G. E. Post.
SCEPTRE is AV and RV tr. of 1. t:z? shebet: Gn 49'" (' The sceptre [LXX iSpx""] s'la" not depart from Judah,' etc. ; on this passage see art. Law- giver in vol. iii. p. 83, and Shiloii, below, p. 500f.), Nu 24" (' there shall come forth a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre [LXX ivSpiinroi] shall rise out of Israel,' where sceptre and star [cf., for the latter figure. Is 14'-, Rev 22'*] are symbolical for a mighty prince*), Ps 45^C> (' a, sceptre [LXX and NT /Id/iSos] of equity is the sceptre of thy kingdom,' quoted in He P), Is 14° (|| .he? ; ' the Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, the sceptre [LXX fir/it, which is used also for 'stall' immediately before] of the rulers '), Ezk 19" ('she [the vine symbolizing Israel] had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule ' ; cf. v.", where, after her destruction, ' there is in her no longer a strong rod to be a sceptre to rule '), Am l"- " {' I will cut off him that holdeth the sceptre' [LXX here and in the two verses in
* ThiB appears decidedly preferable to the euggestion of Bal (in SBOT, on Gn 49'i>) that rp'is {' star ') may here mean, like the Sumerian Muuiul, 'a 2an«e, or else a <^ui,nuu«, or mau^, witk a spiked head.'
SCEPTRE
SCEPTRE
417
Ezekiel has <fiv\-/i, taking sfiebef in the sense of 'trilie']), Zee 10" ('the sceptre [LXX ffxijirT/joi'] of Egj'i't shall depart away ). 2. o's^y sharbit, used 01 the golden sceptre [LXX 17 XP'"'V A^^So'] of Ahasuerus, Est 4" o-'''' 8* [all]. Sharbtl is dimply an Araniaism for s/ube( (cf. the insertion of r in Darmeself for Dammesel; in 1 Ch 18', and see Siegfried, Lehrb. d. neuheb. Sprache, §18c).
In atldition to the above instances, RV in Nu 21" corrects AV 'by direction of the lawgiver' (LXX iv TB /SafftXei? ain-iif) to 'with the sceptre.' The Heb. is pjrt^'^ II ojuyif'C? ' with their staves.' SimUarly RV reads in Ps 60'W = 108'*''-'^ 'Judah is mv sceptre ' (same Heb. word) for A V ' J udah is
some portrajals of the Persian monarchs (see Rawlinson, Anc. Mun. iii. 203 If., who describes the Persian sceptre as a rod about five feet lone, ornamented with a ball or apple at its upper end, and taperin" at its other extremity almost to a point). Probably both forms of ' sceptre ' are in view in Gn 49'" (where bjs" should prob. be taken as a royal emblem), the longer one being repre-sented by the pEnij (prop, 'commander's stall"') of tlie second clause, and the shorter one by the e^;? of the first clause.* The long sceptre is simidy an ornamented staff, the .short one is a development of the club or mnnc (cf. art. Rod, and see liguies in Ball, I.e. pp. 50, 199", '217). It is this last-named weapon that is called shebet in 2 S 23« -=1 Ch 11^ (AV and
Msrmujf Kiiia wim soipraB (doo-rivbr ihsoriptions^l
my lawgiver '[LXX ^a(riK(ui\. See Lawgivek, I.e. It al.so substitutes 'sceptre' for 'rod' as tr. of shlbet in Ps 125' ('the sceptre [LXX Ad/SSos] of wickedness shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous').
' Sceptre' is the appropriate rendering of shebe(, when this is associated with a kinrj or used abso- lutely,* in which latter instance it probably always designates a ruyal possession (see Driver, Expua. July 1885, p. 13). S/iebe(, in this sense, may stand cither for a sliort ornamental sceptre such as ajipears in some representations of the Assyrian kmg (see illustration above, and the figures in Ball, Light frifm tlie East, pj). 160, 199\ 217), or for a long stall reaching to the ground, which characterizes
• Id Inst&ncofl like Jg 5** (150 B^p*) * baton ' would t>e a very ■uitAble rendering.
V01„ IV.— 27
RV wrongly ' staff') and Ps 2' 23* ( AV and RV leas clearly ' rod ').
The ' golden ' (xpiio'foi') or 'gold-studded ' (xpvatlott 4X0171) sceptre (aKrfirTpoi/) appears fre<iuently in the pages of Homer in the hands of kings and chiefs (e.g. II. i. 15, 246 ; Od. xi. 91, 569). With such a 'sceptre' Ulysses beats Thersites (II. ii. 2G5I1'.); a sceptre is put by a herald into the hands of Menelaus when he rises to address the Greeks (ib. xxiii. 568, cf. Od. ii. 37).
On the ditliculty of approaching the presence of the Persian kings referred to in Est 4", cf. also Herod, iii. 118, 140. J. A. Selbik.
• Dlllm. , Ball, Ounkel, et al., make ppha and o;5» tynooymou here, and understand both to refer to a ionn '•oeptre' or stall ; but this is not required by the parallellim. In P» 110> ."155 In llkoirlae an emblem of rule, and virtually >'Keptre.
418
SCEVA
SCEYA
SCEYA (2/cctas, Sceva), Ac lO^^— The name {Blass, ad loc.) was probably of Latin origin Scaeva^ but liad been assimilated to a Greek form as if derived from <tk€vos ; it occurs in an inscription at Miletus {CJG ii. 2889. 5). In Ac 19>'--\ in the account of 8t. Paul's preaching at Epbesus, we are tola that God wrougbt special miracles by the hands of Paul, even handkerchiefs carried from his body were sufHcient to heal. Hut some of the wandering Jewish exorcists tried to exorcize in the name of Jesus, saying, * I adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preaches.* Tlien is recorded the special instance of the seven sons of Sceva, described as a Jewish high pi'iest, who attempted this and failed, tlie evil spirit answering, * Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye?' and the man driv- ing two of them * naked and wounded out of tlie house. This caused great fear. Many who had used curious arts came confessing what they had done. Many also burnt magical books amounting in value to 50,000 drachmas (about £2000). * So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.*