Cup-bearer
An officer of high rank with Egyptian, Persian, Assyrian, and Jewish monarchs. The cup-bearer of the king of Egypt is mentioned in connection with Joseph’s history (Gen. 40:1-21; 41:9). Rabshakeh (q.…
Cupbearer
an officer of high rank with Egyptian, Persian and Assyrian as well as Jewish monarchs. (1 Kings 10:5) It was his duty to fill the king’s cup and present it to him personally. (Nehemiah 1:11) The chi…
Curious Arts
(Acts 19:19), magical arts; jugglery practised by the Ephesian conjurers. Ephesus was noted for its wizard and the “Ephesian spells;” i.e., charms or scraps of parchment written over with certain for…
Curse
Denounced by God against the serpent (Gen. 3:14), and against Cain (4:11). These divine maledictions carried their effect with them. Prophetical curses were sometimes pronounced by holy men (Gen. 9:2…
Curtain
(1.) Ten curtains, each twenty-eight cubits long and four wide, made of fine linen, also eleven made of goat’s hair, covered the tabernacle (Ex. 26:1-13; 36:8-17). (2.) The sacred curtain, separating…
Cush
Black. (1.) A son, probably the eldest, of Ham, and the father of Nimrod (Gen. 10:8; 1 Chr. 1:10). From him the land of Cush seems to have derived its name. The question of the precise locality of th…
Cushan
Probably a poetic or prolonged name of the land of Cush, the Arabian Cush (Hab. 3:7). Some have, however, supposed this to be the same as Chushan-rishathaim (Judg. 3:8, 10), i.e., taking the latter p…
Cushi
Properly “the Cushite,” “the Ethiopian,” a man apparently attached to Joab’s person. (2 Samuel 18:21-25,31,32)
Cushite
(1.) The messenger sent by Joab to David to announce his victory over Absalom (2 Sam. 18:32). (2.) The father of Shelemiah (Jer. 36:14). (3.) Son of Gedaliah, and father of the prophet Zephaniah (1:1…
Custom
A tax imposed by the Romans. The tax-gatherers were termed publicans (q.v.), who had their stations at the gates of cities, and in the public highways, and at the place set apart for that purpose, ca…
Custom, Receipt Of
CUS'TOM, RECEIPT OF. See Publican.
Cuth
Cuthah, burning
Cuth, And Cuthah
CUTH, AND CU'THAH. 2 Kgs 17:24, 1 Kgs 20:30. A city of Assyria, 15 miles north-east of Babylon, where the name Cutha is inscribed upon bricks of Nebuchadnezzar's age. At Cutha was the great universit…
Cuth, Or Cuthah
one of the countries whence Shalmaneser introduced colonists into Samaria. (2 Kings 17:24,30) Its position is undecided.
Cuthah
One of the Babylonian cities or districts from which Shalmaneser transplanted certain colonists to Samaria (2 Kings 17:24). Some have conjectured that the “Cutheans” were identical with the “Cossaean…
Cutting
The flesh in various ways was an idolatrous practice, a part of idol-worship (Deut. 14:1; 1 Kings 18:28). The Israelites were commanded not to imitate this practice (Lev. 19:28; 21:5; Deut. 14:1). Th…
Cuttings In The Flesh
CUT'TINGS IN THE FLESH. This repulsive practice, common among idolaters, ancient and modern, originates in the notion that pain and blood please the angry deity. Cutting with a knife also formed a pa…
Cymbal, Cymbals
a pecussive musical instrument. Two kinds of cymbals are mentioned in (Psalms 150:5) “loud cymbals” or castagnettes, and “high-sounding cymbals.” The former consisted of our small plates of brass or …
Cymbals
(Heb. tzeltzelim, from a root meaning to “tinkle”), musical instruments, consisting of two convex pieces of brass one held in each hand, which were clashed together to produce a loud clanging sound; …
Cypress
(Heb. tirzah, “hardness”), mentioned only in Isa. 44:14 (R.V., “holm tree”). The oldest Latin version translates this word by ilex, i.e., the evergreen oak, which may possibly have been the tree inte…
Cyprus,
CY'PRUS, a large, fertile island of the Mediterranean Sea, triangular in form, 150 miles long, and from 50 to 60 miles broad. Venus was its chief goddess; hence her name Cypria. It contained two prom…
Cyrene,
CYRE'NE, the capital of a small province, and the chief city of Libya, in northern Africa. It was the centre of a wide district between Carthage and Egypt, and corresponding to modern Tripoli. It was…
Cyrenians
CYRE'NIANS. See Cyrene.
Cyrenius
The Grecized form of Quirinus. His full name was Publius Sulpicius Quirinus. Recent historical investigation has proved that Quirinus was governor of Cilicia, which was annexed to Syria at the time o…
Cyrus
(Heb. Ko’resh), the celebrated “King of Persia” (Elam) who was conqueror of Babylon, and issued the decree of liberation to the Jews (Ezra 1:1, 2). He was the son of Cambyses, the prince of Persia, a…
Dabareh.
DAB'AREH. Josh 21:28. An incorrect form for Daberath.
Dabbasheth
(a hill-place), a town on the boundary of Zebulun. (Joshua 19:11)
Daberath
Pasture, a Levitical town of Issachar (Josh. 19:12; 21:28), near the border of Zebulum. It is the modern small village of Deburich, at the base of Mount Tabor. Tradition has incorrectly made it the s…
Daemon
The Greek form, rendered “devil” in the Authorized Version of the New Testament. Daemons are spoken of as spiritual beings (Matt. 8:16; 10:1; 12:43-45) at enmity with God, and as having a certain pow…
Daemoniac
One “possessed with a devil.” In the days of our Lord and his apostles, evil spirits, “daemons,” were mysteriously permitted by God to exercise an influence both over the souls and bodies of men, inf…