the man in whose honor the king himself has taken a delight.” The act ends back in the house of Haman, to which Haman had rushed after this humiliating experience.—Esther 6:4-14.

Chapter 7 introduces the third act with a second banquet in Esther’s quarters. At the king’s irate demand Esther exposes Haman as the instigator of the scheme to massacre all the Jews in the empire, including herself. Thereafter the king has Haman hanged on the gallows prepared for Mordecai.

For scene 2 of this act we are back at the king’s house. Since the decree of death for the Jews is unchangeable according to the Medo-Persian custom, a counterdecree, allowing the Jews to defend themselves, is sent out.—Esther 8:1-17.

Consequently, chapter 9 reports that the Jews destroy their enemies in Shushan and throughout the provinces, including the killing and then the hanging of Haman’s ten sons. Mordecai and Esther issue the command to commemorate this deliverance annually on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar, called the days of Purim, because of the Pur, or lot, used by Haman as a form of divination to select the time auspicious for destroying the Jews.

Chapter 10 concludes the account briefly mentioning Mordecai’s greatness and energetic work in behalf of his people.

The book of Esther is in complete accord with the rest of the Scriptures and complements the accounts of Ezra and Nehemiah by telling what took place with the exiled people of God in Persia. As with all Scripture, it was written to provide encouragement, comfort and instruction for us.—Rom. 15:4; see the book “All Scripture Is Inspired of God and Beneficial,” pp. 91-94.

ETA

[Η, η] (eʹta).

The seventh letter of the Greek alphabet. This is the second Greek letter for the vowel “e,” and it has a long “e” sound.

It has, when accented, a numerical value of eight (ηʹ), and 8,000 with the subscript (ˌη).—See ALPHABET.

ETAM

(Eʹtam) [place of birds of prey].

1. A settlement of Simeonites within the territory of Judah. (1 Chron. 4:24, 32) Its location is uncertain, although some connect it with Khirbet ʽAitum, centrally located in Judah’s territory almost twenty-nine miles (46.7 kilometers) W of En-gedi and twenty-eight miles (45 kilometers) SW of Jerusalem.

2. The crag Etam, where Samson lived after burning the Philistines’ fields. From this crag, 3,000 men of Judah took him, willingly bound, back to the Philistines. (Judg. 15:8-13) Whereas no positive identification for the crag Etam is possible, a connection with the town (No. 3 below) cannot be altogether eliminated. However, just two and a half miles (4 kilometers) E-SE of the suggested site of Samson’s hometown Zorah (Judg. 13:2) is ʽAraq Ismaʽin, an isolated crag with a lofty cavern affording a broad view of the Shephelah below. Appropriate to the meaning of the name, this may possibly be the site of the crag Etam.

3. A town of Judah located probably at Khirbet el-Khokh, on a hill two miles (3.2 kilometers) SW of Bethlehem. Apparently Etam and Bethlehem had been settled by close relatives. (1 Chron. 4:3, 4; see ATROTH-BETH-JOAB.) According to Josephus, King Solomon often took a morning chariot ride from Jerusalem those eight miles (13 kilometers) out to Etam, where there were gardens and streams. (Antiquities of the Jews, Book VIII, chap. VII, par. 3) The town was rebuilt and fortified by Solomon’s successor Rehoboam. (2 Chron. 11:5, 6) To the W of here was a spring connected, according to the Talmud, by aqueduct with Jerusalem.

ETHAM

(Eʹtham).

The second campsite listed by Moses in Israel’s march out of Egypt. (Ex. 13:20; Num. 33:3-7) It was at Etham, “on the edge of the wilderness,” that the Israelites made a change in their direction, ‘turning back’ toward Pihahiroth where the crossing of the sea took place. (Num. 33:7, 8) This would indicate that Etham could have been the point of exit from Egypt had not the Israelites been divinely directed to alter their course. This turning back caused Pharaoh to reason that the Israelites were ‘wandering in confusion in the wilderness,’ providing him with an incentive to pursue them and resulting in God’s execution of judgment on the Egyptians at the Red Sea.—Ex. 14:1-4.

Some scholars endeavor to place Etham at the eastern end of the Wadi Tumilat, N of the Bitter Lakes. However, this is because they connect the Hebrew Etham (ʼE·thamʹ) with the Old Egyptian word for fortress (hetem). Even if such connection were correct, there were a number of places to which such Egyptian name was applied. Since Etham was not on the northern route out of Egypt, which would have led “by the way of the land of the Philistines” (Ex. 13:17), it can only be said to have been at some point N of the Red Sea and evidently at the border of the wilderness region forming the NW part of the Sinai Peninsula.

A comparison of Numbers 33:8 with Exodus 15:22 would seem to indicate that the wilderness region by Etham corresponds to the “wilderness of Shur.” Or, if the names are not interchangeable, then, depending upon which region was the larger, the wilderness of Etham may have included that of Shur or else was itself a part of the wilderness of Shur.—See SHUR.

ETHAN

(Eʹthan) [long-lived, permanent, ever-flowing].

1. One of four men whose wisdom, though great, was exceeded by Solomon’s. Ethan is singled out as being the Ezrahite, whereas the other three, Heman, Calcol and Darda, are referred to as sons of Mahol. (1 Ki. 4:31) This Ethan may be the writer of Psalm 89, for the superscription identifies Ethan the Ezrahite as its writer. In 1 Chronicles 2:6, Ethan, Heman, Calcol and Dara are all spoken of as sons of Zerah of the tribe of Judah and possibly are the same as the men mentioned in 1 Kings. Ethan is referred to as the father of Azariah.—1 Chron. 2:8.

2. The father of Adaiah and the son of Zimmah, a Levite of the family of Gershom.—1 Chron. 6:41-43.

3. A son of Kishi (1 Chron. 6:44) or Kushaiah (1 Chron. 15:17), a Levite of the family of Merari. Ethan was a singer and a cymbalist. (1 Chron. 15:19) Because of his close association with Heman it has been suggested that Ethan is the Jeduthun who was appointed by David to serve before the tabernacle at Gibeon and that his name was changed from Ethan to Jeduthun after his appointment. (Compare 1 Chronicles 15:17, 19 with 1 Chronicles 16:39-41 and 25:1.)—See JEDUTHUN No. 1.

ETHANIM

(Ethʹa·nim).

This was the seventh lunar month of the sacred calendar of the Israelites, but the first of the secular calendar. (1 Ki. 8:2) It corresponded to part of September and part of October. Following the Babylonian exile it was called Tishri, a name that does not appear in the Bible record but which is found in postexilic writings.

The name “Ethanim” is understood to mean “steady flowings” or “perennial streams.” The long hot summer now had ended and only those streams that were fed by springs had not dried up. In speaking of the festival that began on the fifteenth day of this month (or around the first part of October), the historian Josephus writes: “The season of the year is changing for winter, the law enjoins us to pitch tabernacles in every one of our houses, so that we preserve ourselves from the cold of that time of the year.”—Antiquities of the Jews, 1825, Book III, chap, X, par. 4, p. 147.

START OF AGRICULTURAL YEAR

Whereas Abib (or Nisan) became the first month of the year in the sacred Jewish calendar following the exodus from Egypt, Ethanim continued to be viewed as the first month in a secular or agricultural sense. With this month, almost all the harvesting had been completed, marking the conclusion of the agricultural year. The early rains that thereafter fell softened the ground for the plowing that would follow, and which would denote the initiation of new agricultural operations. Jehovah referred to Ethanim as the turning point of the year when speaking of the festival of ingathering as being “at the outgoing of the year,” and “at the turn of the year.” (Ex. 23:16; 34:22) It is also notable that it was not in the month of Abib but in this month of Ethanim that the Jubilee year began.—Lev. 25:8-12.

The later name applied to the month, Tishri, means “beginning” or “opening,” and Tishri 1 is still observed by the Jews as their New Year’s Day or Rosh Hashanah (“head of the year”).

FESTIVAL MONTH

Ethanim was also a month of festivals. The first day was the “day of the trumpet blast.” (Lev. 23:24; Num. 29:1) Since each new moon was normally announced with a trumpet blast, this day likely was one of additional or extensive trumpeting. (Num. 10:10) On the tenth of Ethanim the annual day of atonement was observed. (Lev. 16:29, 30; 23:27; Num. 29:7) From the fifteenth to the twenty-first occurred the festival of booths or festival of ingathering, followed on the twenty-second day by a solemn assembly. (Lev. 23:34-36) Thus, a large part of the month of Ethanim was taken up by these festival seasons.

EVENTS OCCURRING IN ETHANIM

Since the Bible, from its first book forward, presents chronological data, and since the first mention of years of life is in connection with the life of Adam, it would seem that the ancient use of the month called “Ethanim” as the initial month of the year would give some basis for believing that Adam’s start of life was in this month. (Gen. 5:1-5) It was on the first day of Ethanim that Noah, after having already spent over ten months within the ark, removed the ark’s covering and observed that the floodwaters had drained off the ground. (Gen. 8:13) Over 1,300 years later Solomon inaugurated the completed temple at Jerusalem in Ethanim. (1 Ki. 8:2; 2 Chron. 5:3) After Jerusalem’s destruction in 607 B.C.E., the killing of Governor Gedaliah and the subsequent flight to Egypt of the remaining Israelites in the month of Ethanim marked the full desolation of Judah. (2 Ki. 25:25, 26; Jer. 41:1, 2) These events were involved in the reasons for the “fast of the seventh month” mentioned at Zechariah 8:19. Seventy years later, by this very same month, the released Israelite exiles had returned from Babylon to begin the restoration of Jerusalem.—Ezra 3:1, 6.

The evidence also indicates that Jesus’ birth took place during this month, as well as his subsequent baptism and anointing.—See JESUS CHRIST.

ETHBAAL

(Eth·baʹal) [with Baal].

King of the Sidonians, the father of Jezebel the wife of King Ahab. (1 Ki. 16:31) By giving his daughter in marriage to Ahab, Ethbaal entered into a political alliance with him. Ethbaal is evidently the Ithobalus mentioned in Josephus’ quotation of historian Menander as being the priest of the goddess Astarte (Ashtoreth). This priest got the kingship by murdering Pheles, a descendant of Hiram the king of Tyre with whom Solomon had dealings in connection with the building of the temple. Ethbaal is said to have ruled for thirty-two of the sixty-eight years of his life. (Against Apion, Book I, par. 18) Indicative of the commercial expansion carried on during his reign is Menander’s reference to Ethbaal’s building Auza in Libya. Menander also mentions that a one-year drought occurred during Ethbaal’s reign.—Antiquities of the Jews, Book VIII, chap. XIII, par. 2.

ETHER

(Eʹther) [riches; fullness; abundance; or perhaps, (place of) prayer].

A city of the Shephelah in the territory of Judah, but allotted to Simeon. (Josh. 15:33, 42; 19:1-9) Today it is generally identified with Khirbet el-ʽAter, about one mile (1.6 kilometers) NW of Beit Jibrin (Eleutheropolis). The account at Joshua 19:7 is nearly parallel with that of 1 Chronicles 4:32 and in this latter text Ether appears to be referred to as Tochen.

Some reference works consider that there were two Ethers, that at Joshua 15:42 being located between Libnah and Mareshah (at Khirbet el-ʽAter, above mentioned), and the other, referred to at Joshua 19:7, being situated near Ziklag to the S. While the other towns referred to in Joshua 19:7 are all in the S and many of those at Joshua 15:42 are more to the N, it may be noted, nevertheless, that in both texts the town of Ashan is mentioned, so that any clear division becomes difficult.

ETHIOPIA

(E·thi·oʹpi·a), Ethiopian (E·thi·oʹpian) [Gr., Ai·thi·o·piʹa, meaning “region of burnt faces”].

Ethiopia was the name applied by the ancient Greeks to the region of Africa S of Egypt. It thus corresponded generally with the Hebrew “Cush,” which embraced primarily the present Sudan and the northern part of modern Ethiopia. In Egyptian texts this region was likewise known by the name “Keesh.” When the Septuagint translation was made, the translators used the Greek “Ethiopia” to render the Hebrew “Cush” in all but two passages (Gen. 10:6-8; 1 Chron. 1:8-10). The Authorized Version follows this rendering in all cases except Isaiah 11:11, where it uses “Cush” instead of “Ethiopia”; the Revised Standard Version likewise follows the Septuagint except at Genesis 2:13 and Ezekiel 38:5. Some other translations (NW, JB) prefer Cush in yet other texts where the identification with ancient Ethiopia is not made certain by the context. As shown in the article on CUSH, the name “Cush” can also apply to peoples of Arabia.

The area originally designated by the name “Ethiopia” now consists of semiarid plains in the N, savannas and plateau land in the central region and tropical rain forest toward the S. One-time capitals of ancient Ethiopia were Napata and Meroe. Meroe was the seat of a kingdom in which the right of kingship was carried through the female line rather than the male. The queen mother was thus the one from whom her kingly son derived his right to the throne and at times may have been the virtual ruler of the land. The name Candace is mentioned by Greek and Latin writers as a title used by several such Ethiopian queens, evidently including the one referred to at Acts 8:27.

THE ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH

The Ethiopian eunuch who was ‘over the treasures’ of Queen Candace, and to whom Philip preached, was obviously a circumcised Jewish proselyte. (Acts 8:27-39) He was thus not viewed as a Gentile and hence did not precede Cornelius as the first uncircumcised Gentile convert to Christianity. (Acts chap. 10) For him to engage in worship at the temple in Jerusalem would require that the Ethiopian have been converted to the Jewish religion and aIso his having been circumcised. (Ex. 12:48, 49; Lev. 24:22) In view of the Mosaic law forbidding the entry of castrated persons into the congregation of Israel (Deut. 23:1), it is evident that the Ethiopian was not a eunuch in a fleshly sense. The Hebrew word for “eunuch” (sa·risʹ) in a broad or special sense also meant an officer, as at Genesis 39:1, where an officer of Pharaoh, Potiphar, a married man, is called a sa·risʹ. Had he been an actual eunuch the Ethiopian officer would not have been a proselyte and, if not