Penuel (Hastings' Dictionary)

See PENIEL, PEOPLE is the AV rendering of a great variety of Heb. and Gr. terms, the most important of which are ‘3, ond or ond, oy, δῆμος, ἔθνος, λαός, ὄχλος. The distinctive meanings of these are discussed under GENTILES. While in many instances no doubt can exist as to the reference of the word people, there are cases where the Eng. reader cannot but feel uncertain whether he is to understand by it the people of Israel or people in the sense of Gen- tile nations.

This ambiguity is avoided by RV, which, for the latter sense, freely employs tae PEOR pine peoples, which in AV occurs only in Rey 0" 17% The effect of this change in clearing up the meaning is very evident in such passages arn 67, Is 55 60? ete. See Preface to RV of Special notice is required of the phrase ‘ people of the land’ ( sari which occurs frequently in the OT, especially in Jeremiah (18 3419 37?

44% 52% 25), Ezekiel (77 12 22% 332 3918 463-%), and 2 Kings (16 1519 20 155° 1615 21% 25%. 0 2416 Ore 18), with the parallel passages in 2 Chronicles (23% 39. 31 267! 335 361). In most of these instances it means the general body of the people, as distinguished from the king and the aristocracy. The fuller phrase 7yy7Oy ΠΡῚ is used in 2K 24™ for ‘the pout sort of the people of the land’ (cf.

2 K 25%, er 407 5215-16), In Gn 2937-12-18 (P), Nu 14° (JE), ‘am-h@drez is employed with reference to non- Israelites. The title ‘ammé ha@drez (or ‘ammé h@ drdzéth) has a technical sense in the book of Ezra-Nehemiah, being used of that half-heathen half-Jewish polalation of Palestine with whom less scrupulous Jews intermarried and maintained pene xelotions, but with whom the party repre- sented by Ezra and Nehemiah refused all but the most unavoidable intercourse (Ezr 9!

2 10%", Neh 10-2), The phrase ‘am-hd’drez was used by the Rabbins not only collectively but in an individual sense (they spoke of an ‘am-hd’drez) for the class distinct from the strict observers of the law (ef. Jn 7 ‘this multitude [ὁ ὄχλος οὗτος] which knoweth not the law are eae ’). See, further, art. PHARISEES, Ἔ 804; Schiirer, GJV ii. 400 [HJP Il. ii. 22 f.] ; Smend, Alttest. Religionsgesch? (Index, s. ‘Am hadrez’), J. A. SELBIE. PEOR (iy5n; Φογώρ; Phogor, and [Jos 22!

7) Beel- Ὁ ΕΟ, etc.)—1. Nu 2355 only, a mountain in Toab, the last point to which Balak took Balaam, after he had sacrificed at Bamoth-baal and in the field of Zophim, at the top of Pisgah. Peor is described as looking down upon Jeshimon (RVm; RV text ‘the desert’). The ΟΣ ΠΡῸΣ describes the mountain as opposite Jericho, and as having upon it a town, Danaba (DINHABAH, wh. see), 7 miles from Heshbon. Peor is not certainly identi- fied. PEFSt (1882, p.

87) suggests the ἘΞ above "Ain Minyeh overlooking the Dead Sea. Buhl (GAP 116) places Beth-peor at the mouth of the Wad Hesbdn, and is inclined to identify Peor with e/- Musakkar, between Wady ‘Ajtin Misa and Wady Hesban. For further details see BETH-PEOR. 2. A town in Judah, added by the LXX, Φαγώρ, after Jos 15"; for site see BETH-PEOR. 3. A divine name, Nu 25" 3116, Jos 227; see BAAL-PEOR. 4. The LXX reading, Φόγωρ, for Pau, Gn 36”, or Pai, 1 Ch 1; see Pat. W. H. BENNETT.

PERZA (ἡ Περαία, Περαῖος, Iepatrns) is the name given by Josephus to the district which is spoken of in bbinical literature as ‘the land beyond Jordan.’ (In like manner the NT, which never mentions Perea by name, uses the phrase πέραν τοῦ ᾿Ιορδάνου, Mt 416 191, Mk 38, Jn 1% 3% 61-7 102 18). He says (BJ m1. iii. 3) that it stretches from Macheerus in the south to Pella in the north, while its breadth is from Philadelphia (‘Ammén) to the Jordan. In another place (BJ Iv. vii.

3, 6) he makes Gadara the capital of Perma ; and Schiirer (HJP τι. i. 113, note) infers that in the former case the name is used in a political sense, t.¢. with ex- clusion of the towns of the Decapolis. In a geo- graphical sense it must have reached farther north, at any rate to the bank of the Yarmuk, while its southern boundary was probably the Arnon. It thus covered the districts of Jebel “Ajlin and el-Belka.

It may be roughly described as a high tableland, torn in many parts by deep water courses, mighty and picturesque ravines, eee down towards the ‘Arabah, or, as it is now called, el-Ghér. Along the western edge the heights sink abruptly into the Jordan Valley ; eastward they fall away more gently into the desert. The great gorge of the Yarmuk in the north and that of the Arnon in the south form natural boundaries.

Josephus observes that, while larger in extent than Galilee, it is inferior in fertility, and less adapted for the growth of the finer fruits. The Perwean soil, however, is rich, and has always eles good returns to the husbandman. Much and now used for pasture is well capable of culti- vation ; and an excellent supply of water is pro- vided by its streams and perennial springs. Great reaches of these healthy uplands are covered with a forest of oak.

The olive flourishes in many of the valleys, while the vine trails over the fruitful slopes. ‘Towards the eastern border the count is treeless, and parts are barren and stony (Guy fe Strange in Schumacher’s Across the Jordan, 292 ff.), but the fellahin of the Arabs find space to grow tolerable crops. Ydakit (A.D. 1225) observes that the region is noted for its wheat τὰς (Guy le Strange, Pal. under the Moslems, 35).

The raisins most highly prized in the country come from the district capital es-Salj. Mukaddasi (A.D. 985) says that next to Ba’albek it is the coldest place in Syria (op. cit. 15). See arts. GAD, GILEAD, REUBEN. In the earlier days of the Maccabees, Perea was inhabited chiefly by Gentiles, among whom was a ‘dispersion’ of Jews.

Accordingly Judas, after he had discomfited the heathen, conveyed all the Israelites for safety into Judea (1 Mac 5“), The policy of Judaizing the province was not intr ci before the time of Hyrcanus ; probably by one of his successors (Schiirer, HJP I. i. 192). It shared in the reduction of taxes ordered by Jonathan (Ant. xm. ii. 3).

Alexander Janneus waged war with varying fortune throughout his reign, and before his death had the whole country, from Merom to the Dead Sea, under his sway (Schiirer, /.c. pp. 297, 306). At Herod’s request it was given as a tetrarchy to his brother Pheroras, who in the end fled hither, to die, it was thought, by poison (Ant. xv. x. 3, BJ τ. xxiv. 5, xxx. 3, 4). It was the scene of some of Herod’s building enterprise (Ant. xv. viii. 5).

On Herod’s death Antipas was appointed tetrarch of Galilee and Perwa (Ant. XVII. viii. 1). When Augustus con- firmed Herod Cai amy in the tetrarchy, Gadara was cut off and added to Syria (BJ 11. vi. 3). On the site of the ancient Beth-haram (Jos 13”) the tetrarch built a city and called it Julias in honour of the emperor's wife (Ant. XVIII. He eB . ix. 1), which Nero afterwards gave to Agripps, with 14 villages about it (Ant. XX. viii. 4) t is now represented by Tell er-Rameh (HGHL* 488, note).

Perea was the scene of Simon’s om ἢ so swiftly suppressed by Gratus (Ant. XVII. x. 6, BJ τι. iv. 2). Felix was appointed by Claudius procurator of Galilee, Samaria, and Perma (BJ τι. xii. 8). After the defeat of Cestius, Manasseh was set over Perea (BJ π. xx. 4). The whole region was finally subdued to the Romans by Placidus, acting under Vespasian (BJ Iv. vil. 3-6).

When the Moslems conquered the country, the district, with ite capital 'Ammiéin, was attached to the province of Damascus (Ya καὶ, A.D. 874- 890). ete it was included in the kingdom of Kerak (Dimashki (A.D. 1300); Guy le Strange, Pal, under the Moslems, 34, 41). In the beginning of our era the popnlation was revailingly Towle. Perwa sent a multitude of pa to Jerusalem in the rising against Sabinus (BJ τι. iii, 1). When Gadara fell they were mostly Jews who perished (BJ rv. vii. 3,6).

They were strong enough to venture on armed strife with the inhabitants of Philadelphia (‘Ammdédn) over the boundaries of a certain village (Ant. Xx. i. 1), and were reduced to order only by the iron hand of Fadus. The Mishna constantly refers to Perea— ‘the land beyond Jordan ’—as a province of the land of Israel, along with Judwa and Galilee.

Treating of the disposal of the seventh year’s fruits it is said, ‘The land of Israel is divided into three parts: Judea, the land beyond Jordan, and Galilee’ (Shebiith ix. 2). With regard to the marriage law, it is in the same case with the other two (Kethubim xiii. 10); so also with regard to possessions (Baba bathra iii. 2). Perea lay between two Gentile provinces on the east, as did Samaria between the two Jewish provinces on the west of the Jordan.

The fords below Beisdn and opposite Jericho afforded communication with Galilee and Judea respectively. Perea thus formed a link connecting the Jewish provinces, so that the pilgrim from any part might go to Jerusalem and return without setting foot on Gentile soil; and, what was at least of equal im- portance, he could avoid peril of hurt and in ignity, which the Samaritans loved to inflict on those passing through Samaria (Lk 9; Jos. Ant. xx. vi. 1, Vita 52).

Jesus seems to have been baptized on the Perean side of Jordan (Jn 10“), Farrar thinks He passed that way after the Samaritans refused to receive Him (Lk 9°), From the Feast of the Dedication He escaped to Perea (Jn 10“), whence He was summoned by the sisters at Bethany (Jn 115). The visit, with incidents and teaching, described in Mt 19, Mk 10'8!

, Lk 1819-8, is commonly re- ferred to the period succeeding His retirement to Ephraim (Jn 11%) ; and from Perea He made His iast journey to Jerusalem. Niger, ‘a man of great valour in the war with the Romans,’ who belonged to this district, is called ‘the Peran’ (Ilepatrns, BJ τι. xx. 4, Iv. vi. 1). One of the most awful incidents in the siege of Jerusalem perpetuates the name of Mary, a woman of Perwa, from the village of Bethezob (BJ νι. iii. 4).

In the nation’s crowning calamity, when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, and the temple sank in flaming ruins, Josephus names Perea for the last time, as if in sympathy ‘ echo- ing back’ from afar the dolorous tumult and uproar (BJ YI. v. 1). Lireraturs.—Beaides the authorities cited above, see Merrill, East of the Jordan; Oliphant, The Land o Gilead ; Baedeker, Pal. and Syria, 176-193; Thomson, Land and Book, iii. 547- 677 ; Buhl, GAP 120; Pliny, Nat. Hist. v. 18. W. Ewrna.

PERAZIM (o°y95-77, ὄρος ἀσεβῶν)., , Μ|. Perazim of Is 284 (‘the LorD shall rise up as in mount Pera- zim’) is probably to be identified with BAAL- PERAZIM, the scene of one of Dayid’s victories over the Philistines, 2S 5%=1Ch 14, It lay apparently N.E. of Adullam, on the ridge above ‘Ain Faris (see PEF St, Oct. 1899, p. 347). C. R. CONDER.