The goats of Bible lands, Capra mambrica, L., have long pendent ears. These are alluded to by Am 3" ' as the shepherd taketh out of the moutii of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear.' Some Sj-rian goats are white or mottled, but most of them are black. They are destructive to j'oung trees, and are the principal impediment to the propagation of forests on the bare mountain tops, where they find their favourite pasture.
The he goat was used as a symbol of the Mace- donian empire (Dn 8°). The stately gait of the ho goat is alluded to (Pr 30=»-»').
Two words are used for wild goats : — 1. C'\^\ yc'elim. This word occurs in three jmssages, viz. 1 S 24'^ where LXX has for ' u|>on the rocks of the wild goats,' ^iri Tplxjuwov 'V.SSaUiJi, Ps 10-1", where it lias ^\a>oi5, and Job 39', where for ' wild goats of the rocks' it has Tpayt\ii<puv rfrpas. This animal is without doubt the ihex. The root Sv; i/d'ul, to climb, corresponds well with its habits. Its .Vrab. name ica't is evidently the same as the Hebrew. The animal is also railed bnlen liy the Arab-s. Its scientific name \s Capra bcden, \Vttgn., or C. Sinaitica, Ehrh. It is found in the wilder- ness on both sides of the Dead Sea, and in Sinai and the Sj'rian Desert. There is an 'A in cl-iru'ul, fiiunlain vf the wild goats, alwut six hours E. of Kliareitun. The word tra'l is used in Pal. for Ihe roebuck. The name En-gedi (Arab. 'Aiii-Jidi/), fountain of the kid, was doubtless given with refer- ence to this animal. It is aliout the size of the domestic goat. The horns are from 2J to 3 ft. in IcnL'lh, curved almost to a semicircle, and reinforced by Targe rough rings on the front face. Its flesh is said to bo oxcullent. It may have been tha
venison which Isaac asked Esau to bring him (Gn 27»).
I'T'i'?*^ the ' pleasant roe,' RV ' pleasant doe ' (Pr 5"), is the female ibex, but tr^ by LXX iriXot, a foal, Vult;. hinnuius.
2. \?K '(ikk6. This animal is only once men- tioned (Dt W). Possibly «puf, in the LXX render- ing of the passage, is the equivalent of 'ahlcO ; but this i? uncertain, as the LXX gives only five out of the seven animals mentioned in the Hebrew. Some suppose it to be the roebuck ; but this animal is mentioned in the same list under the name yahmiir. Others suppose it to be tlie pascnrj, Cnpra ccgagrus, Cuv., the wild original of the domestic goat. It is, hoAvever, most probably another name for the y&'6l, or a kindred species.
For Goat's Hair see Hair; and for Scapegoat see AZAZEL. G. E. Post.
GOB (d5, 3'i3). — A locality mentioned only in 2S21"-", where David fought tlie second and third of the four battles with the Phil, that are there mentioned. Most copies of the LXX have Te9 in the first instance (with which agree the Syr. and a few Heb. copies), and Pi^ in the second ; while some Hebrew copies have Nob. The parallel passage (1 Ch 20'''*) locates the first of these two battles at Gezer (cf. Jos 10^), and omits to mention the place of the second. Certainly they were not at Nob, but in the land of the Philistines. Wellhausen, followed by Driver and Budde, finds Gob also in 2 S 21", where he would read 3i3 i3^;i, 'and they dwelt in Gob,' instead of 3J3 13:;% 'and Ishbi-benob.' (See Wellhausen 's or Drivers Sam., ad loc, and Budde's note in Haupt's OT). W. J. Beecher.
GOBLET is found only in Ca V 'Thy navel is [like] a round goblet.' 'The Heb. term is jjn (prob. from a root signifying 'circular,' 'round'). It is used in plur. (nijjx) in Ex 24" of the ' basins ' (Socin, Opferbeckcn) in which Moses collected half of the sacrificial blood. In Is 22" (the only other occur- rence of the Heb. word) ni:3xri '^5 is tr^ both in AV and RV ' vessels of cups,' where ' basin-vessels ' (Guthe, Beckcnr/eschirr) or 'bowl-shaped vessels' (Cheyne) would be a more accurate rendering. For the Eng. word ef. ' Annotations to Lk 22 ' in Rhem. NT, ' The new Testament is begonne and dedicated in his bloud in the Chalice, no lesse than the old was dedicated, begonne, and ratified in that bloud of calves contained in the goblet of Moyses.' J. A. Selbie.
GOD (IN OT).—
i. Existence of God. U. Anthropomorjihisms. iii. Names of God.
(1) Names expressing the geneml notion of Deity,
e.if. El. Elohim.
(2) Desrriptive Titles, e.g. El Sliaddai, EI Elyon.
(3) Personal name of tile God of Israel, Jehovah
(^Vahirrh). It. Idea of God in various periods.
(1) Pre-Mosaic period.
(2) From the Exodus to the revolution of Jehu.
(3) Prophetic reriod-
(4) From the aestruction of the State onwards.
1. Existence of God.— The OT belonging to the historical period, many questions now discussed in the history of religion lie behind it. It never occurred to any writer of the OT to prove or argue the existence of God. To do so might well have seemed a superfluity, for all prophets and ■miters move among ideas that presuppose God's e.xist- ence. Prophecy itself is the direct product of His influence. The people of Israel in their relations and character are His creation. It is not accord- ing to the spirit of the ancient world in general to deny the existence of God, or to use arguments