OBADIAH. ов 1. The comptroller of the household of Ahab, king of Israel, during the time of the prophet Elijah. While the wicked Jezebel was exterminating the prophets, Obadiah preserved one hundred from death, whom he concealed in two caves, and fed them with bread and water while the persecution continued. He seems to have possessed Ahab's confidence, since he was commissioned to go through the land unto all fountains of water and all brooks," in quest of grass to save the horses and mules. In one of these excursions he met with the prophet Elijah, who commanded him to go and announce his arrival to Ahab. Apprehensive for his personal safety, Obadiah at first hesitated to undertake the commission; but the prophet having re-assured him, he went to Ahab and related his interview with Elijah. (1 Kings xviii. 1-14.) After this event we meet with no further notice of Obadiah, of whose life and family no particulars are recorded. Doubtless, he was one of the seven thousand who had not bowed their knees to Baal. (1 Kings xix. 18.) 2. The fourth of the minor prophets: he probably was contemporary with Jeremiah. Obadiah announced the divine judgments against the Edomites. (See Vol. II. | pp. 953-956.) OBLATIONS, different kinds of, 321. Ordinary, ibid. Voluntary, 322. Prescribed, 323-325. OCCUPATIONS of the Jews, 484—504. ОР predecessors: he died at Samaria, B.C. 914, and was succeeded on the throne by his son Ahab. ON. 1. A pleasant valley in Syria of Damascus, now called Un, and used proverbially for a pleasant vale. 2. ON, AUN, or HELIOPOLIS, a city of Egypt. The father-in-law of Joseph was high priest of On. (Gen. xli. 45.); there rendered Heliopolis by the Septuagint version, and noticed also by Herodotus; who says that "the Heliopolitans were reckoned the wisest of the Egyptians." This was the city of Moses, according to Berosus. and well accounts for his Scriptural character, that "he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." (Acts vii. 22.) Heliopolis was the Greek translation of BETHSHEMESH," the house or city of the Sun," as it was called by Jeremiah, "Beth-shemesh, in the land of Egypt" (xliii. 13.), to distinguish it from another Beth-shemesh, in the land of Canaan. It was called Beth Aven, "the house of vanity," or idolatry, by the Jews. (Ezek. xxx. 17.) "The site of Heliopolis" [or On] “is marked by low mounds, inclosing a space of about three quarters of a mile in length, by half a mile in breadth; which was once occupied partly by houses and partly by the celebrated Temple of the Sun. The area is now a ploughed field; and the solitary obelisk, a single block of red granite, covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions, which still rises in the midst, is the sole remnant of the former splendours of the place." (Dr. Robinson's Biblical Researches, vol. p. 36. Lord Nugent's Lands, Classical and Sacred, vol. i. pp. 79, 80.; Dorr's Notes of Travel, pp. 44, 45.) ONESIMUS, a Phrygian by birth, and the slave of Philemon, from whom he fled; but being converted to Christianity through the preaching of St. Paul, he was the occasion of the apostle's writing the admirable Epistle to Philemon. (Col. iv. 9. Philem. 10.) ONIAS, Temple of, 270. OPHIR, a country whither Solomon sent a fleet, aided by the subjects of Hiram king of Tyre, and from which they brought back gold (1 Kings ix. 27, 28. 2 Chron. viii. 17, 18.) and also almug trees and precious stones. (1 Kings x. 11.) Not fewer than fifteen or sixteen countries have been assigned, by various commentators and critics, as the site of Ophir, but the most probable is that of M. Huet, bishop of Avranches, who is of opinion that it was on the eastern coast of Africa, by the Arabians termed OR Zanguebar; that the name of Ophir was more particularly given to the small country of Sofala on the same coast; that Solomon's fleet went out from the Red Sea, and from the port of Ezion-geber entered the Mediterranean by a canal of communication; and doubling Cape Guardafui, coasted along Africa to Sofala, where was found in abundance whatever was brought to the Hebrew monarch by this voyage. The opinion of Huet is adopted by Mr. Bruce, who has confirmed it by various additional considerations. Its precise situaation, however, must remain a matter of mere conjecture. ORATORIES of the Jews described, 274. ORATORY, Science of, cultivated by the Jews, 522. ORGAN, a musical instrument of the Jews, notice of, 514. OTHNIEL, the son of Kenaz of the tribe of Judah, and a relation of Caleb, who gave him his daughter Achsah in marriage, on his taking Debir, otherwise called Kiriathsepher, from the Canaanites. (Josh. xv. 16-19.) After the Israelites had been oppressed for eight years by Chushanrishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, Othniel was excited to levy an army against him. He overcame the Mesopotamians, and delivered his countrymen, who acknowledged him as a regent or judge. During the forty years of his administration, the Israelites remained faithful to their God and king, and consequently prospered. (Judg. iii. 8-11.) OVENS of the Jews, 424, PADAN-ARAM. See MESOPOTAMIA, p. 698. PAINTING, art of, among the Jews, 511. Painting of the eyelids practised by the Jewish women, 436, 437. PALACE, officers of, 112. PALESTINE, Holy Land, why so called, 4. Later divisions of, 18. See HOLY LAND. PALM-TREE, notice of, 80. Leaves of used for writing on, 508, and note1. PALMYRA. See TADMOR. PALSY, variety of diseases so termed, 554. PAMPHYLIA, a province of Asia Minor, having to the south the Pamphylian Sea, mentioned Acts xxvii. 5., Cilicia to the east, Pisidia to the north (whence we find Saint Paul passing through Pisidia to Pamphylia, Acts xiv, 24.) and from Pamphylia РА to Pisidia (Acts xiii. 14.), and Lycia to the west. The cities mentioned in the Scripture as belonging to it, are Perga and Attalia. (Acts xiii. 13.) Here numerous Jews dwelt, and hence those of Pamphylia are mentioned among those who appeared at Jerusalem at the day of Pentecost. (Acts ii. 10.) From the numerous ruins of houses, towers, and castles, it is evident that this country must formerly have been very densely inhabited. At present, however, its green hills are occupied by a few poor nomadic tribes and their cattle. (Rosenmüller's Biblical Geography of Asia Minor, [Biblical Cabinet, vol. xxxiv.] p. 35.) PAPHOS, the metropolis of the island of Cyprus (Acts xiii. 4. 6.), and the residence of the pro-consul. It was memorable for the impure worship paid to Venus, the tutelar deity of the island. Here Saint Paul struck blind Elymas the sorcerer, and converted Sergius the pro-consul. The Jews dwelt here in great numbers. (ver. 6.) Twenty-five or thirty miserable huts are all that remain of this once most distinguished city of Cyprus. See Cr PRUS. PARADISE, a word of Persian original, signifying a park, garden, or inclosure full of all the valuable productions of the earth. The word passed into the Hebrew form DD (PARDES), which occurs in Sol. Song iv. 13. Neh. ii. 8. Eccles. ii. 5.; and in those passages it is rendered Παράδεισος in the Septuagint version, and denotes a garden of trees of various kinds, a pleasurepark, a delightful grove. In the New Testament, Paradise is applied to the state of faithful souls between death and the resurrection; where like Adam in Eden, they are admitted to immediate communion with God in Christ, or to a participation of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. (Luke xxiii. 43. Rev. ii. 7.) Of this blessed state St. Paul had a foretaste. See 2 Cor. xii. 2. 4., where he states that he was caught up to the third heaven; and again, that he was caught up to Paradise. He was caught up to the third heaven that he might contemplate that scene of supreme felicity, which awaits the just after the resurrection; and he was caught up to paradise, that his mind might be contented with a view of their nearer consolations. (Valpy's Gr. Test. on Luke xxiii. 43.) PARAN, Desert of, notice of, 71, 72. PARASCHIOTH, or ancient divisions of the Pentateuch, read in the Synagogues, 280. Table of them, 281. PA PARCHMENT, notice of, 509 156. PARTHIANS are mentioned in Acts ii. 9. in conjunction with the Medes. The empire of Parthia subsisted four hundred years, and disputed with the Romans for the dominion of the East. The Parthians were celebrated for the veneration of their kings, and for their way of fighting by flight, and shooting their arrows backwards. They dwelt between Media and Mesopotamia; in all which trans-Euphratensian places, except some parts of Babylon, and of some other small prefectures, the Jews abounded, and some of them were at Jerusalem when the Holy Ghost fell on the apostles. PASSOVER, feast of, how celebrated, 331 -339. Its spiritual import, 340-342. PATARA (Acts xxi. 1.), a sea-port town of Lycia, anciently of considerable note. Extensive ruins mark its former magnificence and extent. Its port is now entirely choked up by encroaching sands. (Col. Leake's Tour in Asia Minor, pp. 182, 183.) PATHROS, a city and district of Egypt, mentioned by the prophets Jeremiah (xliv. 1. 15.), and Ezekiel (xxix. 14. and xxx. 14.). The inhabitants of this country are called Pathrusim in Gen. x. 14. PATMOS, a small rocky island in the Egean Sea, whither the apostle and evangelist John was banished, A. D. 94, and where he had the revelations which he has recorded in the Apocalypse. It is not known how long his exile continued. It is about sixteen miles south-west from Samos, and eighteen miles in circumference, stretching from north to south. The soil of Patmos appears to be of volcanic origin. Not one tree is visible upon it. The ruins of its acropolis or citadel were discovered in 1817. Here are very numerous churches, many of which are opened only on the anniversary festival of the saints to whom they are dedicated. The population is about 4000. They are said to be almost entirely supported by the proceeds of the sponge fisheries along the rocky shores & this island. (Emmerson's Letters from the Ægean, vol. ii. pp. 17—21. Narrative of the Scottish Mission to the Jews, p. 326. Lynch's Narrative of the United States' Expedition to the Dead Sea, p. 112.) 96. PATRIARCHAL government, nature of, PAUL, who was also called Saul, the distinguished apostle of the Gentiles. A Pharisee by profession, and a Roman citizen by birth, he was at first a furious persecutor of PE the Christians; but after his miraculous conversion he became a zealous and faithful preacher of the faith which he had before laboured to destroy. See a copious account of the life and apostolic labours of Saint Paul in the fourth volume of this work. PAY of Jewish Soldiers, 228. PEKAHIAH, the seventeenth king of Israel, succeeded his father Menahem, and followed the example of his predecessors in maintaining the idolatrous institutions of Jeroboam I. After reigning about two years, he was assassinated at Samaria by PEKAH, an officer of his guards, who held the throne about twenty years. He also "did evil in the sight of the LORD; he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel to sin." (2 Kings xv. 27, 28.) Towards the close of his reign his dominions were overrun by Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, who carried his subjects into captivity; and Pekah himself was assassinated by Hosea. (2 Kings xv. 29, 30.) PELETHITES, notice of, 112. 228. PENTECOST, feast of, how celebrated, 342. PEOR, OF BAAL-PEOR, notice of, 373. PERFUME boxes of the Hebrew women, 435. PERGA, the metropolis of Pamphylia (Acts xiii. 13.), was beautifully situated between and upon the sides of two hills, with an extensive valley in front, which was watered by the river Cestus. Perga was memorable among the heathens for a temple of Diana built there; and among the Christians for the departure thence of John-Mark from Barnabas and Paul, to Jerusalem, which occasioned the rupture between them for a season. (Acts xv. 37. 40.) In 1838, Mr. Fellowes observed many remains of ancient art in this place. (Excursion in Asia Minor, pp. 191— 193.) PERGAMOS, or PERGAMUS, was the ancient metropolis of Mysia, and the residence of the Attalian kings: it still preserves many vestiges of its ancient magnificence. Against the church at Pergamos was adduced the charge of instability (Rev. ii. 14, 15.); but to its wavering faith was promised the all-powerful protection of God. "The errors of Balaam and the Nicolaitans have been purged away. Pergamos has been preserved from the destroyer; and three thousand Christians" PE (out of a population of about 15000 inhabitants) now cherish the rites of their religion in the same spot where it was planted by the hands of St. Paul." (Emerson's Letters from the Ægean, vol. i. p. 216.) Of these Christians about 200 belonged to the Armenian communion; and 1,500 are members of the Greek Church. They have each one church, but the other churches of Pergamos have been converted into mosques, and are profaned with the blasphemies of the pseudoprophet Mohammed. There are also about 100 Jews, who have a synagogue. Pergamos, or Bergamo, as it is now called, lies about sixty-four miles north of Smyrna. Its present state is described by Mr. Arundell, in his visit to the Seven Asiatic Churches, pp. 281-290.; and in his Discoveries in Asia Minor, vol. ii. pp. 302304.; and also by Mr. Fellowes (who visited it in 1838) in his Excursion in Asia Minor, pp. 33-36. PERIZZITES, the ancient inhabitants of Palestine, mingled with the Canaanites. It is very probable that they were Canaanites, who had no fixed habitations, and lived sometimes in one country, sometimes in another, and were thence called Perizzites, which term signifies scattered or dispersed. The Perizzites did not inhabit any certain portion of the land of Canaan. In several places of Scripture the Canaanites and Perizzites are mentioned as the chief people of the country. Thus, we read that, in the time of Abraham and Lot, the Canaanite and Perizzite were in the land. (Gen. xiii. 7.) Solomon subdued the remains of the Canaanites and Perizzites, which the children of Israel had not rooted out, and made them tributary. (1 Kings ix. 20, 21. 2 Chron. viii. 7.) There is mention of the Perizzites by Ezra, after the return from Babylon; and several Israelites had married wives of that nation. (Ezra ix. 1.) PERJURY, punishment of, among the Jews, 156. 165. PERSIA, a country of Asia, bounded on west by Media and Susiana; on the south by the Persian Gulf; on the north by the great desert that lay between it and Parthia Proper: and on the east by another still greater, that lay between it and the river Indus. Until the time of Cyrus, and his succession to the Median empire, it was an inconsiderable country, always subject to the Assyrians, Babylonians, or Medes. Its capital city was Persepolis, now Chelminar: lat. 30 degrees; in the neighbourhood of which, to the south PE east, was Passagardæ, where was the tomb of Cyrus. The ruins of Persepolis are remarkable, among other things, for the figures, or symbols, to be seen on the walls and pillars of the temple. Sir John Chardin observed there rams' heads with horns, one higher and the other lower, exactly corresponding to Daniel's vision of the Medo-Persian empire; the lower horn denoting the Medes, the higher, which came up last, the Persians. (Dan. viii. 3.) A winged lion, with a crown on his head, alluding, perhaps, to the symbolical representation of the Assyrian empire, by "a lion, with eagle's wings;" denoting their ferocious strength and cruelty, and the rapidity of their conquest. (Dan. vii. 4.) (Dr. Hales's Analysis of Chronology, vol. i. p. 443. 8vo.) Sketch of the History of the Persian Empire, illustrative of the Prophetic Writings. CYRUS, who is deservedly called the Great, both on account of his extensive conquests, and also for his liberation of the captive Hebrews, was the son of Cambyses, a Persian grandee, and Mandane, the daughter of Astyages king of the Medians. He was born A.M. 3405, B. C. 599, one year after his uncle Cyaxares the brother of Mandane. Weary of obeying the Medians, Cyrus engaged the Persians to revolt from them. He attacked and defeated Astyages his maternal grandfather, whose life he spared, and gave him the government of Hyrcania, satisfied with having liberated the Persians, and compelled the Medes to pay him tribute. Not long after, the latter rebelled against him, and involved Cyrus in a protracted war. His original Persian name Agradad; which, after he had become the sovereign of the Persian empire, he exchanged for Khorshid (the splendour of the sun), which the Hebrews abridged_to Koresh, the Greeks to Kuros, and the Romans to Cyrus. (Rosenmüller's Biblical Geography, vol. i. p. 212.) After his subjugation of the Medes, Cyrus directed his arms against the Babylonians, whose ally Croesus, king of Lydia, having come to their assistance, was defeated, and obliged to retire into his own country. Cyrus continued to prosecute the war against the Babylonians, and having settled everything in that country, he followed Croesus into Lydia, whom he totally discomfited, and over-ran his territories. Thus far we have followed the narrative of Justin (lib. i. was PE c. 7.): Herodotus relates events nearly in the same order (lib. i. c. 178.), but places the Babylonian war after the war with Croesus, and the entire reduction of Lydia. He says that Labynitus (the Belshazzar of Scripture) was at that time the king of Babylon, and that Cyrus, having subdued his other enemies, at length attacked and defeated the Babylonians, who withdrew into their city, which was both strongly fortified and amply stored with provisions. Cyrus, finding that the siege would be protracted, diverted the course of the Euphrates, by causing great ditches to be dug on both sides of the city, above and below, that its waters might flow into them the river, being thus rendered passable, his soldiers entered the city through its channel. Babylon was taken, and the impious Belshazzar was put to death. (Dan. v. 30.) So extensive was that city, that the inhabitants of each extremity were ignorant of its capture, though the enemy was in its very centre; and as a great festival had been celebrated on that day, the whole city was absorbed in pleasure and amusements. Cyrus constituted his uncle Cyaxares (or Darius the Mede) king of the Chaldeans (Dan. v. 31.). Cyrus immediately restored the captive Jews to liberty (2 Chron. xxxvi. 22. Ezra, i. 1.), and commanded pecuniary assistance to be given to those who stood in need of it. He died A. M. 3475, B. c. 529, in the seventieth year of his age, though historians are by no means agreed concerning the manner of his death. Cambyses, the successor of Cyrus, was one of the most cruel princes recorded in history. As soon as he was seated on the throne, he invaded and conquered Egypt, and reigned there three years. At the same time he detached part of his army against the Ethiopians, and commanded his generals to pillage the temple of Jupiter Ammon. Both these expeditions were unfortunate. The army which had been sent against the latter perished in the sands of the deserts; and that which he led against the former, for want of provisions, was compelled to return with great loss. Mortified at his disappointments, Cambyses now gave full vent to the cruelty of his disposition. He killed his sister Meröe, who was also his wife; he commanded his brother Smerdis to be put to death, and killed many of his principal officers; he treated the gods of the Egyptians with the utmost contempt, and committed every possible outrage against them. Hearing at length that his throne PE was filled by an usurper, who pretended to be his brother Smerdis, and reigned at Babylon, he set out on his return to his dominions, but died at Ecbatana, a town in Syria, situated at the foot of Mount Carmel. A. M. 3482, B. c. 522. After the death of Cambyses the Persian throne was usurped by seven Magi, who governed for some time, making the people believe that their sovereign was Smerdis the brother of Cambyses. The Samaritans, who were always jealous of the prosperity of the Jews, obtained an edict from the pseudoSmerdis (called ARTAXERXES in the Scriptures), prohibiting them from rebuilding the temple and fortifications of Jerusalem. (Ezra iv. 7. 16.) This interruption continued until the second year of Darius the son of Hystaspes. A. M. 3483, B. c. 521. The imposition of the Magi being at length discovered, the pseudo-Smerdis was put to death, after a short reign of eleven months, by seven Persian nobles, and DARIUS the son of Hystaspes was acknowledged king. Having been informed of the permission which Cyrus had granted to the Jews to rebuild their temple, he allowed them to resume the work (Ezra iv. 24. vi. 1.), which they had commenced by the exhortations and encouragement of the prophets Haggai (i. 1.) and Zechariah (i. 1., Ezra v. 1.). This Darius is the Ahasuerus who married Esther and granted various privileges to the Jews. (See the book of Esther, throughout.) A. M. 3519, B. c. 485. Xerxes succeeded Darius in the Persian throne; but as no particulars are recorded of him as connected with the Jews, we pass on to the reign of his successor ARTAXERXES, who greatly favoured them, first sending Ezra into Judæa (Ezra vii. viii.), and afterwards Nehemiah, to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem (Neh. ii. iii.). The Persian monarchy subsisted for many centuries after this event; but, as its history is not connected with that of the Jews, it would be foreign to the plan of this abstract to give the succession of its sovereigns. (Calmet, Histoire Prophane de l'Orient, § IV. Dissert. tom. ii. pp. 336-341.) PERSON, crimes against, how punished, 159-161. Sacred Persons, 288-313. PESTILENCE or PLAGUE, 87. PETER, one of the Apostles, formerly called Simon: he was of Bethsaida, and was the son of Jonas, a fisherman, which occupation he also followed. When he was called to the apostleship by our Saviour, he received the name of Пerpos, which sig |