protection (Exodus 21:7; Deuteronomy 21:10-14), and setting limits to the
relation they sustained to the household to which they belonged (Genesis
21:14; 25:6). They had no authority in the family, nor could they share in
the household government.
The immediate cause of concubinage might be gathered from the conjugal
histories of Abraham and Jacob (Genesis 16;30). But in process of time
the custom of concubinage degenerated, and laws were made to restrain and
regulate it (Exodus 21:7-9).
Christianity has restored the sacred institution of marriage to its original
character, and concubinage is ranked with the sins of fornication and
adultery (Matthew 19:5-9; 1 Corinthians 7:2).
- CONCUPISCENCE desire, Romans 7:8 (R.V., “coveting”); Colossians
3:5 (R.V., “desire”). The “lust of concupiscence” (1 Thessalonians 4:5;
R.V., “passion of lust”) denotes evil desire, indwelling sin. - CONDUIT a water-course or channel (Job 38:25). The “conduit of the
upper pool” (Isaiah 7:3) was formed by Hezekiah for the purpose of
conveying the waters from the upper pool in the valley of Gihon to the
west side of the city of David (2 Kings 18:17; 20:20; 2 Chronicles 32:30).
In carrying out this work he stopped “the waters of the fountains which
were without the city” i.e., “the upper water-course of Gihon”, and
conveyed it down from the west through a canal into the city, so that in
case of a siege the inhabitants of the city might have a supply of water,
which would thus be withdrawn from the enemy. (See SILOAM.)
There are also the remains of a conduit which conducted water from the
so-called “Pools of Solomon,” beyond Bethlehem, into the city. Water is
still conveyed into the city from the fountains which supplied these pools
by a channel which crosses the valley of Hinnom.
- CONEY (Hebrews shaphan; i.e., “the hider”), an animal which inhabits
the mountain gorges and the rocky districts of Arabia Petraea and the Holy
Land. “The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the
rocks” (Proverbs 30:26; Psalm 104:18). They are gregarious, and
“exceeding wise” (Proverbs 30:24), and are described as chewing the cud
(Leviticus 11:5; Deuteronomy 14:7).
The animal intended by this name is known among naturalists as the Hyrax
Syriacus. It is neither a ruminant nor a rodent, but is regarded as akin to the