TOAH

TOAH.— See Nahath.

TOB. — One of the small Aramsean principalities founded to the south of Mt. Hermon and Damascus in the 12th cent. B.C., the others being Hamath (the less), Zobah, Beth-rehob, Maacah or Geshur. It was in Tob that Jephthah lived as an outlaw (Jg lis- '). Tob joined the rest of the Aramaeans, except those of Hamath (2 S 8"), in helping the Ammonites in their war against king David (2 S 10'^). The exact position of these little States is uncertain. Tob was perhaps the most easterly of them. Possibly Tob is meant in the region alluded to in 1 Mac 5'^ [Tubias], 2 Mac 12" [TubieniJ. J. F. McCuedy.

TOB-ADONIJAH.— One of the Levites sent by Jehoshaphat to teach in the cities of Judah (2 Ch 17').

TOBIAH. — 1. A family which returned from exile, but could not trace their genealogy (Ezr 26»=Neh 7*^); corrupted in 1 Es S^' to Ban, 2. The Ammonite who, in conjunction with Sanballat and others, persistently opposed the vfoik of Nehemiah (Neh 2>»- " 43- ' 6" 13*- «). Cf. art. Nehemiah.

TOBIAS.— 1. The son of Tobit (To is and often). 2. The father of Hyrcanus (2 Mac 3")-

TOBIEL.— The father of Tobit (To l').

TOBIJAH. — 1. One of the Levites sent by Jehosha-phat to teach in the cities of Judah (2 Ch 17'). 2. One of a deputation that came from Babylon to Jerusalem with contributions of gold and silver (Zee e"- ").

TOBIT, BOOK OP.— See Apochypha, § 8.

TOCHEN.— An unidentified town of Simeon (1 Ch 4?') .

TOGARMAH.— The third son of Gomer, his brothers being Ashkenaz and Kiphath (Gn 10'). In Ezekiel mention is made of ' the house of Togarmah,' the members of which traded for the wares of Tyre with horses and mules. Fried. Delitzsch suggests that Togarmah is the TU-garimmu of the Assyrian inscriptions, described by Sargon of Assyria as the capital of Melitene, which he captured and re-colonized. Sennacherib, who again captured Til-garimmu and destroyed it, speaks of it as being on the borders of Tabal (Tubal [see Meshech]). The difference in the first element (ts = lU) makes a slight difl[iculty. Kiepert and Dillmann regard Togarmah as being S.W. Armenia. T. G. Pinches.

TOHU.— See Nahath.

TOI.— See Too.

TOKHATH.— See Tikvah, 1.

TOLA.— The first of the five minor Judges (10'- '). In Gn 46", Nu 2Q^, 1 Ch 7' he appears as the son of Issachar; Tola was apparently the name of the leading clan of the tribe. It means 'a worm,' from which came a crimson dye (Ex IG^", Is 1'*); and was perhaps an animal name due to totemism. Shamir, his home and birthplace, is unidentified. • C. W. Emmet.

TOLAD.— See Eltolad.

TOLBANES.— See Telem, 1.

TOLL.— See Tkibute.

TOLMAN.— See Talmon.

TOMB, GRAVE, SEPULCHRE.— The disposal of the dead among the Israelites was always by burial. While spices were sometimes sprinkled among the grave-clothes, there was no religious motive for the embalming of the dead as in Egypt. 1. The common grave must have been the usual opening in the ground with protec-tive stones laid on the surface; or one prepared slab of stone either quite flat, or with the ridge of a sarcophagus lid, might be used. To judge by the custom of to-day, the grave would often be cut partly or altogether in rock, not because that was preferred, but because the village elders usually marked off for the cemetery a ■ section of ground that was too rocky for purposes of

TONGUES, CONFUSION OF

cultivation. 2. Tombs of a more important kind were made by excavating in the face of a rock to form a chamber about 8 or 9 feet on each side. At the opposite end and on the two sides were three narrow recesses, Heb. kokim, 6 or 7 feet long and about 2 feet wide, cut into the rock at right angles to each wall. Into one of these the dead body was inserted with the feet towards the entrance, which was then covered with a slab sealed around the edges with plaster. 3. During the two centuries of Greek influence before the Christian era, a somewhat larger form of tomb came into use. The common chamber had on each of its three sides two, and occasionally three, shallow arched recesses, and in each recess a sarcophagus was laid along the line of the wall. From the fact that the two angels could be seen, one at the head and the other at the foot of the receptacle for Christ's body (Jn 20'^), it is evident that the tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathaea was of this later character. The opening to the central chamber was guarded by a large and heavy disc of rock which could roll along a groove slightly depressed at the centre, in front of the tomb entrance. Both the primitive Israel-ite sepulchre and its Greek successor might be of a compound form, having a passage leading from one chamber to another, each with its kokim or locidi. The most extensive example of such tombs is found in the catacombs of Rome.

From time immemorial a tomb was a sacred place which it was an act of profanation to violate, and of ceremonial pollution to use for other purposes, such as the erection of a house upon the site. The tomb of a saint became a shrine, and that of a Christian martyr was venerated as the memorial and altar of a living sacrifice. Religious meetings were held there, and pilgrimages were made to it as to a heathen oracle, and votive offerings gradually adorned the walls of the building erected over it. At the present day the peasants of Palestine can leave clothing and agricultural implements, with perfect safety, beside the tomb, under the temporary guardianship of the saint. In course of time this power of protection became transferred to the Church as the common institution of the saints. G. M. Mackie.

TONGS .—See Arts and Crafts, 2 ; Tabernacle, 6 (6) .

TONGUES, CONFUSION OF.— The belief that the world, after the Flood, was re-populated by the progeny of a single family, speaking one language, is reconciled in the Bible with the existing diversity of tongues by a story which relates how the descendants of Noah, in the course of their wanderings, settled in the plain of Shinar, or Babylonia, and there built of brick a city, and a tower high enough to reach heaven, as a monu-ment to preserve their fame, and as a centre of social cohesion and union. But the Lord discerned their ambitious purposes, and, after consulting with the Divine beings who constituted His council and court (of. Gn 1™ 3^2), frustrated their design by confounding their speech, so that concerted action was no longer possible for them. In consequence, the name of the city was called Babel (see below), and its builders were compelled to disperse over the face of the earth (Gn 1 1'-») .

The story belongs to a class of narratives (of which there are several in the Bible) intended to explain the origin of various institutions, or usages, the existence of which excited the curiosity of a primitive race. Among these was the prevalence in the world of different languages, which contributed so greatly to produce between the various peoples, who were thus unintelligible to one another, feelings of mutual suspicion and fear (cf. Dt 28", Is 28" 33", Jer S''). The particular explanation furnished was doubtless suggested partly by the name of the city of Babel, or Babylon (which, though really meaning 'gate of God,' was by a popular etymology connected with the Heb. word blUal, 'to confuse '), and partly by the presence, at or near Babylon, of the ruins of some great tower, which looked as though

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