Ten Commandments, The – Tetter

Ten Commandments, The

I. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, AN ISRAELITISH CODE

II. THE PROMULGATON OF THE DECALOGUE

III. ANALYSIS OF THE DECALOGUE WITH BRIEF EXEGETICAL NOTES

1. How Numbered

2. How Grouped

3. Original Form

4. Brief Exegetical Notes

IV. JESUS AND THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

LITERATURE

In the Old Testament the Decalogue is uniformly referred to as "the ten words" (Exodus 34:28 margin; Deuteronomy 4:13 margin; 10:4 margin), or simply as "the words" spoken by Yahweh (Exodus 20:1; Exodus 34:27; Deuteronomy 5:22; Deuteronomy 10:2), or as "the words of the covenant" (Exodus 34:28). In the New Testament they are called "commandments" (Matthew 19:17; Ephesians 6:2), as with us in most Christian lands.

I. The Ten Commandments an Israelite Code.

The "ten words" were spoken by Yahweh to the people whom He had but recently delivered from Egyptian bondage, and then led out into the wilderness, that He might teach them His laws. It was to Israel that the Decalogue was primarily addressed, and not to all mankind. Thus, the reason assigned for keeping the 5th commandment applies to the people who were on their way to the land which had been given to Abraham and his descendants (Exodus 20:12); and the 4th commandment is enforced by reference to the servitude in Egypt (Deuteronomy 5:15). It is possible, then, that even in the Ten Commandments there are elements peculiar to the Mosaic system and which our Lord and His apostles may not make a part of faith and duty for Christians.

See SABBATH.

Of the "ten words," seven were perhaps binding on the consciences of enlightened men prior to the days of Moses: murder, adultery, theft and false witness were already treated as crimes among the Babylonians and the Egyptians; and intelligent men knew that it was wrong to dishonor God by improper use of His name, or to show lack of respect to parents, or to covet the property of another. No doubt the sharp, ringing words in which these evils are forbidden in the Ten Commandments gave to Israel a clearer apprehension of the sins referred to than they had ever had before; and the manner in which they were grouped by the divine speaker brought into bold relief the chief elements of the moral law. But the first two prohibitions were novelties in the religious life of the world; for men worshipped many gods, and bowed down to images of every conceivable kind. The 2nd commandment was too high even for Israel to grasp at that early day; a few weeks later the people were dancing about the golden calf at the foot of Sinai. The observance of the Sabbath was probably unknown to other nations, though it may have been already known in the family of Abraham.

II. The Promulgation of the Decalogue.

The "ten words" were spoken by Yahweh Himself from the top of the mount under circumstances the most awe-inspiring. In the early morning there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of a trumpet exceeding loud. It is no wonder that the people trembled as they faced the smoking and quaking mount, and listened to the high demands of a holy God. Their request that all future revelations should be made through Moses as the prophet mediator was quite natural. The promulgation of the Ten Commandments stands out as the most notable event in all the wilderness sojourn of Israel. There was no greater day in history before the coming of the Son of God into the world.

After a sojourn of 40 days in the mount, Moses came down with "the two tables of the testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God." At the foot of the mount, when Moses saw the golden calf and the dancing throng about it, he cast the tables out of his hands and broke them in pieces (Exodus 31:18; Exodus 39:15–20). Through the intercession of Moses, the wrath of Yahweh was averted from Israel; and Yahweh invited Moses to ascend the mount with two new tablets, on which He would write the words that were on the first tables, which were broken. Moses was commanded to write the special precepts given by God during this interview; but the. Ten Commandments were written on the stone tablets by Yahweh Himself (Exodus 34:1–4,Exodus 34:27–29; Deuteronomy 10:1–5). These precious tablets were later deposited in the ark of the covenant (Exodus 40:20). Thus in every way possible the Ten Commandments are exalted as the most precious and directly divine of all the precepts of the Mosaic revelation.

III. Analysis of the Decalogue with Brief Exegetical Notes.

That there were "ten words" is expressly stated (Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 4:13; Deuteronomy 10:4); but just how to delimit them one from another is a task which has not been found easy. For a full discussion of the various theories, see Dillmann, Exodus, 201-5, to whom we are indebted for much that is here set forth.

1. How Numbered:

(1) Josephus is the first witness for the division now common among Protestants (except Lutherans), namely,

(a) foreign gods,

(b) images,

(c) name of God,

(d) Sabbath,

(e) parents,

(f) murder,

(g) adultery,

(h) theft,

(i) false witness,

(j) coveting.

Before him, Philo made the same arrangement, except that he followed the Septuagint in putting adultery before murder. This mode of counting was current with many of the church Fathers, and is now in use in the Greek Catholic church and with most Protestants.

(2) Augustine combined foreign gods and images (Exodus 20:2–6) into one commandment and following the order of Deuteronomy 5:21 (Hebrew 18) made the 9th commandment a prohibition of the coveting of a neighbor's wife, while the 10th prohibits the coveting of his house and other property. Roman Catholics and Lutherans accept Augustine's mode of reckoning, except that they follow the order in Exodus 20:17, so that the 9th commandment forbids the coveting of a neighbor's house, while the 10th includes his wife and all other property.

(3) A third mode of counting is that adopted by the Jews in the early Christian centuries, which became universal among them in the Middle Ages and so down to the present time. According to this scheme, the opening statement in Exodus 20:2 is the "first word," Exodus 20:3–6 the second (combining foreign gods with images), while the following eight commandments are as in the common Protestant arrangement.

The division of the prohibition of coveting into two commandments is fatal to the Augustinian scheme; and the reckoning of the initial statement in Exodus 20:2 as one of the "ten words" seems equally fatal to the modern Jewish method of counting. The prohibition of images, which is introduced by the solemn formula, "Thou shalt not," is surely a different "word" from the command to worship no god other than Yahweh. Moreover, if nine of the "ten words" are commandments, it would seem reasonable to make the remaining "word" a commandment, if this can be done without violence to the subjectmatter. See Eerdmaus, The Expositor, July, 1909, 21 ff.

2. How Grouped:

(1) The Jews, from Philo to the present, divide the "ten words" into two groups of five each. As there were two tables, it would be natural to suppose that five commandments were recorded on each tablet, though the fact that the tablets had writing on both their sides (Exodus 32:15) would seem to weaken the force of the argument for an equal division. Moreover, the first pentad, in the present text of Exodus and Deuteronomy, is more than four times as long as the second.

(2) Augustine supposed that there were three commandments on the first table and seven on the second. According to his method of numbering the commandments, this would put the command to honor parents at the head of the second table, as in the third method of grouping the ten words.

(3) Calvin and many moderns assign four commandments to the first table and six to the second. This has the advantage of assigning all duties to God to the first table and all duties to men to the second. It also accords with our Lord's reduction of the commandments to two (Matthew 22:34–40).

3. Original Form:

A comparison of the text of the Decalogue in Deuteronomy 5:1–33 with that in Exodus 20:1–26 reveals a goodly number of differences, especially in the reasons assigned for the observance of the 4th and 5th commandments, and in the text of the 10th commandment. A natural explanation of these differences is the fact that De employs the free-and-easy style of public discourse. The Ten Commandments are substantially the same in the two passages.

From the days of Ewald to the present, some of the leading Old Testament scholars have held that originally all the commandments were brief and without the addition of any special reasons for their observance. According to this hypothesis, the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and the 10th commandments were probably as follows: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image"; "Thou shalt not take the name of Yahweh thy God in vain"; "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy"; "Honor thy father and thy mother"; "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house." This early critical theory would account for the differences in the two recensions by supposing that the motives for keeping the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th commandments, as well as the expansion of the 10th, were additions made through the influence of the prophetic teaching. If accompanied by a full recognition of the divine origin of the ten words in the Mosaic era, this hypothesis might be acceptable to a thorough believer in revelation. Before acquiescing in the more radical theories of some recent scholars, such a believer will demand more cogent arguments than the critics have been able to bring forward. Thus when we are told that the Decalogue contains prohibitions that could not have been incorporated into a code before the days of Manasseh, we demand better proofs than the failure of Israel to live up to the high demands of the 2nd and the 10th commandments, or a certain theory of the evolution of the history that may commend itself to the mind of naturalistic critics. Yahweh was at work in the early history of Israel; and the great prophets of the 8th century, far from creating ethical monotheism, were reformers sent to demand that Israel should embody in daily life the teachings of the Torah.

Goethe advanced the view that Exodus 34:10–28 originally contained a second decalogue.

Wellhausen (Code of Hammurabi, 331 f) reconstructs this so-called decalogue as follows:

(1) Thou shalt worship no other god (Exodus 34:14).

(2) Thou shalt make thee no molten gods (Exodus 34:17).

(3) The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep (Exodus 34:18 a).

(4) Every firstling is mine (Exodus 34:19 a).

(5) Thou shalt observe the feast of weeks (Exodus 34:22 a).

(6) And the feast of ingathering at the year's end (Exodus 34:22c).

(7) Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread (Exodus 34:25 a).

(8) The fat of my feast shall not remain all night until the morning (23:18b; compare 34:25b).

(9) The best of the first-fruits of thy ground shalt thou bring to the house of Yahweh thy God (Exodus 34:26 a).

(10) Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk (Exodus 34:26).

Addis agrees with Wellhausen that even this simpler decalogue must be put long after the time of Moses (EB, 1051).

Now, it is evident that the narrative in Exodus 34:27 f, in its present form, means to affirm that Moses was commanded to write the precepts contained in the section immediately preceding. The Ten Commandments, as the foundation of the covenant, were written by Yahweh Himself on the two tablets of stone (Exodus 31:18; Exodus 32:15 Exodus 34:28). It is only by free critical handling of the narrative that it can be made to appear that Moses wrote on the two tables the supposed decalogue of Exodus 34:14–26. Moreover, the law of the Sabbath (34:21), which is certainly appropriate amid the ritual ordinances of Exodus 34:1–35, must be omitted altogether, in order to reduce the precepts to ten; also the command in 34:23 has to be deleted. It is interesting to observe that the prohibition of molten gods (34:17), even according to radical critics, is found in the earliest body of Israelite laws. There is no sufficient reason for denying that the 2nd commandment was promulgated in the days of Moses. Yahweh's requirements have always been in advance of the practice of His people.

4. Brief Exegetical Notes:

(1) The 1st commandment prohibits the worship of any god other than Yahweh. If it be said that this precept inculcates monolatry and not monotheism, the reply is ready to hand that a consistent worship of only one God is, for a people surrounded by idolaters, the best possible approach to the conclusion that there is only one true God. The organs of revelation, whatever may have been the notions and practices of the mass of the Israelite people, always speak in words that harmonize with a strict monotheism.

(2) The 2nd commandment forbids the use of images in worship; even an image of Yahweh is not to be tolerated (compare Exodus 32:5). Yahweh's mercy is greater than His wrath; while the iniquity of the fathers descends to the third and the fourth generation for those who hate Yahweh, His mercy overflows to thousands who love Him. It is doubtful whether the rendering `showing mercy to the thousandth generation' (Exodus 20:6) can be successfully defended.

(3) Yahweh's name is sacred, as standing for His person; therefore it must be employed in no vain or false way. The commandment, no doubt, includes more than false swearing. Cursing, blasphemy and every profane use of Yahweh's name are forbidden.

(4) As the 1st commandment inculcates the unity of God and the 2nd His spirituality, so also the 3rd commandment guards His name against irreverent use and the 4th sets apart the seventh day as peculiarly His day, reserved for a Sabbath. Exodus 20:11 emphasizes the religious aspect of the Sabbath, while Deuteronomy 5:14 lays stress on its humane aspect, and Deuteronomy 5:15 links it with the deliverance from bondage in Egypt.

(5) The transition from duties to God to duties to men is made naturally in the 5th commandment, which inculcates reverence for parents, to whom their children should look up with gratitude, as all men should toward the Divine Father.

(6) Human life is so precious and sacred that no man should dare to take it away by violence.

(7) The family life is safeguarded by the 7th commandment.

(8) The 8th commandment forbids theft in all its forms. It recognizes the right of personal ownership of property.

(9) The 9th commandment safeguards honor and good name among men. Slander, defamation, false testimony in court and kindred sins are included.

(10) The 10th commandment is the most searching of them all, for it forbids the inward longing, the covetous desire for what belongs to another. The presence of such a deeply spiritual command among the "ten words" shows that we have before us no mere code of laws defining crimes, but a body of ethical and spiritual precepts for the moral education of the people of Yahweh.

IV. Jesus and the Ten Commandments.

Our Lord, in the interview with the rich young ruler, gave a recapitulation of the commandments treating of duties to men (Mark 10:19; Matthew 19:18 Luke 18:20). He quotes the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th commandments. The minor variations in the reports in the three Synoptic Gospels remind the student of the similar variations in Exodus 20:1–26 and De 5. Already in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus had quoted the 6th and 7th commandments, and then had gone on to show that anger is incipient murder, and that lust is adultery in the heart (Matthew 5:27–32). He takes the words of the Decalogue and extends them into the realm of thought and feeling. He may have had in mind the 3rd commandment in His sharp prohibition of the Jewish habit of swearing by various things (Matthew 5:33–37). As to the Sabbath, His teaching and example tended to lighten the onerous restrictions of the rabbis (Mark 2:23–28). Duty to parents He elevated above all supposed claims of vows and offerings (Matthew 15:4–6). In further extension of the 8th commandment, Jesus said, "Do not defraud" (Mark 10:19); and in treating of the ethics of speech, Jesus not only condemns false witness, but also includes railing, blasphemy, and even an idle word (Matthew 15:19; Matthew 12:31,Matthew 12:36). In His affirmation that God is spirit (John 4:24), Jesus made the manufacture of images nothing but folly. All his ethical teaching might be said to be founded on the 10th commandment, which tracks sin to its lair in the mind and soul of man.

Our Lord embraced the whole range of human obligation in two, or at most three, commands: (1) "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind"; (2) "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (Matthew 22:37–40; compare Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18). With love such as is here described in the heart, man cannot trespass against God or his fellow-men. At the close of His ministry, on the night of the betrayal, Jesus gave to His followers a third commandment, not different from the two on which the whole Law hangs, but an extension of the second great commandment upward into a higher realm of self-sacrifice (John 13:34 f; 15:12 f,17; compare Ephesians 5:2; Galatians 6:10; 1 John 3:14–18). "Thou shalt love" is the first word and the last in the teaching of our Lord. His teaching is positive rather than negative, and so simple that a child can understand it. For the Christian, the Decalogue is no longer the highest summary of human duty. He must ever read it with sincere respect as one of the great monuments of the love of God in the moral and religious education of mankind; but it has given place to the higher teaching of the Son of God, all that was permanently valuable in the Ten Commandments having been taken up into the teaching of our Lord and His apostles.

LITERATURE.

Oehler, Old Testament Theology, I, 267 ff; Dillmann, Exodus-Leviticus, 200-219; Kuenen, Origin and Composition of the Hexateuch, 244; Wellhausen, Code of Hammurabi, 331 f; Rothstein, Das Bundesbuch; Baenstch, Das Bundesbuch; Meissaner, Der Dekalog; Driver, "Deuteronomy," ICC; Addis, Documents of the Hexateuch, I, 136 ff; R. W. Dale, The Ten Commandments; G. D. Boardman, University Lectures on the Ten Commandments (Philadelphia, 1889).

John Richard Sampey

Ten Strings

(`asor).

See MUSIC, I, 1, (2), (c).

Tender

ten'-der: The usua1 (11 out of 16 times) translation of rakh, "soft," "delicate," with the noun rokh, in Deuteronomy 28:56 and the verb rakhakh, in 2 Kings 22:19 parallel 2 Chronicles 34:27. Attention need be called only to the following cases: In Genesis 29:17, "Leah's eyes were tender," a physical defect is described ("weak-eyed"; see BLINDNESS). "Tender-hearted" in 2 Chronicles 13:7 means "faint-hearted," while in 2 Kings 22:19 parallel 2 Chronicles 34:27 ("because thy heart was tender"), it means "penitent." Contrast the modern use in Ephesians 4:32.

Throughout Psalms (10 times) and Proverbs (12:10), but not elsewhere (the King James Version has "tender love" in Daniel 1:9, the Revised Version (British and American) "compassion"), English Versions of the Bible translate rachamim, "bowels," by "tender mercies," and this translation has been carried into the New Testament as "tender mercy" (the Revised Version margin "heart of mercy") for the corresponding Greek phrase splagchna eleous ("bowels of mercy") in Luke 1:78; compare "tenderhearted" for eusplagchnos ("right boweled") in Ephesians 4:32, based upon the idea of psychology widely spread among Semitic people, which considers the "bowels" (qerebh) as the seat of all tender emotions of kindness and mercy: See BOWELS. the King James Version also has "of tender mercy" in James 5:11 without justification in the Greek (oiktirmon, the Revised Version (British and American) "merciful").

Other special phrases: "tender grape" in the King James Version, Song of Songs 2:13,Song of Songs 2:15; Song of Songs 7:12, for cemadhar. The meaning of the word is not quite certain, but Revised Margin's "blossom" (except 7:12 margin) is probably right. "Tender grass" in 2 Samuel 23:4; Proverbs 27:25; the Revised Version (British and American) Deuteronomy 32:2 (the King James Version "tender herb"); Isaiah 15:6; Isaiah 66:14 for deshe' "grass" (Aramaic dethe', Daniel 4:15,Daniel 4:23). The context in these passages and the meaning of the cognates of deshe' in other Semitic languages make this translation probable, but Revised Version's usage is not consistent (compare Genesis 1:11,Genesis 1:12; Job 6:5; Psalms 23:2, etc.). Isa, 53:2 has "tender plant" for yoneq, "a sapling," while Job 14:7 has "tender branch" for the allied word yoneqeth, usually rendered "shoot" (Job 8:16, etc.). Finally, "tender" in Mark 13:28 parallel Matthew 24:32 is for hapalos, "soft." The running sap of springtime softens the branches that were stiff during the winter.

The verb "tender" occurs in 2 Macc 4:2, the King James Version "(he had) tendered his own nation," in the modern sense of "tend." The translation is a paraphrase of the noun kedemon, "a protector," the Revised Version (British and American) "the guardian of his fellow-countrymen."

Burton Scott Easton

Tenon

ten'-un (yadh): This word, occurring in Exodus 26:1–37 and 36, is used in the account of the tabernacle to describe the "hand" or yadh by which its 48 boards were kept in place. Each board had two tenons which were mortised into it (Exodus 36:22 margin). These tenons would be made of harder wood than the acacia, so as better to stand the strain of wind and weather. When in use the tenons were sunk into the "sockets" (which see), and allowed of a speedy reerection of the tabernacle at its every remove.

Sockets are also mentioned as in use for the standards of the tabernacle court (Exodus 27:10), but there is no mention of tenons. It may be that the base of each standard was let into its socket, without the use of any tenon. This would give it sufficient stability, as the height of each standard was but 5 cubits (7 1/2 ft.) (Exodus 27:18).

For Professor A. R. S. Kennedy's different theory of "tenons," see TABERNACLE, and his own article on the "Tabernacle" in HDB, IV.

W. Shaw Caldecott

Tent

tent ('ohel; skene; 'ohel is a derivative of 'ahal, "to be clear," "to shine"; hence, 'ohel, "to be conspicuous from a distance"): In the great stretches of uncultivated lands in the interior of Syria or Arabia, which probably have much the same aspect today as in Abraham's time, it is an easy matter to espy an encampment of roving Bedouin, "a nation .... that dwelleth without care .... that have neither gates nor bars" (Jeremiah 49:31). The peaks of their black (compare Song of Songs 1:5) goats' hair tents stand out in contrast against the lighter colors of the soil.

There seems to be little doubt about the antiquity of the Arab tent, and one can rightly believe that-the dwelling-places of Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, and their descendants were made on the same pattern and of the same materials (Genesis 4:20; Genesis 9:27; Genesis 12:8; Genesis 13:3; Genesis 18:6; Genesis 31:25,Genesis 31:30; Psalms 78:55; Hebrews 11:9, etc.). Long after the children of Israel had given up their tents for houses they continued to worship in tents (2 Samuel 7:1–6; 2 Chronicles 1:3,2 Chronicles 1:4) (for the use of tents in connection with religious observances see TABERNACLE).

The Arab tents (called bait sha`r, "house of hair") are made of strips of black goats' hair cloth, sewed together into one large piece (see GOATS' HAIR; WEAVING). Poles are placed under this covering at intervals to hold it from the ground, and it is stretched over these poles by ropes of goats hair or hemp (compare Job 4:21; Isaiah 54:2; Jeremiah 10:20) "fastened to hard-wood pins driven into the ground (Isaiah 54:2; Judges 4:21; Revelation 6:1). A large wooden mallet for driving the pegs is part of the regular camp equipment (Judges 4:21; Revelation 6:1). The sides (curtains) of the tent (Isaiah 54:2) are made of strips of goats hair cloth or from mats woven from split cane or rushes (see Illustration, p. 2948). Where more than one family occupies the same tent or the animals are provided with shelter under the same roof (compare 2 Chronicles 14:15), curtains of the same materials mentioned above form the dividing walls. A corner of the matting where two ends meet is turned back to form the door of the tent (Genesis 18:1). In the summer time the walls are mostly removed. New tents are not water-proof, and the condition of the interior after a heavy rain is not far from squalid. The tent material becomes matted by use, especially if wool has been woven into the fabric, and is then a better protection against the rain. It is the women's duty to pitch the tents.

The poorer Arabs have no mats to cover the ground under their tents. Straw mats, goats' hair or woolen rugs (compare Judges 4:18), more or less elaborate as the taste and means of the family allow, are the usual coverings for the tent floor. The food supplies are usually kept in goats' hair bags, the liquids, as oil or milk products, in skins. One or two tinned copper cooking-vessels, a shallow tray of the same material, a coffee set consisting of roasting pan, mortar and pestle, boiling-pot and cups, make up the usual camp furniture. The more thrifty include bedding in their equipment, but this increases the difficulties of moving, since it might require more than the one animal, sometimes only a donkey, which carries all the earthly belongings of the family. A sheikh or chief has several tents, one for himself and guests, separate ones for his wives and female servants, and still others for his animals (compare Genesis 31:33).

Other Hebrew words translated "tent" are forms of chanah (Numbers 13:19; 1 Samuel 17:53; 2 Kings 7:16; 2 Chronicles 31:2; Zechariah 14:15); cukkah (2 Samuel 11:11; 2 Samuel 22:12); mishkenoth (Song of Songs 1:8).

Figurative: "Neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there" typified utter desolation (Isaiah 13:20). "Enlarge the place of thy tent .... stretch forth the curtains .... lengthen thy cords .... strengthen thy stakes" prophesied an increase in numbers and prosperity of God's people (Isaiah 54:2; compare 33:20; Luke 16:9; 2 Corinthians 5:4). Tent cords plucked up denoted death. (Job 4:21). Jeremiah 10:20 is a picture of a destroyed household as applied to Judah. Hezekiah in his sickness bewails that his dwelling (life) had been carried away as easily as a shepherd's tent is plucked up (Isaiah 38:12). Isaiah compared the heavens to a tent spread out (Isaiah 40:22). "They shall pitch their tents against her" i.e. they shall make war (Jeremiah 6:3).

James A. Patch

Tent-Maker

tent'-mak-er (~skenopoios): Mentioned only once (Acts 18:3). Paul's native province of Cilicia was noted for its goats' hair cloth which was exported under the name of cilicium and was used largely for tentmaking. We are told in the passage mentioned that Paul dwelt with Aquila and Priscilla, and worked with them at tent-making (compare Acts 20:34).

See also CRAFTS, II, 18.

Tenth

See TITHE.

Tenth Deal

del (`issaron): The tenth part of an ephah, and so rendered in the Revised Version (British and American) (Numbers 28:1–31; Numbers 29:1–40). It was used in connection with the sacrifices for measuring flour.

Terah (1)

te'-ra (terach; Septuagint Tharra, or (with New Testament) Thara; on the name see especially HDB, under the word): The son of Nahor and father of Abraham, Nahor and Haran (Genesis 11:24 f). At Abraham's birth Terah was 70 years old (Genesis 11:26), and after Abraham's marriage, Terah, Abraham, Sarah and Lot emigrated from Ur of the Chaldees on the road into the land of Canaan, but stopped in Haran (Genesis 11:31). When Abraham was 75 years old he and his nephew resumed their journey, leaving Terah in Haran, where 60 years later he died (Genesis 11:32). Stephen, however, states (Acts 7:4) that Terah was dead when Abraham left Haran, an impression that is easily gained from Genesis 11:1–12:20 if the dates are not computed. As there is no reason to suppose that Stephen was granted inspiration that would preserve him from such a purely formal error, the contradiction is of no significance and attempts at "reconciliation" are needless. In particular, the attempt of Blass (Stud. u. Krit., 1896, 460 ff) to alter the text of Ac is quite without foundation. For further discussion see especially Knowling, The Expositor's Greek Testament, at the place It is worth noting that Philo makes the same error (Migr. Abr. 177 (section 32)), perhaps indicating some special Jewish tradition of New Testament times. In Joshua 24:2 Terah is said to have been an idolater. In Jubilees 12 this is softened into explaining that through fear of his life Terah was forced to yield outward conformity to the idolatrous worship of his neighbors. On the other hand certain Jewish legends (e.g. Ber. Rab. 17) represent Terah as actually a maker of idols. Otherwise in the Bible Terah is mentioned only by name in 1 Chronicles 1:26; Luke 3:34.

Burton Scott Easton

Terah (2)

(Codex Vaticanus Tarath; Codex Alexandrinus Tharath): A wilderness camp of the Israelites between Tahath and Mithkah (Numbers 33:27,Numbers 33:28).

See WANDERINGS OF ISRAEL.

Teraphim

ter'-a-fim.

See ASTROLOGY; DIVINATION; IMAGES.

Terebinth

ter'-e-binth:

(1) 'elah (Isaiah 6:13, the King James Version "teil tree"; Ho 4:13, the King James Version "elms"); in Genesis 35:4 (the King James Version "oak"); Judges 6:11,Revelation 6:5; Revelation 8:6 (the King James Version "plain"); 2 Samuel 18:9,2 Samuel 18:10,2 Samuel 18:14; 1 Kings 13:14; 1 Chronicles 10:12; Isaiah 1:30; Ezekiel 6:13, translated "oak," and in margin "terebinth"; "vale of Elah," margin "the terebinth" in 1 Samuel 17:2,1 Samuel 17:19; 1 Samuel 21:9.

(2) 'elim (Isaiah 1:29, "oaks," margin "terebinths").

(3) 'allah (Joshua 24:26, English Versions of the Bible have "oak," but the Septuagint terebinthos).

(4) 'elon, "oak (margin, "terebinth") of Zaanannim" (Joshua 19:33; Judges 4:11); "oak (the Revised Version margin "terebinth," the King James Version "plain") of Tabor" (1 Samuel 10:3); also Genesis 12:6; Genesis 13:18; Genesis 14:13; 1 Samuel 10:3; Deuteronomy 11:30; Judges 6:19 all translated "oak" or "oaks," with margin "terebinth" or "terebinths."

(5) In Genesis 14:6 Septuagint has terebinthos, as the translation of the el of El-paran.

(6) In Ecclesiasticus 24:16 terem (b)inthos, the King James Version turpentine tree," the Revised Version (British and American) "terebinth."

It is clear that the translators are uncertain which translation is correct, and it would seem not improbable that then there was no clear distinction between oak and terebinth in the minds of the Old Testament. writers; yet the two are very different trees to any but the most superficial observation.

The terebinth--Pistacia terebinthus (Natural Order, Anacardiaceae), Arabic Butm]--is a tree allied to the P. vera, which produces the pistachio nut, and to the familiar "pepper tree" (Schinus molle) so extensively cultivated in modern Palestine. Like the latter the terebinth has red berries, like small immature grapes. The leaves are pinnate, four to six pairs, and they change color and fall in autumn, leaving the trunk bare (compare Isaiah 1:30). The terebinth is liable to be infected by many showy galls, some varieties looking like pieces of red coral. In Palestine, this tree assumes noble proportions, especially in situations when, from its association with some sacred tomb, it is allowed to flourish undisturbed. It is in such situations not infrequently as much as 40 ft. high and spreads its branches, with their thick, dark-green foliage, over a wide area (compare 2 Samuel 18:9 f,14; Ecclesiasticus 24:16). Dwarfed trees occur among the brushwood all over the land.

From this tree a kind of turpentine is obtained, hence, the alternative name "turpentine tree" (Ecclesiasticus 24:16 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "terebinth").

E. W. G. Masterman

Teresh

te'-resh (teresh (Esther 2:21; Esther 6:2); Codex Vaticanus, Codex Alexandrinus, and Codex Sinaiticus omit it; but Codex Sinaiticus' margin has Tharas and Tharras): A chamberlain of King Ahasuerus. Oppert compares the name with Tiri-dates, the name of the governor of Persepolis in the time of Alexander. Another explanation identifies it with the Persian word turs "firm"; Scheft links it with the Persian tarsha, "desire."

Terrace

ter'-as (mecillah): Solomon is said, in 2 Chronicles 9:11, to have made of the algum trees brought him from Ophir "terraces," or raised walks, for the house of Yahweh. In the parallel 1 Kings 10:12, the word used is rendered "pillars," margin "`a railing'; Hebrew `a prop.'"

Terrible, Terror

ter'-i-b'l, ter'-er (yare', "to be feared," "reverenced," arits, "powerful," "tyrannical," 'ayom, "aweinspiring," chittith "terror," ballahah, "a worn-out or wasted thing," 'emah, "fright"; phoberos, "dreadful," phobos, "fear"): The above terms, and many others which employed, denote whatever, by horrible aspect, or by greatness, power, or cruelty, affrights men (Deuteronomy 1:19; Deuteronomy 26:8; Daniel 2:31). God is terrible by reason of His awful greatness, His infinite power, His inscrutable dealings, His perfect holiness, His covenant faithfulness, His strict justice and fearful judgments (Exodus 34:10; Deuteronomy 7:21; Nehemiah 9:32; Job 6:4; Job 37:22; Psalms 65:5; Psalms 88:15 Joel 2:11; Zechariah 2:11; Hebrews 12:21). The term is also applied to the enemies of God and of His people (Isaiah 13:11; Isaiah 25:3 Isaiah 49:25; Daniel 7:7; 1 Peter 3:14). "The terror (the Revised Version (British and American) "fear") of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:11) denotes the reverence or fear inspired by the thought that Christ is judge (2 Corinthians 5:10).

M. O. Evans

Tertius

tur'-shi-us (Tertios): The amanuensis of Paul who wrote at his dictation the Epistle to the Romans. In the midst of Paul's greetings to the Christians in Rome he interpolated his own, "I Tertius, who write the epistle, salute you in the Lord" (Romans 16:22). "It is as a Christian, not in virtue of any other relation he has to the Romans, that Tertius salutes them" (Denney). Some identify him with Silas, owing to the fact that shalish is the Hebrew for "third (officer)," as tertius is the Latin Others think he was a Roman Christian residing in Corinth. This is, however, merely conjecture. Paul seems to have dictated his letters to an amanuensis, adding by his own hand merely the concluding sentences as "the token in every epistle" (2 Thessalonians 3:17; Colossians 4:18; 1 Corinthians 16:21). How far this may have influenced the style of his letters is discussed in Sanday-Headlam, Romans, Introduction, LX.

S. F. Hunter

Tertullus

ter-tul'-us, ter- (Tertullos, diminutive of Latin tertius, "third"):, An orator who descended with Ananias the high priest and elders from Jerusalem to Caesarea to accuse Paul before Felix the Roman governor (Acts 24:1). Tertullus was a hired pleader whose services were necessary that the case for the Jews might be stated in proper form. Although he bore a Roman name, he was not necessarily a Roman; Roman names were common both among Greeks and Jews, and most orators were at this time of eastern extraction. Nor is it definitely to be concluded from the manner of his speech (Acts 24:2–8) that he was a Jew; it has always been customary for lawyers to identify themselves in their pleading with their clients. His speech before Felix is marked by considerable ingenuity. It begins with an adulation of the governorship of Felix that was little in accord with history (see FELIX); and the subsequent argument is an example of how a strong case may apparently be made out by the skillful manipulation of half-truths. Thus the riot at Jerusalem was ascribed to the sedition-mongering of Paul, who thereby proved himself an enemy of Roman rule and Jewish religion, both of which Felix was pledged to uphold. Again, the arrest of Paul was not an act of mob violence, but was legally carried out by the high priests and elders in the interests of peace; and but for the unwarranted interference of Lysias (see LYSIAS), they would have dealt with the prisoner in their own courts and thus have avoided trespassing on the time of Felix. They were, however, perfectly willing to submit the whole case to his jurisdiction. It is interesting to compare this speech of Tertullus with the true account, as given in Acts 21:27–35, and also with the letter of Lysias (Acts 23:26–30).

C. M. Kerr

Testament

tes'-ta-ment: The word diatheke, almost invariably rendered "covenant," was rendered in the King James Version "testament" in Hebrews 9:16,Hebrews 9:17, in the sense of a will to dispose of property after the maker's death. It is not easy to find justification for the retention of this translation in the Revised Version (British and American), "especially in a book which is so impregnated with the language of the Septuagint as the Epistle to the Hebrews" (Hatch).

See COVENANT, IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.

Testament Of Isaac

See APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE, sec. IV, 3.

Testament, New, Canon Of The

See CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

Testament, New, Text And Manuscripts Of The

See TEXT AND MANUSCRIPTS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

Testament, Old, Canon Of The

See CANON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.

Testament, Old, Text Of The

See TEXT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.

Testaments Of The Twelve Patriarchs

See APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE, sec. IV, 1.

Testaments, Between The

See BETWEEN THE TESTAMENTS.

Testimony, Ark Of The

tes'-ti-mo-ni (Exodus 25:21 f).

See ARK OF THE COVENANT.

Teta

te'-ta. See ATETA.

Teth

teth (T): The 9th letter of the Hebrew alphabet; transliterated in this Encyclopedia as "T" (a more intense "t"). It came also to be used for the number 9; and with waw ("w") for 15, with zayin ("z") for 16 (i.e. 9 plus 6 and 9 plus 7) to avoid forming regular series with the abbreviation for Yahweh. For name, etc., see ALPHABET.

Tetrarch

te'-trark, tet'-rark tetrarches): As the name indicates it signifies a prince, who governs one-fourth of a domain or kingdom. The Greeks first used the word. Thus Philip of Macedon divided Thessaly into four "tetrarchies." Later on the Romans adopted the term and applied it to any ruler of a small principality. It is not synonymous with "ethnarch" at least the Romans made a distinction between Herod "tetrarch" of Galilee, Philip "tetrarch" of Trachonitis, Lysanias "tetrarch" of Abilene, and Archelaius "ethnarch" of Judea (BJ, II, vi, 3; Ant, XVII, xi, 4). The title was often conferred on Herodian princes by the Romans, and sometimes it was used courteously as a synonym for king (Matthew 14:9; Mark 6:14). In the same way a "tetrarchy" was sometimes called a kingdom.

Henry E. Dosker

Tetter

tet'-er (bohaq; alphos): The term "freckled spot" in the King James Version is thus rendered in the Revised Version (British and American). The eruption referred to in Leviticus 13:39 is a pale white spot on the skin. This is described by Gorraeus as an eruption arising from a diseased state of the system without roughness of skin, scales or ulceration. It did not render the sufferer unclean, although it is difficult of cure. The disease is commonly known by its Latin name vitiligo. Pliny recommended the use of capers and lupins to remove it.

See FRECKLED SPOT; LEPROSY.