Professional Documents
Culture Documents
(3) final abode of fire, 70 (2) later ; extinguished a t Spirit- Testament xii. Patriarchs, 61
(3 iii. (G)) death, 16 (b) primitive conception : Tobit, Book of, 56
1x1. in N T , 703 XI. after rise of belief in almost=soul, xg
( I ) intermediate ; moral immortality- later view 20
change possible, 96 in- Toll. A
_I --
--1 in apocalyitic literature= Universalism in Jeremiah and
( 2 ) for wicked only ; inter- iridividual immortality in soul; descends to Shi-el, 63, later, 42-44
mediate, 88 (n. 5) Pss., 31f: 7 0 %81
Sibylline Oracles, 58 (n. 5) in apocalyptic literature- not=soul, 63 I
Soul in O T :- almost identical with sDirit. in NT- Wisdom, Book of, 76
I. primitive Semitic conceo- =soul, 102
tion- Pauline ; immaterial per.
( I ) identified with the sonality ;deserves death,
I
early religion, 17
blood, 12 Soul in NT- 102 1)
seat of personality, ‘ 3
almost=spirit, 19
conscious after death,
16 (4, 15
I identical
702
with the spirit.
Pauline=mere functions of
body, 102
- .
Tartarus, 89
Teraphim, 4
Zechariah, 45
Zephaniah, 39
ESDRAELON, or, rather, as RV, Esdrelon, or those at and near Jezreel (cp HAROD,2), and those
Esre1on.l a place ‘ nigh unto Dotaea [Dothan], which is of Lejjiin. Among the places on the borders of the
over against the great ridge2 of Judaea’ (Jndith3g), and plain were Jokneam (the CYAMON of Judith 7 3 ) , Me-
‘ over against ’ which was Cyamon (73 RV). Esrelon giddo, En-gannim, Jezreel (the city of Ahab), Shuneni,
is the Grzcised form of ‘ Jezreel,’ the name of the well- Nain, and Endor (the last three on the slopes of the
known city at the E. end of the great central plain of Little Herman). No important town was situated on
Palestine. In modern hooks ‘ Esdraelon ’ is sometimes the plain itself. Cp PALEsrmE.
used for the ’ plain of Esdraelon,’ a phrase which is not ESDRAS, FOURTH BOOK OF (or Second Book
exactly accurate (see J EZREEL i., 0 2), but can hardly of). This iniportant apocalypse is included in the
now be set aside. Apocrypha of the EV. For this reason it is better
T h e phrases the great plain ’ ( ~ &a b lrsSiou E., Judith 1 8 ;
ri) lresiav 76 &a, I Macc. 12 49) and ‘ the great plain of E.’occur known, by name at least, to the English-reading public
in the Apocrypha for the region called elsewhere ‘the hgci of than any similar book; although it is not now, and
Megiddo’ nyiJ8, 2 Ch. 3522 ; 111’” ‘3, Zech. 12 11). A never has been, read in church. The Roman Church
nygx a+‘& (from y p ‘to cleave ’) is a level tract surrounded does not regard it as Scripture ; but it is printed as an
by hills (see V ALE 2). the term accurately describes this central appendix to the authorised edition of the Vulgate, along
plain, which is lik; a i r e a t gap ‘cleft asunder’ among the bills. with I Esdras ( = 3 Esdras) and the Prayer of Manasses.
Esdraelon (now called M c r j i6n ‘Amir, or ‘ meadow Probably the Greek text bore some such name as
of the son of ‘Amir ’) is, in form, triangular ; the base on ’ A H O K ~ ~”EuGpa
V ~ L S(Westcott), “Eu8pas 6 r p o $ r j ~ q s
the east extending fifteen miles, from Jenin to Tabor ;
one side, formed by the hills of Galilee, is 12 m. long,
and the other, formed by the mountains of Samaria,
’‘ (Hilgenfeld) or BiPXos”EuGpaTOO rpo$rjrou.
In almost all the versions in which we have
Language’ it a number forms part of the title, in order
18 m. The apex is a narrow pass opening into the Versions’ that it may be distinguished from the can-
plain of Acre. (On the five gateways of Esdraelon, onical Ezra or from the Greek form of that book known
see GASm. HG 3gof:). This broad plain has for to us as I Esdras. These numbers range from ‘ First ’
centuries attracted, as if by a spell, both nomad tribes t o ‘ Fourth ’ Book. The title ‘ Second Book ‘ is found
and civilized hosts, who have coveted the rich lands of only in some late Latin MSS, and in the Genevan
Palestine. See GALILEE (map of Galilee and Esdraeloni. Bible, whence the AV took it. It is now commonly
l h r e e eloquent pages ard d e k t e d by G. A. Smith4 to the referred to as 4 Esdras.
historic scenes of Esdraelon, with the object of conveying, not so
much the dry historic facts, a s the impression which this pageant All the versions of the book are derived from a Greek
of embattled hosts is fitted to produce. T o the biblical student, text which has been lost. Of late years the view has
however, two memories dwarf all the others. begun to find favour (e.g. with Wellhausen, Gnnkel,
It was in this plain that Baralc won his famous and Charles) that the original text was in Hebrew.
victory (Judg. 4 3 ) ; here, too, that Josiah received W e have the following versions :-(I) Latin : from
his mortal wound ( 2 K. 23 29). Whether the apocalyptic this the EV is made. ( 2 ) Syriac: extant only in
seer expected the kings of the earth to assemble in the the great Peshitta MS in the Ambrosian Library at
latter days on the mountains of Megiddo, is a difficult h4ilan. ( 3 ) Arabic : two independent versions from
problem. See ARMAGEDDON. Let it bealso noticed the Greek (Ar.W Ar.W). (4)Ethiopic. ( 5 ) Armenian:
that one whose conquests were moral, not material, perhaps made from the Syriac.
was no stranger to Esdraelon ; the ‘ city called NAIN’ Latin translations of nos. 2-5 (except Ar.(2) are iven in Hil-
(Lk. 7 11) was situated to the NE. of the great plain. genfeld‘s Messias j u r f ~ o r u wLeipsic,
, 1869. Ar.8) was edited
separately by Gildemeister in 1877. (See APocRvrHA, B z z [rg].)
Esdraelon lies 250 feet below the sea-level, and is Hilgenfeld has made a retranslation into Greek (in Mess. j u d . )
extremely fertile. The rich, coarse grass gives a pleas- which is of great value.
ing aspect to the plain in spring-time, and yet the land The fullest form of the hook is given in the Latin
is for the most part untouched by husbandry. What it version, which alone contains four additional chapters
might yield under better agricultural conditions is shown 2. Contents. (1J, 153) which formed no part of the
by the tall stalks of grain which spring up wherever corn original work. They may be treated
is cultivated (W. Ewing, in Hastings, DB 1757 6. ). separately. The real apocalypse thus consists of chapters
The only important stream is the Kishon, the 3-14 of the book found in our Apocrypha. The general
southern affluents of which come from near Jenin, whilst complexion and arrangement remind the reader of the
the northern branch rises near el-Mezra‘a, SW of Mt. apocalyptic portion of Daniel, to which indeed reference
Tabor (cp ‘ the torrent-course of Kishon,’ Judg. 413). is made in 12 TI. The apocalypse falls into seven sec-
This drains the Great Plain, and falls into the sea at tions containing separate revelations or visions.
Haifa. There are numerous springs on the N E and W. Firsf Vision: 3 1-513. I n the thirtieth year of the spoiling
of the city, Esdras, ‘who is also Salathiel,’ is disturbed by the
The most noteworthy is that of Jenin (SeeEN-GANNIM,2); thought of the desolation of Sion and the prosperity of Babylon.
In a long prayer he reminds God of his special choosing of
1 6 a d p q h w v : but in Judith 1 8 cup[pIqp [El, eu6pqp [AI, in Israel, and of their present misery and asks where is the justice
3 9 eu8paqhov [B], -6qph. IN*], in 46 sapqhwv [Bl, eu.ep?XQ [AI, in of this dealing? The angel Urief is sent to him and sets forth
7’ 3 c d p q h w f i [A] ‘ Vg. Esdrelon (Hesdrahelon, -ahelom, -aelon). the unsearchahleness of God’s ways and the inability of man to
2 703 rpiovos rk ,.c+Aov ; r p i w v , a sierra, or serrated ridge 7 judge them. Esdras asks how much time remains before the
So a t any rate Grotius. filling u p of the number of the righteous. A vision shews him
3 The expression is accurate : see GALILEE (map of Galilee that a very short time remains. He asks, and is told, what will
and Esdraelon). be the’signs of the end.
4 HG4o6-408 Second Vision: 5 14.634. I n a kind of interlude (5 14.19).
1391 1392
ESDRAS ESDRIS
Phaltiel the chief of the people comes to reproach Esdras for brth with great
- ingenuity by R. Icabisch (Das g f e
foriaking his flock. Esdras after fasting seven days (as Uriel Buch Esra auf seine Quellen unter-
had bidden him) addresses God again on his dealings with
Israel Uriel consoles him with thoughts which are very *' Integrity Of sucht, Gottingen, '89). He postulates
chaps' 3-14' five documents ranging in date from 2 0
much like those of the First Vision : the weakness of man's _ _
judgment, the nearness of the end, and the signs of its B.C. to IOO A.D., and a redactor of 120 A.D. : see
approach, Zharles (Apoc. of Baruch, pp. xxxix. -xli. ; ESCHATOLOGY.
Third Visioz : 6 75-0 2;. A fast of seven days is followed
b y an address of the'seer to God, and a return of Uriel. This 3 79), who has carried the analysis still farther. Dill-
time the main discussion is on the fewness of the saved, and the rnniin has advanced the proposition that the Eagle
main revelation is a long description of the final judgment and Vision has been manipulated by a Christian editor.
the future state of the righteous and the wicked.1 The inter-
cession of Esdras for the human race is carried on a t great His hypothesis has found more support than Icabisch's ;
length, and he is promised further visions after a period of seven but neither can yet be regarded as proved.
days. The additions in the Latin versions (If: 1 5 J ) are
Poiaurth Vision: 926-1059. T h e interval is spent in the translated from a Greek original ; but they have no con-
'plain of Ardat' (see AKDATH) and after it Esdras as usual
pleads with God. H e sees a mburning woman, who tells hini nection with the original book of Esdras.
how she has lost her only son. H e tries to comfort her by ( a ) Chaps. If: are Christian. Their principal topic is
reminding her of the greater desolation of S o n . When he has the rejection of the Jewish people in favour of Gentile
ended, she suddenly becomes transfigured and vanishes, and in
the place where she was he beholds a city. Uriel now comes to They probably date from
B. Additions the Christians.
second century, and seem to be con-
him and explains that this woman represented Sion ; and further
visions are promised. in Latin nected with the apocalypse of Zephaniah
Fzyth Vision: 111-12 39. Two nights afterwards, Esdras Versions. (APOCRYPHA, ZI), of which we have
dreams of a monstrous .eagle with three heads, twelve wings,
and certain supplementary winglets. This creature is rebuked fragments in Coptic.
and destroyed by a lion. T h e eagle is explained to be the fourth T h e only Greek quotation from theni as yet known is in the
kingdom seen b y Daniel, and the lion is the Messiah. Esdras Acts of St. SiIGester. I t is from 2 34f: that the name Requiem
is hidden to wait seven days more.
S i x t i Vision: 12 40-13 58. I n a second interlude (12 40.51)
[requiem aeternitatis dabit vobis . . . lux perpetua lucebit
vobis) as applied to the Office for the Dead IS derived. T h e
the people come en masse and beg Esdras to return. H e sends Latin text is preserved in two forms, of which the best is that
them away. H e sees a vision of a wondrous man who first contained in a group of Spanish MSS.
annihilates all his enemies and then welcomes to himself a (6) Chaps. 15f: are Jewish. They consist of a long
peaceful multitude. T h e man is the Messiah. I n the peacefu! monotonous invective against sinners, with predictions
multitude whom he receives we recognise the ' Lost Ten Tribes,
whose history is shortly given. Esdras is commanded to wait of wars and tribulations modelled principally on the
three days more. prophecies of Jeremiah. They refer probably to the
Seventh Vision: 14 1-48. After the three days Esdras, sitting conquests of Sapor I., and the rebellion of Zenobia and
under an oak (Abraham's oak is no doubt meant), is addressed Odenathus (242-273 A.D. ). See CARMANIANS.The
oxt of a bush by the voice of God, which warns him that he
is shortly to he translated from the earth, and that the end is first certain quotation is in the works of Ambrose.
near. H e pleads for the people who are left without teacher Gildas, the first of British writers, quotes from them
or law. God bids him procure writing materials and five scribes copiously.
(who are named), and bid the people not approach for forty
days. Next day he receives a wonderful drink in a cup, and The Fourth Book of Esdras (3-14) is one of the most
thereafter he dictates continuouslv for fortv davs. Thus are
written ninety-four books, of whi6h sevent); a r e to be hidden
.
interesting of all auocalvnses. Unsuccessfd as its
L I .
1395 I396
ESSENES ESSENES
some fifty years earlier. Philo discourses of the Essenes in two paradise in the farthest west ; the souls of the wicked,
passages; in his Quod omnis jro6us C&Y IZJ and in a no on the other hand, fall into a dark and dreary abode of
longer extant ApoZogy from which all tdat is’important in
Euseb. Praj. Ev.VIII. ii. isdoubtless derived. never-ending punishment. As the Essenes lived entirely
They are nowhere mentioned, either in the Bible or for the life hereafter, their interest largely centred in
in Rabbinical literature. It may safely be taken for the attempt to penetrate the secrets of the future in every
granted that their origin does not go further back than detail ; angelology and eschatology, doubtless, formed
the second century B . C . . Josephus first mentions them the main themes of their esoteric writings; as fore-
(Ant.xiii. 5 9 ) in Maccabean times; the earliest incident in tellers of the future they were held in high repute, and
connection with N-hich an Essene is spoken of by name when Josephus tells to their credit that they had in-
belongs to the year 105 B.C. In the second century vestigated to good purpose, in the interests of medicine,
A.D. they disappear from history, though J. B. Light- the healing virtues of roots and stones, we may be sure
foot‘s attractive conjecture makes it probable that that this was done by them, not with a view to the good
certain later Christian sects in the East, such as the of the body, but as a special department of their
Sampszeans, were somehow connected with Essenism. apocalyptic gnosis.
The derivation of the name is obscure ; most probably The relation of Essenism to the religion of the OT
it means ‘ the pious.’ ’ Philo estimates their number seems difficult to determine. Hitherto scholars have
1. Relation reached no unanimity on the subject.
2. to at 4000. They are not met with out-
side Palestine ; the Egyptian Thera- to Judaism. On the one hand, some-notably Ritschl
peutae, described by Philo in his De and Lucius-regard it as a purely internal
Vita ContempZa&a, are certainly n-ot to be regarded‘ development of Judaism, Lucius in particular calling
a s merely an Alexandrian variety of Essenes. The attention to its close kinship with Pharisaisni. Others,
‘ Essenes’ who-so many interpreters infer from the on the other hand, find it impossible to explain it except
Pauline epistles-were to be found in Colossze and Rome, by assuming the introduction into Judaism of foreign
can be much more simply explained if it is remembered elements from Parseeism, Buddhism, or Greek Philosophy
that certain tendencies and views, strongly represented -the Orphic- Pythagorean in particular. M. Fried-
in Essenism, were characteristic of the whole religion lander,’ in fact, see‘s in Essenism the fruit of an anti-
of that time and hence make their appearance in many Pharisaic movement, a reaction against the post-Macca-
directions in a great variety of shades and combinations. bean anti-Hellenic Judaism of Palestine. Exaggeration
What most struck thle outside observer in the Essenes in either direction is to be guarded against,
was the strictness of their organisation and their thorough- Beyond question the Essenes represented a purely
In villages and Jewish piety.
3. Organisation. towns--as,
going asceticism.
for example, in Jerusalem T h e members were recruited from Jews alone nowhere
were the law and the lawgiver held in higher reveience than
-they settled around a central house of their- order, in with them. their Sabbath observance and their rites of purifica-
which they followed their religious observances together, tion had tdeir origin in an ultra-Pharisaic legalism, and if they
of which one was the common meal. There was no repudiated. bloody sacrifice they did not on that account
sever their connection with ’the temple; probably their action
such thing as private property; whatever any one was determined by a n allegorising interpretation of the laws
earned by rigorously regulated labour in the field or relating to animal sacrifice.2 The foreign element in their
at a handicraft came into the common purse, out of system cannot have been conspicuous when they so power-
fully impressed a Pharisaic contemporary like Josephus. I n
which the common expenses were defrayed and doles of their ascetic practices and prescriptions, as well as in their
charity-not confined to members of the order-could sincerity and hospitality, it was possible for the best people in
be dispensed. Elected ‘ stewards ’ managed the funds Israel t o see simply a fulfilment of what the law indeed points
to, but does not venture to impose on every one as obligatory.
and took the general oversight of affairs ; the proper Details, such as their worship of the sun,3 are not handed down
preparation of foods had to be attended to by priests. with sufficient clearness to warrant us in drawing deductions
A three years’ novitiate was necessary before admission ligion ; their communistic ideal
to the order ; the entrant was pledged by oaths of the n ofmarriage and ofslave-holding)
set up by Jews without externai
most solemn kind to obedience and reticence. suggestion.
All that we have described, however, constituted a The anthropology of the Essenes, their doctrine of
means to an end-the attainment of holiness. This the life beyond the grave, their effort after a life
*, was sought in the highest possible purity ;
abstinence from all sexual intercourse, ex-
6. Foreign emancipated as far as possible from all
in~uence. needs, and lived in conformity to nature,
clusion of women, countless washings, avoidance even have no analogies on Jewish soil, but are,
of that degree of impurity which resulted to members of on the other hand, conspicuous in the Pythagoreanising
the brotherhood from contact with a novice, and elabor- 1 Z u r Entsfehungsgesch. des Christenthums (‘94) pp. 98-142.
ate scrupulosity in reference to all bodily secretions and 2 [It is difficult to consider the non-sacrificial &tern of the
excretions were prescribed. Every object of sense Essenes apart from the non-sacrificial religion of certain
(dm SinnZiche) they held to be ungodly, and yet, on psalmists of the school of Jeremiah (Jer. 7 z z J ; cp 88). ‘ T h e
Essener did not, it is true, reject the principle of a single
the other hand, every sin they regarded as a trans- national sanctuary, for they sent b v & j p a 7 a to the temple.
gression of nature’s law. In their view of nature But they do appear to have gone beyond those psalmists
the soul of man formed no part of the present world, whose spirit (cp Ps. 15 with the oath of the Essenes, Jos. B/
ii. 87) they had so thoroughly imbibed, in giving practical
in which falsehood, egoism, greed and lust bear sway. expression to their dislike of animal sacrifices. No such were
When a man has freed himself betimes from these evil offeredby them(Jos. Ant. xviii.15) “byreasonofthe”superiority
inclinations, his soul will at death pass into a bright of their own “purifications ” (&yvcZa‘). T h e “ sacrifices ” which
(+‘
they performed ‘ I by themselves” a h G v ) were probably these
purifications which were symbolic (cp Ps. 26 4-7) of the psalmists’
1 [From NDn, ‘pious’ (Ewald, Hita., Scbiirer). Another
favourite sacrifice of obedience and praise’ (Cbe. OPs. 375).]
plausible derivation is from ’Qt, NDn, N:PK, ‘physician’ (&pa- 3 rpiu ydp & v a q & u rbv ijhov o+& QBCyyoviac 7Gv ~ E ~ + W V ,
aeunjs?) a designation applied in the Talmud to certain men who aa~plous6e nuas e;s a + d u c+,yds G u m p ~ K S T ~ O V T E S&ua&hac
have been supposed t o be true Essenes. Lightfoot derives from (BJ ii. 85). [This passage Lightfoot compares with BJ ii. 8 g,
p x ~ n ,‘silent ones ’-i.e. those who would not reveal their the Essenes are said to bury polluting substances, i~ p?
secrets. Both these Aames: according to Hamburger, belonged y i s Jppl<aisu 705 ecOs. Cheyne, however (OPs. 447)
to classes of persons who formed part of the large brotherhood criticises a t some length Lightfoot’s use of the passages:
or order (?) of Essenes. This scholar mentions ten other groups Josephus is not to be held responsible for every detail of Greek
of probable Essenes including the YZthikin the morally phraseology. No genuinely Jewish sect could have worshipped
strong, who said the lhorning prayer a t the fi& dtreak of dawn, the sun ; in any case, there would have been some indignant
the T 8 Q Shahrzth, or morning bathers, the Bannriim, or reference to this in the Gospels and the Talmud. Later
builders, who dwelt much on the construction of the world heretical sects should not be adduced here (see Epiphanius).
and on the cleanness of their garments, and the Zina‘inz, or I t is very possible, however, that the Essenes ado ted the custom
secretly pious ones, who kept their books secret, and had other of saying the first prayer a t daybreak with speciafzest, the dawn
striking points of affinity to the Essenes. See ‘Essaer’ in being to them symbolic of the expected appearance of the
Hamburger, RE,Abtheil. 2 (‘96).] divine judge.]
1397 1398
ESSENES ESTHER
philosophp,l the form which the religion of the Greek spurious, we can hardly venture to maintain that
world at that time was so ready to take; and if the Essenism is of purely indigenous origin. From a con-
kinship is admitted at one point it becomes natural servative text-critical point of view, Lightfoot is right
and easy to regard a dualistic-and thus thoroughly against Frankel. Ohle,’ however, repairs the onlission
anti-Jewish-view of the world as having powerfully of Lucius ; he leaves nothing to Josephus but a few
influenced both their ethics and their religious principles. scattered notices of a very simple Essenism. which
Essenisni may have been a gradual development, much may be sufficiently explained as an exaggeration of
that was foreign may have come into it in conrse of Pharisaism. It must be confessed that Ohle’s result
time, and the Hellenistic colouring may here and R ould be historically convenient. In particular, it
there be due simply to our informants; Pliny may would explain why there is no reference to such a
possibly not have been wrong when he represents remarkable organization as that of the Essenes of
’ dissatisfaction with life ’ (vitn p ~ n i t e z t i a )as having Josephus, either in the Gospels or in the Talmud. It
been the principle which had brought and kept them is more probable, however, that the text of Josephus
together ; this dissatisfaction with life, or rather enmity has not, so far as the beliefs of the Essenes are con-
to the world, is as un-Jewish as it is un-Christian. cerned, been interpolated; that, at any rate in the
Essenism, then, may be described as having been a main, Josephus’s account of the Essenes is based on
religious growth within the Judaism of the last century facts. Oriental influences were, so to speak, in the
B. c. which arose under the influence of certain tendencies air, and it is not probable that the belief in the re-
and ideas that lay outside of Judaism, or, perhaps surrection was the only great debt which Jewish re-
rather, at an early date admitted such influences. ligionists owed to Zoroastrians.-T. K . c.]
This is why Essenisni disappeared ; of Judaism the W e sometimes find John the Baptist, and even Jesus
only form capable of retaining life was Pharisaism; and his disciples, claimed for Essenism. Jesus, how-
no mediating forms were able to survive the catastrophe *. was John ever, little concerned as he was about cere-
which overthrew the popular religion. the Baptist monial observances, the Sabbath, and
[In spite of the favour with which the theory of the like, who ate and drank with sinners,
an may have been quite as well a Pharisee
Pvthacorean
, u
influence has been received. some scholars
7. Traces of donbt whether it is correct. The as an Essene, and if Philo (Quod omnisprohus liber, 13)
that Josephus compares the is able to affirm so emphatically as he does that, in spite
Zoroastrianism* 2;:enian mode of life with the of the variety of rulers who governed Palestine, the
Pythagorean is, at any rate, not in its favour ; Josephus Essenes never came into conflict with any of them, but,
had an object in throwing a Greek colouring over the on the contrary, were held in high regard by all,
views of Jewish ‘ sects. ’ Besides, neo-Pythagoreanism the movement associated with the name of John, ending
has itself too foreign an air to be fitly appealed to as the as it did so tragically, cannot be regarded as a chapter
source of any Oriental system. There is much in from the history of the order of the Essenes. It is only
Josephus’s account of the Essenes which can be ex- among the number of those who prepared the way for
plained either from native Jewish or from Oriental the new world-religion that we can reckon these Jewish
(Zoroastrian) ideas. He says, for instance, that the monastic brotherhoods. They not only placed love to
Essenes, or rather some of them, neglect marriage God, to goodness, and to man, as articles in their
(BJii. 8 2 ; cp 13). There is no occasion to ascribe this programme, but also sought with wonderful energy
to Pythagorean influence ; it is a part of the asceticism according to their lights to realise them in their life.
which naturally sprang from the belief in secret com- This was the very reason of their disappearance-Chris-
munications from the Deity (see Enoch 832, and cp tianity dissolved them, reconciling Judaism and Hel-
I Cor. 7 5 ) . Nor is it at all necessary to explain the lenism in a form of knowledge and ethics that was
Essenian doctrine of the soul from neo-Pythagoreanism. accessible to all, not to a few aristocrats merely.
Lightfoot (Colossians) and Hilgenfeld (Die Ketzer- T h e literature is immense. More immediately important are :
J. B. Lightfoot, EjistZes fo Cofossians a n d to PhilenzonPJ,
geschichte des UrcJzristenthums) have done well to 82-98, 349.415 (‘76); Zeller, D i e Phil. der
suggest the possibility of Zoroastrian influences. Light- 9. Literature. Griecken, iii. 2277-338 (‘81); E. Scliiirer
foot’s remarks deserve special attention, even though GVlP), 5 3 0 ; Wellhausen, IJGP) (‘97), ch:
he ascribes to Essenism some things (e.g., sun-worship) 19. See also PERSIA. A . J.
which can hardly have belonged to it.2 The truth prob- ESTHER
ably is that the Essenian doctrine of the soul (if Josephus
may be trusted) combined t\ro elements-a Babylonian Unhistorical (I 13). Purim (S 7).
I t s proper names ( 5 3). Unity (5 8).
and a Persian-both Hebraized. Moral tone (0 4). Greek version (5 9).
T h e happy island is a part of the tradition of the Assyrio- Date, etc. ( 5 5). Additions ($0 10-12).
Babylonian poets. The description of Hades, on the other Purpose ($ 6). Canonicity (5 13).
hand, is distinctly Zoroastrian, and so too is the second descrip-
tion in Josephus of thelot of good souls according to Essenism. The Book of Esther (V!D& ‘ IStBr,’ see below, 8 6 ;
‘ W e have, in fact, in the first sentence of Jos. BJii. 8 IT a re- ECeHp [BKAL], &IC. [A in 2113) relates how, in
flexion of the Zoroastrian view respecting thefrauashis, those the time of the Persian king Ahasuerus, the Jews were
“guardian angels” which were so linked to men as to form
virtually a part of human nature, and which were practicably doomed to destruction in consequence of the intrigues
indistinguishable from souls’ (Che. UPS. 420; see the whole of Haman, how they were delivered by the Jewish
passage for a full examination of theaffinities between Essenism queen Esther and her uncle Mordecai, how they
and Zoroastrianism). avenged themselves by a massacre of their enemies, and
Essenism, therefore, if at all correctly described by finally how the Feast of Purim was instituted among
Josephus, is not a purely Jewish product, and yet need the Jews in order to perpetuate the memory of the
not be ascribed in any degree to neo-Pythagorean aforesaid events.
influence. Persian and Babylonian influence, on the The book opens with the phrase 9 8 9 1 , ‘And it came
other hand, may reasonably be admitted. Unless we to pass,’ thereby claiming to he a continuation of the
go further in critical andacity than L u ~ i u sand
, ~ reject 1. Impossi- historical books of the OT. The precise
the accounts of Essenism in our text of Josephus as dates and the numerous proper names
bility of give the narrative an air of historical
1 [The essentially neo-Pythagorean character of many parts story. accuracy, and at the close we actually
of Essenism has been widely accepted on the authority of
Zeller (see reference below).] find a reference made to ‘ the chronicles of the kings of
2 See Che. OPs. 447f: T h a t the Essenes showed special Media and Persia.’ Unfortunately all these pretensions
zeal in saying the first prayer a t dawn is probable. Cp
col. 1397 n. with reference to the VZthikh. to veracity are belied by the nature of the contents :
3 See especially his D w Essenismus in seincm Verhahiss 1 See his “ D i e Essener; eine kritische Untersuchung der
zumJudenflrum (‘81). Angaben des Josephus” in]PT 14 (‘88).
I399 1400
ESTHER ESTHER
the story is, in fact, a tissue of improbabilities and ancient feud, the former being a member of the family
impossibilities. of king haul. the latter a descendant of Agag, Xing of
It is now generally admitted that in Esther, as also in Ezra Amalelc (see AGAGITE). However, though some of
46 and Dan. 9 I Ahasuerus (wiiiwnx, AKhashzoilcash) must be the details are undoubtedly effective, the book, as n
identical with ;he king who is called Khs/rayrirsiu in the
Persian inscriptions, w i x ' w n in an Aramaic inscription from whole, cannot be pronounced a well-written romance.
Egypt, and E6pEqs by the Greeks (see AHASUERUS).In former As a work of art it is inferior even to the Book of Judith,
,days it was usual to identify Esther with Amasti-is (or, in the which, like Esther, contains a profusion of dates and
Ionic form, Amestris), who was the wife of Xerxes a t the very names.
time when Esther, according to 2 16, became the queen of
Ahasuerus @.e. in December 479 B.C. or January 478 E.c.). It That the Book of Esther cannot be regarded as a
is true that the coarseness and cruelty of Ainastris (see Herod. genuine
- historical work is avowed even by many
7 I T A 9 1x0 6 )
answer in some measure to the vindictive character
~~ ~~ ~
2. No histori- adherents of ecclesiastical tradition.
.of Esther .'b& not to mention the difficulty of explaining the ern el. Since, however, the most essential
disappearance bf the syllable d m ,AmHstris was the daughter
of a Persian grandee, not a Jewess (see Herod. 7 61 and Ktesias parts of the story, namely the deliver-
excerpted by Photins [Bekkerl 38b). ance of the Jews from complete extermination and their
One of the main points in the narrative, namely the murderous reprisals by means of the Jewish queen and
.decree for the massacre of all the Jews in the Persian the Jewish minister, are altogether unhistorical, it is
Empire on a day fixed eleven months beforehand, impossible to treat the book as an embellished version
would alone suffice to invalidate the historical character of some real event-a 'historical romance' like the
.of the book. Persian tale of Bahrgm Ch6bin and the novels of Scott
Still more extravagant is the contrary edict, issued by the or Manzoni-and we are forced to the conclusion that
king soon afterwards, whereby the Jews are authorized to the whole narrative is fictitious.
butcher, on the same day, vast numbers of their fellow-subjects. This would still be the case even if it were discovered(a thing
Nor is it possible to believe in the two days' slaughter which scarcely probable) that a few historical facts are interwoven
-the king sanctions in his own capital. What meaning can we with the story. For it is obvious that the mere name of the
.attach to the solemn decree that every man is to be master in king of the Persians and Medes, and similar details, must not
his own house and speak the language of his own nation? he taken to prove a historical foundation, or we might pronounce
Further, notwithstanding the dates which he gives many of the stories in the Aru6ian Nights to be founded on
.us, the author had in reality no notion of chronology. fact simply because the Caliph Hgriiu and other historical
He represents Mordecai as having been transported t o persons are mentioned in them.
nabylon with king Jeconiah-i.e., in the year 597 n.c.-and a s Nor would those who believe in the authenticity of
becoming prime minister in the rnth year of Xerses-ie., in the book greatly strengthen their cause if they could
474 n.c. T h a t Xerxes had already returned to Susa by the 3. Proper demonstrate that all the proper names
tcnth month of the seventh year of his reign (<.e., by December
479 B.C. or January 478 B.c.), when Esther became his consort which appear in the story were really
~ ( 216), is not altogether impossible ; if such were the case, he names' current among the Persians, since even in
must have quitted Sardis after the battle of Mykale (early in the Hellenistic period a native of Palestine or of any
the autnmn of 479 n.c.) and marched to Susa without delay.
IIowever, the author of Esther betrays no knowledge of the other country inhabited by Jews might without difficulty
fact that the king had visited Greece in the interval. have collected a large number of Persian names. As
Further, it is contrary to all that we know of those a matter of fact, however. most of the names in Esther
-times for an Achemenian sovereign to choose a Jewess do not by any means present the appearance of genuine
far his quecn, an Amalekite (Haman) and afterwards Persian formations.
-a Jew for his chie? minister.-measures which would
never have been tolerated by the proud aristocracy of
Persia. genious deciphcrer he finds in Esther scarcely one of the
It is still harder to believe that royal edicts were issued in the Persian names known to us-which are by no means few-and
language and writing of each one of the numerous peoples who from these the names which he professes to have discovered
inhabited the empire (122 312). l h a t Mordecai is able to differ, for the most part, very essentially. Moreover, when, to
communicate freely with his niece in the harem must he pro- cite oiie example, he interprets in)?" as equivalent to Wahu-
nounced altogether contrary to the itsage of Oriental courts. man (the modern Persian Bahman) he fails to consider that
On the other hand the queen i s represented as unable to send the practice of naming human beings after lzedhs-a class of
even a message to her husband, in order that the writer may heavenly spirits to which Wahuinan belongs-did not arise till
.hnve a n opportunity of magnifying the courage of his heroine ; several centuries after the fall of the Achzwneniaii Empire.
snch restrictions it is needless to say, there can never have been
in reality. A sinxilar attempt t o exalt the character of Esther Nor is it legitimate to suppose that the names in
:appears in the fact that her petition 011 behalf of the Jews is Esther have suffered to any great extent through errors
brought forward not a t the first banquet but a t the second of transcription, for the Hebrew (as contrasted with the
.although Mordecai, who had meanwhile become prime minister:
might naturally have intervened for the purpose. Mordecai, Greek) text of this book is on the whole well preserved,
while openly proiessing to he a Jew, forbids his niece to reveal and hence there is a reasonable presimption that the
her origin, for no reason except that the plot of the hook requires forms of the names have been accurately transmitted.
It. Yet those who observed Mordecai's communications with It may be added that several of the subordinate persons are
Esther could not fail, one might think, to have some suspicion mentioned more than once and that the spelling in snch cases,
.of her nationality. It is not often that a n Oriental minister has remains constant or undergoes merely some insiinificant change
-heen so wretchedly served by his spies as was the case with -proof t h a t there has been no artificial assimilation of the
Haman who never discovered the near relationship between forms. Thus we find ,v>ilin 1IO and n > ) ~ i7n9 (HARBONA);
Morde& and the queen. ),)na 174 n r and i2n)a 116 Kt. (M EMUCAN); w i n ) in.'> 2 21
The fabulous character of the work shows itself likewise in a
fondness for pomp and high figures. Note for example the and win) ~ > n >Gxz (BIGTHAN, TERESH): ~ 3 23 3 and 28
feast of 180 days, supplemented by another of seven days (14K). 15 (HEGAI); ~n,y4 5 3 gf: (H ATHACH ); w i i 51014 6 1 3
the twelve months which the maidens spend in adorning and (ZERESH). I n the lists of seven names (1 I C 14) and in the list
perfuming themselves before they enter the king's presence, the of ten (0 7-9) some of the forms are suspiciously like one another.
127 provinces of the Empire (an idea suggested rather by the This, however, is probably due not to the copyist hut to the
smaller provinces of the Hellenistic period than by the great author, who exercised no great care in the invention of the
satrapies of the Achmnenidae) 1 the gallows 50 cubits iii height, narnes.2
.the ten sons of Haman, the ro:ooo talents (3 g).2
It is certain that everyone would long ago have
There is something fantastic, but not altogether rejected the book as unhistorical hut for its position in
unskilful, in the touch whereby Mordecai and Haman, 4. Moral tone. the Jewish and therefore in the Christian
.as ha: long ago been observed, are made to inherit an canon. Under no other circumstances
could the moral tone of the work have escaped general
1 Marq. Fzmd. 68, compares Dan. 6 I [zl.
2 This sum is perhaps based upon a definite calculation. If, 1 See his RccFzcrches BibZipes (Versailles, 'g+), reprinted from
'in accordance with the statements in the Pentateuch, the total X E J 25.
of thk adult males in Israel be estimated a s 600,000 in round 2 [On these names see Marq. Fund. 68-73. After noticing the
numbers, and if a single drachm, the ordinary unit of value, connection between Esther 2nd Daniel he reduces the seven
be reckoned for each man, we reach the sum of IO ooo talents. princes in E s t l k r 114 to three (as in Dan. G +viz., ( a )Carshena,
This thoroughly Rabhinical calculation, which is fbund in the (6) Sarsathai (?) (in Shethar, Tarshisli), and (c) Manisara (in
(second) Targ. (39 4 I), quite suits the character of the book. Meres, Marsena).]
46 1401 1402
ESTHER ESTHER
condemnation. It has been well remarked by A. H. he made use of the story of Joseph who, like Haman,.
Niemeyer, a theologian of Halle, that the most respect- was chief minister of an ancient empire, and borrowed
able character in the book is Vashti, the queen, who from it not only many isolated expressions but sometimes
declines to exhibit her charms before the crowd of revel- even half a sentence.
lers.’ Esther, it is true, risks her life on behalf of her From the fact that Mordecai and Esther are of the
people : but the vindictive ferocity which both she and family of Saul, who was not a favonrite with the later
Mordecai display excites our aversion. Jews, we may perhaps infer that the author belonged to
The craving for vengeance- natural enough in a people the tribe of Benjamin ; a member of the tribe of Judah
surrounded by enemies and exposed to cruel oppression-per- would have been more inclined to represent his hero
vades the whole work, as it pervades the so-called Third Book
of the Maccabees (cp MACCABEES, T HIRD, B 2 ) which appears and heroine as descendants of David.
to have been written in imitation of Esther. Whilst other books It has long ago been recognised that the purpose of
of the OT, including even Judith ascribe the deliverance of the book is to encourage the observance of the feast
Israel to God, everything in Esthe: is done by men.
6. Purpose. of Purim among the Jews. The fabulous
It was long ago observed that this book, though narrative is merely a means to this end ;
canonical, contains no mention of God. The omission since the end was attained and the story was, at the
is certainly not intentional. It is due to the coarse and
same time, extremely flattering to the national vanity,
worldly spirit of the author. The only reference to re- the Book of Esther, in the capacity of a lepbs Xlyos
ligion is the mention of fasting ( 4 16 9 31).
Moreover, it cannot be accidental that ‘ Israel,’ the idea1,name authorising the feast in question, found a place in the:
of the nation, is never employed-we read only of ‘the Jews. T h e Jewish canon.
author dwells with peculiar pleasure on the worldly splendour In reality the origin of the feast is not explained b y
of his heroes, and he seems quite unconscious of the miserable the book and remains altogether obscure. That it was
character of the king. I t is a curious fact that in this book,
afterwards so highly esteemed, the word nnuD, ‘banquet,’ occurs primitively not a Jewish feast is shown by the name
no less than twenty times.2 Purim ( D ~ D ) ,a word unknown in Hebrew. Unfortu-
Mordecai’s refusal to prostrate himself before Haman may nately the meaning is a matter of conjecture.
possibly appear to Europeans a proof of manly self-respect ; According to Esther 3 7jzirsignifies ‘lot,’ in favour of which
but among the Hebrews prostration implied no degradation and
had long been customary not only in the presence of soverdgns, interpretation it may be urged that, considered as an element
but also in the presence of ordinary men (see SALUTATIONS). in the story it is of no importance whatever. No such word,
T h e behaviour of Mordecai is therefore mere wanton insolence, however, wiih the meaning required, has yet been found in a n y
and accordingly Jewish interpreters, as well a s some early of the languages from which the name is likely to have been
Christian authorities, have spent much labour in the attempt to borrowed ; nor has any other explanation been offered that :i a t
devise a justification for it (cp also B IOU). all sa!isfactory. With respect to this point even the investiga-
tions of Lagarde have led to no definite result 1 (see P i l R i i x ) .
In the Book of Esther the Persian empire is treated On the other hand Prof. Jensen’s essay ’ Elaniitische
as a thing of the past, already invested with a halo of Eigennamen’2 seems to throw some light upon the
~. ly
Date and romance.
authorship.
The writer must therefore
lived some considerable time after
7. Purim. story of Esther. This ingenious scholar
clearly proves that Hamman (or Humman,
lexander the Great, not earlier than the not to mention other variations of spelling) was the
third, probably in the second, century before Christ. principal deity of the Elamites, in whose capital ( S x a )
The book presupposes moreover that the Jews had long the scene of the Rook of Esther is laid, and that Ma,:?xk
been ‘scattered abroad and dispersed’ among the occupied a similar position among the deities of Babylon.
nations ( 3 8 ) : this idea o f a ‘dispersion’ (8tamropd) As the Elamite Hamman is represented by Haman, the
points to the time when large Jewish settlements were Babylonian Marduk is represented by Mordecai, a name
to be found within the domain of Greek civilisation (see unquestionably derived from Marduk. In Ezra 22
D I S PER S I O N , 5 IZ~.). The same period is indicated by (=Neh. 7 7 ) we find the name actually borne by a
the passage about the conversion of vast multitudes to Babylonian Jew.& In close contrast with the god
Judaism (9q),for such a conception would have been Marduk stood the great goddess Zs’ar, who was wor-
impossible even in a romance, until Jewish proselytes shipped by other Semitic peoples under the name of
had become numerous. The most important point, ‘Athtar, ‘Attar or ‘ A f t a r t , and is often identified with
however, is that the Gentile hatred towards the Jews Aphrodite. The later Babylonian form ”mm, E s t ~ l i ,
of the dispersion in consequence of their religious and
(with the Aramaic termination) was used by the Syrians
social exclusiveness-a hatred which the Jews fully and Mandaites as a synonym of Aphrodite or o f the
reciprocated-wasespecially a product of the Hellenistic planet Venus; here we have the exact counterpart of
period ; this mutual enmity, which is not to be con- Y~DK, H ADASSAH. the other name of Esther
founded with the older feud between the Palestinian ( 2 7 ) . which is mentioned quite incidentally and therefore
Jews and the neighbouring peoples, forms in Esther the seems to be no mere invention of the writer, corre-
basis of the whole narrative. Whether it be necessary sponds to the older Babylonian form HadaSatu, signify-
on this account to place the composition of the book ing ‘ myrtle’ and also ‘ bride,’ as Jensen has shown.
later than the time of Antiochus Epiphanes is a question Since another word for ‘ bride ‘ is commonly used as the
which we may leave open. title of another Babylonian goddess, we may hazard the
The language of the work also favours a late date. conjecture that IStar was also called HadaSatu. Fur-
The fact that it contains many Aramaic words, several thermore Yashti is an Elamite deity, probably a goddess.
of which were borrowed by the Aramzans from the Thus Vashti and Haman on the one side, Mordecai and
Persians, might be compatible with a somewhat earlier Esther-Hadassah on the other, represent, it would seem,
origin: but the whole nature of the style, which is
characterised by a certain lack of ease, seems to show 1 Art. ‘Purim’ in the Adha?uZlu%fen d. Ges. d. Wiss.
that the author spoke and thought in Aramaic, and Giittingen (‘87). Jensen in a letter suggests to the writer of
had learned Hebrew merely as a literary language. this article that piir or Bar seems to be an old Assyrian word
If, for example, we compare his diction with the pure and for ‘stone’ and that therefore it is possible that the word was
simple Hebrew style of the Book of Ruth, the enormous also used to signify ‘lot’ like the Hebrew 523,
‘lot,’ which
difference cannot fail to strike us, and is such as to suggest that originally, no doubt, meant ‘little stone.’
these writings must be separated by,an interval of three 2 WZKM 6 4 7 f: zog f: The writer of the present article
centuries or more. has moreover made &e of some private information from Prof.
The author of Esther was, of course, acquainted with Jensen, but wishes to state explicitly that he has himself n o
the older sacred literature. In particular, as has been independent knowledge of the cuneiform inscriptions.
3 The Greek form, Mardocheus (MapSoXaior), prol1abl.y
shown by L. A. Rosenthal ( Z A T W 15 278 J? [ ‘ 9 5 ] ) , comes nearer to the original pronunciation than the Massoretlc
1 Characterisistiken der Bi6elP) (Halle, ’31)5 165. ’??>? Or ’,???. See&%ORDECAI.
2 Exactly as often as it happkns to occur in all the other 4 I n the Thousand and One Nights the famous Shahraz2.d-a
books of the OT put together-if we exclude five passages Jewess according to Mas‘iidi-is, according to D e Goeje (c‘:E(9)
where it signifies ‘drink. 23 316$), no other than Esther.
1403 I404
ESTHER ESTHER
the antagonism between the gods of Elam and the gods The Greek test is found in two forms which we shall
of Babylon. here call A and B (the p and a respectively of Lagarde);
Whether Jensen be justified in identifying Haman's wife Zeresh they diverge considerably from one another, but the
((UT)with Kiriga, who appears in connection with Hamman and
is presumably his female partner, seems open to doubt ; the text of B [a] is, as a rule, derived from that of A [PI,
difference of the initial consonants would not be easy to explain. the changes being due to careless and arbitrary copyists.
It should be remembered, however, that Zeresh is, after all, Only in a few cases does B [a]appear to have preserved older
only a subordinate figure. The other names mentioned above readings than the existing MSS of A [PI. Here as in other
agree so closely that the resemblances can hardly be accidental. books of @ we occasionally find corrections i; accordance
It is therefore possible that we here have to do with with the Hebrew text, which were introduced by scribes a t an
early period e.g., 'Au[u]lu'qpos(B) from viiiwnK, instead of the
a feast whereby the Babylonians commemorated a doubtless in;xact 'Apra@&s of the translator, and Oirauriv (B)
victory gained by their gods over the gods of their from *n(u),instead of 'Aurh.
neighhours the Elatnites, against whom they had so The tendency, so common at the present day, to
often waged war.l The Jewish feast of Purim is an overestimate the importance of 6 for purposes of text-
annual merrymaking of a wholly secular kind, and it is ual criticism is nowhere more to be deprecated than
known that there were similsr feasts among the Baby- in the Book of Esther. It may be doubted whether
lonians. That the Jews in Babylonia should have even in a single passage of the book the Greek MSS
adopted a festival of this sort cannot be deemed im- enable us to emend the Hebrew text, which, as has been
probable, since in modern Germany, to cite an analogous mentioned above, is singularly well preserved.
case, many Jews celebrate Christmas after the manner of A very small number of such passages might perhaps be
their Christian fellow-countrymen, in so far at least as <t adduced if the Greek translation had come down to 11s in its
original ?or, ; but, a s a matter of fact, the text underwent early
is a secular institution. It is true that hitherto no and extensive corruption, so that now it is possibly worse than
Babylonian feast coinciding, like Purim, with the full that of any other canonical book in the OT.
moon of the twellth month has been discovered; but Of great importance are the additions. They fall
our knowledge of the Babylonian feasts is derived from into two classes-(a) Hebraistic pieces, intended to
documents of an earlier period. Possibly the calendar Its ad- supply the lack of religious sentiment (a
may have undergone some change by the time when lack which must have been felt at an early
the Jewish feast of Purim was established. Or it may ditions. period ; cp above, 5 4) or to explain diffi-
be that the Jews intentionally shifted the date of the culties--e.g., Mordecai's refusal to prostrate himself
festival which they had borrowed from the heathen before Haman.
(see PURIM). W e may hope that future discoverics Thus we read, in glaring contrast to the original sense of the
will throw further light upon this ,obscure subject.2 book, that Esther consented with great reluctance to become
Hitherto we have treated the book as a literary unity. the wife of the uncircumcised king. To this class belong the
following pieces-the prayer of Mordecai (31) the prayer of
Certain scholars however-e.g., Bertheau and Ryssel- Esther (4), the expansion of the first interview Letween Esther
8. vnit;y. hold that the two epistles in the last chapter and the king (5), the dream of Mordecai (1) and its interpretation
but one, as well as the verses connected (7). All this may once have been in Hebrew ; but the hypothesis
is not probable.
with them (that is to say, 920-28 29-32) are additions by
a later hand. This view the writer of the present article (a) Pieces written in the Greek rhetorical style--viz.,
is unable to accept. the two epistles of the king ( 2 and 6).
The former piece contains, it is true, a short recapitulation of Here it is stated, among other things, that Haman was a
the story; but this is sufficiently explained by the author's desire Macedonian and desired to transfer the supremacy from the
to inculcate the observance of Purim in the strongest terms
Persians to the Macedonians (6 13 ' cp 6 9). From this passage
possible ; a later scribe would have had no object to serve by the term Macedonians' has foun6 its way into other parts of
the repetition. Nor is it likely that an interpolator would have the book ; the allusion doubtless is to the hitter enmity which
there was between the Jews and their Graeco-Macedonian neigh-
contented himself, in 926, with an implicit allusion to 3 7. bours, especially at Alexandria.
Similarly in 9 25 the phrase > ~ l 3'when she came'-for no I n addition to these, we find a few shorter interpolations.
other interpretation is possible-sekms natural enough if the
author of the book is referring to his heroine; but knother The form of the book which lay before Josephus
writer would, surely, in this case, have written the name. (about go A . D. ) was mainly identical with A [p] ; but it
Had these two pieces been originally independent of the book ll. Josephus,s contained a few older readings, some
the name Purim would surely not have occurred in them (see
ZIZI. 26 3rJ); that it does occur must appear decisive. When text. of which may be traced in B [a]. All
isolated from the context, the pieces in question become the longer interpolations except two
meaningless, and to suppose that they are borrowed from were known to Josephus.
another Book of Esther verges on the extravagant. In vocabu- H a d he heenncquainted with the two which refer to Mordecai's
lary and style they so closely resemble the rest of the book that dream he would have had little difficulty in adapting them to
the insignificant deviations which occur (e.g., in D. 28) must be the taste of his educated readers. However it would not of
ascribed to a difference in the subject matter. The mode of course be legitimate to conclude from their'absence from'the
expression is doubtless somewhat awkward ; but the same may text used by Josephus that the two pieces were necessarily
be said of the strange verse, 3 7, which is nevertheless indispens- lacking in all other MSS of the same period. Moreover there
able and forms, so to speak, the nucleus of the whole work. are In osephus's account some small additional details. A
As early as the year 114 B . C . the Book of Esther few of ,lese he may himself have invented, in order to point the
reached Egypt in a Greek translation. This fact is moral of the story; but since there is a t least one (relating to
Esther 2 2 2 ; cp Ant. xi. 6 4 [Niese, fj 2071) which does not
attested by the concluding sentence in the appear in our texts of the LXX., and yet can scarcely have
9.
version. best MSS of the Greek test; nor have we originated with him, we may infer, with tolerable certainty
any reason to doubt the truth of the state- that the copy of Esther used by Josephus contained somi
ment, as has been done for example by B. Jacob.3 It passages which are found in no extant Greek MS.
is impossible to see for what purpose such a story could All these materials Josephus treats with his usual
have been invented. freedom, softening down or omitting whatever was
T h e chief objection brought forward by Jacob, namely that calculated to give offence to educated Greeks and
the passage above mentioned represents the translation a s Romans.
having come from Jerusalem, has no real force; it is indeed Such arbitrary transformations were quite in keeping
said to have been made at Jerusalem: but the name of the
translator (ilvuipaps ILrohspaiav) at once suggests an Egyptian with the unhistorical character of the book. Very
Jew. That the translator was an Egyptian Jew bas been elabor- 12,Additions similar tendencies showed themselves
ately proved by Jacob himself, though his arguments are not in Targums. among those Jews who spoke Semitic
all equally conclusive. dialects : but as the original test of
1 [Cp Toy, 'Esther a s a Babylonian goddess,' New World, Esther was here preserved from alterationby reason of
6 130.145.1 the place which it occupied in the sacred canon, the
2 Cp Br. Meissner in ZDMG 50 2 9 6 s HPmZn the chief the
father of the gods worshipped by the heathen of H a r r i n 0; the Ldditions and embellishments were confined to the
27th of the month Tammiiz (Fihrist, 323, ( . I ) has hardly any Aramaic translation, or else formed matter for separate
connection with the Haman of Esther.
3 Das Buch Esther bei den LXX.(Giessen, 'go), p. 4 3 8 (= 1 Large Arabic numerals are here used to denote the chapters
Z A 1'W 10 2 7 9 8 : ) . ,f the additional pieces, as distinguished from the original book.
1406
ESYELUS ETERNAL, ETERNITY
works. The additions to the original and literal Targum a source that is still known as ‘Ain ‘Atan. See CON-
sometitnes refer to the same subjects that are treated in DUITS, § 3 ; ETAM ii.
the additions to the Greek text, though neither work 2. A Simeonite town, grouped with AIN (g.v., I ),
has borrowed anything from the other. Some of these Rimmon, Tochen, and Ashan ( I Ch. 432), which Conder
pieces are of considerable interest, and they are all very would identify with Khirbet ‘Aitfin, 8 or 9 m. S . of
chtvacteristic of Rabbinical Judaism. Bet Jibrin. But is the name Duty correct? It is not
Not infrequently the interpolations violate our notions of good given in Josh. 197, and is probably a corruption of a
taste and contain much that is a t variance with the original partly effaced p i yy ; if so, En Rimmon, which follows,
book. There are moreover lengthy digressions which have no
real connection with the subject. is an unintentional dittogram, inserted by a corrector
In the so-called Second Targum such digressions are (Che.). (Pesh. in Ch. gives \?do -0 )LA--)
,especially common, but they occur in the First also. Bertheau takes a different view (see E T H E R ) .
The two Targums sometimes differ substantially from one 3. Etam is again mentioned in an obscure genealogy
another in matters of detail (thus ]I>””,116, is, according to the in I Ch. 4 3 (am+ [A], 77.[L] ; the name Jezreel alone
one, the wicked Haman, according to the other, the wise Daniel, is familiar) where post-exilic families living around the
which latter view appears also in the Talmud, MeE. 126); but
they have very much in common. The relation between them Judxan Etam (see above, I ) are apparently referred to.
cannot be accurately determined until more is known of the For the M T OD‘y $ 1&N ~ (08roi aartppes ?Tap. [L]) various
MSS, which are said to offer great variations of text. Some emendations have been proposed : (a)to read ,311 instead of 3 1 ~
interesting embellishments of the story of Esther, similar to (after B B A ) , (6) to read . 3 3~3 1 (so RV), or (c) to restore nsft
those in the Targums and sometimes exactly agreeing with them, nn,y $ 1i i ~ n q x (see Ki. SBOT). A simpler reading is ;sw
a r e tu be found in Bab. Talm. Meg. 1ofl.1 on~y3 2 ; ~see SHELAH, I. S. A. C.
The reception of the Book of Esther into the canon
occasioned so much dixussion that a few words may ETAM, ROCK OF ( D p U&’D, HTAM [BA],’ IT. [L],
13. Canonicity. be allowed on the subject in addition AITAN [Jos. Ant. v. 881). It was ‘in the fissure of the
to what has been said under C ANON rock of Etam ’ that Samson is said to have dwelt after
(5 45f.). So late as the second century after Christ a burning the fields of the Philistines (Judg. 15 8 11). The
distinguished teacher, Rabbi Samuel, pronounced Esther place was evidently in Judah, and was farther from
apocryphal (Meg, 7 a). These theoretical objections the Philistine border than Lehi (v.9). Since there was
had no practical effect ; indeed among the mass of the a Judahite town of the same name (see E TAM , I ) it is
Jews the story of the Jewish queen and the Jewish reasonable to suppose (with Stanley, GuBrin, Wilson,
prime minister has always enjoyed a special reputation etc.) that the narrator located Samson’s rock there. It
for sanctity. With respect to Greek-speaking Christians does not follow that more precipitous cliffs may not be
it may be mentioned that Melito of Sardis, for example, found elsewhere. W e have no right to begin with
does not reckon Esther among the canonical books (see selecting the most striking rock, and then to identify
Eus. HE 426). The Latin Church, since the time of this rock with Etam.
Jeiome, has rejected at least the later additions. The I t is not likely that there were two Judahite places called
majority of the Syrian Christians went further still. Etam. We therefore reject the claims of the great rock near
‘Artof known as the ‘Arik Isma‘in (in a wgdy which is the upper
Jacob of Edessa (about 700 A. D .) treats Esther as continuation of the WZdy es-SarZr) though the physical con-
apocryphal (Wright, Catalogue of Syr. iMSS in the ditions perfectly fit the requi;ehents)of the story (PEFQ, April
Brit. d l u s . , 598 b). The lists drawn up by the Syrian 1896, pp. 162.164; Schick ZDPY 1887 pp. 1 3 1 8 ) . ‘ T h e
cave is approached by descending tdrough‘ a crack or fissure in
Monophysites do not include it in the canon ; hut. we the very edge of the cliffs overhanging the chasm of W i d y
have no right to infer that the book was never read Isma‘in. T h e crack is scarcely wide enough to allow one person
or used by the Christians of Syria. Aphraates (about to squeeze through a t a time. I t leads down to the topmost of
a long series of rudimentary steps, or small artificial foot-ledges
350 A . D .) regards it as an authority, and it is also cut in the face of the cliff, and descending to a narrow roc6
found in ancient MSS, such as the famous Codex Am- terrace running along the front of the cave, and between it and
brosinnus (edited by Ceriani), which, however, includes the fragments of massive wall (belonging to an ancient Christian
several other books universally reckoned uncanonical. ccenobium).’ So writes Hanauer (PEP@,April 1896, p. 163)
who in October 1885 guided Schick, the well-known architect:
The Nestorians alone appear to have had, down to modern to the spot. Such descriptions help us to understand how
times no knowledge of the book whatsoever. (Luther formed a legends like that before us grew up.
very just opinion of the Book of Esther ; but whilst freely ex- See also Hanauer (PEFQ Jan. 1886, p. 25) and especially
pressing his disapproval of it he retained it in the canon. Since Schick ZDPV 1887,p. 1 3 1 8 Against Cond&s identification
that time it has been regarded as canonical by Protestant a s of E t a k with Beif ‘A@ (cp Raed.PJ 161) see Wilson, Smith’s
well as Roman Catholic nations.) See Jaub. 0). rif. 241 8 DBP) 11004,and Schick, 0). cit. Cp LEHI.
(‘90): Kuenen Und.Pi, 5 5 1 3 ; Zimmern, ZAT‘W, 10241& T. K . C .
(‘go); Wildebo;:, Esther, in Nowack’s H K ; Toy, Esther as a
Bahyl. Goddess, New Would, G 130-145. See also references ETERNAL, ETERNITY. For the abstract term
above, and cp P U R IM . Th. N. ‘ eternity ’ there is no word either in O’T Hebrew or in
N T Greek.2 Four times, however, the word occurs in
ESYELUS (HCYHAOC [B“Al; H CYNOAOC [Ba?bI, AV ; and thrice in RV.
~ W H A[L]), I Esd. 1 8 R V = z Ch. 358 JEHIEL, 7. (a) I S. 1529, ‘Also the eternity(ny!) of Israel will not lie’
(AVmg.). T h e rendering of E V is ‘ strength ; on the renderings
ETAM (DQ’U.AITAN[BAI-M [L]). of the Vss. see Driver’s note. E V suggests
I. A town of Judah, mentioned by the Chronicler 1. OT ‘victory,’ to which R V w . adds ‘glory.’ T h e
(z Ch. 116 ; airan [A] UTUY [ P I ) as one of the cities References. Tg. suggests that the text is corrupt (see Cbe.
JQR April 1899).
of defence built by Rehoboam. In the order of enu- (6) Is. 5715, ‘the h$b and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity’
meration it is placed between Bethlehem and Tekoa. (EV after @ [ b ~ a i a ~ r ~Q bv alQva1
v Vg.); lp ]28.This vaguely
It also occurs in @ of Josh. 1 5 5 9 n ( a r ~ a [A];
p cp Di. in grand idea lies outside the biblical conceptions. Most scholars
Zuc.) with Tekoa, Ephrath or Bethlehem, and Phagor (including Del. Di.) prefer ‘that dwelleth for ever’-ie., who
(mod. Fighzir between Bethlehem and Hebron). Ac- is not subject to change (cp Ps. 10227).
cording to Josephiis ( A n t . viii. 7 3 ) it wasat Etam (@ap), (c) Jer. 10 IO, ‘he is the living God, king of eternity ’ (AVmE.) ;
two schoeni from Jerusalem, that Solomon had his well- . ?,in
O$y . . (Theodot. paurhe3g alivras). Here the true sense is
watered gardens (cp BATH-RABBIM). This points to the ‘an everlasting king ’(EV). Jer. 10 1-16 is a post-exilic insertion ;
the belief in the eternity of God’s kingdom was the foundation
neighbourhood of the modern village of Artis, half-an- of the belief in the eternity of the people of Israel.
hour S. from Bethlehem, where on the south siae of the
WHdy Artas there are some ruins. The lowest of the 1 @ A substitutes in v. 8 (for 2v rpupahL4 6 s w&pas) r a p & rd
so-called Pools of Solomon, not far off, is fed from xe~pri@yE-v r i u a g h a i y ; cp Ens. q r a p aapd r+ ~ e ~ p d l j ;(?O S
25983, cp 1229).
1 Sal. Posner, Das Taugrcrn nischon zu dem 6ihlischen 2 In M H there aye two terms worthy of mention : - n V p ?
Buche Esther (‘95) gives no great results but (p. 5) a useful
review of the midrashic literature. Cp W. Bacher, ‘Eine and il?J?s ( e g . , D>Un nlDlp, the eternity of the world, a
siidarabische Midrasch compilation zu Esth.’ (MGWJ, 41 4508) philosophical tenet rejected by the Jewish teachers).,
I407 1408
ETERNAL, ETERNITY ETHAM
(d)Mi. 5 2 [ I ], ‘whose goings forth have been frcm of old, from can he used of a state of things which may some day be altered
the days of eternity’ (AVIW. ; cp Q <pepGv aL3uos) ; + y ’4’p. (e.g., Is. 32 14f: : cp 42 14, where R V renders &iyD ‘ long time ’).
R V substitutes in the mg. ‘from ancient days’ : both AV and (c) nr; or ns;?, too, need not mean 6 for ever.’ We can some-
R V give ‘from everlastin;’ in the text. The old interpreters times render ‘ uninterruptedly.’ a s when the psalmist, expostu-
connected this with the ‘eternal generation of the Son’ ’ Keil lating with Yahws, says, ‘ How long wilt thou forget me (”I)
while rejecting this view, still sought to maintain the ess’entialk
of orthodox tradition, and found a reference to the pre-existence uninterruptedly 1 (Ps. 13I [z]).
of Christ and the revelations of Christ to primitive men. His- (d) O’p; $lk ‘length of days,’ is of course ambiguous.
torical sense compels us to assent to RVmg. I n Ps. 214 [SI 9116 the context shows that ‘everlasting life’ is
(e) Is. 96 [5] ‘ Father of Eternity’ ( R V w . ) , lv 34. In the really meant ; whether for the pious community or for the
pious individual is a question for exegesis. So in Ps. 236 the
text R V (like AV) has ‘Everlasting Father.’ (Nc.aA ?ra+ 703 ‘dwelling in the‘ house of Yahwh’ spoken of is an endless one:
~6AAovrora&os, Sym. “a+ a h a s , Aq. aa& h). If this where would he the happiness if death or the ‘foot of pride’
IS correct, it must mean not ‘possessor of the quality of ever- (Ps. 3611)could one day work a sad change?
lastingness’ (an nn-Hebraic use of the term ‘father’), but ‘one (e) i i p iii! ‘for successive generations or ages,’ II o$y\ (PS.
who cares perpetually for his people, like a father’ (cp Is. 22 21).
The reading may, however, be incorrect (cp F ATHER, and see 891 [z] 4 [5] 10212 1131 14610 etc.).
S B O T I s . 210; Heb. text notes 89 195). In the N T we have aidvros (often), with which d s
v) Eccles. 3 11 ‘he bath set :teriity in their heart’ ( R V w . ) . rbv aiGva and E ~ Srods aiGvas are to be erouned.’ and
On this rendering: which is hardly natural, see E ARTH i. 2 (4).
Though, however, there is no abstract word for 4, NT
twice (Rom. 120 Jude 6 ) ctL66ros. RV
eternity, the conception of the endlessness of God and Ideas. prefers ‘ eternal ’ to ‘ everlasting ’ for
aidvios : for &L66ror (AV ‘eternal’ in
2. OT Con- and of persons or objects protected by - 5
Rorn., ‘ everlasting’ in Jude) it gives ‘ everlasting.’
ceptions. him is not wanting. Earlier genera-
This arises from a sense that J’w3 aidvros in the N T is
tions did not dwell on the thought ;l the
catastrophe of the exile forced men to ponder upon it ; or may be more than ‘endless life.’ o$y yn, EV
theyfound it not onlya source of comfort but also the basis ‘everlasting life’ (Dan. 122 d rw+ aibrros), comes to
of an eschatology. From the far-off past to the far-off mean ‘life of (the Messianic) age,’ and includes all
future (nsy-iy n$yn Ps. 902 ; cp. 4 1 1 3 [14]).YahwB Messianic blessings (so e,z.,Jn. 3 15 ; cp vu. 35). The
later Jewish literature preferred the expression ‘ the life
was their God. So Dt. 3.327 ( 0 7 ~> c , 5‘the ~ ancient of the coming age’ because of its clear-cut distinction
God ’ ; in the 11 line, n$y nyi! everlasting arms ’ ; cp between the n.p
Dr. in hoc. ). So too Is. 4028, o$y 9 7 . 5 ~’ an everlast-
.- o$iy--i.e., the present dispensation-and
the tan iy$y-i.e., the Messianic ‘age’ (cp Mk. 1 0 3 0
ing God’-an instructive passage. because it shows how Lk. 1830, Heb. 25 65). See ESCHATOLOGY, S.82 8 ,
concrete the Jewish conception of eternity was,--‘H e also E ARTH i. § 3.
faints not, neither is weary.‘ Eternity meant the most Among the notable phrases of N T are K ~ A U Ualbvros ~S
intense life. Hence later, ‘life’ and ‘eternal life’ Mt. 2 5 4 6 , RV eternal punishment ’ ; liXEepos u i d v m ,
came, in the mouth of Jesus, to be synonymous (see z Thess. 1 9 , RV ‘eternal destruction’ ; and 6rb
e.g., Mt. 1 9 161: ). Thus, havihg Yahwb as a shepherd, ~ v ~ f i p u r alwvlou,
os Heb. 9 14, RV ‘ through the eternal
the faithful community could look forward to a perpetual Spirit.’ On the first two compare ESCHATOLOGY, 98.
duration for itself; ‘ this God is our God for ever and ever ’ The phrase rueijpua a l i v i o v has to be taken in connection
(Ps. 48 14), to which, unfortunately enough, MT gives as with the preceding phrase (a.1 2 ) alwvla A h p a r s . The
a 11 line, ‘ he will be our guide unto death ’ (nm-5y).z Or, high priest could, according to the Law, obtain for the
to put it in another form, God’s loving-kindness (the Jewish people only a temporary ‘ redemption,‘ for the
bond between him and his people) would never fail bulls and goats whose blood he offered had but a
(Ps. l o 6 I and often). temporary life ; but Christ ‘ entered in once for all by
It is a poetical extravagance, however, when the mountains means of his own blood,‘ and his life is not temporary,
and hillsarecalled ‘everlasting’(Gen. 40 26 where l&J +?in should but eternal, or, which is the same thing, his ‘ spirit ’-
he lg ’715 [Di. etc.] II to o$v ”7:’) : so Dt. 3315, Hah. 36. his wan ._nn-is
. unlimited by time, is eternal. For
Is. 54 IO assures us that ‘the mountains may depart, and the hills Christ ‘has been made (high priest) according to the
be removed’ (cp Ps. 46 2 [3]). So in Ps. 89 28 [4f: Yahwe‘s power of an indissoluble life,’ K U T ~ 8dvaprv {wirrqs
covenant with David, and in Ecclus.4515 his covenant with
Aaron are,said to be ‘for ever,’ and also ‘(as lasting) as the days dKaTaAdrou (Heb. 7 16).
of heaven. I t was no secret however that the heavens would Thus the word commonly used for ‘ eternal ’ in N T
pass away (Is. 344516, Ps. 1)(1226[271f It is only God whose means ( I ) endless ( 2 )Messianic. In the Fourth Gospel
years can absolutely ‘have no end ’ (Ps. 102 27 [28]).
Thus we get two Heb. termsfor endlessduration : (a)n$y[\l
and in the First Epistle of John, however, we find a
noteworthy development in the sense of aidvtos. The
and (8) l&J[)l. The two terms are combined in lp ‘L$y-lp word seems there to refuse to be limited by time-
3. ~ ~T b ~. (1s. 45~17), ‘ t o~ages of~continuance
. ’a= ‘world conditions altogether. rdj aidvros is represented, some-
without end’ (EV). T o these we must add times indeed as future (Jn. 627 1225 4 r 4 36), but more
(c) n?: and (d)DV3; qlk. (a) O$Y, ‘age,’ can be used in a
generally as already present (Jn. 17 3 and other pass-
limited sense, as when a slave who refuses to leave his master is
said to become his servant ‘for ever,’ &p5, 61s rbv a h a ) or
ages ; cp 1 1 z 6 f . 851). This is akin to the view ex-
when a loyal subject says to the king, Let my lord live for pressed in the Epistle to the Hebrews, according to
ever. ‘ 4 So, in strongly emotional passages, &iy5 ‘ for ever,’ which the Buvkpas p4AAovro~ aiDvos may be ‘ tasted’
even now (Heb. 6 5). ‘ Eternal life,’ thus viewed, is
1 I n Gen. 2133 ( 2) we read that in Beersheha Abraham
indeed 4 ~ V T W SJ’w4 ‘ the life which is [life] indeed’
invoked Yahw&as CI’J’ 8sbs aliuros, E V ‘the Everlasting
( I Tim. 6 19 RV). It is one of the most noteworthy faults
God’). If the text is right, this should mean ‘the ancient God’ of T R that it substitutes for this fine reading the
(BL, von Gall) and the writer will imply a reproof to some of his
contemporaries (cp Dt. 29 26 [25]32 17). ‘ Everlasting God ’ is in- ordinary term aiivros, ‘ everlasting,’ ’ eternal.‘
a p ropriate here. Most probably, however o$y ‘8Zrinz should be T. K. C.
]i’{Y, ‘&Bt (Gen. 1 4 r B - z o ~ i . e . ,‘Most High.’ So Renan. [A ETHAM (Pi%; Syr. Athdm, Ar. n h i m , Copt.
similar emendation, fi,!y ’n?? ‘ gatesofthe Most High, maybe OeOH and 6 O Y e A N [Var. BOyeAl]; E T H d M ) .
suggested for Ps. 247 9. The phrase ‘everlasting (or, eternal) e ’ s readings are : in Ex. 13 20, 080p [BAFL], 48au [j?’!], Aq.
God ’, however, is certainly right in Is. 40 28 (o$y *&$, 8ebs Sym. Theod., etc.; in Nu. 336f: pou8av [BAFL] for original
aliuias), and Rom. 1626 (706 alwuiou Beoir, uniqne in NT)].
2 See A L A M O T H . of the divine ones ( D , J ~ N 3 1 3 , lit. ‘sons of Elohim’). Our
3 Q, however, has simply Zw? TOG aEGvos. Perhaps we should knowledge of the popular Israelitish beliefs is too slight to permit
us ever to dogmatize about them. The influence of the neigh-
read Dm$Y-iY. bouring nations must however have tended to the production
4 Prohably however, such a phrase includes a reference to the of a belief in the quasi-divinity bf kings.
dynasty of t i e king. Not impossibly, too, it implies a popular 1 Note also the deeply felt expression sic ?rdras &S yevchs 705
belief that kings were privileged after death to join the company a&or r 3 v a L ~ u w v(Eph. 321). See R V w .
1409 1410
ETHAN ETHBAAL
j3owffap [cod. 58 in v. 61 ; in Nu. Ps. 89 (arOav [RK], arpar [R], aidup [TI), ascribed the
33 8 BAL om., but BabAF read
a h o i (see below). composition of that psalm. It is much more natural
The second station of the Israelites at the Exodus, to assume that he meant the eponym of the post-exilic
situated at the ‘ end ( a s p ) of the wilderness ’ (Ex. Ethan-guild of temple-singers (see 2).
1320 Nu. 336). Thus it was the last city on properly Jastrow, (Beit. z. Ass. 3 Heft 9 ’ cp ReL Ba6. artd Ass.
Egyptian ground, and therefore (being also near the 519) identifies the Ethan df I K. 4(31 [ 5 111 with the mythic
straight road to Philistia: Ex. 1317) to be sought at Babylonian Etana (the hero with whom the mythic eagle allied
itself, and who took flight for heaven clinging to the eagle’s
the E. end of the Wady TiimilHt and near the (North- breast but fell to earth with the eagle and died-unlike the
ern ?) shore of the Crocodile (Tims84) Lake. There E l i j a i o f the noble Hebrew legend).l H e assumes this largely
is 110 proof whatever of the various identifications with on the ground that the names of Ethan’s companions in I K.
431 [5~r]-viz.,-Heman, Calcol, and Darda-appear to be non-
Bir Abii-RQk (Schleiden), Bir Maktal (Ebers ; spelled Hebraic, and suspects that Babylonian references may also be
Bir Mahda1,’in Bzd. ), Hir Sues (Hengstenberg), places found to these three names. I t is ;f. part of this theory that
which are, besides, all situated in the desert, partly E. Etana, like Ethan, means ‘strong. Etana is not, however,
of the Red Sea. Why Daphnze-Tahpanhes (Brugsch), renowned for his wisdom, and ‘Ethan in I K. Z.C. may be due
to corruption (see MAHOL).
cannot be Etham, is shown elsewhere (E XODUS i. 13).
The name ne! reminds us strongly of oh? (see PITHOM), 2 . (urdap in I Ch. 15 171, acOav [Bin I Ch. 15 1719,
and K in I Ch. 1519]), son of Kishi or KUSIIAIAH
and if we follow 6 ’ s text in Num. [* = ~ n i g ] the identity ( g . ~ . ) ,the head of one of the ’ families’ which had the
is very plausible (Sharpe, Wellh.). If Pithom is the hereditary office of temple musicians and singers ( I Ch.
same as modern Tell el-MashEta, it was indeed the 6 4 4 [ ~ g ] 151719) also called J EDUTHUN ( g . ~ . ) . In
lait city of Gosheu, which has, at the E., room only for a appearance this is an altogether different Ethan from
few villages and fortifications (about I O miles to Lake the preceding ; but the appearance is illusory. From
Tims&h).2 This identification therefore is highly prob- a critical inspection of the narratives the truth appears
able. Otherwise, we might suppose a neighbouring to be this. On a re-organisation of the guilds of singers
place called after the same local god, Atrim, E t I ~ 5 m . ~ in late post-exilic times the authorities of the temple
The name of this place might also have been abridged. looked out for nominal founders of those guilds belong-
This, hogever, is less probable, and unnecessary. Other ing to Davidic and Solomonic times. One older name
Egyptological explanations cannot be ~ p h e l d . ~See -that of ASAPH (q.u., 3)-was retained ; to this two
E XODUS i. § IO$, GOSHENi. 2, SUCCOTH, PITHOM. fresh ones-viz. Heman and Ethan (or Jeduthi1n)-were
W. M. hl. added. These names were derived from I K. 4 3 1 [511].
ETHAN (fQ’& ; ‘ lasting, strong ’ ; A ~ ~ A [BL], M A threefold assumption wa5 made : ( I ) that the persons so
called were Israelites, (2) that they were singers, and (3) that
&leAN [A]): they were contemporaries of David. As to (I), n i i K has no
I. A n kzrahite, whose wisdom was excelled by doubt the meaning of ‘native’ (Lev. 16 zg), and in the headings
Solomon’s, I K. 431 [511] (yardav [BA], 427 ; so also. of Pss. 88 and 89 BJBNART renders ‘ Ezrahite ’ by bpa+[s]i-
in bBof Jer. 5 0 ( 2 7 ) 4 4 ) . The true reading of the VF (cp of I K. 427). As to (2) if Solomon sang to perfection
Heman and Ethan who vied with dim must, it seemed, have heel;
passage, which of course determines the explanation, eminent singers. As to (3), a possible interpretation of I K., Z.C.,
is considered elsewhere (see MAHOL, HEMAN). b B , no doubt favours the view that all three were contemporaries.
which calls Ethan T & .+/T~v (aA ~ q v ,We have seen already that it was one great object of the circle
~ { p ~ q h ~ cp
to which the Chronicler belonged to make the past a reflectiou
Pss. 88 f.), very possibly considered him to be an of the present.
Edomite (cp Job 42176, b B N c ) , Edom being renowned A little earlier it would have sufficed to make Heman
for its wise men (Jer. 497). To the Chronicler, however, and Ethan Israelites. In post - Nehemian times it
this view was unacceptable. Ethan (and not only he, but was thought a matter of course that these two great
also the wise men who in I K. 431 [SII] are mentioned singers should have been Levites. Hence Ethan is
with him) must be of an Israelitish stock. The question placed by the Chronicler among the Merarite Levites
of his age, too, must be cleared up. Hence in I Ch. 26 ( I Ch. 644). The one psalm,2 however (891, which is
not only Zimri (or Zabdi), but also Ethan, Heman, Cal- ascribed to Ethan (or to the guild named after him)
col, and Dara are sons of Zerah, the son of Judah. Thus describes him simply as ‘ the Ezrahite.’ Either this is
I K. 431 [511] receives a thoroughly new interpretation. a slip of the memory, or the old name was still regarded
T o this Judahite Ethan it is possible-possible but as the highest title (see I ). See GENEALOGIES i. 7.
hardly probable-that the author of the heading of 3. Son of ZIMMAHand father of Adaiah in the second gene-
alogy of A s A P H , ’ I~ ,Ch. 6 42 [z7l Jarffav [Bl, owpr [AI, TffaP [L]).
1 T h e prefixed #would not be the Egyptian article (Knobel- I n the firstgenealogy the name 15 JOAH (3). I t is noticeable
Dillmann) but $(el) ‘house, place’ (cp PITHOM, PI-BESETH). that in the second pedigree a certain ETHNI (4.v.) b. Zerah
B’s transliteration ’ p conforms to the rule that Egyptian is mentioned. This gives a new view of the relation between
p+.w is rendered by Gk. 6 . This $ (‘house’) is sometimes Ethan and Asaph. As Wellhausen remarks, the same elements
omitted, like the Hebrew equivalent BeU. [As another ex- occur again and again in these chapters of Chronicles in
planation of the @ of j3ovBav, H. A. Redpath suggests that perhaps different connections ; consistency would have been too great
it is a reproduction of the prep. 3 on the first occurrence of the a hindrance to the idealism of the writer (ProZ.(4),zzofi).
name repeated in the second verse.] 4. See ECANUS. T. K . c.-s. A. c.
2 No argument can be drawn from the fact that the adjoining
desert is called ‘desert of Etham’ in Nu. 338 (P), but ‘desert ETHANIM (P’J?&G, i.e. ‘ [month of] perennial
of Shur’ in Ex. 15 12 (E). The two frontier places are different. streams’ : cp P3nK nl’in Ph.; a e A M E i N [Bl, -NEIM
Note especially that the strange ‘of Etham’ is omitted by @ B
[A], - N [L]), I K.82. See MONTH, 2 , 5.
(but BabAFL read a6.roi-i.e., 02).
3 Pap. Anast. vi. 4 15 speaks of the fort (htmu)ofking Merrzep- ETHANUS (BTHANUJ), 4Esd. 1 4 2 4 RV, AV E CANUS.
tah which is@?) T(u)-Ku,‘E. of Petom 6fMerneptah which is
(at?) TuKu.’ It is not however, clear whether this would be ETHBAAL ($gJ,.?& ‘with Baal,’ 5 z z ; cp Itti-Bel,
another Pithom, or, as is more natural, that built by Rameses ‘with Bel,’ the name of the father of the first Sargon,
11. (see WMM. As. u. Eur. 135) which would, as a royal city,
change itsname. On theThou(?)of the Itin. A r z t . , s e e P t ~ ~ ~ ~and ; ,ElemBAAoC, below, =!Wl\nK, ‘with him is
4 T h e comparison with Egyptian htm (closing) ‘fortress, fort
from the root which in Coptic becoGes Satem ‘ to shut,’ is q d e Baal ; isI3sBAaA [B], IAB. [A], IsBB. [L]), king of
impossible. Anast. v. 20 I mentions a ‘ fortress’ @tnzu) near the Sidonians, and father of Jezebel the wife of Ahab
T(u)-Ku(cp preceding note); but no city with this name can ( I K. l 6 3 1 f ) .
6 e found. We are equally precluded from comparing the According to Jdsephus ( 6 . A$. 1 1 8 ; quoting Men-
p p t i c fcim, ‘,to close’; with the article this would b e j - t s m , ander), Eithobal (EiOhPahos),a priest of Astarte, placed
the closing. Naville (Pithom, ZB 8) compares the name
A-du-ma of the ‘Bedawi-tribes‘ mentioned in Anast. vi. 4 14, himself on the throne of Tyre by murder, 50 or 60
in which all recent writers have rightly seen the name Edom. years after the time of Etpwpos or H IRAM (g.u., I).
The dental forbids the identification with Etham. (The alleged
name Adima reads Fad-ma; see K EDEMAH .) Besides Ethan1 1 See Maspero, Dawn of Civ., 698 &; Harper, Beif. z. Ass.
must be a n Egyptian place,-not several journeys E: in the 2 3 9 1 8 ’ Acnd. Jan. 17 March 21 1891.
wilderness. 2 @ A ;scribe; Ps. 88 [&I also to Ethan (a&&
1411 1412
ETHER . ETHIOPIA
With the same writer (Ant. viii. 132) we may safely [Themeaning of 'beyond the rivers ofCnsh' (Is. 18 T Zeph. 3 IO)
identify this king with the Ethbaal of I K. is not altogether clear. Both passages appear to he very late ;
they cannot be used as authorities for the geographical views of
' Sidonians' is used in the wider sense for ' Phmnicians.' The Isaiah and Zephaniah. I n Zeph., Z.C., we must render lp,
name also occurs on the Taylor-cylinder as Tuba'lu (king of
Sidon), K B 2 g r ; cp M'Curdy, Hist., Pro@., Mon. 2276. See fvom beyond ' implying that the region beyond the streams of
PHCENICIA. T. I<. C. Cush was on: of the most distant points from which the dis-
persed Jews would be restored to Palestine. We rannot how-
ETHER (Toy), a place inthe Negeb of Judah, men- ever, say that Cush is always distinctly represented as bne of
tioned between Libnah and Ashan (Josh. 1 5 4 2 , i e h K the remotest countries. It is mentioned quite naturally in con-
[B, see below], &ep [AL]), but also assigned to Simeon nection with Egypt in Ps. G8 31 [32] Is. 20 3 5 Ezek. 30 4 Nah. 3 9.
(W,hether Ps. 67 4 Is. 43 3 45 14 may be added, is matter for in-
(197, ieeop [E], Be. [A], ocsp [L]). It is evidently quiry.) Great caution is necessary in discussing the references
the Athach to which, according to M T of I S. 3030, to Cush (see CUSHi., $ 2, C USHAN , CUSHI,3). More than one
David sent a part of the spoil of Ziklag, and 6"actually ethnic name seems to have been written ~ 3 hence : the distrers-
reads tOah-=lny in Josh. I.c. b g confusions which have arisen. On the difficult prophecy in
which the Ethiopian Cnshites appear to be described (Is. 18)
In Josh. 197, however, 6 ,like M T , supports 'Ether.' In I1 there is difference of opinion ; cp Che. SBOT ( I s u W ,Heb.),
list of Simeonite villages in T Ch. 4 32 Eertheau is of opinion that who recognises the corruptness of the text and seeks to correct
Ether (which he prefers to Athach) is represented by Etnm. it ; see also CUSHi., $ 21.
This, however, is probably a mistake (see ETAMi., 2). Ether
i s a corru tion of Athach, which is most certainly represented in The Egyptians knew the country in earliest times
I Ch. (Z.c.yby Tochen, and Etam can be accounted for otherwise. under the name grit, ' the Soiith' (also Knst?), using
Possibly both Athach and Tochen are corruptions of 4. History. IWawat originally of a central district.
a third word-Anaboth. See A NAB , ATHACH. t was not exactly tribntary;l but the
T. K. C. pharaohs sent trading expeditions thither--e.g., one with
ETHIOPIA in EV is the equivalent of D k , repre- 300 asses of burden to Ama(m), near, or S. of, Khartfim
senting the Aiffroirla or Aiffiolrar (originally burnt ' ;.e. (EGYPT,, § 47). They derived much of their timber for
1. F~~~ 'dusky-faced ones') of a,and the ~Ethi&iuo? large ships from the forests of central or S. Nubia, or
Vg. ; as rendering the name of the son of H a m
Of name* (Gen. 106-8I Ch. 18-10), w),isalways transliterated even had the ships built on the spot with the assistance
(CUSH ; XOUF, XouO [E Gen. 1071, Chus) ; 'WC, 'Ethiopian,'
Jer.1323, etc., R V 'Cushite'in Nu.12 ~(@AAIff~dirruua),etc.;see
C USH i., $ z, CUSHI 5. The Hebrew name i i found also in Ass.
Kiisrc; 1 in Persian hilingual inscriptions, Bah. KSfu is rendered
by Pers. ICzc&i, 'the Cushites.' The Semites, evidently, bor-
rowed the name from Egypt. There the earliest form is in dyn.
12, K??(like &,)2; later the defective orthography KS,KE,3 is
common, but even the Coptic form e60ogj~ ~ 6 a (Boh. 9
eealq), written 'kJin Demotic and later hieroglyphics ( I I E K V U L P
in Gk?ransliteration a s proper name), 'Ethiopian,' betrays the
middle consonant by the euphonic Aleph protheticum, pointing FIG. 1.-Head-dress of Ethiopian king. After Lepsius.
to .Ek'&i). T h e Semitic form comes from a late vulgar pro-
nunciation &if, which omits the middle radical.4 of the Nubian chiefs. In war-time these chiefs furnished
In the time of dynasty IZ the name Kush seems to thousands of archers to the pharaoh. This barbarous
have designated a tribe occupying southern Nubia. Negro country, therefore, seems to have been completely
2. Meaning As far as we can determine the territory under Egyptian influence. I t s conquest was undertaken
of name of the tribe in q ~ e s t i o nit, ~began some- by the kings of dyn. IZ (E GYPT, § 50). The K'6SSi
what N. of the second cataract. About people, now first mentioned, seem to have been more
in Egypt* 1500, the annals of Thotmes 111. still warlike than the tribes of the N. ( W a w a t ) , so that
retain the traditconal distinction of N. and S. Nubia as Usertesen 111. had to fix his strongly fortified frontier
Wawat (a name not much known after 1000 B .c.) and at Semneh (about 21' 32' N. lat.). Though apparently
K(0)Si; but K55 the larger part of the country, then independent dnring the Hylisos period, Nubia was again
commonly gives its name to Nubia in general. made subject after 1600 B.C. by 'Ahniose (Ahmes) I.
Later, Etz(')oYi, ' Kushite,' completely displaced the earlier and his successors, and remained so down to about
term n$@i (i.e., Eastern-African, including Hamites as well 1100 B.C. The southernmost traces of an Egyptian mili-
as Negroes, although used by preference of the most character-
istic African race-ie., the Negro-exactly a s the Gk.AlQlqb). tarypost have been found at Ben Naga (NakX), near the
The Hebrew writers too knew that Kush was the sixth cataract (see E GYPT , after col. 1208, map no. I);
country S. of Egypt (Judith 1&), beginning at SYENE and slave-hunting expeditions may have extended even
3. Inpalestine. [ q . ~ . ] ,or, more exactly, above the more to the S. The Nile valley seems to have been con-
island of Philae. How far S. it ex- tent to remain tributary without giving Egypt trouble.
tended in the vast regions on the White and the Blue The many wars in ' vile Nubia' ( K S E s t ) were probably
Nile, they knew of course as little as the Egyptians. merely slave-hunting expeditions in the S., or punitive
Whilst the Greeks, however (e.g., Homer), had the most raids upon the rapacious desert-tribes (the Anti or
erroneous ideas on the position and extent of Ethiopia Trog(1)odytes in the N., the Mazoy (or Masoy) near
(sometimes they extended it as far as India !), the Pales- Senngr (see above)). The banks of the Nile, therefore,
tinians, like the Egyptians, clearly distinguished Kush were covered not only with military forts bnt also with
from the African coasts of the Red Sea (Punt or P U T , temples and Egyptian colonies. Although the Egyptian
q . ~)., The list' of provinces of Darius I. even dis- elements were absorbed without leaving many traces in
tinguished KuS, Put,and the Mariya tribes (Egyptian the language or the racial type, the country became to a
Mamy) named between these two. Kush, therefore, certain extent civilized. The government was in the
must be limited to the Nile valley and not be identified hands of a viceroy (residing ' at the holy mountain ' in
L
-
geographically with the vague Greek tern] AiOtorrh6
Once Ka&, Knudtzon, Gebeie an den Sonnengofi,no. 68.
L D 2 122. Petrie, Season, 34o-k??f,
Adyd. 3 926, etc.
kings of Egypt or of Napata-KBE. Thegeneral Greek expression
(rendered Ite@$eyii) was limited to Abyssinia by the scholars of
Aksnm, a 'limitation that has caused very great confusion in
modern literature.
1 An official says, ' Never could any work be done (before me?
in the region around Elephantine with only one war-vessel
(inscr. of 'Una,' 1.41). The earliest expedition recorded is that
3- \\ of king Snefrn(i) of dyn. 4, who is said, on the stone of Palermo,
to have brought 7000 men and zco,ow animals as booty from
mlvvl Ethiopia.
4 A hamzeh to adopt the terminology of Arabic grammar. 2 Mariette's results, however, in his Listes GJo@u$hiques,
Cp Brngs:h AZ '82, p. 30. rest on absurd identifications of the names recorded by Thut-
GTo apply thb term to Abyssinia is strikingly erroneous, for mosis 111.
Abyssinia was never subject-and hardly even known-ro the 3 ' Trogodytes' seems better attested than 'Troglodytes.'
1413 1414
ETHIOPIA ETHIOPIA
Napata)l who had the title ‘royal son of K O ~ . ’ with ~ Thebes soon after 800 B.c., and king P‘anby could
The tribute and products of the country mere chiefly wen attempt to subjugate the rest of the disunited
gold (rarely, wrought gold), precious red stones, ostrich Eounties, about 750 (see EGYPT, 65 ; on the moresuc-
feathers, leopard skins, cattle, livc monkeys, ivory, ebony, cessful conquest by Sabaka, on h b a t a k o [or Sebichos?]
some incense, etc. (cp Herod. 3 97114). and T(a)hark6 [see TIRHAKAH], ib., 66 u). Nah. 39
We find Nubia an independent kingdom in dyn. 22. refers to this period; Jer. 469 Ezek. 304 ( 8 8 5 , very
It seems that the high-priestly family at Thebes when strange) refer to Ethiopian mercenaries in Egypt rather
yielding to the power of the Tanitic pharaohs (E GYPT , § than to the past period of the 25th dynasty. Z ERAH (5)
61f: ) had fled to the southern provinces and So (gq.”.) do not belong here. The strange
k ~ ~ ; d ~ and~ othere
f founded an independent state. anonialy of Nubia as a great empire, which even tried
In few countries of antiquity was the to stop the progress of Assyria in Asia, did not last
Ethiopia’ theocratic ideal of thepriesthoodrealised very long. For the Ethiopians to hold even Egypt
as completely as in this new ecclesiastical kingdom of was too hard a task. The last attempt to regain it
was made by Tantamen in 667. He tells us in a long
inscription how, encouraged by a dream, he easily
conquered Egypt to Memphis; but he does not tell
of his subsequent defeat. The ascendancy of dyn.
26 shut the Ethiopians out completely.
On several cases of unfriendly contact with the Ethiopians
onder Psametik (I. and II.?) and Apries, see EGVPT, I$ 67-69.
The kings Atirunras, Asparuta (circa 600 B.c.) and several
named P’anhy are mentioned. One surnamed Arura was
dethroned hy”Harsi6t(ef) ; these two kings and their successor
Nastasen(n), who records great victories over the southern
peoples, reigned about 400. During the whole Persian period
the kingdom of Knsh was tributary to the Persian kings (cp
Esth. 1T SA),having been subjugated by Cambyses in 524.
The Ptolemies also had a t least a strong influence in Napata.2
Under Ptolemy IV.8 king Erkamen(‘EpyaP&qv) had the courage
to refuse the abdication demanded of him by the piiests, and
broke the power of the clergy by a great slaughter in Napata.
The southern residence Meroe (Eth. originally
Bemu ; cp mod. Begernule?) came more into pro-
sb. lerol minence from the time of Ergamenes
(who was not, however, the founder).
as capita1* O m the loss of the Dodekaschoenus dis-
trict (ending at Pnubs or Hierasycaminus) to Ptolemy
-
FIG.a.-Ethiopian queen, Roman period. After Lepsius.
monial of the Passover celebration. tation; even as the manna and the water in the
Such a consideration belongs rather to the subsequent wilderness were regarded as symbols of the Messiah.
development of the Eucharist as a Christian rite. Moreover, the popular conception of the Messianic
Here we must confine ourselves to the simpler formulae kingdom included a marvellously fruitful vine and an
which are known to have accompanied the ordinary extraordinary abundance of corn (cp Fragm. of Papias
Jewish meals. Thus at the present day ( D a i b Prayer in Iren. v. 333 which rests on earlier Jewish tradition ;
Book, with transl. by C. Singer: 287 ['91]) the following see Apoc. of Baruch, 29, ed. Charles, 54). If then, at
blessing is said over the bread : ' Blessed art thou, 0 the moment, the death of Jesus was beyond the com-
Lord our God, King of the, Universe, who bringest prehension of the disciples in spite of his frequent
forth Bread from the earth,' and before drinking wine : references to it, yet there may have been a side of
'Blessed art Thou, ... who createst the fruit of the his strange action and utterances which appealed to
vine. ' It is probable that such words as these are implied them then, -the conception, namely, of the Messianic
in the statements ' He took bread and blessed,' and ' H e feast, in which they should spiritually feed upon the
took the cup and gave thanks.' Messiah himself, the spiritual corn and the spiritual
This supposition is confirmed by the earliest extant formulie vine. It is certain, at any rate, that Jesus added in
of the Christian Eucharist. In the Teachin.. of U e Ajostles reference to the cup an allusion to his drinking the new
(chap. 9$) we find certain thanksgivings which are clearly of
earlier date than the manual in which the; are embodied. Two wine of the kingdom of God. The Teaching of the
of these are respectively 'concerning the cup' and 'concerning Apostles embodies a similar thought in the significant
1419 1420
EUCHARIST EUCHARIST
expression in which it gives thanks for ‘the holy vine oi courses. This being so, the controversy above referred
David ’ (chap. 9). to sinks to a position of secondary importance.
Whatever conception these acts and words conveyed We may take it, then, that to the evangelist the
to the disciples at the time, the events of the following special signification of the Eucharist lay in the intimate
7. The &,,, days may have helped them to see in union with Christ himself, which we have already seen
enigmatic. them the gift of a personal union with to be involved in the words-and particularly in the
their Lord at the very moment of partinE,
- first word-of the institution. The saying ‘ I am the
and the gift of a union with his sacrifice of himself. bread of life ‘ is the converse of the saying ‘ This (i.e.,
That the acts and words are capable of yet further interpreta- this bread) is my body.’ In each case the meaning is :
tions must have been part of the intention with which they were You shall feed upon myself: you shall enter into a
spoken; for had their meaning ended here, they would have
been spoken otherwise, so as to exclude the possibility of union, which is nothing less than identification, with me.
interminable disputations. As it is the very diversity of their If Paul is, as always, impressed with the corporate
interpretation in the history of the 6hurch seems to be a token aspect of truth, the Fourth Gospel is concerned with
that they were so framed a s to wait for a fuller comprehension.
Something of that comprehension is found in Paul ; something The two the mystical union of the individual with
too in John. his Lord : ‘ H e that eateth my flesh and
Paul, in this as in so many other instances, arrived views ‘On- drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and
trasted* I in him ’ (Jn. 656).
at his interpretation through the exigencies of his
*. view special mission. His task of welding into
of Paul. one the Jewish and Gentile elements led
T o Paul ‘This is my body’ is almost inseparable from the
thought ‘ His body are we. In Paul’s narrative ‘This is my
blood of the covenant * appears as ‘ This cup is the new covenant
him to develop the conception of the in my blood.’ The thought of the new people of God is each
corporate unity of all Christians. Food has ever been time uppermost in his mind. H e finds its unity in, the body:
the token of unity-the bond of equal intercourse. he finds it again in the new and universal ‘covenant.
I n the Fourth Gospel the interpretation of the Eucharist is the
Refusal to take food together is the symbol of exclusive- same a s if its words had actually run : ‘This is my flesh ’ ‘This
ness and caste distinction. The Jew could not, by the is my blood.’ T h e flesh and blood are the full life : thdir com-
later Pharisaic ordinances, eat with the Gentile. If munication is the communication of eternal life (Jn. 6 5 4 5 ) .
Paul is practical and sees truth in his effort after corporate
Christ were for Jew and Gentile alike, the Eucharist, unity. The Fourth Gospel is contemplative : the writer is
the feast of the new and all-inclusive ‘ covenant,’ must interpreting a past of half a century ago, which yet to him is an
be the common meal of Jew and Gentile. This in eternal present ; but he is thereby in a sense isolated.
itself must have given it to Paul a special significance. The two sides of truth are not opposed but com-
Again, to Paul with his doctrine of the one man- plementary-the mysticism of the individual and the
the one body with many members-a new vista of mysticism of the corporate life. They both alike find
thought lies open. The one body is the whole Christ : their full expression and realisation in the sacrament
‘ so also is the Christ ’ ( I Cor. 12 12) : ‘ we are members of the body and blood of the Lord.
of his body ’ (Eph. 5 30). Now the word of the Eucharist The Church of the post-apostolic age shows strangely
was: ‘This is my body’ (not ‘This is my flesh’). little indication in its dogmatic teachings of the influence
the peculiar conceptions of Pauline
Thus the Eucharist was the sacrament of corporate
unity in Christ. The single loaf, broken into fragments early Other :of
ll. writers or of Johannine teaching. This is
and distributed among the faithful, was the pledge and true generally, and the history of the
the means of their intimate union : W e are one body :
.~lement. doctrine of the Eucharist presents no
for we all partake of the one loaf’ (I Cor. 1017). exception. The words of the institution, constantly
The sin of the Corinthian church lay specially in repeated a s they probably were, formed the only
their scranibling over the Supper of the Lord, each comment on the significance of the sacrament. There
making it ‘ his own ’ supper, and not waiting for others : was no attempt to explain them : they were as simple
note in I Cor. 1120 J the contrast between ‘ the Lord’s’ a s words could be-‘ This is my body,’ This is my
K ~ ) ‘ his own ’ (YGrov).
( K U ~ ~ C C and They wholly failed to blood.’ They were the formula which expressed the
grasp the truth of the one body : thus, in a real sense fact : no metaphysical questioning arose ; no need was
(even if this does not exhaust the meaning of the felt of a philosophy of explanation.
words), ‘ not discerning the body.’ Paul’s special position as the uniter of Jew and
That to Paul the body is a t one moment the Church, and at Gentile had ceased to need justification or even assertion.
the next the Christ, is no contradiction in his thought, but The Church-so far as its literature has survived to us
rather a kind of refusal to distinguish : the Church and Christ -was a Church of Gentile Christians. Jews indeed
a r e to him ‘not twain, but one’ (cp Eph. 5 31f). Augustine is
truly Pauline when he says of the Eucharist, Be what you see, formed apart of it, butan insignificant part, not destined
and receive what you are’ (Serm. adhfanfes, 272). to influence directly its future development. John’s
Paul‘s conception comes out strikingly in the sequence of special position was necessarily peculiar to himself:
verses in I Cor. 10 16f: : ‘ The loaf which we break, is it not the there could be none after him who had ‘seen and
communion (or fellowship) of the body of Christ 1 For one loaf,
one body, we the many are : for we all of us partake of thy one handled’ as he had. A new age had begun, with its
loaf.’ That is his practical comment on ‘This is my body. own situations and exigencies : and it was not an age
When we turn to the Fourth Gospel, the much- which called forth developments of Christian philosophy.
debated question arises whether the sixth chapter has The EpistZe of CZeement does not employ the Eucharist,
9, Ofthe any direct reference to the Eucharist, either as Paul had employed it, as the starting-point of an
by way of anticipation on the part of Jesus argument for unity. The spiritual significance of the
Fourth himself, or in the reflective exhibition of his Eucharist is not emphasised; but the way is being
teaching by the writer. prepared for its becoming the central act of Christian
T h e absence of all mention of the institution of Christian worship, and so comparable with the sacrifices of
baptism or of the Eucharist stands side by side with the emphasis Judaism. It is regarded as ‘ the offering of the gifts’
laid in the third chapter on the absolute necessity of a new
birth by water and the Spirit, and in the sixth on the absolute of the Church (chap. 44), and it is surrounded already,
necessity of feeding on the flesh and blood of Christ. I n each it would seem, with liturgical accompaniments of prayer
case the answer to the enquiry, How can this be? is a simple and praise (chap. 5 9 8 ) .
reassertion of the necessity without any explanation to guide In the DidaJd the Eucharistic formulze (chap. 9 J )
the inquirer : and in each case words are spoken of the ascension
of Christ into heaven, and of the need of faith if these things differ in thought and phraseology from anything else in
are to be grasped a t all. la. DidachB. the book: their colour is probably
We may securely say that the two discourses deal derived mainly from Jewish ritual,
with the same spiritual things as underlie respectively though their language is in several points Johannine.
baptism and the Eucharist : and we cannot doubt that The three thanksgivings are addressed to the Father :
the evangelist’s own interpretation of the two sacraments the only reference to Christ is in the phrases ‘ through
must have followed the lines laid down in these dis- Jesus thy servant ’ (thrice), through thy servant,’ and
1421 1422
EUCHARIST EUCHARIST
' through Jesus Christ.' It is noteworthy that none of ruptihle.' In TYuZZ.8 : 'in faith, which is the flesh of the Lord,
these names occur in the rest of the book, where Christ and in love which is the blood of Jesus Christ.' These
last two paisages are characteristic of the manner in which
is always (except in the baptismal formula) spoken of Ignatius keeps interchanging abstract and concrete ideas.
as ' the Lord,'-a title reserved in the thanksgivings for The parallel with Jn. comes out especially in the terms 'the
the Father. bread of God' and ' t h e flesh (not the body) and blood'; but
the 'life eternal' of Jn. is here limited to immortality.
Thus, negatively, there is no expression of any
feeding on Christ : there is not even a mention of 111. Bur& usage.-In the 'first description of the
' body,' or ' flesh,' or ' blood.' There is no sense of believers after Pentecost we are told that 'they sted-
the Eucharist as a means of corporate unity. The 14, Earliest fastly continued in the teaching of the
future union of the now scattered ecclesia is prayed for practice. apostles and the fellowship, the breaking
with an allusion to the gathering together of the scattered of bread, and the prayers' (Acts 2 4 2 ) .
particles of wheat into one loaf. This is a conception Here ' the breaking of bread ' is a part of the expression
radically different from Paul's teaching of the unity of of the fellowship ' which charncterised the new society.
believers as partakers of the one loaf. Immediately afterwards (v. 46) we read : ' day by day,
Positively, we note the prominence of the idea of continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple,
thanksgiving : its subject-matter being ' that which has and breaking bread house by house (or ' at home,' KUT'
been made known through Jesus Christ '-viz., the vine O ~ K O V ) . ' The numbers were already so large as to make
of David, life, knowledge, faith, immortality. T h e a single united Eucharistic supper out of the question.
nearest thing to any positive blessing in the Eucharist It is probable that in these earliest days every meal a t
itself is in the clause: 'Food and drink thou hast which Christians met would be hallowed by Eucharistic
given to men ... and to us thou hast granted spiritual acts : and we can scarcely doubt that such would be the
case with the daily common meal by which the Church
food and drink and life eternal through thy servant.'
From this we may perhaps conclude that the Eucharistic supplied the needs of her poorer members (Acts61 ; on
elements were already regarded as spiritually nourishing this subject see C OMMUNITY OF GOODS, 5). It may
and so producing immortality. be right to distinguish, however, between the Eucharistic
I t is convenient to notice a t this point the view of the acts which lent a sacredness to such conlnlon meals,
Eucharist which belongs to the later period of the composition and the formal Eucharists for which the Church as-
of the Didad2 itself. The Eucharist is that 'holy thing' which sembled at stated times.
may not be given to 'the dogs'-i.e., the unbaptized (chap. 9).
Confession of sins and a forgiving spirit are essential pre- Of the more formal Eucharists we have an example
liminaries, ' th;tt your sacrifice may be pure ' 'that your sacrifice in Acts 207 at Troas, where the Christians ' came to-
be not. defiled : 'for it is that which w i s spoken of by thq gether on the first day of the week to break bread.'
Lord ; In every place and time to offer to me a pure sacrifice
(chap.4). Though the word 'sacrifice' is thus used, however, Their Eucharist was preceded by a long discourse from
there is no exposition of a sacrificial view of the Eucharist-no Paul and followed by yet more speaking 'until the
indication that the 'elements' were regarded as forming a dawn' ( v . I,), as the apostle was bidding farewell t o
sacrificial offering, or that the Eucharist was in any way con- the church. In I Cor. 1117 8 we have again the
nected with the sacrifice of Christ. Indeed this last conception
would be wholly foreign to the atmosphere of the Didachb Eucharist proper-' when ye come together 6v ~ K K ~ T J U ~ $ , '
Yet the language both of this hook and of Clement's epistle was ;.e., solemnly assembled as the Church. The fault of
preparing the way for an interpretation of the Eucharist in the the Corinthian Eucharist was, as we have seen ( 5 8),
ight of the sacrificial worship of the Old Testament.
that each made it ' his own supper' (76 G6rov G E ~ T V O V )
The Epistles of Zgnutius emphasise the Godhead and rather than 'the Lord's Sopper' ( K U ~ L U K ~ GV E ~ T V O V ) ,
the manhood of Christ in face of a docetism which by greedily scrambling for more than his share. Paul
13. Ignatius. practically denied the latter. Thus does not suggest any change in the method by which
Ignatius' whole view of life is sacra- the Eucharist is attached to a public meal; he only
mental : everywhere he finds the spiritual in closest calls for orderliness. Yet the possibility of such abuses
conjunction with the material. W e are accordingly must have led the way to change, even if other elements
prepared to find in him a mystical exposition of the had not soon begun to work in this direction (see
Eucharist.
below, 9 17).
The second main stress of his teaching is laid on the The Corinthian Eucharist had parallels on its social
threefold order of the ministry. As the Eucharist is side in the Greek world. Guilds and burial clubs had
the central function of the bishop's ministration, it 15. Greek their stated suppers; and the wealthier
stands out as the symbol and means of the Church's parallels. townsmen found Inany occasions of invit-
unity. ing their poorer neighbours to a feast, as,
Thus we find in Ignatius something of the Johannine for example, at the time of a funeral and on fixed days
and something of the Pauline conception of the meaning after the death. From such public entertainments
of the Eucharist. In each case, however, there are Christians were debarred by reason of their connection
serious limitations : Ignatius grasps only so much as with idolatrous worship ; but it is likely that the Chris-
the needs of his time make him feel the want of. tians themselves in a Greek city would have similar
Taking first the thought of the Church's unity, we have in suppers on somewhat similar occasions; and the
PhiZad. 4 ' Be y e careful therefore to observe one Eucharist : for
there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup for the wealthier members of the Church would thus entertain
unity of his blood : one altar precinct, as there is one bishop the poorer from time to time. Such snppers, though
together with the presbytery and the deacons.' We miss here not Eucharists in the strict sense, would be accompanied
the Pauline conception of union through partaking of the
broken pieces of a single loaf. T h e centre of unity is the one by eucharistic acts.
Eucharistic service of the one bishop with his presbyters and Hence would appear to have originated the Agujrp.
deacons, making the one altar precinct. The connection of the or charity suppers,-- which are not always distinguislinhle
bishop with the Eucharist is elsewhere strongly emphasised : ~