Viper (Hastings' Dictionary)

See Serpent. VIRGIN (n^ins, n;':v, rapS^i-o!)- The word n>W3 il commonly used of a virgo intacta, as in Dt 22^, VIRTUE VOPHSI 871 2 S 13'. It is frequently applied metapliorically, often with the addition of nj 'a daughter,' to a people, especially to Israel, originally, it would seem, in ttie sense of not yet subdued bj' an enemy, as Is 37", Jer 14", La 1''; but sometimes to other nations, as to Zidon (Is 23'-), Babylon (47').

and sometimes even where t lie original intention of the metaphor is lost, as in Jer 3^^ where the restora- tion of captive Israel is promised. In Is 62^ tliere is a curious mixture of metaphor. ' For as a j'oung man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee.' The word is, however, once used of a young married woman in Jl ,1'. The meaning of .n^'Ti! is from its comparatively rare use less easily determined.

In Gn 24''' it is used with reference to Kebekah, apparently in the sense of a virgo intacta. In Ca F the same mean- ing is perhaps probable, but hanlly necessary. In Ca 6" the meaning Is quite uncertain. The women in the harem of Solomon, distinguished as they are from the wives and concubines, might or might not be virgins.

We cannot, therefore, argue from the usage of the word the meaning intended in Is T" ; but the whole context of the passage, as well as the analogy of S'"*, suggests that the sign in- tended did not consist in anything miraculous in the birth itself, but in the speedy coming of the event, and in the symbolical name to be given to the child.

The LXX probably understood by rapOdfos a virgin in its strict sense, understanding, it would seem, that the mother of Imnianuel was at the time a virgin — a possible interpretation of the words, though RVm is probably right in rendering 'is with child and beareth.' St. Matthew, quoting trom LXX, takes the passage as a direct pr(j]ilieiy of the birth of Christ from a virgin (see niMANUEL). Such has till recent times been the practically universal iuterpretiition of the passage by Christians.

It has been very naturally disputed by the Jews from the time of Justin Martyr down- wards, and is said to liave been one of the chief reastms for tlie first Gr. tr. of OT by Aquila [? Onkelos], (Lusebius, HE v. 8). There is nothing remarkable about the usage of irapddios in NT, except in Rev \i*, where it is used of men who have kept themselves free from imjmrity. St. Paul's discussion of the topic of 'virgins' in 1 Co T^'- comae under Maukiage (see vol. iii. p. 266'').

For the c^na of Dt 22">- " (EV 'tokens of vir- ginity'), and the Oriental custom referred to in that jjassage, see art. SoNO OF SoNGS, pp. 595", Sfl'i'', and CI. Driver, Deut. ad loe. F. H. Woods. VIRTUE aj the translation of 5wa/»is is used in AV in Mk S*', Lk 6'" S-"" in the sense of power (so KV) or influence. In earlier Eng. it was freely used (.ifler Lat. virtus, from vir, a man, therefore 'what, is manly,' 'courageous') in the sense of • strength ' or ' power.'

Thus Chapman, Odysseys, xvii. 300— ' HU double ^teo, and turrets, built too strong For force or virtue ever to expugn.' It is Wyclif's usual word for 5wa/»ii after the Vulg. virtus, as Ac I'J" 'And God dide vcrtucs not Bmale hi tlie lioond of I'oul ' ; He 1* 'And berith alio thingis bi word of his vertu.' The same in the IJhem. version, as Lk 9' ' He gave them vcrtue and jiower (Siivo/xii' itol i^oiKrlav, Vulg. virtutem et potcslfitem) over al devils.'

The modern meaning of 'virtue' was already in use in 1611, as in the preface to AV, ' Solomon was greater than David, though not in vertue, yet in power ' ; and it is probable that in the above past-ages tlie word was retained from the earlier versions because it conveyed the sense of injhtenre (supernatural in- fluence) to the translators' minds. Cf.

Adams, • Peter, 17, 'It was the brazen serpent tliat healed, not the eye that looked on it ; yet without a look- ing eye, there was no help to the wounded party by the promised virtue.'

Though more generally, ' inlluence ' is also the nneaning in Melvill, Diary, 15, ' He was a man of rare wesdonie, judgment, and discretion ; and, tlierfor, mikle imployed in the trysts and etl'eares of the noble and gentle men of the countrc}-, whilk distracted him fra his calling, liinderit his vertew, and schortened his lytl'.' Even Coverdale has the word in the sense of righteous- ness or goodness, Ezk 3**. J. Hastings. VISION (usually jMrr, Spaiux). In early Heb.

re- ligion the vision had its closest allinity with the dream, — by which probably the conception of its character was determined, — and the two are usually coupled as the ordinary sources of prophetic oracles (Nu 12""-, Jer 23^'). Its recognized psycli jlogical condition was an emotional excitement in which the person was no longer master of his own thoughts or will (Nu 24'-f-, 1 S ly-""-). See Trance.

In both dream and vision what carried religious significance was the fact that the presentation did not come throtigh the ordinary sense channels, or as a proiluct of the mind's conscious activity. On this account it was accepted as a revelation from God. When we come to the Prophets the concep- tion of revelation has undergone a change in cor- respondence witli religion in general.

The dream disappears, together with the rapt utterance ; and prophecy becomes an ethical intercourse of the mind of man with God (Is 8'», Jer 23^). But, while there is no trace of ecstasy in the strict sense or its accompaniments, there are frequent allusions to times of extraordinary elevation of thought and feeling, times therefore of illumination. At such moments an issue becomes clear, a truth breaks on the mind, a resolution is formed (Is 6, Jer P).

The result is sometimes presented as if it had come to the prophet in a manner analogous to sense experience, — the prophet sees, hears, questions, replies, — but the broad sense in which vision is used makes it clear that the pictorial intake was not the sotirce of his knowledge or resolution, but rather that the truth, having taken possession of his mind and heart, created the vision as its imaginative clothing.

Even a verbal message, with no reference to a voice or appearance, is spoken of as a vision (Is 1' 21^ 22', Mic 1', Hab 2=). In Amos' vision of the ba.sket of summer fruits the motive for using the visional form is evidently the plaj- upon the word j'p. Again, as in the intricate description of Ezk 1, the vision is sometimes of a kind that could hardlj' be pictorially realized.

Although, in fact, the primitive jihraseology is retained, — the prophet sees, hears, the hand of the Lord is ujjon him, — it is no longer used in the primitive sense. The vision has become a literary and poetical form consciously employed to embody and communicate truths that have become clear to the inner consciousness. The pre-exilic prophets make only sparing use of the direct visional form.

In Ezekiel it is more common, but has lost its earlier imaginative 8i)ontaneitv, and assumed more the ch.aracter of an artilicial construction (Ezk l*"-). It is not found in Deuteio- Isaiah or in Ilaggai ; but it reappears in Zechariah, and con- tinues, in its most artificial form, to he employed by apocalyptic writers. In the NT it linds a place only [but ef.

the use of t4 Spa^a in Mt K"] in the apocalyptic book of Revelation, and in those nar- ratives in Acts and the earlier part of Luke that bear the character of popular tradition. (See PkopiieCV and the Literature there cited). W. Morgan. VOPHSI (TC! [I'Ut text dub.]; B_'Io/3d, A 'la/JJ). — The lather of Nalibi, the Naphtalito si y, Nu 13'*.

J 872 VOW VOW YOW (inj, iij, fuxv)- — It was a universal custom in ancient religions, too natural to need explana- tion, for men to seek the help of tlie deity in times of peril or distress (Ps 66''- "), or to secure the fulKlnient of some much cherislied hope, by pro- mising him some special gift that would enlist his own interest on their side. Or their vow might be less of the nature of a bargain, and more the expres- sicm of unselhsh zeal and pious devotion.

It might also be a promise to abstain from some comfort or even necessary of life. Among the Hebrews all these types of vow are to be found : for the last the term ijN 'bond,' which occurs only in Nu 30, was used. Although we have no legislation on the subject in JE, the practice was very ancient.

Thus Jacob TOWS at Betliel that if Elohira will be with him and give him bread and raiment, so that he comes to his father's house in peace, he will make the pillar a sanctuary of God, and pay tithe of all that He gives liiiu (Gn 28="-^ E). In the period of the Judges we have Jephthah's vow, that if J" delivered the Ammonites into his hand, he would offer as a burnt-offering the person who first came from his house to meet him (Jg 11™-").

Though it was his own daughter, the inviolable character of the vow in that primitive age, which had learnt none of the slippery shifts of casuistry, forced him to sacri- fice her.

Hannah vowed that if J" would give her a son she would dedicate him to His service all the days of his life, and no razor should come upon his head (1 S 1")- It is interesting to notice that after the birth of Samuel, when Elkanah went for the yearly sacrifice to ShUoh, the writer speaks of him as going to offer the yearly sacrifice and his vow, as If the vow were as much a matter of course as the sacrifice (v.-'). {It seems unnecessary to sup- Eose, with H. P.

Smith, adloc, that the words ' and is vow ' were added by a scribe). In the period of the early monarchy, Absalom secured permis- sion to go to Hebron on pretext of a vow ne had made, while in exile at Geshur, that he would worship J" if He restored him to Jerusalem (2 S 15'- *). The meaning of the vow is that he would appear before J" and, since none could appear before Him empty, would otfer sacrifice to Him.

Naturally, this would be ottered not at Jerusalem, but at the Jud;can sanctuary of Hebron. Each of these instances is a case of a vow intended to secure a favour, and in its essence is a commercial transaction. — A vow of unselfish devotion, which was also a vow of abstinence, is exemplified in the Psalmist's poetical description of David's vow that he would not enter his nouse, lie in his bed or sull'er himself to sleep, till he had found a place for J" to dwell in (I's 1.32-''*).

Saul's taboo on eating before sundown (1 S 14**) was a vow of abstinence, imposed on others as well as himself, in order to secure victory by the help of J". An extreme form of vow is exemplified in the ban or vow of extermination on Arad (Hu 21'"^) : ' Israel vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said. If thou wilt indeed deliver tliis people into my hand, then 1 will devote their cities.' Both cities and people were in this case destroyed (see CuRSE).

In Deuteronomy we have little legislation on vows. It is insisted that what has been thus dedicated must be eaten at the central sanctuary ( Dt 12«- "■ "• 18- 26). The hire of sacred prostitutes must not he brought into the sanctuary for any vow (Dt 2.3").

There may have been a relaxation of sentiment as to the stringency of a vow, such as may be observed in the post-exilic period ; for the legislator, while insisting that there is no religious obligation to make a vow, enjoins that, once made, the pledge must be honoured under pain of Divine displeasure. In P we naturally have much fuller regulations. In Nu 30, which in its present form belongs to a late stratum, both vow and bond are declared to be binding when uttered by a man.

But a woman who lives in her fatlier's house or is married is in a diti'erent position. Her father or husband has a right of veto, provided that it is exercised at once. But otherwise silence gives consent, and the vow must be regarded as irrevocable. If at a later period her husband cancels it, he does so on peril of Divine punishment. A widow or a woman divorced from her husband, since she is not dependent on another, is bound by her vow.

Vows and free\vill, offerings must be without blemish (Lv 22'«- 1* ? H) ; but wliile a freewill- ottering may be made from that which has some- thing lacking or superfluous, this is forbidden in the case of a vow (v."') In this connexion it is interesting to notice that Malachi utters a curse on the deceiver who has a male in his flock and vows it and substitutes a blemished thing (I") The laws as to the discharge of vows are to be found in Lv 27, apparently a late section of P.

Persons vowed to J" could not be sacrificed as Jephthah's daughter had been ; they must be redeemed. A fixed scale is laid down. Males between the ages of twentj' and sixty were re- deemed at ' fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary ' (see Money, vol. iii. p. 422), females at thirty shekels.

From five to twenty years, males were redeemed at twenty and females at ten shekels ; from a month to five years, males were redeemed at five and females at three shekels ; while from sixty upwards the tariff was fixed at fifteen and ten shekels respectively. If, however, the person who made the vow was too poor to pay the redemption price, it was to be fixed according to his ability. In the case of animals no change could be made — the vow must stand as originally uttered.

Not only was it forbidden to substitute a bad for a good, but also a good for a bad. If such change was made, both became holy to J". If the animal was unclean, and therefore incap- able of being used in sacrifice, it was sold at the priest's valuation, and the money given to the sanctuary. If the owner wished to redeem it, he might do so on payment of the valuation plus one- fifth. Firstlings, however, could not be vowed to J", since, as such, they alreaily belonged to Him.

If devoted to J" by the ban, they were too holy to be redeemed ; and it is startling to read (Lv 27^) that men so devoted must be put to death. The law for the dedication of a house is similar to that for the dedication of animals. It was sold at the priest's valuation, or redeemed by the addition of a fifth to that price. The law as to fields is more complex and obscure.

If a man vows part of his hereditary possession, the valuation is to be fixed according to the quantity of seed required to sow it, at the rate of fifty shekels the homer. If the field is consecrated immediately after the year of jubilee, this estimate is to stand ; but if some time after, then a reduction in price must be made pro- portionate to the time that has elapsed. Tlie owner may redeem it by paying tlie priest's estimate plus one-fifth.

If he does not redeem it, but sells it, the right of redemption is lost, and the field instead of returning to him at the jubilee becomes the property of the sanctuary. Tlie law is far from clear. Apparently, when a field was dedicated, the owner commuted his obligation by a money payment accordiug to a fi.xed scale of valuation.

But tliis by itself does not constitute him absolute owner agam : this he can become only by adding one-fifth to the valuation, as penalty for the privilege of redemption. If he pays the valuation without adding the fifth, and sells the field, he loses all claim on it, and it does not revert to him in the year of jubilee, as it would other- wise have done, but falls to the sanctuary.

If VULGATE VULGATE 873 tlie field dedieated is not a portion of the owner's liereUitar^' possessiona, then the money payment given in commutation ia fixed by the time tliat has to ehipae before tlie J'ear of jubilee, and in that fear it returns naturally to the hereditary owner. n tliis case the redemption penalty of an addi- tional fifth is not required (aee, further, Sab- batical Ykar).

According to Nu lo"- ' (a late section of P), when an animal sacrilioe was ollered in fulfilment of a vow, a mealotrering had to be presented with it. Another late law (Lv 7"' ") prescribed that a peace-ofl'ering in discharge of a vow nmst be eaten on the day on which it was ollered, and what was left on the second day. If any portion still re- mained to the third day, it had to be burnt.

This law probably embodies the immemorial practice : a vow would, as a rule, involve a sacrilicial meal, and the regulation that the flesh must not be eaten after the second day may even have been a relaxing of earlier usage. In Pr 7'* the woman who entices the simpleton to his ruin, has that day punctiliously performed her religious duties^ she has paid her vows and come out to find a com- panion for the sacrificial feast.

The warning in Dt 23-''"''^, that, while there is no sin in not vowing, when a vow has once been made it must be 8cru|iulously fullilled, finds an echo in the \Vi.sdom literature. In I'r 2U^ we apparently have a protest against hasty vows followed by repentance and attempts at evasion (the te.\t and precise sense are alike uncertain ; see Frankenberg and Toy, ad loc).

So also I^olieleth advLses his readers to make haste with the payment of their vows, and not trifle with God by delay, for He takes no pleasure ii. fools. Far better is it to refrain from vows than to make and fail to fulfil them. They must not bo betrayed into a vow, which they will afterwards <?.\plain away to the priest's messenger as a misiake, lest God be angered « ith them and destroy ti:e work of their hand (Ec 5'-«, cf. Mai 1").

But while on the one side the ancient sanctity of the vow was relaxed, the more spiritual, as we see from some of the Psalms, came to throw all the stress on the element of thanksgiving, and the material element sank into insignificance, as with other sacrifices (Pa 22-^ 50'^).

Yet vows played a great part in later Judaism, and Jesus came into conflict with the religionists of His time on this question, singling out the law of Corbrtn especially as an example of the nullifying of the Law by tradition (see Cohba.n). St. Paul became a Jew to the Jews in this matter (Ac 18'", if this refers to him and not to Aquila, and 21'^"-"). On these cases, and also on the whole question of the Nazirite vow, nothing need he added to what has been said in the article Nazihite.

Ln-RRATT'RB.— Nowock, lleb. ArMiol. ii. 168, 189, 268-206: W. R Smith, /tS2, J31-48.5; WellhauBen, Iteite Arab. UeidA 190, 195. For Rabbinical dccisiont) the treatise Nedarim, and Eden^hcim, Jau4 the Meisiah., iL 17-21. A. S. Peake.