Cu'shi (Heb. Kutki% "^^rD, q. d. CmdkHe otEtim- pian; Sept Xowti\ Ynlg. Cfttvt), a name of tbzee men in the Old Test. See Cush.
1. (With the article, "^^sisn, L e. '<the CusKte," " the Ethiopian ;" Sept. 6 Xowt ; Vulg. CkasL) Tbt messenger sent by Joab to announce to David the s»> cess of the battle against Absalom and the death d the young prince (2 Sam. xviii, 21, 22, 23» 81, SS> B.C. 1023. He was apparently attached to Joab's poi- son, but unknown and unaccustomed to the king, m may be inferred fh>m his not being recognised bj tbe watchman, and also from the abrupt manner in vhki he breaks his evil tidings to David — ^unlike A hi!****, who was well aware of the efifiBct they were sore u produce. See David. That Cushi was a foreigner— as we should infer frt>m his name — is also slightly csa- roborated by his ignorance of the ground in the Joida valley — "the way of the * Ciccar' " (q. v.) — by know- ing which Ahimaaz was enabled to outrun him. £v- aid, however, conjectures that a mode of running is here referred to peculiar to Ahimaaz, and by which be was recognised a long distance ofif by the watchmaa. — Smith, s. V.
2. The father of Shelemiah, and great grandfather of Jehudi, which last was sent by the Jewish magnatei to invite Baruch to read his roll to them (Jer. xzxri, 14). B.C. long ante 605.
3. The son of Gedaliah, and fatiier of tbt prophet Zephaniah (Zeph. i, 1). B.C. ante 635.
CUSHION
617
CUTHBERT
Cvabion. See Bed; Pillow.
Cusliinan, Elisha, a Baptist minister, was born Kingston, Mass., May 2, 1788. He was ordained 3tor of the First Baptist Church of Hartford, Jane ', X813. In 1824 he was made M.A. (honorary) by %le College. In 1825 he resigned his charge in artford, and became pastor of the New Market Street skptlst Church of Philadelphia. In September, 1829, » returned to Connecticut, and, after preaching some me at Stratfield, was, in April, 1881, called to the ietoral charge of the Baptist church in New Haven. 1 1835 he removed to Hymouth, Mass., bat returned » Martford in 1888, and resumed the editorship of The hristian Secretary^ a religious paper of which he had sen the original editor in 1822. He died October 26, 338. Mr. Cushman*s preaching was simple, instmc- ve, and often eloquent. He published a number of ccaaional sermons and addresses. — Sprague Annahf i, 562.
Ghispitifl. See Fadus.
amount of the treasures which flowed into the Temple (Joeephus, Ant, xiv, 7, 2). See Tax.
Cut THB Flesh; CUT off from the Pboplb. See Cutthto, etc. ; Excoiof ukication.
Cuth (Hebrew, Kuth, n^lS, signif. unknown ; Sept. Xov^, 2 Kings xvii, 80) or Cu'thah (Heb. Kuthah% nn^lS, fem. of same ; Sept. Xov^dj ver. 24), one of the districts in Asia whence Shalmaneser transplanted cer- tain colonists into the land of Israel, which he had desolated. See Samarla.. From the intermixture of these colonists with the remaining natives sprung the Samaritans (q. v.), who are called Cuthites (D^nilS) in the Chaldee and the Talmud (see Buxtorf, Lex. Tabn. col. 1027), and for the same reason a number of non-Shemitic words which occur in the Samaritan dia- lect are called Cuthian (compare Xov^atoi, Josephus, AfU. ix, 14, 8 ; comp. xiii, 9, 1). Josephus places Cu- thah in central Persia (comp. Zonar. i, p. 77), and finds there a river of the same name (Xov^oc, AtU.\jL, 14, 8 ; X, 9, 7). RosenmOller and others incline to seek it Otistom (Chald. *^^ haikd^y a way^tax, i. e. toUy < in the Arabian Irak, where Abulfeda and other Arabic
Szra iv, 13, 20 ; vii, 24 ; Gr. TfXoQ^ a tax, 1 Mace, xi, 15; Matt xvii, 25; Bom. xiii, 7; ^opoc, tribute, 2 Ifacc. iv, 28; rififj, price, 1 Mace, x, 29), Receipt op rcXcuvioy, coUedor's office, i. e. toU-kouae, Matt, ix, 9 ; MUrk li, 14 ; Luke v, 27). See Toll. Under the Per- sian and Syrian supremacy, imposts of various kinds were collected by local agents. Under the Romans, the management of the provincial revenues was gen- eraUy committea to the Roman knights, who were thenoe denominated chief publicam, or chief collectors of the taxes; the tax-gatherers or exactors whom they employed were termed pubUcam. It was differ- ent in Judsa, for there the management of the reve- nues was committed to the Jews themselves, and those who held this office eventrudly obtained an equal rank with the knights of Rome (Luke xix, 2; Josephus, War, ii, 14, 9). The subordinate agents, or publicans, in collecting the revenues, took their position at the gates of cities and in the public ways, and, at the place appointed for that purpose, called the ^* receipt of ctutam,'* examined the gcK>ds that passed, and re- ceived the moneys that were to be paid (Matt ix, 2 ; )iark ii, 14; Luke v, 27, 29). These tax-gatherers, if we may believe Cicero {Pro Place, 28), were more inclined to exact too much than to fbrget the promise which they had made to their masters ; and were, ac- cordingly, in consequence of their extortions, every- where, more particularly in Judssa, objects of hatred, and were placed in the same class with notorious sin- ners CBiark ii, 16, 16; Luke iii, 12, 13). The Phari- sees held no communication with them; and one ground of their reproaches against the Saviour was, that he did not refuse to sit at meat with persons of such a character (Matt, v, 46, 47 ; ix, 10, 11 ; id, 19 ; xviii, 17 ; xxi, 81, 82). The half-shekel tov was a tax or tribute to be paid annually by every adult Jew at the Temple. It was introduced after the captivity in consequence of a wrong interpretation of COTtain ex- pressions in the Pentateuch, and differed from the revenue which accrued to the kings, tetrarchs, and ethnarchs, and fh)m the general tax that was assessed for the Roman Crosars. It was required that this tax should be paid in Jewish coin (Matt xxii, 17-19 ; Mark xii, 14, 15). The prominent object of the temple mon- ey-chsoigers (q. v.) was their own personal emolu- ment ; bat the acqidsition of property in this way was contrsry to the spirit of the law in Deut. xxiii, 20, 21. It was for this reason that Jesus drove them from the temple (Bfatt. xxi, 22; Mark xi, 15; John ii, 15). Messengers were sent into other cities for the purpose of coUeeting this tax (Matt xvii, 25). The Jews who collected this tax from their countiymen dwelling in foreign nations transmitted the sums collected every year to Jerusalem. This accounts for the immense