O
Oab – Oholibamah
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Oab
See Weights and Meabcres.
Oabdi
The Eng. word ‘cabin’ is now chiefly confined to an apartment in a ship, but was formerly used of any small room. It occurs in AV for the cell (which is the word in AVm and RV) in which Jeremiah was confined (). Cf. Spenser, FQ i. vi. 23 — ‘So long in secret cabin there he held Her captive to his sensual desire.’
Oapharsalama
Oapharsalama (1 Maccabees 7:31). Apparently near Jerusalem. Kefr Silwdn, the village of Siloam, is possibly intended.
Oarche
Oarche ltllSH was the northern capital of the Hittite empire, but was probably also of consequence before the era of the Hittitea, as it commanded the principal ford of the Euphrates on the right bank, and was therefore indispensable to travel and commerce in Northern Syria. It was shown by George Smith to have lain on the site of the modern Jerablus or Hierapolis. It was an obstacle to the march of the invading Egyptians about B.C. 1600. Several Assyrian conquerors attempted to capture it. It was taken finally by Sargon in e.g. 717 (cf. ). after which it became the capital of an Assyrian province. Here Nebuchadrezzar defeated Pharaoh-necho in B.C. 605, and thus ended the latest native Egyptian regime in Asia ( . ). J. F. McCuRDT.
Ohadiasai
Ohadiasai (AV ‘they of Chadias’, 1 Esdras 5:20.) They are mentioned as returning, to the number of 422, with Zerubbabel. There are no corresponding names In the lists of Ezra and Nehemiah.
Ohaseba
Ohaseba (1 Esdras 5:31). There is no corresponding name in the lists of Ezra and Nehemiah.
CHASTITY, — See Crimes and Punishments, and Marriage.
Ohedor-laomer
An early king of Elam, who, according to , exercised dominion over a considerable part of Western Asia. His vassals, Amraphel, king of Shinar, Arioch, king of Ellasar, and Tidal, king of Goiim, helped him to defeat the Canaanite princes of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiira, and Zoar, who had rebelled against him after having acknowledged his authority for twelve years. Chedor-laomer and his allies defeated the Canaanite princes in the valley of Siddim, and sacked Sodom and Gomorrah. But the story relates that they were in turn defeated by ‘Abram, the Hebrew,’ who surprised them by night and recovered the spoil of Sodom and his nephew Lot. The name of Chedor-laomer is a purely Elamite name (Kudw-Lagamar or KuHr-Lagamar), though it has not yet been found upon the inscriptions as that of an early king of Elam. But the recent excavations of M. de Morgan at Susa conflrm the Biblical story, by revealing the considerable part which Elam played in the early history of Western Asia. L. W. King.
Oieled, Cieling
Oieled, cieling (Amer. RV ‘ceiled,’ ‘ceiling’). The latter occurs only } K 6", where it has its modern signification (reading, however, ‘unto the beams [or ratters] of the cieUng).’ The verb, on the other hand, should everywhere be rendered ‘panelled’ (. . . ‘your panelled houses’), the reference being to the panels of cedar or other costly wood with which the inner walls were lined. See House, § 4. A. R. S. Kennedy.
CILICIA.’ — A district in the S.E. corner of Asia Minor, which in NT times was divided into two portions. The Roman province Cilicia, which is alone referred to in the NT, stretched from a little E. of Corycus to Mt. Amanus, and from the Cilician Gates and Anazarbus to the sea. For administrative purposes it was combined with Syria and Phoenicia. The sense of the unity of Syria and Cilicia is seen clearly in (also in Ac 15). The capital of the province Cilicia was Tarsus ( ). The other portion to which the name was applied was the client-kingdom of king Antiochus, which was under the suzerainty of Rome, and included Cilicia Tracheia (Rugged Cilicia) to the W., as well as a belt surrounding the Roman province on the N. and E. Neither district has as yet been thoroughly explored.
A. SOUTEH.
Orhhsok
The word tsia’ , tr. in ‘crimson’ and in ‘scarlet,’ is usually tr. ‘worm’ (wh. see), exactly as the Arab, dudeh, the common word for ‘worm,’ is to-day also used in Palestine tor the imported cochineal insect. The Palestine insect is the female Coccus Uicis of the same^Natural Order as the American C. cacti; it feeds on the holm-oak.
E. W. G. Mastekman.
Oucxtmbers
Two varieties of cucumber are very common in Palestine. .The Cucumis sativus (Arab. khy&r), a smooth-skinned, whitish cucumber of delicate flavour, is a prime favourite with the Arabs. It is cool and juicy, but for cultivation requires abundant water. The second (C. chate, Arab, [in Jerusalem] faqqUs, [in Syria] qithths.) is a long slender cucumber, less juicy than the former. The reference in is probably to the latter, which is an Egyptian plant. The ‘lodge in a garden of cucumbers’ () is the rough booth erected by the owner, raised, as a rule, high upon poles, from which he may keep guard over his ripening vegetables. When the harvest is over, the ‘lodge’ is not taken down but is allowed to drop to pieces. It is a dreary ruin of poles and dried branches during more than half the year. E. W. G. Mastehman.
Oush
Oush in OT designates Ethiopia , and is the only name used there for that region. It is the same as the Egyptian Kash or Kesh. Broadly speaking, it answers to the modern Nubia. More specifically, the Egyptian Kash extended southwards from the first Cataract at Syene (). and in the periods of widest extension of the empire it embraced a portion of the Sudan. It was conquered and annexed by Egypt under the 12th Dynasty (c. B.C. 2000) and remained normally a subject country. After the decline of the 22nd (Libyan) Dynasty, the Cushites became powerful and gradually encroached on northern Egypt, so that at length an Ethiopian dynasty was established (the 25th, 728-663), which was overthrown by the Assyrians. Within this period falls the attempt of Tirhakah, king of Cush, to defeat Sennacherib of Assyria in Palestine ().
In Cush is a son of Ham, though his descendants as given in are mostly Arabian. Surprising also is the statement in ff. that Zerah the Cushite invaded Judah in the days of Asa, at a time when the Cushites had no power in Egypt. An attempt has been made to solve these and other difficulties by the assumption of a second Cush in Arabia (cf . ). Instructive references to the Cushite country and people are found in . f.: . Cushites were frequent in Palestine, probably descendants of slaves; see ff.: ff.: These were, however, possibly Arabian Cushites. For the explanation of the Cush of : and possibly of , see CoasiEANS. J. F. McCurdt.
Oabdius
Oabdius (1 Esdras 9:27) = , AMi.
Oak
(1) ‘elah, , , , . . . . . Ho3 ; (Vale of) Elah’ [RVm ‘terebinth’), , . lAV ‘teil tree’]; ‘elah elsewhere always tr. ‘oak’ [RVm ‘terebinth’]; ‘allah, a slight variant, .
2. ‘ellrfi, perhaijs pi. of elah, .’ oaks* [RVm ‘terebinths’]57’ [AV ‘idols,’ mg. ‘oaks,’ RV ‘oaks’] ‘trees.’ The meaning of ‘Him in is obscure, if the text be correct. These words, ‘elah, ‘allah, and ‘ellm, allapparently refer to the terebinth (wh. see).
3. ‘allon, cannot be the same as ‘elah, because it occurs with it in . ; see also . . . In . . Zee the’ allonim (‘oaks’) of Baahan are mentioned. In (AV) ‘allon is treated as a proper name._
4. ‘Hon, probably merely a variation of ‘allon, is in igf . , , (AV) tr.’ plain’ or ‘plains,’ but in RV ‘oak’ or oaks,’ mg. terebinth’ or ‘terebinths.’ ‘allon and ‘elon apparently refer to the oak.
Oaks have always been relatively plentiful in Palestine- Even to-day, in spite of the most reckless destruction. groves of oaks survive on Carmel, Tabor, around Banias, and in ancient Bashan; while whole miles of country are covered with shrub-like oaks produced from the roots of trees destroyed every few years for fuel. Among the nine recognized varieties of oak in Syria, the evergreen Quercus cocdfera or ‘holm oak’ is the finest — it is often 30 to 35 feet high. Its preservation is usually due to its being situated at some sacred wely. ‘Abraham’s oak’ at Hebron is of this kind. Other common oaks are the Valonia oak (Q. Mgilojis), which has large acorns with prickly cups, much valued for dyeing; and the Oriental gall oak (Q. cerris), a comparatively insignificant tree, especially noticeable for the variety of galls which grow on it. Both these latter are deciduous, the leaves falling from late autumn to early spring. Oak wood is used for tanning skin bottles and also as fuel, while the acorn cups of the Valonia oak and the galls of the various oak trees are both important articles of commerce in N. Syria.
E. W. G. Mastehman. OAR. — See Ships and Boats. arisen can be seen in such a passage as , : ‘If a man deliver unto hia neighbour an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or a beast, to keep; and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, no man seeing it: the oath of the Lord shall be between them both, whether he hath not put his hand unto his neighbour’s goods; and the owner thereof shall accept it, and he shall not make restitution.’ As there is no witness to substantiate the innocence or prove the guilt of the suspected person — no man seeing it — God is called to witness. An oath is really a conditional curse, which a man calls down upon himself from God, in the case of his not speaking the truth or not keeping a promise. The use of oaths was not restricted to judicial procedure, but was also connected with a variety of everyday matters; to swear by the name of Jahweh was regarded as a sign of loyalty to Him (cf. , , ).
There are two words in Hebrew for an oath: (1) sAebu’ah, which comes from the same root as the word for ‘seven’ {sheba’)\ the Heb. word for ‘to swear’ comes likewise from the same root, and means literally ‘to come under the influence of seven things.’ Seven was the most sacred number among the Hebrews (cf. shabua’ , ‘week’ of seven days), and among the Semites generally. Among the Babylonians the seven planets each represented a god. Originally, therefore, there must have been a direct connexion between^ this sacred number and the oath. (2) *alah, which, strictly speaking, means a ‘curse,’ and was a stronger form of oath. The combination of both words was used on especially solemn occasions, e.g. (cf. of Peter’s denial).
There were various forms used in taking an oath, e.g, ‘God do so to me and more also if . . .’ () the punishment called down in the case of the oath not being observed is left indeterminate in this form; this is to be explained from the fact that there was a fear lest the mention of the curse should ipso facto bring it to pass; it is a remnant of animistic conceptions (i.e. there was the fear that a demon might think his services were required). In later times, however, the nature of the curse is sometimes mentioned, e.g. ‘. . . saying. The Lord make thee like Zedekiah and like’Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire’ . . . (; cf. , Zee ). Another form was: ‘God is witness betwixt me and thee’ (), or, ‘The Lord be a true and faithful witness amotLgst us, if . . .’ () a more common form is: ‘As the Lord llveth’ (), which is sometimes varied by the addition of a reference to the person to whom the oath was made: ‘As the Lord llveth, and as thy soul liveth’ (. cf. ). Another form was: ‘God . . . judge between us’ (). God Himself is conceived of as taking oaths: ‘By myself have I sworn . . .’ (). The usual gesture In taking an oath was to raise the arm towards heaven (, ). the motive being to point to the dwelling-place of God; to ‘raise the hand’ became an expression for ‘to swear’ (, ). Another gesture is referred to in , viz. putting the hand under the thigh; the organ of generation was regarded as peculiarly holy by the Hebrews.
With regard to the breaking of an oath see ; and for the use of oaths in ratifying a covenant see , , .
W. O. E. Oesterley.
Obadiah
Obadiah is a name of a type common among the Semitic peoples; it occurs frequently in the OT, for the most part as the name of persons of whom little or nothing is known. It has also been found on an ancient Hebrew seal. For the meaning of the name, ‘servant of Jahweh,’ see art. Servant of the Lord, § 2, The different persons thus named are — 1. The author of the Vision of Obadiah: see following article. 2. Ahab’s steward, the protector of Jahweh’s prophets against Jezebel (). This person lived in the 9th cent. B.C. 3. A descendant of Saul (), who lived, to judge from his position in the genealogy, about e.g. 700. On the probable genuineness of the genealogy see G. B. Gray, Studies in Heb. Proper Names, p. 241 f. 4. An Issacharite (1 Oh ). 5. A descendant of David in the 5th cent, e.g., it the Hebrew text () correctly makes him a grandson of Zerubbabel, but in the 4th if the LXX is right and he belonged to the sixth generation after Zerubbabel. 6. The head of a family who returned with Ezra (Ezra =Abadias of 1 Esdras 8).
7. A priestly contemporary of Nehemiah (). 8. A door-keeper (). 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Various persons in the genealogies or stories of the Chronicler ( [=Abda, ] 27, ). On the Chronicler’s use of such names, see G. B. Gray, op. dt, pp. 170-190. G. B. Gray.
Obadiah, Book of
The questions as to the origin and interpretation of this, the shortest book of the OT, are numerous and difficult. The title describes the book as ‘a vision’ (cf. , ) and ascribes it to Obadiah. Obadiah is one of the commonest of Hebrew names, and occurs both before and after the Exile: see preceding article. Some fruitless attempts have been made to identify the author of the book with one or other of the persons of the same name mentioned in the OT.
The book of Obadiah stands fourth in order (in the Greek version, fifth) of the prophets whose works were collected and edited in (probably) the 3rd cent, e.g.; the collection since the beginning of the 2nd cent. e.g. has been known as ‘The Twelve’ (see Canon of OT; cf. MicAH [Bk. of], adinit.). By the place which he gave this small book in his collection the editor perhaps intended to indicate his belief that it was of early, i.e. pre-exillc, origin. But the belief of an editor of the 3rd cent. E.G. is not good evidence that a book was written earlier than the 6th century. The relative probabilities of the different theories of its origin must be judged by internal evidence; this, unfortunately, is itself uncertain on account of ambiguities of expression.
It will be convenient to state first what appears on the whole the most probable theory, and then to mention more briefly one or two others.
The book contains two themes: (1) a prophetic interpretation of an overwhelming disaster which has already befallen Edom (vv. ">>) ; (2) a prediction of a universal judgment and specifically of judgment on Edom which is now imminent ( "-2’).
1. The prophetic interpretation of Edom’ s fall. — The prophet describes the complete conquest of the Edomites and their expulsion from their land () by a number of nations () once their friends and allies (). In this calamity the writer sees Jahweh’s judgment on Edom for gloating over the fall of the Jews — described as Edom’s brother () — and participating with foreign and alien enemies () in the infliction of injuries on them. This interpretation is stated in simple and direct terms in vv., and dramatically in , where the writer, throvring himself back to the time of the Edomites’ ill-treatment of the Jews, adjures them not to do the things they actually did. The section closes with the effective assertion of the retributive character of the disasters that had befallen Edom and still affect it — ‘As thou hast done, is it done unto thee; thy dealing returns upon thine own head’ (v. 155).
The verses thus summarized have these points in common: (a) the tenses are historical except in (‘shame doth cover thee, and thou art cut off for ever’) and v. 155, which may be rendered as presents, and interpreted as at the end of the preceding paragraph; and (6) after , where Edom, in the present text, is spoken of in the 3rd person, Edom is throughout addressed in the 2nd pers. sing. Among these verses are now interspersed others, — . which speaks of Esau (=Edom) in the 3rd person (pi. in clausea, sing, in 6) and which may be an aside in the midst of the address, but is more probably an interpolation; and (together with the last clause of ), which speak of Edom in the 3rd person and unmistakably regard the disaster as still future: these verses are best regarded as an addition by an editor who wished the prophetic interpretation of past fact to be read as a prophetic description of the future.
If now VV.1-‘(or ) ">■, which are held together by the common features just noticed, be a unity; the prophecy is later than B.C. 586; for cannot well be interpreted by any other disaster than the destruction of Jerusalem in that year. The prophecy also appears in to allude to the extrusion of the Edomites from ancient Edom owing to the northward movement of Arabs — people who had often satisfied themselves with plundering expeditions (cf. ), but now permanently evicted settled populations from their lands (cf. ). This northward movement was already threatening at the beginning of the 6th cent. B.C. (, , ); before B.C. 312, as we learn from Diodorus Siculus, Arabs had occupied Petra, the ancient capital of Edom. Between those two dates, perhaps in the first half of the Sth cent. B.C. (cf. Mai I*-‘), the prophecy appears to have been written.
2. The prediction of universal iudgment. — In contrast with , the tenses in vv. are consistently imperfects (naturally suggesting the future), the persons addressed (2nd pi.) are Israelites, not Edomites, and Edom is referred to in the 3rd person. The prophecy predicts as imminent: (o) a universal judgment (vv., in which the annihilation of Edom by the Jews (not [nomadic] nations as in vv. ‘) and Israelites forms an episode which is specially described (v. 18), and (6) the restoration of the exiles alike of the Northern and of the Southern Kingdom (v. 19, cf. ), who are to re-occupy the whole of their ancient territory — the Negeb in the S., the Shephelah in the W., Ephraim to the N., Gilead in the E. (v. 19, which after ehmination of glosses reads,’ And they shall possess the Negeb and the Shephelah, and the field of Ephraim and Gilead’); in particular, the Israelites will re-occupy as far N. as Zarephath (near Tyre), and the Jews as far south as the Negeb (v.). The prophecy closes with the armouncement of jahweh’s reign from Zion (v. 21).
The prediction (vv. scarcely appears to be the original and immediate continuation of the former part of the chapter, but is, like , a subsequent addition. The theory of the origin and interpretation of the book just described is substantially that of Wellhausen; it has been adopted in the main by Nowack and Marti; and, so far as the separation of vv. 16–21 (with IS’) from the rest of the chapter is concerned, and the assignment of the whole to a date after the Exile, by Cheyne (.EBi).
One fact has appeared to many scholars an insuperable difficulty in the way of assigning the whole book to a date after 586. It is admitted by all that the resemblances between Ob ‘-<■ ‘• ‘■ s and , , ’ are so close as to imply the literary dependence of one of the two passages on the other; it is further admitted by most, and should be admitted, that the common matter is in its more original form in Obadiah, and that therefore so much at least of Obadiah is prior to , , ‘, and therefore prior to the year B.C. 604, if the theory that was commonly held with regard to the date of Jer 46-49 be admitted. But of recent years many have questioned whether Jer 46-49, at least in its present form, is the work of Jeremiah at all, and consequently whether it was necessarily written before 586.
If the argument that Ob is pre-exilic be accepted, it is necessary to account for what are now generally admitted to be the allusions to the events of 586 in Ob This has been done by assuming that Ob. and Jer. alike quote from a pre-exilic prophecy, but that Obadiah himself prophesied after B.C. 686. As to the amount of matter cited by Obadiah, scholars differ: e.g. Driver considers that Ob ‘-‘is derived from the old prophecy; G. A. Smith, that vv. s-io are quotations. but that V. ‘, which he admits presupposes later conditions, is by Obadiah himseU. The weakness of these theories lies in the fact that the distribution of the parts to the two authors does not follow the concrete differences of style indicated above, and that either receives no adequate interpretation, or is torn away from . with which it certainly seems closely connected. As to the more precise date of (‘") or so much of the verses as may be pre-exilic, no agreement has been reached among those who hold them to be pre-exilic; no known circumstances explain the allusions. It is also very uncertain whether any inference can safely be drawn from the allusion to Sepharad (wh. see) in ..
For further discussion of many details, some of which have of necessity been left unmentioned nere,_ and for an account of other theories as well aa those described above, the English reader will best consult Driver, LOT; G. A. Smith, Book of the Twelve, ii. 163-184 (with a critical translation); Selbie’s art. in Hastings’ DB, and Cheyne’s in EBi.
G. B. Gray.
Obal
Obal (). See Ebal, No. 1.
Obdia
Obdia (1 Esdras 5) =Habaiah , Hobaiah .
Obed
1. The son of Boaz and Ruth, the father of Jesse and grandfather of David (). and an ancestor of our Lord (, ). 2. A descendant of Sheshan (1 Oh ). 3. One of David’s heroes (). 4. A son of Shemaiah (). 5. The father of Azariah ().
Obed-edom
1. A Philistine, a native of Gath, who lived in or near Jerusalem. In his house David deposited the ark after the death of Uzzah, and here it remained three months, bringing a blessing by its presence ( f.: ). It is in all probabihty the same O. that appears as — 2. The eponym of a family of door-keepers in the Temple (, ", ). 3. The eponym of a post-exillo family of singers ( ).
Obedience
Occasionally this word occurs in Scripture to express the duty of one person to another, as in , . , , . , , . Much more frequently it expresses the duty of man to God (. , , ). The spirit of obedience is the primal and indispensable requirement for acceptance by the Father. The Son of God Himself was made perfect through obedience (). and only thus. It was the motto of His earthly life, ‘I am come to do thy will, O God’ (). The one lesson of the Uf e of Jesus is the one lesson of the word of God from first to last — God must be obeyed. Absolute obedience was essential to the fulfilment of His mission. Absolute obedience is essential to our own salvation. Having learned obedience. He became a Saviour to those who obey (). Obedience is as necessary with us as it was with Him. Obedience is as possible with us as it was with Him. For He is able to work in us now the very same mind that was in Him, the same disposition and spirit He had upon earth. D. A. Hates.
Obeisance
Obeisance is obedience (coming into Eng. through the French). It occurs only in the phrases ‘do obeisance’ and ‘make obeisance,’ and only in the OT. The meaning of the Heb. so translated is to prostrate oneself in token of reverence or tor worship.
Obelisk
See Pillar, 2 (c).
Obeth
Obeth (1 Esdras 8:32) =Ebed, .
OBn.. — The overseer of David’s camels ().
Oblation
See Sacrifice and Opfeeinq.
Oboth
A ‘station’ of the children of Israel (, ). Nothing definite is known as to its position.
Observe
‘Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him." The meaning of the Eng. word ‘observed’ Is ‘reverenced.’ Tindale’s translation is ‘gave him reverence.’ Cf. Shaks. Henry I V. iv. iv. 30, ‘he is gracious, it he be observed.’ But the more probable meaning of the Greek is ‘protected him,’ or, as RV, ‘kept him safe.’
Oootjpy
The ‘occupier’ of is a ‘trader,’ and ‘to occupy’ (, ) is ‘to trade.’ The original meaning of the Eng. word is to be engaged in anything.
Oohielus
Oohielus (1 Esdras 1:9) =Jeiel, .
Ochran
Father of Pagiel ( , )
Ocidelus
Ocidelus (1 Esdras 9:22) =Jozabad in .
Ocina
Taldng the towns mentioned in order as fearing the advance of Holofernes (Judith 2:28), Sidon and Tyre are well known. With some certainty Sur may be identified with Umm et-‘AmUd, S. of Iskanderuna, which seems to have been formerly called TurUn. The next step takes us naturally to Acre, in later times known as Accon, in which we may find an echo of the earlier Ocina. W. Ewing.
Oded
1. The father of the prophet Azariah (2 Ch 150. In v.* ‘Oded’ of MT is a mistake (through wrong marginal gloss or otherwise) for ‘Azariah.’ 2. A prophet who successfully protested against the proposal to enslave Judahites ( ff.).
Odomera
A chief, slain by Jonathan (1 Maccabees 9:66).
OF. — As already noted, under Bt, the prep, ‘of is generally used in AV for the agent, as ’ He was mocked of the wise men.’ But there are other obsolete or archaic uses of ‘of,’ which should be carefully observed. Thus (1) it sometimes means from (the proper meaning of the A.S. ‘of’), as ‘Others cut down branches of the trees,’ ‘All things that I have heard of my Father,’ ‘He shall not speak of himself’; (2) concerning, as ‘They doubted of them, whereunto this would grow,’ ‘He rejoiceth more of that sheep than of the ninety and nine,’ ‘The zeal of thine house’; (3) with, ‘I am sick of love.’
Offence
The Greek word skandalon is properly used of a ‘stick in a trap on which the bait is placed, and which, when touched by the animal, springs up and shuts the trap’ (Liddell and Scott). The word is used by Christ (, ) of offences in the form of hindrances to the faith of believers, especially of Christ’s little ones. The context makes it clear what kind of stumbling-blocks are referred to. In the corresponding passage in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt gas. M; cf. , ) the right eye and right hand are given as instances of the kind of offences that may arise. The members here cited are not only in themselves good and serviceable, but necessary, though they are capable, in certain circumstances, of becoming the occasion of sin to us. In the same way the Christian may find pursuits and pleasures, which in themselves are innocent, bringing unexpected temptations and Involving him in sin. The possible applications of this are numerous, whether the warning be referred to artistic gifts (the ‘hand’ and ‘eye ‘), or abuses of certain kinds of food and drink, or any other circumstances which may lead a man from the higher life or divert him from his aims. All these may be compared to the stumbling-blocks which cause a man to fall. Such things must be dispensed with, for the sake of entering the’ eternal life,’ which is the Christian man’s goal.
T. A. MoxoN.
Offering
See Sacrifice and Optebino.
Officer
By this somewhat indefinite expression are rendered some eight or ten different Heb. and Gr. words, several of which seem to have had an equally wide application. Of the Heb. words the commonest is shBtSr, from a root which in Assyrian means ‘to write.’ The shBtSr, accordingly, was originally, it would seem, a subordinate official attached to the higher military, civil, and judicial officers of the State for secretarial purposes (see Driver’s summary of their duties in his Com. on ). In the narrative of the oppression of the Hebrews in Egypt, the ‘officers’ are the Hebrew subordinates of the Egyptian taskmasters (see )) one of their duties, it may be assumed, was to keep account of the tale of bricks made by each of their compatriots.
In and elsewhere ‘officer’ is the tr. of the usual word for ‘eunuch’ (wh. see), but, as shows, the original (sans) must here signify, more generally, a court official. Still another word, rendered ‘officer’ in , etc., denotes the heads of the twelve administrative districts into which Solomon divided his kingdom, corresponding somewhat to the ‘collectors’ in our Indian administration.
In NT ‘officer’ is, with one exception (), the tr. of a Gr. word of equally wide application. In the account of our Lord’s betrayal and capture the ‘officers’ are members of the Temple police ( etc.), as also in the account of the imprisonment of Peter and John (, ; cf . ). . The same word is elsewhere rendered ‘minister,’ either in the more general sense of ‘attendant’ (so RV), or in the special sense of the ‘minister’ (RV ‘attendant’) or officer of the Jewish synagogue (), for whom see Synagogue.
A. R. S. Kennedy.
OG. — The king of Bashan, who, with his children and people, was defeated and destroyed by the Israelites at Edrei, directly after the defeat of Sihon. His rule extended over sixty cities, of which the two chief were Ashtaroth and Edrei (). The whole of his kingdom was assigned to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half-Manasseh (, ; see also , , ). The conquest of this powerful giant king lingered long in the imagination of the Israelites as one of the chief exploits of the conquest ( ISO’"). The impression of the gigantic stature of Og is corroborated by the writer of , who speaks of the huge ‘iron bedstead’ (or sarcophagus) belonging to him. According to the measurements there given, this sarcophagus was nine cubits long and four cubits broad. It is, however, impossible to estimate his stature from these dimensions, owing to the tendency to build tombs unnecessarily large in order to leave an impression of superhuman stature. The ‘iron’ of which the sarcophagus was made, probably means black basalt. Many basaltic sarcophagi have been found on the east of the Jordan. T. A. Moxon.
Ohad
A son of Simeon (, ).
Ohel
A son of Zerubbabel, ) [text doubtful].
Oholah and Oholibah
Oholah and oholibah (AVAholah, AhoUbah). — Two sisters who were harlots (). The words appear to mean ‘tent’ and ‘tent in her,’ the allusion being to the tents used for idolatrous purposes. The passage is figurative, the two harlots representing, the one Samaria and the other Jerusalem. Though both were wedded to Jehovah, they were seduced by the gallant officers of the East, Samaria being led astray by Assyria and Jerusalem by Babylon. The whole of the allegory is a continuation of ideas already expounded in chs. 16 and 20, and is intended as a rebuke against Israel for her fondness for alliances with the great Oriental empires, which was the occasion of new forms and developments of idolatry. The main idea of the allegory seems to have been borrowed from .
T. A. MoxoN.
Oholiab
(AV Aholiab). The chief assistant of Bezalel ( , ).
Oholibah
(AV Aholibah). See Oholah.
Oholibamah
(AVAholibamah). 1. Oneof Esau’s wives (, , "■ s*). 2. An Edomite ‘duke’ ().
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.