*A late member of the Ab] of Canterburj s Assyrian Mission informs the writer of this article that the Peshitti word in the form ta ua i i& till retained in certa n i_irtsol
340
COAL
COCK-CROWING
me now ' (Jn 13'") — ' ye cannot bear it now ' (16'=). And the cloud is, for Christ's disciples, itself an excellent glory, since He is now passed within it (not behind as our earthly sun), filling it with brightness of light. He, our Redeemer and Advo- cate, the Lord who is our Brother, is now within the cloud that covers Sinai, that leads through the wilderness, that shines above the Mercy-seat ; that is to say— in all that by which God draws near to man (in His law as in Sinai, in His providences as in the shepherding of Israel, in religious life and worship as in the Holiest of all), Christ is present, and the love which He has made known, bestowed and sealed. To His disciples the Law is no more a threat and fear, but is written upon the heart for honour and obedience ; and God's providence is trusted — the sheep follow, for they know His voice ; and for the deep things of the soul there is a great High priest passed into the heavens, and they that know His name come boldly to the throne of grace. LiTBRATURB.— The Coram, in loc., esp. Swete on 5Ik 9' ; Ruskin, Frondes Agrestes, p. 178; HuntinRdon, Christian Believing and Living, p. 168 ; Westcott, Jievetat. of the Risen Lord, p. 180 ; Milligan, Ascetision and Heavenly Priesthood of our Lord, p. 21 ff.; Ya^ei, Studies in the Christian Character,
p.246ff. Arthur W. WoTHERSPOON.
COAL.— This word occurs in tlie Gospels only in Jn 18'» and 21' (Gr. in both avepaKid, meaning properly ' a brazier filled with lighted charcoal '). As a mineral, coal does not exist in Palestine except in the Wddy Hummand in the Lebanon, and was mined there only during tlie rule of Muhammad Ali about 1834 (Tlionison, The Land and the Book, 1886, iii. 193). Tlie rendering 'coal' must be taken as=' charcoal.' Both in ancient and in modern times, the latter substance, prepared from native timber, has been the common fuel of the East. The destruction of the forests of Palestine and Syria may be assigned as the main reason for tlie absence of timbered gables, and the'universal prevalence, instead, of brickwork cupola roofs, and also for the wretched substitutes for fuel now employed by the natives, such as sun- dried cakes of chaff and dung, etc. The charred roots of the desert broom {rdtkein, see Ps 120^) make an excellent fuel, and are much in demand in Cairo (Tristram, Nat. Hist, of Bible, 1889, p. 360).
The geological survey of Palestine reveals its unifornily cretaceous formation, extending from the Lebanon ranges to the plateau of Hebron. The earlier rocks of the carboniferous period, if they do exist there at all under the subsequent strata, are buried at quite inaccessible depths. Traces of car- boniferous outcrop, but destitute of carbonaceous deposits, have been found in the sandstone of the southern desert and the limestone of the WMi/
LiTERATL'RE.— W. M. Thomson, The Land and the Book, 1886, iii. 193 ; Tristram, Nat. Hist, of Bible, 1889, p. 360 ; Conder, Tent Work in Pal. ii. 326; Hull, Jfoun! Seir, etc., 1889, p. 194 ; Gesenius, Thesaurus, p. 280 ; HastinKs' DB, article ' Coal.'
P. Henderson Aitken.
COAT.— This word in the Gospels usually repre- •sents the Gr. xiTii;/, i.e. the tunic or long close- fitting under garment worn in Palestine, as opposed to the ifiaTiov or full and flo\ving outer garment (see Hastings' DB, art. 'Dress').
Our Lord's instructions to tlie Twelve included one which forbade their wearing or having in their possession more than one such garment (Mt 10'°, Mk 6', Lk 9» ; cf. Lk 3"). And in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5^° ; cf. Lk 6=«) we are bidden to cultivate such a .spirit of meekness as would be illustrated by a readiness to part even with one's cloak {i/.tcLTtol') to him who took away one's coat.*
^ In Luke the order is transposed, the cloak comini: liefore the coat, this being the order in which these two uaiintnts would be torn off.
The soldiers at the Crucifixion (Jn 19=='- -*) took possession of the Saviour's garments, according, we suppose, to the usual practice. The outer robes they divided into four parts, one for each of the quaternion, but for the coat {rbv x'TuJ^a), in close fulfilment of Ps 22", they cast lots, not wishing to tear it up, because it was ' without seam, woven from the top throughout.' Josephus {Ant. iii. vii. 4), quoted by Bp. Westcott, tells us that the long robe (xiruf jroSiipi/s) of the high priest was of this character : ' This vesture was not composed of two pieces, nor was it sewed together upon the shoulders and the sides, but it was one long vest- ment, so woven as to have an aperture for the neck ' ( Whiston's tr. ). Bp. Westcott further quotes Chrysostom, who perhaps wrote from personal knowledge, as thinking ' that the detail is added to show "the poorness of the Lord's garments, and that in dress as in all other things He followed a simple fashion." ' Others incline to the view that there is a parallel suggested between the Eternal High Priest's garment and that of the Aaronic high priest. In any case the seamless robe of Christ has often been taken as a type of the One (ideally) Undivided Church, e.g. by Cyprian in a famous passage {de Unit. Eccl. % 7), where he con- trasts the 'incorrupta atque individua tunica' of Christ with the prophet Ahijah's robe, which he tore in duodecim scissuras in token of the disrup- tion of the kingdom (1 K ll**"-), and concludes: ' Sacramento vestis et signo declaravit ecclesise unitatem.' For the part wliich the Holy Coat has played in legend at Treves and elsewhere, those who are curious in such matters may consult Gilden- meister and v. Sybel, Der Heilige Rock zu Trier und die 20 anderen heiligcn ungenahten Bocke', 1845.