ANNIS

ANNIS. — The eponym of a, family that returned with Zerubbabel (1 Es S'«). Omitted in Ear. and Neh.

ANNUS.— A Levite (1 Es 9"=Neh 8' Bani).

ANNUTJS (1 Es 8").— The name does not occur in Ezr 8>».

ANOINTING, ANOINTED.— 1. The Hebrews dis-tinguished between anointing with oil in the sense of its application to the body in ordinary lite (suk), and anointing by pouring sacred oil on the head as a rite of consecration (mdshach). As regards the former, olive oil, alone or mixed with perfumes, was largely used in the everyday toilet of the Hebrews, although among the poor its use would be reserved tor special occasions (Ru 3*). To abstain from anointing in this sense was one of the tokens of mourning (2 S 14^), its resumption a sign that mourning was at an end (12''°)- Honour was shown to a guest by anointing his head with oil (Ps 23^, Lk T^), and still more by anointing his feet (Lk 7'*). For medicinal anointing see Oil.

2. Anointing as a religious rite was applied to both persons and things. Kings in particular were conse-crated for their high office by having oil poured upon their heads, a practice which seems to have originated in Egypt. Though first met with in OT in the case of Saul (1 S 10', cf. David, 2 S 2'' 5', Solomon, 1 K 1" etc.), the rite was practised in Canaan long before the Hebrew conquest. By the pouring of the consecrated oil upon the head (see 2 K 9'), there was effected a transference to the person anointed of part of the essential hohness and virtue of the deity in whose name and by whose representative the rite was performed. By the Hebrews the rite was also believed to impart a special endowment of the spirit of J" (1 S 16", cf. Is 61'). Hence the sacrosanct character of the king as 'the Lord's anointed' (Heb. meshiach IJahweh], which became in Greek messias or, translated, christos — both 'Messiah' and 'Christ,' therefore, signifying 'the anointed'). The application of this honorific title to kings alone in the oldest literature makes it probable that the similar consecration of the priesthood (Ex 29' 4013 -is^ Lv 8'-") was a later extension of the rite. Only one exceptional instance is recorded of the anointing of a prophet (1 K 19" — Is 61' is metaphorical).

In the case of inanimate objects, we find early mention of the primitive and wide-spread custom of anointing sacred stones (Gn 28" etc., see Pillar), and in the Priests' Code tiie tabernacle and its furniture were similarly consecrated (Ex ao"«- 40»). For 2 S l^' see War. See also Mary, No. 2. A. R. S. Kennedy.

ANON. — A contraction for 'in one (moment),' 'anon' means at once, as Mt IS^o 'he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon (RV 'straightway') with joy receiveth it.'

ANOS.— 1 Es 9''=Vaniah, Ezr 102«.

ANSWER, — An answer is (1) an apology or defence, as 2 Tl 41" ' at my first answer no man stood by me ' ; so perhaps 1 P 321 ' the answer of a good conscience ' ; (2) oracle. Divine response, as Ro 11* 'what saith the answer of God?'

ANT inermlSli, Arab, namlah). — Ants are exceed-ingly abundant all over Palestine, where, through their vast numbers, they perform a most important r61e, by continually changing the surface soil in the way earthworms do in northern countries. No more afit illustration of diUgence (Pr 6'-8) could be found than these little insects, which, in all but the wettest weather, can be seen scurrying backwards and forwards on the long tracks they have made. Some common varieties of Palestine ants (Aphcenogasier barbara, A. structor and Pheidole megacephaia) store up great quantities of various kinds of seeds, which they are able, in some unknown way, to prevent germinating and make use of as food (Pr 30^). Whole troops of these little insects may be seen carrying seeds, often many times their own size

ANTICHRIST

and weight, from a distant garden or corn-field. The writer has even seen a procession of ants carrying their harvest under the thickness of a broad mud wall which bounded the corn-field, and then across a wide and frequented road. The stores of seeds so collected have been found so great that the Mishna laid down rules in regard to their ownership. If they were discovered in the field before reaping, they belonged to the owner, but if afterwards, they were all or in part for the poor. The sagacity of the ant in this and other respects is widely recognized both in Oriental lore — as in Pr 302* . 2s — and even more forcibly by the modern naturalist. E. W. G. Masteeman.

ANTELOPE (RV).— A doubtful translation of te'B, Dt 14' and Is 51^". Tradition, our only guide here, is in favour of 'ox' [wh. see]. E. W. G. Masterman.

ANTHOTHIJAH.— A man of Benjamin (1 Oh 8f).

ANTICHRIST. — The great opponent and counterpart of Christ, by whom he is finally to be conquered. The word appears only in the NT (1 Jn 2i«-22 i', 2 Jn '), but the idea was present in Judaism and developed with the growth of the Messianic hope.

1 . The origin of the conception. — While the precise term 'Antichrist' is lacking in Jewish literature, the idea of an opponent who persecutes God's people and is ultimately to be conquered by the Messiah, is an integral part of that general hope, born in Prophetism, which developed into Messianism in the NT period. As in the case of so many elements of Messianism, the beginning of the ' opponent ' idea may fairly be said to have been Dn ll'' (cf. also Zee 12-14), where the reference is to Antiochus i v. ; but it would be a mistake to see in the Antichrist conception of the Johannine literature an unprecedented description of distinct personalities. There seems to have been rather a gradually developing anti-Messianic scheme, which at many points duplicated the developing Messianic hope. This general conception, which played an important r61e in early Christianity, was probably due to the synthesis of at least five factors, each independent in origin.

(o) The historical opponents of the Jews, such as Antiochus iv., Pompey, and the Roman Empire in general (cf. the position of Gog in Prophetic thought). These naturally aroused the most intense hatred on the part of the Jews, particularly those under the influence of Pharisaism. Their hostility was regarded as extending not only to the Jews as a nation, but as heathen, to Jehovah himself, and particularly to His plans for the Jewish people. This political hatred of the Pharisees entered into the Antichrist expectation, just as their political hope went into the Messianic programme. Both alike tended to grow transcendental.

(6) The dualism of Babylonia and Persia, especially as it was expressed by the dragon, between whom and the agents of righteousness there was to be a fight to the death. This dragon conception may with much proba-bility be seen not only in the identification of the serpent of the Temptation with the devil, but also in the beast of the Johannine Apocalypse, the great opponent of the Christ, and in the sea monster of Rabbinism.

(c) The Beliar (or Belial) myth, which underlies the NT thought (cf. 2 Co 6"), as well as Jewish fears. The first reference to Beliar seems to have been in Jubilees 1'°, but the myth is not unlike that of the Babylonian Tiamat, queen of the abyss, who was conquered by Marduk. Subsequently he was identified with Satan, who was also identified with the dragon (cf. Ascens. Is 4'- ', Rev 12"'). This identification was the first step towards the fully developed expectation of the Talmud, of a confiict between God and the devil.

(d) Belief in the return from death of the persecuting Emperor Nero. — This expectation seems to have been widely diffused throughout the Roman Empire in the latter part of the first Christian century (Si6. Or. iv. 119-150, v. 363 ff.), and lies behind the figures of Rev 13.

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