616

NERGAL

NET

Chapters viii.-x. were probably not written by Nehemiah, since the narrative respecting him is in the third person (ch. viii. 9; x. 1), and not in the first, as usual (ch. ii. 9-20). Hävernick, indeed, makes it appear, from the contents and style, that Ezra was the writer of this portion. The remaining chapters (xi.-xiii.) also exhibit some marks of compilation (ch. xii. 26, 47); but there are, on the contrary, clear proofs of Nehemiah's own authorship in ch. xii. 27-43, and in ch. xiii. 6-31; and hence Hävernick thinks he wrote the whole except ch. xii. 1-26, which he took from the book of the chronicles,' mentioned in ver. 23.

NEHILOTH, a word which occurs in the title of the fifth Psalm [PSALMS].

the conclusion that Nergal is one of the names for the planet Mars. This name of the planet, both among the Zabians and Arabians, means ill-luck, misfortune; and it was by no means peculiar to the mythology of the West to make it the symbol of bloodshed and war. Among the people first named, the planet Mars was typified under the figure of a man holding in one hand a drawn sword, and in the other a human head just cut off; and his garments were also red, which, as well as the other ideas attached to this idol, were no doubt founded on the reddish hue which the body of the planet presents to the eye. Among the southern Arabs his temple was painted red; and they offered to him garments stained with blood, and also a warrior (probably a prisoner), who was cast into a pool.

NER'GAL-SHARE'ZER (Nergal, prince of

NER (a light), grandfather of king Saul (1 Sam. xiv. 50, 51; xxvi. 5; 1 Chron. viii. 33).

NERD or NARD is mentioned in three places in the Song of Solomon, and by Mark and John in the New Testament. It is translated in the Authorized Version by the word spikenard, which indicates a far-famed perfume of the East, that has often engaged the attention of critics, but the plant which yields it has only been ascertained in very recent times. That the nerd of Scripture was a perfume is evident from the fact that, in

nezzar (Jer. xxxix. 3). 2. The chief of the magi (Rab-mag) under the same king, and present in the same expedition (Jer. xxxix. 3, 13).

NET. There are in Scripture several words denoting different kinds of nets, and this, with the frequency of images derived from them, shows that nets were much in use among the Hebrews for fishing, hunting, and fowling. Indeed, for the two latter purposes, nets were formerly used to an extent of which now, since the invention of fire-arms, a notion can scarcely be formed.

We have no positive information concerning the nets of the Hebrews, and can only suppose that they were not materially different from those of the ancient Egyptians, concerning which we now possess very good information. Indeed, the nets of Egypt, the fishers who used them, and the fish caught by them, are more than once mentioned in Scripture (Isa. xix. 8). The usual fishing net among this people was of a long form, like the common drag-net, with wooden floats on the upper, and leads on the lower side. It was sometimes let down from a boat, but those who pulled it usually stood on the shore, and landed the fish on a shelving bank. This mode, how

263. [Nardostachys Jatamansi.] Cant. i. 12; iv. 14, it is mentioned along with many of the most valued aromatics which were known to the ancients. That the nard or nardus was of great value we learn from the New Testament (Mark xiv. 3; John xii. 3).

264.

ever, was more adapted to river than to lake fishing; and hence, in all the detailed examples of fishing in the New Testament, the net is cast from and drawn into boats, excepting in one case where, the draft being too great to take into the boat, the fishers dragged the net after their boats to the shore (John xxi. 6, 8). Sometimes use was made of a smaller net for catching fish in shallow water, furnished with a pole on either side, to which it was attached; and the fisher man, holding one of the poles in either hand, thrust it below the surface of the water, and awaited the moment when a shoal of fish passed

NETHINIM

NICODEMUS

617

265.

almost naked, as are also those who have occasion to wade in the water in hauling the net to the shore (No. 265). Such seems also to have been the practice among the Hebrew fishermen; for Peter, when he left the boat to hasten on shore to his risen Lord, 'girt his fisher's coat unto him, for he was naked' (John xxi. 7); although, in this case, the word naked' must be understood with some latitude [NAKED].

Nets were also used in taking birds, to an extent of which we can scarcely form an adequate conception. A clap-net was usually employed. This was of different kinds. It consisted of two sides or frames, over which the net-work was spread: at one end was a short net, which they fastened to a bush, or a cluster of reeds, and at the other was one of considerable length, which, as soon as the birds were seen feeding in the area within, was pulled by the fowlers, causing the instantaneous collapse of the two sides (No. 266).

266.

In hunting, a space of considerable size was sometimes enclosed with nets, into which the animals were driven by beaters. The spots thus enclosed were usually in the vicinity of the water-brooks to which they were in the habit of repairing in the morning and evening; and having awaited the time when they went to drink, the hunters disposed their nets, occupied proper positions for observing them unseen, and gradually closed in upon them. These practices are obviously alluded to in such passages as Job xix. 6; Ps. cxl. 5; Isa. li. 20.

NETH'INÍM. This name, which means the given' or 'the devoted,' was applied to the servants of the temple, or temple slaves, who were under the Levites in the ministry of the tabernacle and temple. The first servants whom the Levites obtained were the Gibeonites, on whom devolved the very laborious services of fetching water and collecting wood (Josh. ix. 3-27). The number of such servants appears to have been increased by David; and it seems to have been then, when these servants ceased to be wholly Gibeonites, that Nethinim came into use as a proper name for the whole class (Ezra viii. 20). From that time forward, they appear

slaves, but as the lowest order of the servants of the sanctuary; who, although in their origin foreigners and heathen, had doubtless embraced the Jewish religion. These did not all forget their relationship to the sanctuary during the Captivity. Some of them returned to their duties under the decree of Cyrus, and were placed in cities with the Levites (Neh. xi. 3; Ezra ii. 70; 1 Chron. ix. 27). It was not to be expected that many of them would return to this humble station in Palestine, but 220 accompanied Ezra (Ezra viii. 20), and 392 Zerubbabel (ii. 5-8). The voluntary devotedness which was thus manifested by these persons considerably raised the station of the Nethinim, which was thenceforth regarded rather as honourable than degrading. Their number was, however, insufficient for the service of the temple; whence, as Josephus tells us, a festival, called Xylophoria, was established, in which the people, to supply the deficiency, were obliged to bring a certain quantity of wood to the temple for the use of the altar of burntoffering.

NETO'PHAH, a place not far from Bethlehem in Judæa (Ezra ii. 22; Neh. vii. 26). Hence the Gentile name Netophite (2 Sam. xxiii. 28, 29; 2 Kings xxv. 23).

NETTLES. The word (charul) which is so rendered, occurs in three places in Scripture. Thus in Prov. xxiv. 30, 31, it is written, I went by the field of the slothful, &c., and, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles (charullim) had covered the face thereof.' So in Job xxx. 7 it is stated that he was insulted by the children of those whom he would formerly have disdained to employ, and who were so abject and destitute that among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together;' and in Zeph. ii. 9, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles, and salt-pits, and a perpetual desolation.' Considerable difficulty has been experienced in determining the plant which is alluded to in the above passages. The majority of translators and commentators have thought that some thorny or prickly plant, or a nettle, is intended. Hence brambles, the wild plum, and thistles, have been severally selected; but nettles have had the greatest number of sup porters.

NETTLE. [THORN.]

NEW MOON. [FESTIVALS; MOON.]
NEW YEAR. [YEAR]

NIB'HAZ, an idol of the Avites (2 Kings xvii. 31). In the Zabian books the corresponding name is that of an evil demon, who sits on a throne upon the earth, while his feet rest on the bottom of Tartarus; but it is doubtful whether this should be identified with the Avite Nibhaz.

NICODE'MUS, a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrim, who was impressed by what he had heard concerning Jesus; but being unwilling, on account of his station, to commit himself without greater surety than he possessed, repaired by night to the house in which Christ dwelt, and held with him that important discourse which occupies the third chapter of John's Gospel. The effect which was then produced upon his mind may be collected from the fact that subsequently, at one of the sittings of the venerable body to

which he belonged, he ventured to let fall a few words in favour of Jesus, whose proceedings were then in question (John vii. 50); and that he took part with his colleague, Joseph of Arimathea, in rendering the last honours to the body of the crucified Redeemer (John xix. 39). Nothing further is known of Nicodemus from Scripture. Tradition, however, adds that after he had thus openly declared himself a follower of Jesus, and had been baptized by Peter, he was displaced from his office, and expelled from Jerusalem (Phot. Cod. p. 171). It is added that he found refuge in a country house of his cousin Gamaliel, and remained there till his death. Too strong an appreciation of the world's good opinion seems to have been the failing of Nicodemus. We do not lay much stress upon what he ventured to say in the Sanhedrim; for he suffered himself to be easily put down, and did not come forward with any bold avowal of his belief. Winer calls attention to the fact, that although he took part in the sepulchral rites of Jesus, he did not join Joseph in his application to Pilate for the body of his crucified Lord; and justly remarks that such characters usually require a strong external impulse to bring them boldly forward, which impulse was probably in this case supplied by the

resurrection of Jesus.

NICOLAITANS. This word occurs twice in the New Testament (Rev. ii. 6, 15). In the former passage the conduct of the Nicolaitans is condemned; in the latter, the angel of the church in Pergamus is censured because certain members of his church held their doctrine. Various traditionary accounts of the origin and practices of this sect have been given by the fathers, but none of them are entitled to any credit.

It is evident from the accounts which they give, that the Nicolaitans with whom they were acquainted were Gnostics; since they impute to them the distinctive tenets and practices of the Gnostics. But in the short allusion in Rev. ii. 6, 15, there is nothing to identify the tenets or conduct alluded to with Gnosticism, even supposing that Gnosticism, properly so called, existed in the Apostolic age, which, to say the least, has not been proved to be the case. So that the conjecture mentioned by Mosheim, and which Tertullian appears to favour, may be regarded as probable, that the Nicolaitans mentioned in Revelation had erroneously been confounded with a party of Gnostics formed at a later period by one Nicholas.

The ingenious conjecture of Michaelis is worthy of consideration, who supposes that by Nicolaitans (Rev. ii. 6, 15) the same class of persons is intended whom St. Peter (2 Ep. ii. 15) describes as followers of the way of Balaam; and that their name, Nicolaitans, is merely a Greek translation of their Hebrew designation. The only objection which occurs to us against this very ingenious and probable supposition, arises from the circumstance that, in the passage, Rev. ii. 14, 15, both they that hold the doctrine of Balaam,' and the Nicolaitans,' are specified, and are distinguished from each other: So hast thou also,' the Nicolaitans, as well as the Balaamites, mentioned in the previous verse. So that whatever general agreement there might be between those two classes of heretics-and their collocation in the passage before us seems to imply that

NIGHT-HAWK

there was such agreement-it appears equally evident that some distinction also must have separated them the one from the other.

NICOLAS, a proselyte of Antioch, and one of the seven deacons (Acts vi. 5). Nothing further is known of him; but a large body of unsafe tradition has been connected with his name, under the supposition that he was the founder of the heresy of the Nicolaitans, stigmatised in Rev. ii. 6, 15. (See the preceding article.)

NICOPOLIS, a city of Thrace, now Nicopi, on the river Nessus, now Karasou, which was here the boundary between Thrace and Macedonia; and hence the city is sometimes reckoned as belonging to the latter. In Titus iii. 15, Paul expresses an intention to winter at Nicopolis, and invites Titus, then in Crete, to join him there. NIGER. SIMON.]

NIGHT. The general division of the night among the Hebrews has been described under DAY; and it only remains to indicate a few marked applications of the word. The term of human life is usually called a day in Scripture; but in one passage it is called night, to be followed soon by day, the day is at hand' (Rom. viii. 12). Being a time of darkness, the image and shadow of death, in which the beasts of prey go forth to devour, it was made a symbol of a season of adversity and trouble, in which men prey upon each other, and the strong tyrannize over the weak (Isa. xxi. 12; Zech. xiv. 6, 7; comp. Rev. xxi. 23; xxii. 5). Hence continued day, or the absence of night, implies a constant state of quiet and happiness, undisturbed by the vicissitudes of peace and war. Night is also put, as in our own language, for a time of ignorance and helplessness (Mic. iii. 6). In John ix. 4, night represents death, a necessary result of the correlative usage which makes life a day.

NIGHT-HAWK (Lev. xi. 16; Deut. xiv. 15) is mentioned as one of the unclean birds in the Pentateuch, but so little characterized that no decided opinion can be expressed as to what species is really intended. Commentators incline to the belief that the name imports voracity, and therefore indicates a species of owl, which, however, we take to be not this bird, but the lilith; and as the night-hawk of Europe, or a species very nearly allied to it, is an inhabitant of Syria, there is no reason for absolutely rejecting it in this place, since it belongs to a genus highly connected with superstitious in all countries; and though a voracious bird among moths, and other insects that are abroad during darkness, it is absolutely harmless to all other animals, and as wrongfully accused of sucking the udders of goats, as of being an indicator of misfortune and death to those who happen to see it fly past them after evening twilight; yet, beside the name of goat sucker,' it is denominated 'night-hawk' and night-raven,' as if it were a bulky species, with similar powers of mischief as those day birds possess. The night-hawk is a migratory bird, inferior in size to a thrush, and has very weak talons and bill; but the gape or mouth is wide; it makes now and then a plaintive cry, and preys on the wing; it flies with the velocity and action of a swallow, the two genera being nearly allied. Like those of most night birds, the eyes are large and remarkable, and the plumage a mixture of colours and dots, with a pre