shells of almonds. The dye-stuff was moistened with oil and kept in a small jar. Whether the custom
of staining the hands and feet, particularly the nails, now so prevalent in the past, was known to
the Hebrews is doubtful. Painting as an art was not cultivated by the Hebrews, but they decorated
their buildings with paint.
Palace
Palace in the Bible, in the singular and plural, is the rendering of several words of diverse
meaning. (1 Chronicles 29:1; Ezra 4:14; Amos 4:3) etc. It often designates the royal residence, and
usually suggests a fortress or battlemented house. The word occasionally included the whole city
as in (Esther 9:12) and again, as in (1 Kings 16:18) it is restricted to a part of the royal apartments.
It is applied, as in (1 Chronicles 29:1) to the temple in Jerusalem. The site of the palace of Solomon
was almost certainly in the city itself on the brow opposite to the temple, and overlooking it and
the whole city of David. It is impossible, of course, to be at all certain what was either the form or
the exact disposition of such a palace; but, as we have the dimensions of the three principal buildings
given in the book of Kings and confirmed by Josephus, we may, by taking these as a scale, ascertain
pretty nearly that the building covered somewhere about 150,000 or 160,000 square feet. Whether
it was a square of 400 feet each way, or an oblong of about 550 feet by 300, must always be more
or less a matter of conjecture. The principal building situated within the palace was, as in all eastern
palaces, the great hall of state and audience, called “the house of the forest of Lebanon,” apparently
from the four rows of cedar pillars by which it was supported. It was 100 cubits (175 feet) long,
50 (88 feet) wide, and 30 (52 feet) high. Next in importance was the hall or “porch of judgment,”
a quadrangular building supported by columns, as we learn front Josephus, which apparently stood
on the other side of the great court, opposite the house of the forest of Lebanon. The third edifice
is merely called a “porch of pillars.” Its dimensions were 50 by 30 cubits. Its use cannot be considered
as doubtful, as it was an indispensable adjunct to an eastern palace. It was the ordinary place of
business of the palace, and the reception-room when the king received ordinary visitors, and sat,
except on great state occasions, to transact the business of the kingdom. Behind this, we are told,
was the inner court, adorned with gardens and fountains, and surrounded by cloisters for shade;
and there were other courts for the residence of the attendants and guards, and for the women of
the harem. Apart from this palace, but attached, as Josephus tells us, to the hall of judgment, was
the palace of Pharaoh’s daughter-too proud and important a personage to be grouped with the ladies
of the harem, and requiring a residence of her own. The recent discoveries at Nineveh have enabled
us to understand many of the architectural details of this palace, which before they were made were
nearly wholly inexplicable. Solomon constructed an ascent from his own house to the temple, “the
house of Jehovah,” (1 Kings 10:5) which was a subterranean passage 250 feet long by 42 feet wide,
of which the remains may still be traced.
Palestina And Palestine
(land of strangers). These two forms occur in the Authorized Version but four times in all,
always in poetical passages; the first in (Exodus 15:14) and Isai 14:29 The second (Joel 3:4) In
each case the Hebrew is Pelesheth, a word found, besides the above, only in (Psalms 60:8; 83:7;
87:4) and Psal 108:9 In all which our translators have rendered it by “Philistia” or “Philistines.”
Palestine in the Authorized Version really means nothing but Philistia. The original Hebrew word
Pelesheth to the Hebrews signified merely the long and broad strip of maritime plain inhabited by
their encroaching neighbors; nor does it appear that at first it signified more to the Greeks. As lying
next the sea, and as being also the high road from Egypt to Phoenicia and the richer regions no of
frankie
(Frankie)
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