they contain an account of the Creation which closely resembles that given
in the book of Genesis, of the Sabbath as a day of rest, and of the Deluge
and its cause. (See BABYLON; CHALDEA.)
- ACCHO sultry or sandy, a town and harbour of Phoenicia, in the tribe of
Asher, but never acquired by them (Judges 1:31). It was known to the
ancient Greeks and Romans by the name of Ptolemais, from Ptolemy the
king of Egypt, who rebuilt it about B.C. 100. Here Paul landed on his last
journey to Jerusalem (Acts 21:7). During the crusades of the Middle Ages
it was called Acra; and subsequently, on account of its being occupied by
the Knights Hospitallers of Jerusalem, it was called St. Jean d’Acre, or
simply Acre. - ACCUSER Satan is styled the “accuser of the brethren” (Revelation
12:10. Comp. Job 1:6; Zechariah 3:1), as seeking to uphold his influence
among men by bringing false charges against Christians, with the view of
weakening their influence and injuring the cause with which they are
identified. He was regarded by the Jews as the accuser of men before God,
laying to their charge the violations of the law of which they were guilty,
and demanding their punishment. The same Greek word, rendered
“accuser,” is found in John 8:10 (but omitted in the Revised Version); Acts
23:30, 35; 24:8; 25:16, 18, in all of which places it is used of one who
brings a charge against another. - ACELDAMA the name which the Jews gave in their proper tongue, i.e., in
Aramaic, to the field which was purchased with the money which had been
given to the betrayer of our Lord. The word means “field of blood.” It was
previously called “the potter’s field” (Matthew 27:7, 8; Acts 1:19), and
was appropriated as the burial-place for strangers. It lies on a narrow level
terrace on the south face of the valley of Hinnom. Its modern name is Hak
ed-damm. - ACHAIA the name originally of a narrow strip of territory in Greece, on
the north-west of the Peloponnesus. Subsequently it was applied by the
Romans to the whole Peloponnesus, now called the Morea, and the south
of Greece. It was then one of the two provinces (Macedonia being the
other) into which they divided the country when it fell under their
dominion. It is in this latter enlarged meaning that the name is always used
in the New Testament (Acts 18:12, 27; 19:21; Romans 15: 26; 16:5, etc.).
It was at the time when Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles under the