Smith's Bible Dictionary

of shewbread, (Exodus 25:37) and was lighted every evening and dressed every morning. (Exodus
27:20,21; 30:8) comp. 1Sam 3:2 Each lamp was supplied with cotton and about two wineglasses
of the purest olive oil, which was sufficient to keep it burning during a long night. In Solomon’s
temple, instead of or in addition to this candlestick there were ten golden candlesticks similarly
embossed, five in the right and five on the left. (1 Kings 7:49; 2 Chronicles 4:7) They were taken
to Babylon. (Jeremiah 52:19) In the temple of Zerubbabel there was again a single candlestick.
1Macc 1:21: 4:49.
Cane
[Reed]
Cankerworm
[Locust]
Canneh
(Ezekiel 27:23) [SEE CALNEH]
Canon Of Scripture, The
may be generally described as the “collection of books which form the original and authoritative
written rule of the faith and practice of the Christian Church,” i.e. the Old and New Testaments.
The word canon, in classical Greek, is properly a straight rod, “a rule” in the widest sense, and
especially in the phrases “the rule of the Church,” “the rule of faith,” “the rule of truth,” The first
direct application of the term canon to the Scriptures seems to be in the verses of Amphilochius
(cir. 380 A.D.), where the word indicates the rule by which the contents of the Bible must be
determined, and thus secondarily an index of the constituent books. The uncanonical books were
described simply as “those without” or “those uncanonized.” The canonical books were also called
“books of the testament,” and Jerome styled the whole collection by the striking name of “the holy
library,” which happily expresses the unity and variety of the Bible. After the Maccabean persecution
the history of the formation of the Canon is merged in the history of its contents. The Old Testament
appears from that time as a whole. The complete Canon of the New Testament, as commonly
received at present, was ratified at the third Council of Carthage (A.D. 397), and from that time
was accepted throughout the Latin Church. Respecting the books of which the Canon is composed,
see the article Bible. (The books of Scripture were not made canonical by act of any council, but
the council gave its sanction to the results of long and careful investigations as to what books were
really of divine authority and expressed the universally-accepted decisions of the church. The Old
Testament Canon is ratified by the fact that the present Old Testament books were those accepted
in the time of Christ and endorsed by him, and that of 275 quotations of the Old Testament in the
New, no book out of the Canon is quoted from except perhaps the word of Enoch in Jude.—ED.)
Canopy
Judith 10:21; 13:9; 16:19. The canopy of Holofernes is the only one mentioned.
Canticles
(Song of Songs), entitled in the Authorized Version THE SONG OF Solomon. It was probably
written by Solomon about B.C. 1012. It may be called a drama, as it contains the dramatic evolution
of a simple love-story. Meaning.— The schools of interpretation may be divided into three: the
mystical or typical, the allegorical, and the literal.
•The mystical interpretation owes its origin to the desire to find a literal basis of fact for the
allegorical. This basis is either the marriage of Solomon with Pharoah’s daughter or his marriage
with an Israelitish woman, the Shulamite.