R A 13 



R A B 



fo that when the 



ia equal to the thickiicfs of the plank, .„ ^ , , 



end of the latter is let into the rabbet, it will be level 

 with the outfide of the piece. Thus, in (h.p-carpentry, 

 the ends of the lower planks of a iTiip's bottom terminate 

 upon the Hem afore, and the ftern-port abaft, with wiiofe 

 fides their furfaccs are even. The lurface of the garboard 

 ftreak, whofe edge is let into the keel, is, in the fame man- 

 ner, level with the fide of the keel at the extremities of tlie 

 veffcl. 



RABBET-P/jnt-. See Plaxe. 



RABBETING, the planing or cutting of channels, or 

 grooves, in boards. 



RABBI, or Rabbin, a dodor of the Jewifh law. 

 The word in its original, >2~\' ^gi'Ses majler. 

 The words rabbi and rabiin have the fame fignification ; yet 

 is there fome ditTtrence in their ufe. When we fpeak abfo- 

 lutely, and without applying the term to any proper name, 

 wc fay rMln, not rabbi. Thus we fay, it would be unjull 

 to attribute to the ancient rabbins all the notions of the 

 modern ones. 



On the other hand, when we prefix the term to the proper 

 name of fome Jewi(h doftor, we fay rabbi, not rabbin ; 

 rabbi Salomon Jarchi is of this opinion. 



Yet rabbi having no plural, we fay, the rabbins Juda 

 Chiug, and Juda ben Chabin, are the authors of two ancient 

 Hebrew grammars. 



The title rabbi is faid to have been firft alTumed, as a 

 diftinguifhing title of honour, by men of learning, about 

 the time of the birth of Chrift ; though it 'had been anciently 

 given to feveral magiftrates and of&cers of Hate, and to thofe 

 who were of fuperior rank and condition in life. See Efther, 

 i. 8. Jer. xli. I. Job, xxxii. 9. 



The firft Jewifh rabbi faid to have been diftinguifhed with 

 any title of honour, was Simeon, the fon of Hillel, who 

 fucceeded his father as prefident of the fanhedrim ; and his 

 title was that of rabban. The later rabbins tell us, that this 

 title was conferred with much ceremony. When a perfon 

 had gone through the fchools, and was thought worthy of 

 this degree, he was placed in a chair raifed above the com- 

 pany ; and then were delivered to him a key and a table- 

 book ; the key as a fymbol of the authority conferred on 

 him to communicate the knowledge he had acquired, which 

 key he wore as a badge of honour, and when he died, it 

 was buried with him ; and the table-book was a fymbol of 

 his dihgence in his ftudies, and defire of farther improvement. 

 To thefe ceremonies were added the impofition of hands by 

 the delegates of the fanhedrim, and the proclamation of his 

 title. It has been difputed, chiefly between Vitringa and 

 Selden, whether our Lord had taken the degree and title of 

 rabbi in the Jewifh fchools; Vitringa maintains the affirmative, 

 and Selden the negative. See Jennings's Jewifh Ant. vol. i. 

 p. 400, &c. 



The Jewifh writers diftinguifti betwixt the titles rah, rabbi, 

 and rabban. 



In the Old Teftament we find the term ^jn, rab, in com- 

 pofition with fome other words, employed as a name of 

 office and dignity, but not till the people became acquainted 

 with the Chaldaeans, concerning whom only it is ufed. The 

 word, both in Hebrew and in Chaldee, fignifies fometimes 

 great, fometimes many, and when ufed fubftantively, denotes 

 one who is at the head of any bufinefs, of whatever kind it 

 be. Thus '72nn HI' ''"^ hachebel, is, in the LXX, vfijst;, 

 Q'n3D ^'^,rabtebachim,x^X^fj.ayui;r,c,chiefcook. i,Jonah,i. 6. 

 Jer. xxxix. 11, fee alfo Dan. i. 3.) It is ufed in the plural 

 alfo ioT chief men in general, fuperintendents, or thofe at the 

 he»d of affairs. Thus ■]'7Qn 'Jll. rabbi hammekch, are 



the chief men employed by the king over tlie different de- 

 partments of the Itate. (Jer. xxxix. 13.) The original term 

 fuits entirely the import of the Latin word princeps, but 

 not of the Englifh word prince, at leafl in its moll common 

 acceptation ; for they are not the king's fons, or nobles of 

 any order, who arc fo denominated among the Chaldxans. 

 The word evidently appears to have been equivalent to the 

 term T^S fliar, among the Hebrews. Accordingly, he 

 who is ftylcd by Daniel, in the above cited pailage, Q'D'ID 

 "yy, rab ftiijim, is four times, in the fame chapter, called 

 0'D'"lDn ~\Z' 1 P^i"' ^<^f(r>fini. (Dan. i. 7, 8, 9. 18.) And 

 this ufe of the name rab ieems to have continued long in 

 Syria, as well as in Chaldea. Thus in the Syriac New 

 Teilament, it is feund in the fame manner, united with th"? 

 common appellation of any fort of officer, in order to 

 denote the principal perfon in that office : thus, rab-cohana, 

 (Matt. xxvi. 51.) is the highprieft, rai-m(2fA/(j(Luke, xix. 2.) 

 is chief of tlie publicans, and rab-ragholha ( I Pet. v. 4. ) 

 is chief fliepherd. Rab, conllrued in this manner, is equi- 

 valent to the Greek x;;)^', as ufed in compofition. The pre- 

 ceding titles are accordingly thus exprefled in Greek, 



Again, the word rab is fometimes found in that verfion, 

 combined not with the title of any fort of officer, but with 

 a term denoting the office or charge itfelf ; in which cafe it 

 alvv.iys means the perfon who is principally entrufled with 

 thebufinefs. Thus, raWf/A (Matt. xx. 8. ) is the fteward, 

 firiT^oTor, he who is over th2 houfehold ; and rab-ccnojhetha 

 (Mark, V. 35.) is the ruler of the fynagogue, a{;^»tru»a> nyo?. 

 It is not unlikely, though no example occurs in fcripture, 

 that the term has at firll been fimilarly compounded with 

 fome word fignifying a fchool, or, perhaps, with the 

 name of the art or Icicnce taught, in order to denote the 

 overfeer of fuch a feminary, or the teacher of fuch an art. 

 When the term rab came to be pecuharly apphed, as an 

 honourable compellation of the learned, the word with 

 which it was, at firft, for diftinftion's fake, compounded, 

 would be fuperfeded as unneceil'ary. It is, at leaft, certain, 

 that the Jewifh doftors, who refided at Babylon about the 

 time of our Saviour, were called fimply rah. But in the 

 Old Teftament there is no trace ef luch a title as rab, 

 rabbi, ■ or rabban, given to a man of letters ; nor is any one 

 of the old prophets, or fcribes, or indeed any other perfon, 

 diftinguifhed by this mark of refpeft prefixed to his name. 

 Although the introduftion of titles is plways occafioned by 

 the ereftion of ufeful important offices, it is commonly in 

 the decline of merit that pompous titles are molt affefted. 

 At firft, without doubt, vain-glory has led many to afTume 

 them, to whom they did not belong, in right of office, and 

 an interefted adulation has induced others to give them. 

 Some of them, however, came foon, among the Jews, to be 

 converted into a kind of academical diftinftions, which, in 

 order to give them more weight, are faid to have been con- 

 ferred folcmnly in their fchools or colleges, accompanied 

 with certain rchgious ceremonies. From this praftice 

 fprung literary degrees in Chriftian univerfities, to which 

 there is nothing fimiiar in all Pagan antiquity, either Greek 

 or Roman, but to which the Jewifh cuftom above-mentioned 

 bears an evident and clofe analogy. 



As for rab and rabbi, the only differeHce, it hath been 

 faid, betwixt thjm is, that rab was the title of fuch as had 

 had their education, and taken their degree in fome foreign 

 fchool, e. gr. at Babylon ; whereas rabbi was the title of fuch 

 as were educated in the land of Judea, and more honourable 

 than the other. But the higheft and moft honourable 

 title was rabban ; which, they fay, was never conferred 

 on more than feven perfons ; vfz. on R. Simeon, five of 



his 



1 



