• To the 16 In the Concordances add 2 Eg 6S<, Wis l^, 1 Ma« 2^, which we have found in the Apocrji^ha. A new Concord, to the Apocr. is much needed. Cruden ^'ives only one o( those three. The 8.P.C.K. Concord, is a reprint of Cruden.
RELIGION
REPENT, REPENTAXCE
225
name; LXX ora.). 4. A city of Benjamin, men- tioned with Irpeel and Taralali, Jos IS-'' (B Xokoj', or pel haps cm., A 'P^xe/i). The site haa not been identiKeu.
RELIGION.— For the reli^'ion of Israel, see GoD, ISRAiiL. It is referred to in AV ander the name of ' the Jews' relijjion' (6 'louSaio-^is) in 2 Mac 8' 14^ (I earer the beginning of this verse the same word is tr^ 'Judaism'), as well as in Gal !"■ ", but the thought is rather of the outward forms than the inner spirit. We read also in 2 Mac 6" of going to a • strange religion ' (efs 6X\ixpvXi(Tii6f). Else- where in AV the word is used generally of the outward manifestation of religioui life, the Gr. words being iyvela (1 Mac 14** marg.), Xarpela (I Mac 1« 2i»-^), and e^<r«ta (Ja I-"- "). "This sense of the cnttward expression attached stronfjly to the word throughout the time of tlie EnglLsh translations of the Bible from AVyclif to AV (though Tind. has 'devocion' in Ja l*-"). See Trench's remarks in Study of Words, p. 9f., Eng- lish Past and Present, p. 249 f., and Select Glos- tary, p. 183 f.; and cf. Elyot, Governour, 11. 191, ' He tnerfore nat onely increased within the citio Temples, alters, ceremonyes, preestes, and sondry religions, but also ... he brought ail the people of Rome to suche a devocion, or (as I mougbt saye) a supersticion, that . . . they by the space of xlii yeres (so longe reigned Numa), gave tliem selfe all as it were to an observaunce of religyon ' ; and Latimer, Sermons, 3U2, ' For religion, pure religion, I say, standeth not In wearing of a monk's cowl, but In righteousness, justice, and well doing.' J. Hastings.
REMALIAH (^i-^r\; 'Po^Moi).— The father of king Pekah, 2 K lo^"- 16'- », 2 Ch 28», Is V'- 8'. He appears to have been of humble origin, hence the disparaging allusion to Pekah as 'the sou of Kemaliah ' in Is 7* (cf. I S 10" ' the son of Kish ' ; 202'. M .WIS 0510 2 S 20' ' the son of Jesse ' ; 1 S 22'- ' thou son of Ahitub').
REMETH (n--i ; B 'P/mmos, A 'Paiiie).—A town of Issncliar, near En-gannim, Jos 19^' ; called in 1 Ch 6se(73, Ramotii, and in Jos 21^ (possibly by a wrong vocalization) Jarmuth. It appears to be the pres- ent village RAmeh, on a hill to the south of the plain of Dothan. See SWP voL ii. sheet viii.
C. R. CONDER,
REMISSION.— See FoROrvENESS.
BEMPHAN.-See Rephan.
RENDING OF GARMENTS See MouRNlNO.
REPENT, REPENTANCE (ddj, 3ie>, /lo-oi-oeii', trurrpi<t>eiv, ficrafifKtffBat ; cnl, ^erdvoia, ^iriorpo^i)). — The usual meaning of nij) (? from an onoiiiatopoetlc root signifying to pant or groan) is to change one's mind or purpose out of pity for those whom one's actions have affected, or because the results of an action have not fulfilled e.\pectation. In this sense repentance is attributed not onlj' to man, but to God (Gn 6', Ex 32"). With reference to sin, orj) is found only in Jer 8' and Job 42". The idea of repentance from sin is in other cases ex- pressed by the verb Did 'to turn.' Though the change in the direction of the will is here in the fore;;iouiid, a change in inner disposition is always presupposed. The turning from sin is einphatical"ly a matter of conduct, but it is also a matter of the heart (Jl 2"), and it has as its elements enlighten- ment (Jer 31"), contrition (Ps 5V-). longing for God's forgiveness, and trust In God (Hos 14^). In their direct amieals to the people, the prophets naturally think of repentance In a purely etuical vou IV.— 15
way as a function of the will : Ezekiel even calls upon them to make themselves a new heart and a new spirit ( Ezk 18^'). But retlexion on the facts of experience quickly leads to the discovery that the will is not the only, or even the main, factor in the case. Beliiiid the will lie the spiritual forces that move it to action, and behind theso again, God. Moreover, the new lite, which is the positive side of repentance, cannot be called into being by the mere fiat of the will. The spiritual facts and forces, in and through which God ia working, thus advance into the foreground, and the pro](het8 are led from the causality of the will to tue causality of God, from the etliical to the religious standpoint. God Himself creates the new heart (Ps 51'", Ezk 36'-*''-) ; His law converts the soul (Ps 19') ; His people turn when He turns them (Jer 31"). In despair of a generation bound by the tradition and habit of evO, Jeremiah looks into the future for some new maiiifesUition of Divine power, w hich shall effect a radical change in the inner disposition of the people (Jer 31^).
Beyond a genuine repentance the prophets know of no other condition attaching to God's forgive- ness and favour (Dt 30'^-, Jer 17*. Ps 32=). And the idea of repentance is set up in its moral purity, everything merely external and statutory being stripped away. In primitive Hebrew religion the otlender brought a gift to God to appease Him ; he fasted, rent his garments, and by an attitude of mourning and humiliation sought to make his prayer for pardon impressive and effectual. But of all this the propliets and psalmists will hear nothing. God does not desire such things (Hos 5» 6', Is I"*-, Jer G*" 7-"'- 14'-, Ps 50'»). The .sacri- ficial forms with which atonement was associ- ated are ignored as worthless or condemned as noxious (Am 5=', Mic e"*-, Jer 7'^''-, Ps 40« 51'«). The sacrifice pleasing to God is that of a broken and contrite heart (Ps 51'"-). No attempt is made by the prophets to take the sacrificial system into the service of a purer faith, whether by a process of moral reinterpretation, or by going back on an original but forgotten meaning. In process of lime the system was to some extent ethicised ; but its atonement (which presupposed repentance in the transgressor) was available only for sins of inadvertence (Nu 15-''- *■). The place of repentance as condition of forgiveness is not due to any idea of its meritorious character. The idea of merit — ivhich never attaches itsalf to a genuine moral act, but always to some external form or accompani- ment-is foreign to the spirit of the OT. If God forgives, it is because it is His nature and pre- rogative to do so (Is 43^) ; and that He will not reiect the praj'er of the penitent is accepted as self-evident to the moral sense.