Lib'iiah (Heb. Libnah', n32?, transparency, as in Exod. xxiv, 10), the name of two places. See also
SlIIIIOR-LIBXATlI.
1. (Sept. Aifiiuva v. r. Atjibjva.') The twenty-first station of the Israelites in the desert, between Ilimmon- parez and Eissah (Numb, xxxiii, 20, 21) ; probably identical with Laban (Deut. i, 1), and perhaps situated near wady el-Ain, west of Kadesh-Barnea. See Exode,
2. (Sept. Af/Svo, sometimes Ao(3vd, occasionally Ao/3f«v, and even Af/3ova.) One of the royal cities of the Canaanites (Josh, xii, 15), taken and destroyed by Joshua immediately after Makkedah and before La- chish (Josh, x, 29-32, 39). It lay in the plain within the territory assigned to Judah (Josh, xv, 42\ and be- came one of the Levitical towns in that tribe, as well as an asylum (Josh. xxi,'13 ; 1 Chron. vi, 57). In the reign of king .Jehoram, Libnah is said to have revolted from him (2 Kings viii, 22 ; 2 Chron. xxi, 10). From the cir- cumstance of this revolt having happened at the same time with that of the Edomites, it has been supposed by some to have reference to another town of the same name situated in that country. But such a conjecture is mmecessary and improbable, for it ajjpears that the Philistines and Arabians revolted at the same time (2 Chron. xxi, IG). Libnah of Judah rebelled because it refused to admit the idolatries of Jehoram ; and it is not said in either of the passages in which this act is record- ed, as of Edom, that it continued in revolt '• unto this day." It may be inferred either that it was speedily reduced to obedience, or that, on tlie re-establishment of the true worship, it spontaneously returned to its al- legiance, for we find it was the native place of the grand- father of two of the last kings of Judah (2 Kings xxiii, 31 ; xxiv, 18; Jer. lii, 1). It appears to have been a stronglj' fortified place, for the Assyrian king Sennach- erib was detained some time before it when he invaded Judsea in the time of Hezekiah. See Hezekiaii. On completing or relincpiishing the siege of Lachish — which of the two is not quite certain — Sennacherib laid siege to Libnah (2 Kingsxix,8; Isa. xxxvii,8). While there he was joined by Kabshakeh and the part of the army which had visited Jerusalem (2 Kings xix, S ; Isa. xxxvii, 8), and received the intelligence of Tirhakah's apjiroach ; and it would apiicar that at Libnah the de- struction of the Assyrian army took place, though the statements of Herodotus (ii, 141) and of Josephus (A7}f. X, 1, 4) place it at Pelusium (see Rawlinson, Herod, i, 480). Libnah was the native place of Hamutal or Ha- mital, the queen of Josiali, and mother of Jchoahaz (2 Kings xxiii, 31) and Zedckiah (xxiv, 18; Jer.lii,!). It is in tliis connection that its name ajipears for the last time in the Bible. It existed as a village in the time of Eusebius and Jerome, and is placed by them in the district of Elcutheropolis (Onomast. s. v. AofSavd ; com- pare Josephus, Ant. x, 5, 2). Dr. Robinson M-as unable to discover the least trace of its site (Bib. Pes. ii, 389). Stanley inclines to find the site at Tell es-Safieh (Sinai
LIBNATII
421
LICE
and Pal. p. 207, 258) ; but this is probably Gath. Van (le Vekle suggests Arak el-Mciis/ni/ch, a hill about four miles west of Beit-jebriu {Moiiuir, \). 8oO), which seems to answer to the requirements of location. It stood near Lachisb, west of jNIakkcdah, and probably also west of Eleutheropolis (Keil, Comment, on Josh, x, 29), and M-as situated in the district immediately west of the hill region, in the vicinity of Ether, Ashan, etc. (Josh, xv, 42).
Libnath. See Shiiior-lidnatii.
Libneh. See Poplak.
Lib'ni (Heb. Libiii', "^33^, n-hite; Sept. Ko^svu, AofSipi), the first-named of the two sons of Gershon, the son of Levi (Exod.vi, 17; Numb.iii, 18, 21 ; 1 Chron. vi, 17 ; comp. Numb, xxvi, 58) ; elsewhere called Laa- DAN (1 Chron. xxiii, 7 ; xxvi, 21). B.C. post. 1856. His son is called Jahath (1 Chron. vi, 20, 43), and his de- scendants were named Libxites (Numb, iii, 21 ; xxvi, 58). In 1 Chron. vi, 29, by some error he is called the son of Mahli and the father of Shimei.
Lib'nite (Heb. Libni', "^SSb, being a patronymic of the same form from Libni; Sept. Ao(isi'i). a descendant of Libni the Levite (Numb, iii, 21 ; xxvi, 58).
Liborius, St., fourth bishop of Mans, a disciple of Si.Pavacius, flourished from the middle to the close of the 4th century. The existing documents on his life arc ((uite untrustworth}', and relate only that he was a pious man, performed sundry miracles, and that he was a fast friend of St. Martin of Tours. See the Bollandists for July 23 ; Tillemont, Memoires, x, 307 ; Mabillon, De Pon- tif. Cenomannensibus. His body was transferred in the 9th century from Mans to I'aderborn by order of Biso, bishop of the latter place. See Pertz, Script, iv (vi), 149 sq. ; Herzog, Real-EncyMopmRe, viii, 380.
Libr^ (pound), the name sometimes given to the seventy suffragans of the bishop of Rome, from the cir- cumstance that there were seventy solidi or parts in the Roman libra.
Libraries. In the early Church, as soon as church- es began to be erected, it was customary to attach libra- ries to them. In these were included not only the litur- gical and other Church books, and MS. copies of the lioly Scriptures in the original languages, but also hom- ilies and other theological works. That they Avere of some importance is evident from the manner in which they are referred to by Eusebius and Jerome, who men- tion having made use of the libraries at Jerusalem and Cassarea. Eusebius says he found the principal part of the materials for his Ecclesiastical History in the library at Jerusalem. One of the most famous was that at- tached to the church of St. Sophia, which is supposed to have been commenced by Constantine, but was after- wards greatly augmented by Theodosius the Younger, in whose time there were not fewer than one hundred thousand books in it, and a hundred and twenty thou- sand in the time of Basilicus and Zeno. No doubt a particidar reason for thus collecting books was their great expense and rarity before the art of printing en- abled men to possess themselves the works they needed for thorough research. In churches where the itinerant system prevailed libraries possessed by churches woiUd even in our very day prove a soiu'ce of pleasure, and timesaving as well. Indeed, in some of the larger cities here and there, congregations are already advocating this plan. — Farrar, Ecclesiastical Dictionai-ij.