Path, the general course of any moving body. So we say the path of the sun in the heavens ; and to this the wise man compares the path of the just, which is, he says, like daj'break ; it increases in light and splen- dor till perfect day. It may be obscure, feeble, dim, at first, but afterwards it shines in full brilliancy (Prov. iv, 1^). The course of a man's conduct and general behavior is called the path in which he walks, by a very easy metaphor ; and as when a man walks from
place to place in the dark, he may be glad of a light to assist in directing his steps, so the Word of God is a light to guide those in their course of pietj' and duty who otherwise might wander or be at a loss for direc- tion. Wicked men and wicked women are said to have paths full of snares. The dispensations of God are his paths (Psa. xxv, 10). The precepts of God are paths (Psa. xvii, 5 ; Ixv, 4). The phenomena of nature are j)aths of God (Psa. Ixxvii, 19; Isa. xliii, 16), and to those depths which are beyond human inspection the course of God in his providence is likened. If his paths are obscure in nature, so they may be in providence, and in grace too (Calmet). See Causeway.
Patliae'us (rinSaioc v. r. <i>a'ia~ioc), a Grrecized form (1 Esdr. ix, 23) of Pethahiau (q. v.) the Le- vite (Ezra x, 23).
Path'ros [some Pa'thros] (Heb. Pathi-'is, OlinSi, prob. Egyptian [see below] ; Sept. riaBovpric, but in Ezek. •PaButpi'ic, in Isa. xi, 11, Bal3v\wpia ; Vulg. Phe- tros, Phaiures, Phathures'), a district of Egypt, men- tioned by the prophets Jeremiah (xliv, 1, 15) and Eze- kiel (xxix, 14 ; xxx, 14), is supposed to be the same as was afterwards called by the Greeks Ththais, and is now known as Suis, or Upper Egypt. It gave its name to Pathrusim, descendants of Mizraim, who peopled it (Gen. X, 14). From Patln-os it is said God would re- call the Jews to their own land (Isa. xi, 11), the ex- pression here denoting the whole of Egj'pt (see Jour. Sac. Lit., Oct. 1851, p. 101). The following account of the countrj' is from Smith's Diet, of the Bible.
That Pathros was in Egypt admits of no question : we have to attempt to decide its position more nearly. In the list of tlie Mizraites, the Pathrusim occur after the Naphtuhim, and before the Casluhim ; the latter being followed by the notice of the Philistines, and by the Caphtorim (Gen. x, 13, 14 ; 1 Chron. i, 12). Isaiah prophesies the return of the Jews "from Mizraim, and from Pathros, and from Cush" (xi, 11). Jeremiah pi-e- dicts the ruin of "all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpan- hes, and at IS'oph, and in the country of Pathros" (xliv, 1), and their reply is given, after this introduction, "Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood bj', a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egjpt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah" (xliv, 15). Ezekiel speaks of the return of the captive Egyptians to "the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation" (xxix, 14), and mentions it with Egyptian cities, Noph preceding it, and Zoan, No, Sin, Noph again, Aven (On), Pi-beseth, and Tehaphnehes following it (xxx, 13-18). From the place of the Pathrusim in the list of the Blizraites, they might be sup]>osed to have settled in Lower Egypt, or the more northern part of Upper Egj'pt. Four only of the Mizraitish tribes or peoples can probably be assigned to Egypt, the last four, the Philistines being considered not to be one of these, but merely a colonj' : these are the Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, Casluhim, and Caphtorim. The first were either settled in Lower Egypt or just beyond its western border ; and the last in Upper Egypt, about Coptos. It seems, if the order be geographical, as there is reason to suppose, that it is to be inferred that the Pathrusim were seated in Lower Egj'pt, or not much above it, unless there be a transposition ; but that some change has been made is probable from the parenthetic notice of the Philistines following the Cas- luhim, whereas it appears from other passages that it should rather follow the Caphtorim. If the original order were Pathrusim, Caphtorim, Casluhim, then the first might have settled in the highest part of Upper Egypt, and the other two below them. The mention in Isaiah would lead us to suppose that Pathros was Upper Egypt, if there were any sound reason for the idea that Mizraim or ]\Iazor is ever used for Lower Egypt, which we think there is not. Rcidiger's con-
PATHRUSIM
roe
PATMOS
jecture that Patliros included part of Nubia is too dar- ing to be followed (^Encijdop. Germ. § iii, vol. xiii, p. 312), although there is some slender support for it. The occurrences in Jereniiali seem to favor the idea that I'athros was part of Lower Egj'pt, or the whole of that region ; for although it is mentioned in tlie prophec}' against the Jews as a region where they dwelt after Migdol, Tabp.mhe.^, and Noph, as if to the south, yet we are told that the prophet was an- swered by the Jews " that dwelt in the land of Egj^pt, in Pathros," as if Pathros were the region in which these cities were. We have, moreover, no distinct ev- idence that Jeremiah ever went into Upper Egypt. On the other hand, it may be replied that the cities mentioned are so far apart that either the prophet must have preached to the Jews in them in succes- sion, or else have addressed letters or messages to them (comp. Ezek. xxix). Tlie notice by Ezekiel of Pathros as the land of the birth of the Egyptians seems to favor the idea that it was part or all of L'pper Egypt, as the Thebais was prol)ably inhabited before the rest of the country (comp. Herodot. ii, 15) ; an opinion supported b}'' the tradition that the people of Egypt came from Ethiopia, and by the first dj'nasty's being of Thinite kings.