1! Da.'i Leben nach deui Tode, lOnff.
■ ■ This is ipiite in accordance with OT usage, cf. e.ij. Gn 2422 * hands ' used for ' wrists.'
and the same idea is conveyed in Mt 6* ' let not thy left Iiand know what thy right hand doeth.'
2. But the most interesting use of ' hand ' in the Gospels, as in the OT, is seen in idiomatic phrases in which it occurs ; these may be briefly enume- rated as follows : — 'To wash the hands' (airovlTrTew rds X- ) «as a symbolic action denoting a repudia- tion of responsibility or a declaration of innocence (Mt '27-^ cf. Ps '26'' 73^^) ; the same phrase, very nearly, vivreiv rds Xv refers to the washing before meals in obedience to tradition * (Mt 15-). To ' lay hands on ' is used in several senses ; iinftaWeiv ras X. i-rri Tiva (or simply with the dat.) means to take hold of with violent intent (Mk 14'"') ; eirmdivai. rat X- (or TTif X.) eiri Tira (or with dat.)t is synonymous with healing (Mt 9'», Mk S-^) ; neha.i ras x- ^t£ Tiva is used of blessing children (Mk 10'*) ; ' to put the liand to the plough ' (eTri/JdWeic TTjf x- ^i"' ^po- Tpof) is a metaphoric expression denoting the under- taking of some duty (Lk 9*-); different meanings attach to the phrase ' to stretch forth the hands ' : eKTelveiv rds x- f'^' '■"'" is used of taking someone prisoner (Lk 22''^), or (with the same construction) to indicate a person (INIt 12'"') ; ckt. ttjv x- in Mt 14^' means to save from harm ; the same expression in Jn 21'* seems to be used in reference to the stretching out of the hands (in tlie sense of arms) on the cross. ' To lift up tiie hands ' (ivaipuv rds %■ ) is the attitude of blessing (Lk 24=") ; ' to take by the hand' (Kpare'iv rrj! %■) means to take hold of some- one with the purpose of helping (Mk 1^') ; ' to deliver up into the hands of ' (wapadi56vai ds x- Tims) is to give into the power of, with evil intent (Mt 17°-), while 5iS6i'ai n iv ry x- """o' means to commit to the care of (Jn 3^^) ; ' to commend [the spirit] into the hands of (xapaTidivai rd TTveviia els X- Tivos) is to place oneself under God's protection (Lk 23'«).
3. Lastly, there are many words in connexion with which ' hand ' is not expressed, but implied ; all these convey one or other, or both, of the root conceptions of this word, viz. strength and activity. W. O. E. Oesterley.
HANDMAID.— 'Handmaid' (Lk P*; 'hand- maiden,' v.* ; in the American Standard RV ' hand- maid ' in both passages) answers to the Gr. dovXr;, which means literally, as the RVm shows, ' slave.' In the LXX rendering of Hannah's vow (1 S 1"), which is clearly echoed, almost cited, in Lk., SoiXrj represents the Hebrew 'dm/ih, which, with the Aramaic equivalent 'anif" .iikI ihf r.ali. amtii, seems to have been a comiDi^n Scniitic designation of a female slave in Canaan ami I lie iiii;;libouring countries. It was sonu'(iiii.> n-~r.l in courteous self -depreciation (1 K 1'', I S ■_'.,-"-"■ ■'•■'i ; the letter of an Assyrian lady in .lolms' lUihtjloninn and Assyrian Lairs, Ciii/nir/^, ,niil l,ffhrs,\>. 378), and then was naturally applii'd to relation to God (the above-mentioned Vow, also I's 86>« 116"). In the Aram, text, which probably underlay the Song of the Virgin, ' handmaiden ' would be 'amta with suffix (Pal. Lett, of Gos/nls, 1S99, p. 234). The u.se of the word in the Gospels illustrates the Oriental habit of describing man as the slave of God, of which there are so many examples in the OT (Ps igu. i3_ >jgij 16. u etc.), in the so-called Babylonian Penitential Psalms, in ancient Semitic names — Obadiah found both in the Bible and on an ancient seal, Ahdeel (Jer 36="), Abdiel (1 Ch 5>=), Abedncfjo (Dn 1'), Abd Ninip (Tell el-Amarna Letters, No. 53,^inc\i\eT),'AbdAshtoreth(KAT[ZW]l29);a.nd in names cuiTent in the Holy Land at the present
* It is probable that the origin, of which this custom i remnant, is to be sought in a ceremonial purifying before taking of the sacrificial meal, at which the Deity was conceived
ceremonial purifying before par^- snig of the sacnncial meal, at which the Deit as being present; cf. W. R. Smith, i!&'2
f same construction-' to ordain'
702
HAPPINESS
HAPPINESS
time, such as Abdallah (for many examples from southern and central Palestine cf. PEFSt, 1904,
}). 155, and .1905, p. 48 f.). Tliese illustrations, lowever, refer mainly if not entirely to men. In connexion with a list of personal names collected from various Moslem villages in the south of Palestine [PEFSt, 1904, p. 155), it is remarked that female names of the type of Abdallah have not been found. Still it must always have been easy for an Oriental woman to call herself ' the hand- maid ' of Deit3'. The transition from the courteous to the religious use would be readily eflected.
W. Taylor Smith.
HAPPINESS. —i. Pagan and Christian Ideals compared. — Happiness was much dis- cussed among the Greeks under the term 'well- being ' ((vSa.Lij.ovla). Aristotle said : ' For on the subject of happiness and what conduces to it, and of its opposites, exhortation or discussion is always conversant, and this because we needs do tlie things which procure it or any of its constituents, and refrain from doing the things which destroy or impede it' (Rhct. i. 5). The differences of the philosophic schools arose from the question wherein this well-being consisted. Was it in knowledge, pleasure, virtue, freedom from pain, wealth, or well-doing? The record of the answers to this forms the history of ancient Ethics. Jesus did not use the word ' happiness ' (d'Saiixovia), or propound any tlieory of the relation between duty and pleasure ; Ijut absence of the word is no proof that the subject was foreign to His mind. It is incon- ceivable that the ' Son of Man ' .should neglect in His system so universal an instinct as the desire after happiness ; for in the final summation joy must be a part of the jierfect state. The com- parison between ancient and Christian Ethics must not be made on verbal or literary lines, but the systems must be judged by their actual contribu- tion to well-being or happiness.