ONIONS

nephew Joseph had not conciliated Ptolemy (Ant. xii. vi. 1). — Onias III. was son o£ Simon II., and entered on his office about B.C. 198. According to 2 Mac 3'-i", he ruled the city well. A dispute arose between him and a man named Simon. The latter persuaded king Seleucus to send Heliodorus (4 Mao 4i-'« substitutes Apollonius) to seize the Temple treasury. Heliodorus being supernaturally repulsed, Onias went to Antioch to defend himsell. He was deposed from his office. In B.C. 175 he was murdered (Dn 9""). The esteem in which his memory was held appears from 2 Mac 15'^-". — His son Onias IV. fled to Egypt and was welcomed by Ptolemy Philometor, who gave him a disused temple in Leontopolis, which he re-built after the model of the one in Jerusalem, to serve as a centre of unity for the Hellenistic Jews (Ant. xiii. iii. 1, 3, BJ i. i. 1, vii. x. 2).

J. Taylor.

ONIONS (betsallm, Nu IV).— The omoa( Allium cepa, Arab, basal) Is and always has been a prime favourite in Palestine and Egjrpt. E. W. G. Mastekman.

ONO. — A Benjamite city (1 Ch 8«) named with Lod and Hadid (Ezr 2" etc.), to which his enemies invited Nehemiah to conference (6"). It was_reoocupied after the Exile. It is identified with Kefr 'Ana, to the N. of Ludd, the ancient Lod or Lydda. W. Ewinq.

ONUS (1 Es S22) = Ono (wh. see).

ONTCHA (slieclieleth, Ex30'«). — One of the ingredients of the sacred composition which gave a sweet smell when burned (cf. Sir 24'', where apparently the same substance is referred to as onyx) . Onycha was obtained from the claw-like [hence the name from Gr. onyx ' nail 'J operculum of some mollusc of the genus strombus. A similar product is still used in Upper Egypt for fumi-gations. E. W. G. Mastekman.

ONYX. — See Jewels and Pkecious Stones, Ontcha.

OPHEL.— See Jerusalem, II. § 1. 2.

OPHIR. — A region most probably in Arabia (as it is mentioned between Sheba and Havilah in Gn 10"), famous for the excellence of Its gold, which was brought to Solomon by his Red Sea navy (1 K 9^8). Jehosh-aphat, essaying to send to Ophir, lost his ships (1 K 22"). It has been disputed whether South or East Arabia was the true Ophir; the only datum is the length of the voyage thither from Ezion-geber — eighteen months, as the double voyage took three years (IK 10^). As the vessels probably coasted from port to port, the journey would naturally occupy a considerable time. It need not be supposed that the other imports — sandal-wood, ivory, apes, and peacocks — all came from the same place. The most careful study that has been given to the subject is that of Glaser (Skizze der Gesch. und Geog. Arabiens, ii. pp. 353-387), who has concluded that it was in S.B. Arabia, in the territory of the Gulfs of Oman and of Persia.

Other theories have been put forward in plenty. The most popular recent view sees in Ophir certain parts of Maahonaland. This theory, apart from other difficulties which it presents, stands or falls with the explanation of certain ruins at Zimbabwe, about 200 miles from Sofala. Like Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid, these remains have been made the centre of much visionary speculation, but their true character seems to have been settled by the recent researches of Randall-Mad vor. who has shown that they are native structures of no great antiquity.

Besides S. Africa, various places in India have been fixed upon, such as the mouth of the Indus, Supara in Goa, and 'Mount Ophir' in Johore. Nothing con-vincing has been said in support of any of these views. For instance, we are reminded that the peacocks are con-fined to India and Malaya; but it is nowhere said that the peacocks came from Ophir, and even if they di(^ they may well have been brought thither by further

ORNAMENTS

Eastern trade quite independently of Solomon's Phoe-nician navigators.

On the whole, the view that Ophir was in Arabia (known to the Phoenicians as auriferous, Ezk 27^®) is the simplest and most in accordance with the scanty data. R. A. S. Macalisteb.

OPHNI. — A town of Benjamin (Jos IS") ; unknown.

OPHRAH. — 1. A town in Benjamin (Jos 18^) which was somewhere near Michmash, and is only once else-where referred to, as an indication of the direction o£ a PhiUstine raid (1 S 13"). The data for its identifica-tion are insufficient: Jerome states that it was 5 Roman miles east from Bethel. 2. Ophrah 'that pertaineth unto Joash the Abiezrite' — i.e. to a member of a sept of the tribe of Manasseh (Jos 17*), was the native village of Gideon. It is not mentioned except in connexion with the history of him and of his son Abimelech ( Jg 6-9). No satisfactory identification has been proposed. 3. A name in the genealogy of the tribe of Judah (1 Ch 4"). R. A. S. Macalisteb.

ORACLE.— See Magic, etc.. Temple.

ORATOR.— The term applied in Ac 24' to Tertullus, who was the advocate for the high priest and elders against St. Paul. Men of this class were to be found in most of the provincial towns of the Roman Empire, ready to plead or defend any cause, and generally possessed of a certain amount of glib eloquence, with a due admixture of flattery. Moklby Stevenson.

ORCHARD (parties [a Pers. loan-word], Ec 2' RV 'parks'; Ca 4" RVm 'paradise'; Neh 2' AV and RV 'forest,' RVm 'park'). — See Paradise.

E. W. G. Mastekman.

ORDEAL.— See Magic, p. segb.

ORDER.— See Priest (in NT), 775".

ORDINANCE.— See Decree.

ORDINATION.— See Laying on of Hands.

OREB AND ZEEB.-^Two princes of Midian in the invasion of Israel, mentioned as interior to the kings Zebah and Zalmunna (Jg 7^ 8', Ps 83i'; ct. also Is lO^s). The meaning of the names is ' raven ' and ' wolf.' Asso-ciated with the invasion put down by Gideon, these two princes were killed by the men of Ephraim, who rose at Gideon's suggestion and intercepted the princes and their follower^ at the river Jordan. That their death, so briefly narrated in Judges, was accompanied by great slaughter may be inferred from the incidental references by the writers of Ps 83 and Is 10. Isaiah compares the destruction to that of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, while the Psalmist compares the flying Midlanites to the whirling dust or chaff driven before the wind. The rock Oreb and the wine-press Zeeb took their names from this incident. T. A. MoxoN.

OREN.— A son of Jerahmeel (1 Ch 2?^).

ORGAN.— See Music, etc., § 4 (2) (6).

ORION.— See Stars.

ORNA])IENTS .—1 . The custom of wearing ornaments, either as personal adornment or as amulets, or for both purposes combined, is almost coeval with the appearance of man himself. In historical times in Palestine, as elsewhere, these ornaments were chiefly of gold, silver, bronze, and paste, but the excavations have shown that in the neoUthic age a favourite ornament was a string of sea-shells. The Hebrews, especially the Hebrew women, shared to the full the Oriental love of ornaments, which are denoted in OT by two comprehensive terms, kell, generally rendered 'jewels' (Gn 24*', Ex 3^ and oft.), and 'adl, rendered 'ornaments' (Ex33<- », Ezk 16" etc.). Lists of individual ornaments are found in such passages as Ex 3S^, Nu 315", Is 3"^-, Ezk 16n- ", Jth 10*, although the identification of each article is not always certain.

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