primogeniture was allowed eventually to take in general its due course, the Divine king reserved the power of appointing any member of that house whom he might prefer. That power had been exercised in the family of David by the preference of Solomon, who was at this time a child, as the successor of his father. David had known many years before that his dynasty was to be established in a son not yet born (2 Sam. vii. 12); and when Solomon was born, he could not be ignorant, even if not specially instructed, that he was the destined heir. This fact must have been known to many others as the child grew up, and probably the mass of the nation was cognizant of it. In this we find a clear motive for the rebellion of Absalom--to secure the throne which he deemed to be his right by the laws of primogeniture, during the lifetime of his father; lest delay, while awaiting the natural term of his days, should so strengthen the cause of Solomon with his years, as to place his succession beyond all contest.

The fine person of Absalom, his superior birth, and his natural claim, pre-disposed the people to regard his pretensions with favour: and this predisposition was strengthened by the measures which he took to win their regard. In the first place he insinuated that he was the heir apparent, by the state and attendance with which he appeared in public; while that very state the more enhanced the show of condescending sympathy with which he accosted the suitors who repaired for justice or favour to the royal audience, inquired into their various cases, and hinted at the fine things which might be expected if he were on the throne, and had the power of accomplishing his own large and generous purposes. By these influences 'he stole the hearts of the men of Israel;' and when at length, four years after his return from Geshur, he repaired to Hebron and there proclaimed himself king, the great body of the people declared for him. So strong ran the tide of opinion in his favour, that David found it expedient to quit Jerusalem and retire to Mahanaim, beyond the Jordan.

When Absalom heard of this, he proceeded to Jerusalem and took possession of the throne without opposition. Among those who had joined him was Ahithophel, who had been David's counsellor, and whose profound sagacity caused his counsels to be regarded like oracles in Israel. This defection alarmed David more than any other single circumstance in the affair, and he persuaded his friend Hushai to go and join Absalom, in the hope that he might be made instrumental in turning the sagacious counsels of Ahithophel to foolishness. The first piece of advice which Ahithophel gave Absalom was that he should publicly take possession of that portion of his father's harem which had been left behind in Jerusalem. This was not only a mode by which the succession to the throne might be confirmed [ABISHAG: Comp. Herodotus, iii. 68], but in the present case, as suggested by the wily counsellor, this villanous measure would dispose the people to throw themselves the more unreservedly into his cause, from the assurance that no possibility of reconcilement between him and his father remained. Hushai had not then arrived. Soon after he came, when a council of war was held, to conder the course of operations to be taken against David. Abithophel counselled that the king

should be pursued that very night, and smitten, while he was weary and weak handed, and before he had time to recover strength.' Hushai, however, whose object was to gain time for David, speciously urged, from the known valour of the king, the possibility and fatal consequences of a defeat, and advised that all Israel should be assembled against him in such force as it would be impossible for him to withstand. Fatally for Absalom, the counsel of Hushai was preferred to that of Ahithophel; and time was thus given to enable the king, by the help of his influential followers, to collect his resources, as well as to give the people time to reflect upon the undertaking in which so many of them had embarked. The king soon raised a large force, which he properly organized and separated into three divisions, commanded severally by Joab, Abishai, and Ittai of Gath. The king himself intended to take the chief command; but the people refused to allow him to risk his valued life, and the command then devolved upon Joab. The battle took place in the borders of the forest of Ephraim; and the tactics of Joab, in drawing the enemy into the wood, and there hemming them in, so that they were destroyed with ease, eventually, under the providence of God, decided the action against Absalom. Twenty thousand of his troops were slain, and the rest fled to their homes. Absalom himself fled on a swift mule; but as he went, the boughs of a terebinth tree caught the long hair in which he gloried, and he was left suspended there. The charge which David had given to the troops to respect the life of Absalom prevented any one from slaying him: but when Joab heard of it, he hastened to the spot, and pierced him through with three darts. His body was then taken down and cast into a pit there in the forest, and a heap of stones was raised upon it.

David's fondness for Absalon was unextinguished by all that had passed; and as he sat, awaiting tidings of the battle, at the gate of Mahanaim, he was probably more anxious to learn that Absalom lived, than that the battle was gained; and no sooner did he hear that Absalom was dead, than he retired to the chamber above the gate, to give vent to his paternal anguish. The victors, as they returned, slunk into the town like criminals, when they heard the bitter wailings of the king:-'O my son Absalom! my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son! The consequences of this weaknessnot in his feeling, but in the inability to control it-might have been most dangerous, had not Joab gone up to him, and, after sharply rebuking him for thus discouraging those who had risked their lives in his cause, induced him to go down and cheer the returning warriors by his presence (2 Sam. xiii.-xix. 8).

ABSALOM'S TOMB. A remarkable monument bearing this name makes a conspicuous figure in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, outside Jerusalem; and it has been_noticed and described by almost all travellers. It is close by the lower bridge over the Kedron, and is a square isolated block hewn out from the rocky ledge so as to leave an area or niche around it. The body of this monument is about 24 feet square, and is ornamented on each side with two columns and two half co

lumns of the Ionic order, with pilasters at the corners. The architrave exhibits triglyphs and Doric ornaments. The elevation is about 18 or 20 feet to the top of the architrave, and thus far it is wholly cut from the rock. But the adjacent rock is here not so high as in the adjoining tomb of Zecharias (so called), and therefore the upper part of the tomb has been carried up with masonwork of large stones. This consists, first, of two square layers, of which the upper one is smaller than the lower; and then a small dome or cupola runs up into a low spire, which appears to have spread out a little at the top, like an opening flame. This mason-work is perhaps 20 feet high, giving to the whole an elevation of about 40 feet. There is a small excavated chamber in the body of the tomb, into which a hole had been broken through one of the sides several centuries ago.

The old travellers who refer to this tomb, as well as Calmet after them, are satisfied that they find the history of it in 2 Sam. xviii. 18, which states that Absalom, having no son, built a monument to keep his name in remembrance, and that this monument was called Absalom's Hand-that is, index, memorial, or monument [HAND]. With our later knowledge, a glance at this and the other monolithic tomb bearing the name of Zecharias, is quite enough to show that they had no connection with the times of the persons whose names have been given to them. The style of architecture and embellishment,' writes Dr. Robinson, shows that they are of a later period than most of the other countless sepulchrés round about the city, which, with few exceptions, are destitute of architectural ornament. Yet, the foreign ecclesiastics, who crowded to Jerusalem in the fourth century, found these

nonuments here; and of course it became an object to refer them to persons mentioned in the Scriptures. Yet, from that day to this, tradition seems never to have become fully settled as to the indiv duals whose names they should bear. The Itin. Hieros. in A.D. 333, speaks of the two monolithic monuments as the tombs of Isaiah and

Hezekiah. Adamnus, about A.D. 697, mentions only one of these, and calls it the tomb of Jeho shapnat. The historians of the Crusades appear not to have noticed these tombs. The first mention of a tomb of Absalom is by Benjamin of Tudela, who gives to the other the name of King Uzziah; and from that time to the present day the accounts of travellers have been varying and inconsistent' (Biblical Researches, i. 519, 520). The remarks of professed architects on things requiring a real knowledge of the Scriptures and of the ancient Hebrews, are generally so unsound and trivial that little can be expected from them in such matters. Yet with the clear information on some points which we now possess, it is surprising to hear so learned an architect as Professor Cockerell speak of this alleged tomb of Absalom as a most precious monument of antiquity, and insist on its undoubted identity, and its perfect correspondence with holy writ' (Athenaum, Jan. 28, 1843); which holy writ says no more than that Absalom did erect some monument.

ABSINTHIUM (Avívotov in New Test.,,by which also the Sept. renders the Heb. ; A.V. wormwood). This proverbially bitter plant is used in the Hebrew, as in most other languages, metaphorically, to denote the moral bitterness of distress and trouble (Deut. xxix. 17; Prov. v 4; Jer. ix. 14; xxiii. 15; Lam. iii. 15, 19; Amos v. 7; vi. 12). Thence also the name given to the fatal star in Rev. viii. 10, 11. Artemisia is the botanical name of the genus of plants in which the different species of wormwoods are found. The plants of this genus are easily recognised by the multitude of fine divisions into which the leaves are usually separated, and the numerous clusters of small, round, drooping, greenish-yellow, or brownish flower-heads with which the branches are laden. It must be understood that our common wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) does not appear to exist in Palestine, and cannot therefore be that specially denoted by the Scriptural term. Indeed it is more than probable that the word is intended to apply to all the plants of this class that grew in Palestine, rather than to any one of them in particular. The examples of this genus that have been found in that country are:-1. Artemisia Judaica, which, if a particular species be intended, is probably the Absinthium of Scripture. Rauwolf found it about Bethlehem, and Shaw in Arabia and the deserts of Numidia plentifully. This plant is erect and shrubby, with stem about eighteen inches high. Its taste is very bitter; and both the leaves and seeds are much used in Eastern medicine, and are reputed to be tonic, stomachic, and anthelmintic. 2. Artemisia Romana, which was found by Hasselquist on Mount Tabor (p. 281). This species is herbaceous, erect, with stem one or two feet high (higher when cultivated in gardens), and nearly upright branches. The plant has a pleasantly aromatic scent; and the bitterness of its taste is so tempered by the aromatic flavour as scarcely to be disagreeable. 3. Artemisia abrotanum, found in the south of Europe, as well as in Syria and Pales tine, and eastward even to China. This is a hoary plant, becoming a shrub in warm countries; and its branches bear loose panicles of nodding yellow flower-heads. It is bitter and aromatic, with a very strong scent.

It is not much used in

[Artemisia Judaica.]

ABSTINENCE is a refraining from the use of certain articles of food usually eaten; or from all food during a certain time for some particular object. It is distinguished from TEMPERANCE, which is moderation in ordinary food; and from FASTING, which is abstinence from a religious motive. The first example of abstinence which occurs in Scripture is that in which the use of blood is forbidden to Noah (Gen. ix. 20) [BLOOD]. The next is that mentioned in Gen. xxxii. 32: The children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day, because he (the angel) touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.' This practice of particular and commemorative abstinence is here mentioned by anticipation long after the date of the fact referred to, as the phrase unto this day' intimates. No actual instance of the practice occurs in the Scripture itself, but the usage has always been kept up; and to the present day the Jews generally abstain from the whole hind-quarter on account of the trouble and expense of extracting the particular sinew (Allen's Modern Judaism, p. 421). By the law, abstinence from blood was confirmed, and the use of the flesh of even lawful animals was forbidden, if the manner of their death rendered it impossible that they should be, or uncertain that they were, duly exsanguinated (Exod. xxii. 31; Deut. xiv. 21). A broad rule was also laid down by the law, defining whole classes of animals that might not be eaten (Lev. xi.) [ANIMAL; FOOD]. Certain parts of lawful animals, as being sacred to the altar, were also interdicted. These were the large lobe of the liver, the kidneys and the fat upon them, as well as the tail of the fat-tailed' sheep (Lev. iii. 9-11). Everything consecrated to idols was also forbidden (Exod. xxxiv. 15). In conformity with these rules the Israelites abstained generally from food which was more or less in use among other people. Instances of abstinence from allowed food are not frequent, except in commemorative or afflictive fasts. The forty days' abstinence of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus are peculiar cases requiring to be separately considered [FASTING]. The priests were commanded to abstain from wine previous to their actual ministrations (Lev. x. 9), and the same abstinence was enjoined to the Nazarites during the whole period of their separation (Num, vi. 5). A constant abstinence of this kind was, at a later period, voluntarily undertaken by the Rechabites (Jer. xxxv. 16, 18). Among the early Christian converts there were some who deemed themselves bound to adhere to the Mosaical limitations regarding food, and they accordingly abstained from

which the law accounted unclean; while others contemned this as a weakness, and exulted in the liberty wherewith Christ had made his followers free. This question was repeatedly referred to St. Paul, who laid down some admirable rules on the subject, the purport of which was, that every one was at liberty to act in this matter according to the dictates of his own conscience; but that the strong-minded had better abstain from the exercise of the freedom they possessed, whenever it might prove an occasion of stumbling to a weak brother (Rom. xiv. 1-3; 1 Cor. viii.). In another place the same apostle reproves certain sectaries who should arise, forbidding marriage and enjoining abstinence from meats which God had created to be received with thanksgiving (1 Tim. iv. 3, 4). The council of the apostles at Jerusalem decided that no other abstinence regarding food should be imposed upon the converts than from meats offered to idols, from blood, and from things strangled' (Acts xv. 29).

The Essenes, a sect among the Jews which is not mentioned by name in the Scriptures, led a more abstinent life than any recorded in the sacred books. As there is an account of them elsewhere [ESSENES], it is only necessary to mention here that they refused all pleasant food, eating nothing but coarse bread and drinking only water; and that some of them abstained from food altogether until after the sun had set (Philo, De Vita Contemplativů, p. 692, 696).

That abstinence from ordinary food was prac tised by the Jews medicinally is not shown in Scripture, but is more than probable, not only as a dictate of nature, but as a common practice of their Egyptian neighbours, who, we are informed by Diodorus (i. 82), 'being persuaded that the majority of diseases proceed from indigestion and excess of eating, had frequent recourse to abstinence, emetics, slight doses of medicine, and other simple means of relieving the system, which some persous were in the habit of repeating every two or three days.'

ABYSS ("ABurgos). The Greek word means literally without bottom,' but actually deep, profound. It is used in the Sept. for the Hebrew Din, which we find applied either to the ocean (Gen. i. 2; vii. 11), or to the under world (Ps. Ixxi. 21; cvii. 26). In the New Testament it is used as a noun to describe Hades, or the place of the dead generally (Rom. x. 7); but inore especially that part of Hades in which the souls of the wicked were supposed to be confined (Luke viii. 31; Rev. ix. 1, 2, 11; xx. 1, 3; comp. 2 Pet. ii. 4). In the Revelation the authorized version invariably enders it bottomless pit,' elsewhere deep.'

Most of these uses of the word are explained by reference to some of the cosmological notions which the Hebrews entertained in common with other Eastern nations. It was believed that the abyss, or sea of fathomless waters, encompassed the whole earth. The earth floated on the abyss, of which it covered only a small part. According to the same notion, the earth was founded upon the waters, or, at least, had its foundations in the abyss beneath (Ps. xxiv. 2; cxxxvi. 6). Under these waters, and at the bottom of the abyss, the wicked were represented as groaning, and undergoing the punishment of their sins.

There were confined the Rephaim-those old giants who while living caused surrounding nations to tremble (Prov. ix. 18; xxix. 16). In those dark regions the sovereigns of Tyre, Babylon, and Egypt are described by the prophets as undergoing the punishment of their cruelty and pride (Jer. xxvi. 14; Ezek. xxviii. 10, &c.). This was the deep' into which the evil spirits in Luke, viii. 31, besought that they might not be cast, and which was evidently dreaded by them [CosmoGONY; HADES].

The notion of such an abyss was by no means confined to the East. It was equally entertained by the Celtic Druids, who held that Annwn (the deep, the low port), the abyss from which the earth arose, was the abode of the evil principle (Gwarthawn), and the place of departed spirits, comprehending both the Elysium and the Tartarus of antiquity. With them also wandering spirits were called Plant annun, the children of the deep' (Davis's Celtic Researches, p. 175; Myth. and Rites of the B. Druids, p. 49).

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ABYSSINIA. There is no part of Africa, Egypt being excepted, the history of which is connected with so many objects of interest as Abyssinia. A region of Alpine mountains, ever difficult of access by its nature and peculiar situation, concealing in its bosom the long-sought sources of the Nile, and the still more mysterious origin of its singular people, Abyssinia has alone preserved, in the heart of Africa, its peculiar literature and its ancient Christian church. What is still more remarkable, it has preserved existing remains of a previously existing and wide-spread Judaism, and with a language approaching more than any living tongue to the Hebrew, a state of manners, and a peculiar character of its people, which represent in these latter days the habits and customs of the ancient Israelites in the times of Gideon and of Joshua. So striking is the re

probable hypothesis, which should bring them down as a band of wandering shepherds from the mountains of Habesh (Abyssinia), and identify them with the pastor kings, who, according to Manetho, multiplied their bands of the Pharaohs, and being, after some centuries, expelled thence by the will of the gods, sought refuge in Judea, and built the walls of Jerusalem. Such an hypothesis would explain the existence of an almost Israelitish people, and the preservation of a language so nearly approaching to the Hebrew, in intertropical Africa. It is certainly untrue, and we find no other easy explanation of the facts which the history of Abyssinia presents, and particularly the early extension of the Jewish religion and customs through that country' Prichard's Physical History of Man, pp. 279, 280).

The above paragraph will suggest the grounds which appear to entitle Abyssinia to a place in a Biblical Cyclopædia. But as the country has no physical connection with Palestine-which is, geographically, our central object-a particular description of it is not necessary, and it will suffice to notice the points of inquiry suggested by the quotation. A brief outline is al. that seems requisite.

6

ABYSSINIA' is an European improvement upon the native name of 'HABESH.' That this country lies to the south of Nubia, which separates it from Egypt, and to the east of the Gulf of Bab-el-Mandah and the southern part of the Arabian sea, will sufficiently indicate its position. Abyssinia is a high country, which has been compared by Humboldt to the lofty Plain of Quito. By one of those beautiful synthetical operations of which his writings offer so many examples, the greatest living geographer, Carl Ritter of Berlin, has established, from the writings of various travellers, that the high country of Habesh consists of three terraces, or distinct table-lands, rising one above another, and of which the several grades of ascent offer themselves in succession to the traveller as he advances from the shores of the Red Sea (Erdkunde, th. i. s. 168). The first of these levels is the plain of Baharnegash: the second level is the plain and kingdom of Tigré, which formerly contained the kingdom of Axum: the third level is High Abyssinia, or the kingdom of Ambara. This name of Amhara is now given to the whole kingdom, of which Gondar is the capital, and where the Amharic language is spoken, eastward of the Takazzé. Ambara Proper is, however, a mountainous province to the south-east, in the centre of which was Tegulat, the ancient capital of the empire, and at one period the centre of the civilization of Abyssinia. This province is now in the possession of the Gallas, a barbarous people who have overcome all the southern parts of Habesh. The present kingdom of Amhara is the heart of Abyssinia, and the abode of the emperor, or Negush. It contains the upper course of the Nile, the valley of Dembea, and the lake Tzana, near which is the royal city of Gondar, and likewise the high region of Gojam, which Bruce states to be at least two miles above the level of the sea.

Abyssinia is inhabited by several distinct races, who are commonly included under the name of Habesh or Abyssins. They are clearly distin

guished from each other by their languages, but bave more or less resemblance in manners and physical character. These races are-1. The Tigrani, or Abyssins of the kingdom of Tigré, which nearly coincides in extent with the old kingdom of Axum. They speak a language called by Tellez and Ludolph lingua Tigrania. It is a corruption or modern dialect of the Gheez or old Ethiopie, which was the ancient vernacular tongue of the province; but is now a dead language consecrated to literature and religious uses [ETHIOPIC LANGUAGE], and the modern language of Tigre has been for more than five centuries merely an oral dialect. 2. The Amharas, who have been for ages the dominant people in Abyssinia; the genuine Amhara being considered as a higher and nobler caste, as the military and royal tribe. Their language-the Amharic now extends over all the eastern parts of Abysginia, including various provinces, some of which appear at one time to have had vernacular languages of their own. 3. The Agows, which name is borne by two tribes, who speak different languages and inhabit different parts of Abyssinia. These are the Agows of Damot, one of the most extensive of the southern provinces, where they are settled about the sources and on the banks of the Nile; and the Agows of Lasta, who, according to Bruce, are Troglodytes, living in caverns and paying the same adoration to the river Takazzé which those of Damot pay to the Nile. These last are called by Salt the Agows of Takazzé; and although they scarcely differ from the other Abyssinians in physical character, their language shows them to be a distinct race from the Persian as well as from the Amhara. 4. The Falasha, a people whose present condition suggests many curious inquiries, and the investigation of whose history may hereafter throw light upon that of the Abyssins, and of their literature and ecclesiastical antiquities. They all profess the Jewish religion, and probably did so before the era of the conversion of the Abyssins to Christianity. They themselves profess to derive their origin from Palestine; but their language, which is said to have no affinity with the Hebrew, scems sufficiently to refute this pretension (Vater, Mithridates, t. iii.) According to Bruce, the Falasha were very powerful at the time of the conversion of the Abyssins to Christianity. They were formerly a caste of potters and tile-makers in the low country of Dembea, but, owing to religious animosities, and being weakened by long wars, they were driven ut thence, and took refuge among rugged and almost inaccessible rocks, in the high ridge called the mountains of Samen, where they live under princes of their own, bearing Hebrew names, and paying tribute to the Negush. It is conjectured that the Falasha and the Agows were at one time the principal inhabitants of the south-eastern parts of Abyssinia. 5. The Gafats, a pagan tribe, with a distinct language, living on the southern banks of the Nile, near Damot. 6. The Gongas and Enareans. The former inhabit the province of Gonga, and have a language distinct from all the preceding, but the same which is spoken by the people of Narea, or Enarea, to the southward of Habesh. 7. To these we should perhaps now add the Gallas, a race of wandering herdsmen, extensively spread in eastern intertropical Africa,

who have become, during the last century, very formidable by their numbers, and threaten to overwhelm the Abyssinian empire.

The Abyssinians are to be regarded as belong. ing to the black races of men, but this is to be received with some explanation. Without entering into particulars, it may be observed, after Ruppell (Reise in Abyssinien), that there are two physical types prevalent among the Abyssinians. The greater number are a finely-formed people of the European type, having a countenance and features precisely resembling those of the Bedouins of Arabia. To this class belong most of the inhabitants of the high mountains of Samen, and of the plains around Lake Tzana, as well as the Falasha, or Jews, the heathen Gafats, and the Agows, notwithstanding the variety of their dialects. The other and very large division of the Abyssinian people is identified, as far as physical traits are concerned, with the race which has been distinguished by the name of Ethiopian. This race is indicated by a somewhat flattened nose, thick lips, long and rather dull eyes, and by very strongly crisped and almost woolly hair, which stands very thickly upon the head. They are therefore one of the connecting links between the Arabian and the Negro races, being separated from the former by a somewhat broader line than from the latter. In their essential characteristics they agree with the Nubians, Berberines, and native Egyptians (Prichard's Nat. Hist. of Man, p. 285).

Abyssinia has for ages been united under one governor, who during the earliest periods resided at Axum, the ancient capital of Tigré; but who for some centuries past has resided at Gondar, a more central part of the kingdom. For ages also the Abyssins have been Christians, but with a strange mixture of the Judaism which appears to have been previously professed, and with the exceptions which have been already indicated. Tigre, in which was the ancient capital of the empire, was the country in which Judaism appears to have been in former times the most prevalent. It was also the country which possessed, in the Gheez or ancient Ethiopic, a Semitic language. It was, moreover, the seat of civilization, which, it is important to observe, appears to have been derived from the opposite coast of Arabia, and to have had nothing Egyptian or Nubian in its character.

These observations have brought us back again to the difficulty stated at the commencement of this article, in the words of Dr. Prichard, which has hitherto been considered insuperable. There is no doubt, however, that this difficulty has chiefly arisen from attempting to explain all the phenomena on a single principle; whereas two causes at least contributed to produce them, as the following remarks will clearly show :--

The former profession of Judaism in the country is sufficient to account for the class of observances and notions derivable from the Jewish ritual, which are very numerous, and appear singular, mixed up as they are with a professedly Christian faith. This, however, does not account for Jewish manners and customs, or for the existence of a language so much resembling the Hebrew, and so truly a Semitic dialect as the Gheez, or old Ethiopian. For nations may adopt a foreign religion, and maintain the usages