Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
(stupidity), a dweller at Rome, (Romans 16:11) some members of whose household were known
us Christians to St. Paul. Some have assumed the identity of this Narcissus with the secretary of
the emperor Claudius; but this is quite uncertain.
Nard
[Spikenard]
Nathan
(a giver).
•An eminent Hebrew prophet in the reigns of David and Solomon. (B.C. 1015.) He first appears
in the consultation with David about the building of the temple. (2 Samuel 7:2,3,17) He next comes
forward as the reprover of David for the sin with Bathsheba; and his famous apologue on the rich
man and the ewe lamb, which is the only direct example of his prophetic power, shows it to have
been of a very high order. (2 Samuel 12:1-12)
•A son of David; one of the four who were borne to him by Bathsheba. (1 Chronicles 3:5) comp,
1Chr 14:4 and 2Sam 5:14
•Son or brother of one of the members of David’s guard. (2 Samuel 23:36; 1 Chronicles 11:38)
•One of the head men who returned from Babylon with Ezra on his second expedition. (Ezra 8:16)
1 Esdr. 8:44. It is not impossible that he may be the same with the “son of Bani.” (Ezra 10:39)
Nathanael
(gift of God), a disciple of Jesus Christ, concerning whom, under that name at least, we learn
from Scripture little more than his birthplace, Cana of Galilee, (John 21:2) and his simple, truthful
character. (John 1:47) The name does not occur in the first three Gospels; but it is commonly
believed that Nathanael and Bartholomew are the same person. The evidence for that belief is as
follows: St, John who twice mentions Nathanael, never introduces the name of Bartholomew at
all. St. Matthew, (Matthew 10:3) St. Mark, (Mark 3:18) and St. Luke, (Luke 8:14) all speak of
Bartholomew but never of Nathanael. If was Philip who first brought Nathanael to Jesus, just as
Andrew had brought his brother Simon.
Nathanmelech
(the gift of the king), a eunuch (Authorized Version “chamberlain”) in the court of Josiah. (2
Kings 23:11) (B.C. 628.)
Naum
(consolation), son of Esli, and father of Amos, in the genealogy of Christ, (Luke 3:25) about
contemporary with the high priesthood of Jason all the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes. (B.C.175.)
Nave
(Heb. gao), anything convex or arched, as the boss of a shield, (Job 15:26) the eyebrows,
(Leviticus 14:9) an eminent place. (Ezekiel 16:31) It is rendered once only in the plural, “naves,”
(1 Kings 7:33) meaning the centres of the wheels in which the spokes are inserted i.e. the hubs. In
(Ezekiel 1:18) it is rendered twice “rings,” and margin “strakes,” an old word apparently used for
the nave (hub) of a wheel and also more probably for the felloe or the tire, as making the streak or
stroke upon the ground.
Nazarene
an inhabitant of Nazareth. This appellative is applied to,Jesus in many passages in the New
Testament. This name, made striking in so many ways, and which, if first given in scorn, was
adopted and gloried in by the disciples, we are told in (Matthew 2:23) possesses a prophetic
significance. Its application to Jesus, in consequence of the providential arrangements by which
482
William Smith