CUBIT

CUBIT. — See Weights and Meashbes.

CTTCKOW (shachaph, Lv 11", Dt 14", RV 'seamew,' following LXX). — Although cuckoos are common in Palestine, and their voices may be heard all over the land in the spring, yet there is good reason for rejecting this translation. The Heb. root implies 'leanness,' and the 'unclean' bird referred to must have been some kind of gull. E. W. G. Masterman.

OUCXTMBERS. — Two varieties of cucumber are very common in Palestine. .The Cucumis sativus (Arab. khy&r), a smooth-skinned, whitish cucumber of delicate flavour, is a prime favourite with the Arabs. It is cool and juicy, but for cultivation requires abundant water. The second (C. chate, Arab, [in Jerusalem] faqqUs, [in Syria] qithths.) is a long slender cucumber, less juicy than the former. The reference in Nu 11' is probably to the latter, which is an Egyptian plant. The ' lodge in a garden of cucumbers' (Is 1=) is the rough booth erected by the owner, raised, as a rule, high upon poles, from which he may keep guard over his ripening vegetables. When the harvest is over, the ' lodge' is not taken down but is allowed to drop to pieces. It is a dreary ruin of poles and dried branches during more than half the year. E. W. G. Mastehman.

OUMI.— See Talitha Ctnai.

CUMMIlf. — The seed of an umbelliferous plant, the Cuminum cyminum (syriacum), widely cultivated in and around Palestine. It is used to flavour dishes, and, more particularly, bread; in flavour and appearance it resembles carraway; it has long been credited with medicinal properties; it certainly is a carminative. It is even now beaten out with rods (Is 28^'). Tithes of cummin were paid by the Jews (Mt 23'^').

E. W. G. Masterman.

GUN. — See Behothah.

CUNNING. — As a subst. 'cunning' in AV means either skill or knowledge; as an adj. either skilful or wise (we cannot say knowing, for that adj. has also degenerated). It is the pres. participle of the Anglo-Sax, verb cunnan, which meant both 'to know' and 'to be able.' In the Preface to the Wyclifite version of 1388 we read of 'the Holy Spyrit, author of all wisdom and cunnynge and truth.'

CUP. — 1. In OT the rendering of various words, the precise distinction between which, either as to form or use, is unknown to us. The usual word is kss, the ordinary drinking-vessel of rich (Gn 40"- "■ ") and poor (2 S 12') alike, the material of which varied, no doubt, with the rank and wealth of the owner. Joseph's divining cup (.gabhia' , Gn 44™) was of silver, and, we may infer, of elaborate workmanship, since the same word is used for the bowls (AV) or cups (RV), i.e. the flower-shaped ornamentation, on the candlestick of the Tabernacle. That the gabhia' was larger than the kBs is clear from Jer Sfis. The kesavBth of 1 Ch 28" were more probably flagons, as RV in Ex 25" 37" (but Nu 4' RV 'cups'). The 'aggan (Is 222<) was rather a basin, as Ex 24i', than a cup (EV).

In NT poterion is the corresponding name of the ordinary drinking-cup (water Mt lO*^ etc., wine 23" etc.). The 'cup of blessing' (1 Co 10") is so named from the kss habberakhah of the Jewish Passover (wh. see, also Eucharist).

2. The word ' cup ' has received an extended figurative application in both OT and NT. (o) As in various other Uteratures, ' cup ' stands, esp. in Psalms, for the happy fortune or experience of one's earthly lot, mankind being thought of as receiving this lot from the hand of God, as the guest receives the wine-cup from the hand of his host (Ps 16» 23* 73'° etc.). But also, conversely, for the bitter lot of the wicked, Ps 11« (cf (c) below), and in particular for the sufferings of Jesus Christ, Mt 20»- ^, Mk lO's- " li", Lk 22*2, jn igu. (6) Another figure is the 'cup of salvation' (lit. 'of deliverances'), Ps 116". The

CUSHAN-RISHATHAIM

reference is to the wine of the thank-offerings, part of the ritual of which was the festal meal before J" (cf. vv."*- ""•). (c) By a still bolder figure the punitive wrath of the offended Deity is spoken of as a cup which the guilty, IsraeUtes and heathen alike, must drain to the dregs. So Jer 25""- (the wine-cup [of] fury), Ezk 2332-M, Is 51'™- ('the cup of trembling,' RV 'stagger-ing'), Zee 122 (RV 'cup of reeling'), Ps 758, Rev 14>» 16" 18', for all which see the commentaries, (d) Lastly, we have 'the cup of consolation' offered to the mourners after the funeral-rites, Jer 16' (cf. Pr 31").

CUPBEARER.— An officer of considerable import-ance at Oriental courts, whose duty it was to serve the wine at the table of thejking. The first mention of this officer is in the story of Joseph (Gn 40'-"), where the term rendered butler in EV is the Heb. word wliich is rendered in other passages 'cupbearer.' The holder of this office was brought into confidential relations with the king, and must have been thoroughly trustworthy, as part of his duty was to guard against poison in the king's cup. In some cases he was required to taste the wine before presenting it. The position of Nehemiah as cupbearer to Artaxerxes Longimanus was evidently high. Herodotus (iii. 34) speaks of the office at the court of Cambyses, king of Persia, as ' an honour of no small account,' and the narrative of Nehemiah shows the high esteem of the king, who is so solicitous for his welfare that he asks the cause of his sadness (2^). The cupbearers among the officers of king Solomon's house-hold (1 K 10") impressed the queen of Sheba, and they are mentioned among other indications of the grandeur of his court, which was modelled upon courts of other Oriental kings.

CUPBOARD (1 Mac 16=2).— A sideboard used for the display of gold and silver plate. This is the earliest meaning of 'cupboard'; cf. Greene (1592), 'Her mistress . . . set allherplate'onthecubboordeforshew.'

CURSE, — See Ban and ExcoMMnNiCATioN.

CURTAIN.— See Tabernacle.

OUSH in OT designates Ethiopia , and is the only name used there for that region. It is the same as the Egyptian Kash or Kesh. Broadly speaking, it answers to the modern Nubia. More specifically, the Egyptian Kash extended southwards from the first Cataract at Syene (Ezk 29'°), and in the periods of widest extension of the empire it embraced a portion of the Sudan. It was conquered and annexed by Egypt under the 12th Dynasty (c. B.C. 2000) and remained normally a subject country. After the decline of the 22nd (Libyan) Dynasty, the Cushites became powerful and gradually encroached on northern Egypt, so that at length an Ethiopian dynasty was established (the 25th, 728-663), which was overthrown by the Assyrians. Within this period falls the attempt of Tirhakah, king of Cush, to defeat Sennacherib of Assyria in Palestine (2 K 19').

In Gn 10' Cush is a son of Ham, though his descendants as given in v.' are mostly Arabian. Surprising also is the statement in 2 Ch 14™- that Zerah the Cushite invaded Judah in the days of Asa, at a time when the Cushites had no power in Egypt. An attempt has been made to solve these and other difficulties by the assump-tion of a second Cush in Arabia (cf . 2 Ch 21"). Instructive references to the Cushite country and people are found in Am 9', Is 18"-, Jer 132'. Cushites were frequent in Palestine, probably descendants of slaves; see 2 S IS'"'-, Jer 36" 38"i-. These were, however, possibly Arabian Cushites. For the explanation of the Cush of Gn lO"-, and possibly of 2", see CoasiEANS. J. F. McCurdt.

CUSH as a personal name occurs only in the title of Ps 7. He is described as a Benjamite, and was probably a follower of Saul who opposed David.

CUSHAN (Hab 3') = Arabian (?) Cush (wh. see).

CUSHAN-RISHATHAIU.— King of Mesopotamia, or

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