A Brighter Day Begins with His Word.

James Hastings • SECTION 122

Section 122

← A Dictionary of the Bible — Volume 1 · More by James Hastings · All Christian Books

AMULETS

AMULETS

89

the Oriental mind familiar with this amulet faith, the words seem very natural, 'lie strong' in the Lord, and in the I'ower of His nii^dit.' ' I'erfect love casteth out fear.' ' I can do all tliinf,'3 in Him that stren<;theneth me.' Thus the a. has a true word of jiower, for it teaches, 'When I am devoted, I am endued.' By a similar vehicle the apostle reaches the experience which siiys, 'When I am weak, then am I stronj;.'

3. Clussijiciitiun. This corresponds with the dan<;ers and the points of contact. There is an a. fur the heart (illust. 1) worn almost universally in the East. It is a locket susj)eniied over the breast, and consists sometimes of a .small metal case of

With this may be classed the neck-amulet. See CinsCKNT. Similarly, there were a" for the nose and mouth fur the danf;ers by inhalation ; for the ear and the temptations of hearing; for the eye and what meets its vision (illu.st. 3, 7, 8). And so the veil for the head and face, and the slieet enveloping the whole li;,'ure of the tjriental woman, now the formalities of mo<lesty, were doubtless once full of superstitious meaninj;. See VEIL. Amulet articles aiming' the Jews are chiefly the friiijL'es of larf;e and small tallitli : the mezuza ; the paper with I's 121 and certain Abracadabra for- mulas which the Rabbi puts in the room where there is an infant less than eight days old ; and the

\.ml:i.i.i.>.

1. The 'Shield of Dft\'ifl,'or 'Solomon's Seal,' a favourit*? a. among the Jcwa, 2. Extract from .Towish Birth- A., which rives, under I's 121, the name.s of the Patriarchs and their wives, with a fonnnia at eat-h sitie furhidding tlie apprtiai-h of I.ililh or any wilrii. a. Hreast-a. {taitheh). 4. Eye-a., seen in tho hross tliimlik'-Iil(c ornament on the nose of the K^rvptian wiirii;iii. .^>, (1. Cartns, and hlaclt or red hund-a*. 7, 8, A< for nose and cars, worn by Uedavvin women, along with necklace, l.r.utU-ts, and annlet-

pold or silver, but more frci|. of a hcailshapcd shi'ath of cloth ornamcnlcil with a design in j^'old thread. This may contain for the Moslem a few woiils from the Ivoraii. called a /";/"/(, covering;, prolcctioM : and if for a Christian, a picture of the \ ir;,'in and Child, called a laubth, 'penitence.'

phylacteries of the brow and arui. See I'livi.. ACTBUV. Amulets are also used for the luotectioii. not only of animals such as camels and horses, but (■\cii for newly-built bouses, such protection usually taliiiij; the form of a nni^'hlydr.iw n hiiiii.in h.'uid in black or red, or of a cactus plant or aloe hunj;

90

AMZI

ANAMIM

by the roots from the arch of the doonvay and kept alive by the moisture of the air (illust. 5 and Q) G. M. Mackie.

&MZI (•VDK).— 1. A Merarite, 1 Ch 6**. 2. A puest in the second temple, Neh 11". See Gene- alogy.

AN.— 1. An, called the indef. article, is the old Eng. form of the nvun. adj. one. As early as lloO the n is found dropped before a consonant, and at the date of the AV the usage had become general to employ a before a consonantal sound (incluclmg « and eu pronounced yu), and an before a vowel sound (including sUent k). Some hesitation is found when the art. precedes a word beginning with ich. Thus we find 'an whole m Nu lU (ed of 1611), but 'a whole' in Nu 11-"; an whore- in Pr'23^ (ed. 1611). 2 Ea 16« (ed. 1611) but ' a whore ' elsewhere. Agam, the ed. of lb 1 gives 'such an one' in Job If, Sir 6 ^lO' 20' , 2 Mac 6"; but 'such a one' in Gn 41'"', Ku 4 , Ps 50=' 68=', Sir 26^, 1 Co 5»- ", 2 Co 10" 12=- », Gal 6', PhUem ». Later edd. give 'such an one in all these passages.

More varied is the usage when the art. precedes h In the ed. of 1611 (the later edd. have m;ule many changes) we find ' a habitation, Jer ii ', but 'an hab!' in Ex 15', Is 22'" 34'» and other hve places ; 'a hair' in 1 K 1» Lk 2V^ but 'an hair in Dn 3=', Mk 21i«, Ac 27»* ; ' a hairy,' Gn 2/", but 'an hairy,' Gn 25=», 2 K I'; 'a hammer, Jer 23- , but ' an hammer,' Jg 4" ; and so with many other words. The explanation of this inconsistency prob- ably is, not that the usage for a or an wa,s not fixed, but that there was no fixed pronunciation of h. On the whole, an is found more frequently than a before words beginning with A.

2. In 'an hungered' ('a hungered is not 'ouml in AV 1611), winch occurs Mt 4= 12'- » 25-»- «■ ^^- ". Mk 2*> Lk 6^ the an is not the indef. art., but the prep, an or on. See A». J. Hastings.

ANAB (3:y 'grapes').— A city of Judah in the Ne"eb hUls "(Jos IP' 15»), inhabited first by the Anakim. Now the ruin 'Anab near Debir. It is noticed as still a village in the 4th cent. A.D. (Onovuisticon, s.v. Anab). SIVP yol.m sh. xxiv.

* C. R. COSDER.

ANAEL {'Am-fi\, but ^n:in Syr. and Ileb., and S.yDn Aram.) was brother of Tobit and father of Achiacharus, To l**.

Public-domain historical reference work (1898–1905); OCR text from Internet Archive. Historical scholarship and terminology reflect its era; OCR may contain errors. Verify quotations and current scholarly claims independently.

Project Gutenberg source record →

Nearby sections in this work