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Naam – Naphisi
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Naam
A Calebite family ().
Naamah
1. Sister of Tubal-cain (). 2. Mother of Rehoboam (, . ). 3. A town of Judah in the Shephslah (). There is no notice of it elsewhere. Zophar the Naamathite is mentioned in etc.), but there is nothing to connect him with this town. Possibly we may identify Naamah with Naneh, a small mud village on low ground 6 miles south of Ludd (Lydda).
Naaman
Naaman (the word means ‘pleasantness,’ or, as an epithet, as is probable, of Adonis or Tammuz, ‘darling’ ; cf. the Adonis plantations referred to in [Heb.]. The Arabs of the present day still call the red anemone, which blooms in the spring, at the time at which one of the Adonis festivals used to be held, the ‘wounds of the darling, or Naaman’; the name of the flower probably comes from ‘Naaman’; see W. R. Smith in the English Historical Review, April 1887). — ^1. One of the sons of Benjamin (). though in and he is referred to as Benjamin’s grandson; in the ‘family of the Naamites’ is spoken of, they therefore probably formed a clan belonging to the tribe of Benjamin.
2. A Syrian general who came to Elisha to be healed of leprosy. The story is told in , where it appears in entire independence of the context. Through an Israelite slave-girl Naaman hears of the man of God who works miracles, and in the hope of being cured of his leprosy he comes to Elisha; it is, however, noteworthy that he comes at Elisha’s request () in order that he may learn that ‘there is a prophet in Israel.’ On his arrival Naaman receives a message to the effect that he is to wash in the river Jordan seven times; his objection that the prophet ought to work the miracle ‘in the name of the Lord his God’ seems very justifiable; upon the advice, however, of his servants he dips himself seven times in the Jordan, and is healed. His first words to the prophet, thereupon, are, ‘Behold now, I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel.’ On Elisha’s refusing the gift offered to him, Naaman asks for two mules’ burden of Israelitish soil upon which to worship the God of Israel; this is in entire accordance with the ideas of the time that a god of a country cannot be worshipped properly excepting upon his own soil (cf. , ). Quite natural, too, according to the beliefs of the time, is his wish to boW down in the house of Rimmon; for apart from the necessity of this on account of his attendance on the king, there is the fact that reUglous syncretism was considered not only permissible, but, under various circumstances, commendable. [For the unworthy conduct of the prophet’s servant Gehazi, and the punishment inflicted on him, see Gehazi.] W. O. E. Oesteklet.
Naamathite
See Naamah, 3.
Naamites
See Naaman, 1.
Naarah
(‘girl’). 1. One of tl^e wives of Ashhur the ‘father’ of Tekoa ( f.). 2. A town of Ephraim (; called in Naaran). It is perhaps the ruin el-‘Aujeh, 6 miles N. of Jericho.
Naarai
One of David’s heroes (). In the parallel passage, , the name is Paarai, who is called ‘the Arbite.’ It is impossible to decide with any confidence between the rival readings.
Naaran
See Naarah, 2.
Naathtjs
Naathtjs (1 Esdras 9:31) =Ezr lO^" Adna.
Nabal
A wealthy but churlish sheep-owner ‘in Maon, whose business was in Carmel’ ( RVm). David, while living as an outlaw and freebooter, demanded at Nabal’s sheepshearing his reward for defending his flocks ( ff.). Nabal, inflamed with wine, returned an insolent answer, and David was prevented from wreaking terrible vengeance only by the timely arrival of Abigail, Nabal’s wife, with large gifts and abundant flattery. The word Nabal means ‘fool,’ and Abigail, with wifely candour, says to David, ‘Fool is his name and fool is he.’ The next day Nabal was informed of all that had happened, and the shock of discovery brought on an apoplectic seizure, which caused his death. Abigail then became David’s wife.
W. F. Boyd.
Nabat
Nabat (H)^ANS (1 Maccabees 5:25 9:35). See Arabia, Aretas, Edom, Nebaioth.
Naboth
A man of Jezreel, owner of a vineyard adjoining the palace of Ahab (). The king, desiring to add the vineyard to his lands, offered to buy it or exchange it for another. Naboth, however, refused to give up ‘the inheritance of his fathers.’ Jezebel, Ahab’s wife, by using the royal authority with the elders of the city, had Naboth accused of treason and blasphemy, and stoned to death. As Ahab went to take possession of the vineyard, he was met by Elijah, the prophet, who pronounced doom on him and his house. The murder of Naboth seems to have deeply impressed the popular mind, and the deaths of Joram and Jezebel near the spot were regarded as Divine retribution on the act (, ). W. F. Boyd.
KABTTCHODONOSOR, the Gr. form of the name Nebuchadrezzar (wh. see), is retained by RV in 1 Esdras 1:40 ff.; Ad. Esther 11, Baruch 1:9 ff.
Nacon
See Chidon.
Nadab
1. The eldest son of Aaron (, nu 26«°, ) accompanied Moses to Sinai (Ex , f.) ; was admitted to the priestly offlce () ; and on the very day of his consecration ( ff. compared with ch. 9) he and Abihu perished (, , . ) for offering ‘strange fire.’ Wherein the transgression of Nadab and Abihu is supposed to have consisted is not clear. It is often suggested that ‘strange’ fire means fire taken from a common source instead of from the altar (cf. , ). 2. A Jerahmeelite (, ). 3. A Benjamite ( = ). 4. See next article.
Nadab
Nadab was king of Israel two years or parts of years after his father Jeroboam i. He was assassinated by one of his generals, Baasha, who became king in his place ( ff.). H. P. Smith.
Nadabath
An unidentified town (7), east of the Jordan, in the neighbourhood of which a wedding party of the sons of Jambri was attacked, and many of them slain, by Jonathan and Simon (1 Maccabees 9).
NAG6AI. — An ancestor of Jesus () cf. the Heb. name Nogah.
Nahalal
(in Nahalol). A town of Zebulun (), given to the Levites (). Its inhabitants were not expelled by the Zebulunites, but were made tributary (). A possible site is ‘Ain Mahil, north of Nazareth, on the hill which formed the limit of Zebulun to the east. Another is Ma’lul, a village west of Nazareth, and on the south border of Zebulun.
NAHALIEL.^A station in the journey from the Arnon to Jericho (). either Wady Waleh, a N.E. tributary of the Arnon, or the WOdy Zerka Ma’in, farther north, which runs into the Dead Sea.
Nahalol
See Nahalal,.
Naham
The father of Keilah ().
Naha
Naha llIANI. — One of the twelve heads of the Jewish community ()) ; omitted in ; called in 1 Esdras 5:8 Eneneus.
Naharai
The armourbearer of Joab (, ).
Nahash
1. A king of Ammon, who demanded the surrender of the men of Jabesh-gilead, with the loss of the right eye of each ( f.). So sure was he of their helplessness that he allowed them seven days’ respite in which to appeal for help. Saul, newly designated as Israel’s future king, was ploughing in the fields when the news was brought to him. He sacrificed the oxen sent parts of the sacrifice to his fellow-countrymen witl a command to muster, and promptly destroyed th Ammonites. Probably this is the Nahash who was kini to Saul’s enemy David (, ), and whos son Shobi () brought supplies to David a Mahanaim. 2. Father of David’s half-sisters, Abigai and Zeruiah, if the text of is correct, whici is doubtful. According to Buchanan Gray, ‘daughte of Nahash’ may have crept into the text from ‘soi of Nahash’ in ; cf . . J. H. Stevenson.
Nahath
1 . A • duke ‘of Edom (On 36, ) 2. A Kohathite Levite (, called in v. 8« Toah and in Tohu). 3. A Levite in the time of Heze kiah ().
Nahbi
The NaphtaUte spy ().
Nahor
1 . Father of Terah and grandfather of Abra ham (, , ). 2. Grandson of thi preceding and brother of Abraham and Haran ( cf. ). He is said to have married Milcah, daughte of Haran (), and twelve softs are enumerated eight by Milcah and four by Re’umah his concubim (). In we read of ‘the city of Nahor i.e. Haran, where Kebekah was found. Laban, ii making a covenant with Jacob, swears by the’ Go( of Abraham and the God of Nahor’ (). Th( sons ascribed to Nahor (Buz, Uz, Aram, etc.) are fo: the most part names of tribes. It has been questionec if Nahor is a historical character at all. Some thinl we have, instead, the name of a lost tribe once residem in the neighbourhood of Haran, from which the Aramsear tribes were descended. While Abraham appears as th( common ancestor of the Israelites and Edomites, Nahoi is represented as the father of the Aramaeans.
W. F. Boyd.
Nahshon
Brother-in-law of Aaron () descendant in the Sth generation from Judah ( f.) and prince of the tribe of Judah ( , ) mentioned as one of the ancestors of David (, 1 Ct f.). and of Christ (, ).
Nahum
I. The Man. — The word Nahum meani ‘full of comfort’ and is probably a contraction of e longer Heb. term meaning ‘God is a comforter.’ 01 the man so named nothing is certainly known. He ii called ‘the Elkoshite,’ but the exact meaning of the tern cannot at present be determined. It is made in thf Targum a kind of patronymic, recording the assumed descent of the prophet from an unknown ancestor Koshi It ic more likely to preserve the name of the prophet’! birthplace or place of residence, of which the identifica tion is still lacking. Three or four conjectures hav< been made.
(1) The prophet’s tomb is shown at Elkosh, 24 miles tc the N. of Nmeveh; and accordingly he is said to have livec there, a descendant of a member of the ten tribes who was deported in B.C. 721. But the tradition that buries Nahuir there is not met with before the 16th cent.,, and is sufficiently accounted for by the interest in the city shewn bj the prophet.
(2) CaperTiaum is really a transliteration of _Heb. words which mean ‘village of Nahum.’ But a Galil£ean origit for our prophet is imlikely (), and is not supported by any allusions in the prophecy.
(3) The same objection appKes to Jerome’s identification of Elkosh with a village Elkozeh in N. Galilee, which on othei grounds is precarioiM.
(4) The most probable tradition associates Nahum witt Elkosh ‘of the tribe of Simeon,’ and locates the hamlet near Beth-Gabre, the modem Beit-Jibfin, about half-way between Jerusalem and Gaza. The tradition occurs in a Syriac version of the biographies of the prophets, ascribed to Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis in Cyprus towards the close of the 4th cent., but probably of much later date.
II. The Book.— 1 . Analysis of contents .—In the analysis of the book, a line of division can be best drawn at the close of . The latter section is the actual prophecy or oracle. It is preceded by a psalm or proem consisting of two parts, of which the one is general in its assertion of God’s universal judgment, the other particular in its specific messages to Judah and to Assyria. Jehovah as the jealous Avenger is the opening theme. This fact holds good of His administration () and as He passes on to the overthrow of the wicked, physical proofs of His power become evident everywhere (l’-°). Tenderness towards those who wait upon Him, but an overwhelming flood upon His enemies (). are the two great characteristics of His rule. ‘What think ye of Jehovah?’ (. where RV does not preserve the sequence of thought) is the point of passage to the section dealing with His particular acts, in which section either the text is corrupt through the displacement of some of the verses, or the two messages, of deliverance to Judah (, ) and of vengeance upon Israel (1111. ), were meant to be entangled in repeated antitheses. Already the bearer of the good news is speeding over the hills (; cf. . ).
The oracle proper consists also of two sections, corresponding with the division into chapters. The second chapter is a swift and vivid description of the siege of Nineveh, its capture and sack, with the complete desolation that followed.
A second oracle is contained in the third chapter, which there is no need to regard as compacted of several prophecies, but of which the unity in theme and sequence of thought is conspicuous. The mention of the city of blood, full of lies and rapine, is followed by one of the most vivid battle-pictures in Heb. literature (,3"). The cause of destruction is to be found in the diplomatic harlotry, whereby nations and races had been lured and sold; and so richly merited will be the woe, that none will be left or disposed to pity or bemoan Nineveh (). The analogy of No-arnon (Thebes) makes it certain that a similar fate is awaiting the Assyrian city (S"‘^). Her outposts and defences are^already falling before the invader, just as the first-ripe figs fall at the mere shaking of a flg-tree; and her people have become women (S’^‘O. The time to prepare for the siege is past, adds the prophet, vrith his sarcastic appeal,’ Tread the mortar, lay hold of the brick-mould.’ The swarming merchants, the ‘crowned ones’ (floating foreign population, according to Wellhausen; more probably the princes and prosperous men, cf. ). the ‘marshals’ or high officials, are like locusts or grasshoppers, that camp in the hedges and walls, but vanish with the sunrise. Finally, the prophet addresses the king himself, and on the eve of the destruction of the city proclaims her disappearance from history amidst the joy of all who had suffered under her tyranny: ‘There is no assuaging of thy hurt ... all that hear the bruit of thee clap the hands over thee.*
2. Authenticity of the first chapter. — That Nahum was the author of the two oracles is hardly open to question, but of late years some doubt has been thrown upon the authenticity of the prologue. Against Nahum’s authorship the plea is of a technical character, that the first chapter Is really, in Heb., an alphabetic poem, and that its right metrical division yields, with a few alterations and transpositions, a series of stanzas, of which the first words commence with the letters of the Heb. alphabet in order. This plea is followed by the statement that such a literary form points to a late origin; and consequently the prologue is held to have been composed or constructed in the post-exilic period, and prefixed as an appropriate introduction to the oracle of Nahum on account of its expression of the general principle of God’s avenging justice, of which the drama of Nineveh was supposed to afford a striking illustration.
On the other side, the re-arrangements necessary to restore an alphabetical form are di£Scult, though perhaps possible as far sis , after which resort has to be had to processes that are scientifically indefensible. The order of the verses and of the words within the verses has to be altered, words are omitted or introduced with freedom, and on the whole A. B. Davidson’s verdict stands — that the attempt to restore the alphabetical form ‘can never be more than an academical exercise.’
Even if an alphabetical form be conceded, a necessary lateness of date cannot be successfully inferred. ■ Instances of the use of such a form occur, e.g., in , where the tone and teaching are distinctly pre-exillc ; and history would allow of the appearance of such a form, or at least of tentative efforts at its construction, at a comparatively early period in the development of a literature. The language and atmosphere of the prologue are those of the succeeding oracles. Alleged parallels with the post-exilic psalms are in reality parallels with earher writings, which possibly supplied both Nahum and the writers of the psalms in question with their common phrases. Vividness and force, severity towards sin, fervent confidence in God, are features of all three chapters, which are further knit together by their theme, the first setting up God’s throne of judgment and announcing His sentence on Nineveh, the others portraying the execution of that sentence. And the attempts to destroy the unity of the book, able as they have been and full of valuable contributions to its exegesis and to Biblical science generally, must be regarded as having so far failed.
3. Date. — The question of the authenticity of the first chapter does not seriously affect the further question of the date at which Nahum composed the two oracles by general consent ascribed to him. Two points may be fixed at once; and In the period between them the actual date must be found. Nahum prophesied after the capture of No-arnon or Thebes (S’J") by Ashurbanipal in B.C. 664-663, but before the fall of Nineveh in B.C. 606. The interval, within which the exact date must be sought, may be shortened with great probability. Ashurbanipal’s brilliant reign terminated in b.c. 626, and before that date there cannot be said to have been any great decline in the strength of Assyria. The Medes and the Scythians were beginning to threaten the empire, but its most serious difficulties arose from dynastic rivalries and the revolt of Ashurbanipal’s brother. Had that revolt been the occasion of Nahum’s prophecy, he would have directed his words against the king in person and not against the city. After the death of Ashurbanipal the Medes rapidly grew in strength, and laid siege to Nineveh, but were called away by an invasion of their own country; and the city weis spared for nearly twenty years. The right date for Nahum seems to be a little after the death of Ashurbanipal, when the signs of Assyrian weakness were multiplying, and the outlying parts of the empire had already recovered their independence or been appropriated by other powers. At a later date the language of a prophet in Judah would be likely to be affected by the Deuteronomic style, of which there are no traces in Nahum; an earlier date would fail to supply the historic conditions, which are always an essential feature of Jewish prophecy. About 623 or 624 Nahum would need no great discernment to see the approaching fall of Assyria, and in the equipment and quick movements of the Medes and Scythians he would find the imagery which he uses to such good effect in his oracles . 4.Literarycharaoterandreligiousvalue.— Picturesqueness and force have been described as the most prominent characteristics of Nahum’s poety. Compact thought, vivid description ( f.), effective imagery ( f. f.) separate him sufficiently from the prophets of the Chaldaean period, and give him a position not far behind that of Isaiah. Obscurity is sometimes met with (e.g. V ), but the cause is probably quite as often the high specific gravity of the sentence as an error in transcription. Findlay says (Books at the Prophets, il. 191) that Nahum Is neglected by the Bible-reader, as though the story of Nineveh had little connexion with the progress of the Kingdom of God, and were merely a complete and isolated tact of the past with no relation to present needs. Yet it Nahum is not a religious teacher like Micah or Isaiah, he focuses the truth of God’s moral government of the world, concentrating the light upon a single typical instance; and he does not fail to defend confidence in God as the eventual Avenger of wrong and the perpetual defence of those who love Him. Where he differs chiefly from the other prophets is in the complete outwardness of his gaze. He has no eye for the shortcoming or sin of Judah, and no revelation to make of the inner history or moral character of his own generation. In this respect he contrasts especially with his contemporary Zephaniah, who also looked for the collapse of the Assyrian kingdom, but saw clearly a similar fate about to overtake the sinners of Israel. For Nahum, Nineveh Ms up the whole canvas. The prophecy is a stern song of war, a shout of triumph over the conquered and slain; and though thereby it stands in contrast with the kindher temper and spirit of the NT, in which no citation from the book occurs, it accords well with the traditions of its own age. And its great lesson, from which attention is not allowed to be diverted, is that the mills of God grind ‘exceeding small,’ and for nations as for individuals ‘sin, when it is full grown, bringeth forth death’ ().
R. W. Moss. NAIDUS (1 Esdras 9:31) apparently =Benaiah, .
Nail
1. Among the ancient Arabs it was the custom for a widow to allow her nails to grow during her term of mourning. Tobit 9 them was a formal indication that this period was at an end. From and ) (LXX) it may be inferred that such was also the custom among the Hebrews. The former passage, however, refers only to the case of a foreign captive whom a Hebrew might take to wife after a month’s seclusion, during which the care of the person was neglected in token of mourning for the captive’s condition. The latter passage in its better Gr. form (see Cent. Bible, in loc.) tells us that Mephibosheth showed his sympathy with David by, inter aha, omitting to trim his ‘toe-nails and his finger-nails’ during the latter’s absence from Jerusalem.
2. The Heb. word most frequently rendered ‘nail’ is properly a tent-peg, or, as RV, tent-pin. This is also the better rendering in Zee . where it is synonymous with ‘comer-stone,’ both terms signifying the princes or leading men of the State as its supports. The figure of , , on the other hand, is derived from the custom of driving a nail into the house-wall upon which to hang () domestic utensils or the like.
A. R. S. Kennedy.
Nain
The town where Jesus raised the widow’s son to lite (). The name is found in the modern Neln, a small, squalid village, 6 miles S.E. of Nazareth, on the N. slope of the Hill of Moreh, the so-called ‘Little Hermon.’ The summit of the hill is 1690 feet high, with a white-domed sanctuary, the tomb of the saint from whom the mountain takes its modern name, Jd>el ed-Duhy. The village is 744 feet above the sea. Sir W. M. Ramsay thinks ‘there can be little doubt that the ancient city was on the top’ of the hill (The Education of Christ, Preface, ix), but the evidence is not stated. The present village is insignificant. Ruins stretch to the north, showing that the place was once of some importance; but they are comparatively modern. The rock-cut tombs to the East, however, bespeak a much higher antiquity. The small sanctuary, Maqam Sldna ‘Isa,’ Place of our Lord Jesus,’ on the north, doubtless commemorates the visit of the Saviour. There is no trace of city walla. Tristram was misled by the shape of the ruins (Land of Israel, 125). ‘The Gate’ was probably the usual entrance from that direction. The site commands an interesting view. Across a narrow bay of Esdraelon rises Mt. Tabor, over the eastern shoulder of which the white summit of Hermon is visible; while to the N.W. and W. the eye ranges over the hills of Lower Galilee, and the rolling breadths of the great plain, to Mt. Carmel by the sea.
W. EwiNO.
Naioth
A place ‘in Ramah,’ where was a ‘company of the prophets.’ Here David fled to Samuel after Saul had attacked him with a javelin; hither Saul pursued him, and was seized with an ecstatic fit of some kind (). Nothing is known of the situation of the place. It is not even absolutely certain that Naioth is a proper name; but opinions differ respecting its possible meaning. R. A. S. Macausteb.
Name, Names
1. The names o£ God.— See God, p. 299 f. _ 2. Personal names, — From the earliest times the name given to a child was supposed to indicate some characteristic of the person; of the circumstances, trivial or momentous, connected with Ws or her birth; of the hopes, beUet s, or feelings of the parents. This is evident from the etymologies ( , , etc.), not always reliable, but testifying to the impression that name and facts should correspond. There are many indications of the persistence of this idea. For instance, there is the frequency of names denoting personal qualities, Adin, Amasai, Jaddua, Korah, Solomon, etc.; or pointing to occupations, Asa, Sophereth, etc. Again, an Isaiah ( ) or a Hosea () ig quite ready to bestow symbolical names on his children; a Jeremiah () predicts the change from Pashhw to Magor-missabib, because the latter will more accurately correspond to the surroundings; and the same prophet sums up all his hopes tor the future in the title which he bestows on the Messianic King and the holy city ( 33; cf. ). The new name promised to the faithful () corresponds to the fresh glory bestowed on him, which differs in each recipient and is known only to himself ().
Analogous convictions prevailed among other Eastern nations. Nomen et omen was an influential conception. When a man was wanted to milk a camel, Mohammed disqualified one applicant after another till a man came whosd name meant ‘Long Life’; if one of his converts was called ‘Rough,’ he called’^him ‘Smooth’; he was even guided in his strategy by the names of the places en route (Margoliouth, Mohammed, p. 61 f.).
Generally the name was fixed immediately alter birth, as it still is with the Arabs. The mother usually exercised this privilege ( IQs"- ff. 30««- SS’s, *a. ). sometimes the father ( le’s , . . ff.). occasionally other interested persons (, ). Some names were bestowed indifferently on men and women: Abiah, (. I ch ) Abihail (, ) Zibiah (, ).
Beginning at a fairly early date, there are a moderate number of names derived from the vegetable world: Elah (‘terebinth’), Zuph (‘sedge’), Tama,r (‘palmtree’), etc. The majority, however, belong to more recent documents: Asnah (‘bramble’), Coz (‘thorn’), Hadassah (‘myrtle’), Susannah (‘lily’), Shamir (‘thorn’), etc. Other natural objects are also drawn upon: Geshem (‘rain’), Barak (‘lightning’), etc.; curiously enough, Jorah (‘autumn-rain,’ ) is identical with Hariph (‘autumn,’ ). A tew, of peculiarly difficult interpretation, point to family relationships: j4fto6=‘father’s brother,’ but the question is whether it signifies ‘uncle’ or whether it is an indication that the child closely resembles his father or is to be as a brother to him. .Aft6an=‘brother is son,’ Ahiam=‘a, maternal uncle,’ belong to this class. But Moses, if, as is most probable, of Egyptian origin and signifying ‘son,’ is a shortened form of a theophorous name; cf. Moseb, ad init.
Names which have a religious import are more characteristic of the Semite races than of ours, and this is especially true of the Israelites all through their national life. A certain number of those found in the OT have heathen associations: Anath (transferred to a man from a well-known goddess worshipped in Syria, etc.), Ahishahar (‘Shahar [i.e.’ Dawn’] is brother’), Baal <1 Ch S’ ). Bildad (). Balaam, Obed-edom (‘servant of [the god] Edom’), Beu and Reud (, ). Among the earliest clan names are those of animals: Rachel (‘ewe’), Hamar (‘ass’), Caleb (‘dog’), etc. This may well be a survival from a pre-historic age of totemism. In David’s day we find individuals, possibly members of such clans, called Eglah (‘calf’), Laish (‘lion’), Bichri (from becher, ‘a young camel’). And the curious recrudescence of words of this class in and about the reign of Josiah (Huldah, ‘weasel,’ Shaphan, ‘rock-badger,’ etc.), might be accounted tor on the supposition that animal-worship had considerable vogue during that age of religious syncretism (cf. Ezk ). Names like Hezir (‘swine’), Achbor (‘mouse’), Parosh (‘flea’) favour this explanation. At the same time, it must be admitted that animal-names were in many instances bestowed as terms of endearment, or as expressions of a wish that the child might have swiftness, strength, gracefulness, or whatever might be the creature’s peculiar quality.
There is an important class of compounds in which relationship — originally conceived as physical — with the god of the nation or clan is asserted: Ammiel (‘Idnsman is El’), Abijah (‘father is Jah’), Ahijah (‘brother is Jah’). These compounds ceased to be formed long before the Exile, owing, no doubt, to the sense that they infringed on the Divine dignity. Others now appear, containing an element which referred to the Divine sovereignty: Adonijah (‘Jah is lord,’ like the Phoen. Adoneshmun, ‘Eshmun is lord’), Malchiah (‘Jah is king’ ) , Baaliah (‘Jah is baal’ [or ‘lord ‘] ) . Turning now to the two great groups in which Bl or Jahweh forms part of the name, it is to be noted that the former had the first run of popularity. From David until after the Exile, Jah, Je, or Jeho is more common. From the 7th cent. B.C. onwards Bl is seen to be recovering its ground. Altogether there are 135 names in El, and, according to Gray (HPN, p. 163), 157 in one of the abbreviations of Jahweh [Jastrow (ZATW xvi. p. 2) has sought to reduce the latter number, to about 80]. Abbreviations of both these classes are fairly common: Abi, for Abijah; Palti, for Paltiel; Nathan, for Jonathan or Nathanad, etc. The nations which were related to the Hebrews acknowledged or invoked their gods in the same fashion: Baby- , Ionian and Assyrian proper names containing the elements, Bel, Asshw, Nebo, Merodach, etc.; Phoenician having Ashtoreth, Bel, Eshmun, Melech, etc.; Aramaic Hadad, Rimmon, etc.; Palmyrene, Sabsean, and Nabatsean exhibit the same features.
Special mention ought perhaps to be made of the curious words found in the Books of Chronicles. Ewald observes that they remind us of the nomenclature affected by the English Puritans of the 17th century. They were meant to express the religious sentiments of the Chronicler and those like-minded. Thus we have Jushab-hesed (‘kindness is requited’), Tob-adonijah (‘good is the Lord Jahweh’), Elioenai (‘to JahwEfh are mine eyes’), Hazzelelponi (‘Give shade. Thou who turnest to me’; cf. the Assyr. Pan-Bil-adagal [‘I look to Bel’l and Pan-Asshur-lamur [‘I will look to Asshur’]). But the climax is reached in . where, with very slight alteration, the list which begins with Hananiah reads, ‘Be gracious unto me, Jahweh I Be gracious unto me! Thou art my God! Thou hast given great and exalted help to him who sat in hardship. Thou hast given judgments in multitudes and abundance.’ These phenomena differ from the Shear-jashub and Mahershalal-hash-baz of Isaiah, in that the latter were formed for the express purpose of symbolical prediction. We have, however, something resembling them in other late documents. P gives us Bezald (‘in the shadow of God’ ; cf. Bab. Ina-silli-Bel, ‘under the protection of Bel’), . and Lael (‘to God’; cf. Bab. Sha-BU-at-ta, ‘thou belongest to Bel’), . And has Besodeiah (‘in the counsel of God’).
From about the close of the 4th cent. B.C. it was a common practice to call children after their relatives (). When we read such a list as this: Hilld, Simon, Gamaliel, Simon, Gamaliel, Simon, Judah, Gamaliel, Judah, we get the impression that the grandfather’s name was more often adopted than the father’s (cf. Tobit 1:9. ; Jos. Ant. xiv. i. 3, BJ V. xi i. 21). To the same period belong the Aramaic names Martha, Tabitha, Meshezabd (Bab. Mushizib-ilu), and those with the prefix bar, of which we have many examples in the NT. Foreign names abound in Josephus, the Apocrypha, and the NT. In some instances a person has two separate designations: Alcimus, Jacimus; John, Gaddis; Diodotus, Tryphon, etc. ‘Saul, who is called Paul’ (), is a typical case. In some of the examples the reason for the second choice is obscure; in others there is an obvious similarity of sound or meaning. Double names were now frequent: Judas Maccabceus, Simon Zelotes, etc. Non- Jewish names were substituted for Jewish: Jason for Jesus; Simon for Simeon (Deissmann, Bible Studies, p. 315, note).
After the birth of a son an Arab father will adopt an honorific name {kunya). If he had been called Abdallah, he is henceforth Abu Omar, or the like. There is no trace of this custom in Heb. family life, but the idea of a distinguishing and honourable surname is not altogether wanting; see . . and some of the familiar double names. It is also possible that the Heb. original of Sirach 44:23 signified ‘I gave him the surname Birthright.’ And the sense of Sirach 47:6 is ‘They gave him the surname The Ten Thousand.’
3. Place Names. — The majority of these were nodoubt fixed by the tribes whom the Hebrews dispossessed. From their great antiquity and the alterations to which they have been subjected, it is sometimes impossible to determine the meaning. IMany places, however, got their designation from a salient natural feature, a well (beer), a fountain (en, in En-gedi), a meadow (abel), a vineyard (karmd), woods (jearim), in Kirath-jearim), a hill (Gibeah, Gibeon, Ramah), trees (Bethphage, Beth-tappuah, Anab, Abd-hasshittim, Blah, Allon-bacuth); from some circumstance belonging to the history or legends of the locality, an encampment (Mahanaim), a watch-tower (Migdal, Megiddo, Mizpah), a village (Hazer), a temporary abode of shepherds [Succoth), a place of refuge (Adullam), a vision (Beer-lahair-roi) ; from the clan which dwelt there (Samaria). Of the fifty-three names of animals in^Gray’s list (pp. 88-96), twenty-four are applied to towns or districts. On the totemtheory this would mean that the clan bestowed the name of its totem-animal on the place of its abode. Other names evidently imply the existence of local sanctuaries, some of which must have been pre-Israelite: Beth-anath, Anathoth, Bethel, Gilgal, Kedesh-riaphtali, Migdal-d, Migdal-gad, Neid, Penud, Beth-shemesh. Almost all the compounds with Baal belong to this class: Baal-beer, Bamoth-baal, B.-dagon, B.-hamon, B.-hazor, B.-meon, B.-perazim, B.-sha isha, B.-tamar. One, Baaljudah (the correct reading of ; cf. ). is clearly of Heb. origin, Baal here being a name for Jahweh. Special interest attaches to the names of two clans in the S. and centre of Palestine, Jacob-d aniiJoseph-d, mentioned by Thothmes iii. (c. 1500 B.C.) in his inscription at Thebes. Corresponding with these forms are Israd, Ishmad, Jezred, Jabned, Jiphthah-d, Jekabzed, Jokthed, in the OT. The d of the termination was the local deity, invoked (Gray, p. 214 ff.), or declared to have conferred some boon on his worshippers (Meyer, ZATW, 1886, p. 5). J. Taylor.
NAN.a!A (2 ]VIac ). A goddess worshipped in Syria, Persia, Armenia, and other parts of Asia. By the Greelts this goddess was identified sometimes with Artemis, sometimes with Aphrodite. She seems to have represented the productive powers of nature. In 2 Maccabees 1:10–17 we have a legendary account of the death of Antiochus Epiphanes, who is said to have attempted to plunder a temple of Nansea in Persia, and to have been treacherously killed In the temple by the priests.
Naomi
The wife of Elimelech the Ephrathite, of Beth-lehem-judah, who was driven by famine into the land of Moab. After the death of her husband and her two sons, she returned, accompanied by Ruth, to her own land. Her return was a matter of surprise to the people of Bethlehem, and they said, ‘Is this Naomi?’ Her answer included a double play of words on her own name, ‘Call me not Naomi (‘pleasant’), call me Mara (‘bitter’): for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me . , . why call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified i’ anOh) against me?’ ().
Naphish
A son of Ishmael ( = ). In all probability it is his descendants who are mentioned in as ‘the children of Nephisim’ (RV) or Nephusim (AV and RVm). In the parallel passage (Neh7’‘‘)the readingisNephu5hesim(RV)orNephishesim (AV and RVm). The reading in 1 Esdras 5:31 is Nephisi.
Naphisi
Naphisi (1 Esdras 5:31) ^Nephisim, ; Kephushesim, .
James Hastings (ed.), with John A. Selbie and John C. Lambert, Dictionary of the Bible (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1909). Public domain. Scan of Cornell University Library’s copy from the Internet Archive; text from its OCR, with the Bible references read again from the page images.