FOOL

Mishna, passim). An active trade in 'victuals' is attested for Nehemiah's day (13'"), when we hear of the 'fish-gate' (S^) and the 'sheep gate' (3'). ao named, doubtless, from their respective markets. The disciples were accustomed to buy provisions as they journeyed through the land (Jn 4'; cf. 13"); and Corinth, we may be sure, was not the only city of the time that had a provision-market (1 Co 10", EV shambles). In Jeru-salem, again, cheese was to be bought in the Cheese-makers' Valley (Tyropoeon), and oil at the oil-merchants (Mt 25'), and so on. In the early morning especially, the streets near the city gates on the north and west, which led to the country, were doubtless then, as now, transformed into market-places, lined with men and women offering for sale the produce of their farms and gardens. Even the outer court of the Temple itself had in our Lord's day become a ' house of merchandise ' (Jn 2"). A. E. S. Kennedy.

FOOL, — The Heb. language is rich in words which express various kinds of folly. 1. The kesU is glib of tongue, 'his mouth is his destruction' (Pr 18'; cf. 9'^ 143!); in Ec 5"- 'the sacrifice of fools' is offered by him who is rash with his mouth. But such an one is 'hght-hearted, thoughtless and noisy rather than vicious.' 2. The saktuU manifests his folly not in speech, but in action; it was after David had numbered the people that he reproached himself for acting ' very fooUshly' (2 S 24'°). Conseauences prove that fools of this class have blundered in their calculations (Gn 3 1^', 1 S 13", Is 4425). 3. The 'evil is stupid, impatient of reproof, often sullen and quarrelsome. He despises wisdom and instruction (Pr V, cf. 15'), is soon angry (Pr 12'5 27'), and may sometimes be described as sinful (Pr 5"'- 249). 4. The folly of the nabhU is never mere intellectual deficiency or stupidity; it is a moral fault, sometimes a crime, always a sin. 'To commit folly' is a euphemism for gross unchastity (Dt 22^', Jer 29^3) ; the word is used also of sacrilege (Jos 7'^), of blasphemy (Ps 74'8), as well as of impiety in general (Dt 32», Ps 14"). These words are sometimes employed in a more general sense; to determine the shade of meaning applicable in any passage, a study of the context is essential. For further details see Kennedy, Hebrew Synonyms, p. 29 ff. In the NT the Gr. words for 'fool' describe him as 'deficient in understanding' (Lk 24^5), 'unwise' (Eph 5"), 'senseless' (Lk 122"), 'unintelligent' (Ro 1"). The Gr. word which corresponds to the 'impious fool' of the OT is found in Mt S^: Rcica expresses 'contempt for a man's head = you stupid 1' But 'fool' (more) expresses 'contempt for his heart and character = you scoundrel!' (Bruce, EGT, in loc). It mJBre were 'a Hebrew expression of condemnation' (RVm), it would 'enjoy the distinction of being the only pure Hebrew word in the Greek Testament' (Field, Notes on the Translation of NT, p. 3). A 'pure Hebrew word' means a word not taken from the LXX and not Aramaic.

J. G. Tasker.

FOOT. — Is 3i«- >8 refers to the ornaments of women's feet. Most of the metaphorical or figurative usages are connected with the idea of the feet as the lowest part of the body, opposed to the head ; hence falling at a man's feet, as the extreme of reverence or humility, kissing the feet (Lk 7^8), sitting at the feet, as the atti-tude of the pupil (Lk lO^', Ac 22'). The foot was literally placed on the neck of conquered foes (Jos 10^), as may be seen in Egyptian monuments. Hence 'under foot' Is used of subjection (Ps 8», 1 Co IS"). In Dt H'" the reference is to some system of irrigation in vogue in Egypt, either to the turning of a water-wheel by the foot, or to a method of distributing water from a canal 'by making or breaking down with the foot the small ridges which regulate its flow' (Driver, ad loc.). Other usages arise from the feet as stained or defiled in walking. The shaking of dust from the feet (Mt 10", Ac 13=i) was the sign of complete rejection; the land was as a

FOREHEAD

heathen land, and its dust unclean. So the sandals were removed as a sign of reverence (Ex 3', Jos 5"; cf. covering the feet. Is 62). To remove the sandal was also the sign of the renunciation of a right (Dt 25', Ru 48). To walk barefoot was the symbol of mourning (2 S 15'") or slavery (Is 20"). Jer 2" 'Withhold thy foot from being unshod,' i.e. do not wear the shoes off your feet in running after strange gods.

Washing the feet stained with the dust of the road was part of the regular duty of hospitaUty (Gn ISS Ex 30", 2 S 11», Ca 5', Lk 7"). The use of ointment for this purpose was the sign of the penitent's lavish love (Lk 7", Jn 12'). The washing of the feet at the Last Supper is primarily connected with this custom (Jn 13). Christ 'the Lord and Master' assumes the garb and does the work of a slave (13<). The lesson is not merely one of humility (cf. the dispute in Lk 222*), but of ready and self-sacrificing service. An interesting Rabbinic parallel is quoted on Ezk 16': 'Among men the slave washes his master; but with God it is not so.' Ederaheim further sees in the act a substitute for the washing of hands which was part of the Paschal cere-monial; and there may be a reference to the proverb, connected with the Greek mysteries, that a great under-taking must not be entered upon 'with unwashed feet.' The service of the Kingdom of heaven (or in particular the crisis of that night) is not to be approached in the spirit of unthinking pride shown in the dispute about precedence (see D. Smith, The Days of His Flesh, p. 440). Besides the lesson of humility, there is also the symbolism of purification. St. Peter, at first protesting, afterwards characteristically accepts this as literal. Christ's reply takes up the figure of one who has walked from the bath to his host's house, and needs only to have the dust of his journey removed. Broadly, they are clean by their consecration to Him, but they need continual cleansing from the defilements of daily life. ' It seems impossible not to see in the word "bathed" a fore-shadowing of the idea of Christian baptism ' (Westcott, ad loc). The same or other commentaries should be consulted for later imitations of the ceremony (cf. 1 Tl 5"). C. W. Emmet.

FOOTMAN.— This word is used in two different senses: 1. A foot-soldier, always in plur. 'footmen,' foot-soldiers, infantry. Footmen probably composed the whole of the Isr. forces (1 S 4'" 15«) before the time of David. 2. A runner on foot: 1 S 22" (AVm 'or guard, Heb. runners' ; RV guard,' RVm'Heb.ntjiners'). ' Biumers ' would be the literal, and at the same time the most appropriate, rendering. The king had a body of runners about him, not so much to guard his person as to run his errands and do his bidding. They formed a recognized part of the royal state (1 S 8", 2 S 15'); they served as executioners (1 S 22", 2 K lO^'); and, accompanying the king or his general into battle, they brought back olHcial tidings of its progress or event (2 S 181'). In Jer 12' both the Heb. and the Eng. (footmen) seem to be used in the more general sense of racers on foot.

FOOTSTOOL.— See House, § 8. FORBEARANCE.- See LoNGsnrFERiNG. FORD. — Of the numerous 'fords' or passages of the Jordan, two in ancient times were of chief importance: that opposite Jericho near Gilgal (Jos 2', Jg S^*), and that at Bethabara (mod. 'Abarah), at the junction of the Jalud (which drains the Jezreel valley) and the Jordan. Bridges are now used in crossing the Jordan. In 2 S 1528 17" the AV has 'plain' for 'fords,' and in Jg 125- « 'passages.' Other fords were those of the Jabbok (Gn 32^2) and the Arnon (Is 162).

G. L. Robinson.

FOREHEAD.- In Jer 3' a whore's forehead is a

type of shamelessness; in Ezk 3«- ' the forehead stands

for obstinacy. In 9« the righteous receive a mark,

probably the letter Taw, on their forehead. Hence the

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