Sur (Heb. Siir, 110, removed, as in Isa. xlix, 21; Sept. at ucoi ; Vulg. Sur), the name of one of the gates of the Tem]ile at Jerusalem (2 Kings xxiii, 6) ; called in the parallel passage (2 Chron. xxiii, 5) " the gate of the foundation,'' IID^, yesod (which is the preferable read- ing), being apparently that which led across to Zion by the causeway or bridge. See Temple.
Sur (2oi''p ; Vulg. omits), one of the places on the sea-coast of Palestine, which are named as having been disturbed at the approach of Holofernes with the As- syrian army (Judith ii, 28). It cannot be Tyre, the modern Sur, since that is mentioned immediately be- fore. Some have suggested Dor, others a place named Sora, mentioned by Stephanus of Byzantium as in Pha-- nicia, which they would identify with Athlit; others, again, Surnfend. But none of these are satisfactory. — Smith. The apocryphal character of the book itself makes us suspicious of the accuracy of the name. See Judith.
Sura Deva, in Hindu mythology, is the goddess of wine, who sprang out of the milk-sea when the moun- tain Mandar was cast into it, in order to prepare the drink amrita.
Sura Parpnia, in Hindu mythology, is the giant with whom Supramanya (i). v.) fought. Aft'er he had been cut into pieces by the latter, one half changed it- self into a peacock, and the other half into a cock. Siva used the first as an animal for riding, and the second served as a watcher for the house in which the wagon of Siva stood.
Surcingle is a band of black silk or stuff, fringed at the ends, and bound round the waists of the clergy so as to conline and keep the cassock in place.
Surenhusius (Surenhus), Willem, professor of Greek and Hebrew at Amsterdam, flourished in the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century. He edited a beautifully printed edition of the Mischna, sire iotius Hehra'.orum Juris, Rituum, A ntiquitafum, et Leguni Oralium Systerna, cum Clarissimorum Rabbinorum Mui- monidis et Bartenorm Commentariis Integris, etc. (Amst. 1690-1703, 6 vols. foL), which has ever since remained the best edition (see Wolf, Bibl. Hebr. ii, 886). He pub- lished also nni3^ niSO, sice Bi'/SXof Knra\\oy;';c, i>i quo secundum Vett. Theoll. Hebb. formidas ullegandi et modos interprefandi conciliantur loca ex V. in N. T. alle- gata (ibid. 1713, 4to), a work of unsurpassed value on the subject to which it relates.
Sureties is a name given to sponsors in virtue of the security given through them to the Church that the baptized shall be " virtuously brought up to lead a godly and a Christian life." See Sponsor.
Surety (some form of "1", ardb, to barter, and es- pecially to deposit a pledge, either in money, goods, or in part payment, as security for a bargain ; tyyvoc). " Suretyshi|)" in the A. V. is usually the rendering for Ci'pin, tokeiin, literally in marg. "those that strike (hands)," from i'J^Pl, to strike (Gesenius, Thesuvr. p. 1517). The phrase "1^ r"Crjri, tesumeth yad (Sept. TrapaB))K))), "depositing in the hand," i. e. giving in pledge, may be understood to airily to the act of pledg- ing, or virtual, though not personal, suretyship (Lev. vi, 2 [Heb. V, 21]). In the entire absence of commerce,
SURETY
37
SURNAME
the law laid down no rules on the subject of suretyship ; but it is evident that in the time of Soloinou mercantile dealings had become so multiplied that suretyship in the commercial sense was common (I'rov. vi, 1 ; xi, 15; xvii, 18; XX, 16; xxii, 26; xxvii, 13). But in ohler times the notion of one man becoming a surety for a service to be discharged by another was in full force (see Gen. xliv, 32), and it is probable that the same form of undertaking existed, viz. the giving the hand to (striking hands with), not, as Micliaelis represents, the person who was to discharge the service — in the commercial sense the ilebtor — but the person to whom it was due. the creditor (Job xvii, 3; Prov. vi, 1; Mi- chaelis, Laws of Moses, § 151, ii, 322, ed. Smith). The suretv, of course, became liable for his client's debts in case of his failure. In later Jewish times the system had become common, and caused much distress in man}' instances, yet the duty of suretj-ship in certain cases is recognised as valid (Ecclus. viii, 13 ; xxix, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19). — Smith. See Tledge.
The earliest form of suretyship mentioned in Script- ure is the pledging of person for person, as when Judah undertook with his father to be surety for Benjamin (^iS'^yS, / will exchantje for him, put myself in place of him, Gen. xliii, 9) ; and when circumstances emerged which seemed to call for the fulfilment of the obligation, he actually offered himself in the room of Benjamin. In this sense the psalmist asks God to be surety for him for good (Psa. cxix, 122), as did also, in his great distress, Hezekiah (Isa. xxxviii, 14), though the sense here is a little weakened in the A. Y. by the rendering " under- take for me." More commonly, however, the kind of suretyship spoken of had reference to pecuniary obli- gations or debts, and forms the subject of prudential advices and warnings in the book of Proverbs (vi, 1 ; xi, 15; xvii, 18; xx, 16). In the first of these passages, the dangerous practice of entering into sureties is put in two forms — first, " if thou be surety for thy friend," then "if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger;" there being no further difference between them than that the one has respect to the thing itself, the other to the mode of going about it: the person agreeing to be- come surety gave his hand to his friend. Hence, also, in Prov. xvii, 18, a man " who strikes hands," that is, readily becomes a surety, is declared to be void of un- derstanding. In the highest sense the term is applied to Christ, who, in his character as mediator, is repre- sented as " the surety {tyyvoc) of a better covenant" (Heb. vii, 22), having made himself responsible for all that in this covenant was required to be accomplished for the salvation of those who were to share in its pro- visions.— Fairbairn. See Mediation.