LrrKfL&TURB. — Se>'ffart, Diet, of Clast. Antvj. by Nettleship and SandyB*, Bicb, DicL qf Antiq. ; Pa^e, AcU of the Apoatiei,
<nUx. C. H. Prichard.
DIOTREPHES (Aicrrpf0))», WH-^^j).— A person, other\\ise unknown, who is introduced in 3 John (w.'") as ambitious, resisting the writer's author- ity, and standing in the way of the hospitable recep- tion of brethren who visited the Church — probably travelling evangelists, such as are mentioned in the Didachi. It has been inferred by some that he was a presbyter or a deacon in the Church. It has also been supposed that he was in conflict with the Jewish-Christian party ; or, on the other hand, that he was a teacher of false doctrine, Judaistic or Gnostic. But all is matter of conjecture. Others think that his action indicates an illegitim- ate assumption of authority over the Church, con- nected with the tendency to the establishment of a monarchical episcopate, which may have begun during the lifetime of St. John.
S. D. F. Salmond.
DIPHATH (ns-i) occurs in RV and AVm of 1 Ch 1', but it is practically certain that AV Riphath is the correct reading. By an easily explicable scribal error nsi has arisen from nsn, the reading of MT in the parallel pa.ssage Gn lO*. See RlPllATll.
J. A. Selbik.
DISALLOW. — 'Allow' is in AV either to ' approve ' or ' accept ' (see ALLOW); 'disallow 'is always distinctly to 'reject.' So Nu 3i)»''<*. 8. ii (»c').T refuse, reject ; see Ps 141" IIV) ; and 1 P a*-' (dwoio/ti^dfo), RV 'reject'). So Latimer {Scrm. and Bern., 11), 'I must not sutler the devil to have the victory over me. I must disallow his in- structions and suggestions.' J. Hastings.
DISANNUL, which scarcely difTers in meaning from 'annul,' the prefix being only intensive, is now going out of use. RV removes it only from Gal 3'°, giving 'make void' instead (Gr. aOeriio, of ivhich the subst. adlTTtait is tr'' 'disannulling' He 7" and retained by RV). Amer. RV prefers 'annul' in Job 40», Is 14" 28'». The use of the word in biblical English may be illustrated by Coverdale's tr" of Is 14" ' Kor yf the Lordb of hoostes determe a thing, who wyl dysanullo it?' ; and Tindale's tr° of He 8" 'In that ho sayth a new testament he hath abrogat (veraXalaKev) the olde. Now that which is disanulled (TTaKaioiinevor) and wexed olde, is redy to vannysche awaye.'
J. Hastings.
DISAPPOINT has a stronger meaning in AV
VOL. I. — SQ
tlian in mod. English, Job 5" 'He disapjiointeth the devices of the crafty ' (-i:d, RV ' frustrateth,' as Is 44=5 ^^ V, HV ; so Pr 15^) ; Ps 17'^ ' Arise, O Lord, d. him' (v.; .ir^p, RV 'confront him,' RVm 'forestall him,' Chcyne 'intercept him'); Jth 16' ' the Almighty Lord hath disappointed them by the hand of a woman ' {ridiTT)<rev aiiroii, RV ' brought them to nought ' : see under Dlsannul). Cf. Hall, Hard Text.i (1633), 311: 'All those curious and wealthy Trades . . . shall be utterly undone and di.sappointed.' J. Hastings.
DISCERN. — To discern (Lat. dis apart, cemert separate) is to separate things so as to distinguish them, as Coverdale, Erasm. Par. 1 Jn, p. 48 : ' It is not the sacramentes that di.sceme the children of God from the cliildren of the devyll ; but the puritie of lyfe and charitie.' So Ezr3" ' the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping.'
To discern a person or thing la therefore, In biblical lang., to separate out from others, so as to recognize, as On 2T^ ' he dis- cerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands' ; He 413 'the word of God ... is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart ' (x^jT,jeef, UV 'quick to discern'); I Co 1129 'not discerning the Lord's l)ody' ((**j ita- xpi*an T» r J.tMt tow Kvpiou ; Vulg. non dijudicang corjnis Domini ; Calvin, non discemens ; Wye. 'not wiseli deinynge'; Lulher, dati er nicht unterscheidet ; Tind. * because he maketh no differ- ence of ' ; 90 Cov., Cran., Gen. 1567 ; but Gen. 1560, ' because he discerneth not,' with marg. note, * But as thogh these holie mysteries of the Lopdes bodie and blood were commune meats, so without reverence he comnieth unto them'; so Tomson ; Bish. 'making no difference of; Rhem. 'not disceniing the bo<iy of our Ix>rd ' ; whence A V ; but HV ' if he discern not the tx)dy ' — omitting rtS Kv/tito with edd. J , HASTINGS,
DISCIPLE.— This word— in Greek /Mffrp-fis ; fem. liadijTpia (occurring only Ac 9*') ; verb, /iaOrjTeiia (occurring four times) — is in sacred literature con- fined to tne Gospels and the Acts, though it often appears in Attic Greek (esp. Plato) as denoting the pupil of a philosopher or rhetorician, in contra- distinction to the mfister, SiSdcKaXos (just as in NT, Mt 10**), or to the discoverer, cvpeHi^. We have a similar contrast in OT, e.g. 1 Ch 25' reXetuv /col fmvSafiiTwv, the perfect and the learning (AV and RV, the teacher and the scholar), referring to the senior and junior members of David's trained musical guilds. Likewise, in tlie case of the prophetic guilds superintended by Samuel and more fully organized by Elijah and Elisha, in order that by spiritual force they might cherish the theocratic spirit among the people, and check the tendency to ajiostasy, the general ' company ' is contrasted with him who ' stood as head over them '(IS 19™), and the ' sons,' 2 K 2' (i.e. pupils ; cf. Pr 4 '■ '", and passim) with him ' before ' whom they ' sat,' 2 K 4**, their master (xi/pios), 2 K 6'. ['J'eac)ier, JiSdcrxaXos, however, occurs in LXX only in connexion witJ> heathen monarchs, and then but twice : Est 6' (the teacher of Ahasuerus) and 2 Mac 1'° (the teacher of Ptolemy) ; and the phrase ' schools of the prophets' (however truly it may re])resent facts) is 'a pure invention of the coinmcntators ' (Smith, Prophets of Israel, 85).] In Talniudic literature talmidc hAkhd- mim, pupils of the learned (i.e. the scribes), is a frequently recurring phra.se, and of these St. Paul was one when he was ' brought up at the feet of Gamaliel,' sitting, i.e. with the rest of the pupiln on the lower benches in front of him (Ac '22^ cf. Mt 5').