Chief (Hastings' Dictionary)

1. In old Eng. as in modem, 'chief was both a subst. and an adj.; but in AV (though it is the tr. of some twenty Heb. words, all substs.) it is seldom if ever a substantive. The Oxf. Eng. Diet, quotes as a subst. the occurrence of ' c' in Nu S' and Ps 105^ ; but even these are not certain instances. If ' c' were a subst. in Nu 3", then in 3^ ' Eleazar shall be chief over the chief of t hf CHILD, CHILDKE^ CHILD, CHILDREN 381 Levites,' the plu. would be used, ' over the chiefs ' (D'xXf, KV ' princes '), Lliere being no example of the bing. used for tlie plural, it is prob. that ' c' is an adj. with ' men ' understood. In Ps lUo ' He smote also all the firstborn in the land, the c. of all their strength,' theHeb. (n'^K-i, lit. ' beginning,' the common word for ' tirst-fruits ') is the same as in Am (J' ' c. of the nations ' and 6' ' the c. oint- ments,' wliere the word is clearlv an adj. in the one case, and probably in the other. Ci. Lk 11" 'the c. of the devils ' (apx"''> l^V 'prince'), witli 14' 'one of tlie c. Pharisees' (dpxw, KV 'one of tlio rulers of the P.'). Hence when KV gives 'chiefs' for AV 'chief,' as 'the chiefs of the Levites' 2 Ch 35', ' the cliiefa of the priests' 30'^, Ezr 8- '^ 10°, it introduces a plu. not found in AV, and a word of doubtful application. ii. 'Chief is given as tr. of 1. ro'sh, 'head,' esp. in the phrase ' c. of the fathers' (KV ' heads of the fathers' houses '), on which see Kyle on Ezr 1» and art. FAMILY. In Ezk 38^- » 39' ro'sh is taken by KV as a proper name, Rosh (wh. see). 2. KOh/n, 'priest,' referring to David's sons (2 S 8") and to Ira the Jairite (20-°), is mistranslated 'c. ruler' (KV 'priest'), after the gloss of the Chronicler (1 Ch 18"). See Driver, Notes on Samuel, on 2 S 8" and art. Priests. 3. In Pr 16^ 'alluph ("iiVx, fr. [i^k] cleave to) is tr. 'chief friends,' evidently from a recollection that 'alluph also means ' duke ' of Edom throughout Gn 36, and in E.\ 15", 1 Ch !"■ »-• " " ; and in Zee 12»- » ' gover- nor' (liV 'chieftain'). But in the latter sense 'alluph is best taken from 'eleph (l^x), ' a thousand,' that is, ' leader of a thousand,' ' chiliarch.' Dr. Murray (Ox/". E»g. Diet.) thinks this passage in Pr ( 16^ 'a whisperer separateth c. friends ') has sug- gested the Scot. ' chief '=intimate, as 'They're very c. wi' ane anither.' 4. In Is 14' '[Hell] stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the c. ones of tlie earth,' the Heb. for ' c. ones' is 'attudim (□•-iny), lit. ' he-goats,' here as the leaders of the flock ; Clieyne (after Kaj'), ' bell-wethers.' See Cheyne in loc, and cf. Zee lO. iii. In NT 'chief renders dpx"" (Lk ll'" RV 'prince,' 14' RV 'ruler'); iiyov/i(yoi, leaders (Ac 15, ') ; and rpCrroi, Jirst frequently. In Ac 16'-' ' Philippi, wliicli is the c. city of tluit part of Macedonia,' chief city=capital, metropolis (cf. 1 Ti subscr.) ; but it is a mistrans. , for Amphipolis was the c. city of tliat part of M., Thessalonica being the c. city of the whole province. Here irpwTos must mean ' tirst,' that is, first to be reached in the direction St. Paul came : KV ' a city of M., tli3 first of the district.' For Chief Priest see Phiest ; and for ' Chief of Asia,' Ac 19" 'certain of the c. of Asia' ('Aaiopx'!', KV 'chief officers of Asia,' KVm ' Asiarchs '), see Asiarch. iv. When c. lost its obsol. sense of supreme, and waa weakened into ' leading ' (cf. Am 0' 'anoint themselves with the cliinf ointments'=choice), comparison became possible. ' Chicfer ' is not found in A V, but ' chiefest ' occurs 1 S 2=» 9, ' 21', 2 Ch 32", Ca 5'», 2 Mac 13", Mk 10", 2 Co IP 12" (both ' very chiefest,' Gr. uirepXiav), I Ti xubnrr. J. Hastings. CHILD, CHILDREN {■<'::, |3).— The Heb. lan- lunge has a rich variety of worils adapted to the QiU'erent stages by which infancy jiasses into man- hood and womanhood. This wealth of description indicates the importance of what is described. No word in tlie liible contains so much of God's good- ness and human hniipim'ss as is found wrapped up in the word 'child.' Most of these a-ssociatioiis are common to the human family everywhere and in all ages ; some are Oriental, a few are special to Israel. (See IJiinHRiOHT, CIRCUMCISION, Re- demption.) 1. Children as gifts of God and tokens of divine favour. — The desire to possess children has always been a marked feature of Oriental life. Rachel spoke as the mother of her people when she cried, 'Give me children, or else I die' (Gn 30'). This desire gives their chief value to the tombs of saints and the superstitious shrines of modern Syria. The petition always carries with it a vow to do or give something in honour of the saint appealed to. In the same way, but with a wiser devotion, Hannah went to the tabernacle of God, and after- wards named her child Samuel ('God hath heard '), and surrendered him to the Lord's service (1 S I"'-"). To this devout recognition is due the fact that while many names, such as Lsaac, Manasseh, Moses, Ichabod, were suggested by some incident or anxiety of the hour, and names of females were often taken from objects of beauty in nature, such as Deborah, Esther, Khoda, many others con- tained the name of God, or an attribute of God, as Elimelech, Athaliah, etc. So among the Arabs we have Shikri ('my gratitude'), Saladin (saldh- ed-din 'virtue of religion '),' Abd-ul- Hamid (' servant of the Blessed'), Na'amat-Ullah ('grace of God'). For the same reason. Oriental feelin" is rather against the observance of birthdays, as it seems to turn the sense of favour into an occasion of feasting. In a life so full of uncertainties, it has always seemed -safer to be humbly thankful for a gift than to appear elated by a possession. Nothing is more dreaaed or disliked by an Oriental parent than to have a child's healthy or beautiful appearance com- mented upon without thanks being expressed to (iod in the same breath. The mention of the divine name is understooil to avert the curse of the evil eye. Children are ' the heritage of the Lord ' (Ps 127'), and in Arabic salutation tney are referred to as ' the guarded ones.' 2. Parental and filial affection. — ChUd-life baa always been the great emblem of wliat apjjcals to human afl'ection and responds to it. \\ itli the young, love, that in the ordinary lives of men is often the hireling of selfish interests, is always a free and independent instinct. The child's natural assurance that it must be so with all, appears amid sordid commonplaces and surrendered idejvls as a remembrancer of Eden, and a type of what the kingdom of God is meant to be (Mt 18- 19'^). The llilile is throughout a book for the families of men, and finds the fulfilment of all its teaching in the life of the Sinless Man. Its references, especially to child-life, are so simple and realistic that in read- ing thciM one forgets the antiquity of the narra- tive. The Land is here in very close atliiiity with the Book, for the strength of the family all'ictions is the brightest feature of Oriental life. The infant in the ark of bulrushes cries like a child of to-day on beholding the strange face of his deliverer (Ex 2"). Again, in 2 K 4" we have a child's re- peated cry of pain, the instinctive appeal to the father, and tlie resource of a mother's comforting and care. Isaiah takes note of the first words a child learns to lisp (Is 8), and Naaman's flesh he- comes ' like the flesh of a little child ' (2 K 5"). Solomon reveals his own wisdom in revealing the strain that could be put uimn the love even of a degraded mother. David cries over his rebellious yet still beloved son, ' Would (iod that I had died for thee ! ' (2 S 18^). The cruelty to their infants was one of the experiences tliat made it impossible for the captives to forget Jeru.salem (Ps 137"). Such an experience was in its turn the worst thing that couM happen to the oppressors of Israel (Nail 3"'). The transmi.ssion of sullering to the innocent of the third and fourth generations waa one of the mightiest intimidations of the moral law (Ex 34'). ilagar could not bear to sit alone and watch the last unconscious movements of her dying child (Gn 21"). ' When my children were 382 CHILD, CHILDREN CniLMAD about me ' (Job 29°), was a toiu'liinj; suininary of vanished liajipiness. Amos, seeking to picture the daj' of ruin lliat Israel was precipitating l)y wliole- sale corruption, could lind nothing more expressive of all that was bleak and bitter and unbearable than ' the mourning of an only son ' (Am 8'"). It was in such a prepared cradle of family ex- perience, with its tenderest ties of affection, and folds of life's sweetness and sorrow, that the gospel of the unexpected and unspeakable gift was laid. 'He gave his only-begotten Son' (Jn 3'°); 'He spared not his own Son ' (Ko 8"-). 3. The importance uf the parental position. — Mingled with the natural afieotion of parents to- wards their children, was the fact that their posses- sion meant increase of dignity, influence, and wealth. This is shown in the preference for male children. In the home-circle, daughters might be as affectionate and as much beloved as sons, but in the expansion and continuance of the family name, in the holding of property, the acquisition of wealth, and generally with regard to worldly prosperity, sons and not daughters were the precious gifts of God. The former especially were the olive-shoots springing up from the roots of the parent stem (Ps 1'28). Hence the forfeiture and reproach connected with childlessness, and the rejoicing over a man-child bom into the world. In Syria the paternal position is so important that the father usually ceases to be called by his own name, and receives that of his firstborn son, as Abu-Yusc'ph (' father of Joseph '). If a middle- aged man has no son, courtesy often gives him a fictitious paternity, and styles him Abu-' Abdullah ('father of 'Abdullah '). 'The son might also be known by tlie father's name as a sort of surname. Thus David's full name was David Jesse, or ben- Jesse ('son of Jesse'). It was quite unusual for the son to receive in circumcision the name of the father until late in Israel's liistory (see Gray, Heb. Prop. Names, 2 ti'.). The father was still alive, and needed as yet no memorial, but a son often received the name of a grand-parent, to keep alive the name of the departed, and with the name to inherit his gifts and srraces of character. The later custom appears in Lk f 'They would have called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.' The authority of the parents over their children, and over all arrangements for their welfare, was com- plete and far-reaching. One of the commandments was devoted to this relationship, and one of the death-penalties of the law of Moses was to meet the case of filial disobedience (Dt 2^"). Hence the solemnity of the charge against Israel (Is I'), an<l the deep meaning of the confession, ' I am no more worthy to be called thy son' (Lk 15"). 4. Heredity. — Given a life with little change in its outward conditions, and with a law that con- trolled every detail of life, it followed that time would be an intensifier of the parental features. Among the Arabs the epithet 'dog' has for its chmax 'son of a dog.' As one of their proverbs states the problem, ' If the father be onion and the mothi'r garlic^ how can there be sweet per- fume?' When Saul asked the young slayer of Goliath, ' Wliose son art thou, young man?' (1 S 17'"), the question would not only reveal the family of David, but also account in |).art for the^ouraL'C he had shown. Hence the incriminations, 'Ye are the children of them that killed the prophets ' (Mt 23^'); 'If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham ' (Jn 8'") ; and the defence, ' How can Satan cast cut Satan? '(Mk 3^). So Ezk 18=, Ac 13'° etc. 5. Spiritual sense of father, son, brother. — The nse of the word so7i in a fig. sense carries the three chief meanings of the literal use, namely, (1) affec- tion, (2) obedience, (3) likeness. By these signifi- cations we must interpret ' sons of the Highest, 'children of belial,' 'son of peace — perdition — dis obedience — the coiumaiidment.' The new creature born of the Sjiirit receives new preferences and powers for the new life in Christ Jesus. St. Pau] siieaUs of Timothy and Onesiraus as his children ; and St. John finds his chief delight in the fact that his children walk in the truth. The Lord's Prayer is an assemblage of all that the children should be and do and expect in order to please their Father in heaven. In the proliibition, 'call no man your father upon the earth ' (Mt 23"), the allusion was most likely to a formality of ecclesi- astical homage, like the salutation ' Kabbi ' of v. Among the Syrian Christians it is customary tc salute the priest as A buna ('our father '). In the East the family is always reckoned from the standpoint of the chief or oldest representa- tive. Those whom he calls children are brethren. Thus the women of Bethlehem said, ' There is n child born to Naomi ' (Ru 4"). This custom gave B vital and atiectionate largeness of meaning to the word 'brother.' When Christians seek to realise the brotherhood that belongs to the society of the redeemed, the most efi'ective way is found to be a return to Bible thought and Oriental custom, namely, united senice to the Head of the faniil_v, devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. See also Family ; and for Children of God see God, Children of. G. M. Mackie.