among the interjections, and renders it Praise! "For my own part," he says, " I believe it to be descended from the Arabic root salah, 'he blessed,' etc., and used not unlike the word .-1 men, or the doxolvi/y, among our- selves."— Smith. Delitzsch thinks that the instrumen- tal accompaniment, while the psalm was sung, was soft, and that the Selah indicated loud playing when the sing- ing ceased {Psulmen.i, 19). Hupfeld, the other most dis- tinguished scholar among recent commentators on the Psalms, agrees with Delitzsch in general that the Selah was the signal for the singing to cease and the instru- mental music to be performed alone ; and he takes " an interlude" to be the meaning of the obscure word did- tpaXfia, by which Selah has been rendered in the Sept. We conclude, therefore, as the general drift of modern interpretation, that Selah denotes a pause in the vocal performance at certain emphatic points, while the single accompanying instrument carried on the music. If any further information be sought on this subject, it may be found in the treatises contained in Ugolino (vol. xxii), in Noldius (Concord. Part. Ami. et Vind. No. 1877), in Saalschiitz (Ilebr. Foes. \). 346), and in the essay of Sommer quoted above. See also Stolle, Selah Philo- logice Enucleutiim (Wittenb. 1685) ; Peucer, De il30 Ebrceorum (Naumb. 1739) ; Danville Review, 1864. See PsAi.MS, Book of.
Selav. See Quail.
Selden, John, an eminent lawyer and antiquarian, was born at Salvington, a hamlet in the parish of West Earring, near Worthing, in Sussex, England, Dec. 16, 1584. He received the rudiments of his education at the Free School of Chichester, and at the age of four- teen entered at Hert Hall, Oxford, where, although pos- sessing great abilities, he did not particularly distinguish himself. He entered himself at Cliftbrd's Inn in 1602 for the study of law, and in 1C04 removed to the Inner Temple for the completion of his legal studies. He ac- quired very early a taste for antiquarian research, in which department he afterwards became so eminent. He was, in fact, one of the mtist learned men of his age. He lived in stirring times, and was, almost inevitably, mixed up with the stormy politics of the period ; but he belonged to no extreme party, although a friend of lib- erty and of the pojinlar cause. He died Nov. 30, 1654. His works are verv numerous and learned. The follow- ing are those which require special notice here: De Diis Syris Si/ntof/mata J>uo (1617), which contains a history of the idol deities mentioned in Scripture, and a summary of Syrian idolatry: — iJe Snccessione in Bona Defuncti ad Leges Kbraorvm (1631). An imi)roved edition of this work appeared in 1C36, including an ad- ditional treatise entitled De Siucfssione in Pontijica/vm Ebrieonim. Both these treatises were re])ublislied bj- the author, with additions, in 1638: — iJe Jnre Natvruli et Gentium jnxta J>isr/pliiunn Ebrainvm Libri Stptem (1640). In this work the author treats of the seven so-called jirecepts of Noah, and gives a digest of all the laws of the Jews, distingidshing those which belong to universal law from those which are merely national and local : — Uxor Ebraica ; seti de Atiptii.^ et Dirortiis ex Jure Civili, id est JJirino et Talmvdico, Vetervm Kbrm- oriini Tres Libri (1646). Everything relating to mar- riage and divorce among the Jews will be found treated of here : — De Sipiedriis et Preejecturis .1 nridicis I'etervm Eb7-(eorum (IGbO). In this work, on vhich Selden spent twelve years, he sets forth everything recorded of the Sanhedrim, or juridical courts of the Jews, with collat- eral luitices of similar institutions in other countries. — Kitto, s. v.
Selections of Psalms. The Psalter, as it stands in the Prayer-book of the Clnirch of England, is divided into sixty portions, agreeing with the average number of mornings and evenings in the month. There are also ten selections of Psalms, any one of which maj' be used instead of the r-egular psalms of the day. These are prefixed to the Psalter, and consist of one or more
SELED
515
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Road from Autioch to Seleucia.
psalms, chiefly on the same subject. The following are the subjects of the several selections: 1, the majesty, greatness, and compassion of God ; 2, God as an ail-see- ing judge; 3, penitence and trust in God; 4, contrast between wicked and good; 5, blessedness of the right- eous; 6, the Lord a refuge; 7, 8, the happiness and joy of those who wait upon the Lord, etc.; 9, (iod in- linite and worthy of all praise; 10, invitation to unite in praising God.
Se'led (Heb. id. "l^tJ, exultation ; Sept. ^iiKah v. r. 'AX(TO/\ao), a descendant of Jerahmeel, son of Hezron, being the elder of the two sons of Nadab, and without children (I Chron. ii, 30). B.C. post 1615.
Selemi'a (Vulg. Selemin, the Gr. text being lost), the third named of the five rapid scribes whom Ksdras was charged to select for taking down his visions ("2 Esdr. xiv, 24).
Selenii'as (SeXe/k/oc) the Greek form (1 Esdr. ix, -34) of tlie name of Shele.miah (q. v.), one of the "sons" of Bani (Ezra x, 34).
Selemnus, in Greek mythology, was a shepherd- boy of Achaia. He was found asleep among his herds by the nymph Argyra, and his youth and beauty led her to bestow on him her favor; but the beauty of man is not constant like that of a nj'mph, who retains her youth and beauty always, and Argyra accordingly for- sook her lover when his charms were no longer fresh and blooming to her eyes. Venus herself endeavored to turn the hard heart of the goddess, but in vain, and Se- lemnus pined away under the agonies of unrequited hive. In her compassion Venus now changed him into a stream, on which she conferred the quality of inducing forgetfidness in the minds of all lovers who shoidii bathe in its waters, so tliat tiiey might be cured of their pas- sion.— VoUmer, Wijrterb. d. Mi/thol. s. v.