When the Egyptians under the Pharaohs of the 18th dynasty conquered Canaan, Gezer was placed under an Egyptian governor. In the time of the Tel el-Amama tablets (B.C. 1400) the governor was Yapakhi, and we hear of Gezer (Gazru) along with Ashkelon and Lachish sending provisions to Jerusalem. Subsequently, however, Gezer was occupied by the Beddwi sheikh Labai (who had once been governor of Shunem) and his confederate Malchiel, and it joined in an attack on Ebed-tob, the king of Jerusalem. This was the subject of a charge brought against Labai before the Egyptian Pharaoh. When the Israelites entered Canaan, Horam (Ailam in the Sept.) was king of Gezer ; he came to the help of Lachish, but was defeated and slain by Joshua (Jos 10** 12'-). The tovra was included in the southern border of Ephraim, and was assigned to the Kohathite Levites (Jos 16* 21"') ; the Israelites, however, failed to capture it, and its Canaanite inhabitants paid tribute to the Ephraimites (Jos 16'", Jg 1'-*). A recently dis- covered inscription of Merenptah, the son and
GHOST
GIAH
165
successor of Ramses 11. (B.C. 1280), in which men- tion is made of the Israehtes, speaks of Gezer having been taken by tlie E;r3'i)tian3 (or, according to another possible translation, by the people of Ashkelon). In the reign of Solomon it was again taken by an Egyp. Pharaoh, who handed it over to his daughter, Solomon's wife (1 K tl'"). Solomon thereupon restored it, as well as the neighbouring Beth-horon, and it henceforth remained in Israel- itish possession. Under the name of Gazai!.\ (wh. see), Gezer appears repeatedly duririL' the Macca- ba'an struggles (1 Mac 4'» 7" 9'- 13"-" 14'-^ 15^ 16', 2 Mac lu-'-). It was then an important strong- hold, for wliose possession both parties contended strenuously. See, further, Clermont - Ganneau, Arch. Researches in Pal. (1896), pp. 22411'.
A. II. Sayce.
GHOST Like 'gliastly' and 'aghast,' ' ghost '
has had an A inserted in the course of its history — an Italian affectation, says Earle, and for tlie most part a toy of the Elizabethan period. The Anglo- Saxon form is g6st, the connexion of which with Ger. gcust is obvious. The Middlc-Kng. form is 'goost' and .sometimes 'gost.' W'yclif's form is ' goost,' Tindale's 'goost' and rarely 'gost,' the Geneva ' gost,' the Khemish NT and the AV always spell ' ghost.'
The root of the word, according to Skeat, is the Teut. GIS = Aryan GHIS = to terrify, so that the modern use of the word is as close to the primitive meaning as any other. The sense of ' apparition ' or 'spectre,' appears, however, to be later in English usage than that of 'breath' or 'spirit,' so that the derivation is a little uncertain. The range of meaning in older English is considerable.
The principal meanings are : (1) Breath, as Bp. Andrewes, Ser- minis, li. 340, ' Ye see then that it is worth the while to confess this as it should he confe.'ssed. In this wise none can do it hut hy the Holy Ghost. Otherwise, for an ore tenui only, our own yhost will serve well enough.'
(2) The soul or spirit of a living person. Thus Chaucer, CUrke's Tale, 972—
' ** Nat only, lord, that I am glad," quod she, "To doon your lust, but I desyre also Yow for to* seme and plcse in my degree With-outen feynting, and shal euermo. Ne neuer, for no wele ne no wo, Ne shal the gost with-in myn herte stente To loue yow best with al my trewe entente.*" Bo Spenser, FQ ii. i. 42—
• Whom when the good Sir Guyon did behold. His hert gan wexe as starke as marble stone. And his fresh bloud did frieze with fearefull cold, That all liis sences seemd bereft attone : At last his mightie ghost gan deepe to grone. As lion, grudging in his great disdaine.
(3) It it applied especially to the sovil or spirit departing from the bodv. Thus in 'The Fortv-two .Articles' of l.S.'i3 (Gibson, The .I'.V.V/.V .irliclet, i. 71). Art. Ill—' For the bodic laie in the Sepulchre, until the resurrection : but his Ghoste departing from him was with the <ihostes that were in prison, or in hclle. and didde prcache to the same, as the place of S. I'eter doelh testify.' Thence arise the phrases 'breathe out, vield up, give up the ghost,' as Chaucer, Legend 0/ Good Women, SSii—
' When that he herdc the name of Tisbe cryen, C>n her he caste his bevy deedly yen, And doun again, and yeldeth up the gost.* 80 PrioreMet Tale, lS(i2—
'This holy monk, this abbot, him mcnc I, His tonge out-caughte, and took a-wey the greyn. And ho gaf up the goost fui softely.' And Spenser, FQ n. viii. 45—
' He tombling downe on ground, Breathd out his ghost, which to th' inferiiall shade Fast Hying, there eU'rnall tomiint found For all the sinnes wherewith his lewd life did abound.'
(4) The most frequent ai>plication of the word i». however, to the spirit of a dead l»erson, a disenibo^iied spirit, fil". Hall says {WorKu, ii. 114), ' Herod's conscience t<»Ul him he hiul otiered an unjust and cniell violence to an innocent, and now iiee thinkcs that John's ghost haunts him.' Cf. also .Mk ll« Ithem. 'Hut they seeing him walking u|Mjn the sea, thought it warn a ghost, and cried out,' The wonl is fovmd as early as Chaucer quite in the modoni sense, as Prologue, 8 —