Sabteca (Hastings' Dictionary)

Son of Cush, Gn 10' (A Za^aKaBi, Luc. 2a/3era«d), 1 Ch 1» (B Luc. Ze^cKaBd, A Ze^eflaxd). — The identification of this place with Samydake in Carmania (Steph. Byz., ed. Westermann, p. 246), originally suggested by Bochart, has been renewed bj' (.Uaser [Skizze, ii. 252). There is, however, nothing in favour of this supposition, except the possibility that the genealogist may have been misled by the similarity of the name to Sabtah.

Early critics guessed various places in Africa, while some have even supposed a person rather than a place to be meant. The termination -ka lias an appearance of being Inilo -Germanic, as also has the penultimate syl- lable. In that case the name probably meant 'sevenfold' (saplaka), Heptapolis. Some other conjectures are quoted by Gesenius, Thes., and Dillm. Gen. ad loc. D. S. JLaegolioUTU. SACAR [liy ' hire,' ' reward ' [cf. the name iDsB" Issachar]). — 1.

The father of Ahiam, one of David's heroes, 1 Ch 11*'' (B 'Axa/>, A Zaxa.p) = Sharar of 2 S 23«, where 'Sliarar the (H)ararite' appears in B as 'Apa! Zapaovpcirris and in A as 'ApdJ 'Apapelrrii. The reading of 15 here may have arisen, by transposition of letters, from a Heb. original 'nrD iTv'. and the name SItarar should probably be reatl in both passages. 2. The eponyni of a family of gatekeepers, 1 Ch 26^ (B Saxdp, A Zax'-^p)- J. A. Selbie. SACKBUT («;?c Dn 3», k:?v- S'"-"; LXX and Theod.

cra/i^vKT}, Vulg. sambuca, Wye. 'sambuke,' Cov., Bish. 'shawmes,' Dou. 'doulcimer,' Gen., AV, RV 'sackbut'). — Tlie Gr. <raix^uKji (which Ges., Bulil, Driver, etc., believe to be derived from the Aram.) was a stringed instrument (see vol. iii. p. 461"). The Vulg. sambuca is no doubt a translit. of the Gr. ; but since samhuca may mean ' made of the elder-tree' (from sambucus, the elder-tree), the name came to be used for any stringed instrument made of that wood. In Eng.

the ' sambuke ' bad the same general application. Thus Ascham, Toxophilus, 26, ' And wliatsoever ye judge, this I am sure, that lutes, harps, all manner of pipes, barbitons, sambukes, with other instruments every one, which standeth by fine and quick fingering, be condemned of Aristotle, as not to be brought in and used among them which study for learning and virtue.'

The Geneva translators used the more precise 'sackbut' (possibl}', however, from an impression that it was a form of the same word). But the 'sack- but ' is unsuitable, for two reasons : it is a wind instrument (' a brass trumpet,' says Chappell, ' with a slide like a modern trombone ') ; and, whereas the aaii^iiK-q was particularly shrill, the .sackbut had a deep note. Cf. Drayton, Polijulbion, iv.

365 — 'The Hoboy, Sagbutdeepe, Recorder, and the Flute*; and Bunyan, PP 235, ' He and his Fellows pound the Sackbut whose Notes are more doleful than tlie Notes of other Music are.' The origl-i of 'sackbut' is doubtful. Skeat traces it to '.he Spanish sacar to draw out, .

iiid buche a box, used familiarly of the belly, and thinks that Webstei is right in suggesting that the name was given to the instrument because it exhausts one's wind in blowing I Middleton shows how it lent itself to punning, Spanish Gypsy, ii. 1 — ' .4Jc.— You must not look to have your dinner eerved Ir wft» trumpet& Car. — No, do, sack-bute will serve us.* J. Hastings.

SACKCLOTU SACRAMENTS 327 SACKCLOTH (pf sal; <rdKKOs, saccus) was a coarse material woven from goats' and camels' hair, and lience of a dark colour, as we see from Kev 6''^ ' the sjin became black as sackcloth of hair ' (crdKitos Tplxfot) ; cf., for the colour. Is 5U', Sir 25" ' her countenance darkencth like sackcloth,' reading (Tan-vo! with 1$; also i"P 'a mourner,' lit. one who wears dark soiled garments [RS^ 414, n. 2).

A similar material was called by the Romans cilirium from being prepared from the hair of the black };oats of Cilicia, hence Jerome's rendering saccus cilk-inus (Rev 6"). From the fact that sacks were made of this coarse haircloth, J in Genesis (42^- "■ ") uses py as a synonym of n-rcK ; hence through the medium of Greek and Latin our 'sack' and ' sackcloth,' though haircloth is tlie more appro- priate rendering. It was also used for saddle- cloths (Jos 9*).

From the analogy of the evolution of dress among the Egyptians — for which see Erman (Egypt, 200 ff., with numerous illustrations) — we may infer that the dress of the Hebrews was ori''inally, as in Egypt, a scant loin-cloth of sak, tied in a knot in front. This continued to be the distinctive dress of slave-s, captives, and such as wished to appeal to the pity of superiors (see the instructive episode 1 K 20'"'-). To put on sack- cloth is nearly always ?

;■ iJn ' to gird sackcloth ' alwut the loins {loc. c, Gn 37**, 2 S 3", and oft.; ijri alon«-, Is 32", Jl 1") ; to take it oil' was originally res 'to undo [a knot]' (Fs 30", Is 20^). The linguistic evidence is thus entirely against the current idea that the sackcloth of the OT was worn in the form of a sack ' with an opening for the head, and side apertures for the anus.' Religious usages are proverbially conservative, and Hebrew customs were no exception (see, e.g.

, Jos 5-''); hence it is not an unlikelj' .supposition (Schwally, Das Leben nach d. Tode, 12 ft.) that the haircloth cincture continued to be regarded as the garment most suitable for religious ceremonies long after it had disappeared from ordinary use. This is at least more satisfactory than the usual e.

\planation that the wish to mortify the tlesh led to the use of sackcloth in the frequent instances where it is associated with fasting as an outward and Wsible expression of iienitence, or in cases where confession and supplication are combined, as indeed is most frequently the case (1 K 21-'', Nell 9', Jon 3'"-, Jth 4'<"'- etc.) In most cases, even when not expressly mentioned, there was the accompaniment of ashes (l)n 9'', Mt U-', Lk 10") or earth (Neh 9") ni)on the head.

Hence the author of Barucli speaks of putting on ' sackcloth of prayer' (4-° ; see Comm. for alternative render- ing). The extravagances of Jon 3', Jth 4", where even the cattle are clothed in sackcloth, are scarcely historical. In the latter [las-sage the altar, also, is similarly covered (Jth 4").

That the sackclotli in such cases was usually worn next the skin (i^jn-'^i') — originally, as we saw, it was the only garment — even by women (Is 32", Jth 9', 2 Mac 3'*), seems beyond doubt (see 2 K 6"'', .lob 16", whicli are often wrongly, as we think, taken to be exceptional <ases).

Fondness for ' the old paths,' and the desire to furnish an object-los,son in simplicity of dress, as of life, in the midst ot increasing luxury, are doubtless the reascm that haircloth was the char- acteristic material of a |)ropliet's dress (Zee 13 RV ; cf. Rev W irpo<prrrevaovaiv . . irepipt^Xrinivoi. cixKovi). Elijah was distinguished by a mantle of hair (2 K 1» KViii). John the Baptist's only gar- ment, like that of his jirototype, was of camels' hair (Mt 3, Mk 1").

Isaiah, on a particular occasion, wore even the primitive loin-cloth of snk (20^). The universal use of this black hairciiilh (p;;') as the appropriate dress of those mourning for their dead probably has its root in the circle of primitive thought above referred to— the intention being to do honour to the disembodied spirit (cf. Schwally, op. cit.) It was worn not only in cases of private mourning (Gn 37*", 2 S ,3^' and oft.)

, but in lamen- tations over jiublic calamities (Am 8'°, Jer 48", La 2'", 1 Mac 2"). Further, just as prayer in this garb might avert threatened private bereavement (Ps 35"), .so might it avert— when combined with humility and penitence — a great national mis- fortune (Jer C™, Jl 1", Jth 4'-}. Both ideas are frequently combined — mourning for past calamities and prayer for their speedy removal (1 Mac 3", 2 Mac 2^, also Am 8'", and other passages cited). A. R. S. Kennedy.