legal -fife cliief
634
GALL
GAMES
could be made when local doctors dittered. The chief local difficulties were usually satisfied by the decisions of local councils (cf. Mt 10"), probably associated more or less closely with the local syna- gogues (see Synagogue).
7. Peojjle. — Galilee was a populous country. ' The cities lie very thick, and the very many villages are everywhere so populous from the rich- ness of the soil, that the very least of them con- tains more than fifteen thousand inhabitants ' (Jos. BJ in. iii. 2). In another place Josephus says there were 240 cities and villages in Galilee {Life, 45), and that many of these had strong walls. From each of these to the others must have been a network of tracks and roads in addition to the main roads (see above), and the land was a scene of constant activity. The bracing air of the hills and the activity of everyday life formed a people of energy and vigour. ' The Galiljeans are inured to war from their infancy, and have been always very numerous ; nor has their country ever been destitute of men of courage ' (Jos. BJ III. iii. 2). Regarded with a certain amount of patronizing contempt by the pure-blooded and more strictly theologically- minded Jews of Jerusalem and its neighbourliood, they stUl had the religious zeal of country-folk. This zeal was quickened by their pilgrimages to Jerusalem, which made a greater impression on their active minds than on those wlio were more familiar with the life of the Holy City. At any apparent insult to their religion they were read}' to break out in revolt. Before, during, and after the life of Jesus, Galiloean leaders arose and flew to arms in the vain attempt to secure religious autonomy. Yet they differed in many respects from their Judsean brothers. The \ery technical terms of the market and the details of their religi- ous customs varied from those of the South (cf. Schiirer, HJF II. i. 4). Their pronunciation of the Aramaic language had peculiarities of its OA\'n (Mt 26^''), one of these being the confusion of the guttural sounds. Besides, however, the natural bodily vigour and mental freshness of these high- landers, tlie most important difference between them and the people of Judoea lay in the different attitude in daily life towards the larger world of the Roman Empire and Hellenistic influence. Know- ledge of, at any rate spoken, Greek was to them a necessity of business, and no attempt could be niiule, as in Jerusalem, to avoid the study of it (cf. Moulton, Prolegomena to Gram, of NT Greek, 1906, p. 8). Many must have been, like Matthew, in Government employ. All were brought into daily contact with Greek and Roman modes of life and thought. It was to this people of larger e.\perience of life and broader ways of thinking that Jesus appealed in the greater part of His earthly ministry, and from it that He chose the men who were first to make His message known to the world. See also art. Sea of Galilee.
Literati-re.— .4rtt. ' Galilee ' in Hastings' DB, and ' Galilaa ' in PRm-, Neubaucr, G^og. du Talmud; Gudrin, Galilee; Merrill, Galilet in the Time of Christ ; G. A. Smith, HGHL,
chs. XX, xxi. G. AV. Thatcher.
GALL {xo\iJel).-
In LXX x«>..i represents (1) ^^{^ (Dt 3232, Ps 692') ; and (2) njaS trormirood (Pr i\ La 315). vvn and .n;j;,S are sometimes combined, e.g. Dt 29'8 nyjjy es-\, LXX i> x**?" ««i -rmpiif, Vulg. fel et amaritvdinem ; La 319 psill .XJ^, LXX ^ixfia xai x"^r, Vulg. absynthiiet/dtis.
It thus appears that xoM was used of any bitter drug, and there is therefore n i iH trrj uicy be- tween Mt 27" o^oj- [«f OS is n . ■ -i = ififion to Ps 69-'] yuera xo^% /J-e/iiyniK:. I M: I ,.ravp- vi<t)i4vov dtvov. The potion ailniini-i.i '-I ; i. i In- <•;-«- ciarius (see CiiUcinxiON') was coin|i(isiMl oi wine
and a variety of drugs — frankincense, laudanum, myrrh, resin, sattiou, mastich.* Thus • wine mixed with gair and ' myrrhed wine' are equivalent phrases, signifying generally ■medicated wine (cf. Swete, St. Mark, ad loe.). Mt 27" and Ac 8'^ are the only places in the NT where x°^'h occurs. Daviu Smith. GAMES. — In the Gospels there are none of the analogies from athletic contests wliich are fre- quently drawn in the Acts and the Epistles. This variety in the range of illustration is traced with- out difficulty to the difl'erent interests of the readers or hearers. The Hebrews, unlike the Greeks and Romans, gave little attention to games. The climate of theu- land may help to (^
account for this, but the chief reason must be ;
found in their view of life, which made it impos- sible for them to look upon games with the eye of the Greek. Where tlie Greek had his Isthmian games, the Hebrew had his Passover, or other solemn festival. The introduction of a gymnasium by Jason (2 Mac 4'''") was accounted an act of disloyalty to the faith of his fathers, and a sur- render to Hellenic influences. He was accused of neglecting the altar for the palnestra. Herod is said by Josephus (Ant. XV. viii. 1) to have insti- tuted solemn games in honour of Csesar ; but such pnutir.- nrvri wou the approval of the Rabbis, or uf ill.' M.itinu US a whole. Jesus preached to