DISHAN DISHAN.— A son of Seir, Gn SB^i- " '» = ! Ch V- «.

DISHON.— 1. A son of Seir (Gn 36m = 1 Ch l'»). 2. A son of Anah and grandson of Seir (Gn 36®, cf . v.^" = 1 Ch 1" ; Dishon should also be read for MT Dishan in Gn 36i»). Dishan and Dishon are, of course, not individual names, but the eponyms of Horite clana. Their exact location is a matter of uncertainty.

DISPERSION.— The name (Gr. Diaspora) given to the Jewish communities outside Palestine (2 Mac 1", Jn 7", Ja 1', 1 P 11). It ts uncertain when the estab-lishment of these non-Palestinian communities began. It appears from 1 K 20m that an Israelltish colony was established in Damascus in the reign of Ahab, Possibly the similar alliances of David and Solomon with Phoe-nicia had established similar colonies there. In the 8th cent. Tiglath-pUeser iii. carried many Israelites captive to Assyria (2 K 15^'), and Sargon transported from Samaria 27,-290 Hebrews (cf. KIB ii. 65), and settled them in Mesopotamia and Media (2 K 17«). As the Deuteronomic law had not at this date differentiated the religion of Israel sharply from other Semitic re-ligions (cf. Israel), it is doubtful whether these com-munities maintained their identity. Probably they were absorbed and thus lost to Israel.

The real Dispersion began with the Babylonian Exile. Nebuchadnezzar transplanted to Babylonia the choicest of the Judaean population (2 K 24i2-« 25", Jer 521=). Probably 50,000 were transported, and Jewish communities were formed in Babylonia at many points, as at Tel-abib (Ezk 3") and Casiphia (Ezr 8"). Here the Jewish religion was maintained; prophets like Ezekiel and priests like Ezra sprang up, the old laws were studied and worked over, the Penta-teuch elaborated, and from this centre Jews radiated to many parts of the East (Neh li»-. To l'-^". Is 11"). Thus the Jews reached Media, Persia, Cappadocia, Armenia, and the Black Sea. Only a few of these Babylonian Jews returned to Palestine. They main-tained the Jewish communities in Babylonia till about A.D. 1000. Here, after the beginning of the Christian era, the Babylonian Talmud was compiled.

In B.C. 60S, Necho took king Jehoahaz and probably others to Egypt. In this general period colonies of Jews were Uving at Memphis, Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Pathros in Egypt (Jer 44'). Papyri recently discovered prove the existence of a large Jewish colony and a Jewish temple at the First Cataract, in the 5th cent. B.C. Other Jews seem to have followed Alexander the Great to Egypt (Jos. BJ II. xvlil. 8; c. Apion. ii. 4). Many others migrated to Egypt under the Ptolemys (Ant. xii. i. 1, ii. 1 H.). Philo estimated the number of Jews in Egypt in the reign of Caligula (a.d. 38-41) at a million.

Josephus states that Seleucus i. (312-280) gave the Jews rights in all'the cities founded by him in Syria and Asia (Ant. xii. iii. 1). This has been doubted by some, who suppose that the spread of Jews over Syria occurred after the Maccabsean uprising (168-143). At all events by the 1st cent. B.C. Jews were in all this region, as well as in Greece and Rome, in the most important centres about the Mediterranean, and had also penetrated to Arabia (Ac 2").

At Leontopolis in Egypt, Onias iii., the legitimate Aaronic high priest, who had left Palestine because he hated Antiochus iv., founded, about B.C. 170, a temple which was for a century a mild rival of the Temple in Jerusalem. With few exceptions the Dispersion were loyal to the religion of the home land. Far removed from the Temple, they developed in the synagogue a spiritual religion without sacrifice, which, after the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70, kept Judaism alive. All Jews paid the annual half-shekel tax for the support of the Temple-worship, and at the great feasts made pilgrimages to Jerusalem from all parts of the world (Ac 2'°- "). They soon lost the use of Hebrew, and had the Greek translation — the Septuagint —

DODANIM

made for their use. Contact with the world gave them a broader outlook and a wider thought than the Palestinian Jews, and they conceived the idea of converting the world to Judaism. For use in this propaganda the Sibylline Oracles and other forms of literature likely to interest Grseco-Boman readers were produced.

George A. Barton.

DISTAFF.— See Spinning and Weaving.

DIVES.— See Lazarus, 2.

DIVINATION.— See Magic, Divination, and Sorcery.

DIVORCE.- See Marriage.

DIZAHAB.— The writer of Dt. 1' thought of this as a town on the further side of the Jordan, in the 'Arabah, on the border of Moab, 'over against Suph,* and as belonging to a group of places which he names. Unfortunately the mention of them does not make the matter clear. The site of Suph is unknown. So is that of Paran. The proposed identification of Tophel with et-Taflle, S.S.E. of the Dead Sea, fails on phonetic grounds. If 'Ain el-Hvderah., between Jebel Musa and ' Akabah, represents a Hazeroth, and if Laban=Libnah (Nu SS"), not tar from 'Ain el-Hxiderah, these are at too great a distance from the ' Arabah. The same is to be said of Burckhardt's suggestion that Mina ed-Dhahab, between the Has Muhammad and ' Akabah, is the place of which we are in search. Most probably the text is corrupt. At Nu 21" we find Suphah (Dt 1' Suph) in conjunction with Vaheb (see RV); and Vaheb, in the original, is almost the same as Zahab, which, indeed, the LXX reads. There seems to be some relationship between the two passages, but neither of them has so far been satis-factorily explained. At Gn 36^° we have Mezahab ( = ' waters of gold'): this gives a better sense than Dizahab, and may be the proper form of the name.

The Versions do not help us. The LXX has Katachrysea ( = 'richin gold'). The Vulg. (ubi auri est plurimum) takes the word as descriptive of the district, 'where is gold in abundance.' The Targums see in it an allusion to the golden calf. And we may add that Ibn Ezra thought it wa^ an unusual designation of a place which commonly went by another name. J. Taylor.

DOCTOR.— In Lk 2" it is said that the boy Jesus was found in the Temple, ' sitting in the midst of the doctors. ' The doctors were Jewish Rabbis. The Eng. word, like the Greek (didaskalos), means simply 'teacher.' So Lk 5" and Ac S^*, where the Gr. for 'doctor of the law' is one word (nomodidaskalos). Bacon calls St. Paul ' the Doctor of the Gentiles.'

DOCTRINE.— The only word in the OT that RV as well as AV renders 'doctrine' is icgaft=' instruction,' Ut. 'what is received' (Dt 32^, Job 11«, Pr 42, Is 29«). In the NT ' doctrine ' stands once for logos (He 6' AV ; but cf. RV), otherwise for didaclie and didaskalia, of which the former denotes esp. the act of teaching, the latter the thing that is taught. For didaskalia RV has usually retained 'doctrine' of AV, but in the case of didacM has almost invariably substituted 'teaching.' It is noteworthy that didaskalia is never used of the teaching of Jesus, always didaclil; also that didaskalia is found chiefly in the Pastoral Epp., and outside of these, with two exceptions (Bo 12' 15*), is used in a disparaging sense (Mt 15', Mk 7', Eph 4", Col ^). This is in keeping with the distinction between didache as 'teaching' and didaskalia as 'doctrine.' It reminds us that at first there were no formulations of Christian beUef. The immediate disciples of Jesus had the Living Word Himself; the earUest generation of ChriS' tians, the inspired utterances of Apostles and other Spirit-filled men. J. C. Lambert.

DODANIM.— Named in the MT of Gn 10' among the descendants of Javan, or lonians. The LXX and Sam. versions and the parallel passage 1 Ch V read Rodanim, i.e. Rhodians. Cf. the true reading of Ezk 27'5 under Dedan. J. F. McCdrdy.

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