horsemen, who were in number a tenth of the foot-men. The word is used
(Matthew 26:53; Mark 5:9) to express simply a great multitude.
- LEHI a jawbone, a place in the tribe of Judah where Samson achieved a
victory over the Philistines (Judges 15:9, 14, 16), slaying a thousand of
them with the jawbone of an ass. The words in 15:19, “a hollow place that
was in the jaw” (A.V.), should be, as in Revised Version, “the hollow place
that is in Lehi.” - LEMUEL dedicated to God, a king whom his mother instructed (Proverbs
31:1-9). Nothing is certainly known concerning him. The rabbis identified
him with Solomon. - LENTILES (Hebrews ‘adashim), a species of vetch (Genesis 25:34; 2
Samuel 23:11), common in Syria under the name addas. The red pottage
made by Jacob was of lentils (Genesis 25:29-34). They were among the
provisions brought to David when he fled from Absalom (2 Samuel 17:28).
It is the Ervum lens of Linnaeus, a leguminous plant which produces a fruit
resembling a bean. - LEOPARD (Hebrews namer, so called because spotted, Cant. 4:8), was
that great spotted feline which anciently infested the mountains of Syria,
more appropriately called a panther (Felis pardus). Its fierceness (Isaiah
11:6), its watching for its prey (Jeremiah 5:6), its swiftness (Habakkuk
1:8), and the spots of its skin (Jeremiah 13:23), are noticed. This word is
used symbolically (Daniel 7:6; Revelation 13:2). - LEPROSY (Hebrews tsara’ath, a “smiting,” a “stroke,” because the
disease was regarded as a direct providential infliction). This name is from
the Greek lepra, by which the Greek physicians designated the disease
from its scaliness. We have the description of the disease, as well as the
regulations connected with it, in Leviticus 13; 14; Numbers 12:10-15, etc.
There were reckoned six different circumstances under which it might
develop itself, (1) without any apparent cause (Leviticus 13:2-8); (2) its
reappearance (9-17); (3) from an inflammation (18-28); (4) on the head or
chin (29-37); (5) in white polished spots (38, 39); (6) at the back or in the
front of the head (40-44).
Lepers were required to live outside the camp or city (Numbers 5:1-4;
12:10-15, etc.). This disease was regarded as an awful punishment from