The morning prayers concluded with the following, now iu use :
"It is true that thou art the Lord our God. and the God of our fathers ; our Redeemer, and the Uedeemer of our fathers; our Rock, and the Rock of our salvation. Our Redeemer and Deliverer ; this is thy name from ever- lasting; there is no other God besides thee. A new song did they that were delivered sing to thy name by the sea- shore, together did all praise and own thee King, and say, Jehovah shall reign world without end ! Blessed be the Lord who saveth Israel."
An addition dating from the 2d century inserts be- fore the words " A new song," etc., a particular record of God's past dealings. The additional prayer for the evening is as follows :
"O Lord our God ! cause us to lie down in peace, and raise us up, O our King! to a happy life. Oh spread thy pavilion of peace over us, and direct us with good coun- sel from thy i)resence; and save us for the sake of thy name. Oh shield us, aud remove froTu ns the stroke of the enemy, the pestilence, sword, famine, and sorrow: and remove the adversary from before and behind us, and conceal us under the shadow of thy wings; for thou, O God ! art our Guardian and Deliverer; and thou, O God ! art a merciful and gracious King. Oh guard us at our going out and coming in, with a happy and peaceable life, from henceforth and for evermore."
Although these prayers were sometimes lengthened or shortened, they were at a very early period in gen- eral use among the Hebrews. Like many other things, these prayers were made the subject of casuistic dis- cussions, and the very first pages of the Talmud are crowded with questions and answers as to " how" and " when" the Shemn is to be read ( see treatise Bera- choth). Women and servants and little chihlren, or those under twelve years, are exempted by the Misbna from this obligation. See Zunz, Gnttcsd. Vortrdfje cIit Jiiden, p. 367, 369-371 ; Schiirer, Lehrhuch der neutestamentl. Zeitffeschichte, p. 499 sq. ; Prideaux, Connection (Wheel- er's ed.), i, 331 ; Ktheridge, Introduction to Ilvhmo Lit- er ature,y^.'i?i sq. ; Edersheim, History of the Jewish A^a- tion, p. 360 sq. See Phyf.actery. (B. P.)
Shem'aah (Heb. with the art., hash-Shemanh', nyD'i'H, the rumor; Sept. 'Aafid v. r. Xafiaci), a Bcn-
jamite of Gibeah, and father of Ahiezer and Joash, who joined David at Ziklag (1 Chron. xii, 3). B.C. ante 1054.
Shemachoth. See Talmud.
Shemai'ah (Heb. Shemayah', n^"^Tp, heard [or rumoi-'] of Jehovah [twice in the prolonged form, She- maya'hu, W^"'?'.^, 2 Chron. xi, 2; Jer. xxix, 24]; Sept. '2afiaiaQ, v. r. 'Ea^aia, Stjuei, etc.), the name of a large number of Hebrews.
1. A Keubenite, son of Joel and father of Gog (I Chron. v, 4). B.C. post 1874. He was perliaps the same as the Shema (q. v.) of ver. 8.
2. Son of Elizapban, and chief of his house (of two hundred men) in the reign of David, who took part in the ceremonial with which the king brought the ark from the house of Obed-edom (1 Chron. xv, 8, 11). B.C. 1043.
3. A Levite, son of Nethaneel, and also a scribe in the time of David, who registered the divisions of the priests bv lot into twenty-four orders (1 Chron. xxiv, 6). B.C. 1014.
4. Eldest of the eight sons of Obed-edom the Levite. He and his four valiant sons and other relatives, to the number of sixtv-two, were gate-keepers of the Temple (1 Chron. XX vi,' 4, 6, 7). B.C. 1014.
5. A prophet in the reign of Rehoboam who, when the king had assembled 180,000 men of Benjamin and .Tudah to reconquer the northern kingdom after its re- volt, was commissioned to charge them to return to their homes and not to war against their brethren (I Kings xii, 22; 2 Chron. xi, 2). B.C. 972. His second and last appearance upon the stage was upon the occasion of the invasion of Judah and siege of Jerusalem by Shi- shak, king of Egypt. B.C. 969. His message was then one of comfort, to assure the princes of Judah that the punishment of their idolatry should not come by the hand of Shishak (xii, 5, 7). From the circumstance that in ver. 1 the people of Rehoboam are called " Is- rael," whereas in ver. 5, 6 the princes are called indif- ferently "of Judah" and "of Israel," some have unwar- rantably inferred that the latter event occurred before the disruption of the kingdom. Shemaiah wrote a chron- icle containing the events of Rehoboam's reign (ver. 15).
6. One of the Levites who in the third year of Je- hoshaphat accompanied two priests and some of the princes of Judah to teach the people the book of the law (2 Chron. xvii, 8). B.C. 909.
7. Father of Shimri and ancestor of Ziza, which last was a chief of the tribe of Simeon (1 Chron. iv, 37). B.C. long ante 726. He was perhaps the same with the Shimei (q. v.) of ver. 26, 27.
8. A descendant of Jeduthun the singer who lived in the reign of Hezekiah. He assisted in the purification of the Temple and the reformation of the service, and with Uzziel represented his family on that occasion (2 Chron. xxix, 14). B.C. 726. (See No. 9.)