,! The First f\nd Second Gospels
the wife among the objects
l.oth in the parallel ^lassage
.rts this also (cf. Mt low with
-•■ ■ domestic claims if there is
ui ifvMii the reality of his service, as
tdily have we family and friendship.
' (Mart«nsen). But such a conflict of
eyes of Christ only when devotion to
::f"j'::
Patn
Literature. — Westcott, Social Aspects of Christianity; Pea- bodv, Jesus Christ and the Social Problem, ch. iii. ; Shailer Jlathews, The Social Teaching of Jesus, ch. iv. ; Gore, The Semum on the Xount, pp. CS-73 (for the teaching on marriage) ; Hamack, What is Christianity! Lect. v. (Eng. tr.); Stalker, Imago Christi, ch. ii. C. T. DiMONT.
FAMINE.— Though the general fertility of Pale- stine is frequently alluded to in the Bible, yet the country was, a.s we know, by no means free from the danger of famine, whether brought about by drought or by the devastations of locusts and otlier pests, or by the destructive hand of man. Our Lord refers to the familiar instance of famine in the days of Elijah (Lk 4=^'- ). In order to illustrate the truth that no prophet is best received in his own country, He reminds His hearers that Elijah was at that time sent not to one of tlie many widows in Israel, but to the widow of Sarepta in the territory of Sidon.
In the parable of the Prodigal Son, it was ' a mighty famine' (Xi/nAs i<rx<-'pa) in the land of his distant exile that helped to bring the >vanderer to his senses (Lk 15"). He had squandered all his patrimony by the time it arose, and in his distress he had to seek a living by feeding Livine. Even thus, food was so scarce with him that ' he would fain have been filled with the husks that the swine did eat.'
Lastly, in the eschatological discourses of our Lord recorded by the SjTioptists (Mt 24', Mk IS', Lk 21"), 'famines in divers places' are included among tlie signs of the end. In St. Luke's account they are joined with pestilences, and in all three accounts ^vith earthquakes. This portion of the prophecy at all events seems clearly to refer in the first instance to the approaching destruction of Jerusalem bj' Titus (A.D. 70), and only in a second- ary sense, if at all, to the final end of all things. Josephus {BJ V. and VI.) again and again tells us that famine and pestilence were the terrible accompaniments of the city being taken by tlie Roman army ; and these were no doubt in great measure due to its crowded state on account of the many Passover.
FAN.— The fan (nnio mizreh, the vriov of Mt 3'- and Lk 3") was an implement used in the winnowing of grain (Is 30^ [where it is mentioned along with the nn-i rahath, EV ' shovel ']). It was either a wooden shovel (Hastings' DB i. 51» ; Smith, DB i. 31 ; van Lennep, Bible Lands, p. 83) or a pitchfork (Hastings' DB iv. 509"; Encyc. Bibl. i. 84 : jMackie, Bihle Manners and Customs, J). 42). The balance of probability is in favour of the latter.
We get no help from LX\ :.iM Vul-nte. LXX omits the word; theVul-. i. n.l. i- l.y r.),tilabrum, whidi was, according to .-..nn , a >lu.\cl iRamsay, Roman Antiquities, p. 4S-Ji, aiul, according to others, a fork (Smith, Lat.-Eng. Diet. s.r.). Pe.sh. has raphsho', which means ' shovel.' There is, however, the significant fact that down to the present day two ^vinnowing implements are used m Palestine Avhich bear practically the same names as those which occur in Is 30=^. These are the midra and the raht, and there is no substantial reason for doubting that they correspond respec- tively to the mizreh and the rahath. The midra, which we accordingly identify with the ' fan ' of Scripture, is a simple wooden fork about six feet long. It has from five to seven prongs, which are set in separately and bound together with a wrapping of fresh hide. The natural shrinkage of the hide renders it a ver\- efieetive ligature. The raht is a wooden shovel about live feet in length.
fae:m
FATHER, FATHERHOOD
579
Tlie winnowing of the mixed mass of grain, chati', and short straw produced hy threshing [^ be^n by tossing it into the air with the midra. This process frees most of the chaff and straw, which are carried away by the wind (see AGRICUL- TURE, p. 40), but a good deal still remains mingled with the pile of grain. A second winnowing is therefore needed, and for this the raht is used. See also Chaff.
FARM.— See Agriculture, and Husbandman.
FARTHING. -See Money.
FASTING.— In the time of Christ, fasting ap- pears to have been a prominent characteristic of Jewish piety. The fasts were both public and private. Of public fasts only one in the year was ordained by tne law of Moses, the Day of Atone- ment; in Ac 27" it is called simply ' the fast ' (cf. Jos. Ant. XIV. iv. 3; Philo, Vit. Mos. ii. 4 ; Schiirer, HJP I. i. 322). Tlie four annual fasts, established in memory of national calamities and referred to by Zechariah (8'"), had fallen into desuetude, and were not revived until after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. The late ' fast of Estlier,' on the 13th of Adar (Est 9^', cf. 4^- "*), was not at this time observed. But occa- sional public fasts were ordered from time to time during seasons of drought and public calamity. They were held on the second and fifth days of the week, — Monday and Thursday, — because Moses was believed to have gone up Mt. Sinai on a Thurs- day and to have returned on a Monday. They always began on the second day, so that a three days' fast would fall on the second, fifth, and second — -Monday, Thursday, Monday (see Didache, viii. ; Const. Apost. vii. 23 ; Epi'phan. Hier. xvi. 1). Apart from these public occasions, however, many individuals were in the habit of imposing extra fasts upon themselves (Lk 2^, cf. Jth 8") ; and some,