cheenc03a.pdf

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SIGN, SIGNS
SIGNET (onin, halhlhrim; nuJn, geaad'=th; x$y.
4 ; 6 . See RING.
SIHON ((fl?~, 1in'D: CHWN [BAF], C~WN [LI!,
king of the Amoriter, in the time of the early Israelites.
There are serious problems ansing out of the accounts
of Sihon. Our object murt be, first, to give a sketch
of the traditions in their present form, and to state the
poritlon of prcviour critics as to their historical value,
and next, to point out the great simplification of the
whole question produced by the application of a keener
to the text of the narratives.
C~~~~CISOI
Sihon is represented in the traditional text ar a king
of the Arnorites hcvond the lordan, whose dominion
,, The *ra- w"I.bou"ded i;y the Jabbok on the N..
ditionel text, by the Arnon on the S.. and by the
Jordan on the W., and extended eastwards
to the desert (Judz. 112%). According to Josh.
123 1317. ho\i,ever, it also included the Anasax [y.u.]
between the lahlmk and the sea of Galilee (called
Chinnereth or Chinneroth), and in Josh. 13%. the five
kings of the \lidianiicr killed by the Israrliter (Nu. 318)
are called 'princes of Sihon' (arrwr B], eqop [A]).
When Israel asked lc?ve of this Amorite king to pass
through his land, in order to reach the Jordan and
inrnde Canaan, he refused it, and took the field against
them, but was defeated and riain at Jahaz (Nu. 21 .r-2, :
I>t. 2.6-36; Judg. 1119-~z). The lrraelites took Hrrhhon,
Slhon's capital, and with it all the territory between the
Jabllok and the .\rnon. Oc [yu.) and his kingdom they
also conquered. and so, as it would appear unintentionally,
they became the niniterr of the whole of the trans-
Jordanic region called, in the wider sense. Gilead (see
Gll.li~~, S 3). The northern part-the former lkingdom
of Og-was given to half Manasreh, the southern to
Gad and Reuben. From Nu. 2111-30 Joih. 1 3 Dr. ~ ~
236 it is inferred that Sihon 'had crossed the Jordan.
and driving Moab southwards over Arnon and Amnlon
eastwards to the sources of the Jnbbok, had founded a
kingdom for himsrlt" The extraordinary negotiations
described in Jiidg. 11 I+-=, are bared upon the asrcrted
fact that the territory between the Jabbok and the Arnon
originally and properly belonged to Ammon. The
Ainnloniter sought in vain to conquer their ancier,t
territory from the Israelites, and in r K. 4 19 we find
one of Solomon's prefects ruling over 'the land of
Gilend, the country of Sihon king of the Aniorilrr and
Og the king of Bashan.'
'The circumstmce that neither J nor Pmentionr the fight with
AV. RV SHIHOR (p.v.).
I Cp also EGYPT. RIVER OF, and NILE.
SILAS, SILVANUS. Biivanus (in this form of the
name) is mentioned only four timer in ST. In
NT data, f 'rhers. 1 x 2 Thess. 1 r he appears ar
joint author, along with Paul and
1 Timothy, of the respective epistles : according to
siil0>~ h;,~ ruesesred to M ~YC~(ZATWS,~~~) md strde(~vr
1 xi,) that the li~hf with Sihon can have fomcd no art of the
original rmdirlon, and arar out of a mis"ndenranBng of the
old .on&! in Y,,.21,,-3,. Their objection. ue noticed and
replied to by Kiriel (Hljl 2~~8.~3%) =md by G. A. Smith (HG
56r), bur nut altoperher roncluriusly.
'Tiie rednciois and editors of the already corrupt
Heblew texts hnve ventured to alter the historical and
KC. dr,l.l..,c ,l