Othni (Hastings' Dictionary)

A son of Shemaiah, 1 Ch 267. OTHNIEL (dxny, Γοθονιήλ), described in Jg 1 8° as ybpo 3dp πὰ )}}., -ἰῦ is not impossible from the point τ view of strict grammar to construe 2 adduced. (For the discussion of tahmés see NIGHT HAwk). ‘The derivation of this name of the ostrich from the idea of greed corresponds with its traditional voracity, which leads it to swallow pebbles, bits of glass, metal, bone, ete.

This, how- ever, is the same instinct as that which leads fuwls to swallow small angular pebbles, to assist in the trituration of their food. The large size of the substances swallowed by the ostrich has given him his special reputation. Some have attributed to the root the meaning ‘to cry out,’ and fortify their eoemaloey by referring to the voice of the ostrich, which they say resembles that of the lion (ef. Mic 15). 2. oy réndnim. AV (Job 39") tr. this word peacocks,’ RV ‘ostrich.

’ It is derived from a root signifying ‘ to give forth a sound,’ esp. a twang- ing or resonant sound (cf. Arab. ranna). While this derivation would suit the peacock, there is a special name for that bird, ovaa tukkiyyim (1 K 103), or Ὁ» (2 Ch 9%). It eminently suits the ery of the female ostrich. The description (νν.} 18) can apply to no other bird than the ostrich. AV recognizes this by wrongly translating nézah= ‘feathers’ at the end of v.58 by ‘ostrich. The ostrich, Struthio camelus, L.

, is a bird of Arabia and Africa. It has been found on the S.E. confines of the Syrian desert. It is the largest of existing birds. The Bible alludes to a number of its characteristics. It is a desert bird. It is several times (Is 344 43%) mentioned in connexion with tannim, which we believe to be the wolf (see DRAGON, 1). It is the swiftest of runners, sur- passing in this respect even the warhorse when he is urged on by his gallant rider.

It is said (Job $9") that ‘God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.’ This is said to explain her leaving her eggs in the aust. The facts are that the ostrich lays her eggs in a shallow excavation in the sand and then covers them to the depth ofa foot. They are left by day, in tropical climates, to the heat of the sun, and incubated at night.

A few eggs, supposed to be reserved for the nourishment of the chicks, are laid near the nest, and left exposed on the sand. This mode of nesting and incubation is probably the basis of the allusion in the above passage. In any case it must be regarded as the reflexion of a popular opinion, founded on the external aspects of the case. It is intended to heighten the contrast of the opening verse of the passage, which describes this Heb.

phrase so as to make Kenaz the brother and Othniel the nephew of Caleb (so B of LXX, υἱὸς Kevéf ἀδελφοῦ Χάλεβ ; cf. art. JUDGES, 4 (d), vol. ii. p. 811". It is more probable, however, that Caleb, who is elsewhere called the Kenizzite (Nu 32"), was viewed as a son of Kenaz, and thus a brother of Othniel (so A . . ἀδελφός, and Vulg. filius Cenez, frater Caleb).

This conclusion is strengthened by the expression ‘younger brother,’ which would have no relevancy as applied to Kenaz, but is quite appropriate in reference to Othniel ‘as indicating that the disparity in age between uncle and niece (Jg 1%) was not so great as might be thought, or (in 3°) as i pong how Othniel so long outlived Caleb’ (Moore, Judges, 27). In pre-critical times there can be little doubt that apologetic reasons weighed heavily with many in- terpreters.

The uncle, it was imagined, must be saved from the scandal of marrying his niece, although marriages within closer degrees than this were sanctioned by usage (e.g. Abraham and Sarah, Gn 20"; cf. 2S 13 Amnon and Tamar). In one of the narratives (Jos 15", Jg 1’) of the conquest of Canaan itis related that Othniel smote Kiriath-sepher and obtained as a reward the hand of his niece Achsah the daughter of Caleb (see ACHSAH).

The story of the springs which the bride obtained from her father (Jos 15", Jg 119) is introduced in all probability in order to account for the possession by Achsah, a branch of Othniel, of waters which would more naturally have belonged to the Kalibbites, an older constituent of the Kenizziteclan. In Jg 37"! Othniel is introduced by D? as the first of the ‘Judges’ and the deliverer of Israel from CUSHAN-RISHATHAIM (wh. see).

His victory is said to have secured rest to the land for forty years. Very serious difficulties lie in the way of our accepting the historicity of this latter narrative. These difficulties are not in the urely hypothetical combina- CM 291 1ἴ. and EHH 286f. Othniel has ALEB (wh. see), anch of the important clan least evaded by the tions of Sayce in See Moore, Judges, p. 85. Ethnologically and as an epon much the same Bpuiosace as being a younger br of the Kenizzites, Lrrzrature.

—See under Oaxgs, and cf. Dillmann, Nu-Dt-Jos, 623; Kittel, Hist. of Heb. i. 267f., ii. 77 1. ; Moore, Judges, 29, Bit. ; Wellhausen, Comp. 219; Budde, Richt. τι. Sam. 4ff., 94 ff. J. A. SELBIE. OTHONIAS (‘O@orlas), 1 Es 9%, a corruption of the name Mattaniah, in Ezr 10”.