OCCUPY

The meaning of the Eng. word 'observed' Is 'rever-enced.' Tindale's translation is 'gave him reverence.' Cf. Shaks. ^ Henry IV. iv. iv. 30, 'he is gracious, it he be observed.' But the more probable meaning of the Greek is 'protected him,' or, as RV, 'kept him safe.'

OOOTJPY.— The ' occupier ' of Ezk 27" is a ' trader, ' and ' to occupy ' (Ezk 27', Lk 19'') is ' to trade.' The original meaning of the Eng. word is to be engaged in anything.

OOHIELUS (1 Es 1') =Jeiel, 2 Ch 359.

OOHBAN.— Father of Pagiel (Nu 1" 2" 7«- " 10»)-

OCIDELUS (1 Es 9^2) =Jozabad in Ezr 10''.

OCINA. — Taldng the towns mentioned in order as fearing the advance of Holofernes (Jth 2''), Sidon and Tyre are well known. With some certainty Sur may be identified with Umm et-'AmUd, S. of Iskanderuna, which seems to have been formerly called TurUn. The next step takes us naturally to Acre, in later times known as Accon, in which we may find an echo of the earlier Ocina. W. Ewing.

ODED.— 1. The father of the prophet Azariah (2 Ch 150. In v.* 'Oded' of MT is a mistake (through wrong marginal gloss or otherwise) for ' Azariah.' 2. A prophet who successfully protested against the proposal to enslave Judahites (2 Ch 28™).

ODOMERA. — A chief, slain by Jonathan (1 Mac 9««).

OF. — As already noted, under Bt, the prep, 'of is generally used in AV for the agent, as Mt 2" 'He was mocked of the wise men.' But there are other obsolete or archaic uses of 'of,' which should be carefully ob-served. Thus (1) it sometimes means from (the proper meaning of the A.S. 'of'), as Mk 11* 'Others cut down branches of the trees,' Jn 15" 'All things that I have heard of my Father,' Jn 16" 'He shall not speak of himself'; (2) concerning, as Ac 5" 'They doubted of them, whereunto this would grow,' Mt 18" ' He rejoiceth more of that sheep than of the ninety and nine,' Jn 2" 'The zeal of thine house'; (3) with, Ca 2= 'I am sick of love.'

OFFENCE. — The Greek word skandalon is properly used of a ' stick in a trap on which the bait is placed, and which, when touched by the animal, springs up and shuts the trap' (Liddell and Scott). The word is used by Christ (Mt 18', Lk 17') of offences in the form of hindrances to the faith of beUevers, especially of Christ's little ones. The context makes it clear what kind of stumbling-blocks are referred to. In the corre-sponding passage in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt gas. M; cf. Mk 9«- ") the right eye and right hand are given as instances of the kind of offences that may arise. The members here cited are not only in themselves good and serviceable, but necessary, though they are capable, in certain circumstances, of becoming the occasion of sin to us. In the same way the Christian may find pursuits and pleasures, which in themselves are innocent, bringing unexpected temptations and Involving him in sin. The possible applications of this are numerous, whether the warning be referred to artistic gifts (the ' hand ' and ' eye '), or abuses of certain kinds of food and drink, or any other circumstances which may lead a man from the higher life or divert him from his aims. All these may be compared to the stumbling-blocks which cause a man to fall. Such things must be dispensed with, for the sake of entering the 'eternal Ufe,' which is the Christian man's goal.

T. A. MoxoN.

OFFERING. — See Sacrifice and Optebino.

OFFICER. — By this somewhat indefinite expression are rendered some eight or ten different Heb. and Gr. words, several of which seem to have had an equally wide application. Of the Heb. words the commonest is shBtSr, from a root which in Assyrian means 'to write.' The shBtSr, accordingly, was originally, it would seem, a subordinate official attached to the higher military,

OIL

civil, and judicial officers of the State for secretarial purposes (see Driver's summary of their duties in his Com. on Dt 1"). In the narrative of the oppression of the Hebrews in Egypt, the 'officers' are the Hebrew subordinates of the Egyptian taskmasters (see Ex 5"); one of their duties, it may be assumed, was to keep account of the tale of bricks made by each of their compatriots.

In Gn S?*! and elsewhere ' officer ' is the tr. of the usual word for 'eunuch' (wh. see), but, as 39' shows, the original (sans) must here signify, more generally, a court official. Still another word, rendered 'officer' in 1 K 4»- ' etc., denotes the heads of the twelve administra-tive districts into which Solomon divided his kingdom, corresponding somewhat to the ' collectors ' in our Indian administration.

In NT 'officer' is, with one exception (Lk 12'8), the tr. of a Gr. word of equally wide application. In the account of our Lord's betrayal and capture the 'officers' are members of the Temple poUce (Jn 7^ etc.), as also in the account of the imprisonment of Peter and John (Ac 5''- 2«; cf . 4') . The same word is elsewhere rendered ' minister, ' either in the more general sense of ' attendant ' (so Ac 13' RV), or in the special sense of the 'minister' (RV 'attendant') or officer of the Jewish synagogue (Lk 4'"), for whom see Synaqogue.

A. R. S. Kennedy.

OG. — The king of Bashan, who, with his children and people, was defeated and destroyed by the Israelites at Edrei, directly after the defeat of Sihon. His rule extended over sixty cities, of which the two chief were Ashtaroth and Edrei (Jos 12*). The whole of his king-dom was assigned to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half-Manasseh (Dt 3'-'=, Nu 32»; see also Dt 1* 4" 31*, Jos 2'" 9'» 13'2- =»). The conquest of this powerful giant king lingered long in the imagination of the IsraeUtes as one of the chief exploits of the conquest (Ps 135" ISO'"). The impression of the gigantic stature of Og is corroborated by the writer of Dt 3", who speaks of the huge ' iron bedstead ' (or sarcophagus) belonging to him. According to the measurements there given, this sarcophagus was nine cubits long and four cubits broad. It is, however, impossible to estimate his stature from these dimensions, owing to the tendency to build tombs unnecessarily large in order to leave an impression of superhuman stature. The ' iron ' of which the sarcoph-agus was made, probably means black basalt. Many basaltic sarcophagi have been found on the east of the Jordan. T. A. Moxon.

OHAD.— A son of Simeon (Gn 46", Ex 6'=).

OHEL.— A son of Zerubbabel, 1 Ch 3™ [text doubtful].

OHOLAH AND OHOLIBAH (AVAholah, AhoUbah). — Two sisters who were harlots (Ezk 23). The words appear to mean ' tent ' and ' tent in her, ' the allusion being to the tents used for idolatrous purposes. The passage is figurative, the two harlots representing, the one Samaria and the other Jerusalem. Though both were wedded to Jehovah, they were seduced by the gallant officers of the East, Samaria being led astray by Assyria and Jerusalem by Babylon. The whole of the allegory is a continuation of ideas already expounded in chs. 16 and 20, and is intended as a rebuke against Israel for her fondness for alliances with the great Oriental empires, which was the occasion of new forms and developments of idolatry. The main idea of the allegory seems to have been borrowed from Jer 3«-".

T. A. MoxoN.

OHOLIAB (AV Aholiab).— The chief assistant of Bezalel (Ex 31« 35" 36'- ' 38»).

OHOLIBAH (AV Aholibah).— See Oholah.

OHOLIBAMAH (AVAholibamah).— 1. Oneof Esau's wives (Gn 362- '■ »• "■ s*). 2. An Edomite ' duke ' (Gn 36").

OIL. — With one exception (Est 2" 'oil of inyrrh') all the Scripture references to oil are to 'olive oil,' as it is

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