The words in Proverbs 26:8, “As he that bindeth a stone in a sling,” etc.
(Authorized Version), should rather, as in the Revised Version, be “As a
bag of gems in a heap of stones,” etc.
- SMITH The Hebrews were not permitted by the Philistines in the days of
Samuel to have a smith amongst them, lest they should make them swords
and spears (1 Samuel 13:19). Thus the Philistines sought to make their
conquest permanent (comp. 2 Kings 24:16). - SMYRNA myrrh, an ancient city of Ionia, on the western coast of Asia
Minor, about 40 miles to the north of Ephesus. It is now the chief city of
Anatolia, having a mixed population of about 200,000, of whom about
one-third are professed Christians. The church founded here was one of
the seven addressed by our Lord (Revelation 2:8-11). The celebrated
Polycarp, a pupil of the apostle John, was in the second century a
prominent leader in the church of Smyrna. Here he suffered martyrdom,
A.D. 155. - SNAIL (1.) Hebrews homit, among the unclean creeping things (Leviticus
11:30). This was probably the sand-lizard, of which there are many
species in the wilderness of Judea and the Sinai peninsula.
(2.) Hebrews shablul (Psalm 58:8), the snail or slug proper. Tristram
explains the allusions of this passage by a reference to the heat and drought
by which the moisture of the snail is evaporated. “We find,” he says, “in
all parts of the Holy Land myriads of snail-shells in fissures still adhering
by the calcareous exudation round their orifice to the surface of the rock,
but the animal of which is utterly shrivelled and wasted, ‘melted away.’”
- SNARE The expression (Amos 3:5), “Shall one take up a snare from the
earth?” etc. (Authorized Version), ought to be, as in the Revised Version,
“Shall a snare spring up from the ground?” etc. (See GIN.) - SNOW Common in Palestine in winter (Psalm 147:16). The snow on the
tops of the Lebanon range is almost always within view throughout the
whole year. The word is frequently used figuratively by the sacred writers
(Job 24:19; Psalm 51:7; 68:14; Isaiah 1:18). It is mentioned only once in
the historical books (2 Samuel 23:20). It was “carried to Tyre, Sidon, and
Damascus as a luxury, and labourers sweltering in the hot harvest-fields
used it for the purpose of cooling the water which they drank (Proverbs