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( 'hambi rs's l 'ncyclop. -. \ .
RAGSTATT
S79
RAHAB
Ragstatt, Frederic, of Weile, a minister of the Reformed Church, was born, of Jewish parents, at Metz in 1648. In the year 1671 lie was baptized at Cleves in the faith of the Reformed Church ; and his conversion and public confession of the divine truths of Christianity were not less remarkable. Shortly after his baptism, when scarcely twenty-three years of age, he published a Latin apology: Theatrum Lucidum, exhibens Verum Messiam, Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, ejusque Honorem Defenders contra Accusationes Judceorum seu Rabbinorwn in Genere, speciatim R. Lipmanni Nizzachon (Amst. 1671), in which the name of the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, was gloriously maintained against the abominable Nizzachon of the famous Rabbi Lip- mann (q. v.). Having studied at Groningen and Ley- den, in 1680 he was called to the pastorate at Spyk, near Gorcum, in South Holland, where he labored with great blessing, bringing many of his former coreligionists to the foot of the cross. Besides his Theatrum, he pub- lished some other writings. See Fiirst. Bibl. Judaica, iii, 128 sq.; Jocher, Gelehrten-Lexikon, s. v. " Von Weile ;" Wolf, Biblioth. Heir. I, iii, 4 (Nuremb. 1850); Bayle, Dictionnaire, s. v. ; Kalkar. Israel u. die Kirche, p. 63 sq. ; Delitzsch, Wissenschaft, Kunst u. Judenthum. p. 138; Da Costa, Israel and the Gentiles, p. 561 sq. (B. P.)
Ragu'el (Heb. Reuel', b&WS'l ; Sept. 'Payovrfk), a less correct Anglicism of the name Reuel (q. v.).
1. A prince-priest of Midian, the father of Zipporah, according to Exod. ii, 21, and of Hobab according to Numb, x, 29. As the father-in-law of Moses is named Jethro in Exod. iii, 1, and Hobab in Judy, iv, 11, and perhaps in Numb, x, 29 (though the latter passage ad- mits of another sense), the prima-facie view would be that Raguel, Jethro, and Hobab were different names for the same individual. Such is probably the case with regard to the two first, at all events, if not with the third. See Hobab. One of the names may repre- sent an official title, but whether Jethro or Raguel is uncertain, both being appropriately significant (Jethro = '•pre-eminent," from "in"1, "to excel," and Raguel = "friend of God," from ?X Wl). Josephus was in favor of the former (rovro, i. e. 'It^eyXaTot-, r\v I-kIkKi]- fia t({j 'Payovtyup, Ant, ii, 12, 1), and this is not un- likely, as the name Reuel was not an uncommon one. The identity of Jethro and Reuel is supported by the indiscriminate use of the names in the Sept. (Exod. ii, 16, 18) ; and the application of more than one name to the same individual was a usage familiar to the He- brews, as instanced in Jacob and Israel, Solomon and jedidiah, and other similar cases. Another solution of the difficulty has been sought in the loose use of terms of relationship among the Hebrews; as that chothen C",r,n) in Exod. iii, 1 ; xviii, 1 ; Numb, x, 29, may sig- nify any relation by marriage, and consequently that Jethro and Hobab were brothers-in-law of Moses; or that the terms db (3X) and bath (n3) in Exod. ii, 16, 21, mean grandfather and granddaughter. Neither of these assumptions is satisfactory, the former in the ab- sence of any corroborative evidence, the latter because the omission of Jethro, the father's name, in so circum- stantial a narrative as in Exod. ii, is inexplicable; nor can we conceive the indiscriminate use of the terms father and grandfather without good cause. Never- theless, this view has a strong weight of authority in its favor, being supported by the Targum Jonathan, Aben-Ezra, Michaelis, Winer, and others.— Smith. See Jethro.
2. Another transcription of the name Reuel, occur- ring in Tobit, where Raguel, a pious Jew of " Ecbatane, a city of Media," is father of Sara, the wife of Tobias (Tob. iii, 7, 17, etc.). The name was not uncommon, and in the book of Enoch it is applied to one of the groat guardian angels of the universe, who was charged with the execution of the divine judgments on the
(material) world and the stars (xx, 4 ; xxiii, 4, ed. Dill- mann).
Ragueiiean, Frederic de. a French prelate who flourished in the second half of the 16th century. He was of noble birth, and after taking holy orders, his uncle vacated the bishopric of Marseilles in order to make room for him. He became a zealous and devoted ecclesiastic, and in many instances displayed more than ordinary manliness. As he was suspected of a strong leaning towards Protestantism, the leaguists greatly an- noyed him, and he finally quitted the country, as his life was threatened. He took refuge with Christina of Lorraine in Italy, until after the abjuration of Henry IV, when Ragueneau returned to France ; but he paid for his trust in the change of the times by his life's blood. He was assassinated Sept. 26, 1603, in bis castle. See Hoefer. Nouv. />!•';/. Generate, xli.473,474 ; . I rret da. Parlement de Provina centre les An/curs J* VAssassinat commis sur la Personne de F. da Ragueneau (new ed. Marseilles, 1854, 8vo).
Ra'hab, the form, in the A. V., of two names quite different in the Hebrew.
1. (Heb.Rachab', 3rp, wide; Sept.'Pa%aj8 [and so in Matt, i, 5, "Rachab"], 'Padj.5 ; Josephus, 'Pa\i'ijhjc, Ant. v, 1, 2.) A woman of Jericho at the time of the Eisode, whose name has become famous in that con- nection (Josh, ii) and in Jewish lineage (B.C. 1618). In the following account of her, we chiefly follow that found in Smith, Diet, of the Bible, with additions from other sources. See Exode.