paid, in consideration of which he is set free. The original owner receives
back his alienated and lost possession because he has bought it back “with
a price.” This price or ransom (Gr. lutron) is always said to be Christ, his
blood, his death. He secures our redemption by the payment of a ransom.
(See REDEMPTION.)
- RAPHA tall. (1.) A Benjamite, the son of Binea (1 Chronicles 8:2, 37), a
descendant of Saul. (2.) Margin of 1 Chronicles 20:4, 6, where “giant” is
given in the text. - RAPHU healed, a Benjamite, whose son Palti was one of the twelve spies
(Numbers 13:9). - RAVEN Hebrews ‘orebh, from a root meaning “to be black” (comp. Cant.
5:11); first mentioned as “sent forth” by Noah from the ark (Genesis 8:7).
“Every raven after his kind” was forbidden as food (Leviticus 11:15;
Deuteronomy 14:14). Ravens feed mostly on carrion, and hence their food
is procured with difficulty (Job 38:41; Psalm 147:9). When they attack
kids or lambs or weak animals, it is said that they first pick out the eyes of
their victims (Proverbs 30:17). When Elijah was concealed by the brook
Cherith, God commanded the ravens to bring him “bread and flesh in the
morning, and bread and flesh in the evening” (1 Kings 17:3-6). (See
ELIJAH.)
There are eight species of ravens in Palestine, and they are everywhere
very numerous in that land.
- RAZOR The Nazarites were forbidden to make use of the razor
(Numbers 6:5; Judges 13:5). At their consecration the Levites were shaved
all over with a razor (Numbers 8:7; comp. Psalm 52:2; Ezekiel 5:1). - REBA fourth, one of the Midianite chiefs slain by the Israelites in the
wilderness (Numbers 31:8; Joshua 13:21). - REBEKAH a noose, the daughter of Bethuel, and the wife of Isaac
(Genesis 22:23; 24:67). The circumstances under which Abraham’s
“steward” found her at the “city of Nahor,” in Padan-aram, are narrated in
Genesis 24-27. “She can hardly be regarded as an amiable woman. When
we first see her she is ready to leave her father’s house for ever at an
hour’s notice; and her future life showed not only a full share of her
brother Laban’s duplicity, but the grave fault of partiality in her relations
to her children, and a strong will, which soon controlled the gentler nature