moss." Such was the scene of John Baptist's introductory ministrations. He is still called Sabo, (whence St. Sabo,) by his followers, who call themselves Sabeans ]

JUDAH.

JUDAH, (lat. 31°. 31'.-long. 35°. 10',) the fourth son of Jacob and Leah, born in Mesopotamia, A. M. 2249, ante A. D. 1755. He advised his brethren to sell Joseph to the Ishmaelitish merchants, rather than to imbrue their hands in his blood. He married Shuah, daughter of a Canaanite named Hivah, and had three sons by her, Er, Onan, and Shelah. (Gen. xxxvii. 26.) He married Er to a young woman named Tamar; but Er died prematurely. Judah required Onan, his second son, to marry his brother's widow, and to raise up seed to him but Onan eluded the purpose of his father and the law; he also was punished with death. Judah being afraid to give Shelah, his third son, to Tamar, amused her with promises without performing them. Wherefore Tamar disguised herself and sat in the way by which Judah was to pass: he yielded to her intreatment, and he had by her two sons, Pharez and Zarah. Gen. xxxviii. 27, 28, 29.

Judah was always looked upon as the chief of Jacob's children. His tribe was the most powerful and numerous; certain privileges of the first-born seem to have been transferred to Judah after the punishment of Reuben. The blessing given by Jacob on his death-bed to Judah, is as follows: "Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise; thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies, thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall raise him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." This includes a promise that the regal power should not depart out of his family, and that the Messiah should derive his birth from it. The southern part of Palestine fell to Judah's lot, and the tribes of Simeon and Dan possessed many cities which at first were given to Judah. This tribe, at the Exodus, was com

posed of 74,600 men capable of bearing arms. The crown passed from Benjamin (from Saul and Ish-bosheth) unto Judah, which was David's tribe; and so continued till the Babylonish captivity. And after the return from that captivity, although Judah did not reign, it gave the sceptre to those who did reign, and in some sort united in itself the whole Hebrew nation, who from that time were known only as Judæi, Jews, descendants of Judah.

K.

KADESH, or KADESH BARNEA, (lat. 30°. 56′.—long. 35°. 1',) otherwise the fountain of judgment. (Gen. xiv. 7.) At Kadesh, Miriam died. (Numb. xx. 1.) Here Moses and Aaron, distrusting God's power, when they smote the rock at the waters of strife, were appointed to die, without the satisfaction of entering the promised land. (Numb. xxvii. 14.) The king of Kadesh was killed by Joshua. (Josh. xii. 22.) This city was given to Judah: it was about eight leagues south from Hebron.

KADESH NAPHTALI. (lat. 33° 6.-long. 35° 40) Josephus calls it Cadesa, or Cædesa, and the Greek of Tobit, (i. 2,) Cadis: [almost the same in sound as the Cadytis of Herodotus.] It lay in Upper Galilee, above Naasson, having Sephet to the left, or north. Kadesh was given to Naphtali, and afterwards ceded to the Levites of Gershom's family; (Josh. xix. 37;) it was a city of refuge. Josh. xx. 7.

KANA, (lat. 33°. 35'.-long. 35°. 32. 30",) a city of Asher, (Josh. xix. 28,) where, most probably, canes or reeds grew in abundance.

KEDEMOTH, (lat. 31°. 37′.—long. 36°. 15′. 30′′,) a town of Reuben, east of the brook Arnon, (Josh. xiii. 18,) one of the stations of the Hebrews in the wilderness, (Deut. ii. 26,) given to the sons of Merari, the Levites, 1 Chron. vi. 79.

KEHELATHAN, (lat. 30°, 351.-long. 34° 19, an encampment of Israel in the wilderness. (Numb. xxxiii. 22.) [As it appears to denote "the place of assembly," some have thought the gathering and revolt of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram happened here.] Probably the same as Keilah, a town south in Judah.

KENATHA, (lat. 32°. 22′.—long. 36°. 12′,) a town of Manasseh, beyond Jordan. (Numb. xxxiv. 42.) It was named

Nobah, after Nobah, an Israelite, had conquered it. Nevertheless, it is now known by the name of Kenatha. Eusebius says, it is in the Trachonitis, about Bozra. Pliny places it in the Decapolis, lib. v. cap. 18.

KENITES, (lat. 31°. 15'.-long. 35o. 15',) a people which dwelt west of the Dead Sea, and extended themselves pretty far into Arabia Petræa. Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, and a priest of Midian, was a Kenite; and in Saul's time the Kenites were mingled with the Amalekites. (1 Sam. xv. 6.) Although the Kenites were among those people whose lands God had promised to the descendants of Abraham, nevertheless, in consideration of Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, all of them who submitted to the Hebrews, were suffered to live in their own country. The rest fled, in all probability, to the Edomites and Amalekites. The lands of the Kenites were in Judah's lot.

Balaam, when invited by Balak, king of Moab, to curse Israel, stood on a mountain, whence addressing himself to the Kenites, he said, "Strong is thy dwelling-place, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock; nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted until Asshur shall carry thee away captive." (Numb. xxiv. 21.) The Kenites dwelt in mountains and rocks, almost inaccessible. The Kenites were carried into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar. The Kenites are not mentioned after the time of Saul; but they subsisted, in a mingled state, among the Edomites, and other nations of Arabia Petræa. Joseph. Antiq. lib. i.

KIBEROTHAVAH, or KIBEROTHHATTAAVAH, (lat. 29o. 30'.-long. 34°. 1',) the graves of lust. (Numb. xi. 34, 35.) One of the encampments of Israel in the wilderness, where they desired of God flesh for their sustenance, declaring they were tired of manna. God sent them quails in great quantities, but while the meat was in their mouths, (Psal. lxxviii. 30,) he smote so great a number of them, that the place was called the graves of those who lusted.

KIDRON, (lat. 31°. 43'.-long. 35°. 30',) the brook in the valley east of Jerusalem, between that city and the Mount of Olives. It discharges itself into the Dead Sea: it has generally but little water, and often none; but after storms, or great rains, it swells, and runs with much impetuosity. Some suppose the name Cedron, or Kidron, came from the abundance of cedars which they fancy were formerly planted on its banks: but there is no proof of this. The name is derived rather from the ob

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scurity of this brook, which runs in a vale; or from the common sewers of the city, which empty themselves into it for a branch of the valley of Kidron, i. e. the southern, was the sink of Jerusalem. The kings Asa, Hezekiah, and Josiah, burnt there the idols and abominations of the apostate Jews. 2 Kings xxiii. 4.

[As this brook answered the purpose of a drain to the lands around the city of Jerusalem after rains, it possibly might answer the same purpose to some of the suburbs of the city, and receive their underground discharges. Hence, perhaps, its name "black." So a poet of our own characterizes the river Fleet, in London, which not unaptly answers to the brook Kidron at Jerusalem :

"Where black Fleet-ditch with disemboguing streams,
Rolls his due tribute of dead dogs to Thames."

The blood of the sacrifices from the temple ran by a drain into the brook Kidron, and was sold to the gardeners on the Mount of Olives, to manure their gardens with; for which the gardeners paid the price of a trespass-offering. Joma. 58.

Not only the blood poured at the foot of the altar in the temple, but other filth, ran by a drain into the brook Kidron, says Bab. Joma. fol. 58. 2. This effectually confutes the notion of any virtue imparted to the pool of Bethesda from the blood of the sacrifices, as some have supposed.

Maimonides reports, that a foot causeway, or a bridge, supported on arches, was erected between the temple and the Mount of Olives, crossing the valley of the brook Kidron. Over this bridge the red cow was led away to be burnt, in order to procure the ashes of purification. This was built at the expense of the public treasure, which was in the temple. The intention of this bridge was to preserve from pollution the bearer of this heifer, whose ashes were to be used for universal cleansing. A like care was used in regard to the scape-goat.

The sheaf of first-fruits was reaped from the ashes valley of the brook Kidron, on the first day of the passover. It was a public service.

As this name has the 1, we submit whether it does not refer to Aun, "the dark-coloured Aun." It imports sun-burnt to darkness of hue, or complexion. Can any epithet more justly characterize the Hindoo deity Vishnu ?]

KIRJATHARBA, (lat. 31°. 30.-long. 35°. 13'.) [So called from its founder Arba; but some think from four pa

triarchs here buried, whom they fancy to be Adam, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Josh. xv. 54; xx. 7, called Hebron; Gen. xxiii. 2; Josh. xx. 7; Nehem. xi. 25.)-See Hebron.]

KIRJATHBAAL, (lat. 31°. 53′.-long. 35°. 10′. 30',) a city of Benjamin, where the ark was lodged for many years in the house of Abinadab, till David removed it to Jerusalem.

KISHION, (lat. 32°. 35′.—long. 35°. 20',) a city of the tribe of Issachar, yielded to the Levites of Gershom's family. Josh. xix. 20.

KISHON. (lat. 32o. 47'.-long. 35°. 7.) (Judges v. 21.) The brook Kishon rises in the valley of Jezreel. It runs along this valley, to the south of Mount Tabor, and discharges itself into the Mediterranean at Acco, otherwise Ptolemais.

KITRON, (lat. 32°. 55'.—long. 35°. 27',) a city of Zebulon, which that tribe could not take from the Canaanites. Judges i. 30.

L.

LACHISH, (lat. 31o. 38′.—long. 35o,) is a city south of Judah. Josh. x. 23.

LAISHA, (lat. 33°. 20'.-long. 35°. 47',) mentioned Isaiah x. 30, may or may not be the Laish of Dan. The prophet commands the daughter of Gallim to lift up her voice, so that it may be heard to a distance; but whether to so great a distance as Dan, may be doubted. Indeed, it does not appear for what purpose her screams should be heard so far off: but if this Laish were a town nearer to Jeba, Gibeah, and the other places mentioned, then this alarm might be intended to reach Laish, for the purpose of inducing its inhabitants to join in the general flight.

LAKES.---There were three chief lakes in Judea: the lake Asphaltites, the lake of Tiberias, and the lake Semechon; also, towards Egypt, the lake Sirbon. Besides these, some pools were also called lakes: as that of Cendervia, whence the little river Beleus flowed east of Ptolemais; that near Cæsarea Palestine; the lake Phiala, at the foot of Libanus; the lake Jazer, and that of Hesebon beyond Jordan. Isaiah xxii. 11, speaks likewise of a lake which Manasseh caused to be made between the two walls of Jerusalem.

LEBONAH, (lat. 32°. 7′.—long. 35o. 23′.) From Judg. xxi.