* On the coins of Potra the dty ll represented as a veiled and tnrTcU-<l female sittinK on a roclt. For other predictions of the desolation of tklom, see Is 84>'", Jer 4Bi^», Ob ixi.
Petra and Kadesh-bamea. — The suggestion that these two places were identical comes from Dean Stanley, and would not have been considered worthy of notice had it emanated from a les."? distinguishea writer. Both topographical and historical reasons are siilficiently clear to render the view untenable. (1) Kadesh was a place situ- ated in immediate proximity to the Canaanitish inhabitants (Nu 13^). Tliis does not apply to Mount Seir, which was separated from them by the wide valley of the Arabah (wilderness of Zin). (2) Kadesh was in the wilderness of Paran (Nu 13^), a region Ij'ing to the west of the Arabah, and generally corresponding to the Badiet et-Tih of the present day (cf. On 21=', Nu lO"^ 12'"' 13="). This is in harmony with (1) above. (3) As the king of Edom refused the Israelites a passage through his teiritory when about to leave his neighbourhood, is it conceivable that he would have permitted them to occupy the capital of his kingdom for a period of thirty-eight (or forty) years? Dean Stanley's main reason for his sug- gestion is the name Wady Mftsa (or Moses' Vallej-) attached to the stream along the banks of which Petra is situated. But however dillicult it may be to account for the name, the reasons against the suggestion far outweigh whatever evidence may be derived from this source. See article Sanctuary.
LiTERATi^s. — Burckhardt ('Sheikh Ibrahim"), Traveli in Si/ria arul the Holy Land (1S'.!2) ; de Laborde, Journal/ throuofi Arabia Petroea, etc., Eng. tr. 2nd ed. (183S) ; Hull, Muunl Setr, Siiiai, and Wegtem Palestine {PEF, 1889) ; Reland, Palestina ex monumentis p«f«ri//u« iV^wfCraCa (Nuremberg, 1616) ; Stanley, SP (1860) ; JBL, 1899, p. 132 £f. E. H ULL.
SELAH (n^;). — This word occurs 71 times in the Psalter, 17 of these occurrences being in Book I., 30 in II., 20 in III., 4 in V. The majority of the psalms wlierein it appears are Elohistic, and all of them ascribed, in the titles, to David, Korah, Asaph or Ethan, except Pss. 66 and 67, the latter of which has ^aX/ti6s t^; AavdS in the LXX. In 16 psalms it is found once, in 15 twice, in 7 thrice, in 1 four times. It stands also three times in the psalm which is known as Hab 3. In the so-called Psalms of Solomon Sidyf'aX/io is used twice (17" 18'"), but m, one of the eight MSS of which Swete has availed himself (The OT in Greek'', vol. iii.), omits it in both cases. Its usual position is at the end of a poem or of a strojjhe, the only instances of its occurrence in the middle of a verse being Ps 55" 57', Hab 3^ '. These exceptions, however, are api)arent rather than real : the first passage is full of impassioned feeling, and the ScCa/t im- mediately follows a Divine title ; in the second the LXX has Jid^aX/ta at the close of tlie verse ; the other two are connected with loose quotations from Dt 33''', Ps 77"'-^'.
It is universally agreed that $clah is a musical or liturgical sign of some kind. Nowhere has the word any grammatical connexion with the con- text. Ps 9'° is not an exception, for Higgaion, Setah, are botli used interjoctionally, ' Resounding niu.sic I Up!' It is not found in the prophetical writings, and its reference to the temple music is evinced by the fact that 31 of the 39 jisalms con- taining it are ascribed in their titles in^'jf';, as is Hab 3 at the close.
The derivation and precise significance of the note have been much disputed. (1) One sugges- tion is that we have in it simply the Heb. form of <ld\\€. But the musical signs of tlie Psalter date from an earlier period than that of the Greek influence. Besicies, if the word had come from the tlreek, it is strange that no tradition to that efl'ect should have reached any of the Greek translators. (2) It has been taken as aji abbrevia- tion. For example, VC "I'V^ 3b=da capo, but
432
SELA-HAiBIAHLEKOTH
SELEUCUS I.
these abbreviations, however ajrreeable to the taste of later writers, are not biblical. (3) It has been derived from a verb nho, supposed to be equivalent to nVei : the imperative would be n^9, with rr paragogic nj'p, in pause nJ>D. The inter- change of D and o is, however, rare in the Heb. of the UT, and the sense thus obtained, ' Pause ! ' does not suit many of the passages : as, for instance, those where it stands in the middle of a verse or would break the flow of thought (Ps 55" 67'- *, Hab S'-"), or at the end of a psalm (Ps 3. 24), where no direction to pause is needed. (4) Several of the VSS translated it by words which mean ' for ever.' The Targ. has n^'^si), I'P^y^, '^O^i Kzhs, y^)si 'c'ri;^, etc. ; Aq. dei ; Tlieod. del ; Sexta Stairavrii, once eis t^Xos ; Quinta el! toi)s o/wxas ; Jerome, semper, in sempiterniim. (5) In all proba- bility it is connected with the verb h\^ = to lift up, to cast up. In this case the meaning may be (a) ' Lift up ! Loud ! ' a direction to the orchestra, which had nitherto been playing a soft accompani- ment and is now to strike in with loud music, trumpets and cymbals, whilst the singer's voice was hushed. Additional force would thus be given to those parts of the psalm where it seemed appropriate. It will be noticed that Selah is not found at the beginning of a psalm, for instru- mental preludes were in all probability unknown, the instruments being always secondary to the voices. Or (6) it may mean ' Lift up your bene- diction,' the reference being to a doxology ' sung after every psalm and section of a psalm which for any liturgical reason was separated from a section which followed' (Briggs, JBL, 1899, p. 142).