Ni'ger (Slyep, i. e. Lat. niger, or hlacJc) is the addi- tional or distinctive name given to the Symeon (2w- (.iHov) who was one of the teachers and prophets in the Church of Antioch (Acts xiii, 1). He is not known ex- cept in that passage. The name was a common one among the Romans ; and the conjecture that lie was an African proselyte, and was called Niger on account of his complexion, is unnecessary as well as destitute oth- erwise of an}' support. His name, Symeon, shows that he was a Jew by birth ; and, as in other similar cases (e. g. Saul, Paul — Silas, Silvanus), he maj' be supposed to have taken the other name as more convenient in his intercourse with foreigners. He is mentioned second among the five who officiated at Antioch, and perhaps we may infer that he had some pre-eminence among them in point of activity and influence. It is impossi- ble to decide (though Meyer makes the attempt) who of the number were prophets {Trpo(piJTai), and who were teachers (^ciSdcrKaXoi). — Smith. See Simeon.
Night ("^t*?, la'yil [with M paragogic, Jn^^?, la'ye- lah^, vi'S,), the period of darkness, from sunset to sunrise, including the morning and evening twilight, as opposed to " day," the period of light (Gen. i, 5). Following the Oriental sunset is the brief evening twilight (C]1-J3, nesheph, Job xxiv, 15, rendered "night" in Isa. v, 11; xxi, 4; lix, 10), when the stars appeared (Job iii, 9). This is also called " evening" (-"1^', ereb, Prov. vii, 9, rendered " night" in Gen. xlix, 27 ; Job vii, 4), but the term which especially denotes the evening twilight is n^b^, alatah (Gen. xv, 17, A. V. "dark;" Ezek. xii, 6, 7, 12). Ereh also denotes the time just before sunset (Dcut. xxiii, 11 ; Josh, viii, 29), when the women went to draw water (Gen. xxiv, 11), and the decline of the day is called " the turning of evening" (H"^^ »^13Q, Gen. xxiv, 63), the time of prayer. This period of the day must also be that which is described as "night" when Boaz winnowed his barley in the evening breeze (Ruth iii, 2), the cool of the day (Gen. iii, 8), when the shad- ows begin to fall (Jer. vi, 4), and the wolves prowl about (llab. i, 8; Zeph. iii, 3). The time of midnight (!^;^"l" ^^H' half of the night, Ruth iii, 7, and Tiilin nb^iij, the plural form, Exod.xi, 4), or greatest darkness, is called in Prov. vii, 9, the ptipil of night (nb^b "VJ'^N, A. V. "black night"). The period between midnight and the morning twilight was generallj- selected for at- tacking an enemy by surprise (Judg. vii, 19). The morning twilight is denoted by the same term, nesheph
as the evening twilight, and is unmistakably intended in 1 Sam. xxxi, 12 ; Job vii, 4 ; Psa. cxix, 147 ; possibly also in Isa. v, 11. With sunrise the night ended. In one passage (Job xxvi, 10, TI'^^H, choshek) " darkness" is rendered " night" in the A. V., but is correctly given in the margin. — Smith. See Day.
As figuratively the term of human life is often called a day in Scripture, so in one passage it is called night, to be followed soon by day : " The day is at hand" (Rom. viii, 12). Being a time of darkness, the image and shadow of death, in which the beasts of prey go forth to devour, night was made a symbol of a season of ad- versity and trouble, in which men prey upon each other, and the strong tyrannize over the weak (Isa. xxi, 12; Zech. xiv, 6, 7 ; comp. Rev. xxi, 23 ; xxii, 6). Hence continued day, or the absence of night, implies a con- stant state of quiet and happiness. Night is also put, as in our own language, for a time of ignorance and helplessness (Micah iii, 6). In John ix, 4, by a natural figure, night represents death. Children of the day and children of the night denote good men and wicked men. The disciples of the Son of God are children of the light : they belong to the light, they walk in the light of truth ; while the children of the night walk in the darkness of ignorance and infidelit)', and perform only works of darkness (1 Thess. v, 5). See Night--\vatch.
NIGHT (Latin A'oa;). The ancient Greeks and Ro- mans deified Night, and called her the daughter of Chaos. Orpheus reckons her the most ancient of the deities, and calls her the mother of gods and men. The poets describe her as clothed with a black veil, and rid- ing in a chariot, attended by the stars. The sacrifice proper to her was a cock, being a bird that is an enemy to silence. Night, had a numerous offspring, as Mad- ness, Contention, Death, Sleep, Dreams, Love, Deceit, Fear, Labor, Emulation, Fate, Old Age, Darkness, Mis- ery, Complaint, Partiality, Obstinacy, etc. All this is plainly allegorical. Pausanias has left us a description of a remarkable statue of the goddess Night. " We see," he says, " a woman holding in her right hand a white child sleeping, and in her left a black child, asleep likewise, with both its legs distorted. The inscription tells us what they are, though we might easily guess without it. The two children are Death and Sleep, and the woman is Night, the nurse of them both." See Broughton, Hist, of Religion; Smith, i)/rf. of Classical Biog, and Mythol. ii, 1218.