Volume I, pages 590–608 of the 1732 edition, from GAL to GIA: everything printed on these pages, in order.
Continued from Galatia
Christianity. The subscriptions which we read in the Greek editions of this Epistle, shew that it was written from Rome. Theodoret thinks it was the first of those, Theodoret. in Paul. Proleg. p. 5. Hieronym. in Galat. vi. 11.which St. Paul wrote from this City; and St. Jerom will have it, that he penned it, while he was a prisoner. But we chuse rather to follow that opinion, which asserts it to have been written from Ephesus in the year of Jesus Christ 55.
2 Macc. viii. 20.In the books of the Maccabees, it is said, that Judas Maccabæus exhorting his people to fight valiantly against the Syrians, related to them several examples of God’s protection of the Hebrews; and among others, that which they experienced in a battle fought in Babylonia, wherein six thousand Jews killed an hundred and twenty thousand Galatians. The Greek is more circumstantial; that tells us, that the Galatians coming to attack the army of the Jews in Babylonia, which consisted but of eight thousand men, assisted by four thousand Macedonians, and these last wanting resolution to engage the enemy, the Jews alone, tho’ their numbers were so inconsiderable, defeated an hundred and twenty thousand Galatians. The Scripture giving us no particulars of the time or other circumstances of this defeat, we can say nothing certain of them. It is very probable, that in this place the Galatians were not meant, who were settled in Galatia, but the Gauls, who at that time over-run Asia. The Greek, Galatai, is taken equally for one and t’other.
GALBANUM, a sort of gum, or sweet spice, which was an ingredient in the composition Exod. xxx. 34. חלבנה Chelbaah. LXX. Χαλβάνην.of the incense, provided in order to be burnt upon the golden Altar in the Holy. Galbanum is a juice drawn by incision from a plant, which is much like the large kind of fennel, and grows in Syria on mount Amanus. The smell of it is not very agreeable, especially when it is without mixture. The word Galbanum comes from the Hebrew, Chalbanah, which signifies, fat, unctuous, gummy.
Acts v. 37. Joseph. Antiq. l. xx. c. 3. Ib. l. 2. de Bello, c. 13. & Plin. l. 5. c. 15. Euseb. in Isai. ix.GALILEE, a Province in Palestine. It extends itself principally into the northern part of Palestine, beyond the Plain of Jezreel, or the Great Plain. It is divided into upper and lower Galilee. Lower Galilee extends itself into the Tribes of Zebulun, Asher, and Naphtali, on this side Jordan, westward of the Sea of Tiberias. Upper Galilee extends itself principally beyond Jordan, inclining towards the Trachonitis, Libanus, and Batanæa. It was called Galilee of the Gentiles, because it was in the possession of the Gentiles, with Jews interspersed among them; or rather because it bordered upon Gentile nations, such as the Phœnicians, Syrians, and Arabians.
Joseph. de Bello, l. 3. c. 2. p. 832.As what we have said of Galilee’s extending itself beyond Jordan, admits of some difficulty, it is necessary to support our assertion with some proofs. Judas Gaulanites is called the Galilæan in the Acts, and in Josephus. Now Gaulan was beyond Jordan; Galilee therefore extended itself into this country. Besides, Josephus places Bethsaida on the other side of Jordan; this city was certainly part of Galilee, and such of the Apostles as were of Bethsaida, are called Galilæans; Galilee therefore, part of it at least, reached beyond Jordan. Eusebius, in his Comment on Isaiah, says clearly that Galilee lay on the other side Jordan. The Septuagint in Isaiah xxxiii. 9. translate Basan, Galilee. Now no one questions but that Basan was beyond Jordan. St. Jerom in his Comment on this passage of Isaiah, remarks, that these Interpreters have put the name of a Province for a certain place in that Province. He believed therefore, that Basan was in Galilee. For this opinion see Lightfoot1, and Cellarius2; and for the contrary opinion, Reland. Palæstin. t. 1. l. 1. c. 31. p. 181. See likewise our Dissertation on the Geography of Scripture prefixed to our Comment upon Joshua.
Josephus sets out the limits of Galilee in this manner. It is terminated westward, says he, by the City of Ptolemaïs, and Mount Carmel, (which do not belong to Galilee;) on the South side it is bounded by the country of Samaria and Scythopolis, which is situated upon the river Jordan. Its Eastern limits are the cantons of Hippos, Gadara and Gaulan. Lastly, on the North side, the confines of the Tyrians are its bounds.
Lower GALILEE reaches in length from Tiberias, as far as Chabulon, or Zabulon, the frontier of Ptolemaïs; and in width from Chaloth, situated in the Great Plain, as far as Bersabee: and the breadth of Upper Galilee begins at Bersabee, and extends as far as the town of Baca, which separates it from the Province of the Tyrians. Its length reaches from Tella, a village situated upon the river Jordan, to Meroth. But as the exact situation of these places Bersabee, Chaloth, Baca, Tella, and Meroth, is not known, we cannot accurately describe the extent of Upper Galilee.
Josephus says, that the Galilæans were naturally good soldiers, bold and intrepid, that they always bravely resisted the foreign nations that surrounded them; that this country was fruitful and well cultivated, and that the people were very laborious and industrious. That the number of towns and villages in it was very great, and that all these places were so well
peopled, that the least towns did not contain less than fifteen thousand inhabitants.
Every one knows, that our Saviour was surnamed Galileean, because he was brought up at Nazareth, a city of Galilee. His Disciples, and Christians in general, were likewise called Galileeans3, because Matth. iv. 15. Isai. ix. 1, 2.the Apostles were of Galilee. St. Matthew applies these words of Isaiah to the preaching of our Saviour; The land of Zebulon and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; the people which sat in darkness, saw great light. The Galileeans were not thought to be very knowing in matters of Religion, and the Jews did not believe that a Prophet would come out of Galilee. Their John vii. 41, 52. Matth. xxvi. 73.language and their accent were different from those of the other Jews of the Country. St. Peter was known to be a Galileean by his accent.
GALILEE. Sea of Galilee, otherwise the lake of Tiberias, or sea of Tiberias, or sea of Cenereth, or Cinnereth, or Genesareth. See above CINNERETH.
I. GALILEEANS. We have already observed, that Christians, the Disciples of Jesus Christ, were called by this name.
II. GALILEEANS, a Sect of the Jews, which sprung up in Judæa, some years after the birth of our Saviour. One Judas, a native of Gaulan, in upper Galilee, was the author of it, about the year of the world 4010, upon the occasion of Augustus’s appointing the people to be mustered; which order was executed by Quirinius, in the See Luke ii. 1. Acts v. 37. and the Comment upon Acts v. 37.tenth year of Jesus Christ, ten years after the death of Herod the Great, in the last year of Augustus, and after the banishment of Archelaüs. This numbering of the people was very different from that which was made at our Saviour’s birth.
Joseph. Antiq. l. 18. c. 2.Judas the Gaulanite, or Galileean, pretended, that the tax established by the Romans, and regulated by Quirinius, was a manifest instance of servitude, which all true Israelites ought to oppose with all their power. These discourses made an impression upon the people’s minds: many of them joined Judas, took arms, and began a kind of civil war, which, properly speaking, was not concluded till the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. The Disciples of Judas were called Galileeans, because Judas himself was of Upper Galilee, and his followers, for the most part, were of the same Province. They were likewise called Herodians, because the kingdom of Herod the Tetrarch included Galilee beyond Jordan, and the neighbouring places about Gaulan, Judas’s country. See our Dissertation concerning the Sects of the Jews, prefixed to St. Luke, and the article Herodians.
The Galileeans, according to Josephus, agreed in every thing with the Pharisees. The only thing which distinguished them, was, an excessive love of liberty; being strongly prejudiced with this principle, That God alone is the Head and Prince, whom we are to obey. In the Gospel we find them mentioned by the name of HerodiansMatth. xxi.16,17., who addressed themselves to our Lord, and asked him, if it were lawful or not to pay tribute to Cæsar. This was the great question, and principal object of their sect. When Jesus Christ appeared before Luk. xxiii. 2.Pilate, his accusers would have rendred him suspected of this heresy, saying, that they found him perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Cæsar.
GALL. We shall hereafter speak of the Wine mixt with Gall which was presented to our Saviour while he hung upon the cross, Matth. xxvii. 34. See the article WINE, wherein we endeavour to reconcile St. Matthew with St. Mark, the former of whom speaks of Wine mingled with Gall, the other of Wine mingled with Myrrh. The Prophet Habakkuk likewise mentions Gall mixt with Wine, as made use of to intoxicate. Hab. ii. 13.Væ qui potum dat amico suo mittens fel suum, & inebrians, ut aspiciat nuditatem ejus. We believe the Prophet’s intention was, to hint at the conduct of Pharaoh Hophrah, King of Egypt, towards King Zedekiah: he promised Zedekiah his assistance, and engaged him to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar; but in his necessity he failed him. He gave him Gall to drink, and made him drunk, that he might have the pleasure of seeing his nakedness. The Rabbins relate, that it was Nebuchadnezzar, who one day at an entertainment with his friends, sent for Zedekiah, and gave him an intoxicating liquor to drink, purposely to expose him to ridicule.
But why is Gall mingled with it? Gall is a powerful Digestive; the Ethiopians use it instead of mustard. When Moses commands the Paschal Lamb to be eaten with bitterness, he may be very well understood to mean Gall. Gall mingled with Wine makes it pass the quicker, and consequently get Deut. xxxii. 32, 33.sooner into the head. Moses threatens the Israelites from God to make their grapes, Grapes of Gall; and their Wine the Poison of Dragons: that is to say, to change the sweetness of their grapes into bitterness, and their wine into poison; which, instead of nourishing, and making them chearful, would intoxicate and destroy them. We see by Tobit, that the Gall of a fish was of use in Tob. vi. 5 xi. 8, 13. Plin. l. 28 c. 9.curing his eyes. Pliny takes notice of the use which was made of Gall for fore eyes: Ad oculorum medicamenta uti
De Bello, l. 4. c. 1. Jer. viii. 14 ix. 15. Lam. v. 19. Psal. lxix. 21. Joseph. de Bello, l. 4. c. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. in Græco, seu c. 1, 2, 3. in Lat.lius habetur. In Jeremiah, To give water of Gall to drink, denotes some very bitter affliction. And the Psalmist says, that his enemies, or rather the enemies of the Messiah, offered him Gall to eat, and Vinegar to drink. The Gall of bitterness, in the Acts viii. 23. signifies hatred, sharpness, malice, envy, &c.
I. GALLIM, or Ægallim, Agalla, or Ægalla, a town beyond Jordan. See above AGALLA.
II. GALLIM, a village in the neighbourhood Euseb. & Hieron. in Onomast. Γαλλεί. Acts xviii. 12, 13.of Eckron.
GALLIO, Seneca the Philosopher’s brother, was before called Marcus Annæus Novatus; but having been adopted by Lucius Junius Gallio, he took the name of his adoptive father. The Emperor Claudius made him Proconsul of Achaia; and in the year of Jesus Christ 53, in the reign of Nero, he was again Proconsul of this Province. He was a man of a mild, agreeable temper. His brother Seneca dedicated his books of Anger to him. He had his share in the misfortunes of his brothers, when they were out of favour, as well as in their prosperity, when they were well at Court; and Nero at last put him to death, as well as them. The Jews being enraged at St. Paul, for converting many of the Gentiles, dragg’d him to Gallio’s tribunal, who, as Proconsul, resided generally at Corinth. They accused him with teaching men to worship God contrary to the Law. And Paul being upon the point of speaking for himself, Gallio told the Jews, that if the matter in question were a breach of justice, or an action of a criminal nature, he should think himself obliged to hear them with patience; but as the dispute was only concerning their law, he left them to determine their differences as they pleased; for he would not be judge of them: and so ordered them to retire. At the same time, Sosthenes the chief Ruler of the Synagogue was seized on, and beaten before Gallio’s Seat of Justice, without this Governour’s concerning himself at all about it, in the year of Jesus Christ 57, of the Vulgar Æra 54.
I. GALLUS. Cesennius Gallus. See CESENNIUS.
II. GALLUS, Cestius Gallus. See CESTIUS.
I. GAMALA, a town in Galilee, surnamed the city of the horsemen. Joseph. Antiq. l. 3. c. 1. See above GABA.
II. GAMALA, a town beyond Jordan in the Gaulanitis; it was called Gamala, because its situation in some sort resembled the form of a camel. It was part of Agrippa’s kingdom, but the inhabitants refusing to submit to this Prince, it was besieged, first by Agrippa’s forces, and afterwards by the Roman army, which after a long siege, took and sacked it.
Numb. i. 10. ii, 20, vii. 54. In the year of the World 2514, before J. C. 1486, before the Vulgar Æra 1490. Acts v. 34, &c. In the year of J. C. 36, of the Vulgar Æra 33.I. GAMALIEL, the son of Pedahzur, was Prince of the tribe of Manasseh, when Moses brought the Israelites out of Egypt. He was at the head of two and thirty thousand two hundred men of his tribe.
II. GAMALIEL, Doctor of the Law, by sect a Pharisee, was St. Paul’s master, as likewise St. Barnabas’s and St. Stephen’s, if some writers are to be believed. Shortly after the descent of the Holy Ghost, which happened on the day of Pentecost, the Jews desiring the death of St. Peter, whom they had brought before the assembly of their Priests, Gamaliel required that the Apostles should retire for some time: this being done, he spake to the Assembly in these terms: Take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men. For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody, to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain, and all as many as obeyed him were scattered and brought to nought. After this man rose up Judas of Galilee, in the days of the taxing, (under Quirinius) and drew away much people after him: he also perished, and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed. And now I say unto you, refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found Vide Lucian. de Sancto Stephano, c. 5, ad finem t. x. Oper. S. Aug. nov. edit.even to fight against God. Gamaliel’s advice was followed, and the Apostles were set at liberty.
After the death of St. Stephen, Gamaliel encouraged the Christians to go by night and carry off his body, and lent them his chariot to go and bury it in the lands belonging to himself, at seven or eight leagues distance from Jerusalem, In the year of J. C. 37, of the Vulgar Æra 34. Phot. Cod. 171. Lucian. de Sancto Stephano.which from him were called Caphar Gamala, Gamala’s or Gamaliel’s field. It is said, that Nicodemus was Gamaliel’s nephew or cousin; and that in consideration of the latter, the Jews, instead of putting Nicodemus to death, were content only with banishing him. It is not doubted, but that Gamaliel embraced the faith of Jesus Christ: but at what time he was converted, or by whom he was baptized, no one knows. He had two sons, one, whose name was Abibas, who was baptized with his father; the other called Sedemias, or Selemias, who refused to embrace Christianity . They did not long survive their baptism, and were buried in the same cave, dug within a rock, where Stephen’s body had been laid, but in different coffins. The circumstances which we have here related of Gamaliel’s life, are for the most part to be met
with in the history written by Lucian, concerning the discovery of St. Stephen’s body, and printed in St. Austin’s works of the new edition, at the end of the tenth tome .
Some have believed Gamaliel, who is mentioned in the Acts, to be the same with Gamaliel of Japhneh or Dibanah, who, according to the Jewish Doctors, succeeded Jochanan in the dignity of Patriarch of the See Basnage hist. des Juifs, t. 2. l. 4. c. 3. art. 11.West. It had been concerted to kill Gamaliel, together with his father, after the taking of Jerusalem; but Titus, at the instance of Jochanan, gave him his life. He escaped a second time, when Turnus Rufus plowed up the very spot on which the Temple stood. His severity was so great, that they were obliged to set bounds to his authority: some maintain that he was even deposed from his office; but others affirm, his authority to have been so great, that not only the Jews over the whole universe, but even foreign Kings allowed the execution of it, without there being so much as one who opposed it.
Samuel the less was living at that time, and he it was who composed the prayer against hereticks, which has been ever since recited solemnly in the synagogues. They beg of God, that there may be no hope for apostates; that all hereticks may perish by a sudden death; that the reign of pride may be in our days interrupted and destroyed. Blessed be thou, O Lord God, who destroyest the wicked, and humblest the proud. Some have imagined this Samuel the less to be the same with St. Paul. They have made Saul of Samuel by taking away the Mem. The Greek, Gaulos, signifies small. Saul or Paul Samuel.was Contemporary with, and Disciple to Gamaliel.
The time wherein they lived is not absolutely inconsistent with what Saint Luke relates of Gamaliel. He gave his opinion in the assemby of the Priests in the 32d year of the Vulgar Æra. He was witness to the taking of Jerusalem in the 70th year of the Vulgar Æra. In some short time afterwards he might have succeeded Jochanan in the dignity of Patriarch of his Nation. There is more difficulty with relation to Samuel the less, whom they will have to be the same with St. Paul. The Jewish authors suppose that he died in the profession of Judaism; and we know that St. Paul became an early convert to Christianity. The prayer which is ascribed to Samuel the less, is almost all against the Christians, and it appears that he was in great authority, when he composed it; whereas St. Paul was very young when he embraced Christianity.
III. GAMALIEL, grandson to him of whom we have been speaking, was, as is said, the first Patriarch of the Jews, about the year of Jesus Christ 97.
GAMUL, one of the heads of those sacerdotal Families, which served in the Temple, each according to its particular rank and order.
GANGES, a river of Asia, the spring whereof rises in Mount Caucasus, from whence it continues its course till it discharges itself into the Indian ocean. It divides the Indies into two parts, and runs through the Province of Indostan. There is no express mention made of it in the Scripture, and the reason of our giving it a place here, is only because some pretend that this was the river Pison spoken of by Moses, which was one of the four, that flowed out of Eden. But it is too far from the Tigris and Euphrates, which were certainly two of the rivers of Paradise, for any one to believe, that Pison proceeded from the same spring. It is above twelve hundred leagues from the Euphrates.
GAONS. A certain Order of Jewish Doctors is called by this name, who appeared in the East after the closing of the Talmud. The word Gaons signifies excellent, sublime, as in our Divinity-Schools we have irrefragable, sublime, resolute, angelick, and subtle Doctors. The Gaons succeeded the Seburæans, or Opiners, about Basnage hist. des Juifs, t. 6. l. 9. c. 5. art. 3.the beginning of the sixth Century. Chanan Meischtia was the head and first of Excellents; he restored the Academy of Pandbita, which had been shut up for the space of thirty years.
Among the Excellents is likewise reckoned one Judas the Blind, who taught about the year 763. To him we are obliged for certain lectures which are very much esteemed by his nation. The Jews, to avoid reproaching him with the defect of his eyes, surnamed him, abounding with Lights.
Scherira, one of the Gaons, appeared with much lustre at the close of the tenth century. He divested himself of his office in order to make a cession of it to his son Hai, who was the last of the Excellents. Hai lived in the beginning of the eleventh century, and was esteemed as the most Excellent of the Excellents. He taught till his death, which happened in 1037, and with him ended the Order of the Gaons, which had subsisted 280 or 350, or even 448 years: for as people are not agreed about the time when these Doctors began; so likewise is the continuance of their reign disputed.
GARDEN, in Latin, Hortus; in Greek,
Kepos; and in Hebrew, Gan; is generally supposed to mean a Kitchin-Garden. But it גןGan. Κῆπος. Hortus.is taken likewise for an Orchard; wherefore that wherein God placed our first Parents, is called the Garden of Eden, or the Garden of Delights. But the Hebrews, to signify an Ezek. xxxv. 36. Joel ii. 3. פרדסParadise, whence Παράδεισος.Orchard, more generally make use of the word Paradise, whence the Greek, Paradisos, is derived, which signifies a Garden planted with trees. There is mention sometimes made in Scripture of the King’s Gardens, which were either in the City, or near 2 Kings xxi. 18, 26. Isai. i. 29. Isa. lxv. 3. Isai. lxvi. 17.the walls of Jerusalem. Here was the Royal Burial-place. Isaiah reproaches the Jews with the abominations and acts of Idolatry which they committed in their Gardens; Ye shall be confounded for the Gardens which ye have chosen. These Gardens were consecrated to Venus and Adonis; there they sacrificed; that sacrificeth in Gardens; after which, they thought they were well purified, when they had washed themselves in the water.
GAREB, a native of the City of Ither, one of the brave Officers in David’s army. 2 Sam. xxiii. 38.
Jerem. xxxi. 39. Sanhedrin. fol. 103.GAREB, an hill near Jerusalem. It is said in the Mishnah, that from Garab or Gareb to Silo were three miles only; and that there was Micah’s Ephod. But Gareb mentioned in Jeremiah, could not be so far from Jerusalem, since the Prophet says, that Jerusalem shall reach as far as the Hill of Gareb. Now the distance from Jerusalem to Silo was about twelve leagues.
GARIS, a Town in Galilee. Josephus de Bello.
GARISMA, a place near Sephoris: according to Josephus, there were not above twenty furlongs between them.
GARMI4, of the Town of Maachathi, and son to Naham. 1 Chron. iv. 19.
GATAM, the son of Eliphaz, the son of Esau. Gen. xxxvi. 11.
Deut. xvii. 5, 8. xxv. 6, 7. xxi. 19. xxii. 15. &c.GATE. We have nothing to remark concerning the material Gates or Doors belonging to the Houses of the old Hebrews, except this, that generally the Posts were of wood: for example, the Gates of the City of Gaza, which Samson carried away upon his Judg. xvi. 3.shoulders; that is to say, the Gate, Bars, Posts, and Locks, if there were any, were all carried away together by him. At present, the Doors of Houses and Churches in Palestine are generally very low; to prevent, as is said, the Arabians, who always go on horse-back in that country, from getting in, and doing any thing insolent there. However, I do not observe any thing like it among the old Hebrews.
But the word Gate is often used in Scripture to denote the place of publick Assemblies, where Justice was administred. As the Jews were for the most part employed in labouring in the fields, it was wisely provided, that Assemblies should be held at the City-gates, and Justice administred there in a summary manner, that those laborious men, who were busy at their work, might lose no time, and that the country-people who had affairs upon their hands in the town, might not be obliged to enter, and spend time there. Ne cogerentur agricolæ intrare urbes, & aliquod subire dispendium, Judices in portis residebant, ut tàm urbanos, quàm rusticos, in exitu & introitu urbis audirent, & finito negotio, unusquisque confestim ad sedes proprias revertentur. One Hieron. in Zech. viii.particular form of these Judgments is to be seen in that, which was given at the Gate of Bethlehem, between Boaz, and another person, a relation of Naömi’s, upon the subject of Ruth’s marriage, who was a Moabite; Ruth iv. 1. Gen. xxiii. 10, 18. Gen. xxii. 17.and in Abraham’s purchase of a field to bury Sarah. The field of Ephron was made sure unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the Gate of his city.
The word Gate, Porta, is likewise sometimes put to signify power, dominion; almost in the same manner as the Turkish Emperor’s Palace is at this day called the Port. God promises Abraham, that the Posterity of this Patriarch shall possess the Gates of their enemies, their towns, their fortresses: Thy seed shall possess the Gate of his enemies. Jesus Christ says to St. Peter; Matth. xvi. 18.Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church, and the Gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Bergeron. Voyage de Calpin, c. 10. D’Herbelot Bibl. Orient. p. 157. col. 1.The Scripture remarks, that the idol Dagon, the God of the Philistins, having fallen in the presence of the Ark, and the two hands of this statue having been found upon the threshold of the Temple, the Priests afterwards forbore to tread on it. Therefore neither the Priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon’s house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod, unto this day. The Prophet5 Zephaniah seems to allude to this practice of the Philistins, under the name of those who leap on the threshold. The Vulgate reads, Super omnem qui arroganter ingreditur super limen. But the Hebrew implies, as we have said, against those who leap over the threshold.
Among the Tartars they never walk upon the thresholds of Princes, out of respect to them. The Caliphs of Bagdat obliged all who entred their Palaces to prostrate themselves upon the Door-threshold, wherein they set a piece of the black stone of the Temple at Mecca, to make it more venerable.
venerable to the people; who applied their foreheads to it. This threshold was pretty high, and it had been a sin for any one to rest his feet upon it.
The Gates of Hell. King Hezekiah representing If. xxxviii. 10.in his hymn the condition he was in when he was sick, explains himself thus; I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the Gates of hell, or of the grave. Jesus Matth. xvi. 18.Christ in the Gospel says, that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against his Church; which is the same thing probably that the Psal. ix. 15.Psalmist calls the Gates of death. Qui exaltat me de portis mortis. And in another place, They drew near us to the Gates of Psal. cvii. 18. Wisd. xvi. 13.death. And the author of Wisdom, Deducis ad portas mortis. The Hebrews looked upon death, the grave, hell, as a place, whither people came from all parts of the world, there to enter upon another life. We have seen elsewhere what idea they had of the abode of the old giants, who composed a sort of commonwealth under the earth. The Gentiles used expressions much of the same nature; founded, without doubt, upon the same opinions. Achilles, in Homer, says, He Homer. Iliad.hates the man who says one thing, and acts another, as he does the Gates of hell.
Alcoran, chap. of the Stone.The Mahometans allow seven Gates to hell, and to each assign its particular punishment; the first is that where Mussulmen, who incur the guilt of sin, will be tormented. The second is for Christians. The third for the Jews. The fourth for the Sabians. The fifth for the Magi or Guebres, worshippers of fire. The sixth for Pagans and Idolaters. The seventh and deepest part of the abyss, is for Hypocrites, who make an outward shew of Religion, and have none. Others by these seven Gates understand the seven capital sins. Others the seven principal Members of a man, which are the instruments of sin.
The everlasting Doors mentioned in Psalm xxiv. 7, 9. are the Gates of Heaven. Angels are invited to open them for the reception of our Lord at his return to Heaven. This agrees admirably with the ascension of Jesus Christ.
The Gates of Righteousness; Open to me Ps. cxviii. 19.the Gates of Righteousness; are those of the Temple, where the Righteous, the Saints, the Priests of the Lord, the true Israelites pay their vows and praises unto God; where none enter but purified Israelites, a nation of righteous men.
GATH, a celebrated City of the 1 Sam. vi. 17. 1 Sam. xvii. 4. 2 Sam. viii. 1.Philistins, and one of their five Principalities. It is famous for having given birth to Goliath. David made a conquest of it in the beginning of his reign over all Israel; and this City continued subject to the Kings his successors till the declension and decay of the Kingdom of Judah. Rehoboam rebuilt or fortified it, 2 Chron. xi. 8. King Uzziah re-conquered it; and Hezekiah once more reduced it under his subjection. Josephus makes it to be a part of the Tribe of Dan: but Joshua takes no notice of it in his distribution of the several Cities among the Tribes of Israel. It is our opinion, that Mithcah, mentioned by Moses, is the same as Metheg in 2 Samuel viii. 1. and that we should translate it, David took Metheg and her mother, instead of, he took the bridle of Tribute, which in the Chronicles is explained by, He took Gath, and her daughters. Gath was the mother, and Metheg the daughter. According to this hypothesis, Gath of the Philistins, the birth-place of giants, must lie a great way in Arabia Petræa, towards Egypt; which is also confirmed by what is said in the Chronicles, that the sons of Ephraim being still in Egypt, attacked the City of Gath, and were there cut in pieces.
St. Jerom says, that there was a large Town called Gath, in the way from Eleutheropolis to Gaza; and Eusebius speaks of another place of the same name, five miles from Eleutheropolis, in the way to Lidda; and consequently different from that which St. Jerom speaks of. The same Eusebius mentions another place called Gath or Gattha, between Jamnia and Antipatris. St. Jerom likewise speaking of Gath-Opher, the place of the Prophet Jonah’s birth, says it was called Gath-Opher, or Gath in the canton of Opher, to distinguish it from others of the same name, which were shewn in his time round about Eleutheropolis and Diospolis. Ad distinctionem aliorum Geth urbium, quæ juxta Eleutheropolim, sive Diospolim, hodie quoque monstrantur.
Gath was the most Southern of all the Cities of the Philistins, as Eckron was the most Northern; so that Eckron and Gath are placed as the two boundaries of the land of the Philistins. Gath lay near Mareshah. See 2 Chron. xi. 8. and Micah i. 14. in the Hebrew. Which agrees pretty well with St. Jerom, who places Gath on the road from Eleutheropolis to Gaza. Eleutheropolis is in the neighbourhood of Mareshah or Morashti; and before Eusebius and St. Jerom, we have scarce any knowledge in Geography, of Eleutheropolis. Gath was a place of strength and power in the time of the Prophets Amos and Micah, independant of the Kings of Judah. But, as we have already observed, it was taken by Uzziah King of Judah, while the Prophet Amos was living; and afterwards by Hezekiah, in the Prophet Micah’s time. Gethaim, mentioned 2 Sam. iv. 3. and Neh. xi. 33. is without doubt the same as Gath. David had a Company of Gittite Guards, whereof Ethai was the Captain. Gath signifies a Press. Wherefore it is no won
der that we find several places of this name in Palestine.
GATH-OPHER, or Gath-Epher, or Gath in the Canton of Opher, in Galilee, 2 Kings xiv. 25.was the birth-place of the Prophet Jonah. Josh. xix. 13.Joshua makes this city to be part of the Tribe of Zebulun; and St. Jerom, in his Preface upon Jonah, says, that it was two miles from Sephoris, otherwise called Diocæsarea.
I. GATH-RIMMON, a City belonging Josh. xix. 45.to the Tribe of Dan. St. Jerom places it ten miles from Diospolis on the way from Eleutheropolis. It was given to the Levites of Kohath’s family.
II. GATH-RIMMON, a City in the Half-tribe of Manasseh, on this side Jordan, was given for a place of abode to the Levites of Kohath’s family. Josh. xxi. 25.
III. GATH-RIMMON, a City in the Tribe of Ephraim, given to the Kohathites. 1 Chron. vi. 69.
GAULAN, Gaulon, or Golan, a celebrated City beyond Jordan, from whence the small Province called Gaulanitis takes its name. It was given to the Half-tribe of Deut. iv. 43.Manasseh on the other side of Jordan. A cession of it was made to the Levites of Gershom’s family for a place of abode to them, Josh. xxi. 27.and it became a City of refuge. Eusebius says, that in his time the City of Gaulon was still considerable in the Batanæa, or country of Basan: but he does not exactly describe its situation. It is strange, that we should be so little acquainted with the position of so celebrated a City. It was seated in Upper Galilee, beyond Jordan; and Judas of Gaulon, Head of the Galileeans or Herodians, was a native of it. The Gaulanitis extended as far as from the Peræa to Libanus.
GAZA, a City of the Philistins, by Jos. xv. 47. & 1 Sam. vi. 15.Joshua made part of the Tribe of Judah. It was one of the five Principalities of the Philistins, situated towards the southern extremity of the promised Land. In the Hebrew text it is called Aza or Hasa with עזהHazah or Gasa.an Hain or Ain, which the Septuagint express sometimes by a G. Stephens the Geographer says, that in his time the Syrians still called it Aza. It was situated between Raphia and Askelon. The advantageous situation of Gaza was the cause of the many revolutions to which it has been subject. It first of all belonged to the Philistins, and then to the Hebrews. It recovered its liberty in the reigns of Jotham and Ahaz, and was reconquered by Hezekiah. It was 2 Kings xviii. 8.subject to the Chaldæans, who conquered Syria and Phœnicia. Afterwards it fell into the hands of the Persians. They were masters of it, when Alexander besieged it, Vide Plutarch. in Alexandro, & alios. In the year of the World 3672, be-took and destroyed fore J. C. 328, before the Vulgar Æra 332. 1 Macc. xi. 61. xiii. 43. Acts viii. 26.it. That, or at least the little Town of Gaza situated on the sea, and otherwise called Majuma, was rebuilt.
It was afterwards possessed by the Kings of Egypt6. Antiochus the Great took and sacked it7. The Asmoneans or Maccabees took it several times from the Syrians. Alexander Jannæus, King of the Jews, took and destroyed it8. Gabinius repaired it9; and there are coins to be seen, which were stamped in this City. Augustus gave it to Herod the Great10; but it was not under the obedience of his son Archelaüs. St. Luke says, that Gaza in his time was a desart place; but he meant, in all probability, the great City of Gaza, situated upon a Mountain twenty miles from the sea; and Arrian. l. 2. de Expedit. Alexandri.not Majuma, or little Gaza, which was very populous. The Emperor Constantine gave Majuma the name of Constantia, in honour of his son, and granted it the honours and privileges of a City independant upon Gaza. But the Emperor Julian deprived Sozomen. l. 3. c. 5.it both of its name and privileges.
II. GAZA, a City of Ephraim. 1 Chr. vii. 28.
Ezra i. 8.GAZABAR, a Persian, the father of Mithredath.
GAZARA. This is the same as Gadara, Gader, Gaderoth, Gazer, or Gazera, &c. Eusebius places it at four miles distance from Nicopolis, inclining towards the north.
GAZER, or Gazera, the same as Gazara.
GAZEZ, the third son of Caleb, and his Concubine Ephah. 1 Chron. ii. 46.
Mark xii. 41, 43. Luke xxi. 2.GAZOPHYLACIUM11. This word, according to the Greek etymology, signifies the Treasury-Chamber. There were several places in the Temple of Jerusalem, where the rich Presents were kept, which were consecrated to God by Kings, Princes, or private Persons. But the signification of this word Gazophylacium has been farther enlarged, so as to comprehend the rooms where the provisions of the Temple were laid up, both for sacrifices, and for the support and sustenance of the Priests; and in general this word is used for all the apartments of the Temple. In the Gospel, by Gazophylacium is meant the Trunk into which people cast their offerings at the entrance of the Temple.
GEBA, or Gabaa. These words signify an Eminence. See GABAA above.
Antiq. l. 9. c. 10.I. GEBAL. This word is to be met with only in Psalm lxxxiii. 7. Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek. But the Chaldee and the Samaritan Version, instead of Mount Seir, sometimes put Mount Gebla. Josephus likewise speaks of the Gebilites
to the south of Palestine; and Stephens, the Geographer, of the Gebalene in Arabia, which is the same as the country of Amalek. Lastly, Eusebius and St. Jerom in their books concerning the Hebrew places, make frequent mention of the Gebalene, or Gabalene, which is in Idumæa, and the capital Euseb. & Hieron. in Idumæa & Seir, & Alud & Mabser, & Jether.of it Petra. All these marks shew visibly, that the country called Gebal, or Gabalene, lies southward of the tribe of Judah, and in south Idumæa. This word Gebal signifies a Mountain; and the denomination of Gabalene is not ancient, since it appears only in the lxxxiiid Psalm, which in our opinion was written in the time of Jehoshaphat King of Judah.
II. GEBAL, otherwise Giblet, or Biblos, a City of Phœnicia. See GIBLOS.
GEBER, the son of Uri, Governour of the Province of Gilead and Basan, beyond 1 Kings iv. 19.Jordan, in the reign of Solomon.
GEBIM. It is said in Isaiah, x. 31. Madmenah is fled, the inhabitants of Gebim take courage12. The situation of Gebim we are not acquainted with; and by many it is taken in general for Hills13. Fly to Madmenah; ye inhabitants of the hills, save yourselves.
GEDALIAH, the son of Abikam, was left by Nebuchadnezzar in Palestine after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple b, that he might govern the remainder of Jerem. xl. xli. 2 Kings xxv. 22. b In the year of the World 3416, before J. C. 584, before the Vulgar Æra 588.the people, which continued there, and gather those again together, who had fled. Jeremiah retired to him at Mizpah, where he had settled his abode; and many of the Jews who had fled into the land of Moab and Ammon, came thither also. Gedaliah assured them of Nebuchadnezzar’s protection, provided they lived peaceably. In the mean time Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, of the royal family of Judah, came likewise to see Gedaliah, who had been informed that Ishmael was sent by Baalis King of Ammon, with an intention to kill him; but Gedaliah would believe nothing of it, and would not permit any one to prevent the ill design of Ishmael. He received him at his table, and entertained him; but when the banquet was over, Ishmael, and they who were with him, fell upon Gedaliah, and massacred him, and all those who were about him, as well Jews as Chaldæans. Vide Jerem. xl. xli.Hereupon the rest of the people fled into Egypt, and forcibly carried Jeremiah thither with them, whatever the Prophet could say to divert them from this resolution.
In the year of the World 3417. before J. C. 583, before the Vulgar Æra 587.II. GEDALIAH, the son of Amariah, grandfather to the Prophet Zephaniah. Zeph. i. 1.
III. GEDALIAH, a Levite, the son of Ethan or Jeduthun. 1 Chron. xxv. 3.
IV. GEDALIAH, the son of Pashur. Jerem. xxxviii. 1.
Judith viii. 1.GEDEON, the son of Raphaïm, and father of Jamnor, of the tribe of Simeon, and one of Judith’s ancestors.
Josh. xii. 13.GEDER. The King of Geder was taken, and put to death by Joshua. Geder is probably the same as Gedor, 1 Chr. iv. 39. and Gederoth, 2 Chron. xxviii. 18. Gedor, Josh. xv. 58. and Gazer, Gazera, or even Gadara or Gadera in the Maccabees. See above GADARA II.
GEDEROTH, 2 Chron. xxviii. 18. the same as Gadara, Gazera, Gazer, Gadara, &c. See GADARA II.
I. GEDOR, the son of Penuel, of the Tribe of Judah. 1 Chron. iv. 18.
II. GEDOR, the son of Jared, of the Tribe of Judah. 1 Chron. iv. 18.
III. GEDOR, the son of Maachah, of the Tribe of Benjamin. 1 Chron. viii. 31.
GEDOR, the same as Geder, Gedera, or Gadera, &c.
Euseb. & Hieron. in Gedur.GEDRUS. In the time of Eusebius and St. Jerom, Gedrus was a large place ten miles from Diospolis, on the way from Eleutheropolis. It is probably the same as Gedera, Gadara, or Gedor.
2 Kings v. 20, & seq. About the year of the World 3114, before J. C. 886, before the Vulgar Æra 890.GEHAZI, Elisha’s servant, continually almost attended this Prophet, and was concerned in every thing that happened to him; till being at last overcome by avarice, he procured a sum of money to be given him by Naaman; to this end borrowing Elisha’s name, as if the Prophet had sent him, to receive a talent of silver, and two changes of garments for two sons of the Prophets, who were come to ask something of him. Naaman gave him hereupon two talents of silver. But when Gehazi returned, Elisha demanded of him whence he came? Gehazi answered, he had been no where. And Elisha said to him, Went not my heart with thee, when thou wentest after Naaman, and didst receive the money and the garments? the Leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And immediately Gehazi was seized with a Leprosy, left Elisha, and from that time, no more attended him. The King of Israel would sometimes make Gehazi relate the wonders which God wrought by Elisha c. They, who please, may consult the Article ELISHA.
GEHENNOM, or Valley of Hinnom, c 2 Kings viii. 4, 5, 6.or Gehenna, or Valley of the son of Hinnom14. This was a Valley adjacent to Jerusalem, through which the southern limits of the Tribe of Benjamin passed.
Euse-
Eusebius says, it lay eastward of Jerusalem, at the foot of its walls. But it is certain, that it extended itself likewise towards the south, along the brook Kidron. It is thought, that in this Valley was the common-sewer belonging to Jerusalem, and that a fire was always kept there to burn the filth and carrion; for which reason Hell is called aGehenna, by reason of the eternal Vide Kimchi in Psal. xxvii. & Cosar. Serm. I. a Matth. v. 10. xviii. 23. Mark ix. 44. Luke xxii. 5. Vide Jerem. vii. 30, & seq. 2 Kings xxiii. 10.fire, wherein the wicked will be there for ever burning. Others believe with more probability, that the word Gehenna, whereby Hell is called, is derived rather from the fire kept up in the Valley of Hinnom, in honour of Moloch, the false God, whom the Hebrews too often adored, and to whom they offered frequently human sacrifices, and even their own children. King Josiah, in order to pollute this place, and render it odious, and contemptible to the Jews, commanded all manner of ordure and dead men’s bones to be thrown into it, that they might no more worship Moloch, and offer human sacrifices there. Ge-hennom in Hebrew signifies the Valley of Hinnom, or Hennom.
GELBUS, at the foot of Mount Gilboa, six miles from Scythopolis.
GELILOTH of Jordan. Some believe this to be a place beyond Jordan, where the Tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the Half-Tribe of Manasseh erected a monument, to serve as a proof of their relation to the other Tribes, which were settled on this side of In the year of the World 2560, before J. C. 1440, before the Vulgar Æra 1444. Antiq. lib. viii. 8, 9.this River. Others translate Geliloth, the circuits, or roundings, the limits or hills about Jordan; Tumuli Jordanis. In Joshua xviii. 18. we find Geliloth, whereby Gilgal, or the Eminences which are about Gilgal, are signified. In the Vulgate, Pertransit usque ad tumulos.
GELMON, or Gelon, or rather Gilon, a City of Judah, the birth place of Ahitophel, 2 Sam. xxiii. 34.
GEMALLI, the father of Ammiel, of the Tribe of Dan. Numb. xiii. 12.
Chald. גמרה from גמרperficere, consummare.GEMARA. The word Gemara signifies Complement, Perfection. The Rabbins call the Pentateuch, or five books of Moses, The Law, without any other addition. Next to this they have the Talmud, which is divided into two parts, whereof the first, which is only an application of the Law to particular cases, together with the decision of the old Rabbins thereupon, is called Mishna, or second Law, or Deuteroses: the other part, which is a more extensive application of the same Law, is a collection of determinations by such Rabbins, as are more modern than the Mishna. They term it Gemara, Perfection, Finishing, because they consider it as an explanation of the Law, to which there can be no farther additions made, and after which nothing more can be desired.
There are two Gemaras, or two Talmuds, that of Jerusalem, and that of Babylon. That of Jerusalem was compiled, according to the Jews, about the end of the second or third Century, by a celebrated Rabbin, whose name was Jochanan; but Father Morinus, a famous Critick, maintains, that the Jews make the Gemara to be of too great antiquity, and that it was not finished till about the seventh Century. The Jews have little value for this Jerusalem Talmud, by reason of its obscurity. The Babylonish Gemara is, as the Rabbins say, more modern. It was begun by a Jewish Doctor, whose name was Ase, and continued by Marmar and Mar, his Disciples or Sons.
The Gemara, with respect to the Mishna, is what the Comments of our Divines are to us upon the Master of Sentences, or Saint Thomas’s Sum; with this difference only, that the Jews allow their Doctors a much greater authority than we do ours. They believe, that the Gemara contains nothing but the Word of God, preserved in the tradition of the Elders, and transmitted without alteration from Moses, down to Rabbi Judah the Holy, Jochanan, Ase, and Jose, and the other compilers of the Talmud; who did not begin to reduce it into writing, till they were afraid it would be corrupted by the several transmigrations and persecutions to which their Nation was subject. See the Article TALMUD.
I. GEMARIAH, the son of Hilkiah, was sent to Babylon with Elasah the son of Shaphan, from Zedekiah King of Judah, to carry the Tribute-Money to Nebuchadnezzar. They were likewise charged with a Letter written from Jeremiah to the captives of Babylon, wherein he warned them to take care how they suffered themselves to be surprized by certain False Prophets, who flattered them with the promises of a speedy return. See Jerem. xxix. 3, 4. about the Year of the World 3408.
II. GEMARIAH, the son of Shaphan, Jerem. xxxvi. 12, 13, &c. In the year of the World 3399, before J. C. 601, before the Vulgar Æra 605.was one of King Jehoiakim’s Counsellors, before whom Baruch read the volume of Jeremiah’s Prophecies. Gemariah and the rest, amazed at what they had heard, told Baruch, that the matter was of so much importance, that it was necessary to report it to the King; and they asked him, how Jeremiah had dictated this Letter to him. He told them, that he dictated it readily, like one who was reading in a book.
GENAM, or rather Ge-naïs, the Valley of Naim, a Village in the great Plain of Samaria. Joseph. de Bello, lib. 2. c. 2. Reland. p. 805.
GENEALOGY, comes from the Greek word Genealogia, which signifies a List of our Ancestors. The common Hebrew expression for it is Sepher toledoth15,
Ezra ii. 62.Liber generationum. The Hebrews were very careful in preserving their Genealogies16; and perhaps there never was any nation more circumspect in this point, than that of the Jews. We still at this day find Genealogies in their Sacred Writings, carried on for above three thousand five hundred years; and in the Evangelists we have the Genealogy of Jesus Christ deduced for four thousand years, from Adam to Joseph or Mary, his Father and Mother. It is observed in Ezra, that such Priests, as were not able to produce an exact Genealogy of their Families, were not permitted to exercise their function; and Josephus says, that they had in his Nation an uninterrupted succession of Priests for two thousand years. He adds, that the Priests were particularly careful to preserve their Genealogies, and that not only in Judæa, but also in Babylonia, and Egypt; and wherever they were, they never married below themselves, and had exact Genealogical Tables prepared from those authentick Monuments, which were kept at Jerusalem, and to which they had recourse upon occasion: that in all their wars, persecutions, and publick calamities, they always were particularly diligent in securing these Monuments, and to renew them from time to time.
Notwithstanding it must be confessed, that since the war which the Romans carried on against the Jews, about thirty years after the death of our Saviour, and since their intire dispersion in the reign of Adrian, occasioned by the rebellion of Barchochebas, the Jews have lost their ancient Genealogies; and perhaps there is not one even of those who say they are of the Sacerdotal Race, that is able to produce any authentick proofs of his Genealogy. Saint Jerom says, that the Jews are Hieron. ad Tit. iii. P. 208. vet. Edit.so versed in the reading of their books, and know so perfectly the Genealogies, which are there set forth, that they can repeat all the names from Abraham to Zerubbabel, as easily as they can pronounce their own. Ita illi à prima ætate, vernacula sui sermonis vocabula penitissimis sensibus imbiberunt, & ab exordio Adam, usque ad extremam Zorobabel, omnium generationes ita memoriter, velociterque percurrunt, ut eos suum putes referre nomen. S. Paul17 seems to condemn this affectation of knowing old Genealogies; he looks upon them to be vain, useless, and impertinent; as in reality they are, when they serve only for ostentation, and not for edification : But avoid foolish questions and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the Law; for they are unprofitable and vain.
GENERATION. This word, besides the common acceptation of it, is used for the History and Genealogy of any man; for example, This is the book of the Generations of Adam. This is the history of Adam’s creation, and that of his posterity. These are the Gen. v. 1.Generations of the heavens and of the earth. This is a recital of the creation of Heaven and Earth. And the book of the Generation Matth. i. 1. Gen. ii. 4.of Jesus Christ the Son of David. This is the Genealogy of Jesus Christ, and the history of his Life. The Ancients sometimes computed by Generations, and the Scripture follows frequently this method. In the fourth Generation Gen. xv. 16.thy descendants shall come hither again. Joseph saw Ephraim’s Children of the third Ib. l. 22.Generation. A Bastard shall not be admitted into the Congregation till the tenth Generation, Deut. xxiii. 3. But among the Ancients, when the duration of Generations was not exactly described by the age of four men succeeding one another from father to son, it was fixed by some at an hundred years, by others at an hundred and ten, by others at thirty three, thirty, five and twenty, and even at twenty years. So that there was nothing uniform and settled in this matter. Only it is remarked, that the continuance of Generations is so much longer, as it comes nearer to the more ancient times. For example, Homer says, that Nestor lived three Generations, and that he was going on the fourth; that is to say, that he lived above three hundred years.
Matth. xxiv. 34.This Generation shall not pass away till all this is fulfilled. All who are at present living, Luke xi. 31. Ib. ix. 41. Acts ii. 40. Ps. xxxiii. 11.shall not be dead when this shall happen. There are some at this day living, who shall be witnesses of the Evils which are foretold by me. The men of this Generation, the men who are now alive. O faithless and perverse Generation! And, Save your selves from this untoward Generation, from these perverse men. To Generation and Generation, Tit. iii. 9.denotes future ages. Who shall declare his Gene-
Generation? Isaiah liii. 8. Who shall relate the eternal Generation of the Messiah? Generatio Dei conservet eum, 1 Joan. v. 18. The Saints, the Predestinated who are created by God, who are his children by regeneration, live in innocence, because this regeneration, this quality of God’s children preserves and secures them from sin.
GENESAR, or Genesareth. The Lake of Genesareth is the same as the Lake of Tiberias, and the Sea of Cinnereth, or Cenereth. See CINNERETH.
GENESIS, the first Sacred Book of Scripture. It is called Genesis, or Generation, because it contains the Genealogy of the first Patriarchs, from Adam to the sons and grandsons of Jacob. This book is called Bereschith in Hebrew, because in the original ברשיתBereschith. Genesis. Γένεσις.Language it begins with this word. It includes the history of two thousand, three hundred sixty nine years, from the beginning of the world to the death of the Patriarch Joseph. There is no doubt but that Genesis, and the whole Pentateuch was the work of Moses. See the Treatises that have been written on this matter.
GENTILE. The Hebrews called the Gentiles by the general name of Goiim, גוייםGoiim. Ἔθνη.which signifies the nations, that have not received the faith, or law of God. All who are not Jews, and circumcised, are comprized under the word Goiim. Before Jesus Christ, the door to life and justification was opened to the world by the belief only and profession of the Jewish Religion. Those who were converted, and embraced Judaism, they called Proselytes. Since the preaching of the Gospel, the true Religion is not confined to any one Nation only, and Country, as heretofore. God, who had promised by his Prophets to call the Gentiles to the Faith, with a super-abundance of grace, has executed this promise: so that the Christian Church is composed of scarce any other besides Gentile Converts; and the Jews, who were too proud of their particular privileges, for the most part have been abandoned to their reprobated Sense of things, and disowned Jesus Christ their Messiah and Redeemer, for whom, for so many ages they wished so impatiently. In Rom. i. 14, 16, ii. 9, 10, iii. 9, x. 12. 1 Cor. i. 22, 24.St. Paul, the Gentiles are generally comprehended under the name of Greeks. Judæus & Græcus signify Jew and Gentile. St. Luke in the Acts expresses himself Gal. iii. 28. Acts vi. 1. xi. 20. xviii. 4, &c.in the same manner.
St. Paul is commonly called the Apostle of the Gentiles18, or the Greeks, because he was principally sent to idolatrous people, to preach Jesus Christ to them; whereas St. Peter and the other Apostles preached more generally to the Jews; for which reason they are called the Apostles of the Gal. ii. 7.Circumcision: The Gospel of the Uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the Gospel of the Circumcision was unto Peter.
Ps. ii. 8. Ib. lxxxvii. 4. Ib. lxxii. 9, 10. If. ii. 2, 3, 4. Zech. viii. 23. If. xlix. 6.The old Prophets declared in a very particular manner the calling of the Gentiles. Jacob foretold, that the Nations should hope for a Messiah, and that he who was to be sent, the Shiloh, should be the expectation of the Gentiles. Ipse erit expectatio Gentium. Solomon after the Dedication of the Temple which he had built, addresses this Prayer to God: Moreover, concerning the stranger which is not of thy people Israel, but is come from a far country for thy name’s sake, and thy mighty hand and stretched out arm; if they come and pray in this house, then hear thou from the Heavens, even from thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for, that all the people of the earth may know thy name, and fear thee, as doth thy people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name.
The Psalmist says, that the Lord shall give the Gentiles to the Messiah for an inheritance: Dabo tibi gentes hæreditatem tuam; that Egypt and Babylon shall know him; that Ethiopia shall make haste to bring him presents; that the Kings of Tarshish, and of the Isles, the Kings of Arabia and Sheba shall be tributary to him. Isaiah abounds with prophecies of the like nature, on which account he has justly been distinguished by the name of the Prophet of the Gentiles: It shall come to pass in the last day, says he, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths. And in another passage, I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation, or that thou mayst declare it, and procure it for the strange nations, unto the end of the Earth. And Zechary; Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you to the Temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, for we have heard that God is with you. Ezekiel, in his description of the Temple, takes notice of a Court there for the Gentiles.
In the New Testament we see the Gentiles came sometimes to Jerusalem to worship God there. Some of these arriving there a little before the death of our Saviour, John xii. 20, 21.addressed themselves to St. Philip, desiring him to shew them Jesus Christ. Philip
Id. l. 1. c. 5. Id. l. 2. c. 17.Philip told Andrew, and both of them informed Jesus; who answered them, the hour is come that the son of man should be glorified. Queen Candace’s Eunuch, who Acts viii. 27. Joseph. de Bello, c. 6. l. 6.came to Jerusalem, was likewise a Gentile, as several of the Fathers affirm. Josephus the Historian says, that there was a wall or balustrade made in the court of the Temple breast-high, with pillars at particular distances, and inscriptions on them in Greek and Latin, importing, that strangers were forbid to enter further: there their offerings were received, and sacrifices were offered for them; but they were not allowed to present themselves at the Altar.
Pompey went even into the Sanctuary, but he committed no indecency there; and the next day he commanded the Temple to be purified, and the customary sacrifices to be offered. A little before the last rebellion of the Jews, some mutineers would have persuaded the Priests, to accept no victim which was not presented by the Jews, and obliged them to reject those which were offered at the Emperor’s command for the Roman people. The wisest men of their nation in vain remonstrated to them, the danger whereunto they exposed their country19, that their ancestors had never rejected the presents of the Gentiles, and the Temple was for the most part adorned with the offerings which these people had made there; they produced at the same time the most learned of their Priests, who had spent their whole lives in the study of the Law, these testified that their forefathers had always received the sacrifices of strangers.
Some of the ancient Fathers seem to have believed, that the Gentiles, who lived in a laudable and regular manner, and observed the law of nature, were saved. St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans, has given ground for such an opinion. He says, Rom. ii. 9, 10, 11, &c.that glory, honour, and peace are the lot of every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: for there is no respect of persons with God—— When therefore the Gentiles which have not the Law, do by nature the things contained in the Law, these having not the Law, are a Law unto themselves, which shew the work of the Law written in their hearts. If therefore the uncircumcision (the Gentiles) keep the righteousness of the Law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? and shall not uncircumcision, which is by nature, if it fulfil the Law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?
Justin Apolog. 2. p. 83.St. Justin the Martyr maintains, that the old Philosophers who lived conformably to Reason, were already Christians, tho’ they knew not Jesus Christ; as for example, among the Greeks, Socrates, Heraclitus, and some others; and among the Barbarians, Abraham, Ananias, Azarias, Misaël, Elias, and many others.
Clem. Alex. l. 6. Stromat. & ibid. l. 1. 1 Pet. iii. 19. Aug. de Genes. ad lites, l. 12. c. 15. Origen contra Celsum, l. 2. p. 438.Clemens Alexandrinus asserts, that they who lived before Jesus Christ, had two means for acquiring justification; namely, the Law and Philosophy. Philosophy might make them just, or at least dispose them to justice, it was a step towards it; it produced righteousness, but not perfect and intire. He says farther, that the Gentiles, who departed out of this world before the death of our Saviour, waited in Hell for the coming of Jesus Christ, or his Apostles, and that having heard their preaching, they believed and were saved. This last opinion he took from the following words of St. Peter: Jesus Christ being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit, went and preached unto the Spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient. This passage of St. Peter has sufficiently exercised the Commentators. S. Austin says, that the soul of Jesus Christ descending into Hell, that is to say, the place where the souls of wicked men were tormented, delivered those from torture, which his justice, to men unsearchable, judged proper to be delivered from it. Origen thought still more favourably of the salvation of the Gentiles; he says, that the soul of Jesus Christ being separated from his body, conferred with the other souls, in order to convert those among the dead who were most teachable, or most fitting for certain reasons to receive his doctrine. Gregory Nazianzen speaking of Christ’s descent Greg. Nazianz. orat. 42.into Hell, leaves it dubious whether he saved all those without exception whom he found there, or those only who believed: hereupon Nicetas, who wrote upon the text of this Father, makes the ensuing remark. We are told that a zealous Christian, inveighing one day against Plato, and treating him as an impious and wicked person, Plato the next night appeared to him, and reproached him with his manner of using him. I confess, says he to him, I am a great sinner; but when Jesus Christ came into Hell, I was the first who believed in him.
Chrysost. homil. 37. in Matt. p. 431.St. Chrysostom is of opinion, that they who died before Jesus Christ, and for this reason could not come to the knowledge of him, if they had forsaken idolatry, acknowledged only one God, and led a laudable and regular life, would have a share in the happiness of Heaven. We might add a great number of other passages and authorities, as well from the Fathers as from other Christian and Catho
lick Doctors, who believed, that good men among the Gentiles, and they who lived morally well, and had renounced idolatry, inherited the Kingdom of Heaven. Those who might be cited by us, would not say more, nor have more authority in this matter, than they who have already been produced by us.
At present we are to examine, whether it was their opinion, that the Gentiles who followed the Law of Nature, had any part in the Kingdom of Heaven; and supposing they did believe so, whether their opinion is orthodox. It will be readily allowed, that some few of the Fathers did believe, that the Gentiles, who had a knowledge of God, and lived in a commendable manner, and morally well, do enjoy beatitude. But we must explain the ambiguity of these words, To know God, and to live morally well. If the former denote only a purely speculative and fruitless knowledge, such as that of Devils and wicked Men, and that of the Philosophers mentioned by St. Paul, who held the truth captive, and having known God, did not honour him; certainly such a knowledge can be no way serviceable to their salvation; it is proper only to encrease the condemnation of the Philosophers.
Wherefore the Fathers require, that besides this they should live commendably and morally well; that is to say, that they should know God, that they should love him, give him glory, hope in him, that they should follow the precepts of the Law of Nature, and observe them as they ought to do; that is to say, with a view to God, and by actions animated with grace and charity, without which it is impossible to attain to happiness. It is necessary that they should practise the first and greatest of all the commandments, which is to love God with all their hearts, and their neighbour as themselves. If any one can shew, that the Philosophers Seneca, Socrates, Heraclitus, and Plato knew God, loved and served him in this manner, I do not believe there is any Divine who will venture to close the entrance of Heaven against them; but if enquiry is made into their Lives, I very much question whether they will be found to be conformable to these rules. The Reader may see this question more fully treated in Pererius on the Epistle to the Romans, and in our Dissertation on the same Subject.
GENUBATH, the son of Hadad the Edomite, and Tahpenes, sister to Pharaoh’s wife, was born in Egypt, and was brought up with Pharaoh’s sons. 1 Kings xi. 20.
I. GERA, the father of Ehud, Judge of Israel. Judg. iii. 15.
2 Sam. xvi. 5.II. GERA, of the tribe of Benjamin, father of Shimei.
GERAR, or Gerara, a City of the Philistins, southward of the territories of Judah. There were Kings of this City, whose names were Abimelech in the time of Abraham and Isaac; and these two Patriarchs being under a necessity to dwell for some time at Gerar, were obliged for the preservation of their Lives, to say, that their wives were only their sisters. See Gen. chap. xxi. and xxvi. and the Articles,
ABIMELECH, ABRAHAM, and ISAAC.
Gerar extended itself far into Arabia Petræa, being five and twenty miles from Euseb. in locis, Hieron. ibid. Gen. xx. 1.Eleutheropolis beyond Daroma, that is to say, the southern part of the land of Judah. Moses says, it lay between Kadesh and Shur. St. Jerom, in his Hebrew Traditions upon Genesis, says, that from Gerar to Jerusalem was three days journey. There was a wood near Gerar, which is spoken of Theodoret in 2. Paralip. qu. 1. Sozomen, hist. l. 6. c. 32. & l. 9. c. 17. a Gen. xxvi. 26. b Sozom. l. 8. c. 9. c 2 Macc. xiii. 24. Matth. viii. 28.by Theodoret; and a brook, upon which was seated a monastery taken notice of by Sozomen. Moses a also mentions the brook or valley of Gerar. Sozomen b speaks of a little town called Gerra, fifty furlongs from Pelusium; and in the book of Maccabees we read, that Judas was appointed Governour of all the Coast from Ptolemais, as far as the Gerrhenians. Gerar c is confounded with Beersheba20, Askelon21, Allush22, and Arad23.
GERASA, or Gergesa, a City beyond, and to the East of the Dead Sea. By some it is made part of Cele-Syria, by others of Arabia; and is placed among the Cities of the Decapolis. St. Matthew says, that Jesus Christ being gone into the country of the Gergesenes, two men possessed with Devils, who dwelt among the tombs, met him, and said, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time? They added, if thou cast us out, suffer us to go into the herd of swine. Jesus answered them, Go. And when they were come out, they entred into the herd of swine, which ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.
The Greek editions of St. Matthew, instead of Gerasenians, have Gergesenes; and some Greek copies read Gadarens. St. Luke and St. Mark have the same reading. Origen. in Joan.Origen thinks, that the true reading is neither Gerasa nor Gedara, since neither of these Cities is near the sea, nor have they any precipices about them, like those near the City, where Jesus cured the two possessed persons. He believes therefore, that the City of Gergesa is meant in this place, which lies upon the Lake of Tiberias, where in his time people shewed the
rocks and precipices, from whence the swine ran down into the lake.
GERGESA, or Girgasa. See the preceding Article GERASA.
GERGESENES, or Girgashites, an ancient people of the land of Canaan. Their habitation was beyond the sea of Tiberias, where we find some footsteps of their name in the City of Gergesa upon the Lake of Tiberias. The Jewish Doctors inform us, that when Joshua first came into Gemar. Ierosol. tit. Schebiit. c. 6. Maimon. Halac Mel. c. 6.the Land of Canaan, the Gergesenes took a resolution rather to forsake their country, than to submit to the Hebrews. The Rabbins are of opinion, that Joshua proposed the following conditions to the Canaanites, flight, subjection, or war. The Gergesenes resolved to fly; and accordingly retired into Africk. The Gibeonites submitted to a state of servitude; and the other Canaanites made war.
They do not tell us in particular, what part of Africk the Gergesenes retired to; but there is a very old tradition, that many of the Canaanites removed thither, when Joshua entred into the Land of Promise. Procop. de Bello Vandal. l. 2. c. 10.Procopius says, that they withdrew at first into Egypt, and from thence dispersed into different places of Africk, where they possessed several Cities; and that still in his time, there were two large pillars of white stones to be seen in the City of Tingis, erected near the great fountain, with an inscription in Phœnician characters to this purpose: We are some of those people, who fled before that robber Joshua the son of Nun.
Thalmudici, Perek Cheloth.The Hebrew Doctors relate farther, that the Gergesenes came with their complaints to Alexander the Great, demanding of him the restitution of their country, which the Hebrews, as they asserted, had usurped from them. Alexander directed, that the Jews should be cited, in order to give their answer to this accusation. Accordingly they appeared, and in their defence maintained, that they not only were in no way indebted to the Gergesenes; but that, on the contrary, being slaves and fugitives, they ought to be restored to them, together with all the damages, which they had sustained by their flight for so many ages. They proved the first head; namely, that the Gergesenes, being descended from Canaan, were slaves according to the sentence Genes. ix. 25.pronounced by Noah, against Canaan. Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. Their flight was not disputed; so that there was nothing more to do, but to give sentence in favour of the Hebrews. But the Gergesenes did not think it proper to stay and hear their own condemnation; so went away, and gave up their cause.
I do not set down this relation as unquestionable history. It is a Rabbinical story, which proves this, viz. that they believed the Gergesenes to have fled out of the land of Canaan, when Joshua entred it. Nevertheless it is certain, that a good number of them staid behind, since Joshua Josh. xxiv. 11.himself informs us, that he subdued the Gergesenes or Girgashites; and they, whom he overcame, were certainly on this side Jordan. It may be therefore, that they who fled into Africk, were the Gergesenes who dwelt beyond the sea of Tiberias, and that the others continued in the country. See our Dissertation concerning the Land into which the Canaanites fled, printed before the book of Joshua.
GERIZIM. Mount Gerizim, near Schechem, in the Tribe of Ephraim, a Province of Samaria. The City of Schechem lay at the foot of the two Mountains Ebal and Gerizim. Gerizim was very fruitful, and Ebal very barren. God had commanded, that the Hebrews, after the passage of the river Jordan, should go to the Mountains Ebal and Gerizim, and that Deut. xi. 29. xxvii. 12.the twelve Tribes should be divided in such a manner, that six might have their station on Mount Gerizim; and six upon Mount Ebal. The former were to pronounce Blessings upon those, who should observe the Law of the Lord; and the others, Curses against those, who should violate it.
Josh. viii. 33.After the passage of Jordan, Joshua made no delay in executing God’s command. He went with all the people to Mount Ebal, there he built an Altar, and offered burnt-sacrifices; and having divided the people according to the Lord’s order, he disposed half of them on Mount Gerizim, and half on Ebal; and directed them to pronounce the Blessings and Curses, which we see set down by Moses.
In the Year of the World 2553, before J.C. 1447, before the Vulgar Æra 1451Eusebius24, St. Jerom, and after them, Procopius25, and Scaliger26, were all of opinion, that the Mounts Ebal and Gerizim were not near Schechem, but lay to the east of Jericho and Gilgal; that the Mountains so called near Schechem, were not rightly named, and were not those which were meant by Moses in the book of Deuteronomy. St. Epiphanius places these Mountains beyond Jordan, (Hæres. ix. p. 24.) But this opinion is not any way to be maintained. Gerizim was so near Schechem, that Jotham the son of Gideon from the top thereof spoke to the people of Schechem assembled at the bottom, and escaped without their being able to pursue Judg. ix. 7.him.
While the Hebrews continued well united, and but one Religion prevailed among them, there was nothing in Gerizim, which distindistinguished
it from other Mountains of the country; nor do we see that even under the Kings of Israel it was in any respect remarkable. There is nothing said of it in the Kings or Chronicles. But after the Cuthæans were settled in the Province of Samaria, Ezra In the year of the World 3183, before J. C. 717, before the Vulgar Æra 721.upon the return from the Captivity, prosecuting Idolatry every where, and by the help of Nehemiah driving away Manasseh the son of Joiada, and grandson to the High-Priest Eliashib, for having married the daughter of Sanballat, Governour of Samaria; Epiphanius27 and Procopius28 affirm, that then the Nehem. xiii. 28. In the year of the World 3671, before J. C. 329, before the Vulgar Æra 333.Samaritans took away the Idols which were upon the tops of their houses, and put them into a cave belonging to Mount Gerizim, where they lay concealed; and that they continued secretly to worship them, by turning themselves always at their prayers this way. And after that Manasseh, Sanballat’s son-in-law, by the permission of Alexander the Great, had built a Temple to the true God on Gerizim, the Samaritans joined the Joseph. Antiq. l. xi. c. 8. p. 383, 384, & seq. 2 Kings xvii. 33.worship of the true God to that of the Idols, which were hidden under Gerizim; whereby these words of Scripture were verified: They feared the Lord, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations, whom they carried away from thence.
But this Tradition of Idols concealed under Mount Gerizim, has no foundation either in Scripture, Josephus, or the Samaritan historians. The accusation raised against the Samaritans, of worshipping certain Idols hid under their Mountains, proceeds in all probability only from what is related in Genesis of Jacob’s arrival at Sichem upon his return out Gen. xxxv. 3, 4.of Mesopotamia, of his receiving God’s order to go to Bethel, and his enjoining thereupon all his family to put into his hands all their Idols, and the superstitious Pendants of their ears, which he hid under a turpentine-tree behind the town of Sichem. From hence the Jews have forged a story, that the Cuthæans, or Samaritan inhabitants of Sichem, worshipped the idols which were thus concealed under a turpentine-tree, at the foot of mount Gerizim.
Gen. xii. 6,7. & xiii. 4. Gen. xxxiii. 20.The Samaritans maintain, that Abraham and Jacob erected Altars at Gerizim, and that there Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac. It is certain this was upon Mount More or Moriah; now More was in the neighbourhood of Sichem and Gerizim, as we see by Genesis xii. 6. Pertransivit Abram terram usque ad locum Sichem, usque ad convallem illustrem; the Hebrew, usque ad convallem More. And Deuteronomy xi. 30. Super montem Gerizim & super montem Hebal… juxta vallem tendentem & intrantem procul; the Hebrew, juxta Elon More, as far as the oak or turpentine-tree of Moreh. It is likewise agreed, that Jacob having purchased Hemor’s field at Sichem, built an Altar there, and offered sacrifice upon it to the Lord.
Deut. xxvii. 12, 13.The Samaritans add, that God hath shewn in two places, that it was upon this mountain he desired principally to be adored, since he required the blessing to be given here to those who observed his Laws; and his curses upon Ebal; that Joshua erected an Altar upon Gerizim composed of twelve stones taken out of the channel of Jordan, and that this Altar erected by Joshua is still in being at this day: That Mount Gerizim being beautiful and fruitful, whereas that of Ebal is intirely barren, Gerizim was chosen for the place of blessing rather than Ebal, as the very Books of the Hebrews own. To maintain their opinion, they cite the text of their Bible, Deuteronomy, chap. xxvii. 4. which runs thus; Therefore it shall be, when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day in Mount Gerizim, (in the Hebrew it is, on Mount Ebal,) thou shalt plaister them with plaister, and inscribe on them the words of this Law, &c. v. 12,13.
And in Exodus xx. after the 17th ver. they read; When the Lord hath brought thee into the land of Canaan, which thou goest to possess, thou shalt set up two great stones there, thou shalt plaister them over, and write thereon all the words of this Law; and when thou hast passed over Jordan, thou shalt put these stones on Mount Gerizim, (the Hebrew reads Ebal) and thou shalt build an Altar there to the Lord thy God, an Altar of stones, which shall not be cut with iron, of rough stones: and upon this Altar thou shalt offer Burnt-offerings to the Lord thy God, and shalt sacrifice Peace-offerings, and shalt rejoice before the Lord, upon this Mountain beyond Jordan, beyond the way of the west, and in the land of the Canaanites, who dwelleth in the plain, over against Gilgal, near the oak of Moreh towards Sichem. Which is taken partly from Deut. xi. 29, 30. and partly from the xxvii. 2. and following verses.
We see here a manifest corruption of the text, either by the Jews, who substituted Ebal in the place of Gerizim, or by the Samaritans, who substituted Gerizim in the room of Ebal. But that which makes infinitely against the Samaritans, and aggravates the suspicion of their infidelity in this respect, is, first, their having an interest in the falsification. And, secondly, that all the Versions of the Bible agree in general with the Hebrew, and read Ebal instead of Gerizim. It is true, these translations being all made from the Hebrew, prove nothing against the Samaritan, the text whereof is not represented
by them; and if people had bethought themselves of making as many Versions of the Samaritan text, as they have of the Hebrew, the Samaritans might have as much reason to reproach the Hebrews with having falsified their text, as these have had to reproach the Samaritans in this manner. Wherefore it must be agreed, that this argument is not of any great force.
Besides it is certain, that the Hebrews would have much less advantage over the Samaritans, if they did not shew by good histories, and authentick monuments, that the publick exercise of the true Religion was always settled among them, and solemnized in Jerusalem, or other places, and never at Gerizim; whereas the Samaritans have only histories of very little certainty or antiquity, to prove their worship at Gerizim: and although we should confess, that Gerizim, and not Ebal, were to be read in the places where this latter is to be met with, it would not follow that Joshua, and his successors in the government of God’s people, had fixed the exercises of their Religion on Mount Gerizim: but only that an Altar was set up in haste there, for a particular, temporary ceremony. The religious observances of the Jewish worship attended certainly the Ark of the Covenant; and the Ark was not fixed in any settled place till after David took it to his palace in Jerusalem, and Solomon had built a Temple for it in the same city.
The Samaritans assure us in their Chronicle, that Joshua built a Temple29 upon Gerizim, which was served by Priests of Aaron’s family, the first High-Priest whereof was named Rus, from whom all those are descended who have ever to this day performed their office on this Mountain. The same Chronicle imports, that Nebuchadnezzar having transplanted the Jews and Samaritans to Babylon, and sent people of other nations into Samaria; these all died, because the fruits of the country were mortal poison to them; and that Nebuchadnezzar upon intelligence of this misfortune, sent back the Samaritans thither, who refused to go, unless the King would publish a general Edict, whereby all the captives were restored to liberty. When this Edict was drawn up, there arose a dispute between the Jews and Samaritans, whether the Temple should be rebuilt at Jerusalem or Gerizim. After many contests, the King commanded that a trial should be made by fire. The Samaritan and Jewish Pentateuchs were both thrown into it; but the latter was consumed in a moment, and that of the Samaritans remained intire, and without damage. Whereupon Nebuchadnezzar decreed, that the Temple of Gerizim should be rebuilt.
It were very needless to set about a confutation of this Chronicle30, the accounts whereof are so visibly false, and so plainly meer inventions. As to the original of the Temple upon Gerizim, we must take Josephus’s relation of it. Manasseh, the grand-son of Eliashib, the High-Priest, and brother to Jaddus, High-Priest of the In the year of theJews, having been driven from Jerusalem, as we have observed, and not enduring patiently to see himself deprived of the honour and advantages of the Priesthood; Sanballat his father-in-law addressed himself to Alexander the Great, who was then carrying on the siege of Tyre; and having paid him homage for the Province of Samaria, whereof he was Governor, he farther offered him eight thousand of his best troops; which disposed Alexander to grant what he desired for his son-in-law, and for many other Priests, who being married, as well as he, contrary to the Law, chose rather to forsake their country than their wives, and had joined Manasseh in Samaria.
The Temple was therefore built on Gerizim, and consecrated to the God of Israel; and as the Mountain was very high, there were many steps made for the conveniency of the people. When King Antiochus Epiphanes began the persecution of the Jews a, the Samaritans wrote to him, intreating him31 to give leave that their Temple upon Gerizim, which hitherto had been dedicated to an unknown and nameless God, might be consecrated to Jupiter the Grecian; which was easily consented to by Antiochus. There is a medal, upon which this Temple is represented with many steps. Procopius32 says, there were sixteen hundred and one. But an old traveller, who lived in the reign of Constantine, says, there were but three hundred.
Antiq l. 13. c. 6. p. 433, 434.Josephus relates a dispute which arose in Egypt, in the reign of Ptolemy Philometor, between the Jews and Samaritans concerning their Temple; the Samaritans maintaining that their Temple upon Gerizim was the only true Temple of the Lord, and the Jews affirming on the contrary, that theirs at Jerusalem was the only true one. The dispute was brought before the King; Advocates on both sides were named, and it was agreed, that they who should make a bad defence, and lose their cause, should be condemned to death. Both parties promised that they would produce all their testimonies from the Law only. Andronicus, Advocate for the Jews, spoke first, and proved so evidently the antiquity of the Temple of Jerusalem from the Scriptures, the Succession of the High Priests, and the Consideration which the Asiatick Princes had always had for this Holy Place, while at the same time they never so much as thought of the Temple at Gerizim, that the King and his Friends declared he had carried his cause, and ordered Sabbæus and Theodosius, the advocates for the Samaritans, to be put to death.
If this account which Josephus gives us, is true, the Samaritans must have very soon forsaken the worship of Jupiter the Grecian, which out of policy they had received in the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes; for this whole dispute supposes, that the same God was worshipped both at Gerizim and Jerusalem; and Ptolemy Philometor reigned from the year of the World 3824, to 3861; and Antiochus Epiphanes from the year of the World 3828, to 3840.
a Antiq. l. 13. c. 17. In the year of the World 3874, before J. C. 126, before the Vulg. Æra 120. b Jul. Africacan. in Syncelli Chronico, p. 308. In the Year of the World 3947, before J.C. 53, before the Vulg. Æra 57. c John iv. 20.The Temple of Gerizim subsisted for some time after the invocation of Jupiter the Grecian, or Olympian, was introduced into it; but it was destroyed by John Hircanus Maccabæus a, and was not rebuilt till Gabinius was Governour of Syria; who repaired Samaria, and called it by his own name b: nor do I find that this fact is related very distinctly in any History. But it is very certain, that in our Saviour’s time this Temple was in being, and that the true God was worshipped there, since the woman of Samaria, pointing to Gerizim, said to him, c Our Fathers worshipped in this mountain, and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. We are assured that Herod the Great, having rebuilt Samaria, and called it Sebaste, in honour of Augustus, would have obliged the Samaritans to come and worship in the Temple which he had there erected: but they constantly refused to go thither, and have continued to this day to worship God upon this mountain.
GERRENIANS, or Gerræans, spoken of in the second book of Macc. xiii. 24. These are in all probability the inhabitants of Gerar. See above GERARA.
GERSAN, Gersam, or Gershom, the Son of Moses and Zipporah. Exod ii. 22.
GERSHOM, or Gershon, the son of Levi, and Prince of one of the great families of the Levites. This family in a month or something more, after the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt, consisted of seven thousand five hundred men. Their office in the several marches through the wilderness, was to carry the Vails and Curtains belonging to the Tabernacle. Their place in the Camp of Israel, was to the west of the Tabernacle.
GERZI. It is said in Scripture, that David during his abode at Ziklag, made inroads upon the land of Geshuri, Gerzi, and Amalek. I find nothing in the Geographers relating to the Gerzites. The Septuagint have not the word in their Text; they read only Gesiri instead of Geshuri, and in some copies Geseri and Gesræum. The Syriac and Arabic read Gessua and Gedola.
I. GESHUR. There is a people of this name bordering upon the Philistins and Amalekites, mentioned in Joshua, and in the first book of Samuel. Their habitation was between the countries of the Philistins and Egypt. But as this country, which was of old inhabited, was afterwards reduced to a wilderness, as the Scripture shews us; we cannot with any certainty describe the situation of the Geshurites.
II. GESHUR, in Syria, had its peculiar, independant King, whose daughter David married, and had Absalom by her. Absalom, after the murder of his brother Amnon, retired to the King of Geshur, his Grandfather by the Mother’s side. Notwithstanding there is room to question, whether this King, and this land of Geshur be not different from that beyond the river Jordan, since it is said in the Chronicles, that Jair took Geshur and Aram (or Geshur of Syria) and the avoth or villages of Jair.
GESHURITES; they dwelt beyond Jordan in the Half-Tribe of Manasseh. These Geshurites are joined with the inhabitants of Maachathi; and it is said that they continued in their country, and were not driven out of it by the Israelites. Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, was acknowledged King by these Geshurites, and by the Israelites2 Sam.ii.8. of Gilead.
GETTA. Pliny speaks of a city called Getta among those which lie in the neighbourhood of Ptolemaïs and Carmel.
GETHER, the third son of Aram the son of Shem. Gen. x. 23.
GETHSEMANE, may signify the Oilpress. This was a village in the Mount of Olives, whither Jesus Christ, somesometimes
retreated in the night-time. It was in a garden belonging to this village that he prayed, sweat blood and water, was Vide Matt. xxvi. 36, & seq.taken and arrested by Judas, and the rest, who were conducted by this Traitor.
GEZERON. The same as Gezer or Geder.
GIANT. In Greek, Gigas, in Hebrew, Nophel, or Nephilim33, which may signify a monster, or a terrible man, who beats and Gen. vi. 4.bears down other men. The Scripture speaks of Giants who lived before the Flood; it calls them Nephilim, mighty men which were of old, men of renown. Aquila instead of Gigantes, translates this word Aqu. Ἐμπίπτοντες. Irruentes.Nephilim, men who attack, who fall with impetuosity upon their enemies; a translation which renders very well the whole force of the Hebrew term. Symmachus Sym. Βίαιοι.translates it violent men, cruel, whose only rule of their actions, is violence and force of arms.
The Scripture calls them sometimes34 Rephaims; for example, Chedorlaomer and his allies beat the Rephaims, or Giants, at Ashteroth-Karnaim. The Emims, ancient inhabitants of the land of Moab, were of a gigantick stature, they were of the number of the Rephaims. The Rephaims and the Perizzites are joined together as old inhabitants of the land of Canaan. Job says, that the ancient Rephaims groan under the Prov. ii. 18. ix. 18.waters; and Solomon in the Proverbs, that the ways of a debauched woman lead to the Rephaims, that is to say, to Hell, where the Giants are; and that he who deviates Ib. xxi. 16.from the ways of wisdom, shall go and dwell in the assembly of the Giants, in Hell, &c.
The Anakims, or the sons of Anak, were the most famous Giants of Palestine. They dwelt at Hebron, and thereabouts. Their stature was so much above what was common, that the Israelites, who were sent to view the Promised Land, told the people at their return, that they had seen Giants of the race of Anak in this country, who were Numb. xiii. 33.of so monstrous a size, that the Israelites, in comparison, were but grashoppers to them.
Lastly, the Septuagint sometimes translate the Hebrew word Gibbor, Gigas35, tho’ literally it signifies no more than a strong man, a man of valour and bravery, a warrior. For example, they say that Nimrod was a Giant before the Lord; that the Sun rises like a Giant to run its course; that the Lord will destroy the Giant, and the warlike man; that he will call his Giants in his wrath, to take vengeance of his enemies; that he will destroy the power of Egypt by the sword of his Giants, that is to say, of his warriors.
It is very probable, that the first men were all of a strength and stature much superior to those of mankind at present, since they lived a much longer time; long life being commonly the effect of a strong and vigorous constitution. The Scripture says, that there were many of these mighty tall men upon the earth, when Noah appeared; but that there were some before, and particularly after that the Sons of God had an intercourse with the Daughters of Men. The Text in Moses runs thus: There were Giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the Sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them. Several of the ancient Fathers, led36 into the mistake by the apocryphal book of Enoch, have asserted, that Giants were the productions of a marriage between Angels and the daughters of men. This opinion they founded likewise upon the text of the Septuagint, which in some copies stands thus;37The Angels of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful and fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose. But Moses in this place means nothing else, but that the men of Seth’s family, which was the family of the righteous, and the Sons of God, were corrupted by their affection to the women of Cain’s race, who are here described under the name of the daughters of men. Thus St. Chrysostom, Theodoret, St. Cyril of Alexandria, St. Austin, and many more have explained it.
As to the existence of Giants, several writers, both ancient and modern38, have imagined, that the Giants spoken of in Scripture, were indeed men of an extraordinary stature, but not so much above what was common, as they have fancied, who describe Giants as three or four times larger than men are at present. They were, say they, men famous for the violences which they committed, and for their crimes, rather than for their strength, or the greatness of their stature.
But it cannot be denied, that formerly there were men of a stature much above that of common men, at least not without contradicting Holy Scripture, the most cer
tain histories, and the tradition of all people. The Israelites who traversed the Holy Land, told their brethren, that they had seen Giants in this country of Anak’s race, Numb. xiii. 33,34.who were so unmeasurably large, that other men were but Grashoppers in comparison to them. Moses speaks of Og the King of Basan’s bed, which was nine cubits long, and four wide; that is to say, fifteen feet four inches and a half long. Goliath was six 4.cubits and a span in height, that is to say, ten feet seven inches. These sorts of Giants were still common in Joshua’s and David’s times, when the life of men was already so much shortned, and, as may be presumed, the size and strength of human bodies was very much diminished.
Homer speaks of the Giants Otus and Ephialtes, who at the age of nine years, Odyss. XI. Vs. 306.were nine cubits about, and six and thirty in height. He likewise describes the bigness of the Cyclops Polyphemus, whose strength was such, that he could easily and without the least straining, move a great stone, so large, that two and twenty chariots with four wheels could scarce raise it from the ground. I do not deliver this for certain Odyss. IX. vs. 240.history, but for a proof of that ancient tradition, received by the several people of the world, who always believed, that men of old were much larger and stronger than they have been since for many Ages: an opinion which is spread here and there in all the ancient poets and in other writers39.
St. Austin assures us, that in the port of Utica, he saw a Giant’s tooth so large, that it equalled an hundred of our largest teeth40. Torniel41 says, that in the Church at Verceil belonging to his order, there is a tooth, which is believed to have been St. Christopher’s, and is as large almost as that we have been speaking of. Pliny42 tells us, that a mountain in the Isle of Crete, having been opened by an Earthquake, a man was found in it standing upright, who was six and forty cubits high, and was by some taken for the body of Orion, by others for that of Otus. The body of Orestes being dug up by order of the Oracle, was found to be seven cubits, or ten feet and an half. Nævius Pollio was a foot taller than the largest men43. There was one Gabbarus at Rome in the Reign of the Emperor Claudius, who was nine feet, nine inches high44. Delrio affirms, that in 1572, he saw at Rohan a native of Piemont above nine foot high.
Plutarch. in Sertorio.Plutarch relates, that the body of the giant Antes was found in the city of Tingis in Mauritania, and that Sertorius having seen it, and observed it to be sixty cubits in length, offered sacrifices to it, and ordered it to be covered again with earth.
Albericus trium Fontium, a Cistercian Monk, after Elinandus, relates the discovery which was made of the body of Pallas, the son of Evander, who was killed by Turnus. This discovery was made, they say, in 1041, but Alberic reports it in 1054. Elinandus ex dictis Guillelmi. Eo tempore corpus Pallantis filii Evandri Romæ integrum repertum est, cum hoc epitaphio;
Filius Evandri Pallas, quem lancea Turni
Militis occidit, more suo jacet hic.
Quos versus non tunc factos crediderim, quamvis Carmentis litteras invenisse dicatur; sed vel ab Ennio, vel alio antiquo Poeta. Ea quidem est natura conditorum balsamo corporum, quod carne tabescente cutis exterior nervos, nervi vero ossa continent.
Hiatus vulneris quod in medio corpore fecerat, quatuor pedibus & semis mensuratus est. Ardens lucerna ad caput inventa est, quam cum nullâ liquoris aspergine, aut flatûs violentiâ extinguere valerent, quidam solertioris ingenii stilo subtus flammam foramen fecit, & mox introducto aëre ignis evanuit.
Corpus muro applicatum vastitate sua magnitudinem mœnium vicit; sed procedentibus diebus stillicidiis rorulentis infusum, communem mortalium corruptionem agnovit, cute solutâ, nervisque fluentibus.
Here are many particulars which seem to come from Authors who were contemporary and well informed. Notwithstanding, I can hardly persuade my self that the matter is not a little exaggerated.
The Chronicle of Colmar under the year 1267, says, that in a village called Hertin near the city of Basil, the bones of Giants were found, who seemed to exceed by thirty feet the stature of an ordinary man. Magnitudinem & longitudinem nostram xxx pedum excedentia.
In January 1701, at a village called Coloubella, six leagues from Thessalonica in Macedonia, the body of a Giant was discovered, which had been buried near the Sea in an old wall of some length and thickness. The Sea in a course of many ages having gradually undermined it, a great shower at last quite overturned it, and exposed the body of the Giant we are speaking of. He was ninety six royal feet in length; his skull contained full fifteen bushels of corn, Paris measure; one of his teeth weighed fifteen pound, and was seven inches and two Royal lines in height. Another tooth without the root of it weighed two pound and an half French; another two pound eleven ounces and six drams; a fourth tooth weighed two pound thirteen ounces.
The smallest bone of his little toe was
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Footnotes
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Lightfoot Chorograph. in Marc. & Hor. Talmudic. in Matt. xiv. 13. ↩
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Cellar. Geograph. antiq. l. 3. &c. ↩
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Acts ii. 7. Arrian. l. 4. Differt. Epict. c. 7. Julian. Imper. Ep. ad Porphyr. ↩
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Translators’ note. The English translators read Naham the father of Keilah the Garmite, according to the Hebrew Text, .נחם אבי קעילה הגרמיOur Author keeps close to his Vulgate, which herein agrees with the Septuagint. ↩
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Zeph. i. 9. על כל־הדלג על המפתן ↩
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Joseph. Antiq. l. 13. c. 21. ↩
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Polyb. in excerptis Valesii. ↩
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Antiq. l. 13. c. 21. ↩
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Antiq. l. 14. c. 10. ↩
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Antiq. l. 15. c. 11. ↩
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Γαζοφυλάκιον, answers to the Hebrew, לשכהor נשכהDomicilium, Habitaculum. ↩
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Translators’ note. In our English Bibles the Text runs thus; Madmenah is removed, the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee. העזווCongregant se, scil. ad fugam, ut R. Salomon explet. Buxtorf. ↩
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נדדה מדמנה ישבי הגבים העיזו ↩
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Vide Josue xv. 8. & 4 Reg. xxiii. 10. גיאהנוםGehennon, vallis Hennon. ↩
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ספר תולדותLiber Genera- tionis. Gr. Γενεαλογία. ↩
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Translators’ note. The Genealogies set down by Ezra and Nehemiah, in some particulars vary. The reason whereof is assigned by Dr. Prideaux in these terms. For the true settling of these Genealogies, says he, search was made by Nehemiah for the old Registers, and having among them found a Register of the Genealogies of those, who came up at first from Babylon with Zerubbabel and Joshua; he settled this matter according to it, adding such as afterwards came up, and expunging others, whose families were extinguished: and this hath caused the difference that is between the accounts which we have of these Genealogies in Ezra and Nehemiah. For in the second chapter of Ezra, we have the old Register made by Zerubbabel; and in the seventh of Nehemiah, from the 6th verse to the end of the chapter, a copy of it, as settled by Nehemiah, with the alterations I have mentioned. Prid. Connect. &c. Part. I. Book VI. ↩
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M. Basnage believes, that the Genealogies condemned by St. Paul, were the Sephiroth, which the Rabbins speak of. ↩
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1 Tim. ii. 7. I am ordained a Preacher, and an Apostle, a Teacher of the Gentiles. ↩
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Joseph. de Bello, l. 2. c. 17. Τὰς μὲν περιουσίας αὐτῶν κεκοσμηκέναι τὸν ναὸν ἐκ τῶν ἀναθημάτων τῶν ἀλλοφύλων τὸ πλέον, ἀεὶ περιδεχομένους τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν ἔξωθεν ἐθνῶν δωρεάς. ↩
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Cyrill. in Amos, p. 299. ↩
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Syncell. in Chronic. p. 200. & Vers. Samarit. ↩
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Arab. in Gen. xxvi. 1. ↩
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Targum Ierosol. ad Genes. xx. 1, 2. ↩
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Eufeb. & Hieronym. in locis, in Ebal. ↩
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Procop. in Deut. ↩
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Scaliger in Eufeb. ↩
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Epiphan. Hæres. 9. p. 24. ↩
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Procop. in Deut. ↩
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Translators’ note. The Jews call this Temple in contempt Peltanum; which a learned Critick observes to be a barbarous word invented after the conquests of Alexander, when Greek and Hebrew words were often mixed together; and that it signifies a dirty, or smoaky Temple. Stercoreum delubrum: πηλεθῶ ναός*, by which name the Jews generally called the Chapels or* Temples of Idols. Basnage Histoire des Juifs, l. ii. c. 4. ↩
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Translators’ note. M. Reland’s judgment of this Chronicon was communicated to M. Basnage, and is by him published in his Hist. des Juifs, l. ii c. 2. This learned gentleman says, that it was composed by very different authors, out of whose papers one body of history was formed, three hundred years after Christ. That it was so tacked together, is visible, he says, from the little connection of the pieces which are joined. The nine and thirty first Chapters contain the history of Joshua: hence the author proceeds to the death of Eli, the siege and taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. In the next Chapter we meet with Alexander the Great: and from this Conqueror he makes but one leap to Adrian. The only use which can be made of this book, is, to learn from thence, the opinions and tra- ditions of the Samaritans. ↩
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Antiq. l. xii. c. 7. ↩
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Procop. in Deut. ↩
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Gigas, Γίγας. נפליםfrom נפלHe fell; or Nophel, a monster, one born out of due time. ↩
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רפאיםRephaïm. See Genes. xiv. 5. Deut. ii. 11, 20. iii. 11, 13. Josh. xii. 4. xiii. 12. Job xxvi. 5, &c. ↩
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Vide Gen. vi. 4. apud LXX. Psal. xix. 6. apud LXX. & Vulg. Isai. iii. 2. apud LXX. xiii. 2. Ibid. xlix. 24, 25. Ibid. Ezech. xxxii. 12, 21, 27. apud LXX. xxxix. 18, 20. ↩
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Lact. l. 11. c. 14. Athenagor. Apolog. Clem. Alex. Stromat. l. 3. & 5. & l. 2. Pædag. Tertull. l. de Idololat. c. 9. & de cultu fœmin. c. 11. Cyprian. de discipl. & habitu Virg. Ambros. de Noë & Arca, c. 4, &c. ↩
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Genes. vi. 2, 50. in MS. Alex. Philo de Gigante, p. 284. Joseph. Antiq. l. 1. c. 4. Vide Nov. Edit. Hexaplorum. ↩
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Vide Philo de Gigant. Joseph. Antiq. l. 1. c. 4. Origen. apud. Gennad. C. P. in Caten. Græc. Euseb. Præpar. l. 5. c. 4. Ambros. de Noë & Arca, c. 4. Chrysost. in Catena. Cyrill. Alex. l. 9. contra Julian. Gorop. Becan. de Gigantomach. Temporarius, &c. ↩
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Vide, si lubet, Virg. Æneid. XII. Juvenal. Satyr. XV. D. Aug. de Civit. l. 15. c. 9. Plin. l. 7. c. 16, &c. ↩
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Aug. l. 15. c. 9. de Civitate Dei. ↩
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Torniel. Annal. V. T. ad An. 987. p. 80. ↩
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Plin. Natural. Hist. l. 7. c. 16. ↩
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Plin. ibid. Columel. de re rustic. c. 8. ex Cicerone. ↩
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Plin ibid. Solin. Columel. Tacit. ↩