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ADDER

ADDER, the English name of a kind of serpent. It occurs several times in the English version of the Bible, and is there used not for a particular species, but generally for several of this dangerous class of reptiles. We have before us a list, far from complete, of the erpetology of Palestine, Arabia, and Egypt, in which there are, among forty-three species indicated, about eight whose bite is accompanied with a venomous effusion, and therefore almost all very dangerous. In our present state of knowledge we deem it best to discuss, under the words SERPENT and VIPER, all the Hebrew names not noticed in this article, and to refer to them those occurring in our version under the appellations of asp,' 'cockatrice,' &c.; and likewise to review the allusions to colossal boas and pythons, and, finally, to notice water-snakes and murænæ, which translators and biblical naturalists have totally overlooked, although they must exist in the lakes of the Delta, are abundant on the north coast of Africa, and often exceed eight feet in length. In this place we shall retain that genus alone which Laurenti and Cuvier have established

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upon characters distinguished from the innocuous coluber, and the venomous vipera, and denominated naja.

The genus Naja-Haridi (?) of Savary-is distinguished by a plaited head, large, very venomous fangs, a neck dilatable under excitement, which raises the ribs of the anterior part of the body into the form of a disk or hood, when the scales, usually not imbricated, but lying in juxta-position, are separated, and expose the skin, which at that time displays bright irideScent gleams, contrasting highly with their brown, yellow, and bluish colours. The species attain at least an equal, if not a superior, size to the generality of the genus viper; are inore massive in their structure; and some possess the faculty of self-inflation to triple their diameter, gradually forcing the body upwards into an erect position, until, by a convulsive crisis, they are said suddenly to strike backwards at an enemy or a pursuer. With such powers of destroying animal life, and with an aspect at once terrible and resplendent, it may be easily imagined how soon fear and superstition would

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Naja Haje; and the form of Cneph from the
Egyptian Monuments.

combine, at periods anterior to historical data, to raise these monsters into divinities, and endeavour to deprecate their wrath by the blandishments of worship; and how design and cupidity would teach these very votaries the manner of subduing their ferocity, of extracting their instruments of mischief, and making them subservient to the wonder and amusement of the vulgar, by using certain cadences of sound which affect their hearing, and exciting in them a desire to perform a kind of pleasurable movements that may be compared to dancing. Hence the nagas of the East, the hag-worms of the West, and the haje, have all been deified, styled agathodæmon or good spirit; and figures of them occur wherever the superstition of Pagan antiquitiy has been accompanied by the arts of

civilization.

The most prominent species of the genus at present is the naja tripudians, cobra di capello, hooded or spectacled snake of India, venerated by the natives; even by the serpent-charmers styled the good serpent to this day, and yet so

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Naja Tripudians and Cobra di Capello; or, Hooded and Spectacled Snakes.

ferocious that it is one of the very few that will attack a man when surprised in its haunt, although it may be gorged with prey. This species is usually marked on the nape with two round spots, transversely connected in the form of a pair of spectacles; but among several varieties, one, perhaps distinct, is without the marks, and has a glossy golden hood, which may make it identical with the naja haje of Egypt, the undoubted Ihh-nuphi, ceneph, or agathodæmon of Ancient Egypt, and accurately represented on the walls of its temples, in almost innumerable instances, both in form and colour. This serpent also inflates the skin on the neck, not in the expanded form of a hood, but rather into an intumefaction of the neck. As in the former, there is no marked difference of appearance between the sexes; but the psilli, or charmers, by a particular pressure on the neck have the power of rendering the inflation of the animal, already noticed as a character of the genus, so intense, that the serpent becomes rigid, and can be held out horizontally as if it were a rod.

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This practice explains what the soothsayers of · Pharaoh could perform when they were opposing Moses. That the rods of the magicians of Pharaoh were of the same external character with the rod of Aaron, is evident from no different denomination being given to them: therefore we may infer that they used a real serpent as a rod-namely the species now called hajefor their imposture; since they no doubt did what the present serpent-charmers perform with the same species, by means of the temporary asphyxiation, or suspension of vitality, before noticed, and producing restoration to active life by liberating or throwing down. Thus we have the miraculous character of the prophet's mission shown by his real rod becoming a serpent, and the magicians' real serpents merely assuming the form of rods; and when both were opposed in a state of animated existence, by the rod devouring the living animals, conquering the great typical personification of the protecting divinity of Egypt.

This species of serpent may be regarded as extending to India and Ceylon; and probably the naja tripudians is likewise an inhabitant of Arabia, if not of Egypt, although the assertion of the fact (common in authors) does not exclude a supposition that they take the two species to be only one. We are disposed to refer the winged' or flying' serpent to the naja tripudians, in one of its varieties, because-with its hood dilated into a kind of shining wings on each side of the neck, standing, in undulating motion, one-half or more erect, rigid, and fierce in attack, and deadly poisonous, yet still denominated good spirit,' and in Egypt ever figured in combination with the winged globe-it well may have received the name of saraph, swallowing or devouring, and may thus meet all the valid objections, and conciliate seemingly opposite comments (see Num. xxi. 6, 8; Deut. viii. 15; Isa. xiv. 29; Xxx. 6).

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ACHSUB is another name of a serpent which may be considered as specifically different from the former, though it is most probably one more of this group of terrible creatures. The root of the name implies bending back, recurving, but not coiling up, for all snakes have that faculty. The syllable ach, however, shows a connection with the former denominations; and both are perfectly reconcilable with a serpent very common at the Cape of Good Hope, not unfrequent in Western Africa, and probably extending over that whole continent, excepting perhaps Morocco. It is the poff-adder' of the Dutch colonists, about three feet in length, and about six inches in circumference at the middle of the body; the head is larger than is usual in serpents; the eyes are large, and very brilliant; the back beautifully marked in half circles, and the colours black, bright yellow, and dark brown; the belly yellow; the appearance at all times, but chiefly when excited, extremely brilliant; the upper jaw greatly protruding, somewhat like what occurs in the shark, places the mouth back towards the throat, and this structure is said to be connected with the practice of the animal when intending to bite, to swell its skin till it suddenly rises up, and strikes backwards as if it fell over. It is this faculty which appears to be indicated by the Hebrew name achsub, and therefore we

ADJURATION

believe it to refer to that species, or to one nearly allied to it. The Dutch name (poff-adder, or spooch-adder) shows that, in the act of swelling. remarkable eructations and spittings take place, all which no doubt are so many warnings, the bite being fatal. The poff-adder usually reside among brushwood in stony places and rocks, is fond of basking in the sun, rather slow in moving, and is by nature timid [SERPENT; VIPER].

AD'DON, one of several places mentioned in Neh. vii. 61, being towns in the land of captivity, from which those who returned to Palestine were unable to shew their father's house, or thei seed, whether they were of Israel.' This, pro bably, means that they were unable to furnish such undeniable legal proof as was required in such cases. And this is in some degree explained by the subsequent (v. 63) mention of priest: who were expelled the priesthood because their descent was not found to be genealogically registered. These instances show the importance which was attached to their genealogies by the Jews [GENEALOGY].

ADIABE'NE, the principal of the six provinces into which Assyria was divided. Pliny and Ammianus comprehend the whole of Assyria under this name, which, however, properly denoted only the province which was watered by the rivers Diab and Adiab, or the Great and Little Zab (Dhab), which flow into the Tigris below Nineveh (Mosul), from the north-east. This region is not mentioned in Scripture; but in Josephus, its queen Helena and her son Izates, who became converts to Judaism, are very often named (Joseph. Antiq. xx. 2, 4; Bell. Jud. ii. 16, 19; v. 4, 6, 11).

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AD'IDA, a fortified town in the tribe of Judah. In 1 Macc. xii. 38, we read that Simon Maccabæus set up Adida in Saphela, and made it strong with bolts and bars.' Eusebius says that Sephela was the name given in his time to the open country about Eleutheropolis. And this Adida in Sephela is probably the same which is mentioned in the next chapter (xiii. 13) as Adida over against the plain,' where Simon Maccabæus encamped to dispute the entrance into Judæa of Tryphon, who had treacherously seized on Jonathan at Ptolemais. In the pa rallel passage Josephus (Antiq. xiii. 6, 5) add: that this Adida was upon a hill, before which lay the plains of Judæa. One of the places which Josephus calls Adida (Bell. Jud. iv. 9, 1) appears to have been near the Jordan, and was probably the Hadid of Ezra ii. 33.

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ADJURATION. This is a solemn act o appeal, whereby one man, usually a person vested with natural or official authority, imposes upon another the obligation of speaking or act ing as if under the solemnity of an oath. have an example of this in the New Testament when the high-priest thus calls upon Christ, '] adjure thee by the living God, tell us &c.(Matt. xxvi. 63; see also Mark v. 7; Acts xix 13; 1 Thes. v. 27). An oath, although thus imposed upon one without his consent, was no only binding, but solemn in the highest degree; and when connected with a question, an answer was compulsory, which answer being as upor oath, any falsehood in it would be perjury. Thus our Saviour, who had previously disdained to

ADONIJAH

reply to the charges brougnt against him, now felt himself bound to answer the question put to

him.

AD'MAH, one of the cities in the vale of Siddim (Gen. x. 19), which had a king of its own (Gen. xiv. 2). It was destroyed along with Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. xix. 24; Hos. xi. 8). ADONIBE'ZEK (lord of Bezek), king or lord of Bezek, a town which Eusebius places 17 miles east of Neapolis or Shechem. The small extent of the kingdoms in and around Palestine at the time of its invasion by the Hebrews is shown by the fact that this petty king had subdued no less than seventy of them; and the barbarity of the war-usages in those early times is painfully shown by his cutting off all the thumbs and great toes of his prisoners, and allowing them no food but that which they gathered under his table. These conquests made Adonibezek a triton among the minnows;' and we find him at the head of the confederated Canaanites and Perizzites, against whom the tribes of Judah and Simeon marched after the death of Joshua. His army was routed and himself taken prisoner. The victors failed not to express their indignation at the mode in which he had treated his captives, by dealing with him in the same

manner.

ADONIJAH (Jehovah [is] my Lord), the fourth son of David, by Haggith. He was born after his father became king, but when he reigned over Judah only (2 Sam. iii. 4). According to the Oriental notion developed in the article ABSALOM, Adonijah might have considered his claim superior to that of his eldest brother Amnon, who is supposed to have been born while his father was in a private station; but not to that of Absalom, who was not only his elder brother, and born while his father was a king, but was of royal descent on the side of his mother. When, however, Amnon and Absalom were both dead, he became, by order of birth, the heir-apparent to the throne. But this order had been set aside in favour of Solomon, who was born while his father was king of all Israel. Absalom perished in attempting to assert his claim of primogeniture, in opposition to this arrangement. Unawed by this example, Adonijah assumed the state of an heir-apparent, who, from the advanced age of David, must soon be king. But it does not appear to have been his wish to trouble his father as Absalom had done; for he waited till David appeared at the point of death, when he called around him a number of influential men, whom he had previously gained over, and caused himself to be proclaimed king. This was a formidable attempt to subvert the appointment made by the Divine king of Israel; for Adonijah was supported by such men as Joab, the general-in-chief, and Abiathar, the highpriest; both of whom had followed David in all his fortunes. But his plot was, notwithstanding, defeated by the prompt measure taken by David, who directed Solomon to be at once proclaimed, and crowned, and admitted to the real exercise of the sovereign power. Adonijah then saw that all was lost, and fled to the altar, which he refused to leave without a promise of pardon from King Solomon. This he received, but was warned that any further attempt of the came kind would be fatal to him. Accordingly, when, some time

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after the death of David, Adonijah covertly endeavoured to reproduce his claim through a marriage with Abishag, the virgin widow of his father [ABISHAG, his design was at once penetrated by the king, by whose order he was instantly put to death (1 Kings i.-ii. 13-25).

ADONIRAM (lord of height, that is, high lord) (1 Kings iv. 6). This name is exhibited in the contracted form of ADORAM in 2 Sam. xx. 24; 1 Kings xii. 18; and of Hadoram in 2 Chron. x. 18.

1. ADONIRAM, or HADORAM, son of Toi, king of Hamath, who was sent by his father to congratulate David on his victory over their common enemy Hadarezer, king of Syria (1 Chron. xviii. 10). This prince is called Jorain in 2 Sam. viii. 10.

2. ADONIRAM. A person of this name is mentioned as receiver-general of the imposts in the reigns of David, Solomon, and Rehoboam. Only one incident is recorded in connection with this person

When the ten tribes seceded from the house of David, and made Jeroboam king, Rehoboam sent Adoniram among them, for the purpose, we may presume, of collecting the usual imposts, which had become very heavy. Perhaps he had been rigid in his invidious office under Solomon: at all events the collector of the imposts which had occasioned the revolt was not the person whose presence was the most likely to soothe the exasperated passions of the people. They rose upon him, and stoned him till he died (1 Kings xii. 18).

ADONIZE'DEK. The name denotes lord of justice, i. e. just lord, but some would rather have it to mean king of Zedek. He was the Canaanitish king of Jerusalem when the Israelites invaded Palestine; and the similarity of the name to that of a more ancient king of (as is supposed) the same place. Melchi-zedek (king of justice, or king of Zedek), has suggested that Zedek was one of the ancient names of Jerusalem. Be that as it may, this Adonizedek was the first of the native princes that attempted to make head against the invaders. After Jericho and Ai were taken, and the Gibeonites had succeeded in forming a treaty with the Israelites, Adonizedek was the first to rouse himself from the stupor which had fallen on the Canaanites (Josh. x. 1, 3), and he induced the other Amoritish kings of Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon, to join him in a confederacy against the enemy. They did not, however, march directly against the invaders, but went and besieged the Gibeonites, to punish them for the discouraging example which their secession from the common cause had afforded. Joshua no sooner heard of this than he marched all night from Gilgal to the relief of his allies; and falling unexpectedly upon the besiegers, soon put them to utter rout. The pursuit was long, and was signalized by Joshua's famous command to the sun and moon, as well as by a tremendous hail-storm, which greatly distressed the fugitive Amorites [JOSHUA]. The five kings took refuge in a cave; but were observed, and by Joshua's order the mouth of it was closed with large stones, and a guard set over it, until the pursuit was over. When the pursuers returned, the cave was opened, and the five kings brought out. The Hebrew chiefs then set their feet upon the necks of the prostrate

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monarchs-an ancient mark of triumph, of which | the monuments of Persia and Egypt still afford illustrations. They were then slain, and their bodies hanged on trees until the evening, when, as the law forbade a longer exposure of the dead (Deut. xxi. 23), they were taken down, and cast into the cave, the mouth of which was filled up with large stones, which remained long after (Josh. x. 1-27). The severe treatment of these kings by Joshua has been censured and defended with equal disregard of the real circumstances, which are, that the war was avowedly one of extermination, no quarter being given or expected on either side: and that the war-usages of the Jews were neither worse nor better than those of the people with whom they fought, who would most certainly have treated Joshua and the other Hebrew chiefs in the same manner, had they fallen into their hands.

ADOPTION. The Old Testament does not contain any word equivalent to this; but the act occurs in various forms. The New Testament has the word often (Rom. viii. 15, 23; ix. 4; Gal. iv. 5; Eph. i. 5); but no example of the act occurs. The term signifies the placing as a son of one who is not so by birth.

ADOPTION

right of giving her handmaid Zilpah tc Jacob, that she might thus increase their number; and by this means she had Gad and Asher (Gen. xxx. 9-13). In this way the greatest possible approximation to a natural relation was produced. The child was the son of the husband, and, the mother being the property of the wife. the progeny must be her property also; and the act of more particular appropriation seems to have been that, at the time of birth, the handmaid brought forth her child upon the knees of the adoptive mother' (Gen. xxx. 3). A curious fact is elicited by the peculiar circumstances in Sarah's case, which were almost the only circumstances that could have arisen to try the question, whether a mistress retained her power, as such, over a female slave whom she had thus vicariously employed, and over the progeny of that slave, even though by her own husband. The answer is given, rather startlingly, in the affirmative in the words of Sarah, who, when the birth of Isaac had wholly changed her feelings and position, and when she was exasperated by the offensive conduct of Hagar and her son, addressed her husband thus, Cast forth this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac' (Gen. xxi. 10).

The practice of adoption had its origin in the desire for male offspring among those who have, in the ordinary course, been denied that blessing, or have been deprived of it by circumstances. This feeling is common to our nature; but its operation is less marked in those countries where the equalizing influences of high civilization lessen the peculiar privileges of the paternal character, and where the security and the wellobserved laws by which estates descend and property is transmitted, withdraw one of the principal inducements to the practice. And thus most of the instances in the Bible occur in the patriarchal period. The law of Moses, by settling the relations of families and the rules of descent, and by formally establishing the Levirate law, which in some sort secured a representative posterity even to a man who died without children, appears to have put some check upon this custom. The allusions in the New Testament are mostly to practices of adoption which then existed among the Greeks and Romans, and rather to the latter than to the former; for among the more highly civilized Greeks adoption was less frequent than among the Romans. In the East the practice has always been common, especially among the Semitic races, in whom the love of offspring has at all times been strongly manifested.

It is scarcely necessary to say that adoption was confined to sons. The whole Bible history affords no example of the adoption of a female.

The first instances of adoption which occur in Scripture are less the acts of men than of women, who, being themselves barren, gave their female slaves to their husbands, with the view of adopting the children they might bear. Thus Sarah gave her handmaid Hagar to Abraham; and the son that was born, Ishmael, appears to have been considered as her son as well as Abraham's, until Isaac was born. In like manner Rachel, having no children, gave her handmaid Bilhah to her husband, who had by her Dan and Naphtali (Gen. xxx. 5-9); on which his other wife, Leah, although she had sons of her own, yet fearing that she had left off bearing, claimed the

A previous instance of adoption in the history of Abraham, when as yet he had no children, appears to be discoverable in his saying, 'One born in my house is mine heir.' This unquestionably denotes a house-born slave, as distinguished from one bought with money. Abraham had several such; and the one to whom he is supposed here to refer is his faithful and devoted steward Eliezer. This, therefore, is a case in which a slave was adopted as a son-a practice still very common in the East. A boy is often purchased young, adopted by his master, brought up in his faith, and educated as his son; or if the owner has a daughter, he adopts him through a marriage with that daughter, and the family which springs from this union is counted as descended from him. But house-born slaves are usually preferred, as these have never had any home but their master's house, are considered members of his family, and are generally the most faithful of his adherents. This practice of slave adoption was very common among the Romans; and, as such, is more than once referred to by St. Paul (Rom. viii. 15; Gal. iv. 5-6), the transition from the condition of a slave to that of a son, and the privilege of applying the tender name of Father' to the former 'Master,' affording a beautiful illustration of the change which takes place from the bondage of the law to the freedom and privileges of the Christian state.

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As in most cases the adopted son was to be considered dead to the family from which he sprung, the separation of natural ties and connections was avoided by this preference of slaves, who were mostly foreigners or of foreign descent. For the same reason the Chinese make their adoptions from children in the hospitals, who have been abandoned by their parents. The Tartars are the only people we know who prefer to adopt their near relatives-nephews or cousins, or, failing them, a Tartar of their own banner. The only Scriptural example of this

ADORATION

kind is that in which Jacob adopted his own grandsons Ephraim and Manasseh to be counted as his sons (Gen. xlviii. 6). The object of this remarkable adoption was, that whereas Joseph himself could only have one share of his father's heritage along with his brothers, the adoption of his two sons enabled Jacob, through them, to bestow two portions upon his favourite son. The adoption of Moses by Pharaoh's daughter (Exod. ii. 1-10) is an incident rather than a practice; but it recalls what has just been stated respecting the adoption of outcast children by the Chinese. In 1 Chron. ii. 34, &c., there is an instance recorded of a daughter being married to a free slave, and the children being counted as those of the woman's father. The same chapter gives another instance. Machir (grandson of Joseph) gives his daughter in marriage to Hezron, of the tribe of Judah. She gave birth to Segub, who was the father of Jair. Jair possessed twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead, which came to him in right of his grandmother, the daughter of Machir; and he acquired other towns in the same quarter, which made up his possessions to three-score towns or villages 1 Chron. ii. 21-24; Josh. xiii. 30; 1 Kings iv. 13). Now this Jair, though of the tribe of Judah by his grandfather, is, in Num. xxxii. 41, counted as of Manasseh, for the obvious reason which the comparison of these texts suggests, that, through his grandmother, he inherited the property, and was the lineal representative of Machir, the son of Manasseh.

ADORAIM, a town in the south of Judah, enumerated along with Hebron and Mareshah, as one of the cities fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi. 9. This town does not occur in any writer after Josephus, until the recent researches of Dr. Robinson, who discovered it under the name of Dura, the first feeble letter having been dropped. It is situated five miles W. by S. from Hebron, and is a large village, seated on the eastern slope of a cultivated hill, with olivegroves and fields of grain all around. There

are no ruins.

ADORATION. This word is compounded of adto,' and os, oris, the month,' and literally signifies to apply the hand to the mouth,' that is, to kiss the hand.' The act is described in Scripture as one of worship (Job xxxi. 26, 27). And this very clearly intimates that kissing the hand was considered an overt act of worship in the East.

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The same act was used as a mark of respect in the presence of kings and persons high in office or station. Or rather, pei haps, the hand was not merely kissed and then withdrawn from the mouth, but held continuously before or upon

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the mouth, to which allusion is made in such texts as Judg. xviii. 19; Job xxi. 5; xxix. 9; xl. 4; Ps. xxxix. 9. In one of the sculptures at Persepolis a king is seated on his throne, and before him a person standing in a bent posture, with his hand laid upon his mouth as he addresses the sovereign (fig. 1). Exactly the same attitude is observed in the sculptures at Thebes, where one person, among several (in various postures of respect) who appear before the scribes to be registered, has his hand placed thus submissively upon his mouth (fig. 2).

ADRAM'MELECH is mentioned, together with Anammelech, in 2 Kings xvii. 31, as one of the idols whose worship the inhabitants of Sepharvaim established in Samaria, when they were transferred thither by the king of Assyria, and whom they worshipped by the sacrifice of their children by fire. This constitutes the whole of our certain knowledge of this idol.

2. ADRAMMELECH, one of the sons and murderers of Sennacherib, king of Assyria (2 Kings xix. 37; Isa. xxxvii. 38).

ADRAMYT'TIUM, a sea-port town in the province of Mysia in Asia Minor, opposite the isle of Lesbos, and an Athenian colony. It is mentioned in Scripture only, from the fact that the ship in which Paul embarked at Cæsarea as a prisoner on his way to Italy, belonged to Adramyttium (Acts xxvii. 2). It was rare to find a vessel going direct from Palestine to Italy. The usual course, therefore, was to embark in some ship bound to one of the ports of Asia Minor, and there go on board a vessel sailing for Italy. This was the course taken by the centurion who had charge of Paul. The ship of Adramyttium took them to Myra in Lycia, and here they embarked in an Alexandrian vessel bound for Italy. Adramyttium is still called Adramyt. It is built on a hill, contains about 1000 houses, and is still a place of some commerce.

ADRIATIC SEA (Acts xxvii. 27). This name is now confined to the gulf lying between Italy on one side, and the coasts of Dalmatia and Albania on the other. But in St. Paul's time it extended to all that part of the Mediterranean between Crete and Sicily. This fact is of importance, as relieving us from the necessity of finding the island of Melita on which Paul was shipwrecked, in the present Adriatic gulf; and consequently removing the chief difficulty in the way of the identification of that island with the present Malta.

A'DRIEL (the flock of God), the person to whom Saul gave in marriage his daughter Merab, who had been originally promised to David (1 Sam. xviii. 19). Five sons sprung from this union, who were taken to make up the number of Saul's descendants, whose lives, on the principle of blood-revenge, were required by the Gibeonites to avenge the cruelties which Saul had exercised towards their race [GIBEONITES].

ADUL'LAM, an old city (Gen. xxxviii. 1, 12, 20) in the plain country of the tribe of Judah (Josh. xv. 35), and one of the royal cities of the Canaanites (Josh. xii. 15). It was one of the towns which Rehoboam fortified (2 Chron. xi. 7 ; Micah i. 15), and is mentioned after the Captivity (Neh. xi. 30; 2 Macc. 12, 38). It is evident that Adullam was one of the cities of the valley,' or plain between the hill country

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