(2 Kings 2:11). Comp. 2 Kings 6:17. This vision would be to Elisha a
source of strength and encouragement, for now he could say, “They that
be with us are more than they that be with them.”
- CHARITY (1 Corinthians 13), the rendering in the Authorized Version of
the word which properly denotes love, and is frequently so rendered
(always so in the Revised Version). It is spoken of as the greatest of the
three Christian graces (1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13). - CHARMER one who practises serpent-charming (Psalm 58:5; Jeremiah
8:17; Ecclesiastes 10:11). It was an early and universal opinion that the
most venomous reptiles could be made harmless by certain charms or by
sweet sounds. It is well known that there are jugglers in India and in other
Eastern lands who practise this art at the present day.
In Isaiah 19:3 the word “charmers” is the rendering of the Hebrew ’ittim,
meaning, properly, necromancers (R.V. marg., “whisperers”). In
Deuteronomy 18:11 the word “charmer” means a dealer in spells,
especially one who, by binding certain knots, was supposed thereby to
bind a curse or a blessing on its object. In Isaiah 3:3 the words “eloquent
orator” should be, as in the Revised Version, “skilful enchanter.”
- CHARRAN another form (Acts 7:2, 4) of Haran (q.v.).
- CHEBAR length, a river in the “land of the Chaldeans” (Ezekiel 1:3), on
the banks of which were located some of the Jews of the Captivity
(Ezekiel 1:1; 3:15, 23; 10:15, 20, 22). It has been supposed to be identical
with the river Habor, the Chaboras, or modern Khabour, which falls into
the Euphrates at Circesium. To the banks of this river some of the
Israelites were removed by the Assyrians (2 Kings 17:6). An opinion that
has much to support it is that the “Chebar” was the royal canal of
Nebuchadnezzar, the Nahr Malcha, the greatest in Mesopotamia, which
connected the Tigris with the Euphrates, in the excavation of which the
Jewish captives were probably employed. - CHEDORLAOMER (= Khudur-Lagamar of the inscriptions), king of
Elam. Many centuries before the age of Abraham, Canaan and even the
Sinaitic peninsula had been conquered by Babylonian kings, and in the time
of Abraham himself Babylonia was ruled by a dynasty which claimed
sovereignity over Syria and Palestine. The kings of the dynasty bore
names which were not Babylonian, but at once South Arabic and Hebrew.