EAGLE – The rendering in the English Bible versions of the Hebrew "nesher." The nesher, however, was bald; nested on high rocks; and was gregarious in its habits (Micah i. 16; Job xxxix. 27, 28; Prov. xxx. 17), all of which...
EARNEST-MONEY – Part payment of the price by the buyer of a commodity as a guaranty that he will stand by the bargain.Wherever the payment of the whole price secured title to property, the payment of a part of the price did the same. All...
EARNINGS – See Master and Servant.
EARRING – A ring or hook passed through the lobe of the ear. Earrings, so widely used by Eastern peoples, have no particular designation in Hebrew. The word is applied to both the ornament for the ear and that for the nose; so that when...
EARTH – The Hebrew expression for "earth" means primarily earth or soil as an element, and also the surface of the earth and plowed land, the latter being probably of the red color characteristic of Palestinian soil (compare Abu...
EARTHQUAKE – The Hebrew word "ra'ash," as well as its Assyrian and Arabic equivalents designating an earthquake, is indicative of a great noise or tremendous roaring. In Ps. lxxii. 16 the same word is used to describe the gentle rustling of...
EASEMENT – An incorporeal, right, existing distinct from the ownership of the soil, consisting of a liberty, privilege, or use of another's land without profit or compensation; as, an easement consisting of a right of way, a right to...
EAST – Worshipers of the sun turned toward the east, with their backs to the Holy of Holies (Ezek. viii. 16; comp. Suk. v. 4), whereas the Jews of the Exile prayed toward the Temple (Dan. vi. 11; I Kings viii. 38, 44 et seq.; Ber. iv....
EAST INDIES – See Cochin; India.
EASTER – Name given by Anglo-Saxons to the Christian Passover as the Feast of Resurrection, and rather incorrectly used for the Jewish Passover (Acts xii. 4, A. V.). Originally "Pascha," or "Passover," was the name given by the...
EATING – See Banquets; Clean and Unclean Animals; Cookery; Dietary Laws; Food.
EBAL – 1. A bare mountain 2,900 feet high, north of Sichem, opposite Mt. Gerizim. At the base toward the north are several tombs. The higher part is on the west, and contains the ruins of some massive walls called "Al-Kal'ah"; east of...
EBED-MELECH – Biblical Data: A Cushite officer at the court of King Zedekiah, who interceded in behalf of Jeremiah, and was sent by the king with thirty (Ewald and Duhm, "three") men to draw up the prophet from the pit (A. V. "dungeon") into...
EBED ṬOB – See Abdi Ḥeba.
EBEL RABBATI – See SemaḤot.
EBEN-EZER – 1. Scene of two battles in which the Israelites were defeated by the Philistines. In the first engagement they lost 4,000 men. The Ark of the Covenant was then fetched from Shiloh, in the hope that its presence might bring...
EBER – The eponymous ancestor of the Hebrews; grandson of Arphaxad and great-grandson of Shem; father of Joktan, the ancestor of the Arabs, and of Peleg, among whose progeny, in the fifth generation, was Abram (Gen. x. 22, 25-30; xi....
EBER BEN PETHAHIAH – Moravian scholar; lived in Ungarisch-Brod at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Steinschneider indicates the possibility of the name being merely a pseudonym. It appears on the title-page of "Mar'eh ha-Ketab we-Rashe...
EBERLEN, ABRAHAM BEN JUDAH – German mathematician; lived at Frankfort-on-the-Main in the first half of the sixteenth century. He was the author of a work entitled "Sefer ha-Ẓifar," containing mathematical problems with solutions, which was finished Tuesday,...
EBERTY, GEORGE FRIEDRICH FELIX – German jurist and author; born in Berlin Jan. 26,1812; died at Arnsdorf (Riesengebirge) July 7, 1884. He was educated at the universities of Berlin and Bonn. In 1849 he became privat-docent at the University of Breslau in...
EBIASAPH – A Levite, descendant of Kohath, and one of the ancestors of the prophet Samuel and of Heman, the singer. In Exodus vi. 24 and I Chronicles vi. 22 (37), ix. 19, Ebiasaph (Abiasaph) occurs as a son of Korah and brother of Assir...
EBIONITES – Sect of Judæo-Christians of the second to the fourth century. They believed in the Messianic character of Jesus, but denied his divinity and supernatural origin; observed all the Jewish rites, such as circumcision and the...
EBONY – This word is mentioned only once in the Old Testament, namely, Ezek. xxvii. 15, where it is stated that the Arabian merchant people, the Dedanites (see Dodanim), brought horns of ebony to Tyre. The genuine ebony is the wood of...
EBRON – See Abdon, of which it is a variant form.
EBSTEIN, WILHELM – German physician; born in Jauer, Prussian Silesia, Nov. 27, 1836. He studied medicine at the universities of Breslau and Berlin, graduating from the last-named in 1859. In this year he was appointed physician at the...