The term 'orebh, as well as Kipaf, is not confined to the raven. It doubtless includes all birds after its kind (Lv 11"). Of these, besides C'orvtcs corax, L., the raven, there are in Palestine C. affinis, Riipp., the Fantail Raven ; C. comix, L., the Hooded Crow (Arab, zdgh) ; C. agricola, Trist., the Syrian Rook; C. vionedula, L., the Jackdaw (Arab. l;dk) ; Garrulus atricapillus, St. H., the Syrian Jay or Garrulous Roller (Arab. 'alcQk) • and Pi/rrliocorax alpinus, Koch, the Alpine Chough, ftlost of these eat vegetable food as well as animal, including grubs, worms, etc. To all would apjdy the words of Ciirist (Lk 12-'') in regard to God's provision for them, although they neither sow nor gather into storehouses. G. £. POST.
RAYEN, RAYIN.— To 'raven' is to seize with violence, to prey u])on with greed or rapacity, and .so 'raven' or 'ravin' is plunder or prey. The word comes from Lat. ranina plunder, through Old Fr. ravine, whence also Eng. 'ravine' a mountain gorge, and ' rapine ' plunder. There is no con- nexion with the bird, the raven, whose name is of native origin, Anglo-Sax. hrefn.
The verb occurs in AV in Gn 49" (' ravin,' intrans.), Ezk 22^- " (' ravening,' trans.), the Heb. being i",ia to tear as proif. As a snbst. 'ravin' is found in Nah 2'- ' The lion . . . filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin' (njnp) ; and ' ravening' in Lk 11™ 'Your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness' (dpiray^, RV 'extortion'). The adj. is either 'ravening' (Ps 22", Mt 7") or ' ravenous' (Is 35" 46", Ezk 39').
An example of ' ravin ' in the sense of ' plunder- ing' is Udall, lirasmus' Paraph, i. 17 — ' Mekencsse obteyneth more of them that gcve wyllyngly and of theyr owne accorde, then violence and ravine can purchase or obta3no by hooke and croke'; and in the sense of ' plunder,' ' booty,' Spenser, FQ I. xi. 12-
' His deepe devouring Jawes Wide paped, like the (jriesly mouth of hell, Througti which into his darke abysse all ravin fell.'
J. Hastings. RAZIZ {'Panels). — The hero of a narrative in 2 Mac 14"''-. I^'icanor, having been informed
against Razis (who is described as 'an elder of Jerusalem, a lover of his countrymen, and a man of very good report, and one called " father of tha Jews "for his goodwill towards them'), sent a band of soldiers to apprehend him. He escaped arrest by committing suicide, the circumstances of which are described in revolting detail in 2 Mac. His conduct is criticised adversely by Augustine (Ep. civ. (3) in opposition to the Donatists, w ho admired it, as the author of 2 Mac. evidently did.
RAZOR (ifn 'knife,' Nu 6" 8', Ps 52', Is 1'^, Ezk 51 ; n-iiD ' razor,' Jg 13^ 16", 1 S 1").— It is not likely that originally there was any distinction between razors and knives, the same word ii'ij being used in many passages for both, but a special word for razor (m,io, Arab, mi'is) is used in the stories of Samson and Samuel. In the above passages the LXX uiiiforndv tr. tyo by ^vpdv, and n-iio by ffioijpos except in .)g 16" where B has (TibTipos but A (vpif. In early times razors were piobably made of bronze, as other cutting instru- ments were. In Wilkinson's Anc. Efjtjpt. 1878, vol. ii. I). 333 note, it is said of the barber, ' his instruments and razors varied at diflerent times, being sometimes in shape of a small short hatchet with recurved handle ; other instruments knife- shaped were also employed.' Forty years ago a peculiarly shaped razor, with a straight tixed handle, was in use in Syria ; now European razors are universally used. W. Carslaw.
REAIAH (n;x-! ' Jah hath seen'). — 1. The eponym of a Calebite family, 1 Ch 4- (B 'PaSd, A 'Pad), probably to be preferred (so Bertheau and Kittel ; Gray [UPN 236] is more doubtful) to Haroeh, 1 Ch 2=2 (nsiirr ' the seer,' B AW, A 'Apad). 2. The eponym of a Benjamite family, 1 Ch 5' (A V Reaia ; BA Prixd, Luc. 'Paid). 3. A Nethinim family name, Ezr 2" (B ^P€^'|\, A •Paid) = Neh I"" (B 'Potd, A 'Paaid) = 1 Es 5^' JaIKUS.
REAPING.— See Agriculture.
REBA (yji). — One of the five kinglets of Midian who were slain by the Israelites, under Moses, Nu 31" i'PilioK), Jos 13'-' (B 'P(5/3e, A 'P^^jk). Like his companions, he is called in Numbers a Tii>5 (' king '), but in Joshua a k'v) (' prince,' ' chieftain ').
REBECCA.— The NT and modern spelling (from the Gr. 'Peli^KKa) of the name which is spelt in OT Rebkkah. The only occurrence of ' Rebecca ' is in Ro 9i» (both AV and RV).
REBEKAH, in Ro 9'" Rebecca (nijn^, i.e. niblikdh ; in Arab, a card with luops for tyinn lamlis or kids, from rahaka, to tie or bind fust ; LXX and NT 'Pe/Senrra, Vulg. .RcAc^ca).— Daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor and Milcah, and conse- quently great-niece of Abraham (Gn 22-"- ■'''); sister of Laban, and subsequently wife of Liaac. The idyllic story of the circumstances through which Rebekah became Isaac's wife is told by J, in his usual picturesque style, and at the same time with stress on the providence which overruled them (vv.""- " [lit. 'cause it to meet — i.e. ha]i])en success- fully—before me,' so 27'-"] '•'• '"■ ^- "■ "• "''% in Gn 24. In accordance with Eastern custom (Mariuaoe, vol. iii. p. 270), the betrothal is arranged with- out Isaac's own personal intervention : Abraham sends his principal and confidential servant (v.*) — called in E (15-'-) Eliezer — to find a wife for his son, not from among the Canaanites around him, but from his own relations in 'the land of his nativity': the servant proceeds accordingly to Aramnaharaim, to the 'city of Nahor' (i e. Haran : cf. Laban, vol. iii. p. 13'') ; as he reachef