D
Dabareh – Danger
Page 167 of 710
Dabareh
dab'-a-re.
See DABERATH.
Dabbesheth
dab'-e-sheth (dabbesheth; Dabasthai; the King James Version Dabbasheth, dab'a-sheth): A town on the western boundary of Zebulun (). It is probably identical with the modern Dabsheh, a ruined site to the East of Acre.
Daberath
dab'-e-rath (ha-dabherath, "pasture"; Dabeiroth): A city in the territory of Issachar, on the boundary between that tribe and Zebulun (). It was assigned to the Gershonite Levites (; ). The most probable identification is with Dabuiriyeh, a village on the lower western slopes of Tabor.
Dabria
da'-bri-a: One of the five who wrote down the visions of Esdras, described (2 Esdras 14:24) as "ready to write swiftly."
Dacubi; Dacobi
da-ku'-bi, da-ko'-bi, King James Version: Head of a family of gate-keepers (1 Esdras 5:28).
See AKKUB; DAKUBI.
Daddeus
da-de'-us, the Revised Version (British and American); LODDEUS (Loddaios), which see.
Dagger
dag'-er.
See ARMOR, ARMS.
Dagon
da'-gon (daghon; apparently derived from dagh, "fish"): Name of the god of the Philistines (according to Jerome on of the Philistines generally); in the Bible, Dagon is associated with Gaza () but elsewhere with Ashdod (compare and 1 Macc 10:83 f; 11:4); in there is probably an error (compare the passage ). The god had his temple ("the house of Dagon") and his priests. When the ark was captured by the Philistines, it was conducted to Ashdod where it was placed in the house of Dagon by the side of the idol. But on the morrow it was found that the idol lay prostrate before the ark of the Lord. It was restored to its place; but on the following day Dagon again lay on the ground before the ark, this time with the head and both hands severed from the body and lying upon the miphtan (the word is commonly interpreted to mean "threshold"; according to Winckler, it means "pedestal"); the body alone remained intact. The Hebrew says: "Dagon alone remained." Whether we resort to an emendation (dagho, "his fish-part") or not, commentators appear to be right in inferring that the idol was half-man, half-fish. Classic authors give this form to Derceto. The sacred writer adds that from that time on the priests of Dagon and all those that entered the house of Dagon refrained from stepping upon the miphtan of Dagon. See . The prophet Zephaniah () speaks of an idolatrous practice which consisted in leaping over the miphtan. The Septuagint in 1 Samuel indeed adds the clause: "but they were accustomed to leap." Leaping over the threshold was probably a feature of the Philistine ritual which the Hebrews explained in their way. A god Dagon seems to have been worshipped by the Canaanites; see BETH-DAGON.
LITERATURE
Commentaries on Judges and 1 Samuel; Winckler, Altoriental. Forschungen, III, 383.
Max L. Margolis
Daily
da'-li: This word, coming as it does from the Hebrew yom "day," and the Greek hemera, suggests either day by day (), that which is prepared for one daily (), as e.g. our "daily bread," meaning bread sufficient for that day (); or day by day continuously, one day after another in succession, as "the daily burnt offering" ( the King James Version), "daily ministration" (), and "daily in the temple" ( the King James Version). The meaning of the word "daily" as used in the Lord's Prayer () seems to indicate sufficient for our need, whether we consider that need as a day at a time, or day after day as we are permitted to live. "Give us bread sufficient for our sustenance."
William E. Vans
Daily Offering; Daily Sacrifice
See SACRIFICE.
Dainties; Dainty (Meats)
dan'-tis (maT`ammoth, "things full of taste," man`ammim, ma`adhan; liparos, "fat," "shining"): Jacob is represented as predicting of Asher, "He shall yield royal dainties" (; compare parallel clause, "His bread shall be fat," and , "Let him dip his foot in oil"). David, praying to be delivered from the ways of "men that work inquiry," cries, "Let me not eat of their dainties" (). The man who sitteth "to eat with a ruler" () is counseled, "If thou be a man given to appetite, be not desirous of his dainties; seeing they are deceitful food" (compare John's words in the woes upon Babylon (), "All things that were dainties and sumptuous are perished from thee," and Homer's Iliad (Pope). xviii.456). "Dainties," then, are luxuries, costly, delicate and rare. This idea is common to all the words thus rendered; naturally associated with kings' tables, and with the lives of those who are lovers of pleasure and luxury. By their associations and their softening effects they are to be abstained from or indulged in moderately as "deceitful food" by those who would live the simple and righteous life which wisdom sanctions. They are also "offered not from genuine hospitality, but with some by-ends." He should also shun the dainties of the niggard (), who counts the cost ( the Revised Version, margin) of every morsel that his guest eats.
See DELICATE; FOOD, etc.
George B. Eager
Daisan
da'-san, da'-i-san (Daisan): Head of a family of temple servants (1 Esdras 5:3:1) called Rezin in ; , the interchange of "D" and "R" in Hebrew being not uncommon.
Dakubi
da-ku'-bi, da-koo'-bi (Dakoub, Dakoubi; the King James Version Dacobi): Head of a family of gate-keepers (1 Esdras 5:28) called "Akkub" in the canonical lists.
Dalaiah
da-la'-a, da-la-i'-a.
See DELAIAH.
Dalan
da'-lan (Dalan; the King James Version Ladan): Head of a family that returned to Jerusalem, but which "could shew neither their families, nor their stock, how they were of Israel" (1 Esdras 5:37); corresponds to Delaiah (). Another reading is "Asan."
Dale, King's
(dal, `emeq hamelekh) :
(1) "Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself the pillar, which is in the king's dale" (). According to Josephus (Ant., VII, x, 3) this was a marble pillar, which he calls "Absalom's hand" and it was two furlongs from Jerusalem. Warren suggests that this dale was identical with the KING'S GARDEN (which see), which he places at the open valley formed at the junction of the Tyropoen with the Kidron (see JERUSALEM). The so-called Absalom's Pillar, which the Jews still pelt with stones in reprobation of Absalom's disobedience, and which a comparatively recent tradition associates with , is a very much later structure, belonging to the Greco- Roman period, but showing Egyptian influence.
(2) King's Vale (; the King James Version dale). See KING'S VALE; VALE.
E. W. G. Masterman
Daleth
da'-leth (...): The 4th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and as such used in to designate the 4th section; transliterated in this Encyclopedia with the dagesh as d, and, without, as dh ( = th in "the"). It came also to be used for the number four (4), and with the dieresis for 4,000. With the apostrophe it is sometimes used as abbreviation for the tetragrammaton. For name, etc., see ALPHABET.
Dally
dal'-i: Occurs in The Wisdom of Solomon 12:26: "But they that would not be reformed by that correction wherein he dallied with them" (paigniois epitimeseos, "child play of correction"), the reference being to the earlier and lighter plagues of Egypt; Version (British and American) renders "by a mocking correction as of children," "by a correction which was as children's play," Greek (as above). He first tried them by those lighter inflictions before sending on them the heavier. In later usage "daily" implies delay.
Dalmanutha
dal-ma-nu'-tha. See MAGADAN. Compare ; .
Dalmatia
dal-ma'-shi-a (Dalmatia, "deceitful"): A district of the Roman empire lying on the eastern shore of the Adriatic. Writing from Rome to Timothy during his second imprisonment (in 66 or 67 AD, according to Ramsay's chronology), Paul records the departure of Titus to Dalmatia (). No mention is made of his special mission, and we cannot tell whether his object was to traverse regions hitherto unevangelized or to visit churches already formed. Nor can we determine with certainty the meaning of the word Dalmatia as here used. Originally it denoted the land of the barbarous Dalmatae or Delmatae, a warlike Illyrian tribe subjugated by the Romans after a long and stubborn resistance; it was then applied to the southern portion of the Roman province of Illyricum, lying between the river Titius (modern Kerka) and the Macedonian frontier; later the name was extended to the entire province. On the whole it seems most probable that the apostle uses it in this last sense. See further under the word ILLYRICUM.
Marcus N. Tod
Dalphon
dal'-fon (dalphon, "crafty"): The second of the ten sons of Haman, slain by the Jews ().
Dam
('em, ordinary Hebrew word for "mother"): Hebrew law prohibited the destruction of the "dam" and the young of birds at the same time, commanding that if the young be taken from a nest the dam be allowed to escape (,). In the same spirit it enjoined the taking of an animal for slaughter before it had been seven days with its "dam" (; ; compare ).
Damage
dam'-aj (chabhala'): This word expresses any inflicted loss of value or permanent injury to persons or things. "Why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings?" (). In "damage" means "wrong," "injury" (Hebrew chamac). The translation of is doubtful: "Although the adversary could not have compensated for the king's damage" (the Revised Version, margin "For our affliction is not to be compared with the king's damage" the King James Version "could not countervail the king's damage") but Hebrew nezeq () and Aramaic naziq () have the meaning of "molestation" or "annoyance" (see Ges.6 Buhl Dict. (15th edition) 489, 806, 908). We therefore ought to read `for that oppression would not have been worthy of the molestation of the king' () and `that the king should have no molestation' (). The Greek zemia, "loss" and zemioo, "to cause loss"; the Revised Version (British and American) therefore translates "will be with injury and much loss" (the King James Version "damage"), and "that ye might suffer loss by us in nothing" (the King James Version "damage").
A. L. Breslich
Damaris
dam'-a-ris (Damaris, possibly a corruption of damalis, "a heifer"): The name of a female Christian of Athens, converted by Paul's preaching (). The fact that she is mentioned in this passage together with Dionysius the Areopagite has led some, most probably in error, to regard her as his wife. The singling out of her name with that of Dionysius may indicate some personal or social distinction. Compare .
Damascenes
dam-a-senz', dam'-a-senz ten polin Damaskenon, ("the city of the Damascenes"): The inhabitants of Damascus under Aretas the Arabian are so called ().
Damascus
da-mas'-kus:
1. The Name
2. Situation and Natural Features
3. The City Itself
4. Its History
(1) The Early Period (to circa 950 BC)
(2) The Aramean Kingdom (circa 950-732 BC)
(3) The Middle Period (732 BC-650 AD)
(4) Under Islam
1. Name:
The English name is the same as the Greek Damaskos. The Hebrew name is Dammeseq, but the Aramaic form Darmeseq, occurs in ; . The name appears in Egyptian inscriptions as Ti-mas-ku (16th century BC), and Sa-ra-mas-ki (13th century BC), which W. M. Muller, Asien u. Europa, 227, regards as representing Ti-ra-mas-ki, concluding from the "ra" in this form that Damascus had by that time passed under Aramaic influence. In the Tell el-Amarna Letters the forms Ti-ma-as-gi and Di-mas-ka occur. The Arabic name is Dimashk esh-Sham ("Damascus of Syria") usually contrasted to Esh-Sham simply. The meaning of the name Damascus is unknown. Esh-Sham (Syria) means "the left," in contrast to the Yemen (Arabia) = "the right."
2. Situation and Natural Features:
Damascus is situated (33 degrees 30' North latitude, 36 degrees 18' East longitude) in the Northwest corner of the Ghuta, a fertile plain about 2,300 ft. above sea level, West of Mt. Hermon. The part of the Ghuta East of the city is called el-Merj, the "meadow-land" of Damascus. The river Barada (see ASANA) flows through Damascus and waters the plain, through which the Nahr el-Awaj (see PHARPAR) also flows, a few miles South of the city.
Surrounded on three sides by bare hills, and bordered on the East, its open side, by the desert, its well-watered and fertile Ghuta, with its streams and fountains, its fields and orchards, makes a vivid impression on the Arab of the desert. Arabic literature is rich in praises of Damascus, which is described as an earthly paradise. The European or American traveler is apt to feel that these praises are exaggerated, and it is perhaps only in early summer that the beauty of the innumerable fruit trees--apricots, pomegranates, walnuts and many others--justifies enthusiasm. To see Damascus as the Arab sees it, we must approach it, as he does, from the desert. The Barada (Abana) is the life blood of Damascus. Confined in a narrow gorge until close to the city, where it spreads itself in many channels over the plain, only to lose itself a few miles away in the marshes that fringe the desert, its whole strength is expended in making a small area between the hills and the desert really fertile. That is why a city on this site is inevitable and permanent. Damascus, almost defenseless from a military point of view, is the natural mart and factory of inland Syria. In the course of its long history it has more than once enjoyed and lost political supremacy, but in all the vicissitudes of political fortune it has remained the natural harbor of the Syrian desert.
3. The City Itself:
Damascus lies along the main stream of the Barada, almost entirely on its south bank. The city is about a mile long (East to West) and about half a mile broad (North to South). On the south side a long suburb, consisting for the most part of a single street, called the Meidan, stretches for a mile beyond the line of the city wall, terminating at the Bawwabet Allah, the "Gate of God," the starting-point of the Haj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. The city has thus roughly the shape of a broad-headed spoon, of which the Meidan is the handle. In the Greek period, a long, colonnaded street ran through the city, doubtless the "street which is called Straight" (). This street, along the course of which remains of columns have been discovered, runs westward from the Babesh-Sherki, the "East Gate."
Part of it is still called Derb el-Mustakim ("Straight Street"), but it is not certain that it has borne the name through all the intervening centuries. It runs between the Jewish and Christian quarters (on the left and right, respectively, going west), and terminates in the Suk el-Midhatiyeh, a bazaar built by Midhat Pasha, on the north of which is the main Moslem quarter, in which are the citadel and the Great Mosque. The houses are flat-roofed, and are usually built round a courtyard, in which is a fountain. The streets, with the exception of Straight Street, are mostly narrow and tortuous, but on the west side of the city there are some good covered bazaars. Damascus is not rich in antiquities.
The Omayyad Mosque, or Great Mosque, replaced a Christian church, which in its time had taken the place of a pagan temple. The site was doubtless occupied from time immemorial by the chief religious edifice of the city. A small part of the ancient Christian church is still extant. Part of the city wall has been preserved, with a foundation going back to Roman times, surmounted by Arab work. The traditional site of Paul's escape (; ) and of the House of Naaman () are pointed out to the traveler, but the traditions are valueless.
The charm of Damascus lies in the life of the bazaars, in the variety of types which may be seen there--the Druse, the Kurd, the Bedouin and many others--and in its historical associations. It has always been a manufacturing city. Our word "damask" bears witness to the fame of its textile industry, and the "Damascus blades" of the Crusading period were equally famous; and though Timur (Tamerlane) destroyed the trade in arms in 1399 by carrying away the armorers to Samarcand, Damascus is still a city of busy craftsmen in cloth and wood. Its antiquity casts a spell of romance upon it. After a traceable history of thirty-five centuries it is still a populous and flourishing city, and, in spite of the advent of the railway and even the electric street car, it still preserves the flavor of the East.
4. Its History:
(1) The Early Period (to circa 950 BC).
The origin of Damascus is unknown. Mention has already been made (section 1) of the references to the city in Egyptian inscriptions and in the Tell el-Amarna Letters. It appears once--possibly twice--in the history of Abraham. In we read that Abraham pursued the four kings as far as Hobah, "which is on the left hand (i.e. the north) of Damascus." But this is simply a geographical note which shows only that Damascus was well known at the time when was written. Greater interest attaches to , where Abraham complains that he is childless and that his heir is "Dammesek Eliezer" (English Revised Version), for which the Syriac version reads "Eliezer the Damaschul." The clause, however, is hopelessly obscure, and it is doubtful whether it contains any reference to Damascus at all. In the time of David Damascus was an Aramean city, which assisted the neighboring Aramean states in their unsuccessful wars against David ( f). These campaigns resulted indirectly in the establishment of a powerful Aramean kingdom in Damascus. Rezon, son of Eliada, an officer in the army of Hadadezer, king of Zobah, escaped in the hour of defeat, and became a captain of banditti. Later he established himself in Damascus, and became its king ( ff). He cherished a not unnatural animosity against Israel and the rise of a powerful and hostile kingdom in the Israelite frontier was a constant source of anxiety to Solomon ().
(2) The Aramean Kingdom (circa 950-732 BC).
Whether Rezon was himself the founder of a dynasty is not clear. He has been identified with Hezion, father of Tab-rimmon, and grandfather of Ben-hadad (), but the identification, though a natural one, is insecure. Ben-hadad (Biridri) is the first king of Damascus, after Rezon, of whom we have any detailed knowledge. The disruption of the Hebrew kingdom afforded the Arameans an opportunity of playing off the rival Hebrew states against each other, and of bestowing their favors now on one, and now on the other. Benhadad was induced by Asa of Judah to accept a large bribe, or tribute, from the Temple treasures, and relieve Asa by attacking the Northern Kingdom ( ff). Some years later (circa 880 BC) Ben-hadad (or his successor?) defeated Omri of Israel, annexed several Israelite cities, and secured the right of having Syrian "streets" (i.e. probably a bazaar for Syrian merchants) in Samaria (). Ben-hadad II (according to Winckler the two Ben-hadads are really identical, but this view, though just possible chronologically, conflicts with ) was the great antagonist of Ahab. His campaigns against Israel are narrated in . At first successful, he was subsequently twice defeated by Ahab, and after the rout at Aphek was at the mercy of the conqueror, who treated him with generous leniency, claiming only the restoration of the lost Israelite towns, and the right of establishing an Israelite bazaar in Damascus.
On the renewal of hostilities three years later Ahab fell before Ramoth-gilead, and his death relieved Ben-hadad of the only neighboring monarch who could ever challenge the superiority of Damascus. Further light is thrown upon the history of Damascus at this time by the Assyrian inscriptions. In 854 BC the Assyrians defeated a coalition of Syrian and Palestine states (including Israel) under the leadership of Ben-hadad at Karqar. In 849 and 846 BC renewed attacks were made upon Damascus by the Assyrians, who, however, did not effect any considerable conquest. From this date until the fall of the city in 732 BC the power of the Aramean kingdom depended upon the activity or quiescence of Assyria. Hazael, who murdered Ben-hadad and usurped his throne circa 844 BC, was attacked in 842 and 839, but during the next thirty years Assyria made no further advance westward. Hazael was able to devote all his energies to his western neighbors, and Israel suffered severely at his hands. In 803 Mari' of Damascus, who is probably identical with the Ben-hadad of , Hazael's son, was made tributary to Ramman-nirari III of Assyria. This blow weakened Aram, and afforded Jeroboam II of Israel an opportunity of avenging the defeats inflicted upon his country by Hazael. In 773 Assyria again invaded the territory of Damascus.
Tiglath-pileser III (745-727 BC) pushed vigorously westward, and in 738 Rezin of Damascus paid tribute. A year or two later he revolted, and attempted in concert with Pekah of Israel, to coerce Judah into joining an anti- Assyrian league (; ; ). His punishment was swift and decisive. In 734 the Assyrians advanced and laid siege to Damascus, which fell in 732. Rezin was executed, his kingdom was overthrown, and the city suffered the fate which a few years later befell Samaria.
(3) The Middle Period (circa 732 BC-650 AD).
Damascus had now lost its political importance, and for more than two centuries we have only one or two inconsiderable references to it. It is mentioned in an inscription of Sargon (722-705 BC) as having taken part in an unsuccessful insurrection along with Hamath and Arpad. There are incidental references to it in ff and ; ff. In the Persian period Damascus, if not politically of great importance, was a prosperous city. The overthrow of the Persian empire by Alexander was soon followed (301 BC) by the establishment of the Seleucid kingdom of Syria, with Antioch as its capital, and Damascus lost its position as the chief city of Syria. The center of gravity was moved toward the sea, and the maritime commerce of the Levant became more important than the trade of Damascus with the interior. In 111 BC the Syrian kingdom was divided, and Antiochus Cyzicenus became king of Coele-Syria, with Damascus as his capital. His successors, Demetrius Eucaerus and Antiochus Dionysus, had troubled careers, being involved in domestic conflicts and in wars with the Parthians, with Alexander Janneus of Judea, and with Aretas the Nabatean, who obtained possession of Damascus in 85 BC. Tigranes, being of Armenia, held Syria for some years after this date, but was defeated by the Romans, and in 64 BC Pompey finally annexed the country.
The position of Damascus during the first century and a half of Roman rule in Syria is obscure. For a time it was in Roman hands, and from 31 BC-33 AD its coins bear the names of Augustus or Tiberius. Subsequently it was again in the hands of the Nabateans, and was ruled by an ethnarch, or governor, appointed by Aretas, the Nabatean king. This ethnarch adopted a hostile attitude to Paul ( f) . Later, in the time of Nero, it again became a Roman city. In the early history of Christianity Damascus, as compared with Antioch, played a very minor part. But it is memorable in Christian history on account of its associations with Paul's conversion, and as the scene of his earliest Christian preaching (). All the New Testament references to the city relate to this event (; ; ,; ). Afterward, under the early Byzantine emperor, Damascus, though important as an outpost of civilization on the edge of the desert, continued to be second to Antioch both politically and ecclesiastically. It was not until the Arabian conquest (634 AD when it passed out of Christian hands, and reverted to the desert, that it once more became a true capital.)
(4) Under Islam.
Damascus has now been a Moslem city, or rather a city under Moslem rule, for nearly thirteen centuries. For about a century after 650 AD it was the seat of the Omayyad caliphs, and enjoyed a position of preeminence in the Moslem world. Later it was supplanted by Bagdad, and in the 10th century it came under the rule of the Fatimites of Egypt. Toward the close of the 11th century the Seljuk Turks entered Syria and captured Damascus. In the period of the Crusades the city, though never of decisive importance, played a considerable part, and was for a time the headquarters of Saladin. In 1300 it was plundered by the Tartars, and in 1399 Timur exacted an enormous ransom from it, and carried off its famous armorers, thus robbing it of one of its most important industries. Finally, in 1516 AD, the Osmanli Turks under Sultan Selim conquered Syria, and Damascus became, and still is, the capital of a province of the Ottoman Empire.
C. H. Thomson
Dammesek Eliezer
( the English Revised Version). See ELIEZER (1).
Damn; Damnation; Damnable
dam, dam-na'-shun, dam'-na-bl: These words have undergone a change of meaning since the King James Version was made. They are derived from Latin damnare = "to inflict a loss," "to condemn," and that was their original meaning in English Now they denote exclusively the idea of everlasting punishment in hell. It is often difficult to determine which meaning was intended by the translators in the King James Version. They have been excluded altogether from the Revised Version (British and American). The words for which they stand in the King James Version are:
(1) apoleia, "destruction," translated "damnable" and "damnation" only in (the Revised Version (British and American) "destructive," "destruction"). False prophets taught doctrines calculated to destroy others, and themselves incurred the sentence of destruction such as overtook the fallen angels, the world in the Deluge, and the cities of the Plain. Apoleia occurs otherwise 16 times in the New Testament, and is always translated in the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) by either "perdition" or "destruction": twice of waste of treasure ( = ); twice of the beast that comes out of the abyss and goes into perdition (,). In all other cases, it refers to men, and defines the destiny that befalls them as the result of sin: Judas is the "son of perdition" (). Peter consigns Simon Magus and his money to perdition (). Some men are "vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction" (), and others, their "end is perdition" (). It is the antithesis of salvation (; ). Of the two ways of life, one leads to destruction (). Whether it is utter, final and irretrievable destruction is not stated.
(2) krino, translated "damned" only in the King James Version of (the Revised Version (British and American) "judged") means "to judge" in the widest sense, "to form an opinion" (), and forensically "to test and try" an accused person. It can only acquire the sense of "judging guilty" or "condemning" from the context.
(3) katakrino, translated "damned" only in the King James Version of ; ("condemned" in the Revised Version (British and American)), means properly "to give judgment against" or "to condemn" and is so translated 17 times in the King James Version and always in the Revised Version (British and American).
(4) krisis, translated "damnation" in the King James Version of ; ; (the Revised Version (British and American) "judgment," but in , "sin" for hamartema), means (a) judgment in general like krino, and is so used about 17 times, besides 14 times in the phrase "day of judgment"; (b) "condemnation," like katakrino, about 14 times.
(5) krima, translated in the King James Version "damnation" 7 times ( = = ; ; ; ; ), "condemnation" 6 times, "judgment" 13 times, "law" and "avenged" once each; in the Revised Version (British and American) "condemnation" 9 t ( only inserted in margin), "judgment" 17 times, and once in margin, "lawsuit" and "sentence" once each. "Judgment" may be neutral, an impartial act of the judge weighing the evidence (so in ; ; ; ; ; ) and "lawsuit" (); or it may be inferred from the context that judgment is unto condemnation (so in ,; ; ; ; ; , and the Revised Version (British and American) ; ). In places where krima and krisis are rightly translated "condemnation," and where "judgment" regarded as an accomplished fact involves a sentence of guilt, they together with katakrino define the relation of a person to the supreme authority, as that of a criminal, found and held guilty, and liable to punishment. So the Roman empire regarded Jesus Christ, and the thief on the cross (; ).
But generally these words refer to man as a sinner against God, judged guilty by Him, and liable to the just penalty of sin. They imply nothing further as to the nature of the penalty or the state of man undergoing it, nor as to its duration. Nor does the word "eternal" (aion, aionios, often wrongly translated "everlasting" in the King James Version) when added to them, determine the question of duration. Condemnation is an act in the moral universe, which cannot be determined under categories of time.
These terms define the action of God in relation to man's conduct, as that of the Supreme Judge, but they express only one aspect of that relation which is only fully conceived, when coordinated with the more fundamental idea of God's Fatherhood. See ESCHATOLOGY; JUDGMENT.
LITERATURE. Salmond, Christian Doctrine of Immortality; Charles, Eschatology.
T. Rees
Damsel
dam'-zel: A young, unmarried woman; a girl (lass); maiden (compare French demoiselle). The Revised Version (British and American) in ; ; ; gives "maid" for paidiske, "a girl," i.e. (spec.) a maidservant or young female slave (the King James Version "damsel"), and "child" for paidion, "a half-grown boy or girl," in , bis. 41.
Dan (1); Dan, Tribe Of
(dan, "judge"; Dan).
1. Name:
The fifth of Jacob's sons, the first borne to him by Bilhah, the maid of Rachel, to whom, as the child of her slave, he legally belonged. At his birth Rachel, whose barrenness had been a sore trial to her, exclaimed "God hath judged me .... and hath given me a son," so she called his name Dan, i.e. "judge" (). He was full brother of Naphtali. In Jacob's Blessing there is an echo of Rachel's words, "Da shall judge his people" (). Of the patriarch Da almost nothing is recorded. Of his sons at the settlement in Egypt only one, Hushim, is mentioned (). The name in is Shuham.
2. The Tribe:
The tribe however stands second in point of numbers on leaving Egypt, furnishing 62,700 men of war (); and at the second census they were 64,400 strong (). The standard of the camp of Da in the desert march, with which were Asher and Naphtali, was on the north side of the tabernacle (; ; compare the King James Version margin, "gathering host"). The prince of the tribe was Ahiezer (). Among the spies Da was represented by Ammiel the son of Gemalli (). Of the tribe of Da was Oholiab (the King James Version "Aholiab") one of the wise-hearted artificers engaged in the construction of the tabernacle (). One who was stoned for blasphemy was the son of a Danite woman ( f). At the ceremony of blessing and cursing, Da and Naphtali stood on Mount Ebal, while the other Rachel tribes were on Gerizim (). The prince of Da at the division of the land was Bukki the son of Jogli ().
3. Territory:
The portion assigned to Da adjoined those of Ephraim, Benjamin and Judah, and lay on the western slopes of the mountain. The reference in : "And Dan, why did he remain in ships?" seems to mean that on the West, Da had reached the sea. But the passage is one of difficulty. We are told that the Amorites forced the children of Da into the mountain (), so they did not enjoy the richest part of their ideal portion, the fertile plain between the mountain and the sea. The strong hand of the house of Joseph kept the Amorites tributary, but did not drive them out. Later we find Da oppressed by the Philistines, against whom the heroic exploits of Samson were performed (). The expedition of the Danites recorded in is referred to in ff.
4. The Danite Raid:
The story affords a priceless glimpse of the conditions prevailing in those days. Desiring an extension of territory, the Danites sent out spies, who recommended an attack upon Laish, a city at the north end of the Jordan valley. The people, possibly a colony from Sidon, were careless in their fancied security. The land was large, and there was "no want of anything that was in the earth." The expedition of the 600, their dealings with Micah and his priest, their capture of Laish, and their founding of an idol shrine with priestly attendant, illustrate the strange mingling of lawlessness and superstition which was characteristic of the time. The town rebuilt on the site of Laish they called Dan--see following article. Perhaps may be taken to indicate that the Danites intermarried with the Phoenicians. Divided between its ancient seat in the South and the new territory in the North the tribe retained its place in Israel for a time (; ), but it played no part of importance in the subsequent history.
The name disappears from the genealogical lists of Chronicles; and it is not mentioned among the tribes in ff.
Samson was the one great man produced by Dan, and he seems to have embodied the leading characteristics of the tribe: unsteady, unscrupulous, violent, possessed of a certain grim humor; stealthy in tactics--"a serpent in the way, an adder in the path" ()--but swift and strong in striking--"a lion's whelp, that leapeth forth from Bashan" (). Along with Abel, Da ranked as a city in which the true customs of old Israel were preserved ( Septuagint).
W. Ewing
Dan (2)
A city familiar as marking the northern limit of the land of Israel in the common phrase "from Da even to Beer- sheba" (; , etc.). Its ancient name was Laish or Leshem (, etc.). It was probably an outlying settlement of Tyre of Sidon. Its inhabitants, pursuing the ends of peaceful traders, were defenseless against the onset of the Danite raiders. Having captured the city the Danites gave it the name of their own tribal ancestor (). It lay in the valley near Beth-rehob (). Josephus places it near Mt. Lebanon and the fountain of the lesser Jordan, a day's journey from Sidon (Ant., V, iii, 1; VIII, viii, 4; BJ, IV, i, 1). Eusebius, Onomasticon says it lay 4 Roman miles from Paneas on the way to Tyre, at the source of the Jordan.
This points decisively to Tell el-Qady, in the plain West of Banias. The mound of this name--Kady is the exact Arabic equivalent of the Hebrew Dan--rises from among the bushes and reeds to a height varying from 40 to 80 ft. The largest of all the springs of the Jordan rises on the west side. The waters join with those of a smaller spring on the other side to form Nahr el-Leddan which flows southward to meet the streams from Banias and Chasbeiyeh. The mound, which is the crater of an extinct volcano, has certain ancient remains on the south side, while the tomb of Sheikh Marzuk is sheltered by two holy trees. The sanctuary and ritual established by the Danites persisted as long as the house of God was in Shiloh, and the priesthood in this idolatrous shrine remained in the family of Jonathan till the conquest of Tiglath-pileser (; ). Here Jeroboam I set up the golden calf. The ancient sanctity of the place would tend to promote the success of his scheme ( f, etc.). The calf, according to a Jewish tradition, was taken away by Tiglath-pileser. Da fell before Benhadad, king of Syria (; ). It was regained by Jeroboam II (). It shared the country's fate at th hands of Tiglath-pileser ().
It was to this district that Abraham pursued the army of Chedorlaomer (). For Dr. G. A. Smith's suggestion that Da may have been at Banias see HGHL1, 473, 480 f.
W. Ewing
Dan (3)
( the King James Version). See VEDAN.
Dan-Jaan
dan-ja'-an (dan ya`-an; B, Da Eidan kai Oudan): A place visited by Joab and his officers when taking the census (). It is mentioned between Gilead and Sidon. Some would identify it with Khan Danian, a ruined site North of Achzib. The text is probably corrupt. Klostermann would read "toward Da and Ijon" (compare ).
Dancing
dan'-sing. See GAMES.
Dandle
dan'-d'-l. (sha`-osha`, a Pulpal form, from root (sha`-a`) with sense of to "be caressed"). Occurs in , "shall be dandled upon the knees."
Danger
dan'-jer: Danger does not express a state of reality but a possibility. In f, however, and also the King James Version (the Revised Version (British and American)) "but is guilty of an eternal sin"the expression "danger" refers to a certainty, for the danger spoken of is in one case judgment which one brings upon himself, and in the other the committing of an unpardonable sin. Both are the necessary consequences of a man's conduct. The reason for translating the Greek (enochos, literally, "to be held in anything so one cannot escape") by "is in danger," instead of "guilty" or "liable," may be due to the translator's conception of these passages as a warning against such an act rather than as a statement of the judgment which stands pronounced over every man who commits the sin.
A. L. Breslich
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, ed. James Orr (1915). Public domain. Text from the CrossWire Bible Society.