QUAIL

This seems to be the connexion of the name with divina-tion. Plutarch says that ventriloquists in his day (1st cent. A.D.) were called 'Pythons.' Their powers were considered to be due to spiritual influence, and to include prediction. The girl at Philippi, then, was prob-ably a ventriloquist, who brought her masters gain by

QUIRINIUS

soothsaying. She proclaimed aloud for many days that Paul and his companions were slaves of the Most High God, and the Apostle at last drove out the spirit ' in the name of Jesus Christ.' Her masters thereupon, having lost their source of profit, denounced Paul and Silas to the magistrates. A. J. Maclean.

Q

QUAIL {selaw, Ex 16i», Nu 11'"-, Ps 105").— This bird (Cotumix communis), the smallest of the partridge family, migrates annually from Africa to Europe, crossing the Sinaitic peninsula and Palestine en route; it reaches the latter about March. It migrates in vast numbers, always flying with the wind, and often settling, after a long flight, especially across the sea, in such an exhausted condition as to be easy of capture. The flesh is fatty, and apt to disagree if taken to excess, especially if inefflciently preserved.

E. W. G. Mastekman.

QUARREL. — The original meaning of this Eng. word (from Lat. querela) is a 'complaint.' This is its meaning in Col S's AV 'If any man have a quarrel against any.' Then it came to mean any cause of complaint, or any case that had to be stated or de-fended, as Mk 612 'Herodias had a quarrel against him': so Lv 26^', 2 K 6'.

QUARRY. — In the story of the slaughter of Eglon by Ehud (Jg 3) we are told (v.") that Ehud turned back from 'the quarries that were by Gilgal,' while after the assassination he ' escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries' (.y."). An alternative translation ' graven images ' is given in AVm and RVm, while other versions, e.g. LXX and Vulg., read 'idols.' The Heb. word pesllim is applied to images of gods in wood, stone, or metal (Dt 7«' » 12', Is 21» 30^2, 2 Ch 34«). Moore suggests the translation 'sculptured stones (probably rude images) .' Probably the stones set up by Joshua to commemorate the crossing of the Jordan (Jos 4) are what is referred to.

'Quarry' occurs also in RV of 1 K 6'. The stones used for the Temple building are said to have been prepared 'at the quarry.' AV reads 'before it was brought thither,' RVm 'when it was brought away." The translation 'quarry' is probably correct.

W. F. Boyd.

QUARTUS. — Mentioned as joining in St. Paul's greeting to the Church of Rome (Ro 16^).

QUATERNION.— A guard of four soldiers (Ac 12<).

QUEEN. — The functions of a queen reigning in her own right would be identical with those of a king (wh. see). The queen as the wife of a monarch in Israel held a position of comparatively little importance, whereas that of a dowager-queen ('queen-mother') commanded great influence (cf. the cases of Bathsheba, Jezebel, Athaliah).

QUEEN OF HEAVEN (Heb. mnekheth hash-shama-ylm). — An object of worship to the people of Jerusalem (Jer 7»-™) and the Jewish exiles in Egypt (44"-'°). The Massoretes evidently took the first word as m'U'kheth ('work,' 'creation') — supposing that the silent aleph (') had been omitted — and considered the expression a synonym for 'Host of Heaven' its'bhS,' hash-shdma-ylm, Jer 8^ 19", Zeph 1', Dt 4" 17* etc.). In ap-parent confirmation of this view we have the fact that this term seems to be used in a collective sense as equiv-alent to 'other gods.' On the other hand, many modern scholars regard malkath ('queen') as the

correct reading, and suppose the cultus to be a worship of the Semitic Mother-goddess, the Phoenician Ashtart = the Assyr. Ishtar (see Ashtoheth). Indeed, Ishtar is called in Assyr. inscriptions Belit Shame ('lady of heaven') and Sharrat jSftomS ('queen of heaven'); but Malkat Shame (which is the cognate of the term under discussion, and which in Assyr. means 'princess of heaven') is not one of her titles. The fact that cakes were offered in this worship has little evidential value, as we find this rite a frequent feature in Semitic worship. In Arabia, cakes were offered to the goddess of the evening-star and to the sun-god; and the Israelites offered bread and cakes to Jahweh (see ' Meal-offering ' and 'Shewbread' in art. Sacrifice). Cf. the modern Jewish mazzSth. W. M. Nesbit.

QUICK, QUICKEN.— In AV 'quick' frequently means 'living,' and 'quicken' means 'bring to life.' The phrase 'the quick and the dead' occurs in Ac 10", 2 Ti 4". 1 P 45.

QUICKSANDS (Ac 27", RV Syitis).— The Syrtes, Major and Minor, are situated on the N. coast of Africa, in the wide bay between the headlands of Tunis and Barca. They consist of sandbanks occupying the shores of the Gulf of Sidra on the coast of Tripoli, and that of Gabes on the coast of Tunis or Carthage. They have been considered a source of danger to mariners from very early times, not only from the shifting of the sands themselves, but owing to the cross currents of the adjoining waters.

QUIRINIUS (AV Oyrenius).— In Lk 2'-swe are first met by a grammatical difiSculty. V.^ may be translated either: 'this was the first enrolment that took place (and it took place) while Quirinius was governing Syria ' ; or: ' this was the first of two (or more) enrolments that took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.' The first statement is probably true, but it is likely that the second is what the author meant, because it is certain that a census took place during the governorship of Syria by Quirinius (a.d. 6-9), when Judaea was incorporated in the province Syria. This latter census was a basis of taxation, and was made according to the Roman method: it thus aroused the rebellion of Judas (Ac 5"). The fact that enrolments took place every fourteen years in Egypt has been absolutely proved by the dis-covery of numerous papjrri there, containing returns made by householders to the government. One of the dates thus recovered is a.d. 20. There is also evidence in the ancient historians of enrolments held in certain other provinces. The truth of Luke's statement in 2' need not therefore be doubted. The real difficulty lies in the statement that Quirinius was governing Syria at the time the first census of all was made. It is quite certain that he could not be governing Syria, in the strict sense of the term governing, both at the time of the birth of Christ and in a.d. 6-9. This is contrary to all ancient procedure, and the rules as to such appoint-ments were rigid. Further, we have ancient authority that the governor of Syria from B.C. 9 to 7 was Sentius Saturninus, and from b.c. 6 to 4 was Quinctilius Varus. After B.C. 4 we know nothing till the succession of P.

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