order and the care of the spies, were 1 in Italy, about 43. Near the equa preserved therein. She joined her tor, the rains are often excessive dur. self to the Jewish religion; and be- ing the summer; and were it not so, haved in a manner so prudent and the inhabitants would be scorched pious, that Salmon, or Salma, son of with the heat. Thunder and lightNashon, and prince of the children ning dissolve the clouds, and so rain of Judah, espoused her, and had by ordinarily follows, Psal. cxxxv. 7. her the famed Boaz. The Spirit of Whatever is very refreshing, nourish God highly commends her faith and ing, delightful, and tending to make good works, but never the lie which persons useful in good works, as imshe told to conceal the spies, Heb. portant instructions, outward bles xi. 31. James if. 25. sings, and the word, ordinances, and influences of Jesus Christ and his Spirit, are likened to rain and bles sed showers, Deut. xxxii. 2. Job xxiv. 22, 23. Isa. v. 6. Psal, lxviii. 9. Ez, xxxiv. 26. Thus rain coming on moren RAIL. See REVILE. that it comes on persons afflicted and carnal, Psal. lxxii, 6. The remnant of Jacob are likened to showers; the Jewish apostles and believers, and saints and ministers of every nation, are useful to promote the spiritual growth and fruitfulness of the places they live in, Mic. v. 7. Destructive judgments are likened to an overflowing shower, to mark how sudden, wasting, and ruinous they are to a country, Ezek. xiii. 11. Whatever falls plentifully out of the air, as fire and brimstone, or manna, is said to be rained from it, Gen. xix. 24. Psal. lxxviii. 24, 27. RAIN, is the moist vapours exhaled by the heat of the sun, which, being collected into clouds, fall upon the earth in drops; and when it freezes in or before its fall, it is cal-grass, and on the earth, may import led hail or snow. When it falls down as in water-spouts, the windows, or food-gates, of heaven, are said to be opened. In the time of drought, the earth is represented as crying to the heavens, and the heavens or clouds crying to God, for his allowance to pour their moist treasures in rain and dew upon the earth, Hos. ii. 21. In Upper Egypt, it seldom rains any at all. In some parts of the Persian empire, it rains little for eight months on end. In Syria and Barbary, there is scarce any rain during the summer. In Canaan, they ordinarily had a plentiful rain twice ayear: The former rain happened about September, and the latter about the beginning of March, just before their harvest, Joel ii. 23. Zech. x. 1. Rain, when seasonable, is showers of blessing, Ezek. xxxiv. 26. The loosing of the earth in the spring, produces a multitude of moist vapours; and in September, the withdrawment of the sun, occasioning the fall of the higher vapours on the lower, produces rain. In some places near seas, lakes, and great rivers, the quantity of rain is very considerable. In Lancashire of England, the yearly depth of it, taken all together, is about 42 inches; at Pisa The RAINBOW is never seen but when the sun shines, and in direct opposition to him, and is formed by the refraction of his rays on a watery cloud; nor can the sun form such a refraction if he is above 42 degrees higher than the horizon, as then his refraction is lower than the earth. The bright rainbow is often invested with a fainter one at some distance, and of greater extent, There are also a kind of rainbows formed by the reflection of the moon-light, or of the raging sea; but these last have their arms inverted upwards. One may form a kind of artificial rainbow, by hanging a black cloth op posite to the sun, and, turning his back to the sun and face to the cloth, cause water fall like a shower of rain between him and it; thus a rainbow will be formed in these drops. Whether the common rainbow, proceeding from natural causes, appeared before the flood, is not agreed. Perhaps it did not; and then it behoved to be the more striking a token, and the more effectual to confirm Noah's faith in the divine promise, that the flood should never return to overflow the earth. It is certain, every disposition of a rainy cloud is not proper to produce a rainbow; and who knows but before the flood the clouds might be always so disposed as not to form any? Its appearance, though now ordinary, continues still a divine token, that the earth shall no more be drowned with an universal flood, Gen. ix. 8. to 17. The covenant of grace is likened to a rainbow round about God's throne, and about Christ's head; this glorious display of the excellencies of the Sun of righteousness, whereby all our clouds of trouble and wretchedness are illuminated, is our undoubted security against the overflowing vengeance of God; and Jesus and his Father ever delight in, and attend to it, in all their dispensations of providence, Rev. iv. 3. and x. 1. RAISE; (1.) To lift up, 1 Sam. ii. 8. (2.) To invent, or relate, Ex. xxiii. 1. (3.) To beget, Gen. xxxviii. 8. (4.) To keep in remembrance, Ruth iv. 5. (5.) To call and fit persons to perform a piece of work, Judg. ii. 16. (6.) To build, repair, Isa. xxiii. 13. (7.) To rouse, stir up, Psal. cvii. 25. Acts xxiv. 12. God raised up Pharaoh to his dignity, with a view to display his power in bringing him low; he permitted him to stand obstinate; he suffered him to continue in life while many were cut off, with a view to display VOL. II. No. 13. his power in ruining him at the Red sea, Rom. ix. 18. Exod. ix. 18. RAISINS; a well-known kind of dried grapes. The largest are these of Damascus, a bunch of which will sometimes weigh 25 pounds; but their taste is faintish, and not very agreeable. The Spanish raisins of the sun are also noted. The spirit of raisins is very useful to distillers in rectifying their liquors. Raisins fermented with water, produce a kind of wine; and a kind of brandy is extracted from them. RAM is sometimes put for ARAM. See SHEEP. ... RAMAH, or RAMATHAIM; a city of Benjamin, about six miles northward from Jerusalem, Josh. xviii. 25.; not far distant from Geba and Gibeah, Isa. x. 29. Hos. v. 8. Near to it Deborah dwelt, Judg. iv. 5. Elkanah and Samuel resided in it, I Sam. i. 1, 19. and vii. 17. and viii. 4. and xxv. 1.; and at Najoth, or the meadows of Ramah, was a college of young prophets, 1 Sam. xix. As it stood in a pass between the kingdom of Israel and Judah, BAASHA king of Israel seized it, and began to fortify it, that none of his subjects might pass that way into the kingdom of Judah, 1 Kings xv.. 17, 21. The inhabitants were terribly affrighted when Sennacherib marched this way against Hezekiah, Hos. v. 8. Isa. x. 29. Here Nebuzaradan, the Chaldean general, disposed of his Jewish prisoners after their capital was taken, which occasioned a dreadful mourning to the daughters of Rachel, Jer. xl. 1, 2, 3. and xxxi. 15. Ramah was afterward rebuilt by its inhabitants, who returned from Babylon, Neh. vii. and xi. 33. There was another Kamah on the west border of Naphtali, Josh. xix. 36.; and a Ramath, or Ramoth, which we suppose the same as Baalath-beer, in the lot of Simeon, Josh. xix. 8. 1 Sam. xxx. 27. see 2 Z GILEAD; and a Ramoth, Remeth, or Jarmuth, in the lot of Issachar, Josh. xix. 21. RAMESES. See PITHOM. RAMPART; a fence to a city. The Mediterranean sea, or rather the river Nile, was a rampart that defended the city of No, Nah. iii. 8. RANGE; to go up and down at pleasure, Prov. xxviii. 11. Range of the mountains, is any place on or about them, Job xxxviii. 8. RANGES; ranks of men who were as protecting rails about the king, 2 Kings xi. 8. RANK; (1.) Order, station, 1 Chron. xii. 53. (2.) High-grown and fruitful, Gen. xli. 5. RASE; to demolish completely, Psal. cxxxvii. 7. RASOR. Doeg's tongue was like a deceitful rasor, which, under pre-. tence of cutting the hair and smoothing the face, cuts the throat : he pretended to clear himself from disloyalty, but really intended to expose the priests, as friends of David, to the fury of Saul, Psal. lii. 2. The Assyrians and Chaldeans were God'shired rasor; providentially hired with the spoils, to cut off multitudes of the Jews, Isa. vii. 20. RAVEN; a bird of prey, ceremonially unclean, Lev. xi. 15. It is of the bigness of a common hen, and of a black colour, with a bluish back. Its head is small, depressed on the crown, and flattened on the sides. Its eyes are bright, large, and piercing, and can see far. Its beak is pretty long and thick, somewhat ridged on the back, and sharp at the point. We are not certain if old ravens either forsake or expel their young from their nest, as some affirm. The raven sent forth by Noah to try if the waters were dried up from off the earth, returned not to him, as it could live on the floating carrion, true emblem of wicked men, who, delighting in sinful and sensual pleasures, refuse to come to Jesus and his new-covenant state, Gen. viii. 6, - RANSOM; (1.) The price paid for the pardon of an offence, or the redemption of a slave or captive, Pr. vi. 35. Exod. xxi. 30. (2.) A bribe, 1 Sam. xii. 3. To prevent the plague, and make ceremonial atonement for their souls, every male Hebrew come to age paid half a shekel yearly as a ransom, Exod. xxx. 12. The obedience and death of Christ, are the only proper ransom and price of our deliverance from sin and misery, Matth. xx. 28. Job xxxiii. 24. Egypt and Seba were a ransom for the Jews; God recompensed Cyrus' gracious deliverance of the Jews, by giving him the wealth of the Egyp-7. tians and Sabeans, Isa. xliii. 3. The wicked is a ransom for the righteous, when he is punished in order that the righteous may be delivered and preserved, Prov. xxi. 18. A man's riches are the ransom of this life; they are the means of his support, and which he would give to preserve an endangered life; and sometimes they are the occasion of attempts against his life, Prov. xiii. 1. To ransom, is to deliver, REDEEM from bondage and misery by price or power, Jer. xxxi. 11. Hos. xiii. 14 RARE; uncommon, very difficult, Dan. ii. 11. Though ready to devour every thing themselves, ravens, directed by God, nourished the prophet Elijah at Cherith with bread and flesh every morning. To pretend with some that the HHOREBIM were not ravens, but Arabian merchants, or inhabitants of Oreb, shows only a fond. ness to rob God of the honour of the miracle. And we may add, why did not these pretended feeders bring him water after the brook was dried, as long as they had any for themselves ? 1 Kings xvii. 4, 6. TO RAVEN; to search for prey; to kill and tear asunder, as ravens do smaller birds, in order to eat them, Matth. vii. 15. Wicked men are represented as raven- | Canaan. The Gentiles were in a most ous, to mark their cruelty, oppression, and murder, Psal. xxii. 13. Ezek. xxii. 25, 27. RAVIN, is wealth or spoil procured by oppression and murder, Nah. ii. 12. RAVISH; to take and use by force, Lam. v. 11. One is ravished in heart, when greatly delighted, and powerfully constrained to love, Prov. v. 19, 20. Christ's heart is ravished by his people, when, by the vigorous exercise of faith and love, they exceedingly delight him, and as it were strongly excite him to hold fellowship with their soul, Song iv. 9. RAW; not fully roasted, Exod. xii. 9. The quick raw flesh in the leper's sore, might be what seemed as if a little roasted, Lev. xiii. 10. REACH; to stretch out, extend, John xx. 27. Zech. xiv. 5. When things are very high or great, they are said to reach unto heaven, Dan. iv. 11. Rev. xviii. 5. 2 Chron. xxviii. 9. Psal. xxxvi. 5. Saints reach to the things before, when they earnestly endeavour to grow in grace, and think of, love, desire, and seek to enjoy things eternal, Phil. iii. 13. The sword or stroke reacheth to the heart or soul, when it cuts off men's life, cuts off the best fortified places, and the best and greatest of the nation, Jer. iv. 10, 18. READ. There is a twofold reading of the scriptures required; one private and daily by particular persons, whether princes or others, Deut xvii. 19. John v. 39. ; another public in the congregations of professed worshippers of God, Neh. viii. 3. READY; (1.) Strongly inclined and disposed, Tit. iii. 1. (2.) Near at hand, 1 Pet. iv. 5. (3.) Well prepared and furnished, 1 Pet. iii. 15. These ready to perish, are such as are on the point of being utterly miserable. The Jews were in a most wretched condition before Cyrus gave them their liberty to return to deplorable condition with respect to spirituals, just before the gospel was preached to them, Isa. xxvii. 13. The good things of a church are ready to die, when her members are growing few, and their graces weak, and the purity and power of gospel-truths and ordinances are much decayed, Rev. iii. 2. REALM; kingdom, empire, 2 Chron. xx. 30. Ezra vii. 13. REAP; (1.) To cut down corn in HARVEST, James v. 4. (2.) To receive the fruit of works, whether good or bad; so such as sow in righteousness reap in mercy, reap everlasting life, i. e. receive it as their gracious reward, Hos. x. 12. Such as sow iniquity or corruption, reap wickedness, vanity, thorns, whirlwind, &c.; i. e. they are punished with destruction and misery as their deeds require, Job iv. 8. Prov. xxii. 8. Jer. xii. 13. Hos. viii. 7. To reap where one sowed not, and gather where one strawed not, and take up what one laid not down, is to expect and demand good works where no gifts or opportunities were given, Matth. xxv. 26. Luke xix. 21. The earth will be reaped by the angel's sharp sickle, when, by the just vengeance of God our Saviour, Antichrist and his supporters shall be utterly and fearfully destroyed, Rev. xiv, 15. Angels are called reapers; God employs them to overturn and cut off nations, and by them he will gather his people to him at the last day, Matth. xiii. 30, 39. Ministers are reapers; they not only sow the seed of divine truth among men, but are the blest means of cutting them off from their natural root, and bringing them to Christ, John iv. 36, 37. REASON; (1.) That power of the human soul whereby we conceive and judge of things, Dan. iv. 36. (2.) Ground, argument, proof, 1 Pet. iii. 15. proofs, Isa. Ixiii. 10. They rebel against his word, when they refuse to believe his promises, receive his offers, or obey his laws, Psal. cvii. 11. REBUKE, REPROVE; (1.) To check for a fault privately or public Tô REASON, is to talk together, dispute, argue, Matth. xvi. 8. Mark viii. 16. The saints offering of themselves soul and body, and their holy conversation, to promote the honour of God, is a reasonable, not brutal sacrifice, and corresponds with the wisely, and either by words or by a coninjunctions and grounds assigned by trary practice, Lev. xix. 17. Eccl. both reason and revelation, Rom. xii. 1. vii. 5. Prov. xxvii. 5. 1 Tim. v. 20. REBEKAH, REBECCA, daugh- (2.) To convince of a fault, make ter of Bethuel, sister of Laban, and it manifest, in order to promote rewife of Isaac. Her being providen- pentance, John xvi. 8. and iii. 21. tially marked out for Isaac, by her (3.) To restrain, check the designs offer to draw water for Eliezer's of, overthrow, and render incapable camels as well as himself; her ready to perform their purposes, Zech. iii. offer to leave her country, and to be 2. Isa. xvii. 13. (4.) To chasten Isaac's wife; her modest vailing of or punish for sin, Psal. vi. 1. and herself when she came near Isaac; her xxxix. 11. Hos. v. 9. Ezek. v. 15. long barrenness, and, after 20 years, (5.) To order silence, Luke xix. 39. conceiving by means of her husband's To rebuke a disease, is to cure it by prayers; her consulting of, and re- a word, Luke xi. 39. To rebuke the ceiving answer from God, concerning wind and sea, is to calm both, or dry the struggling of the twins in her the last, Matth. viii. 26. Isa. 1. 2. womb; her delivery of Esau and Psal. civ. 7. To be without rebuke, Jacob, and her peculiar love to the is to live blameless, sober, righteous, latter; her joining with Isaac in the and godly, so as not to deserve repretence that she was his sister, that buke, Phil. ii. 15. To suffer rebuke the Philistines of Gerar might not for God's sake, is to endure the reslay her husband for the sake of her proach and persecution of men for extreme beauty; her grief at Esau's adherence to his way, Jen xv. 15. marriage with two Canaanitish wo- A wise reprover is one that carefully men; her sinful directing and assist- observes the circumstances of the ing of Jacob to impose on Isaac, in fault, the station and temper of the order to obtain his principal blessing; offender, and the proper time and her advising him to flee to Padan- place for tendering the reproof, Prov. aram, and stay there in her brother's xxv. 12. A rebuker in the gate, is family till Esau's fury should be one who reproves sin openly, and with cooled; her care to prevent his mar- plainness and authority, Amos v. 10. rying a Canaanitess; and, in fine, her death, and burial in the cave of Machpelah, have been already related in ELIEZER, ISAAC, JACOB, Gen. xxiv.-xxviii. and xlix. 31. RECAL; to call back. RECEIVE; (1.) To take what is given, ascribed to. paid, or put into our hands, 2 Sam. xviii. 12. 2 Kings v. 26. Rev. v. 2. (2.) To be endowed with, to enjoy, possess, Acts i. 8. Heb. x. 36. (3.) To give welcome to, to lodge, entertain, Acts xxviii. 2, 7. (4.) To admit into membership of the church or family of God, Rom. xiv. 1, 3. (5.) To hold, contain, 1 Kings viii. 64. (6.) To accept kindly, and bear pa. |