WAFERS thin cakes (Exodus 16:31; 29:2, 23; Leviticus 2:4; 7:12; 8:26;
Numbers 6:15, 19) used in various offerings.
WAGES Rate of (mention only in Matthew 20:2); to be punctually paid
(Leviticus 19:13; Deuteronomy 24:14, 15); judgements threatened against
the withholding of (Jeremiah 22:13; Malachi 3:5; comp. James 5:4); paid in
money (Matthew 20:1-14); to Jacob in kind (Genesis 29:15, 20; 30:28;
31:7, 8, 41).
WAGON Hebrews aghalah; so rendered in Genesis 45:19, 21, 27; 46:5;
Numbers 7:3, 7,8, but elsewhere rendered “cart” (1 Samuel 6:7, etc.). This
vehicle was used for peaceful purposes. In Ezekiel 23:24, however, it is
the rendering of a different Hebrew word, and denotes a war-chariot.
WAILING-PLACE, JEWS’ a section of the western wall of the temple
area, where the Jews assemble every Friday afternoon to bewail their
desolate condition (Psalm 79:1, 4, 5). The stones in this part of the wall
are of great size, and were placed, as is generally believed, in the position
in which they are now found in the time of Solomon. “The congregation at
the wailing-place is one of the most solemn gatherings left to the Jewish
Church, and as the writer gazed at the motley concourse he experienced a
feeling of sorrow that the remnants of the chosen race should be
heartlessly thrust outside the sacred enclosure of their fathers’ holy temple
by men of an alien race and an alien creed. Many of the elders, seated on
the ground, with their backs against the wall, on the west side of the area,
and with their faces turned toward the eternal house, read out of their
well-thumbed Hebrew books passages from the prophetic writings, such
as Isaiah 64:9-12” (King’s Recent Discoveries, etc.). The wailing-place of
the Jews, viewed in its past spiritual and historic relations, is indeed “the
saddest nook in this vale of tears.” (See LAMENTATIONS, BOOK OF.)
WALL Cities were surrounded by walls, as distinguished from “unwalled
villages” (Ezekiel 38:11; Leviticus 25:29-34). They were made thick and
strong (Numbers 13:28; Deuteronomy 3:5). Among the Jews walls were
built of stone, some of those in the temple being of great size (1 Kings 6:7;
