffic. It was built by Solomon after his conquest
of Hamath-zobah. (1 Kings 9:18; 2 Chronicles 8:4) As the city
is-nowhere else mentioned in the Bible, it would be out of
place to enter into a detailed history of it. In the second
century A.D. it seems to have been beautified by the emperor
Hadrian. In the beginning of the third century--211-217 A.D.--
it became a Roman colony under Caracalla. Subsequently, in the
reign of Gallienus, the Roman senate invested Odenathus, a
senator of Palmyra, with the regal dignity, on account of his
services in defeating Sapor, king of Persia. On the
assassination of Odenathus, his wife, Zenobia, seems to have
conceived the design of erecting Palmyra into an independent
monarchy; and in prosecution of this object, she for a while
successfully resisted the Roman arms. She was at length
defeated and taken captive by the emperor Aurelian, A.D. 273,
who left a Roman garrison in Palmyra. This garrison was
massacred in a revolt; and Aurelian punished the city by the
execution not only of those who were taken in arms, but
likewise of common peasants, of old men, women and children.
From this blow Palmyra never recovered, though there are proofs
of its having continued to be inhabited until the downfall of
the Roman empire. The grandeur and magnificence of the ruins of
Palmyra cannot be exceeded, and attest its former greatness.
Among the most remarkable are the Tombs, the Temple of the Sun
and the Street of Columns.
Tahan
(camp), a descendant of Ephraim. (Numbers 26:35) In (1
Chronicles 7:25) he appears as the son of Telah.
Tahanites, The
(Numbers 26:35) [[1195]Tahan]
Tahath
the name of a desert station of the Israelites between
Makheloth and Tarah. (Numbers 33:26) The site has not been
identified.
(station).
+ A Kohathite Levite, ancestor of Samuel and Heman. (1
Chronicles 6:22,37; 9:22) (B.C. about 1415.)
+ According to the present text, son of Bered, and
great-grandson of Ephraim. (1 Chronicles 7:20) Burrington,
however, identifies Tahath with Tahan, the son of Ephraim.
+ Grandson of the preceding, as the text now stands. (1
Chronicles 7:20) But Burrington considers him as a son of
Ephraim.
Tahpanhes, Tehaphnehes, Tahapanes
a city of Egypt, mentioned in the time of the prophets Jeremiah
and Ezekiel. The name is evidently Egyptian, and closely
resembles that of the Egyptian queen Tahpenes. It was evidently
a town of lower Egypt, near or on the eastern border. When
Johanan and the other captains went into Egypt "they came to
Tahpanhes." (Jeremiah 43:7) The Jews in Jeremiah's time
remained here. (Jeremiah 44:1) It was an important town, being
twice mentioned by the latter prophet with Noph or Memphis.
(Jeremiah 2:16; 46:14) Here stood a house of Pharaoh-hophra
before which Jeremiah hid great stones. (Jeremiah 43:8-10)
Tahpenes
an Egyptian queen, was wife of the Pharaoh who received Hadad
the Edomite, and who gave him her sister in marriage. (1 Kings
11:18-20) (B.C. about 1000.)
Tahrea
(cunning), son of Micah and grandson of Mephibosheth. (1
Chronicles 9:41) (B.C. after 1057.)
Tahtimhodshi
(lowlands of Hodshi?), The land of, one of the places visited
by Joab during his census of the land of Israel. It occurs
between Gilead and Dan-jaan. (2 Samuel 24:6) The name has
puzzled all the interpreters, (Kitto says it was probably a
section of the upper valley of the Jordan, now called Ard
el-Huleh, lying deep down at the western base of Hermon.--ED.)
Talent
[[1196]Weights And Measures AND [1197]Measures]
Talitha Cumi
two Syriac words, (Mark 5:41) signifying damsel, arise .
Talmai
(bold).
+ One of the three sons of "the Anak" who were slain by the men
of Judah. (Numbers 13:22; Joshua 15:14; Judges 1:10) (B.C.
1450.)
+ Son of Ammihud king of Geshur. (2 Samuel 3:3; 13:37; 1
Chronicles 3:2) He was probably a petty chieftain, dependent
on David. (B.C. 1040.)
Talmon
(oppressor), the head of a family of door-keepers in the
temple, "the porters for the camps of the sons: of Levi." (1
Chronicles 9:17; Nehemiah 11:19) (B.C. 1013.) Some of his
descendants returned with Zerubbabel, (Ezra 2:43; Nehemiah
7:45) and were employed in their hereditary office in the days
of Nehemiah and Ezra. (Nehemiah 12:25)
Talmud
(i.e. doctrine, from the Hebrew word "to learn") is a large
collection of writings, containing a full account of the civil
and religious laws of the Jews. It was a fundamental principle
of the Pharisees, common to them with all orthodox modern Jews,
that by the side of the written law, regarded as a summary of
the principles and general laws of the Hebrew people, there was
an oral law, to complete and to explain the written law. It was
an article of faith that in the Pentateuch there was no
precept, and no regulation, ceremonial, doctrinal or legal, of
which God had not given to Moses all explanations necessary for
their application, with the order to transmit them by word of
mouth. The classical subject is the following in the Mishna on
this wing: "Moses received the (oral) law from Sinai, and
delivered it to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders, and the
elders to the prophets and the prophets to the men of the Great
Synagogue." This oral law, with the numerous commentaries upon
it, forms the Talmud. It consists of two parts, the Mishna and
Gemara.
+ The MISHNA, or "second law," which contains a compendium of
the whole ritual law, was reduced to writing in its present
form by Rabbi Jehuda the Holy, a Jew of great wealth and
influence, who flourished in the second century of the
Christian era. Viewed as a whole, the precepts in the Mishna
treated men like children, formalizing and defining the
minutest particulars of ritual observances. The expressions
of "bondage," or "weak and beggarly elements," and of
"burdens too heavy for men to bear," faithfully represent the
impression produced by their multiplicity. The Mishna is very
concisely written, and requires notes.
+ This circumstance led to the commentaries called GEMARA (i.e.
supplement, completion), which form the second part of the
Talmud, and which are very commonly meant when the word
"Talmud" is used by itself. There are two Gemaras; one of
Jerusalem, in which there is said to be no passage which can
be proved to be later than the first half of the fourth
century; and the other of Babylon, completed about 500 A.D.
The latter is the more important and by far the longer.
Tamah
(laughter). The children of Tamah or Thamah, (Ezra 2:53) were
among the Nethinim who returned with Zerubbabel. (Nehemiah
7:55)
Tamar
(palm tree).
+ The wife successively of the two sons of Judah, Er and Onan.
(Genesis 38:8-30) (B.C. about 1718.) Her importance in the
sacred narrative depends on the great anxiety to keep up the
lineage of Judah. It seemed as if the family were on the
point of extinction. Er and Onan had successively perished
suddenly. Judah's wife, Bathshuah, died; and there only
remained a child, Shelah, whom Judah was unwilling to trust
to the dangerous union as it appeared, with Tamar, lest he
should meet with the same fate as his brothers. Accordingly
she resorted to the desperate expedient of entrapping the
father himself into the union which he feared for his son.
The fruits of this intercourse were twins, Pharez and Zarah,
and through Pharez the sacred line was continued.
+ Daughter of David and Maachah the Geshurite princess, and
thus sister of Absalom. (2 Samuel 13:1-32; 1 Chronicles 3:9)
(B.C. 1033.) She and her brother were alike remarkable for
their extraordinary beauty. This fatal beauty inspired a
frantic passion in her half-brother Amnon, the oldest son of
David by Ahinoam. In her touching remonstrance two points are
remarkable: first, the expression of the infamy of such a
crime "in Israel" implying the loftier standard of morals
that prevailed, as compared with other countries at that
time; and second, the belief that even this standard might be
overborne lawfully by royal authority--"Speak to the king,
for he will not withhold me from thee." The intense hatred of
Amnon succeeding to his brutal passion, and the indignation
of Tamar at his barbarous insult, even surpassing her
indignation at his shameful outrage, are pathetically and
graphically told.
+ Daughter of Absalom, (2 Samuel 14:7) became, by her marriage
with Uriah of Gibeah, the mother of Maachah, the future queen
of Judah or wife of Abijah. (1 Kings 15:2) (B.C. 1023.)
+ A spot on the southeastern frontier of Judah, named in
(Ezekiel 47:19; 48:28) only, evidently called from a palm
tree. If not Hazazon-tamar, the old name of Engedi, it may he
a place called Thamar in the Onamasticon [HAZAZON-TAMAR), a
day's journey south of Hebron.
Tammuz
(sprout of life), properly "the Tammuz," the article indicating
that at some time or other the word had been regarded as an
appellative. (Ezekiel 8:14) Jerome identifies Tammuz with
Adonis, of Grecian mythology, who was fabled to have lost his
wife while hunting, by a wound from the tusk of a wild boar. He
was greatly beloved by the goddess Venus, who was inconsolable
at his loss. His blood according to Ovid produced the anemone,
but according to others the adonium, while the anemone sprang
from the tears of Venus. A festival in honor of Adonis was
celebrated at Byblus in Phoenicia and in most of the Grecian
cities, and even by the Jews when they degenerated into
idolatry. It took place in July, and was accompanied by obscene
rites.
Tanach
a slight variation of the name [1198]Taanach. (Joshua 21:26)
Tanhumeth
(consolation), the father of Seraiah in the time of Gedaliah.
(2 Kings 25:23; Jeremiah 40:8) (B.C. before 582.)
Taphath
(ornament), the daughter of Solomon, who was married to
ben-Abinadab. (1 Kings 4:11) (B.C. about 1000.)
Taphon
one of the cities in Judea fortified by Bacchides. 1 Macc.
9:50. It is probably the Beth-tappuah of the Old Testament.
Tappush
(the apple-city).
+ A city of Judah, of the Shefelah or lowland. (Joshua 15:34)
+ A place on the boundary of the "children of Joseph." (Joshua
16:8; 17:8) Its full name was probably En-tappuah. (Joshua
17:7) ("Around the city was a district called the land of
Tappuah; the city belonged to Ephraim and the land to
Manasseh. (Joshua 17:8) "--Schaff.)
+ One of the sons of Hebron, of the tribe of Judah. (1
Chronicles 2:43) It is doubtless the same as Beth-tappuah.
(B.C. before 1450.)
Tarah
(delay), a desert-station of the Israelites between Tahath and
Mithcah. (Numbers 33:27)
Taralah
(reeling), one of the towns in the allotment of Benjamin.
(Joshua 18:27)
Tarea
the same as Tahreah, the son of Micah. (1 Chronicles 8:35)
Tares
There can be little doubt that the zizania of the parable,
(Matthew 13:25) denotes the weed called "darnel" (Lolium
temulentum). The darnel before it comes into ear is very
similar in appearance to wheat; hence the command that the
zizania should be left to the harvest, lest while men plucked
up the tares "they should root up also the wheat with them."
Dr. Stanley, however, speaks of women and children picking up
from the wheat in the cornfields of Samaria the tall green
stalks, still called by the Arabs zuwan . "These stalks," he
continues, "if sown designedly throughout the fields, would be
inseparable from the wheat, from which, even when growing
naturally and by chance, they are at first sight hardly
distinguishable." See also Thomson ("The Land and the Book" p.
420): "The grain is in just the proper stage to illustrate the
parable. In those parts where the grain has headed out, the
tares have done the same, and then a child cannot mistake them
for wheat or barley; but where both are less developed, the
closest scrutiny will often fail to detect them. Even the
farmers, who in this country generally weed their fields, do
not attempt to separate the one from the other." The grains of
the L. temulentum, if eaten, produce convulsions, and even
death.
Targum
[See [1199]Versions, Ancient, Of The Old And New Testaments,
[1200]Versions, Authorized]
Tarpelites, The
A race of Assyrian colonists who were planted int he cites of
Samaria after the captivity of the northern kingdom of Israel.
(Ezra 4:9) They have not been identified with any certainty.
Tarshish
(established).
+ Probably Tartessus, a city and emporium of the Phoenicians in
the south of Spain, represented as one of the sons of Javan.
(Genesis 10:4; 1 Kings 10:22; 1 Chronicles 1:7; Psalms 48:7;
Isaiah 2:16; Jeremiah 10:9; Ezekiel 27:12,25; Jonah 1:3; 4:2)
The identity of the two places is rendered highly probable by
the following circumstances: 1st. There is a very close
similarity of name between them, Tartessus being merely
Tarshish in the Aramaic form. 2nd. There seems to have been a
special relation between Tarshish and Tyre, as there was at
one time between Tartessus and Phoenicians. 3rd. The articles
which Tarshish is stated by the prophet Ezekiel, (Ezekiel
27:12) to have supplied to Tyre are precisely such as we
know, through classical writers, to have been productions of
the Spanish peninsula. In regard to tin, the trade of
Tarshish in this metal is peculiarly significant, and, taken
in conjunction with similarity of name and other
circumstances already mentioned, is reasonably conclusive as
to its identity with Tartessus. For even not when countries
in Europe or on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea where tin
is found are very few; and in reference to ancient times, it
would be difficult to name any such countries except Iberia
or Spain, Lusitania, which was somewhat less in extent than
Portugal, and Cornwall in Great Britain. In the absence of
positive proof, we may acquiesce in the statement of Strabo,
that the river Baetis (now the Guadalquivir) was formerly
called Tartessus, that the city Tartessus was situated
between the two arms by which the river flowed into the sea,
and that the adjoining country was called Tartessis.
+ From the book of Chronicles there would seem to have been a
Tarshish accessible from the Red Sea, in addition to the
Tarshish of the south of Spain. Thus, with regard to the
ships of Tarshish, which Jehoshaphat caused to be constructed
at Ezion-geber on the Elanitic Gulf of the Red Sea, (1 Kings
22:48) it is said in the Chronicles, (2 Chronicles 20:36)
that they were made to go to Tarshish; and in like manner the
navy of ships, which Solomon had previously made in
Ezion-geber, (1 Kings 9:26) is said in the Chronicles, (2
Chronicles 9:21) to have gone to Tarshish with the servants
of Hiram. It is not to be supposed that the author of these
passages in the Chronicles contemplated a voyage to Tarshish
in the south of Spain by going round what has since been
called the Cape of Good Hope. The expression "ships of
Tarshish" originally meant ships destined to go to Tarshish;
and then probably came to signify large Phoenician ships, of
a particular size the description, destined for long voyages,
just as in English "East Indiaman" was a general name given
to vessels, some of which were not intended to go to India at
all. Hence we may infer that the word Tarshish was also used
to signify any distant place, and in this case would be
applied to one in the Indian Ocean. This is shown by the
nature of the imports with which the fleet returned, which
are specified as "gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks ."
(1 Kings 10:22) The gold might possibly have been obtained
form Africa, or from Ophir in Arabia, and the ivory and the
apes might likewise have been imported from Africa; but the
peacocks point conclusively, not to Africa, but to India.
There are only two species known: both inhabit the mainland
and islands of India; so that the mention of the peacock
seems to exclude the possibility of the voyage having been to
Africa.
Tarsus
the chief town of Cilicia, "no mean city" in other respects,
but illustrious to all time as the birthplace and early
residence of the apostle Paul. (Acts 9:11; 21:39; 22:3) Even in
the flourishing period of Greek history it was a city of some
considerable consequence. In the civil wars of Rome it took
Caesar's aide, sad on the occasion of a visit from him had its
name changed to Juliopolis. Augustus made it a "free city." It
was renowned as a place of education under the early Roman
emperors. Strabo compares it in this respect to Athens unto
Alexandria. Tarsus also was a place of much commerce. It was
situated in a wild and fertile plain on the banks of the
Cydnus. No ruins of any importance remain.
Tartak
(prince of darkness), one of the gods of the Avite or Avvite
colonists of Samaria. (2 Kings 17:31) According to rabbinical
tradition, Tartak is said to have been worshipped under the
form of an ass.
Tartan
which occurs only in (2 Kings 18:17) and Isai 20:1 Has been
generally regarded as a proper name; like Rabsaris and
Rabshakeh, it is more probably an official designation, and
indicates the Assyrian commander-in-chief.
Tatnai
(gift), satrap of the province west of the Euphrates in the
time of Darius Hystaspes. (Ezra 5:3,6; 6:6,13) (B.C. 520.) The
name is thought to be Persian.
Taverns, The Three
[[1201]Three Taverns TAVERNS]
Taxes
I. Under the judges, according to the theocratic government
contemplated by the law, the only payments incumbent upon the
people as of permanent obligation were the Tithes, the
Firstfruits, the Redemption-money of the first-born, and other
offerings as belonging to special occasions. The payment by
each Israelite of the half-shekel as "atonement-money," for the
service of the tabernacle, on taking the census of the people,
(Exodus 30:13) does not appear to have had the character of a
recurring tax, but to have been supplementary to the freewill
offerings of (Exodus 25:1-7) levied for the one purpose of the
construction of the sacred tent. In later times, indeed, after
the return from Babylon, there was an annual payment for
maintaining the fabric and services of the temple; but the fact
that this begins by of a shekel, (Nehemiah 10:32) shows that
till then there was no such payment recognized as necessary. A
little later the third became a half, and under the name of the
didrachma, (Matthew 17:24) was paid by every Jew, in whatever
part of the world he might be living. II. The kingdom, with
centralized government and greater magnificence, involved of
course, a larger expenditure, and therefore a heavier taxation,
The chief burdens appear to have been-- (1) A tithe of the
produce both of the soil and of live stock. (1 Samuel 8:15,17)
(2) Forced military service for a month every year. (1 Samuel
8:12; 1 Kings 9:22; 1 Chronicles 27:1) (3) Gifts to the king.
(1 Samuel 10:27; 16:20; 17:18) (4) Import duties. (1 Kings
10:15) (5) The monopoly of certain-branches of commerce. (1
Kings 9:28; 22:48; 10:28,29) (6) The appropriation to the
king's use of the early crop of hay. (Amos 7:1) At times, too,
in the history of both the kingdoms there were special burdens.
A tribute of fifty shekels a head had to be paid by Menahem to
the Assyrian king, (2 Kings 16:20) and under his successor
Hoshea this assumed the form of an annual tribute. (2 Kings
17:4) III. Under the Persian empire the taxes paid by the Jews
were, in their broad outlines, the same in kind as those of
other subject races. The financial system which gained for
Darius Hystaspes the name of the "shopkeeper king" involved the
payment by each satrap of a fixed sum as the tribute due from
his province. In Judea, as in other provinces, the inhabitants
had to provide in kind for the maintenance of the governor's
household, besides a money payment of forty shekels a day.
(Nehemiah 5:14,15) In Ezra 4:13,20; 7:24 We get a formal
enumeration of the three great branches of the revenue. The
influence of Ezra secured for the whole ecclesiastical order,
from the priests down to the Nethinim, an immunity from all
three (Ezra 7:24) but the burden pressed heavily on the great
body of the people. IV. Under the Egyptian and Syrian kings the
taxes paid by the Jews became yet heavier. The "farming" system
of finance was adopted in its worst form. The taxes were put up
to auction. The contract sum for those of Phoenicia, Judea and
Samaria had been estimated at about 8000 talents. An
unscrupulous adventurer would bid double that sum, and would
then go down to the province, and by violence and cruelty, like
that of Turkish or Hindoo collectors, squeeze out a large
margin of profit for himself. V. The pressure of Roman
taxation, if not absolutely heavier, was probably more galling,
as being more thorough and systematic, more distinctively a
mark of bondage. The capture of Jerusalem by Pompey was
followed immediately by the imposition of a tribute, and within
a short time the sum thus taken from the resources of the
country amounted to 10,000 talents. When Judea became formally
a Roman province, the whole financial system of the empire came
as a natural consequence. The taxes were systematically farmed,
and the publicans appeared as a new curse to the country. The
portoria were levied at harbors, piers and the gates of cities.
(Matthew 17:24; Romans 13:7) In addition to this there was the
poll-tax paid by every Jew, and looked upon, for that reason,
as the special badge of servitude. United with this, as part of
the same system, there was also, in all probability, a property
tax of some kind. In addition to these general taxes, the
inhabitants of Jerusalem were subject to a special house duty
about this period.
Taxing
The English word now conveys to us more distinctly the notion
of a tax or tribute actually levied; but it appears to have
been used in the sixteenth century for the simple assessment of
a subsidy upon the property of a given county, or the
registration of the people for the purpose of a poll-tax. Two
distinct registrations, or taxings, are mentioned in the New
Testament, both of them by St. Luke. The first is said to have
been the result of an edict of the emperor Augustus, that "all
the world (i.e. the Roman empire) should be taxed," (Luke 2:1)
and is connected by the evangelist with the name of Cyrenius
Quirinus. [[1202]Cyrenius] The second and more important, (Acts
6:37) is distinctly associated, in point of time, with the
revolt of Judas of Galilee.
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Table of Contents
Tebah
(slaughter), eldest of the sons of Nahor by his concubine
Reumah. (Genesis 22:24) (B.C. 1872.)
Tebaliah
(purified), third son of Hosah of the children of Merari. (1
Chronicles 26:11) (B.C. 1014.)
Tebeth
[[1203]Month]
Tehinnah
(supplication), the father or founder of Ir-nahash, the city of
Nahash, and son of Eshton. (1 Chronicles 4:12) (B.C. about
1083.)
Teil Tree
[[1204]Oak]
Tekoa, Or Tekoah
(a stockade).
+ A town in the tribe of Judah. (2 Chronicles 11:6) on the
range of hills which rise near Hebron and stretch eastward
toward the Dead Sea. Jerome says that Tekoa was six Roman
miles from Bethlehem, and that as he wrote he had that
village daily before his eyes. The "wise woman" whom Joab
employed to effect a reconciliation between David and Absalom
was obtained from this place. (2 Samuel 14:2) Here also Ira
the son of Ikkesh, one of David's thirty, "the mighty men,"
was born, and was called on that account "the Tekoite," (2
Samuel 23:26) It was one of the places which Rehoboam
fortified, at the beginning of his reign, as a defence
against invasion from the south. (2 Chronicles 11:6) Some of
the people from Tekoa took part in building the walls of
Jerusalem, after the return from the captivity. (Nehemiah
3:6,27) In (Jeremiah 6:1) the prophet exclaims, "Blow the
trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem."
But Tekoa is chiefly memorable as the birthplace (Amos 7:14)
of the prophet Amos. Tekoa is still as Teku'a. It lies on an
elevated hill, which spreads itself out into an irregular
plain of moderate extent. Various ruins exist, such as the
walls of houses, cisterns, broken columns and heaps of
building-stones.
+ A name occurring in the genealogies of Judah, (1 Chronicles
2:24; 4:5) as the son of Ashur. There is little doubt that
the town of Tekoa is meant.
Tekoite, The
Ira ben-Ikkesh, one of David's warriors, is thus designated. (2
Samuel 23:26; 1 Chronicles 11:28; 27:8) The common people among
the Tekoites displayed great activity in the repairs of the
wall of Jerusalem under Nehemiah. (Nehemiah 3:6,27)
Telabib
(cornhill) was probably a city of Chaldaea or Babylonia, not of
upper Mesopotamia as generally supposed. (Ezekiel 3:16) The
whole scene of Ezekiel's preaching and visions seems to have
been Chaldaea proper; and the river Chebar, as already
observed, was not the Khabour, but a branch of the Euphrates.
Telah
(vigor), a descendant of Ephraim, and ancestor of Joshua. (1
Chronicles 7:25) (B.C. before 1491.)
Telaim
(lambs), the place at which Saul collected and numbered his
forces before his attack on Amalek, (1 Samuel 16:4) may be
identical with [1205]Telem, which see.
Telasear
(Assyrian hill) is mentioned in (2 Kings 19:12) and in Isai
37:12 As a city inhabited by "the children of Eden,"--which had
been conquered and was held in the time of Sennacherib, by the
Assyrians. it must have been in western Mesopotamia, in the
neighborhood of Harran and Orfa.
Telem
(oppression).
+ One of the cities in the extreme south of Judah, (Joshua
15:24) probably the same as Telaim. The name Dhullam is found
in Van Deuteronomy Velde's map, attached to a district
immediately to the north of the Kubbet el-Baul, south of el
Milh and Ar'arah--a position very suitable.
+ A porter or doorkeeper of the temple in the time of Ezra.
(Ezra 10:24) He is probably the same as [1206]Talmon in
(Nehemiah 12:25)
Telharsa, Or Telharesha
(hill of the artificer), one of the Babylonian towns or
villages mentioned in (Ezra 2:59; Nehemiah 7:61) along with
Tel-melah and Cherub, probably in the low country near the sea.
Telmelah
[TEL-HARSA]
Tema
(a desert), the ninth son of Ishmael, (Genesis 25:15; 1
Chronicles 1:30) whence the tribe called after him, mentioned
in (Job 6:19; Jeremiah 25:23) and also the land occupied by
this tribe. (Isaiah 21:13,14) (B.C. after 1850.) The name is
identified with Teyma, a small town on the confines of Syria.
Teman
(the south).
+ A son of Eliphaz, son of Esau by Adah. (Genesis 36:11,15,41;
1 Chronicles 1:36,53) (B.C. about 1792.)
+ A country, and probably a city, named after the Edomite
phylarch, or from which the phylarch took his name. The
Hebrew signifies "south," etc., see (Job 9:9; Isaiah 43:6)
and it is probable that the land of Teman was a southern
portion of the land of Edom, or, in a wider sense, that of
the sons of the east. Teman is mentioned in five places by
the prophets, in four of which it is connected with Edom and
in two with Dedan. (Jeremiah 49:7,8; Ezekiel 25:13) Eusebius
and Jerome mention Teman as a town in their day distant 15
miles from Petra, and a Roman post.
Temani
[[1207]Teman]
Temanite
an inhabitant of Teman.
Temeni
son of Ashur the father of Tekoa, by his wife Naarah. (1
Chronicles 4:6) (B.C. about 1450.)
Temple
There is perhaps no building of the ancient world which has
excited so much attention since the time of its destruction as
the temple which Solomon built by Herod. Its spoils were
considered worthy of forming the principal illustration of one
of the most beautiful of Roman triumphal arches, and
Justinian's highest architectural ambition was that he might
surpass it. Throughout the middle ages it influenced to a
considerable degree the forms of Christian churches, and its
peculiarities were the watchwords and rallying-points of all
associations of builders. When the French expedition to Egypt,
int he first years of this century, had made the world familiar
with the wonderful architectural remains of that country, every
one jumped to the conclusion that Solomon's temple must have
been designed after an Egyptian model. The discoveries in
Assyria by Botta and Layard have within the last twenty years
given an entirely new direction to the researches of the
restorers. Unfortunately, however, no Assyrian temple has yet
been exhumed of a nature to throw much light on this subject,
and we are still forced to have recourse to the later buildings
at Persepolis, or to general deductions from the style of the
nearly contemporary secular buildings at Nineveh and elsewhere,
for such illustrations as are available. THE TEMPLE OF
[1208]Solomon.--It was David who first proposed to replace the
tabernacle by a more permanent building, but was forbidden for
the reasons assigned by the prophet Nathan, (2 Samuel 7:5)
etc.; and though he collected materials and made arrangements,
the execution of the task was left for his son Solomon. (The
gold and silver alone accumulated by David are at the lowest
reckoned to have amounted to between two and three billion
dollars, a sum which can be paralleled from secular
history.--Lange.) Solomon, with the assistance of Hiram king of
Tyre, commenced this great undertaking int he fourth year of
his reign, B.C. 1012, and completed it in seven years, B.C.
1005. (There were 183,000 Jews and strangers employed on it--of
Jews 30,000, by rotation 10,000 a month; of Canaanites 153,600,
of whom 70,000 were bearers of burdens, 80,000 hewers of wood
and stone, and 3600 overseers. The parts were all prepared at a
distance from the site of the building, and when they were
brought together the whole immense structure was erected
without the sound of hammer, axe or any tool of iron. (1 Kings
6:7)--Schaff.) The building occupied the site prepared for it
by David, which had formerly been the threshing-floor of the
Jebusite Ornan or Araunah, on Mount Moriah. The whole area
enclosed by the outer walls formed a square of about 600 feet;
but the sanctuary itself was comparatively small, inasmuch as
it was intended only for the ministrations of the priests, the
congregation of the people assembling in the courts. In this
and all other essential points the temple followed the model of
the tabernacle, from which it differed chiefly by having
chambers built about the sanctuary for the abode of the priests
and attendants and the keeping of treasures and stores. In all
its dimensions, length, breadth and height, the sanctuary
itself was exactly double the size of the tabernacle, the
ground plan measuring 80 cubits by 40, while that of the
tabernacle was 40 by 20, and the height of the temple being 30
cubits, while that of the tabernacle was 15. [The readers would
compare the following account with the article
[1209]Tabernacle] As in the tabernacle, the temple consisted of
three parts, the porch, the holy place, and the holy of holies.
The front of the porch was supported, after the manner of some
Egyptian temples, by the two great brazen pillars, Jachin and
Boaz, 18 cubits high, with capitals of 5 cubits more, adorned
with lily-work and pomegranates. (1 Kings 7:15-22) The places
of the two "veils" of the tabernacle were occupied by
partitions, in which were folding-doors. The whole interior was
lines with woodwork richly carved and overlaid with gold.
Indeed, both within and without the building was conspicuously
chiefly by the lavish use of the gold of Ophir and Parvaim. It
glittered in the morning sun (it has been well said) like the
sanctuary of an El Dorado. Above the sacred ark, which was
placed, as of old, in the most holy place, were made new
cherubim, one pair of whose wings met above the ark, and
another pair reached to the walls behind them. In the holy
place, besides the altar of incense, which was made of cedar
overlaid with gold there were seven golden candlesticks in
stead of one, and the table of shew-bread was replaced by ten
golden tables, bearing, besides the shew bread, the innumerable
golden vessels for the service of the sanctuary. The outer
court was no doubt double the size of that of the tabernacle;
and we may therefore safely assume that if was 10 cubits in
height, 100 cubits north and south, and 200 east and west. If
contained an inner court, called the "court of the priests;"
but the arrangement of the courts and of the porticos and
gateways of the enclosure, though described by Josephus,
belongs apparently to the temple of Herod. The outer court
there was a new altar of burnt offering, much larger than the
old one. [[1210]Altar] Instead of the brazen laver there was "a
molten sea" of brass, a masterpiece of Hiram's skill for the
ablution of the priests. It was called a "sea" from its great
size. [[1211]Sea, Molten, MOLTEN] The chambers for the priests
were arranged in successive stories against the sides of the
sanctuary; not, however, reaching to the top, so as to leave
space for the windows to light the holy and the most holy
place. We are told by Josephus and the Talmud that there was a
superstructure on the temple equal in height to the lower part;
and this is confirmed by the statement in the books of
Chronicles that Solomon "overlaid the upper chambers with
gold." (2 Chronicles 3:9) Moreover, "the altars on the top of
the upper chamber," mentioned in the books of the Kings, (2
Kings 23:12) were apparently upon the temple. The dedication of
the temple was the grandest ceremony ever performed under the
Mosaic dispensation. The temple was destroyed on the capture of
Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, B.C. 586. TEMPLE OF
[1212]Zerubbabel.--We have very few particulars regarding the
temple which the Jews erected after their return from the
captivity (about B.C. 520), and no description that would
enable us to realize its appearance. But there are some
dimensions given in the Bible and elsewhere which are extremely
interesting, as affording points of comparison between it and
the temple which preceded it and the one erected after it. The
first and most authentic are those given in the book of Ezra,
(Ezra 6:3) when quoting the decree of Cyrus, wherein it is
said, "Let the house be builded, the place where they offered
sacrifices and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid;
the height thereof three-score cubits. and the breadth thereof
three-score cubits, with three rows of great stones, and a row
of new timber." Josephus quotes this passage almost literally,
but in doing so enables us to translate with certainty the word
here called row as "story"--as indeed the sense would lead us
to infer. We see by the description in Ezra that this temple
was about one third larger than Solomon's. From these
dimensions we gather that if the priests and Levites and elders
of families were disconsolate at seeing how much more sumptuous
the old temple was than the one which on account of their
poverty they had hardly been able to erect, (Ezra 3:12) it
certainly was not because it was smaller; but it may have been
that the carving and the gold and the other ornaments of
Solomon's temple far surpassed this, and the pillars of the
portico and the veils may all have been far more splendid; so
also probably were the vessels and all this is what a Jew would
mourn over far more than mere architectural splendor. In
speaking of these temples we must always bear in mind that
their dimensions were practically very far inferior to those of
the heathen. Even that of Ezra is not larger than an average
parish church of the last century; Solomon's was smaller. It
was the lavish display of the precious metals, the elaboration
of carved ornament, and the beauty of the textile fabrics,
which made up their splendor and rendered them so precious in
the eyes of the people. TEMPLE OF [1213]Ezekiel.--The vision of
a temple which the prophet Ezekiel saw while residing on the
banks of the Chebar in Babylonia, in the twenty-fifth year of
the captivity, does not add much to our knowledge of the
subject. It is not a description of a temple that ever was
built or ever could be erected at Jerusalem, and can
consequently only be considered as the beau ideal of what a
Shemitic temple ought to be. TEMPLE OF [1214]Herod.--Herod the
Great announced to the people assembled at the Passover, B.C.
20 or 19, his intention of restoring the temple; (probably a
stroke of policy on the part of Herod to gain the favor of the
Jews and to make his name great.) if we may believe Josephus,
he pulled down the whole edifice to its foundations, and laid
them anew on an enlarged scale; but the ruins still exhibit, in
some parts, what seem to be the foundations laid by Zerubbable,
and beneath them the more massive substructions of Solomon. The
new edifice was a stately pile of Graeco-Roman architecture,
built in white marble gilded acroteria . It is minutely
described by Josephus, and the New Testament has made us
familiar with the pride of the Jews in its magnificence. A
different feeling, however, marked the commencement of the
work, which met with some opposition from the fear that what
Herod had begun he would not be able to finish. he overcame all
jealousy by engaging not to pull down any part of the existing
buildings till all the materials for the new edifice were
collected on its site. Two years appear to have been occupied
in preparations--among which Josephus mentions the teaching of
some of the priests and Levites to work as masons and
carpenters--and then the work began. The holy "house,"
including the porch, sanctuary and holy of holies, was finished
in a year and a half, B.C. 16. Its completion, on the
anniversary of Herod's inauguration, was celebrated by lavish
sacrifices and a great feast. About B.C. 9--eight years from
the commencement--the court and cloisters of the temple were
finished, and the bridge between the south cloister and the
upper city (demolished by Pompey) was doubtless now rebuilt
with that massive masonry of which some remains still survive.
(The work, however, was not entirely ended till A.D. 64, under
Herod Agrippa II. So the statement in (John 2:20) is
correct.--Schaff.) The temple or holy "house" itself was in
dimensions and arrangement very similar to that of Solomon, or
rather that of Zerubbabel--more like the latter; but this was
surrounded by an inner enclosure of great strength and
magnificence, measuring as nearly as can be made out 180 cubits
by 240, and adorned by porches and ten gateways of great
magnificence; and beyond this again was an outer enclosure
measuring externally 400 cubits each way, which was adorned
with porticos of greater splendor than any we know of as
attached to any temple of the ancient world. The temple was
certainly situated in the southwest angle of the area now known
as the Haram area at Jerusalem, and its dimensions were what
Josephus states them to be--400 cubits, or one stadium, each
way. At the time when Herod rebuilt it, he enclosed a space
"twice as large" as that before occupied by the temple and its
courts--an expression that probably must not be taken too
literally at least, if we are to depend on the measurements of
Hecataeus. According to them, the whole area of Herod's temple
was between four and five times greater than that which
preceded it. What Herod did apparently, was to take in the
whole space between the temple and the city wall on its east
side, and to add a considerable space on the north and south to
support the porticos which he added there. As the temple
terrace thus became the principal defence of the city on the
east side, there were no gates or openings in that direction,
and being situated on a sort of rocky brow--as evidenced from
its appearance in the vaults that bounded it on this side--if
was at all later times considered unattackable from the
eastward. The north side, too, where not covered by the
fortress Antonia, became part of the defenses of the city, and
was likewise without external gates. On the south side, which
was enclosed by the wall of Ophel, there were notable gates
nearly in the centre. These gates still exist at a distance of
about 365 feet from the southwestern angle, and are perhaps the
only architectural features of the temple of Herod which remain
in situ . This entrance consists of a double archway of
Cyclopean architecture on the level of the ground, opening into
a square vestibule measuring 40 feet each way. From this a
double funnel nearly 200 feet in length, leads to a flight of
steps which rise to the surface in the court of the temple,
exactly at that gateway of the inner temple which led to the
altar, and is one of the four gateways on this side by which
any one arriving from Ophel would naturally wish to enter the
inner enclosure. We learn from the Talmud that the gate of the
inner temple to which this passage led was called the "water
gate;" and it is interesting to be able to identify a spot so
prominent in the description of Nehemiah. (Nehemiah 12:37)
Toward the west there were four gateways to the external
enclosure of the temple. The most magnificent part of the
temple, in an architectural point of view, seems certainly to
have been the cloisters which were added to the outer court
when it was enlarged by Herod. The cloisters in the west, north
and east sides were composed of double rows of Corinthian
columns, 25 cubits or 37 feet 6 inches in height, with flat
roof, and resting against the outer wall of the temple. These,
however, were immeasurably surpassed in magnificence by the
royal porch or Stoa Basilica, which overhung the southern wall.
It consisted of a nave and two aisled, that toward the temple
being open, that toward the country closed by a wall. The
breadth of the centre aisle was 95 feet of the side aisles, 30
from centre to centre of the pillars; their height 50 feet, and
that of the centre aisle 100 feet. Its section was thus
something in excess of that of York Cathedral, while its total
length was one stadium or 600 Greek feet, or 100 feet in excess
of York or our largest Gothic cathedrals. This magnificent
structure was supported by 162 Corinthian columns. The porch on
the east was called "Solomon's Porch." The court of the temple
was very nearly a square. It may have been exactly so, for we
have not the details to enable us to feel quite certain about
it. To the eastward of this was the court of the women. The
great ornament of these inner courts seems to have been their
gateways, the three especially on the north end south leading
to the temple court. These according to Josephus, were of great
height, strongly fortified and ornamented with great
elaboration. But the wonder of all was the great eastern gate
leading from the court of the women to the upper court. It was
in all probability the one called the "beautiful gate" in the
New Testament. immediately within this gateway stood the altar
of burnt offerings. Both the altar and the temple were enclosed
by a low parapet, one cubit in height, placed so as to keep the
people separate from the priests while the latter were
performing their functions. Within this last enclosure, toward
the westward, stood the temple itself. As before mentioned, its
internal dimensions were the same as those of the temple of
Solomon. Although these remained the same, however, there seems
no reason to doubt that. the whole plan was augmented by the
pteromata, or surrounding parts being increased from 10 to 20
cubits, so that the third temple, like the second, measured 60
cubits across and 100 cubits east and west. The width of the
facade was also augmented by wings or shoulders projecting 20
cubits each way, making the whole breadth 100 cubits, or equal
to the length. There is no reason for doubting that the
sanctuary always stood on identically the same spot in which it
had been placed by Solomon a thousand years before it was
rebuilt by Herod. The temple of Herod was destroyed by the
Romans under Titus, Friday, August 9, A.D. 70. A Mohammedan
mosque now stands on its site.
Ten Commandments
The popular name in this, as in so many instances,is not that
of Scripture. There we have the "TEN WORDS," (Exodus 34:28;
4:13; 10:4) the "[1215]Covenant," Ex., Deut. 11. cc.; (1 Kings
8:21; 2 Chronicles 6:11) etc., or, very often as the solemn
attestation of the divine will, the "TESTIMONY." (Exodus
25:16,21; 31:18) etc. The circumstances in which the Ten great
Words were first given to the people surrounded them with an
awe which attached to no other precept. In the midst of the
cloud and the darkness and the flashing lightning and the fiery
smoke and the thunder like the voice of a trumpet, Moses was
called to Mount Sinai to receive the law without which the
people would cease to be a holy nation. (Exodus 19:20) Here, as
elsewhere, Scripture unites two facts which men separate. God,
and not man was speaking to the Israelites in those terrors,
and yet, in the language of later inspired teachers, other
instrumentality was not excluded. No other words were
proclaimed in like manner. And the record was as exceptional as
the original revelation. Of no other words could it be said
that they were written as these were written, engraved on the
Tables of Stone, not as originating in man's contrivance or
sagacity, but by the power of the Eternal Spirit, by the
"finger of God." (Exodus 31:18; 32:16) The number Ten was, we
can hardly doubt, itself significant to Moses and the
Israelites. The received symbol, then and at all times, of
completeness, it taught the people that the law of Jehovah was
perfect. (Psalms 19:7) The term "Commandments" had come into
use in the time of Christ. (Luke 18:20) Their division into two
tables is not only expressly mentioned but the stress is upon
the two leaves no doubt that the distinction was important, and
that answered to that summary of the law which was made both by
Moses and by Christ into two precepts; so that the first table
contained Duties to God, and the second, Duties to our Neighbor
. There are three principal divisions of the two tables:
+ That of the Roman Catholic Church, making the first table
contain three commandments and the second the other seven.
+ The familiar division, referring the first four to our duty
toward God and the six remaining to our duty toward man.
+ The division recognized by the old Jewish writers, Josephus
and Philo, which places five commandments in each table. It
has been maintained that the law of filial duty, being a
close consequence of God's fatherly relation to us, maybe
referred to the first table. But this is to place human
parents on a level with God, and, by purity of reasoning the
Sixth Commandment might be added to the first table, as
murder is the destruction of God's image in man. Far more
reasonable is the view which regards the authority of parents
as heading the second table, as the earthly reflex of that
authority of the Father of his people and of all men which
heads the first, and as the first principle of the whole law
of love to our neighbor; because we are all brethren and the
family is, for good and ill the model of the state. "The
Decalogue differs from all the other legislation of Moses:
(1) It was proclaimed by God himself in a most public and
solemn manner. (2) It was given under circumstances of most
appalling majesty and sublimity. (3) It was written by the
finger of God on two tables of stone. (5:22) (4) It differed
from any and all other laws given to Israel in that it was
comprehensive and general rather than specific and
particular. (6) It was complete, being one finished whole to
which nothing was to be added, from which nothing was ever
taken away. (6) The law of the Ten Commandments was honored
by Jesus Christ as embodying the substance of the law of God
enjoined upon man. (7) It can scarcely be doubted that Jesus
had his eye specially if not exclusively on this law, (5:18)
as one never to be repealed from which not one jot or tittle
should ever pass away. (8) It is marked by wonderful
simplicity and brevity such a contrast to our human
legislation, our British statute-book for instance, which it
would need an elephant to carry and an OEdipus to interpret."
Tent
Among the leading characteristics of the nomad races, those two
have always been numbered whose origin has been ascribed to
Jabal the son of Lameth, (Genesis 4:20) viz., to be
tent-dwellers and keepers of cattle. The same may be said of
the forefathers of the Hebrew race; nor was it until the return
into Canaan from Egypt that the Hebrews became inhabitants of
cities. An Arab tent is called beit, "house;" its covering
consists of stuff, about three quarters of a yard broad, made
of black goat's-hair, (Song of Solomon 1:5) laid parallel with
the tent's length. This is sufficient to resist the heaviest
rain. The tent-poles or columns are usually nine in number,
placed in three groups; but many tents have only one pole,
others two or three. The ropes which hold the tent in its place
are fastened, not to the tent-cover itself, but to loops
consisting of a leathern thong tied to the ends of a stick,
round which is twisted a piece of old cloth, which is itself
sewed to the tent-cover. The ends of the tent-ropes are
fastened to short sticks or pins, which are driven into the
ground with a mallet. (Judges 4:21) Round the back and sides of
the tent runs a piece of stuff removable at pleasure to admit
air. The tent is divided into two apartments, separated by a
carpet partition drawn across the middle of the tent and
fastened to the three middle posts. When the pasture near an
encampment is exhausted, the tents are taken down, packed on
camels and removed. (Genesis 26:17,22,25; Isaiah 38:12) In
choosing places for encampment, Arabs prefer the neighborhood
of trees, for the sake of the shade and coolness which they
afford. (Genesis 18:4,8)
Terah
(station), the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran, and through
them the ancestor of the great families of the Israelites,
Ishmaelites, Midianites, Moabites and Ammonites. (Genesis
11:24-32) The account given of him in the Old Testament
narrative is very brief. We learn from it simply that he was an
idolater, (Joshua 24:2) that he dwelt beyond the Euphrates in
Ur of the Chaldees, (Genesis 11:28) and that in the
southwesterly migration, which from some unexplained cause he
undertook in his old age, he went with his son Abram, his
daughter-in-law Sarai, and his grandson Lot, "to go into the
land of Canaan, and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there."
(Genesis 11:31) And finally, "the days of Terah were two
hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran." (Genesis
11:32) (B.C. 1921.)
Teraphim
This word occurs only in the plural, and denotes images
connected with magical rites. The derivation of the name is
obscure. In one case-- (1 Samuel 19:13,16)--a single statue
seems to be intended by the plural. The teraphim, translated
"images" in the Authorized Version, carried away from Laban by
Rachel were regarded by Laban as gods, and it would therefore
appear that they were used by those who added corrupt practices
to the patriarchal religion. Teraphim again are included among
Micah's images. (Judges 17:3-5; 18:17,18,20) Teraphim were
consulted for oracular answers by the Israelites, (Zechariah
10:2) comp. Judg 18:5,6; 1Sam 15:22,23; 19:13,16, LXX., and
2Kin 23:24 And by the Babylonians in the case of
Nebuchadnezzar. (Ezekiel 21:19-22)
Teresh
(strictness), one of the two eunuchs whose plot to assassinate
Ahasuerus was discovered by Mordecai. (Esther 2:21; 6:2) He was
hanged. (B.C. 479.)
Tertius
(third), probably a Roman, was the amanuensis of Paul in
writing the Epistle to the Romans. (Romans 16:22) (A.D. 55.)
Tertullus
(diminutive from Tertius), "a certain orator," (Acts 24:1) who
was retained by the high priest and Sanhedrin to accuse the
apostle Paul at Caesarea before the Roman procurator Antonius
Felix. He evidently belonged to the class of professional
orators. We may infer that Tertullus was of Roman, or at all
events of Italian, origin. (A.D. 55.)
Testament, New
[NEW TESTAMENT; BIBLE] NEW TESTAMENT - 3186
Testament, Old
[OLD TESTAMENT; BIBLE] OLD TESTAMENT - 3249
Tetrarch
properly the sovereign or governor of the fourth part of a
country. (Matthew 14:1; Luke 3:1; 9:7; Acts 13:1) The title
was, however, often applied to any one who governed a Roman
province, of whatever size. The title of king was sometimes
assigned to a tetrarch. (Matthew 14:9; Mark 6:14,22)
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Table of Contents
Thaddeus
one of the twelve apostles. (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18) From a
comparison with the catalogue of St. Luke, (Luke 6:16; Acts
1:13) it seems scarcely possible to doubt that the three names,
of Judas, Lebbeus and Thaddeus were borne by one and the same
person. [See [1216]Jude, Or Judas]
Thamah
(daughter). "The children of Thamah" were a family of Nethinim
who returned with Zerubbabel. (Ezra 2:53)
Thamar
[1217]Tamar, 1. (Matthew 1:3)
Thank Offering, Or Peace Offering
the properly eucharistic offering among the Jews, in its theory
resembling the meat offering and therefore indicating that the
offerer was already reconciled to and in covenant with God. Its
ceremonial is described in (Leviticus 3:1) ... The peace
offerings, unlike other sacrifices, were not ordained to be
offered in fixed and regular course. The only
constantly-recurring peace offering appears to have been that
of the two firstling lambs at Pentecost. (Leviticus 23:19) The
general principle of the peace offering seems to have been that
it should be entirely spontaneous, offered as occasion should
arise, from the feeling of the sacrificer himself. (Leviticus
19:5) On the first institution, (Leviticus 7:11-17) peace
offerings are divided into "offerings of thanksgiving" and
"vows or freewill offerings;" of which latter class the
offering by a Nazarite on the completion of his vow is the most
remarkable. (Numbers 6:14) We find accordingly peace offerings
offered for the people on a great scale at periods of unusual
solemnity or rejoicing. In two cases only-- (Judges 20:26; 2
Samuel 24:26)--peace offerings are mentioned se offered with
burnt offerings at a time of national sorrow and fasting.
Thara
Terah the father of Abraham. (Luke 3:34)
Tharra
(Esther 12:1) a corrupt form of Teresh.
Tharshish
+ In this more accurate form the translators of the Authorized
Version have given in two passages-- (1 Kings 10:22;
22:48)--the name elsewhere presented as Tarshish.
+ A Benjamite, one of the family of Bilhan the house of
Jediael. (1 Chronicles 7:10) only.
Theatre
For the explanation of the biblical allusions, two or three
points only require notice. The Greek term, like the
corresponding English term, denotes the place where dramatic
performances are exhibited, and also the scene itself or
spectacle which is witnessed there. It occurs in the first or
local sense in (Acts 19:29) The other sense of the term
"theatre" occurs in (1 Corinthians 4:9)
Thebes
(Authorized Version No, the multitude of No. populous No), a
chief cite of ancient Egypt, long the capital of the upper
country, and the seat of the Diospolitan dynasties, that ruled
over all Egypt at the era of its highest splendor. It was
situated on both sides of the Nile, 400 or 500 miles from its
mouth. The sacred name of Thebes was P-amen "the abode of
Amon," which the Greeks reproduced in their Diospolis,
especially with the addition the Great . No-amon is the name of
Thebes in the Hebrew Scriptures. (Jeremiah 46:25; Nahum 3:8)
Ezekiel uses No simply to designate the Egyptian seat of Amon.
(Ezekiel 30:14,16) [[1218]No-Amon] its origin and early
allusions to it.--The origin of the city is lost in antiquity.
Niebuhr is of opinion that Thebes was much older than Memphis,
and that, "after the centre of Egyptian life was transferred to
lower Egypt, Memphis acquired its greatness through the ruin of
Thebes." But both cities date from our earliest authentic
knowledge of Egyptian history. The first allusion to Thebes in
classical literature is the familiar passage of the Iliad (ix.
381-385): "Egyptian Thebes, were are vast treasures laid up in
the houses; where are a hundred gates, and from each two
hundred men to forth with horses and chariots." In the first
century before Christ, Diodorus visited Thebes, and he devotes
several sections of his general work to its history and
appearance. Though he saw the city when it had sunk to quite
secondary importance, he confirms the tradition of its early
grandeur--its circuit of 140 stadia, the size of its public
edifices, the magnificence of its temples, the number of its
monuments, the dimensions of its private houses, some of them
four or five stories high--all giving it an air of grandeur and
beauty surpassing not only all other cities of Egypt, but of
the world. Monuments.--The monuments of Thebes are the most
reliable witnesses for the ancient splendor of the city. These
are found in almost equal proportions upon both sides of the
river. The plan of the city, as indicated by the principal
monuments, was nearly quadrangular, measuring two miles from
north to south and four from east to west. Its four great
landmarks were, Karnak and Luxor upon the eastern or Arabian
side, and Qoornah and Medeenet Haboo upon the western or Libyan
side. There are indications that each of these temples may have
been connected with those facing it upon two sides by grand
dromoi, lined with sphinxes and other colossal figures. Upon
the western bank there was almost a continuous line of temples
and public edifices for a distance of two miles,from Qoonah to
Medeenet Haboo; and Wilkinson conjectures that from a point
near the latter, perhaps in the line of the colossi, the "Royal
street" ran down to the river, which was crossed by a ferry
terminating at Luxor, on the eastern side. Behind this long
range of temples and palaces are the Libyan hills, which for a
distance of five miles are excavated to the depth of several
hundred feet for sepulchral chambers. Some of these, in the
number and variety of their chambers, the finish of their
sculptures, and the beauty and freshness of their frescoes, are
among the most remarkable monuments of Egyptian grandeur and
skill. The eastern side of the river is distinguished by the
remains of Lurer and Karnak, the latter being of itself a city
of temples. The approach to Karnak from the south is marked by
a series of majestic gateways and towers, which were the
appendages of later times to the original structure. The temple
properly faces the river, i.e. toward the northwest. The courts
land properly connected with this structure occupy a space
nearly 1800 feet square, and the buildings represent almost
very dynasty of Egypt. Ezekiel proclaims the destruction of
Thebes by the arm of Babylon, (Ezekiel 30:14-16) and Jeremiah
predicted the same overthrow, (Jeremiah 46:25,26) The city lies
to-day a nest of Arab hovels amid crumbling columns and
drifting sands. The Persian invader (Cambyses, B.C. 525)
completed the destruction that the Babylonian had begun.
Thebez
(conspicuous), a place memorable for the death of the brave
Abimelech, (Judges 9:50) was known to Eusebius and Jerome, in
whose time it was situated "in the district of Neapolis," 13
Roman miles therefrom, on the road to Scythopolis. There it
still is, its name--Tubas--hardly changed.
Thelasar
[TEL-ASSAR]
Theophilus
(friend of God) the person to whom St. Luke inscribes his
Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. (Luke 1:3; Acts 1:1) From
the honorable epithet applied to him in (Luke 1:3) it has been
argued with much probability that he was a person in high
official position. All that can be conjectured with any degree
of safety concerning him comes to this, that he was a Gentile
of rank and consideration who came under the influence of St.
Luke or under that of St. Paul at Rome, and was converted to
the Christian faith.
Thessalonians, First Epistle To The
was written by the apostle Paul at Corinth, a few months after
he had founded the church at Thessalonica, at the close of the
year A.D. 62 or the beginning of 53. The Epistles to the
Thessalonians, then (for the second followed the first after no
long interval), are the earliest of St. Paul's
writings--perhaps the earliest written records of Christianity.
It is interesting, therefore, to compare the Thessalonian
epistles with the later letters, and to note the points of
These differences are mainly
+ In the general style of these earlier letters there is
greater simplicity and less exuberance of language.
+ The antagonism to St. Paul is not the same. Here the
opposition comes from Jews. A period of five years changes
the aspect of the controversy. The opponents of St. Paul are
then no longer Jews so much as Judaizing Christians .
+ Many of the distinctive doctrines of Christianity were yet
not evolved and distinctly enunciated till the needs of the
Church drew them out into prominence at a later date. It has
often been observed, for instance, that there is in the
Epistles to the Thessalonians no mention of the
characteristic contrast of "faith and works;" that the word
"justification" does not once occur; that the idea of dying
with Christ and living with Christ, so frequent in St. Paul's
later writings, is absent in these. In the Epistles to the
Thessalonians, the gospel preached is that of the coming of
Christ, rather than of the cross of Christ. The occasion of
this epistle was as follows: St. Paul had twice attempted to
re-visit Thessalonica, and both times had been disappointed.
Thus prevented from seeing them in person, he had sent
Timothy to inquire and report to him as to their condition.
(1 Thessalonians 3:1-6) Timothy returned with more favorable
tidings, reporting not only their progress in Christian faith
and practice, but also their strong attachment to their old
teacher. (1 Thessalonians 3:6-10) The First Epistle to the
Thessalonians is the outpouring of the apostle's gratitude on
receiving this welcome news. At the same time there report of
Timothy was not unmixed with alloy. There were certain
features in the condition of the Thessalonian church which
called for St. Paul's interference and to which he addresses
himself in his letter.
+ The very intensity of their Christian faith, dwelling too
exclusively on the day of the Lord's coming, had been
attended with evil consequences. On the other hand, a
theoretical difficulty had been felt. Certain members of the
church had died, and there was great anxiety lest they should
be excluded from any share in the glories of the Lord's
advent. ch. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)
+ The Thessalonians needed consolation and encouragement under
persecution. ch. (1 Thessalonians 2:14; 3:2-4)
+ An unhealthy state of feeling with regard to spiritual gifts
was manifesting itself. ch. (1 Thessalonians 6:19,20)
+ There was the danger of relapsing into their old heathen
profligacy. ch. (1 Thessalonians 4:4-8) Yet notwithstanding
all these drawbacks, the condition of the Thessalonian church
was highly satisfactory, and the most cordial relations
existed between St. Paul and his converts there. This
honorable distinction it shares with the other great church
of Macedonia, that of Philippi. The epistle is rather
practical than doctrinal. The external evidence in favor of
the genuineness of the First Epistle to the Thessalonians is
chiefly negative, but this is important enough. There is no
trace that it was ever disputed at any age or in any section
of the Church, or even by any individual till the present
century. Toward the close of the second century from Irenaeus
downward. we find this epistle directly quoted and ascribed
to Paul. The evidence derived from the character of the
epistle itself is so strong that it may fairly be called
irresistible.
Thessalonians, Second Epistle To The
appears to have been written from Corinth not very long after
the first, for Silvanus and Timotheus were still with St. Paul.
(2 Thessalonians 1:1) In the former letter we saw chiefly the
outpouring of strong personal affection, occasioned by the
renewal of the apostle's intercourse with the Thessalonians,
and the doctrinal and hortatory portions are there subordinate.
In the Second Epistle, on the other hand, his leading motive
seems to have been the desire of correcting errors in the
church of Thessalonica. We notice two points especially which
call for his rebuke:-- First, it seems that the anxious
expectation of the Lord's advent. Instead of subsiding, had
gained ground since the writing of the First Epistle. Second,
the apostle had also a personal ground of complaint. His
authority was not denied by any, but it was tampered with, and
an unauthorized use was made of his name. It will be seen that
the teaching of the Second Epistle is corrective of or rather
supplemental to that of the first, and therefore presupposes
it. This epistle, in the range of subject as well as in style
and general character closely resembles the first; and the
remarks made on that epistle apply for the most part equally
well to this. The structure is somewhat similar the main body
of the epistle being divided into two parts in the same way,
and each part closing with a prayer. ch. (2 Corinthians
2:16,17; 3:16) The epistle ends with a special direction and
benediction. ch. (2 Corinthians 3:17,18) The external evidence
in favor of the Second Epistle is somewhat more definite than
that which can be brought in favor of the first. The internal
character of the epistle too, as in the former case, bears the
strongest testimony to its Pauline origin. Its genuineness, in
fact, was never questioned until the beginning of the present
century.
Thessalonica
The original name of this city was Therma; and that part of the
Macedonian shore on which it was situated retained through the
Roman period the designation of the Thermaic Gulf. Cassander
the son of Antipater rebuilt and enlarged Therma, and named it
after his wife Thessalonica, the sister of Alexander the Great.
The name ever since, under various slight modifications, has
been continuous, and the city itself has never ceased to be
eminent. Saloniki is still the most important town of European
Turkey, next after Constantinople. Strabo in the first century
speaks of Thessalonica as the most populous city in Macedonia.
Visit of Paul .--St. Paul visited Thessalonica (with Silas and
Timothy) during his second missionary journey, and introduced
Christianity there. The first scene of the apostle's work at
Thessalonica was the synagogue. (Acts 17:2,3) It is stated that
the ministrations among the Jews continued for three weeks.
ver. 2. Not that we are obliged to limit to this time the whole
stay of the apostle at Thessalonica. A flourishing church was
certainly formed there; and the epistles show that its elements
were more Gentile than Jewish. [For persecution and further
history see [1219]Paul] Circumstances which led Paul to
Thessalonica .--Three circumstances must here be mentioned
which illustrate in an important manner this visit and this
journey as well as the two Epistles to the Thessalonians.
+ This was the chief station on the great Roman road called the
Via Egnatia, which connected Rome with the whole region to
the north of the AEgean Sea.
+ Placed as if was on this great road, and in connection with
other important Roman ways. Thessalonica was an invaluable
centre for the spread of the gospel. In fact it was nearly if
not quite on a level with Corinth and Ephesus in its share of
the commerce of the Levant.
+ The circumstance noted in (Acts 17:1) that here was the
synagogue of the Jews in this part of Macedonia, had
evidently much to do with the apostle's plans,and also
doubtless with his success. Trade would inevitably bring Jews
to Thessalonica; and it is remarkable that they have ever
since had a prominent place in the annals of the city. Later
ecclesiastical history .--During several centuries this city
was the bulwark not simply of the later Greek empire, but of
Oriental Christendom, and was largely instrumental in the
conversion of the Slavonians and Bulgarians. Thus it received
the designation of "the orthodox city;" and its struggles are
very prominent in the writings of the Byzantine historians.
Theudas
(God-given), the name of an insurgent mentioned in Gamaliel's
speech before the Jewish council, (Acts 6:35-39) at the time of
the arraignment of the apostles. He appeared, according to
Luke's account, at the head of about four hundred men. He was
probably one of the insurrectionary chiefs or fanatics by whom
the land was overrun in the last year of Herod's reign.
Josephus speaks of a Theudas who played a similar part in the
time of Claudius, about A.D. 44; but the Theudas mentioned by
St. Luke must be a different person from the one spoken of by
Josephus.
Thieves, The Two
The men who under this name appear in the history of the
crucifixion were robbers rather than thieves, belonging to the
lawless bands by which Palestine was at that time and afterward
infested. Against these brigands every Roman procurator had to
wage continual war. It was necessary to use an armed police to
encounter them. (Luke 22:62) Of the previous history of the two
who suffered on Golgotha we know nothing. They had been tried
and condemned, and were waiting their execution before our Lord
was accused. It is probable enough, as the death of Barabbas
was clearly expected at the same time that they had taken part
in his insurrection had expected to die with Jesus Barabbas.
They find themselves with one who bore the same name, but who
was described in the superscription on his cross as Jesus of
Nazareth. They could hardly have failed to hear something of
his fame as a prophet, of his triumphal entry as a king; They
catch at first the prevailing tone of scorn. But over one of
them there came a change. He looked back upon his past life,
and saw an infinite evil. He looked to the man dying on the
cross beside him, and saw an infinite compassion. There indeed
was one unlike all other "kings of the Jews" whom the robber
had ever known. Such a one must be all that he had claimed to
be. To be forgotten by that king seems to him now the most
terrible of all punishments; to take part in the triumph of his
return, the most blessed of all hopes. The yearning prayer was
answered, not in the letter, but in the spirit.
Thimnathah
a town in the allotment of Dan. (Joshua 19:43) only. It is
named between Elon and Ekron. The name is the same as that of
the residence of Samson's wife. [See [1220]Timna, Or Timnah,
[1221]Timnah]
Thistle
[[1222]Thorns AND THISTLES]
Thomas
(a twin), one of the apostles. According to Eusebius, his real
name was Judas. This may have been a mere confusion with
Thaddeus, who is mentioned in the extract. But it may also be
that; Thomas was a surname. Out of this name has grown the
tradition that he had a twin-sister, Lydia, or that he was a
twin-brother of our Lord; which last, again, would confirm his
identification with Judas. Comp. (Matthew 13:55) He is said to
have been born at Antioch. In the catalogue of the apostles he
is coupled with Matthew in (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15)
and with Philip in (Acts 1:13) All that we know of him is
derived from the Gospel of St. John; and this amounts to three
traits, which, however, so exactly agree together that, slight
as they are they place his character before us with a precision
which belongs to no other of the twelve apostles except Peter,
John and Judas Iscariot. This character is that of a man slow
to believe, seeing all the difficulties of a case, subject to
despondency, viewing things on the darker side, yet full of
ardent love of his Master. The latter trait was shown in his
speech when our Lord determined to face the dangers that
awaited him in Judea on his journey to Bethany. Thomas said to
his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with
him." (John 11:16) His unbelief appeared in his question during
the Last Supper: "Thomas saith unto him Lord we know not
whither thou goest, and how can we: know the way?" (John 14:5)
It was the prosaic, incredulous doubt as to moving a step in
the unseen future, and yet an eager inquiry as to how this step
was to be taken. The first-named trait was seen after the
resurrection. He was absent--possibly by accident, perhaps
characteristically--from the first assembly when Jesus had
appeared. The others told him what they had seen. He broke
forth into an exclamation, the terms of which convey to us at
once the vehemence of his doubt, and at the same time the vivid
picture that his mind retained of his Master's form as he had
last seen him lifeless on the cross. (John 20:25) On the eighth
day he was with them st their gathering, perhaps in expectation
of a recurrence of the visit of the previous week; and Jesus
stood among them. He uttered the same salutation, "Peace be
unto you;" and then turning to Thomas, as if this had been the
special object of his appearance, uttered the words which
convey as strongly the sense of condemnation and tender reproof
as those of Thomas had shown the sense of hesitation and doubt.
The effect on him was immediate. The conviction produced by the
removal of his doubt became deeper and stronger than that of
any of the other apostles. The words in which he expressed his
belief contain a far higher assertion of his Master's divine
nature than is contained in any other expression used by
apostolic lips--"My Lord and my God." The answer of our Lord
sums up the moral of the whole narrative: "Because thou hast
seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not
seen me, and yet have-believed." (John 20:29) In the New
Testament we hear of Thomas only twice again, once on the Sea
of Galilee with the seven disciples, where he is ranked next
after Peter, (John 21:2) and again in the assemblage of the
apostles after the ascension. (Acts 1:13) The earlier
traditions, as believed in the fourth century, represent him as
preaching in Parthia or Persia, and as finally buried at
Edessa. The later traditions carry him farther east, His
martyrdom whether in Persia or India, is said to have been
occasioned by a lance, and is commemorated by the Latin Church
on December 21 the Greek Church on October 6, and by the
Indians on July 1.
Thorns
and Thistles. There appear to be eighteen or twenty Hebrew
words which point to different kinds of prickly or thorny
shrubs. These words are variously rendered in the Authorized
Version By "thorns," "briers," "thistles," etc. Palestine
abounded in a great variety of such plants. ("Travellers call
the holy land 'a land of thorns.' Giant thistles, growing to
the height of a man on horseback, frequently spread over
regions once rich and fruitful, as they do on the pampas of
South America; and many of the most interesting historic spats
and ruins are rendered almost inaccessible by thickets of
fiercely-armed buckthorns. Entire fields are covered with the
troublesome creeping stems of the spinous ononis, while the
bare hillsides are studded with the dangerous capsules of the
puliuris and tribulus . Roses of the most prickly kinds abound
on the lower slopes of Hermon; while the sub-tropical valleys
of Judea are choked up in many places by the thorny lycium ."--
Biblical Things not generally Known.) Crown of thorns.--The
crown which was put in derision upon our Lord's head before his
crucifixion, is by some supposed to have been the Rhamnus, or
Spina Christi ; but although abundant in the neighborhood of
Jerusalem, it cannot be the plant intended, because its thorns
are so strong and large that it could not have been woven into
a wreath. The large-leaved acanthus (bear's-foot) is totally
unsuited for the purpose. Had the acacia been intended, as some
suppose, the phrase would have been ex akanthes . Obviously
some small, flexile, thorny shrub is meant; perhaps Cappares
spinosae . Hasselquist ("Travels," p. 260) says that the thorn
used was the Arabian nabk . "It was very suitable for their
purpose, as it has many sharp thorns, which inflict painful
wounds; and its flexible, pliant and round branches might
easily be plaited in the form of a crown." It also resembles
the rich dark crown green of the triumphal ivy-wreath, which
would give additional pungency to its ironical purpose.
Three Taverns
A station on the Appian Road, along which St. Paul travelled
from Puteoli to Rome. (Acts 28:15) The distances, reckoning
southward from Rome are given as follows in the Antonine
Itinerary: "to Aricia, 16 miles; to Three Taverns, 17 miles; to
Appii Forum, 10 miles;" and, comparing this with what is still
observed along the line of road, we have no difficulty in
coming to the conclusion that "Three Taverns" was near the
modern Cisterna . Just at this point a road came in from Antium
on the coast. There is no doubt that "Three Taverns" was a
frequent meeting-place of travellers.
Threshing
[[1223]Agriculture]
Threshold
Of the two words so rendered is the Authorized Version,
one,miphthan,,seems to mean sometimes a projecting beam or
corbel. (Ezekiel 9:3; 10:4,18)
Thresholds, The
This word, Asuppe, appears to be inaccurately rendered in
(Nehemiah 12:25) though its real force has perhaps not yet been
discovered. The "house of Asuppim," or simply "the Asuppim," is
mentioned in (1 Chronicles 26:15,17) as a part, probably a gate
of the enclosure of the "house of Jehovah," apparently at its
southwest corner. The allusion in (Nehemiah 12:29) is
undoubtedly to the same place. [[1224]Gate]
Throne
The Hebrew word so translated applies to any elevated seat
occupied by a person in authority, whether a high priest, (1
Samuel 1:9) a judge, (Psalms 122:5) or a military chief
(Jeremiah 1:16) The use of a chair in a country where the usual
postures were squatting and reclining was at all times regarded
as a symbol of dignity. (2 Kings 4:10; Proverbs 9:14) In order
to specify a throne in our sense of the term, it was necessary
to add to the word the notion of royalty; hence the frequent
occurrence of such expressions as "throne of the kingdom."
(17:18; 1 Kings 1:46; 2 Chronicles 7:18) The characteristic
feature in the royal throne was its elevation: Solomon's throne
was approached by six steps, (1 Kings 10:19; 2 Chronicles 9:18)
and Jehovah's throne is described as "high and lifted up."
(Isaiah 6:1) The materials and workmanship of Solomon's throne
were costly. It was made of wood inlaid with ivory and then
covered with gold except where the ivory showed. It was
furnished with arms or "stays." The steps were also lines with
pairs of lions. As to the form of chair, we are only informed
in (1 Kings 10:19) that "the top was round behind." The king
sat on his throne on state occasions. At such times he appeared
in his royal robes. The throne was the symbol of supreme power
and dignity. (Genesis 41:40) Similarly, "to sit upon the
throne" implied the exercise of regal power. (17:18; 1 Kings
16:11)
Thuhash
(badger), son of Nahor by his concubine Reumah. (Genesis 22:24)
(B.C. 1880.)
Thummim
[[1225]Urim And Thummim AND THUMMIM]
Thunder
is hardly ever heard in Palestine form the middle of April to
the middle of September; hence it was selected by Samuel as a
striking expression of the divine displeasure toward the
Israelites. (1 Samuel 12:17) Rain in harvest was deemed as
extraordinary as snow in summer, (Proverbs 26:1) and Jerome
states that he had never witnessed it in the latter part of
June or in July. Comm. on (Amos 4:7) In the imaginative
philosophy of the Hebrews, thunder was regarded as the voice of
Jehovah, (Job 37:2,4,5; 40:9; Psalms 18:13; 29:3-9; Isaiah
30:30,31) who dwelt behind the thunder-cloud. (Psalms 81:7)
Thunder was, to the mind of the Jew, the symbol of divine power
(Psalms 29:3) etc., and vengeance. (1 Samuel 2:10; 2 Samuel
22:14)
Thyatira
a city on the Lycus, founded by Seleucus Nicator, lay to the
left of the road from Pergamos to Sardis, 27 miles from the
latter city, and on the very confines of Mysia and Ionia, so as
to be sometimes reckoned within the one and sometimes within
the other. Dyeing apparently formed an important part of the
industrial activity of Thyatira, as it did of that of Co