It is believed that Africanus was still a pagan when he wrote his work entitled Cestus (Kiaroc, girdle of Venus), in which he treats of agriculture, medicine, physics, and especially the military art. Hebedjesu, in his catalogue of Chaldean works, mentions a com- mentary on the N. T. by Africanus, bishop of Emmaus. Finally, a translation of the work of Abdias of Baby- lon, entitled Historia certaminis apost-olici, has been at- tributed to Africanus, but probaldy erroneously.
The fact of a man so learned and intelligent as the chronologer Africanus being a Christian, refutes the error of those who think that all Christians in the first centuries of our era were illiterate. The criticisms of Africanus upon the apocryphal books seem to attest that he did not receive the canonical writings of the New Testament without previous examination ; and, from his manner of reconciling the different genealo- gies of Christ, it appears certain that he recognised the authenticity of the Gospels in which they occur. — Cave, Hist. Lit. ann. 220; Lardner, Works, ii, 457.
Afternoon (D^tl rVlBS, netotli ha-yom', the day's declining, Judg. xix, 8, as in the margin). The He- brews, in conformity with the Mosaic law, reckoned the day from evening to evening, and divided it into Bix unequal parts :
1. The break of day.
2. The morning, or sunrise.
3. The heat of the day. It begins about nine o'clock (Gen. xviii, 1 ; 1 Sam. xi, 11).
4. Midday.
5. The cool of the day, literally the wind of the day, from the fact that in Eastern countries a wind com- mences blowing regularly for a few hours before sun- Bet, and continues till evening.
6. The evening. See Day.
Ag'aba (AKKafia, prob. i. q. Agabus), one of the
1 AGAG
temple servants, whose " sons" returned from Baby- lon (1 Esdr. v, 30), evidently the Hagab (q. v.) of the genuine text (Ezr. ii, 46).
Agaba ("Aya/3a), a fortress near Jerusalem, which Galesius, its governor, restored to Aristobulus, the son of Alexander Jannasus (Josephus, Ant. xiii, 24, 5). The place cannot well be identified on account of the various readings (see Hudson's ed. i, 602, note), one of which (ra/3a3«) even seems to identify it with Gab- batha (q. v.). It was perhaps the eminence of Gib- eah (q. v.).
Ag'abus ("Aya/3oc ; either from the Heb. 2511, a locust [which even occurs as a proper name, Ezra ii, 46], or 23?, to love; Simon. Onom. N. T. 15, and Wolf, Cur. ii, 1167), the name of "a prophet," supposed to have been one of the seventy disciples of Christ (AValch, Be Agabo Vate, Jen. 1757, and in his Diss, ad Act. Ap. ii, 131 sq.). He, with others, came from Judaea to Antioch, Avhile Paul and Barnabas (A.D. 43) were there, and announced an approaching famine, which actually occurred the following year (Acts xi, 27, 28). Some writers suppose that the famine was general ; but most modern commentators unite in understanding that the large terms of the original (oXi/v ti)v oiKovfiivrjv) apply not to the whole world, nor even to the whole Roman empire, but, as in Luke ii, 1, to Judaea only. Statements respecting four fam- ines, which occurred in the reign of Claudius (Oros. vii, 6; Euseb. Hist. Eccl. ii, 8-; Chron. Arm. ii, 269), are produced by the commentators who support this view (Wesseling, Obserr. i, 9, p. 28) ; and as all the countries put together would not make up a tenth part of even the Roman empire, they think it plain that the words must be understood to apply to that famine which, in the fourth year of Claudius (Suetonius, Claud. 18), overspread Palestine (see Kuinol, Comment. in loc). The poor Jews, in general, were then relieved by the queen of Adiabene, who sent to purchase corn in Egypt for them (.Josephus, Ant. xx, 2, 6 ; 5, 2) ; and for the relief of the Christians in that country con- tributions were raised by the brethren at Antioch, and conveyed to Jerusalem by Paul and Barnabas (Acts xi, 29, 30). Man}' years after, this same Agabus met Paul at Caesarea, and warned him of the sufferings which awaited him if he prosecuted his journey to Jeru- salem (Acts xxi, 10-12), A.D. 55. (See Conybeare and Howson's St. Paul, i, 127; ii, 233; Baumgarten, Apostelgesihichte, i, 270 sq. ; ii, 113.) The Greek Church assert that he suffered martyrdom at Antioch, and hold his festival on the 8th of March ( Eichhom, Bibl. d. bibl. Lit. i, 22, 23 ; vi, 20).— Kitto, s. v.
A'gag (Heb. Agag', XIX, perh. fame, from an Arab, root, in 1 Sam. always written 53X ; Sept. Ay«y, but Tu>y in Num.), the name of two kings of the Ama- lekites, and probably a common name of all their kings (Hengstenberg, Pcntat. ii, 307), like Pharaoh in Egypt, and Achish or Abimelech among the Philis- tines. See also Agagite.
1. The king apparently of one of the hostile neigh- boring nations, at the time of the Exode (B.C. 1618), referred to by Balaam (Num. xxiv, 7) in a manner implying that the king of the Amalekites was, then at least, a greater monarch, and his people a greater people, than is commonly imagined. See Amalekite.
2. A king of the Amalekites, who was spared by Saul, contraiy to the solemn vow of devotement to de- struction [see Anathema] whereby the nation, as such, had of old precluded itself from giving any quar- ter to that people (Exod. xvii, 14 ; Num. xiv, 45). Hence when Samuel arrived in the camp of Saul he ordered Agag to be brought forth. He came " pleas- antly," deeming secure the life which the king had Spared. But the prophet ordered him to be cut in pieces; and the expression which he employed — "As th}' sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women" — indicates that,