About the Dictionary
Front matter from Watson's Biblical and Theological Dictionary: the publisher's advertisement, the author's preface, and the reference tables bound with it.
Advertisement to the American Edition.
ADVERTISEMENT TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.
No other improvements have been attempted in this edition of Mr. Watson's Biblical and Theological Dictionary, than adding a few notes in relation to some matters existing in this country, which had escaped the attention of the author, and rendering those passages and phrases into English which had been left untranslated. Such translations are included in brackets. It may be proper to remark, that only that part of the work from the eight hundred and forty second page has been printed under the superintendence of the present editor; the former part having passed through the press previous to the last general conference. It is not necessary to say any thing in commendation of this work. Whatever merit, however, may be attached to others of a similar character which have preceded it, we think it will be conceded by all, that Mr. Watson, by furnishing this Dictionary, has supplied a desideratum, in the department of Biblical and Theological literature, which had long been felt, and for doing which the religious community will not be backward in acknowledging its obligations.
N. BANGS
New York, Sept. 25, 1832.
Watson's Dictionary, p. 3
Preface By the Author.
PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR.
IN the following Dictionary, compiled from the best sources ancient and modern, with the addition of many original articles, the selections have been made with reference to what was thought most useful; and thus many things of minor importance, usually found in similar works, have been excluded. Every article too, taken from preceding Dictionaries, has been carefully weighed, and in a great number of instances modified, corrected, or enlarged; and numerous other writings variously illustrative of the Holy Scriptures have been made to contribute a portion of their information under different heads. This general acknowledgment renders a particular reference to the works made use of unnecessary. The fact is, that many of the most valuable of them are compilations from preceding compilations, and so have no title to be referred to as original authorities; while in other instances the articles in this Dictionary have been collected from several sources, and so altered, or combined with original corrections or enlargements, that it would be difficult to assign each portion to its proper original. Where, however, any particulars of fact or history required confirmation, the authority has been given.
It will be observed that all the places and persons mentioned in the Bible have not been noticed, for this would only have made the same unprofitable display of proper names which is seen in several other Dictionaries; but those have been selected on which any thing important for the right understanding of the Scriptures seemed, more or less, to depend. The same rule has been observed as to the natural history of the Bible, on which department great light has been thrown by Dr. Harris, whose learned work has been rather freely used. The leading sects and heresies, ancient and modern, have also been introduced; but with no design to embody a complete account of religious opinions: those only, therefore, have been inserted with which it is most necessary that the theological student should have a general acquaintance.
All that is important in those useful modern works which have been published upon the manners and customs of the east will be found embodied under different heads so far as it tends to elucidate the sacred volume; and many interesting extracts are given from the most intelligent of our modern travellers in Palestine, and neighbouring countries, pointing out the present condition of places celebrated in sacred geography, and especially when the account illustrates and renders remarkable the fulfilment of prophecy.
At the close of the whole, a complete alphabetical list of proper names occurring in the Bible, with their significations and right pronunciation, is appended.
LONDON, August 20, 1831.
Watson's Dictionary, p. 4
Jewish Weights, Reduced to English Troy Weight.
TABLES OF THE WEIGHTS, MEASURES, AND MONEY, MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE.
JEWISH WEIGHTS, REDUCED TO ENGLISH TROY WEIGHT.
| lbs. | ozs. | pen. | gr. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Gerah, the twentieth part of a Shekel | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| The Bekah, half a Shekel | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| The Shekel | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| The Maneh, sixty Shekels | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| The Talent, fifty Maneh, or three thousand Shekels | 125 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
According to the bishop of Peterborough’s calculations, the Gerah is nearly equal to 11 grains Troy; the Bekah, to about 4 3/4 pennyweights; and the Shekel, to about 9 1/8 pennyweights.
Watson's Dictionary, p. 358
Scripture Measures of Length: Short Measures.
TABLES OF SCRIPTURE MEASURES OF LENGTH, REDUCED TO ENGLISH MEASURE.
SHORT MEASURES.
Shown as originally typeset — this reduction table's triangular layout does not translate cleanly into a simple grid.
Digit Palm Span Cubit Fathom Ezekiel's reed Arabian pole Schoenus's measuring line Eng. ft. Inches Digit 0 0.912 Palm 4 0 3.684 Span 12 3 0 10.944 Cubit 24 6 3 1 9.888 Fathom 96 24 6 2 7 3.552 Ezekiel's reed 144 36 12 6 1.5 10 11.328 Arabian pole 192 48 16 8 2 1.3 14 7.104 Schoenus's measuring line 1920 480 160 80 20 13.3 10 145 11.04
Watson's Dictionary, p. 358
Scripture Measures of Length: Long Measures.
LONG MEASURES.
Shown as originally typeset — this reduction table's triangular layout does not translate cleanly into a simple grid.
Cubit Stadium or Furlong Sabbath day's journey Eastern mile Parasang A day's journey Miles Paces Feet Cubit 0 0 1.824 Stadium or Furlong 400 0 145 4.6 Sabbath day's journey 2000 5 0 729 3.0 Eastern mile 4000 10 2 1 403 1.0 Parasang 12000 30 6 3 4 153 3.0 A day's journey 96000 240 48 24 8 33 172 4.0
*** 5 Feet = 1 Pace; 1056 = 1 mile.
According to the bishop of Peterborough, a parasang is equal to 4 miles, 116 paces.
FOR TABLES OF TIME SEE THE ARTICLES “See Months” AND “See Day.”
Watson's Dictionary, p. 359
Scripture Measures of Capacity: Liquid Measures.
TABLES OF SCRIPTURE MEASURES OF CAPACITY. MEASURES FOR LIQUIDS, REDUCED TO ENGLISH WINE MEASURE.
Shown as originally typeset — this reduction table's triangular layout does not translate cleanly into a simple grid.
Caph Log Cab Hin Seah Bath or Epha Gallons Pints Caph 0 0.625 Log 1.3 0 0.833 Cab 5.3 4 0 3.333 Hin 16 12 3 1 2 Seah 32 24 6 2 2 4 Bath or Epha 96 72 18 6 3 7 4 Chomer, Homer, Kor, or Coros 960 720 180 60 20 10 75 5
The Omer was one-tenth of an Epha, and contained 6 pints; the Metretes of Syria, translated in John 2:6, “firkins,” 7 1/8 pints; and the eastern Cotyla, half a pint. This Cotyla, says the bishop of Peterborough, contains just 10 ounces Avoirdupois of rain water; the Omer, 100 ounces; the Epha, 1000; and the Chomer, 10,000 ounces. So by these weights all these measures of capacity may be expeditiously recovered to a near exactness.
Watson's Dictionary, p. 359
Scripture Measures of Capacity: Dry Measures.
MEASURES FOR THINGS DRY, REDUCED TO ENGLISH CORN MEASURE.
Shown as originally typeset — this reduction table's triangular layout does not translate cleanly into a simple grid.
Gachal Cab Omer or Gomer Seah Epha Letech Pecks Gallons Pints Gachal 0 0 0.1416 Cab 20 0 0 2.8333 Omer or Gomer 36 1.8 0 0 5.1 Seah 120 6 3.3 1 0 1 Epha 360 18 10 3 3 0 3 Letech 1800 90 50 15 5 16 0 0 Chomer, Homer, etc. 3600 180 100 30 10 2 32 0 0
Watson's Dictionary, p. 360
Jewish Money, Reduced to the English Standard.
TABLES OF MONEY. JEWISH MONEY, REDUCED TO THE ENGLISH STANDARD.
Shown as originally typeset — this reduction table's triangular layout does not translate cleanly into a simple grid.
Gerah Bekah Sheckel Maneh, or Mina Hebraica £ s. d. Gerah 0 0 1.3687 Bekah 10 0 1 1.6875 Sheckel 20 2 0 2 3.375 Maneh, or Mina Hebraica 1200 120 50 5 14 0.75 Talent 60,000 6000 3000 60 342 3 9 Solidus Aureus, or Sextula, was worth 0 19 0.5 Siclus Aureus, or Gold Shekel 1 16 6 Talent of Gold 5475 0 0
The bishop of Peterborough makes the Mina Hebraica to contain 60 Shekels, and to weigh 27 oz. 7 ½ dwts.; which, at 5s. per ounce, will amount to 6l. 16s. 10½d.; and the Talent of Silver to contain 50 Minae, which, at 5s., will equal the amount in this table, 342l. 3s. 9d.
Watson's Dictionary, p. 360
Roman Money, Mentioned in the New Testament, Reduced to the English Standard.
ROMAN MONEY, MENTIONED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, REDUCED TO THE ENGLISH STANDARD.
| £ | s. | d. | far. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mite (Assarium) | 0 | 0 | 0 | ¾ |
| Farthing, (Quadrans,) about | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 ½ |
| Penny, or Denarius, (Silver) | 0 | 0 | 7 | 3 |
| Pound, or Mina | 3 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
According to the bishop of Peterborough, the Roman Mite is one-third of our farthing; Quadrans, three-fourths of a farthing; the Assarium, a farthing and a half; and the Assis three farthings.
*** In the preceding Tables, Silver is valued at 5s., and Gold at 4l. per ounce. SINCE the publication, in 1727, of Dr. Arbuthnot’s “Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights, and Measures, “that celebrated work has been regarded by the best divines as the general standard on these difficult subjects. More recently the bishop of Peterborough has rendered good service to this part of Biblical antiquity by entering into several nice and extensive calculations on the weights and measures mentioned in the Bible, which have, with very few exceptions, confirmed the previous investigations of Dr. Arbuthnot; and as the axiom, “What is new in theology is false,” holds good only in regard to the doctrines of Scripture, and not to its statics and numismatics, no hesitation has been felt in presenting the reader, under each of the preceding Tables, with some of the most important of the results which the bishop has thus obtained.
In the abstruse department of mensuration of superficies, the same learned prelate has also ably demonstrated, that the altar of incense, described in Exodus 30:2, as consisting of a cubit in length, and a cubit in breadth, and yet “four-square,” contained exactly one square cubit, that is, three English square feet, and about forty-seven square inches;—that the table of shew bread, described in Exodus 25:23, as being two cubits long and one broad, and rectangular, contained above six English square feet;—that the boards of the tabernacle, described in Exodus 26:16, as ten cubits in length and a cubit and a half in breadth, and rectangular, contained nearly fifty square feet of English measure;—that the mercy seat, which Moses is directed to make “two cubits and a half the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof,” Exodus 25:17, contained twelve and a half square feet;—that the altar of incense, which was directed to be “a cubit the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and four square.” Exodus 30:2, contained upward of three square feet;—that the court of the tabernacle, the orders concerning which were, “The length of the court shall be a hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty every where,” Exodus 27:18, comprised upward of sixteen thousand six hundred and thirty-four square feet, or in English land measure one rood, twenty-one perches, and twenty-seven and a half feet;—and that the Levites’ glebe, which is thus described in Numbers 35:3-5: “The cities they shall have to dwell in: and the suburbs of them shall be for their cattle, and for their goods, and for all their beasts. And the suburbs of the cities, which ye shall give unto the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the city and outward a thousand cubits round about. And ye shall measure from without the city on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits,” &c; “and the city shall be in the midst;” contained three hundred and five acres, two roods, and one perch, which was, for each of the four aides, seventy-six acres, one rood, twenty perches, and eighty square feet. Respecting the Egyptian aroura, which is sometimes mistranslated “acre,” the bishop remarks, “Reflecting upon Moses’ measure by cubits, and,” in the case of the court of the tabernacle, “finding them to be precisely five thousand square cubits, I observed that they were just half ten-thousand, which I had observed from Herodotus to be the area of the Egyptian aroura, by which their land was as generally measured as ours is by acres and roods. I called also to mind a passage in Manetho, an Egyptian priest, cited by Josephus, in his first book against Apion, where he affirms, that Manetho, in his history of the reign, wars, and expulsion of the Pastors, (whom Africanus affirms to be Phenicians or Canaanites, and Josephus vainly believed to be Jews,) wrote out of the public records of Egypt, that these Pastors made at Abaris a very large and strong encampment, that encompassed ten thousand arourae, sufficient to contain two hundred and forty thousand men, and long to maintain their cattle. Hence it appears, that not only the Egyptians, but also the Phenicians or Canaanites, that had dwelt among them, and had reigned there during the time of six kings successively, used this measure of land called aroura. Now this was long before the time of Moses; for the beginning of Amosis or Tethmosis, who expelled them out of Egypt, was very near the time of Abraham’s death. Wherefore I believe that Moses, who was skilled in all Egyptian learning, especially in surveying, did of choice make the court of the tabernacle to be just half an aroura, which was a known measure to him and his people, and that divine authority directed him to do so.” In another part of his work he reduces the Egyptian aroura into English measure, and finds it to be three roods, two perches, and fifty-five and a quarter square feet.
Watson's Dictionary, p. 361