LiTKRjiTl'RB.— Schflrer. UJP n. 1. 61-66, 299-30.';, U. 291-327, ill. 2:.;l, -iUSf. ; Briggs, ileu. Proph. 207, 391; W. R. Smith. Proph. of Itr. 330 ; Oehler, OT 'theoL L 461, U. 3«3, 373, 31W ; W i:\ta, ^'T Theol. i. 120, jL 17. 180, 289 f.; Wclaicker, ApotU Age. I. 02f. ; Keuss. Thfot. Chr». au tifeU apott. i. Si3f. ; Baur, P'aulus, I. 119 f.; Ptleiderer Paulinitmxu. 276 f.; Farrar, 5t, PatU, \. 2.W, 2S5 1. ; Trench, ilT A'j/n. 352 f. ; Thayer and Cremef ». Jt)t««, 'Ka>ii>, Ajm< ; also Literature of art. FoRRmsBR.
.1. A. Sklbif.. GENTILES, COURT OF See Templk.
150
GENTLENESS
GEOLOGY OF PALESTINE
GENTLENESS.— The word 'gentle' does not occur In OT except in RV of Jer 11", which tr" bjj f'fV ' a gentle lamb,' where AV has ' a lamb or an ox.' It occurs live times in NT (AV). In 1 Th 2' and 2 Ti 2-^ it corresponds to ^nos ; it is the char- acter proper to a nurse among trying children, or a teacMier with refractory pupils. The KV keeps ' gentle ' in both these passages, and it would be hard to find a better word. In Tit 3=, Ja 3", 1 P 2" ' gentle ' is the AV tr. of ^irieiKijs. The ditliculty of this word is shown by tlie fact that in 1 Ti 3' it is rendered 'patient,' while in Ph 4° ri ^TrifiK^s ii;i(ii' is tr. ' your moderation.' Yet RV uniformly renders ^irieuj)s ' gentle,' and in Ph 4°, though it displaces ' moderation ' by ' forbearance,' it puts ' gentleness ' in the margin.
The general idea of tlie word ' iirieiK-Zii ' is that which is suggested by equity as opposed to strict legal justice ; it expresses the quality of consider- atcness, of readiness to look humanely and reason- ably at the facts of a case. There is a good discussion of it in Trench, Si/n. § xliii. : he thinks there are no words in English which answer exactly to it, the ideas of equity and fairness, which are essential to its import, usually getting less than justice in the proposed equivalents. As opposed to irpa&nis, ' meekness,' it is not easy to draw any other distinction than that irpa&rrjs is more inward and passive, a disposition or habit of the mind itself; iinetKcia, 'gentleness,' is shown actively in relation to others. These words are found together, as characteristic of Christ, in 2 Co 10' ; ^TTieifceia occurs once again in Ac 24^, but here both AV and RV render it ' clemency.' ' Gentlene.=s' in Gal 5-- is x/"!<''''i''7;s, a word wliich rather means 'goodness' or 'kindness.' The corresponding adjective is rendered in various places ' good,' ' kind,' ' gracious,' ' easy.'
The only occurrence of 'gentleness' in OT is 2 S 2238 = Ps 1S35 -xhy gentleness hath made me great.' The RV keeps 'gentleness' in the text, but gives ' condescension ' m the margin, which is much better. It is properly ' thy lowliness ' (^nijj;), i.e., as Clieyne explains it, ' thy fellow-feeling with the lowly.' The key to the meaning is found in comparing such passages as Ps U3''-, Is 57'", Zee 9», Mt 1 P9. The rendering of 2 S 223« in LXX, il viraKori <rov ^irX-fjOvviv /te, agrees with the MT r,t^ii^ (T\],]i^=respondcre = i)iraKovei.v). J. Denney.
GENUBATH (njja, cf. Palmyrene k33:, de Vogu6, No. 137, Tav-n^ie'k^ Luc.).— Son of Hadad, the fugitive Edomite prince, by the sister of Tahpenes queen of the Pharaoh who ruled Egypt at tlie close of the reign of David and the commencement of that of Solomon. Genubath was weaned by queen Talipenes, and brought up in the palace among the sons of Pharaoh (1 K 11"- -").
C. r. BuRNEY.
GEOGRAPHY.— See Palestine, World.
GEOLOGY OF PALESTINE.— In dealing witli this subject the name 'Palestine' will be taken in its widest sense to include both the western and eastern sections of country lying on eitlier side of the Jordan-Arabali depression, as weU as the mountainous region of Sinai on tlie south.
There are few countries in which the physical features more clearly indicate the internal geo- logical structure th.in that Ave have now to con- sider ; hence, in dealing with these features under distinct heads, we shall have to explain how tliey are dependent on the nature and position of the formations of which they are constructed.
I. Physical Divisio.\.s.— Tlie whole region is physically divisible into five sections or tracts of country, which the student of Scripture wdll find to be curiously interwoven with the historical
events and incidents therein recorded. Indeed it may be said that without some knowledge ol the features of Palestine it is impossible to under- stand accurately, or to grasp in their full meaning, many of the most important events of Bible his- tory'. Many of the articles in this work will serve to illustrate this statement.
1. The Maritime Plain. —The first of these physical tracts is the Maritime Plain, stretching along the Mediterranean coast from the Delta or the Nile to the ba.se of Carmel, and including the I.ind of Philistia and part of Phrenicia. Hi>torio- ally, 'the River of Egypt' {Wat/i/ d-'Ari.t/i), a waterle.ss dell emptying into Lake Serbonis, should be regarded as the western border of Palestine, but physically it is not of importance. Tlie Mari- time Plain consists of a series of low, undulating hills and wide valleys rising into levels of 300 to 400 ft. above the sea inwards to the base of the central tableland ; or, west of Gaza, gr.adually niergin" into the elevated plain of the Badiet et- Tih. It is composed of sand, gravel, and soft calcareous sandstone ; but considerable areas are covered by a rich brownish loam with exceedingly fertile properties, capable of producing wheat and other plants in abundance. Througliout almost its whole length the coast is bordered by a range of sandhills — sometimes rising to a height of 150 ft. — which are ever moving inland, impelled by the westerly AA-inds, except where hindered by natural or artificial baiTiers ; the n.atur.a! barriers being streams. North of Carmel, the plain of Esdraelon (Sanjak Akka) is the representative of the Maritime Plain of Philistia, and it extends northwards with a gradually narrowing breadth to the mouth of the Nahr el-Kelh at Beirflt. This line of coast was originally decorated with palm trees, and gave rise to the name of Phoenicia, by which it is known in ancient histnry.