Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
•Katsin, occasionally rendered captain, applies Sometimes to a military, (Joshua 10:24; Judges
11:6,11; Isaiah 22:3; Daniel 11:18) sometimes to a civil command, e.g. (Isaiah 1:10; 3:6)
•The captain of the temple, mentioned (Luke 22:4; Acts 4:1; 5:24) superintended the guard of
priests and Levites who kept watch by night in the temple.
Captive
A prisoner of war. Such were usually treated with great cruelty by the heathen nations. They
were kept for slaves, and often sold; but this was a modification of the ancient cruelty, and a
substitute for putting them to death Although the treatment of captives by the Jews seems sometimes
to be cruel, it was very much milder than that of the heathen, and was mitigated, as far as possible
in the circumstances, by their civil code.
Captivities Of The Jews
The present article is confined to the forcible deportation of the Jew; from their native land,
and their forcible detention, under the Assyrian or Babylonian kings. Captives of Israel.—The
kingdom of Israel was invaded by three or four successive kings of Assyria. Pul or Surdanapalus,
according to Rawlinson, imposed a tribute (B.C. 771 or 712), Rawl.) upon Menahem. (2 Kings
15:19) and 1Chr 5:26 Tiglath-pileser carried away (B.C. 740) the trans-Jordanic tribes, (1 Chronicles
5:26) and the inhabitants of Galilee, (2 Kings 15:29) comp. Isai 9:1 To Assyria. Shalmaneser twice
invaded, (2 Kings 17:3,5) the kingdom which remained to Hoshea, took Samaria (B.C. 721) after
a siege of three years, and carried Israel away into Assyria. This was the end of the kingdom of the
ten tribes of Israel. Captivities of Judah .—Sennacherib (B.C. 713) is stated to have carried into
Assyria 200,000 captives from the Jewish cities which he took. (2 Kings 18:13) Nebuchadnezzar,
in the first half of his reign (B.C. 606-562), repeatedly invaded Judea, besieged Jerusalem, carried
away the inhabitants to Babylon, and destroyed the temple. The 70 years of captivity predicted by
Jeremiah, (Jeremiah 25:12) are dated by Prideaux from B.C. 606. The captivity of Ezekiel dates
from B.C. 598, when that prophet, like Mordecai the uncle of Esther (Esther 2:6) accompanied
Jehoiachin. The captives were treated not as slaves but as colonists. The Babylonian captivity was
brought to a close by the decree, (Ezra 1:2) of Cyrus (B.C. 536), and the return of a portion of the
nation under Sheshbazzar or Zerubbabel (B.C. 535), Ezra (B.C. 458) and Nehemiah (B.C. 445).
Those who were left in Assyria, (Esther 8:9,11) and kept up their national distinctions, were known
as The Dispersion. (John 7:35; 1:1; James 1:1) The lost tribes.—Many attempts have been made
to discover the ten tribes existing as a distinct community; but though history bears no witness of
the present distinct existence, it enables us to track the footsteps of the departing race in four
directions after the time of the Captivity.
•Some returned and mixed with the Jews. (Luke 2:36; Philemon 3:5) etc.
•Some were left in Samaria, mingled with the Samaritans, (Ezra 6:21; John 4:12) and became bitter
enemies of the Jews.
•Many remained in Assyria, and were recognized as an integral part of the Dispersion; see (Acts
2:1; 26:7)
•Most, probably, apostatized in Assyria, adopted the usages and idolatry of the nations among
whom they were planted, and became wholly swallowed up in them.
Carbuncle
This word represents two Hebrew words. The first may he a general term to denote any
bright,sparkling gem, (Isaiah 54:12) the second, (Exodus 28:17; 39:10; Ezekiel 28:13) is supposed
to be and smaragdus or emerald.
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William Smith