ii. The People.— The origia of the Chaldieana is enveloped in the mists of antiquity. Whence and when they migrated into lower Babylonia is also an unsolved riddle. Winckler {Gesch. Bab. und Assyr. p. 99 f.) finds the first hint of such a people in the ' dynasty of the coast-land ' Imeer- landes], in the person of Ea-mukSn-Sumi, king of KarduniaS, where the latter's territory is distin- guished from the ' coast-land,' at about the middle of the 10th cent. B.C. It is also thought that the names of the kings of this dynasty are Kassite, thus sustaining a conjecture (ci. Del. as above) that the Kossaians, the KasdU, were the pioneers of the ChaldEeans in Babylonia. If these conjectures are true, then we find already in this period a mixed population in the lowlands, reaching as far as the Pers. Gulf. But the character of the Chald£eans, as we know them afterwards, is strongly Semitic. They pushed north from the Pers. Gulf against Babylon, and for centuries contended with Assyria for its possession. They were in early times nomads and agriculturists, despising city life. But their contact with the more advanced civilisa- tion of lower Babylonia led them to respect and to foster centres for self-protection. Soon this industrious, thrifty people built and fortified cities, and extended their boundaries to the north against the older and more cultured capitals. In the second half of the 8th cent. B.C. we find north of Babylon the ' kingdom ' of Bit-Dakkuri ; and Sargon, as well as his successors on the throne of Assyria, had their hands full in holding at bay this vigorous people. The Chaldiean kings who forced their way to the throne of Babylon were probably heads of difl'erent cities, states, or tribes of that people. Merodach-baladan, son of Baladaa, was king of Bit-Yakin, Ukln-zir of Bit-Amukkani, and Suzub, a Chaldaean, from some other place or tribe.
iii. The Language. — The language of the Chal- d;eans was the Bab. cuneiform, almost identical grammatically and lexically with the Assyrian. The term ' Chaldee' as applied to certain chapters of Dn and Ezr is incorrect, and should not be so employed. The correct term is Aramaic.
iv. The Wise Men.— In Dn (1* and often) the term ' Ch-.tldjeans' is generally used in the sense of astrologers, astronomers. The same sense is seen in classaicl wTiters (as Strabo, Diodorus). Schrader (CUT ii. 125) says, 'The signification "wise men," that we meet with in the Bk of Dn, is foreign U Assyrio-Bab. usage, and did not arise till after the fall of the Bab. empire.' Delitzsch (Calwer Bibel- lexicon, p. 127') regards this usage as built upon the fact that Bab.-Chalda-a had been the home and the chief seat of astrological and astronomical knowledge from early ages. The attempted identi- fication of the peoples m the region of the Black Sea (mentioned by Xenophon as Chaldaans) with those in lower Mesopotamia has proved a failure. See Bahvlonia.
LiTKKATURB.— Delattre. Let Chald. jutqud la /and. de ermp, dt A'el/uch. I8S9 ; Winckler, Unlersuch. i. altonent. Get. 1889, 47 ff. ; — Get. Bab. und At. 1892, 111 fl. ; Tiele, Bai.-At. Oet. 1S88, 85, 207, 211, 28611., 422; on Chald»an leaming:, Meyer, E., (Jet. det AUerthumt, 1884, vol. i. p. 186 f. ; Honimel, (ift. Bab. und At. 1886. pp. 386 ff., 404 (!. Jra M. PRICK.
CHALDEE VERSIONS.- See Taroums
CHALK-STONES
CHAMPAIGN
369
CHALK-STONES (-ir'j;!<). — This expression is used only once, Is 27', where Israel's repentance evinces itself by the destruction of idolatrous altars, whose stones are to be as chalk (or lime- stone) broken in pieces, calcined and slaked for mortar (see Delitzsch, ad loc). The expression is of much interest as showing that the practice of burning limestone and slaking with water was practised in Pal. in OT times. The limestone of Pal. consists largely of white granular carbonate of lime of the same geological age as the Chalk formation of England. £. UULL.
CHALLENGE.— In the sense of 'claim,' Ex 22»
' any manner of lost thing which another challen- getli to be his' (%x, RV 'one saith '). Cf. More (1513), 'He began, not by warre, but by Law, to challenge the crown.' J. Hastings.
CHALPHI (AV Calphi)=Alph^us {Xa\<pd, Jos. Ant. XIII. V. 7, Xa^^as), the father of Judas, one of the two captains of Jonathan Maccal)Kus who stood firm in a battle fought against the Syrians at Hazor in N. GalUee (1 Mac 11'°).
H. A. White.
CHAMBER as a verb occurs Ro 13" ' Let us walk honestly, as in the day . . . not in chambering and wantonness' (ko(tt), ' a bed,' Lk 11' ; ' the marriage bed,' He 13*; here 'illicit intercourse' ; cf. Ro 9'° itoiTT7» lxo'«"'i ' having conceived '). See House.
J. Ha.stings.
CHAMBERLAIN An officer in the houses of
kings and nobles charged with the care of their apartments, dress, etc., though the office often im- plied other duties of trust. In OT the word occurs in 2 K 23" and repeatedly in Est, where the original is eunuch (oip) ; but it is generally believed that this name is not to be taken always in a literal sense, and hence it is often rendered bv the word ojjicer. In Esther, however, the chamberlain evidently belongs to that class of persons who are entrusted with the watchful care of the harems of Oriental monarchs. In NT at Ac 12*" it is said that the people of Tyre and Sidon sought the favour of Herod Agrippa through the mediation of Hlastus 'the king's c' (rbv ^wl toO koitwvo! toO /SaiTiX^wt), showing that the office was one of con- siderable influence. The word occurs again in AV in Ro le'', but is rendered in RV more accurately ' treasurer (oiVovi/io!) of the city,' in connexion witli the name of Erastus, a Christian of Corinth, from which i)lace it is generally believed that St. Paul wrote liis Ep. to the Romans, and where it is not likely there would be a chamberlain in the primary sense of the word. J. WoRTABET.