The Hebrew word D'^'l^iiJ in Isa. Ixv, 4 is explained by the Sept. and Jerome as an allusion to the heathen custom of passing the night in the temples of the gods, in order to receive prophetic dreams from them, and especially revelations of the means of curing the sick (comp. Diod. Sic. i, 25 ; Cic. Dicinat. i, 43, 96) ; but this is an error (see Gesen. Comment, ad loe.). It appears from Josephus {Ant. xvii, 6, 4) that the later Jews were very attentive to dreams and visions (comp. also War, iii, 8, 3). Much value is still ascribed to them in the East. (See Tavernier, Reisen, i, 271 ; comp. also Knobel, Prophetism. d. Uehrder, i, 174 sq. ; Schubert, Rtise in das Morgenl. i, 402 ; Ennemoser, Gesch. d. Magie, i, 112 sq.) See Vision.
Night-watch (n^piTJX, ashmurah', Psa. Ixiii, 6 ; cxix, 148, a watch, as elsewhere rendered; so the Gr. <pv\aK>j). The Israelites, Greeks, and Romans divided the night into parts of several hours each, at the expi- ration of every one of which a change of guards took place (Dissen, De partib. noctis et diei, in his Kleinen Schriften, p. 127 sq. ; Suidas, s. v. (pvXaKif). The an- cient Hebrews, before the captivity, divided the night into three watches, like the Greeks. The first, which con- tinued till midnight, was denominated niipipX UX"i, 7-osh ashmuruth (Lam. ii, 19) ; the second was denomi- nated tlilS'^riri P^i^dX, ashmoreth hat-tikonuh, and continued from midnight till the crowing of the cock (Judg. vii, 19); the third, called 1i;?2!l n"ib'JX, ash- moreth hab-boher, the morning watch, extended from the second watch to the rising of the sun (Ideler, Chro- nol. i, 486). These divisions and names ajipear to have originated in the watches of the Levites in the taberna- cle and Temple (for these, see Middoth, i, 1 sq. ; Exod. xiv, 21; 1 Sam. xi, 11). During the time of our Sav- iour the night was divided into four watches of three hours each (Jerome, On Matt, xir), a fourth watch hav- ing been introduced among the Jews from the Romans, who derived it from the Greeks (Lipsius, De Milit. Rom. p. 123 ; Vegct. De Re Mil. iii, 8 ; Censorin. c. 24 ; Pliny, V, 18). The Romans announced the beginning of each by the sound of a trumpet. This division became so familiar to the Jews that Josephus (Ant. v, 6, 5) makes Gideon (Judg. vii, 19) lead out his army in the fourth tccttch. The second and third watches are mentioned in Luke xii, 38; the fourth in Matt, xiv, 25; and the four are all distinctly mentioned in Mark xiii, 35: " Watch, therefore, for ye know not when the master of the house cometh ; at even (o»//f , or the late watch), or at midnight {piaovvKTioi'), or at the cock-crowing {akiKTopo<pMvia), or in the morning (jrpwi, the early watch)." Here the first watch was at even, and con- tinued from six till nine; the second commenced at nine, and ended at twelve, or midnight ; the third watch, called by the Romans gallici.nunn, lasted from twelve to three; and the morning watch closed at six. See Cock-crowing. Talmudists, however, rejk- on only three night-watches {Babyl. Berachoth, i, 1, 6; Otho, Lex. Rabbin, p. 468 sq.), calling the fourth the morning of the next day. But this Avas perhaps merely for the purpose of preserving nominally the an- cient custom of the Hebrews (but Lightfoot, //o?-. Hebr. p. 364). The Roman custom was certainly in use among the soldiers of Herod (as is plain from Acts xii, 4; comp. Fischer, Prolus. de Vit. Lexic. p. 452; Wetsttiin, N. T. i, 416 sq. ; Carpzov, Appnr. p. 347 sq.). It is still customary in the East to divide the night by the crowing of the cock, which is tolerably' regular (Schu- bert, i, 402 s(j.). The city watchmen are mentioned in Cant, iii, 3 ; v, 7 ; comp. Psa. cxxvii, 1. See Watch.
NIGHT-WATCH (/.yc/«-?«aiY, death-watch, or vigil). It was the custom for the faithful to observe night- watches fir the departed until the funeral, and make in- tercession for their souls; but in 1343 this practice was forbidden in iMigland — as it had degenerated into an oc- casion for assignations, thefts, revels, and buffooneries —
NIGHTINGALE
91
NIHILISM
in private houses under pain of excommunication, the relations of the dead and those who said psalters alone excepted. In 1363 these wakes were kept in churches under the close supervision of the parish clergy. The wake still lingers in Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. See Walcott, Sacred Archmology, p. 399. See also Wakes.
Nightingale, Joseph, an English dissenting di- vine, was born in Lancashire in 1775. He became a Wesleyan minister at INIacclesfield, and soon after set- tled at London, where he supported himself principally by liis literary exertions. At the time when he pub- lished his Portraiture of Methodism (Lond. 1807, 8vo) — in many points a caricature — he had become a convert to Unitarianism. He died in 1824. He wrote, besides the above-mentioned work, A Portraiture of the Roman Catholic Religion, or an unprejudiced Sketch of the Ilis- toi-y, Doctrines, Opinions, Discipline, and Present State of Catholicism (Lond. 1812, 8vo) : — TheReligions andRelig- ious Ceremonies of all Nations accurately and impartial- ly described; including Christians, Mohammedans. Jeics, Brahmins, and Pagans, of all Sects and Denominations (ibid. 1821, 12mo) -.—Report of the Trial Nightingale vs. Stockdale, in an A ction for a Libel, contained in a Revieto of the Portraiture of Methodism (ibid. 1809, 8vo). See Darling, Cycl. Bibliographica, ii, 2203; Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and A me?; Authors, vol. ii, s. v. (J. N. P.)