e-ma'-da-bun (Emadaboun); the King James Version, Madiabun (1 Esdras 5:58)): The head of a family of Levites who superintended the repair of the temple; not named in Ezr 3:9.
e-ma-the'-is (Amathias; Emeus; Codex Vaticanus, Emaththis; Codex Alexandrinus, Ematheis; the King James Version, Amatheis): One of the sons of Bebai (1 Esdras 9:29), called "Athlai" in Ezr 10:28.
em-bam'-ing (chanaT, "to spice"): Embalming. is mentioned in Scripture only in the cases of Jacob and Joseph (Gen 50:2 f,26). It was a distinctly Egyptian invention and method of preserving the bodies of men and animals. Examples of it reach back to over 3,000 years ago. It prevailed to some extent among the peoples of Asia, and at a later period among the Greeks and Romans, but was in origin and use distinctly non-Israelitish.
See BURIAL .
em-bras': The word has two distinct meanings in the Old Testament: (1) to clasp and hold fondly in the arms, pointing to a common custom (Gen 29:13; 33:4; 48:10; 2 Ki 4:16; Song 2:6; 8:3; compare Acts 20:10), and (2) to have sexual intercourse (Prov 4:8; 5:20; Eccl 3:5). It seems to have acquired this technical sense in later Jewish usage.
em-broid'-er-i (riqrnah; the King James Version Needlework):
Riqmah was applied to any kind of cloth which showed designs in variegated colors. The method of manufacture is unknown. The designs may have been woven into cloth or drawn in by a needle or hook (Jdg 5:30; Ps 45:14; Ezek 16:10,13,18; 26:16; 27:7,16,24).
Ma`aseh raqam is translated "the work of the embroiderer" in the Revised Version (British and American) instead of "needlework" (Ex 26:36; 27:16; 28:39; 36:37; 38:18; 39:29; Jdg 5:30; Ps 45:14).
Raqam, "embroiderer," occurs in Ex 35:35; 38:23. The fact that this word is used instead of `aragh, "weaver," would lead us to suppose that the embroiderers' work was either different from that of the weaver or that a "raqam" was especially skilled in fine weaving. Another word, choshebh, is used to describe a skillful weaver. "Cunning work" in the King James Version of Ex 26:1,31; 28:6,15; 35:33,15; 36:8,35; 39:3,1 is rendered in the American Standard Revised Version "work of the skillful workmen." The passage has been freely rendered "designers."
In the Revised Version (British and American) of Ex 28:39 shabhats is translated "weave."
In Ex 28:4 occurs the word tashbets, which is translated "broidered" in the King James Version and "checker work" in the Revised Version (British and American). If this kind of work is what it is supposed to be, it is more truly "needlework" than the embroidery. This work is still done in some of the Syrian cities and towns, especially in Damascus. Small caps for men to wear under their ordinary headdress and loose outer garments or dressing-gowns are the forms in which it is commonly seen. The checker-work effect is obtained by sewing in a cotton string between two pieces of cloth, so as to form designs. The patterns Usually run to straight lines such as zigzags or squares. The effect is striking, and we can well imagine would have made an impressive priest's robe, especially if costly materials were used.
See also CRAFTS .
James A. Patch
e-mek-ke'-ziz (`emeq qetsits; the King James Version Valley of Keziz (Josh 18:21)): A town in Benjamin named between Beth-hoglah and Beth-arabah, and therefore to be sought in the plain, probably South of Jericho. The name has not been recovered.
em'-er-ald.
em'-er-odz `ophalim, techorim): These words are used in the account of the plague which broke out among the Philistines while the captive Ark of the Covenant was in their land. `Ophalim literally means rounded eminences or swellings, and in the Revised Version (British and American) is translated "tumors" (1 Sam 5:6-12). In the Hebrew text of this passage the Qere substitutes for it the word techorim, a term which occurs in the next chapter in the description of the golden models of these swellings that were made as votive offerings (1 Sam 6:11-17). The swellings were symptoms of a plague, and the history is precisely that of the outbreak of an epidemic of bubonic plague. The older writers supposed by comparison of the account in 1 Sam with Ps 78:66 that they were hemorrhoids (or piles), and the older English term in the King James Version is a 16th-century form of that Greek word, which occurs in several medical treatises of the 16th and 17th centuries. There is, however, no evidence that this identification is correct. In the light of the modern research which has proved that the rat-flea (Pulex cheopis) is the most active agent in conveying the virus of plague to the human subject, it is worthy of note that the plague of tumors was accompanied by an invasion of mice (`akhbor) or rats. The rat is not specifically mentioned in the Bible, although it was as common in Canaan and Israelite times as it is today, a fact demonstrated by the frequency with which their bones occur in all strata of the old Palestinian cities, so it is probable that the term used was a generic one for both rodents.
The coincidence of destructive epidemics and invasions of mice is also recorded by Herodotus (ii.141), who preserves a legend that the army of Sennacherib which entered Egypt was destroyed by the agency of mice. He states that a statue of Ptah, commemorating the event, was extant in his day. The god held a mouse in his hand, and bore the inscription: "Whosoever sees me, let him reverence the gods." This may have been a reminiscence of the story in Isa 37:36. For other references see PLAGUE .
Alex. Macalister
e'-mim ('emim; Ommaein, Ommein, or Ommiein): Stated to have been the earlier inhabitants of Moab (Dt 2:10,11), and to have been of tall stature, and hence, "accounted Rephaim (or giants) as the Anakim" or the Zamzummim of Ammon (Dt 2:20). As the name was given to them by the Moabites, it may not have been that by which they called themselves. A tall race, known to the Israelites as REPHAIM (which see), once existed in Southern Palestine as well as on the East side of the Jordan, but its exact relationship is unknown. In the time of Abraham the Emim were living in the Moabite district of Shaveh-kiriathaim, identified with the modern Kureiyat (Gen 14:5).
A. H. Sayce
em'-i-nent: In the King James Version (only in Ezek 16:24,31,39; 17:22) refers literally to physical elevation; the Revised Version (British and American) in the last passage renders "lofty" (Hebrew talul, "uplifted," "heaped up") and in the others "vaulted place" (Hebrew gabh, "rounded place," "mound" the English Revised Version, margin "a vaulted chamber").
e-man'-n-el.
See IMMANUEL .
e-ma'-us, em'-a-us (Emmaous, derivation uncertain, but probably from chammath, "a hot spring"): Josephus (BJ, IV, i, 3) says: "Now Emmaus, if it be interpreted, may be rendered `a warm bath' for therein is a spring of warm water useful for healing." Here he is referring to the hot springs near Tiberias. Possibly the same Greek name may not always have been derived from the same Hebrew, and as Cheyne suggests (2) may have come from ha-motsah (see below).
A place where Judas Maccabeus defeated Gorgias (1 Macc 4); it was "in the plain" (1 Macc 3:40); it was subsequently fortified by Bacchides (1 Macc 9:50). It is frequently mentioned by Josephus (Ant., XIV, xi, 2; BJ, I, xi, 2; II, v, 1; xx, 4; IV, viii, 1; V, i, 6), and also in the Talmud and Midrash. It is now the modern mud-village of `Amwas, 20 miles along, and a little North of, the main road from Jerusalem to Jaffa. In the 3rd century it was called Nicopolis and was an episcopal see; in early Christian times it was famous for a spring of reputed healing qualities.
The Emmaus of Lk 24:13, a village 60 furlongs (stadia) from Jerusalem. Early Christian tradition appears to have identified it with (1) and hence, to harmonize the distance, some manuscripts have 160 furlongs. Eusebius and Jerome place this Emmaus at `Amwas; but in the first place (1) was a city and not a village (kome), and secondly (2) the distance, 40 miles there and back, is an almost impossible one for the narrative. In Crusading times this difficulty appears to have been realized, and on what grounds is not known, Kubeibeh at just over 60 stadia, Northwest of Jerusalem, was selected as the site of Emmaus. There a fine church was built which has in recent years been rebuilt and today a Franciscan hospice and school, attached to the church, and a newer German Roman Catholic hospice, combine with the considerable picturesqueness of the place itself to fortify the tradition.
A much more probable site is Quloniyeh, a village about 35 stadia from Jerusalem, on the road to Jaffa. Josephus narrates (BJ, VII, vi, 6) that Vespasian "assigned a place for 800 men only whom he had dismissed from his army which he gave them for their habitation; it is called Emmaus and is distant from Jerusalem 60 furlongs." This is almost certainly the Emmaus of Luke; it is highly probable that the name quloniyeh is derived from the fact of its being this Colonia. Close to this place is a ruin known as Bet Mizza, which is probably the Mozah (ha-motsah) of Josh 18:26 which in the Talmud (Cukk. 4 5) is also described as a colonia. Today it is a "colony" of Jews who have revived and always use the old name Motsah for their settlement.
Other suggestions for this Emmaus are (a) el Khamsa, considerably over 60 stadia Southwest of Jerusalem (Conder); (b) Koriet el `enab, some 10 stadia farther a1ong the Jerus-Jaffa road than Kuloniyeh (LB, etc.); and (c) `Artas, S. of Bethlehem, where remains of Roman baths have been found (Mrs. Finn). In not one of the places suggested are there any hot springs.
E. W. G. Masterman
em'-er (Emmer): Head of a family, some of whom had married foreign wives (1 Esdras 9:21); called "Immer" in Ezr 10:20.
em'-er-uth (Emmerouth; the King James Version Meruth; 1 Esdras 5:24): Corresponding to "Immer" in Ezr 2:37.
em'-or: Transliterated from the Greek Emmor, the translation of Hebrew chamor, "ass" (Acts 7:16 the King James Version; the Revised Version (British and American) "Hamor", which see).
emp'-er-er (ho sebastos; Latin augustus: The title of the Roman emperors; Acts 25:21,25).
emp'-ti, emp'-ti-er (kenos): "Empty," adjective meaning void, etc., as the translation of req, riq, reqam, etc., occurs in the literal sense of "with nothing" (Gen 31:42; Job 22:9); in 2 Sam 1:22, it is equivalent to "in vain," "hungry" (Isa 29:8); in some instances the meaning is comparative only; baqaq, "to gush out," "to pour out," "to empty" is used adjectivally (Hos 10:1, "Israel is an empty vine"; but the Revised Version (British and American) takes the Hebrew word in its original sense of "pouring out," rendering "Israel is a luxuriant vine"); tohu, "emptiness" (Job 26:7); kenos, "empty" is so translated (Mk 12:3); in Mt 12:44, the Greek word is scholazo, "to be free," "unoccupied"; "to empty" (verb) is the translation of baqaq (Nah 2:2), of dalal, "to become poor," etc. (Isa 19:6, the English Revised Version "minished," the American Standard Revised Version "diminished"). the Revised Version (British and American) has "empty" for "vain" (Eph 5:6), "emptied himself" for "made himself of no reputation" (Phil 2:7), "emptied out" for "gathered" (2 Ki 22:9; 2 Ch 34:17, margin "poured out").
W. L. Walker
em-u-la'-shun (zelos, parazeloo): Occurs twice in the New Testament, once in a bad sense and once in a good sense.
(1) In Gal 5:20 the King James Version it is the translation of zelos ("zeal," "earnestness," "enthusiasm") where it is classed among "the works of the flesh" and signifies the stirring up of jealousy or envy in others, because of what we are, or have, or profess. The Greek word is used in this sense in Acts 13:45; Rom 13:13; 1 Cor 3:3; Jas 3:14,16; 2 Cor 12:20; Gal 5:20; the Revised Version (British and American) translated by "jealousy." It denotes a work of the flesh or lower nature, which Christians often fail sufficiently to guard against; it pleases "the flesh" to excite such a feeling in others.
(2) In Rom 11:14 the King James Version "emulation" is the translation of parazeloo ("to make one zealous or jealous"), and is there used in a good sense. "If by any means I may provoke to emulation (the Revised Version (British and American) jealousy) them that are my flesh" (compare Rom 10:19, quoted from Dt 32:21). It is well to "provoke to emulation" in this sense, those who are slow or indifferent, by the example of earnestness and zeal on our part. This is not to please "the flesh," but to serve "the Spirit."
W. L. Walker