LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.

The following are some of the contracted References to Authorities quoted in this

Work:

Adam's Roman Antiquities. London 1822.
Allen's Modern Judaism. London 1839.

Missionary Herald of American Board for Foreign
Missions.

Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, 2 vols.
London 1843.

Beck's Elements of Medical Jurisprudence. London
1836.

Bibliotheca Sacra and American Biblical Repository.
Brown's Antiquities of the Jews, 2 vols. Lond. 1820.
Buckingham's Travels in Mesopotamia, 2 vols. Lond.
1827.

Buckingham's Travels in Palestine, 2 vols. London
1822.

Buffon's Natural History, 9 vols. London 1791.
Burckhardt's Travels in Syria and the Holy Land.
London 1822.

Campbell's Four Gospels, translated from the Greek,
4 vols. Aberdeen 1803.

Cave's History of the Apostles. London 1676. Chesney's Expedition for the Survey of the Euphrates and Tigris, 2 vols. London 1850.

Conybeare and Howson's Life and Epistles of St. Paul.
2 vols. London 1853.

Davidson's Introduction to the New Testament.
London 1848.

Davidson's Biblical Criticism, 2 vols. Edin. 1852.
Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, translated by Cruse.
London 1838.

Gesenius' Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon, by Tregelles.
London 1853.

Hackett's Illustrations of Scripture.

Hale's New Analysis of Chronology, 4 vols.

Hamilton's Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus, and
Armenia, 2 vols. London 1842.

Harmer's Observations on Passages of Scripture, 4
vols. London 1816.

London 1824.

Hartley's Researches in Greece and the Levant.

Herodotus' History, edited by the Rev. George Rawlinson, assisted by Sir Henry Rawlinson and Sir J. G. Wilkinson, 4 vols. London 1858. Herschel's Outlines of Astronomy. London 1849. Horne's Introduction to the Study of the Holy Scriptures, 10th ed., 4 vols. London 1856.

DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE.

A

A

in general, not truth on all subjects, but all divine truth, that which regards my doctrine and your duty. We meet with the same expression Mark v. 33, where it is rightly rendered, all the truth,' i.e., relating to the matter there referred to. See also John iii. 21; 1 John i. 6. Middleton On the Greek Article, pp. 105, 191, 258, 438.

A and THE are articles in the English language. | Tǹv åλý@elav- the truth;' meaning, not truth The former is called the indefinite; the latter the definite article. Words have a speciality in their signification, according as they are without an article, or have one or other of these articles prefixed to them; and in the translation of the Scriptures, as well as in original works, the right use of them is of great importance. Man denotes mankind, or man in the abstract. What is man that thou rememberest him?' Ps. viii. 4; a man, one man. 'How much is a man better than a beast,' Matt. xii. 12; the man, a particular man, as in the words of Nathan to David Thou art the man,' 2 Sam. xii. 7.

Neither the Hebrew nor the Greek language has an indefinite article; but in Hebrew the letter is employed as a definite article, and in Greek ó, h, Tó, which is even declinable. Our translators have often neglected to observe the point of the article, and so have failed to convey the sense of the original. It is true that the use of articles in different languages is not always the same, and in translating from one language into another, it is not always proper or advisable to translate them; but still it is very necessary to attend to them, and not to neglect to translate them whenever this is admissible and advisable.

Of the manner in which our translators have failed in rendering the article, we shall give a few examples.

Sometimes they employ no article where the definite article ought to have been used. In Matt. xxii. 41, 42, our Lord is represented as asking the Pharisees, 'What think ye of Christ?' as if he inquired their opinion of himself, using the word Christ as a proper name. But in the original it is, 'What think ye—тоû XpισTOû-of the Christi.e., of the Messiah; as is evident from the further question, Whose son is he?' In like manner, in Matt. xxiv. 5, he is represented as saying, 'Many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many;' but the words of the original are, I am• Xploros- the Christ,' which is plainly what our Lord meant to represent them as saying. This is a mistranslation, of which there are many examples in the E. T. (Campbell's Gospels, i. 217. See CHRIST.)

In John xvi. 13, we have the same species of mistranslation in the case of an abstract noun; 'When he the Spirit of truth is come, he will lead you into all truth;' which should have been rendered, 'When he the Spirit—rns áλn@elasof the truth is come, he will lead you into all

B

Sometimes in the E. T. the definite article is employed, where, in the original, there is no article, and where, in translating, the indefinite article should have been used. In Dan. iii. 25, Nebuchadnezzar, on looking into the fiery furnace into which Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had been cast by his orders, is represented as saying, Lo, I see four men walking in the midst of the fire; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.' Many readers probably understand this of Him of whom in the N. T. it is a common designation; but there is no ground for supposing that Nebuchadnezzar had any knowledge of him under this character. There is no article in the original prefixed to the word Son, and the clause ought to have been rendered, "The form of the fourth is like a Son of God;' i.e., a godlike, a noble-looking person. In like manner, the centurion, and they that were with him watching Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and those things that were done,' are represented as 'fearing greatly and saying, truly this was the Son of God.' To most readers this will appear to be an acknowledgment of the divine dignity of the sufferer, or of something approaching to divine dignity. But such an acknowledgment from a Roman centurion, and also from them that were with him' (probably some of the common soldiers under him), is exceedingly unlikely. Now, in the original, there is no article. Matthew says'Aλnows Оeoû viòs hy oûтos—Truly this was a Son of God,' xxvii. 54. Mark's words are still more explicit Αληθώς οὗτος ὁ ἄνθρωπος υἱὸς

coû Truly this man was a Son of God.' And of these expressions, Luke gives us the following explanation-Now, when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, sayingΌντως ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὗτος δίκαιος ήν—Certainly this was a righteous man,' xxiii. 47. words of the centurion, and of them that were with him,' are thus interpreted as simply an acknowledgment of the innocence of the sufferer.

The

In Acts xvii. 23, Paul, when at Athens, is re

presented in our version as saying, As I passed by I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.' These last words would convey the idea that Paul considered it to be an altar to the true God. But in the original the words are ȧyvwoтw Oe, 'To an unknown God;' and he merely takes occasion from the inscription to declare unto them the true God. Middleton On Greek Article, p. 284.

On the other hand, in Acts xx. 9, we have in our version the indefinite article, where, in the original, the definite article is employed, and where it might and should therefore have been translated, "There sat in a window a young man named Eutychus.' In the original it is éπ Tns Oupidos-in the window ;' from which we may probably conclude there was only one window in the upper chamber' where Paul preached (Ibid., p. 288), indicating, perhaps, the smallness of the apartment, and the smallness of the congregation.

In John i. 21 there is considerable obscurity in our version in consequence of the employment of the word that, instead of the definite article, as in the original. Art thou,' said the Jews to John, that prophet? And he answered, No.' What prophet? it may be asked. There is nothing in what goes before that refers to any prophet. The original is ò pohrns, and the words ought to have been rendered, the prophet'-see also ver. 25. The Jews probably referred to the prediction of Moses (Deut. xviii. 15-18). In the margin it is rendered a prophet;' but this is worse than even the text, for if this was the question, how could John answer it in the negative? See Matt. xi. 9; Luke i. 76; Mark xi. 32. We have probably the same reference in John vii. 40 (Ibid., 241).

These examples show the great importance of a correct rendering of the articles, in translating the Scriptures, particularly the N. T.

AA'RON, the son of Amram and Jochebed, and the grandson of Levi (Exod. vi. 20; Num. xxvi. 59). He was born, according to the common chronology, about 1574 B.C., and was three years older than his brother Moses (Exod. vii. 7). After Moses was commissioned by God in the bush at Horeb to deliver the children of Israel from their bondage in Egypt, Aaron, by the command of God, went into the wilderness and met him in the mount of God, and learned from him the high commission which had been given to them (iii. 1-10; iv. 27, 28). He was the better spokesman of the two, and on this account he was specially appointed to hold communication both with the people and with Pharaoh the king of Egypt iv. 1, 10-16; vi. 28-30; vii. 1, 2). When he entered on this office he was no less than eightythree years of age (vii. 7). Though Moses was the great leader and legislator of the Israelites in their journeyings in the wilderness, yet Aaron was throughout closely associated with him, and when they broke forth in murmurings, as they were very apt to do, they were, in common, the objects of their complaints (xvi. 1-3; Num. xiv. 1-5; xvi. 1-3, 41; xx. 16). In the third month from their leaving Egypt, they

came to Sinai, and while Moses was in the mount with God, Aaron, in compliance with their wishes, made a molten calf for them to worship; and when they saw it, 'they said, These be thy Gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it, and made proclamation, saying, To-morrow is a feast to Jehovah' (xxxii. 1-5). As the lower animals were common objects of worship by the Egyp tians, and above all the bull Apis, this (as well as the calves which were afterwards set up at Dan and Bethel by Jeroboam, who lived sometime in Egypt, 1 Kings xi. 40; xii. 2, 26-29) was probably in imitation of them. It is plain the Israelites, during their sojourn in Egypt, had worshipped the gods of the Egyptians (Josh. xxiv. 14; Ezek. xx. 7, 8; xxiii. 38); yet Aaron's speech would seem to show that they had not altogether fallen off from the worship of the true God. These proceedings of Aaron and the Israelites are the more extraordinary as they had not many days before received strict prohibitions against idolatry, and special injunctions to worship Jehovah only (xx. 1-6, 18-23). The mongrel worship of the Israelites reminds us of the similar worship of the nations whom Shalmanezer transplanted to Samaria (2 Kings xvii. 24-34, 41).

Aaron and his descendants were constituted, by the command of God, the priesthood of the nation of Israel. To them the office was entirely restricted; no others might enter upon or interfere with it (Exod. xxviii. 1; Num. xvi. 40). He had four sons, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar; but Nadab and Abihu, who appear to have been his elder sons, having 'offered strange fire before the Lord, there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.' On this sad occasion Aaron held his peace,' a fine example of submission under afflictive dispensations of Providence (Exod. xxiv. 1,9; xxviii. 1; Lev. x. 1-3; Num. iii. 2). In the year before the Israelites entered the promised land, Moses, by the command of God, took Aaron and Eleazar his son and went up Mount Hor, which is in the neighbourhood of Petra, in the land of Edom; and there he

stripped Aaron of his garments and put them upon Eleazer his son; and Aaron died there on the top of the mount,' B.c. 1452, one hundred and twenty three years old' (Num. xx. 22-28 ; xxxiii. 38, 39). His tomb is still shewn on the top of Mount Hor; but even supposing that Aaron was buried there, it may be doubted whether his grave had originally any distinctive mark, and still more that any monument or memorial was raised over it. The present erection, at least the upper part of it, is nothing more than a small Mohammedan mosque of no great antiquity. At the north end there is a Mohammedan sepulchre of the ordinary length, three feet in height, and a few inches less in breadth. The whole of the upper part of the building is, in fact, a sort of patchwork, composed of various fragments, belonging to an older erection, some remains of which are probably found in the vault or grotto beneath (Wilson, i. 294, 297).

In Ps. cvi. 16 he is called 'Aaron the saint of God,' where the word probably refers not to

moral purity, but to his being set apart to the Balak took Balaam 'to the top of Pisgah,' that service of God as the high-priest of Israel.

AB, the fifth month of the Jewish sacred year, and the eleventh of the civil. The name is supposed to have been adopted after the Babylonish captivity; it is not found in the O. T., in which this month is only mentioned under the name of the fifth month. It commenced, according to the Rabbins, with the new moon in our July; but, according to Michaelis, and others who follow him, with that of August. On the 1st day, the Jews observe a fast for the death of Aaron; on the 9th, a fast for the ex-regular in height. They stretch from north to clusion of the murmuring Israelites from the promised land, and for the burning of the first and second temple; on the 18th, a fast for the extinguishing of the evening lamp in the reign of Ahaz; on the 24th, a feast for the abolition of the Sadducees' law, whereby sons and daughters were to be equal heirs of their parents' estates.