Rabboni (Hastings' Dictionary)

See Rabbi. RAB-MAG (J?-3-!; B'?apanie, X 'Pa'^rfT, x"-'" BoMclr, A 'Pa/ja^dx, Q '?a.^aixa.y [in Jer 39 (4G)" Q'»« •Po/3oAiA7]; Vulg. Rebinag). —The title (as is now generally admitted) of a Babylonian official, apparently Nergal-sharezer, who was present at the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in the 11th year of Zedekiah king of Judah, togethef with all the rest of the princes (Jer 39 [Gr. 46]') and all the chief officers (v.') of the king of Babylon. Whether the Nergal-sharezer who is here mentioned, and who apparently bears the title, be the Neriglissar of the Greeks, who came to the throne of Balijlon in the year B.C. 560 (16 years later), is uncertain, but not by anj- means improbable. The explanation of the title Kab- mag is a matter of considerable uncertainty. Gesenius explains J? as magian, 'the name of the priests and wise men among the Medes, Persians, and Babylonians' [the inclusion of the Babylonians was pardonable before the inscrip- tions were made out]. G. Rawlinson and others have compared the title Rab-mag with the Baby- lonian EubA cmga, or, more correctly, RuuA cmqu ; but this, apart from its improbability in conse(juence of the difference of form, cannot be the original of the term, as it is not a title in the true sense of the word — it simply means ' the deeply- wise prince.' Another etymology for the second element is that of Fried. Delitzsch (cf. also Sicg- fried-Stade and Oxf. Heb. Lex.), who suggests that it is the same as the Assyr. mahM, ' soothsaj'er ' ; but the objections to this are the diBering double consonant, and the absence of the compound rab- mnhhi'i. 'The most probable of the proposed origi- nals appears to the present writer and others to be the title rab-miigi (see Pinches in S. A. Smith's Kcilsrhrifttexte Asiirbanipah, Heft ii. 1887, p. 67, note to 1. 89 ; Sayce, HCM \\ 456 ; Winckler, Orient. Litteraturztg. 1898, p. 40). This word occurs in the text translated by Pinches (K 824, edge, 9) in the accusative (miiga), and also in the oracles to Esarliaddon (WAI 6\. 1. 26r«) in the phrase atla inn libbi mngi, 'thou (art) in the midst of the princes (?),' the two lines which follow being ' I (the goddess Istar) in the midst of my flock (?) advance (and) rest.' A nasalized form, rab munqi, also occurs. T. (J. Pinches RAB-SARIS EACA 19i RAB-SARIS (OT:"!; B '?a<peis, A '?a3(7apds, in 2 K is"; ilA XojSowrapf/i, X Xa/Joicreeit, {{'Q Xa- ^owapit, Q"« 'Pa^<rapis, in Jer 39 [■16]'-'''; Vulg. Ji'ihsiiris, Rab.vues). — This, like Rab-5Iag, is now generally and rightly held to be a title, and not a name (see RV). 1. An Assj-rian olliccr who went with the Tartan and the lliib-shakeh, whilst Senna- cherib was at Lac'hish, to demand on behalf of his royal master the surrenderor Jerusalem, which was at'the time besieged by the Assyrian forces(2K 18"). 2. A Babylonian named Sarsechim [? ; see art. Nercal-Sharezer], who, with 'all the princes' of Nebuchadnezzar, was present at the taking of Jerusalem by that king in the 11th year of Zedekiah king of Judah (Jer 3'J»). 3. A Babylonian named Nebusliazban, who, after the taking of the city, gave authority, with other of the princes of Babylon who are mentioned, for the release and return of Jeremiah, thus enabling him to be taken home and to dwell with his own people (Jer 39"). The usual biblical explanation of the word is ' chief of the eunuchs,' or, perhaps with greater proliability, 'chief eunuch,' an explanati(m that agrees with the information yielded by the otlier Semitic languages, Arabic and Aramaic havin'' practically the same word with this meaning, and also verbs derived therefrom. The word oi;, with its plural C';-!5, is of frequent occurrence in the Hebrew, and not only means ' a eunuch,' but also 'courtier' in general, 'chamberlain.' In 2 K 25'^ it indicates an otticer who commanded a division of the army, and PoTlPHAR, who was certainly a married man, is called the 0-15 of Pharaoh in Gn 39'. The Assyro • Babylonian inscriptions, how- ever, do not furnish us with any word that contains this idea. A D-03i, Rabsaris, named Jsabd-sarra- usur, eponym for the year B.C. 683, is named' on the tablet 81-2-4. 147 (Berger, Comptes rendu.i de VAcad. des Inscr. el Belles Lettres, 1886, p. 201 ; CIS tom. i. fasc. 1, pp. 43, 44), but this title is not rendered in the Assyrian te.\t which accompanies the Aramaic inscription. Winckler (in Unters. z. altor. Gesch. 1889, E.xkurs v. p. 138) gave the ex- planation that this word was simply a transcrip- tion of the Assyro-Babj'lonian ratjii-ia-rHi, a sug- gestion that was afterwards conhrmed by the discovery of the title in question on the British Museum tablet 82-7-14, 3570, written rubu-Sa-ri-e- tu (read -rciu) ; cf. Academy, June 25, 1892. This expression means 'chief of the heads' or princip.il men, and being apparently not a usual title, we Diav perhaps conclude that it was not often given, anil may have been one of great honour. Of its age nothing can be said, — the earliest date known is B.C. 683, — and how long it had been in use before then cannot even be guessed. As to the etymology, that is very simple. The first com- ponent part 19 the common Assyro-Babylonian word r/iljii, meaning, in compounds, ' chief,' equi- valent to the Hcb. 21. The second word is the particle iu, meaning ' of,' and the third is iria ' lieiul ' (the Heb. e'lti), seemingly one of the numerous short words of masculine form which were the same in the plural as in the singular. Whether the Ueb. 01; is derived from Sa-rciti, without the rah, and obtained the meaning of ' eunuch ' from the circumstance that many of those who bore the title Rab- saris had authority over the eunuchs, or whether the Hebrews a-ssimilated this Assyro- Baliylonian title to a word already well known in tliiir language, and common Semitic property, is unknown ; but the former would seem to be the more probable. In any case the word as used in 2 K 18" and Jer Sfr'- " must be held to represent the • Ct. Dn 1», where the ' master ot hit eunuchs '(Vf-lf-31, LXX ■ml Thecl. iLn:>wi»ZxM) seems to hsve hsd charge of 'the seed royal and tlit- nobles.' Assyro-Babylonian rabH-Sa-rHu, whatever opinion be held witli regard to the other pas.sages where it occurs. It is noteworthy that the sibilants are in botli cases d, for which the Assyro-Babylonian has .$, afi'ording another proof that the sound tran- scribed by the latter was often not sh, but simply , in later times, in Assyria and Babylonia. T. G. Pinches.