Cassia (Hastings' Dictionary)

Tliis word occurs in three places in OT, and is AV and KV reudering for two Heb. words. 1. .Tjp, kiddah, LXX Ex 30^ i>!, but Ezk 27" omits. 2. riyxp kczi'Cth, Kaala., casta. Pa 45'. It is highly probable tliat the reference in both these Ueb. words is to the cassin lignea, the product of Cinnamomum Cassia, Blume. Two substances are believed to be obtained from this species, (a) Cassia bark, cortex cassice, a kind of aromatic bark, with the smell and flavour of cinna- mon, and resembling it in general appearance and properties. The root kidatih, in both Heb. and Arab., signiiieB a «<ry), and seems to refer to the strips of the bark of cassia lignea. The Arab. VS has salikhah for cassia, from a root also meaning to strip off or decorticate. The exact substance meant by salikhah is as uncertain as that intended by cassia. It is also called 'arfaj and ramth, and is probablj the same as darstni. (6) Cassia buds, clavelli ctnnamomi, the immature flowers of the above. Both are produced in China. Coarser varieties are produced in Malabar, Manilla, and Mauritius. It is probable that they were known to the Greeks and Romans, although the accounts of cassia given in the classical authors are inde- finite and conflicting. The cassia, of Scripture must not be confounded with the species of the genus cassia which yield the senna of commerce and medicine. Nor is it at all probable, notwith- standing the LXX tpi.% that it is orris. G. E. Post. CAST as a subst. occurs Lk 22" ' a stone's c' {Po\r)) • as an adj. Jer 38"- " ' old c. clouts ' (ni;np [all]). The verb is freq., and is used in some obsol. meanings. 1. In its simplest sense = ' throw,' it is now archaic, having been displaced by 'throw ' itself, but is often found in AV, as Jn 8' ' let him first c. a stone at her ' ; 1 Mac 6°' ' engines and instruments to c. fire and stones, and pieces to c. darts, and slings ' — in such a case the verb has gone out of use with the instrument. 2. The ex- pression cast lots translates several Heb. words (see Lot) ; the practice is seen in Pr 10"' ' The lot is c. into the lap.' 3. To ' c. (=sow) seed ' is now mainly iig. Cf. Ec 11' ' c. tliy bread ujion the waters.' 4. C. was formerly used of animals, meanin" to give birth to, as Walton, Angler (16.53), i. 26, ' "There be divers fishes that cast their si)a\vrie on flags and stones.' But it was specially used of an untimely birth, as Job 21'° their cow calvcth, and casteth not her calf,' and extended to fruit- trees, as Dt 28'"' ' thine olive shall c. his fruit ' ; Kev 6" ' as a fig-tree casteth her untimely tigs, when she is shaken by a mighty wind.' S. C. was extended to actions that involved some continuous eHbrt, as Zee 5' ' he c. it (RV ' her ') down into the midst of the epliah ; and he c. the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof; the erection of a pillar, (jn 31" ' Behold this heap and this jiillar which 1 have c. betwixt me and thee' (RV ' set'); and esp. an earthwork, as 2 S 20" ' tliey c. up a bank against the citj ' ; .ler 6' ' Hew ye down trees, and c. a mount against Jerusalem.' The foil, phrases de.serve attention : Cast about is used in two senses, Mk 14" ' having a linen cloth c. about his naked body' (irepi/SdXXw) ; Jer 41''' 'So all the peo]ile . . . cast about and returned' (132; 'turned round'). Cf. Raleigh (1501), Last Fight Ilev. 19 ' Persuaded ... to cut his maine Eaile, and cast about.' Cast away is both lit. and fig., as Mk lO ' And he, casting away his gar- ment, rose ' (djTo^aXXu) ; Ro 11' ' Hath God c. away his people?' (ojtwWui, RV 'cast oil") ; II" 'if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world ' (aTTo'fioKTi) ; Lk 9^ ' if he . . . lose himself, or be c. awa3' ' (j'j/^iw, RV ' forfeit his own self '). Dillerent is 1 Co 9-'' ' lest . i . I myself should be a castaway ' (dSiicijiios, RV ' rejected.' The Gr. word occurs also Ro I'", 2 Co 13= «■', 2 Ti 3», Tit 1"", where EV gives always ' reprobate,' and He 6' AV, RV 'rejected.' See Sanday, Headlam on Ro 1- : SoKifui^u) = 1. 'to test,' as 1 Co 3" ; 2. 'to approve after testing,' as Ro 122"; hence aobKi.iJ.os = ' rejected after testing,' ' reprobate '). Cast down — ( 1 ) lit. Mt 27° ' he c. down the pieces of silver'; Sir 19-'' 'Casting down his countenance, and making as if he heard them not' (RV ' bowing down his face') ; (2) tig. ' to defeat,' ' to humble, 2 Co 10° ' Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself; Rev 12'" 'the accuser of our brethren is c. down ' ; 2 Co 4" ' c. down, but not destroyed ' [KarajBdWu, as Rev 12" RV ' smitten down ') ; Job 6-' ' ye see my casting down, and are afraid ' (nnq R V ' a terror ') ; Neh 6" ' they were much c. down in their own eyes ' ; (3) ' c. down ' = ' dejected,' is rare, only Ps 42- "• " 43' ' W^iy art thou c. down, O my soul?' (•nqiFi^B ' bowed down '). Cast forth is used in the obsol. and very rare sense of spreading roots, Hos 14° ' he sliall grow as the lily, and c. forth his roots as Lebanon" (njri 'strike'). Cast in — (l) = 'sow,' Is 2S^ ' c. in the principal wheat ' (RV ' put in the wheat in rows ) ; (2) in phrase ' c. in one's lot,' Pr 1'^ ' C. in thy lot among us' (Heb. lit. ' cause thy lot to fall among us); (3) 'cast in one's teeth,' Mt 27" ' The thieves also, wliich were crucified with him, c. the same in his teeth ' (Gr. uvfUifox airri^ [edd. airrii'] = ' reviled him,' RV ' c. upon him the same reproach.' It was Tindale that introduced ' cast in His tethe,' to which Cranmei added ' the same ' ; W3'clif has ' upbraiden Hym of the same thing'); (4) ' c. in one's mind' = ' ponder,' Lk 1'-' ' she . . . cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be ' [SiaXoyi^ofiai] : cf. 2 Mac 11" 'casting with himself what loss lie had had'; and Addison (1719), 'I have lately been casting in my thoughts the several unhajiiu- uesses of life.' Cast out, in many obvious senses, also (1) = vomit. Is 26'^ ' the earth shall c. out tlie dead' (RV 'c. forth'); cf. Ilollybush (1561), 'He tliat liath a drye cough and doth not caste out'; and Wyclif's tr. of 2 P 2, ' The hound tumede agen to his castyng ' ; (2) ' to excommunicate ' or make an outcast, Jn 9*° ' Jesus heard that they had c. him out'; (3) 'to expose' children, Ac 7" ' they c. out their young children' (jroicii' iKderoi'). Cast upon : ' to make dependent on,' Ps 22'° ' I was c. upon thee from the womb.' J. Hastings.