Thummim (Hastings' Dictionary)

See Urim AND Thummim. THUNDER (nsn, ^povr^) is the loud sound which accompanies the discharge through llie atmo.sjihere of electricity from the clouds. It seems to follow the lightning flash after an interval jiroportioned to the observer's distance from the place of dis- turbance. Thunderstorms are fre<|uent in Pales- tine during the winter season, but very rarely occur at any other time of the year (Schwarz, Palestine, .327). They are always accompanied by rain or hail.

In the OT thunder is lioth poetically describc'd and popularly regarded a.s the voice of God. It is .spoken of as a voice in Ps 77" 104', Sir 43" (cf. 1 S 7'"). In several passages (E.x 9'"<'- 19" 20i», 1 S 12"- '«, Job 28-«'38, )' thunder 'or 'thunder- ing' is simply the tr. of ni'^'ip (' voices'), and even where Sip is rendered 'voice' the verb oyj (' to thunder') in the context sometimes shows that thunder is meant (2 S •^2", Job 37- » 40", Ps 18" 29»; cf.

the use of ipuival in Rev 4» 8» ll'» IC"). Ps 29 is tliroughout a sublime poetic descrip- tion of a thunderstorm and its effects, tliough the noun Ci'T does not once occur in it, but only the often repeated [ihrase .iLT-Sip. Tlio sequence of thunder after lightning is referred to in Job 37*, Sir 32'°, and the general connexion of the two phenomena in Job 28-" SS'". In Ps 104' the creative voice of (!od which bade the waters go to their appointed place (Gn !•) is identified with thunder.

Thunder accompanied by hail is enumerated in Ex 9*"' as the seventh of the Plagujs op EgvpT (see vol. iii. p. 891). From Ps 77'" it would appear that it was a thundercloud which came between the Israelites and the Egyptians at the crossing of the Red Sea, and this is probably alluded to in Ps 81'. Thunder was one of the impressive pheno- mena amidst which the Law was ^iven at Sinai (Ex 19" 20").

A thunderstorm decided the issue of a battle between Israel and the Philistines (1 S 7'°, Sir 46"), and another served to deepen the im- pression made by Samuel's warning to Israel when tliey desired a king (1 S 12"'"*). 'fhis latter e\cnb was all the more significant becau.se it occurred at a most unusual season, — that of wheat harvest.

In Job 39'-' thunder is used figuratively for the noise of battle ; and in Job 26'^ the difference between a whisper and thunder is used to illustrate the contrast between wliat man sees of God's waj's, and the reality of God's power. In Sir 40" tlio goods of tlie unjust are said to go off in a noise like thunder; and in Mk 3" 'sons of thunder' is the interpretation of the title (ioavqprfis given by Jesus to the sons of Zebedee (see BOANERGES).

In Is 29° thunder is among the metaphors describing the disasters impending on Ariel, and it appears in a similar connexion in Rev 8' 10". Like other convulsions of nature, it enters largely into the imagery of the Apocalypse (4° U"). Voices like thuntler are mentioned in 6' 14' 19°, and in 10^- * actual thunders are conceived to have an articulate meaning. In view of this last fact, and of the close OT association between thunder and tlie voice of God, it seems probable th.

at the ' voice out of heaven ' (Jn 12™' '") was a thunder-peal, as indeed most of those present thought, and that its signi- ficance was recognized and interpreted by Jesus alone. A similar construction may be put on the voices in the narratives of the Baptism and Trans- figuration of Jesus, and the whole subject is illus- trated by the Jewish doctrine of the ^'P"nj, which was always supposed to be preceded by a thunder- clap (Barclay, Talmud, p. IC, note). The Greek word Kcpavfii, like Lat.

fulmen, de- notes thunder and lightning together. It is used in Wis 19'" of the punislmient of the Egyptians at the Exodus (EV ' thunders'), and in 2 RIac 10" of certain human missiles of destruction (AV ' light- nings,' KV ' thunderbolts '). Kcpaivudis is the LXX tr. of ['El in Is 30*, where all the phenomena of a thunderstorm occur in the context as metaphors for the disasters awaiting As.syria. AV renders F?} 'scattering,' RV 'blast,' RVm 'crash,' De- lit /«ch 'cloud-burst.'

ill Ps 78** 'thunderbolt' is the tr. of ^y-i (mg. 'hailstone'). For the meaning of this word see under CoAL, 4. vol. i. p. 4.-)!'' In Job 39'" AV has 'thunder' as a mislran.slation of .icp (RV ' quivering mane '). J AMES PATRICK. THYATIRA (Qu&Tetpa.) was an important and wealthy city in the northern part of Lydia, in a district which was in early times sometimes a.ssigned to Mysia ; and it was sometimes called 'the last city of the My.

sians," owing to the un- certainty about national boundaries in Asia Minor. In its situation in the open fertile valley of the Lycus, a stream that flows .

south-west from the RIysian frontier to join the Ilcrmus, it must have been a settlement (doubtless a large village beside a temple, after the Anat<dian fiishion) from the ear- liest time ; and according to I'linj' and Stephanus it was then called Pelopia Euijipa Semiramis ; but these seem to be mere epithets, and the name Thyateira is probably an old Lydian word, mean- ing 'the town or citadel of Thya': Teira occurs as a Lydian city name. But the importance of Thj'atira bcg.

m when it was refounded with a colony of Macedonians bj- Seloucus Nikator be- tween B.C. 301 and 281. t Its history as a Greek • Stcph. Bvz. a.v. So Iconlum woa ' the last city of Phryjpa.' t So Steph'anuB ; but Schuchhardt (AUim. Mitth. 18SK, p. 1 ff.) attributes the new foundation to a later date in the 3rd ccut. 758 THYATIRA THYATIRA city dates from that time ; and it continued to be a rich and busy commertial city throughout antient times.

The peacefulness and prosperity of its de- velopment aflord little for the historian to record. Antiochus tlie Great lay encamped there for a time in B.C. 130, until he was forced to retire on Mag- nesia ; and the decisive battle against the Romans under Scipio was fought between the two cities. Thyatira derived its importance strictly from the valley in which it was situated, and not from lying on a great trade route.

Hence it was limited in its development by the restriction of its range, and it never became a mL-tropolis or leading city of Asia, nor was it honoured with the Neokorate in the State cultus of tlie emperors. Ptolemy, indeed, styles it metropolis of Lydia (V. ii. 16) j but the title never occurs in inscriptions or on coins, and is probably erroneous! j' given.

The epithets by which Thyatira sought to glorify itselt are therefore rather vague in character, XafiirpoTdTr), JiacrTjKordTi;, fuyldTi], etc. But in A.D.

215 Caracalla passed through the city, and issued an edict (which came before, and was probably addressed to the Koinon of Asia, and was of course carried into eflect by I'ote of the Koinon), ordering that it should be one of the seats of conventus of the Province (iSuipJiaaTO rjj irarpidi ijfiCip rrfv dyopdj' tCiv biKCiv), In regard to religion, Thyatira also rejoiced in the title ' the holy city of the irpo-rdTup 8t6; "H\ios mSio^ Tvpi/Mfiuoi 'AiroXXuK ' (just as Ephesus boasted itself the city of Artemis) ; and the inscriptions often mention the patron god.

The coins often show the horseman-god Tyrimnos, with double- axe on shoulder (a figure common under various names in Lydian and Phrygian cities), and a god- dess of the Greek Artemis type, called Boreitene. But Boreitene is simply a surname of the god- dess who was worshipped along with the patron god, probably derived from some locality in the territory of the city with which the goddess was specially associated.

The Boreitene Artemis was, undoubtedly, closely related to the Ephesian Artemis on the one hand, and to the East Lydian and Pontic Anaitis (Persian in origin, called Persike on the coins of the neighbouring Hierocipsareia) on the other. Apollo Tyrimnaios is known only from the inscriptions, which show that there was a sacred temenos, with a propylmum, containing doubtless a temple : games called Tyrimnaia, in honour of the god, are also men- tioned.

The priest of Apollo and the priestess of Artemis were husband and wife (Bull. Corresp. HelUn. xi. p. 478, No. 57), showing how intimate was the relation between the two deities in the Thyatiran cult. This deity was n^6iro\is (with his temple in front of, not inside, the city) and IIpo- vdrup (patron of the city, and ancestor of some leading family or families, doubtless priestly fami- lies, in it). Tyrimnos was evidently the ancient Lydian sun-goo,* identiGed with the Greek Apollo Pythias.

Under the Roman emiiire the worship of Apollo Tyrimnaios was unitea with the cult of the emperors, as we see in the ceremony of the Sebasto, Tyrimniean festival (njs Ze^currelov xal tvpinv-qov TravTiyOpeu!) The worship of Artemis and Apollo was conjoined with mysteries, which were under the direction of the priestess {CIG 3507).

Further, there was outside of the city (irpi Tijs iriXeus) a shrine of the Oriental (Chalda'an, or Persian, or Hebrew) Sibyl Sambcthe, or Sambathe, in the sacred precinct of the Chalda;an {irptis ry uid regards Thyatira as a Seleucld garrUon founded to resist the growing Perjfanienian power. * We cannot adopt the view of Blakesley In Smith's DB and others, that Tyrininas (as they wron(;ly call him) was a Mace- donian deity brought by the colonist.'^ from their own country.

They ma^ have brought the name (Tyrinimas was a mythical Uacedoiii&a king), but not the religious institution. ^afi^aOclip iv ti} XaXSalov wepi^6\(p* CIG 3509). It may be taken as certain that this shrine was a seal of soothsaying, and that a prophetess was the re- cipient of inspiration and uttered the oracles at the shrine. It is also highly probable that this foundation arose from an eclectic religious system, combininrr some Hebrew conceptions with pagan forms and customs.

So much may be taken as generally admitted ; but to this Sehurer (Die Pro- jjhetiti ladbcl in Thyativa t) has added the, at first sight, attractive theory that the woman Jezebel of Rev 2-" was the prophetess at the shrine, who perhaps played the part of the Sibyl herself, and whose character was perhaps not purely heathen but contained a mixture of Jew ish elements. We cannot, however, consider this probable.

While we must agree with Schiirer and many older scholars that 'Jezebel' here denotes a dehnite woman, the context seems to require a woman of great influ- ence within the Thyatiran Church (like Jezebel within the kingdom of Israel), in all probability an otKcial, active, prominent in religious observ- ances, claiming to be and accepted in the Church (d^eis) as one of those prophetesses who were so im- portant in the early Church, using her position to disseminate her own views, maintaining and teach- ing the doctrine (against which the letter inveighs so bitterly) that it was possible to be a Christian and yet remain a member of ordinary pagan society and belong to the social clubs, which were so char- acteristic of pagan life, and fulfilled many useful purposes of a charitable or beneficial kind, but were (according to St.

John and St. Paul alike) inextric- ably implicated in idolatrous observances, and con- ducive to luxury and sensual enjoyment.J: The person who was condemned so strenuously by the author was not a pagan prophetess, but a danger w itliin the Church, and tlie Church itself is cen- sured for treating her with allowance and respect instead of casting her out with abhorrence. \ et a time for repentance is granted even to her, before her punishment shall come upon her. The passage of Rev.

places us amid the difficulties besettin" the Thyatiran Christians in the early period of the Church. The population of the city was divided into trade-gmlds, many of Avhich are mentioned in inscriptions. To belong to the guild was a most important matter for every trades- man or artisan ; it aided his business, and brought him many advantages socially.

Each guild was a corporate body, possessing considerable powers, directed by elected officers, passing decrees in honour of Roman officials or other persons who had aided it, possessing property or revenues under its own direction, constructing works for the public ; many of them, if not all, were benefit societies for mutual aid, and showed vigorous life, and were on the whole healthy and praiseworthy associations. The objection to the guilds from the Christian point of view was twofold.

In the first place, the bond which held a guild together lay always in the common religion in which all united, and iu the common sacrificial meal of which all partook ; the members ate and drank fellowship and brother- hood in virtue of the pagan deity whom they served.

In the existing state of society it was impossible to dissociate membership of a guild from idolatry, and the idolatry was of a kind that by its symbolism and its efficacy exerteil • From ft single reference it is impossible to determine whether a ChaMiean deity, or a Chalda^an who instituted and regulated the cultus, is meant. M. Clero (d*- Hebiu TUijotir. pp.

23, 79) puts the shrine of the Sibyl near the Chaldwan't precinct; but the inscription defines the position of the grave as bv the Sibyl's shrine in the Chaldsean's precinct. t in Thtotai. Abhandt. Weizmcker geieidifiei, 1S92, p. 39 S. t On this see Expotitor, Dec. lOOO, p. 42« a. ; Feb. I9t<l, p 93 0. THYATIliA TLBERIAS great influence on its adherents, makin" them inenihers of a unity wliicU w:is ej^sintially non- Christian and anti-Chri.sti;in.

In the second idaue, the common banquets were celebrated amid cir- cumstances of revelry and enjoyment that were far from conducive to strict morality, as is evident from representations of the feasts in such clubs ; see linlktin de Curresp. UelUn. 1900, p. 592 S., and authorities there quoted. But, considering the many good characteristics in these guilds, it wa-s a serious question whether the Cliristian converts were bound to cut them- selves oli' absolutely from them.

In Rev ^""^ we see that the question had not j'et been decisively answered in the Thyatiran Church, but was still under discussion : one iiilluential female member, who was generally believed to be inspired, taught that Christians might continue in their guilds and share in the duties and privileges thereof. On the other hand there was a section of that Church (Rev 2") which ojipo.

sed the teaching of the prophetess in this res|»ect ; we should probably gather from the whole passage that this section was the minor- ity in the Church. This minority shares in the general condemnation of 2* for sull'ering the woman Jezebel : they had not condemned her absolutely, but treated her teaching as mistaken in this one point, while otherwise regarding her as worthy of respect.

The minority, however, is not threatened with any further penalty, provided they continue to reject the teachmg of the prophetess. Thus the letter to Thyatira reveals to us a very early stage in Christian history. The very lirst problems, which must have faced the (christians in the ^gean cities, connected with their relation to the pagan society and institutions, are still un- settled.

Xo final decision had j-et been come to in Thyatira on the subject ; and contrary opinions were maintained by members of the same com- munity. The decision bad indeed been pronounced by St. Paul as regards Corinth,* but in somewhat veiled and general terms, and had not as yet become the current and definite principle of all the Churches. As regards date, it might appear that this points to an earlier period than the reign of Domitian, and favours the earlier date for Rev.

which manj' scholars have advocated ; but a single detail is not conclusive, and exceptional circum- stances must be admitted as possible in outlying communities like Thyatira and Pergamuni (Rev 2"). In Ephesus, the jidministrative centre of the Asian Churches, the decision of the Church was already li.\ed (Ilev 2'). Here it is implied that the error of the prophetess had already been denounced, ' and I gave her time that she should repent ' (2").

It is only after that previous formal warning that her punishment is now denounced as immediate : her followers have still an opportunity of escaping the punishment, if they repent, but otherwise it will aile<tt them and her together. The punishment denounced is illustrated by the nature of such guild-fea.sts, as shown in ancient reliefs.

The members and worshippers reclined on couches at the banquet ; and it is probable that the K\ivT) of Rev 2-* should be understood, not as a bed ( A V and RV), but as a couch : ' I set her on a couch, and her associates alongside of her (no longer for the revelry of their idolatrous celebrations, but) for tribulation' (see Expositor, l"eb. I'JUl, u. 9911.)

Apart from this serious fault, the Church of Thyatira is praised highly for its energetic and truly Christian conduct, and for its steady progress : ' thjy last works are more than the first. 1 he guild of coppersmiths (xaX«<s) seems to have been inlluential in Thyatira (see inscription in Bull. Corr. Hell. x. p. -JUT, belonging to the early imperial times). The typo on coins, Hephaistos •IColo'*-".

forging a helmet, probably refers to the bronze trade; and perhaps the enigmatic allusion o the unknown x<i'^'>"'^'r'<"''» would be umlers'.ojd, if more could be learned about the Thyatiran bronze or copper work. Mr. Blakesley has suggested that the description of the Son of God, whose feet were like chnlcolibrinos (Rev 2'), may have been sug- gested by the way in which the tutelary deity of the city was reiiresented in Thyatira. The guild of dyers is mentioned in several in- scriptions. M.

Clerc's view, that the dyeing in Thyatira was performed in ancient times with madder-root, rxbia (as in the medi;uval and modem trade), not with the jtiice of the -shell-tish (as in TjTe and Laconia), nor with the worm Coccus ilicis ((t6«Kos), may be regarded as practically certain ; and in that case the purple stutJ's which the Thyatiran Lydia sold in Pliilippi (Ac 16") were dyed with what is, in modem times, called ' Turkey red ' (as the purple proper, the scarlet of the coccus, and the red of rubia seem to have been all included under the generic title purple).

Thyatira lay close to the road connecting Per- gamuni with Sardis, and hence is placed between the two in the list of the Seven Churches of Asia (Rev 1"). No evidence remains as to how and when Christianity reached the city, except that, if we press the words of Ac 19'°, the new religion was preached there by some of St. Paul's coadjutors and helpers during his first residence in Ephesus. The modem town of Ak-His.sar occupies the site, approximately, of the ancient Thyatira.

It is a busy commercial town, possessing a railway station and a considerable industry in carpet-making, etc. The population is about 20,000, of whom 7000 are Christians. LiTEKATURE.— Clerc, de rebus Thyatirmarum, Paris, 1893; Stoseh, Antitjuitatum Thyatireiiarum Libri duo, ZwoIIeb, 17C3 ; Zaka, ^ipi TM* Trfi ToAiatf ^uoLTufivt, Athens, 1900 (tr. from Cierc, with some additions and corpus of Thyatiran inscriptions); Imliooi-Btumer in Hevuc iiuisae Numism. Vii. W. AI. Ramsay.

THYINE WOOD (ii\o» eavov, lignum thyinum). — The product of Thuja articulata, Desf., a tree of the order Coniferce, gro\ving in the Atlas. It is of the same genus as the lignum vitm, and was specially valued by the Greeks anil Romans for tables. It formed part of the precious merchandise of Babylon [Rome] (Rev 18'" AVm ' sweet wood '). It is dark brown, very hard and durable, and withal fragrant. G. E. Post.

TIBERIAS (TijSfpids) Is unlike most cities in Palestine in that we have a delinite account of its origin, and can fix pretty accurately the date when it was built. Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, was its founder, and it was named in honour of the emperor Tiberius. In the very beginning of his reign Antipas had already honoured Julia the mother of Tiberius, by rebulMing Betharamatha or Betharamptha (tlie Betli-harani of Jos 13-''), and calling it Julias or Livias.

Tliis was on the Shittim Plain east of Jericho. At a later period, some time between A.D. 20 and A.D. 30, Tiberias was built on the west shore of the Sea of Galilee. We are able to lix its site, because Josephus (A nt. xviu. ii. 3) says that there were warm baths at no great distance from it in a place called Emmaus (the Hamniath of Jos 1U*>).

To secure sufficient room for the new city, an old cemetery had to be removed ; and this fact, on account of the law of delilement by dead bodies, created a prejudice against it in the minds of the stricter Jews, w liich took a long time to overcome. Hammath was an ancient fortified town, and, as was customary, the dead were buried witliout the walls. These graves may have been a part of the cemetery of that old city, since the site of Antipas' new city was nearly a mile to the north of it.

It 760 TIBERIAS TIBNI is a curious historical fact that, while at the beginning the Jews thought Tiberias unclean, so that they could hardly be forced to settle there, at last in the course of time tliey chose it as one of their sacred cities (see below). People from various quarters helped to make up the first inhabitants of Tiberias.

Some foreigners came, some poor people were compelled to make it their residence, and many persons who were ' not quite freemen' were brought thither and given certain priWleges in the way of houses and lands. Some of tliose who settled there, however, are described as persons of wealth and position. The place gi'ew rapidly, gates, colonnades, and marble statues made the streets attractive.

Soon Tiberias could boast of ' the finest synagogue in (Jalilee,' a device of Herod to conciliate the Jews. From all accounts at our command, the city, toucliing the water of the lake, must have been beautiful, and its social and political importance were assured when Antipas removed thither from Sepphoris, till then the capital of Galilee, the seat of his govern- ment. His palace was a building of elegance, with costly furnishings, and in it was a large amount of the ro3al treasure (Jos.

Life, xii. 13). The Gr. character of the town may be the reason ■why, although Christ was so tlioroughly identi- fied for long with the Sea of Galilee, there is no evidence that He ever visited Tiberias, the new capital of tlie ci\il ruler to whom He was subject. The NT has little to say about this city ; once the fact is mentioned that ' boats came from Tiberias' neai to the spot where the Feeding of the Five Thousand took place (Jn 6^) ; further than this the Compels are silent.

At the time of the war with Rome, A.D. 66-70, Tiberias was one of the chief cities of Galilee. It had a council of 600 members. Its citizens were loyal to the national cause. When Gaius wanted to Bet up his statue in the temple at Jerusalem these people made such a desperate resistance, showing that they were ready to die rather than have their laws transgressed {Ant. XVIII. viii. 3), that the fool- ish project was at last abandoned.

The streng:th of the place is shown by the fact that Vespasian led against it tliree legions before its inhabitants would open their gates to him. Another change awaited Tiberias, this time one of humiliation, wlien Herod Agrippa II. degraded it from being the chief city, and restored that honour to Sepphoris, where he kept the public archives and had stored a magazine of arms.

If in this way Tiberias lost political prestige, it gained in another direction, for after the destruction of Jerusalem it became the chief centre of Jewish schools and learning, so that it has a large place in the history of Palestine, and indeed of the world, while its rivaJ Sepphoris is ])ractically for- gotten. At one time during this flourishing period its synagogues numbered no fewer tli.m thirteen. Here the Mishna and the Palestinian Talmud were compiled and published, c. A.D. 2JU and A.

D. 4i20 respectively. The beautiful situation of the city, gome of tlie noted scholars who either lived or were buried there, the hot springs whiih helped to make the place famous, and the earthquakes from which it has occasionally suti'ered, have been mentioned under Galii.ke, and Galilke (Ska of). The founder of this city is remembered as the murderer of John the Bai>tist, and as being present in Jerusalem at the pa.ssover when .Jesus was arrested and put to death (Lk 23').

What was once attractive is now a place of tilth and misery. On the shore S. of the town are some interesting ruins, which, could they be properly excavated, might reveal remains and possibly treasures of this royal city of Herod Antipas. J'abarii/eh (the modern name of the town) has a population of 5000 or 6U00 souls, made up of a few ChristianSi some Mohammedans, and a large number of Jews. It has a Protestant mission with a school and a resident phj'sician. LiTERATURB. — Schtirer, BJP n. 1.

143 ff.; O. A. Smith HGUL 44711. ; Neubauer, Giog. du Tabn. 203 ff. ; Graetz, GfAiA d. Jvden, iv. 473 ; UeLiiid, Pal. ii. 1040 ; Robinson, BRF ill 342 ff.; Ritter, Erdkuiule, xv. 315 5.; Baedeker-Socin, Pai 382ff. ; Gu^rin, Galilie, i. 250 ff. ; Merrill, Eaxl o/ Jordan 125 f. ; de Saulcy, Jountej/ in Bible Laiuls, ii. 394 f. ; SUinley Siliai and Pal. 3G8ff. SELAH MERRILL.