ROAN
44
ROBBIA
Roan, John, a Presbyterian minister, was born in Ire- land about 1711), and was brouiflir up a weaver. He came to the United States in liis youth, studied at the New College, and was licensed to preacli by the '■ New Side" Presbytery of Newcastle. As early as 17-11 lie taught ill a grammar-school on the Neshaminy, and in 1744: was sent by his presbj-tery on a missionary tour in Vir- ginia. He inveighed so strongly against the clergy of the Established Church that charges were brought against him, before tlie grand Jury, of [jroselytism and of blasplieniy. j\Ir. Koan returned to Pennsylvania be- fore the court met; but when the trial came oi>, Oct. 19, the indictment was dropped. In 1745 Sir. Koan was settled over the united congregations of Paxton, Derrj', and Mountjoy, and continued to labor among them un- til his death, Oct. .S, 1775. See Sprague, Annuls of the. A mer. Pulpit, iii, 129.
Roast. The oldest, and still the usual, form of dress- ing meat in the East is by roasting it (Jahn, I, ii, 193 sq.) ; boiling is a process which marks some antecedent prog- ress in civilization, and many nations are ignorant of it at the present day. The culinary preparations of the patriarchs were the most simple that could well be im- agined: the animal was killed at the moment that the flesh was required, and the joints, after some part had been selected for sacrifice, were then roasted or broiled over the glowing embers of a wood-fire. Roasting is mentioned but casually in the Bible, and is called in Heb. tsalah', MPiJ (1 Sam. ii, 15; Isa. xliv, 16). A roast is called tsaW, "^PU (Exod. xii, 8 sq. ; Isa. loc. cit. Comp. Arvieux, Voyage, iii, 233). See Cook,
Rob. I. The following are the Heb. and Gr. words rendered by this and its derivatives in the A. V. :
1. Rob: (1) 1t3 (Sept. diapTraZ,ii) ; Vnlg. dejjojmlor) ; (2) 3T5 {(icpatpiu) ; violenter aufero) ; (8) IIS', " return," "repeat;" hence in Pi. to surround, circumvent(Psa.cxix, 61; ■Ktpnz\aK)]vai; circumplecti), usuaWy affirm, reiterate assertions (Gesen. Thesaur. p. 997) ; (4) 5?2p, " cover," "hide" (TTrtpi'i^w; ojjifjo [Gesen. Thesaur. p. 1190]); (5) |^DD {SuipTTciZw ; diripio) ; (6) DOd, same as last (Trpovofitiioj; deprcedoi-) ; (7) 32y {Kk'firTOi ; furor ; A. V. " steal") ; (8) avKaw, to strip. See Stealing.
2. Robber: (1) H'a, pijrt. from TTS, "rob" {rrpbyo- Hivojv; vustans); (2) ')'''"13, part, of "I'jQ, "break" (Xoi/ioe; lutro); Mic. ii, 13, "breaker;" (3) d''53JJ, Job xviii, 9 {cii\/ij)VTf.Q ; sitis. Targum, with A. V., has "robbers;" but it is most commonly rendered as Sept. Job V, 5, sitientes); (4) Tlili {XyrrrnQ ; lairo), from Tld, "waste;" (5) MOiiJ (j'^^poc; deripiens ; A. V. "spoiler"); (fi) 255 {KXtiTTiK; fur ; A. V. " thief ") ; (7) \yaaTi)c. See Tihkf.
3. Robheri) : (I) PT5 {upTray!], cipiraynaTa; rapina); (2) p"}3, from p^S, "break" (ficWa ; diluceratio') ; (3) liy, from Tl"^, " waste" (oXt^pog ; rapince) ; (4) bbd (Trpovoiir];prcEda; A. V. "prey," "spoil;" (5) apnayjIoQ. See TiiKi-"r.
II. Whether in the larger sense of plunder or the more limited sense of theft systematically organized, robbery has ever been one of the principal cmplnyments of the nomad tribes of the East. From the time of Ishmael to the present day, the Bedouin has been a "wild man" and a robber by trade; and to carry out his objects suc- cessfidly, so far from being esteemed disgraceful, is re- garded as in the iiighest degree creditable ((ien. xvi, 12; Burckhardt, Notes on Jicil. i, 137, 157). An instance of an enterprise of a tridy Bedouin character, but distin- guished by the exceptional features belonging to its principal actor, is seen in the night foray of David (1 Sam. xxvi, (J-Pi), with wliich, also, we may fairly com- pare Homer, //. K. 204, etc. Predatory "inroads on a large scale are seen in the incursions of the Saba'ans and Chaldieans on the property of Job (Job i, 15, 17), the rc-
Aiab Itobbers.
venge coupled with plunder of Simeon and Levi ((ien. xxxiv, 28, 29), the reprisals of the Hebrews upon the Midianites (Numb, xxxi, 32-54), and the frequent and often prolonged invasions of "spoilers" upon the Israel- ites, together with their reprisals, during the period of the Judges and Kings (Judg. ii, 14 ; vi, 3, 4 ; 1 Sam. xi, XV ; 2 Sam. viii, x ; 2 Kings v, 2 ; 1 Chron. v, 10, 18-22). Individual instances, indicating an unsettled state of the country during the same period, are seen in the " liers- in-wait" of the men of Shechem (Judg. ix, 25), and the mountain retreats of David in the cave of AduUam, the hill of Hachilab, and the wilderness of Maon, and his abode in Ziklag invaded and plundered in like manner by the Amalekites (1 Sam. xxii, 1,2; xxiii, 19-25; xxvi, 1; xxvii, 6-10; xxx, 1). See Wait, LiEii-iN-.
Similar disorder in the country, complained of more than once by the prophets (Hos. iv, 2 ; vi, 9 ; Mic. ii, 8), continued more or less through Maccabajan down to Ko- man times, favored by the corrupt administration of some of the Roman governors in accepting money in redemption of punishment, produced those formidable bands of robbers so easily collected and with so much difficulty subdued who found shelter in the caves of Palestine and Syria, and who infested the country, even in the time of our Lord, almost to the very gates of Je- rusalem (Luke X, 30 ; Acts v, 36, 37 ; xxi, 38). See Ba- RABBAs; Cave; Judas of Galilee. In the later his- tory, also, of the country the robbers, or sicarii, together with their leader, John of Gischala, played a conspicu- ous part (Josephus, IP«?-, iv, 2, 1; 3,4; 7,2). — Smith. In Asia Minor, likewise, the native tribes gave the Ro- man government much trouble, so that the roads were often unsafe for travellers (2 Cor. xi, 26). See Spoil.