* In the case of hsemophilic persons it seems not only possible but probable. Again, however, the relevancy is not very apparent.
more than a knife or dagger, as in the LXX of Jos 5-- * of flint knives, but also a sword. The people who came to arrest Jesus were armed with swords and clubs : Jesus' followers also had two swords, which Jesus declared to be enough ; and one of them (Peter) drew his SAVord and wounded a servant of the high priest (Mt 26^^-55, Mk 14«-^^ Lk 2236-52, Jn 181"- ").
Metaphorically the sword stands as a symbol for war (to 'fall by the edge of the sword' means to die in war), or for a divided state of society (Mt 10^* ' I came not to send peace, but a sword ' [in Lk 1251 'division']). In Mt 26=2 'They that take the sword shall perish with the SAVord,' the sword prob- ably denotes the use of physical force generally, although we have also the belief that a tyrant is despatched with the very weapon which he employs against the victims of his tyranny. The expression in Lk 2^5 « a sword shall pierce through thy own soul,' was sometimes interpreted as a prediction of martyrdom (Epiphanius, Ilcer. 78).
T. H. Weir.
SYCAMINE. — The sycamine-tree (crvKdfjLivos) is mentioned in the Gospels only once, viz. in Lk 17^. The Heb. Q'Pi?^, from which the Gr. name seems to be derived, denotes the sycomore, but the syca- mine is by general consent identified with the black mulberry {Mortis nigra). In his Hebrew NT, Delitzsch renders by ran, which is the name given to the mulberry in the Mishna (cf. Arab. tut). Two species are common in modern Pales- tine, the black mulberry and the white {M. alba). The latter, however, which is cultivated for pur- poses of sericulture, and whose fruit, owing to its insipidity, was little eaten, was hardly likely to be known in our Lord's time. The black mulberry, on the other hand, yields a compound fruit which, eaten fresh, is of fine flavour, and is a great favourite in the East. This tree, Avhich is deciduous, has a dense foliage, and affords a most welcome shade during the heat of summer.
Thomson {LB pp. 23, 24) would identify the sycamine with the sycomore. In support of this view he appeals to the common Hebrew origin of the two names ; but his main argument is that
' the mulberry is more easily plucked up by the roots than any other tree of the same size in the country, and the thing is oftener done. Hundreds of them are plucked up every year in this vicinity, and brought to the city for firewood. It is not to be supposed,' he adds, ' that He who spake as man never spoke would select this tree, with its short, feeble roots, to illustrate the irresistible power of faith.'
The argument is plausible, but not conclusive. On the contrary, Avhat Aveight it has must be laid in the scale against this theory rather than in its support. The rooting up of the mulberry tree Avas a common practice. Granted ; but Avas it not from the commonest doings and happenings that our Lord habitually dreAV His illustrations ? When He Avould find some fit emblem of the Kingdom of God, He appealed not to the unusual but to the familiar, not to the heroic but to the homely. One of the marked charms of His teaching is the gift He had of making the commonplaces of earth speak the language of heaven. When, therefore, He Avould figure forth ' the irresistible poAver of faith,' it need not surprise us that He selected the mulberry tree, the uprooting of Avhich was quite familiar to His hearers. True, it was more easily plucked up than any other tree of the size. But that fact does not impair the force of the figure. The laAv of gravitation is as clearly manifested in the fall of the leaf as in the majestic order of the planets, and the poAver of faith is as vividly illus- trated in the figure of uprooting a mulberry tree by the Avord of command, as in that of uprooting a sycomore, or even of moving a mountain.
Hugh Duncan. SYCHAR {"Zvxdp) is mentioned in connexion Avith
SYCIIAR
SYCOMORE
687
the journey of Jesus from Jucuea to Galilee re- corded in Jn 4-**-. We learn from v-''^- that He came ' to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph: and Jacob's Avell {ir-ny^) was there'; v." adds the information that 'the well {(j>piapy was 'deep.' Jacob's fountain, referred to here, is one of the undisputed sites of the Gospels. It lies in the nioutii of the valley running up between Mts. Ebal and Gerizim to Shechem, 1^ miles E. of the city and about 1 100 yds. from the traditional site of Joseph's Tomb (Jos 24^-). The source of its water is still uncertain. Probably rainfall and percolation contributed most to the supply. Ac- cording to Sanday (Sacred Sites of the Gospels, 32), ' it is possible that the special sacredness and real excellence of the water (on a hot day it is beauti- fully soft and refreshing) had something to do witii ' the presence of the woman from Sychar, though it has been suggested that she was fetch- ing water for workmen employed on the adjacent cornlands and not for her own household. Now Sychar lay ' near ' Jacob's ground and well, and the problem is whether it should lie (1) identified with Shechem, or (2) located at the little hamlet of 'Asknr, near the foot of Ebal, about a mile N. of the well and If miles E.N.E. of N^blus. The balance of expert opinion seems to be in favour of the latter identification.