AIN (ry ' an eye, or spring ').—!. On the northern boundary of Israel, as given Nu 34". It lay west (S W. ?) of Riblah. It is almost impossible now to describe the boundary there given. Riblah has been identified with the village stUl bearing that name, 20 miles south-west of Hums (Emesa) and Zedad, viith Sadad some 30 miles east of Riblah : other points are unknowTi. Kobin- son following Thomson, places Ain at Am el-Asy, the main fountain of the Orontes, about 15 miles soutli-west of Riblah (Researches (1852), p. 538). Conder identifies this ^vith Hazor-Enan (Heth and Muab p. 7 ff.). A description of this fountain of the Orontes -n-ill be found in the passaws referred to. On the whole question, see under Palestine, and other places named with Am in Nu 34'-"; also A. B. Davidson's Eze/ael, pp. 351 352
2. Jos 15*' 19' and 1 Ch 4». Here Ain and Rimmon should apparently be read as one name, Ain-Rimmon = En-^inimon, which see.
A. Henderson.
AIR (c-nt, i-^P, oipav6,) is the first of the three divisions— 'the heaven above,' 'the earth bene.atli, and 'the water under the earth.' Its usual sense is the atmosphere resting upon the earth, with special terms for the highest heavens and for air iA motion, as wind, breath, etc. As the loca ity ol air is above the earth, so its language is that ot the supernatural. As the emblem of the insub- stantial, and the antithesis of 'flesh and blood (Eph 6"), it is regarded as the dwelling-place of powers which, though under God, are over
™"satan is described as ' the prince of the power of the air' (Eph 2"), and the war of the Loid is there lifted out of all tribal provincialism, and declared to be a world-wide conflict between elemental good and evil. For safety and success in this battle ' the whole armour of God' is needed. In Dt 32" the heathen gods are called Shedhim, the term by which modern Jews denote the malignant spirits tjiat are considered to infest the air. The fear of offending them makes the uneducated Jewish woman say,
AKAi^f
ALCIMUS
59
' By your leave ' ! when throwing out water from her uoor-stcp ; and the dread of their congregated power makes tlie Jews walk quickly in the funeral procession. The same superstition passed into the Christian Church with regard to the efficacy of the passing bell. The Jews in the synagogue- worship, when repeating the solemn watchword of Israel, ' Hear, U Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord,' prolong the pronunciation of the word ici>< 'one,' as a protection against the hostility of the air-powers. See Demon. G. M. Mackie.
ARAN (isj,).— A descendant of Esau (Gn 36''). The name appears in 1 Ch 1" as Jakan.
AKATAN CAKaTdv, AVAcatan), 1 BBS's.— Father of Joannes, who returned with Ezra, called Hak- katan, Ezr 8".
AKELDAMA (Ac l'» WH 'AitfXJaMx. TR 'A«X- Saiid, AV Aceldama). — The popular name of 'the field of blood,' bought with the money paid to and returned by the traitor, Mt 27'"'°. The language of Ac 1'* seems also to imply that it was so named as the scene of his suicide. It is not impossible that a spot so defiled would be eagerly sold and bought in the circumstances described. Such a place must have always been needed (Jer 26^), and at the time this ' field ' was purchased, owing to the multitude of ' strangers ' dwelling in and visiting Jerusalem, there may have been urgent need for a larger place of bunal, and a difficulty of procuring land for such a purpose. The place had been previously kno>vn as ' the potter's held,' and seems to be identified with ' the potter's house ' of Jer 18' 19', which was in the valley of the son of Hinnom, the scene in earlier times of Molech- worship, and subsequently deliled as a place of burial (Jer T'""", 2 K 23'"). The traditional site is still kno^vn as Hakk-ed-Dumm (in the 12th cent, called Chaudemar, a manifest corruption of the original). It is situated half-way up the hill, to the south of the Pool of Siloara, on a level spot. ' It is now a partly ruined building, "S ft. long outside and 57 ft. wide, erected over rock- cut caves and a deep trench.' Originally there had been tombs cut in a natural cave, which forms the inner or southern part ; and though these have been broken up to enlarge tue space, six ' loculi ' remain on the western .«ide and two on the eastern. A deep trench has been cut in front of the original rooK-tombs, 30 ft. deep, 21 ft. wide, and 63 ft. long. The wall buUt on the outer edge of the trench is about 30 ft. high. A stone roof thrown over the trench joins the hill face {PEFSt, 1892, p. 283 ff.). Apparently there was a clili' here with a natural cave in the face of 0. This may have been used, as caves frequently are, as a potter's workshop. But the name of the gate, ' Ilarsith,' Jer 19' ' the gate of jiotsherds,' would rather indicate that the site of the potter's workshop was close by the gate, and not across a valley from it ; his work would also require a supply of water to bo at hand ; nor can the Valley of Hinnom be said to be conclusively identified. According to Eu.sebius, Akeldama was on the north of the city ; .Jerome (by a slip or of design) places it on the south. From the seventh century (Arculph) it has been pointed out on the presently accepted site. Krafft {Top. Jer. p. 193) says he saw clay dug at Hakk-ed-Dumm ; but Schick denies that jiotter's clay is found there, and says that only a kind of chalk used to mix witli clay is got higher up the hill ; but even if it were, clay is not used where it is found, but where facilities for its use are greatest. The ownership of the spot has been more valued in later times than when purchased by the chief priests. In the 12th