The story of David and Goliath is a favourite theme in the Rabbinical and the Arabian iitcralure, where it is illuniinatid with no end of grotesque and extravagant additions.
The Goliatli of 2 S 21" is a different person ; but see David, vol. i. p. 562^ Elhanan, Lah.mi.
W. J. Reecher.
GOMER (i;5, Tdiup, r6iup).—i. Gomer, the son of Japheth and father of Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togamiah (Gn 10^ '), is the Gimirra of the As.syr. inscrijitions, the Cimmerians of the Greeks. The Cimmerians were an Arj'an piople who inhabited the Crimea and the adjoining districts of southern Russia, and in the 7tn cent. u.C. poured through the Caucasus into W. Asia (Herod, iv. 12). They attacked the northern frontier of the As-syr. empire in concert with the Minni, the Medes, the people of Sepharad (Saparda), and other populations whose territories they had already overrun ; but in B.C. 677 their leader, Teuspa (Teispes), was defeated by Esarhaddon, and they were driven partly eastward, where they overthrew the old Kingdom of Ellipi and built Ecbatana, partly westwards into Asia Minor. Here they sacked Sinopfi and Antandios, wliich they held for 100 years, and finally invaded Lydia. Gyges or Gugu, the Lydian king, sent an embassy to Nineveh for help ; in the end, however, he was slain in battle, and his capital, Sardis, captured by the invading hordes. His successor, Ardys, succeeded in ex- terminating or driving them out of the countrj*. Meanwliih- Phrygia had been occupied by them, and the temple of Artemis at Ephesus burned by their leader, Lygdamis (who seems to be the Tugdamme of the inscriptions of the Assyr. king Assurbanipal). Lygdamis was subsequently slain in Cilieia (Strabo, i. 3, 16), but Cappadocia had been so completely conquered by them as to bear hencefor- ward among the Armenians the name of Ganiir. In Kzk 38' Gonicr is included in the army of Gog.
2. The daughter of Diblaim and wife of Hosea (1'). See Hosea. A. H. Sayce.
GOMORRAH (.Tiby, LXX and NT TofiSppa or Tbjioppa. ; see Winer-Schmiedel, § 6, 84 ; Arab. gli/imara, ' to overwhelm with water '). — One of ' the cities of the Plain ' ; its position along with that of Sodom and the other three is now pretty generally admitted to have been in the Arabah, or plain, which lies to the north of the Dead Sea. Of the five original cities, all but Zoar (or Bela) were destroj'ed by fire from heaven (Gn igjs-ss) The situation has been verified by Tris- tram, who, on placing himself in the required positions, was able to recognize the view described as it was regarded by Lot on selecting his future residence (Gn 13'"), and by Abraham during the destruction of the doomed cities ( 19-'').* According to Josephus the vale became Lake Asphaltitis on the destruction of Sodom (Ant. I. ix.), but in another place he indicates that the country of Sodom borders upon it ( Wars, IV. viii. 4). It has elsewhere been shown that the Dead Sea does not owe its existence to miraculous interposition (see Dead Sea) ; and the view that the waters cover the sites of the cities of the Plain is now generally discarded. Certain niins alnjut a mile from the shore of the Dead Sea north of RAs el-Keshkhah, marked Khumrftn (or Gunirftn) on the Survey Map of Palestine, have been supposed by do Saulcy to mark the sit« of Gomorraii, and the position aa well as the name lend probability to the view.
Throughout Scripture the cities of the Plain are used as examples of the judgments which fall on nations and cities in consequence of crime, and as warnings to mankind. In the time of Abraham and Lot the wickeilncss of tlie.se cities appears to have reached its climax (Gn IS^'), and in several
• Land tif Imtl*. pp. SAS-SM. Ttio •nrimcnU of Triatram on thin subject appi'Ar iiultc conducive, aii<l ftliuuld Iw dtuilled by thtXHe WHO have not liiul tlit' opp^trtuiiitii-a of thU wriur at pononal insjicction of the localities.
228
GOOD, GOODS
GOOD, GOODS
pasiMi^ea is refern d to as an example to be shunned (Jer 2;i'*, 2 P 2°, Jude'), and a warning for the future (Dt 29^, Is !» 13". Jer 49"' 50*", Am 4", Ko 9-*). But our Lord warns us that the rejection of the gospel message carries with it a greater degree of guilt than that of the cities of tlie Plain [Ut 10"). E. Hull.
GOOD, GOODS The word ' ^ood ' is chiefly the
rendering in OT of 3Vj, which is a verb, an adj., and a subst. ; and in Apocr. and NT chieflv of ayadis and Ka\6s ; and its meanings are determmed far more by the meanings of those terms than by tlie native genius of the Eng. language. In other words, we have to deal with biblical English, some of whose peculiarities have been adopted into the common speech, through the influence of AV (though not always in their proper sense), and some Tiave not.
1. As an adj. 'good' is used to e.\press the following ideas : —
1. Agreeable, pleasant : Gn 3' ' And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food ' ; 3124. 29 < Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad ' ; 49" ' And he saw that rest was good ' ; 1 S 25' ' We come in a good day ' ; 29' 'And Achish answered and said to David, I know that thou art good in my sight, as an angel of God ' ; Job 13" ' Is it good that he should search you out?'; Ps 45^ 'My heart is inditing a good matter ' ; 133' ' Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity ' ; Pr 15^ ' A word spoken in due season, how good is it ! ' ; 24" ' My son, eat thou hone3', because it is good'; Ro IG'' 'By good words and fair speeches [they] deceive the he.arts of the simple' (xpi/ffro- Xo-yias Kal eiXoylas, RV 'smooth and fair speech,' Sanday-Headlam ' fair and flattering speech ; it is the only occurrence of xp^^^oXayia in bibl. Greek). In this sense we find ' good tidings ' 2 S 18-'', Lk 2'", 1 Th 3» ; ' good news ' Pr IS^" ; ' good report ' Pr 15^, Ph 4' (6(f(/>7;/io!, Lightfoot, 'winning,' 'attractive').