Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
(a rugged region), (Luke 3:1) is in all probability the Greek equivalent for the Aramaic Argob,
one of the five Roman provinces into which the country northeast of the Jordan was divided in
New Testament times. [Argob]
Trance
(1) In the only passage— (Numbers 24:4,16)—in which this word occurs in the English of the
Old Testament italics show no corresponding word in Hebrew. In the New Testament we meet with
the word three times— (Acts 10:10; 11:6; 22:17) The ekstasis (i.e. trance) is the state in which a
man has passed out of the usual order of his life, beyond the usual limits of consciousness and
volition, being rapt in causes of this state are to be traced commonly to strong religious impressions.
Whatever explanation may be given of it, it is true of many, if not of most, of those who have left
the stamp of their own character on the religious history of mankind, that they have been liable to
pass at times into this abnormal state. The union of intense feeling, strong volition, long-continued
thought (the conditions of all wide and lasting influence, aided in many cases by the withdrawal
from the lower life of the support which is needed to maintain a healthy equilibrium, appears to
have been more than the “earthen vessel” will bear. The words which speak of “an ecstasy of
adoration” are often literally true. As in other things, so also here, the phenomena are common to
higher and lower, to true and false systems. We may not point to trances and ecstasies as proofs of
a true revelation but still less may we think of them as at all inconsistent with it. Thus though we
have not the word, we have the thing in the “deep sleep” the “horror of great darkness,” that fell
on Abraham. (Genesis 15:12) Balaam, as if overcome by the constraining power of a Spirit mightier
than his own, “sees the vision of God, falling, but with opened eyes.” (Numbers 24:4) Saul, in like
manner, when the wild chant of the prophets stirred the old depths of feeling, himself also
“prophesied” and “fell down”—most, if not all, of his kingly clothing being thrown off in the ecstasy
of the moment—“all that day and all that night.” (1 Samuel 19:24) Something there was in Jeremiah
that made men say of him that he was as one that” is mad and maketh himself a prophet.” (Jeremiah
29:26) In Ezekiel the phenomena appear in more wonderful and awful forms. (Ezekiel 3:15) As
other elements and forms of the prophetic work were revived in “the apostles and prophets” of the
New Testament, so also was this. Though different in form, it belongs to the same class of phenomena
as the gift of tongues, and is connected with “visions and revelations of the Lord” In some cases,
indeed, it is the chosen channel for such revelations. (Acts 10:11; 22:17-21) Wisely for the most
part did the apostle draw a veil over these more mysterious experiences. (2 Corinthians 12:1-4)
Transfiguration, The
(The event in the earthly life of Christ which marks the culminating point in his public ministry,
and stands midway between the temptation in the wilderness and the agony in Gethsemane, (Matthew
17:1-13; Mark 9:2-13; Luke 9:28-36) Place . Though tradition locates the transfiguration on Mount
Tabor there is little to confirm this view and modern critics favor Mount Hermon, the highest
mountain-top in Gaulanitis, or one of the spurs of the Anti-Lebanus. Time .—The transfiguration
probably took place at night, because it could then be seen to better advantage than in daylight, and
Jesus usually went to mountains to spend there the night in prayer. (Matthew 14:23,24; Luke 6:12;
21:37) The apostles were asleep, and are described its having kept themselves awake through the
act of transfiguration. (Luke 9:32) The actors and witnesses .—Christ was the central figure, the
subject of transfiguration. Moses and Elijah appeared from the heavenly world, as the representatives
of the Old Testament, the one of the law the other of prophecy, to do homage to him who was the
fulfillment of both. Mr. Ellicott says, “The close of the ministry of each was not after the ’common
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William Smith