NAHUM

is evidently copied from Ruth 4:18-20; 1 Chron. 2:10-12.

NAIOTH

Figurative. A tent pin was a general desig nation for national rulers (Zech. 10:4), who stand in the same relation to the commonwealth as a tent pin to the tent, which it holds firmly and keeps upright (Isa. 22:23). The figure is changed, so that Eliakim, instead of being honored, is like to a nail (or peg) driven into the wall, and upon which his family hung. When the nail fell all that hung upon it (viz., his family) shared the same fate (v. 25).

2. (Heb. 22, mas-mare), ordinary and ornamental nails. Those mentioned in 1 Chron. 22:8; Chron. 3:9, were partly for pivots upon which the folding-doors turned, partly in the construetion of the doors. Those used for fastening the gold plates upon the planks were also probably of gold.

NA'HUM (Heb. 2, nakh-oom', comfortable), the seventh of the minor prophets. Of himself little is known except from the title of the book, "The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite" (ch. 1:1). The site of the village is disputed. According to Saint Jerome, it was in Galilee, and only insignificant ruins remained in his day. Toward the end of the 16th century the idea arose that Nahum was born at Alkosh, a town near Mosul, where also a modern tomb is pointed out as the place of his burial" (Smith, in Bible Educator, iv, 340). Prophecy. Of the place and time of writing his prophecy nothing is certainly known. "In the Seder Olam Rabba he is made contemporary with Joel and Habakkuk in the reign of Manasseh. Syncellus places Figurative. In the proverb "The words of him with Hosea, Amos, and Jonah in the reign of the wise are as nails fastened by the master of asJoash, king of Israel, more than a century earlier; semblies" (Eccles. 12:11) we are taught that truth while, according to Eutychius, he was contem-sinks deeply into the mind as a nail well pointed porary with Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, and does when driven into the wall. The "master of prophesied in the fifth year after the destruction assemblies" (literally collections) may be a person of Jerusalem. Josephus mentions him as living appointed by the king to see that the people get in the latter part of the reign of Jotham. Carpzov only that which is profitable to hear. In a collecconcluded that Nahum prophesied in the beginning tion of oriental proverbs, two hundred and six in of the reign of Ahaz, about B. C. 735. Modern number, made by Mrs. Lydia Einsler, and pubwriters are divided in their suffrages. Bertholdt lished in the Journal of the German Palestine Sothinks it probable that the prophet escaped into ciety, vol. xix, No. 2, is the following, "She now Judah when the ten tribes were carried captive, has a house and a nail in the wall,' referring to and wrote in the reign of Hezekiah. Keil places a woman who was of a low station socially, but him in the latter half of Hezekiah's reign, after had attained a higher. It was often used of a poor the invasion of Sennacherib. Ewald conceives girl who had made a good marriage. The nail in that the siege of Nineveh by the Median king the wall is typical of something firm and strong, Phraortes (B. C. 630-625) may have suggested able to support also heavy burdens; and in the Nathan's prophecy of its destruction" (Smith, light of these facts the peculiar statements of Bib. Dict., s. v.). Dr. Strong (Cyc., s. v.) thus Ezra 9:8 and Isa. 22:23-25, concerning the nail sums up the discussion: "Nahum was a na- in the wall,' receive new side-light illustrations." tive of Galilee; that upon the invasion and deportation of the ten tribes he escaped into the territory of Judah, and probably took up his residence in Jerusalem, where he witnessed the siege of the city by Sennacherib, and the destruction of the Assyrian host in the reign of Hezekiah; and that probably soon after that memorable event, which proved the beginning of the end' of the Assyrian power, and taking occasion from it, the spirit of prophecy chose him to be the instrument of predicting the final and complete overthrow of Nineveh and her empire. temporary of Isaiah and Micah." The subject of the prophecy is, in accordance with the superscription, "the burden of Nineveh," and falls into three parts. The first contains the introduction (ch. 1:1-10) and the theme of the prophet's oracle (vers. 11-14); the second sets forth the calamity which should befall the Assyrian empire (ch. 2); and the third recapitulates the reasons for the judgments that should thus be inflicted and the certainty of their coming (see BIBLE, BOOKS oF; PROPHECY).

Nahum was a con

NAIL. 1. For fastening (Heb. 7, yawthade'), usually a (wooden) peg, or nail of any material (Ezek. 15:3; Isa. 22:25). It is also a tent pin driven into the earth to fasten the tent rope to, one of which Jael drove into the temples of Sisera (Judg. 4:21, 22).

Nails are mentioned in the accounts of the crucifixion (John 20:25; Col. 2:14).

3. Nail, of the finger (Heb., tsip-po ren, Deut. 21:12), like cutting the hair, the paring of the nails-both signs of purification-was a symbol of a slave woman passing out of slavery and being received into fellowship with the cove

nant nation.

the same Hebrew word, and means the "point" In Jer. 17:1 (marg.) "nail" is the rendering of of a stylus or a metallic pen. In Dan. 4:33; 7:19 (Chald., tef-ar'), occurs of the claws of a

bird or beast.

NA'IN (Gr. Naiv, nah-in', pleasantness, beauty), the city at the gate of which Jesus raised the widow's son to life (Luke 7:11, sq.). Josephus (Wars, iv, 9, 4) mentions a city of Nain, but that was east of Jordan. Robinson found a hamlet named Neïn, southwest of Capernaum, standing on a bleak, rocky slope of the northern declivity of Jebel ed-Duhy (the "hill Moreh " of Scripture). In this locality Eusebius and Jerome place the city of Nain.

NAʼIOTH (Heb. 72, nev-aw-yoth', dwellings), or, more fully, "Naioth in Ramah," was the place in which Samuel and David took refuge after the latter's escape from Saul (1 Sam. 19:18, sq.) Thither Saul followed them, after having sent

NAKED

three companies of men to take David. When he came to Sechu, near Ramah, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, so that he went along prophesying until he came to Naioth; and there he took off his clothes, and prophesied before Samuel, lying upon the ground all day and night (vers. 20-24). Keil and Delitzsch (Com.) think Naioth to be a proper name applied to the common dwelling of the pupils of the prophets, who had assembled round Samuel in the neighborhood of Ramah.

NAKED (Heb. 17, er-vaw', nudity; Gr. yuuvos, goom'-nos), means absolute nakedness (Job 1:21; Eccles. 5:15; Amos 2:16; Mic. 1:8), but else where in our sense of ragged, poorly clad (Isa. 58: 7; Matt. 25:36; James 2:15). In John 21:7 the meaning is clad in the undergarment only (the

outer garment being cast aside).
"Naked" is used figuratively to
Figurative.
signify stripped of resources, disarmed; thus "I
have made Esau bare" (Jer. 49:10) signifies the

destruction of Edom. The "nakedness of a land
(Gen. 42:9) signifies the weak and ruined parts of
it where the country lies most open and exposed
to danger. "Naked" is also put for discovered,
made manifest (Job 26:6; Heb. 4:13). In such
passages as Exod. 32:25; Chron. 28:19; Ezek.
16:36-39, "naked" symbolizes the stripping from
one of his righteousness through idolatry.

NAMES (Heb. D, shame; Gr. dvoua, on'om-ah).

NAMES

with the birth, some hope or wish or prayer of the parent; and henceforth the child embodied it, and for the parents' sake felt it like a personal vow, and made his life an effort to realize it. This tendency to play on names and find analogies or contrasts in them is seen throughout the Bible (see Ruth 1:20; 1 Sam. 25:3,25; Rom. 9:6). So we have "Dan (judge) shall judge his people" (Gen. 49:16), and many other instances.

3. Personal names. These may be divided into two classes: those given at birth; those imposed in after life. (1) Those given at birth. At be of importance-a chance word, a sly intimasuch times the slightest event was considered to tion by the gossip at the bedside, a pious or hopeful ejaculation by the mother; and, where names were sought for, any well-omened word was hastily seized and attached to the newcomer. Sometimes the name would express the time of birth, moon); sometimes the place, as Zerubbabel (born e. g., Shaharayim (the dawn), Hodesh (the new in Babylon). The condition of the mother is often indicated; thus Rachel dying in childbirth named her son Benoni (son of my pain), while Leah (exhausted) and Machli (sick) are names that hint much weakness, if not death. Sometimes the name indicates a peculiarity of the child, as Esau (hairy), Edom (red), Korah (bald). Or the feeling of the parent found expression-Eve called her first born Cain (acquisition), but she came to know that a mother's feelings are made up more of sadness than of joy, and so she called her second son Abel (vanity). The strong affection of Hebrew women for their children is sometimes shown in the names they gave to their children, e. g, Adah (ornament), Peninnah (pearl), Rachel (dove), Susanna (lilies), etc. Religious names were frequently given, the most simple being expressive of thanks to God for the gift of a child, as Mahalaleel (praise to God); of wonder at God's liberality, Zabdiel (bountifully given), Zechariah (God has remembered). Again a name may express some great longing of the parent; so Rachel named her first son Joseph (adding, i. e., may God add to me another child); the first inhabitants of Mount Seir were called or resignation and trust, as Elioenai (toward Jehovah Horim (Heb. ", kho-ree', cave dwellers, Gen. 14: are my eyes). The name was generally given by 6; 36:21, 29; Deut. 2:12, 22), because they made the parents, but sometimes a number of their kinsthe caves of that region their home. We learn men and friends would agree in bestowing one from Chaldee names that the proper speech of that (Ruth 4:17; Luke 1:59). (2) Change of name. warlike race was not Semitic, but Aryan. We Not seldom the name given at birth was changed gather from the names of Jacob's children that for a new one, or at first added to the original they must have been given in an Aramæan-speak-name, and gradually took its place. Thus Abram's ing country from their great affinity to that dialect. From a comparison of the roots of many names with the same roots in the cognate dialects it is evident the Hebrew was in early days much more closely allied to Arabic than when it became a literary tongue. Much use might be made of the study of Hebrew proper names for the better understanding of the history of that people.

1. Names are designed to distinguish objects, and originally expressed the distinct impressions which objects made upon, or the special relations in which they stood to the person. Thus God brought the beasts to Adam, and from the impression they make upon him he assigns names to them (Gen. 2:19). The impression a people made upon other nations gave rise to a name; thus, the gigantic aborigines of Palestine were named by the Israelites Emim (Heb. 27, ay-meem', Gen. 14:5; Deut. 2:10, 11). Or the name may embody some well-known characteristic of the tribe; e. g

name was changed to ABRAHAM (q. v.) when he renewed his covenant with Jehovah (Gen. 17:5); Jacob (the supplanter) became Israel (prince) after his successful struggle with the angel (Gen. 32:28). Princes often changed their names on their accession to the throne (2 Kings 23:34; 24:17). This was also done in the case of private persons on entering upon public duties of importance (Num. 2. Play on. The Israelites were very fond of 13:16; comp. John 1:42; Acts 4:36). So the playing on names. The name to them was a sign prophet Nathan, on assuming the charge of Soloof something quite sensuous and outward. Hence mon's education, gave him the name Jedidiah names rarely became hereditary in Hebrew; they (2 Sam. 12:25). Children frequently received still retained their significance, being proper per- names expressive of relationship, as Abimelech sonal names, very seldom passing into the un-(father of the king); or some one of the several meaning surname. They generally expressed some divine names is coupled in the same manner with personal characteristic, some incident connected another element, as Nathaneel, with the divine

NAOMI

name El, or Jonathan, with the divine name Jehovah (contracted Jo) and the verb gave. The word El enters very early into the composition of names, while those compounded with the name Jehovah do not appear till the Mosaic era; and not till the time of Samuel are names compounded with this name of God common.

NATHAN

four sons (Gen. 46:24; 1 Chron. 7:13). While in Egypt Naphtali increased with wonderful rapidity, numbering at the first census fifty-three thousand four hundred (Num. 1:43), ranking as sixth. The number decreased during the wilderness journey, for at the second census the adult males amounted to only forty-five thousand four hundred, ranking

through the wilderness Naphtali occupied a posi tion on the north of the sacred tent with Dan and Asher (2:25-31). (3) Territory. In the appor tionment of the land the lot of Naphtali was not drawn till the last but one. Their portion lay at the northern angle of Palestine, and was inclosed on three sides by that of other tribes-Zebulun (south), Asher (west), trans-Jordanic Manasseh (east). (4) Subsequent history. Naphtali had its share in the incursions and molestations by the surrounding heathen. One of these, apparently the severest struggle of all, fell with special violence on the north of the country, and the leader by whom the invasion was repelled-Barak, of Kedesh-Naphtali-was the one great hero whom Naphtali is recorded to have produced (Judg. 4:6). Naphtali was also the first tribe captured by the Assyrians under Tiglath-pileser (2 Kings 15:29). But though the history of the tribe ends here, yet, under the title of Galilee, the district which they formerly occupied became in every way far more important than it had ever been before.

4. Figurative. The name in Hebrew is some-eighth (26:50). (2) Position. During the march times used to signify the collected attributes or characteristics of the object named. This is particularly the case with the divine name (Exod. 34: 5). Our Lord says, "I have manifested thy name," etc. (John 17:6), where name embraces the whole divine nature revealed by the Son. The expression " name of God" indicates the entire administration of God, by which he reveals himself and his attributes to men; the glory and power of God displayed in nature (Psa. 8:1); God's revelation of himself to his people (Zech. 10:12); and when God announces his mighty presence it is said, "Thy name is near (Psa. 75:1). In the New Testament the expression "the name of Christ" refers to all that Jesus is to men (Luke 24:47; Acts 9:15); "to believe in the name of Christ" (John 1:12), "saved by his name (Acts 4:12), "to have life through his name " (John 20: 31) all refer to the saving and life-giving power in Christ, which is communicated to the believer. The expression "Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ" (2 Tim. 2:19) means everyone that acknowledges him to be what his name means, the Lord.

3. Mount Naphtali. The mountainous district which formed the main part of the territory Ephraim" and "Mount Judah.” of Naphtali (Josh. 20:7); answering to "Mount

NAPH'TUHIM (Heb.

9, naf-tockheem), a Mizraite nation or tribe, mentioned only as descendants of Noah (Gen. 10:13; 1 Chron. 1:11), and who probably settled at first, or when Gen., ch. 5, was written, either in Egypt or imme

NAʼOMI (Heb. 7277, no-om-ee', my pleasantness, delight), a woman of Bethlehem, in the days of the judges, whose history is interwoven with that of her daughter-in-law Ruth (Ruth, chaps. 1-4), B. C. about 1322-1312. Her husband's name was Elimelech, and her two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. With them, because of a famine in her own country, she went to Moab, where they died.diately west of it. Returning to her native land, she was accompanied NAPKIN (Gr. covdápiov, soo-dar'-ee-on, sweatby Ruth, who became the wife of Boaz. Upon cloth), a handkerchief (so rendered, Acts 19:12), her return she replied to those asking her "Isi. e., a cloth for wiping the perspiration from the this Naomi ?" "Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: face and for cleaning the nose (Luke 19:20; Acts for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.' 19:12). It was also used for swathing the head of NA’PHISH (Heb. E, naw-feesh', refreshed),

a corpse (John 11:44; 20:7).

the eleventh son of Ishmael (Gen. 25:15; 1 Chron. NARCIS'SUS (Gr. Náрkioσoç, narʼ-kis-sos, a 1:31). "The tribe descended from Nodab was well-known flower), a person at Rome to some of subdued by the Reubenites, the Gadites, and whose household (or friends) Paul sent salutation the half of the tribe of Manasseh, when they (Rom. 16:11). He cannot be the celebrated favormade war with the Hagarites, with Jetur, andite of the Emperor Claudius, as that person was Nephish, and Nodab' (1 Chron. 5:19). The tribe put to death before the epistle was written. is not again found in the sacred records, nor is it NARD. See SPIKENARD, mentioned by later writers. It has not been identified with any Arabian tribe" (Smith, Bib. Dict., 8. v.).

NAPHTALI. (Heb. ", naf-taw-lee', my wrestling.)

NA'THAN (Heb. 7, naw-thawn', given, of

God).

1. A Son of David; one of the four who were born to him by Bathsheba (1 Chron. 3:5; comp. 14:4 and 2 Sam. 5:14), B. C. about 977. Nathan 1. The sixth son of Jacob, and the second appears to have taken no part in the events of his of Bilhah, Rachel's maid, and own brother to Dan. father's or his brother's reigns. To him are to be Of the personal history of Naphtali we know noth-referred, probably, the words of Zech. 12:12. He ing, as up to the time of Jacob's blessing the appears as one of the forefathers of Joseph in the twelve patriarchs his name is only mentioned in genealogy of St. Luke (Luke 3:31). the two public lists (Gen. 35:25; 46:24).

2. The Hebrew Prophet who lived in the 2. The Tribe of Naphtali. (1) Numbers. reigns of David and Solomon. (1) First appearWhen Israel went down into Egypt Naphtali hadance. The first mention of him is in a consulta

NATHANAEL

tion with David, in which he advises him to build the temple (2 Sam. 7:2, 3); but after a vision informed David that he was not to carry out his intention (vers. 4-17), B. C. about 984. (2) Reproves David. About a year after David's sin Nathan appears to reprove him. The reason for this delay seems to be set forth by David in Psa., 32, where he describes the state of his heart during this period, and the sufferings he endured while trying to conceal his crime. To insure success Nathan resorted to a parable of a rich man taking from a poor man his "little ewe lamb." The parable was so selected that David could not suspect that it had reference to him and his sin. With all the greater shock, therefore, did the prophet's words, "Thou art the man," come to the king (2 Sam. 12:1-15), B. C. about 977. At the birth of Solomon Nathan came to David, according to Jehovah's instructions, and named the child Jedidiah, "because Jehovah loved him" (vers. 24, 25). (3) Secures the kingdom for Solomon. In the last years of David Nathan, with Bathsheba, secured the succession of Solomon (1 Kings 1:8-30), and at the king's request assisted at his inauguration (vers. 32-38, 45), B. C. about 960. He assisted David by his advice when he reorganized the public worship (2 Chron. 29:25). His son Zabud succeeded him as the "king's friend," and another son, Azariah, was over the offices" in Solomon's time (1 Kings 4:5). He left

two works behind him—a Life of David (1 Chron. 29:29) and a Life of Solomon (2 Chron. 9:29). The last of these may have been incomplete, as we cannot be sure that he outlived Solomon. His grave is shown at Halhul, near Hebron.

3. An inhabitant of Zobah in Syria, and the father of Igal, one of David's chieftains (2 Sam. 23:36), B. C. about 984. In 1 Chron. 11:38 it is given as Joel, the brother of Nathan.

4. A descendant of Judah, being the son of Attai and father of Zabad (1 Chron. 2:36).

5. One of the chief Jews who were sent by Ezra from his encampment at the river Ahava to the Jews' colony at Casiphia, to obtain "ministers for the house of God” (Ezra 8:16, sq.), B. C. about 457. He is perhaps the same as the Nathan who put away his Gentile wife (10:39).

NATURAL HISTORY

meet with the name of Nathanael only once more, and then simply as one of a small company of disciples at the Sea of Tiberias to whom Jesus showed himself after his resurrection (21:2). From this reference we learn that Nathanael was a native of Cana of Galilee. "It is very commonly believed that Nathanael and Bartholomew are the same person. The evidence for that belief is as follows: John, who twice mentions Nathanael, never introduces the name of Bartholomew at all. Matthew (10:3), Mark (3:18), and Luke (6:14) all speak of Bartholomew, but never of Nathanael. It may be, however, that Nathanael was the proper name and Bartholomew (son of Tholmai) the surname of the same disciple, just as Simon was called Bar-jona, and Joses, Barnabas. It was Philip who first brought Nathanael to Jesus, just as Andrew had brought his brother Simon; and Bartholomew is named by each of the first three evangelists immediately after Philip, while by Luke he is coupled with Philip precisely in the same way as Simon with his brother Andrew, and James with his brother John " (Smith, Bib. Dict., s. v.).

NA'THAN-MEL'ECH (Heb. 20, nethan'-meh'-lek, given of the king), a chamberlain (i. e., eunuch) from before whose chamber at the temple entrance King Josiah removed the horses dedicated to the sun by the king of Judah (2 Kings

23:11), B. C. 624.

NATIVITY OF CHRIST. See CHRISTMAS;

JESUS.

NATURAL. (1) (Heb. ?, layʻ-akh, freshness.) It is recorded of Moses that at his death "his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated" (Deut. 34:7). The meaning is his freshness, i. e., full vital energy, was preserved. (2) (Gr. quoikóç, foo-see-kos', produced by nature), thus "the natural use" (Rom. 1:26, 27) means that which is agreeable to nature. "Natural branches" (11:21, 24) are those growing naturally as opposed to ingrafted branches. The phrase "as natural brute beasts" (2 Pet. 2:12) means governed by the instincts of nature (R. V., "born mere animals"). The adverbial form is used in the passage, "but what they know naturally, as NATHAN'AEL (Gr. Naðavaý, nath-an-ah-brute beasts" (Jude 10), i. e., under the guidance ale', given of God), a disciple of our Lord, of whose of nature. (3) (Gr. ywxikós, psoo-khee-kos'), havlife we have no particulars save the references in ing the nature and characteristics of the principle John's gospel. It appears that after Jesus was of animal life, which men have in common with proclaimed by John the Baptist to be the Lamb the brutes; thus the "natural body" (1 Cor. 15: of God he was minded to go to Galilee. Having 44, 46), and equivalent to "flesh and blood called Philip to follow him, the latter hastened to (v. 50). In the expression "The natural man reNathanael to inform him that the Messiah had ceiveth not the things of the Spirit" (2:14), the appeared. Nathaniel expressed his distrust that meaning is, the man governed by his sensuous any good thing could come from so small and in-nature with its subjection to appetite and passion. considerable a place as Nazareth. He accom- See GLOSSARY. panied Philip, however, and upon his approach NATURAL HISTORY. In dealing with was saluted by Jesus as "an Israelite indeed, in the natural history of the Bible we should be whom was no guile." This elicited the inquiry from governed by principles similar to those which we Nathanael as to how he had become known to use in determining the allusions to nature in other Jesus. The answer, "Before that Philip called ancient and most modern books. Nothing like a thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw scientific classification of animals and plants can thee," satisfied him that Jesus was more than man, | be detected in the Bible any more than in Homer and "Nathanael answered and saith unto him, or Horace or Shakespeare or Wordsworth. Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the Natural objects are grouped with reference to King of Israel" (John 1:45-49), B. C. 25. We their more obvious characteristics. Thus plants