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hand; they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck." | Genesis 24. 22, to express bracelets.
It seems to have been heavy and oppressive; Isai. 47, 6,
"Upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke,
(gnol,)" and to have bowed down the necks of those bear-
ing it, so as to have made them stoop. Leviticus 26. 13,
"I am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out
of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bond-hurst.
men; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and
made you go upright." mut, appears to have been
a much lighter kind of yoke, borne occasionally by ser-
vants, in the prosecution of their domestic employments,
to support burdens or vessels at the ends. The word
signifies a bar, and is so translated in Numbers 4. 10.
In 1Chronicles 15. 15, it is used in the plural to express
the staves by which the Ark was borne.

"And the man took a golden earring and two bracelets (tzemedim), for her hands." An acre of land is also called tzemed; being as much land as a pair of oxen would plough in a day. (Isai. 5. 10.) Thus, in Latin, an acre is called jugerum, from jugum, a yoke, scil. of oxen. See ParkM.

It was probably such a yoke as is still worn by milkmen and water-carriers across their necks, having a vessel suspended by a chain at each end. In Numbers 13. 23, the word is taken to express the staff or pole which the spies used to carry between two, the large cluster of grapes gathered at Eshcol. This yoke mut is never used in as heavy and oppressive a sense figuratively as the yoke gnol. The difference is marked in the Hebrew in Jeremiah 28. The yoke or oppressive government of the king of Babylon is called gnol; the yoke worn by Jeremiah in the spirit of prophecy, is called mut: it would have been painful to the prophet to have borne about the heavy yoke of slavery or punishment; he therefore adopted the lighter one of domestic servitude; the yoke or pole of wood. (See Jeremiah 28. 10,13.)

Ttzemed, from T tzamad, to couple, is always used to express a double yoke for joining together a pair of oxen: as gnol in its primary use was a yoke for a single beast. Tzemed does not occur used figuratively for oppression or subjection; it is used only in its literal meaning. It seems to have been composed of chains or links fastened by a hasp; for the word is used in

YOUNGER. It has been remarked, that under the Jewish dispensation, it was frequently the will of God to prefer the younger sons before the elder, notwithstanding the right of primogenitureship, as Shem before Japheth; Isaac before Ishmael; Jacob before Esau; Joseph, Judah, and Levi, before Reuben; Ephraim before Manasseh; Moses before Aaron; and David before all his brethren. In some of these cases the elder had forfeited his right of primogenitureship by transgression, as Esau and Reuben; but not so the others. The cause of the proceeding of God's providence may be conjectured to have been twofold; first, as a memorial of the sin of Cain, first-born of Adam, by which Seth and his posterity were preferred before him; and, secondly, as a type of the future preference of the Christian, or younger Church, before the Jewish, or elder church, in consequence of the forfeiture of the latter by unbelief. M.

YOUTH. The ancients considered youth in a much more extended view than we do. They considered it relatively with strength, activity, vigour; and while a man retained those attributes, he was reckoned a young man, or a youth without reference to the number of his years. Thus Benjamin is viewed as a mere youth, when upwards of thirty years old. And in Numbers 21. 28, Joshua is called a young man when about forty. The word frequently translated in our version young man, is

bachur, derived from bachar, to choose; it signifies primarily a choice man; one who may be chosen for some particular qualities. M.

ZABAD, zabad, a gift.

him in his bed. Zabad is called Jozachar, in the account of the transaction. (2Kings 12. 20,21.)

IV. Zabad, of the tribe of Judah. One of those who had married foreign wives in Babylon; and put them away at the command of Ezra, after the return to Jerusalem. (Ezra 10. 27.) M.

I. Zabad, of the tribe of Judah; son of Nathan, and father of Ephtal; a descendant of Hezron, father of Caleb. (1Chron. 2. 36,37.) A long genealogy, without any apparent reason, is given in this place of the descendants of the daughter of Sheshan, great-grandmother of Zabad, by an Egyptian husband, a proselyte. The Rabbins say that it is the pedigree of Ishmael, who slew Gedaliah, the governor over the cities of Judah, ZABADEANS. (1 Macc. 12. 31.) Believed to placed by the king of Babylon after he took Jerusalem, be the same as the Nabatheans mentioned by Josephus. (Jerem. 41. 2,) which Ishmael, they say, was grandson of (See art. NABATHEANS.) M. Elishama, tenth in descent from Zabad.

II. Zabad, of Ephraim, son of Tahath, and father of Shuthebah. (1Chron. 7. 21.) Zabad and Shuthebah were killed during the lifetime of Ephraim, their ancestor, (son of Joseph,) by the men of Gath, in a strife concerning plunder of cattle. Lightfoot thinks that the men of Gath made an incursion into Egypt to plunder; and the Ephraimites were slain in defence of their cattle. But the Targum thinks that the Ephraimites were the aggressors; having mistaken the computation of the time at the end of which Canaan was promised to them, they made a premature invasion, and were killed.

III. Zabad, son of Shimeath, an Ammonitess, who in concert with Jehozabad, son of Shimrith, an Ammonitess, slew Joash, king of Judah, B.C. 839. These men were mongrel Jews, their mothers being aliens; they were of the household of the king, and murdered

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I. Zachariah, the head of a family of the tribe of Reuben. (1Chron.)

II. Zachariah, son of Jeroboam the Second, (son of Joash,) ascended the throne, B.C. 784. He was not inaugurated till after an interregnum of about twentyfour years had elapsed since the death of his father. The cause of this interregnum is not now known; but it is probable it was occasioned by civil commotions and factions; for Zachariah after a short reign of six months, was murdered in public, perhaps in a popular outbreak, by Shallum, son of Jabesh, who assumed the crown. It is only recorded of Zachariah that "he did evil in the sight of the Lord." He was fourth in descent from Jehu, and in him was fulfilled the promise of God to

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altar."

Jehu, "Thy sons shall sit upon the throne of Israel | Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the unto the fourth generation." (2Kings 15. 12; 10. 30.) His murder fulfilled also the prophecy of Hosea, (1. 4,) "I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of Israel."

III. Zachariah, (or Zechariah,) of the family of Korah. A door-keeper belonging to the Tabernacles. (1Chron. 9. 21.)

IV. Zachariah, (or Zechariah,) a Levite, and teacher of the Law, sent with others by King Jehoshaphat throughout Judah to instruct the people. (2Chron. 17.)

V. Zachariah, (or Zechariah,) was a priest the son of Jehoida, that priest who preserved Joash from the murderous intent of his grandmother, Athaliah, afterwards placed him on the throne of Judah, securing him by the death of Athaliah. (2Chron. 22. and 23.) After the death of Jehoida, Joash fell into wickedness, and sanctioned idolatry among the people; Zachariah, moved by the spirit of prophecy, stood forth and expostulated with the people, and denounced upon them the anger of God, upon which they assaulted him with stones and slew him, "in the court of the Lord's house," in the presence, and by the command of Joash. "Thus Joash the king, remembered not the kindness which Jehoida his father had done to him, but slew his son." (2Chron. 24. 22.) It is to be remembered, that as Zachariah died, he said, "The Lord requite it," which was not spoken in a feeling of revenge, but in a spirit of prophecy; and the Lord did avenge it by external wars, and the defeat of Judah, and by the assassination of Joash.

The Jews consider the murder of Zachariah as peculiarly heinous: they say it involved seven crimes: 1. The murder of a priest. 2. Of a prophet. 3. Of a judge. 4. The shedding of innocent blood. 5. The pollution of the Temple. 6. The desecration of the Sabbath. 7. And of the day of expiation; both of which solemn seasons they say chanced to fall on the day of the murder. The Gemara of the Talmud treatise Sanhedrim relates, that when Nebuzaradan took Jerusalem, he observed blood bubbling up on a certain spot in the Temple; on asking what it was, and being told that it was the blood of sacrificed victims, he ordered some animals to be slain there, but perceiving that no ebullition of their blood took place, he threatened the Jews to tear their flesh with iron combs unless they told him the truth; and they then acknowledged that it was the blood of a Jewish priest and prophet, who had foretold all the evils that he (Nebuzaradan) was to bring on them, and they had slain him; then the king said, "I will appease him," and caused the Rabbins to be brought and slain on the spot; but still the blood bubbled up: he then ordered the disciples of the schools to be slain there; but still the blood bubbled up: next, the young priests were slain there, but to no purpose. When some thousands had been immolated, he exclaimed, “Zachariah, Zachariah! the best of thy people have been slain for thee! wilt thou destroy them all?" Then the bubbling of the blood ceased. We must receive this Jewish story with great reservation, unless, indeed, we consider it as typical, or containing some allegorical mystery, like most of its kind. It serves, however, to shew the light in which the Jews viewed this crime.

Jerome, Lightfoot, Whitby, and a great number of eminent commentators, believe this Zachariah to be he of whom Our Lord speaks, (Matt. 23. 34,35,) “Behold I send unto you prophets: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias, son of

The following are some of the reasons for this opinion: that Our Lord spoke to the Jews of Zachariah as of a well-known martyr, and Zachariah, son of Jehoida, is the only martyr of that name, of whom they were cognizant; that there is a remarkable similitude between the cases of Abel and Zachariah, in the memorial of requital recorded concerning them. In Genesis 4. 9, the Lord says to Cain, "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground;" and in 2Chronicles 24. 22, the dying Zachariah says, "The Lord look upon it and requite it;" that Abel was the first martyr to truth and piety, and Zachariah the last mentioned in Scripture (up to the Christian era) as suffering death for reproving the wickedness of his times; that Zachariah was a remarkable type of Christ himself, being put to death by the will of all the people; that his being called son of Jehoida in the Old Testament, and the son of Barachias in the New, is no proof against the opinion; because it was very common among the Jews to have two names; and, besides, Jehoida and Barachiah mean the same thing, viz., "Praise God."

VI. Zachariah, or Zechariah, the eleventh of the Minor Prophets. The time and place of his birth are unknown. He was son of Barachiah, and grandson of Iddo; he prophesied after the return of the Jews from Babylon; he foretold exactly the siege of Babylon, by Darius, son of Hysdaspes (ch. 2); the coming of Christ, and the blessings of his kingdom on earth (7.14); Christ's entrance into Jerusalem on an ass's colt (9); and the exact sum for which He would be betrayed (11). His book contains discourses adapted to inspire the Jews with courage to rebuild the Temple, and to reestablish its rites. Of his death nothing certain is known. At the foot of Mount Olivet a tomb is shown, said to be that of the Prophet Zechariah.

VII. Zachariah, or Zechariah, son of Jeberechiah, mentioned in Isaiah 8. 2, as one of his faithful witnesses. He is thought to be the same as the Zechariah who lived in the time of Uzziah, or Azariah, king of Judah, of whom it is said (2Chron. 26. 5), that "He sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God."

VIII. Zachariah, father of Abi, or Abijah, mother of king Hezekiah. (2Kings 18. 2; 2Chron. 19. 1.)

IX. Zachariah, or Zechariah, a Levite of the family of Asaph; one of those employed by Hezekiah in cleansing and repairing the house of the Lord. (2Chron. 22. 13.)

X. Zachariah, father of Joseph, one of the Maccabees' captains, defeated at Jamnia by Gorgias, in consequence of disobeying the orders of Judas Maccabeus. (1Macc. 5. 18-56.)

XI. Zachariah. (Luke 1.) A priest of the course of Abiah, husband of Elizabeth, and father of John the Baptist. Zachariah and his wife, like Abraham and Sarah, were old and childless. But about fifteen months before the birth of Christ, as Zachariah was burning incense, according to his office, in the Temple, the angel Gabriel appeared to him, and promised him a son, whose name should be John. Zachariah doubting, and asking a sign, the angel declared as a sign, that he should be dumb until the fulfilment of the prediction. He accordingly returned out of the Temple dumb, and unable to communicate with the people. In due course of time Elizabeth was delivered of a son; and on the eighth day, when the child was to be circumcised and named, the kinsmen would have called him after his father; but Zachariah wrote on a tablet, that his name should be John. Whereupon he recovered from his

dumbness, and being inspired by the Holy Ghost, poured forth that prophetic hymn which is preserved in the 2nd chapter of St. Luke's Gospel. This hymn has been called the death song of the Jewish Church, for it is the last of her authentic prophecies, unless we account the Song of Simeon (Luke 2. 29) prophetic. Tradition says, that when Herod sent soldiers to kill John (afterwards the Baptist), with the other innocents, they could not find him, because Elizabeth had sent him into the wilderness; and Zachariah, refusing to discover where he was concealed, was assassinated by Herod's order, in the inclosure that surrounded the altar of burnt-offering; and that neither the priests nor the people knew of his murder, till one of the priests entering the Temple found him dead, and his blood congealed on the ground, and at the same time a supernatural voice was heard to say, "Zachariah is slain, and his blood shall not be wiped out till his avenger comes." The marks of his blood are said to have remained visible on the pavement. The Greek Church honours Zachariah as priest, prophet, and martyr. In the Roman Martyrology he is joined with Elizabeth.

XII. Zachariah, son of Baruch. A rich citizen of Jerusalem, and an eminent patriot at the time of the siege by the Romans. He was obnoxious to the turbulent Idumeans and zealots, who desired to destroy him by some mockery of justice, that they might seize his effects, and be delivered from his reproaches, and from his influence. Wherefore they set up a sham tribunal of seventy judges, chosen from the populace, and tried him on a false charge of intending to betray the city to the Romans. But Zachariah easily refuted the accusation, and boldly rebuked the seditious for their wickedness and the confusion into which they had thrown the affairs of the city. The seventy judges felt constrained to acquit him; but two of the zealots assaulted him in a fury, and slew him in the Temple, and then hurled him down into the valley beneath. (Joseph. The Jewish War, book iv., ch. 5.) The date of this transaction is A.D. 67, three years before the taking of Jerusalem. In the Valley of Jehoshaphat, opposite Jerusalem, a monument is shown, said to be Zachariah's tomb. It is cut in the rock, having four pillars on each side, with capitals supporting a pyramidal roof. This Zachariah has been supposed by Grotius, and others, to be the person spoken of by Our Lord, in Matt. 23., as before quoted. But the murder of this man had not then occurred; and it is evident that Christ did not speak prophetically of a future martyrdom, but of one past and recognised. Had he spoken prophetically, and menaced the Jews on aecount of a crime still uncommitted, they could not have understood him, and his words would necessarily have no effect. Besides, this Zachariah was neither Christian nor prophet; and not of eminence or sanctity to be the subject of a prophecy from Our Lord. His appellation, also, "son of Baruch," is different from that of " son of Barachiah;" in the Greek, the former is Bapoux, the latter is Bapaxias, which does away with the supposed identity of the name.

M.

ZACCHEUS. (Luke 19. 2.) A chief of the Publicans or Taxgatherers; collector or comptroller of the revenue for a district. He was a rich man, and an inhabitant of Jericho; and when Our Lord came to that town, Zaccheus, being desirous of seeing him, climbed up into a sycamore tree, for being of a low stature, he was hindered by the crowd from perceiving Christ; Our Lord, pleased with his zeal, desired him to descend, for He would abide at his house that day; Zaccheus imme

diately came down and received him joyfully. The bystanders murmured, saying, that Jesus was gone to be the guest of a sinner. Zaccheus, apparently in his own justification, says, "Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him four-fold. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, for so much as he also is a son of Abraham.” (Luke 19. 7-10.) This is all that Scripture informs of Zaccheus. He appears to have been an exemplary man, considering the general character of the Publicans; he gave half his property to the poor, whereas the Jewish law and traditions required only a fifth: and he restored any injustice he might haply commit in the execution of his office four-fold; though the law required only the amends of a fifth, in case of theft voluntarily restored. (Numb. 5. 7.)

Some have imagined that Zaccheus was a Gentile; but his name is only the Hellenized form of the Hebrew name Zaccai; and that he was a Jew is evident, from Our Lord saying of him that he was a son of Abraham. Besides, those who murmured at Our Lord's becoming his guest, did so only on the grounds of his being a sinner, not of his being a Gentile, or of the uncircumcision.

Lightfoot (Hora Hebraicæ in Evangel. S. Lucæ,) says, that Zaccai, father of the celebrated Rabbi Jochanan, lived contemporaneously with the Zaccheus of the Gospel; and that he brought up his son Jochanan to commerce for forty years, before Jochanan dedicated himself to literature and religion, and obtained the Rabbinate; whence some have imagined that Zaccai was identical with the Zaccheus of Scripture. But, Lightfoot observes, Zaccai was a Rabbin, and of the sacerdotal race; circumstances incompatible with the calling of a Publican. To which may be added, that no trace of his conversion to Christianity appears in the Rabbinical writings, wherein he is commended as a man of eminent (Jewish) piety. And besides, Our Lord saying, "Now is salvation come to this house," implies prophetically, that the precepts and example of Zaccheus would be the means, humanly speaking, of rendering his family converts to Christianity, which certainly was not the case with respect to Rabbi Jochanan, the celebrated son of Zaccai, who died president of the Sanhedrim at Jamnia. Some have supposed, but not with good foundation, that Zaccheus was St. Matthew, who was a Publican, and who entertained Our Lord at his house, (understanding him to be the same person as Levi,) (Luke 5. 27,) at which the Scribes and Pharisees cavilled, as in the case of Zaccheus. But if Matthew and Levi are identical, as is the general opinion, whence the third name of Zaccheus? The Jews frequently bore two names, but not three.

It has been affirmed that St. Peter consecrated Zaccheus bishop of Cæsarea, in Palestine. There was a bishop of Cæsarea, in the second century, of that name, who has probably been confounded with Zaccheus, the Publican. The people of Jericho show there the remains of a square tower, which they affirm to have been the house of Zaccheus; but Dr. Robinson thinks that this tradition did not take rise till the fifteenth century.

II. Zaccheus. An officer of Judas Maccabeus, left with Simon and Joseph to besiege two strong castles of the Idumeans. But Simon's men being bribed with seventy thousand drachms, suffered some of the besieged to escape. The traitors were put to death by Maccabeus; but it does not appear that Zaccheus was implicated. The castles were ultimately taken. (1Macc. 10. 19-22.)

III. Zaccheus was the name of an heretical monk who lived in retirement on a mountain near Jerusalem, about the end of the fourth century. He taught that

ZACCHEUS-ZEAL.

prayer was only acceptable to God when offered in strict privacy, and that prayers made in assemblies or in churches were unavailing. M.

ZADOK. I. Son of Ahitub, of the race of Eleazar; a priest of Israel. When David took refuge from Saul, at Ziklag, and bands of Israelites resorted to him, Zadok, then "a young man mighty of valour," (1Chron. 12. 28,) joined him, with twenty-two captains of his father's house. He became the personal friend of David, who, when he came to the throne of Israel, made Zadok joint high-priest with Abiathar, of the house of Eli, as Josephus says. In fact, Zadok is always named before Abiathar in the Scriptures. When David was obliged to fly from Jerusalem, on the rebellion of Absalom, Zadok and Abiathar wished to accompany him; but David preferred their remaining in Jerusalem, that they might send him intelligence of whatever occurred there. (2Sam. 15.) After the defeat of Absalom, David made use of the influence of Zadok and Abiathar with the elders of Judah, to procure an invitation for his return to his throne. (2Sam. 19.) When Adonijah raised a faction to cause himself to be anointed king, in room of his brother Solomon, before the death of David, Zadok was one of the few who adhered to Solomon, whom he anointed king, by desire of David: Abiathar having joined the party of Adonijah. (1 Kings 1.) Wherefore, on the death of David, Solomon deposed Abiathar, and elevated Zadok to the entire dignity of the high-priesthood. (1 Kings 2.)

It is not known when he died. He was succeeded by his son Ahimaaz, who officiated under Rehoboam.

II. Zadok, high-priest; son of Ahitub, and father of Shallum; he was also father of Jerusha, wife of King Jotham.

III. Zadok, son of Baana; one of those who repaired the fish-gate at Jerusalem, after the Captivity. (Nehem. 3. 4.) M.

ZALMUNNA. Zebah and Zalmunna were princes of Midian, who, in their hostile incursions against the people of Israel, slew the brethren of Gideon, judge of Israel, at Tabor. Gideon defeated and took Zebah and Zalmunna, whom he slew, to avenge the slaughter of his brethren. (Judges 3.) M.

ZAMZUMMIMS, " projects of wickedness, from Dzamam, to think mischief. Ancient and very wicked giants, who dwelt beyond Jordan, in the country afterwards inhabited by the Ammonites. (Deut. 2. 20.) They are thought to be the same as the Zuzims mentioned in Genesis 14., being also so called from their swiftness. M.

ZANOAH. I. A city of Judah, (Josh. 15. 34-56,) on the mountains. The inhabitants assisted to repair the valley-gate of Jerusalem, after the Captivity. (Nehem. 3. 13.) The name and site are still to be traced in Zanua, a village on the slope of a hill on the route from Jerusalem to Gaza.

II. Zanoah, of the tribe of Judah, son of Jebuthiel. (1Chron. 4.8.) M.

ZAPHNATH-PAANEAH, (Gen. 41. 45,) the name which Pharoah gave to Joseph, upon the latter's interpreting his dream. It is generally interpreted to mean "the revealer of secrets;" but the Vulgate renders it "Saviour of the world:" "Et vocavit cum lingua Ægyptiaca, Salvatorem Mundi." The Septuagint gives

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it Foveoμpavnx, Psonthomphanech. It was (and still is) a common custom in the East, to give a new name upon preferring a man to any honour or dignity. Thus Nebuchadnezzar's chief officer gave to Daniel the appellation of Belteshazzar, upon his being placed in the royal household. (Dan. 1.7.) To this custom allusion is made in Revelations 2. 17, when the Spirit promises to him who overcometh, a white stone, with a new name written in it. M.

ZEAL, is defined by Cruden to be "a mixed passion, composed of grief and anger, fervent love and desire; for what a man loves earnestly, he is careful to see it honoured, and grieved when it is dishonoured." The word in Hebrew is Np kinah, from 82 kanah, “to eat into, to corrode, to consume as fire." The Septuagint usually renders it by nλos, which is derived from "to be hot." Thus we say, 66 Sew, "to be hot." a fiery zeal." The Psalmist says, (Psalm 69. 10,) “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me," or consumed me like fire.

Zeal is described as arising from both good and evil motives. In Numbers 25. 11-13, Phineas is comBut mended, because he was zealous for his God. Jehu (2Kings 10. 16) slew the priests of Baal, and the family of Ahab, to gain public applause, saying, "Come see my zeal for the Lord;" not out of single and pure love of God, for he continued in the sins of Jeroboam, the idolatrous worship of the golden calves.

Zeal is attributed to God, as well as to man, e. g. Ezekiel 5. 13, "I the Lord have spoken it in my zeal." It is frequently used to express the ardent human feelings, as jealousy, (Numb. 5. 14,) and envy (Isai. 11.13.) The word is also used to express the Lord's anger, as (Zech. 1. 14,) "I am jealous for Jerusalem, and for Zion with a great jealousy."

The "Judgment of Zeal" is an expression among the Jews signifying the legalized licence of the people in putting to death upon the spot an offender detected in an open and atrocious breach of the law, or in utterance of blasphemy, without waiting for the process of a trial, and the sentence of a judge.

It was in pursuance of this licence that the Jews sought to kill Our Lord, by throwing him headlong from the mount at Nazareth, when they thought him guilty of blasphemy. (Luke 4.) Under the Jewish polity, in order to prevent this licence being abused to purposes of private revenge, it was necessary that the alleged crime should be committed in the presence of ten Israelites, and that the offender persisted in his guilt, after being warned to desist.

The "Image of Jealousy," literally, the idol of zeal, mentioned in Ezekiel 8. 3, is thought by some commentators to be Baal, to whom Manasseh erected altars in the Temple, (2Kings 21. 3,4,) on which account the Lord was moved to great indignation against Jerusalem. But, by the 14th verse of the same chapter of Ezekiel, we shall see that the idol was Thammuz, which is generally thought to be the same as the Adonis of the Greeks; indeed, the Vulgate translates it Adonis, who, from his history, is appropriately called "the idol of jealousy;" for the heathens fabled, that being beloved by Venus (the Syrian Astarte), his rival, Mars, in his jealousy, sent a wild boar to kill him while hunting; and they represented Venus as mourning for him with poignant grief; which gave rise to festivals, or rather solemn days, called Adonia, in which the women mourned and wept, in imitation of Venus; as the women did, described in Ezekiel 8. 4, as mourning for Thummuz. M.

ZEALOTS, a political party among the Jews, who are believed to have arisen with Judas the Gaulonite, or Judas the Galilean, who, when Judea became a Roman province, and a census was taken in order to lay on taxes, exhorted the people to pay no tribute, and to assert religious liberty by force of arms. The Zealots were so called from the fiery zeal they affected for their country, especially during the siege of Jerusalem, when, under the pretence of patriotism, they committed every atrocity, plundering, murdering, and oppressing the people in such a manner that Josephus says the invading Romans themselves were considered a lighter evil. They profanely seized upon the high-priesthood, to appoint whom they would to that sacred and hereditary office; they assassinated the most eminent citizens; cast out and plundered the priests, and occasioned such distractions in Jerusalem, that the besieged were incapable of offering an united and efficient resistance. The Zealots appear, from the account of Josephus, to have been mad with wickedness. They revelled amid their murders in every debauchery, put on women's clothes, dressed their hair and anointed themselves, and painted their faces in the manner of women, and plunged into excesses not to be recorded. To add to the miseries of the Jews, the Zealots were divided amongst themselves, and formed into two factions, one headed by John of Giscala, and the other by Simon, son of Gioras, whose hostilities augmented the destruction of Jerusalem. On the taking of the city by Titus, John was killed, Simon hid himself in a sewer, with provisions for some time; but being forced by hunger to come forth, he was captured, and carried to Rome, to adorn the triumphal procession of Titus, and then publicly executed. M.

cence of any participation in his brethren's offence towards Joseph; but that, on the contrary, he had done all in his power to dissuade them. The tribe of whom Zebulon was the founder received their lot in Canaan, in the northern part, along the coast of the Mediterranean, one extremity bordering on that sea, the other on the sea of Tiberias; fulfilling Jacob's blessing, (Gen. 49. 13,) "Zabulon shall dwell at the haven of the sea” The tribe of Zebulon distinguished itself in the wars of Deborah and Barak against Sisera. (Judges 4.6; 10.14.) They appear at that time to have been also celebrated as scribes. Zebulon was one of the tribes appointed to stand on Mount Ebal, to pronounce the curses, at the formal publication of the blessings and curses. (Deut. 27. 13.) Zebulon was the only entire tribe that joined David at Hebron, to make him king. (1Chron. 12. 33.) This tribe, with that of Naphtali, were the first carried away captives beyond Euphrates, by the Assyrians. (1Chron. 5. 26.) Our Lord during his ministry frequented the countries of Zebulon and Naphtali more than those of any other tribes. (Isai. 9. 1; Matt. 4. 13,15.)

II. Zebulon, a city of Galilee, near Ptolemais. It was called Zabulon Andron, or Zebulon of Men, on account of its populousness. It was a beautiful city. During the Jewish war it was plundered and burnt by Cestus, the Roman general, the inhabitants having previously fled, leaving their effects behind them. M.

ZECHARIAH. See ZACHARIAH.

ZEDEKIAH, last king of Judah before the Babylonish captivity. He was uncle to Jehoiachin, his predecessor on the throne. His name was originally

ZEBAH, a prince of Midian, slain by Gideon. Mattaniah; but when Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem,

See ZALMUNNA.

ZEBEDEE, a fisherman of Galilee, father of the Apostles James the Elder, and John the Evangelist, whom Jesus called while they were fishing with their father. The wife of Zebedee was Salome, one of the pious women who attended Our Lord on his crucifixion. No particulars concerning Zebedee are now known. The name is the Greek form of the Hebrew, Zabdi. M.

ZEBOIM. I. One of the cities of the Plain, I. One of the cities of the Plain, destroyed by fire from heaven at the same time as Sodom and Gomorrah. It is believed to have been rebuilt near its former site, as Eusebius and Jerome mention a city of that name as existing in their days on the west side of the Dead Sea. The destruction of Zeboim, and its neighbouring town Admah, is mentioned in Deuteronomy 29. 23. See also Hosea 11.8.

II. Zeboim, a city of Benjamin. (Neh. 11. 34.) III. Zeboim, a valley in the tribe of Benjamin, lying III. Zeboim, a valley in the tribe of Benjamin, lying towards the wilderness of Judah. (1Sam. 13. 18.) In the Chaldee it is rendered, "the valley of serpents," from zeboim, or zebagnim, "speckled vipers," with which that region was said to abound. Others, however, translate y zeboim, as "hyænas," the striped wild beasts. M.

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and carried away Jehoiachin captive to Babylon, he made Mattaniah king in Jehoiachin's stead, in the twenty-first year of his age, changing his name to Zedekiah, (2Kings 24. 17,) after exacting from him an oath of fidelity. (2Chron. 36. 13.) But Zedekiah was an impious and irreligious man, and did evil in the sight of the Lord, and by his example encouraged the people in wickedness. In the first year of his reign he sent envoys to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar, probably to pay his tribute, and by them, Jeremiah wrote a prophetical letter to the captives in Babylon. (Jerem. 29.) In four years after, Zedekiah went to Babylon, (Jerem. 1. 59,) or sent a deputation, (Baruch 1.) to request Nebuchadnezzar to restore the sacred vessels taken from the Temple. The ninth year of Zedekiah's reign was the should be all released by the people. Sabbatic year, in which, according to the Law, the slaves In this year, Zedekiah revolted against Nebuchadnezear, notwithstanding his oath of allegiance; being apparently encouraged to do so by the ambassadors sent to him from the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Zedekiah, of the evil success of their enterprise, (Jerem. Sidon. Jeremiah warned prophetically both them and 27) but was disregarded; for Zedekiah had suffered himself to be deluded by the falsehoods of a pretended prophet, Hananiah, who predicted the overthrow of Nebuchadnezzar, though Jeremiah had proved the fallacy of Hananiah's pretended inspiration, by prophesying his death in the course of the year, which was fulfilled. (Jer. 28.) Nebuchadnezzar, upon the revolt, marched against Zedekiah, and took all the fortified places, except Lachish, Azekah, and Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem on the tenth day of the tenth month (our January) of the Holy year. But the king of Egypt marching to assist Zedekiah, (Jerem. 37.) the Chaldean army raised the siege and marched against

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