Seidel, Gotthold Emanuel Friedrich, a Lutheran theologian of (iermany, born at Ezelwang, !Marcli 10, 1774, was appointed in 1802 deacon of St. /Egidius's at Nuremberg, in 1817 pastor of the same church, and in 1829 dean of Nuremberg, where he died, Feb. 6, 1838. Seidel published several collections of sermons delivered at Nuremberg, which are enumerated in Zuchold, Biblioth. Theolog. p. 1211 sq. ; and in Winer, Handbuch der theol. Literatur. (B. P.)
Seidel, Heinrich Alexander, a Lutheran the- ologian of (iermany, was Ixirn Fel). 4, 181 1, at Goldberg, in Mecklenburg-Schwerin. He studied at Rostock and Berlin, and in 1839 he was called to the pastorate at Berlin. In 1851 he was made pastor of St. Nicolai in Schwerin, but bodily infirmities obliged him to re- tire in 1859 from the pastorate, and he died Jan. 30, 1861. Seidel is best known in German hymnology by his spiritual hymns, which he published in two collec- tions, entitled Kreuz und Ilarfe (Schwerin and Ros- tock, 1839 and 1857). See Zuchold, Biblioth. Theolog. p. 1215; Koch, Geachichte des deutschen Kirchmliedes, vii, 294 sq. (B. P.)
Seller, Georg Friedrich, a German theologian, was born (3ct. 24, 1733, at Kreussen, near Bayreuth. In 1761 he was deacon at Neustadt-an-der-Heide, in 1764 at ('oburg; in 1770, professor of theolog}' at Erlangen; in 1772, university preacher; in 1773, member of con- sistory and principal of an institute for morals and lib- eral arts, founded by himself at Erlangen. He died May 13, 1807. In theology he represented supranat- uralistic views, which he also propagated both as a teacher and a writer. His writings, mostly practical, are many, and have often been republished. Of these we
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mention, Sermons (1769 sq. ; 4th ed. 1798) : — Ilislory of the Revealed Reliyion (1772; 9th ed. liSOO) :—Bibl. Er- bauuriffsbuch (Erlangen, 1785-94, 17 vols.) : — Opusculu Academicu (ibid. 1793), etc. 8ee the T/ieol. Uiiiversal- Lexikon, S.V.; Koch, (jesc/iicfite des deiitschen Kirchen- Kedes, vi, '223 sq. ; Zuchold, Bibl. Theolo(j. p. 1215 sq. ; Fiirst, Bibl. Jud. iii, 308. (B. T.)
Se'ir ( Heb. Sc'ir', T^^'iIJ, hairy [i. e. roiir/h, by a play upon the name of Esau, see Gen. xxv, 25J ; Sept. Xrjiip, V. r. in No. 1 Sj/.S'ip, in No. 3 'Acradp), the name of a man and of two mountains.
1. A ]ihy)arch or chief of the Horim, who were the former inhabitants of the country afterwards possessed by the Edomites (Gen. xxvi, 20, 21 ; 1 Chron. i, 38). B.C. ante 1900. The region doubtless derived its name from him (comp. Josephus, 'SaEipa, Ant. ii, 1, 1).
2. Mount Seik ("'"'"b ^.i^, Gen. xiv, 6 sq.), or Land OF Skir ("I'^^'ty "I'^S, xxxii, 3; xxxvi, 30), was the original name of the mountain ridge extending along the east side of the valley of Arabah, from the Dead Sea to the Elanitic Gulf. The name ( = "the shaggy") was probably in the first instance derived from Seir the Horite, who appears to have been the chief of the aboriginal inhabitants (xxxvi, 20), and then, second- arih', by a paronomasia frequent in such cases, from the rough aspect of the whole countrj\ The view from Aaron's tomb on Hor, in the centre of Mount Seir, is enough to show the appropriateness of the appellation. The sharp and serrated ridges, the jagged rocks and cliffs, the straggling bushes and stunted trees, give the whole scene a sternness and ruggedness almost unpar- alleled. In the Samaritan Pentateuch, instead of T^yi:), the name nbns is used; and in the Jerusalem Targum, in place of "Mount Seir" we find N^Sm !!<"l113, Mount Gahla. The word Gabla signifies " mountain," and is thus descriptive of the region (Reland, I'al(vst. p. 83). The name Gebala, or Gebalcne, was applied to this province bj' Josephus, and also by Eusebius and Jerome (Josephus, Ant. ii, 1,2; Onomast. s. v. " Idimisea"). The northern section of iMount Seir, as far as Petra, is still called Jebdl. the Arabic form of Gebal. The Mount Seir of the Bible exten(le<l much farther south than the modern province, as is shown by the words of Dent, ii, 1-8. In fact, its boundaries are there defined with tolerable exactness. It had tlie Arabah on the west (ver. 1 and 8); it extended as far south as the head of the (iulf of Akabah (ver. 8) ; its eastern border ran along the base of the mountain range where the plateau of Ara- bia begins. Its northern border is not so accurately de- termined. The land of Israel, as described by J<ishua, extended from "the IMount Halak that goeth up to Seir, even unto Baal Gad" (Josh, xi, 17). As no part of Edom was given to Israel, Mount Halak must have been upon its northern border. Now there is a line of "naked" (halak signified "naked") white hills or cliffs which runs across the great valley about eight miles south of the Dead Sea, forming the division between the Arabah proper and the deep Ghor north of it. The view of these cliffs, from the shore of the Dead Sea, is very striking. They appear as a line of hills shutting in the valley, and extending up to the mountains of Seir. The impression left by tliem on the mind of tlie writer was that this is the very "Mount Halak, that goeth up to Seir" (Robinson, Bib. Rpk, ii, 113, etc.; see Keil on Josh, xi, 17). The northern border of the mod- ern district of Jebal is Wady el-Alisy. which falls into the Ghor a few miles farther north (Burckhardt, Syria, p. 401).