Centurion - a Roman officer in command of a hundred men ( Mark 15:39,Mark 15:44,Mark 15:45). Cornelius, the first Gentile convert, was a centurion ( Acts 10:1,Acts 10:22). Other centurions are mentioned in Matt. 8:5, Matt. 8:8, Matt. 8:13; Luke 7:2, Luke 7:6; Acts 21:32; Acts 22:25, Acts 21:26; Acts 23:17, Acts 21:23; Acts 24:23; Acts 27:1, Acts 21:6, Acts 21:11, Acts 21:31, Acts 21:43; Acts 28:16. A centurion watched the crucifixion of our Lord ( Matt. 27:54; Luke 23:47), and when he saw the wonders attending it, exclaimed, "Truly this man was the Son of God." "The centurions mentioned in the New Testament are uniformly spoken of in terms of praise, whether in the Gospels or in the Acts. It is interesting to compare this with the statement of Polybius (vi. 24), that the centurions were chosen by merit, and so were men remarkable not so much for their daring courage as for their deliberation, constancy, and strength of mind.", Dr. Maclear's N. T. Hist.

Cephas - a Syriac surname given by Christ to Simon ( John 1:42), meaning "rock." The Greeks translated it by Petros, and the Latins by Petrus.

Cesarea - See CAESAREA.

Chaff - the refuse of winnowed corn. It was usually burned ( Ex. 15:7; Isa. 5:24; Matt. 3:12). This word sometimes, however, means dried grass or hay ( Isa. 5:24;Isa 33:11). Chaff is used as a figure of abortive wickedness ( Ps. 1:4; Matt. 3:12). False doctrines are also called chaff ( Jer. 23:28), or more correctly rendered "chopped straw." The destruction of the wicked, and their powerlessness, are likened to the carrying away of chaff by the wind ( Isa. 17:13; Hos. 13:3; Zeph. 2:2).

Chain - (1.) A part of the insignia of office. A chain of gold was placed about Joseph's neck ( Gen. 41:42); and one was promised to Daniel ( Gen 5:7). It is used as a symbol of sovereignty ( Ezek. 16:11). The breast-plate of the high-priest was fastened to the ephod by golden chains ( Ex. 39:17,Ex. 39:21).

(2.) It was used as an ornament ( Prov. 1:9; Cant. 1:10). The Midianites adorned the necks of their camels with chains ( Judg. 8:21,Judg. 8:26).

(3.) Chains were also used as fetters wherewith prisoners were bound ( Judg. 16:21; 2 Sam. 3:34; 2 Kings 25:7; Jer. 39:7). Paul was in this manner bound to a Roman soldier ( Acts 28:20; Eph. 6:20; 2 Tim. 1:16). Sometimes, for the sake of greater security, the prisoner was attached by two chains to two soldiers, as in the case of Peter ( Acts 12:6).

Chalcedony - Mentioned only in Rev. 21:19, as one of the precious stones in the foundation of the New Jerusalem. The name of this stone is derived from Chalcedon, where it is said to have been first discovered. In modern mineralogy this is the name of an agate-like quartz of a bluish colour. Pliny so names the Indian ruby. The mineral intended in Revelation is probably the Hebrew nophekh, translated "emerald" ( Ex. 28:18;Ex 39:11; Ezek. 27:16; Ezek 28:13). It is rendered "anthrax" in the LXX., and "carbunculus" in the Vulgate. (See CARBUNCLE.)

Chaldea - The southern portion of Babylonia, Lower Mesopotamia, lying chiefly on the right bank of the Euphrates, but commonly used of the whole of the Mesopotamian plain. The Hebrew name is Kasdim, which is usually rendered "Chaldeans" ( Jer. 50:10;Jer 51:24,Jer. 50:35).

The country so named is a vast plain formed by the deposits of the Euphrates and the Tigris, extending to about 400 miles along the course of these rivers, and about 100 miles in average breadth. "In former days the vast plains of Babylon were nourished by a complicated system of canals and water-courses, which spread over the surface of the country like a network. The wants of a teeming population were supplied by a rich soil, not less bountiful than that on the banks of the Egyptian Nile. Like islands rising from a golden sea of waving corn stood frequent groves of palm-trees and pleasant gardens, affording to the idler or traveller their grateful and highly-valued shade. Crowds of passengers hurried along the dusty roads to and from the busy city. The land was rich in corn and wine."

Recent discoveries, more especially in Babylonia, have thrown much light on the history of the Hebrew patriarchs, and have illustrated or confirmed the Biblical narrative in many points. The ancestor of the Hebrew people, Abram, was, we are told, born at "Ur of the Chaldees." "Chaldees" is a mistranslation of the Hebrew Kasdim, Kasdim being the Old Testament name of the Babylonians, while the Chaldees were a tribe who lived on the shores of the Persian Gulf, and did not become a part of the Babylonian population till the time of Hezekiah. Ur was one of the oldest and most famous of the Babylonian cities. Its site is now called Mugheir, or Mugayyar, on the western bank of the Euphrates, in Southern Babylonia. About a century before the birth of Abram it was ruled by a powerful dynasty of kings. Their conquests extended to Elam on the one side, and to the Lebanon on the other. They were followed by a dynasty of princes whose capital was Babylon, and who seem to have been of South Arabian origin. The founder of the dynasty was Sumu-abi ("Shem is my father"). But soon afterwards Babylonia fell under Elamite dominion. The kings of Babylon were compelled to acknowledge the supremacy of Elam, and a rival kingdom to that of Babylon, and governed by Elamites, sprang up at Larsa, not far from Ur, but on the opposite bank of the river. In the time of Abram the king of Larsa was Eri-Aku, the son of an Elamite prince, and Eri-Aku, as has long been recognized, is the Biblical "Arioch king of Ellasar" ( Gen. 14:1). The contemporaneous king of Babylon in the north, in the country termed Shinar in Scripture, was Khammu-rabi. (See BABYLON ; ABRAHAM ; A HREF="T0000201.html#T000021">AMRAPHEL.)

Chaldee language - employed by the sacred writers in certain portions of the Old Testament, viz., Dan. 2:4-7, Dan. 2:28; Ezra 4:8; Ezra 6:18; Ezra 7:12-26; Gen. 31:46; Jer. 10:11. It is the Aramaic dialect, as it is sometimes called, as distinguished from the Hebrew dialect. It was the language of commerce and of social intercourse in Western Asia, and after the Exile gradually came to be the popular language of Palestine. It is called "Syrian" in 2 Kings 18:26. Some isolated words in this language are preserved in the New Testament ( Matt. 5:22;Matt 6:24;Matt 16:17;Matt 27:46; Mark 3:17; Mark 5:41; Mark 7:34; Mark 14:36; Acts 1:19; 1 Cor. 16:22). These are specimens of the vernacular language of Palestine at that period. The term "Hebrew" was also sometimes applied to the Chaldee because it had become the language of the Hebrews ( John 5:2;John 19:20).

Chaldees - or Chaldeans, the inhabitants of the country of which Babylon was the capital. They were so called till the time of the Captivity (2 Kings 25; Isa. 13:19; Isa 23:13), when, particularly in the Book of Daniel Isa 5:30; Isa 9:1), the name began to be used with special reference to a class of learned men ranked with the magicians and astronomers. These men cultivated the ancient Cushite language of the original inhabitants of the land, for they had a "learning" and a "tongue" Isa 1:4) of their own. The common language of the country at that time had become assimilated to the Semitic dialect, especially through the influence of the Assyrians, and was the language that was used for all civil purposes. The Chaldeans were the learned class, interesting themselves in science and religion, which consisted, like that of the ancient Arabians and Syrians, in the worship of the heavenly bodies. There are representations of this priestly class, of magi and diviners, on the walls of the Assyrian palaces.

Chamber - "on the wall," which the Shunammite prepared for the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 4:10), was an upper chamber over the porch through the hall toward the street. This was the "guest chamber" where entertainments were prepared ( Mark 14:14). There were also "chambers within chambers" (1 Kings 22:25; 2 Kings 9:2). To enter into a chamber is used metaphorically of prayer and communion with God ( Isa. 26:20). The "chambers of the south" ( Job 9:9) are probably the constelations of the southern hemisphere. The "chambers of imagery", i.e., chambers painted with images, as used by Ezekiel ( Job 8:12), is an expression denoting the vision the prophet had of the abominations practised by the Jews in Jerusalem.

Chambering - ( Rom. 13:13), wantonness, impurity.

Chamberlain - a confidential servant of the king ( Gen. 37:36;Gen 39:1). In Rom. 16:23 mention is made of "Erastus the chamberlain." Here the word denotes the treasurer of the city, or the quaestor, as the Romans styled him. He is almost the only convert from the higher ranks of whom mention is made (comp. Acts 17:34). Blastus, Herod's "chamberlain" ( Acts 12:20), was his personal attendant or valet-de-chambre. The Hebrew word saris, thus translated in Esther 1:10, Esther 1:15; Esther 2:3, Esther 1:14, Esther 1:21, etc., properly means an eunuch (as in the marg.), as it is rendered in Isa. 39:7; Isa 56:3.

Chameleon - a species of lizard which has the faculty of changing the colour of its skin. It is ranked among the unclean animals in Lev. 11:30, where the Hebrew word so translated is coah (R.V., "land crocodile"). In the same verse the Hebrew tanshemeth, rendered in Authorized Version "mole," is in Revised Version "chameleon," which is the correct rendering. This animal is very common in Egypt and in the Holy Land, especially in the Jordan valley.

Chamois - only in Deut. 14:5 (Heb. zemer), an animal of the deer or gazelle species. It bears this Hebrew name from its leaping or springing. The animal intended is probably the wild sheep (Ovis tragelephus), which is still found in Sinai and in the broken ridges of Stony Arabia. The LXX. and Vulgate render the word by camelopardus, i.e., the giraffe; but this is an animal of Central Africa, and is not at all known in Syria.

Champion - (1 Sam. 17:4,1 Sam. 17:23), properly "the man between the two," denoting the position of Goliath between the two camps. Single combats of this kind at the head of armies were common in ancient times. In ver. 51 this word is the rendering of a different Hebrew word, and properly denotes "a mighty man."

Chance - ( Luke 10:31). "It was not by chance that the priest came down by that road at that time, but by a specific arrangement and in exact fulfilment of a plan; not the plan of the priest, nor the plan of the wounded traveller, but the plan of God. By coincidence (Gr. sungkuria) the priest came down, that is, by the conjunction of two things, in fact, which were previously constituted a pair in the providence of God. In the result they fell together according to the omniscient Designer's plan. This is the true theory of the divine government." Compare the meeting of Philip with the Ethiopian ( Acts 8:26,Acts 8:27). There is no "chance" in God's empire. "Chance" is only another word for our want of knowledge as to the way in which one event falls in with another (1 Sam. 6:9; Eccl. 9:11).

Chancellor - one who has judicial authority, literally, a "lord of judgement;" a title given to the Persian governor of Samaria ( Ezra 4:8,Ezra 4:9,Ezra 4:17).

Changes of raiment - were reckoned among the treasures of rich men ( Gen. 45:22; Judg. 14:12, Judg. 14:13; 2 Kings 5:22,2 Kings 5:23).

Channel - (1.) The bed of the sea or of a river ( Ps. 18:15; Isa. 8:7).

(2.) The "chanelbone" ( Job 31:22 marg.), properly "tube" or "shaft," an old term for the collar-bone.

Chapel - a holy place or sanctuary, occurs only in Amos 7:13, where one of the idol priests calls Bethel "the king's chapel."

Chapiter - the ornamental head or capital of a pillar. Three Hebrew words are so rendered. (1.) Cothereth (1 Kings 7:16; 2 Kings 25:17; 2 Chr. 4:12), meaning a "diadem" or "crown." (2.) Tzepheth (2 Chr. 3:15). (3.) Rosh ( Ex. 36:38;Ex 38:17,Ex. 36:19,Ex. 36:28), properly a "head" or "top."

Chapter - The several books of the Old and New Testaments were from an early time divided into chapters. The Pentateuch was divided by the ancient Hebrews into 54 parshioth or sections, one of which was read in the synagogue every Sabbath day ( Acts. 13:15). These sections were afterwards divided into 669 sidrim or orders of unequal length. The Prophets were divided in somewhat the same manner into haphtaroth or passages.

In the early Latin and Greek versions of the Bible, similar divisions of the several books were made. The New Testament books were also divided into portions of various lengths under different names, such as titles and heads or chapters.

In modern times this ancient example was imitated, and many attempts of the kind were made before the existing division into chapters was fixed. The Latin Bible published by Cardinal Hugo of St. Cher in A.D. 1240 is generally regarded as the first Bible that was divided into our present chapters, although it appears that some of the chapters were fixed as early as A.D. 1059. This division into chapters came gradually to be adopted in the published editions of the Hebrew, with some few variations, and of the Greek Scriptures, and hence of other versions.

Charashim - craftsmen, a valley named in 1 Chr. 4:14. In Neh. 11:35 the Hebrew word is rendered "valley of craftsmen" (R.V. marg., Geha-rashim). Nothing is known of it.

Charger - a bowl or deep dish. The silver vessels given by the heads of the tribes for the services of the tabernacle are so named ( Num. 7:13, etc.). The "charger" in which the Baptist's head was presented was a platter or flat wooden trencher ( Matt. 14:8,Matt. 14:11; Mark 6:25, Mark 6:28). The chargers of gold and silver of Ezra 1:9 were probably basins for receiving the blood of sacrifices.