PUL

last, see art. CLAnDiA. Pudens is a common Roman lame. A. J. Maclean.

PTJL. — 1. See Assykia and Babylonia, p. 66". 2. In Is 66" Pid is prob. a slip for Put (wh. see).

PULSE (zerS'lm, Dn l'^; elrB'nim, vM RVm 'herbs,' cf. Is 61" EV 'tilings tiiat are sown') may liave been any garden produce. Tlie Eng. word 'pulse' belongs to leguminous grains specially, but it is doubtful whether the meaning of the Heb. can be so restricted. In 2 S 17's 'pulse' is supplied after 'parched,' but 'grain' would be better. See also Food, § 3.

E. W. G. Mastebman.

PUNISHMENTS.— See Crimes and Punishmento, §§ 8-11,

PUNITES.— The gentilic name from Puvah, Nu 26''. See PuAH, No. 2.

PUNON.— A station of the Israelites (Nu 33«- "). Cf. sSso art. Pinon.

PUE. — See Puhim.

PURAH.—Gideon'sservant or armour-bearer Jg(7'i").

PURGE. — To 'purge' in AV is simply to 'cleanse or purify,' as Ps 51' 'Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean'; Mk 7" 'purging all meats,' i.e. making all food ceremonially clean.

PURIFICATION.— See Clean and Unclean.

PURDH.— 1. In the OT.— On the 14th and 15th of the month Adar (March) fell the celebration of the Feast of Purim or Lots. Ttiis commemorated the deliverance of the Jews from Haman, who in b.c 473 had plotted their extermination throughout the Persian empire (Est 3' 915-12). In 2 Mac Ib^ it is called 'Mordecai's day,' The observance of this festival was probably not at first universal, but Josephus mentions its occur-rence, and it held an established position before the time of Christ. At first no special religious services were enjoined to mark it, nor was there any prohibition of labour. It was a time of feasting and joy, of the giving of presents and alms. In later times it was celebrated by a synagogue meeting on the evening of the 13th and the morning of the 14th, when the Book of Esther was read through, special prayers and thanks were offered, and the congregation ejaculated curses on Hamah and blessings on Esther and Mordecai. The rest of the feast was given up to good cheer and boisterous enjoyment of an almost Bacchanalian char-acter. In 1 Mac 7*» and 2 Mac 15", as also in Josephus, the 13th of Adar is recorded as a feast-day in com-memoration of the defeat of the Syrian general Nicanor in B.C. 161. But later ages observed it as the Fast of Esther (cf. Est 9" 4'), the celebration taking place on the 11th, if the 13th happened to be a Sabbath.

The origin of the Purim feast is a matter of dispute. It isdiCBcultto identify any known Persian word with pur (Est 3' 9™), which gave the festival its name. Various theories have been put forward, of which the most note-worthy are: (a) that which derives it from a Persian spring festival; (6) that which regards it as a trans-formation of an old Zoroastrian festival of the dead; (c) that which traces its origin to a Babylonian New Year's festival.

2. In the NT. — Some have supposed that the name-less feast mentioned in Jn 5' was Purim. But this is not convincing, for (a) Purim was never one of the great national solemnities which called for attendance at Jerusalem: it was observed locally and not only at the capital; (6) Christ would naturally go up for the Passover in tlie next month. And it is more probable that the Passover is the feast here intended. Cf. art. Chronology of NT, I. § 2. A. W. F. Blunt.

PURITY. — 1. Ceremonial purity is acquired by the due observance of external rites. The Jewish law pre-scribed various regulations by means of which outward defilement might be removed and the ' unclean ' person

PYTHON

be restored to fellowship with God. But the OT rec-ognizes that moral purity is essential to acceptable worship of the Holy God (Ps 24'); the question of Eliphaz expresses the conviction of those who know how absolute is the Divine holiness: 'Shall a man be pure before his Maker?' (Job 4" RVm); only to the man who 'purifies himself can such a God reveal His glory (Ps 18», the verb is reflexive). The writer of the Ep. to the Hebrews reminds Christians who were familiar with the OT ceremonial of purification that the voluntary sacrifice of the Son of God is the means of purification under the new and better Covenant; 'the blood of Christ' removes the inward defilement which unfits sinful men for the service of the living God (9"').

■2. In the NT 'pure' has the more restricted meaning of 'chaste' in a few passages. Underlying the true reading of 2 Co ll', 'the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ,' is the metaphor of v.^ (RV), 'I es-poused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ ' (cf. Tit 2=, 1 P 3^). The same noun is tr. 'pureness' in 2 Co 6» (RV); cf. 1 Ti 4'2 S*; also, for the wider meaning of the verb, Ja 4', 1 P 1» 1 Jn 3»; and of the adjective, Ph 4», 1 Ti 5^^, Ja 3". See, further, art. Holiness. J. G. Taskeb.

PURPLE.— See Colours, § 6.

PURSE.— See Bag.

PUT, PHUT. — A people counted amongst the sons of Ham (Gn 10», 1 Ch 1«), and frequently mentioned in the prophets as an ally of Egypt (Jer 46=, Ezk 27'° 30' 385, Nah 3'). It has been suggested that it repre-sents (1) the people of Punt (rather Pwone in Egyp.), i.e. the African coast of the Red Sea with Somaliland, etc.: warriors may perhaps have been obtained thence for Egypt; or (2) Libya, whose people were called by the Egyptians Paiat (in the times of the Hebrew prophets the Libyans were the backbone of the semi-native army); or (3) the bow-bearing allies pidati (?); (4) being generally associated with Lud =Lydians (once in Nah. Lubim), it is thought that Put may be a name for the Carians or other pre-Hellenic peoples of Asia Minor or the iEgaean islands. F. Ll. Griffith.

PUTEOLI (modern Pozzuoli). — In ancient times an important harbour and emporium, especially for Eastern trade, on the W. coast of Italy near Naples. It was founded by Greeks at a very early period. Such cities were specially sought by Jews and other foreigners, and Christians would early be living there, as St. Paul and his party found them on reaching this port at the end of their voyage from the East (Ac 28'^). A. Souter.

PUTHITES.— A famUy of Kiriath-jearim (1 Ch 2").

PUTIEL.— The father-in-law of Eleazar (Ex S^).

PUVAH.— See Puah.

PYGARG (.dlshBn). — A 'clean' animal, Dt 14' only. From its associates in the same verse it may be inferred that it was a deer of some kind. The LXX tr. is, on what grounds is not known, pygargos, I.e. 'white-rumped' (hence the Eng. 'pygarg'). This description and a process of exclusion — the hart, roebuck, etc., all being otherwise accounted for — make it probable that the dlshSn was the addax (.A . nasomaculatus) , an antelope with a white tail and long, backward-curved, twisted horns. It is rare in Palestine to-day, but is known to the Bedouin. E. W. G. Masterman.

PYRRHUS. — A man of Beroea, father of Sopater, according to the best text (Ac 20« RV). For the un-usual insertion of the patronymic, see art. Sopater.

A. J. Maclean.

PYTHON. — In Ac 16" we read of a young girl at Philippi who had ' a spirit, a Python ' (this is the reading of all the best MSS). Pytho was a district close to Delphi; and Python was the serpent at that place slain by Apollo, who therefore was called 'the Pythian.' Hence the priestess at Delphi was called 'the Pythian.'

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