MYRRH MYRTLE nists. Lambert to be the Salvadora Persica of bota-cently p-blished Travels in Abyssinia (i. 249), mentions that Myrrh and mimosa trees abounded in this place' (Koranhedudah in Adal). The former he describes as being a low, thorny, ragged-looking tree, with bright-green trifoliate leaves; the gum exudes from cracks in the bark of the trunk near the root, and flows freely upon 604 The paper above referred to concludes by stating it as an important fact, that the writer had come to the same conclusion as Irby and Mangles, by an independent mode of investigation, even when he could not ascertain that the plant existed in Palestine; which is, at all events, interesting, as proving that the name kharjal is applied, even in so remote a country as the northwest of India, to the same plant which, in Syria, is called khardal, and which no doubt is the ahardal of the Talmudists, one of whom describes it as a tree of which the wood was sufficient to cover a potter's shed, and another says that he was wont to climb into it, as men climb into a fig-tree. Hence there can be little doubt but that Salvadora Persica is the mustard tree of Scriptare. The plant has a small seed, which produces a large tree with numerous branches, in which the birds of the air may take shelter. The seed is possessed of the same properties, and is used for the same purposes, as mustard, and has a name, khardal, of which sinapi is the true translation, and which, moreover, grows abundantly on the very shores of the sea of Galilee, where our Saviour addressed to the multitude the parable of the mustard seed. MY'RA, one of the chief towns of Lycia, in Asia Minor. It lay about a league from the sea (in N. lat. 36° 18'; E. long. 30°), upon a rising ground, at the foot of which flowed a navigable river with an excellent harbour at its mouth. The town now lies desolate. When Paul was on his voyage from Cæsarea to Rome, he and the other prisoners were landed here, and were reembarked in a ship of Alexandria bound to Rome (Acts xxvii. 5). MYRRH is the exudation of a little-known tree found in Arabia, but much more extensively in Abyssinia. It formed an article of the earliest commerce, was highly esteemed by the Egyptians and Jews, as well as by the Greeks and Romans, as it still is both in the East and in Europe. The earliest notice of it occurs in Exod. xxx. 23, "Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh (morderor) 500 shekels.' It is afterwards mentioned in Esther ii. 12, as employed in the purification of women; in Ps. xlv. 8, as a perfume, All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia; also in several passages of the Song of Solomon (iv. 6; v. 5). We find it mentioned in Matt. ii. 11, among the gifts presented by the wise men of the East to the infant Jesus-in 'gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.' It may be remarked as worthy of notice, that myrrh and frankincense are frequently mentioned together. In Mark xv 23, we learn that the Roman soldiers 'gave him (Jesus) to drink wine mingled with myrrh; but he received it not.' The Apostle John (xix. 39) says, Then came also Nicodemus, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight,' for the purpose of embalming the body of our Saviour. · Though myrrh seems to have been known from the earliest times, and must consequently have been one of the most ancient articles of commerce, the country producing it long remained unknown. Some is undoubtedly procured in Arabia, but the largest quantity has always been obtained from Africa. Mr. Johnson, in his re 261. [Balsamodendron Myrrha.] the stones immediately underneath. Artificially it is obtained by bruises made with stones. The natives collect it principally in the hot months of July and August, but it is to be found, though in very small quantities, at other times of the year. Several kinds of myrrh were known to the ancients; and in modern commerce we have Turkish and East Indian myrrh, and different names used to be, and are still applied to it, as red and fatty myrrh, myrrh in tears, in sorts, and myrrh in grains. In the Bible also several kinds of myrrh are enumerated, respecting which va rions opinions have been entertained. Myrrh, it is well known, was celebrated in the most ancient times as a perfume, and a fumigator, as well as for its uses in medicine. Myrrh was burned in the temples, and employed in embalming the bodies of the dead. It was offered presents, as natural products commonly were in those days, because such as were procured from distant countries were very rare. The ancients prepared a wine of myrrh, and also an oil of myrrh, and it formed an ingredient in many of the most celebrated compound medicines, as the Theriaca, the Mithridata, Manus Dei, &c. Even in Europe it continued to recent times to enjoy the highest medicinal reputation, as it does in the East in the present day. From the sensible properties of this drug, and from the virtues which were ascribed to it, we may satisfactorily account for the mention of it in the several passages of Scripture which have been quoted. MYRTLE occurs in several passages of the Old Testament, as in Isa. xli. 19; lv. 13; Neh. viii. 15; Zech. i. 8, 10, 11. The myrtle has from the earnest periods been MYSTERY highly esteemed in all the countries of the south of Europe. By the Greeks and Romans it was dedicated to Venus, and employed in making wreaths to crown lovers, but among the Jews it was the emblem of justice. The note of the Chaldee Targum on the name Esther, according to Dr. Harris, is, they call her Hadassah because she was just, and those that are just are compared to myrtles.' " The repute which the myrtle enjoyed in ancient times it still retains, notwithstanding the great accession of ornamental shrubs and flowers which has been made to the gardens and greenhouses of Europe. This is justly due to the rich colouring of its dark green and shining leaves, contrasted with the white starlike clusters of its flowers, affording in hot countries a pleasant shade under its branches, and diffusing an agreeable odour from its flowers or bruised leaves. It is, however, most agreeable in appearance when in the state of a shrub, for when it grows into a tree, as it does in hot counties, the traveller looks under instead of over its leaves, and a multitude of small branches are seen deprived of their leaves by the crowding of the upper ones. This shrub is common in the southern provinces of Spain and France, as well as in Italy and Greece; and also on the northern coast of Africa, and in Syria. The poetical celebrity of this plant had, no doubt, some influence upon its employment in medicine, and numerous properties are ascribed to it by Dioscorides (1.127). It is aromatic and astringent, Iand hence, like many other such plants, forms a stimulant tonic, and is useful in a variety of complaints connected with debility. Its berries were formerly employed in Italy, and still are so in Tuscany, as a substitute for spices, now imported so plentifully from the far East. A wine was also prepared from them, which was called myrtidanum, and their essential oil is possessed of excitant properties. In many parts of Greece and Italy the leaves are employed in tanning leather. The myrtle, possessing so many remarkable qualities, was not likely to have escaped the notice of the sacred writers, as it is a well-known inhabitant of Judæa. MYS'IA, a province occupying the north-west angle of Asia Minor, and separated from Europe only by the Propontis and Hellespont: on the south it joined Eolis, and was separated on the east from Bithynia by the river Esopus. Latterly olis was included in Mysia, which was then separated from Lydia and Ionia by the river Hermus, now Sarabad or Djedis. In ancient times the province of Mysia was celebrated for its fertility in corn and wine, and although now but poorly tilled, it is still one of the finest tracts in Asia Minor. Paul passed through this province and embarked at its chief port, Troas, on his first voyage to Europe (Acts xvi. 7, 8). MYSTERY. A most unscriptural and dangerous sense is but too often put upon this word, as if it meant something absolutely unintelligible and incomprehensible; whereas, in every instance in which it occurs in the Sept. or New Testament, it is applied to something which is revealed, declared, explained, spoken, or which may be known or understood. This fact will appear from the following elucidation of the passages in which it is found. First, it is sometimes used to denote the meaning of a symbolical represent NAAMAN 6 • ation, whether addressed to the mind by a parable, allegory, &c., or to the eye, by a vision, &c. (Matt. xiii. 10; Mark iv. 11). Again, the mystery or symbolical vision of the seven stars and of the seven golden candlesticks' (Rev. i. 12, 16), is explained to mean the angels of the seven churches of Asia, and the seven churches themselves' (ver. 20). Again, the mystery' or symbolical representation of the woman upon a scarlet-coloured beast' (Rev. xvii. 3-6) is also explained: I will tell thee the mystery of the woman,' &c. (xvii. 7). When St. Paul, speaking of marriage, says, this is a great mystery' (Eph. v. 32), he evidently treats the original institution of marriage as affording a figurative representation of the union betwixt Christ and the church. The word is also used to denote anything whatever which is hidden or concealed, till it is explained. Thus it is employed in the New Testament to denote those doctrines of Christianity, general or particular, which the Jews and the world at large did not understand, till they were revealed by Christ and his apostles, 'Great is the mystery of godliness,' i. e. the Christian religion (1 Tim. iii. 16), the chief parts of which the apostle instantly proceeds to adduce,—' God was manifest in the flesh, justified by the Spirit, seen of angels,' &c.-facts which had not entered into the heart of man (1 Cor. ii. 9) until God visibly accomplished them, and revealed them to the apostles by inspiration (ver. 10). Thus also the Gospel in general is called the mystery of the faith' (1 Tim. iii. 9), and the mystery which from the beginning of the world had been hid with God, but which was now made known through means of the church' (Eph. iii. 9). The same word is used respecting certain particular doctrines of the Gospel, as, for instance, the partial and temporary blindness of Israel,' of which mystery the Apostle would not have Christians' ignorant (Rom. xi. 25), and which he explains (ver. 25-32). He styles the calling of the Gentiles a mystery which, in other ages, was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed unto the holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit' (Eph. iii. 4-6; comp. i. 9, 10, &c.). To this class we refer the well-known phrase, Behold I show you a mystery (1 Cor. xv. 51), we shall all be changed;' and then follows an explanation of the change (ver. 51-55). And in the prophetic portion of his writings concerning the mystery of iniquity' (2 Thess. ii. 7), he speaks of it as being ultimately revealed' (ver. 8); and to complete the proof that the word 'mystery' is used in the sense of knowable secrets, we add the words Though I understand all mysteries' (1 Cor. xiii. 2). " • • N. 605 NABOTH 606 NAAMAN sions. king Benhadad; and although he was afflicted | sense of overwhelming obligation, he sent him with. leprosy, it would seem that this did not, as back with more than he had ventured to ask (2 among the Hebrews, operate as a disqualification Kings v.). Nothing more is known of Naaman; for public employment. Nevertheless, the con- and what befel Gehazi is related under another dition of a leper could not but have been in his head [GEHAZI]. high place both afflicting and painful: and when it was heard that a little Hebrew slave-girl, who waited upon Naaman's wife, had spoken of a prophet in Samaria who could cure her master of his leprosy, the faint and uncertain hope thus offered was eagerly seized; and the general obtained permission to visit the place where this relief was to be sought. Benhadad even furnished him with a letter to his old enemy king Joram; but as this letter merely stated that Naaman had been sent for him to cure, the king of Israel rent his clothes in astonishment and anger, suspecting that a request so impossible to grant, involved a studied insult or an intention to fix a quarrel upon him with a view to future aggresWhen tidings of this affair reached the prophet Elisha, he desired that the stranger might be sent to him. Naaman accordingly went, and his splendid train of chariots, horses, and laden camels filled the street before the prophet's house. As a leper, Naaman could not be admitted into the house; and Elisha did not come out to him as he expected, and as he thought civility required; but he sent out his servant to tell him to go and dip himself seven times in the Jordan, and that his leprosy would then pass from him. He was, however, by this time so much chafed and disgusted by the apparent neglect and incivility with which he had been treated, that if his attendants had not prevailed upon him to obey the directions of the prophet, he would have returned home still a leper. But he went to the Jordan, and having bent himself seven times beneath its waters, rose from them clear from all leprous stain. His gratitude was now proportioned to his previous wrath, and he drove back to vent the feelings of his full heart to the prophet of Israel. He avowed to him his conviction that the God of Israel, through whom this marvellous deed had been wrought, was great beyond all gods; and he declared that henceforth he would worship Him only, and to that end he proposed to take with him two mules' load of the soil of Israel wherewith to set up in Damascus an altar to Jehovah. This shows he had heard that an altar of earth was necessary (Exod. xx. 24); and the imperfect notions which he entertained of the duties which his desire to serve Jehovah involved, were natural in an uninstructed foreigner. He had also heard that Jehovah was a very jealous God, and had forbidden any of his servants to bow themselves down before idols; and therefore he expressed to Elisha a hope that he should be forgiven if, when his public duty required him to attend his king to the temple of Rimmon, he bowed with his master. The grateful Syrian would gladly have pressed upon Elisha gifts of high value, but the holy man resolutely refused to take anything, lest the glory redounding to God from this great act should in any degree be obscured. His servant, Gehazi, was less scrupulous, and hastened with a lie in his mouth to ask in his master's name for a portion of that which Elisha had refused. The illustrious Syrian no sooner saw the man running after his chariot, than he alighted to meet him, and happy to relieve himself in some degree under the NA'BAL (stupid, foolish), a descendant of Caleb, dwelling at Maon, and having large possessions near Carmel of Judah, in the same neighbourhood. He had abundant wealth, being the possessor of 3000 sheep and 1000 goats, but his churlish and harsh character had not been softened by the prosperity with which he had been favoured. He was holding a great sheep-shearing of his numerous flocks at Carmel-which was a season of great festivity among the sheep-masters of Israel-when David sent some of his young men to request a small supply of provisions, of which his troop was in great need. He was warranted in asking this, as, while Nabal's flocks were out in the desert, the presence of David and his men in the neighbourhood had effectually protected them from the depredations of the Arabs. But Nabal refused this application, with harsh words, reflecting coarsely upon David and his troop as a set of worthless runagates. On learning this, David was highly incensed, and set out with his band to avenge the insult. But his intention was anticipated and averted by Nabal's wife Abigail, who met him on the road with a most acceptable supply of provisions, and, by her consummate tact and good sense, mollified his anger, and, indeed, caused him in the end to feel thankful that he had been prevented from the bloodshed which would have ensued. When Nabal, after recovering from the drunkenness of the feast, was informed of these circumstances, he was struck with such intense terror at the danger to which he had been exposed, that 'his heart died within him, and he became as a stone;' which seems to have been the exciting cause of a malady that carried him off about ten days after. David, not long after, evinced the favourable impression which the good sense and comeliness of Abigail had made upon him, by making her his wife, B.C. 1061 (1 Sam. xxv.) [ABIGAIL]. NABATHÆ'ANS. [NEBAIOTH.] NA'BOTH (fruit, produce), an inhabitant of Jezreel, who was the possessor of a patrimonial vineyard adjoining the garden of the palace which the kings of Israel had there. King Ahab had conceived a desire to add this vineyard to his ground, to make of it a garden of herbs,' but found that Naboth could not, on any consideration, be induced to alienate a property which he had derived from his fathers. This gave the king so much concern, that he took to his bed and refused his food; but when his wife, the notorious Jezebel, understood the cause of his trouble, she bade him be of good cheer, for she would procure him the vineyard. Some time after Naboth was, at a public feast, accused of blasphemy, by an order from her under the royal seal, and, being condemned through the testimony of false witnesses, was stoned to death, according to the law, outside the town (Lev. xxiv. 16; Num. xv. 30). His estate, by a usage which appears to have crept in, was forfeited to the crown. When Ahab heard of the death of Naboth-and he must have known how that death had been ac complished, or he would not have supposed him self a gainer by the event-he hastened to take NAHUM | possession. But he was speedily taught that this horrid crime had not passed without notice by the all-seeing God, and would not remain unpunished. The only tribunal to which he remained accountable, pronounced his doom through the prophet Elijah, who met him on the spot, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine' (1 Kings xxi.). NA'CHON. The floor of Nachon is the name given to the threshing-floor near which Uzzah was slain, for laying his hand upon the ark (2 Sam. vi. 6). NA'CHOR. [NAHOR.] 1. NA'DAB (liberal), eldest son of Aaron, who, with his brother Abihu, was slain for offering strange fire to the Lord [ABIHU]. 2. NADAB, son of Jeroboam, and second king of Israel. He ascended the throne upon the death of his father (B.C. 954), whose deep-laid, but criminal and dangerous policy, he followed. NAHA'LIEL, an encampment of the Israelites in the wilderness [WANDERING]. NAHAL'LAL, a town in the tribe of Zebulun (Josh. xix. 15), which was assigned to the Levites (Josh. xxi. 35), but of which Zebulun was slow in dispossessing the Canaanites (Judg. i. 30). 1. NA'HASH (a serpent), a person named only in 2 Sam. xvii. 25; and as he is there described as the father of Abigail and Zeruiah, who are elsewhere called the sisters of David, this must have been either another name for Jesse, or, as some suppose, of a former husband of David's mother. 2. NAHASH, king of the Ammonites, noted for the barbarous terms of capitulation which he offered to the town of Jabesh-Gilead, and for his subsequent defeat by Saul [JABESH]. 1. NA'HOR (snorting), or rather Nachor, as in Luke iii. 34, son of Serug, and father of Terah, the father of Abraham (Gen. xi. 22-25). 2. NAHOR, grandson of the preceding, being one of the sons of Terah, and brother of Abraham. Nahor espoused Milcah his niece, daughter of his eldest brother Haran (Gen. xi. 27-29). Nahor did not quit his native place, Ur of the Chaldees,' when the rest of the family removed to Haran (Gen. xi. 30); but it would appear that he went thither afterwards, as we eventually find his son Bethuel, and his grandson Laban, established there (Gen. xxvii. 43; xxix. 5). NAH'SHON (enchanter), from which he is called Naason in the genealogies of Christ in Matt. i. 4; Luke iii. 32, son of Aminadab, and prince or chief of the tribe of Judah, at the time of the exode (Num. i. 7; ii. 3). NAHUM (consolation), the seventh of the minor prophets, according to the arrangement of both the Greek and Hebrew, but the sixth in point of date, was a native of Elkosh, a village of Galilee. He prophesied in Judah after the deportation of the ten tribes, and soon after the unsuccessful irruption of Sennacherib (ch. i. 11-13; ii. 1, 14), consequently towards the close of the reign of Hezekiah. Attempts have been made to fix the date with precision, from the allusion to the destruction of No-Ammon or Thebes in Egypt (ch. iii. 8); but as it is uncertain when this event took place, Eichhorn and others have conjectured that it was near the beginning of the reign of Hezekiah, or about B.C. 720, as about this time Sargon, king of NAKED 607 Assyria, waged an unsuccessful war for three years against Egypt (Isa. xx.). The contents of the prophecy of Nahum are as follows:-Chap. i. 2-7. The destruction of Nineveh and of the Assyrian monarchy is depicted in the liveliest colours, together with the relief of Judah from oppression. The destruction of Nineveh is detailed with still greater particularity in the third chapter; which has induced some to suppose that the prophet refers to two different events-the sack of Nineveh by the Medes, B.C. 867, in the reign of Sardanapalus, and its second and final destruction, under Chyniladan, by Cyaxares the First and Nabopolassar, B.C. 625. But this opinion has been satisfactorily refuted by Jahn and De Wette. The beauty of the style of Nahum has been universally felt. It is classic, observes De Wette, in all respects. It is marked by clearness, by its finished elegance, as well as by fire, richness, and originality. The rhythm is regular and lively. The whole book remarkably coherent, and the author only holds his breath, as it were, in the last chapter. Jahn observes that the language is pure, with a single exception; that the style is ornate, and the tropes bold and elegant (rendering it, however, necessary for the reader to supply some omissions; see ii. 8; ix. 3, 16); and that the descriptions of the divine omnipotence, and of the destruction of Nineveh, are resplendent with all the perfection of oratory. NAIL. There are two Hebrew words thus translated in the Auth. Vers., which it may be well to distinguish. 1. Yathed, which usually denotes a peg, pin, or nail, as driven into a wall (Ezek. xv. 3; Isa. xxii. 25); and more especially a tent-pin driven into the earth to fasten the tent (Exod. xxvii. 19; xxxv. 18; xxxviii. 31; Judg. iv. 21, 22; Isa. xxxiii. 20; liv. 2). 2. Mismeroth, which, with some variations of form, is applied to ordinary and ornamental nails. It always occurs in the plural, and is the word which we find in 1 Chron. xxii. 3; 2 Chron. iii. 9; Isa. xli. 7 ; Jer. x. 4; Eccles. xii. 11. The last of these texts involves a very significant proverbial application-The words of the wise are as nails infixed,' &c. NA'IN, a town of Palestine, where Jesus raised the widow's son to life (Luke vii. 11-17). Eusebius and Jerome describe it as near Endor. NAI'OTH, a place in or near Ramah, where Samuel abode with his disciples (1 Sam. xix. 18, 19, 22, 23; xx. 1). NAKED. The word arom, rendered naked' in our Bibles, does not in many places mean absolute nakedness. It has this meaning in such passages as Job i. 21; Eccles. v. 15; Mic. i. 8; Amos ii. 16. But in other places it means one who is ragged or poorly clad (1 John xxi. 7; Isa. lviii. 7); which does not indeed, differ from a familiar application of the word 'naked' among ourselves. A more peculiar and Oriental sense of the word is that in which it is applied to one who has laid aside his loose outer garment, and goes about in his tunic, and it was thus that Isaiah went 'naked' and barefoot (Isa. xx. 2; comp. John xxi. 7). Persons in their own houses freely laid aside their outer garment, and appeared in their tunic and girdle; but this is undress, and they would count it improper to appear abroad, or to see NATHAN NATHANAEL robe. · company in their own house without the outer | name of the Lord to reprove David, and to denounce dire punishment for his frightful crime in the matter of Uriah and Bathsheba. This he does by exciting the king's indignation, and leading him to condemn himself, by reciting to him the very striking parable of the traveller and the lamb. Then, changing the voice of a suppliant for that of a judge and a commissioned prophet, he exclaims, Thou art the man!' and proceeds to announce the evils which were to embitter the remainder of his reign (2 Sam. xii. 1, sq.; comp. Ps. li.). The lamentations of the repentant king drew forth some mitigation of punishment; but the troubled history of the remainder of his reign shows how completely God's righteous doom was fulfilled. The child conceived in adultery died; but when Bathsheba's second son was born, the prophet gave him the name of Jedidiah (beloved of Jehovah), although he is better known by that of Solomon (2 Sam. xii. 24, 25). He recognised in this young prince the successor of David; and it was in a great measure through his interposition that the design of Adonijah to seize the crown was unsuccessful (1 Kings i. 8, sq.). Nathan probably died soon after the accession of Solomon, for his name does not again historically occur. It is generally supposed that Solomon was brought When the Israelites quitted Egypt, the tribe of up under his care. His sons occupied high places Naphtali numbered 53,400 adult males (Num. in this king's court (1 Kings iv. 5). He assisted i. 43), which made it the sixth in population David by his counsels when he re-organized the among the tribes; but at the census taken in the public worship (2 Chron. xxix. 25); and he complains of Moab it counted only 45,400 (Num. posed annals of the times in which he lived (1 xxvi. 50), being a decrease of 8000 in one gene-Chron. xxix. 29; 2 Chron. ix. 29); but these ration, whereby it became the seventh in point have not been preserved to us. In Zechariah of numbers. The limits of the territory assigned (xii. 12) the name of Nathan occurs as repreto this tribe are stated in Josh. xix. 32-39, which senting the great family of the prophets. show that it possessed one of the finest and most NATHANAEL (given of God), a person of fertile districts of Upper Galilee, extending from Cana in Galilee, who, when informed by Philip the Lake Gennesareth and the border of Zebulun, that the Messiah had appeared in the person of on the south, to the sources of the Jordan and the Jesus of Nazareth, asked, 'Can any good thing spurs of Lebanon on the north, and from the come out of Nazareth?' But he nevertheless Jordan, on the east, to the borders of Asher on accepted Philip's laconic invitation, 'Come and the west. But it was somewhat slow in acquiring see!" When Jesus saw him coming he said, possession of the assigned territory (Judg. i. 33). Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.' The chief towns of the tribe were Kedesh, Hazor, Astonished to hear this from a man to whom he Harosheth, and Chinnereth, which last was also supposed himself altogether unknown, he asked, the name of the great lake afterwards called Whence knowest thou me?' And the answer, Gennesareth. In the Hebrew history NaphtaliBefore that Philip called thee, when thou wast is distinguished for the alacrity with which it under the fig-tree, I saw thee,' wrought such obeyed the call to arms against the oppressors of conviction on his mind that he at once exclaimed, Israel when many other tribes held back (Judg.Rabbi, thou art the son of God; thou art the iv. 10; v. 18; vi. 35; vii. 23). In the time of king of Israel!' (John i. 45-51). It is clear, from David the tribe had on its rolls 37,000 men fit for the effect, that Nathanael knew by this that Jesus military service, armed with shields and spears, was supernaturally acquainted with his disposition under a thousand officers (1 Chron. xii. 34). and character, as the answer had reference to the private acts of devotion, or to the meditations which filled his mind, when under the fig-tree in his garden. It is questioned whether Jesus had actually seen Nathanael or not with his bodily eyes. It matters not to the result; but the form of the words employed seems to suggest that he had actually noticed him when under the fig-tree, and had then cast a look through his inward being. It is believed that Nathanael is the same as the apostle Bartholomew. All the disciples of John the Baptist named in the first chapter of St. John became apostles; and St. John does not name Bartholomew, nor the other evangelists Nathanael in the lists of the apostles (Matt. x. 3; Mark iii. 18; Luke vi. 14): besides, the name of Bartholomew always follows that of Philip; and it would appear • 608 NA'OMI, wife of Elimelech of Bethlehem, and mother-in-law of Ruth, in whose history hers is involved [RUTH]. NAPHTALI (my wrestling), the sixth son of Jacob, and his second by Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid, born B.C. 1747, in Padan-Aram. Nothing of his personal history is recorded. The description given of Naphtali in the testamentary blessing of Jacob (Gen. xlix. 21) has been variously rendered. In the Authorized Version it is translated 'a hind let loose, he giveth goodly words.' But, according to the reading in the Septuagint, the verse may be rendered, 'Naphtali is a goodly tree [terebinth or oak] that puts forth lovely branches.' We certainly incline to this view of the text; the metaphor which it involves being well adapted to the residence of the tribe of Naphtali, which was a beautiful woodland country, extending to Mount Lebanon, and producing fruits of every sort. With this interpretation, better than with the other, agrees the blessing of Moses upon the same tribe: O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of the Lord, possess thou the west and the south' (Deut. xxxiii. 23). NARCISSUS, a person of Rome, apparently of some consequence, to the believers of whose household St. Paul sent his greetings (Rom. xvi. 11). Many commentators have supposed this person the same Narcissus who was the freedman and favourite of the Emperor Claudius. NATHAN (given), a prophet of the time of David. When that monarch conceived the idea of building a temple to Jehovah, the design and motives seemed to Nathan so good that he ventured to approve of it without the Divine authority, but the night following he received the Divine command, which prevented the king from executing this great work (2 Sam. vii. 2, sq.; 1 Chron. xvii.). Nathan does not again appear in the sacred history till he comes forward in the |
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