DURA, PLAIN OF

DTTRA, PLAIN OF. — The precise locality is uncertain, but it must have been in the vicinity of Babylon. Per-haps the name is derived from the Bab. duru^'viail,' which is frequently used as a town name. Oppert (JExpid. en Mesop. i. 238) found a small river so named, falUng into the Euphrates 6 or 7 miles S.E. of Babylon, the neighbouring mounds being also named Tolul Dura. A curious Talmudic legend makes this plain the scene of Ezekiel's vision (37'-'?), which it regards as an actual event (iSonft. 92 6). J. Tatlob.

EAST, CHILDREN OF THE

DWARF Is the rendering in'AV and RV of dag, a word (Lv 212°) denoting one of the physical disqualifications by which a priest was unfitted for service. The word means thin, lean, small. The conjecture that it here means a dwarf is plausible. But others regard it as meaning an unnaturally thin man — a consumptive, perhaps.

DTEING. — See Arts and Ckafts, 6; Coloubs, 6.

DYSENTERY.— See Medionb.

E

EAGLE.— (1) neaTier, Dt 32" etc., Lv 11" RVm 'great vulture.' (2) rOcham, Lv ll's, AV 'gier eagle,' RV 'vulture.' (3) ae(os, Mt 2428|| Lis 17" (RVm 'vultures'). Rev 4' 12". The Ileb. nesher is the equivalent of the Arab, nisr, wliich includes eagles, vultures, and ospreys. It is clear from Mic l'' 'enlarge thy baldness as the eagle,' that the vulture is referred to. There are eight varieties of eagles and four of vultures known in Palestine. The references to nesher are specially appropriate as applied to the griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus), a mag-nificent bird, 'the most striking ornithological feature of Palestine' (Tristram), found especially around the precipitous gorges leading to various parts of the Jordan Valley. Job 39"- ™ and Jer 49'o well describe its habits; and its powerful and rapid fiight is referred to in Is 40^1, Dt 28", Hab is. RacMm corresponds to the Arab, rakh&m, the Egyptian vulture, a ubiquitous scavenger which visits Palestine from the south every summer. E. W. G. Masterman.

EAR. — Both In OT and NT the spiritual disposition to attend, which issues in obedience, is thus designated (e.ff. Is 6"i, Mt 11>', Rev 2'). Hence 'to uncover the ear' (RVm, 1 S 9'^ etc.)=to reveal; the ' uncircumcised ear' (Jer 6'°)=the ear which remains unpurifled and clogged and therefore unable to perceive: hence 'mine ears hast thou opened' (Ps 40')= Thou hast enabled me to understand. The perforated ear was a sign of slavery or dependence, indicating the obligation to attend (Ex 21«, Dt IS"'). The tip of the priest's right ear was touched with blood in token that the sense of hearing was consecrated to God's service (Ex 29", Lv 8M). J. Taylor.

EARING. — Gn 45«, ' There shall be neither earing nor harvest.' 'Earing' is the old expression for 'plough-ing.' The verb 'to ear' (connected with Lat. arare) also occurs, as Dt 21« ' a rough valley, which is neither eared nor sown.'

EARNEST.— In 2 Co 1« S', Eph 1» St. Paul describes the Holy Spirit as the believer's 'earnest.' The word means 'part-payment, 'the deposit being the samein kind as what is to follow. Cf. Tindale's (1533) use of ' earnest- penny ' : 'that assured saving health and earnest-penny of everlasting life.' Rabbi Greenstone {JB v. 26) quotes Kid. 3a to the effect that the payment of a perutah, the smallest coin of Palestinian currency, on account of the purchase, was sufficient to bind the bargain. The Gr. word was probably introduced by the Phoenicians. Deissmann (Bible Studies, p. 108 f .) shows that in 2 Co l^' the verb ' stablisheth ' connotes a legal idea and stands In 'an essential relation' to 'earnest' in v.*'. St. Paul represents the relation of God to believers under the image of 'a legally guaranteed security.'

J. G. Tasker.

EAR-RING. — See Amulets, 2; Ornaments, 2.

EARTH in OT usually stands for one or other of the Eeb. words 'eretz and 'addmah. In AV these are rendered

Indiscriminately 'earth' and 'ground,' but RV dis-tinguishes them by using, to some extent, 'earth' for the former, and 'ground' for the latter. Both words have a wide range of meanings, some of which they possess in common, while others are peculiar to each. Thus 'eretz denotes: (a) earth as opposed to heaven (Gn 1'), and (&) dry land as opposed to sea ,(12°). 'adamdh is specially used : (o) for earth as a specific substance (Gn 2', 2 K 5") ; and (B) for the surface of the ground, in such phrases as ' face of the earth.' Both words are employed to describe: (a) the soil from which plants grow, 'adamSh being the more common term in this sense; (6) the whole earth with its inhabitants, for which, however, 'aMvMh is but rarely used ; and (c) aland or country, this also being usually expressed by 'eretz. In one or two eases it Is doubtful in which of the two last senses 'eretz is to be taken, e.g. Jer 222' (EV 'earth,' RVm 'land').

In NT the Gr. words for ' earth ' are gl and oikoumerd, the former having practically all the variety of meanings mentioned above, while the latter denotes specially the whole inhabited earth, and is once used (Heb 26) in a still wider sense for the universe of the future. See, further, art. World. James Patrick.

EARTHQUAKE.— The whole formation of the country running in a straight line from the Taurus range to the gulf of Akabah, which therefore includes Central Judaea, reveals a volcanic character of a striking kind. That this large tract was, in days gone by, the scene of frequent and terrible earthquakes, admits of no doubt. Apart from the actual occurrences of earth-quakes recorded in the Bible and elsewhere (e.g. at the time of the battle of Actium, in the seventh year of the reign of Herod the Great, Jos. Ant. xv. v. 2), the often-used imagery of the earthquake bears eloquent testimony to a fearful experience.

It is necessary to distinguish between actual earth-quakes and those which belong to the descriptive accounts of theophanies or Divine manifestations of wrath, etc. Of the former only one is mentioned in the OT, that which occurred in the reign of Uzziah (Am 1', Zee 14'); among the latter must be included such references as Ex 19", l K 19", Nu 16», Ps 18' 68' 7718 1041, Is 29« etc. In the NT it is recorded that an earthquake occurred at the Crucifixion (Mt 27"- "), at the Resurrection (Mt 28^), and on the night of St. Paul's imprisonment in Philippi (Ac 16"); further, it is foretold that there shall be earthquakes at Christ's second coming (Mt 24", Mk 138, Lk 21"); their mention in Rev. is characteristic of apocalyptic literature.

W. O. E. Obsterlet.

EAST, CHILDREN OF THE.— A common designa-tion of the inhabitants of the Syrian desert, who were partly Aramsean and partly Arabian (Jg 6' 8'°, Ezk 25<- 1°, Is 11», Jer 49^8, Job 1'). Certain of them had obtained great renown for wisdom (1 K S'").

J. F. MoCUBDY.

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