ENOCH, BOOK OF the Old Testament, he walked with God; and, | ENOCH, BOOK OF. The interest that once attached to the apocryphal book of Enoch has now partly subsided. Yet a document quoted, as is generally believed, by an inspired apostle, can never be wholly devoid of importance or utility in sacred literature. With regard to the author of the book and the time when it was written, various conflicting opinions have been promulgated. Without entering into the controversy, we may state that it seems to us to have been composed a little before Christ's appearance, by a Jew who had studied well the book of Daniel. Several circumstances render it apparent that it was originally composed in the Hebrew or Chaldee language. The Greek translation, in which it was known to the fathers, appears to be irrecoverably lost. There is no trace of it after the eighth century. cussion. Some are most unwilling to believe that an inspired writer could cite an Apocryphal production. Such an opinion destroys, in their view, the character of the writing said to be inspired. and reduces it to the level of an ordinary composition. But this is preposterous. The Apostle Paul quotes several of the heathen poets; yet who ever supposed that by such references he sanctions the productions from which his citations are made, or renders them of greater value? All that can be reasonably inferred from such a fact is, that if the inspired writer cites a particular sentiment with approbation, it must be regarded as just and right, irrespective of the remainder of the book in which it is found. The Apostle's sanction extends no farther than the passage to which he alludes. Other portions of the original document may exhibit the most absurd and superstitious notions. Others suppose that Jude quoted a traditional prophecy or saying of Enoch, and we see no improbability in the assumption. Others, again, believe that the words apparently cited by Jude were suggested to him by the Holy Spirit. But surely this hypothesis is unnecessary. Until it can be shown that the book of Enoch did not exist in the time of Jude, or that his quoting it is unworthy of an Apostle, or that such knowledge was not handed down traditionally within the Apostle's reach, we abide by the opinion that Jude really quoted the book of Enoch. While there are probable grounds for believing that Jude might have become acquainted with the The leading object of the writer, who was circumstance independently of inspiration, we manifestly imbued with deep piety, was to com- ought not to have recourse to the hypothesis of fort and strengthen his contemporaries. He immediate suggestion. On the whole, it is most lived in times of distress and persecution, when likely that the book of Enoch existed before the the enemies of religion oppressed the righteous. time of Jude, and that the latter really quoted it The outward circumstances of the godly were in accordance with the current tradition. If so, such as to excite doubts of the divine equity in the prophecy ascribed to Enoch was truly astheir minds, or at least to prevent it from having cribed to him, because it is scarcely credible that that hold on their faith which was necessary to Jude writing by inspiration would have sanctioned sustain them in the hour of trial. In accordance a false statement. with this, the writer exhibits the reward of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked. To give greater authority to his affirmations, he puts them into the mouth of Enoch. Thus they have all the weight belonging to the character of an eminent prophet and saint. Various digressions are not without their bearing on the author's main purpose. The narrative of the fallen angels and their punishment, as also of the flood, exemplifies the retributive justice of Jehovah; while the Jewish history, continued down to the Maccabees, exhibits the final triumph of His people, notwithstanding all their vicissitudes. Doubtless the author lived amid fiery trial; and, looking abroad over the desolation, sought to cheer the sufferers by the consideration that they should be recompensed in another life. As for their wicked oppressors, they were to experience terrible judgments. The writer seems to delight in uttering dire anathemas against the wicked. It is plain that the book grew out of the time when the author lived, and the circumstances by which he was surrounded. It gives us a glimpse not only of the religious opinions, but also of the general features that characterized the period. The question, Did Jude really quote the book of Enoch? has given rise to a good deal of dis Presuming that it was written by a Jew, the book before us is an important document in the history of Jewish opinions. It indicates an essential portion of the Jewish creed before the appearance of Christ; and assists us in comparing the theological views of the later with those of the earlier Jews. It also serves to establish the fact that some doctrines of great importance in the eyes of evangelical Christians ought not to be regarded as the growth of an age in which Christianity had been corrupted by the inventions of men. We would not appeal to it as possessing authority. The place of authority can be assigned to the Bible alone. But apart from all ideas of authority, it may be fairly regarded as an index of the state of opinion at the time when it was written. Hence it subserves the confirmation of certain opinions, provided they can be shown to have a good foundation in the word of God. If it be conceded that certain doctrines are contained by express declaration or fair inference in the volume of inspiration, it is surely some attestation of their truth that they lie on the surface of this ancient book. Let us briefly allude to several representations which occur in its pages: 1. Respecting the nature of the Deity.-There are distinct allusions to a plurality in the God head. The doctrine of the Trinity seems to have been received by the writer and his contemporaries. In accordance with this view Christ is represented as existing from eternity: as the object of invocation and worship; and as the supreme Judge of men and angels. 2. The doctrine of a future state of retribution is implied in many passages, and the eternity of future punishment is also distinctly contained in it. Whatever value may be attached to the theological opinions expressed in the book of Enoch, it is apparent from these statements that certain sentiments to which evangelical Christians assign a high importance, because, in their view, they are contained in Scripture, appear to have prevailed at the commencement of the Christian era. To the serious inquirer they can never be of trifling interest. E'NON. [ENON.] EN-RO'GEL. The name means Foot-fountain, and is construed by the Targum into Fuller's Fountain,' because the fullers trod the clothes there with their feet. It was near Jerusalem, on the boundary-line between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (Josh. xv. 7; xviii. 6; 2 Sam. xvii. 17; 1 Kings i. 9). It has been usually supposed the same as the Fountain of Siloam. But Dr. Robinson is more inclined to find it in what is called by Frank Christians the Well of Nehemiah, but by the native inhabitants the Well of Job. There are only three sources, or rather receptacles of living water, now accessible at Jerusalem, and this is one of them. It is situated just below the junction of the Valley of Hinnom with that of Jehoshaphat. It is a very deep well, measuring 125 feet in depth; 50 feet of which were, at the time of Dr. Robinson's visit (in the middle of April), nearly full of water. The water is sweet, but not very cold, and at the present day is drawn up by the hand. ENSIGNS. [STANDARDS.] EPENE TUS, a Christian resident at Rome when Paul wrote his Epistle to the Church in that city, and one of the persons to whom he sent special salutations (Rom. xvi. 5). In the received text he is spoken of as being the first fruits of Achaia; but the first fruits of Asia' is the reading of the best MSS. EP'APHRAS, an eminent teacher in the church at Colossæ, denominated by Paul his dear fellow-servant,' and 'a faithful minister of Christ' (Coloss. i. 7; iv. 12). From Paul's Epistle to Philemon it appears that he suffered imprisonment with the Apostle at Rome. It has been inferred from Coloss. i. 7, that he was the founder of the Colossian Church, and most probably he was one of its earliest and most zealous instructors. EPAPHRODITUS, a messenger of the church at Philippi to the Apostle Paul during his imprisonment at Rome, who was entrusted with their contributions for his support (Phil. ii. 25; iv. 18). Paul's high estimate of his character is shown by an accumulation of honourable epithets, and by fervent expressions of gratitude for his recovery from a dangerous illness brought on in part by a generous disregard of his personal welfare in ministering to the Apostle (Phil. ii. 30). Epaphroditus, on his return to Philippi, EPHESIANS was the bearer of the epistle which forms part of the canon. EPHAH, a dry measure of capacity, equivalent to the bath for liquids. It contained three pecks and three pints. [WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.] EPHESIANS, EPISTLE TO THE. This Epistle expressly claims to be the production of the Apostle Paul (i. 1; iii. 1); and this claim the writer in the latter of these passages follows up by speaking of himself in language such as that Apostle is accustomed to use in describing his own position as an ambassador of Christ (iii. 1, 3, 8, 9). The justice of this claim seems to have been universally admitted by the early Christians, and it is expressly sanctioned by several of the fathers of the second and third centuries. The question to whom was this Epistle addressed has received different answers. Grotius. reviving the opinion of the ancient heretic Marcion, maintains that the party addressed in this Epistle was the church at Laodicea, and that we have in this the Epistle to that church which is commonly supposed to have been lost; whilst others contend that this was addressed to no church in particular, but was a sort of circular letter, intended for the use of several churches, of which Ephesus may have been the first or centre. Without entering into a minute consideration of these theories, which our limits will not permit, we may remark that both are unsupported by satisfactory evidence, and that we fully concur in the common opinion that the party to whom this Epistle was sent was the church at Ephesus. The Epistle is so much the utterance of a mind overflowing with thought and feeling that it does not present any precisely marked divisions under which its different parts may be ranked. After the usual apostolic salutation Paul breaks forth into an expression of thanksgiving to God and Christ for the scheme of redemption (i. 3-10), from which he passes to speak of the privileges actually enjoyed by himself and those to whom he was writing, through Christ (i. 11-23). He then reminds the Ephesians of their former condition when they were without Christ, and of the great change which, through divine grace, they had experienced (ii. 1-22). An allusion to himself as enjoying by divine revelation the knowledge of the mystery of Christ leads the Apostle to enlarge upon the dignity of his office and the blessed results that were destined to flow from the exercise of it to others (iii. 1-12). On this he grounds an exhortation to his brethren not to faint on account of his sufferings for the Gospel, and affectionately invokes on their behalf the divine blessing, concluding this, which may be called the more doctrinal part of his Epistle, with a doxology to God (iii. 13-21). What follows is chiefly hortatory, and is directed partly to the inculcation of general consistency, stedfastness in the faith, and propriety of deportment (iv. 1; v. 21), and partly to the enforcement of relative duties (v. 22; vi. 9). The Epistle concludes with an animated exhortation to fortitude, watchfulness and prayer, followed by a reference to Tychicus as the bearer of the Epistle, and by the usual apostolic benediction (vi. 10-24). EPHESUS This Epistle was written during the earlier part of the Apostle's imprisonment at Rome, at the same time with that to the Colossians [COLOSSIANS, EPISTLE TO THE]. EPHESUS, an old and celebrated city, capital of Ionia, one of the twelve Ionian cities in Asia Minor in the Mythic times. It lay on the river Cayster, not far from the coast of the Icarian sea, between Smyrna and Miletus. It was also one of the most considerable of the Greek cities in Asia Minor; but while, about the epoch of the introduction of Christianity, the other cities declined, Ephesus rose more and more. It owed its prosperity in part to the favour of its governors, for Lysimachus named the city Arsinoe, in honour of his second wife, and Attalus Philadelphus furnished it with splendid wharfs and docks; in part to the favourable position of the place, which naturally made it the emporium of Asia on this side the Taurus. Under the Romans Ephesus was the capital not only of Ionia, but of the entire province of Asia, and bore the honourable title of the first and greatest metropolis of Asia. In the days of Paul Jews were found settled in the city in no inconsiderable number, and from them the Apostle collected a Christian community (Acts xviii. 19; xix. 1; xx. 16), which, being fostered and extended by the hand of Paul himself, became the centre of Christianity in Asia Minor. On leaving the city the Apostle left Timothy there (1 Tim. i. 3): | at a later period, according to a tradition which prevailed extensively in ancient times, we find the Apostle John in Ephesus, where he employed himself most diligently for the spread of the Gospel, and where he not only died, at a very old age, but was buried, with Mary the mother of the Lord. In the book of Revelations (ii. 1) a favourable testimony is borne to the Christian churches at Ephesus. The classic celebrity of this city is chiefly owing to its famous temple, and the goddess in whose honour it was built, namely, Diana of the Ephesians.' This goddess has been already noticed, and a figure given of her famous image at Ephesus [DIANA]. Around the image of the goddess was afterwards erected, according to Callimachus, a large and splendid temple. This temple was burnt, down on the night in which Alexander was born, by an obscure person of the name of Eratostratus, who thus sought to transmit his name to posterity; and, as it seemed somewhat unaccountable that the goddess should permit a place which redounded so much to her honour to be thus recklessly destroyed, it was given out that Diana was so engaged with Olympias, in aiding to bring Alexander into the world, that she had no time nor thought for any other concern. At a subsequent period, Alexander made an offer to rebuild the temple, provided he was allowed to inscribe his name on the front, which the Ephesians refused. Aided, however, by the whole of Asia Minor, they succeeded in erecting a still more magnificent temple, which the ancients have lavishly praised and placed among the seven wonders of the world. It took two hundred and twenty years to complete. It was built of cedar, cypress, white marble, and even gold, with which it glittered. Costly and magnificent offerings of various kinds were made to the goddess, and treasured in the temple; such as paintings, statues, &c., the value of which almost exceeded computation. The fame of the temple, of the goddess, and of the city itself, was spread not only through Asia but the world, a celebrity which was enhanced and diffused the more readily because sacred games were practised there, which called competitors and spectators from every country. Among his other enormities Nero is said to have despoiled the temple of Diana of much of its treasure. It continued to conciliate no small portion of respect, till it was finally burnt by the Goths in the reign of Gallienus. The silver shrines' of the Ephesian Artemis, mentioned in Acts xix. 24, have been already noticed [DEMETRIUS, 3]. Ephesus was celebrated for the constant use of those arts which pretend to lay open the secrets of nature, and arm the hand of man with supernatural powers, no less than for the refinements of a voluptuous and artificial civilization. Indeed, in the age of Jesus and his Apostles, adepts in the occult sciences were numerous: they travelled from country to country, and were found in great numbers in Asia, deceiving the credulous multitude and profiting by their expectations. They were sometimes Jews, who referred their skill and even their forms of proceeding to Solomon, who is still regarded in the East as head or prince of magicians (Acts viii. 9; xiii. 6, 8). In Asia Minor Ephesus had a high reputation for magical arts. The books mentioned Acts xix. 19, were doubtless books of magic. How extensively they were in use may be learnt from the fact that the price of them' was fifty thousand pieces of silver.' Very celebrated were the Ephesian letters, which appear to have been a sort of magical formula written on paper or parchment, designed to be fixed as amulets on different parts of the body, such as the hands and the head. Erasmus says that they were certain signs or marks which rendered their possessor victorious in everything. The ruins of Ephesus lie two short days' journey from Smyrna, in proceeding from which towards the south-east the traveller passes the pretty village of Sedekuy; and two hours and a half onwards he comes to the ruined village of Danizzi, on a wide, solitary, uncultivated plain, beyond which several burial-grounds may be observed; near one of these, on an eminence, are the supposed ruins of Ephesus, consisting of shattered walls, in which some pillars, architraves, and fragments of marble have been built. The soil of the plain appears rich. It is covered with a rank, burnt-up vegetation, and is everywhere deserted and solitary, though bordered by picturesque mountains. A few corn-fields are scattered along the site of the ancient city, which is marked by some large masses of shapeless ruins and stone walls. Towards the sea extends the ancient port, a pestilential marsh. Along the slope of the mountain and over the plain are scattered fragments of masonry and detached ruins, but nothing can now be fixed upon as the great temple of Diana. There are some broken columns and capitals of the Corinthian order of white marble: there are also ruins of a theatre, consisting of some circular seats and numerous arches, supposed to be the one in which Paul was preaching when interrupted by shouts of, 'Great is Diana of the Ephesians. A splendid circus or stadium remains tolerably entire, and there are numerous piles of buildings seen alike at Pergamus and Troy as well as here, by some called gymnasia, by others temples; by others again, with more propriety, palaces. They all came with the Roman conquest. No one but a Roman emperor could have conceived such structures. In Italy they have parallels in Adrian's villa near Tivoli, and perhaps in the pile upon the Palatine. Many other walls remain to show the extent of the buildings of the city, but no inscription or ornament is to be found, cities having been built out of this quarry of worked marble. The ruins of the adjoining town, which rose about four hundred years ago, are entirely composed of materials from Ephesus. There are a few huts within these ruins (about a mile and a half from Ephesus), which still retain the name of the parent city, Asalook-a Turkish word, which is associated with the same idea as Ephesus, meaning the City of the Moon. A church dedicated to St. John is thought to have stood near, if not on the site of, the present mosque. The tomb of St. John was in or under his church. Though Ephesus presents few traces of human life, and little but scattered and mutilated remains of its ancient grandeur, yet the environs, diversified as they are with hill and dale, and not scantily supplied with wood and water, present many features of great beauty. When Dr. Chandler visited Ephesus in 1764, Its population consisted of a few Greek peasants, living in extreme wretchedness, dependence, and insensibility, the representatives of an illustrious people, and inhabiting the wreck of their greatness-some the substructure of the glorio edifices which they raised; some beneath th vaults of the stadium, once the crowded scene their diversions; and some in the abrupt pre cipice, in the sepulchres which received thei ashes. Such are the present citizens of Ephesus and such is the condition to which that renown city has been reduced. However much th Church at Ephesus may (Rev. ii. 2), in its ear liest days, have merited praise for its works labour, and patience,' yet it appears soon to hav left its first love,' and to have received in vain the admonition-Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.' If any repentance was produced by this solemn warning, its effects were not durable, and the place has long since afforded an evidence of the truth of prophecy, and the certainty of the divine threatenings, as well as a melancholy subject for thought to the contemplative Christian. Its fate is that of the onceflourishing seven churches of Asia: its fate is that of the entire country-a garden has become a desert. Busy centres of civilization, spots where the refinements and delights of the age were collected, are now a prey to silence, destruction, and death. Consecrated first of all to the purposes of idolatry, Ephesus next had Christian temples almost rivalling the pagan in splendour, wherein the image of the great Diana lay prostrate before the cross; and, after the lapse of some centuries, Jesus gives place to Mahomed, and the crescent glittered on the dome of the recently Christian church. A few more scores of years, and Ephesus has neither temple, cross, crescent, nor city, but is a desolation, a EPHRAIM dry land, and a wilderness.' Even the sea has retired from the scene of devastation, and a pestilential morass, covered with mud and rushes, has succeeded to the waters which brought up ships laden with merchandise from every part of the known world. E'PHOD, an article of dress worn by the Hebrew priests. [PRIESTS.] EPHRAIM (fruitfulness), the younger son of Joseph, but who received precedence over the elder in and from the blessing of Jacob (Gen. xli. 52; xlviii. 1). That blessing was an adoptive act, whereby Ephraim and his brother Manasseh were counted as sons of Jacob in the place of their father; the object being to give to Joseph, through his sons, a double portion in the brilliant prospects of his house. Thus the descendants of Joseph formed two of the tribes of Israel, whereas every other of Jacob's sons counted but as one. There were thus, in fact, thirteen tribes of Israel; but the number twelve is usually preserved, either by excluding that of Levi (which had no territory), when Ephraim and Manasseh are separately named, or by counting these two together as the tribe of Joseph, when Levi is included in the account. The intentions of Jacob were fulfilled, and Ephraim and Manasseh were counted as tribes of Israel at the departure from Egypt, and as such shared in the territorial distribution of the Promised Land (Num. i. 33; Josh. xvii. 14; 1 Chron. vii. 20). | Ephraim; and, after his heroic qualities had conciliated respect, it rendered the new king true allegiance and support. But when the great tribe of Judah produced a king in the person of David, the pride and jealousy of Ephraim were thoroughly awakened, and it was doubtless chiefly through their means that Abner was enabled to uphold for a time the house of Saul; for there are manifest indications that by this time Ephraim influenced the views and feelings of all the other tribes. They were at length driven by the force of circumstances to acknowledge David upon conditions; and were probably not without hope that. as the king of the nation at large, he would establish his capital in their central portion of the land. But when he not only established his court at Jerusalem, but proceeded to remove the ark thither, making his native Judah the seat both of the theocratical and civil government, the Ephraimites became thoroughly alienated, and longed to establish their own ascendancy. The building of the temple at Jerusalem, and other measures of Solomon, strengthened this desire: and although the minute organization and vigour of his government prevented any overt acts of rebellion, the train was then laid, which, upon his death, rent the ten tribes from the house of David, and gave to them a king, a capital, and a religion suitable to the separate views and interests of the tribe. Thenceforth the rivalry o Ephraim and Judah was merged in that between At the departure from Egypt the population of the two kingdoms; although still the predomithe two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh toge-nance of Ephraim in the kingdom of Israel was so ther amounted to 72,700 men capable of bearing trms, greatly exceeding that of any single tribe, except Judah, which had somewhat more. During the wandering their number increased to 95,200, which placed the two tribes much higher than even Judah. At the Exode, Ephraim singly had 40,500, and Manasseh only 32,200; but a great change took place in their relative numbers during the wandering. Ephraim lost 8000, and Manasseh gained 20,500; so that just before entering Canaan, Ephraim stood at 32,500, and Manasseh at 52,700. One of the finest and most fruitful parts of Palestine, occupying the very centre of the land, was assigned to this tribe. It extended from the borders of the Mediterranean on the west to the Jordan on the east: on the north it had the half tribe of Manasseh, and on the south Benjamin and Dan (Josh. xvi. 5, sq.; xvii. 7, sq.). This fine country included most of what was afterwards called Samaria, as distinguished from Judaa on the one hand, and from Galilee on the other. The tabernacle and the ark were deposited within its limits, at Shiloh; and the possession of the sacerdotal establishment, which was a central object of attraction to all the other tribes, must in no small degree have enhanced its importance, and increased its wealth and population. The domineering and haughty spirit of the Ephraimites is more than once indicated Josh. xvii. 14; Judg. viii. 1-3; xii. 1) before the establishment of the regal government; but the particular enmity of Ephraim against the other great tribe of Judah, and the rivalry between them, do not come out distinctly until the establishment of the monarchy. In the election of Saul from the least considerable tribe in Israel, there was nothing to excite the jealousy of conspicuous as to occasion the whole realm to be called by its name, especially when that rivalry is mentioned. 2. EPHRAIM, a city in the wilderness of Judæa, to which Jesus withdrew from the persecution which followed the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead (John xi. 54). It is placed by Eusebius eight Roman miles north of Jerusalem. This indication would seem to make it the same with the Ephrain which is mentioned in 2 Chron. xiii. 19, along with Bethel and Jeshanah, as towns taken from Jeroboam by Abijah. 3. EPHRAIM, a mountain or group of mountains in central Palestine, in the tribe of the same name, on or towards the borders of Benjamin (Josh. xvii. 15; xix. 50; xx. 7; Judg. vii. 24; xvii. 1; 1 Sam. ix. 4; 1 Kings iv. 8). From a comparison of these passages it may be collected that the name of Mount Ephraim' was applied to the whole of the ranges and groups of hills which occupy the central part of the southernmost border of this tribe, and which are prolonged southward into the tribe of Benjamin. In the time of Joshua these hills were densely covered with trees (Josh. xvii. 18), which is by no means the case at present. 4. EPHRAIM, THE FOREST OF, in which Absalom lost his life (2 Sam. xviii. 6-8), was in the country east of the Jordan, not far from Mahanaim. How it came to bear the name of a tribe on the other side the river is not known. see. EPH'RATAH, otherwise BETHLEHEM, which E'PHRON, a Hittite residing in Hebron, whe sold to Abraham the cave and field of Machpelah as a family sepulchre (Gen. xxiii. 6). EPISTLES. In directing our inquiry first of |