Lip (nsb, saphah', usually in the dual; Gr. xctAo^), besides its literal sense (e. g. Isa. xxxvii, 29 ; Cant, iv, 3, 11 ; V, 13 ; Prov. xxiv, 28), and (in the original) met- aphorically for an edge or border, as of a cui) (1 Kings vii, 2G), of a garment (Exod. xxvii, 32), of a curtain (Exod. xxvi, 4; xxxvi, 11), of the sea (Gen. xxii, 17; Exod. ii, 3 ; Heb. xi, 12), of the Jordan (2 Kings ii, 13 ; Judg. vii, 22), is often put as an organ of speech, e. g. to " open the lips," i. e. to begin to speak (Job xi, 5 ; xxxii, 20), also to " open the lips" of another, i. e. cause him to speak (Psa. Ii, 17), and to "refrain the lips," i. e. tu keep silence (Psa. xl, 10; Prov. x, 19). So speech or discourse is said to be " upon the lips" (Prov. xvi, 10; Psa. xvi, 4), once "under the lips" (Psa. cxl, 4; Kom. iii, 13 ; comp. Ezek. xxxvi, 3), and likewise "sin- ning with lips" (Job ii, 10; xii, 20; Psa. xlv, 3), and " uncircumcised of lips," i. e. not of ready speech (Exod. vi, 12), also " fruit of the lips," i. e. praise (Heb. xiii, 15 ; 1 Pet. iii, 5), and, by a bolder figure, " the calves of the lips," i. e. thank-offering (Hos. xiv, 2) ; finally, the moilon of the lips in speaking (Matt, xv, 8; Mark vii, 6; from Isa. xxix, 13). By mctonomy, "lip" stands in Scripture for a manner of speech, e. g. in nations, a dia- lect (Gen. xi, 1, G, 7, 9; Isa. xix, 18; Ezek. iii, 5, 6; 1 Cor. xiv, 21, alluding to Isa. xxviii, 11), or, in individ- uals, the moral quality of language, as " lying lips," etc., i. e. falsehood (Prov. x, 18; com]), xvii, 4, 7) or wicked- ness (Psa. cxx, 2), truth (Prov. xii, 19) ; " burning lips," i. e. ardent professions (Prov. xxvi, 23) ; " sweetness of lips," i. e. pleasant discourse (Prov. xvi, 22 ; so Zeph. iii, 9 ; Isa. vi, 5 ; Psa. xii, 3, 4). To " shoot out the lip" at any one, i. q. to make mouths, has always been an expression of the utmost scorn and defiance (Psa. xxii, 8). In like manner, " unclean lips" are put as a repre- sentation of unfitness to impart or receive the divine communications (Isa. vi, 5, 7). Also the " word of one's lips," i. e. communication, e. g. Jehovah's precepts (Psa. xvii, 4; comp. Prov. xxiii, 1(5: spoken of as something before unknown, Psa. Ixxxi, G) ; elsewhere in a bad sense, i. q. lip-talk, i. e. vain and empty words (Isa. xxxvi, 5; Prov. xiv. 23), and so of tlie person uttering them, e. g. a man of talk, i. e. an idle talker (Job xi, 2), a prating fool (Prov. x, 8 ; comp. Lev. v, 4 ; Psa. cvi, 33). See Tongue.
The "upper lip" (DS'IJ, sapham', a derivative of the above), wliich the leper was required to cover (Lev. xlii, 45), refers to the lip-beard or mustachios, as the Venet. Greek (/.wara^} there and the Sept. in 2 Sam. xix, 24, render it, being the beard (in the latter passage), which jMcpliibosheth neglected to trim during David's absence in token of grief. The same practice of "cov- ering the lip" with a corner of one's garment, as if pol- luted (comp. " unclean lips"), as a sign of mourning, is alluded to in Ezek. xxiv, 17, 22 ; Mic. iii, 7, where the • Sept. has ryrojia, xfi'X'?. See MouTir.
Lipmann, Jomtob (of IMiihlhausen), also called Tab-Jomi (i-31in-J i= 21:: CT^), a Jewish writer and rabbi of the Middle Ages, was born, according to some, at Craco\v, Pcdand, but most authorities are now agreed that he flourished at Prague about the mitldle of the 14th century. While a resident of the Bohemian cap- ital he brought forward his Nitsachon (■,in:J3, Victory), an important polemical work. It consists of seven parts, divided, he tells us himself in liis preface, " according v.— Ff
to the seven days of the week," and of 354 sections, " according to the number of days in the lunar year, which is the Jewish mode of calculation to indicate that every Israelite is bound to study his religion ev- ery day of his life, and to remove every obstruction from the boundaries of his faith." In his treatment of the subject, the denial of the authenticity of the Chris- tian religion, Lipmann does not adopt any systematic plan, but discusses and explains every passage of the Hebrew Bible which is either adduced by Christians as a INIessianic prophecy referring to Christ, or is used by sceptics and blasphemers to su]iport their scepticism and contempt for revelations, or is appealed to bj' rational- istic Jews to corroborate their rejection of the doctrine of creation out of nothing, tlie resurrection of the body, etc., beginning with (renesis and ending with Chroni- cles, according to the order of the books in the Hebrew Bible, so that any passage in dispute might easily be found. The work, which, as we have seen from its di- visions, partook botli of the character of a Jewish po- lemic and an O.-T. apologetic, was, until near the middle of the IGth century, entirely controlled by Jews. They largely transcribed and circulated it in MS. form among their people throughout the world; and in the numer- ous attacks whicli they had to sustain both from Chris- tians and rationalists during the time of the Reforma- tion, this book constituted their chief arsenal, supplying them with weapons to defend themselves. About 1642 the learned Hascapan, then professor in the Bavarian University at Altdorf, was engaged in a controversy on the questions at issue between Judaism and Chris- tianity with a neighboring rabbi residing in Schnei- tach, who in his dissertations frequently referred to this Nitsachon (a MS. copy made in 1589), which Hasca- pan asked the privilege to examine. Refused again and again, he at last called with three of his students on the rabbi, when he pressed him in such a man- ner to produce the IMS. tliat lie could not refuse. He pretended to examine it, and when the students had fairly surrounded the rabbi, the professor made his way to the door, got into a conveyance which was waiting for him, had the MS. speedily transcribed, and only re- turned it to the rabbi after much earnest soUcitation. The professor enriched it by valuable notes and an in- dex, and then presented the work procured in such a dastardly manner to the Christian world (Altdorf, 1G44). It was rapidly reprinted, translated into Latin, correct- ed and refuted by Blendinger, Lipmanni Nizzachon in Christianos, etc., Latine concersum (Altdorf, 1G45) ; Wa- genseil. Tela iynea Satance (Altdorf, 1681) ; Sofa, Liber Mischnicus de Uxore Adulterii iSuspecta (Altdorf. 1674), Appendix, and others (see Wolf, Bibl. Jud. i, 347 sq.)v Lipmann's ])ersonal history is to our day very ob- scure. Jewish historians represent him as having been among the prisoners arrested at Prague (Aug. 3, 1399) for irreverent mention, etc., of the name of Jesus. AVhat punishment he suffered is not known ; certain it is that he was not one of the seventy-seven Jews who v/ere ex- ecuted on the day of the dethronement of king Wences- laus (Aug. 22, 1400), for he mentions the fact himself in the Nitsachon. See Griitz, Gesch. der Juden, viii, 76 sq.; Fiirst, Biblioth. Judaica, ii, 403 sq. ; Stemschneider,.C«^a- lor/us Libr. Hebr. in Biblioth. Bodleiana, col. 1410-1414; Geiger, Proben Jiid. Vertheidigimg gegen Christliche Au- grife im Mittelalter in Liehermann^s Deutscher Volks- Kalemler (Brieg, 1854), p. 9 sq., 47 sq. ; Kitto, CycLBibl. Lit. vol. ii, s. V.