thigh, the place where the sword is usually worn, a motto or inscription was observed, on which he was styled "King of Kings, and Lord of Lords," to signify that he was really possessed of a just dominion over all the princes and kingdoms of the earth. THREE, frequently signifies, in the sacred writers, greatness, excellency, and perfection. It is thus used in Isa. xix. 23, "In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and Assyria;" i. e. great, admired, beloved, and blessed, as it there follows. So in Prov. xxii. 20, according to the original, "Have I not written unto thee three things," which our version renders excellent things. But all the ancient versions read three times, as Durell remarks, referring probably to the three books that bear Solomon's name. See also Prov. viii. 6, and Hosea viii. 12. So, shelish, in Ps. lxxx. 6, and Isa. xl. 12, is a great measure. And so the third in order, signifies a hero or great man, as in Exod. xiv. 7, and xv. 4; 2 Kings vii. 3—ix. 25. See also 1 Kings ix. 22; Ezek. xxiii. 15. In the Latin and Greek tongues, the number three is also mystical, and often signifies many, and does not so much imply an exact number, as a great in crease. Whether their attachment to the number three, as Potter observes, was owing to its supposed perfection, because, containing a beginning, middle, and end, it seemed to signify all things in the world; or whether to the esteem the Pythagoreans, and some other philosophers had for it, on account of their trinity: or lastly, to its aptness to signify the power of all the ods, who were divided into three classes, celestial, terrestrial, and infernal, I shall leave to be determined by others. Thus much is certain, that the ancients thought there was no small force and efficacy in unequal numbers, whence we find three fatal sisters, three furies, three names and appearances of Diana, three sons of Saturn, among whom the empire of the world was divided; and for the same reason we read of Jupiter's fulmen trifidum, Neptune's trident, with several other tokens of the veneration they had for this number. Hence τρισμέγιτος, thrice great, that is, very great. And in Horace, 1. 1, Od. 1, triple honours are many honours. The repetition of a word, sentence, or petition thrice, is a token of great earnestness, as in Jer. xxii. 29, "O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of Jehovah." "I will overturn, overturn, overturn it." It was a great emphasis when our Saviour told Peter that he should deny him thrice. So Paul, to shew the earnestness of his prayers, says, "That he besought the Lord thrice," 2 Cor. xii. 8. So our Saviour prayed three times in his agony, that the cup might pass from him. Matt. xxvi. 44. The heathen, to shew their sorrow for the death of their kinsmen, called upon them thrice. In Pindar, there is an allusion to some old custom of saluting a king thrice at his inauguration. And the acclamations in the Roman theatres seem also to have been commonly repeated thrice. And so in the senate-house, of which there is an instance and form in Vulc. Gallicanus, in these words : Gg 450 THREE......THRESHING .....THRONE. "Antonine Pie, Dii te servent ; Antonine Clemens, Dii te servent." THRESHING, is always in the Prophets a symbol of the punishment or destruction of the subject concerned, as in Isa. xli. 15; Jer. li. 33; Amos i. 3; Micah iv. 13; Habak. iii. 12; and in Isa. xxi. 10, "O my threshing, and the corn of my floor," signifies, as explained by the Septuagint," people afflicted, forsaken, and grieved." See the different methods of threshing in ancient times, described by Bishop Lowth, in his note on ch. xxviii. 27, 28, who thus paraphrases the passage above alluded to, in ch. xxi. 10. "O thou, the object upon which I shall exercise the severity of my discipline, that shalt lie under my afflicting hand, like corn spread upon the floor to be threshed out and winnowed, to separate the chaff from the wheat ;" and he adds, "The image of threshing is frequently used by the Hebrew poets with great elegance and force, to express the punishment of the wicked, and the trial of the good, or the utter dispersion and destruction of God's enemies." THRONE. The symbol of a kingdom or govern ment. ،، Thus, in holy Scripture, throne is put for kingdom, Gen. xli. 4, According to thy word shall all my people be ruled; only in the throne will I be greater than thou." In 2 Sam. iii. 10, kingdom and throne are set synonymously " to translate the kingdom from the house of Saul; and to set up the throne of David over Israel." And both together, as in 2 Sam. vii. 13, "I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever." And thus God, to represent himself symbolically as king of the Jews, had the mercy seat with the cherubim about it, as his throne. See Isa. vi. 1, 2; 2 Kings xix. 15; 1 Sam. iv. 4; 2 Sam. vi. 2; 1 Chron. xiii. 6; Ps. lxxx. 1. In like manner, "the settling of the throne" signifies the settling or establishment of the government in peace, as in 2 Sam. vii. 12, 13, 16, where throne and kingdom explain each other. And the enlargement of the throne implies a great accession of dominion and power, as in 1 Kings i. 37, compared with verse 47. And therefore Solomon, when he had subjugated all the nations round about him, so that they were obliged to bring him tribute, and had thus enlarged his dominions beyond what David had possessed before, he made a new throne, a great throne of Ivory, which symbolically represented his power, and the enlargement of his dominions, and the peace and prosperity of his reign. A throne is, by all the Oneirocritics, in ch. 225, explained of power. And by the Persian and Egyptian in ch. 261, a royal throne is explained of a king, or his eldest son. In the magic oracles of Zoroaster, Avayuns Ogovos, the throne of necessity, signifies the power of fate or death. Throne of God-may signify a great magnificent throne, according to an usual Hebraism, where nouns joined with the word God, acquire a sense of excellency and greatness. According to which, the throne of God may be an high and exalted throne, a royal or imperial seat, from whence the political world is ruled, as God from hea ven rules the whole universe. See Isa. lxvi. 1. See also under Chariot. As thrones are seats of dignity, and are to distinguish those who have the administration of government committed to them, from the rest of the people who are to be governed by them, and can with no propriety be applied to every member of the kingdom. So in Rev. xx. 4, where it is said, "I saw thrones, and they sat upon them," the meaning no doubt is, that some sat on them, while others had no thrones appointed to them. The expressions seem to allude to the Sanhedrim, in which the members sat on raised seats or thrones, on each hand of the president. The same allusion may exist in Matt. xix. 28. Ps. lxxxix. 14, and Ps. xcvii. 2, "justice and judgment are the basis of his throne;" i. e. justice and equity are the foundation of all his proceedings. THUNDER, in Ps. xxix. 3, is called the voice of God. This voice comes from heaven; and as heaven signifies the station of the supreme visible power, which is the political heaven, so the thunder is the voice and proclamation of that power, and of its will and laws, implying the obedience of the subjects, and at last overcoming all opposition. So that in this sense, thunder is the symbol of such oracles or laws as are enacted with terror, and so terrify men into a suitable obedience. And thus the law of Moses was ushered in with thunders and lightnings, Exod. xix. 16. The Oneirocritics had some notion of thunder signifying the publication of things. See Artem. 1. 2, c. 8, "Thunder discovers those that are hidden or desire to be hid." |