Easton's Bible Dictionary

(Kiana) #1

25:13; Jeremiah 18:14). No doubt Herod Antipas, at his feasts in Tiberias,
enjoyed also from this very source the modern luxury of ice-water.”



  • SO (Nubian, Sabako), an Ethiopian king who brought Egypt under his
    sway. He was bribed by Hoshea to help him against the Assyrian monarch
    Shalmaneser (2 Kings 17:4). This was a return to the policy that had been
    successful in the reign of Jeroboam I.

  • SOAP (Jeremiah 2:22; Malachi 3:2; Hebrews borith), properly a
    vegetable alkali, obtained from the ashes of certain plants, particularly the
    salsola kali (saltwort), which abounds on the shores of the Dead Sea and of
    the Mediterranean. It does not appear that the Hebrews were acquainted
    with what is now called “soap,” which is a compound of alkaline
    carbonates with oleaginous matter. The word “purely” in Isaiah 1:25
    (R.V., “throughly;” marg., “as with lye”) is lit. “as with bor.” This word
    means “clearness,” and hence also that which makes clear, or pure, alkali.
    “The ancients made use of alkali mingled with oil, instead of soap (Job
    9:30), and also in smelting metals, to make them melt and flow more
    readily and purely” (Gesenius).

  • SOCHO a fence; hedge, (1 Chronicles 4:18; R.V., Soco)=So’choh (1
    Kings 4:10; R.V., Socoh), Sho’choh (1 Samuel 17:1; R.V., Socoh), Sho’co
    (2 Chronicles 11:7; R.V., Soco), Sho’cho (2 Chronicles 28:18; R.V., Soco),
    a city in the plain or lowland of Judah, where the Philistines encamped
    when they invaded Judah after their defeat at Michmash. It lay on the
    northern side of the valley of Elah (Wady es-Sunt). It has been identified
    with the modern Khurbet Shuweikeh, about 14 miles south-west of
    Jerusalem. In this campaign Goliath was slain, and the Philistines were
    completely routed.

  • SODOM burning; the walled, a city in the vale of Siddim (Genesis 13:10;
    14:1-16). The wickedness of its inhabitants brought down upon it fire
    from heaven, by which it was destroyed (18:16-33; 19:1-29; Deuteronomy
    23:17). This city and its awful destruction are frequently alluded to in
    Scripture (Deuteronomy 29:23; 32:32; Isaiah 1:9, 10; 3:9; 13:19; Jeremiah
    23:14; Ezekiel 16:46-56; Zephaniah 2:9; Matthew 10:15; Romans 9:29; 2
    Peter 2:6, etc.). No trace of it or of the other cities of the plain has been
    discovered, so complete was their destruction. Just opposite the site of
    Zoar, on the south-west coast of the Dead Sea, is a range of low hills,
    forming a mass of mineral salt called Jebel Usdum, “the hill of Sodom.” It

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