REVENGE

deliverance reverting to the general Messianic expecta-tion of events lying outside ol history.

The sublime theme of Revelation thus becomes evident — the victory of the Messiah over the Roman Empire, together with the miseries to be inflicted on His enemies and the blessings to be enjoyed by His followers.

7. Religious value. — If properly interpreted, Revela-tion is of really profound religious value. It cannot serve as a basis of theology, but, like any piece of im-aginative writing, will serve to stir the emotion and the faith of the Christian. Its literary form is so remarkable, the passages descriptive of the triumph of the Messianic Kingdom are so exquisite, its religious teaching is so impressive, as not only to warrant its inclusion in the Canon, but also to make it of lasting value to the de-votional life. More particularly the Letters to the Churches are of value as criticism and Inspiration for various classes of Christians, while its pictures of the New Jerusalem and its insistence upon the moral qualifi-cations for the citizens of the Messianic Kingdom are in themselves notable incentives to right living; Stript of its apocalyptic figures, the book presents a noble ideal of Christian character, an assurance of the unfailing justice of God, and a prophecy of the victory of Chris-tianity over a brutal social order.

Shaileb Mathews.

REVENGE. — See AvENQEHOF Blood, Kin [Nextof].

REVISED VERSION.— See English Veksions, 35.

REVIVE. — In 1 K 17" 2 K IS", Neh 4', Ro 14', 'to revive' is literally 'to come to life again,' as in Shaks. 1 Henry VI. i. i. 18 — 'Henry is dead, and never shall revive.' We thus see the force of Ro 7' "When the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.'

REZEFH. — A city mentioned in the message of the Rabshakeh of Sennacherib to Hezekiah (2 K 19", Is 37"). It is the Batsappa or Ratsapi of the Assyrian inscriptions, the modern Basafa, between Palmyra and the Euphrates. This district belonged for several centuries to the Assyrians, and many of the tablets show it to have been an important trade-centre. Be-tween B.C. 839 and 737 the prefects who had authority in the place were, to all appearance, Assyrians, only one, of unknown but apparently late date, having a name which may be West Semitic, namely, Abda', possibly a form of 'Afida or '06(j(Zio/s. T. G. Pinches.

REZIN. — From the ancient versions and the cunei-form inscriptions it is clear that the form should be Bason or Bazin.

1. The last king of Damascus. Towards the close of the 8th cent. B.C. Damascus and Israel were under the suzerainty of Assyria. Tiglath-pileser iii. enumerates the articles paid him in tribute by Ba-sun-n« of Damas-cus and Menahem of Israel (b.c. 738). Pekah, one of Menahem's successors, joined Rezin in the attempt to throw off the yoke. Failing to secure the co-operation of Ahaz, they turned their arms against Judah (b.c. 734). 2 K 16' mentions, among the incidents of the campaign, that Rezin 'recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from Elath.' [This statement originated in a scribal error, the r in Aram (' Syria ') having been accidentally substituted for the d of Edom, and Rezin's name being added still later for the sake of completeness (cf. 2 Ch 28").] The two allies besieged Jerusalem, greatly to the alarm of the populace, and Isaiah strove in vain to allay the terror (Is 7-9). Ahaz implored aid from Tiglath-pileser, to whom he became tributary (2 K 16'). On the approach of the Assyrians, Pekah was murdered by his own subjects. Damascus sustained a siege of more than a year's duration, but was eventually taken (b.c. 732), and Rezin was slain (2 K 16"). Rawlin-son found an inscription on which this was recorded, but the stone has unfortunately disappeared. It is not

RHODES

quite certain who ' the son of Tabeel ' (Is 7») is. Winck-ler (AlUest. Untersuch., p. 74f.) fails to carry conviction in his attempt to identify this man with Rezin. More probably he was the tool whom the confederates pro-posed to seat on the throne of Judah.

2. The 'children of Rezin' are mentioned as a family of Nethinim (Ezr 2", Neh 7'"). Like the Nethinim generally, they were very likely of foreign descent. In 1 Es 5" they are called 'sons of Daisan,' — another instance of the confusion of r and d. J. Taylor.

REZON.— According to the Heb. text of 1 K II^s-m, Rezon, son of Eliada, was one of the military officers of that Hadadezer, king of the little realm of Zobah (cuneiform, Subiti), S. of Damascus and not far from the Sea of Tiberias, whom David overthrew (2 S S^O. For some unknown reason he deserted Hadadezer, gathered a band of freebooters, seized Damascus, and founded there the dynasty which created the most powerful of the Syrian kingdoms. He was a thorn in Solomon's side, and his successors were bitter adver-saries of Israel. Unfortunately, the text presents a suspicious appearance. Vv.^s-s" have evidently been interpolated between 22 and >">, and in the best MSS of the LXX the story, with some variations, follows v.". In either position it interrupts the course of the narrative, and the best solution of the difficulty is to regard it as a gloss, embodying a historical reminiscence. There is not sufllcient evidence for the view maintained by Thenius and Klostermann, that the name should be spelled Hezron and identified with Hezion (1 K 15").

J. Taylor.

RHEGItm (now Beggio) was an old Greek colony near the south-western extremity of Italy, and close to the point from which there is the shortest passage to Sicily. Messana (modem Messina) on the opposite side is but 6 or 7 miles distant from Rhegium. The whirlpool of Charybdis and the rock of Scylla are in this neighbour-hood, and were a terror to the ancient navigators with their small vessels. Rhegium was in consequence a harbour of importance, where favourable winds were awaited. The situation of the city exposed it to changes of government. In the 3rd cent. b.c. Rome entered into a special treaty with it. In NT times the popula-tion was mixed Graeco-Latin. St. Paul's ship waited here one day for a favourable south wind to take her to Puteoli. Ac 28" describes how the ship had to tack to get from Syracuse to Rhegium, owing to the changing winds. A. Souter.

RHEIMS VERSION. — See English Versions, 29.

RHESA.— A son of Zerubbabel (Lk 3").

RHODA, — The name of the maid-servant in the house of Mary, John Mark's mother, when St. Peter came there on his release from prison by the angel (Ac 12").

A. J. Maclean.

RHODES was one of the most important and successful cities in ancient Greece. It was founded in b.c. 408, at the N.E. corner of the island of the same name, which is 43 miles long and 20 miles wide at its widest. The situation was admirable, and the people were able to take advantage of it and to build up a splendid position in the world of commerce. It reached the summit of its success in the 2nd cent, b.c, after the settlement with Rome in 189 made it mistress of great part of Caria and Lycia. Rome's trade interests were seriously interfered with by this powerful rival, and in b.c. 166 Rome declared the Carian and Lycian cities independent, and made Delos a tree port. Its conspicuous loyalty to Rome during the first Mithradatic War was rewarded by the recovery of part of its former Carian possessions. It took the side of Caesar in the civil war, although most of the East supported Pompey, and suffered successive misfortunes, which reduced it to a common provincial town, though it remained a free city in St. Paul's time, and retained its fine harbours, walls, streets, and stores. St. Paul touched here on his way from Troaa

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