Death – Delos

Death

I. In the OT.— 1. The B.eh. terra maweth and our corresponding word- ‘death’ alike spring from primitive roots belonging to the very beginnings of speech. One of man’s first needs was a word to denote that stark fact of experience — the final cessation of life to which he and the whole animated creation, and the very trees and plants, were all subject. It is, of course, in this ordinary sense of the term as denoting a physical fact that the expressions ‘death’ and ‘die’ are mostly used in the Scriptures.

2. The Scriptures have nothing directly to say as to the place of death in the economy of nature. St. Paul’s words in Romans 5 as to the connexion between sin and death must be explained in harmony with this fact ; and, for that matter, in harmony also with his own words in Romans 6:23. where death, the ‘wages of sin,’ cannot be simply physical death. The Creation narratives are silent on this point, yet in Genesis 2:17 man is expected to know what it is to die. We are not to look for exact information on matters such as this from writings of this kind. If the belief enshrined in the story of the Fall in Genesis 3 regarded death in the ordinary sense as the penalty of Adam and Eve’s transgression, they at any rate did not die ‘in the day’ of their transgression; v. 22 suggests that even then, could he but also eat of ‘the tree of life,’ man might escape mortality. All we can say is that In the dawn of human history man appears as one already familiar with the correlative mysteries of life and death.

3. From the contemplation of the act of dying it is an easy step to the thought of death as a state or condition. This is a distinct stage towards believing in existence of some kind beyond the grave. And to the vast mass of mankind to say ‘he is dead’ has never meant ‘he is non-existent.’

4. Divergent beliefs as to what the state of death is show themselves in the OT. — (a) In numerous instances death is represented as a condition of considerable activity and consciousness. The dead are regarded as ‘knowing ones,’ able toimpart information and counsel to the living. Note, the term translated ‘wizards’ in EV in Leviticus 19:31 20:6, Isaiah 8:19 19:3 really denotes departed spirits who are sought unto or inquired of ‘on behalf of the living.’ A vivid instance of this belief is furnished in the story of the Witch of En-dor (1 Samuel 28). So also in Isaiah 14:9, 10, where we have a graphic description of the commotion caused in Sheol by the arrival of the king of Babylon, a description with which we may compare the dream of ‘false Clarence’ in Shakespeare’s Rich. III., 1. 4. The reference to the dead under the term ‘gods’ (.eWhim), as in 1 Samuel 28:13, is noticeable. Whether in all this we have a relic of ancient Semitic ancestor-worship (as e.g. Charles maintains in his Jowett Lectures on Eschatology) or no, it seems to represent very primitive beliefs which survived in one form and another, even after the stern Jahwistic prohibition of necromancy was promulgated. They may also have affected the treatment of the dead, just as even yet there are usages in existence amongst us in regard to behaviour towards the dead which are probably traceable to very primitive pre-Christian ideas and beliefs.

(6) Jahwism might well forbid resort to necromancers with their weird appeals to the dead for guidance and information, for in its view the state of death was one of unconsciousness, forgetfvXness, and silence (see Psalms 88:12 94:17 115:17 etc.). The present world is emphatically’ the land of the living’ (Psalms 27:13 116:9 etc.). Those that are in Sheol have no communion with Jahweh ; see the Song of Hezekiah in Isaiah 38, and elsewhere. Sheol appears inviting to a soul in distress because it is a realm of unconscious rest (Job 3:17 ff.) ) ; and there is nothing to be known or to be done there (Ecclesiastes 9:10). It is true that here and there glimpses of a different prospect for the individual soul show themselves (e.g. Job 19:25 ff. and probably Psalms 16:10 f.) but the foregoing was evidently the prevalent view in a period when the individual was altogether subservient to the nation, and the religious concerns of the latter were rigorously limited to the present life.

(c) Other ideas of death as not terminating man’s existence and interests were, however, reached in later prophetic teaching, mainly through the thought of the worth of the individual, the significance of his conscious union with God, and of the covenant relations established by God with His people (Jeremiah 31; cf. Ezekiel 18). ‘Thou wilt not leave us in the dust.’

6. Death as standing in penal relation to man’s sin and unrighteousness is frequently insisted on. That this is something more than natural death is clear from such an antithesis as we have in Deuteronomy 30:15, 19 {‘life and good: death and evil’), and this set in strict relation to conduct. Cf . the burden of Ezekiel 18, ‘the soul that sinneth it shall die,’ with the correlative promise of fife: similarly Proverbs 15:10. All this points to some experience in the man himself and to conditions outlasting the present life. On the other hand, the thought of dying ‘the death of the righteous’ (Numbers 23:10) as a desirable thing looks in the same direction. And why has the righteous ‘hope in his death’ (Proverbs 14:32) ?

6. As minor matters, OT poetical uses of references to death may be merely pointed out. ‘Chambers of death,’ Proverbs 7:27; ‘gates,’ Psalms 9:13 ( = state); ‘bitterness of death,’ 1 Samuel 15:32. Ecclesiastes 7 ; ‘terrors,’ Psalms 55:4; ‘sorrows,’ Psalms 116:3 ( = man’s natural dread); ‘shadow of death,’ Job, Ps., the Prophets, passim (=any experience of horror and gloom, as well as with reference to death itself); ‘the sleep of death,’ Psalms 13:3 (to be distinguished from later Christian usage); ‘snares of death,’ Prov. passim, etc. ( = things leading to destruction) ; the phrase ‘to death,’ as ‘vexed unto death,’ Judges 13:7; ‘sick,’ 2 Kings 20:1 (=to an extreme degree).

II. In the Apochtpha. — The value of the Apocrypha in connexion with the study of Scriptural teaching and usage here is not to be overlooked. Notice e.g. Wisdom chs. 1-5, with its treatment of the attitude of the ungodly towards death (‘Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we

18X die’), of the problem of the early, untimely death of the good, and of immortality in relation to the ungodly and the righteous; Sirach, in which no clear conception of immortality appears, the best that can be said, to alleviate sorrow for the dead, being that ‘the dead is at rest’ (38) : in which also the fear of death is spoken of as besetting all ranks of men (40), and we are told who they are to whom death comes as a dread foe, and again who may welcome death as a friend (41).

III. In the NT. — 1. The teaching of Jesus. — (a) It is noticeable that our Lord has nothing to say directly concerning death as a physical phenomenon. He offers no explanation touching those matters in the experience of death which have always excited the curiosity of men, and in this respect His attitude Is in strong contrast with that found in Rabbinical writings. He makes no use of the conception of ‘the angel of death,’ so characteristic of the latter, and traceable perhaps in language such as that of 1 Corinthians 15, Hebrews 2:14. and Revelation 20:13, 14.

(b) No stress is laid on death as an evil in itself. In the few stories which we have in the Gospels of His raising the dead to lite, the raising is never represented as a deliverance and a good for the person brought back. Compassion for the sorrows of those bereaved Is the prime motive: in the case of Lazarus, it is expressly added that the restoration was ‘for the glory of God’ (John 11:4, 40). Still, those aspects of death which make the living and active shrink from it are incidentally recognized. Jesus in Rabbinic phrase speaks of tasting death (Mark 9:1))) and of seeing death (John 8:51, 52) and the feeling underlying such expressions is the very antithesis of that attaching to ‘seeing lite’ and ‘seeing many days.’ Death is to common human feeling an unwelcome, though inevitable, draught. This gives point also to our Lord’s promise that the believer shall never die (John 11:26). At the same time, there is no reference in His teaching to natural death as the solemn end of life’s experiences and opportunities, unless an exception be found in the saying about working ‘while it is day’ (John 9:4) but contrast with this as to tone a passage like Ecclesiastes 9:10.

(c) Jesus speaks of death as a sleep (Mark 5:39. John 11:11–13) ; but the same euphemistic use is found in OT and in extra-Biblical writers. It did not of itself necessarily lessen the terrors of death (see Psalms 13:3) but we owe it to Christ and the Christian faith mainly that such a representation of death has come to mitigate its bitterness, — such a use as is also found elsewhere in NT (e.g. 1 Thessalonians 4:13 ff.). This conception of death is, of course, to be limited to its relation to the activities and interests of this world. It is a falling asleep after life’s day — and ‘we sleep to wake’: but there is nothing here to shed light on such questions as to whether that sleep is a prolonged period of unconsciousness or no.

{d) Natural death is lost sight of in the much larger and more solemn conception of the condition of man resulting from sin, which in the Fourth Gospel is particularly described as ‘death’ (see John 5:24 6:50 S^‘- The exemption and deliverance promised in John 11:25 f. relate to this spiritual death, and by that deliverance natural death is shorn of its real terrors. This condition, resulting from sin and separation from God, may be regarded as incipient here and tending to a manifest consummation hereafter, with physical death intervening as a moment of transition and deriving a solemn significance from its association with the course and state of sin (see Beyschlag, NT Theol., Eng. tr. ii. p. 56 f.). The corresponding language of 1 Ep. of John is not to be overlooked (3:14) as exemplifying Johannine phraseology. The conception, however, is not found exclusively in the Johannine writings. Note the saying in Luke 9:60 as bearing on this point. In Matthew 7:13 f.’ destruction’ is the antithesis of ‘life’ (and of. Matthew 5:29 f. 18, Mark 8:35, John 3:16 etc.); but the conception of ‘perishlng’ covers the deep experience of spiritual death, the loss of all that really makes the man.

(The phrase ‘die the death’ in EV, in Mark 7:10 and parallel, may be noticed as being not a literal translation of the Greek, but a mid-English emphatic expression,’ now archaic.)

2. The rest of the NT.— We may notice the following points: (a) The Pauline doctrine that natural death is the primitive consequence of sin, already referred to, is to be explained as the common Jewish interpretation of the OT account of the Fall, and finds no direct support in the Gospels. The feehng that ‘the sting of death is sin’ is, however, vridely existent in NT. (6) The use of the term death* as denoting a certain spiritual state in which men may live and be still destitute of all that is worth calling ‘life,’ is quite common (Ephesians 2:1, 5 5:14. Colossians 2:13. 1 Timothy 6:6. James 1:15, Jude Revelation 3:1). (c) A mystical and figurative use of the notion of death as denoting the change from a sinful to a new life is noticeable. The believer, the man spiritually alive, is also ‘dead to sin’ (Romans 6:2. 1 Peter 2:24). is ‘dead with Christ’ (Romans 6:8. Colossians 2:20 etc.). id) The expression ‘eternal death’ is found nowhere in NT, common as its use is in religious and theological language. It is the correlative, easily suggested by the expression ‘eternal life’ which is so conspicuous a topic of NT teaching, and it serves loosely as an equivalent for the antitheses to ‘hfe’ or ‘eternal life’ that actually occur, such as ‘destruction’ (Matthew 7:13). ‘the eternal fire’ (Matthew 18:8). ‘eternal punishment’ (Matthew 25:46). Cf. also ‘the second death’ in Revelation 21:8. If we substitute for ‘eternal’ some other rendering such as ‘of the ages’ or ‘seonian,’ it but serves to remind us of the profound difiiculties attaching to the predication of eternity in relation to the subject of man’s destiny or doom.

J. S. Clemens.

Debate

This word had formerly the meaning of ‘strife,’ as in the Geneva tr. of Genesis 13:7. ‘there was debate betweene the heardmen of Abrams cattell, and the heardmen of Lots cattell.’

Debir

The king of Eglon, who ace. to Joshua 10:3) joined other four kings against Joshua, but was defeated and put to death along with his allies at Makkedah.

Debir

1. A town first known as Kiriath-sepher (Joshua 15:15. Judges 1:11) in the neighbourhood of Hebron, and inhabited by Anakim (Joshua 11:21). conquered by Joshua (10:38 11:21 12:13), or more specifically by Othniel (15:15). assigned as a Levitical city (21:15. 1 Chronicles 6:58) in the tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:49). An alternative name Klriath-saimah, once recorded (15:49). is probably a corruption of Kiriath-sepher, due primarily to the similarity of p and n in the old Hebrew alphabet. It has been doubtfully identified with edh-Dhaheriyeh near Hebron; till the site can be identified and examined, the attractive speculations based on the apparent meaning of the older name (‘City of Books’ or ‘Scribes’) must be left in the region of theory.

2. A place named in the northern boundary of Judah, near the valley of Achor (Joshua 15:7). The name still survives as the appellation of a place in this neighbourhood.

3. A place, not Identified, in the border of the trans- Jordanic territory of Gad (Joshua 13). An alternative reading is Lidebir (cf. Lo-debah).

R. A. S. Macalistek.

Deborah

(‘bee’). 1. Rebekah’s nurse, who accompanied her mistress to her new home on her marrying Isaac (Genesis 24:59). She was evidently held in great reverence, as the name of the site of her grave in Bethel shows, Allon-bacuth, the ‘terebinth of weeping’ (Genesis 35:8).

2. The fourth of the leaders, or ‘Judges,’ of Israel; called also a ‘prophetess,’ i.e. an inspired woman — one of the four mentioned in the OT — of the tribe of Issachar (Judges 5:15), wife of Lappidoth (4:4). Her home was between Bethel and Ramah in the hill-country of Ephraim; here the Israelites came to her for judgment and guidance. She was the real deliverer of the Israelites, who had sunk into a state of feebleness and impotence, through the oppression of Jabin, king of Hazor (see Bakak). a personality of great power and outstanding character, she was looked up to as a ‘mother in Israel’ (5:7). and was instant both in word and in deed in fulfilling her calling of ‘Judge.’ Her r61e is the more remarkable in that the general position of women in those days was of a distinctly subordinate character.

Deborah’s Song (Judges 5:2–31) is one of the most ancient and magnificent remains of early Hebrew literature. It is a song of victory, sung in memory of Israel’s triumph (under the leadership of Deborah and Barak) over Sisera and the kings of Canaan. The vivid pictures which the poem brings up before the mind’s eye make it certain that the writer (whether Deborah or another) lived at the time of the events described. The parallel, and somewhat later, account (in prose) of the same battle (Judges 4:4–24) agrees in the main with the poem, though there are many differences in the details. The Song is divided into four distinct sections:

Praise to Jahweh, and the terror of His approach, w.^-^.

Condition of Israel prior to Deborah’s activity, w.^-‘^

Gathering of the tnbes of Israel, w.^^-is.

Victory of Israel and death of Sisera, w.^^-^*.

The chief importance of the Song lies in the historical data it contains, and in the light it throws on some of early Israel’s conceptions of Jahweh. Of the former, the main points are that at this time the Israelites had securely settled themselves in the mountainous districts, but had not as yet obtained any hold on the fertile lands of the Plain; that unity had not yet been established among the tribes of Israel; and that the ‘twelve tribes’ of later times had not yet all come into existence.

Of the latter, the main points are: that Jahweh has His dwelling-place on the mountains in the South; that, therefore. He has not yet come to dwell among His people, though He is regarded as specifically the God of Israel; that He comes forth from His dwelling-place to lead His people to battle; and that His might and strength are so great that the very elements are shaken at His approach.

The Hebrew text is in some places_(notably in w.^- very corrupt; but the general sense is clear.

3. The mother of Tobit’s father; she seems to have taught her grandchild the duty of almsgiving (Tobit 1:8). W. O. E. Oesteelet.

Debt

1. In OT. — Loans in the OT period were not of a commercial nature. They were not granted to enable a man to start or extend his business, but to meet the pressure of poverty. To the borrower they were a misfortune (Deuteronomy 28:12, 44) ; to the lender a form of charity. Hence the tone of legislation on the subject.

Usury is forbidden in all three codes (Exodus 22 [JE], Deuteronomy 23:19. Leviticus 25 [H]); it was making a profit out of a brother’s distress. In Dt. it may be taken from a foreigner. Pledges were allowed, but under strict limitations (Deuteronomy 24:10, Job 24:3). In Deuteronomy 15 is a remarkable law providing for the ‘letting drop’ of loans every seventh year (see Driver, ad loc.). Its relation to the law of the Sabbatical year in Exodus 23:10 (JE), Leviticus 25:1 (H) is not clear, but the cessation of agriculture would obviously lead to serious financial difficulties, and debtors might reasonably look for some relief. This consideration makes for the modem view, that the passage implies only the suspension for a year of the creditor’s right to demand payment. It must be admitted, however, that apart from a priori considerations the obvious interpretation is a total remission of debts (so the older, and Jewish commentators). Foreigners do not come under the law. The other codes have no parallel, except where the debt may have led to the bondage of the debtor’s person.

Historically the legislation seems to have been largely ignored. In 2 Kings 4:1–7 a small debt involves the bondage of a widow’s two sons (cf. Isaiah 50:1, Matthew 18:23), and Elisha helps her not by invoking the law, but by a miracle. In Nehemiah 5 mortgaged lands and interest are restored under the pressure of an economic crisis. Nehemiah himself has been a creditor and taken usury. There is an apparent reference to Deuteronomy 15 in Nehemiah 10:31. In later times the strictness of the law was evaded by various legal fictions: Hillel introduced a system of ‘contracting out.’ That loans played a large part in social life is shown by frequent references in the Prophets, Psalms, and Proverbs (Isaiah 24:2. pg 15:5 37:21, pr 19:17 28:8). Jeremiah 15:10 shows that the relation between debtor and creditor was proverbially an unpleasant one. In Psalms 37:21 it is part of the misfortune of the wicked that he shall be unable to pay his debts; there is no reference to dishonesty. Pr. 22:7. Sirach 18:33 warn against borrowing, and Sirach 29 has some delightful common-sense advice on the whole subject.

2, In NT. — Loans are assumed by our Lord as a normal factor in social life (Matthew 25:27. Luke 16:5 IQ^‘). Lk 6:34, 35 suggests that the Christian will not always stand on his rights in this respect. Debt is used as a synonym for sin in Matthew 6:12 (cf. the two parables Matthew 18:23, Luke 7:41; and Colossians 2:14). The context of these passages is a sufilcient warning against the external and legalistic view of sin which might be suggested by the word itself. Christ does not imply that it is a debt which can be paid by any amount of good deeds or retributive suffering. The word is chosen to emphasize our duty of forgiveness, and it has a wide meaning, including all we owe to God. The metaphor of the money payment has ceased to be prominent, except where it is implied by the context.

C. W. Emmet. DECALOCrUE.— See Ten Commandments. DECAPOLIS. — Originally a league of ten cities, Greek in population and constitution, for mutual defence against the Semitic tribes around them. It must have come into existence about the beginning of the Christian era. The original ten cities, as enumerated by Pliny, were ScythopoUs, Pella, Dion, Gerasa, Philadelphia, Gadara, Kaphana, Kanatha, Hippos, and Damascus. Other cities joined the league from time to time. The region of DecapoUs (Matthew 4:25. Mark 6:20 7:31) was the territory in which these cities were situated; that is (excluding Damascus), roughly speaking, the country S.E. of the Sea of Galilee. R. A. S. Macalister.

Decease

The Gr. word exodos (‘exodus," outgoing’) is translated ‘decease’ in Luke 9:31 and 2 Peter 1. the meaning being departure out of the world. In this sense the Gr. word is used also in Wisdom 3:2 7:6. Sirach 38:23. The opposite, dsodos, is used of the ‘coming’ of Christ. The only other occurrence of the Gr. exodos in NT is in Hebrews 11:22. of the Exodus from Egypt (AV and RV ‘departure’).

Decently

1 Corinthians 14:40. ‘Let all things be done decently and in order,’ that is, in a comely, handsome manner; for that is the old meaning of ‘decent,’ and it is the meaning of the Gr. word used.

Decision

Duly constituted and recognized authorities have the power of decision granted to them in all questions of right in the Bible. Moses (Exodus 18:13), the judges (1 Samuel 7:16). and the kings (1 Kings 3) exercise this power upon occasion. Questions of right between Christian brethren are to be decided by Church courts and not by civil authorities (Matthew 18:17, 1 Corinthians 6:1–8). The only method of decision sanctioned in the N’T is the exercise of godly judgment on the part of the individual to whom authority has been granted. The casting of lots by heathen soldiers (Mark 15:24) and the sortilege of Acts 1:21–26 cannot be cited as examples for the Christian Church. No instance of the casting of lots can be found after Pentecost. The Spirit of a sound mind now decides what is right and what is true.

D. A. Hayes. DECISION, VALLET OF.— The phrase is found only in Joel 3:14 ‘Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision; for the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision.’ This valley is evidently the valley of Jehoshaphat mentioned in the preceding context (vv. 2, 12) The decision is that of Jehovah Himself, His final judgment upon the heathen assembled. The scene of this judgment has been fixed by Jews, Roman Catholics, and Mohammedans in the Valley of the Kidron. The valley of Jehoshaphat has been identified with the Valley of the Kidron since the time of Eusebius. Orelli, Michaelis, Robinson, and others think the valley of this prophecy is purely a symbolic one, the valley of ‘Jehovah’s judgment,’ as the Heb. name Jehoshaphat (‘Jehovah hath judged’) suggests. D. A. Hayes.

Decree

What theologians speak of as the ‘decrees of God,’ and describe as one, immutable, eternal, all-embracing, free, etc., do not receive this designation in Scripture. The equivalents are to be sought for under such headings as Election, Predestination, Providence, Reprobate. In the EV the term is frequently used in Esther, Ezra, Daniel, with different Heb. and Aram, words, for royal decrees (in Daniel 6 RV ‘interdict’; in 2:9 RV ‘law,’ elsewhere ‘decree’). In the NT also the Gr. word dogmata is employed of decrees of Caesar (Luke 2:1. Acts 17:7) in Acts 16:4 it is used of decrees of the Church; elsewhere (Ephesians 2:15. Col. 2:20) it is tr. ‘ordinances.’ The nearest approach to the theological sense of the term is, in OT, in the Heb. word hsk, ordinarily tr. ‘statute,’ which is used in various places of God’s sovereign appointments in nature and providence (Job 28. Psalms 148:6. Proverbs 8:29. Jeremiah 5:22. Zephaniah 2:2). The Hebrews had not the modern conception of ‘laws of nature,’ but they had a good equivalent in the Idea of the world as ordered and founded by God’s decrees; as regulated by His ordinances(cf. Psalms 104:5, 9 II9BB-91, Jeremiah 10:12 ff.). The same word is used in Psalms 2:7 of God’s ‘decree’ regarding His king; in Daniel 4:17 24 (Aram.) we have ‘decree’ of ‘the watchers’ and ‘the most High.’ James Orr.

DEDAN, — A north Arabian people, according to Genesis 10:7 descended from Gush, and according to 25:3 from Abraham through Keturah. The combination is not difficult to understand when we remember the Arabian afflhations of the Cushites (cf. Isaiah 21:13). In Ezekiel 25:13 Dedan is placed almost within the Edomite territory, which it must have bordered on the south-east(cf. Jeremiah 25:23 49:8). The Dedanites were among the Arabian peoples who sent their native wares to the markets of Tyre (Ezekiel 27:20). In Ezekiel 27:15 read ‘Rodan’ (Rhodians) for ‘Dedan.’ J^ F. McCurdy.

Dedication

See House, § 3.

Dedication, Feast Ofthe

Afterthe desecration of the Temple and altar by Antiochus Epiphanes, Judas Maccabaeus re-consecrated them in B.C. 165 on the 25th day of Chislev (December); cf. 1 Maccabees 4. 2 Maccabees 10:6. This event was henceforward celebrated by a feast all over the country (John 10:22). It lasted 8 days. There was no suspension of business or labour, and but few additions were made to the ordinary synagogue services. The special feature of the festival was the illumination of private houses, whence came its alternative name — ‘the Feast of Lights.’ (There were divergent rules for these illuminations in the various schools of traditionalists.) It was an occasion for feasting and jollity: the people assembled at the synagogues, carrying branches of palms and other trees; the services were jubilant, no fast or mourning could begin during the period, and the Hallel (Pss 113-118) was chanted. The resemblances of this celebration to the Feast of Tabernacles were perhaps intentional.

A. W. F. Blunt.

Deep

See Abyss.

Deer

See Fallow-deer, Hart. DEFENCED.— In AV ‘defenced’ means ‘provided with fences,’ ‘protected,’ ‘fortified.’ It is used in AV of fortified cities, and once (Zee 11^ marg.) of a forest.

Defilement

See Clean and Unclean.

Degrees, Songs of

See Psalms.

Dehaites

Dehaites (AV Dehavites, Ezra 4:9). The Dehaites were among the peoples settled in Samaria by Osnappar, i.e. probably the Assyr. king Ashurbanipal. The name has been connected with that of a nomadic Persian tribe, the Daoi, mentioned in Herod, i. 125, or with the name of the city Du’-ua, mentioned on Assyr. contract-tablets; but these identifications are very doubtful.

Delaiah

1. One of the sons of Elioenai (1 Chronicles 3:24, AV Dalaiah) . 2. A priest and leader of the 23rd course of priests (1 Chronicles 24:18). 3. The son of Sheraaiah (Jer 36). 4. The son of Mehetabel, and father of Shemaiah (Nehemiah 6:10). 6. The head of a family that returned with Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:60 7). The name in 1 Esdras 5:37 is Dalan.

Delilah

The Philistine woman who betrayed Samson into the hands of the Philistines. See Samson.

Delos

A small rocky island in the ^gaean Sea, which has played an extraordinary part in history. It was the seat of a wide-spread worship of Apollo, who, with his sister Artemis, was said to have been born there. In B.C. 478 it was chosen as the meeting-place of the confederacy of Greek States united against their common enemy the Persians, and became a rival of Athens. In the 2nd and 1st cents. B.C. it became a great harbour, and was under Roman protection from B.C. 197 to 167. It was later a portion of the Roman province Achaia. It is mentioned in the famous letter of the Romans in favour of the Jews (b.c. 139-138, 1 Maccabees 15). It was a great exchange, where slaves and other products of the E. were bought for the Italian market. It was the scene in b.c 87 of a horrible massacre carried out by Mithradates, king of Pontus, who slaughtered 80,000 Italians there and in neighbouring islands. It never fully recovered, and in the Empire became insignificant. A. Souter.