Access (Hastings' Dictionary)

This word (not found in OT) occurs in NT in Ro 5», Eph 2i8 3" as the rendering of TrpojayuY/i. The Gr. word may express either an actual ' bringing near,' or ' introduction,' or merely a 'means of access,' or 'aright to approach.' In class. Gr. the idea suggested might be that of ' introduction to the presence, chamber of a monarch.' The OT associations of the kindred verb Tpoaiyiir seem to connect the word rather ■n-ith the peculiar relation in which Isr.

stood to J", and to give the term a special appropriateness in describing the admission of Gentiles into a new covenant relation with God (t^jk x^P^' raiimiv, Ro 5', cf. Eph 2"), cf. Ex 19« and 1 P 3'^ and the approach of Christian worshippers to the Father (Eph 2" 3"), cf. Lv 1> etc., Lv 4", Mai 1", Ezk 44>« etc. This last idea is worked out in detail in He J0i9-ia_ Our ' right to approach ' or ' our introduc- tion' is uniformly described by St. Paul (cf. Jn 14') as given us by Christ. J. O.

F. MtTRRAY. ACCO, AV Accho Cgs).— This city, included in the lot of Asher (Jg 1"), was never taken by Israel. Kno\vn at aifferent times as Ptolemais (1 Mao and NT), St. Jean d'Acre, Accaron, Aeon, etc., the old Heb. 'on 'Aceo survives in the Arab 'Akia. Josephns calls it 'a maritime city of Galilee ' {BJ ll. x. 2). It was important as com- manding the coast road, and affording easy access to the great routes crossing the plain of Esdraelon.

From the promontory of Carmel the shore sweeps northward with a beautiful inward curve, forming the Bay of Acre, on the northern extremity of which the city stands. From Ras en-Nakurah, in the north, the mountains recede some miles from the coast, leaving a fertile plain, which i-^ bounded on the south by the Carmel range. It is waterea oy the Kishon (el Makatta) and N^ahr Na'amAn, the ancientBelus.

The plain furnishes Haifa,Nazareth, Tiberias, and Safed with half their supply of fruit and vegetables, sending also much to Beyrout. Of the 10,000 or 12,000 inhabitants, two-thirds are Moslems, the remainder being Greek and Catholic Christians, with a few Jews and Persians. It is the seat of a provincial governor, under whom are the districts of Haifa, Nazareth, Tiberias, and Safed. The chief trade is the export of grain brought by camels from Haurdn.

About 1000 tons of ou from the olive groves of Galilee are also annually exported. Entered from the south by a single gate, it is defended to landward by a double rampart, to seaward by a stron" wall. The ancient inner harbour has disappeared, and the outer is used only by smaller vessels, the neighbouring anchorage of Haifa being more safe and convenient for larger ships. Few cities have had a stormier history. Allied with Sidon and Tyre in the days of Eluleus against Shalmaneser IV. {Ant. DC.

xiv. 2), it was taken by Sennacherib, and given by Esarhaddon to the king of Tyre. Held m succession by Babylon and Persia (Strabo, xvi. 2. 25), on the division of Alexander's kingdom it fell to Ptolemy Soter. Its strategic value was proved in the Syro-Egyp. wars. Betrayed to Antiochus the Great (B.C. 218), it was immediately recovered by Egypt. Simon Maccabfeus defeated and drove the forces of Tyre, Sidon, and Ptolemais into the city (1 Mac 5^; Ant. XII. viii. 2). Alex.

Balas took it by treachery, and there married Cleopatra, daughter of Ptolemy Philometor [Ant. XIII. ii. 1, iv. 1, 2). Demetrius Nikator gave it to Jonathan ' for the necessary expenses of the temple' (1 Mac 10"). Here Jonathan was perfidiously taken byTryphon(.4n«.XIH.vi.2). Besieged by Alexander JannsBUS, relieved by Ptolemy Latnyrus (Ant. XIII. xii. 4), it was captured by Cleopatra, who gave it to the Syrian monarchy (Ant. xm. xiii. 2).

Tigranes the Armenian having taken the city, at once retired (Ant. XIII. xvi. 4 ; BJ I. v. 3). Falling to the Parthians (Ant. XTV. xiii. 3; BJ I. xiii. 1), it finally passed under the power of Rome, and was raised to the rank of a colony, witli the title, ' Colonia Claudii Caesaris Ptolemais.' Herod built here a gymnasium (BJ I. xxi. 11). It is last mentioned in Scripture in connexion with St. Paul's visit (Ac 2P). W. EwiNQ.