On the passage in Job (ii, 9), " Corse God and iBe,' Mr. Roberts makes the following remarks: "Sdw suppose this ought to be, * Bless God and ifie' (t&t Heb. is If ^9) ; but Job would not have reproved te wife for such advice, except she meant it ironicallT. It is a fact, that when the heathen have to pass throsgb much suffering, they often ask, ' Shall we make ■ offering to the gods for this V that ia, *■ Oiall we «ftt our devotions, our gratitude for afflictions ?' Jab est a servant of the true God, but his wife mi|^t iMMbea a heathen ; and thus the advice, in its moat HNnl ac- ceptation, might have been in character. IS^IIAya more common than for the heathen, under ncitsiiA cumstances, to curse their gods. Hear Uie mtt A has made expensive offerings to his deity. In baa cf gaining some great blessing, and who has beea&^ pointed, and he will pour out all his iiiniii lalll as the god whose good offices have, aa he brlltnM,ilw prevented by some superior deity. A man in leteiA circumstances says, *Tes, yes, my god haa ktf Hi eyes; they are put out; he cannot look aflcr ay ^ fairs.' * What I' said an extremely rich devotee af & supreme god Siva, after he had lost his piufeih. *■ shall I serve him any more? What ! make oilteris^ to him? No, no; he is the lowest of all gods,* Woh these &cts before us, it is not difficult to believe ihsx Job's wife actually meant what she said.** See Job.
Cnxtain, the rendering in the Anth. Vera, of tiirre Hebrew terms.
1. ^t^*^*?^, geriah' (from its tremvJUms motion, invuv ably thus translated), the ten " curtafaia** of fine fiaec etc, each twenty-eight cubits long and four wide, ^ also the eleven of goats' hair, which covered the tab- ernacle of Moses (Exod. xxvi, 1-38; zxxvi, 8-17). The charge of these curtains and of the other textik £sbrios of the tabemade was laid on the GersboniiH (Num. iv, 26). Having this definite meaning, tk word came to be used as a synonym for the tabentu^ — its transitoriness and sligfatness — and is so emplcniBd in the sublime speech of David, 2 Sam. vii, 2 (what '* curtains" should be *'the curtain'*), and 1 Chna. xvii, L In a few later instances the word bears the more general meaning of the sides of a tent, aa in tte
CUKTIUS
611
CUSA
eantifnl figure of Isa. liv, 2 (where "habitations" loold bo *' tabernacles," H'lSS^O, poetic word for tents"); Jer. iv, 20; x, 20 (here "tabernacle" and
tent" aJTo both one word, bnM, ie/U) ; Psa. civ, 2 frhere *' stretch," 1^3, is the word nsnally employed >r extending a tent). Also specially of nomadic peo- le, Jer. xlix, 29 ; Hab. iii, 7 (of the black hair-cloth f which the tents of the real Bedouin are still com- osed) ; bat Cant, i, 5 rather refers to the hangings f the palace. See Tbkt.
2. TfO^, meuak'^ the *' hanging" for the doorway of he tabernacle (Exod. xxyi, 86, 97 ; xxxv, 15 ; xxxvi, 7; xxxix, 88; xl, 6; Num. iii, 25; iv, 25); and also or the gate of the court round the tabernacle (Exod. :xvii,16; xxxv, 17; xxxviii, 18; xxxix, 40; xl,88; ium. ill, 26; iv, 2^. Among these the rendering ' curtain" occurs but once (Num. iii, 26), while " hang- Qg'' is shared equally between masak and a very dif- erent word — ^^ip^ kdai^. See Hanging. Besides * curtain" and " hanging," mcuak is rendered " cover- Dg" in Exod. xxxv, 12 ; xxxix, 34 ; xl, 21 ; Num. iv, >; 2 Sam. xvU, 19; Psa. cv, 39; Isa. xxii, 8. The dea in the root of mcuak seems to be of shielding or )rotecting (T|D^, Gesenius, Thes, Eeb. p. 951). If this )e so, the object denoted may have been not a curtain >r veil, bnt an awning to shade the entrances — a thing latural and common in the fierce sun of the East (see E'erguason's Nineveh and Penepolit^ p. 184). — Smith, {. V. See Tabernacle. The sacred curtain separ- iting the holy of holies fttmi the sanctuary is desig- lated by an entirely different term, t^sHfi, pero'heth [Exod. xxvi, 31 sq. ; Lev.xvi,2; Num. xviii, 7, etc.). See Vail.
Awning before the Throne-room at Teheran.
3. p^, dok (prop.,/!hefieM), fine cloth for a garment, specially a curtain^ apparently a tent-covering of supe- rior fineness (Isa. xl, 22), such as the rich Orientals spread for a tcreen over their courts in summer (Hen- derson, m loc). See Court.
Cnrtitis, Yalentin, a prominent Lutheran min- ister of the sixteenth century, was bom at Lebus Jan. 6, 1493. He studied at the University of "Rxi^ ^^1 and early entered the order of Franciscans. He was one of the earliest adherents of the Reforma- tiou of Luther, and became its leader, first in the city of Rostock, and subsequently in that of Lubeck. In 1554 he was appointed superintendent of all the churches of Lubeck, and in this position exercised a
most beneficent influence upon the religious life of the city. He also took a prominent part in many of the theological conferences of the Lutheran Church. Thus he was present at the "convent of Brunswick" in 1557, which was to settle the adiaphoristic controver- sies, and in 1561 at the ** convent of Lunebnrg," when the ** Lunebuig Articles" were drawn up, which were incorporated with the symbolical books of Brunswick. Curtius is also the author of the so-called *' Lubeck Formula" {Formtda comentua, etc.), which he drew up in concert with the secular authorities and the entire clergy of the city. By it the ministers pledge them- selve to abide by the doctrine of the prophets and the apostles, the Apostolic Creed, the Augsburg Confes- sion, the Apology, and the Articles of Schmalkald. It was signed by Curtius and all the other ministers of Lubeck in 1560, and afterwards by all ministers ap- pointed in Lubeck until 1683, when the signing of it was no longer required. Curtius also drew up, in the name of the clergy, a ^^ ProtetkUio contra Synodum Tridenimam." He died Nov. 28, 1573.— Herzog, Heal- Encyhl, xix, 873 ; Starke, IM, Kirch^Hist. (Hamburg, 1724, 2 vols., where boUi the ^* Formula Contensus'' and the Protettaiio are printed).