a

Bit shemesh, own, which signifies the house or temple of the Sun, is the name of an Egyptian idol mentioned Jer. xliii. 13, but seems to have been worshipped in Canaan also, for we find it the name of a city in Naphtali, and also the name of a city in Judah which was given to the Levites." That the sun should have had temples in Egypt, is not to be wondered at, considering the general superstition, and its use to the inhabitants; and the Canaanites may either have imported that worship from them, or invented it themselves from similar motives.

C

The Brasen Serpent which Moses erected on a pole to cure the Israelites, who were bitten with fiery serpents in the wilderness, appears to have been long an object of worship among that people. For, in 2 Kings xviii. 4, we are told, that Hezekiah " removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made; for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it and he called it Nehushtan." The meaning of Nehushtan is a brasen serpent, and as such he treated it, when abused to idolatrous superstition: although in its original institution it was a type of the Messiah, lifted up on the cross, and exhibited to sinners, as the sovereign cure for all the evils which were brought on man by the fall.

Bit tephuh, n, meaning the temple of the breather, or blower, is mentioned in Josh. xv. 53, and seems to have been a name given to the sun, as the cause of breezes and blasts. The distinguishing symbol, attached to the general one of

a Josh. xix. 38.

b Josh. xxi. 16.

c Num. xxi. 9.

the bull, as descriptive of the sun, was a citron or orange, because of their very agreeable smell, which the original word also signifies.

a

The Chemarim, or Kemerim, mentioned in Zeph. i. 4, and translated "idolatrous priests,' and "priests," in 2 Kings xxiii. 5, Hosea x. 5, were thought by D. Kimchi to mean, priests clothed in black, in contradistinction to others who were clothed in white. And Jurieu thinks they were so called, because their principal employment was to offer incense, and other perfumes to the sun. But Ikenius is of opinion, that they were Magian fire-worshippers, the remains of which sect still exist in Persia, under the name of Guebres or Gaurs." The Hebrew word means "scorched," in allusion to their office: but he considers the Persian word Camar, as giving greater insight into their character. For Camar in that language signifies "a girdle or belt ;" and these Magians always wore one, as the most sacred symbol of their religion. It was composed of wool and camels' hair; surrounded the body twice; and was tied with four knots, which had a mysterious meaning, and made it a defence against demons. Every one of the sect wore a belt of that kind. It was put on them when young, by a priest; and continued to be worn by them through life. Those who laid it aside, were considered apostates from the Magian faith. It is to these girdles or belts that Ikenius thinks Ezekiel refers in chap. xxiii. 14-17 and in Jer. xxxix. 3, 13, the person named Rab-mag, means the chief magus. The

a Hist. de Dogm. et des Cultes, part iv. tract. ix. ch. 4. b Dissert. Theolog. tom. i. dissert. 12.

Brahmins in India have a token of caste, somewhat similar to the belt of the magi. For they have a thread put round their necks in infancy, by a Brahmin, which is worn by them through life; and to break which, would be to disown the religion in which they had been brought up.

Chemosh, or Kemush, the solar light, was an idol of the Moabites," and Solomon, in his old age, built an high place for it on Mount Olivet, before Jerusalem." As to the form of the idol, Scripture is silent: but if, according to Jerom, it was like Baal peor, it must have been in the form of a bull, as all the Baals were, though accompanied with various insignia. And there can be little doubt but part of the religious services performed to Chemosh and Baal Peor, consisted in revelling and drunkenness, obscenities, and impurities of the grossest kind. We may add, that from Chemosh, the Greeks seem to have derived their Kapos, (called by the Latins Comus,) who presided over lascivious feasting and revelling.

C

Chiun, or " Kiun, is only mentioned once in Scripture, and has given rise to various interpretations. Parkhurst makes it to signify some luminous appearance attending their images, and made in imitation of the shechinah; either by embellishing them with precious stones, or placing them on some resplendent seat or throne. But Spencer

makes it the same as Saturn. The substance of his explanation of Amos v. 26, is as follows: "Ye have borne, or carried aloft in religious procession, the tabernacle of Moloch," meaning either a model of his temple, or some covered canopy or bed, on b 1 Kings xi. 7, 33.

a Num. xxi. 29.

c Jer. xlviii. 13, 26.

which the image representing Moloch, or the sun, lay; as shrines of Diana, or of the moon, were carried afterwards by the Ephesians: "and ye have carried also, in the same religious procession, Chiun," or Saturn, which the Septuagint translate Remphan, the Egyptian name of Saturn, and which Stephen following, uses in Acts vii. 4. These images, according to Spencer, were worshipped by the Israelites before they left Egypt, and it was to wean them from their idolatry, that God erected the sacred tabernacle, or tent of the congregation, and instituted the tabernacle worship."

Dagon, or 1 Degun, according to Parkhurst, means the corn giver. Δαγων ός εστι Σίτων, says Sanchoniathon in Philo Byblius. It was the god of the Philistines," and was represented by a fish in the lower part, with the head, hands, and body of a man. Others derive it, therefore, from 17 deg, a fish, which, from the form of the idol, appears the most natural.-The temple of Dagon, at Azotus, in which the ark of God was placed by the Philistines, in the days of Eli, was afterwards burnt by Jonathan, the brother of Judas. Maccabæus. !

C

Gad, or Ged, means a troop, and is so ren dered in Is. lxv. 11; but it evidently there denotes an idol. We find a place in Canaan called Migdal-gad, or the tower or temple of Gad, in Josh. xv. 87: and another in the valley of Lebanon, called Baal-gad, Josh. xi. 17; xii. 7; xiii. 5. But the meaning of the idol, and the nature of the service performed to him, is best explained in the a De Legib. Heb. Ritual. lib. iii. cap. 3. b Judg. xvi. 23. c 1 Maccab. x. 83, 84.

passage in Isaiah lxv. 11, which says, " Ye are they that forsake the Lord, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, (Gad) and that furnish the drink offering unto that number (Meni, another idol.)" The manner in which the idolatrous Jews prepared a table for Gad, or made a feast, or lectisternium, as the Romans would have called it, is thus described by Jerom on the place: " There is," says he, "in every city in Egypt, and especially in Alexandria, an ancient idolatrous custom, that on the last day of the last month of the year, they cover a table with dishes of various kinds, and with a cup filled with a liquor made of water, wine, and honey, (poculum mulso mixtum) indicating the fertility of the past or future year. This also the Israelites did."

The Gammadim, Gemedim, or Gammadims, as they are called in Ezekiel xxvii. 11, have been very differently explained by commentators; some having made the word a corruption of D Gephedim, or "Cappadocians;" others I Gem-medim, signifying, "also the Medes;" and others from gemed," a cubit." But if they have differed about the meaning of the word, they have shown as much difference, as to the conjectures they have built upon it. Thus Grotius thinks the Gammadims were the inhabitants of Ancon, who were Phoenicians; because gemed in Hebrew is Ayzov, "a cubit or the shape of the arm” in Greek, which resemblance gave name to the city. The Vulgate makes them pygmies, who, in the fable, having fought with the cranes, were looked upon as the tutelary deities of the Tyrian towers. Buxtorff makes them a people inhabiting