the girl had not ceased forever to exist but would be as one awakened from her sleep. Also, this girl had not been buried, nor had her body had time to begin decaying, as had the body of Lazarus. (John 11:39, 43, 44) On the basis of the authority granted to him by his Father, Jesus could say this just as does his Father, “who makes the dead alive and calls the things that are not as though they were.”—Rom. 4:17; compare Matthew 22:32.

It should be noted that the term “asleep” is applied in the Scriptures to those dying because of the death passed on from Adam. Those suffering the “second death” are not spoken of as asleep. Rather, they are shown to be completely annihilated, out of existence, burned up as by an unquenchable fire.—Rev. 20:14, 15; compare Hebrews 10:26-31, where a contrast is made between those who died because of violating the Mosaic law and the much more severe punishment meted out to Christians who turn to a willful practice of sin; Heb. 6:4-8.

SLING

See ARMS, ARMOR.

SLINGER

In early times, slingers of stones formed an important part of a military force. The tribe of Benjamin had 700 picked men, every one of whom was “a slinger of stones to a hairbreadth and would not miss.” (Judg. 20:15, 16) The Targums say that the Cherethites and Pelethites among David’s warriors were adept slingers. Slingmen were an important part of King Uzziah’s military force in the ninth century B.C.E. (2 Chron. 26:13, 14) In the next century Sennacherib employed a corps of slingers in the Assyrian army, as monuments attest. The fighting forces of the Egyptians, Syrians, Persians, Sicilians and others also had similar divisions. In the Roman army slingers were among the auxilia rather than the Legion. (See ARMY [Roman].) As late as the first century C.E., Jewish slingers pitted their skill against Roman forces.—Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book XVII chap X, par. 2; Wars of the Jews, Book II, chap. XVII, par. 5; Book IV, chap. I, par. 3.

In ancient armies the slingers usually made up only one division of the foot soldiers. Archers, as a complement of the slingers, and spearmen in lesser numbers completed the infantry. When called forward to begin an engagement or to stall an enemy advance, the slingers passed from the rear of the ranks through corridors among the soldiers. At other times they fired from behind and over the heads of the spearmen. Slingers were especially effective fighters when attacking walled cities. Their missiles, hurled from the ground, could pick the enemy off the walls or reach targets inside the city. (2 Ki. 3:25) When siege engines and assault towers were developed, slingers took advantage of the elevated positions their platforms afforded.

An advantage of the slinger over the armor-clad swordsman or spearman was his effectiveness from a distance. It is claimed that their range of effectiveness was up to 400 feet (c. 122 meters) with stones, and even farther with lead pellets.

DAVID’S USE OF THE SLING

To become a skilled and experienced slinger required much time and training. Young shepherd boys attending and protecting flocks against beasts of prey developed the needed skill. The shepherd-boy David felt much better equipped with his sling than with the heavy armor of Saul. But he would doubtless have been unable to stand before Goliath without faith and the strength of Jehovah. The outcome of the fight depended, not on superiority of weapons or upon skill, but upon Jehovah, who supported David. As David called out to Goliath: “I am coming to you with the name of Jehovah of armies, . . . whom you have taunted. . . . And all this congregation will know that neither with sword nor with spear does Jehovah save, because to Jehovah belongs the battle.” It was a stone from David’s sling, no doubt guided and given unusual force by Jehovah, that sank into Goliath’s forehead, striking him down so that David could “definitely put him to death” by Goliath’s own sword.—1 Sam. 17:38-51.

SMOKE

[Heb. ʽa·shanʹ; Gr., ka·pnosʹ].

The visible soot-producing mixture of carbon particles and gases from burning organic materials; also vapor or a cloud resembling smoke. Aside from the mention of literal smoke in numerous instances, there are a number of figurative uses of the word, and there is figurative meaning to the appearance of smoke itself.

JEHOVAH’S PRESENCE, AND HIS ANGER

Jehovah has manifested his presence by a cloud of “smoke,” sometimes accompanied by fire. (Ex. 19:18; 20:18; Isa. 4:5) He symbolized his presence at the temple in Jerusalem at the time of its inauguration, and also at the visionary temples seen by Isaiah the prophet and by John the apostle.—1 Ki. 8:10-12; Isa. 6:1-6; Rev. 15:8; see CLOUD.

Smoke is also associated with Jehovah’s burning anger. (Deut. 29:20) On the other hand, those in Israel who had fallen away to the worship of false gods were said to be “a smoke” in God’s nostrils, signifying that they provoked his great anger.—Isa. 65:5.

A WARNING OR PORTENT

Smoke signals were used in warfare to communicate messages between cities or divisions of an army. (Judg. 20:38-40) It was also an evidence that something was being destroyed by fire, as, for example, smoke rising from a distant city. (Gen. 19:28; Josh. 8:20, 21) Or it could metaphorically refer to an army on its way to accomplish destruction, which often included the burning of conquered cities.—Isa. 14:31.

Consequently, a rising column or cloud of smoke came to be used symbolically as a token of warning, a portent of woe to come or of destruction. (Rev. 9:2-4; compare Joel 2:30, 31; Acts 2:19, 20; Revelation 9:17, 18.) The psalmist says of the wicked: “In smoke they must come to their end.” (Ps. 37:20) Smoke also symbolized the evidence of destruction. (Rev. 18:9, 18) Smoke that keeps ascending “to time indefinite” therefore is evidently an expression denoting complete and everlasting annihilation, as in Isaiah’s prophecy against Edom: “to time indefinite its smoke will keep ascending.” (Isa. 34:5, 10) Edom as a nation was wiped out and remains desolated to this day, and the evidence of this fact stands in the Bible account and in the records of secular history. Similarly, the everlasting destruction of Babylon the Great is foretold at Revelation 18:8, and a like judgment is entered against those who worship the “wild beast” and its image, at Revelation 14:9-11.

TRANSITORINESS

Just as smoke normally dissipates quickly and disappears, so it sometimes figuratively denotes that which is transitory. It is used with regard to: God’s enemies (Ps. 68:2), idol worshipers (Hos. 13:3) and the shortened life of the afflicted one.—Ps. 102:3.

OTHER FIGURATIVE USES

“As vinegar to the teeth and as smoke to the eyes, so the lazy man is to those sending him forth,” says the proverb. Just as smoke causes the eyes to sting and smart, so the one who employs a lazy man does so to the injury of his own purposes.—Prov. 10:26.

The psalmist, waiting for Jehovah to comfort him, says: “I have become like a skin bottle in the smoke.” (Ps. 119:83) Skin bottles, such as used in the Middle East, hanging on the wall when not in use, became dried up and shriveled from the smoke of the house. So the psalmist had become at the hands of those persecuting him.

ILLUSTRATIVE USE

Jehovah, in describing his creations to Job, calls attention to Leviathan, saying: “Out of [its] nostrils smoke goes forth, like a furnace set aflame even with rushes.” (Job 41:20) Many Bible scholars believe that God here had reference to the crocodile, which, when coming up out of the water, breathes out a thick, steamy vapor with a thundering sound.

SACRIFICIAL SMOKE

Another Hebrew word, qi·tohrʹ, has reference to smoke, especially sacrificial smoke, of incense or other sacrifice on the altar. Such sacrificial smoke was viewed as a pleasing odor ascending to the one to whom it was offered.—1 Chron. 6:49; Jer. 44:15; compare Genesis 8:20, 21; Leviticus 26:31; Ephesians 5:2.

SMYRNA

(Smyrʹna) [myrrh].

An ancient city on the W coast of Asia Minor; now called Izmir. Early settled by the Greeks, it was destroyed about 580 B.C.E. by Lydian King Alyattes. More than two centuries later, Alexander the Great planned to rebuild it as a Greek city, this being done by his successors on another site. Smyrna thereafter became an important commercial city. Later becoming part of the Roman province of Asia, Smyrna, with its fine public buildings, was noted for its beauty. It had a temple of Tiberius Caesar and therefore promoted emperor worship.

Smyrna was the second of the seven Christian congregations in Asia Minor to which the glorified Jesus Christ directed the apostle John to write a message. (Rev. 1:11) The congregation is poor materially, but is rich spiritually. It is tested by tribulation, evidently persecution, and is blasphemed by some calling themselves Jews, but who are actually “a synagogue of Satan.” However, despite their poverty and tribulation, Christians of the congregation in Smyrna are encouraged not to fear the things they will yet suffer, but to be “faithful even to death” in order to receive “the crown of life.”—Rev. 2:8-11.

SNAIL

Any of a variety of slow-moving mollusks, generally distinguished by their spiral or conical shells into which they can withdraw for protection. Numerous varieties of snails have been encountered in Palestine, but, on account of the dry climate, there are few slugs, that is, snails having no visible shell. Both slugs and snails secrete a slimy substance that protects them from abrasive injury as they crawl along. Many believe that the snail’s slimy trail is alluded to by the phrase “a snail melting away.” (Ps. 58:8) Another suggestion is that the reference is to the drying up of the snail in its shell when exposed for some time to the sun.

SNAKE

See SERPENT, SNAKE.

SNARE

See TRAP.

SNOW

Jehovah, the Producer of this marvel, can also control snowfall. (Job 37:6; Ps. 147:16) To serve His purpose, God has stored snow and hail “for the day of fight and war.”—Job 38:22, 23.

Each descending snow crystal washes out the atmosphere and carries with it such elements as sulfur and nitrogen, thus contributing to soil fertility while supplying moisture. (Isa. 55:10, 11) Snow can be a source of clean water for washing. (Job 9:30) Though either rare or unknown in certain areas of Palestine, it sometimes falls during January and February in hill country, as at Jerusalem. (Compare 2 Samuel 23:20; 1 Chronicles 11:22.) During most of the year there is snow in the heights and ravines of the Lebanon range, lofty Mount Hermon being snowcapped nearly all year long. (Jer. 18:14) Psalm 68:14 refers to snow in Zalmon, possibly Mount Zalmon near Shechem, unless mention of Bashan in verse 15 indicates a site E of the Jordan.

ILLUSTRATIVE USE

Snow is used in Scriptural similes to help convey the idea of whiteness. (Ex. 4:6; Num. 12:10; 2 Ki. 5:27; Dan. 7:9; Matt. 28:3; Rev. 1:14) Sometimes it is associated with purity. (Isa. 1:18; Lam. 4:7) For example, David begged God to purify him from sin, washing him that he might become “whiter even than snow.”—Ps. 51:7.

Job’s three companions, being no source of true comfort to him, were likened to a winter torrent, swollen by melting ice and snow in the mountains but running dry in the heat of summer. (Job 6:15-17) Sheol is said to snatch away sinners as drought and heat do snow waters. (Job 24:19) Just as snow is unnatural and would harm crops in summer, so “glory is not fitting for a stupid one.” (Prov. 26:1) However, a faithful envoy, one who would fulfill his commission to the satisfaction of those sending him, is likened to a drink cooled with snow from the mountains and bringing refreshment on a hot day of harvest.—Prov. 25:13.

SNUFFERS

Golden implements used in connection with the lamps on the branches of the lampstand(s) in Israel’s tabernacle and temple. (Ex. 25:37, 38; 37:23; Num. 4:9; 1 Ki. 7:48, 49; 2 Chron. 4:19-21) The snuffers are designated by the dual Hebrew words mel·qa·hhaʹyim and mal·qa·hhaʹyim, derived from a root meaning “to take, grasp, seize.” Use of the dual form suggests a device possibly having two parts. Accordingly, at Isaiah 6:6 mel·qa·hhaʹyim denotes the “tongs” with which a seraph removed a glowing coal from the altar. A distinction is drawn between the lampstand “snuffers” and the “extinguishers” in use at the temple. (1 Ki. 7:49, 50; 2 Chron. 4:21, 22) Though not described in Scripture, the snuffers may have been tongs used to hold the burnt lampwicks, while the extinguishers may have been scissorlike utensils employed to cut off the burnt part of the wicks. At the tabernacle, these trimmings, held by means of the snuffers, were deposited in fire holders, apparently containers for holding such pieces until their disposal.—Ex. 37:23.

SO

An Egyptian king contemporary with Hoshea, the last king of the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel. When Hoshea conspired with So against Shalmaneser and stopped paying tribute to Assyria, Hoshea was imprisoned. (2 Ki. 17:3, 4) Attempts to identify So with secularly known Egyptian rulers of this general period (such as Osorkon IV or Shabako) are very uncertain, particularly so in view of the uncertainty of Egyptian chronology.—See CHRONOLOGY, pp. 324, 325.

SOBERNESS

The Greek words neʹpho (verb) and ne·phaʹli·os (adjective) carry the idea of being sober, moderate in habits, vigilant, watchful, or keeping the senses. Basically, they refer to being free from the influence of intoxicants. However, they are used mainly in the Scriptures in a figurative sense. A related word, e·kneʹpho, meaning, primarily, to return to one’s senses from drunkenness, is used in the Septuagint Version at Genesis 9:24: “Noah recovered [awoke] from the wine.” Also, the Greek term is used in the same version at Joel 1:5, where the prophet calls to the spiritual “drunkards” of Israel to ‘wake up,’ and at Habakkuk 2:19, where woe is foretold to the worshipers of idols who say to pieces of wood and stone, “Awake!”

In enumerating the qualifications for those who would be appointed as overseers in the Christian congregations, the apostle Paul states that the overseer should be “moderate in habits [Gr., ne·phaʹli·os].” This would include freedom from overindulgence in wine, as it is also stated that he is not to be “a drunken brawler.” The word ne·phaʹli·os would show that the man would have good sense and exercise moderation in other things, speech, conduct, manner, besides being habitually temperate in the use of liquor.—1 Tim. 3:2, 3.

Women in the congregation are given like counsel, to be “serious, not slanderous, moderate in habits, faithful in all things.” (1 Tim. 3:11) The aged men