Pyrrhus
the father of Sopater of Berea. (Acts 20:4) in Revised Version. (A.D. 55.)
Quails
There can be no doubt that the Hebrew word in the Pentateuch (Exodus 16:13; Numbers
11:31,32) and in the 105th Psalm, denotes the common quail, Coturnix dactylisonans. (The enormous
quantity of quails taken by the Israelites has its parallel in modern times. Pliny states that they
sometimes alight on vessels in the Mediterranean and sink them. Colenel Sykes states that 160,000
quails have been netted in one season on the island of Capri.—ED.) The expression “as it were two
cubits (high) upon the face of the earth,” (Numbers 11:31) refers probably to the height at which
the quails flew above the ground, in their exhausted condition from their long flight. As to the
enormous quantities which the least-successful Israelite is said to have taken viz. “ten homers” (i.e.
eighty bushels) in the space of a night and two days, there is every reason for believing that the
“homers here spoken of do not denote strictly the measure of that name but simply “a heap.” The
Israelites would have had little difficulty in capturing large quantities of these birds as they are
known to arrive at places sometimes so completely exhausted by their flight as to be readily taken,
not in nets only, but by the hand. They “spread the quails round about the camp;” this was for the
purpose of drying them. The Egyptians similarly prepared these birds. The expression “quails from
the sea,” (Numbers 11:31) must not be restricted to denote that the birds came from the sea, as their
starting-point, but it must be taken to show the direction from which they were coming. The quails
were at the time of the event narrated in the sacred writings, on their spring journey of migration
northward, It is interesting to note the time specified: “it was at even” that they began to arrive;
and they no doubt continued to come all night. Many observers have recorded that the quail migrates
by night.
Quartus
(fourth), a Christian of Corinth, (Romans 16:23) said to have been one of the seventy disciples,
and afterward bishop of Berytus. (A.D. about 50.)
Quaternion
a military term signifying a guard of four soldiers, two of whom were attached to the person
of a prisoner, while the other two kept watch outside the door of his cell. (Acts 12:4)
Queen
This title is properly applied to the queen-mother, since in an Oriental household it is not the
wife but the mother of the master who exercises the highest authority. Strange as such an arrangement
at sight appears, it is one of the inevitable results of polygamy. An illustration of the queen-mother’s
influence is given in (1 Kings 2:19) ff. The term is applied to Maachah, (1 Kings 15:13; 2 Chronicles
16:16) and to Jezetiel, (2 Kings 10:13) and to the mother of Jehoiachin or Jeconiah, (Jeremiah
13:18) compare 2Kin 24:12; Jere 29:2
Queen Of Heaven
(Jeremiah 7:18; 45:17,18,19,25) is the moon Ashtaroth or Astarte to whom worshiped as Hebrew
women offered cakes in the streets of Jerusalem.
Quicksands, The