of the Tightness of making vows which underlies our Lord's rebuke of the Pharisaical abuse of them, that the Church subsequently imposed vows upon candidates for baptism. The baptismal vow is in reality a dedication of the whole person to God, and is in harmony with the general spirit of the gospel as well as with the Apostolic teaching (Ro 5" 121-2, I Co 716.17) The various monastic vows were supposed to be analogous to the OT Nazirite vow, and were regarded as means of attaining specially close communion with God.
Literature.— Robertson Smith, RS 2, 1894 ; Rothe, Theol. Ethik, vol. iii. [1848] ; Zockler, Krit. Gesch. der Askese ; Daab, Die Zuldssigkeit der Geliibden, 1896 ; Ramsaj^ ' Greek of Early Church and Pagan Ritual ' in EzpT x. (1899) 13.
J. O. Hannay. VULTURES.— RVm for ' eagles ' in Mt 24^8 and Lk 17^-. See Animals in vol. i. p. 65*».
W
WAGES. — 1. o^ihviov is the technical term for a soldier's pay, and occurs only in Lk 3'^. ' From a root weir we get 'e^u, 6\j/ov, "cooked" meat, fish, etc., as contrasted with bread. Hence the com- pound 6\pibviov (wviofj-ai., "to buy") = (l) provision money, ration money, or the rations in kind given to troops. (2) In a more general sense, "wages'" (Sanday-Headlam on Ro 6-^). In the time of Julius Caesar, a foot soldier received § of a denarius a day. This was increased by Augustus. John the Baptist bids the soldiers (probably those en- gaged in police duty connected with the customs) abstain from adding to their wages by extortion through violence, threats, or false accusations.
2. /xiadds is the ordinary term for wages, and is translated indifferently throughout the Gospels as 'wages,' 'reward,' 'hire.' The labourers in the parable hire themselves for a denarius a day (Mt 20*). That was a fairly generous rate for such work (cf. To 5"). The denarius was equivalent in money value to 9^d., and in purchasing value to about 2s. (see artt. ' Money,' § 8, and [in Ext. Vol.] ' AVages ' in Hastings' DB).
The analogy of service and wages is freely used by Jesus in His teaching ; but it is not so much the receipt of wages that rules the thought as the quarter whence they come. The labourer is always worthy of his hire, but what that will be depends upon whether he is serving the world or God. The Pharisee is really the world's hireling, and receives his wages from it, viz. honour, consideration,
Eower, wealth, and not from God, whom nominally e serves (Mt 6^- '•'*). But those persecuted for righteousness' sake (Mt 5^^), those whose religious obedience is unobtrusive and self-forgetting (6''- ^- ^^), those who help any of God's servants and do them a kindness for His sake (lO"-''^, Mk 9*'), those who go beyond the world's .self-regarding way, and love their enemies, and do good and lend, hoping for nothing again (Lk 6*^, Mt 5'*'^- *), are servants of the unseen Father. Their wages are not counted out to them in the world's coin ; they receive the Father's open acknowledgment and gather fruit unto life eternal (Mt 6*- «• '», Jn 4^).
Jesus' remark that the labourer is worthy of his hire, or of his meat (Lk 10', cf. Mt lO'"), probably a quotation of a common proverb, is of a different order. It is an encouragement to His disciples to accept hospitality, in their missionary journeys, from those to Avhom they have ministered in spiritual enlightenment.
Literature. — The vols, on the Parables, esp. Bruce, Parabolic Teaching, 178 ; Phillips Brooks, New Starts in Life, p. 1 ; Griffith Jones, The Economics of Jesus (190.'i) ; Expos, i. iii. (1876) 81, 427 ; ExpT v. (1894) 549.
Richard Glaister. WAGGING.— See Gestures in vol. i. p. 646''.
WAILING. — The expression of sorrow by loud cries is several times alluded to in the Gospels : Mt 218 ' In Rama was there a voice heard ' ; Mt 111' 'We have mourned unto you' (cf. Lk 23^', Jn 16^"). The Jewish custom is abundantly evi- denced from the OT (see esp. Jer Qi"- ") ; in the Gospels only two instances are detailed, one at the death of Jairus' daughter, and the other at Christ's death. On both of these occasions mourn- ing with loud cries is indicated (Mt Q'^* ' flute- players,' 'tumult'; Mk5=*8 'wailing'; Lk 23^' 'la- mented,' idp-qvovv). The word used in Mk I.e. is dXaXd^etc (cf. Ja 5' 6\o\{i^eiv, ' howl '). In most other places the word tr. ' wail ' or ' bewail ' is KbwreaOai, literally, to beat upon the breast, so that any outcry is inferred only. The phrase 6 K\avd/x6i Kai 6 ^pvyfibs tG}v dSovTwu was formerly tr. ' wailing and gnashing of teeth ' only in Mt IS''^- ^ ; but now the RV has brought these passages into line with the others where the same words occur, and correctly renders 'weeping.' See also MOURNING.
T. Gregory.
WALK. — 1. irepiiraTeLv. The passages in the Gospels where this word occurs may be classified as follows : ( 1 ) 'To move along leisurely on foot without halting.' It is used in this literal sense of our Lord's walking by the Lake (Mt 4i* TrepiTrartSi' S4), — the words following show that the subject of His thoughts as He walked was the analogy be- tween Peter and Andrew's present occupation and the A\ork to which He was about to call them, that of 'fishers of men,' — Mk l"* has the more vivid vapdywv wapd, 'passing along by' (RV, cf. LXX Ps 128 (129)**) ; of His walking near Jordan, when His mien as He passed riveted John's gaze (Jn 1^) ; of His walking on the sea (Mk 6«- ^9, Mt U^-^-^, Jn 619 — iirl TTji 0a\da-a7ii in Mk. and Jn., dwl t7]u doKaffffav in Mt.).