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NEAH

ne'-a (ha-ne`ah, "the neah"; Annoua): A town in the lot of Zebulun (Josh 19:13), mentioned along with Gath-hepher and Rimmon. It is possibly identical with "Neiel" (Josh 19:27). No name resembling either of these has yet been recovered, although the district in which the place must be sought is pretty definitely indicated. It may probably have lain to the North of Rimmon (Rummaneh), about 4 miles Northeast of Seffuriyeh.


NEAPOLIS

ne-ap'-o-lis (Neapolis; Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in Greek, Nea Polis): A town on the northern shore the Aegean, originally belonging to Thrace but later falling within the Roman province of Macedonia. It was the seaport of Philippi, and was the first point in Europe at which Paul and his companions landed; from Troas they had sailed direct to Samothrace, and on the next day reached Neapolis (Acts 16:11). Paul probably passed through the town again on his second visit to Macedonia (Acts 20:1), and he certainly must have embarked there on his last journey from Philippi to Troas, which occupied 5 days (Acts 20:6). The position of Neapolis is a matter of dispute. Some writers have maintained that it lay on the site known as Eski (i.e. "Old") Kavalla (Cousinery, Macedoine, II, 109 ff), and that upon its destruction in the 6th or 7th century AD the inhabitants migrated to the place, about 10 miles to the East, called Christopolis in medieval and Kavalla in modern times. But the general view, and that which is most consonant with the evidence, both literary and archaeological, places Neapolis at Kavalla, which lies on a rocky headland with a spacious harbor on its western side, in which the fleet of Brutus and Cassius was moored at the time of the battle of Philippi (42 BC; Appian Bell. Civ. iv.106). The town lay some 10 Roman miles from Philippi, with which it was connected by a road leading over the mountain ridge named Symbolum, which separates the plain of Philippi from the sea.

The date of its foundation is uncertain, but it seems to have been a colony from the island of Thasos, which lay opposite to it (Dio Cassius xlvii.35). It appears (under the name Neopolis, which is also borne on its coins) as member both of the first and of the second Athenian confederacy, and was highly commended by the Athenians in an extant decree for its loyalty during the Thasian revolt of 411-408 BC (Inser. Graec., I, Suppl. 51). The chief cult of the city was that of "The Virgin," usually identified with the Greek Artemis. (See Leake, Travels in Northern Greece,III , 180; Cousinery, Voyage dans la Macedoine,II , 69 ff, 109 ff; Heuzey and Daumet, Mission archeol. de Macedoine, 11 ff.)

M. N. Tod


NEAR, NIGH

ner, ni (chiefly qarobh, "to draw near," qarabh; eggus): Used of proximity in place (Gen 19:20; 45:10; Ex 13:17; Ps 22:11; Jn 3:23, etc.), time (Jer 48:16; Ezek 7:7; 30:3; Mk 13:28), or kinship (Lev 21:2; Ruth 3:12), but also employed of moral nearness. Yahweh is "nigh" to them that are of a broken heart (Ps 34:18). God draws nigh to His people, and they to Him (Jas 4:8). The antithesis is God's "farness" from the wicked.


NEARIAH

ne-a-ri'-a (ne`aryah):

(1) A descendant of David (1 Ch 3:22 f).

(2) A descendant of Simeon (1 Ch 4:42).

In both instances the Septuagint reads "Noadiah."


NEBAI

ne'-bi, ne-ba'-i, neb'-a-i (nebhay).

See NOBAI .


NEBAIOTH

ne-ba'-yoth, ne-bi'-oth (nabhayoth; Septuagint Nabaioth): Firstborn of Ishmael (Gen 25:13; 28:9; 36:3; 1 Ch 1:29). Isa 60:7 mentions the tribe Nebaioth with Kedar, with an allusion to its pastoral nature: "the rams of Nebaioth" are to serve the ideal Zion as sacrificial victims. Again associated with Kedar, the name occurs frequently in Assyrian inscriptions. The tribe must have had a conspicuous place among the northern Arabs. Josephus, followed by Jerome, regarded Nebaioth as identical with the Nabateans, the great trading community and ally of Rome, whose capital and stronghold was Petra. This view is widely accepted, but the name "Nabatean" is spelled with a "T" (teth), and the interchange of "T" (teth) and "t" (taw), although not unparalleled, is unusual. If the name is Arabic, it is probably a feminine plural, and in that ease could have no connection with the Nabateans.

A. S. Fulton


NEBALLAT

ne-bal'-at (nebhallaT; Naballat): A town occupied by the Benjamites after the exile, named along with Lod and Ono (Neh 11:34). It is represented by the modern Belt Nebala, 4 miles Northeast of Lydda.


NEBAT

ne'-bat (nebhaT): Father of Jeroboam I (1 Ki 11:26, and frequently elsewhere). The name occurs only in the phrase "Jeroboam the son of Nebat," and is evidently intended to distinguish Jeroboam I from the later son of Joash.

See JEROBOAM .


NEBO (1)

ne'-bo (nebho; Assyrian Nabu): The Babylonian god of literature and science. In the Babylonian mythology he is represented as the son and interpreter of Bel-merodach (compare Isa 46:1; Bel and Nebo there represent Babylon). His own special shrine was at Borsippo. His planet was Mercury. His name enters into Biblical names, as "Nebuchadnezzar," and perhaps "Abed-nego" (Dan 1:7, for "Abed-nebo, servant of Nebo").

See BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA ,RELIGION OF .


NEBO (2)

(nebho; Nabau):

(1) This town is named in Nu 32:3 between Sebam and Beon (which latter evidently represents Baal-meon of 32:38), after Heshbon and Elealeh, as among the cities assigned by Moses to Reuben. It was occupied by the Reubenite clan Bela (1 Ch 5:8). Here it is named between Aroer and Baalmeon. In their denunciations of wrath against Moab, Isaiah names it along with Medeba (Isa 15:2) and Jeremiah with Kiriathaim (Jer 48:1), and again (Jer 48:22) between Dibon and Beth-diblathaim. Mesha (M S) says that by command of Chemosh he went by night against the city, captured it after an assault that lasted from dawn till noon, and put all the inhabitants to death. He dedicated the place to Ashtar-chemosh. Jerome (Commentary on Isa 15:2) tells us that at Nebo was the idol of Chemosh. The site which seems best to meet the requirements of the passages indicated is on the ridge of Jebel Neba to the Southwest of Hesban, where ruins of an ancient town bearing the name of en-Neba are found (Buhl, GAP, 266).

(2) (nebho; B, Nabou A, Nabo, and other forms): Fifty-two descendants of the inhabitants of Nebo returned from exile with Zerubbabel (Ezr 2:29; Neh 7:33). The place was in Judah and is named after Bethel and Ai. There is nothing, however, to guide us as to its exact position. It may be represented by either Belt Nuba, 12 miles Northwest of Jerusalem, or Nuba, which lies about 4 miles South-Southeast of `Id el-Ma' (Adullam).

W. Ewing


NEBO, MOUNT

(har nebho; Nabau): A mountain in the land of Moab which Moses ascended at the command of God in order that he might see the Land of Promise which he was never to enter. There also he was to die. From the following passages (namely, Nu 33:47; Dt 32:49; 34:1), we gather that it was not far from the plain of Moab in which Israel was encamped; that it was a height standing out to the West of the mountains of Abarim; that it lay to the East of Jericho; and that it was a spot from which a wide and comprehensive view of Palestine could be obtained. None of these conditions are met by Jebel `Attarus, which is too far to the East, and is fully 15 miles South of a line drawn eastward from Jericho. Jebel 'Osha, again, in Mt. Gilead, commands, indeed, an extensive view; but it lies too far to the North, being at least 15 miles North of a line drawn eastward from Jericho. Both of these sites have had their advocates as claimants for the honor of representing the Biblical Nebo.

The "head" or "top" of Pisgah is evidently identical with Mt. Nebo (Dt 34:1). After Moses' death he was buried "in the valley in the land of Moab," over against Beth-peor.

The name Neba is found on a ridge which, some 5 miles Southwest of Hesban and opposite the northern end of the Dead Sea, runs out to the West from the plateau of Moab, "sinking gradually: at first a broad brown field of arable land, then a flat top crowned by a ruined cairn, then a narrower ridge ending in the summit called Siagbah, whence the slopes fall steeply on all sides. The name Nebo or Neba (the "knob" or "tumulus") applies to the flat top with the cairn, and the name Tal`at es-Sufa to the ascent leading up to the ridge from the North. Thus we have three names which seem to connect the ridge with that whence Moses is related to have viewed the Promised Land, namely, first, Nebo, which is identically the same word as the modern Neba; secondly, Siaghah, which is radically identical with the Aramaic Se`ath, the word standing instead of Nebo in the Targum of Onkelos (Nu 32:3), where it is called the burial place of Moses; thirdly, Tal`at es-Sufa, which is radically identical with the Hebrew Zuph (tsuph), whence Mizpah (mitspah) and Zophim (tsophim. .... The name Pisgah is not now known, but the discovery of Zophim (compare Nu 23:14) confirms the view now generally held, that it is but another title of the Nebo range."

Neither Mt. Hermon nor Dan (Tell el-Qady) is visible from this point; nor can Zoar be seen; and if the Mediterranean is the hinder sea, it also is invisible. But, as Driver says ("Dt," ICC, 419), the terms in Dt 34:1,3 are hyperbolical, and must be taken as including points filled in by the imagination as well as those actually visible to the eye. Mr. Birch argues in favor of Tal`at el-Benat, whence he believes Dan and Zoar to be visible, while he identifies "the hinder sea" with the Dead Sea (PEFS, 1898, 110 ff).

W. Ewing


NEBUCHADNEZZAR; NEBUCHADREZZAR

neb-u-kad-nez'-ar, -rez'-ar: Nebuchadnezzar, the second king of Babylon of that name, is best known as the king who conquered Judah, destroyed Jerusalem, and carried the people of the Jews captive to Babylon. Of all the heathen monarchs mentioned by name in the Scriptures, Nebuchadnezzar is the most prominent and the most important. The prophecies of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, and the last chapters of Kings and Chronicles centered about his life, and he stands preeminent, along with the Pharaohs of the oppression and the exodus, among the foes of the kingdom of God. The documents which have been discovered in Babylon and elsewhere within the last 75 years have added much to our knowledge of this monarch, and have in general confirmed the Biblical accounts concerning him.

1. His Name:

His name is found in two forms in the Bible, Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuchadrezzar. In the Septuagint he is called Nabouchodonosor, and in the Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) Nabuchodonosor. This latter form is found also in the King James Version Apocrypha throughout and in the Revised Version (British and American) 1 Esdras, Ad Esther and Baruch, but not Judith or Tobit. This change from "r" to "n" which is found in the two writings of the name in the Hebrew and the Aramaic of the Scriptures is a not uncommon one in the Semitic languages, as in Burnaburiyash and Burraburiyash, Ben-hadad and Bar-hadad (see Brockelmann's Comparative Grammar, 136, 173, 220). It is possible, however, that the form Nebuchadnezzar is the Aramaic translation of the Babylonian Nebuchadrezzar. If we take the name to be compounded of Nabu-kudurri-usur in the sense "O Nebo, protect thy servant," then Nabu-kedina-usur would be the best translation possible in Aramaic. Such translations of proper names are common in the old versions of the Scriptures and elsewhere. For example, in WAI, V, 44, we find 4 columns of proper names of persons giving the Sumerian originals and the Semitic translations of the same; compare Bar-hadad in Aramaic for Hebrew Ben-hadad. In early Aramaic the "S" had not yet become "T" (see Cooke, Text-Book of North-Sem Inscriptions, 188 f); so that for anyone who thought that kudurru meant "servant," Nebuchadnezzar would be a perfect translation into Aramaic of Nebuchadrezzar.

2. Family:

The father of Nebuchadnezzar was Nabopolassar, probably a Chaldean prince. His mother is not known by name. The classical historians mention two wives: Amytis, the daughter of Astyages, and Nitocris, the mother of Nabunaid. The monuments mention three sons: Evil-merodach who succeeded him, Marduk-shum-utsur, and Marduk-nadin-achi. A younger brother of Nebuchadnezzar, called Nabu-shum-lishir, is mentioned on a building-inscription tablet from the time of Nabopolassar.

3. Sources of Information:

The sources of our information as to the life of Nebuchadnezzar are about 500 contract tablets dated according to the days, months and years of his reign of 43 years; about 30 building and honorific inscriptions; one historical inscription; and in the books of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Kings. Later sources are Chronicles, Ezra, and the fragments of Berosus, Menander, Megasthenes, Abydenus, and Alexander Polyhistor, largely as cited by Josephus and Eusebius.

4. Political History:

From these sources we learn that Nebuchadnezzar succeeded his father on the throne of Babylon in 604 BC, and reigned till 561 BC. He probably commanded the armies of Babylon from 609. BC. At any rate, he was at the head of the army which defeated Pharaoh-necoh at Carchemish on the Euphrates in 605 BC (see 2 Ki 23:31; 2 Ch 35:20 ff). After having driven Necoh out of Asia and settled the affairs of Syria and Palestine, he was suddenly recalled to Babylon by the death of his father. There he seems quietly to have ascended the throne. In the 4th year of Jehoiakim (or 3rd according to the Babylonian manner of reckoning (Dan 1:1)), he came up first against Jerusalem and carried away part of the vessels of the temple and a few captives of noble lineage. Again, in Jehoiakim's 11th year, he captured Jerusalem, put Jehoiakim, its king, into chains, and probably killed him. His successor, Jehoiachin, after a three months' reign, was besieged in Jerusalem, captured, deposed, and carried captive to Babylon, where he remained in captivity 37 years until he was set free by Evil-merodach. In the 9th year of Zedekiah, Nebuchadnezzar made a 4th expedition against Jerusalem which he besieged, captured, and destroyed (see Jer 52). In addition to these wars with Judah, Nebuchadnezzar carried on a long siege of Tyre, lasting 13 years, from his 7th to his 20th year. He had at least three wars with Egypt. The first culminated in the defeat of Necoh at Carchemish; the second in the withdrawal of Hophra (Apries) from Palestine in the 1st year of the siege of Jerusalem under Zedekiah; and the third saw the armies of Nebuchadnezzar entering Egypt in triumph and defeating Amasis in Nebuchadnezzar's 37th year. In the numerous building and honorific inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar he makes no mention by name of his foes or of his battles; but he frequently speaks of foes that he had conquered and of many peoples whom he ruled. Of these peoples he mentions by name the Hittites and others (see Langdon, 148-51). In the Wady-Brissa inscription, he speaks of a special conquest of Lebanon from some foreign foe who had seized it; but the name of the enemy is not given.

5. Buildings, etc.:

The monuments justify the boast of Nebuchadnezzar "Is not this great Babylon that I have built?" (Dan 4:30). Among these buildings special emphasis is placed by Nebuchadnezzar upon his temples and shrines to the gods, particularly to Marduk, Nebo and Zarpinat, but also to Shamash, Sin, Gula, Ramman, Mah, and others. He constructed, also, a great new palace and rebuilt an old one of his father's. Besides, he laid out and paved with bricks a great street for the procession of Marduk, and built a number of great walls with moats and moat-walls and gates. He dug several broad, deep canals, and made dams for flooding the country to the North and South of Babylon, so as to protect it against the attack of its enemies. He made, also, great bronze bulls and serpents, and adorned his temples and palaces with cedars and gold. Not merely in Babylon itself, but in many of the cities of Babylonia as well, his building operations were carried on, especially in the line of temples to the gods.

6. Religion, etc.:

The inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar show that he was a very religious man, probably excelling all who had preceded him in the building of temples, in the institution of offerings, and the observance of all the ceremonies connected with the worship of the gods. His larger inscriptions usually contain two hymns and always close with a prayer. Mention is frequently made of the offerings of precious metals, stones and woods, of game, fish, wine, fruit, grain, and other objects acceptable to the gods. It is worthy of note that these offerings differ in character and apparently in purpose from those in use among the Jews. For example, no mention is made in any one of Nebuchadnezzar's inscriptions of the pouring out or sprinkling of blood, nor is any reference made to atonement, or to sin.

7. Madness:

No reference is made in any of these inscriptions to Nebuchadnezzar's insanity. But aside from the fact that we could scarcely expect a man to publish his own calamity, especially madness, it should be noted that according to Langdon we have but three inscriptions of his written in the period from 580 to 561 BC. If his madness lasted for 7 years, it may have occurred between 580 and 567 BC, or it may have occurred between the Egyptian campaign of 567 BC and his death in 561 BC. But, as it is more likely that the "7 times" mentioned in Dan may have been months, the illness may have been in any year after 580 BC, or even before that for all we know.

8. Miracles, etc.:

No mention is made on the monuments (1) of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar recorded in Dan 2, or (2) of the image of gold that he set up, or (3) of the fiery furnace from which the three children were delivered (Dan 3). As to (1), it may be said, however, that a belief in dreams was so universal among all the ancient peoples, that a single instance of this kind may not have been considered as worthy of special mention. The annals of Ashur-banipal and Nubu-naid and Xerxes give a number of instances of the importance attached to dreams and their interpretation. It is almost certain that Nebuchadnezzar also believed in them. That the dream recorded in Dan is not mentioned on the monuments seems less remarkable than that no dream of his is recorded. As to (2) we know that Nebuchadnezzar made an image of his royal person (salam sharrutiya, Langdon, XIX, B, col. x, 6; compare the image of the royal person of Nabopolassar, id, p. 51), and it is certain that the images of the gods were made of wood (id, p. 155), that the images of Nebo and Marduk were conveyed in a bark in the New Year's procession (id, pp. 157, 159, 163, 165) and that there were images of the gods in all the temples (id, passim); and that Nebuchadnezzar worshipped before these images. That Nebuchadnezzar should have made an image of gold and put it up in the Plain of Dura is entirely in harmony with what we know of his other "pious deeds." (3) As to "the fiery furnace," it is known that Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria, says that his own brother, Shamash-shumukin, was burned in a similar furnace.

The failure of Nebuchadnezzar to mention any of the particular persons or events recorded in Dan does not disprove their historicity, any more than his failure to mention the battle of Carchemish, or the siege of Tyre and Jerusalem, disproves them. The fact is, we have no real historical inscription of Nebuchadnezzar, except one fragment of a few broken lines found in Egypt.

LITERATURE.

T.G. Pinches, The New Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia; Stephen Langdon, Building Inscriptions of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. See also, Rogers, History of Babylonia and Assyria; and McCurdy, History, Prophecy and the Monuments,III .

R. Dick Wilson


NEBUSHAZBAN

neb-u-shaz'-ban (nebhushazebhan = Assyrian Nabusezib-anni, "Nebo delivers me"; the King James Version Nebushasban): An important officer (the Rab-saris, chief captain or "chief eunuch") of the Babylonian army, who with Nergal-sharezer and others was appointed to see to the safety of Jeremiah after the taking of Jerusalem (Jer 39:13).


NEBUZARADAN

neb-u-zar-a'-dan, -zar'-a-dan (nebhuzar'adhan = Assyrian Nabu-zara-iddina, "Nebo has given seed"; Nebouzardan): Nebuchadnezzar's general at the siege of Jerusalem (2 Ki 25:8,11,20; Jer 52:12,15,26; 39:9,10,11,13). Under the title of "captain of the guard," he commanded the army, and, after the fall of the city, carried out his master's policy with regard to the safety of Jeremiah, the transport of the exiles, and the government of those who were left in the land.


NECHO; NECHOH

ne'-ko.

See PHARAOH-NECOH .


NECK

nek (tsawwar, tsawwa'r, tsawwaron, tsawwa'rah, Aramaic tsawwar (Dan 5:7,16,29), `oreph, miphreqeth (1 Sam 4:18); nostos, "back" (Baruch 2:33); occasionally the words garon (Isa 3:16; Ezek 16:11), and gargeroth, plural of gargarah, literally, "throat" (Prov 1:9; 3:3,12; 6:21), are translated "neck"): The neck is compared with a tower for beauty (Song 4:4; 7:4) and is decorated with necklaces and chains (Prov 1:9; 3:3,12; 6:21, Hebrew gargeroth; Ezek 16:11, Hebrew garon, "throat"; Dan 5:7,16,29, Hebrew tsawwar). It is also the part of the body where the yoke, emblem of labor and hardship, dependence and subjection, is borne (Dt 28:48; Jer 27:8,11,12; 28:14; Acts 15:10). "To shake off the yoke," "to break the yoke," or "to take it off" is expressive of the regaining of independence and liberty, either by one's own endeavors or through help from outside (Gen 27:40; Isa 10:27; Jer 28:11; 30:8). Certain animals which were not allowed as food (like the firstborn which were not redeemed) were to be killed by having their necks (`oreph) broken (Ex 13:13; 34:20); the turtle-doves and young pigeons, which were sacrificed as sin offerings or as burnt offerings, had their heads wrung or pinched off from their necks (Lev 5:8). In 1 Sam 4:18 the Hebrew word miphreqeth signifies a fracture of the upper part of the spinal column caused by a fall.

It was a military custom of antiquity for the conqueror to place his foot upon the vanquished. This custom, frequently represented in sculpture on many an Egyptian temple wall, is referred to in Josh 10:24; Baruch 4:25 and probably in Rom 16:20 and Ps 110:1. Paul praises the devotion of Aquila and Priscilla, "who for my life laid down their own necks" (Rom 16:4).

See FOOTSTOOL .

To "fall on the neck" of a person is a very usual mode of salutation in the East (Gen 33:4; 45:14; 46:29; Tobit 11:9,13; Lk 15:20; Acts 20:37). In moments of great emotion such salutation is apt to end in weeping on each other's neck.

Readiness for work is expressed by "putting one's neck to the work" (Neh 3:5). Severe punishment and calamity are said to "reach to the neck" (Isa 8:8; 30:28).

The Lord Jesus speaks of certain persons for whom it were better to have had a millstone put around the neck and to have been drowned in the sea. The meaning is that even the most disgraceful death is still preferable to a life of evil influence upon even the little ones of God's household (Mt 18:6; Mk 9:42; Lk 17:2).

To "make the neck stiff," to "harden the neck" indicates obstinacy often mingled with rebellion (Ex 32:9; 33:3,5; 34:9; 2 Ch 30:8; 36:13; Neh 9:16,17,29; Ps 75:5 (the Revised Version margin "insolently with a haughty neck"); Prov 29:1; Jer 7:26). Compare sklerotracholes, "stiffnecked" (Acts 7:51). Similarly Isaiah (48:4) speaks of the neck of the obstinate sinner as resembling an iron sinew.

H. L. E. Luering


NECKLACE

nek'-las (rabhidh, "chain"): A neck-chain ornament, worn either separately (Ezek 16:11), or with pendants (Isa 3:19), such as crescents (Isa 3:18) or rings (Gen 38:25); sometimes made of gold (Gen 41:42; Dan 5:29), or of strings of jewels (Song 1:10). Even beasts of burden were sometimes so adorned by royalty (Jdg 8:26). It was considered suggestive of pride (Ps 73:6) or of filial loyalty (Prov 1:9). The word does not occur in the King James Version, but such adornments have always been popular in all the Bible lands.


NECO

ne'-ko (nekho (2 Ch 35:22; 36:4))., "chain"): A neck-chain ornament, worn either separately (Ezek 16:11), or with pendants (Isa 3:19), such as crescents (Isa 3:18) or rings (Gen 38:25); sometimes made of gold (Gen 41:42; Dan 5:29), or of strings of jewels (Song 1:10). Even beasts of burden were sometimes so adorned by royalty (Jdg 8:26). It was considered suggestive of pride (Ps 73:6) or of filial loyalty (Prov 1:9). The word does not occur in the King James Version, but such adornments have always been popular in all the Bible lands.

See PHARAOH-NECOH .


NECODAN

ne-ko'-dan.

See NEKODA .


NECROMANCY

nek'-ro-man-si.

See ASTROLOGY , 1;DIVINATION ;WITCHCRAFT .


NEDABIAH

ned-a-bi'-a (nedhabhyah): A descendant of David (1 Ch 3:18).


NEEDLE

ne'-d'-l (rhaphis): The word "needle" occurs only 3 times, namely, in the reference to Christ's use of the proverb: "It is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God" (Mt 19:24; Mk 10:25; Lk 18:25). This saying ought to be accepted in the same sense as Mt 23:24, "Ye blind guides, that strain out the gnat, and swallow the camel!" Christ used them to illustrate absurdities. A rabbinical parallel is cited, "an elephant through a needle's eye." Some writers have attempted to show that rhaphis referred to a small gate of a walled oriental city. No evidence of such a use of the word exists in the terms applied today in Biblical lands to this opening. "Rich man" here has the connotation of a man bound up in his riches. If a man continues to trust in his earthly possessions to save him, it would be absurd for him to expect to share in the spiritual kingdom where dependence upon the King is a first requisite.

The fact that needles are not mentioned elsewhere in the Bible should not be taken to indicate that this instrument was not used. Specimens of bone and metal needles of ancient origin show that they were common household objects.

See CAMEL .

James A. Patch


NEEDLEWORK

ne'-d'-l-wurk.

See EMBROIDERY .


NEEDY

ned'-i ('ebhyon).

See POOR .


NEESING

ne'-zing (Job 41:18, the King James Version, the English Revised Version "by his neesings a light doth shine," the American Standard Revised Version "sneezings"): "Neese" in Elizabethan English (through two distinct derivations) could mean either "sneeze" or "snort," and it is impossible to say which force was intended by the King James Version editors. The Hebrew is `aTishah, a word found only here, but connected with a Semitic root meaning "sneeze," or, perhaps, "snort." Job 41:18 is part of the description of the "leviathan" or crocodile. This animal has a habit of inflating himself, and after this he discharges through his nostrils the moist, heated vapor, which sparkles in the sunlight. The act is neither a "sneeze" nor a "snort," but the latter word is sufficiently descriptive. There is no allusion to legendary "fire-spouting" monsters. Compare Job 39:20; Jer 8:16.

In the older editions of the King James Version "neesed" is found in 2 Ki 4:35: "and the child neesed seven times" (later editions and the Revised Version (British and American) "sneezed").

Burton Scott Easton


NEGEB

neg'-eb (ha-neghebh, "the negeb" or simply, neghebh, from a root meaning "to be dry," and therefore in the first instance implying the "dry" or "parched regions," hence, in the Septuagint it is usually translated eremos, "desert," also nageb):

1. Meaning:

As the Negeb lay to the South of Judah, the word came to be used in the sense of "the South," and is so used in a few passages (e.g. Gen 13:14) and in such is translated lips (see GEOGRAPHY ). The English translation is unsuitable in several passages, and likely to lead to confusion. For example, in Gen 13:1 Abram is represented as going "into the South" when journeying northward from Egypt toward Bethel; in Nu 13:22 the spies coming from the "wilderness of Zin" toward Hebron are described as coming "by the South," although they were going north. The difficulty in these and many other passages is at once obviated if it is recognized that the Negeb was a geographical term for a definite geographical region, just as Shephelah, literally, "lowland," was the name of another district of Palestine. In the Revised Version (British and American) "Negeb" is given in margin, but it would make for clearness if it were restored to the text.

2. Description:

This "parched" land is generally considered as beginning South of edition Dahariyeb--the probable site of DEBIR (which see)--and as stretching South in a series of rolling hills running in a general direction of East to West until the actual wilderness begins, a distance of perhaps 70 miles (see NATURAL FEATURES ). To the East it is bounded by the Dead Sea and the southern Ghor, and to the West there is no defined boundary before the Mediterranean. It is a land of sparse and scanty springs and small rainfall; in the character of its soil it is a transition from the fertility of Canaan to the wilderness of the desert; it is essentially a pastoral land, where grazing is plentiful in the early months and where camels and goats can sustain life, even through the long summer drought. Today, as through most periods of history, it is a land for the nomad rather than the settled inhabitant, although abundant ruins in many spots testify to better physical conditions at some periods (see I, 5, below). The direction of the valleys East or West, the general dryness, and the character of the inhabitants have always made it a more or less isolated region without thoroughfare. The great routes pass along the coast to the West or up the Arabah to the East. It formed an additional barrier to the wilderness beyond it; against all who would lead an army from the South, this southern frontier of Judah was always secure. Israel could not reach the promised land by this route, through the land of the Amalekites (Nu 13:29; 14:43-45).

3. Old Testament References:

The Negeb was the scene of much of Abram's wanderings (Gen 12:9; 13:1,3; 20:1); it was in this district that Hagar met with the angel (Gen 16:7,14); Isaac (Gen 24:62) and Jacob (Gen 37:1; 46:5) both dwelt there. Moses sent the spies through this district to the hill country (Nu 13:17,22); the Amalekites then dwelt there (Nu 13:29) and apparently, too, in some parts of it, the Avvim (Josh 13:3,4). The inheritance of the children of Simeon, as given in Josh 19:1-9, was in the Negeb, but in Josh 15:21-32 these cities are credited to Judah (see SIMEON ). Achish allotted to David, in response to his request, the city of ZIKLAG (q.v) in the Negeb (1 Sam 27:5 f); the exploits of David were against various parts of this district described as the Negeb of Judah, the Negeb of the Jerahmeelites, and the Negeb of the Kenites, while in 1 Sam 30:14 we have mention of the Negeb of the Cherethites and the Negeb of Caleb. To this we may add the Negeb of Arad (Jdg 1:16). It is impossible to define the districts of these various clans (see separate articles under these names). The, Negeb, together with the "hill-country" and the "Shephelah," was according to Jeremiah (17:26; 32:44; 33:13) to have renewed prosperity after the captivity of Judah was ended.

4. Later History:

When Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem the Edomites sided with the Babylonians (compare Lam 4:21 f; Ezek 35:3-15; Ob 1:10-16), and during the absence of the Jews they advanced north and occupied all the Negeb and Southern Judea as far as Hebron (see JUDAEA ). Here they annoyed the Jews in Maccabean times until Judas expelled them from Southern Judea (164 BC) and John Hyrcanus conquered their country and compelled them to become Jews (109 BC). It was to one of the cities here--Malatha--that Herod Agrippa withdrew himself (Josephus, Ant, XVIII, vi, 2).

The palmy days of this district appear to have been during the Byzantine period: the existing ruins, so far as they can be dated at all, belong to this time. Beersheba was an important city with a bishop, and Elusa (mentioned by Ptolemy in the 2nd century) was the seat of a bishop in the 4th, 5th and 6th centuries. After the rise of Mohammedanism the land appears to have lapsed into primitive conditions. Although lawlessness and want of any central control may account for much of the retrogression, yet it is probable that Professor Ellsworth Huntington (loc. cit.) is right in his contention that a change of climate has had much to do with the rise and fall of civilization and settled habitation in this district. The district has long been given over to the nomads, and it is only quite recently that the Turkish policy of planting an official with a small garrison at Beersheba and at `Aujeh has produced some slight change in the direction of a settled population and agricultural pursuits.

5. Its Ancient Prosperity:

It is clear that in at least two historic periods the Negeb enjoyed a very considerable prosperity. What it may have been in the days of the Patriarchs it is difficult to judge; all we read of them suggests a purely nomadic life similar to the Bedouin of today but with better pasturage. In the division of the land among the tribes mention is made of many cities--the Hebrew mentions 29 (Josh 15:21-32; 19:1-9; 1 Ch 4:28-33)--and the wealth of cattle evidently was great (compare 1 Sam 15:9; 27:9; 30:16; 2 Ch 14:14 f). The condition of things must have been far different from that of recent times.

The extensive ruins at Bir es Seba` (Beersheba) Khalasa (Elusa), Ruheibeh (REHOBOTH, which see), `Aujeh and other cities, together with the signs of orchards, vineyards and gardens scattered widely around these and other sites, show how comparatively well populated this area was in Byzantine times in particular. Professor Huntington (loc. cit.) concludes from these ruins that the population of the large towns of the Negeb alone at this period must have amounted to between 45,000 and 50,000. The whole district does not support 1,000 souls today.

LITERATURE.

Robinson, BR (1838); Wilton, The Negeb, or "South Country" of Scripture (1863); E.H. Palmer, The Desert of the Exodus, II (1871); Trumbull, Kadesh-Barnea (1884); G. A. Smith, HGHL, chapter xiii (1894); E. Huntington, Palestine and Its Transformation, chapter vi, etc.

E. W. G. Masterman


NEGINAH; NEGINOTH

ne-ge'-na (Ps 61 the King James Version, title), ne-ge'-noth, neg'-i-noth (Ps 4 the King James Version, title).

See MUSIC ;PSALMS .


NEHELAMITE, THE

ne-hel'-a-mit, (ha-necheldmi): The designation of Shemaiah, a false prophet who opposed Jeremiah (Jer 29:24,31,32). The word means "dweller of Nehelam," but no such place-name is found in the Old Testament. Its etymology, however, suggests a connection with the Hebrew chalam, "to dream," and this has given rise to the rendering of the King James Version margin "dreamer."


NEHEMIAH

ne-he-mi'-a, ne-hem-i'-a (nechemyah, "comforted of Yah"):

1. Family

2. Youth

3. King's Cupbearer

4. Governor of Judea

5. Death

LITERATURE

Nehemiah, the son of Hacaliah, is the Jewish patriot whose life is recorded in the Biblical work named after him. All that we know about him from contemporary sources is found in this book; and so the readers of this article are referred to the Book of Nehemiah for the best and fullest account of his words and deeds.

See EZRA-NEHEMIAH .

1. Family:

All that is known of his family is that he was the son of Hacaliah (Neh 1:1) and that one of his brothers was called Hanani (Neh 1:2; 7:2); the latter a man of sufficient character and importance to have been made a ruler of Jerusalem.

From Neh 10:1-8 some have inferred that he was a priest, since Nehemiah comes first in the list of names ending with the phrase, "these were the priests." This view is supported by the Syriac and Arabic versions of 10:1, which read: "Nehemiah the elder, the son of Hananiah the chief of the priests"; and by the Latin Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) of 2 Macc 1:21, where he is called "Nehemiah the priest," and possibly by 2 Macc 1:18, where it is said that Nehemiah "offered sacrifices, after that he had builded the temple and the altar."

The argument based upon Neh 10:1-8 will fall to the ground, if we change the pointing of the "Seraiah" of the 3rd verse and read "its princes," referring back to the princes of 10:1. In this case, Nehemiah and Zedekiah would be the princes; then would come the priests and then the Levites.

Some have thought that he was of the royal line of Judah, inasmuch as he refers to his "fathers' sepulchres" at Jerusalem (Neh 2:3). This would be a good argument only if it could be shown that none but kings had sepulchers at Jerusalem.

It has been argued again that he was of noble lineage because of his position as cupbearer to the king of Persia. To substantiate this argument, it would need to be shown that none but persons of noble birth could serve in this position; but this has not been shown, and cannot be shown.

2. Youth:

From the fact that Nehemiah was so grieved at the desolation of the city and sepulchers of his fathers and that he was so jealous for the laws of the God of Judah, we can justly infer that he was brought up by pious parents, who instructed him in the history and law of the Jewish people.

3. King's Cupbearer:

Doubtless because of his probity and ability, he was apparently at an early age appointed by Artaxerxes, king of Persia, to the responsible position of cupbearer to the king. There is now no possible doubt that this King his king was Artaxerxes, the first of that name, commonly called Longimanus, who ruled over Persia from 464 to 424 BC. The mention of the sons of Sanballat, governor of Samaria, in a letter written to the priests of Jerusalem in 407 BC, among whom Johanan is especially named, proves that Sanballat must have ruled in the time of Artaxerxes I rather than in that of Artaxerxes II.

The office of cupbearer was "one of no trifling honor" (Herod. iii.34). It was one of his chief duties to taste the wine for the king to see that it was not poisoned, and he was even admitted to the king while the queen was present (Neh 2:6). It was on account of this position of close intimacy with the king that Nehemiah was able to obtain his commission as governor of Judea and the letters and edicts which enabled him to restore the walls of Jerusalem.

4. Governor of Judea:

The occasion of this commission was as follows: Hanani, the brother of Nehemiah, and other men of Judah came to visit Nehemiah while he was in Susa in the 9th month of the 20th year of Artaxerxes. They reported that the Jews in Jerusalem were in great affliction and that the wall thereof was broken down and its gates burned with fire. Thereupon he grieved and fasted and prayed to God that he might be granted favor by the king. Having appeared before the latter in the 1st month of the 21st year of Artaxerxes, 444 BC, he was granted permission to go to Jerusalem to build the city of his fathers' sepulchers, and was given letters to the governors of Syria and Palestine and especially to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, ordering him to supply timber for the wall, the fortress, and the temple. He was also appointed governor of the province of which Jerusalem was the capital.

Armed with these credentials and powers he repaired to Jerusalem and immediately set about the restoration of the walls, a work in which he was hindered and harassed by Sanballat, the governor of Samaria, and others, some of them Jews dwelling in Jerusalem. Notwithstanding, he succeeded in his attempt and eventually also in providing gates for the various entrances to the city.

Having accomplished these external renovations, he instituted a number of social reforms. He appointed the officers necessary for better government, caused the people to be instructed in the Law by public readings, and expositions; celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles; and observed a national fast, at which the sins of the people were confessed and a new covenant with Yahweh was solemnly confirmed. The people agreed to avoid marriages with the heathen, to keep the Sabbath, and to contribute to the support of the temple. To provide for the safety and prosperity of the city, one out of every ten of the people living outside Jerusalem was compelled to settle in the city. In all of these reforms he was assisted by Ezra, who had gone up to Jerusalem in the 7th year of Artaxerxes.

5. Death:

Once, or perhaps oftener, during his governorship Nehemiah returned to the king. Nothing is known as to when or where he died. It is certain, however, that he was no longer governor in 407 BC; for at that time according to the Aramaic letter written from Elephantine to the priests of Jerusalem, Bagohi was occupying the position of governor over Judea. One of the last acts of Nehemiah's government was the chasing away of one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib, because he had become the son-in-law to Sanballat, the governor of Samaria. As this Joiada was the father of Johanan (Neh 12:22) who, according to the Aramaic papyrus, was high priest in 407 BC, and according to Josephus (Ant., XI, viii.1) was high priest while Bagohi (Bogoas) was general of Artaxerxes' army, it is certain that Nehemiah was at this time no longer in power. From the 3rd of the Sachau papyri, it seems that Bagohi was already governor in 410 BC; and, that at the same time, Dalayah, the son of Sanballat, was governor in Samaria. More definite information on these points is not to be had at present.

LITERATURE.

The only early extra-Biblical data with regard to Nehemiah and the Judea of his times are to be found: (1) in the Egyptian papyri of Elephantine ("Aramaische Papyri und Ostraka aus einer judischen Militar-Kolonie zu Elephantine," Altorientalische Sprachdenkmaler des 5. Jahrhunderts vor Chr., Bearbeitet von Eduard Sachau. Leipzig, 1911); (2)in Josephus, Ant, XI, vi, 6-8; vii, 1, 2; (3) in Ecclesiasticus 49:13, where it is said: "The renown of Nehemiah is glorious; of him who established our waste places and restored our ruins, and set up the gates and bars"; (4) and lastly in 2 Macc 1:18-36 and 2:13; in the latter of these passages it speaks of `the writings and commentaries of Nehemiah; and how he, founding a library, gathered together the acts of the kings and the prophets and of David and the epistles of the kings concerning the holy gifts.'

R. Dick Wilson


NEHEMIAH, BOOK OF

See EZRA-NEHEMIAH .


NEHEMIAS

ne-he-mi'-as: Greek form of the Hebrew Nehemiah.

(1) Neemias, one of the leaders of the return under Zerubbabel (1 Esdras 5:8) = "Nehemiah" of Ezr 2:2; Neh 7:7.

(2) Neemias, Codex Vaticanus Naimias, the prophet Nehemiah (1 Esdras 5:40 where the King James Version margin reads "Nehemias who also is Atharias"). Neither Nehemias nor Attharias is found in the parallel Ezr 2:63; Neh 7:65, but ha-tirshatha' = Tirshatha, "the governor," by whom Zerubbabel must be intended. Thus, the Hebrew word for "governor" has been converted into a proper name and by some blunder the name Nehemiah inserted, perhaps because he also was known by the title of "governor."

S. Angus


NEHILOTH

ne-hil'-oth, ne'-hi-loth (Ps 5, title).

See MUSIC .


NEHUM

ne'-hum (nechum): One of the twelve heads of the people who returned with Zerubbabel (Neh 7:7). In the parallel passage (Ezr 2:2), the name appears as REHUM (which see), and in 1 Esdras 5:8 as "Roimus."


NEHUSHTA

ne-hush'-ta (nechushta'): Mother of King Jehoiachin (2 Ki 24:8). She was the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. After the fall of the city she was exiled with her son and his court (2 Ki 24:12; Jer 29:2).


NEHUSHTAN

ne-hush'-tan (nechushtan; compare nechosheth, "brass," and nachash, "serpent"):

1. Traditional Interpretation:

The word occurs but once, namely, in 2 Ki 18:4. In the account there given of the reforms carried out by Hezekiah, it is said that "he brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made; for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan." According to the Revised Version margin the word means "a piece of brass." If this be correct, the sense of the passage is that Hezekiah not only breaks the brazen serpent in pieces but, suiting the word to the act, scornfully calls it "a (mere) piece of brass." Hezekiah thus takes his place as a true reformer, and as a champion of the purification of the religion of Israel. This is the traditional interpretation of the passage, and fairly represents the Hebrew text as it now stands.

2. Derivation: A Proper Noun:

There are at least three considerations, however, which throw doubt upon this interpretation. In the first place, the word Nehushtan is not a common noun, and cannot mean simply "a piece of brass." The point of the Biblical statement is entirely lost by such a construction. It is emphatically a proper noun, and is the special name given to this particular brazen serpent. As such it would be sacred to all worshippers of the brazen serpent, and familiar to all who frequented the Temple. In the second place, it is probable that Nehushtan is to be derived from nachash, "serpent," rather than from nechosheth, "brass," (1) because the Greek VSS, representing a form of the Hebrew text earlier than Massoretic Text, suggest this in their transliteration of Nehushtan (Codex Vaticanus Nesthalei; Codex Alexandrinus Nesthan); (2) because the Hebrew offers a natural derivation of Nehushtan from nachash, "serpent"; and (3) because the name of the image would more probably be based on its form than on the material out of which it was made. In the third place, the reading, "and it was called," which appears in the Revised Version margin, is decidedly preferable to that in the text. It not only represents the best reading of the Hebrew, but is confirmed by the similar reading, "and they called it," which appears in the Greek version referred to above. These readings agree in their indication that Nehushtan was the name by which the serpent-image was generally known during the years it was worshipped, rather than an expression used for the first time by Hezekiah on the occasion of its destruction.

Whichever derivation be adopted, however, the word must be construed as a proper name. If it be derived from "brass," then the translation must be, not "a piece of brass," but "The (great) Brass," giving the word a special sense by which it refers unequivocally to the well-known image made of brass. If it be derived from "serpent," then the translation must be, "The (great) Serpent," the word in this case referring in a special sense to the well-known image in serpent form. But the significance of the word probably lies far back of any etymological explanation of it that can now be given. It is not a term that can be adequately explained by reference to verbal roots, but is rather an epitome of the reverence of those who, however mistakenly, looked upon the brazen serpent as a proper object of worship.

In view of the foregoing it may be concluded, (1) that Nehushtan was the (sacred) name by which the brazen serpent was known during the years "the children of Israel did burn incense to it"; (2) that the word is derived from nachash, "serpent"; and (3) that it was used in the sense of "The Serpent," paragraph excellence.

See IMAGES , 6, (2);SERPENT ,FIERY .

Lindsay B. Longacre


NEIEL

ne`i'-el (ne`i'el; Codex Vaticanus Inael; Codex Alexandrinus Aniel): A town on the boundary between Zebulun and Asher mentioned between Jiftah-el and Cabul (Josh 19:27). It may be the same as Neah (Josh 19:13), but the place is not identified.


NEIGH

na (tsahal, "to cry aloud," "neigh"): Figuratively used to indicate lustful desire (Jer 5:8; compare 13:29).


NEIGHBOR

na'-ber (rea`, `amith, "friend," qarobh, shakhen; ho plesion, "near" geiton, (compare 2 Macc 6:8; 9:25), "inhabitant"; Latin proximus (2 Esdras 15:19), civis (2 Esdras 9:45; 10:2, the Revised Version margin "townman")):

1. As Described in the Old Testament:

In the Old Testament, the relationship of neighborhood involves moral and social obligations which are frequently emphasized. These are in the main described in negative rather than positive terms; e.g. there are special injunctions not to bear false witness against a neighbor (Ex 20:16; Dt 5:20; Prov 25:18), or in any way to deal falsely with him, defraud him, frame malicious devices or harbor evil thoughts against him (Ex 20:17; Lev 6:2; 19:13; Dt 23:24 f; Ps 15:3; 101:5; Prov 24:28; Jer 22:13; Zec 8:17), or to lead him into shameful conduct (Hab 2:15), or to wrong him by lying carnally with his wife (Lev 18:20). But the supreme law that underlies these negative injunctions is stated positively. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (Lev 19:18). In this verse the term "neighbor"is defined by the expression, "the children of my people." Here, and generally in the Old Testament, the term implies more than mere proximity; it means one related by the bond of nationality, a fellow-countryman, compatriot. Yahweh being regarded as a national God, there was no religious bond regulating the conduct of the Hebrews with other nations. Conduct which was prohibited between fellow-Jews was permitted toward a foreigner, e.g. the exaction of interest (Dt 23:19,20).

2. As Described in the New Testament:

In the New Testament, this limitation of moral obligation to fellow-countrymen is abolished. Christ gives a wider interpretation of the commandment in Lev 19:18, so as to include in it those outside the tie of nation or kindred. This is definitely done in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:25-37), where, in answer to the question, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus shows that the relationship is a moral, not a physical one, based not on kinship but on the opportunity and capacity for mutual help. The word represents, not so much a rigid fact, but an ideal which one may or may not realize (Lk 10:36, "Which of these three, thinkest thou, proved (literally, became, not was) neighbor," etc.). This larger connotation follows naturally as a corollary to the doctrine of the universal Fatherhood of God. The commandment to love one's neighbor as one's self must not be interpreted as if it implied that we are to hate our enemy (an inference which the jews were apt to make); human love should be like the Divine, impartial, having all men for its object (Mt 5:43 ff). Love to one's fellow-men in this broad sense to be placed side by side with love to God as the essence and sum of human duty (Mt 22:35-40 parallel Mk 12:28-31). Christ's apostles follow His example in giving a central position to the injunction to love one's neighbor as one's self (Jas 2:8, where is is called the "royal law" i.e. the supreme or governing law; Rom 13:9; Gal 5:14).

D. Miall Edwards


NEKEB

ne'-keb: This name occurs only in combination with "Adami" ('adhami ha-neqebh, "Adami of the pass"); Septuagint reads the names of two places: kai Arme kai Nabok (B); kai Armai kai Nakeb (Josh 19:33), so we should possibly read "Adami and Nekeb." Neubauer says (Geog. du Talmud, 225) that later the name of Nekeb was Ciyadathah. It may therefore be represented by the modern Seiyadeh, not far from ed-Damieh to the East of Tabor, about 4 miles Southwest of Tiberias. The name of Nekeb, a town in Galilee, appears in the list of Thothmes III.


NEKODA

ne-ko'-da (neqodha'):

(1) Head of a family of Nethinim (Ezr 2:48; Neh 7:50; compare 1 Esdras 5:31).

(2) Head of a family which failed to prove its Israelite descent (Ezr 2:60; Neh 7:62; compare 1 Esdras 5:31,37). In the parallel verses of 1 Esdras the names are given thus: NOEBA and NEKODAN (which see).


NEKODAN

ne-ko'-dan (Nekodan; the Revised Version margin "Nekoda"; the King James Version Necodan):

(1) Head of a family which returned from exile, but "could not show their families nor their stock" (1 Esdras 5:37) = "Nekoda" of Ezr 2:60; Neh 7:62.

(2) See NOEBA .


NEMUEL

nem'-u-el, ne-mu'-el (nemu'el):ould not show their families nor their stock" (1 Esdras 5:37) = "Nekoda" of Ezr 2:60; Neh 7:62.

(1) A Reubenite, brother of Dathan and Abiram (Nu 26:9).

(2) A son of Simeon (Nu 26:12; 1 Ch 4:24). The name occurs also in the form "Jemuel" (Gen 46:10; Ex 6:15). According to Gray (Studies in Hebrew Proper Names), either form is etymologically obscure; but Nemuel is probably correct, for it is easier to account for its corruption into Jemuel than vice versa. The patronymic Nemuelites occurs once (Nu 26:12).


NEMUELITES

nem'-u-el-its, ne-mu'-el-its (ha-nemu'eli).

See NEMUEL , (2).


NEPHEA

ne-fe'-a.

See MUSIC .


NEPHEG

ne'-feg (nephegh, "sprout," "shoot"):

(1) Son of Izhar, and brother of Korah of the famous trio, Korah, Dathan and Abiram (Ex 6:21).

(2) A son of David (2 Sam 5:15; 1 Ch 3:7; 14:6).


NEPHEW

nef'-u, nev'-u.

See RELATIONSHIPS ,FAMILY .


NEPHI

ne'-fi.

See NEPHTHAI .


NEPHILIM

nef'-i-lim (nephilim): This word, translated "giants" in the King James Version, but retained in the Revised Version (British and American), is found in two passages of the Old Testament--one in Gen 6:4, relating to the antediluvians; the other in Nu 13:33, relating to the sons of Anak in Canaan. In the former place the Nephilim are not necessarily to be identified with the children said to be borne "the daughters of men" to "the sons of God" (Gen 6:2,4); indeed, they seem to be distinguished from the latter as upon the earth before this unholy commingling took place (see SONS OF GOD ). But it is not easy to be certain as to the interpretation of this strange passage. In the second case they clearly represent men of gigantic stature, in comparison with whom the Israelites felt as if they were "grasshopers." This agrees with Gen 6:4, "the mighty men that were of old, the men of renow." Septuagint, therefore, was warranted in translating by gigantes.

James Orr


NEPHIS

ne'-fis.

See NIPHIS .


NEPHISH; NEPHISIM; NEPHISHESIM; NEPHUSIM

ne'-fish, ne-fi'-sim, ne-fish'-e-sim, ne-fusim (nephicim, nephucim): The former is the Kethibh (Hebrew: "written") form of the name adopted in the Revised Version (British and American); the latter the Qere (Hebrew "read") form, adopted in the King James Version and the Revised Version margin (Ezr 2:50).

See NAPHISH ;NEPHUSHESIM .


NEPHTHAI

nef'-thi, nef'-tha-i.

See NEPHTHAR .


NEPHTHALIM

nef'-tha-lim (Mt 4:13): The Greek form of NAPHTALI (which see).


NEPHTHAR; NEPHTHAI

nef'-thar (Nephthar; Codex Alexandrinus and Swete, Nephthar, the King James Version and Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) Naphthar), (Nephthai, al. Nephthaei, Fritzsche, Nepha, the King James Version and Vulgate, following Old Latin, Nephi; Swete, following Codex Alexandrinus, gives Nephthar twice): According to 2 Macc 1:19-36, at the time of the captivity the godly priests took of the altar fire of the temple and concealed it "privily in the hollow of a well that was without water," unknown to all. "After many years" (upon Return), before offering the sacrifices, Nehemiah sent the descendants of the godly priests to fetch the hidden fire. They reported they could find no fire but only "thick water" hudor pachu), which he commanded them to draw up and sprinkle upon the wood and the sacrifices. After an interval the sun shone forth from behind a cloud and the liquid ignited and consumed the sacrifices. Nehemiah then commanded them to pour (katachein, al. katechein, and kataschein) the rest of the liquid upon great stones. Another flame sprang up which soon spent itself, "whereas the light from the altar shone still" (Revised Version margin, the exact meaning being doubtful). When the king of Persia investigated it, he enclosed the spot as sacred. Nehemiah and his friends called the thick liquid "Nephthar," "which is by interpretation `cleansing' " (katharismos), "but most men call it Nephthai."

No satisfactory explanation is to hand of either name; one of which is probably a corruption of the other. And no word exists in the Hebrew like either of them with the meaning of "cleansing," "purification." The Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) applies the name to the spot (hunc locum), not the thing. The story probably originated in Persia, where naphtha was abundant. The ignition of the liquid by the hot rays of the sun and the appearance of the words render it highly probable that it was the inflammable rockoil naphtha, the combustible properties of which were quite familiar to the ancients (Pliny, NH, ii. 109; Plutarch, Alexander 35; Diosc., i.101; Strabo, Geogr. xvi.1, 15); the words then are probably corruptions of what the Greeks termed naphtha. Ewald (History, V, 163) says: "This is but one of the many stories which sought in later times to enhance the very high sanctity of the Temple, with reference even to its origin."

S. Angus


NEPHTOAH

nef-to'-a, nef'-to-a (nephtoach, occurs only in the expression ma`yan me nephtoach, "the fountain of the waters of Nephtoah"; Septuagint pege hudatos Naphtho): This spring was on the border line between Judah and Benjamin (Josh 15:9; 18:15). The place is usually identified with Lifta, a village about 2 miles Northwest of Jerusalem, on the east bank of the Wady beit Hanina]. It is a village very conspicuous to the traveler along the high road from Jaffa as he nears Jerusalem. There are ancient rock-cut tombs and a copious spring which empties itself into a large masonry reservoir. The situation of Lifta seems to agree well with the most probable line of boundary between the two tribes; the spring as it is today does not appear to be so abundant as to warrant such an expression as "spring of the waters," but it was, like many such sources, probably considerably more abundant in Old Testament times.

Conder would identify Lifta with the ancient ELEPH (which see) of Benjamin, and, on the ground that the Talmud (see Talmud Babylonian, Yom' 31a) identifies Nephtoah withETAM (which see), he would find the site of Nephtoah at `Ain `Atan, South of Bethlehem. The Talmud is not a sufficiently trustworthy guide when unsupported by other evidence, and the identification creates great difficulty with the boundary line. See Palestine Exploration Fund,III , 18, 43, ShXVII .

E. W. G. Mastermin


NEPHUSHESIM; NEPHISHESIM

ne-fush'-e-sim, ne-fish'-e-sim (nephushecim, nephishecim): The former is the Kethibh (Hebrew "written") form of the name adopted in the Revised Version (British and American); the latter the Qere (Hebrew "read") form adopted in the King James Version and the Revised Version margin (Neh 7:52).

See NAPHISH ;NEPHISIM .


NER

ner (ner, "lamp"): Father of Abner (1 Sam 14:50 f; 26:5,14, etc.); grandfather of Saul (1 Ch 8:33). Other references, though adding no further information are 2 Sam 2:8,12; 3:23,25; 28:37; 1 Ki 2:5,32, etc.


NEREUS

ne'-rus, ne'-re-us (Nereus): The name of a Roman Christian to whom with his sister Paul sent greetings (Rom 16:15). Nereus and the others saluted with him (Rom 16:15) formed small community or "house church." The name of the sister is not given, but the name Nereis is found on an inscription of this date containing names of the emperor's servants (Lightfoot, Phil, 176). Among the Acta Sanctorum connected with the early church in Rome are the "Acts of Nereus and Achilleus" which call them chamberlains of Domitilla, the niece of Vespasian, and relate their influence over her in persuading her to remain a virgin.

S. F. Hunter


NERGAL

nar'-gal (nereghal): A Babylonian deity, identified with the planet Mars, and worshipped at Cutha (compare 2 Ki 17:30).

See BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA ,RELIGION OF .


NERGAL-SHAREZER

nur-gal-sha-re'-zar (nereghal-shar'etser, Hebrew form of Assyrian Nergal-sar-usur, "O Nergal, defend the prince"): A Babylonian officer, the "Rab-mag," associated with Nebushazban in the care of Jeremiah after the fall of Jerusalem (Jer 39:3,13). According to Hommel (article "Babylon," Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible (five volumes)) and Sayce (Hastings Dictionary of the Bible, under the word), Nergal-sharezer is to be identified with Neriglissar who succeeded Evil-merodach on the throne of Babylon (compare Cheyne and Johns, Encyclopedia Biblica, under the word).


NERI

ne'-ri ((@Nerei (Tisch., Treg., Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in Greek), Textus Receptus of the New Testament, Neri; for Hebrew neriyah): The name of an ancestor of Jesus, the grandfather of Zerubbabel (Lk 3:27).

See NERIAH .


NERIAH

ne-ri'-a (neriyah, "whose lamp is Yah"): The father of Seraiah and of Baruch, Jeremiah's friend and secretary (Jer 32:12,16; 36:4,8,32; 43:3). In Baruch 1:1 the Greek form of the name, Ner(e)ias, is given, and this shortened, Neri, occurs in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.


NERIAS

ne-ri'-as (Ner(e)ias): The Greek form of Hebrew Neriah found only in Baruch 1:1 as the father of Baruch = "Neriah" of Jer 32:12; 36:4 ff; 43:3. To Baruch's brother, Seraiah, the same genealogy is ascribed in Jer 51:59.


NERO

ne'-ro (Neron):

I. NAME, PARENTAGE AND EARLY

II. AGRIPPINA'S AMBITION FOR NERO

Her Nine Measures for Bringing Him to the Throne

III. NERO'S REIGN

1. Quinquennium Nerohis

2. Poppea Sabina (58 AD)

3. Poppea and Tigellinus

4. Great Fire (July, 64)

5. Persecution of Christians

6. Conspiracy of Piso (65 AD)

7. Nero in Greece (66 AD)

8. Death of Nero

IV. DOWNFALL AND CHARACTER

1. Seven Causes of Downfall

2. Character

V. "NERO REDIVIVUS"

VI. NERO AND CHRISTIANITY

1. Nero and the New Testament

2. Neronian Policy and Christianity

LITERATURE

The fifth Roman emperor, born at Antium December 15, 37 AD, began to reign October 13, 54, died June 9, 68.

I. Name, Parentage and Early Training.

His name was originally Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus but after his adoption into the Claudian gens by the emperor Claudius, he became Nero Claudius Caesar Germanicus. His father was Enaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus ("Brazen-beard"), a man sprung from an illustrious family and of vicious character. His mother was Agrippina the younger, the daughter of Germanicus and the elder Agrippina, sister of the emperor Caius (Caligula) and niece of the emperor Claudius. On the birth of the child, his father predicted, amid the congratulations of his friends, that any offspring of himself and Agrippina could only prove abominable and disastrous for the public (Suet. Nero vi: detestabile et malo publico). At the age of three the young Domitius lost his father and was robbed of his estates by the rapacity of Caius. In 39 his mother was banished for supposed complicity in a plot against Caius. Nero was thus deprived of his mother and at the same time left almost penniless. His aunt, Domitia Lepida, now undertook the care of the boy and placed him with two tutors, a dancer and a barber (Suetonius vi). On the accession of Claudius, Agrippina was recalled, and Nero was restored to his mother and his patrimony (41 AD).

II. Agrippina's Ambition for Nero.

She cared little for her son's moral education, but began immediately to train him for high position. She aimed at nothing less than securing the empire for Nero. With a view to this she must gain influence over her uncle, the emperor Clandius, who was very susceptible to female charms. At first the path was by no means easy, while the licentious empress, Messalina, was in power. But on the fall and death of Messalina (48 AD)--for which Agrippina may have intrigued--the way seemed opened. With the assistance of the emperor's freedman, Pallas, Agrippina proved the successful candidate for Claudius' affections. She how felt secure to carry out the plans for the elevation of her son:

Her Nine Measures for Bringing Him to the Throne

(1) She secured his betrothal to Octavia, the daughter of Claudius, having previously, by the villainy of Vitellius, broken off the engagement between Octavia and Lucius Silanus (ibid., xlviii). Later, Nero married this unfortunate lady. (2) Vitellius again obliged by securing a modification of Roman law so as to permit a marriage with a brother's (not sister's) daughter, and in 49 Agrippina became empress. (3) In the meantime she had caused Seneca to be recalled from banishment and had entrusted to him the education of Nero for imperial purposes. (4) The adoption of her son by Claudius (50 AD). (5) She next secured early honors and titles for Nero in order to mark him out as Clandins' successor. (6) She caused Britannicus, Claudius' son, to be kept in the background and treated as a mere child, removing by exile or death suspected supporters of Britannicus. (7) Agrippina was farsighted and anticipated a later secret of Roman imperialism--the influence of the armies in the nomination of emperors. For this cause she took an active interest in military affairs and gave her name to a new colony on the Rhine (modern Cologne). But she did not forget the importance of securing the praetorian guard and Burrus the prefect. (8) She persuaded Clandins to make a will in favor of her son. All was now ready. But Claudius did not like the idea of excluding his son Britannicus from power, and murmurs were heard among the senate and people. Delay might prove fatal to Agrippina's plans, so (9) Claudius must die. The notorious Locusta administered poison in a dish of mushrooms, and Xenophon, Agrippina's physician, thrust a poisoned feather down Claudius' throat on the pretense of helping him to vomit. Burrus then took Nero forth and caused him to be proclaimed imperator by the praetorians.

III. Nero's Reign.

1. Quinquennium Neronis:

Nero's reign falls into three periods, the first of which is the celebrated quinquennium, or first 5 years, characterized by good government at home and in the provinces and popularity with both senate and people. Agrippina, having seated her son on the throne, did not purpose to relinquish power herself; she intended to rule along with him. And at first Nero was very devoted to her and had given as watchword to the guard, "the best of mothers" (Tacitus, Annals xiii.2; Suetonius ix). This caused a sharp conflict with Seneca and Burrus, who could not tolerate Agrippina's arrogance and unbounded influence over her son. In order to detach him from his mother they encouraged him in an amour with a Greek freedwoman, Acre (Tac. Ann. xiii.12). This first blow to Agrippina's influence was soon followed by the dismissal from court of her chief protector Pallas. She now threatened to bring forth Britannicus and present him as the rightful heir to the throne. This cost Britannicus his life, for Nero, feeling insecure while a son of Claudius lived, compassed his death at a banquet. A hot wine cup was offered Britannicus, and to cool it to taste, cold water was added which had been adulterated with a virulent poison. The victim succumbed immediately. All eyes fastened on Nero in suspicion, but he boldly asserted that the death was due to a fit of epilepsy--a disease to which Britannicus had been subject from childhood. Such was the fate of Agrippina's first protege. She next took up the cause of the despised and ill-treated Octavia, which so incensed her son that he deprived her of her guards and caused her to remove from the palace. Agrippina now disappears for the next few years to come into brief and tragic prominence later. Seneca and Burrus undertook the management of affairs, with results that justified the favorable impression which the first 5 years of Nero's reign made upon the Roman people. Many reforms were initiated, financial, social and legislative. These ministers treated Nero to counsels of moderation and justice, dictating a policy which left considerable activity to the senate. But perceiving the bent of his evil nature, they allowed him to indulge in low pleasures and excesses with the most profligate companions, thinking, perhaps, either that the young ruler would in this way prove less harmful to the public, or that, after sowing his wild oats, he would return to the serious business of government. But in both ways they were sorely disappointed, for Nero, having surrendered himself to the basest appetites, continued to go from excess to excess. He surrounded himself with the most dissolute companions, conspicuous among whom were Salvius Otho and Claudius Senecio.

2. Poppea Sabina (58 AD):

The former had a wife as ambitious as she was unprincipled, and endowed, according to Tacitus, with every gift of nature except an "honorable mind." Already divorced before marrying Otho, she was minded to employ Otho merely as a tool to enable her to become Nero's consort. With the appearance of Poppea Sabina, for such was her name, opens the second period of Nero's reign. She proved his evil star. Under her influence he shook off all restraints, turned a deaf ear to is best advisers and plunged deeper into immorality and crime. She allowed, if not persuaded, Nero to give her husband a commission in the distant province of Lusitania. Her jealousy could tolerate no possible rival. She plotted the death of Agrippina to which she easily persuaded Nero to consent. This foul crime was planned and carried out with the greatest cunning. Anicetus, admiral of the fleet, undertook to construct a vessel that would sink to order. Nero invited his mother to his villa at Baiae at the Quinquatrus celebration. After the banquet she was persuaded to return to Bauli by the vessel prepared. But the plan did not succeed, and Agrippina saved herself by swimming ashore. She pretended to treat the matter as an accident, sending a freedman to Nero to inform him of her escape. Anicetus, however, relieved Nero of the awkward position by pretending that Agrippina's freedman had dropped a dagger which was considered proof enough of her guilt. Deserted by her friends and slaves except one freedman, she was quickly dispatched by her murderers. Nero gave out that she died by suicide (Suetonius xxxiv; Tacitus, Annals cxli-cxlviii).

3. Poppea and Tigellinus:

Nero no longer made any secret of taking Poppea as his mistress, and, under her influence, bid defiance to the best Roman traditions and plunged deeper into dissipation. In 62 AD matters grew much worse by the death of the praetorian prefect, Burrus. Seneca lost in him a powerful ally, and Poppea gained in one of the new prefects, Sofonius Tigellinus, a powerful ally. She succeeded in causing Seneca to retire from the court. Next she determined to remove Octavia. A charge of adultery was first tried, but as the evidence proved too leaky, Nero simply divorced her because of barrenness. Then Anicetus was persuaded to confess adultery with her, and the innocent Octavia was banished to the island of Pandateria, where a little later she was executed at Poppea's orders and her head brought to her rival (62 AD). Poppea was now empress, and the next year bore a daughter to Nero, but the child died when only three months old. Two years later Poppea herself died during pregnancy, of a cruel kick inflicted by Nero in a fit of rage (65 AD). He pronounced a eulogy over her and took a third wife, Statilia Messalina, of whom he had no issue.

Nero, having by his extravagance exhausted the well-filled treasury of Claudius (as Caius did that of Tiberius), was driven to fill his coffers by confiscations of the estates of rich nobles against whom his creature Tigellinus could trump the slightest plausible charge. But even this did not prevent a financial crisis--the beginning of the bankruptcy of the later Rein empire. The provinces which at first enjoyed good government were now plundered; new and heavy taxes were imposed. Worst of all, the gold and silver coinage was depreciated, and the senate was deprived of the right of copper coinage.

4. Great Fire (July, 64):

This difficulty was much increased by the great fire which was not only destructive to both private and state property, but also necessitated the providing thousands of homeless with shelter, and lowering the price of corn. On July 18, 64, this great conflagration broke out in Circus Maximus. A high wind caused it to spread rapidly over a large portion of the city, sweeping before it ill-built streets of wooden houses. At the end of six days it seemed to be exhausted for lack of material, when another conflagration started in a different quarter of the city. Various exaggerated accounts of the destruction are found in Roman historians: of the 14 city regions 7 were said to have been totally destroyed and 4 partially. Nero was at Antium at the time. He hastened back to the city and apparently took every means of arresting the spread of the flames. He superintended in person the work of the fire brigades, often exposing himself to danger. After the fire he threw open his own gardens to the homeless. The catastrophe caused great consternation, and, for whatever reasons, suspicion seemed to fix upon Nerio. Rumor had it that on hearing the Greek verse, "When I am dead let the earth be wrapped in fire," he interrupted, "Nay rather, while I live" (Suetonius xxxviii); that he had often deplored the ugliness of the city and wished an opportunity to rebuild it; that he purposely set it on fire in order to find room for his magnificent Domus Aurea ("Golden House"); that when the city was burning he gazed upon it from the tower of Maecenas delighted with what he termed "the beauty of the conflagration"; that he recited in actor's costume the sack of Troy (Suetonius xxxviii; Tacitus, Annals xv.38 ff). In spite of all these reports Nero must be absolved of the guilt of incendiarism.

5. Persecution of Christians:

Such public calamities were generally attributed to the wrath of the gods. In the present case everything was done to appease the offended deity. Yet, in spite of all, suspicion still clung to Nero "Wherefore in order to allay the rumor he put forward as guilty (subdidit reos), and afflicted with the most exquisite punishments those who were hated for their abominations (flagitia) and called `Christians' by the populace. Christus, from whom the name was derived, was punished by the procurator Pontius Pilatus in the reign of Tiberius. This noxious form of religion (exitiabilis superstitio), checked for a time, broke out again not only in Judea its original home, but also throughout the city (Rome) where all abominations meet and find devotees. Therefore first of all those who confessed (i.e. to being Christians) were arrested, and then as a result of their information a large number (multitude ingens) were implicated (reading coniuncti, not convicti), not so much on the charge of incendiarism as for hatred of the human race. They died by methods of mockery; some were covered with the skins of wild beasts and then torn by dogs, some were crucified, some were burned as torches to give light at night .... whence (after scenes of extreme cruelty) commiseration was stirred for them, although guilty and deserving the worst penalties, for men felt that their destruction was not on account of the public welfare but to gratify the cruelty of one (Nero)" (Tacitus, Annals xv.44). Such is the earliest account of the first heathen persecution (as well as the first record of the crucifixion by a heathen writer). Tacitus here clearly implies that the Christians were innocent (subdidit reos), and that Nero employed them simply as scapegoats. Some regard the conclusion of the paragraph as a contradiction to this--"though guilty and deserving the severest punishment" (adversus sontes et novissima exempla meritos). But Tacitus means by sontes that the Christians were "guilty" from the point of view of the populace, and that they merited extreme punishment also from his own standpoint for other causes, but not for arson. Fatebantur does not mean that they confessed to incendiarism, but to being Christians, and qui fatebantur means there were some who boldly confessed, while others tried to conceal or perhaps even denied their faith.

But why were the Christians selected as scapegoats? Why not the Jews, who were both numerous and had already offended the Roman government and had been banished in great numbers? Or why not the many followers of the oriental religions, which had proved more than once obnoxious? (1) Poppea was favorable to Judaism and had certainly enough influence over Nero to protect the Jews; she was regarded by them as a proselyte and is termed by Josephus (Ant., XX, viii, 11) theosebes, "god-fearing." When the populace and Nero were seeking victims for revenge, the Jews may have been glad of the opportunity of putting forward the Christians and may have been encouraged in this by Poppea. Farrar (Early Days of Christianity, I, chapter iv) sees "in the proselytism of Poppea, guided by Jewish malice, the only adequate explanation of the first Christian persecution." (2) Closely connected with this was doubtless the observation by the Roman government that Christianity was an independent faith from Judaism. This may first have been brought home to the authorities by the trial of Paul before Nero, as suggested by Ramsay (Expositor, July, 1893). Judaism was a recognized and tolerated religion, a religio licita, and Christianity when divorced from Judaism became a religio illicita and punishable by the state, for Christianity first rose "under the shadow of licensed Judaism" (sub umbraculo licitae Judeorum religionis: Tertullian, Apol., xxi). (3) As Christianity formed a society apart from Roman society, all kinds of crimes were attributed to its followers, Thyestean feasts, nightly orgies, hostility to temples and images. These flagitia seemed summed up in odium humani generis, "hatred for the human race." (4) They were easily selected as being so numerous and making most progress in a line opposed to Roman spirit; compare ingens multitudo (Tacitus, Annals xv.44; Clemens Rom., Cor 1:6, polu plethos; compare also "great multitude" of Rev 7:9; 19:1). (5) No doubt, too, early Christian enthusiasm was unequivocal in its expressions, especially in its belief of a final conflagration of the world and its serene faith amid the despair of others.

6. Conspiracy of Piso (65 AD):

In the meantime Tigellinus' tyranny and confiscations to meet Nero's expenses caused deep discontent among the nobles, which culminated in the famous conspiracy at the head of which was C. Calpurnius Piso. The plot was prematurely betrayed by Milichus. An inquisition followed in which the most illustrious victims who perished were Seneca the philosopher, Lucan the poet, Lucan's mother, and later Annaeus Mela, brother of Seneca and father of Lucan, T. Petronius Arbiter, "the glass of fashion." Finally, "Nero having butchered so many illustrious men, at last desired to exterminate virtue itself by the death of Thrasea Paetus and Barea Soranus" (Tacitus, Annals xvi.21 f).

7. Visit to Greece (66 AD):

Having cleared every suspected person out of the way, he abandoned the government in Rome to a freedman Helius, and started on a long visit to Greece (66-68 AD), where he took part in musical contests and games, himself winning prizes from the obsequious Greeks, in return for which Nero bestowed upon them "freedom." Nero was so un-Roman that he was perfectly at home in Greece, where alone he said he was appreciated by cultured people. In the meantime the revolt of Vindex in Gaul commenced (68 AD), but it was soon quelled by Verginius Rufus on account of its national Gaulic character. Galba of Hither Spain next declared himself legatus of the senate and the Roman people. Nero was persuaded to return to Rome by Helius; he confiscated Galba's property, but his weakness and hesitancy greatly helped the cause of the latter.

8. Death of Nero:

Nymphidius Sabinus, one of the prefects, won over the guard for Galba, by persuading the irresolute emperor to withdraw from Rome and then told the praetorians that Nero had deserted them. Nero was a coward, both in life and in death. While he had the means of easily crushing Galba, he was revolving plans of despair in his Servilian gardens, whether he should surrender himself to the mercies of the Parthians or to those of Galba; whether Galba would allow him the province of Egypt; whether the public would forgive his past if he showed penitence enough. In his distraction a comforter asked him in the words of Virgil, "Is it then so wretched to die?" He could not summon the courage for suicide, nor could he find one to inflict the blow for him: "Have I then neither friend nor foe?" Phaon a freedman offered him the shelter of his villa a few miles from Rome. Here he prepared for suicide, but with great cowardice. He kept exclaiming, "What an artist I am to perish!" (Qualis artifex pereo, Suet. xlix). On learning that he was condemned to a cruel death by the senate, he put the weapon to his throat and was assisted in the fatal blow by Epaphroditus his secretary. A centurion entered pretending he had come to help: "Too late--this is fidelity," were Nero's last words. His remains were laid in the family vault of the Domitii by his two nurses Ecloge and Alexandria and his concubine Acte (Suetonius L). Thus perished on July 9, 68 AD the last of the line of Julius Caesar in his 31st year and in the 14th of his reign.

IV. Downfall and Character.

1. Seven Causes of Downfall:

The causes of his downfall were briefly: (1) his lavish expenditure leading to burdensome taxation and financial insecurity; (2) tyranny and cruelty of his favorites; (3) the great fire which brought dissatisfaction to fasten suspicion on Nero and the consequent enlargement of his private abode at the expense of the city--especially the Golden House; (4) the unpopular measure of the extension of Roman franchise to Greece and favored foreigners; (5) the security engendered by the success with which the conspiracy of Piso was crushed; (6) the discovery of another "secret of empire," that an emperor could be created elsewhere than at Rome, that the succession of emperors was not hereditary but rested with the great armies, and (7) the cowardice and weakness which Nero displayed in the revolt which led to his death.

His reign is memorable for the activity of Seneca, the great fire, the persecution of Christians, the beginning of the bankruptcy of the later Roman empire, the Armenian disaster of Paetus (62 AD) retrieved by Corbulo and the humiliation of Parthia, the outbreak of the insurrection in Judea (66 AD), which ended in the destruction of Jerusalem.

2. Character:

Nero ranks with Gaius for folly and vice, while his cruelties recall the worst years of Tiberius. Very effeminate in his tastes, particular about the arrangement of his hair and proud of his voice, his greatest fault was inordinate vanity which courted applause for performances on non-Roman lines. He neglected his high office and degraded Roman gravitas by zeal for secondary pursuits. Nero, like his three predecessors, was very susceptible to female charms. He was licentious in the extreme, even to guilt of that nameless vice of antiquity--love of a male favorite. His cruelty, both directly and through his instruments, made the latter part of his reign as detestable as the quinquennium had been golden. He loved the extravagant and luxurious in every exaggerated form. He was a weakling and a coward in his life, and especially in his death. Of his personal appearance we are told his features were regular and good; the expression of his countenance, however, was somewhat repelling. His frame was ill proportioned--slender legs and big stomach. In later years his face was covered with pimples.

V. "Nero Redivivus."

It seems as if there was something lovable even about this monster, which led a freedman to remain faithful to the last, and his two old nurses and cast-off concubine to care affectionately for his remains, and for a long time there were not wanting hands to strew his grave with spring and autumn flowers and to display his effigy (Suet. lvii). But, whether from the strange circumstances of his death, or the subsequent terrible confusion in the Roman world, or from whatever cause, there soon arose a belief that Nero had not really died, but was living somewhere in retirement or had fled among the Parthians, and that he was destined in a short time to return and bring great calamity upon his enemies or the world (quasi viventis et brevi magno inimicorum malo reversuri: Suetonius lvii). This belief was a force among the Parthians who were ready to take up arms at the report of a pseudo-Nero (Tacitus, History i.2). In the confusion of the year of the four emperors, Greece and Asia were disturbed by the report of the advent of Nero (Tac. Hist. ii.8), and the historian promises to mention the fortune and attempts of other pseudo-Neros. This belief was taken up by the Jews and amalgamated with their legend of Antichrist. In Ascension of Isaiah 4 (1st century AD), the Antichrist is clearly identified with Nero: "Belial shall appear in the shape of a man, the king of wickedness, the matricide." It occurs again and again in both the Jewish and Christian sections of the Sib Or (3:66 ff; 4:117 f,135 ff; 5:100 f,136 f,216 f). How far Nero was regarded by the Christians as the historical personage of Antichrist is a disputed point. That the common belief of the revival or advent of Nero should influence contemporary Christian thought in days of social and political turmoil is highly probable. Bousset (Commentary) regards the beast of Rev 13 as Rome, and the smitten head whose "deathstroke was healed" as Nero, and some scholars take Rev 17:10 f as referring to Nero. The "scarlet-colored beast" of 17:3 may be intended either for the Roman government in general or for Nero in particular. That the number 666 (Rev 13:18) represents in Hebrew letters the numerical equivalent of Neron Kesar is significant, for the Jewish Christians would be familiar with gemaTriya' (the numerical equivalent of names). See NUMBER . Compare Farrar, Early Days, chapter xxviii,. section 5. In later times the idea of a twofold Antichrist seems to have arisen--one for the Jews and one for the Gentiles; compare especially Commodian, Carm. Apol. (926): "to us Nero became Antichrist, to the Jews the other" (nobis Nero factus Antichristus, ille Judaeis). There was an alternate theory that Nero had really been killed, but that he would rise again (Sib Or 5:216 f; Augustine, De Civ. Dei, xx.19: unde nonnulli ipsum resurrecturum et futurum Antichristum suspicantur).

VI. Nero and Christianity.

1. Nero and the New Testament:

The name Nero does not occur in the New Testament, but he was the Caesar to whom Paul appealed (Acts 25:11) and at whose tribunal Paul was tried after his first imprisonment. It is quite likely that Nero heard Paul's case in person, for the emperor showed much interest in provincial cases. It was during the earlier "golden quinquennium" of Nero's reign that Paul addressed his epistle to the Christians at Rome, and probably in the last year of Nero's reign (68 AD) Paul suffered death near the city, though Harnack (Chronologie) places his death in the first Neronian persecution of 64. Although the New Testament gives no hint of a possible visit or sojourn of Peter in Rome, such a sojourn and subsequent martyrdom are highly probable and almost certain from the early persistent tradition, especially in Clement of Rome, Ignatius and Papias, and later in Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria and the Liber Pontificalis (catalogue of popes). His execution at Rome under Nero is practically certain.

2. Neronian Policy and Christianity:

The first persecution to which Christianity was subjected came from the Jews: the first heathen persecution took place under Nero. Up to this time the Roman government had been on friendly terms with Christianity, as Christianity was either not prominent enough to cause any disturbance of society or was confounded by the Romans with Judaism (sub umbraculo licitae Judeorum religionis: Tertullian, Apol., xxi). Paul, writing to the Christians of the capital, urged them to "be in subjection to the higher powers" as "ordained of God" (Rom 13:1 ff), and his high estimation of the Roman government as power for the good of society was probably enhanced by his mild captivity at Rome which permitted him to carry on the work of preaching and was terminated by an acquittal on the first trial (accepting the view of a first acquittal and subsequent activity before condemnation at a second trial). But soon, whether because of the trial of Paul, a Roman citizen, at Rome (about 63), or the growing hostility of the Jews, or the increasing numbers and alarming progress of the new religion, the distinction between Christianity and Judaism became apparent to the Roman authorities. If it had not yet been proscribed as a religio illicita ("'unlicensed religion"), neither had it been admitted as a religio licita. Christianity was not in itself as yet a crime; its adherents were not liable to persecution "for the name." According to one view the Neronian persecution was a spasmodic act and an isolated incident in imperial policy: the Christians were on this occasion put forward merely to remove suspicion from Nero. They were not persecuted either as Christians or as incendiaries, but on account of flagitia and odium humani generis, i.e. Thyestean feasts, Oedipodean incest and nightly orgies were attributed to them, and their withdrawal from society and exclusive manners caused the charge of "hatred for society." The evidence of Tacitus (Ann. xv.44) would bear out this view of the Neronian persecution as accidental, isolated, to satisfy the revenge of the mob, confined to Rome and of brief duration. The other view is, however, preferable, as represented by Ramsay (Church in the Roman Empire, chapter xi) and E. G. Hardy (Studies in Roman History, chapter iv). Suetonius speaks of the persecution of Christians as a permanent police regulation in a list of other seemingly permanent measures (Nero xvi: afflicti suppliciis Christiani genus hominum superstitionis novae ac maleficae), which is not inconsistent with the account of Tacitus--who gives the initial step and Suetonius the permanent result. The Christians by these trials, though not convicted of incendiarism, were brought into considerable prominence; their unsocial and exclusive manners, their withdrawal from the duties of state, their active proselytism, together with the charges of immorality, established them in Roman eyes as the enemies of society. Christianity thus became a crime and was banned by the police authorities. Suetonius gives a "brief statement of the permanent administrative principle into which Nero's action ultimately resolved itself" (Ramsay, op. cit., 232). No formal law needed to be passed, the matter could be left with the prefect of the city. A trial must be held and the flagitia proved before an order for execution, according to Ramsay, but Hardy holds that henceforth the name itself--nomen ipsum--was proscribed. A precedent was now established of great importance in the policy of the imperial government toward Christianity (see, further, ROMAN EMPIRE AND CHRISTIANITY). There ls no reason to suppose that the Neronian persecution of 64 AD extended beyond Rome to the provinces, though no doubt the attitude of the home government must have had considerable influence with provincial officers. Paul seems to have gone undisturbed, or at least with no unusual obstacles, in his evangelization after his acquittal. The authorities for a general Neronian persecution and formal Neronian laws against Christianity are late; compare Orosius (History vii.7, "(Nero) was the first to put to death Christians at Rome and gave orders that they should be subjected to the same persecution throughout all the provinces").

LITERATURE.

(a) Ancient:

Tacitus Annals xii-xvi; Suetonius Nero; Dio Cassius in Epit. of Xiphilinus 61 ff; Zonaras xi.

(b) Modern:

Hermann Schiller, Geschichte des rom. Kaiserreichs unter der Regierung des Neron (Berlin, 1872); Merivale, Hist of the Romans under the Empire; Ramsay, Church in the Roman Empire and The Expositor, 1893; E.G. Hardy, Christianity and the Roman Government and Studies in Roman History; Mommsen, "Der Religionsfrevel nach rom. Recht," Histor. Zeitschr., 1890; C. F. Arnold, Die Neronische Christenverfolgung; Farrar, Early Days of Christianity; Baring-Gould, Tragedy of the Caesars: G.H. Lewes, "Was Nero a Monster?" in Cornhill Magazine, July, 1863; B.W. Henderson, Life and Principate of the Emperor Nero, with important bibliography of ancient and modern authorities (London, 1903); Lehmann, Claudius u. Nero.

S. Angus


NEST

(qen; neossia, nossia; in the New Testament kataskenosis; Latin nidus): A receptacle prepared by a bird for receiving its eggs and young. Nests differ with species. Eagles use a large heap of coarse sticks and twigs on the cleft of a mountain (Job 39:27 ff; Jer 49:16; Ob 1:4); hawks prefer trees; vultures, hollow trees or the earth; ravens, big trees; doves and pigeons, trees or rocky crevices (Jer 48:28); hoopoes, hollow trees; swallows, mud nests under a roof, on cliffs or deserted temples; owls, hollow trees, dark places in ruins or sand burrows (on the qippoz of Isa 34:15 see OWL ); cranes, storks and herons, either trees (Ps 104:17) or rushes beside water (storks often choose housetops, as well).

Each nest so follows the building laws of its owner's species that any expert ornithologist can tell from a nest which bird builded it. Early in incubation a bird deserts a nest readily because it hopes to build another in a place not so easily discoverable and where it can deposit more eggs. When the young have progressed until their quickening is perceptible through the thin shells pressed against the breast of the mother, she develops a boldness called by scientists the "brooding fever." In this state the wildest of birds frequently will suffer your touch before deserting the nest. Especially is this the case if the young are just on the point of emerging. The first Biblical reference to the nest of a bird will be found in Balaam's fourth prophecy in Nu 24:21: "And he looked on the Kenite, and took up his parable and said, Strong is thy dwelling-place, and thy nest is set in the rock." Here Balaam was thinking of the nest of an eagle, hawk or vulture, placed on solid rock among impregnable crags of mountain tops. The next reference is among the laws for personal conduct in Dt 22:6: "If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young." Beyond question this is the earliest law on record for the protection of a brooding bird. It is probable that it was made permissible to take the young, as the law demanded their use, at least in the case of pigeons and doves, for sacrifice. In Job 29:18, Job cries,

"Then I said, I shall die in my nest,

And I shall multiply my days as the sand:"

that is, he hoped in his days of prosperity to die in the home he had builded for his wife and children. In Ps 84:3 David sings,

"Yea, the sparrow hath found her a house,

And the swallow a nest for herself,

where she may lay her young,

Even thine altars, O Yahweh of hosts,

My King, and my God."

These lines are rich and ripe with meaning, for in those days all the world protected a temple nest, even to the infliction of the death penalty on anyone interfering with it. This was because the bird was supposed to be claiming the protection of the gods. Hebrew, Arab and Egyptian guarded all nests on places of worship. Pagan Rome executed the shoemaker who killed a raven that built on a temple, and Athens took the same revenge on the man who destroyed the nest of a swallow. Isaiah compared the destruction of Assyria to the robbing of a bird's nest: "And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the peoples; and as one gathereth eggs that are forsaken, have I gathered all the earth: and there was none that moved the wing, or that opened the mouth, or chirped" (Isa 10:14; compare 16:2). Matthew quotes Jesus as having said, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head" (Mt 8:20 = Lk 9:58).

Gene Stratton-Porter


NET

See FISHING ;FOWLER .


NETAIM

na'-ta-im, ne'-ta-im, ne-ta'-im neTa`im; Codex Vaticanus Azaeim; Codex Alexandrinus Ataeim): In 1 Ch 4:23 the King James Version reads "those that dwell among plants and hedges," the Revised Version (British and American) "the inhabitants of Netaim and Gederah." The latter may be taken as correct. Gederah was in the Judean Shephelah. Here also we should seek for Netaim; but no likely identification has yet been suggested.


NETHANEL

ne-than'-el, neth'-a-nel (nethan'el, "God has given"; Nathanael; the King James Version Nethaneel, ne-than'-e-el):

(1) A chief or prince of Issachar (Nu 1:8; 2:5; 7:18,23; 10:15).

(2) The 4th son of Jesse (1 Ch 2:14).

(3) One of the trumpet-blowers before the ark when it was brought up from the house of Obededom (1 Ch 15:24).

(4) A Levite scribe, the father of Shemaiah (1 Ch 24:6).

(5) The 5th son of Obed-edom (1 Ch 26:4).

(6) One of the princes whom Jehoshaphat sent to teach in the cities of Judah (2 Ch 17:7).

(7) A Levite who gave cattle for Josiah's Passover (2 Ch 35:9).

(8) One of the priests who had married foreign wives (Ezr 10:22; compare 1 Esdras 9:22).

(9) A priest registered under the high priest Joiakim (Neh 12:21).

(10) A Levite musician who assisted at the dedication of the walls (Neh 12:36).

John A. Lees


NETHANIAH

neth-a-ni'-a (nethanyahu, "Yah has given"; Nathanias):

(1) An Asaphite musician (1 Ch 25:2,12).

(2) A Levite who accompanied the princes sent by Jehoshaphat to teach in the cities of Judah (2 Ch 17:8).

(3) The father of Jehudi (Jer 36:14).

(4) The father of Ishmael, the murderer of Gedaliah (Jer 40:8,14,15; 41, 11 t; 2 Ki 25:23,25). Some manuscripts of Septuagint read here Maththanias.


NETHINIM

neth'-i-nim (nethinim, "given"; Natheineim; the King James Version Nethinims):

1. Meaning:

A group of temple-servants (1 Ch 9:2 and 16 times in Ezra and Nehemiah). The word has always the article, and does not occur in the singular. The Septuagint translators usually transliterate, but in one passage (1 Ch 9:2) they render, "the given ones" (hoi dedomenoi). The Syriac (Peshitta) also, in Ezra, Nehemiah, transliterates the word, but in 1 Ch 9:2 renders it by a word meaning "sojourners." The meaning "given" is suggestive of a state of servitude, and Josephus seems to confirm the suggestion by calling the Nethinim "temple-slaves" (hierodouloi) (Ant., XI, v, 1). It should, however, be noted that another form of this word is employed in the directions regarding the Levites: "Thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they are wholly given unto him on behalf of the children of Israel" (Nu 3:9; compare also 8:16,19).

2. History:

Of the history of the Nethinim in earlier times there are but few and uncertain traces. When Joshua discovered that he had been beguiled by the Gibeonites into a covenant to let them live, he reduced their tribe to servitude, and declared, "Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall never fail to be of you bondsmen, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God" (Josh 9:23,27). It is no doubt tempting to see in the Gibeonites the earliest Nethinim, but another tradition traces their origin to a gift of David and the princes for the service of the Levites (Ezr 8:20). Their names, too, indicate diversity of origin; for besides being mostly un-Hebrew in aspect, some of them are found elsewhere in the Old Testament as names of non-Israelitish tribes. The Meunim, for example (Ezr 2:50 = Neh 7:52), are in all likelihood descended from the Meonites or Maonites who are mentioned as harassing Israel (Jdg 10:12), as in conflict with the Simeonites (1 Ch 4:41), and as finally overcome by Uzziah (2 Ch 26:7). The next name in the lists is that of the children of Nephisim. These may be traced to the Hagrite clan of Naphish (Gen 25:15; 1 Ch 5:19). In both Ezra and Nehemiah, the list is immediately followed by that of the servants of Solomon, whose duties were similar to, it may be even humbler than, those of the Nethinim. These servants of Solomon appear to be descendants of the Canaanites whom Solomon employed in the building of his temple (1 Ki 5:15). All these indications are perhaps slight; but they point in the same direction, and warrant the assumption that the Nethinim were originally foreign slaves, mostly prisoners of war, who had from time to time been given to the temple by the kings and princes of the nation, and that to them were assigned the lower menial duties of the house of God.

3. Post-exilic History:

At the time of the return from the exile the Nethinim had come to be regarded as important. Their number was considerable: 392 accompanied Zerubbabel at the first Return in 538 BC (Ezr 2:58 = Neh 7:60). When Ezra, some 80 years later, organized the second Return, he secured a contingent of Nethinim numbering 220 (Ezr 8:20). In Jerusalem they enjoyed the same privileges and immunities as the other religious orders, being included by Artaxerxes' letter to Ezra among those who should be exempt from toll, custom and tribute (Ezr 7:24). A part of the city in Ophel, opposite the Water-gate, was assigned them as an official residence (Neh 3:26,31), and the situation is certainly appropriate if their duties at all resembled those of the Gibeonites (see Ryle, "Ezra and Nehemiah," in Cambridge Bible, Intro, 57). They were also organized into a kind of guild under their own leaders or presidents (Neh 11:21).

The Nethinim are not again mentioned in Scripture. It is probable that they, with the singers and porters, became gradually incorporated in the general body of Levites; their name passed ere long into a tradition, and became at a later time a butt for the scorn and bitterness of the Talmudic writers against everything that they regarded as un-Jewish.

John A. Lees


NETOPHAH

ne-to'-fa (neTophah; Septuagint Netopha, Nephota, and other variants): The birthplace of two of David's heroes, Maharai and Heleb (2 Sam 23:28,29), also of Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, one of the captains who came to offer allegiance to Gedaliah (2 Ki 25:23; Jer 40:8). "The villages of the Netophathites" are mentioned (1 Ch 9:16) as the dwellings of certain Levites and (Neh 12:28, the King James Version "Netophathi") of certain "sons of the singers."

The first mention of the place itself is in Ezr 2:22; Neh 7:26; 1 Esdras 5:18 (the Revised Version (British and American) "Netophas"), where we have parallel lists of the exiles returning from Babylon under Zerubbabel; the place is mentioned between Bethlehem and Anathoth and in literary association with other cities in the mountains of Judah, e.g. Gibeon, Kiriath-jearim, Chephereh and Beeroth. In this respect it is most plausible to identify it with NEPHTOAH (which see), although the disappearance of the terminal guttural in the latter creates a difficulty. Conder has suggested a site known as Khirbet UmmToba, Northeast of Bethlehem, an ancient site, but not apparently of great importance. Beit Nettif, an important village on a lofty site in the Shephelah near the "Vale of Elah," also appears to have an echo of the name, and indeed may well be the Beth Netophah of the Mishna (Shebhu`oth, ix.5; Neubauer, Geogr., 128), but the position does not seem to agree at all with that of the Old Testament Netophah. For Khirbet Umm-Toba see Palestine Exploration Fund,III , 128; for Beit Nettif, Palestine Exploration Fund,III , 24;RBR ,II , 17 f; both ShXVII .

E. W. G. Masterman


NETOPHAS

ne-to'-fas (Codex Vaticanus Netebas; Codex Alexandrinus Netophae): A town named in 1 Esdras 5:18, identical with "Netophah" of Ezr 2:22; Neh 7:26.


NETOPHATHI; NETOPHATHITES

ne-tof'-a-thi, ne-tof'-a-thits.

See NETOPHAH .


NETTLES

net'-'lz: (1) charul, (Job 30:7; Prov 24:31; Zeph 2:9 margin, in all, "wild vetches"); the translation "nettles" is due to the supposed derivations of charul from an (obsolete) charal, meaning "to be sharp" or "stinging," but a translation "thorns" (as in Vulgate) would in that case do as well. Septuagint has phrugana agria, "wild brushwood," in Job, and certainly the association with the "saltwort" and the retm, "broom," in the passage would best be met by the supposition that it means the low thorny bushes plentiful in association with these plants. "Vetch" is suggested by the Aramaic, but is very uncertain. (2) qimmosh (Isa 34:13; Hos 9:6), and plural qimmeshonim (Prov 24:31), translated (English Versions of the Bible) "thorns," because of the translation of charul as "nettles" in the same verse From Isa 34:13 qimmosh is apparently distinct from thorns, and the translation "nettle" is very probable, as such neglected or deserted places as described in the three references readily become overgrown with nettles in Palestine The common and characteristic Palestine nettle is the Urtica pilulifera, so called from the globular heads of its flowers.

E. W. G. Masterman


NETWORK

net'-wurk (sebhakhah): the Revised Version (British and American) in 2 Ki 25:17; 2 Ch 4:13 (also in the plural, 4:12,13), for "wreathen work" and "wreath" in the King James Version (of the adornment of the capitals of the pillars of Solomon's temple; see JACHIN AND BOAZ ). "Networks" in Isa 19:9 is in the Revised Version (British and American) correctly rendered "white cloth." In the American Standard Revised Version "network" is substituted for "pictures" in the King James Version (Prov 25:11), "baskets" in the English Revised Version margin "filigree work."


NEW BIRTH

See REGENERATION .


NEW COMMANDMENT

See BROTHERLY LOVE .


NEW COVENANT

See COVENANT ,THE NEW .


NEW EARTH

See ESCHATOLOGY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT ;HEAVENS ,NEW .


NEW HEAVENS

See HEAVENS ,NEW .


NEW JERUSALEM

See JERUSALEM ,NEW ;REVELATION OF JOHN .


NEW MAN

See MAN .


NEW MOON

See MOON ,NEW ;FASTS AND FEASTS .


NEW TESTAMENT

See BIBLE ;CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT ;CRITICISM .


NEW TESTAMENT CANON

See CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT .


NEW TESTAMENT LANGUAGE

See LANGUAGE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT .


NEW TESTAMENT TEXT

See TEXT AND MANUSCRIPTS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT .


NEW YEAR

See TIME ;YEAR .


NEW; NEWNESS

nu, nu'-nes (chadhash; kainos, neos):

1. In the Old Testament:

The word commonly translated "new" in the Old Testament is chadhash, "bright," "fresh," "new" (special interest was shown in, and importance attached to, fresh and new things and events); Ex 1:8; Dt 20:5; 22:8; 24:5; 1 Sam 6:7; 2 Sam 21:16; Ps 33:3, "a new song"; Jer 31:31, "new covenant"; Ezek 11:19, "a new spirit"; 18:31 "new heart"; 36:26, etc.; chodhesh is "the new moon," "the new-moon day," the first of the lunar month, a festival, then "month" (Gen 29:14, "a month of days"); it occurs frequently, often translated "month"; we have "new moon" (1 Sam 20:5,18,24, etc.); tirosh is "new (sweet) wine" (Neh 10:39; in Joel 1:5; 3:18, it is `asis, the Revised Version (British and American) "sweet wine"); in Acts 2:13, "new wine" is gleukos.

Other words in the Old Testament for "new" are chadhath, Aramaic (Ezr 6:4); Tari, "fresh" (Jdg 15:15, the Revised Version (British and American) "a fresh jawbone of an ass"); beri'ah, a "creation" (Nu 16:30, "if Yahweh make a new thing," the Revised Version margin "create a creation"); bakhar, "to be first-fruits" (Ezek 47:12; so the Revised Version margin); qum, "setting," is translated "newly" (Jdg 7:19); also miqqarobh, "recently" (Dt 32:17, the Revised Version (British and American) "of late "); news is shermu`ah, "report," "tidings"; Prov 25:25, "good news from a far country."

2. In the New Testament:

In the New Testament "new" (mostly kainos, "new," "fresh," "newly made") is an important word. We have the title of the "New Testament" itself, rightly given by the American Standard Revised Version as "New Covenant," the designation of "the new dispensation" ushered in through Christ, the writings relating to which the volume contains. We have "new covenant" (kainos) in Lk 22:20, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood" (the English Revised Version margin "testament"; in Mt 26:28; Mk 14:24, "new" is omitted in the Revised Version (British and American), but in Matthew the margin "many ancient authorities insert new," and in Mark "some ancient authorities"); 1 Cor 11:25, the English Revised Version margin "or testament"; 2 Cor 3:6, the English Revised Version margin "or testament"; Heb 8:8, the English Revised Version margin "or testament"; in 8:13, "covenant" is supplied (compare Heb 12:24, neos).

Corresponding to this, we have (2 Cor 5:17, the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American)), "The old things have passed away; behold, they are become new": ibid., "If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature," the Revised Version margin "there is a new creation"; Gal 6:15, margin "or creation," "new man" (Eph 2:15; 4:24; Col 3:10 (neos)); "new commandment" (Jn 13:34); "new doctrine" (Acts 17:19); "new thing" (Acts 17:21); "newness of life" (kainotes) (Rom 6:4); "newness of the spirit" (Rom 7:6; compare 2 Cor 5:17); "a new name," (Rev 2:17; 3:12), "new heavens and a new earth" (2 Pet 3:13); "new Jerusalem" (Rev 3:12; 21:2); "new song" (Rev 5:9); compare "new friend" and "new wine" (Sirach 9:10b,c); artigennetos, "newborn" (1 Pet 2:2); prosphatos, "newly slain," "new" (Heb 10:20, the Revised Version (British and American) "a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh"; compare Sirach 9:10a; Judith 4:3); "new" is the translation of neos, "new," "young" (1 Cor 5:7; Col 3:10; "new man"; Heb 12:24, "new covenant").

The difference in meaning between kainos and neos, is, in the main, that kainos denotes new in respect of quality, "the new as set over against that which has seen service, the outworn, the effete, or marred through age"; neos, "new (in respect of time), that which has recently come into existence," e.g. kainon mnemeion, the "new tomb" in which Jesus was laid, was not one recently made, but one in which no other dead had ever lain; the "new covenant," the "new man," etc., may be contemplated under both aspects of quality and of time (Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, 209 f).

In Mt 9:16; Mk 2:21, agnaphos, "unsmoothed," "unfinished," is translated "new," "new cloth," the Revised Version (British and American) "undressed." For "new bottles" (Lk 5:38 and parallels), the Revised Version (British and American) has "fresh wine-skins."

W. L. Walker


NEZIAH

ne-zi'-a (netsiach): The head of a family of Nethinim (Ezr 2:54; Neh 7:56), called in 1 Esdras 5:32, "Nasi" (the King James Version and the Revised Version margin "Nasith").


NEZIB

ne'-zib (netsibh; Codex Vaticanus Naseib; Codex Alexandrinus Nesib): A town in the Judean Shephelah, mentioned along with Keilah and Mareshah (Josh 15:43). Eusebius, Onomasticon, places it 7 miles from Eleutheropolis (Beit Jibrin), on the road to Hebron. It is represented today by Beit Nasib, a village with ancient remains some 2 miles Southwest of Khirbet Kila (Keilah).



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