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Naph'tuhim (Ileb. Xaphtuhim', n'^finSJ, prob. of Eg_\-ptian origin, but of uncertain meaning [see be- low] ; Sept. N(05aXf ()(, Gen. x, 13 ; 'Si(p2!a\ifi, 1 Chron. i, II, V. r. 'SKp^ojaedft, 'St(p^oviip; Vulg. Xephtheim and Xephthuim), a Ilamitic tribe of ]\Iizraim's descend- ants (Gen. X, 13; 1 Chron. x, 11). The plural form of the name seems to indicate a tribe sprung from Xaphteh. Jonathan (Chald. Chron.) interprets it ■^s:rD:;DS, Pen- tasclmni, i. e. inhabitants of Pentaschocnum, a city in Lower Egypt, twenty Koman miles from I'eliisium. Saadias renders it Cia-amanii. Bochart {Phal. iv, 29) compares Xephthys, the name of an Egyptian goddess, sister and wife of Typhon ; which, according to Plu- tarch {De hide, c. 38), means r»}(; yVC tu toxara Kai Tzapopia, the ends of the earth or land, i. e. the sea-shore; and so the Coptic interprets Naphtuhim. iMichaclis (Spiciley. i, 2G8 sq.) understands the name to belong to the desert between Egypt and Asia, near the Sirbonian lake, which the Egyptians call the exhalations of Ty- phon. See also Jablonsky, Opiisc. i, IGl ; Schullhess, Paradies, p. 152. But Jliss F. Corbaux (" Kephaim," in the Journ. of Sac. Lit. 1851, p. 151) identifies this tribe with the original Memphites, whose capital, " the dwell- ing of Ptah," Xa-Ptah, is contracted in Hebrew into Xaph (Jji). "If we may judge from their position in the list of the Mizraites, according to the Masoretic text (in the Sept. in Gen. x they follow the Luilim and pre- cede the Anamim, 'EvtptTuip.), immediately after the Lehabim. wlio doubtless dwelt to the west of Egypt, and before the Pathrusim, who inhabited that country, the Naphtuhim wore probably settled at first, or at the time when Gen. x was written, cither in Egypt or im- mediately to the west of it. In Cojitic the city ]\larca and the neighboring territory-, Avhich jirobably corre- sponded to the oilier I\Lircotic nome. is called jdphtiiat or piphaiad, a name composed of the word phaiat or phaiad, of unknown meaning, with the plural definite article 7*4 prefixed. In hieroglyphics mention is made of a nation or confederacy of tribes concpicred by the I^gyptians called ' the Nine Bows,' a name wliich Cham- pollion read Xaphit, or, as we should write it, NA- PETU, 'the bows,' though ho called them 'the Nine Bows' (or 'nine peoples,' Brngsch. Gror/r. Inschr. ii, 20). It seems, however, more reasonable to suppose that wc should read (ix) PETU, 'the Nine Bows,' literally. It is also doubtful wliether tlie Coptic name of Marea con- tains the word ' Ixiw,' which is oidy foinul in the forms pite (S. masc.) andy»/(iV (^I. fcm. 'a rainbow'); but it is possible that the second part of the former may have
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been originally the same as the latter. It is notewor- thy that there should be two geographical names con- nected with the bow in hieroglyphics, the one of a country, MERU-PET, ' the island of the bow,' probably MERGE, and the other of a nation or confederacy, ' the Nine Bows, and that in the list of the Karaites there should be two similar names, Phut and Naphtuhim, be- sides Cush, probably of like sense. No important histor- ical notice of the Nine Bows has been found in the Egyp- tian inscriptions : they are only spoken of in a general manner when the kings are said, in laudatory inscrip- tions, to have subdued great nations, such as the Ne- groes, or extensive countries, such as Kish, or Cush. Perhaps therefore this name is that of a confederacy or of a widely-spread nation, of which the members or tribes are spoken of separately in records of a more par- ticular character, treating of special conquests of the Pharaohs or enumerating their tributaries" (Smith). " It appears more probable, however, to identify the Naphtuhim with the city of Naphata or Napata, the capital of an ancient Ethiopian kingdom, and one of the most splendid cities in Africa (Strabo, xvii, p. 820 ; Pliny, Hist. Nat. vi, 35 ; Ptolemy, iv, 7). Strabo states that Napata was the royal seat of queen Candace, a fact which may connect one of the most ancient tribes of the Old Testament with an incident in apostolic history (Acts viii, 27). The city and its territory lay upon the southern frontier of Mizraim, at the great bend of the Nile in Soudan, and having the desert of Bahiuda on the south. The ruins of the city on the banks of the river are extensive and splendid, consisting of pyra- mids, temples, sphinxes, and sculptures. The modern name is Meroe or Mermce; though some geographers do not adopt this view (Ritter, Erdkunde, i, o91). The connection of this city with Egypt is shown by the character of its ruins. There is a temple of Osiris and another of Ammon ; and there is a necropolis on whose gateway Osiris is figured receiving gifts as the god of tlie lower world. Two lions of red granite of beautiful workmanship were found here, and brought to England by lord Prudhoe, afterwards duke of Northumberland. They are at present in the British Museum (Hoskins, Travels, p. IGl, 288 ; Layard, Nin. and Bab. p. 157 ; Ka- lisch. On Ge?i€sis, p. 265 ; Smith, Diet, of Gr, and Rom. Geog. ii, 396)" (Kitto).
Napier, I,ord Johx, of Merchiston, Scotland, cele- brated specially as a mathematician, but noted also as a religious writer, was born in 1550. He studied at the University of St. Andrews, Edinburgh, after which he travelled through France, Italy, and Germany. Upon his return home he applied himself especially to math- ematics, in which he secured a great and lasting repu- tation by his discovery of logarithms. He, however, also devoted some time to the study of theology. His work on the Revelation indicates the most acute in- vestigation. It is a most curious and learned work on the Apocalypse, and is entitled A jylaine Discovery of the xchole Revelation of St. John, set doivn in two Treatises ; whereunto are annexed certain Oracles of Sibylla (5th ed., corrected and amended, Edinb. 1645, 4to). In the dedication he gives some advice to king James on religious matters, and on the propriety of ref- ormation in his own " house, family, and court." It was translated into French, Dutcli, and German. Na- pier was in a certain sense an adventist. He looked for an early consummation of the millennium. The date he believed to be about 1688. Napier died April 3, 1617. See Life, Writings, and Inventions of John Napier, by the Earl of Buchan and Walter Minto (1787) ; Mark Napier, Memoirs of J. Napier (1834) ; Chambers, Biog. Diet, of Scotsmen, s. v. ; Darling, Cyclop. Bibliog. ii, 2152 ; Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and A met: A uthors, s. v. ; Westminster Rev. July, 1835.