Edification, edify, edifying

These words are always used in AV in the sense of build- in" up spiritually, either (a) the Church, or (6) the individual Christian. The Or. vb. •■'so)«u4ai and subst. Jaciti^ are used in NT, as in class. Greek and in the LXX, in the Ul. sense of buildini,'— a house (Ac 7«), tomhs (Sft 2329). etc. But our Lord havin" employed the llpire of buildinfr His Church, which Ls expressed In 8t. Mttthew's report (Mt lelf) by the verb «;».a.

ui«, the metaphor was uken up, and gradually both verb and subst. were used with more and more freedom in this spiritual sense, •sp. by St. Paul, to whom the metaphor mav almost be said to belong. The Vulg. renders tnuitfun by" adificare, and •.»)<wi by irdificatio; and Wyclif, and all VSS foUowing, render ttdxficare by 'edify,' axlificalw bv ' ediBcation.' or sdUyirg.' Se6 £c« Homo, ch. xviii. The word 'edification' seems to have been introduced into Enj;. direct from the Lat.

(pdijicatio, but ' edify ' more probably through the Vr. Miner. They were used early, and probably first of all in a literal sense. Thus Paston, Lett. (1462), ' A plase late be the said Sir John edified at Caster' ; Thomas, Hist. Jtal. (1549), 'About 700 yeres after the edification of Rome." The spiritual sense was due perimps entirely to the influence of the Vulg., which sometimes was the cause of the literal use, as Wyclifs tr. of On S'^^'and the Lord God edified the rib.

tha whiche he toke of Adam, into a woman,' after Vulg. ' ajditicavit.' Trench (En(i. Past and Prcs. p. 161) states that the mod. ua« of edify arid * edification ' began wiUi the Puritans ; it is more correct to say that by Ihera the words were first used freely and extensively in the spiritual sense, whence Oldham's complaint — 'The graver sort dislike all poetry. Which does not, as they call it, edify.' J. Hastings. EDNA (■E5to = .ij-!!

; 'delight,' but Fagius nj-iy) was wife of Raguel'of Ecbatana, and mother of Sarah, who became wife of Tobias. She gave a cordial welcome to Tobias and his attendant Raphael in disguise, and questioned them as to their kindred (To 7^), weeping over the recital of Tobit's adversities (7*). She prepared once more i the ill-fated bridal chamber (7"), and led Sarah thither. Her maternal blessing (om. in Vulg.)

was given on thedeparture of the bridal pair (10'-); and (B only) she received the blessing of Tobias in return (11'). Vulg. and Itala call her Anna. J. T. Marshall.