value of particular diamonds; but the value attached to them can be held to be only nominal, and often imaginary. The only test of their value is what they will bring in the market. We therefore do not think it worth while to give particular examples. The references in the Scriptures to the diamond are not frequent. The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: is indelibly graven in such characters that it may be seen and read by any one, and it will not be readily forgotten or forgiven (Jer. xvii. 1). As an adamant (or diamond), harder than flint, have I made thy forehead:" Ezekiel was endued with undaunted boldness in declaring God's messages to his countrymen (Ezek. iii. 9). The Jews made their hearts as an adamant stone' (or diamond); they were insensible to, and hardened against, all God's declarations, whether of judgment or of mercy (Zech. vii. 12). A'DAR, the twelfth month of the Jews' sacred year, and the sixth of their civil. It consists of 29 days, and commenced, according to the Rabbins, with the new moon of our February; but according to Michaelis, and others who follow him, with that of March (Gesenius, Lex. 15). On the 3d day of this month the second temple was finished (Ezra vi. 15); on the 7th, the Jews fast for the death of Moses; on the 13th, they commemorate the fast of Esther and Mordecai (Esther iv. 15-17); on the 14th, they observe the feast of Purim (ix. 17-32); on the 25th, they commemorate the release of Jehoiachin (Jer. lii. 31). As the Jewish year was a lunar year, in order to bring it into correspondence with the solar year, there was every third year an intercalary month, called Ve-Adar, or the second Adar, consisting of 30 days. ADD. 1. To join or put to (Deut. iv. 2). 2. To increase (Prov. xvi. 23). 3. To bestow (Gen. xxx. 24). 4. To proceed to utter (Deut. v. 22). They added nothing to me: they gave me no new information or authority which I had not before (Gal. ii. 6). To add sin to sin is to commit new and more aggravated transgressions, to become more open and active in the practice of iniquity (Is. xxx. 1). To add to faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge, etc., is more and more to exercise and abound in all the graces of the divine Spirit, and of a holy conversation, in their proper connection (2 Pet. i. 5-7). To be added to the Lord and to the church is to be converted and united to the Lord Jesus and his church, as new members of his mystical body (Acts v. 14; xi. 24; ii. 41-47). AD'DER, a small species of serpent, usually not more than two feet long, and widely dispersed throughout the different countries of the Old World. We meet with the word five times in the common translation, but always without warrant from the original. There are no fewer than four different words which are thus translated, and the probability is that they were the names of four different species: shepiphon (Gen. xlix. 17); pethen (Ps. Iviii. 4; xci. 13); achshub (cxl. 3); and tziphoni (Prov. xxiii. 32). From the nature of the passages themselves, all of these words probably refer to species of serpents whose bite or poison was more powerful and virulent than the adder's, but what the particular species were, it is not easy to determine. ADJU'RE. 1. To bind one, as under the penalty of a fearful curse (Josh. vi. 26). 2. To charge solemnly, as by the authority and under pain of the displeasure of God (Acts xix. 13; 1 Thess. v. 27). In the Jewish courts of justice the person did not, as in our courts, take the oath himself, but the judge adjured him by the Most High God to speak the truth, and the party answered as on oath. This was probably the reason why our Lord, when adjured by the high-priest to declare whether he were the Son of God, though silent till then, immediately replied, Thou hast said: and I say unto you,' etc. (Matt. xxvi. 62-64). AD'MAH, one of the four cities destroyed by fire and brimstone from heaven (Gen. x. 19; xiv. 2; xix. 24; Deut. xxix. 23). To be made as Admah, and set as Zeboim, is to be made a distinguished monument of the vengeance of God (Hos. xi. 8). AD'ONAI, one of the names of God. It is plural, and signifies my Lords, as Adoni in the out of superstition do not pronounce the singular signifies my Lord. The Jews, who wherever Jehovah occurs in the Hebrew text. name Jehovah, read Adonai instead of it, The ancient Jews were not so scrupulous. There is no law which prohibits the pronunciation of this name. 3. ADOPTION is either-1. Natural, whereby one takes the child of another into his family, and treats him as his own child. Thus the daughter of Pharaoh adopted Moses (Exod. ii. 9); and Mordecai, Esther (Esth. ii. 7). In this sense the word, is never used in Scripture. 2. National, whereby God takes a whole people to be his peculiar and visible church, exercises a special care and government over them, and bestows a multitude of ordinances and other privileges on them. This adoption pertained to the Jews for 1500 years, they being then the only visible church of God on earth (Rom. ix. 4). Spiritual, in which sinful men, who were by nature children of wrath, are, upon their believing in Christ, graciously taken by God into his family, the invisible church (John i. 12), and are admitted to communion and intimacy with Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and with angels and fellow-saints; are loved, taught, governed, corrected, protected, and provided for by Him; and become heirs of his everlasting kingdom and glory. This adoption the saints have received; and of it, the Holy Ghost dwelling in them as a Spirit of grace and supplication, and their holy conversation, are the undoubted evidence (Rom. viii. 15-18; Gal. iv. 6, 7; 1John iii. 1-2). 4. Heavenly, in which the saints, being raised from the dead, are at the last day solemnly owned to be the children of God, and have the blissful inheritance publicly adjudged to them; and enter, soul and body, into the full possession of it (Matt. xxv. 34-46). This the saints now wait for (Rom. viii. 23). ADRAMMELECH ADRAM'MELECH and ANAM'MELECH were two idols of the men of Sepharvaim. In the Hebrew language, and probably in the Assyrian, the first signified magnificent king; and the last gentle king. In the Persian, the first signifies king of flocks; and the last in the Arabic signifies much the same. Perhaps both were worshipped as the preservers of cattle. The Jewish Rabbins tell us that the first was represented as a mule or peacock; and the second as a pheasant, quail, or horse. It is more probable that the first represented the sun, and the other the moon, which many of the heathens took to be the great rulers of the world. The Sepharvites offered up their children in sacrifice to them (2 Kings xvii. 31). ADRAM'MELECH and SHERE'ZER, two sons of Sennacherib, king of Assyria. It is pro bable the former was named after the abovementioned idol As Sennacherib was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, they smote him with the sword, and escaped into the land of Armenia' (2 Kings xix. 37), which lay to the north of Assyria. ADRAMYTTIUM, a seaport of Mysia in Lesser Asia, over against the isle of Lesbos. It was in a ship of Adramyttium that Paul sailed from Cæsarea to Myra, a city of Lycia, on his way to Rome (Acts xxvii. 2, 5, 6). It was anciently a flourishing city. It is now called Adramiti, and though a poor town, is still a place of some trade. No antiquities are to be found in it except a few coins (Biblioth. Sacra, viii. 866). ADRIA. In modern times the Adriatic comprehends only the sea on the east of Italy, otherwise called the Gulf of Venice. But it appears from Ptolemy and Strabo that anciently the name Adria extended to the sea on the south of Italy, that Sicily was bounded by it on the west, and that Crete was compassed by it on the east Hence it will easily be seen how it is said, that the ship in which Paul was sailing to Rome was driven up and down in Adria' before being wrecked on the island called Melita, commonly held to be Malta (Acts xxvii. 27, 28). ADULLAM, an ancient city of Canaan (Gen. xxxviii. 1, 12, 20). It had anciently a king of its own, who was conquered by Joshua; and it was allotted to the tribe of Judah (Josh. xii. 15; xv. 35). Some will have it to have been situated in the south-east of the territory of Judah, near the Dead Sea; but it is more generally supposed to have stood in the plain south-west of Jerusalem. After the revolt of the ten tribes it was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi. 7). Micah calls it 'the glory of Israel' (i. 15), whence it has been concluded that it was a very beautiful city. The expression, however, may refer as much to its situation as to the city itself. It is mentioned by Nehemiah after the captivity (xi. 30). Judas Maccabeus, after a fight with Gorgias, came with his army to Adullam; and when the seventh day came, they purified themselves, as the custom was, and kept the Sabbath in the same place' (2 Maccab. xii. 38). No traces are now known of this city. Near to it was probably the Cave of Adullam, to which David escaped from the land of the Philistines, when he was seeking to elude the pursuit of Saul; and hither his brethren and all his father's house came to him (1 Sam. xxii. 1, 2). This circumstance might occur all the more readily if the Cave of Adullam was not far from Bethlehem where they dwelt; and that this was the case is still more clearly indicated by the fact, that after he became king, being engaged in war with the Philistines, he again betook himself to the Cave of Adullam, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem; and David having expressed a longing desire to drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate,' three of his mighty men broke through the host of the Philistines and brought it to him (2 Sam. xxiii. 13-17). This shews that the Cave of Adullam was not far from Bethlehem. Now, about two hours S. E. from that place there is an immense cave well fitted to afford shelter and conceal ment to David and his men (Amer. Miss. Her., 1836, p. 253), which may have been, though we are not entitled to say it was, the Cave of Adullam. ADULTERY, taken largely, comprehends all manner of unchastity in heart, speech, or behaviour (Exod. xx. 14; Matt. v. 27, 28). But taken strictly, it denotes sexual intercourse between a man and woman, one or both of whom are married to another person or other persons. By the law of Moses it was punishable with death, and that of both the guilty parties (Lev. xx. 10; Deut. xxii. 22). Reuben's lying with Bilhah, his father's concubine, is the first case of In early adultery we read of (Gen. xxxv. 22). times, even among heathens, it was reckoned a very heinous crime (xii. 18-20; xx. 1-9; xxvi. 6-11). One of the most singular laws of Moses was that for the discovery of the guilt or innocence of an accused party (Num. v. 12-31). The following account is given of the Jewish practice:When a man suspected his wife's fidelity, he warned her to avoid private intercourse with the suspected paramour; and if she obeyed not, she was brought before the judges of the place, and the presumptions of her guilt declared. If she continued to assert her innocence, she was tried by the water of jealousy. She was carried to the place of the tabernacle and temple, and examined before the great council or sanhedrim. If she persisted in her denial, she was brought to the east gate of the outer court, and before vast numbers of her own sex, dressed all in black; the priest solemnly adjured her to declare the truth, and represented her danger in drinking the water of jealousy if she was guilty. She said Amen, importing a solemn wish that vengeance might light on her, if guilty. The priest wrote the adjuration and curse on a piece of parchment or bark; he then filled a new earthen vessel with holy water from one of the sacred basons, or perhaps with the water of purification; he mingled there with some dust, taken from the pavement of the tabernacle or temple; and having read the writing to the woman, and received the return of her second Amen, he washed out the ink, wherewith the adjuration and curse were written, into the mixture of dust and water. Meanwhile, another priest tore the upper part of her clothes, uncovered her head, dishevelled her hair, girt her half-torn garments below her breast, and presented her with about a pound and a half of barley-meal in a frying pan, without either oil or incense, to mark how disagreeable to God the occasion of this offering was. The priest who prepared the bitter water then caused her to drink it; put the pan with the meal into her hand; stirred it a little; and burnt part of it on the altar of burnt-offering. If the woman was innocent, this draught, it is said, confirmed her health, and rendered her fruitful; but if guilty, she immediately grew pale; her eyes started out of her head; her belly swelled; her thighs rotted: she was hurried out of the court, that it might not be polluted with her ignominious death. It is said, that her paramour, however distant, was at the same time affected in like manner; but in case the husband was guilty of whoredom, it is pretended that the bitter water had no effect. Adultery, whoredom, and fornication in the prophetical writings are often used metaphorically, and denote idolatry and apostacy from God and the true religion. The relation of the Jewish church to Jehovah is often spoken of under the idea of marriage; and backsliding, apostacy, and idolatry, are held out as a breach of the marriage-covenant, and are spoken of as adultery, whoredom, fornication (Jer. iii. 12-14; Ezek. xvi. xxiii.; Hos. ii. 13). The apostacy and corruption of the Christian Church are represented under the same figure (Rev. xvii. 1-6). In reading the prophetical writings, it is of essential importance to keep this figurative use of these terms in view. This application of them shews the great criminality of the sins which are set forth under such figures. AG'ABUS, a prophet in the first age of Christianity. He was probably one of the teachers in the church at Jerusalem; but he was also on more than one occasion endowed with the gift of prophecy. He is first mentioned about the time of the persecution which arose about Stephen, and he was still living when Paul was going up to Jerusalem for the last time. On the former occasion Luke says, 'In these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch; and there stood up one of them, named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Cæsar.' This phrase, ep' ¿λŋv rŋy Okovμεvη, has occasioned interpreters some difficulty; but it may be understood either in a restricted or in a more extended sense; and that it is here to be restricted to the land of Judah is evident, for it is added, "Then the disciples, every man, according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judæa;' thus shewing that it was Judæa which was to be the field of the predicted famine. Had it been literally the whole world, or even the whole Roman empire, the disciples at Antioch would have been sufferers themselves, as well as the brethren in Judæa, and so would have been likely to stand in need of help instead of being able to send it to others. We have no account of any universal or general famine in the reign of Claudius; but Josephus refers to a great famine which occurred in Judæa about that time, which, it is said, lasted three years (Joseph. Antiq. xx. 2. 5). This, in all likelihood, is the famine to which Luke refers. As to the prediction of Agabus concerning Paul, we know how literally it was fulfilled (Acts xi. 27-30; xxi. 10, 11). A'GAG. Per Balaam in predicting the future prosperity of Israel says, 'His king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted' (Num. xxiv. 7). In the days of Samuel the king of the Amalekites was called Agag (1 Sam. xv. 8, 9, 20, 32, 33). haps Agag was a common name or title of the kings of the Amalekites, as Pharaoh long was of the kings of Egypt. In Balaam's prophecy it not improbably refers to the king of the Amalekites either as a proper or a common He subsequently said, Amalek was the first of the nations' (Num. xxiv. 20), so that it appears to have been then a nation of some name. account. Haman is called an AGAGITE, probably because he was an Amalekite, and perhaps of the royal seed (Esther iii. 1). Josephus says he was by birth an Amalekite' (Antiq. xi. 6. 5). AG'ATE, one of the precious stones. It was the second stone in the third row of the highpriest's breast-plate (Exod. xxviii. 19). In the E. T. the word also occurs in Is. liv. 12, 'I will make thy windows of agates;' and in Ezek. xxvii. 16 as one of the articles with which Syria traded in the markets of Tyre; but in the Hebrew it is a different word that is employed in these passages. Gesenius thinks it may probably signify the ruby (384); but there is much uncertainty as to the precious stones mentioned in the Scriptures. A'GES (THE) of mankind have varied remarkably at different periods and in different stages of society. Man, as originally created, and in a state of innocence, was probably destined to live for a very lengthened period. Death was threatened only in the event of his eating the forbidden fruit. Had he never done so, what course would have been taken in regard to him it is impossible to say; but it is obvious that the race would have so multiplied that a time would at length come when the earth would no longer admit of any further increase of its inhabitants, unless a portion of those already upon it were removed from it. The time might have been distant, for the earth, if duly cultivated, might probably be capable of maintaining an inconceivably greater number of inhabitants than have ever been on it at any one time; but still there was a limit to its capabilities in this respect, and that limit must have at length been reached, if none of those already in being were removed from it. We may therefore conclude that Divine wisdom would have found some means of effecting this without the infliction of death, which was only threatened in the event of sin. As man, by the original constitution of his AGES nature, was probably capable of a very lengthened period of existence, we accordingly find that in the first ages of the world he lived to a far greater age than he now does; but 'sin having entered into the world, and death by sin,' its duration was contracted by degrees, until it fell to what, in favourable circumstances, is now a common length of human life. There are material differences between the genealogies of the patriarchs, both before and after the flood, as given in the Hebrew text, the Samaritan text, the Septuagint translation, and by Josephus the Jewish historian [CHRONOLOGY]; but they all agree in attributing to them a great age. The following tables exhibit the ages of Adam and his descendants, in the line of Seth: TABLE 1.-Before the Flood. other, and indicate a common language (Gen. iv. 17-22). Besides the long lives of the antediluvians, there is another circumstance regarding them which appears very singular, their great age before their sons were successively born. Perhaps, however, it was merely the design of the sacred historian to give the line of that branch of Adam's descendants which terminated in Noah, who proved, so to speak, the beginning of a new race, and they may have had other children before those who are thus mentioned. Adam and Eve we know had both Cain and Abel; and perhaps they had also daughters-e.g. Cain's wife (iv. 17). It is also to be recollected that, according to the ordinary law of births, the firstborn were as likely to be daughters as sons; yet of the births here given, all, without exception, were sons. This would perhaps indicate that we have not an account of the whole of the births previous to their being born. After the flood, not only were the ages of mankind shortened, but the period at which they had children was also abridged. It was, probably, not later than it is in the present day. From Shem, who was the connecting link between the antediluvian and the postdiluvian periods, and who lived to the age of 600 years, the life of man materially contracted, until Terah, who died at the age of 205. Nor did it stop here, but went on diminishing until it fell to the point where it has stood for the last 3000 years or more. The following table will show the declension of the age of mankind :— Though, as may be seen by referring to Genesis v. and xi., or to the more extended tables in CHRONOLOGY, the dates of the births and deaths of the patriarchs as given in the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Septuagint version, and by Josephus, differ from the Hebrew text commonly by a hundred years, yet as the addition to the one is generally subtracted from the other, the total length of their lives is thus usually made to correspond. Of the descendants of Adam, in the line of Cain, we have the names to the seventh generation; but nothing is said of their ages. Two of them, it may be remarked, had the same names as two of Seth's, Enoch and Lamech; and Methusael and Methuselah are very near each Solomon, 2 Sam. xii. 24; 1 Kings xi. 42 Jehoiada, 2 Chron. xxiv. 15 The failure of sight appears to have been in ancient times, as it is still, one of the symptoms of old age; and, so far as we know, the loss was then no way alleviated by spectacles or any similar invention. There must, consequently, have been something peculiarly dreary in old age. Isaac, when about 137 years old (how long before does not appear, but he lived 43 years after) was old, and his eyes were dim that he could not see;' so dim, indeed, that he was not able to distinguish Jacob from Esau, though they were marked, one would have thought, by unmistakable characteristics (Gen. xxvii.) Jacob before his death had likewise lost his sight: 'The eyes of Israel were dim for age that he could not see' (xlviii. 10). Moses | sheep, with the edge of the sword' (1 Sam. xxi. was 120 years old when he died, and it is said, 1-9; xxii. 6-23). One of his sons, Abiathar, 'his eye was not dim, nor his natural force escaped and fled to David, in whose reign he abated' (Deut. xxxiv. 7); a remark which im- officiated as priest; but Solomon, on coming to plies that in old age the sight was commonly the throne, thrust him out from the office of dim, as well as the natural strength abated. chief-priest, nor did it ever return again to Eli's Of Eli, at the age of ninety-eight, it is in like house. [ABIATHAR.] Thus was fulfilled the manner said, 'his eyes were dim that he could terrible doom which was pronounced on Eli and not see' (1 Sam. iv. 15). his house (1 Sam. ii. 27-36; iii. 11-14). The 90th Psalm is entitled 'A prayer of Moses, the man of God,' and though the titles of the Psalms are not much to be relied on, yet if this one be correct, it would show that even in the days of the great Jewish legislator human life had already sunk to its present standard: The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away' (ver. 10). If the Psalm was not written by Moses, there is no ground for supposing that it was a later period before it was written. AGRIPPA. [HEROD.] A'GUR, the son of Jakeh, is imagined by some to be Solomon; but Solomon had no reason thus to disguise his name; nor could he pray against riches; nor is his style and manner of writing similar to Agur's, who, under inspiration, uttered the 30th chapter of the Proverbs to his two friends Ithiel and Ucal. In it he professeth his great ignorance of the unsearchable greatness and marvellous works of God; his esteem of God's word, and desire of a moderate share of worldly things; he mentions four classes of persons very wicked; four things insatiable; four things wonderful; four things unbearable; four small, but wise; and four comely in going. AHASUE'RUS. 1. The father of Darius the Mede (Dan. ix. 1). He is commonly considered to be Astyages, king of Media; and Darius to be his son Cyaxares II. [PERSIA.] 2. A successor of Cyrus, as king of Persia (Ezra iv. 6). He is generally admitted to be his son Cambyses, a licentious, furious, frantic tyrant, whose reign was short, being only about seven years and five months. [PERSIA.] 3. The king of Persia, who advanced Esther to be his queen (Esther i. 1; ii. 16, 17). We are disposed to think he was Darius, the son of Hystaspes; but many learned men take him to be his son Xerxes, a haughty, capricious, tyrannical prince; while others think he was Artaxerxes Longimanus. [PERSIA.] AHIM'ELECH, the son of Ahitub, and greatgrandson of Eli, the high-priest. In the time of Saul he and others of the priests resided at Nob, where the tabernacle then was. Having, in consequence of a deception practised on him by David when he was flying from Saul, given him some loaves of the shew-bread, and also Goliath's sword, the king, when he heard of this, was so incensed that he slew him and all his father's house, to the number of eighty-four persons: 'And Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen, and asses, and In 1 Sam. xiv. 3, 18, Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, is named as priest. Some suppose he was the brother of Ahimelech, and was chief-priest before him; others think he was the same as Ahimelech. AHITUB. 1. Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, and grandson of Eli; and the father of Ahiah and Ahimelech (if they were distinct persons) [AHIMELECH], priests in the days of Saul, and grandfather of Abiathar, one of the 3, 18; xxii. 11, 12, 20; 1 Kings iv. 4). chief-priests in the reign of David (1 Sam. xiv. 2. The father of Zadok, who was priest along with Abiathar in the reign of David, and became chief-priest when Abiathar was removed from the priesthood by Solomon (1 Chron. vi. 8; 2 Sam. viii. 17; 1 Kings ii. 27, 35). In 2 Chron. vi. 11, 12, we also read: Amariah begat Ahitub, and Ahitub begat Zadok;' but these are the same names which we find in the previous verses (7, 8), and are probably a mere repetition of them through the mistake of a copyist. AHO'LAH and AHO'LIBAH, two symbolical names under which the prophet Ezekiel represents the kingdoms of Israel and Judah: the first, signifying her own tent, denotes Samaria and the ten tribes; the second, signifying my tent is in her, denotes Jerusalem and her subjects. Both are represented as of Egyptian extraction, because of the Hebrews sojourning in Egypt, and as prostituting themselves to the Egyptians and Assyrians, imitating their idolatries, and relying on their help; for which reason the Lord threatens to make these very people their oppressors, and the instruments of their captivity and cruel servitude (Ezek. xxiii.) A'I, or HAL. 1. A city of the Canaanites, situated beside Bethaven, on the east of Bethel.' It existed so early as the days of Abraham, who, soon after he entered Canaan, pitched his tent near it, and there builded an altar to the Lord' (Gen. xii. 8; xiii. 3, 4; Josh. vii. 2). After the taking of Jericho by Joshua, the Israelites met with a repulse before Ai as a punishment for the transgression of Achan in secreting some of the spoils of Jericho for his own use; but on renewing the attack they took it and set it on fire, and utterly destroyed it' (Josh. vii. 2-5; viii. 3-28; x. 1). Ai appears to have been afterwards rebuilt. In Is. x. 28, the Assyrian is said to come to Aiath,' by which Ai is probably to be understood. Among the Jews who returned from the Babylonish captivity with Zerubbabel were a number of the men of Bethel and Ai' (Ezra ii. 1, 2, 28; Neh. vii. 32); and it is also said, the children of Benjamin dwelt at Michmash and Aija' (doubtless Ai), and Bethel, and in their villages' (Neh. xi. 31). Ai has now utterly perished. No traces are found of its |