Neto'phah (Heb. Netophah', nst03, distillation; Sept. lsiTix)(pa iu Ezra, v. r. Nf^ojra ; but 'Avtrixxpd in Neh., V. r. 'A-cu^a ; Vulg. Netopha), a town in Pales- tine, fifty-six of whose people returned from captivity with Zerubbabel (Ezra ii, 22 ; Neh. vii, 26). Two of David's guard, IMaharai and Heleb or Hildai, leaders also of two of the monthly courses (1 Chron. xx\-ii, 13, 15), were Netophathites, and it was the native place of at least one of the captains who remained mider arms near Jerusalem after its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar ; for the " villages of the Netophathites" were the resi- dence of the Levites (1 Chron. ix, 16), a fact which shows that they did not confine themselves to the places named in the catalogues of Josh, xxi and 1 Chron. vi. From another notice we learn that the particular Le- vites who inhabited these villages were singers (Neh. xii, 28). That Netophah belonged to Judah appears from the fact that the two heroes above mentioned be- longed, the one to the Zarhites — that is, the great fam- ily of Zerah, one of the chief houses of the tribe — and the other to Othniel, the son-in-law of Caleb. To judge from Neh. vii, 26, it was in the neighborhood of, or closely connected with, Bethlehem, which is also im- plied by 1 Chron. ii, 54, though the precise force of the latter statement cannot now be made out. From the number of Netophathites who returned from captivity, the place was probably only a small village, which in- deed may account for its having escaped mention in the lists of Joshua. The Netophathites seem to have been a warlike race, if we may judge from the fact that one of the great militarj"^ leaders of the Jews during the rule of the viceroy Gedaliah was Seraiah from that place (2 Kings xxv, 23 ; Jer. xl, 8). A remarkable tradition, of which there is no trace in the Bible, but which, nevertheless, is not improbably authentic, is pre- served by the Jewish authors, to the effect that the Ne- tophathites slew the guards which had been placed by Jeroboam on the roads leading to Jerusalem to stop the passage of the first-fruits from the country villages to the Temple (Targum on 1 Chron. ii,34; on Ruth iv, 20, and Eccles. iii, 11). Jeroboam's obstruction, which is said to have remained in force till the reign of Hoshea (see the notes of Beck to Targum on 1 Chron. ii, 54), was commemorated by a fast on the 23d Sivan, which is still retained in the Jewish calendar (see the calendar given by Basnagc, Hist, des Juifs, vol. vi, ch. xxix). Netophah is not mentioned by Eusebius and Jerome, and although iu the Mishna reference is made to the "oU of Netophah" {Peak, vii, 1, 12), and to the "val- ley of Beth-Netophah," in which artichokes flourished, whose growth determined the date of some ceremonial observance {Shebiith, ix, 7), nothing is said as to the situation of the place. The latter may well be the pres- ent village of Beit Nettif, which stands on the edge of the great valley of the Wady es-Sumt (Robinson, Bih. Res. ii, 16, 17 ; Porter, Hand-book, p. 248), but can hardly be the Netophah of the Bible, smce it is not near Beth-
lehem, but in quite another direction. It ma^^^ow- ever, be the place mentioned (as above) by the rabbins (see Reland, Palcest. p. 650, 909). The only name in the neighborhood of Bethlehem suggestive of Neto- phah is that which appears in Van de Yelde's map (1858) as Antubeh, and in Tobler {Dritte Wand. p. 80) as Um-Tuba, attached to a half-ruined village about two miles north-east of Bethlehem and a wady which falls therefrom into the Wady eu-Nar, or Kidron.— Smith ; Kitto. See Netophathi.
Neto'phathi (Neh. xii, 28) or Neto'phathite (so A.V. in the sing., except 1 Chron. ii, 54; ix, IG, " Netophathites," Heb. everj-where Netophalhi' , the form corresponding to " Netophathite" and "Netophathites," always with the art. '^rst;itl, a Gentile from Netopihah ; Chron. [plene] "'rS'lL:;!!; Sept. Ntrw^a^/, as 1 Chron. ii, 54, etc., but 'StTiO(paTirr]g, 2 Sam. xxiii, 28 ; Nf rw- (paBiTT}c, 2 Kings xxv, 23 ; NErw^oW, 1 Chron. xxvii, 15; titTovpcir, 1 Chron. xxvii, 13; 'NtTcofa^fi, Jer. xl, 8 ; with V. r. 'NwrKpari ; once mistakenly rendered cItto i-aavXkwv, Neh. xii, 28), an inhabitant of Netophah (q. v.). The Netophathites are called sons of Salma (1 Chron. ii. 54), probably the foimder of the village (2 Sam. xxiii, 28, 29; Jer. xl, 8).
Netovtshins, a sect of Russian dissenters who are described by Dr. Pinkerton in his account of the Greek Church in Russia as verj' ignorant and much di- vided in opinion. They go under the general name of Spasova Soglasia, or the Union for Salvation. Their leading tenet is that Antichrist has come and begun his ruin of the Church, and has put an end to everything good, and that a gradual extinction of all holiness is now going on. The Netovtshins appear to be an off- shoot of the Ponwrane (q. v.). See Platov's Present View of the Russian Church.
Netpe or Nutpe, an Egyptian female deity, is spoken of as daughter to the Sun, wife of Seb, and mother of Typhon, the god of evil among the ancient Egyptians. According to a myth, she was represented as seated on the tree of life, and sprinkling healthful water upon the souls of men. In one form she personi- fies the abyss of heaven, represented as a female figure, stretched across the aerial vault, with her arms and legs enclosing the earth. She was thought to be the Rhea of the Greeks. See Trevor, Ancient Egypt, p. 147, 149.