EPHAH 



2946 



EPHESUS 



Ephah. In the O.T., name for 

 the first in order of the sons of 

 Midian (Gen. 25 ; 1 Chron. 1 ; 

 Isaiah 60) ; concubine of Caleb in 

 the line of Judah (1 Chron. 2) ; 

 son of Jahdai (1 Chron. 2). The 

 word, of Egyptian origin, was 

 adopted as the name of a Hebrew 

 dry measure which corresponded 

 to the bath in liquid measure. See 

 Weights and Measures. 



Ephelis (Gr. ) Pigmented spots 

 appearing on the skin after 

 exposure to the sun. See Freckles. 



Ephemera OR MAY FLY (Gr. 

 ephemeros, living only for a day). 

 Family of neuropterous insects, 

 with a long, ten-jointed abdomen 

 terminating generally in three long 

 processes resembling bristles. The 

 eyes are large and compound, the 

 wings lace-like, and the mouth 

 parts undeveloped, as the perfect 

 insect does not eat. The larval 

 stage is passed in the water, where 

 the insect usually feeds on the 

 vegetation, though some species 

 are carnivorous, and prey on small 

 aquatic animals. The perfect insects 



Epistles of the Captivity, because 

 they seem to have been written, 

 probably, between A.D. 61 and 63, 

 during S. Paul's first imprisonment 

 in Rome. It was probably intended 

 to be a circular letter, and was 

 not addressed particularly to the 

 Ephesians. It contains no personal 

 greetings to the friends of the 

 apostle, and in the two best Greek 

 MSS. the words " in Ephesus " 

 ("to the saints which are in 

 Ephesus " ) are omitted. Moreover, 

 Marcion speaks of it as the Epistle 

 to the Laodiceans. 



Its connexion with the Epistle 

 to the Colossians is so close that 

 the one is sometimes supposed to 

 be an expansion of the other, but 

 such a supposition is unnecessary. 

 The external evidence for the 

 authenticity of the epistle is 

 sufficient, if not conclusive. As* 

 regards internal evidence, the fact 

 that the language and thought 

 differ somewhat from those of 

 other Pauline epistles has caused 

 difficulties, but these are by no 

 means insuperable. The circum- 



stances that impel a writer to take 

 up the pen, the mood in which 

 he writes, are not always the same, 

 and, in the interval between the 

 writing of one epistle and another, 

 the language and thought of S. 

 Paul may have undergone con- 

 siderable development as a result of 

 his experiences. 



Ephesus. Ancient city of Asia 

 Minor, ^situated on the Cayster 

 (Gr. Ka-ystros), near its mouth. 

 It was the chief of the twelve 

 Ionian colonies of Asia, and was 

 founded probably about 1000 B.C. 

 In the 6th century it fell, with the 

 other Greek cities of Asia Minor, 

 under the dominion of Croesus, 

 king of Lydia, and later under that 

 of Cyrus the Great, king of Persia. 

 During the Athenian hegemony it 

 paid tribute to Athens, but about 

 the beginning of the 4th century 

 B.C. it again passed under Persian 

 rule. When Persia was overthrown 

 by Alexander the Great, it ac- 

 knowledged the Macedonian supre- 

 macy, and eventually, after the 

 Roman conquest of Greece, became 

 the administrative capital of the 

 Roman province of Asia. 



Ephesus was noted for the wor- 

 ship of Artemis or Diana ; its 

 temple to the goddess was re- 

 garded as one of the seven wonders 

 of the ancient world. The city was 

 visited by S. Paul on his second 

 and third journeys, and was an 

 early seat of Christianity. Ephesus 

 was the birthplace of the philo- 

 sopher Heraclitus. There are ruins 

 of a theatre (Acts xix, 27 ), a sta- 

 dium or racecourse, an odeum or 

 hall in which musical and poetical 

 contests took place, and the temple 

 of Artemis. See Discoveries at 

 Ephesus, J. T. Wood, 1877 ; Ex- 

 cavations at Ephesus, D. G. 

 Hogarth, 1908. 



emerge about the end of May in 

 most species, and their life is very 

 short. The name suggests that the 

 insect lives only lor a day, but 

 some examples live only for a 

 few hours, while others survive 

 several days if the weather is 

 favourable. About fifty species of 

 may fly are found in Great Britain, 

 and are in great favour with 

 anglers for bait. See Insects. 



Ephemcrides (Gr., journals). 

 Table or tables showing the pre- 

 dicted positions of a heavenly body 

 tor every day during a given 

 period. These are right ascension, 

 declination, horizontal, parallax, 

 semi -diameter, in the case of the 

 moon and planets ; equation of 

 time, in the case of the sun, etc. 



Ephesians, EPISTLE TO THE. 

 The first of the group of Pauline 

 epistles commonly known as the 



Ephesus. Ruins of the city viewed from above the theatre, looking towards 

 the sea. In tbe foreground, ancient main street ; in the distance the Prison 

 of S. Paul, on the hill top. Above, remains of later temples in the Artemisium 



