THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
passages as i. 11-12, ii. 3 show that Sennacherib's expedition against Jerusalem was a thing of the past, nor is there any reason to suppose that i. 14 is a prophecy of the assassination of this Assyrian monarch. The most important passage in this connection is iii. 8 sqq., which refers to the destruction of No Amon (Thebes) by Assurbanipal shortly after 664 (see Assyria, VI., 3, § 14). It is accordingly probable that the prophecy of Nahum is to be dated about 660, in the reign of Manasseh. The book is an organic whole, its three chapters corresponding to its three chief themes. The first chapter contains the introduction and subject of the prophecy; the second a description of the judgment of Nineveh by an army sent by Yahweh; and the third the blood-guiltiness of Nineveh which brought destruction on her. [The date of the book is more probably not long after the death of the last great king of Assyria, Asshurbanipal, 626 B.C., when the decay of the empire began, j.f.m.] (W- VoLCKf.) Bibliography: The best commentary is in G. A. Smith's Book of the Twelve, vol. ii., London, 1898. Among the many other commentaries may be named: H. A. Grimm, Diisseldorf, 1790; E. J. Greve, Amsterdam, 1793; M. Neumann, Breslau, 1808; H. Ewald, Propheten, ii. 349- 360, Stuttgart, 1840; O. Strauss, Berlin, 1853; M. Breiteneicher, Munich, 1861; L. Reinke, Minister, 1867; P. Kleinert, Bielefeld, 1868; C. F. Keil, Eng. transl., Edinburgh, 1868; J. A. Lindgren, Stockholm, 1872; R. Gandell, in Bible Commentary, vol. vi., London, 1876; F. Hitzig, 4th ed., Leipsic, 1881; E. B. Pusey, in his Minor Prophets, new ed., vol. v., London, 1907; C. von Orelli, in his Minor Prophets, Edinburgh, 1893; A. B. Davidson, Cambridge, 1896; W. Nowack, Die kleinen Propheten, pp. 226-246, Gottingen, 1897; O. Happel, Wurzburg, 1902; C. Marti, Dodekapropheton, pp. 303-325, Tubingen, 1904. Consult further the works on O. T. introduction: H.Gunkel, in ZATW, xiii. (1893), 233-244; A. Billerbeck and A. Jeremias, in Beitraae zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft, iii. (1895), 1 sqq.; P. Haupt, in JBL, xxvi. 1 (1907); idem, The Book of Nahum: a new metrical Translation, Baltimore, 1908; Vigouroux, Dictionnaire, fasc. xxvii., cols. 1462-69.
NAIRNE, nern, ALEXANDER: Church of England; b. at Hunsdon, Hertfordshire, Jan. 17, 1863. He was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge (B.A., 1884; M.A., 1887; fellow, 1887-92), and was ordered deacon in 1887 and ordained priest in 1888. He was curate of Great St. Mary's, Cambridge (1887- 1889), vice-principal of the Cambridge Clergy Training School (1887-91), assistant master of Harrow School (1891-92), and curate of Hadleigh (1892- 1894). He has been rector of Tewin since 1894, examining chaplain to the bishop of St. Albans since 1899, and professor of Hebrew and Old-Testament exegesis in King's College, London, since 1900. He collaborated with H. C. Besching in The Bible Doctrine of the Atonement (London, 1907); and contributed to The One Volume Commentary (1909).
NAMES.
I. Primitive and Ethnic Names as Significant (§ 1).
Names. Religious Influence upon Significance and Power of Names (§ 2).
the Name (§ 1). Personality Expressed (§ 3).
Use in Taboo and Magic The Divine Name (§ 4).
(§ 2). The Name Jesus Christ II. Hebrew Names. (§ 5).
I. Primitive and Ethnic Names: Among primitive peoples and in the ethnic religions the functions and ideas attached to the name are exceedingly important. It often represents and stands for the
sum total and potency of the owner. " No being
could exist without a name " (Wiedemann, Religion
of the Ancient Egyptians, p. 294). Thus
1. Signifi- " the name of a god was the god himcance and self " (Budge, Egyptian Magic, p. 162); Power of hence utterance of it was among many
the Name, peoples avoided, since merely pronouncing it might summon its possessor who would take summary vengeance on discovering that he had been lightly invoked. Hindus believe that when Kali calls a person by name, that person dies. To know the secret name of a deity or a devil was, in the eyes of the Egyptians, equivalent to such control over that being as to compel him to do man's will. In the Mandsan system it is taught that Hibil Ziwa descended to the lowest hell, wrested from its king the secret name of darkness, and so gained power over all hells (see Mand^eans). The legend of Mar Ebedishu states that an evil female spirit sought to seduce him from the path of rectitude, but that he bound her and compelled her to reveal her twelve names, by which her power for evil was nullified for those who knew them (Folklore,id., 1900, pp. 151-152). Similarly, according to Egyptian belief, the name of a human being was as much a part of him as his ka or his body. Indeed, a man's totality of being is in the books and in the inscriptions often summed up by the mention of these constituents. Man's perpetuity is dependent upon that of his name, and the blotting-out of the latter is equivalent to his destruction (cf. Ps. cix. 13; and especially Rev. iii. 5). Creation, according to the same people, was accomplished by the creator's utterance of his own potent name. The power given by the name led to the conception of the secret name (cf. Rev. xix. 12). It was particularly knowledge of this which gave power to him possessing the secret. Thus Isis gained control over the great god Ra by making a serpent bite him and inducing him in his agony to divulge his secret name (Budge, ut sup., p. 137). Yet when the name was engraved on a sacred object, as a scarab, the sanctity of the object protected it from misuse (Wiedemann, ut sup., p. 294). Out of the conception of the power of the name grew the bravado of the Egyptians in which they pretended to know the secret names of their deities and attempted to browbeat the gods into doing the will of man. The deceased, entering the hall of judgment, could pass the ordeal only by knowing the secret names of the judges, of the parts of the hall, even of his own members. Part of the catechism which was supposed to pass him through the trial consisted of these secret designations.
In taboo and magic (see Comparative Religion, VI., 1, b, c) the name comes much into consideration. Since the name is a part of the person, it can be used as can the hair or clothing or any other of a man's belongings to work him ill. Here again enters a motive to keep the name secret.
2. Use in Christian mothers of Abyssinia often Taboo and keep a child's baptismal name secret,
Magic. the object being to protect the child
from witchcraft, since a wizard or
witch can not act against a person whose name is
not known. With this idea a Malay of Borneo