krak'nel: Occurs in 1 Ki 14:3, where Jeroboam bids his wife go to Abijah to inquire concerning their son: "And take with thee ten loaves and cracknels" (King James Version margins "cakes," the English Revised Version "cracknels," the American Standard Revised Version "cakes"). The Hebrew word is niqquddim, from naqadh, "to prick" or "mark"; most probably cakes with holes pricked in them like our biscuits.
kraft, kraf'-ti-nes, kraf'-ti, (panourgia), (panourgos): The original meaning is that of "ability to do anything," universally applied in a bad sense to unscrupulous wickedness, that stops short of no measure, however reprehensible, in order to attain its purposes; then, in a modified form, to resourcefulness in wrong, cunning (Dan 8:25; 2 Macc 12:24; the Revised Version, margin "jugglery"). In Lk 20:23, Jesus perceives "the craftiness" of His adversaries, i.e. the complicated network which they have laid to ensnare Him. The art with which a plot is concealed, and its direction to the ruin of others, are elements that enter into the meaning. Heinrici on 1 Cor 3:19 illustrates from Plato the distinction between craftiness and wisdom. There is a touch of humor in 2 Cor 12:16, when Paul speaks of his conduct toward the Corinthians as having been "crafty."
H. E. Jacobs
|| I. SOURCES OF OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE CRAFTS OF THE BIBLE
1. Written Records and Discoveries of Craftsmanship
(2) Canaanitish and Phoenician
3. Present Methods in Bible Lands
II. CRAFTS MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE
2. Carpentering (Wood-Working)
LITERATURE
I. Sources of Our Knowledge of the Crafts of the Bible.
1. Written Records and Discoveries of Craftsmanship:
Our knowledge of the arts and crafts of Bible times has come to us through two principal ways. First, from Biblical, Assyrian, Babylonian and Egyptian written records. Of these the Egyptian are the most illuminating. Second, from examples of ancient handicraft which have been buried and preserved through many centuries and brought to light again by modern discoveries.
(1) Jewish.
The chief written documents from which we may learn about Hebrew handicraft are the Bible records. A study of what few references there are leads us to believe that before the Israelites came in contact with the people of Canaan and Phoenicia they had not developed any considerable technical skill (1 Ki 5:6; 1 Ch 14:1; 2 Ch 2:7,14; Ezr 3:7). Some of the simpler operations, such as the spinning and weaving of the common fabrics and the shaping of domestic utensils, were performed in the household (Ex 35:25,26) but the weaving and dyeing of fine fabrics, carving, inlaying, metal-working, etc., was the work of foreigners, or was learned by the Jews after the Exodus, from the dwellers in Palestine
The Jews, however, gradually developed skill in many of these crafts. It is believed that as early as Nehemiah's time, Jewish craftsmen had organized into guilds (Neh 3:8,31,32). In post-Biblical times the Jews obtained monopolies in some of the industries, as for example, glass-making and dyeing. These trades remained the secrets of certain families for generations. It is because of this secrecy and the mystery that surrounded these trades, and is still maintained in many places, that we know so little as to how they were conducted. Until recently the principal indigo dyers in Damascus were Jews, and the Jews shared with Moslem craftsmen the right to make glass. In some of the Syrian cities Jewish craftsmen are now outnumbering other native workmen in certain trades.
Few examples of Hebrew handicraft have been discovered by the archaeologists which shed much light upon early Hebrew work. Aside from the pottery of the Israelite period, and a few seals and coins, no traces of Hebrew workmanship remain. It is even doubtful how many of the above objects are really the work of this people.
(2) Canaanitish and Phoenician.
It is generally conceded that what technical skill the Hebrews acquired resulted from their contact with the Canaanites and Phoenicians. Frequent mention of the workmanship of these peoples is made in the Bible, but their own records are silent. Ezekiel's account of the glories of Tyre (Ezek 27) gives some idea of the reputation of that city for craftsmanship: "Thy builders have perfected thy beauty" (Ezek 27:4); "Syria was thy merchant .... Damascus was thy merchant for the multitude of thy handiworks" (Ezek 27:16,18). Adad-nirari III (812-783 BC), the Assyrian king, enumerates the tribute which he exacted from the king of Damascus.
"Variegated cloth, linen, an ivory bed, a seat of inlaid ivory, a table" were among the captured articles. These were probably Phoenician work.
Many examples of Phoenician craftsmanship have been discovered. These are characterized, from the standpoint of art, by a crudeness which distinguishes them from the more delicately and artistically wrought work of their teachers, the Babylonians and Egyptians. The credit remains, however, to the Phoenicians of introducing skilled workmanship into Palestine. The Phoenicians, too, furnished the means of intercourse between the Babylonians and Egyptians. From the very earliest times there was an interchange of commodities and ideas between the people of the Nile and those of the Tigris and Euphrates.
(3) Assyrian and Babylonian.
The Babylonians and Assyrians made few references to their own handicraft in their records, but the explorers of recent years have revealed many examples of the remarkable workmanship of the early inhabitants of Mesopotamia. In referring to a silver vase found in that country (Telloh), dating from the 4th millennium BC, Clay (see "Literature") says "the whole is exceedingly well rendered and indicates remarkable skill, which in no respect is less striking than that of Egyptian contemporaries in this handicraft." Jewelry, weapons, votive images, various utensils, tools of many kinds, statues in the hardest stones, delicately wrought, gems, dating from the times of Abraham and earlier, lead us to ask when these people acquired their skill.
2. and 3. Egyptian and Post-Biblical Craftsmanship:
(4) Egyptian.
The written records of Egypt are doubly important, because they not only refer to the various crafts, but also illustrate the processes by drawings which can leave no doubt as to how the workmen accomplished their ends. The extensive explorations in Egypt have given to the world many priceless relics of craftsmanship, some of them dating from the very dawn of civilization. Among the ruins of early Syrian and Palestinian cities are found numerous objects witnessing to the skill of the Egyptians. These objects and the evidences of the influence of their work on the Phoenician arts show the part that the Egyptians played in moulding the ideas of the workmen who were chosen to build the temple at Jerusalem. In the following brief summary of the crafts mentioned in the Bible, it will be noticeable how well they may be illustrated by the monuments of the Nile country. To confirm the knowledge derived from the above sources, post-Biblical writings and some of the present-day customs in Bible lands are valuable. These will be mentioned in discussing the various crafts.
II. Crafts Mentioned in the Bible.
(For a more detailed treatment of the crafts see under separate articles.)
This industry probably originated in Babylonia, but the knowledge of the process was early carried to Egypt, where later the Hebrews, along with other captives, were driven to making the bricks of the Egyptian kings. The making of sun-dried bricks called for little skill, but the firing and glazing of bricks required trained workmen.
See BRICK .
2. Carpentering (Wood-Working):
Wood was extensively used by ancient builders. With the exception of the Egyptian antiquities, little remains but the records to indicate this fact. Numerous references are made to the carpenter work in building the temple and subsequent repairing of this structure (1 Ki 5:6; 2 Ch 2:3; 2 Ki 12:11; 2 Ch 24:12; 2 Ki 22:6; Ezr 3:7; 4:1). David's house and that of Solomon and his favorite wife were made partly of wood. In the story of the building of the tabernacle, wood-working is mentioned (Ex 25). The people of Tyre built ships of cypress, with masts of cedar wood and oars of oak (Ezek 27:5,6). Idols were carved from wood (Dt 29:17; 2 Ki 19:18; Isa 37:19; 45:20). The Philistines built a wooden cart to carry the ark (1 Sam 6:7). Threshing instruments and yokes were made of wood (2 Sam 24:22). Ezra read the law from a pulpit of wood (Neh 8:4). Solomon's chariots were made of wood (Song 3:9). Inlaid work, still a favorite form of decoration in Syria, was used by the Phoenicians (Ezek 27:6). How the ancient carpenters did their work can assumed from the Egyptian monuments. Some of the operations there pictured are still performed in the same ways.
The terms "carving" and "engraving" are used interchangeably in translating Old Testament passages. The first mention made of engraved objects is the signet of Judah (Gen 38:18). The art of engraving on various hard objects, such as clay, bone, ivory, metals and precious stones, probably came from Mesopotamia. The Hebrews learned engraving from the Canaanites. The nature of this engraving is shown by the Assyrian cylinders and Egyptian scarabs. It is doubtful how many of the signets found in Palestine are Hebrew work, as the engraved devices are mostly Phoenician or Egyptian. From the earliest times it has been the custom in the Orient for men of affairs to carry constantly with them their signets. The seal was set in a ring, or, as was the case with Judah, and as the Arabs do today, it was worn on a cord suspended about the neck. One of the present-day sights in a Syrian city street is the engraver of signets, seated at his low bench ready to cut on one of his blank seals the buyer's name or sign.
The second form of carving is suggested by the Decalogue (Ex 20:4). The commandment explains why sculpturing remained undeveloped among the Jews, as it has to this day among the Moslems. In spite of the commandment, however, cherubim were carved on the wooden fittings of the temple interior (1 Ki 6:23).
Among the peoples with whom the Jews came in contact, stone-cutting had reached a high degree of perfection. No stone proved too hard for their tools. In Egyptian and Phoenician tombs the carving was often done on plastered surfaces.
See CARVING .
Both the Egyptians and Babylonians were skilled in molding and baking objects of clay. The early Babylonian records consist of burnt clay tablets. Glazed bricks formed an important decorative feature. In Egypt, idols, scarabs and amulets were often made of fired clay, glazed or unglazed. By far the most important branch of ceramic art was the making of jars for holding water or other liquids. These jars have been used throughout the East from earliest times. The Jews learned what they knew about this art from the Phoenicians.
See POTTERY .
Dyeing is one of the oldest of the crafts. The only references to the act of dyeing in the Bible are (a) in connection with the dyed skins of animals (Ex 25:5; 26:14), and (b) Jdg 5:30. That it was a highly developed trade is implied in the many other references to dyed stuffs both in the Bible and in profane literature. Cleansing was done by the fuller, who was probably a dyer also.
Very little is known of the work of embroidering, further than that it was the working-in of color designs on cloth. In Ezek 27:7 we learn that it was one of the exports of Egypt.
See EMBROIDERY .
In Dt 33:19 "hidden treasures of the sand" is interpreted by some to mean the making of glass objects from the sand. There can be no question about the Hebrews being acquainted with glass-making, as its history extends back to very early times. The Egyptians and Phoenicians made bottles, glass beads, idols, etc. These objects are among those usually found in the tombs. Glass beads of very early manufacture were found in the mound at Gezer. Some of the pigments used for painting were made of powdered colored glass. In the New Testament we read of the "sea of glass like unto crystal" (Rev 4:6).
See GLASS .
Grinding was a domestic task and can hardly be classed as one of the crafts. When flour was needed, the housewife, or more likely the servant, rubbed the wheat or barley between two millstones (See MILLSTONE ) or, with a rounded river stone, crushed the wheat on a large flat stone. It is still a common custom in Syria and Palestine for two women to work together as indicated in Mt 24:41 and Lk 17:35. Grinding of meal was a menial task, considered the employment of a concubine; hence, setting Samson to grinding at the mill was intended as a disgrace.
The rhythmic sound of the stone cutter at his work never ceases in the prosperous oriental city. It is more common today, however, than in the earlier centuries when only high officials could afford stone houses. Frequently only the temple or shrines or tombs of a city were made of stone. As such buildings were very common, and much attention was paid to every detail of their construction, there was developed an efficient corps of masons, especially in Egypt and Syria. When the Israelites abandoned their nomadic life, among the first things that they planned were permanent places of worship. As these developed into structures more pretentious than mere piles of stones, the builders naturally resorted to the skill of the master builders of the country. A visitor to Jerusalem may still see the work of the ancient masons. The so-called Solomon's quarries under the city, the great drafted stones of the temple area, belong to an early date. The very shape of the masons' tools may be determined from the marks on the stones.
See MASON .
Among the oldest objects that have been preserved are those of silver, gold and bronze. These are proof that the ancients understood the various processes of mining, smelting, refining and working of metals.
See MINING ;METAL WORKING .
The oil referred to in the Bible is olive oil. Pliny mentions many other oils which were extracted in Egypt. The oils were usually extracted by first crushing the fruit and then pressing the crushed mass. At Gezer, Tell es Cafi and other ancient ruins old oil presses have been discovered.
See OIL .
One who has visited the tombs and temples of Egypt will never forget the use which the ancient Egyptian painters made of colors. The otherwise somber effect produced by expansive plain walls was overcome by sculpturing, either in relief or intaglio, on a coating of stucco, and then coloring these engravings in reds, yellows, greens and blues. Architectural details were also painted. The capitals of columns and the columns themselves received special attention from the painter. Colors were similarly used by the Greeks and Phoenicians. In the Sidon tombs, at Palmyra and similar ruins, traces of painting are still evident.
See PAINTING .
The word "paper" occurs twice, once in the Old Testament (Isa 19:7 the King James Version) and once in New Testament (2 Jn 1:12). In Isa 19:7 the Revised Version (British and American) renders "paper reeds," "meadows." PAPYRUS (which see) occurs in Isa 18:2 and the Revised Version, margin of Ex 2:3. The nearest approach to our paper which the ancients possessed was that made from a species of papyrus. The process consisted in spreading out, side by side, long strips of the inner lining of the papyrus reed, then over these other strips at right angles to the first, afterward soaking with some adhesive material and finally pressing and drying. Sheets made in this way were fastened together with glue into a long scroll. The Greek for papyrus plant is "biblos," from which the English word "Bible" is derived. Parchment, leather and leaves were also used as paper. The natives of Syria and Palestine still call a sheet of paper a "leaf" (Arabic waraqet).
The art of perfume-making dates back to the ancient Egyptians. In Ex 30:35 we have the first mention of scented anointing oils. The perfumers' (the King James Version "confectioner" or "apothecary") products were used (a) for religious rites as offerings and to anoint the idols and (b) for personal use on the body or clothes. Some perfumes were powders (incense); others were scented oils or fats (ointments).
See PERFUME .
(The King James Version "Plaistering.") The trade of plastering dates back to the beginning of the history of building. There were two reasons for using plastering or stucco: (a) to render the buildings more resisting to the weather and (b) to make the surfaces more suitable for decoration by engraving or painting.
See PLASTER .
The arts of spinning and weaving were early practiced in the household (Ex 35:25). Many different fibers were spun and woven into cloth. Fabrics of wool, cotton, flax, silk, wood fiber have been preserved from Bible times. In the more progressive communities, the weaving of the fabrics was taken over by the weavers who made it their profession. In 1 Ch 4:21 it is stated that many of the families of the house of Asbea were workers in fine linen. The modern invasion of European manufacturers has not yet driven out the weavers who toil at looms much like those described by the ancient Egyptian drawings.
Although it is known that tanning was practiced, the only reference to this trade mentioned in the Bible is to Simon the tanner (Acts 9:43; 10:6,32). Leather girdles are mentioned in 2 Ki 1:8; Mt 3:4. Relics taken from the tombs show that the ancients understood the various methods for preserving skins which are used in present-day practice.
See TANNER .
We think of Paul as the tent-maker. The tents which he made however were probably not like those so frequently referred to in the Old Testament. Tents in Paul's time were made from Cilician cloth. Paul's work was probably the sewing together of the proper lengths of cloth and the attaching of ropes and loops. In Old Testament times the tents were made of strips of coarse goat's hair cloth or of the skins of animals.
See TENT .
This article is being written within sound of festivities about the winepresses of Mt. Lebanon where men and women are gathered for the annual production of wine and molasses (Arabic, dibs). Their process is so like that of Bible times that one is transported in thought to similar festivities that must have attended the wine-making even so far back as the early Egyptian kings. That these workers understood the precautions necessary for procuring a desirable product is evidenced by early writings. The choice of proper soil for the vineyards, the adding of preservatives to keep the wine, boiling the juice to kill undesirable ferments, guarding against putting new wine into old bottles, are examples of their knowledge of wine-making.
See WINE PRESS .
Craftsmen were early segregated into groups. A trade usually remained in a family. This is true to some extent in the East today. In such cities as Beirut, Damascus, or Aleppo the shops of the craftsmen of a given trade will be found grouped together. There is a silver and goldsmiths' market (Arabic suq), an iron market, a dyeing quarter, etc. Jewish craftsmen in early times sat separately in the synagogues. Some crafts were looked upon with disfavor, especially those which brought men in contact with women, as for example, the trade of goldsmith, carder, weaver, fuller or tanner. There was a fellow-feeling among craftsmen referred to by Isaiah (Isa 41:6,7). This same feeling is observed among Syrian workmen today. The Arab has many phrases of encouragement for a man at his work, such as, "Peace to your hands," "May God give you strength." A crowd of men pulling at a pulley rope, for example, shout or sing together as they pull.
LITERATURE.
Perrot and Chipiez, History of Art in Sardinia, Judea, etc.; History of Art in Ancient Egypt; History of Art in Phoenicia and Cyprus; Wilkinson, The Ancient Egyptians; Macalister, Bible Side-Lights from the Mound of Gezer; Standard Dict. of the Bible; Bliss, Macalister and Wunsch, Excavations in Palestine; Hilprecht, Explorations in Bible Lands during the 19th Century; Harper, The Bible and Modern Discoveries; Delitzsch, Jewish Artisan Life, etc.; Clay, Light on the Old Testament from Babel; Jewish Encyclopedia.
James A. Patch
krag (shen (1 Sam 7:12; 14:4; Job 39:28 the King James Version and the English Revised Version)): In a mountainous country composed of sedimentary rocks, like the cretaceous rocks of Palestine, cliffs are formed on a slope where hard strata are underlaid by softer strata. The soft strata wear away more rapidly, undermining the hard strata above them, which for a time project, but finally break off by vertical joint planes, the fragments rolling down to form the talus slope at the foot of the cliff. As the breaking off of the undermined hard strata proceeds irregularly, there are left projecting crags, sometimes at the top of the cliff, and sometimes lower down. Two such crags (shen ha-cela`, "sharp rock," the Revised Version (British and American) "rocky crag"), which were given particular names, Bozez and Seneh, marked the scene of the exploit of Jonathan described in 1 Sam 14. Conder failed to identify the crags, and it has been proposed to alter the text rather extensively to make it read: "wall of rock" instead of "crag" (Encyclopedia Biblica, under the word "Michmash"). Such rocks form safe resting-places for birds of prey, as it is said of the eagle in Job 39:28 English Revised Version:
"She dwelleth on the rock and hath her lodging there,
Upon the crag of the rock, and the stronghold."
Alfred Ely Day
kran (`aghur; geranos; Latin Grus cinerea): A bird of the family gruidae. The crane is mentioned twice in the Bible: once on account of its voice (Isa 38:14: "Like a swallow or a crane, so did I chatter"); again because of the unforgettable picture these birds made in migration (Jer 8:7): "Yea, the stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle-dove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the law of Yahweh." Some commentators have adduced reasons for dropping the crane from the ornithology of the Bible, but this never should be permitted. They were close relatives of stork, heron and ibis; almost as numerous as any of these, and residents of Palestine, except in migration. The two quotations concerning them fit with their history, and point out the two features that made them as noticeable as any birds of Palestine. Next to the ostrich and pelican they were the largest birds, having a wing sweep of 8 ft. from tip to tip and standing 4 ft. in height. In migration such immense flocks passed over Palestine as to darken the sky, and when they crossed the Red Sea they appeared to sweep from shore to shore, and so became the most noticeable migratory bird, for which reason, no doubt, they were included in Isaiah's reference to spring migration with the beloved doves, used in sacrifice and for caged pets, and with the swallows that were held almost sacred because they homed in temples. Not so many of them settled in Palestine as of the storks, but large flocks lived in the wilderness South of Jerusalem, and a few pairs homed near water as far north as Merom. The grayish-brown cranes were the largest, and there were also a crested, and a white crane. They nested on the ground or in trees and laid two large eggs, differing with species. The eggs of the brown bird were a light drab with brown speckles, and those of the white, rough, pale-blue with brown splotches. They were not so affectionate in pairs or to their young as storks, but were average parents. It is altogether probable that they were the birds intended by Isaiah, because they best suited his purpose, the crane and the swallow being almost incessant talkers among birds. The word "chatter," used in the Bible, exactly suits the notes of a swallow, but is much too feeble to be used in describing the vocalizing of the crane. They migrated in large wedge-shaped companies and cried constantly on wing. They talked incessantly while at the business of living, and even during the watches of the night they scarcely ceased passing along word that all was well, or sending abroad danger signals. The Arabs called the cry of the cranes "bellowing." We usually express it by whooping or trumpeting. Any of these words is sufficiently expressive to denote an unusual voice, used in an unusual manner, so that it appealed to the prophet as suitable for use in a strong comparison.
Gene Stratton-Porter
krash'-ing (shebher): This word, meaning "a breach," figuratively "destruction," is translated "crashing" in Zeph 1:10: "a great crashing from the hills," representing the doom to fall on evil-doers in Jerusalem, as the enemy advanced against the city from the north.
kra'-tez (Krates), governor of the Cyprians, left as deputy of Sostratus when the latter, who was governor of Jerusalem, was summoned to Antioch by Antiochus Epiphanes, in consequence of a dispute with Menelaus (2 Macc 4:29). As Cyprus was not at the time in the possession of Antiochus, the words have been generally taken to mean Krates "who had formerly been, or afterward was, governor of the Cyprians." The Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) translates the Greek into "Sostratus autem praelatus est Cypriis."
kre-a'-shun (bara' "to create"; ktisis, "that which is created," "creature"):
1. Creation as Abiding
2. Mistaken Ideas
3. True Conception
4. The Genesis Cosmogony
5. Matter not Eternal
6. "Wisdom" in Creation
7. A Free, Personal Act
8. Creation and Evolution
9. Is Creation Eternal?
10. Creation ex nihilo
11. From God's Will
12. Error of Pantheism
13. First Cause a Necessary Presupposition
14. The End--the Divine Glory
LITERATURE
Much negative ground has been cleared away for any modern discussion of the doctrine of creation. No idea of creation can now be taken as complete which does not include, besides the world as at first constituted, all that to this day is in and of creation. For God creates not being that can exist independently of Him, His preserving agency being inseparably connected with His creative power. We have long ceased to think of God's creation as a machine left, completely made, to its own automatic working. With such a doctrine of creation, a theistic evolution would be quite incompatible.
Just as little do we think of God's creative agency, as merely that of a First Cause, linked to the universe from the outside by innumerable sequences of causes and effects. Nature in her entirety is as much His creation today as she ever was. The dynamic ubiquity of God, as efficient energy, is to be affirmed. God is still All and in All, but this in a way sharply distinguished from pantheistic views, whether of the universe as God, or of God as the universe. Of His own freedom He creates, so that Gnostic theories of natural and necessary emanation are left far behind. Not only have the "carpenter" and the "gardener" theories--with, of course, the architect or world-builder theory of Plato--been dismissed; not only has the conception of evolution been proved harmonious with creative end, plan, purpose, ordering, guidance; but evolutionary science may itself be said to have given the thought of theistic evolution its best base or grounding. The theistic conception is, that the world--that all cosmic existences, substances, events--depend upon God.
The doctrine of creation--of the origin and persistence, of all finite existences--as the work of God, is a necessary postulation of the religious consciousness. Such consciousness is marked by deeper insight than belongs to science. The underlying truth is the anti-patheistic one, that the energy and wisdom--by which that, which was not, became--were, in kind, other than its own. For science can but trace the continuity of sequences in all Nature, while in creation, in its primary sense, this law of continuity must be transcended, and the world viewed solely as product of Divine Intelligence, immanent in its evolution. For God is the Absolute Reason, always immanent in the developing universe. Apart from the cosmogonic attempts at the beginning of Genesis, which are clearly religious and ethical in scope and character, the Old Testament furnishes no theoretic account of the manner and order in which creative process is carried on.
The early chapters of Genesis were, of course, not given to reveal the truths of physical science, but they recognize creation as marked by order, continuity, law, plastic power of productiveness in the different kingdoms, unity of the world and progressive advance. The Genesis cosmogony teaches a process of becoming, as well as a creation (See EVOLUTION ). That cosmogony has been recognized by Haeckel as meritoriously marked by the two great ideas of separation or differentiation, and of progressive development or perfecting of the originally simple matter. The Old Testament presents the conception of time-worlds or successive ages, but its real emphasis is on the energy of the Divine Word, bringing into being things that did not exist.
The Old Testament and the New Testament, in their doctrine of creation, recognize no eternal matter before creation. We cannot say that the origin of matter is excluded from the Genesis account of creation, and this quite apart from the use of bard', as admitting of material and means in creation. But it seems unwise to build upon Genesis passages that afford no more than a basis which has proved exegetically insecure. The New Testament seems to favor the derivation of matter from the non-existent--that is to say, the time-worlds were due to the effluent Divine Word or originative Will, rather than to being built out of God's own invisible essence. So the best exegesis interprets Heb 11:3.
In Old Testament books, as the Psalms, Proverbs, and Jeremiah, the creation is expressly declared to be the work of Wisdom--a Wisdom not disjoined from Goodness, as is yet more fully brought out in the Book of Job. The heavens declare the glory of God, the world manifests or reveals Him to our experience, as taken up and interpreted by the religious consciousness. The primary fact of the beginning of the time-worlds--the basal fact that the worlds came into being by the Word of God--is something apprehensible only by the power of religious faith, as the only principle applicable to the case (Heb 11:3). Such intuitive faith is really an application of first principles in the highest--and a truly rational one (See LOGOS ). In creation, God is but expressing or acting out the conscious Godhood that is in Him. In it the thought of His absolute Wisdom is realized by the action of His perfect Love. It is philosophically necessary to maintain that God, as the Absolute Being, must find the end of creation in Himself. If the end were external to, and independent of, Him, then would He be conditioned thereby.
What the religious consciousness is concerned to maintain is, the absolute freedom of God in the production of the universe, and the fact that He is so much greater than the universe that existence has been by Him bestowed on all things that do exist. The Scriptures are, from first to last, shot through with this truth. Neither Kant nor Spencer, from data of self-consciousness or sense-perception, can rise to the conception of creation, for they both fail to reach the idea of Divine Personality. The inconceivability of creation has been pressed by Spencer, the idea of a self-existent Creator, through whose agency it has been made, being to him unthinkable. As if it were not a transparent sophism, which Spencer's own scientific practice refuted, that a hypothesis may not have philosophical or scientific valuee, because it is what we call unthinkable or inconceivable. As if a true and sufficient cause were not enough, or a Divine act of will were not a vera causa. Dependent existence inevitably leads thought to demand existence that is not dependent.
Creation is certainly not disproved by evolution, which does not explain the origin of the homogeneous stuff itself, and does not account for the beginning of motion within it. Of the original creative action, lying beyond mortal ken or human observation, science--as concerned only with the manner of the process--is obviously in no position to speak. Creation may, in an important sense, be said not to have taken place in time, since time cannot be posited prior to the existence of the world. The difficulties of the ordinary hypothesis of a creation in time can never be surmounted, so long as we continue to make eternity mean simply indefinitely prolonged time. Augustine was, no doubt, right when, from the human standpoint, he declared that the world was not made in time, but with time. Time is itself a creation simultaneous with, and conditioned by, world-creation and movement. To say, in the ordinary fashion, that God created in time, is apt to make time appear independent of God, or God dependent upon time. Yet the time-forms enter into all our psychological experience, and a concrete beginning is unthinkable to us.
The time-conditions can be transcended only by some deeper intuition than mere logical insight can supply--by such intuitive endeavor, in fact, as is realized in the necessary belief in the self-existent God If such an eternal Being acts or creates, He may be said to act or create in eternity; and it is legitimate enough, in such wise, to speak of His creative act as eternal. This seems preferable to the position of Origen, who speculatively assumed an eternal or unbeginning activity for God as Creator, because the Divine Nature must be eternally self-determined to create in order to the manifestation of its perfections. Clearly did Aquinas perceive that we cannot affirm an eternal creation impossible, the creative act not falling within our categories of time and space. The question is purely one of God's free volition, in which--and not in "nothing"--the Source of the world is found.
This brings us to notice the frequently pressed objection that creation cannot be out of nothing, since out of nothing comes nothing. This would mean that matter is eternal. But the eternity of matter, as something other than God, means its independence of God, and its power to limit or condition Him. We have, of course, no direct knowledge of the origin of matter, and the conception of its necessary self-existence is fraught with hopeless difficulties and absurdities. The axiom, that out of nothing nothing comes, is not contradicted in the case of creation. The universe comes from God; it does not come from nothing. But the axiom does not really apply to the world's creation, but only to the succession of its phenomena. Entity does not spring from non-entity. But there is an opposite and positive truth, that something presupposes something, in this case rather some One--aliquis rather than aliquid.
It is enough to know that God has in Himself the powers and resources adequate for creating, without being able to define the ways in which creation is effected by Him. It is a sheer necessity of rational faith or spiritual reason that the something which conditions the world is neither hule, nor elemental matter, but personal Spirit or originative Will. We have no right to suppose the world made out of nothing, and then to identify, as Erigena did, this "nothing" with God's own essence. What we have a right to maintain is, that what God creates or calls into being owes its existence to nothing save His will alone, Ground of all actualities. Preexistent Personality is the ground and the condition of the world's beginning.
In this sense, its beginning may be said to be relative rather than absolute. God is always antecedent to the universe--its prius, Cause and Creator. It remains an effect, and sustains a relation of causal dependence upon Him. If we say, like Cousin, that God of necessity creates eternally, we run risk of falling into Spinozistic pantheism, identifying God, in excluding from Him absolute freedom in creation, with the impersonal and unconscious substance of the universe. Or if, with Schelling, we posit in God something which is not God--a dark, irrational background, which original ground is also the ground of the Divine Existence--we may try to find a basis for the matter of the universe, but we are in danger of being merged--by conceptions tinged with corporeity--in that form of pantheism to which God is but the soul of the universe.
The universe, we feel sure, has been caused; its existence must have some ground; even if we held a philosophy so idealistic as to make the scheme of created things one grand illusion, an illusion so vast would still call for some explanatory Cause. Even if we are not content with the conception of a First Cause, acting on the world from without and antecedently in time, we are not yet freed from the necessity of asserting a Cause. An underlying and determining Cause of the universe would still need to be postulated as its Ground.
13. First Cause a Necessary Presupposition:
Even a universe held to be eternal would need to be accounted for--we should still have to ask how such a universe came to be. Its endless movement must have direction and character imparted to it from some immanent ground or underlying cause. Such a self-existent and eternal World-Ground or First Cause is, by an inexorable law of thought, the necessary correlate of the finitude, or contingent character of the world. God and the world are not to be taken simply as cause and effect, for modern metaphysical thought is not content with such a mere ens extra-mundanum for the Ground of all possible experience. God, self-existent Cause of the ever-present world and its phenomena, is the ultimate Ground of the possibility of all that is.
14. The End--the Divine Glory:
Such a Deity, as causa sui, creatively bringing forth the world out of His own potence, cannot be allowed to be an arbitrary resting-place, but a truly rational Ground, of thought. Nor can His Creation be allowed to be an aimless and mechanical universe: it is shot through with end or purpose that tends to reflect the glory of the eternal and personal God, who is its Creator in a full and real sense. But the Divine. action is not dramatic: of His working we can truly say, with Isa 45:15, "Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself." As creation becomes progressively disclosed to us, its glory, as revealing God, ought to excite within us an always deeper sense of the sentiment of Ps 8:1,9, "O Yahweh our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!"
See also ANTHROPOLOGY ;EARTH ;WORLD .
LITERATURE.
James Orr, Christian View of God and the World, 1st edition, 1893; J. Iverach, Christianity and Evolution, 1894; S. Harris, God the Creator and Lord of All, 1897; A. L. Moore, Science and the Faith, 1889; B. P. Bowne, Studies in Theism, new edition, 1902; G. P. Fisher, Grounds of Theistic and Christian Belief, new edition, 1902; J. Lindsay, Recent Advances in Theistic Philosophy of Religion, 1897; A. Dorner, Religionsphilosophie, 1903; J. Lindsay, Studies in European Philosophy, 1909; O. Dykes, The Divine Worker in Creation and Providence, 1909; J. Lindsay, The Fundamental Problems of Metaphysics, 1910.
James Lindsay
kre-a'-ter (ktistes, 1 Pet 4:19): The distinctive characteristic of Deity, as the Creator, is that He is the Cause of the existent universe--Cause of its being, not merely of its evolution or present arrangements.
The doctrine of His being the Creator implies, that is to say, that He is the real and the exclusive Agent in the production of the world. For, as Herder remarked, the thought of the Creator is the most fruitful of all our ideas. As Creator, He is the Unconditioned, and the All-conditioning, Being. The universe is thus dependent upon Him, as its causative antecedent. He calls it, as Aquinas said, "according to its whole substance," into being, without any presupposed basis. His power, as Creator, is different in kind from finite power. But the creative process is not a case of sheer almightiness, creating something out of nothing, but an expression of God, as the Absolute Reason, under the forms of time and space, causality and finite personality. In all His work, as Creator, there is no incitement from without, but it rather remains an eternal activity of self-manifestation on the part of a God who is Love.
God's free creative action is destined to realize archetypal ends and ideals, which are peculiar to Himself. For thought cannot be content with the causal category under which He called the world into being, but must run on to the teleological category, wherein He is assumed to have created with a purpose, which His directive agency will see at last fulfilled. As Creator, He is distinct from the universe, which is the product of the free action of His will. This theistic postulation of His freedom, as Creator, rules out all theories of necessary emanation. His creative action was in no way necessarily eternal--not even necessary to His own blessedness or perfection, which must be held as already complete in Himself. To speak, as Professor James does, of "the stagnant felicity of the Absolute's own perfection" is to misconceive the infinite plenitude of His existence, and to place Him in a position of abject and unworthy dependence upon an eternal activity of world-making.
God's action, as Creator, does not lower our conception of His changelessness, for it is a gratuitous assumption to suppose either that the will to create was a sudden or accidental thing, or that He could not will a change, without, in any proper sense, changing His will. Again, grave difficulties cluster around the conception of His creative thought or purpose as externalized in time, the chief source of the trouble being, as is often imperfectly realized, that, in attempting to view things as they were when time began, we are really trying to get out of, and beyond, experience, to the thinking of which time is an indispensable condition. God's work as Creator must have taken place in time, since the world must be held as no necessary element in the Absolute Life.
The self-determined action of the Divine Will, then, is to be taken as the ultimate principle of the cosmos. Not to any causal or meta-physical necessity, but to Divine or Absolute Personality, must the created world be referred. "Of him, and through him, and unto him, are all things" (Rom 11:36). This creative action of God is mediated by Christ--by whom "were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him" (Col 1:16).
See CREATION .
James Lindsay
kre'-tur: The word "creature," as it occurs in the New Testament, is the translation and also the exact English equivalent of the Greek ktisis, or ktisma, from ktizo, "to create." In the Old Testament, on the other hand, it stands for words which have in the original no reference to creation, but which come from other roots. Nephesh, "living creature" (literally, "a breathing thing"), occurs in the accounts of the Creation and the Flood and at the close of the lists of clean and unclean animals in Lev 11:46. Chay, "living creature" (literally, "a living thing"), occurs 13 times in Ezek 1; 3 and 10 (See CREATURE ,LIVING ). Sherets, "moving creature" (literally, "a swarming thing," generally rendered "creeping thing," which see), occurs once in Gen 1:20. 'Ochim, "doleful creatures," occurs once only in Isa 13:21. It appears to be an onomatopoetic word referring to the mournful sounds emitted by the animals in question. From the context it is fair to suppose that owls may be the animals referred to.
Alfred Ely Day
(chayyah; zoon): "Living creature" (chayyah) is the designation of each of the composite figures in Ezekiel's visions (Ezek 1:5,13 ff; 3:13; 10:15,17,20) and, the Revised Version (British and American), of the similar beings in the visions of the Apocalypse, instead of the extremely unfortunate translation of zoon in the King James Version by "beasts" (Rev 4:6 ff; 5:6 ff; 6:1 ff; 7:11; 14:3; 15:7; 19:4), which, however, went back to Wycliff, in whose time the word had not the low meaning which "beast," "beastly" have with us; hence, he translates 1 Cor 15:44, "It is sowen beestli body," meaning simply animal (see Trench's Select Glossary); in Rev "the beasts of the earth," the "beasts" that came up, the notable "beast" that men worshipped, represent the Greek therion, "a wild beast."
The "living creatures" in Ezekiel's vision (Ezek 1:5 ff) were four in number, "with the general appearance of a man, but each with four faces and four wings, and straight legs with the feet of an ox. Under their wings are human hands, and these wings are so joined that they never require to turn. The front face is that of a man; right and left of this are the faces of a lion and (of) an ox, and behind, that of an eagle .... out of the midst of them gleam fire, torches, lightnings, and connected with them are four wheels that can turn in every direction, called whirling wheels (Ezek 10:12,13). Like the creatures, these are alive, covered with eyes, the sign of intelligence; the spirit of the living creatures is in them. They are afterward discovered by the prophet to be cherubim" (Schultz, Old Testament Theology, II, 233). See CHERUBIM . In Ezekiel's vision they seem to be the bearers of the throne and glory of God; the bearers of His presence and of His revelation (Ezek 9:3; 10:3). They also sound forth His praise (Ezek 3:12; 10:2). (See Schultz as above.)
The four living creatures in Rev (4:6) are not under the throne but "in the midst of the throne" (the American Revised Version, margin "before"; see 7:17; compare 5:6) and "round about the throne." They are also cherubim, and seem to represent the four beings that stand at the head of the four divisions of the creation; among the untamed animals the lion; among cattle the calf or ox; among birds the eagle; among all created beings the man. It gives "a perfect picture of true service, which should be as brave as the lion, patient as the ox, aspiring as the eagle, intelligent as man" (Milligan in the place cited.). They represent the powers of Nature--of the creation, "full of eyes" as denoting its permeation with the Divine Reason, the wings signifying its constant, ready service, and the unceasing praise the constant doing of God's will. The imagery is founded on Ezekiel as that had been modified in apocalyptic writings and as it was exalted in the mind of the Seer of Patmos.
W. L. Walker
kred'-it (pisteuein; 1 Macc 10:46 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "gave no credence"; The Wisdom of Solomon 18:6 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "trusted"; 1 Macc 1:30 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "credence"): In the modern commercial sense the noun "credit" does not occur in the canonical Scriptures or in the Apocrypha.
kred'-i-ter ((a) nosheh, participle of nashah: Ex 22:24 (English translation: 25); 2 Ki 4:1; Isa 50:1; translated "extortioner," Ps 109:11; "taker of usury," Isa 24:2 the King James Version; (b) malweh, participle of lawah, Isa 24:2 the Revised Version (British and American), the King James Version "lender"; (c) ba`al mashsheh yadho: "lord of the loan of his hand," Dt 15:2; (d) danistes: Lk 7:41, "creditor" the King James Version, "lender" the Revised Version (British and American); compare further danistos, Sirach 29:28, "lender" the King James Version, "money-lender" the Revised Version (British and American)): In the ideal social system of the Old Testament, debts are incurred only because of poverty, and the law protected the poor debtor from his creditor, who in Ex 22:25 is forbidden to demand interest, and in Dt 15:2 to exact payment in view of the nearness of the year of release. 2 Ki 4:1 shows that the actual practice was not so considerate, and in consequence the creditor fell into bad repute. In Ps 109:11 he is the extortioner; in Prov 29:13 the oppressor is evidently the creditor, though a different word is used; compare also Prov 22:7. In Sirach 29:28 the importunity of the creditor is one of the hardships of the poor man of understanding. The actual practice of the Jews may be gathered from Neh 5:1 ff; Jer 34:8 ff; and Sirach 29:1-11.
See also DEBT .
Walter R. Betteridge
kred:
2. In the New Testament--Gospels
LITERATURE
By "creed" we understand the systematic statement of religious faith; and by the creeds of the Christian church we mean the formal expression of "the faith which was delivered unto the saints." The word is derived from the first word of the Latin versions of the Apostles' Creed, and the name is usually applied to those formulas known as the Apostles', the Nicene and the Athanasian creeds.
In this article we shall first indicate the Scriptural foundation and rudimentary Biblical statements upon which the distinctive dogmas of the church are based; and, secondly, briefly describe the origin and nature of the three most important symbols of belief which have dominated Christian thought.
There are three forms in which the religious instinct naturally expresses itself--in a ritual, a creed and a life. Men first seek to propitiate the Deity by some outward act and express their devotion in some external ceremony. Next they endeavor to explain their worship and to find a rationale of it in certain facts which they formulate into a confession; and lastly, not content with the outward act or the verbal interpretation of it, they attempt to express their religion in life.
Pagan religion first appears in the form of a rite. The worshipper was content with the proper performance of a ceremony and was not, in the earliest stage at least, concerned with an interpretation of his act. The myths, which to some extent were an attempt to rationalize ritual, may be regarded as the earliest approach to a formulated statement of belief. But inasmuch as the myths of early pagan religion are not obligatory upon the reason or the faith of the worshipper, they can scarcely be regarded as creeds. Pagan religion, strictly speaking, has no theology and having no real historical basis of facts does not possess the elements of a creed. In this respect it is distinguished from revealed religion. This latter rests upon facts, the meaning and interpretation of which are felt to be necessary to give to revelation its values and authority.
Even in the Old Testament there are not wanting the germs of a creed. In the Decalogue we have the beginnings of the formulation of belief, and in the proclamation, "Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our God is one Yahweh" (Dt 6:4), we have what may be regarded as the symbol of the Old Testament faith and the earliest attempt to enunciate a doctrine.
2. In the New Testament--Gospels:
It is to the New Testament, however, we must turn to find the real indications of such a statement of belief as may be designated a creed. We must remember that Christ lived and taught for a time before any attempt was made to portray His life or to record His sayings. The earliest writings are not the Gospels, but some of the Epistles, and it is to them we must look for any definite explanation of the facts which center in the appearance of Christ upon the earth. At the same time in the sequence of events the personality and teaching of Jesus come first, and in the relation to Him of His disciples and converts and in their personal confessions and utterances of faith we have the earliest suggestions of an expression of belief. The confession of Nathanael (Jn 1:49), "Rabbi, thou art the Son of God," and still more the utterance of Peter (Mt 16:16), "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," and the exclamation of Thomas (Jn 20:28), contain the germ of a creed. It is to be noted that all these expressions of belief have Christ as their object and give utterance with more or less explicitness to a conviction of His Divine nature and authority.
But while these sayings in the Gospels were no doubt taken up and incorporated in later interpretations, it is to the Epistles that we must first go, for an explanation of the facts of Christ's person and His relation to God and man. Paul's Epistles are really of the nature of a confession and manifesto of Christian belief. Communities of believers already existed when the apostle directed to them his earliest letters. In their oral addresses the apostles must have been accustomed not only to state facts which were familiar to their hearers, but also to draw inferences from them as to the meaning of Christ and the great truths centering in His person--His incarnation, His death and resurrection (as we may see from the recorded sermons of Peter and Paul in Acts). It is to these facts that the Epistles appeal. It was at once natural and necessary that some expression of the faith once delivered to the saints should be formulated for a body whose members were pledged to each other and united for common action, and whose bond of union was the acknowledgment of "one Lord, one faith." Paul recognizes it as vital to the very spirit of religion that some definite profession of belief in Christ should be made: "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Rom 10:9). These words would seem to imply that a confession of the Deity, the atoning death, and resurrection of Jesus was the earliest form of Christian creed.
It must also be observed that from the very first the confession of faith seems to have been connected with the administration of baptism. Already in the story of the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:37 the King James Version) (a passage indeed of doubtful genuineness but attested by Irenaeus and therefore of great antiquity) we find that as a condition of baptism the convert is asked to declare his belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. The passage in 1 Tim (6:12; compare Heb 10:23), "Lay hold on the life eternal, whereunto thou wast called, and didst confess the good confession in the sight of many witnesses," may refer to a confession required only of those who were being ordained: but the context leads us to infer that it was a baptismal vow asked of members not less than of ministers of the church. The probability is that the earliest form of creed reflected little more than Christ's final command to baptize all men "into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Mt 28:19), or perhaps simply "into the name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 19:5). The verse in Acts 8:37 the King James Version, though disputed by some, is instructive in this connection. Faith in Jesus Christ was regarded as the cardinal point of the New Revelation and may have been taken to imply a relation to the Father as well as a promise of the Holy Spirit.
It is evident that the creeds that have come down to us are mainly an expression of the doctrine of the Trinity as embodied in the original baptismal formula derived from Our Lord's commission. Already indeed in some places of the Old Testament this doctrine is foreshadowed; but it is first clearly incorporated in the Lord's command just mentioned and in the benediction of Paul (2 Cor 13:14), and subsequently in the Christian doxologies. Some scholars have preferred to find traces in the later writings of the New Testament of a more definite summary of belief: as in the allusion to the form of sound words (2 Tim 1:13), the "deposit" or "good deposit" which was to be kept (1 Tim 6:20 the Revised Version, margin; 2 Tim 1:14 the Revised Version, margin); also in "the faithful words" enumerated in these epistles (1 Tim 1:15; 3:1; 4:8,9; 2 Tim 2:11); and in the remarkable passage in the beginning of Heb 6 in which the elementary doctrines of the Christian religion are enumerated; first on the subjective side, repentance and faith, and then objectively, the resurrection and the judgment. There are also brief summaries in several of the Pauline Epistles of what the apostle must have considered to be essential tenets. Thus for example we have the death, burial and resurrection of Christ mentioned in 1 Cor 15:3 f; Rom 1:3 f. Such summaries or confessions of personal faith as in 2 Thess 2:13 f are frequent in Paul's writings and may correspond to statements of truth which the apostle found serviceable for catechetical purposes as he moved from one Christian community to another.
See CATECHIST .
It is not indeed till a much later age--the age of Irenaeus and Tertullian (175-200 AD)--that we meet with any definite summary of belief. But it cannot be doubted that these Scriptural passages to which we have referred not only served as the first forms of confession but also contributed the materials out of which the articles of the church's faith were formulated. As soon as Christian preaching and teaching were exercised there would be a felt need for explicit statement of the truths revealed in and through Jesus Christ. It may be said that all the main facts which were subsequently embodied in the creeds have their roots in the New Testament Scripture and especially in the Pauline Epistles. The only exception which might be made is in the case of the virgin birth. It does not lie within the scope of this article to comment upon the silence of the epistles on this subject. This, however, we may say, that the omissions of Paul's reference to it does not prove it untrue. It only proves at most that it was not a part of the ground upon which the Christ was commended to the first acceptance of faith. But though no direct allusion to the virgin birth occurs in Paul's writings the truth which gives spiritual value to the fact of the virgin conception, namely, God's new creation of humanity in Christ, is a vital and fundamental element in the faith both of Paul and of the whole early church. The Christian life is essentially a new creation (2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15; Rom 6:4) in Jesus Christ, the second Adam (Rom 5:12-21), who is from heaven (1 Cor 15:47). Into this spiritual context the facts recorded by Matthew and Luke introduce no alien or incompatible element (compare W. Richmond, The Creed in the Epistles of Paul; Orr, The Virgin Birth of Christ). And therefore the story of Christ's birth as we have it in the Synoptics finds a natural place in the creed of those who accept the Pauline idea of a new creation in Christ.
See VIRGIN BIRTH .
It is beyond the scope of this article to discuss the evidences of development in the main doctrines of the gospel, but however the later ages may have elaborated them, the leading tenets of the subsequent faith of the church--the doctrine of the Trinity; our Lord's divinity and real humanity; His atoning death and resurrection; the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and of the catholicity and unity of the church--stand clear and distinct in these earliest Scriptural sources.
Faith implies a creed as a confession and testimony. Such a confession and testimony answers to a natural impulse of the soul. Hence, a profession of faith is at once a personal, a social and a historical testimony. A formal creed witnesses to the universality of faith, binds believers together, and unites the successive ages of the church. It is the spontaneous expression of the life and experience of the Christian society. As the purpose of this article is chiefly to indicate the Scriptural sources of the creeds rather than to discuss their origin and history, we can only briefly describe the main historical forms which have prevailed in the Christian church.
The Apostles' Creed, in ancient times called the Roman Creed, though popularly regarded as the earliest, was probably not the first in chronological order. Its origin and growth are involved in considerable obscurity (see separate article,APOSTLES' CREED ; and compare Heurtley, Harmonia Symbolica).
The Nicene Creed, called sometimes "the Creed of the 318" from the number of bishops reputed to have been present, was authorized at the Council of Nice in 325 AD, and completed by the Council of Constantinople in 381, when the clauses which follow the mention of the Holy Ghost were added. The opinions of Arius at the beginning of the 4th century created such unrest as to call forth not only the admonition of bishops but also the intervention of the emperor Constantine, who, as a professed Christian, had become the patron of the church. The efforts of the emperor, however, had no effect in allaying the dissensions of the church at Alexandria, which, upon the banishment of Arius, spread throughout eastern Christendom. It was decided, therefore, to convoke a general council of bishops in which the Catholic doctrine should be once and for all formally declared. This, the first ecumenical council, met at Nicea in Bithynia in 325 AD. There is no detailed record of the proceedings. "We do not know whether it lasted weeks or days" (Stanley, Lects on East Ch.). Arius; being only a presbyter, had no seat in the conclave, but was allowed to express his opinions. His chief opponent was Athanasius.
The controversy turned upon the nature of the Son and His relation to the Father. The word homoousios ("of one substance with"), used in the course of the argument with a view of disputeing the extreme orthodox position, became the battleground between the parties. The Arians violently condemned. The Sabellians or Semi-Arians to evade its full force contended for the term homoiousios ("of like substance"). But the majority finally adopted the former expression as the term best suited to discriminate their view of the relation of the Father and Son from the Arian view. The assent of the emperor was gained and the words "being of one substance with the Father" were incorporated into the creed. The clauses descriptive of the Holy Spirit were added or confirmed at a later council (382), and were designed to refute the Macedonian heresy which denied His equality with the Father and Son, and reduced the Holy Spirit to a level with the angels.
The phrase "proceedeth from the Father and the Son" is also of historical importance. The last three words are a later addition to the creed by western churches, formally adopted by the Council of Toledo in 589. But when the matter was referred in the 9th century to Leo III he pronounced against them as unauthorized. This interpolation, known as the Filioque, marks the difference still between the Latin and Greek churches. From the 9th century no change has been made in the Nicene Creed. It has remained, without the Filioque clause, the ecumenical symbol of the Eastern Church; and with the addition of that word it has taken its place among the three great creeds of the Western Church.
The Athanasian Creed, or the Symbolum Quicunque, as it is called, from its opening words, differs entirely in its origin and history from those we have just considered. It is not a gradual growth like the Apostles' Creed, nor is it the outcome of synodical authority like the Nicene Creed. "When the composition appears for the first time as a document of authority it is cited in its completeness and as the work of the Father whose name it has since, in the most part, borne, although it was not brought to light for many centuries after his death" (Lumby, History of the Creeds). Without going into the full and intricate evidence which has been brought forward by scholars to prove that it is incorrectly attributed to Athanasius, it is sufficient to observe that both authorship and date are uncertain. Dr. Swainson proves in the most conclusive manner that the existence of this creed cannot be traced before the age of Charlemagne, and that its origin may probably be ascribed to then existing demand for a more detailed exposition of the faith than was to be found in the Apostles' Creed. It is nowhere mentioned at synods before the end of the 8th century, whose special business it was to discuss the very matters which were afterward embodied within it in such detail.
The question of imposture has been raised with regard to this creed, and it has been maintained by some that it was originally a forgery of the same nature as the "false decretals" and the equally famous "Donation of Constantine" (Swainson). But it may be said that the word "imposture" is incorrectly applied to "a natural and inevitable result of the working of the mind of the Western Church toward a more elaborate and detailed confession of its Trinitarian faith" (Tulloch, Encyclopedia Brit). The imposture, if there was any, consisted not in the origin of the creed but in the ascription of it to a name and a date with which it had no connection. This was done no doubt to secure for it credit and authority, and was supposed to be justified by its special doctrinal import.
This symbol, though too compendious and elaborate to serve the purposes of a creed, itself standing in need of exposition and explanation, has its value as representing a further stage of doctrinal development. If the Apostles' Creed determined the nature of God and the Nicene Creed defined the character and relation of the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Athanasian Creed may be regarded as establishing the great doctrine of the Trinity. Its distinguishing features are the monitory clauses and its uncompromising statement of the value of the Christian faith. The other creeds set forth the mercies of Revelation; this adds the danger of rejecting them. The others declare the faith; this insists also on its necessity. This, also, alone insists upon the necessity of good works (Yonge, An Exposition of the Apostles' Creed). The closing warning is based on Christ's own words: "Depart from me," etc. (Mt 25:41,46). If this creed is solemn in its admonitions, we must remember that so also are the Gospels. On the whole it is a comprehensive summary of truth, laying down the rule of faith as a foundation, following out its issues of good or evil. True belief is closely connected with right action.
With the adoption of the "Athanasian" symbol, the creed-making of the early and medieval church ceases. Of the three mentioned one only in the broadest sense, the Nicene, is Catholic. Neither the Apostles' nor the Athanasian Creed is known to the Greek or oriental church which remained faithful to the faith settled by the holy Fathers at Nicea. The two others adopted by the West are really gradual growths or consequences from it, without any definite parentage or synodic authority. But the faith as defined at Nicea and ratified by subsequent councils is the only true Catholic symbol of the universal church.
With the Reformation a new era of creed-formation began. It will not, however, be necessary to do more than mention some of the confessions of the Reformed churches which consist mainly of elaborations of the original creeds with the addition of special articles designed to emphasize and safeguard the distinctive doctrines and ecclesiastical positions of particular branches of the church. Of this nature are the Confessions of the Lutheran church--the Augsburg Confession of 1530; the Genevese or Calvinistic of 1549 consisting of 26 articles, defining particularly the nature of the Sacraments; confessions of the Dutch church confirmed at the Synod of Dort in 1619 and known as the "Decrees of Dort"; and the famous Heidelberg Catechism. To this series of Protestant confessions must be added the 39 Articles of the Church of England and the Westminster Confession of Faith, which is the doctrinal standard not only. of the churches of Scotland, but of the principal Presbyterian churches of Britain and America.
LITERATURE.
Winer, Doctrines and Confessions of Christendom (translation Clark, 1873): Lumby, History of the Creeds; Swainson, The Nicene and Apostles' Creeds (1875); Heurtley, Harmonia Symbolica (1858); Zahn, Apost. Symb. (1892); Harnack, Apost. Glaubensbekenntnis; Swete, Apostles' Creed; Hefele, Councils of the Church; Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom. For exposition, and of a more popular nature, may be mentioned the works of Hooker, Barrow, and Beveridge, and especially Bishop Pearson; Westcott, Historic Faith; Norris, Rudiments of Theology; W. W. Harvey, The Three Creeds; J. Eyre Yonge, An Exposition of the Apostles' Creed (1888); Wilfred Richmond, The Creed in the Epistles of Paul (1909).
Arch. B. D. Alexander
krek, colloq. krik (kolpos (Acts 27:39), the Revised Version (British and American) "bay"): The spot has been identified as the traditional Bay of Paul about 8 miles Northwest of the town of Valetta in the island of Malta.
See MELITA .
krep'-ing (remes, sherets; herpeton): Remes and sherets, with the root verbs ramas and sharats, are used without any sharp distinction for insects and other small creatures. Ramas means clearly "to creep," and is used even of the beasts of the forest (Ps 104:20), while sharats is rather "to swarm." But in at least one passage (Lev 11:44), we have the noun, sherets, with the verb ramas; "with any manner of creeping thing that moveth upon the earth." The principal passages where these words occur are the accounts of the Creation and the Flood and the references to unclean animals in Lev and in the vision of Peter. In the last we have the word herpeton as the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew words (Acts 10:12). Winged creeping things (sherets ha-`oph, Lev 11:20 ff), as well as the wingless, are unclean, but an exception is made in favor of the locusts, "which have legs above their feet, where-with to leap upon the earth."
Alfred Ely Day
kre-ma'-shun (compare saraph, Josh 7:15, etc., "shall be burnt with fire"; kaio, 1 Cor 13:3, "If I give my body to be burned," etc.): Cremation, while the customary practice of the ancient Greeks, and not unknown among the Romans, was certainly not the ordinary mode of disposing of the dead among the Hebrews or other oriental peoples. Even among the Greeks, bodies were often buried without being burned (Thuc. i. 134,6; Plato Phaedo 115 E; Plut. Lyc. xxvii). Cicero thought that burial was the more ancient practice, though among the Romans both methods were in use in his day (De leg. ii.22,56). Lucian (De luctu xxi) expressly says that, while the Greeks burned their dead, the Persians buried them (See BURIAL , and compare 2 Sam 21:12-14). In the case supposed by Amos (6:10), when it is predicted that Yahweh, in abhorrence of "the excellency of Jacob," shall "deliver up the city," and, "if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die," and "a man's kinsman (ARVm) shall take him up, even he that burneth him," etc., the suggestion seems to be that of pestilence with accompanying infection, and that this, or the special judgment of Yahweh, is why burning is preferred. When Paul (1 Cor 13:3) speaks of giving his body to be burned, he is simply accommodating his language to the customs of Corinth. (But see Plutarch on Zarmanochegas, and C. Beard, The Universal Christ.)
How far religious, or sanitary, or practical reasons were influential in deciding between the different methods, it is impossible to say. That bodies were burned in times of pestilence in the Valley of Hinnom at Jerusalem is without support (See Ezek 39:11-16). The "very great burning" at the burial of Asa (2 Ch 16:14) is not a case of cremation, but of burning spices and furniture in the king's honor (compare Jer 34:5). Nor is 1 Ki 13:2 a case in point; it is simply a prophecy of a king who shall take the bones of men previously buried, and the priests of the high places that burn incense in false worship, and cause them to be burned on the defiled altar to further pollute it and render it abominable.
There is in the New Testament no instance of cremation, Jewish, heathen or Christian, and clearly the early Christians followed the Jewish practice of burying the dead (see Tert., Apol., xlii; Minuc. Felix, Octav., xxxix; Aug., De civ. Dei, i.12,13). Indeed, cremation has never been popular among Christians, owing largely, doubtless, to the natural influence of the example of the Jews, the indisputable fact that Christ was buried, the vivid hope of the resurrection and the more or less material views concerning it prevalent here and there at this time or that. While there is nothing anti-Christian in it, and much in sanitary considerations to call for it in an age of science, it is not likely that it will ever become the prevailing practice of Christendom.
George B. Eager
kres'-enz (Kreskes, "increasing"): An assistant of Paul, mentioned in 2 Tim 4:10 as having gone to Galatia. That he was one of the Seventy, and that he founded the church in Vienna in Gaul, are traditions without any trustworthy basis.
kres'-ents (saharonim): Moon-shaped necklaces (Jdg 8:21,26; Isa 3:18).f Paul, mentioned in 2 Tim 4:10 as having gone to Galatia. That he was one of the Seventy, and that he founded the church in Vienna in Gaul, are traditions without any trustworthy basis.
kret (Krete, ethnic Kretes, Acts 2:11; Tit 1:12): An island bounding the Aegean Sea on the South. It stretches from 34 degrees 50' to 35 degrees 40' North latitude and from 23 degrees 30' to 26 degrees 20' East long. With Cythera on the North and Carpathos and Rhodos on the Northeast, it forms a continuous bridge between Greece and Asia Minor. The center of the island is formed by a mountain chain rising to a height of 8,193 ft. in Mt. Ida, and fringed with low valleys beside the coast. There are no considerable rivers; the largest, the Metropole, on the South, is a tiny stream, fordable anywhere. An island of considerable extent (156 miles long, and from 7 to 30 miles broad), in several districts very fertile and possessing one or two good harbors, it seems marked out by its position for an important role in the history of the eastern Mediterranean. But never since an age which was already legendary when Greek history began has Crete occupied a dominating position among the powers of the surrounding continents. Internal dissensions, due in ancient times to the diversity of races inhabiting its soil (Eteocretans--the original inhabitants--Pelasgians, Acheans, Cydonians and Dorians), and in modern times to the fact that a large minority of the population has accepted the Ottoman religion along with Ottoman government, have kept Crete in a position of political inferiority throughout the historical period.
Mt. Ida in Crete was famous in Greek legend as the birthplace of Zeus. The half-legendary, half-historical King Minos was said to be the son of Zeus, and to have derived from his father the wisdom to which, by a type of myth common in Greek lands, the constitution of the Cretan cities was ascribed. Minos was accepted as a historical personage by Thucydides and Aristotle, who say that he was the first dynast in Greece to establish dominion on the sea. One of his exploits was the suppression of piracy in Cretan waters, a feat which had to be repeated by the Roman Pompeius at a later period. Aristotle compares the Cretan institutions with those of Sparta; the island was said to have been colonized by Dorians from Peloponnesus (Politics ii.10). The most important cities in Crete were Knossos (whose palace has been excavated with fruitful results by Mr. Arthur Evans), Gortyna, near the Gulf of Messara, and Cydonia, with its river Iardanus. The excavations of Mr. Evans at Knossos and of the Italians at Phastos (near Fair Havens) prove that Crete was a center of Mediterranean civilization in an early age. In the Homeric poems, Crete is said to have contained an hundred cities; at that period the Cretans were still famed as daring sailors. In the classical age of Greek history they never held a leading position. They are mentioned chiefly as traders and mercenary soldiers, skilled especially in archery. During the Hellenistic period Crete remained free. Demetrius Nicator made the island his base of operations before his defeat at Azotus in 148.
In 141, the Cretan Jews were influential enough to secure the patronage of Rome. They were being oppressed by the people of Gortyna, and appealed to Rome, which granted them protection. In strengthening the position of the Jews, the Romans were copying the Seleucid policy in Asia Minor; both the Seleucids and the Romans found the Jews among their most devoted supporters in their subject states. This interference of Rome in the interest of her future partisans paved the way for her annexation of the island in the following century. From this date, there was a strong and prosperous body of Jews in Crete, and Cretans are mentioned among the strangers present at the Feast of Pentecost in Acts 2:11. Its alliance with Mithradates the Great, and the help it gave to the Cilician pirates gave Rome the pretext she desired for making war on Crete, and the island was annexed by. Metellus in 67 BC. With Cyrene on the North coast of Africa, it was formed into a Roman province. When Augustus divided the Empire between the Senate and himself, Crete and Cyrene were sufficiently peaceful to be given to the Senate.
They formed one province till the time of Constantine, who made Crete a separate province. The Saracens annexed Crete in 823 AD, but it was recaptured for the Byzantine Empire by Nicephorus Phokas in the following century. From the 13th till the 17th century it was held by the Venetian Republic: from this period dates its modern name "Kandia," which the Venetians gave to the Saracen capital Khandax, and afterward to the whole island. After a desperate resistance, lasting from 1645 to 1669 AD, Crete fell into the hands of the Turks, who still exercise a nominal suzerainty over the island.
4. Crete in the Old Testament:
In 1 Sam 30:14; Ezek 25:16, and Zeph 2:5, the Philistines are described as Cherethites, which is usually taken to mean Cretans. The name is connected with Caphtor and the Caphtorim (Dt 2:23; Jer 47:4; Am 9:7). The similarity between the river-names Jordan and Iardanos (Homer Odyssey iii. 292) "about whose streams the Kydones dwelt," has suggested that. Caphtor is to be identified with Cydonia; or possibly it was the name of the whole island. Tacitus believed in an ancient connection between Crete and Palestine; the Jews, he said, were fugitives from Crete, and derived their name Iudaei from Mt. Ida (Hist. v.2). Crete is mentioned in connection with the campaign of Demetrius Nicator, referred to above, in 1 Macc 10:67.
See CAPHTOR ;CHERETHITES .
5. Crete in the New Testament:
Crete owes its connection with Pauline history to the accident of a gale which forced the ship carrying Paul to Rome to take shelter on the South coast of the island. In the harbor of Myra, on the coast of Lycia, the centurion in charge of Paul transferred him from the Adramyttian ship which had brought them from Caesarea, to a ship from Alexandria in Egypt, bound for Ostia with a cargo of grain. The fact that the centurion was in virtual command of the ship (Acts 27:11) proves that it was one of the vessels in the imperial transport service. Leaving Myra they came opposite Cnidus with difficulty, against a head-wind. The ordinary course from Cnidus in good weather was to steer straight for Cythera, but on this occasion the West or Northwest winds made this route impracticable, and they sailed under the lee of Crete, whose South coast would shelter them from a Northwest gale, and afford occasional protection from a West gale. They passed Salmone, the Northeast corner of Crete, with difficulty, and worked round the coast to Fair Havens, a harbor somewhat to the East of Cape Matala. The great Feast fell while they were at Fair Havens; in 59 AD it was On October 5, in the middle of the season when the equinoxes made sailing impossible. Paul advised the centurion to winter in Fair Havens, but the captain wished to reach Phoenix, a harbor farther to the West, where ships from Egypt were accustomed to put in during the stormy season. It was decided to follow the captain's advice; but on its way to Phoenix the ship was struck by a Northeast wind called Euraquilo, which rushed down from Mt. Ida. The ship was carried out to sea; it managed to run under the lee of Cauda, an island 23 miles West of Cape Matala, where the crew hauled in the boat, undergirded the ship, and slackened sail. On the fourteenth night they were driven on the coast of Malta, and wrecked.
The narrative does not state that Paul landed in Crete, but as the ship lay for some time at Fair Havens (Acts 27:8,9) he had plenty of opportunity to land, but not to travel inland. The centurion gave him permission to land at Sidon. Paul left Titus in Crete (Tit 1:5); tradition made the latter its first bishop, and patron saint.
Cretans were present, as noted above, at the Feast of Pentecost (Acts 2:11). Paul's estimate of the Cretan character (Tit 1:10-16) was the one current in antiquity. Paul quotes (Tit 1:12) a well-known line of the Cretan poet Epimenides (who lived about 600 BC) on the mendacity of the Cretans. The sentiment was repeated by Callimachus (Hymn to Zeus 8). Other ancient witnesses to the detestation in which the Cretan character was held are Livy xliv.45, and Plutarch Aemilius section 23.
LITERATURE.
Smith, Voyage and Shipwreck of Paul; Ramsay, Paul the Traveler and Roman Citizen, 320-30. On Crete in Greek and Roman times, consult e.g. Grote, Holm, and Mommsen. A succinct account of the prehistoric archaeology of the island is given in Burrows, The Discoveries in Crete, and Bailkie, The Sea Kings of Crete.
W. M. Calder
('ebhuc): "Crib" translates the Hebrew word [~'ebhuc exactly, as it denotes "a barred receptacle for fodder used in cowsheds and foldyards; also in fields, for beasts lying out in the winter." The Hebrew is from a word meaning to feed ('abhac), and is used in the precise sense of the English word in Job 39:9 of the "crib" of the wild ox, in Prov 14:4, "Where no oxen are, the crib is clean," and in Isa 1:3, "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib." section 23.
krik'-et (chargol): This occurs in Lev 11:22 (the King James Version "beetle"), and doubtless refers to some kind of locust or grasshopper.
kri'-er (qara'; compare boao):
(1) Neither is this exact word found in English Versions of the Bible, nor a word exactly corresponding to it in the Hebrew Bible, but the character it stands for appears as "one who cries aloud," i.e., proclaims mandates or gives public messages. In Prov 1:21 it is said, "She (Wisdom) crieth in the chief place of concourse." John the Baptist calls himself "the voice of one crying in the wilderness" (Jn 1:23)--like a herald going before the king.
(2) In the East today every village even has its public crier, selected for his loud or penetrating voice, and appointed to give notice of the fresh orders or mandates of the mudir ("governor") or other authorities. The muezzin of the Moslems, who at the five appointed times of prayer mounts the minaret and calls the faithful to prayer, is another striking example. Something like the ancient "heralds" of the king were the "heralds" of the Middle Ages in Europe who, preceded by trumpeters, made official proclamations:
George B. Eager
krim, krimz: This. term is used in English as the equivalent of the Hebrew mishpaT, "judgment," "verdict" (Ezek 7:23); zimmah, "a heinous crime" (Job 31:11); 'asham = "a fault," "sin" (Gen 26:10, English Versions of the Bible "guiltiness"); and Greek aitia, "case," "cause" (Acts 25:27, the Revised Version (British and American) "charges"). In the King James Version Jn 18:38; 19:4,6, the rendition is "fault."
egklema, "indictment," "charge" (Acts 25:16 the King James Version) is changed in the Revised Version (British and American) to "matter." A crime is a transgression against the public right; serious offense against the law; a base weakness or iniquity, all of which are regarded by the Bible as offenses against (1) God, or (2) man, or (3) both. An injury to the creature is regarded as obnoxious to the Creator. Specific forms of crime are the following:
Adultery.
See separate article.
Assassination.
This term does not occur in the English Versions of the Bible, but, of course, is included in the more general "to kill," or "to slay" (haragh = "to smite with deadly intent" "destroy," "kill," "murder," "put to death"). The law distinguished between unpremeditated and premeditated slaying, pronouncing a curse upon the latter (Dt 27:25). David expresses the deepest abhorrence of such an act (2 Sam 4:9-12). Instances are found recorded in Jdg 3:15-22; 2 Sam 3:27; 4:5-7; 13:28,29; 20:9,10; 2 Ki 12:20; 19:37; Isa 37:38. See also separate article.
Bestiality.
According to Webster: "unnatural connection with a beast." This form of vice was treated by the Mosaic law as something exceedingly loathsome and abhorrent, calling for extreme language in its description and rigorous measures in its punishment. Both the beast and the guilty human were to be put to death (Ex 22:19; Lev 18:23; 20:15,16; Dt 27:21), in order, as the Talmud says, to obliterate all memory of the crime.
Blasphemy.
See separate article.
Breach of Covenant.
Breach of Covenant (parar 'eth ha-berith).--According to Poucher (HDB, article "Crimes"), this term included: (1) failure to observe the Day of Atonement (Lev 23:29); work on that day (Lev 23:28); (2) sacrifice of children to Moloch (Lev 20:3); (3) neglect of circumcision (Gen 17:14; Ex 4:26); (4) unauthorized manufacture of the holy oil (Ex 30:33); (5) anointing an alien therewith (Ex 30:33); (6) neglect of the Passover (Nu 9:13). Note also the following: Gen 17:14; Lev 26:15-44; Dt 29:25; 31:16,20. Paul (Rom 1:31) speaks of asunthetoi = "Convenant--breakers."
Breach of Ritual.
A term not found in the Scriptures, but designed to cover a number of acts prohibited by the ceremonial law. They have been exhaustively enumerated by Poucher (HDB, article "Crimes"): (1) eating blood, whether of fowl or beast (Lev 7:27; 17:14); (2) eating fat of the beast of sacrifice (Lev 7:25); (3) eating leavened bread during the Passover (Ex 12:15,19); (4) failure to bring an offering when an animal is slaughtered for food (Lev 17:4); (5) offering sacrifice while the worshipper is under the ban of uncleanness. (Lev 7:20,21; 22:3,4,9); (6) making holy ointment for private use (Ex 30:32,33); (7) using the same for perfume (Ex 30:38); (8) neglect of purification in general (Nu 19:13,10); (9) slaughtering an animal for food away from the door of the tabernacle (Lev 17:4,9); even the alien must comply, so that the introduction of worship at other places might be avoided; (10) touching holy things illegally (Nu 4:16,20 the Revised Version (British and American) "the sanctuary"). The punishment for the non-observance of these prohibitions was the "cutting off" from the transgressor's people (nikhrath miqqerebh = "cut off from among," i.e. excommunicated).
Breach of Trust.
Bribery.
See separate article.
Burglary.
This term does not occur. The corresponding act is defined as "thievery accompanied by breaking," and it places the offender beyond protection from violence (Ex 22:2). The crime might be committed in various degrees, and to burglarize the "devoted things" was punishable by death (Josh 7:25), as was also man-stealing (Ex 21:16; Dt 24:7).
Debt.
See separate article.
Deception.
See separate article.
Disobedience.
See separate article.
Divination.
See separate article.
Drunkenness.
See separate article.
Evil Speaking (Slander).
See Speaking Evil.
Falsehood.
Occurs as the rendition of ma`al = "treachery," "sin," "trespass" (Job 21:34); and of sheqer = "a sham," "deceit," "lying" (2 Sam 18:13; Ps 7:14; 119:118; 144:8,11; Isa 28:15; 57:4; 59:13; Jer 10:14; 13:25; Hos 7:1; Mic 2:11). In every case willful perversion of the truth or preference for the untruth is at least presupposed, hence, falsehood always marks an evil disposition, enmity against truth, and hence, against God; consequently is criminal in the fullest sense.
False Swearing.
"Swearing to a lie or falsehood" (sheqer) is mentioned in Lev 6:3,1; 19:12; Jer 5:2; 7:9; Hos 10:4; Zec 5:4. From these passages and their context, it appears that this crime was considered in the twofold sense of a wrong against (1) the neighbor, and (2) against God, for the oath was an appeal to God as a witness to the truthfulness of the statement; hence, to swear falsely was to represent God as supporting a false statement.
Fornication.
Hebrew, zanah = "to commit adultery," especially of the female, and less frequently of mere fornication, seldom of involuntary ravishment; also used figuratively in the sense of idolatry, the Jewish people being regarded as the spouse of Yahweh (2 Ch 21:11; Isa 23:17; Ezek 16:26). Once we find the derivative noun taznuth (Ezek 16:29). In the New Testament, with both the literal and the figurative application, we find porneia, and porneuo (Mt 5:32; 15:19; Jn 8:41; Acts 15:20; 1 Cor 5:1; 6:13,18; 7:2; 10:8; 2 Cor 12:21; Gal 5:19; Eph 5:3; Col 3:5; 1 Thess 4:3; Rev 2:14,20,21; 9:21; 14:8; 17:2,4). The intensive ekporneuo = "to be utterly unchaste" is found in Jude 1:7. Every form of unchastity is included in the term "fornication."
Forswear.
Found only in Mt 5:33 in the sense of committing perjury (epiorkeo).
Harlotry.
The avocational or at least habitual, notorious practice of unchastity. In most instances the ordinary term for unchaste living, zanah, is employed (Gen 34:31; 38:15,24; Lev 21:14; Josh 2:1 (Rahab); Jdg 11:1; 16:1; 1 Ki 3:16; Prov 7:10; 29:3; Jer 5:7; Am 7:17). For the publicly known woman of the street and the professional devotee in the pagan temple-worship, the term kedheshah, was employed (Gen 38:21,22 the King James Version; Hos 4:14). The Greek porne, occurs in Mt 21:31 f; Lk 15:30; 1 Cor 6:15,16; Heb 11:31; Jas 2:25). Figurative: Often used metaphorically of idolatry or any defection from the Divine covenant, and applied particularly to Jerusalem (Isa 1:21); the Jewish nation (Jer 2:20; 3:1,6 ff; often in Ezek 16 and 23; Mic 1:7); Israel (Hos 4:15); Nineveh (Nah 3:4); Tyro, with reference to the various arts employed to renew her commerce (Isa 23:16) and to her restored traffic (Isa 23:17); and to antiChristian "Babylon" (Rev 17:5,15; 19:2). See also Fornication.
Homicide.
"Manslayer" (ratsach, "to dash in pieces," "to kill," "to murder"; Greek androphonos, with the same meaning): Mentioned in Nu 35:6,12; 1 Tim 1:9. The Hebrew law distinguished between the premeditated and the unpremeditated slaying. See separate article.
Idolatry.
See separate article.
Ill-treatment of Parents (Ex 21:15,17; Lev 20:9; Dt 21:18 ff).
See below.
Injuries to the Person (Ex 21:18 ff; Lev 24:19 f; Dt 25:11).
Irreverence.
Lack of respect for God or His natural representatives, the parents or governmental officers. See also Parents, Crimes against; Blasphemy.
Incest.
Designated in Hebrew by zimmah, "vice," "wickedness," "refined immorality" (Lev 18:17; 20:14); also "unnatural vice," tebhel, the same word that is used to designate the unnatural commingling with beasts. Amnon's deed is designated as checedh, indicating the degradation of the tenderness natural between brothers and sisters into a tenderness of an immoral character (2 Sam 13). The crime of sexual relation of persons within the degrees of relationship forbidden by the Levitical law, as for instance, that of Lot's daughters with their father (Gen 19:33); the son with his father's concubines, as for instance, Reuben (Gen 35:22), and Absalom (2 Sam 16:22; compare 1 Cor 5:1); that of the father-in-law with his daughter-in-law (Gen 38:15 ff; compare Ezek 22:11); of the brother with the sister or half-sister, as for instance, Amnon (2 Sam 13:14); of the brother-in-law with the sister-in-law (Mt 14:3); with the wife's mother, or the wife's daughter while living in apparent marriage with the mother (Lev 20:14; 18:17). Illicit relation with the brother's widow is designated (Lev 20:21 ) as a disgraceful deed, literally, "uncleanness" (excepting the levirate marriage). Such acts were forbidden on the ground that the Jews were to avoid the evil practices of the Canaanites and the Egyptians in regard to marriage within the specified limits, because this would naturally result in breaking down the sanctity of the bonds connecting near relatives, and in throwing open the flood gates of immorality among them. It is the Divine plan that the unions based on mutual choice and love, mingled with carnality, shall become clarified more and more into the purer love of close consanguineal relations; not vice versa. Then, too, such provisions would secure higher results in training and in the production of mentally and physically healthy children, the balancing and evening up of contrasts of Nature, and the production of new and improved types. The principle on which the prohibitions are imposed seems to be this: Marriage is forbidden between any person and a direct ancestor or a direct descendant or any close relative, such as brother or sister of either himself or any of his ancestors or any of his immediate descendants.
Infanticide.
This crime, in the form in which it has been and is prevalent among barbarous nations, seems to have been quite foreign to the minds of the Hebrews, for they had too lofty a conception of the value of human life, and children were considered a blessing; their absence in the home, a curse (compare Ex 1:17,21; Ps 127; 128). For this reason, there appeared to be no reason to prohibit it by law, except as the Israelites might be influenced to sacrifice their children to Molech when following the religious customs of the Canaanites.
See MOLECH .
Kidnapping (Man-Stealing).
andrapodistes = "man-stealer," "slave-dealer" (1 Tim 1:10). This was a mortal offense; but it seems that it, like some other forms of iniquity, was unknown to the Hebrews, except as they came in contact with it through their intercourse with other nations, such as the Romans and the Greeks, whose mythology frequently alludes to such acts.
Lying, Malice, Manslaughter, Murder, Oath.
See separate articles.
Parents, Crimes against.
The law enjoined upon the infant all the reverence toward his parents, especially the father, that he could bestow on a merely human being. The reason for this lay in the fact that the heads of families were expected to transmit the Divine law to their household, and thus to stand in the place of God. That the mother was to share this reverence practically on equal terms with the father is shown by the fact that each is mentioned separately whenever obedience and reverence are enjoined upon the child (Dt 5:16). As the specific crime against Yahweh consisted in blasphemy and open rebellion against the law, so the crime against parents consisted in deliberate disobedience and stubbornness (Dt 21:18). And here again both the father and the mother are directed to lay hands upon him and bring him unto the elders for punishment. How greatly such conduct was held in horror is seen in many of the Proverbs, especially 30:17. It would be hard to specify all the acts which, in view of the above, would be considered crimes against the parents, but it is evident that everything which would lower their dignity and influence or violate their sense of just recognition must be carefully avoided, as witness the curse visited upon Ham (Gen 9:20 through 27).
Perjury.
See False Swearing; Forswear above; also articleOATH .
Prophesying, False.
By reason of his position as the recognized mouthpiece of Yahweh, the prophet's word was weighty in influence; hence, to prophesy falsely was equivalent to practicing fraud publicly. Jeremiah described the condition as "wonderful and horrible," which made such things possible (5:30,31). See also Jer 23,12; 29:8,9; Ezek 21:23; Zec 10:2; Mt 7:15; 24:11,24; Mk 13:22; Lk 6:26; Acts 13:6 (Bar-Jesus); 2 Pet 2:1; 1 Jn 4:1; Rev 16:13; 19:20; 20:10. See also separate article.
Prostitution.
Hebrew and Christian morality never condoned this practice, though the Bible recognizes its existence as a fact even among God's people. The Hebrew father was forbidden (Lev 19:29) to give his daughter over to a life of shame (chalal, "to profane a person, place or thing," "to pollute"). See also Fornication, Harlotry, and Whoredom below.
Rape.
chazak = "to seize," "bind," "restrain," "conquer, "force," "ravish." The punishment for this crime was greater when the act was committed against a betrothed woman (Dt 22:25-29). See also Seduction.
Removing Landmarks.
(Dt 19:14).
See LANDMARK .
Reviling (Ex 22:28).
See Irreverence above and articleREVILE .
Robbery.
gazal = "to pluck off," "strip," "rob," "take away by force or violence"; forbidden in the law and frequently referred to as despicable (Lev 19:13; 26:22; 1 Sam 23:1; Prov 22:22; Isa 10:2,13; 17:14; Ezek 33:15; 39:10; Mal 3:8,9).
Sabbath-Breaking.
As the Hebrew Sabbath was regarded as a day of rest, all acts absolutely unnecessary were considered a violation, a "breaking" of the Sabbath, which appears sufficiently from the commandment (Ex 20:8-11); and the head of the household was held responsible for the keeping of this commandment on the part of all sojourners under his roof.
No other law gave the sophistical legalists of later Judaism so much opportunity for hair-splitting distinctions as did this. In answer to the question what labors were forbidden, they mentioned 39 specific forms of work, and then proceeded to define what constituted each particular form. But as even these definitions would not cover all possible questions, special precepts were invented. In order that one might not be caught in the midst of unfinished labors, when the Sabbath began (at sunset), certain forms of work must not be undertaken on Friday. Thus it was forbidden to fry meat, onions or eggs, if there was not sufficient time for them to be fully cooked before evening. No bread, no cakes, must be put into the oven, if there was not sufficient time remaining for their surface to brown before night.
See SABBATH .
Seduction.
ta`ah, "to dissemble," "seduce," and Ta`ah, with the same meaning; apoplanao, "to lead astray"; planao, "to go astray," "deceive," "err," "seduce"; and goes, "a wizard," "an impostor," "seducer." In all the passages in which the idea of seduction is expressed in the English the term is used not in the modern sense of a trespass against a woman's person, but in the more general and figurative sense of leading into sin generally (2 Ki 21:9; Prov 12:26 the King James Version.; Isa 19:13 the King James Version; Ezek 13:10; Mk 13:22 the King James Version; 2 Tim 3:13 the King James Version; 1 Jn 2:26 the King James Version; Rev 2:20). However, the modern English idea of the word is expressed in the law found in Ex 22:16,17.
Slander.
See separate article.
Sodomy.
See Unnatural Vice.
Speaking Evil.
"To bring an evil (ra`) name upon" (Dt 19:15; 1 Ki 22:23; Ps 34:13; 41:5; 50:19; 109:20; 140:11; Prov 15:28; 16:30). Evil speaking is considered a crime because it is simply the expression of the evil intents of the heart. This is brought out more clearly in the New Testament (Mt 7:17,18; 12:34,35; Mk 9:39; Lk 6:45). As such, evil speaking (blasphemia) is represented as entirely unworthy a Christian character (Eph 4:31; 1 Pet 4:4,14; 2 Pet 2:2,10,12; Jas 4:11; Jude 1:10); and katalaleo = "babble against," "gossip." It will be noticed from the above that evil speaking against those in authority is designated with the same word ("blasphemy") as raillery against God, they being considered God's representatives on earth.
See also EVIL-SPEAKING ;SLANDER .
Stealing.
Hebrew ganabh = "to thieve" (literal, or figurative); by implication, "to deceive," "carry away," "secretly bring," "steal away" (Gen 44:8; Ex 20:15; 21:16; 22:1; Prov 6:30; Zec 5:3; Gen 31:20,26 f; 2 Sam 15:6; 19:3; Job 27:20; Prov 9:17 ("Stolen waters are sweet"; the forbidden is attractive; compare Rom 7:7)). Greek klepto = "to filch," "steal" (Mt 6:19,20; 19:18; Jn 10:10; Rom 2:21; 13:9; Eph 4:28). See Theft.
Suicide.
No special law is found against this crime, for it is included in the prohibition against killing. Contrary to the practice and the philosophy of paganism, the act was held in deep abhorrence by the Hebrews because of the high value placed on human life. It was held inexcusable that any but the most degraded and satanic should lay hands on their own lives. Only the remorse of the damned could drive one to it, as witness Saul (1 Sam 31:4) and Judas (Mt 27:5).
Theft.
Hebrew genebhah "stealing" (concrete), "something stolen," "theft" (Ex 22:3,1); mentioned in connection with other wickedness (klope) in Mt 15:19; Mk 7:21; and (klemma) in Rev 9:21. All three words are used abstractly for the act and concretely for the thing stolen.
See THIEF .
Unchastity.
No other form of sin is mentioned with disapproval and threats more frequently than the various forms of carnal vice, for no other sin is more natural or widespread.
See CHASTITY ;LEWDNESS ;MARRIAGE .
Unnatural Vice (Sodomy).
Alluded to with delicacy, but positively condemned as an abomination (Gen 13:13; 19:5,7; Lev 18:22; 20:13). It was the specific form of wickedness through which Sodom became notorious, so that "sodomite" is the regular translation of qadhesh, "a (quasi) sacred person," i.e. (technically) "a (male or female) devotee to licentious idolatry" (Dt 23:17; 1 Ki 14:24; 15:12; 22:46; 2 Ki 23:7; Job 36:14 margin). Though permitted and even encouraged in heathen cult, it was never to be tolerated in the worship of Yahweh.
Usury.
See separate article.
Witnessing, False.
The Hebrew idiom is `edh sheqer, "witness of a falsehood," "lie" (Ex 20:16; Dt 19:16,18; Prov 6:19; 14:5,25; 19:5,9); Greek pseudomartureo, "to bring false testimony"; -marturia, "bearing of false testimony" (Mk 10:19; 14:56,57). It goes without saying that the law was emphatic in its denunciation of this practice, and in order that the innocent might be protected against the lying accuser, a criminal was to be convicted only on the testimony of at least two or three witnesses, testifying to the same facts (Nu 35:30). If one be found testifying falsely, he was to be punished by suffering the penalty which would have been inflicted on him against whom he testified, had he been convicted (Dt 19:16-19).
Whoredom.
Hebrew zanah = "to commit adultery," "fornication or illicit incontinence of any kind"; and its derivative taznuth = "fornication," "harlotry," "whoredom"; Greek porneuo (verb), and porneia (noun), of the same meaning. The following passages will reveal the estimate in which such uncleanness was held, and the fact that men and women given to it were held in equal abhorrence and designated by the same terms: Gen 38:24; Lev 19:29; Nu 14:33; 25:1; Ezek 16; 23:3,7,8,11,27,29,43; 43:7,9; Hos 1:2; 2:4; 4:11,12; 6:10; Nah 3:4; Mt 5:32; Rom 1:26 f; 1 Cor 5:1; 7:2; 10:8; Jude 1:7; Rev 2:14,20 f; 18:9; 19:2.
Figurative: Because of the infidelity to the lifemate and to right living involved in such acts, the practice became symbolical of infidelity to God and His law, and thus served as a frequent figure of speech for Israel's error and apostasy.
See HARLOT .
Frank E. Hirsch
krim'-z'-n.
See COLORS .
krip'-'-l (cholos): Only occurs in Acts 14:8, denoting the congenitally lame man at Lystra. In the King James Version (1611) the word is spelled "creeple." It originally meant one whose body is bent together as in the attitude of creeping. This was probably a case of infantile paralysis.
kris'-ping: Pins for crisping, or curling, the hair. Thus the King James Version renders Hebrew chariTim (Isa 3:22; compare Vulgate). the Revised Version (British and American) substitutes more correctly "satchels" (so Qimchi (compare 2 Ki 5:23); compare Arabic). Others think of girdles; still others of veils or head-bands.
kris'-pus (Krispos, "curled"): One of the small number baptized by Paul among the Corinthian Christians (1 Cor 1:14). He had been ruler of the Jewish synagogue, but he "believed in the Lord with all his house"; and, following Paul, withdrew from the synagogue (Acts 18:7,8). He seems to have been succeeded by Sosthenes (Acts 18:17). According to tradition he became bishop of Aegina.
(The Graf-Wellhausen Hypothesis)