Shiphrah – Sihon

Shiphrah

One of the two Hebrew midwives (Exodus 1:15). SHIPHTAN.— An Ephraimite prince (Numbers 34:24). SHIPS AND BOATS.— 1. In OT and Apocrypha.— (1) A mong the Israelites.— In spite of the long line of coast by which Palestine is bordered, the Israelites were an agricultural rather than a maritime people. In fact a large part of the coast was occupied by the Phoenicians in the North and the Philistines in the South. That in the earliest times the people as a whole were ignorant of navigation is shewn by their version of the Flood, in which an unnavigable box takes the place of the navigated ship of the ancient Accadian story. Exceptions more or less to the rule in relatively ancient times were the tribes of Asher on the north, and Dan, before its emigration, on the south. And Dan, why did he remain in ships? Asher sat still at the haven of the sea. And abode by his creeks’ (Judges 5:17).

It is very doubtful whether boats were originally used, even by the Phoenicians and the Philistines, except tor fishing, and perhaps for purely local traffic and communication. Zidon, the earliest Phoenician settlement, was, like its synonym, Beth-saida, derived from a root meaning to catch prey, and was doubtless first noted as a fishing town. Again, Dagon, the chief god of the Philistines, is derived from the word dag, meaning a fish.

At a somewhat later period we find Zebulun described as a ‘haven of ships’ (Genesis 49:13), and later still, probably after the division of the kingdom, Issachar is mentioned with Zebulun as deriving wealth from naval commerce (Deuteronomy 33:19).

In any case, it is not till the time of Solomon that we hear definitely of any important development of commercial enterprise. Under the direction, and with the co-operation, of the Phoenicians, cedar and cypress timbers from Lebanon were cut and floated down the rivers to the coast and formed into raf ts( AV floats) ,which carried the sawn stones to Joppa. Here they were broken up, and both were conveyed to Jerusalem for the building of the Temple (1 Kings 5:9, 2 Chronicles 2:3–18). Solomon had also a navy of ships navigated by Phoenician sailors. They were stationed at Ezion-geber, at the head of the Gulf of Akabah, and traded with Ophir, probably m the south-east of Arabia, in gold and precious stones (1 Kings 9:26–28). The ‘ivory and apes and peacocks’ of 1 Kings 10:22 may have been imported into this region from India and more distant Eastern lands, or the ships of Hiram and Solomon may themselves have made more distant voyages. In addition to this, there was a regular trade maintained with Egypt, whence Solomon imported chariots and horses (lO^s- 2«).

The conflict between the Northern and Southern Kingdoms after Solomon’s death put a stop to the commercial activities of the Jews, and there does not appear to have been any attempt to revive them till the time of Jehoshaphat, whose fleet of ships made for trading for gold to Ophir was wrecked at Ezion-geber. An offer of Ahaziah to join in a renewal of the enterprise was afterwards rejected (1 Kings 22:48, 49). The mention in Isaiah 2:16 of ‘ships of Tarshish’ among the objects against which J"‘s judgment would be directed, makes it likely that there was again a revival of naval commerce in the prosperous reigns of Jotham and Uzziah. Finally, in the time of the Maccabees we read that Simon, the brother of Judas, made Joppa a seaport (1 Maccabees 14:5). It was probably at this period that the Jews first began to have experience of ships of war (1 Maccabees 1:17 15:3; cf. Daniel 11:30), though they must have been in use at a much earlier period. There are figures of such ships, with sharp beaks tor ramming, in Layard’s History of Nineveh, and Sennacherib in his expedition against Merodach-baladan had ships manned by Tyrians. In Isaiah 33:21 the allusion is certainly to hostile ships, but the reference may be to ships of transport, rather than warships. In any case the distinction between a merchantman and a warship in early times was obviously not so definite as it afterwards became.

(2) A mong neighbouring nations.— VTilike the Israelites, the Phcenicians were the great navigators of the ancient world. Their country was particularly favourable for such a development. Dwelling on a narrow piece of sea-board, unsuited for agriculture (they imported corn from Palestine, 1 Kings 5:11, Acts 12:20), they had behind them the Lebanon range, famed for its great cedars, and a coast with good natural harbours. By the time of Solomon they would seem already to have had an extensive trade. The phrase ‘ships of Tarshish’ which probably meant originally ships accustomed to trade with

3 H Tartessus in Spain, had come to be used in a secondarysense, like our ‘East-Indiaman,’ of large vessels suited for such a trade. It is believed that by this time they had penetrated as far as Cornwall, and had even found their way to the Canaries. Their numerous colonies, at any rate the most distant, of which Carthage is the best known, probably began to be founded soon after. The form of their ships was, it would appear, a gradual development from the hollowed trunk of a tree to the vessel of three banks of oars, known among the Greeks as a trireme Csee Hastings’ DB, art. ‘Ships ‘). With the Assyrians navigation seems to have been confined to the Tigris and Euphrates, where small timber boats, supported by inflated skins (keleks), and coracles of plaited willow Qcufas), were largely in use (seefiBi, art.’ Ships’). On the other hand, the Babylonians seem quite to have justified the phrase ‘ships of their rejoicing’ i.e. in which they take pride (Isaiah 43:14), having extended their voyages to the Persian Gulf, and even engaged in commerce with India since the 7th cent. B.C. The Egyptians used ‘vessels of papyrus’ for the navigation of the Nile (Isaiah 18:2, cf. Job 9:26), but it is not quite certain whether they were boats constructed out of papyrus, or rafts composed of bundles of these reeds bound together. We learn from Egyptian monuments that they had also ships of considerable size. We have very little to guide us in determining the form or size of ships during these early periods, but it is probable that while at first they appear to have varied greatly, they gradually approximated to the type of vessel used in the Levant in NT times. It is not possible to say at what time sails were first introduced. We find them, or more correctly the sail, in the one great sail mentioned in Ezekiel 27:7 in addition to the oars. In Isaiah 33:23 the sail only is mentioned. In v. 21 the ‘galley with oars’ is mentioned distinctively, and in contrast to the ‘gallant ship,’ which probably means the larger vessel provided with a sail.

(3) In literature. — That the Israelites, though, generally speaking, unused to navigation, had some acquaintance with and took an interest in shipping, is clear from the constant reference to ships in their literature. Isaiah 33:23, in which Israel is compared to a disabled vessel, has been already alluded to. Ezekiel’s famous comparison of Tyre to a ship in 27:4–11 gives a fair general idea of the different parts of a ship of that period, though some of them — the deck-planks of ivory, the safl of fine bordered linen, the awnings of blue and purple — are evidently idealized. The graphic picture in Psalms 107:23–27 of the terrors experienced by those ‘who go down to the sea in ships’ was almost certainly written by one who had experienced a storm at sea. In Psalms 104:26 the ships are, as much as leviathan, the natural denizens of the deep. Of special beauty is the simile of the ship that passes over the waves and leaves no pathway of its keel behind (Wisdom 5:10), to express the transitoriness of human life and human hope. The danger of ship-faring is pointed out in Wisdom 14:5. That people should commit their lives to a small piece of wood would be absurd but for Divine Providence.

2 . In the NT .—We are concerned chiefly with our Lord’s Galilffian ministry and St. Paul’s voyages. (1) On the Sea of Galilee. — The Galilean boats were used primarily tor fishing, and also for communication between the villages on the Lake, and probably for local trade. At least four of our Lord’s disciples were fishermen, and were called while engaged in their work. He frequently crossed the Lake with His disciples, and sometimes preached from a boat to the people on the shore (Luke 5:3. Mark 4:1). Among the most picturesque incidents of His lite as recorded in the Gospels are the miracle of stilling the tempest and the miraculous draughts of fishes. The boats were small enough to be in danger of sinking from a very large catch of fish, and yet large enough to contain our Lord and at least the majority of His twelve Apostles, and to weather the storms which are still frequent on the Lake. It appears from the frequent use of the definite article, ‘the boat,’ that one particular boat, probably St. Peter’s, was usually employed.

(2) In the Levant. — Ships played an important part in St. Paul’s missionary journeys. It was frequently necessary for him to cross the jEgsean, and sometimes to make longer voyages to and from Syria. That he was frequently exposed to great danger we learn not only from the detailed account of his shipwreck in Acts 27, but from an express statement in 2 Corinthians 11:25. in which, writing before this event, he says ‘thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep,’ which certainly seems to mean that he drifted for this space of time upon the spar or some part of a wrecked ship. But our interest is centred chiefiy in the account of his voyage from Csesarea to Puteoli in Acts 27. 28. From this we learn that the larger vessels were of a considerable size, that of the shipwreck containing, according to what is probably the correct text, 276 persons (27:37; according to B, 76). It was impelled only by sail, the only oara mentioned being the paddles used as ludders, which were braced up, probably in order to allow the ship to be more easily anchored at the stern (vv. 29, 40). This, a custom not infrequently resorted to when some special purpose was served by it, was to enable them to thrust the vessel into a favourable place on shore without the necessity of turning her round. In addition to the mainsail, the vessel had a foresail (.artemSn), which was used for the same purpose, as more easily adapted for altering the ship’s course (v. 40). The vessel had one small boat, which was usually towed behind, but was taken up for greater security during the storm (v. 16). Another remarkable practice is that described in v-" as ‘using helps, undergirding the ship.’ These helps or ‘under girders’ were chains passed under and across the ship, and tightened to prevent the boards from springing. It was a common practice of ancient times, and is not unknown even in modern navigation. Soundings were taken to test the near approach to land, much as they would be at the present day. Though ships had to depend mainly on one great square sail, by bracing this they were enabled to sail within seven points of the wind. In this case, allowing another six points for leeway, the vessel under a northeaster(Euraguilo, v. 14) made way from Cauda to Malta, a direction considerably north of west. As, however, the vessel could not safely carry the mainsail, or even the yard-arm, these were first lowered on deck, and then the vessel must have been heaved to and been carried along and steadied by a small storm-sail of some kind. Had she drifted before the wind she would inevitably have been driven on to the Syrtis, the very thmg they wished to avoid (v. 17). This has been shown very clearly by Smith in his classical work. The Voyage of St. Paul, ch. iii. The same writer draws attention to the thoroughly nautical character of St. Luke’s language, and the evidence of its accuracy by a comparison with what is known of ancient naval practice; and, what is perhaps even more striking, the evidence of skilful navigation to which the narrative points. He justly observes that the chief reason why sailing in the winter was dangerous (27:9 28:11) was not so much the storms, as the constant obscuring of the heavens, by which, before the discovery of the compass, mariners had chiefly to direct their course.

The fact that two of the ships in which St. Paul sailed were ships of Alexandria engaged in the wheat trade with Italy (27:6, 38 28:11, 13; Puteoli was the great emporium of wheat), is especially interesting, as we happen to know more about them than any other ancient class of ship. In the time of Commodus a series of coins with figures of Alexandrian corn-ships was struck to commemorate an exceptional importation of wheat from Alexandria at a time of scarcity. One of these ships, moreover, was driven into the Piraeus by stress of weather. Lucian lays the scene of one of his dialogues (.The Ship or Wishes) on board of her. From the coins and the dialogue together we get a very good idea of the ships of that time (2nd cent, a.d.) and their navigation. Lucian’s ship was 180 ft. by 45 ft., with a calculated tonnage of about 1200. It is not surprising, then, that the Castor and Pollux was large enough to contain, in addition to her cargo and crew, the 276 persons of the shipwrecked vessel (Acts 28:11). Josephus was wrecked in a ship containing 600. The ships had one huge square sail attached to an upright mast about the centre of the vessel, with a very long yard-arm. There was also a second small mast, set diagonally near the bow, and looking not unlike a modern bowsprit, which carried the foresail. On the principal mast there was also sometimes a small triangular topsail. Both ends of the vessel curved upwards and were pointed horizontally, and terminated, the former especially, in some sort of decoration, very frequently a swan. The two rudder paddles, the universal method of steering till about the 12th cent., were usually in the larger vessels passed through port-holes, which could also serve £is hawse holes when the vessel was anchored by the stern.

(3) In literature. — In the books of the NT, shipping provided the writers with some striking similes. In the Ep. to the Heb. (6). Christian hope is called ‘the anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and entering into that which is within the veil.’ Again, St. James compares the tongue, in the control which its constraint exercises on the character, to the very small rudders by which ships, though they be so great, are turned about (3:4). F. H. WooDa.

Shisha

See Shavsha.

Shishak

(Egyp. 5Aosfte»fc or Sheshonk I.). Founder of the 22nd Dyn. (c. B.C. 950). He reigned at least 21 years. Jeroboam fled to him (1 Kings 11:40). and he plundered Jerusalem in the fifth year of Rehoboam (14:25. 2 Chronicles 12:2). A long list of Palestinian towns of Israel, as well as of Judah, was engraved by Sheshonk on the south wall of the temple of Kamak, but Jerusalem has not been recognized among the surviving names in the list. Max MUller suggests that these towns may not have been conquered but that they merely paid tribute, hence the appearance of Israelitish towns among them. F. Ll. Griffith.

Shitrai

A Sharonite who was over king David’s herds that fed in Sharon (1 Chronicles 27:29).

SHITTAH TREE {shittah, Isaiah 41:19 RV ‘acacia tree’; shittim wood I’ atsd-shURml Exodus 25 26:15, 26 27:1, 6, Deuteronomy 10:3, RV ‘acacia wood’). — shittah was originally shintah, and is equivalent to Arab, sunt, which is the Acacia nilotica; but the word no doubt included other desert acacias. The seyM of the Arabs, which includes the gum-arabic tree (A. seyal), and A. tortilis would both furnish suitable wood. Both these trees are plentiful around the Dead Sea, particularly at ‘Ain Jidy. E. W. G. Mastekman.

Shittim

1. The name of the last encampment of the Israelites, on the east of the Jordan opposite Jericho. There the Israelites began to intermarry with Moabites (Numbers 25:1 ff.), and from there Joshua sent out the spies to Jericho (Joshua 2:1 3:1). The name means ‘acacias,’ and the place is called in Numbers 33:49 Abel-shittim, or ‘Meadow of acacias." Josephus (,Ant. rv. viii. 1, v. i. 1) identifies the place with AWla, which he says is 7i Roman miles east of the Jordan, and which Jerome says was 6 miles east of it. Several modern scholars identify Abila with Khirbet KefrSn at the entrance of the Wady Kefrln, at the base of the mountains of Moab.

2. Joel’s reference to the ‘Valley of Shittim’ (3:18) must refer to some valley leading from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea (cf. Ezekiel 47:1 ff.) — perhaps the ‘Valley of the brook Kidron,’ the modern Wady en-NOr. It is certainly not the same as No. 1, although confused with it by Ochser (.JB xi. 297 f.). The reference to Shittim in Micah 6:5 — ‘from Shittim to Gilgal’ — is geographically unintelligible, and is rightly thought by many scholars to be a gloss. Geokoe A. Barton.

Shiza

Father of a Reubenite chief (1 Chronicles 11:42).

Shoa

A race named in Ezekiel 23:23 along with Babylonians, Chaldseans, Pekod, Koa, and Assyrians. The SutU were nomads, frequently named in the same company by Assyrian and Babylonian writers, and among other seats inhabited the E. of the Tigris. C. H. W. Johns.

Shobab

1. One of David’s sons (2 Samuel 5:14, 1 Chronicles 3:5 14:4). 2. A Calebite (1 Chronicles 2:18).

Shobach

The captain of the host of Hadarezer, the Aramaean king of Zobah (wh. see), who commanded the forces of that king when he aided the Ammonites in their war with king David. David defeated him, and Shobach lost his life (2 Samuel 10:16–18). In 1 Chronicles 19 the name is spelled Shophach. .

Perhaps because bo little was known of Shobach, he played an important part in later imaginative tradition. ‘The Mishna {Sotah, viii. 1) makes him a giant of the Ammonites equal to Goliath, while the Samaritan Chronicle, sometimes called’ the book of Joshua,’ tells a long tale concerning him (chs. 26-38), making him the son of Haman, a king of Persia whom Joshua haa killed, and who stirred up a great coalition ^to avenge the death of his father 1 All authentic information concerning Shobach is contained in 2 Samuel 10:16–18, which 1 Chronicles 19:16 repeats. Geokge A. Barton.

Shobai

A tamUy of porters (Ezra 2:42, Nehemiah 7) [1 Es 5" Sabi]).

Shobal

1. A ‘son’ of Seir the Horite, and one of the ‘dukes’ of the Horites (Genesis 36 Ch 1). 2. A Calebite family in the tribe of Judah. This Shobal is called in 1 Chronicles 4:1, 2 a ‘son’ of Judah, and in 2:50 ‘son’ of Caleb and ‘father’ of Kiriath-jearim. The name is probably to be connected, if not identified, with No. 1.

Shobek

A signatory to the covenant (Nehemiah 10:24

Shobi

According to 2 Samuel 17:27. a son of Kahash the king of Ammon, who, with Machir of Lo-debar, showed kindness to David when he fled to Mahanaim at the time of Absalom’s rebellion. There is some doubt about the name, however, as in 1 Oh 19"‘the son of Nahash who succeeded him was Hanun. S. A. Ciook liAJSL xvi. 164) suggests that the text of 2 Samuel 17:27 is corrupt, and that it originally read’ and Nahash came,’ instead of ‘Shobi, son of Nahash.’ The very existence of Shobi seems, therefore, uncertain. If, however, the present text of Samuel is sound, it is a better historical authority than Chronicles.

George A. Barton.

Shock, Stags

In Judges 15:5 the former, and in Ex 22’ the latter, is in AV the rendering of the same word — RV uniformly ‘shocks,’ — which in both places Is opposed to the ‘standing corn’ or ‘standing grain’ (so Amer. RV for ‘corn’ throughout). The former, at least, is misleading, since the Hebrews did not set up their sheaves in shocks (Scotici ‘stocks’), but piled them in heaps for conveyance to the threshing-floor (Agbicultube, § 3). So in the beautiful figure. Job 5’", render ‘like as a heap of corn cometh up (to the threshing-floor) in its season.’ A. R. S. Kennedy.

Shoe

See Dress, § 6, where also reference is made to the custom, widely prevalent in antiquity, of removing the shoes before entering a temple, or other sacred precinct, in order to save the latter from ceremonial defilement. (For the original motive see RS^ 453.)

The shoe played a part, further, in certain symbolical actions in Hebrew law. Thus in Ruth 4:7 we are informed that it was an ancient custom in Israel, on completing a purchase, for the seller to draw off his shoe and hand it to the buyer, as a symbol of the transference of the property sold. A parallel symbolism is disclosed by the frequent occurrence, in early Babylonian deeds of sale dealing with house property, of the phrase, ‘the pestle [of the mortar] has been transferred’ (Meissner, Aus dern altbab. Recht, 6). In times when writing was the accomplishment of the few, such a symbolic act in the presence of witnesses was doubtless held equivalent to the later formal deeds (Jeremiah 32).

The same passage of Ruth and Deuteronomy 25:9 ff. shows that this symbolism, somewhat differently performed.with another still more expressive, was also adopted in the case of one renouncing his right to his deceased brother’s wife (see Marriage, § 4).

In the expression ‘upon [or over] Edom will I cast my shoe’ CPs 60 108) many authorities find a reference to an extension of this shoe symbolism, the actual taking possession of the property being symbolized by throwing a shoe over or upon it. Others, however, rendering as RVm ‘unto Edom,’ see in the words an assertion of Edom’s servitude, it being the part of a slave to carry his master’s shoes. The context and the singular ‘shoe’ (not ‘shoes’) favour the former interpretation. A. E. S. Kennedy.

Shoham

A Merarite (1 Chronicles 24:27).

Shomer

1. 1 Chronicles 7:32. See Shemer, No. 3. 2. 2 K 12^‘. See Shimrath.

Shophach

See Shobach.

SHOSHANNIM, SHOSHANNIM - EDUTH. — See Psalms, p. 772’.

Shovel

1. Exodus 27:3 38:3. Numbers 4:14. 1 Kings 7:40, 45, 2 K 25", 2 Chronicles 4:11, 16. Jeremiah 52:18. of a utensil for removing the ashes from the altar. 2. Isaiah 30:24. for the broad, shallow, winnowing shovel with which corn after threshing was thrown up against the wind to clear it of the chaff.

Shrine

See Diana.

Shroud

This word is used in Ezekiel 31:3 in the general sense of ‘shelter,’ ‘covering,’ as in Milton’s Comus, 147 — ‘Run to your shrouds, within these brakes and trees.’

Shua

1. The father of Judah’s Canaanite wife (Genesis 38:2, 12), who appears in 1 Chronicles 2:3 (RV) as Bath-shua. 2. A daughter of Heber (1 Chronicles 7:32).

Shuah

A son of Abraham and Keturah, Genesis 25:2. 1 Chronicles 1:32. The tribe represented by this name may perhaps be the Suchu of the cuneiform inscriptions, on the right bank of the Euphrates. Bildad the Shuhite (Job 2:11 8:1 18:1 25:1 42:9) is prob. intended to be thought of as belonging to this tribe.

Shual

An Asherite (1 Chronicles 7:36).

Shual, Land of

A region referred to in 1 Samuel 13:17 as the destination of one of the three bands of Philistine raiders. The close connexion of Ophrah with the district named indicates that this was one of its

towns. H. L. WiLLETT.

Shubael

See Shebuel,.

Shuhah

A brother of Chelub (1 Chronicles 4:11).

Shuham

A son of Dan (Numbers 26:42), called in Genesis 46:23 Hushim ; gentilic Shuhamites in Numbers 26:42.

Shuhite

See Shuah.

Shulammite

See Shunem, Song of Songs.

Shumathites

A family of Kiriath-jearim (1 Ch 2S’).

Shunammite

See next article.

Shunem

A border town of Issachar (Joshua 19:18). and the camping-ground of the Philistines before Saul’s last battle (1 Samuel 28:4). It has been identified from early times with SSlam, a village five miles south of Tabor, on the south slope of Little Hermon. It is on the north of the Valley of Jezreel, and opposite to Gilboa, where Saul was encamped; the situation suits the scene of the battle well. A Shunem is also the scene of Elisha’s miracle in 2 Kings 4:8 ff.; where the identification is more doubtful. The narrative suggests a place on the road from Samaria, his home (v. 1). to Carmel, and not too far from the latter (v.) Solam satisfies neither of these conditions. Shunammite is applied (1) to Abishag (1 Kings 1:2). who is perhaps the original of the Shulammite of Song of Songs 6, the interchange of I and n being exemplified in the modern Solam =Shunem; (2) to the unnamed friend of Elisha in 2 Kings 4 8:1–6. The narrative gives us a picture of Heb. home-lite at its best, and shows how the legal and theoretical subjection of the wife was often modified in practice. She is ‘a great woman,’ perhaps an heiress, and takes the lead in both stories; by the time of the latter she may have been a widow. For the miracle, ct. 1 Kings 17:8 ff.: C. W. Emmet.

Shuni

A son of Gad (Genesis 46:16, Numbers 26:15 [gentilic Shunites]).

Shupham, Shuphamites, Shuppim

See MuppiM and Shephupham.

Shur

A place or district on the N.E. border of Egypt (Genesis 16:7 20:1 25:18. Exodus 15:22. 1 Samuel 15:7 27:8). The name in Aramaic means ‘wall,’ and, as Egyp. th is regularly rendered by sh in Aramaic, Shur is probably the Egyp. city Thor (the vocalization is uncertain), a fortress near the N.E. frontier, and capital of the 14th nome of Lower Egypt. This Thor lay on a stream or canal named Shi-Hor (see Shihor), and malefactors were sent thither after having their noses cut off. It is tempting to identify it with Rhinocorura (see Egypt [River of]), but it was on the banks of a fresh-water canal and 10 days’ march from Gaza. Perhaps it is the later Sele, near el-Kantara, on the Suez Canal.

F. Ll. Griffith.

Shushan

Shushan (Dn 8:2. Nehemiah 1:1 etc.) .-The Susa (Ad. Esther 11) of the Greeks, now Sus or Shush in S.W. Persia, between the Shapur and the river of Dizf ul (the ancient Koprates) . It was for many centuries the capital of Elam, and afterwards one of the three capitals of the Persian empire. Cf. also Elam.

SHUSHANOHITES, i.e. inhabitants of Shushan (Susa), are mentioned in Ezra 4:9 among the colonists settled by Osnappar (Ashurbanipal) in Samaria.

Shushan-eduth

See Psalms, p. 772«.

Shuthelah

One of the three clans of the tribe of Ephraim (Numbers 26:35 [gentilic Shuthelahite] In the parallel passage, 1 Chronicles 7:20, 21, the foundation text has been expanded and mis-written. J. F. McCurdy.

Shuttle

Only Job 7:6, where it is doubtful whether the reference is to the shuttle-rod of the loom or to the loom itself. The Heb. word has the latter meaning in its only other occurrence, Judges 16:14. See Spinning and Weaving, §§ 3 and 4 (6).

Sia

Sia (Nehemiah 7:47) or SIAHA (Ezra 2:44). A family of Nethinim (1 Esdras 5:29 Sua) who returned with Zerubbabel.

Sibbecai

See Mebunnai.

Sibboleth

See Shibboleth.

Sibmah

See Sebam.

Sibbadi

A point on the ideal northern boundary of the Holy Land (Ezekiel 47:16) ; site uncertain. Cf . Ziphron.

Siccuth

A word which is found in parallelism with Chiun in Amos 5:26. The present form is probably due to the Massoretic combination of the consonants of Sakkuth with the vowels of shigguts (‘abomination ‘) — the same vocalization which we find in Chiun. Sakkut is another name for the Assyr. god Ninib, god of the planet Saturn. Kaiwanu (Chiun) is also a name of Ninib. This would make Chiun and Siccuth synonymous— or at least different manifestations of the same deity. As evidence that this is the correct reading of the names, Rogers points out that the Babylonians themselves invoked Sakkut and Kaiwanu together, just as they appear in Amos. (See Chiun and Rephan.)

W. M. Nesbit.

Sick, Sickness

See Medicine.

Sickle

The Hebrew sickles (Deuteronomy 16 23 etc.) or reaping-hooks were successively of flint, bronze, and iron, and set in handles of bone or wood. In Palestine the flint sickle goes back to the later Stone age (Vincent, Canaan d’apris V exploration ricente, 388 ff. with illust.); a specimen was found by Bliss at Lachish. Similar flint sickles, witti bone hafts, have been found in Egypt. The ancient sickles were of two kinds, according as the cutting edge was plain or toothed ; the modern Palestinian reaping-hook is of the latter kind and somewhat elaborately curved (illust. Benzinger, Heb. Arch.’ 141). In Jeremiah 50 the reaper is described as " he that handleth the sickle’ {maggal, AVm ‘scythe,’ which is also wrongly given as an alternative in AVm of Isaiah 2:4, Micah 4:3 for ‘pruning hooks’). The same word is rendered ‘sickle’ in Joel 3:13 ‘put ye in the sickle, for the vintage is ripe’ (RVm), where the context, the LXX rendering, and the same figure in Revelation 14:19, 20 all show that the reference is to the smaller but similarly shaped grape-knife, expressly named maggSl in the Mishna, with which the grapegatherer cut off the bunches of ripe grapes.

A. R. S. Kennedy. SIOTON. — This was one of the numerous places written to by the Romans on behalf of the Jews in e.g. 139 (1 Maccabees 15:23). it was situated on the Gulf of Corinth, about 18 miles W. of Corinth. It was distinguished in plastic art, and was in early times very important and wealthy, but sank to insignificance early in the Christian era. A. Souter.

8IDDIDI, VALE OF.— The scene of the defeat of the five Canaanite kings by Amraphel and his three allies (Genesis 14:8 ff.). It is described as full of ‘slime pits’ or bitumen wells, i.e. holes in the ground from which there issued petroleum, which, when exposed to the air, hardened into solid bitumen. In the rout of the five kings by the four, these holes proved disastrous to the forces of the former, hampering them in their efforts to escape (Genesis 14). The battlefield is doubtless thought of as being in the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea, where bitumen is still abundant, masses of it, which have been detached from the bottom, being often found floating on the surface after shocks of earthquake; and the Vale of Siddim is expressly identified in Genesis 14:3 with the Dead Sea by the explanatory insertion, ‘the same is the Salt Sea.’ It by this is meant that the vale was co-extensive with the Dead Sea, the statement must be erroneous, for the greater part of the Dead Sea (the N. half of which has in places a depth of 1300 feet) is the remains of an inland sea which existed ‘long before the appearance of man on the earth,’ and consequently long before the age of Abraham. But it is possible that the Vale of Siddim is intended to be identified with only a portion of the Dead Sea; and those who consider Sodom and the other four ‘cities of the plain’ to have been situated at the S. end of the Dead Sea (where the morass of es- Sebkha now is) have taken the site of Siddim to be the southern portion of the Sea itself, which is very shallow and may once have been dry ground that has been covered by water through subsidence (cf. art. ‘Siddim’ in Hastings’ DB). By other observers, however, the shallows at the southern extremity of the lake are thought to be the result of elevation rather than of submersion; and if Sodom and the other four cities associated with it were situated at its N. end, a barren plain, in its N.W. corner, may have been the scene of the engagement recorded in Genesis 14. G. W. Wade.

SIDS, a Greek colony, was situated on the coast of Pamphylia, on a low promontory about 10 miles E. of the river Eurymedon. It had two harbours and was well fortified. The remains are extensive and interesting (,Eski Adalia). It was one of the cities addressed on behalf of the Jews by the Romans in b.c. 139 (1 Maccabees 15:23).

A. SonTER.

Sidon

See Zidon.

Siege

See Fortification and Sieoechaft.

Sieve

See Aqricdlture, 3.

Sign

Any outward tact which serves as a pledge of a Divine word or a proof of a Divine deed is a sign, whether it be natural or supernatural in its character. The rainbow served as the sign of the Noahic, as the rite of circumcision of the Abrahamic, covenant (Genesis 9:12 17:11 ‘token,’ Romans 4:11). That God was with, and worked for, the Israelites was shown in the plagues of Egypt (Exodus 10:2). . Gideon asks for and receives a sign that it is Jehovah who speaks with him (Judges 6:17), and Saul also receives signs to confirm the words of Samuel (1 Samuel 10:7). The prophetic word is thus proved from God (Isaiah 7:14 38:7, Jer 44, Ezekiel 14:8). The sign need not be supernatural (1 Samuel 2, Isaiah 8:18 20:3)) but the Jews in the time of Christ desired miracles as proofs of Divine power (Matthew 12:38 16:1, John 4:48, 1 Corinthians 1:22), a request which Jesus refused and condemned. The message of the Baptist, though not confirmed by any sign, was seen to be true (John 10:41). It is Jonah’s preaching that is probably referred to when Jesus speaks of him as a sign to his generation (Matthew 12:39). The ‘babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger,’ is the simple and humble sign to the shepherds of the birth of a Saviour, Christ the Lord (Luke 2:12) and He is welcomed by Simeon as ‘a sign which is spoken against’ (v. 34). The Fourth Gospel frequently describes the miracles of Jesus as signs (3:2 4), and attributes to them an evidential value which is not prominent in Jesus’ own intention. This confirmation of the gospel was found in the Apostolic Church (Mark 16:20, Acts 4:16 6:8 S*- " IS’‘, 2 Corinthians 2:12). The last things will be ushered in by extraordinary signs (Matthew 24:30, Luke 21:25, 2 Thessalonians 2:9 the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. Revelation 12:1 13:13 etc.). The faith that depends on signs, if not altogether condemned(Jn 6). is by Jesus deprecated (4. cf . 1 Corinthians 1:22). Cf. also p. sesi". Alfred E. Gahvie.

Signet

See Seal.

Sihon

A king of the Amorites at the tune of the conquest of Canaan. His dominion lay beyond the Jordan, between Jabbok on the N. and Arnon on the S., extending eastward to the desert (Jg II22). He refused to allow Israel to pass through his land, and was defeated at Jahaz (Numbers 21:21–24. Deuteronomy 2:26–36. Judges 11:19–22). Heshbon, his capital, was taken; and his land, along with that of Og king of Bashan, became the possession of Reuben, Gad, and the halt tribe of Manasseh. Frequent reference is made to his defeat (Numbers 32:33. Deuteronomy 1:4 3:2–6 4 29:7 31:4. Joshua 2:10 9:10 12:2 IS’"- 21. 27, 1 Kings 4:19. Nehemiah 9:22, Psalms 135:11 136:19). Sihon in Jeremiah 48:45 stands for Heshbon, the city of Sihon. W. F. Boyd.