No fewer than at least six different words are used in the Old Testament for the lion. (1.) Gor (i.e., a "suckling"), the lion's whelp ( Gen. 49:9; Jer. 51:38, etc.). (2.) Kephir (i.e., "shaggy"), the young lion ( Judg. 14:5; Job 4:10; Ps. 91:13; Ps 104:21), a term which is also used figuratively of cruel enemies ( Ps. 34:10;Ps 35:17;Ps 58:6; Jer. 2:15). (3.) 'Ari (i.e., the "puller" in pieces), denoting the lion in general, without reference to age or sex ( Num. 23:24; 2 Sam. 17:10, etc.). (4.) Shahal (the "roarer"), the mature lion ( Job 4:10; Ps. 91:13; Prov. 26:13; Hos. 5:14). (5.) Laish, so called from its strength and bravery ( Job 4:11; Prov. 30:30; Isa. 30:6). The capital of Northern Dan received its name from this word. (6.) Labi, from a root meaning "to roar," a grown lion or lioness ( Gen. 49:9; Num. 23:24; Num 24:9; Ezek. 19:2; Nah. 2:11).

The lion of Palestine was properly of the Asiatic variety, distinguished from the African variety, which is larger. Yet it not only attacked flocks in the presence of the shepherd, but also laid waste towns and villages (2 Kings 17:25,2 Kings 17:26) and devoured men (1 Kings 13:24,1 Kings 13:25). Shepherds sometimes, single-handed, encountered lions and slew them (1 Sam. 17:34,1 Sam. 17:35; Amos 3:12). Samson seized a young lion with his hands and "rent him as he would have rent a kid" ( Judg. 14:5,Judg. 14:6). The strength ( Judg. 14:18), courage (2 Sam. 17:10), and ferocity ( Gen. 49:9) of the lion were proverbial.

Lip - besides its literal sense ( Isa. 37:29, etc.), is used in the original (saphah) metaphorically for an edge or border, as of a cup (1 Kings 7:26), a garment ( Ex. 28:32), a curtain ( Ex 26:4), the sea ( Gen. 22:17), the Jordan (2 Kings 2:13). To "open the lips" is to begin to speak ( Job 11:5); to "refrain the lips" is to keep silence ( Ps. 40:9; 1 Pet. 3:10). The "fruit of the lips" ( Heb. 13:15) is praise, and the "calves of the lips" thank-offerings ( Hos. 14:2). To "shoot out the lip" is to manifest scorn and defiance ( Ps. 22:7). Many similar forms of expression are found in Scripture.

Litter - (Heb. tsab, as being lightly and gently borne), a sedan or palanquin for the conveyance of persons of rank ( Isa. 66:20). In Num. 7:3, the words "covered wagons" are more literally "carts of the litter kind." There they denote large and commodious vehicles drawn by oxen, and fitted for transporting the furniture of the temple.

Liver - (Heb. kabhed, "heavy;" hence the liver, as being the heaviest of the viscera, Ex. 29:13, Ex. 29:22; Lev. 3:4, Lev. 3:1, Lev. 3:10, Lev. 3:15) was burnt upon the altar, and not used as sacrificial food. In Ezek. 21:21 there is allusion, in the statement that the king of Babylon "looked upon the liver," to one of the most ancient of all modes of divination. The first recorded instance of divination (q.v.) is that of the teraphim of Laban. By the teraphim the LXX. and Josephus understood "the liver of goats." By the "caul above the liver," in Lev. 4:9; Lev 7:4, etc., some understand the great lobe of the liver itself.

Living creatures - as represented by Ezekiel (1-10) and John (Rev. 4, etc.), are the cherubim. They are distinguished from angels ( Rev. 15:7); they join the elders in the "new song" ( Rev 5:8,Rev 5:9); they warn of danger from divine justice ( Isa. 6:3-5), and deliver the commission to those who execute it ( Ezek. 10:2,Ezek. 10:7); they associate with the elders in their sympathy with the hundred and forty-four thousand who sing the new song ( Rev. 14:3), and with the Church in the overthrow of her enemies ( Rev 19:4).

They are supposed to represent mercy, as distinguished from justice, mercy in its various instrumentalities, and especially as connected with the throne of God, the "throne of grace."

Lizard - Only in Lev. 11:30, as rendering of Hebrew letaah, so called from its "hiding." Supposed to be the Lacerta gecko or fan-foot lizard, from the toes of which poison exudes. (See CHAMELEON.)

Lo-ammi - not my people, a symbolical name given by God's command to Hosea's second son in token of Jehovah's rejection of his people ( Hos. 1:9,Hos. 1:10), his treatment of them as a foreign people. This Hebrew word is rendered by "not my people" in ver. 10; 2:23.

Loan - The Mosaic law required that when an Israelite needed to borrow, what he asked was to be freely lent to him, and no interest was to be charged, although interest might be taken of a foreigner ( Ex. 22:25; Deut. 23:19, Deut. 23:20; Lev. 25:35-38). At the end of seven years all debts were remitted. Of a foreigner the loan might, however, be exacted. At a later period of the Hebrew commonwealth, when commerce increased, the practice of exacting usury or interest on loans, and of suretiship in the commercial sense, grew up. Yet the exaction of it from a Hebrew was regarded as discreditable ( Ps. 15:5; Prov. 6:1, Prov. 6:4; Prov 11:15; Prov 17:18; Prov 20:16; Prov 27:13; Jer. 15:10).

Limitations are prescribed by the law to the taking of a pledge from the borrower. The outer garment in which a man slept at night, if taken in pledge, was to be returned before sunset ( Ex. 22:26,Ex. 22:27; Deut. 24:12, Deut. 24:13). A widow's garment ( Deut. 24:17) and a millstone (6) could not be taken. A creditor could not enter the house to reclaim a pledge, but must remain outside till the borrower brought it (10, 11). The Hebrew debtor could not be retained in bondage longer than the seventh year, or at farthest the year of jubilee ( Ex. 21:2; Lev. 25:39, Lev. 25:42), but foreign sojourners were to be "bondmen for ever" ( Lev. 25:44-54).

Lock - The Hebrews usually secured their doors by bars of wood or iron ( Isa. 45:2; 1 Kings 4:3). These were the locks originally used, and were opened and shut by large keys applied through an opening in the outside ( Judg. 3:24). (See KEY.)

Lock of hair ( Judg. 16:13,Judg. 16:19; Ezek. 8:3; Num. 6:5, etc.).

Locust - There are ten Hebrew words used in Scripture to signify locust. In the New Testament locusts are mentioned as forming part of the food of John the Baptist ( Matt. 3:4; Mark 1:6). By the Mosaic law they were reckoned "clean," so that he could lawfully eat them. The name also occurs in Rev. 9:3, Rev. 9:7, in allusion to this Oriental devastating insect.

Locusts belong to the class of Orthoptera, i.e., straight-winged. They are of many species. The ordinary Syrian locust resembles the grasshopper, but is larger and more destructive. "The legs and thighs of these insects are so powerful that they can leap to a height of two hundred times the length of their bodies. When so raised they spread their wings and fly so close together as to appear like one compact moving mass." Locusts are prepared as food in various ways. Sometimes they are pounded, and then mixed with flour and water, and baked into cakes; "sometimes boiled, roasted, or stewed in butter, and then eaten." They were eaten in a preserved state by the ancient Assyrians.

The devastations they make in Eastern lands are often very appalling. The invasions of locusts are the heaviest calamites that can befall a country. "Their numbers exceed computation: the hebrews called them 'the countless,' and the Arabs knew them as 'the darkeners of the sun.' Unable to guide their own flight, though capable of crossing large spaces, they are at the mercy of the wind, which bears them as blind instruments of Providence to the doomed region given over to them for the time. Innumerable as the drops of water or the sands of the seashore, their flight obscures the sun and casts a thick shadow on the earth (Ex. 10:15; Judg. 6:5; 7:12; Jer. 46:23; Joel 2:10). It seems indeed as if a great aerial mountain, many miles in breadth, were advancing with a slow, unresting progress. Woe to the countries beneath them if the wind fall and let them alight! They descend unnumbered as flakes of snow and hide the ground. It may be 'like the garden of Eden before them, but behind them is a desolate wilderness. At their approach the people are in anguish; all faces lose their colour' (Joel 2:6). No walls can stop them; no ditches arrest them; fires kindled in their path are forthwith extinguished by the myriads of their dead, and the countless armies march on (Joel 2:8, 9). If a door or a window be open, they enter and destroy everything of wood in the house. Every terrace, court, and inner chamber is filled with them in a moment. Such an awful visitation swept over Egypt (Ex. 10:1-19), consuming before it every green thing, and stripping the trees, till the land was bared of all signs of vegetation. A strong north-west wind from the Mediterranean swept the locusts into the Red Sea.", Geikie's Hours, etc., ii., 149.

Lo-debar - no pasture, (2 Sam. 17:27), a town in Gilead not far from Mahanaim, north of the Jabbok 2 Sam 9:4,2 Sam 9:5). It is probably identical with Debir ( Josh. 13:26).

Lodge - a shed for a watchman in a garden ( Isa. 1:8). The Hebrew name melunah is rendered "cottage" (q.v.) in Isa. 24:20. It also denotes a hammock or hanging-bed.

Log - the smallest measure for liquids used by the Hebrews ( Lev. 14:10,Lev. 14:12,Lev. 14:15,Lev. 14:21,Lev. 14:24), called in the Vulgate sextarius. It is the Hebrew unit of measure of capacity, and is equal to the contents of six ordinary hen's eggs=the twelfth part of a him, or nearly a pint.

Lois - the maternal grandmother of Timothy. She is commended by Paul for her faith (2 Tim. 1:5).

Loop - a knotted "eye" of cord, corresponding to the "taches" or knobs in the edges of the curtains of the tabernacle, for joining them into a continuous circuit, fifty to a curtain ( Ex. 26:4,Ex. 26:5,Ex. 26:10,Ex. 26:11).

Lord - There are various Hebrew and Greek words so rendered.

(1.) Heb. Jehovah, has been rendered in the English Bible LORD, printed in small capitals. This is the proper name of the God of the Hebrews. The form "Jehovah" is retained only in Ex. 6:3; Ps. 83:18; Isa. 12:2; Isa 26:4, both in the Authorized and the Revised Version.

(2.) Heb. 'adon, means one possessed of absolute control. It denotes a master, as of slaves ( Gen. 24:14,Gen. 24:27), or a ruler of his subjects ( Gen 45:8), or a husband, as lord of his wife ( Gen 18:12).

The old plural form of this Hebrew word is 'adonai. From a superstitious reverence for the name "Jehovah," the Jews, in reading their Scriptures, whenever that name occurred, always pronounced it 'Adonai.

(3.) Greek kurios, a supreme master, etc. In the LXX. this is invariably used for "Jehovah" and "'Adonai."

(4.) Heb. ba'al, a master, as having domination. This word is applied to human relations, as that of husband, to persons skilled in some art or profession, and to heathen deities. "The men of Shechem," literally "the baals of Shechem" ( Judg. 9:2,Judg. 9:3). These were the Israelite inhabitants who had reduced the Canaanites to a condition of vassalage ( Josh. 16:10;Josh 17:13).

(5.) Heb. seren, applied exclusively to the "lords of the Philistines" ( Judg. 3:3). The LXX. render it by satrapies. At this period the Philistines were not, as at a later period (1 Sam. 21:10), under a kingly government. (See Josh. 13:3; 1 Sam. 6:18.) There were five such lordships, viz., Gath, Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron.

Lord's day - only once, in Rev. 1:10, was in the early Christian ages used to denote the first day of the week, which commemorated the Lord's resurrection. There is every reason to conclude that John thus used the name. (See SABBATH.)

Lord's Prayer - the name given to the only form of prayer Christ taught his disciples ( Matt. 6:9-13). The closing doxology of the prayer is omitted by Luke ( Matt 11:2-4), also in the R.V. of Matt. 6:13. This prayer contains no allusion to the atonement of Christ, nor to the offices of the Holy Spirit. "All Christian prayer is based on the Lord's Prayer, but its spirit is also guided by that of His prayer in Gethsemane and of the prayer recorded John 17. The Lord's Prayer is the comprehensive type of the simplest and most universal prayer."

Lord's Supper - (1 Cor. 11:20), called also "the Lord's table" 1 Cor 10:21), "communion," "cup of blessing" 1 Cor 10:16), and "breaking of bread" ( Acts 2:42).

In the early Church it was called also "eucharist," or giving of thanks (comp. Matt. 26:27), and generally by the Latin Church "mass," a name derived from the formula of dismission, Ite, missa est, i.e., "Go, it is discharged."

The account of the institution of this ordinance is given in Matt. 26:26-29, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:19, Luke 22:20, and 1 Cor. 11:24-26. It is not mentioned by John.

It was designed, (1.) To commemorate the death of Christ: "This do in remembrance of me." (2.) To signify, seal, and apply to believers all the benefits of the new covenant. In this ordinance Christ ratifies his promises to his people, and they on their part solemnly consecrate themselves to him and to his entire service. (3.) To be a badge of the Christian profession. (4.) To indicate and to promote the communion of believers with Christ. (5.) To represent the mutual communion of believers with each other.

The elements used to represent Christ's body and blood are bread and wine. The kind of bread, whether leavened or unleavened, is not specified. Christ used unleavened bread simply because it was at that moment on the paschal table. Wine, and no other liquid, is to be used ( Matt. 26:26-29). Believers "feed" on Christ's body and blood, (1) not with the mouth in any manner, but (2) by the soul alone, and (3) by faith, which is the mouth or hand of the soul. This they do (4) by the power of the Holy Ghost. This "feeding" on Christ, however, takes place not in the Lord's Supper alone, but whenever faith in him is exercised.

This is a permanent ordinance in the Church of Christ, and is to be observed "till he come" again.

Lo-ruhamah - not pitied, the name of the prophet Hosea's first daughter, a type of Jehovah's temporary rejection of his people ( Hos. 1:6;Hos 2:23).

Lot - (Heb. goral, a "pebble"), a small stone used in casting lots ( Num. 33:54; Jonah 1:7). The lot was always resorted to by the Hebrews with strictest reference to the interposition of God, and as a method of ascertaining the divine will ( Prov. 16:33), and in serious cases of doubt ( Esther 3:7). Thus the lot was used at the division of the land of Canaan among the serveral tribes ( Num. 26:55;Num 34:13), at the detection of Achan ( Josh. 7:14,Josh. 7:18), the election of Saul to be king (1 Sam. 10:20,1 Sam. 10:21), the distribution of the priestly offices of the temple service (1 Chr. 24:3,1 Chr. 24:5,1 Chr. 24:19; Luke 1:9), and over the two goats at the feast of Atonement ( Lev. 16:8). Matthias, who was "numbered with the eleven" ( Acts 1:24-26), was chosen by lot.

This word also denotes a portion or an inheritance ( Josh. 15:1; Ps. 125:3; Isa. 17:4), and a destiny, as assigned by God ( Ps. 16:5; Dan. 12:13).

Lot, (Heb. lot), a covering; veil, the son of Haran, and nephew of Abraham ( Gen. 11:27). On the death of his father, he was left in charge of his grandfather Terah (31), after whose death he accompanied his uncle Abraham into Canaan ( Gen 12:5), thence into Egypt (10), and back again to Canaan ( Gen 13:1). After this he separated from him and settled in Sodom ( Gen 13:5-13). There his righteous soul was "vexed" from day to day (2 Pet. 2:7), and he had great cause to regret this act. Not many years after the separation he was taken captive by Chedorlaomer, and was rescued by Abraham (Gen. 14). At length, when the judgment of God descended on the guilty cities of the plain ( Gen. 19:1-20), Lot was miraculously delivered. When fleeing from the doomed city his wife "looked back from behind him, and became a pillar of salt." There is to this day a peculiar crag at the south end of the Dead Sea, near Kumran, which the Arabs call Bint Sheik Lot, i.e., Lot's wife. It is "a tall, isolated needle of rock, which really does bear a curious resemblance to an Arab woman with a child upon her shoulder." From the words of warning in Luke 17:32, "Remember Lot's wife," it would seem as if she had gone back, or tarried so long behind in the desire to save some of her goods, that she became involved in the destruction which fell on the city, and became a stiffened corpse, fixed for a time in the saline incrustations. She became "a pillar of salt", i.e., as some think, of asphalt. (See SALT.)

Lot and his daughters sought refuge first in Zoar, and then, fearing to remain there longer, retired to a cave in the neighbouring mountains ( Gen. 19:30). Lot has recently been connected with the people called on the Egyptian monuments Rotanu or Lotanu, who is supposed to have been the hero of the Edomite tribe Lotan.

Lotan - coverer, one of the sons of Seir, the Horite ( Gen. 36:20,Gen. 36:29).

Love - This word seems to require explanation only in the case of its use by our Lord in his interview with "Simon, the son of Jonas," after his resurrection ( John 21:16,John 21:17). When our Lord says, "Lovest thou me?" he uses the Greek word agapas; and when Simon answers, he uses the Greek word philo, i.e., "I love." This is the usage in the first and second questions put by our Lord; but in the third our Lord uses Simon's word. The distinction between these two Greek words is thus fitly described by Trench:, "Agapan has more of judgment and deliberate choice; philein has more of attachment and peculiar personal affection. Thus the 'Lovest thou' (Gr. agapas) on the lips of the Lord seems to Peter at this moment too cold a word, as though his Lord were keeping him at a distance, or at least not inviting him to draw near, as in the passionate yearning of his heart he desired now to do. Therefore he puts by the word and substitutes his own stronger 'I love' (Gr. philo) in its room. A second time he does the same. And now he has conquered; for when the Lord demands a third time whether he loves him, he does it in the word which alone will satisfy Peter ('Lovest thou,' Gr. phileis), which alone claims from him that personal attachment and affection with which indeed he knows that his heart is full."

In 1 Cor. 13 the apostle sets forth the excellency of love, as the word "charity" there is rendered in the Revised Version.

Lubims - the inhabitants of a thirsty or scorched land; the Lybians, an African nation under tribute to Egypt (2 Chr. 12:3;2 Chr 16:8). Their territory was apparently near Egypt. They were probably the Mizraite Lehabim.

Lucas - a friend and companion of Paul during his imprisonment at Rome; Luke (q.v.), the beloved physician ( Philemon 1:24; Col. 4:14).

Lucifer - brilliant star, a title given to the king of Babylon ( Isa. 14:12) to denote his glory.