DOTHAN (r^i and i;i, A«9(£cim), Gn ZV' (Dothaim, in Jth 4* etc.), now Tell DothSn, was an ancient town situated 10 miles N. of Samaria. Thither Joseph followed his brethren from Shechem (Gn 37'''). The pasturage about it is still the best and freshest in a time of drought (Thomson, Land and Book, p. 400). The site of Dothan, known in earlier times by Eusebius, who placed it 12 miles IC. of Samaria, had for some centuries been lost till recovered by Van de Velde (vol. i. p. .'{(Uff.). It lay on an ancient (Jewish ?) road, of which Van de Velde found the remains, cro.ssing from the plain of Esdraelon into the plain of Sharon, and must have always been an important military post. It
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stood on the top of a mound, as the language of 2 K 6'*-'" would suggest. There are still two large ancient cisterns, into one of which possibly Joseph was cast. There are two wells, as the name implies, but only one of them seems ancient. It bursts from the foot of the hill (^Sur. Mem. ii. 109, 210). Most probably, Joseph's brethren were gathered watering their flocks when he approached. Dothan w,as the residence of Elislia when the incident of 2 KO'-"'- occurred. It is several times mentioned in the account of the siege of Bethulia (Jth 4" 7»- '« 8^).
A. IlENDKUSO.-* DOUBT. — See next article. The middle Eng. douten most freq. meant to fear, after dnhitare in late Lat. And this meaning is still very common for ' doubt' in Shaks., as Macbeth, IV. ii. 60 —
' I doubt some danger does approach you nearly.'
In AV this meaning is evident in Sir 9" ' Keep thee far from the man that hath power to kill ; so shalt thou not doubt the fear of death ' (ou ^i viroirTevcrrit (p6^ov ffafdrov, RV ' thou shalt have no suspicion of the fear of death'). But in >.'T also it is often more than ' hesitate ' or ' mistrust,' esp. where the Gr. is iwopiofiai, ' to be at a loss ' (Jn 13'--, Ac 25-', Gal 4'-''), or the stronger Siawopia, 'to be utterly at a loss' (Ac 2'- 5-< 10''). In like manner doubtful means ' perplexing' or ' perplexed,' Sir 18' {iwoptofiai, RV ' in perplexity ') ; Lk 12-'3 ' neither be ye of doubtful mind' (Mi nerew/jifeo-Se, a word of disputed meaning here, see Plummer, ad loc.} ; Ro 14' ' d. disputations' (see under DISPUTE).
J. Hastings, **D0OBT. — The Heb. of OT seems to lack an exact equivalent to our term 'doubt,' when u.sed in a religious reference. Some have, indeed, under- stood 'doubters,' ' sceptics' to be meant when the Psalmist, who loves God's law and hopes in His word and delights in keeping His commandments, declares that he ' hates them that are of a double mind' (Ps US'" ^'9iP). Apparently, however, it is rather hypocrites, what we should call ' double- faced men,' who are meant ; and it seems to be hypocrisy, rather than doubt, which is in mind also in 1 K 18-', where the kindred term ^'pvo occurs, and in 1 Ch 1233, ps 12-, where the simi- lar phra-se 'double heart' (^i?) ^I?) appeai-s, .as well as in Hos 10-, where the comm. differ as to whether the words =?'' P.^? are to be tr'' ' their heart is di- vided,' or, perhaps better, ' their heart is smooth,' i.e. deceitful.
In NT, on the other hand, we meet with a series of terms which run through the shades of meaning expressed by our words, perplexity, suspense, dis- traction, hesitation, questioning, scepticism, shad- ing down into unbelief.
Perplexity is expressed by the verb &Trop4a (Mk 0-io, Lk 24', Jn \?,-^, Ac 253', 2 Co 4", Gal 4-"), with its strengthened compound, Siavopiu (Lk 9% Ac 2'- 62< 16'"), expressing thorough per- plexity, when one is utterly at a loss, and the still stronger compound iiairopiui (2 Co 1* 4*), in which perplexity has passed into despair. This perplexity is never assigned in NT to the sphere of religion. Even in such instances as Lk 24*, where we are told that the women, finding the Lord's tomb empty, ' were perplexed thereabout ; ' Mk 6-", Lk 9'', "where Herod's per|ilexity over John's preaching and the subsequent preaching of Jesus and His followers is spoken of ; and Ac 2'-, where the extreme perplexity of those who witnessed the wonders of the Day of Pentecost is adverted to, it is not a state of religious doubt but of pure mental bewilderment which is de- scribed. The women merely had no explanation of the empty tomb ready, they were at a loss how to account for it ; Herod simply found John's preaching and the reports concerning the preach- CharJa Scribner^s .9ons
DOUBT
DOVE
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ins and work of Jesus and Mis disciples inexpli- cable, he had no theory ready for their explana- tion ; the marvels of Pentecost, before I'eter's explanation of them, were wholly without mean- ing to their witnesses ; and, similarly, in Ac 10'", Peter was just at a complete loss to understand what the vision he had received could mean, and required a revelation to make it signilieaut to him. It was this state of mind, a state of what we may cad objective suspense due to lack of lisht, which the Jews claimed for themselves when in Jn 10-^ they demanded of Jesus : ' How Ions dost thou lift up our soul {Ti)i> 'I'vxv" ^uw" alptis) ? If thou art the Christ, tell us plainly.' They would sug- gest that they were In a state of strained expec- tation regarding His claims, and that the lagging of their decision was due, not to subjective causes rooted in an evil heart of unbelief, but to a lack of bold frankne.ss on His part. Jesus, in His reply, repels this in-sinuation and ascribes the fault to their own unbelief. They were not eager seekers after truth, held in suspense by His ambiguous speech : they were men in possession of full evi- dence, who would not follow it to a conclusion opposing their wishes ; they were therefore not perplexed, but unbelieving.