From a passage quoted by Nares (Glossary), it appears that the shawm had a mournful sound:
" He that never wants a Gilead full of balm For his elect, shall tuiu thy woful shalm Into the merry pipe."
G. Tooke, Bclides, p. 18. —Smith.
Shayith. See Thorn,
Sheaf is the rendering in the A. V. of the following words in the original; 1. njapS, alunimuh, prop, a bun- dle ("sheaf," Gen. xxvii, 7; Psa. cxcix, 6); 2. "i"''';;.', amir, prop, a handful (as rendered in Jer. ix, 22) ; hence a sheaf (Amos ii, 13; Mic. iv, 12; Zech. xii, 6); and the equivalent "ip", 67ner ("sheaf," Lev. xxiii, 10, 11, 12, 15; Dent, xxiv, 19; Ruth ii, 7, 15; Job xxiv, 10), as well as the cognate verb "^P", to bind sheaves (Psa. exxix, 7); 3. iTST^, arewza^, prop, a heap (as rendered in Ruth iii, 7, etc.) ; hence (/ sheaf (as rendered in Neh. xiii, 15; improperly "heap" in Can. vii, 2).
The Mosaic statutes contained two prescriptions re- specting the sheaves of harvest: 1. One accidentally dropped or left upon the field was not to be taken up, but remained for the benefit of the poor (Deut. xxiv, 19). See Gi.EAN. 2. The day after the feast of the Passover, the Hebrews brought into the Temple a sheaf of corn as the first-fruits of the barley-harvest, with ac- companying ceremonies (Lev. xviii, 10-12). On the fifteenth of Ni.san, in the evening, when the feast of the first day of the Passover was ended and the second day begun, the house of judgment deputed three men to go in solemnity and gather the sheaf of barley. The in- habitants of the neighljoring cities assembled to witness the cerenKiny, and the barley was gathered into the territory of Jerusalem. Tiie deputies demanded three times if the sun were set, and they were as often an- swered, It is. They afterwards demanded as many times if they might have leave to cut the sheaf, and leave was as often granted. They reaped it out of three different fields with three different sickles, and put the ears into three boxes to carry them to the Temple. The sheaf, or rather tlie three sheaves, being brought into the Temple, were threshed in the court. From this they took a full omer, that is, about three pints of the grain ; and after it had been well winnowed, ])arched, and bruised, they sprinkled over it a log of oil, to which they added a handful of incense ; and the priest who received this offering waved it before the Lord, towards the four (juarters of the world, and cast part of it on the IX.— R B
altar. After this every one might begin his harvest. See Passovki{.
She'al(Heb. <.S'Aea7', bS'r, asking; Sept. ^aa\ v. r. SrtXoi'irt), one of the "sons" of Bani, who divorced their foreign wives after the captivitj' (Ezra x, 29). B.C. . 457.
Sheal'tiel ( Heb. Sheiiltiel', bx-^nbsd, asked of God: Anglicizeil thus in the A. V. at Ezra iii, 2, 8; v, 2; Neh. xii, 1; Hag. i, 1; but "Salathiel" at 1 Cliron. iii. 17; also in the contracted form Shidtid', 5X"'P3'J, "Shealtiel," Hag. i, 12, 14; ii, 2; Sept., Apocry|)ha, Jo- sephus, and N. Test.. ^ciXa^iijX ; " Salathiel," 1 Esdr. v, 5, 48, 56; vi, 2; 2 Esdr. v, 16; Matt, i, 12; Luke iii, 27), the son of Jechoniah, or Jehoiachin, king of Judah, and father of Zorobabel, according to Matt, i, 12, but son of Neri (Neriah) and father of Zorobabel (Zerubbabel) ac- cording to Luke iii, 27 , while the genealogy in 1 Chron. iii, 17-19 leaves it doubtful whether he is the son of Assir or Jechoniah, and makes Zerubbabel his nephew. The truth seems to be that he was the son of the cap- tive prince Jechoniah, or Jehoiachin (fVir the prophecy in Jer. xxii, 30 seems only to mean that he should have no successor on the throne), by a daughter of Neri, or Neriah, of the private line of David; and that having himself no heir, he adopted his nephew Zerubbabel, or perhaps was the father of this last by his deceased brother's widow. B.C. cir. 58U. See (iENEALOGY of Chkist.
Sheari'ah (Heb. Sheai-yah', iT^"!"'^, valued of Je- hovah; Sept. Papain v. r. Snpi'a), the fourth named of the-six sons of Azel of the descendants of Saul (1 Chron. viii, 38; ix, 44). B.C. long post 1000.
Shearing-house (Heb. Cis'in "ipv rr'S, Beyth E'ked ha-Roim ; Sept. Bai^a/ca^ [v. r. 'QaiSiaKaC^ rwv iroifikvoii'; Vulg. Camera pastorum), a place on the road between Jezreel and Samaria, at which Jehu, on his way to the latter, encountered forty-two members of the royal family of Judah, wiiom he slaughtered at the well or pit attached to the place (2 Kings x, 12, 14). The translators of our version have given in the margin the literal meaning of the name — "house of binding of the shepherds," and in the text an interpretation perhaps adopted from Jos. Kimchi. Binding, however, is but a subordinate part of tiie operation of shearing, and the word akad is not anywhere used in the Bible in connec- tion therewith. See Shkei'-shearer. The interpre- tation of the Targnm and Arabic version, adopted by Rashi, viz. " house of the meeting of shepherds," is ac- cepted by Simonis ( Onornasf. p. 186 ) and (iesenius (Thesaur. p. 195 b). Other renderings are given by Aquila and Symmachus. None of them, however, seem satisfactory, and it is probable tiiat the original mean- ing has escaped. By the Sept., Eusebius, and Jerome it is treated as a proper name, as they also treat the "garden-house" of ix, 27. Eusebius (Onomast. s. v.) mentions it as a village of Samaria "in the great plain [of Esdraelon] fifteen inilesfrom Legeon." It is remark- able that at a distance of precisely fifteen Roman miles from Lejjiin the name of Beth-Kad appears in Van de Velde's map (see also Robinson, Bih. Res. ii, 316); but this place, though coincident in point of distance, is not on the plain, nor can it either belong to Samaria or be on the road from Jezreel thither, being behind (south of) Mount Gilboa. The slaughter at the well recalls the massacre of the pilgrims by Ishmael ben-Nethaniah at Mizpah, and the recent tragedy at Cawnpore. — Smith, See Beth-eked.