KIRJATH-SANNAH
107
KIRKPATRICK
(which he calls iMount IVIidan) south-west of the village, and just south of Kuryet es-Saideh, may be the "]Moiuit Jearim" spoken of in Josh, xv, 10 (but different from IMount Baalah of ver. 11) ; both jjlaces having taken the title Jearim from the intervening tract of land, perhaps once covered with wood {Palest, p. 97). It is the testi- mony of a recent traveller (Tobler, 7>/tV?e Wamlerini//, p. 17y) that in the immediate neighborhood, on the ridge probably answering to IMount Jearim, there still are '• real \voods, so thick and so solitary, he had seen noth- ing like them since he left Germany."
Kir'jath - san'iiah (Hebrew Kinjath' - Sunnah', rii&~r^"i)?, perh. city of Sannah; Josh, xv, 49; Sept. 7co\i(- yoai.ijxuT(iJV~), usually Kirjath-se'pher (Heb, A'h- l/ath'-Se'pfier,^tiZ>~r\^'^p, hook-city ; Sept. iruXig ypctfi- ^LUTwv, Josh. XV, 15, IG; Judg. i, 11 ; ttoXic twv yc>afx-- /.u'lTwi', Judg. i, 12; v. r. KapiaBtrifep, Judg. i, 11), in later times (Josh, xv, 15, 49 ; Judg. i, 11) called Debir (q. v.), a Canaanitish royal city (Josh, x, 38), afterwards included within the tribe of Judah (Josh, xv, 48; comp. Judg. i, 11), but assigned to the priests (Josh, xxi, 15 ; 1 Chron. vi, 58 ; compare Hamcsveld, iii, 2"24). The name Debir means a woj-d or oracle, and is applied to that most secret and separated part of the Temple, or of the most holy place, in which the ark of the covenant was placed, and in which responses were given from above the cherubim. From this, coupled with the fact that Kirjath-scpher means " city of writing," it has been con- jectured that Debir was some particidarly sacred place or seat of learning among the Canaanites, and a reposi- toiy of their records. '' It is not, indeed, probable," as professor Bush remarks (note ad loc. Josh.), " that writ- ing and books, in our sense of the words, were very com- mon among the Canaanites; but some method of re- cording events, and a sort of learning, was doubtless cultivated in those regions." Bochart {Canaan, ii, 17) explains the latter part of the name Kirjath-sannah as being a Phccnician term equivalent to the Arabic siinna or" precept," ■which would be in keeping with the above explanation of the other terms. Gesenius {Thesaiu: p. 9G"2, 1237) thinks it a term expressive of the palm, and Fiirst {llth. Lex. s. v.) thinks it denotes the senna plant. Debir was taken by Joshua (x, 38) ; but it being after- wards retaken by the Canaanites, Caleb, to whom it was assigned, gave his daughter Achsah in mamage to his nephew Othniel for his braverj^ in carryhig it by storm (Josh. XV, 16). It was situated in the mountains of Ju- dah (Josh. XV, 49), to the south of Hebron (Josh, x, 38 ; see Keil, Comment, ad loc), and on a high spot not very far from it (Josh, xv, 15), and appears to have been strongly fortified (Ewald, Gesch. Isr. ii, 289). These cir- cumstances and the associated names (Josh, xv, 48-50) appear to indicate a position on the mountains south- west of Hebron, in the vicinity of ed-Dhoheriyeh, which has a commanding situation and some ruins (Robinson's Researches, 1,311).
Kirk, a word meaning circle, in the sense of " assem- bly" or " company ;" the original word being Saxon, and supposed by some to have come from the Greek Kvpia- kCv, dominicum, " The Lord's house." The word Church is the same as " Kirk," and has the same signification as " congregation" or assembly, which are elsewhere given as translations of the original word tKKXijiria. The es- tablished religion of Scotland (the Presbyterian) is usu- ally called the Kii-k of Scotland. See Scotland,
Kirkland, John Thornton, D.D., LL.D., an em- inent American Unitarian divine, was born at Herkimer, N. Y., Aug. 17, 1770. His j-outhful daj's were spent at Stockbridge, Mass. At the age of thirteen he went to Phillips Academy, then under the care of Dr. Eliphalet Pearson, and in 1785, with the patronage of the excel- lent judge Phillips, he entered Harvard University. He passed through college with a high re]iutatioii for schol- arship, especially excelling in the departments of lan- guages and metaphysics, and graduated in 1789 with
distinguished honors. Shortly after he went to Stock- bridge, and commenced the study of theology under the direction of Dr. Stephen West; but the strict vievs of theology to which he was here introduced were little to his taste, and he soon after returned to Cambridge, where he found himself in a much more congenial theological atmosphere. In November, 1792, while still prosecuting his theological studies, he was appointed tutor of meta- physics in Harvard University, and held this office until February, 1794, when he was ordained, and installed pas- tor of the New South Church, Boston. Here he soon drew around him an intelligent and discriminating con- gregation, among whom were some of the leading men of the times. In 1802 he was honored with the degree of doctor of divinity from the College of New Jersey, and in 1810 with the degree of doctor of laws from Brown University. So high was his professional repu- tation at that time, and so commanding the influence lie had acquired, that in 1810 he was elected to the pres- idency of Harvard University. Dr. Kirkland's presi- dency marked a brilliant epoch in the history of the college. Under his administration tlie course of studies was greatly enlarged ; the law school was established ; the medical school reorganized; four different professor- ships in the academical department endowed and filled ; three new buildings erected, and immense additions made to the library. In August, 1827, lie suffered a stroke of paralysis, which led him, in March, 1828, to re- sign his office as president ; and in April he set out on a long journey through the "Western and Southern States, and afterwards spent three years and a half in visiting foreign countries. He died April 26, 1840, Dr. Kirk- land was a person of simple, dignified, and winning man- ners; he had great natural dignity; there was an un- studied grace in his whole bearing and demeanor. His mind was of an ethical turn ; he was distinguished as a moralist, and seemed to possess a thorough, intimate, and marvellous knowledge of men. He was remarka- ble, too, for the comprehensiveness of his views and the universality of his judgments. He always generalized on a large scale, and even his conversation was a suc- cession of aphorisms, maxims, and general remarks. His publications consisted of a few occasional Discourses, several-contributions to the periodicals of that day, aiid a Memoir of Fisher Ames. See Ware, ^??;er. Uniturian liiorj. i, 273 ; Christian Examiner, xxix, 282, (J. L. S.)