Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
surround him. The writer is a man who has sinned in giving way to selfishness and sensuality, who
has paid the penalty of that sin in satiety and weariness of life, but who has through all this been
under the discipline of a divine education, and has learned from it the lesson which God meant to
teach him.
Ecclesiasticus
one of the books of the Apocrypha. This title is given in the Latin version to the book which is
called in the Septuagint THE WISDOM OF JESUS THE SON OF SIRACH. The word designates
the character of the writing, as publicly used in the services of the Church.
Eclipse Of The Sun
No historical notice of an eclipse occurs in the Bible, but there are passages in the prophets
which contain manifest allusion to this phenomenon. (Joel 2:10,31; 3:15; Amos 8:9; Micah 3:6;
Zechariah 14:6) Some of these notices probably refer to eclipses that occurred about the time of
the respective compositions: thus the date of Amos coincides with a total eclipse which occurred
Feb. 9, B.C. 784, and was visible at Jerusalem shortly after noon; that of Micah with the eclipse of
June 5, B.C. 716. A passing notice in (Jeremiah 15:9) coincides in date with the eclipse of Sept.
30, B.C. 610, so well known from Herodotus’ account (i. 74, 103). The darkness that overspread
the world at the crucifixion cannot with reason be attributed to an eclipse, as the moon was at the
full at the time of the passover.
Ed
(witness), a word inserted in the Authorized Version of (Joshua 22:34) apparently on the authority
of a few MSS., and also of the Syriac and Arabic versions, but not existing in the generally-received
Hebrew text.
Edar, Tower Of
(accur. Eder, a flock), a place named only in (Genesis 35:21) According to Jerome it was one
thousand paces from Bethlehem.
Eden
•A
Gershonite Levite, son of Joah, in the days of Hezekiah. (2 Chronicles 29:12) (B.C. 727.)
•Also a Levite, probably identical with the preceding. (2 Chronicles 31:15)
(pleasure).
•The first residence of man, called in the Septuagint Paradise. The latter is a word of Persian origin,
and describes an extensive tract of pleasure land, somewhat like an English park; and the use of
it suggests a wider view of man’s first abode than a garden. The description of Eden is found in
(Genesis 2:8-14) In the eastern portion of the region of Eden was the garden planted. The Hiddekel,
one of its rivers, is the modern Tigris; the Euphrates is the same as the modern Euphrates. With
regard to the Pison and Gihon a great variety of opinion exists, but the best authorities are divided
between (1) Eden as in northeast Arabia, at the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris, and their
separation again, making the four rivers of the different channels of these two, or (2), and most
probably, Eden as situated in Armenia, near the origin of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, and in
which same region rise the Araxes (Pison of Genesis) and the Oxus (Gihon).
•One of the marts which supplied the luxury of Tyre with richly-embroidered stuffs. In (2 Kings
19:12) and Isai 37:12 “The sons of Eden” are mentioned with Gozan, Haran and Rezeph as victims
of the Assyrian greed of conquest. Probability seems to point to the northwest of Mesopotamia as
the locality of Eden.
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William Smith