CHAIN. — The Bible frequently refers to chains, and uses a great variety of words to describe the dilierent articles and their uses. Chains were chiefly employed for (1) ornament, (2) restraint.
1. Urnnment. — 1. 'I'here was the more solid form of simple or twisted rinjj for the neck (t;i from ij"! ; cf. Arab, rabnt, ' to bind '). Such was Josephs gold chain (Gn 41''-), al.so Ezk 16". The Maronite Christians of Lebanon regard it as a charm against evil spirits, or the evil eye (see Amulet). It is called a ("ii/c, and in the mod. Arab, version of the IJible by Van Dyck the ouch of the lii'-li priest's dress is so translated. This chain may be of gold or silver, but the poorer classes, as the Bedawin, wear chains of copper or brass. 2. There was a more elaborate form, made of plaited wire, like (1), but with jewels inserted and pendants attached, or. instead of the metal twist, composed of .separate parts in squares, balls, or links (corrcsp. to Arab. ^ilAdat, 'i(pd). It did not encircle the neck closely,
368
CHALCEDONY
CHALDEE VERSIO:;S
&^
like the tauk, but hung loosely from it. The cliain of Dn 5'- '"■ ^ was probably of this order, and examples of it are found in Jg 8^, Ps 73", Ca 4', Pr 1*. It is customary in Syria to hang a crescent of silver, called the hiUd, by a hair rope or chain round the necks of valuable camels or horses (cf. Jg 8'-'-''). 3. The flexible chain (n-iijhi?, Arab, silsilah, 'link-chain') for suspending and festooning pur- joses (Ex 28'^-'>' 39", 1 K 7", 2 Ch 3>- "). 4. In Nu 31'» KV ' ankle-chain ' (which see). 5. In Ca l'» (mn, Arab, haraz) RV ' strings of jewels' means a necklace of eeras, beads, or shells strung on a thread. B. In Is 3'" (niiai, Arab, nutafah) KV ' pendants ' means ear-drops, in design like a pearl or drop of water.
2. Restraint. — Named from the metal, copper (rii'n;), La 3'. In Jer 39' 52" chain is transl. fetters (see Fetter) ; also in AV in Jg 16-', 2 S 3**, 2 K 25', 2 Ch 33" 36«. Chain in Ps 68« is corrected in KV to ' prosperity ' (.ti^^id). In NT the references to chains for restraint present little difficulty. The chief terms are &\vns, Mk 5^ Ac 28-», 2 Ti V\ Rev 20' : aupd in 2 P 2* ' chains of darkness ' ; Se<Tii6$ in Jude • 'everlasting chains,' which be- comes a fig. ' bond ' in Lk 13".
Modem brass was unkno\vn in ancient times, but there was an alloy of copper and tin. The feet of prisoners were secured by a chain of copper (nj'nj, Arab, sildsil nahds, tt^Stj) attached to copper rings encircling each ankle, which were widened to receive the ankle, and then closed by a few strokes of a hammer. For the sake of safe custody, as the soft copper rings might be opened, the prisoner's eyes were put out (2 K 25'). In NT mention is made of the Roman custom of securing a prisoner by a chain, one end being fastened to the prisoner's wrist and the other to that of the soldier who guarded him (Ac 12« 28*'). W. Caeslaw.
CHALCEDONY.— See Stones, Peectous.
CHALDaiA, CHALDaiANS.— D^S;'; (or d>^s?3 n!<) is the usual OT designation of Chaldsa (Jer 50'» 51" 24' 25") ; the same word is seen in anifs iin (Gn 1 1^) ' Ur of the Chaldees.' The Sept. reads XaXda'iot, substituting a liquid (1) for a sibilant (i?) before a dental (d). The corresponding form in the Assyr. inscnp. ia mdt Kaldil, ' laud of Chald.-eans.'
i. 'Tee Land. — The land of the Chaldaeans, in OT, usually covers what is included in the term Babylonia, not inclusive of Mesopotamia in its larger sense, but of the lower or between-rivers Babylonia. Delitzsch {Parndies, p. 128 f. ) main- tains that the Bab. name KaSdti, then Kaisil, is but the earlier designation of the ' territory of the Ktti' {da, meaning 'territory'), a people vciw held sway over middle Babylonia for some time before the 13th cent. B.C. (cf. also Del. Sprache dcr Kossder). The land of the Kaldii, for some cen- turies after B.C. 1000, was located S.E. of Babylon, reaching to Bit-Yakin and the head of the Pers. Gulf, and pos.sibly swinging round W. to the edge of the Arabian desert. In the inscr. of Ramnian- nirari in. (Kawlinson, WAI i. 35, No. 1, line 22) Kaldi covers all Babylonia in the expression Sarrdni ia mdt Kaldi, 'kings of the land of C Sargon always speaks of the rebel Merodach-baladan at Babylon as iar m/tt Kaldi, ' king of the land of Kalrlu,' or hir nuit Bit-Yakin, 'king of the land of Bit-Yakin.' So the Per.sian Gulf is mentioned IS tAmtum ia BitYnkin, interchangeably with t&mtum ia mAt Kaldi, indicating that the Pers. Gulf was the sea of the Chaldiea of that day. Sennacherib (Kawlinson, WAI i. 37, line 37) draws a line between the Arabians and Arama?a.ns on the one hand, and the amrlu Kaldii, ' the people of the Chaldaeans,' on the other. In the time of the de- ilme of Assyria and the rise of New Babylonia the
term Kaldii included N. and S. Babylonia and the territory occupied by certain foreira tribes and jieoides adjacent to them, who were later included in the name as used by the prophet-priest Ezekiel (23^). The later Chalda?a was about 400 miles long N.E. and S. W. by an average of 100 miles in width. The derivation of the word is somewhat doubtful, though it may be related to the name of a nephew of Abraham, Chesed (is':), of which it is a plural, in Gn 22--. It is also the same in root-form as the Assyr. kasadii, 'to conquer.'