- CHENAANAH merchant. (1.) A Benjamite (1 Chronicles 7:10). (2.) The
father of Zedekiah (1 Kings 22:11, 24). - CHENAIAH whom Jehovah hath made. “Chief of the Levites,” probably
a Kohathite (1 Chronicles 15:22), and therefore not the same as mentioned
in 26:29. - CHEPHIRAH village, one of the four cities of the Gibeonitish Hivites
with whom Joshua made a league (9:17). It belonged to Benjamin. It has
been identified with the modern Kefireh, on the west confines of Benjamin,
about 2 miles west of Ajalon and 11 from Jerusalem. - CHERETHIM (Ezekiel 25:16), more frequently Cherethites, the
inhabitants of Southern Philistia, the Philistines (Zephaniah 2:5). The
Cherethites and the Pelethites were David’s life-guards (1 Samuel 30:14; 2
Samuel 8:18; 20:7, 23; 23:23). This name is by some interpreted as
meaning “Cretans,” and by others “executioners,” who were ready to
execute the king’s sentence of death (Genesis 37:36, marg.; 1 Kings 2:25). - CHERITH a cutting; separation; a gorge, a torrent-bed or winter-stream, a
“brook,” in whose banks the prophet Elijah hid himself during the early
part of the three years’ drought (1 Kings 17:3, 5). It has by some been
identified as the Wady el-Kelt behind Jericho, which is formed by the
junction of many streams flowing from the mountains west of Jericho. It is
dry in summer. Travellers have described it as one of the wildest ravines of
this wild region, and peculiarly fitted to afford a secure asylum to the
persecuted. But if the prophet’s interview with Ahab was in Samaria, and
he thence journeyed toward the east, it is probable that he crossed Jordan
and found refuge in some of the ravines of Gilead. The “brook” is said to
have been “before Jordan,” which probably means that it opened toward
that river, into which it flowed. This description would apply to the east
as well as to the west of Jordan. Thus Elijah’s hiding-place may have been
the Jermuk, in the territory of the half-tribe of Manasseh. - CHERUB plural cherubim, the name of certain symbolical figures
frequently mentioned in Scripture. They are first mentioned in connection
with the expulsion of our first parents from Eden (Genesis 3:24). There is
no intimation given of their shape or form. They are next mentioned when
Moses was commanded to provide furniture for the tabernacle (Exodus
25:17-20; 26:1, 31). God promised to commune with Moses “from
between the cherubim” (25:22). This expression was afterwards used to
kiana
(Kiana)
#1