Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
of the Midianites and 320 were given to them as having charge of the tabernacle, (Numbers 31:47)
while 32 only were assigned specially to the priests. This disposition to devolve the more laborious
offices of their ritual upon slaves of another race showed itself again in the treatment of the
Gibeonites. No addition to the number thus employed pears to have been mad ring the period of
the judges, and they continued to be known by their own name as the Gibeonites. Either the massacre
at Nob had involved the Gibeonites as well as the priests, (1 Samuel 22:19) or else they had fallen
victims to some other outburst of Saul’s fury; and though there were survivors, (2 Samuel 21:2)
the number was likely to be quite inadequate for the greater stateliness of the new worship at
Jerusalem. It is to this period accordingly that the origin of the class bearing this name may be
traced. The Nethinim were those “whom David and the princes appointed (Heb. gave) for the service
of the Levites.” (Ezra 8:20) At this time the Nethinim probably lived within the precincts of the
temple, doing its rougher work and so enabling the Levites to take a higher position as the religious
representatives and instructors of the people. The example set by David was followed by his
successor.
Netophah
(distillation), a town the name of which occurs only in the catalogue of those who returned with
Zerubbabel from the captivity. (Ezra 2:22; Nehemiah 7:26) 1 Esdr. 5:18. But, though not directly
mentioned till so late a period, Netophah was really a much older place. Two of David’s guard, (1
Chronicles 17:13,15) were Netophathites. The “villages of the Neophathites” were the residence
of the Levites. (1 Chronicles 9:16) From another notice we learn that the particular Levites who
inhabited these villages were singers. (Nehemiah 12:28) To judge from (Nehemiah 7:26) the town
was in the neighborhood of, or closely connected with, Bethlehem.
Netophathite
an inhabitant of Neophah.
Nettle
a well-known plant covered with minute sharp hairs; containing a poison that produces a painful,
stifling sensation. It grows on neglected ground. A different Hebrew word in (Job 30:7; Proverbs
24:31; Zephaniah 2:9) seems to indicate a different species.
New Moon
The first day of the lunar month was observed as a holy day. In addition to the daily sacrifice
there were offered two young bullocks, a ram and seven lambs of the first year as a burnt offering,
with the proper meat offerings and drink offerings, and a kid as a sin offering. (Numbers 28:11-15)
As on the Sabbath, trade and handicraft work were stopped, (Amos 8:5) and the temple was opened
for public worship. (Isaiah 66:23; Ezekiel 46:3) The trumpets were blown at the offering of the
special sacrifices for the day, as on the solemn festivals. (Numbers 10:10; Psalms 81:3) It was an
occasion for state banquets. (1 Samuel 20:5-24) In later, if not in earlier, times fasting was intermitted
at the new moons. Judith 8:6. The new moons are generally mentioned so as to show that they were
regarded as a peculiar class of holy days, distinguished from the solemn feasts and the Sabbaths.
(1 Chronicles 113:31; 2 Chronicles 2:4; 8:13; 31:3; Ezra 3:5; Nehemiah 10:33; Ezekiel 45:17) The
seventh new moon of the religious year, being that of Tisri, commenced the civil year, and had a
significance and rites of its own. It was a day of holy convocation. The religious observance of the
day of the new moon may plainly be regarded as the consecration of a natural division of time.
New Testament
492
William Smith