country or people of Africa, and, it must be added, probably not far from Egypt. (Isaiah 66:19;
Jeremiah 46:9; Ezekiel 27:10; 30:5; 38:5; Nahum 3:9) Some identify it with Libya, in the northern
part Africa near the Mediterranean Sea; others, as Mr. Poole, with Nubia, south of Egypt.
Phuvah
(mouth), one of the sons of Issachar, (Genesis 46:13) and founder of the family of the Punites.
Phygellus
(fugitive). [Hermogenes]
Phygelus
Used in the Revised Version in (2 Timothy 1:15) for Phygellus.
Phylactery
[Frontlets, Or Phylacteries]
Pibeseth
a town of lower Egypt, mentioned in (Ezekiel 30:17) the same as Bubastis, so named from the
goddess Bubastis. It was situated on the west bank of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, about 40
miles front Memphis. It was probably a city of great importance when Ezekiel foretold its doom.
Picture
In two of the three passages in which “picture” is used in the Authorized Version it denotes
idolatrous representations, either independent images or more usually stones “portrayed,” i.e.
sculptured in low relief, or engraved and colored. (Ezekiel 23:14) Layard, Nin. and Rob. ii. 306,
- Moveable pictures, in the modern sense, were doubtless unknown to the Jews. The “pictures
of silver” of (Proverbs 25:11) were probably well surfaces or cornices with carvings.
Piece Of Gold
The rendering “pieces of gold,” as in (2 Kings 5:5) is very doubtful; and “shekels of gold”) as
designating the value of the whole quantity, not individual pieces is preferable. Coined money was
unknown in Palestine till the Persian period.
Piece Of Silver
I. In the Old Testament the word “pieces” is used in the Authorized Version for a word
understood in the Hebrew (if we except) (Psalms 68:30) The phrase is always “a thousand,” or the
like, “of silver.” (Genesis 20:16; 37:28; 45:28; Judges 9:4; 16:5; 2 Kings 6:25; Hosea 3:2; Zechariah
11:12,13) In similar passages the word “shekels” occurs in the Hebrew. There are other passages
in which the Authorized Version supplies the word “shekels” instead of “pieces,” (22:19,29; Judges
17:2,3,4,10; 2 Samuel 18:11,12) and of these the first two require this to be done. The shekel, be
it remembered, was the common weight for money, and therefore most likely to be understood in
an elliptical phrase. The “piece” or shekel of silver weighed 220 grains, or about half an ounce,
and was worth a little more than half a dollar (55 cents). II. In the New Testament two words are
rendered by the phrase “piece of silver:”
•Drachma, (Luke 15:8,9) which was a Greek silver coin, equivalent, at the time of St. Luke, to the
Roman denarias (15 or 16 cents).
•Silver occurs only in the account of the betrayal of our Lord for “thirty pieces of silver.” (Matthew
26:15; 17:3,5,6,9) It is difficult to ascertain what coins are here intended. If the most common
silver pieces be meant, they would be denarii. The parallel passage in Zachariah, (Zechariah
11:12,13) must, however, be taken into consideration where shekels (worth about 55 cents) must
be understood. It is more probable that the thirty pieces of silver were tetradrachms than that they
were denarii (80 cents).