Ass (Hastings' Dictionary)

1. ("fiDn, ibn hdmOr; Ji-ot, ivo^irfiov, nsinus). IfamQr is the generic name for the ass, and tin specific designation of the he-ass (Arab. himAr). Few animals are mentioned more frequently in the Scriptures than the asa. It was used for a variety of purposes. (1) For riding. For this purpose it was used by both rich and poor. Moses took his wife and two sons on an ass to Egypt, passing through the Sinaitic desert (Ex 4) ; Balaam rode a she-ass (Nu 22-''^) ; the unnamed prophet rode an ass (1 K l3is.M.M.a7-29). 80 jid Achsah (Jos 15'", Jg 1"), the thirty sons of Jair (Jg 10), the sons of Abdon (Jg 12"), Abigail (1 § 25»'-»), Ahitho- phel (2 S 17"), and Mephibosheth (2 S IQ^'). When it is said that Christ is ' lowly,' because He should ride on an ass (Zee 9' ; corap. Mt 21'), the reference is not to any degradation in the riding of an ass, but to the peaceful nature of His advent. The horse was used in war, and a king coming on a horse would be surrounded by military circumstance and pomp. Asses are yet ridden by persons of rank in State and Church. There are many fine breeds of them, and every large city of the interior boasts its special strain. Many of these are sold at very high prices. They have a rapid walk, and an easy shuflling pace or short canter. They are exceedingly sure-footed. Some of them are breast high, and weigh as much as a small horse. White asses (Jg 5'") fetch specially high prices, and are very handsome beasts, while their caparisons are often quite magnificent. These consist of a thick stuffed saddle, often covered with crimson, or dark ^een, or other rich coloured cloth, bound with braids of brighter colours, and with silver ornaments and dangling tassels of woollen twist. The headstall and bridle are like- wise decorated with shells, silver studs, and plates, and not infrequently composed in part of silver chains. A collar of silver links, with a breastplate of the same metal, completes the adornment. (2) For burdens. Abraham probably loaded his ass with wood (Gn 22) ; the sons of Jacob loaded their asses with com (Gn 42- ") ; Joseph sent twenty asses bearing the good things of E<'ypt to his father (Gn 45^) ; Jesse sent an assload of provisions by David to Saul (1 S 16) ; Abigail loaded her present to David on asses (1 S 25"), as also Ziba (2 S 16') ; the provisions for the feast at David's coronation at Hebron were brought on a-sses (1 Ch 12"); asses were used in harvesting (Neh 13'°). The ass is still the most universal of all beasts of burden in Bible lands. Small ones can be bought for a pound or two. There is a great variety in the breeds of pack-asses. Some are no larger than a Shetland pony, while others are as large as a small mule, and carry very lieaN-y loads. They are very economical to keej), living on straw, thistles, stubble, and a very small quantity of grain, and standing any amount of exposure and harsh treatment. (3) Vox pluughing. The expression ear (Is 30") means io plough (comp. 32). It was not allowi'd to plough with an ox and an ass together (Dt 'i'J'"). The writer has seen a camel and an ass yoked together to a ploiigli. The equation of force was made by tethering the ass at the long end of a cross- bar, which was fastened to the front of the plough. Doubtless the reason of this prohibition was the principle of the Mosaic law, ifiat there should be no intermixtures. Thus I)rie8t8 could not have patched or particoloured garments. I'iebiild cattle could not be offered in sacrifice. Cattle could not gender with a diverse kind. A field miglit not be sown with mingled seed. A garment could not be ninile of two different sorts of stuffs, as linen and woollen. A person with patches of leprosy, mixed with patches of clean skin, was unclean, while one 174 ASSAMIAS ASSEMBLY covered all over with leprosy was clean. This principle enters into the whole symbolic economy. It is intended to illustrate simplicity and purity. Asses' milk is used as food by the Arabs, and is recommended for persons of scrofulous and tubercular tendencies. The flesh of the ass was not allowed to the Hebrews as food, because the animal does not divide the hoof and chew the cud. In the famine at the siege of Samaria, however, ' an ass's head was sold for eighty pieces of silver ' (2 K 0"). In Jg 15" Samson says, 'with the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps.' In the Heb. there is a fine alliteration, a•trp^ nioq itonn 'n^3 ' with the jawbone of an ass a heap, two heaps,' the word for cas and heap being the same. 2. The she-ass (l^ns MhAn ; i) 6voi, ivot 8-^tia ; asina, Arab. 'atHn) was Balaam's mount (Nu 22'""''). Saul went to search for the stray she- asses of his father Kish (1 S 9^). The Shunammite rode one (2 K 4"- "). It has always been custom- ary to separate the females of the flocks and herds at times. David had an officer charged with the care of the she-asses at such times (1 Ch 27"). It is said that the vigour of the stock of the Egyp. ass is maintained by tying the she-aases at the border of the deserts on either side of the Nile Valley, so that they may receive the visits of the Asinua Onager, Pali., the original of the domestic ass of the East. 3. The Heb. term TB, 'ayir ; iruXo? ; pullxts asince ; Arab, jahsh, corresponds to four Eng. equivalents in the AV.— (1) Foal (Gn 32"> 49") ; (2) ass colt (Gn 49", Jg 10 12"); (3) young ass (Is SO'-"); (4) colt (Job 11", Zee 9"). The Arab, equivalent of the Heb. 'ayir is, as before sa\A, jahsh, i.e. young ass, and not 'ayir, which means tlie ass in general. The stupidity of the ass is proverbial in the East as well as in the West. The allusions to this quality in the Bible are not, however, unequivocal (Is 1', Pr 26»). i. Two words are used in the Heb. for the unld <M»— (1) KID, pere' (Gn 16", where Ishmael is called a unld ass man. Job 6» 11" 24» 39», Is 32', Jer 2", Hos 8») ; (2) niij, 'ArGdh (Job 39», Dn 5»', Chald. KTV)- We have no philological grounds for determining the species referred to, nor any certainty that the terms are more specific than their Eng. equivalents. The parallelism in Job 39 does not necessarily imply two species. The Arabs have a large number of names for the lion, the camel, the horse, the ass, and other familiar animals. Tris- tram gives two species of wild asses as found in the deserts contiguous to Palestine, Asinii^ Onaijer, Pall., which he considers to be 'ArOdh, and Asinus hemippus, St. HU., which he regards as pere'. For neither of these specifications does he give any philological authority. It is safe to believe that the scriptural writers had no particular species in view, but the general characteristics of all known wild asses. G. E. Post. ASSAMIAS(B'Acr<roM'at,A'A(ro/i/«, AVAssanlas). — One of twelve priests entrusted with the holy ressels on the return to Jerua., 1 Ea 8"*. ASSAPHIOTH (B A<r<Ta<pelu>9, A 'A<Ta(f,<t>i<ie, AV Azaphion), 1 Es 5". — His de.scendants returned with Zerubbabel among the sons of Solomon's servant.s. Called Hassophereth (B 'kae<pfipa.$, A ' kac<pupo.e), Ezr 2» ; Sopliereth, Neh 7" (B A Za<pi.pae, M -Bt). H. ST. J. THACKERAY.