Leucippus, the founder of the atomistic school of Grecian philosophy, and forerunner of Democritus (q. v.). Nothing is known concerning him, neither the time nor the place of his birth, nor the circumstances of his life.
Leucopetrians, the name of a fanatical sect which sprinig up in the Greek and Eastern churches towards the close of the 12th century; they professed to believe in a double trinity, rejected wedlock, abstained from flesh, treated with "the utmost contempt the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper, and all the various branches of external worship ; placed the essence of re- ligion in internal prayer alone ; and maintained, as it is said, that an evil being or genius dwelt in the breast of every mortal, and could be expelled from thence by no other method than by peqietual supplication to the Su- preme Being. The fomider of this sect is said to have
LEUMMIM
386
LEVELLERS
been a person called Leucopeinis, and his chief disciple Tychicus, who corrupted by fanatical interpretations several boolis of Scripture, and particularly the Gospel of Jlatthew. This account is not undoubted. — Hender- son's Buck, s. V.
Leiiin'mim (Heb. Leummim', C^BXb, peoples, as often ; Sept. Xaw^idp), the last named of the three sons of Dctlan (grandson of Abraham by Keturah), and head of an Arabian tribe descended from hira (Gen. xxv, 3 ; and Vulsate at 1 Chron. i, 32). B.C. considerably post 2i)24. See Arabia. They are supposed to be the same with the AUumaoUe (AWovfiaiwrai), named by Ptol- emy (vi,7, 24) as near the Gerrha.>i, which appears to be a corruption of the Hebrew word with the art. jirefixed. '• He also enumerates lAima among the towns of Arabia Deserta (v, 19), and Forster (^Geogr. of Arabia, i, 335) suggests that this may have been an ancient settlement of the same tribe" (Kitto). "They are identified by Frcsnel (in the Journ, Asiat. iii" serie, vi,217) with an Arab tribe called Umeiyim, one of the very ancient tribes of Arabia of which no genealogy is given by the Arabs, and who appear to have been ante-Abrahamic, and pos- sibly aboriginal inhabitants of the country" (Smith). See Letushim.
Leun, JoHAXN Georg Friedrich, a German theo- logian, was born Aug. 9, 1757, at Giessen. In 1774 he entered the university of his native place; in 1797 he became deacon at Butzbach, near Giessen, and there he remained until his death, March 15, 1823. He possessed an extensive knowledge of the Oriental languages, and was a profound theologian. Among his wurks deserve special notice. Von der besien Methodc, die liehrdische Sprache zu erlernen (Giessen, 1787-8) : — Handbuch zur cursorischen LeciUre der Blbelfiir Anfdnger, etc. (Leg- mo, 1788-91, 4 th. 8) : — Handbuch zur cursorischen Lec- iUre der Bibel des N. T. etc. (ibid. 1795-9G, 3 th. 8).— Doring, Gelehrte Theol. Deutschlands, ii,292.
Leusdeu, Johanx, a very celebrated Dutch Orien- talist and theologian, was born at Utrecht in 1624, and was educated at the then recently founded university of his native place and at Amsterdam, paying particular regard to the Oriental languages, especially the He- brew. In 1649 he was appointed professor of Hebrew at Utrecht, and for nearly tifty years he most creditably discharged the duties of this office, for which he had fit- ted himself, not simply at the universities already men- tioned, but also by private study with several learned Jewish rabbis. He died in 1699, regarded by all as one of the best Hebrew scholars of his day, the Buxtorfs only taking precedence in rank. Of his works we may say that the writings of but few Biblical scholars of that day have descended to us which can be said to be of more solid utility than Leusden's. " If they are defec- tive in originality of genius (the amount of which qual- ity, however, it is impossible rightly to determine in works like our author's), they undoubtedly afford evi- dence of their author's varied resources of learning, adorned by clearness of method and an easy style, char- acteristics which made Leusden one of the most re- nowned and successful teachers of his age." His nu- merous works, which were all Biblical, may be classed as follows: (1) Critical, (2) Introductory, and (3) Exe- getical. Under the first head we have his valuable Biblia Ifehrcea accuratissiina notis Ilebraicis ei lemmali- hus illiistrafa: ii/pis Josephi Athias (Amstel. 1617 [2d ed. 1667], the first critical edition by a Christian editor ["/Estimatissima |)rimum numeratis vcrsibus, primaque a Christiano adhibitis jNISS. facta." Steinschneider, Ca- tal. Bndl.]) In 1694 he joined Eiscnmenger in publish- ing a Hebrew Bible without points. The (ircek Scrip- tures also received his careful attention, as is proved by his editions of the (ireek Test, in 1675, 1688, 1693, 1698, 1701, and by his edition of t'he Seiituagint (Amsterdam, 1683). After his death, Schaaf completed a valuable edition of the Syriac New Test, (with Tremellius's ver- eiou) which Leusden had begun. Under this first bead
we may also place his Hebrew Lexicon (1688) ; Ele- mentary Heb. Gram., which was translated into English, French, and German (1668) ; his Compendia of the O. T. and the N. Test, (comprising selections of the originals, with translations and grammatical notes in Latin), fre- quently reprinted; his Onomasticon Sac?: 1665, 1684), and his still useful Claris Hebr. Vet. Test, (containing the Masoretic notes, etc., besides much grammatical and philological information), first published in 1683, and his Claris Grcec. N. T. (1672). His contributions to the second head of Introduction {Kinleiliiiiff) and sacred archasology were not less valuable than tlie ^\orks we have already commended. Of these we mention three (sometimes to be met with in one volume) as very use- ful to the Biblical student: Philologiis Hehr. continens Qucesfiones Hebr. quce circa V. Test. Hebr. fere moveri so- lent (Utrecht, 1656, 1672, 1695, Amst. 1686, are the best editions, and contain his edition and translation of Mai- monides's Precepts of Moses, p. 56) ; Philoloyus Hebrceo- ntixtus, una cum. Spidleff. Philol. (Utr. 1663, etc., con- tains treatises on several interesting points of Hebrew antiquities and Talraudical science); Philolofjiis Hebrceo- Grcecus e/eneralis (Utr. 1670, etc.) treats questions relat- ing to the sacred Greek of the Christian Scriptures, its Hebraisms, the Syriac and other translations, its in- spired authors, etc., well and succinctly handled (with this work occurs Leusden's translation into Hebrew of all the Chaldee portions of the O. T.). Under the last, or Exegetical head, we have less to record. In 1656 (re- printed in 1692) Leusden published in a Latin transla- tion David Kimchi's Commentari- on the prophet Jo- nah {Jonas illustratus), and in the following year a similar work (again after David Kimchi) on Joel and Obadiah (Joel ea-jdicatus, adjunctus Obadjas illustratus). Well worthy of mention are also his editions (prepared with the help of Yillemandy and Morinus) of Bochart's works, and the works of Lightfoot (which he published in Latin, in 3 vols, folio, in the last year of his life) and Poole (whose Synopsis occurs in its verj' best form in Leusden's edition, 1684, 5 vols, folio). See Burmann, Trajectum eruditorum ; De Vries, Oratio in Obitum J. Leusdenii (1699); Fahncim,Hist.Biblioth. Grmc. i, 244; Walch, Biblioth. Theol. Selecta, vols, iii, iv ; Bu^graphie universelle anc. et mod. (1819) xxiv, 357 ; Elogia Philo- gorum qnorundeim Hebrceonini (Lub. 1708, 8vo) ; Meyer, Gesch. d. Schrifterklarung, p. 1 1 1, 174 sq. ; Hoefer, Nouv. Bie>g. Genercde, xxxi, 11 sq. ; Kalisch, Heb. Gram. pt. ii (Historical Introd.), p. 37 ; and in Herzog, Reed-Encyklop. viii, 345, 346 ; Kitto, Cyclop. Biblical Literature, vol. ii, s. V.