ALISGEMA
161
ALLATIUS
In the earlier periods of the Hebrew state, persons ■who were natives of another country, but who had come, either from choice or necessity, to take up their residence among the Hebrews, appear to have been placed in favorable circumstances. At a later period, viz., the reigns of David and Solomon, they were com- pelled to labor on the religious edirices which were erected by those princes (2 Chron. ii, 1, 17, 18, comp. with 1 Chron. xxii, 2). These, however, were prob- ably prisoners of war (Jahn, Bill. Archeeol. § 181). See Citizenship ; Gentile.
The term alien is used figuratively in Eph. ii, 12, to denote those persons who were without Christ, and who had no interest in the blood of the covenant. See Adoption.
Alisgema (a\iayr][ia), a Hellenistic word (Ste- phens, Thes. Gr. s. v.) which occurs in Acts xv. 20, Auth. Vers, "pollution" (comp. ver. 29 and 1 Cor. viii), with reference to meat sacrificed to idols, and there means defilement, pollution. The apostle in these passages alludes to the customs of the Gentiles, among whom, after a sacrifice had been concluded and a portion of the victim had been assigned to the priests, it was usual to hold a sacrificial feast in honor of the god, on which occasion they ate the residue of the flesh (comp. Homer, Odys. iii, 470). This feast might take place either in the temple or in a private house (see Smith's Diet, of Class. Ant. s. v. Sacrificium). But there were many who, from need or avarice, salt- ed and laid up the remnants for future use (Theoph. Char. c. x), or even gave them to the butchers to sell in the shambles (Schottg. Ilor. Heb. ad Act. xv, 20; 1 Cor. viii). This flesh, having been offered to idols, was held in abomination by the Jews ; and they con- sidered not only those who had been present at these feasts, but also those who ate the flesh which had been offered up, when afterward exposed for sale in the shambles, as infected by the contagion of idolatry (q. v.). The council at Jerusalem, therefore, at the suggestion of James, directed that converts should re- fuse all invitations to such feasts, and abstain from the use of all such meat, that no offence might be given to those Christians who had been Jews. See Kuinol, ad Act. xv, 20. — Kitto, s. v. Comp. Decree.
Alkali, the oxide or carbonate of one of the metallic bases, having a strong caustic power ; usually applied to soda, potash, and ammonia. Of these substances the Hebrews appear to have been acquainted with two forms (see Thomson's Land and Book, ii, 302), concern- ing which we translate from Winer, ii, 9 sq.
1. Mineral alkali seems to have been designated b}' the term ne'ther ("IM, "nitre," Prov. xxv, 20; Jer. ii, 22; virpov, Attic Xirpor). It was found at all times in large quantities in two lakes of the valley of the Nile west of the river (Strabo, xvii, 803; Plin. xxxi, 46), and is still obtained there from the water under the name of natrum (Paulus, Samml. v, 182 sq. ; Forskal, Flor..Eg.p. 45; Andreossy, in the Memoires sur VEgypte, ii, 27 sq. ; comp. Deseript. de VEgypte, xii, 1 sq. ; Hasselquist, Reisen, p. 548). The Egyp- tians used nitre for embalming dead bodies (Herod, ii, 87) ; it was also employed instead of soap for washing (Jer. ii, 22 ; comp. Jerome, ad Prov. xxv, 20), as still appears to be customary in Egypt (Hasselquist, ut sup. • Forskal, Flor. p. 46). The property of this min- eral, when dissolved in vinegar, of effervescing and losing its cleansing power, is alluded to in Prov. xxv, 20. (See generally Michaelis, Comment, in Soc. Gott. prmlect. Brem. 177, p. 134 sq. ; Beckmann, Gesch. d. Erfind. v, 517 sq.) See Nitre.
2. Vegetable alkali is denoted by the Hebrew term horitlif (r^'a, " soap," Jer. ii, 22 ; Mai. iii, 2), and by the Greeks and Romans likewise nitre (comp. Plin. xxxi, 46). It was obtained by water (lye) from the ashes of the soap-wash (Arabic kali), of which Forskal (Flor. p. lxiv sq., 54 sq., 98) fouju' yarious kinds in
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Eg3*pt, e. g. the Salsola kali, or the Mesembryanthcum nodifiorum of Linnaeus (comp. Hasselquist, Reistn, p. 225 ; Raffenan Delile, Flora JEg. illustr. in the De- script, de VEgypte, xix, 81 ; see Oken, Botan. ii, i, 584 ; ii, 856 ; Schkuhr, Botan. Handb. i, 174 sq.). The saline plants indigenous in Palestine from which bo- rith was obtained were also, according to the Talmud- ists (see Celsii Hierobot. i, 450) and Jerome {in loc. Jer.), called by the same name, and are the same as those called by the Arabs ashnan. Of these plants Rauwolf {Reisen, p. 37) found in Syria two species ; one was a thick bushy shrub, with numerous slender branches, surmounted by thick tufts, and furnished with narrow pointed leaves ; the other in stem and top resembles " sheep-dew," with thick ash-colored roots (see his figures of each under Nos. 37, £8). The distinction of the various kinds of Oriental saline plants requires a new botanical treatment (Kitto, Phys. Geogr. of Holy Land, p. eclxvii ; Pliny, xix, 18, mentions anions; the plants growing in Syria one " which yields a juice useful for washing wool," under the name vadicida, Gr. arpoi&iov, comp. Dioscorides, ii, 193 ; Beckmann, Gesch. d. Erfind. iv, 18 sq. ; Spren- gel, ad Dioscor. ii, 478, regards this as no other than the Sapcnaria ojjicinalis). Formerly, as at the present day (Rauwolf, ut sup. ; Arvieux, Reisen, ii, 163 ; Be- lon, in Paulus's Samml. iv, 151), the ashes of these plants formed an important article of commerce in Oriental markets (thus their name al-kali is Arabic) ; end it is not onh- employed (in the form of lye or soap) as a means of cleansing clothes and the skin (Jer. ii, 22 ; Mai. iii, 2 ; Job ix, 30), but also in the reduction of metals, e. g. silver and lead (Isa. i, 25), and in the manufacture of glass (comp. generally Celsius, i, 449 sq. ; Michaelis, Commentat. ut sup.). See Soap.