Ra'kern (1 Chron. vii, 16). See Rekem.
Rak'kath (Heb. Rakkath', V.^, shore; Sept. 'PctKK&S v. r. AaiciS), a fortified city in the tribe of Naphtali, mentioned only in Josh, xix, 35, where it is grouped between Hammath and Chinnereth. We may hence infer that it lay on the western shore of the lake of Galilee, not far distant from the warm baths of Tibe- rias,which are on the site of the ancient Hammath (q. v.). According to the rabbins (Megilla, 6 a), Rakkath stood upon the spot where the city of Tiberias was afterwards built (see Lightfoot, Opp. ii, 223). See Cinnereth. Rakkath appears to have fallen to ruin at an early pe- riod, or at least it was not a place of sufficient note to be mentioned in history, and the name passed away al- together when Tiberias was founded. The statement of Josephus that ancient tombs had to be removed to make room for the buildings of Tiberias does not, as Dr. Robinson supposes, make it impossible that the city stood on the site of Rakkath (Josephus, Ant. xviii, 2, 3 ; Robinson, Bib. Res. ii, 389). Rakkath may have stood close on the shore where there were no tombs; while Tiberias, being much larger, extended some distance up the adjoining rocky hill-sides, in which the tombs may still be seen. Thomson {Land and Book, ii, 66) iden- tifies Hammath with the Emmaus of Josephus (Ant. xviii, 2, 3), and supposes Rakkath to be the same name with the Arab Kerak, at the mouth of the Jordan ; but this latter rather represents the ancient Tarichiea (q. v.). The enumeration of the towns in the connection re- quires us to understand this to be the same with the name preceding, i. e. Hammath-Rakkath. See Naph- tali, Tribe of.
Rak'kon (Heb. ha-Rakkon', "ip1?!"!, with the arti- cle; the temple [of the head], Gesen. ; a well-watered place, Fiirst; Sept. Teptkojj', Vulg. Arecon), one of the towns in the inheritance of Dan (Josh. xix. 46), ap- parently not far distant from Joppa. As it is men- tioned between Me-jarkon and Japho, the site is pos- sibly that of the village Kheibeh or Ktibeibeh, marked on the maps as lying north of the Nahr Rubin, west of Akir (Ekron).
Rakshas, or Rakshasa, is, in Hindu mythology, the name of a class of evil spirits or demons, who are sometimes imagined as attendants on Kuvera, the god of riches, and guardians of his treasures, but more fre- quently as mischievous, cruel, and hideous monsters, haunting cemeteries, devouring human beings, and ever ready to oppose the gods and to disturb pious people. They have the power of assuming any shape at will, and their strength increases towards the evening twi- light. Several of them are described as having many heads and arms [see, for instance, Ravana], large teeth, red hair, and, in general, as being of repulsive appear- ance; others, however, especially the females of this class, could also take beautiful forms in order to allure their victims. In the legends of the Mahabhdrata, Ramayana, and the Puranas, they play an important part, embodying, as it were, at the period of these com- positions, the evil principle on earth, as opposed to all that is physically or morally good. In the Puranas, they are sometimes mentioned as the offspring of the patriarch Pulastya, at other times as the sons of the patriarch Kasyapa. Another account of their origin, given in the Vishnu- Purdna, where, treating of the
creation of the world (bk. i, ch. v), is the following: '• Next, from Brahma, in a form composed of the quality of foulness, was produced hunger, of whom anger was born; and the god put forth in darkness beings emaciate with hunger, of hideous aspects, and with long beards. Those beings hastened to the deity. Such of them as exclaimed, 'Not so; oh! let him be saved,' were named Rakshasa (from raksh, save); others who cried out, ' Let us eat,' were denominated, from that expression, Yaksha (from yaksh, lor jaksh, eat)." This popular etymology of the name, however, would be at variance with the cruel nature of these beings, and it seems, therefore, to have been improved upon in the Bhaga- vata-Purdna, where it is related that Brahma trans- formed himself into night, invested with a body; this the Yakshas and Rakshasas seized upon, exclaiming, "Do not spare it — devour it!" when Brahma cried out, "Don't devour me (md mam jakshata) — spare me! (rakshatd)." (See F. E. Hall's note to Wilson's I rzshnu- Purdna, i, 82.) The more probable origin of the word Rakshas — kindred with the German Recke or Riese — is that from a radical risk, " hurt," or " destroy," with an affix sas; hence, literally, the destructive being. — Cham- bers's Encyelop. s. v.
Rakusians is the name of a Christian sect whom Mohammedan writers speak of as having existed among them in Arabia. Nothing is definitely known about them. Their tenets appear to have been those of the Mendceans (q. v.) or Sabia?is (q. v.), still further cor- rupted by Ebionite influences. See Sprenger, Moham- med, i, 41; ii, 155; iii, 387. 395; Weil, Mohammed, p. 249, 386; Ueberweg, Hist, of Philosophy, i, 409.
Ralbag, so called by Jews from the initial letters of his name, 'I'JIJ "p "vb "l =R. Levi bm-Gershon, and known by Christian writers by the name Magister Leo de Bannolis or Gersonides, was born in 1288 at Bafiolas, not far from Gerona, and died about 1345. Little is known about the personal history of this remarkable Hebrew beyond the fact that, by virtue of his residence in Orange and Avignon, he was providentially exempt- ed from the fearful sufferings inflicted upon his brethren in 1306, by the cruel government of Philip the Fair and his successors, and that he was thus enabled quietly to consecrate his extraordinary powers to the elucidation of the Scriptures, as well as to the advancement of science. His principal work, and perhaps the greatest on religious philosophy, is his E'iTI r*"~r!2"2 D, The Wars of God (Riva di Trento, 1560 ; Leipsic, 1866). In this work Gersonides had the audacity to confess the eternity of matter, so that it was ironically called " The Wars with (against) God." But, as free as God's sun, he uttered his convictions, careless of consequences, and without fear of offending this or that man, sect, or es- tablished opinions. He believed in the progressive nat- ure of thoughts, and added his to those of his predeces- sors, leaving the consequence in the hand of God, and believing that " time develops truth." " Truth," he says, "must be brought to light even if it contradicts the revealed law most emphatically ; as the Bible is no tyrannical law which intends to impose untruth for truth, but its design is to lead us to true knowledge" (introd. p. 2 b , sect. vi. p. 69 a). This great philosoph- ical work treats: 1. Of the immortality of the soul (on which there are fourteen chapters); 2. On dreams and prophecy (eight chapters) ; 3. On the omniscience of God and the conflict between philosophy and religion (six chapters) ; 4. On Providence, viewed from the phil- osophical and religious standpoints (seven chapters). The remaining portion of the work is a cosmogony de- signed to show the harmony between the statements of the Bible and the phenomena of the universe. That part of his work which treats on astronomy, and which describes an astronomical instrument invented by Ger- sonides to facilitate observations, was so much appre- ciated that pope Clement VI, in 1342, had it translated into Latin ; and Kepler, as he says in a letter to John