" Girdle" is often used figuratively in the Scriptures (see Psa. cix, 19 ; compare 1 Sam. ii, 4; Psa. xxx, 11 ; Ixv, 12; Eph. vi, 14). — Smith, s. v. The girdle was a symbol of strength, activity, and power (Job xii, 18, 21; xxx, 11; Isa. xxiii, 10 ; xlv, 15; xi, 5; xxii, 21 • 1 Kings XX, 11). The perfect adherence of the people of God to his service is figuratively illustrated by tlie " cleaving of the girdle to a man's loins" (Jer. xiii, 11). In the same view, "righteousness and faithfulness" are called the girdle of the Messiah (Isa. xi, 5). See Attiee.
Gir'gashite (Hebrew invariably in the sing, and with the art. kiij-Girf/atJii', '''Cl'}t\T], in a collective sense ; dwelling in a clayey soil ; Sept. Ttpytaaloi and FfpytfTaTocVulg. Gergesati and Gcrgesceus ; A.V. "Gir- gashite" in 1 Chron. i, 14; " Girgasite" in Gen. x, IG; elsewhere " Girgasliites"), a designation of one of the nations who were in possession of Canaan before the entrance thither of the children of Israel. In Gen. X, IG, they are mentioned as the descendants of the fifth son of Canaan ; in other passages the tribe is merely referred to, and that but occasionally, in the formula expressing the doouicd countr}' (Gen. xv, 21; Deut. vii, 1 [and xx, 17 in Samarit. and Sept.] ; Josh. iii, 10; xxiv, 11; 1 Chron. i, 14; Neh. ix, 8). The Girgashitcs are conjectured to have been a part of the large family of the Hivites, as they are omitted in nine out of ten places in which the nations or families of Canaan are mentioned, while in the tenth the}' are mentioned, and the Hivites omitted. Josephus states tliat nothing but the name of the Girgashites (Ffpyf- (Tcnoi) I'emained in his time (Ant. i, G, 2). In the Jew- ish commentaries of R. Nacliman and elsewhere, the Girgashites are descrilied as having retired into Africa, fearing the power of God ; and Procopius, in his His- tory of the Vandals, mentions an ancient but doubtful inscription in Mauritania Tingitana, stating that the inhabitants had fled thither from the face of Joshua, the son of Nun. A city Girgls (TS"i5) existed among the Phoenician tribes in Northern Africa at the Sj'rtis Minor ( FOrst, Heh. Lex. p. 298). The notion that the Girgashites did migrate seems to have been founded on tlie circumstance that, although thej' are included in the list of the seven devoted nations either to b«
GIRGASITE
878
GITTITE
driven out or destroyed by the Israelites (Gen. xv, 20, 21; Deut. vii, 1; Josh, iii, 10; xxiv, 11; Neh. ix, 8), yet thoy are omitted in the list of those to be utterly destroyed (Deut. xx, 17), and are mentioned amony tliose with wliom, contrary' to the divine decree, the Israelites lived and intermarried (Judg. iii, 1-G). See Canaax. The expression in Josh, xxiv, 11 would seem to indicate that the district of the Girgashites was on the west of Jordan. By most writers, howev- er, they are supposed to have been settled in that part of the country wliich laj- to the east of the lake of Gen- nesareth (Jour. Sac. Lit. Oct. 1851, p. 167). This con- clusion is founded on the identity between the word repytacnoi, which the Septuagint gives for Girgash- ites, and that by which Matthew (viii, 28) indicates the land of the Gergesenes {ripyeaijvoi). But as this last reading rests on a conjecture of Origen, on which little reliance is now placed, the conclusion drawn from it has no great weight, although the fact is possible on other grounds, especially the probability that some actual citj' of this name must have been the founda- tion of the reading in question. Indeed, the older reading, '' Gerasenes," has sufficient resemblance to direct the attention to the country beyond the Jordan ; where Euselnus also (Onom. s. v. rtpyarai) affirms that the Girgashites dwelt. — Kitto, s. v. See Gerasa.
Gir'gasite (Gen. x, 16). See Girgashite.
Girl (fT^^^i yuUah', fem. of '^'P,'], a hoy), lit. one horn, i. e. a female child (Joel iii, 3; Zech. xiii, 5), spoken of a marriageable " damsel" (Gen. xxxiv, 4). See Child,
Girzite. See Gezrite.
Gisborne, Thomas, A.M., prebendary of Durham, a distinguished divine and author, wis born at Derby in 1758, entered at Harrow School in 1773, and at St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1776 ; was made perpet- ual curate of Barton-under-Needvvood, Staffordshire, in 1783, and removed in the same year to Yoxall Lodge, near Barton, where he ever after resided. He obtain- ed the prebend of Durham in 1826, and died in 1846. His works are written in a clear and nervous style ; Ills sermons have been recommended as models for young students in divinity. He strongly opposed Pa- ley's Ethics, of which he published an Erannnalion (2d edit. 1790). Among his M'orks are, A familiar Survey of the Christian Relir/ion as connected v ith the Introduc- tion of Christianity (London, 1799, 2d ed. 8vo) : — The Principles of Moral Philosophy investigated and applied to the Constitution of civil Society (Loud. 1798, 4tli ed. 8vo) : — The Testimony of Natural Theology to Christian- ity (London, 1818, 12mo) : — An Inquiri/ respecting Love as one of the divine Attributes (Lond. 1838, sm. 8vo) : — Sermons (Lond. 1808, 1809, and 1810, 3 vols. 8vo) :—A familiar Exposition ofColossians, in eight Sermons (Lon- don, 1816, r2mo). — Darling, Cyclojuedia Bibliographica, i, 12G7; Allibone, Diet, of Authors, i, 675; Whewell, Ifistori/ of Moral Philosophy in England, lect. xi ; Gent. Magazine, June, 1846.