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king Benhadad; and although he was afflicted with. leprosy, it would seem that this did not, as among the Hebrews, operate as a disqualification for public employment. Nevertheless, the condition of a leper could not but have been in his 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 aggressions. When 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

NABOTH

sense of overwhelming obligation, he sent him back with more than he had ventured to ask (2) Kings v.). Nothing more is known of Naaman ; and what befel Gehazi is related under another head [GEHAZI].

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'ÁNS. [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 aliusion 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

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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 particu larity 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

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NATHAN

NATHANAEL

company in their own house without the outer | name of the Lord to reprove David, and to derobe.

NA'OMI, wife of Elimelech of Bethlehem, and mother-in-law of Ruth, in whose history hers is involved [RUTH].

NAPITALI (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 bless ing 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).

nounce 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 up under his care. His sons occupied high places in this king's court (1 Kings iv. 5). He assisted David by his counsels when he re-organized the public worship (2 Chron. xxix. 25); and he composed annals of the times in which he lived (1 Chron. xxix. 29; 2 Chron. ix. 29); but these have not been preserved to us. In Zechariah (xii. 12) the name of Nathan occurs as representing the great family of the prophets.

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NATHAN'AEL (given of God), a person of Cana in Galilee, who, when informed by Philip that the Messiah had appeared in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, asked, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" But he nevertheless accepted Philip's laconic invitation, 'Come and see!" When Jesus saw him coming he said,

When the Israelites quitted Egypt, the tribe of Naphtali numbered 53,400 adult males (Num. i. 43), which made it the sixth in population among the tribes; but at the census taken in the plains of Moab it counted only 45,400 (Num. xxvi. 50), being a decrease of 8000 in one generation, whereby it became the seventh in point of numbers. The limits of the territory assigned to this tribe are stated in Josh. xix. 32-39, which show that it possessed one of the finest and most fertile districts of Upper Galilee, extending from the Lake Gennesareth and the border of Zebulun, on the south, to the sources of the Jordan and the spurs of Lebanon on the north, and from the Jordan, on the east, to the borders of Asher on the west. But it was somewhat slow in acquiring possession of the assigned territory (Judg. i. 33). The chief towns of the tribe were Kedesh, Hazor, Harosheth, and Chinnereth, which last was also the name of the great lake afterwards called Gennesareth. In the Hebrew history Naphtali'Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast is distinguished for the alacrity with which it obeyed the call to arms against the oppressors of Israel when many other tribes held back (Judg. iv. 10; v. 18; vi. 35; vii. 23). In the time of David the tribe had on its rolls 37,000 men fit for military service, armed with shields and spears, under a thousand officers (1 Chron. xii. 34).

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

Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.' Astonished to hear this from a man to whom he supposed himself altogether unknown, he asked, Whence knowest thou me?' And the answer,

under the fig-tree, I saw thee,' wrought such conviction on his mind that he at once exclaimed, Rabbi, thou art the son of God; thou art the king of Israel!' (John i. 45-51). It is clear, from the effect, that Nathanael knew by this that Jesus was supernaturally acquainted with his disposition 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

NAZARENE

that Bartholomew (son of Tholmai) is no more than a surname [BARTHOLOMEW].

NATIONS, DISPERSION OF. Under this or some similar designation, it has been the prevalent opinion that the outspreading, which is the entire subject of Genesis, ch. x., and the scattering narrated in ch. xi. 1-9, refer to the same event, the latter being included in the former description, and being a statement of the manner in which the separation was effected. From this opinion, however, we dissent. An unbiassed reading of the text appears most plainly to mark the distinctness, in time and character, of the two narratives. The first was universal, regulated, orderly, quiet, and progressive: the second, local, embracing only a part of mankind, sudden, turbulent, and attended with marks of the Divine displeasure.

The former is introduced and entitled in these words: Shem, and Ham, and Japheth;--these are the three sons of Noah; and from them was the whole earth overspread.' After the mention of the sons of Japheth, it is added, 'From these the isles of the nations were dispersed, in their lands, each to its language, to their families, in their nations.' A formula somewhat differing is annexed to the descendants of Ham: These are the sons of Ham, [according] to their families, to their tongues, in their lands, in their nations.' The same phrase follows the enumeration of the house of Shem: and the whole concludes with, These are the families of the sons of Noah, [according] to their generations, in their nations; ard from these the nations were dispersed in the earth after the Flood' (Gen. ix. 19; x. 5, 20, 31, 32). The second relation begins in the manner which often, in the Hebrew Scriptures, introduces a new subject. We shall present it in a literality even servile, that the reader may gain the most prompt apprehension of the meaning. And it was all the earth (but with perfect propriety it might be rendered the whole land, country, region, or district): lip one and words one [i. e. the same, similar]. And it was in their going forwards that they discovered a plain in the country Shinar; and they fixed [their abode] there.' Then comes the narrative of their resolving to build a lofty tower which should serve as a signal-point for their rallying and remaining united. The defeating of this purpose is expressed in the anthropomorphism which is characteristic of the earliest Scriptures, and was adapted to the infantile condition of mankind. And Jehovah scattered them from thence upon the face of the whole earth [or land], and they ceased to build the city' (ch. xi. 2-9).

NAVIGATION. [SHIP.]

NAZARENE', an epithet constituting a part of one of the names given to our Lord. From the number of times that the epithet is employed, it appears that it became at the very first an appellation of our Lord, and was hence applied to designate his followers. Considering that the name was derived from the place where Jesus resided during the greater part of his life, we see no reason to think that at first it bore with it, in its application to him or his followers, anything of an offensive nature. Such a designation was in this case natural and proper. In process of time, however, other influences came into operation. Nazareth was in Galilee, a part of Palestine which was held in disesteem for several

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reasons:-its was a provincial dialect; lying remote from the capital, its inhabitants spoke a strange tongue, which was rough, harsh, and uncouth, having peculiar combinations of words, and words also peculiar to themselves; its population was impure, being made up not only of provincial Jews, but also of heathens of several sorts, Egyptians, Arabians, Phoenicians; its people were in an especial manner given to be seditious, which quality of character they not rarely displayed in the capital itself on occasion of the public festivals; whence may be seen the point of the accusation made against Paul, as ringleader of the sect of Nazarenes' (Acts xxiv, 5). As Galilee was a despised part of Palestine, so was Nazareth a despised part of Galilee, being a small, obscure, if not mean place. Accordingly its inhabitants were held in little consideration by other Galileans, and, of course, by those Jews who dwelt in Judæa. Hence the name Nazarene' came to bear with it a bad odour, and was nearly synonymous with a low, ignorant, and uncul-" tured, if not un-Jewish person (Kuinoel, in Matt. ii. 23). It became accordingly a contemptuous designation and a term of reproach, and as such, as well as a mere epithet of description, it is used in the New Testament.

NAZARITE. This word is derived from a Hebrew word, which signifies to separate one's self;' and as such separation from ordinary life to religious purposes must be by abstinence of some kind, so it denotes to refrain from anything. Hence the import of the term Nazariteone, that is, who, by certain acts of self-denial, consecrated himself in a peculiar manner to the service, worship, and honour of God.

We are here, it is clear, in the midst of a sphere of ideas totally dissimilar to the genius of the Christian system; a sphere of ideas in which the outward predominates, in which self-mortification is held pleasing to God, and in which man's highest service is not enjoyment with gratitude, but privation with pain.

It may be questioned, if at least so much of this set of notions as supposes the Deity to be gratified and conciliated by the privations of his creatures, is in harmony with the ideas of God which the books of Moses exhibit, or had their origin in the law he promulgated. The manner in which he speaks on the subject (Num. vi. 1-21) would seem to imply that he was not introducing a new law, but regulating an old custom; for his words take for granted, that the subject was generally and well known, and that all that was needed was such directions as should bring existing observances into accordance with the Mosaic ritual.

The law of the Nazarite, which may be found in Num. vi., is, in eflect, as follows:-male and female might assume the vow; on doing so a person was understood to separate himself unto the Lord; this separation consisted in abstinence from wine and all intoxicating liquors, and from everything made therefrom: From vinegar of wine, and vinegar of strong drink; neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes or dried;' he was to eat nothing of the vine-tree, from the kernels even to the husks.' Nor was a razor to come upon his head all the time of his vow; he was to be holy, and let the locks of the hair of his head grow.' With special care was he

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drink wine.'

NAZARETH

After that the Nazarite may

to avoid touching any dead body whatever. Being holy unto the Lord, he was not to make himself unclean by touching the corpse even of a rela- There are not wanting individual instances tive. Should he happen to do so, he was then to which serve to illustrate this vow, and to show shave his head and offer a sin-offering and a burnt- that the law in the case went into operation. offering; thus making an atonement for himself, Hannah, Samson's mother, became a Nazarite 'for that he sinned by the dead.' A lamb also, that she might have a son. Samson himself was of the first year, was to be offered as a trespass- a Nazarite from the time of his birth (Judg. xiii.). offering. On the termination of the period of the From the language employed by Samson, as vow the Nazarite himself was brought unto the well as from the tenor of the law in this case, the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, there retention of the hair seems to have been one to offer a burnt-offering, a sin-offering, a peace- essential feature in the vow. It is, therefore, offering, and a meat and a drink-offering. The somewhat singular that any case should have been Nazarite also shaved his head at the door of the considered as the Nazaritic vow in which the tabernacle, and put the hair grown during the shaving of the head is put forth as the chief partime of separation into the fire which was under ticular. St. Paul is supposed to have been under the sacrifice of the peace-offerings. And the this vow, when (Acts xviii. 18) he is said to have priest shall take the sodden shoulder of the ramshorn his head in Cenchrea, for he had a vow' and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and (see also Acts xxi. 24). The head was not shaven one unleavened wafer, and shall put them in the till the vow was performed, when a person had hands of the Nazarite after the hair of his separa- not a vow. tion is shaven; and the priest shall wave them for NAZARETH, a town in Galilee, in which the

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parents of Jesus were resident, and where in con- | The flat-roofed houses are built of stone, and are sequence he lived till the commencement of his ministry. It derives all its historical importance from this circumstance, for it is not even named in the Old Testament or by Josephus: which suffices to show that it could not have been a place of any consideration, and was probably no more than a village.

Nazareth is situated about six miles W.N.W. from Mount Tabor, on the western side of a narrow oblong basin, or depressed valley, about a mile long by a quarter of a mile broad. The buildings stand on the lower part of the slope of the western hill, which rises steep and high above them. It is now a small, but more than usually well-built place, containing about three thousand inhabitants, of whom two-thirds are Christians.

mostly two stories high. The environs are planted with luxuriantly-growing fig-trees, olive-trees, and vines, and the crops of corn are scarcely equalled throughout the length and breadth of Canaan. All the spots which could be supposed to be in any way connected with the history of Christ are, of course, pointed out by the monks and local guides, but on authority too precarious to deserve any credit. and with circumstances too puerile for reverence. It is enough to know that the Lord dwelt here; that for thirty years he trod this spot of earth, and that his eyes were familiar with the objects spread around. In the southwest part of the town is a small Maronite church, under a precipice of the hill, which here breaks off in a perpendicular wall forty or fifty feet in

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