view which is favored by the neighboring corn-fields. — Smiti), s. V. Yer Poortenn has written monographs entitled Tahernacula Del in Ephrata [Psa. cxxxii] (Coburg, 1739) ; Initla Bethleheml (ib. 1728) ; also two entitled Fata Bethlehemi (both ib. eod.). See Beth- lehem.
3. Gesenius and others tliink that in Psa. cxxxii, 6, '■'■Ephratah'' means Ephr.vim (cj. v.). Tlie mean- ing of that passage, however, is greatly disputed. The most obvious reference is to Bethlehem, which is else* where known by that name (see above), and maj^ liere be spoken of as the residence of David at the time when as a j^outh he first heard of the sacred ark (so Hengstenberg, in loc). Otiiers consider the name as equivalent to the tribe Ephraim (comp. Ephrathite for Ephraimite, Judg. xii, 5), which contained Shiloh, the depository of Jehovah's earl}' favor (so Good, in loc, as most interpreters ; Delitzsch, Comnuntar. iiber d. Psal- ter, ii, 265, argues at length in favor of this view). Perhaps the best explanation is that which refers the word to Mt. Ephraim (as a special designation of that part of the trilie which contained Siiiloh), in parallel- ism with the other part of the verse alluding to the fo7-est. Hnpfeld (in loc), however, considers it as merelj- a poetical term for fruitful y/e/J, e. g. Beth-shc- mesh, the latter part of the verse alluding to Kirjath- jearim as the " wood" ("1^"^, yaar').
Eph'rathite (Ileb. Ephrathi', "ir"iEN;), the desig- nation of the inhabitants of two widely different local- ities.
1. Properly Bethlehemite, or citizen of Ephrath (q. V.) or Bethlehem (Ruth i, 2 ; 1 Sam. xvii, 12 ; Sept. 'E'pnaSia1o<:,\ \\\g. Ephratceus').
2. By some confusion or analogv, an Ephrai:mite, or inhabitant of the tribe of Ephraim (([. v.) (Judg. xii, 5, with the art. "^riaXil, Sept. tK tov 'Etpnaip v. r. 'E-^na3!iT}]Q,\\x\^. Ep)hruth'ms, A.V. "an Ephraim- ite" [the last clause ; in the two previous occurrences of the verse, as well as in the context, the original is Ephraim'] ; 1 Sam. i, 1, 'E0pa('/<, Ephratknvs, "an Eph- rathite;" 1 Kings xi, 26, 6 'E^pa^i, Ejjhrataus, "an Ephrathite").
Ephrem or Ephraem Syrus, an eminent Church father, and the greatest light of the Syrian Church, was born at Nisibis (Sozom. //. E. iii, 16), Syria, or at Edessa, and flourished A.D. 370. The accounts of his early life are variant and unreliable. His parents were heathen, according to one account, and drove him from home for becoming a Christian ; but, accord- ing to other accounts, he was bred a Christian by his Christian parents. Jacob of Nisibis took care of his education, and took him to the Council of Nicrea, A.D. 325. In 363 Nisiliis was ceded by the emperor Jovin- ian to the Persians, and Ephrem went to Edessa, whith- er the most distinguished Syrians came to receive his instruction. Here he lived as a hermit, only coming from his seclusion to teach and preach. His repute for piety and learning became so great that he was elected bishop ; but when he heard of it he rushed fortli into the market-place, and acted in such a man- ner that the people thought he Avas out of his senses. " He tlien absconded until another had been appointed to the office of bishop in his place. He now went to Cfesarea in Cappadocia to see Basilius the Great, who formed the highest opinion of his learning and pietj'. Eplirem spent the greater part of his life in writing and preaching on devotional and moral subjects, and especially against the Arian heresj' ; but he was equal- ly energetic whenever there was any occasion to show bj' his acts that he reallj' was the benevolent man that he appeared to be. This was especially manifest at the time when Edessa was suffering from famine : he gave his assistance everywhere ; he called upon the rich to help the poor, and he himself undertook the care of seeing that the poor received what was intend-
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ed for them. lie was looked up to with admiration and reverence I)}' his (•onteini)oraries, who distinguish- ed him by tlie honorable designation of 'tlie prophet of the S3'rians.' He died about 378, having ordered in his will that no one should praise liim, according to the common ])ractice, in a funeral oration, that his body should not be wrapped up in costly robes, and that no monument should be erected on his tomb" (^Emjllsh Cijclop(vilia,s.-v.). This "will" of Ephrem is, however, generally held to be spurious.
All accounts unite in testifying to the virtues of Ephrem. Sozomen (Hist. Eccles. iii, Ifi) tells the fol- lowing storj' to illustrate his command of a naturally irascible temper. After a fast, his servant, presenting some food to him, let fall the dish on which it was placed. Ephrem, seeing him overwhelmed with shame and terror, said to him, "Take courage; as the food has not come to us, we will go to it." Whereupon Ephrem sat down on the floor, and ate the fragments left in the broken dish.
He was a voluminous author, writing commentaries, practical religious works, sermons, and numerous po- ems. The commentaries and hymns are in Syriac ; the other writings exist only in Greek and other ver- sions. It is doubtful whether he understood Greek; Sozomen (1. c.) expresslj' sa3's that he knew only Sj'r- iac, but that his writings " were translated into Greek during his life, and preserve much of their original force and power, so that they are not less admired in Greek than in Syriac." One of the legends tells that in his visit to Basil both were miraculously enabled to speak the other's language — Basil the Syriac, and Ephrem the Greek. " His commentaries extended over the whole Bible, ' from the book of creation to the last book of grace,' as Gregory of Nyssa says. We have his commentaries on the historical and phrophet- ical books of the Old Testament and the book of Job in Sj'riac, and his commentaries on the epistles of Paul in an Armenian translation. They have been but little used thus far by commentators. He does not interpret the text from the original Hebrew, but from the old Syriac translation, the Peshito, though he refers occasionallj' to the original. His sermons and homilies, of which, according to Photius, he composed more than a thousand, are partly expository, partly polemical, against Jews, heathen, and heretics. Thej' evince a considerable degree of popular eloquence ; they are full of pathos, exclamations, apostrophes, an- titheses, illustrations, sevei'e rebuke, and sweet com- fort, according to the subject ; but also full of exag- gerations, bombast, proiixit}', and the superstitions of his age, such as the over-estimate of ascetic virtue, and excessive veneration of the Virgin Marj', the saints, and relics. Some of his sermons were puldicly read after the Bible lesson in manj' Oriental, and even Occidental churches. His h^-mns were intended to counteract the influence of tlie heretical views of Bar- desanes and his son Harmonius, which spread widel}' by means of popular S3'rian songs. ' When Ephrem perceived,' says Sozomen, ' that the Syrians were charmed with the elegant diction and melodious versi- fication of Harmonius, he became apprehensive lest they should imbibe the same o])inions; and therefore, altiiniigh he was ignorant of Greek learning, he ap- plied himself to the study of the metres of Harmonius, and composed similar poems in accordance with the doctrines of the Church, and sacred hvmns in praise of hoh' men. From that period the Syrians sang the odes of Ephrem, according to the method indicated by Harmonius.' Theodoret gives a similar account, and says th;it the hymns of Kphrem comliined harmony and melddj' with piet}', and subserved all the purposes of valuable and efficacious medicine against the heret- ical h3'-mns of Harmonius. It is reported 'that he wrote no less than three Imndred thousand verses. But, with the exception of his commentaries, all his Sj'riac works are written in verso, i. e. in lines of an