Libya Proper, which lay south of the other two divisions, and extended back indefinitely into the deserts. The division called Cyrenaica was also called Pentapolis, from the five cities which it contained, viz. Apollonia, Arsinoë, Berenice, Cyrene, Ptolemais. In all these cities there dwelt great numbers of Jews. LICE are said to have been one of the plagues of Egypt. Ex. 8:16. Most probably, however, the Hebrew word means gnats. Species of very small stinging gnats abound in the low grounds of Egypt. LIGN-ALOES, see ALOES. is generally held to be the work of Moses, though probably assisted by Aaron. It contains the history of the eight days' consecration of Aaron and his sons. LIBERTINES, Synagogue of the, Acts 6:9. This word is from the Latin libertinus, which signifies a freedman, i. e. one who, having been a slave, either by birth or capture, has obtained his freedom; or one born of a parent who was a freedman. This synagogue of the Libertines obviously stands connected with the Cyrenians and Alexandrians, both of which were of African origin; it is, therefore, supposed by some, that the Libertines were of African origin also. It is, however, most probably spoken of Jews who had been taken captive by the Romans in war, and carried to Rome; and having there been manumitted, were accustomed to visit Jerusalem in such numbers as to erect a synagogue for their particular use; as was the case with Jews from other cities mentioned in the context. Others think them to have been the posterity of Jews who had been carried into Egypt and Libya by the Ptolemies or Pompey, and after-pecially in Canticles, is the crown wards made free citizens of the places where they dwelt. Others suppose them to have been Jews who inhabited a city or tract called Libertum, somewhere in Africa proconsularis; but there is no notice of the existence of any such city or region. LILY, called in Hebrew shushan. There are lilies of different colors, white, red, yellow and orange-colored. They were common in Judea, and grew in the open fields. "Consider the lilies of the field," says Christ, Matt. 6:28,"how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." It is, however, supposed by some, and is not improbable, that the lily mentioned in Scripture, and es imperial; that is, the Persian lily, the tusat of the Persians, the royal lily, or lilium basileium of the Greeks. In reality, it appears from the Canticles, that the lily spoken of by Solomon was red, and distilled a certain liquor. Cant. 5:13. There are crown LIBYA, a region of Africa, imperials with yellow flowers; lying west of Egypt, on the but those with red are the most southern coast of the Mediterra- common. They are always bent • nean. Acts 2:10. In the time downwards, and disposed in the of the Romans, it was divided into manner of a crown at the extremthree parts, viz. Libya Marmari-ity of the stem, which has a tuft ca, which lay adjacent to Egypt; of leaves at the top. At the Libya Cyrenaica, so called from bottom of each leaf of this flower its chief city Cyrene, and lying is a certain watery humor, formfarther west upon the coast; and ing, as it were, a very white pearl, which gradually distils very clear and pure drops of water. This water is probably what the spouse in the Canticles called myrrh. LINEN, Heb. bâd, the produce of a well-known plant, flax, whose bark serves to make fine linen clothes. Another sort of linen Scripture calls shesh, Gen. 41:42, and at a later period bûts, Greek byssus, 1 Chr. 15:27. Esth. 1:6. This, however, is strictly the fine Egyptian cotton, and the white cloth made from it. This cloth, so celebrated in ancient times, is still found wrapped around mummies; and appears to have been about of the texture and quality of the ordinary cotton sheeting of the present day. Both these Hebrew words signify originally white. See FLAX. A swarm of locusts was among the plagues of Egypt, when they covered the whole land, so that the earth was darkened; and they devoured every green herb of the earth, and the fruit of every tree which the hail had left. Ex. 10:12, &c. But the most particular description of this insect, and of its destructive career, mentioned in the sacred writings, is to be found in Joel 2:3-10. This is, perhaps, one of the most striking and animated descriptions to be met with in the whole compass of prophecy. The contexture of the passage is extremely curious; and the double destruction to be produced by locusts and the enemies of which they were the harbingers, is painted with the most expressive force, and described with the most terrible accuracy. We may fancy the destroying army to be moving before us while we read, and imagine that we see the desolation spreading. It should also LION, a well-known and noble be mentioned that the four insects beast, frequently spoken of in mentioned in Joel 1:4, the palmScripture. It was common in er-worm, the locust, the cankerPalestine, and the Hebrews have worm and the caterpillar, are seven words to signify the lion in strictly, according to the Hebrew, different ages; though the dis-only different species of locusts; tinction is by no means always some, perhaps, without wings, observed. See under JORDAN. as mentioned below. The fol"The lion of the tribe of Judah," lowing extracts from Dr. Shaw Rev. 5:5, is Jesus Christ, who and Mr. Morier, which are also sprung from the tribe of Judah, corroborated by Niebuhr, Burckand the race of David, and over-hardt, and other travellers, may came death, the world and the devil. It is supposed by some that a lion was the device of the tribe of Judah, whence this allusion. Comp. Gen. 49:9. LINUS, a Christian mentioned by Paul, 2 Tim. 4:21, and whom Irenæus, Eusebius, Augustin, Jerome and others affirm to have succeeded Peter as bishop of Rome. LOCUST, a voracious insect, belonging to the grasshopper or grylli genus, and a great scourge in oriental countries. On many occasions the locust has been employed by the Almighty to chastise mankind for their sins. serve as a commentary upon this and other passages of Scripture. Dr. Shaw remarks: "I never observed the mantes (a kind of locusts) to be gregarious; but the locusts, properly so called, which are so frequently mentioned by sacred as well as profane authors, are sometimes so beyond expression. Those which I saw, A. D. 1724 and 1725, were much bigger than our common grass A hoppers, and had brown spotted heaped up therein heath, stubble, wings, with legs and bodies of a and such like combustible matter, bright yellow. Their first ap- which were severally set on fire pearance was towards the latter upon the approach of the locusts. end of March, the wind having But this was all to no purpose, been some time from the south. for the trenches were quickly In the middle of April, their num- filled up, and the fires extinguishbers were so vastly increased, || ed by infinite swarms succeeding that in the heat of the day they one another, whilst the front was formed themselves into large and regardless of danger, and the rear numerous swarms, flew in the air pressed on so close, that a retreat like a succession of clouds, and, was altogether impossible. as the prophet Joel expresses it, day or two after one of these they darkened the sun. When broods was in motion, others the wind blew briskly, so that were already hatched to march these swarms were crowded by and glean after them, gnawing others, or thrown one upon off the very bark and the young another, we had a lively idea of branches of such trees as had that comparison of the psalmist, before escaped with the loss only Ps. 109:23, of being tossed up of their fruit and foliage. So and down as the locust. In the justly have they been compared month of May, when the ovaries by the prophet to a great army; of these insects were ripe and who further observes, that the turgid, each of these swarms be- land is as the garden of Eden gan gradually to disappear, and before them, and behind them a retired into the Metijiah and other desolate wilderness." adjacent plains, where they deposited their eggs. These were no sooner hatched, in June, than each of the broods collected itself into a compact body of a furlong or more square, and marching afterwards directly forward towards the sea, they let nothing escape them; eating up every thing that was green and juicy, not only the lesser kinds of vegetables, but the vine likewise, the fig-tree, the pomegranate, the palm, and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field, Joel 1:12; in doing which, they kept their ranks like men of war, climbing over, as they advanced, every tree or wall that was in their way; nay, they entered into our very houses and bed-chambers like thieves. The inhabitants, to stop their progress, made a variety of pits and trenches all over their fields and gardens, which they filled with water; or else they | Mr. Morier says, "On the 11th of June, while seated in our tents about noon, we heard a very unusual noise, that sounded like the rustling of a great wind at a distance. On looking up, we perceived an immense cloud, here and there semi-transparent, in other parts quite black, that spread itself all over the sky, and at intervals shadowed the sun. These we soon found to be locusts, whole swarms of them falling about us. These were of a red color, and I should suppose are the red predatory locusts, one of the Egyptian plagues; they are also the 'great grasshopper,' mentioned by the prophet Nahum; no doubt in contradistinction to the lesser. c. 3:17. As soon as they appeared, the gardeners and husbandmen made loud shouts, to prevent their settling on their grounds. It is to this custom that the prophet Jeremiah, perhaps, alludes, when he says, 'Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillars, and they shall lift up a shout against thee.' c. 51:14. They seemed to be impelled by one common instinct, and moved in one body, which had the appearance of being organized by a leader. Joel 2:7. Their strength must be very great, if we consider what immense journeys they have been known to make." In Matt. 3:4, it is said of John the Baptist, that "his meat was locusts and wild honey." Some interpreters have stumbled here at the word locusts; but it is not therefore the less true that locusts are eaten in the East even to the present day. Niebuhr remarks that "it is no more inconceivable to Europeans, that the Arabs should eat locusts with relish, than it is incredible to the Arabs, who have had no intercourse with Christians, that the latter should regard oysters, lobsters, &c. as delicacies. Nevertheless, one is just as certain as the other. Locusts are brought to market on strings, in all the cities of Arabia, from Babelmandeb to Bassorah. On mount Sumara I saw an Arab who had collected a whole sack-full of them. They are prepared in different ways. An Arab in Egypt, of whom we requested that he would immediately eat locusts in our presence, threw them upon the glowing coals; and after he supposed they were roasted enough, he took them by the legs and head, and devoured the remainder at one mouthful. When the Arabs have them in quantities, they roast or dry them in an oven, or boil them and eat them with salt. The Arabs in the kingdom of Morocco boil the locusts, and then dry them on the roofs of their houses. One sees there large baskets-full of them in the markets." Burckhardt also relates the fact in a similar manner : "The Bedouins eat locusts, which are collected in great quantities in the beginning of April, when they are easily caught. After having been roasted a little upon the iron plate on which bread is baked, they are dried in the sun, and then put into large sacks, with the mixture of a little salt. They are never served up as a dish, but every one takes a handful of them when hungry. The peasants of Syria do not eat locusts; nor have I myself ever had an opportunity of tasting them. There are a few poor Fellahs in the Haouran, however, who sometimes, pressed by hunger, make a meal of them; but they break off the head and take out the entrails before they dry them in the sun. The Bedouins swal low them entire." After these statements, there can surely be no difficulty in admitting "locusts" to have been the food of John the Baptist. The In Rev. 9:7-10, there is a terrific description of symbolical locusts, in which they are compared to war horses, their hair to the hair of women, &c. following passage from Niebuhr is parallel to this description, and serves strikingly to illustrate it: "An Arab of the desert near Bassorah, informed me of a singular comparison of the locust with other animals. The terrible locust of Rev. c. 9 not then occurring to me, I regarded this comparison as a jest of the Bedouin, and I paid no attention to it, till it was repeated by another from Bagdad. It was thus:He compared the head of the locust to that of the horse; its breast to that of the lion; its feet to those of the camel; its body to that of the serpent; its tail to that of the scorpion; its horns [antenna], if I mistake not, to the locks of hair of a virgin; and so of other parts." In like manner, the Italians still call locusts cavallette, i. e. little horses; and the Germans call them Heupferde, i. e. hay-horses. LOG, a Hebrew measure for liquids, which held five sixths of a pint. Lev. 14:10,12,24. LOOKING-GLASS, see LA VER. LORD. This name belongs to God by preeminence; and in this sense ought never to be given to any creature. Jesus Christ, as the Messiah, the Son of God, and equal with the Father, is often called Lord in Scripture; more especially in the writings of Paul. The word LORD, in the English Bible, when printed in small capitals, stands always for Jehovah in the Hebrew. Šee JEHOVAH. LOT, the son of Haran, and nephew of Abraham, followed his uncle from Ur, and afterwards from Haran, to settle in Canaan. Gen. 11:31. Abraham had always a great affection for him, and when they could not continue longer together in Canaan, because they both had large flocks, and their shepherds sometimes quarrelled, Gen. 13:5, 6, 7, he gave Lot the choice of his abode. Lot chose the plain of Sodom, which appears then to have been the most fertile part of the land. Here he continued to dwell till the destruction of Sodom and the adjacent cities. The close of his history is contained in Gen. 19:31, &c. LOTS are often mentioned in Scripture, and were directed | by God to be sometimes used, as in the case of the scape goat. So after the death of Judas, another apostle was chosen by lot. Acts 1:26. The manner of casting lots is not described in the Scriptures; but several methods appear to have been used. Solomon observes, Prov. 16:33, that "the lot," pebble, "is cast into the lap," properly into the bosom, that is, probably, of an urn or vase; which leads to a very different idea from the lap of a person: yet, had our translators used the word bosom, which is a more frequent and correct import of the word, they would have equally misled the reader, had that bosom been referred to a person; for it does not appear that the bosom of a person, that is, of a garment worn by a person, was ever used to receive lots. But probably several modes of drawing lots, or of casting lots, were practised. LOWER PARTS of theearth are, (1.) Valleys, which diversify the face of the globe, and are evidently lower than hills, which also contribute to that diversity. Isa. 44:23. (2.) The grave, which, being dug into the earth, or into rocks, &c. may be called the lower part of the earth, or that portion of it which is usually opened to men: this is sometimes called the deep, or abyss; and, indeed, it is secluded from our cognizance, till we are called to visit "that bourn from whence no traveller returns." Ps. 63:9. Eph. 4:9. LUCAS, the same with LUKE, which see. LUCIFER. "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, |