The ' middle wall of partition,' necrdToixo" (fiTof \ey. in the NT) to5 (ppay/xoii of Eph 2", is a metaphor having its origin in the practice of building divid- ing walls, which were found between the rooms of ordinary houses, or between adjoining properties. While the figure of speech may well stand apart from the chel, or barrier, which marked oft' the Temple precincts in the narrower sense, and gave the limit not to be passed by any Gentile, we can imagine that this fence would be the <ppayn6s in especial to the Jewish mind. Some commentators think it did suggest the figure (Westcott) ; others tliink any kind of fence would serve the purpose (Meyer). Alford thinks the primary allusion is to the rending of the veil at the Crucifixion.
W. Ceuickshank.
WANDERING STARS.— The Epistle of Jude is an earnest warning against false teachers with a strong denunciation of them. In vv.'^- '^ the writer uses one metaphor after another to depict the falseness, sensuality, and apostasy of these men. The list ends with ' wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved tor ever.' aaripet irXav^Tai are words used to dis- tinguish the planets from the fixed stars ; but the regular motion of the planets would supply no lit
comparison for the author's idea, and we must rather see a reference to meteors or shooting stars, whoso sudden and terrifying appearance, rapid transit, and speedy disappearance into a darkness rendered more intense by contrast would be a fitting picture of the short-lived fame and hurtful influence of the false teachers, and a prediction of that abyss of darkness into which they were hurrying. Morley Stevenson.
WAR. — Of the three great Asiatic religions which have poured into Europe, the youngest has never found any difficulty about war ; to Islam war is a power, not a problem. The Qnr'an sanctions and enjoins warfare upon non-Muslims as part of the propaganda of the mission. To ' liglit in Gods way,' i.e. on a, jihad, or holy war, is a pious duty, and the Muhammadan who falls in battle against the infidels is ipso facto a martyr.
* Say, " Fighting therein [in the sacred month] is a great sin ; but turning folks oflE God's way, and misbelief in Him and in the Sacred Mosque, and turning His people out therefrom, is a greater in God's sight ; and sedition is a greater sin than slaughter"'(Ci""r(«, tr. E. H. Palmer, ii. 213); 'What ails you that ye do not fight in God's way, and for the weak men and women and children '? ' (iv. 76) ; ' O thou prophet ! urge on the believers to fight. If there be of you twenty patient men, they shall conquer two hundred ' (viii. 67) ; ' When ye meet those who misbelieve — then strike off heads until ye have massacred them, and bind fast the bonds!* (xlvii. 4); 'O Ihou prc-phet ! fight strenuously against the misbelievers and hypocrites and be stern towards them ; for their resort is hell, and an evil journey shall it be ' (Ixvi. 9).
In practice toleration of infidels has been not un- common, partly owing to political considerations, but in theory the 'curse and smite' policy is put forward.
Muhaiiimad held up Joshua for the admiration of his followers as a model fighting captain of the Lord, and in ancient Israel also war was sanctioned by religion. Jahweh was a ' man of war,' and Israel fought their way from the Red Sea into freedom. ' He teacheth my hands to war' (Ps 18"^) is the proud, grateful word of David, or of the community voicing the Davidic ideal. But the altered jiolitical situation after the Exile had re-set the primitive and naive view of war (cf. HDB v. 635 f.). In Judaism the Semitic custom which determined the relation of the people to war as tolerated, or even umler certain circumstances en- joined, by the princijdes of their faith, as an enter- prise for which warriors were consecrated before they fought at all, had undergone a change at the period when Christianity arose in Palestine. Even earlier, in a battle-song like the 68th psalm, militarism is abjured : ' Scatter thou the people that delight in war ' (v.'"). Judaism, before Christianity, abhorred aggressiveness and discouraged military rapacity. Tiie Hebrews warred in later days for the defence of their religion and country rather than for aggrandizement. But even the older con- ception of a theocracy under arms for the defensive, which had flashed up brilliantly in the Maceaba^an wars (cf. 2 Mac 15'*'-) against a corrupt and domineering civilization, had given place to a fairly general repudiation of revolt against the Romans — a repudiation which the authorities, who were passivists, voiced for more or less prudential reasons. 'The Zealot and the "passivist" were really agreed on the general principle, but they ditlered on the question of expediency. The former would exercise his military rights at once, while the latter would wait for God to take the initiative ' (S. J. Case, ' Religion and War in the Grajco-Roman World,' in AJTh xix. [1915] 190). Pious Jews were iiot agreed whether they were bound to start the rebellion which would inaugurate the armed intervention of Messiah or whether they were to wait for His orders or even whether He would not do all the fighting for them. At