Skip to content

C

Chance – Chaste; Chastity

Page 124 of 710

Chance

chans: The idea of chance in the sense of something wholly fortuitous was utterly foreign to the Hebrew creed. Throughout the whole course of Israel's history, to the Hebrew mind, law, not chance, ruled the universe, and that law was not something blindly mechanical, but the expression of the personal Yahweh. Israel's belief upon this subject may be summed up in the couplet, "The lot is cast into the lap; But the whole disposing thereof is of Yahweh" (). A number of Hebrew and Greek expressions have been translated "chance," or something nearly equivalent, but it is noteworthy that of the classical words for chance, suntuchia, and tuche, the former never occurs in the Bible and the latter only twice in the Septuagint.

The closest approach to the idea of chance is found in the statement of the Philistines that if their device for ascertaining the cause of their calamities turned out a certain way they would call them a chance, that is, bad luck (miqreh, ). But note that it was a heathen people who said this. We have the same Hebrew noun and the verb, from which the noun is taken, a number of times, but variously rendered into English: Uncleanness that "chanceth him by night" (). "Her hap was to ligh t on the portion of the field" (). "Something hath befallen him" (). "One event happeneth to them all" (,); "that which befalleth the sons of men" ("sons of men are a chance," the English Revised Version, margin) (). "There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked" (,). Here the idea certainly is not something independent of the will of God, but something unexpected by man.

There is also qara', "If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way" (). Both the above Hebrew words are combined in the statement "As I happened by chance upon Mount Gilboa" (). "And Absalom chanced to meet the servants of David" ("met the servants," , the King James Version). "And there happened to be there a base fellow" ().

We have also pegha`, "Time and chance happeneth to them all," meaning simply occurrence (). "Neither adversary, nor evil occurrence" ().

In the New Testament we have sugkuria, "coincidence," a meeting apparently accidental, a coincidence. "By chance a certain priest was going down that way" (). Also ei tuchoi. "It may chance of wheat, or of some other kind," i.e. we cannot tell which (). "It may be" ().

If we look at the Septuagint we find tuche used twice. "And Leah said, (En tuche) With fortune" ("a troop cometh," the King James Version; "fortunate," the Revised Version (British and American); "with fortune," the Revised Version, margin, ). Note, it was no Israelite, but who said this. "That prepare a table for Fortune, and that fill up mingled wine unto Destiny" ("fate," ). In this passage tuche stands or the Hebrew meni, the god of destiny, and Fortune is for Gad, the old Semitic name for the god of fortune found in inscriptions, private names, etc. Note here, however, also, that the prophet was rebuking idolatrous ones for apostasy to heathen divinities.

We have also in the Apocrypha, "these things which have chanced," the Revised Version (British and American) "to be opened unto thee" (2 Esdras 10:49).

See also GAD; MENI.

George Henry Trever

Chancellor

chan'-sel-er: The rendering in ,, of the Hebrew be`el Te`em; Septuagint Baal (4:9), Balgam (4:17), the latter being an incorrect translation of Hebrew `ayin. In 1 Esdras 2:16,25, Beeltethmos (compare ) occurs as a corruption, doubtless of be`el Te`em. The term in question designates an Assyrian office, namely, that of the "master or lord of official intelligence," or "postmaster" (Sayce).

Change

chanj: A word which seeks to express the many shades of meaning contained in 13 variations of 9 Hebrew words and 5 Greek. These signify, in turn, "to change" "to exchange," "to turn," "to put or place," "to make other" i.e. "alter," "to disguise oneself." chalaph, and its derivatives, occuring often, indicates "to pass away," hence, alter, renew, e.g.:

(1) "changes of raiment" (; ,,);

(2) "changed my wages ten times" (,);

(3) heavens changed "as a vesture" ();

(4) "changes and warfare" (), i.e. relays of soldiers as illustrated in (the Revised Version, margin "host after host is against me");

(5) "till my change come" (the Revised Version (British and American) "release"), i.e. death ();

(6) "changed the ordinances" (the American Standard Revised Version "violated the statutes"), i.e. disregarded law ();

(7) change of mind ( the King James Version). Used also of change of character, haphakh:

(1) of leprosy, "changed unto white" ();

(2) figuratively of the moral life, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin?" (); so also mur, and derivatives, "changed their gods" and "their glory," etc. (; ; ).

Other words used to indicate change of name (); of day and night (); of times and seasons (); of countenance. (); of behavior (); God's unchangeableness, "I, Yahweh, change not" ().

In the New Testament the word has to do chiefly with spiritual realities:

(1) metatithemi, of the necessary change of the priesthood and law under Christ ();

(2) allatto, of His changing the customs of Moses ();

(3) of moral change, e.g. debasement (,,);

(4) of bodily change at the resurrection (,; metaschematizo, the King James Version);

(5) metaballo, of change of mind in presence of a miracle ();

(6) of the change to come over the heavens at the great day of the Lord (; compare ,).

Figurative uses indicated separately in the course of the article.

Dwight M. Pratt

Change Of Raiment

ra'-ment.

See DRESS.

Changer

chan'-jer (kollubistes, "money-changer," and so rendered ; ): A banker or other person who changes money at a fixed rate. Indignant at the profane traffic in the temple Jesus "poured out the changers' money" (). So used only here. For fuller treatment see BANK; MONEY-CHANGERS.

Channel

chan'-el ('aphiq (root 'aphaq, "to hold or contain," "to be strong"; compare Arabic 'afaq "to overcome" and 'afiq, "preeminent"); shibboleth (shabhal, "to go," "to go up or grow," "to flow"; compare Arabic 'asbal, "to flow," "to rain," "to put forth ears"; sabalat, "an ear of grain"; sabil, "a road," "a public fountain")): In ; ; we have 'aphiq in the sense of "strong" (but compare 40:18, the Revised Version (British and American) "tubes" (of brass)). Elsewhere it is translated "river," "brook," "stream," "channel" or "watercourse." Shibboleth (in the dialect of Ephraim cibboleth ()) means "an ear of grain" ( ff; ; ) or "a flood of water" (,; ). In (compare ) we have: "Then the channels of the sea appeared, The foundations of the world were laid bare, By the rebuke of Yahweh, At the blast of the breath of his nostrils." This is reminiscent of "fountains of the deep" (; ; ). It is a question how far we should attribute to these ancient writers a share in modern notions of oceanography, but the idea seems to be that of a withdrawal of the water of the ocean, and the laying bare of submarine declivities and channels such as we know to exist as the result of erosion during a previous period of elevation, when the given portion of ocean floor was dry land.

The fact that many streams of Palestine flow only during the rainy season seems to be referred to in ; and perhaps also in .

See BROOK; RIVER.

Alfred Ely Day

Chanoch; Hanochites

ha'-nok, ha'-nok-its (chanokh, "initiation," "dedication"):

(1) A grandson of Abraham by Keturah, and an ancestral head of a clan of Midian (; , the King James Version "Henoch").

(2) The eldest son of Reuben (; ; ).

The descendants of Hanoch were known as Hanochites ().

Chant

(paraT): Occurs only once in the King James Version in , and the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain. ParaT corresponds to an Arabic root meaning to anticipate. It may therefore signify to improvise, to sing without care or preparation. the Revised Version (British and American) "to sing idle songs" suits the context. See Driver, Joe and Amos.

Chanuneus

ka-nun'-e-us (Chanounaios; the King James Version Channuneus): A Levite in the list of 1 Esdras 8:48, probably corresponding to "Merari" in .

Chapel

chap'-el (miqdash, "a holy place"; the Revised Version (British and American) SANCTUARY, which see): "It is the king's chapel" ( the King James Version), an expression indicative of the dependence of this sanctuary on the court.

Chaphenatha

ka-fen'-a-tha (Chaphenatha; the King James Version Caphenatha): A name apparently given to part of the eastern wall of Jerusalem or a fort in that neighborhood which is said (1 Macc 12:37) to have been repaired by Jonathan Maccabeus. The place cannot now be identified. Various speculations have been made as to the origin of the name, but they can hardly be said to throw any light on the passage cited.

Chapiter

chap'-i-ter.

See ARCHITECTURE; JACHIN AND BOAZ; TEMPLE, II, 4.

Chapman

chap'-man (plural 'anshe ha-tarim): Word used only once in the King James Version (, the American Standard Revised Version "the traders"; compare also the Revised Version (British and American), where the Hebrew uses the same expression). The English word means "merchant"; compare the verb "to chaffer," and the German Kaufmann. The Hebrew means "those who go about" as merchants.

Chapt

(chathath): The Hebrew term chathath means "broken," "terrified" or "dismayed." This term as it occurs in is rendered "chapt" in English Versions of the Bible, "cracked" in the American Standard Revised Version, and "dismayed" in the Revised Version, margin. Inasmuch as the Hebrew term means "broken," it is not incorrectly rendered "chapt" or "chapped," which means to be cracked Open.

Charaathalan

kar-a-ath'-a-lan (Charaathalan; the King James Version Charaathalar (1 Esdras 5:36)): Most probably a corruption of the text. The names "Cherub, Addan, and Immer" in the lists of and are presented in the text cited as "Charaathalan leading them, and Allar."

Characa

kar'-a-ka.

See CHARAX.

Charashim

kar'-a-shim (charashim, "craftsmen").

See GE-HARASHIM.

Charax; Characa

kar'-ax, kar'-a-ka; (eis ton Charaka; the King James Version Charax): A place mentioned only in 2 Macc 12:17. It lay East of the Jordan and is said to be 750 stadia from Caspis, and to be inhabited by Jews called Tubieni, that is, of Tobie (Tob) in Gilead (1 Macc 5:9,13; 2 Macc 12:17). There is no clue as to the direction in which Ch. lay from Caspis. Possibly Kerak (Kir-moab), in post-Biblical times called Charamoba and Moboucharax, may represent the place. It lay about 100 miles South of el-Mezerib, Southeast of the Dead Sea.

Charchemish

kar'-ke-mish.

See CARCHEMISH.

Charchus

kar'-kus.

See BARCHUS.

Charea

kar'-re-a (Charea): Head of a family of temple-servants (1 Esdras 5:32); called "Harsha" in ; .

Charge; Chargeable

charj, char'-ja-b'-l (from Latin carrus, "a wagon," hence, "to lay or put a load on or in," "to burden, or be a burden"):

Figurative:

(1) of a special duty mishmereth, ("thing to be watched"), "the charge of Yahweh" (), the injunctions given in ; "the charge of the tabernacle" (); "the charge of the sons of Getshon" ();

(2) of the burden of expense (kabhedh, "to be, or make heavy"; adapanos, "without expense"), "lest we be chargeable unto thee" ( the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "burdensome"); "The former governors .... were charge unto the people" ( margin "laid burdens upon"); "that .... I may make the gospel without charge" (; see CHARGES);

(3) of oversight, care, custody, "Who gave him a charge over the earth?" (); "to have the charge of the gate" (); "charge of the vessels of service" (); "cause ye them that have charge (pequddoth, "inspectors") over the city" (); "who had the charge of all her treasure" ( the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "was over");

(4) of a command, injunction, requirement, "He gave him a charge" (); "His father charged the people with the oath" (); "Jesus strictly (m "sternly") charged them" (); "I charge you by the Lord" ( the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "adjure"); "having received such a charge" (, paraggelia, "private or extra message"); "This charge I commit unto thee" ();

(5) of blame, responsibility, reckoning, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge" (); "nothing laid to his charge" (); "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?" ().

M. O. Evans

Charger

char'-jer (the American Standard Revised Version "platter"): A word which meant in the older English speech a flat dish or platter. It is used in the Bible as the translation:

(1) of qe`arah, which in the King James Version (the Revised Version (British and American) "platter") and repeatedly in that chapter denotes one of the gifts made by the several princes at the dedication of the tabernacle;

(2) of 'agharTal, a word of uncertain derivation used in (the King James Version) twice to designate certain temple vessels which might better be called "libation bowls";

(3) of pinax, used ,; , (EV) for the dish in which the head of John the Baptist was presented.

David Foster Estes

Charges

char'-jiz (dapanao, "to spend"): "Be at charges for them" (, the King James Version "with them"), i.e. pay the sacrificial expenses of these poorer Nazirites (compare Josephus, Ant, XIX, xvi, 1).

Chariot

char'-i-ot (merkabh, merkabhah, "riding-chariot," rekhebh, "war-chariot"; harma):

1. Chariots of Egypt

2. Chariots of the Canaanites

3. Chariots of Solomon and Later Kings

4. Chariots of the Assyrians

5. Chariots of Chaldeans, Persians, Greeks

6. In the New Testament

7. Figurative Use

LITERATURE

1. Chariots of Egypt:

It is to the chariots of ancient Egypt that reference is first made in Scripture. Joseph was honored by being made to ride in the second chariot of King Pharaoh (). Joseph paid honor to his father on his arrival in Goshen by meeting him in his chariot (). In the state ceremonial with which the remains of Jacob were escorted to Canaan, chariots and horsemen were conspicuous (). In the narrative of the departure of the Israelites from Egypt and of Pharaoh's futile attempts to detain them the chariots and horsemen of Pharaoh figure largely (,,,; ,). It was with the Hyksos invasion, some centuries before the Exodus, that the horse, and subsequently the chariot, were introduced for purposes of war into Egypt; and it may have been the possession of chariots that enabled those hated shepherd warriors to overpower the native Egyptians. The Egyptian chariot was distinguished by its lightness of build. It was so reduced in weight that it was possible for a man to carry his chariot on his shoulders without fatigue. The ordinary chariot was made of wood and leather, and had only two occupants, the fighting man and his shield-bearer. The royal chariots were ornamented with gold and silver, and in the battle of Megiddo Thothmes III is represented as standing in his chariot of electrum like the god of war, brandishing his lance. In the battle the victorious Egyptians captured 2,041 horses and 924 chariots from the Syrian allies.

2. Chariots of the Canaanites:

The Canaanites had long been possessed of horses and chariots when Joshua houghed their horses and burnt their chariots with fire at the waters of Merom (,). The chariots of iron which the Canaanites could maneuvere in the plains and valleys proved a formidable obstacle to the Complete conquest of the land (). Jabin had 900 chariots of iron, and with them he was able to oppress the children of Israel twenty years (). The Philistines of the low country and the maritime plain, of whom we read in Judges and Samuel, were a warlike people, were disciplined and well armed and their possession of chariots gave them a great advantage over the Israelites. In the war of Michmash they put into the field the incredible number of 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen, only in the end to suffer a grievous defeat (; ). In the battle of Gilboa, however, the chariots and horsemen of the Philistines bore down all opposition, and proved the destruction of Saul and his house. Of these chariots there have come down to us no detailed description and no representation. But we cannot be far wrong in turning to the chariot of the Hittites as a type of the Canaanite and Philistine chariot. It is not from the monuments of the Hittites themselves, however, but from the representations of the Kheta of the Egyptian monuments, that we know what their chariots were like. Their chariotry was their chief arm of offense. The Hittite chariot was used, too, for hunting; but a heavier car with paneled sides was employed for war. The Egyptian monuments represent three Hittites in each car, a practice which differed from that of Egypt and attracted attention. Of the three, one guided the chariot, another did the fighting with sword and lance, and the third was the shield-bearer.

3. Chariots of Solomon and Later Kings:

The Israelites living in a mountainous country were tardy in adopting the chariot for purposes of war. David houghed all the chariot horses of Hadadezer, king of Zobah, and "reserved of them for a hundred chariots" (), and Adonijah prepared for himself chariots and horsemen with a view to contest the throne of his father (). But Solomon was the first in Israel to acquire chariots and horses on a national scale, and to build cities for their accommodation (). In Massoretic Text of the Old Testament we read that Solomon had agents who received droves of horses from Egypt, and it is added: "And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for 600 shekels of silver, and a horse for 150; and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, did they bring them out by their means" (). On the strength of a warrantable emendation of the text it is now proposed to read the preceding (): "And Solomon's import of horses was from Mucri and from Kue; the king's traders received them from Kue at a price"--where Mucri and Kue are North Syria and Cilicia. No doubt it was Egypt out of which the nation was forbidden by the Deuteronomic law to multiply horses (), but on the other hand the statement of Eze (27:14) that Israel derived horses, chargers and mules not from Egypt but from Togarmah--North Syria and Asia Minor--agrees with the new rendering (Burney, Notes on Hebrew Text of the Books of Kings, in the place cited.). From Solomon's time onward chariots were in use in both kingdoms. Zimri, who slew Elah, son of Baasha, king of Israel, was captain of half his chariots (). It was when sitting in his chariot in disguise beside the driver that Ahab received his fatal wound at Ramoth-gilead (). The floor of the royal chariot was a pool of blood, and "they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria" (,). It was in his war-chariot that his servants carried Josiah dead from the fatal field of Megiddo (). The chief pieces of the Hebrew chariot were

(1) the pole to which the two horses were yoked,

(2) the axle--resting upon two wheels with six or eight spokes ()--into which the pole was fixed,

(3) a frame or body open behind, standing upon the axle and fitted by a leather band to the pole.

The chariots of iron of which we read () were of wood strengthened or studded with iron. Like that of the Hittite, the Hebrew chariot probably carried three men, although in the chariot of Ahab () and in that of Jehu ( f) we read of only two.

4. Chariots of the Assyrians:

In the later days when the Assyrians overran the lands of the West, the Israelites had to face the chariots and the hosts of Sennacherib and of the kings (). And they faced them with chariots of their own. An inscription of Shalmaneser II of Assyria tells how in the battle of Karkar (854 BC) Ahab of the land of Israel had put into the field 2,000 chariots and 10,000 soldiers. But the Assyrian chariotry was too numerous and powerful for Israel. The Assyrian chariot was larger and heavier than the Egyptian or the Hebrew: it had usually three and sometimes four occupants (Maspero, Life in Ancient Egypt and Assyria, 322). When we read in Nahum's prophecy of "chariots flashing with steel," "rushing to and fro in the broad ways" (,), it is of the Assyrian chariots that we are to think being hastily got together for the defense of Nineveh.

5. Chariots of Chaldeans, Persians, Greeks:

In early Babylonian inscriptions of the 3rd millennium before Christ there is evidence of the use of the war-chariots, and Nebuchadrezzar in his campaigns to the West had chariots as part of his victorious host (). It was the Persians who first employed scythed chariots in war; and we find Antiochus Eupator in the Seleucid period equipping a Greek force against Judea which had 300 chariots armed with scythes (2 Macc 13:2).

6. In the New Testament:

In the New Testament the chariot is only twice mentioned. Besides the chariot in which the Ethiopian eunuch was traveling when Philip the evangelist made up to him (,,), there is only the mention of the din of war-chariots to which the onrush of locusts in Apocalyptic vision is compared ().

7. Figurative Use:

In the figurative language of Scripture, the chariot has a place. It is a tribute to the powerful influence of Elijah and Elisha when they are separately called "the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof" (; ). The angelic hosts are declared to be God's chariots, twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands (). But chariots and horses themselves are a poor substitute for the might of God (). God Himself is represented as riding upon His chariots of salvation for the defense of His people (). In the Book of Zec, the four chariots with their horses of various colors have an apocalyptic significance (). In the worship of the host of heaven which prevailed in the later days of the kingdom of Judah, "the chariots of the sun" (see article) were symbols which led the people into gross idolatry and King Josiah burnt them with fire ().

LITERATURE.

Nowack, Hebrew Archaeology, I, 366 f; Garstang, Land of the Hittites, 363 f; Maspero, Struggle of the Nations and Life in Ancient Egypt and Assyria; Rawlinson, Five Great Monarchies, II, 1-21.

T. Nicol.

Chariots Of The Sun

(markebhoth ha-shemesh): These, together with "horses of the sun," are mentioned in . They are said to have stood in the temple, a gift of the kings of Judah. Josiah removed the horses from the precincts of the temple and burned the chariots. Among the Greeks, Helios was endowed with horses and chariots. Thus the course of the sun as he sped across the skies was understood by the mythological mind of antiquity. The Babylonian god Shamash (= Hebrew Shemesh) likewise had his chariot and horses as well as his charioteer. The cult of the sun and other heavenly bodies which was particularly in vogue during the latter days of the Judean monarchy (compare ; f; ; ) seems to have constituted an element of the Canaanitish religion (compare the names of localities like Beth-shemesh and the like). The chariots of the sun are also referred to in Enoch 72:5,37; 75:4, and Greek Apocrypha of Baruch 6.

Max L. Margolis

Charitably

char'-i-ta-bli (kata agapen): The Revised Version (British and American), which substitutes "love" for "charity" regularly, removing the latter word from the vocabulary of Scripture, makes a like change in , the only occurrence of "charitably" in the King James Version; the Revised Version (British and American) "in love."

See CHARITY.

Charity

char'-i-ti (agape):

1. A New Word

2. A New Ideal

3. An Apostolic Term

4. Latin Equivalents

5. English Translation

6. Inward Motive

7. Character

8. Ultimate Ideal 9. Almsgiving

10. Tolerance

In the King James Version in 26 places from onward. The same Greek word, which appears in the New Testament 115 times, is elsewhere translated by "love."

1. A New Word:

The substantive agape is mainly, if not exclusively, a Biblical and ecclesiastical word (see Deissmann, Bible Studies, 198 ff), not found in profane writings, although the verb agapan, from which it is derived, is used in classical Greek in the sense of "love, founded in admiration, veneration, esteem, like the Latin diligere" (Grimm-Thayer), rather than natural emotion (Latin, amare).

2. A New Ideal:

It is a significant evidence of the sense of a new ideal and principle of life that permeated the Christian consciousness of the earliest communities, that they should have made current a new word to express it, and that they should derive that word, not from the current or philosophical language of Greek morality, but from the Septuagint.

3. An Apostolic Term:

In the New Testament the word is apostolic, and appears first and predominantly in the Pauline writings. It is found only twice in the Synoptics (; ), and although it is in both places put in the mouth of the Saviour, it can easily be understood how the language of a later time may have been used by the narrator, when it is considered that these gospels were compiled and reduced to writing many years after the spread of the Pauline epistles. The word is not found in James, Mark or Acts, but it appears in Paul 75 times, in John 30 times, in Peter 4 times, in Jude twice and in Hebrews twice. Jesus Christ gave the thing and the spirit in the church, and the apostles (probably Paul) invented the term to express it.

4. Latin Equivalents:

When Jerome came to translate the Greek Testament into Latin, he found in that language no word to represent agape. Amor was too gross, and he fell back on dilectio and caritas, words which, however, in their original meanings were too weak and colorless to represent agape adequately. No principle seems to have guided him in the choice of the one word or the other in particular places.

5. English Translation:

Caritas in English became "charity," and was taken over by the English translators from the Vulg, though not with any regularity, nor as far as can be judged, according to any definite principle, except that it is used of agape only in man, never as it denotes a quality or action of God, which is always translated by "love." When agape is translated by "charity" it means either

(1) a disposition in man which may qualify his own character () and be ready to go forth to God () or to men; or

(2) an active and actual relation with other men, generally within the church (; ; ; ; ; ; ), but also absolutely and universally (). In the earlier epistles it stands first and unique as the supreme principle of the Christian life (), but in the later writings, it is enumerated as one among the Christian virtues (; ; ; ; ; ).

6. Inward Motive:

In Paul's psalm of love () it is set forth as an innermost principle contrasted with prophecy and knowledge, faith and works, as the motive that determines the quality of the whole inner life, and gives value to all its activities. If a man should have all gifts of miracles and intellect, and perform all the works of goodness and devotion, "and have not love, it profiteth nothing," for they would be purely external and legal, and lacking in the quality of moral choice and personal relation which give life its value (). Love itself defines men's relation to men as generous, tolerant and forgiving.

7. Character:

"Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not" (). It determines and defines a man's own character and personality. It is not boastful and arrogant, but dignified, pure, holy, courageous and serene. Evil cannot provoke it nor wrong delight it. It bears cheerfully all adversity and follows its course in confident hope (). It is final virtue, the ultimate ideal of life. Many of life's activities cease or change, but "love never faileth."

8. Ultimate Ideal:

To it all other graces and virtues are subordinated. "Now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love" (). In one passage only in the New Testament () agape seems to have a meaning that comes near to the later, ecclesiastical meaning of charity as almsgiving.

9. Almsgiving:

With the growing legalism of the church and the prevalence of monastic ideals of morality, caritas came to mean the very opposite of Paul's agape--just "the giving of goods to feed the poor," which "without love profiteth nothing." At present, the word means either liberality to the poor, or tolerance in judging the actions of others, both qualities of love, but very inadequate to express its totality.

10. Tolerance:

The Revisers have therefore accurately dropped the word and substituted "love" for it in all passages. It is interesting to note that in Welsh the reverse process has occurred: cariad (from Latin caritas) was used throughout to translate agape, with the result that, in both religious and ordinary speech, the word has established itself so firmly as almost to oust the native word "serch."

T. Rees

Charm

charm: Definition.--The word charm is derived from the Latin carmen, "a song," and denotes strictly what is sung; then it comes to mean a magical formula chanted or recited with a view to certain desired results. Charm is distinguished from amulet in this, that the latter is a material object having as such a magical potency, though it is frequently an inscribed formula on it that gives this object its power (see AMULET). The word charm stands primarily for the incantation, though it is often applied to an inscribed amulet.

A charm may be regarded as having a positive or a negative effect. In the first case it is supposed to secure some desired object or result (see AMULET). In the second, it is conceived as having the power of warding off evils, as the evil eye, the inflictions of evil spirits and the like. In the last, its negative meaning, the word "countercharm" (German, Gegenzauber) is commonly used.

Charms are divisible into two general classes according as they are written (or printed) or merely spoken:

(1) Written charms--Of these we have examples in the phylacteries and the mezuzah noticed in the article AMULET. In we read of written charms used by the Ephesians, such as are elsewhere called (ephesia grammata). Such magical formulas were written generally on leather, though sometimes on papyrus, on lead, and even on gold. Those mentioned in the above passage must have been inscribed on some very valuable material, gold perhaps, or they could not have cost 2,000 British pounds (= 50,000 drachmas). Charms of the kind have been dug up from the ruins of Ephesus. In modern Egypt drinking-bowls are used, inscribed with passages from the Koran, and it is considered very lucky to drink from such a "lucky bowl," as it is called. Parts of the Koran and often complete miniature copies are worn by Egyptians and especially by Egyptian soldiers during war. These are buried with the dead bodies, just as the ancient Egyptians interred with their dead portions of the Book of the Dead or even the whole book, and as the early Abyssinians buried with dead bodies certain magical texts. Josephus (Ant., VIII, ii, 5) says that Solomon composed incantations by which demons were exorcised and diseases healed.

(2) Spoken charms are at least as widespread as those inscribed. Much importance was attached by the ancients (Egyptians, Babylonians, etc.) to the manner in which the incantations were recited, as well as to the substance of the formulas. If beautifully uttered, and with sufficient frequency, such incantations possessed unlimited power. The stress laid on the mode of reciting magical charms necessitated the existence of a priestly class and did much to increase the power of such a class. The binding force of the uttered word is implied in many parts of the Old Testament (see ). Though the princes of Israel had promised under false pretenses to make a covenant on behalf of Israel with the Gibeonites, they refused to break their promise because the word had been given. The words of blessing and curse were believed to have in themselves the power of self-realization. A curse was a means of destruction, not a mere realization (see :25, Balaam's curses; ; ). In a similar way the word of blessing was believed to insure its own realization. In the greatness of Ephraim and Manasseh is ascribed to the blessing of Jacob upon them (see further ; ; ). It is no doubt to be understood that the witch of Endor raised Samuel from the dead by the recitation of some magical formula ( ff).

The uttering of the tetragrammaton (~YHWH) was at a very early time (at latest 300 BC) believed to be magically potent, and hence, its ordinary use was forbidden, so that instead of Yahweh, the Jews of the time, when the earliest part of the Septuagint was translated, used for this Divine name the appellative 'adhonai = "Lord." In a similar way among the Jews of post-Biblical and perhaps of even Biblical times, the pronunciation of the Aaronic blessing () was supposed to possess great efficacy and to be a means of certain good to the person or persons involved. Evil spirits were exorcised by Jews of Paul's day through the use of the name of the Lord Jesus (). In the Talmud (Pecachim 110a) it is an instruction that if a man meets a witch he should say, "May a pot of boiling dung be stuffed into your mouth, you ugly witch," and her power is gone.

For literature see AMULET.

T. Witton Davies

Charme

kar'-me (so the Revised Version (British and American); the King James Version Carme; Charme): A Greek transliteration of Hebrew charim. The name of a priestly family in the list of those who returned from the Exile (1 Esdras 5:25 = Harim in = ).

Charmis

kar'-mis (Charmeis, Charmeis, A, Chalmeis): The son of Melchiel, one of the three elders or rulers of the town of Bethulia (Judith 6:15; 8:10; 10:6).

Charran

kar'-an (Charrhan): Greek form of HARAN (which see) (,).

Chase

chas.

See HUNTING.

Chaseba

kas'-e-ba (Chaseba): The name of a family of temple-servants in the list of those who returned from Babylon (1 Esdras 5:31). The name is not given in the parallel passages in Ezra and Nehemiah.

Chaste; Chastity

chast, chas'-ti-ti.

See CRIMES; MARRIAGE.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, ed. James Orr (1915). Public domain. Text from the CrossWire Bible Society.