Chedorlaomer (= Khudur-Lagamar of the inscriptions), king of Elam. Many centuries before the age of Abraham, Canaan and even the Sinaitic peninsula had been conquered by Babylonian kings, and in the time of Abraham himself Babylonia was ruled by a dynasty which claimed sovereignity over Syria and Palestine. The kings of the dynasty bore names which were not Babylonian, but at once South Arabic and Hebrew. The most famous king of the dynasty was Khammu-rabi, who united Babylonia under one rule, and made Babylon its capital. When he ascended the throne, the country was under the suzerainty of the Elamites, and was divided into two kingdoms, that of Babylon (the Biblical Shinar) and that of Larsa (the Biblical Ellasar). The king of Larsa was Eri-Aku ("the servant of the moon-god"), the son of an Elamite prince, Kudur-Mabug, who is entitled "the father of the land of the Amorites." A recently discovered tablet enumerates among the enemies of Khammu-rabi, Kudur-Lagamar ("the servant of the goddess Lagamar") or Chedorlaomer, Eri-Aku or Arioch, and Tudkhula or Tidal. Khammu-rabi, whose name is also read Ammi-rapaltu or Amraphel by some scholars, succeeded in overcoming Eri-Aku and driving the Elamites out of Babylonia. Assur-bani-pal, the last of the Assyrian conquerors, mentions in two inscriptions that he took Susa 1635 years after Kedor-nakhunta, king of Elam, had conquered Babylonia. It was in the year B.C. 660 that Assur-bani-pal took Susa.
Cheek Smiting on the cheek was accounted a grievous injury and insult (Job 16:10; Lam. 3:30; Micah 5:1). The admonition (Luke 6:29), "Unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other," means simply, "Resist not evil" (Matt. 5:39; 1 Pet. 2:19-23). Ps. 3:7 = that God had deprived his enemies of the power of doing him injury.
Cheese (A.S. cese). This word occurs three times in the Authorized Version as the translation of three different Hebrew words: (1.) 1 Sam. 17:18, "ten cheeses;" i.e., ten sections of curd. (2.) 2 Sam. 17:29, "cheese of kine" = perhaps curdled milk of kine. The Vulgate version reads "fat calves." (3.) Job 10:10, curdled milk is meant by the word.
Chemarim black, (Zeph. 1:4; rendered "idolatrous priests" in 2 Kings 23:5, and "priests" in Hos. 10:5). Some derive this word from the Assyrian Kamaru, meaning "to throw down," and interpret it as describing the idolatrous priests who prostrate themselves before the idols. Others regard it as meaning "those who go about in black," or "ascetics."
Chemosh the destroyer, subduer, or fish-god, the god of the Moabites (Num. 21:29; Jer. 48:7, 13, 46). The worship of this god, "the abomination of Moab," was introduced at Jerusalem by Solomon (1 Kings 11:7), but was abolished by Josiah (2 Kings 23:13). On the "Moabite Stone" (q.v.), Mesha (2 Kings 3:5) ascribes his victories over the king of Israel to this god, "And Chemosh drove him before my sight."
Chenaanah merchant. (1.) A Benjamite (1 Chr. 7:10). (2.) The father of Zedekiah (1 Kings 22:11, 24).
Chenaiah whom Jehovah hath made. "Chief of the Levites," probably a Kohathite (1 Chr. 15:22), and therefore not the same as mentioned in 26:29.
Chephirah village, one of the four cities of the Gibeonitish Hivites with whom Joshua made a league (9:17). It belonged to Benjamin. It has been identified with the modern Kefireh, on the west confines of Benjamin, about 2 miles west of Ajalon and 11 from Jerusalem.
Cherethim (Ezek. 25:16), more frequently Cherethites, the inhabitants of Southern Philistia, the Philistines (Zeph. 2:5). The Cherethites and the Pelethites were David's life-guards (1 Sam. 30:14; 2 Sam. 8:18; 20:7, 23; 23:23). This name is by some interpreted as meaning "Cretans," and by others "executioners," who were ready to execute the king's sentence of death (Gen. 37:36, marg.; 1 Kings 2:25).
Cherith a cutting; separation; a gorge, a torrent-bed or winter-stream, a "brook," in whose banks the prophet Elijah hid himself during the early part of the three years' drought (1 Kings 17:3, 5). It has by some been identified as the Wady el-Kelt behind Jericho, which is formed by the junction of many streams flowing from the mountains west of Jericho. It is dry in summer. Travellers have described it as one of the wildest ravines of this wild region, and peculiarly fitted to afford a secure asylum to the persecuted. But if the prophet's interview with Ahab was in Samaria, and he thence journeyed toward the east, it is probable that he crossed Jordan and found refuge in some of the ravines of Gilead. The "brook" is said to have been "before Jordan," which probably means that it opened toward that river, into which it flowed. This description would apply to the east as well as to the west of Jordan. Thus Elijah's hiding-place may have been the Jermuk, in the territory of the half-tribe of Manasseh.
