Index 


Koa He-camel, occurs only in Eze 23:23, some province or place in the Babylonian empire, used in this passage along with Shoa (q.v.).

Kohath Assembly, the second son of Levi, and father of Amram (Gen 46:11). He came down to Egypt with Jacob, and lived to the age of one hundred and thirty-three years (Exo 6:18).

Kohathites The descendants of Kohath. They formed the first of the three divisions of the Levites (Exo 6:16, Exo 6:18; Num 3:17). In the journeys of the Israelites they had the charge of the most holy portion of the vessels of the tabernacle, including the ark (Num. 4). Their place in the marching and encampment was south of the tabernacle (Num 3:29, Num 3:31). Their numbers at different times are specified (Num 3:28; Num 4:36; Num 26:57, Num 26:62). Samuel was of this division.

Korah Ice, hail. (1.) The third son of Esau, by Aholibamah (Gen 36:14; Ch1 1:35). (2.) A Levite, the son of Izhar, the brother of Amram, the father of Moses and Aaron (Exo 6:21). The institution of the Aaronic priesthood and the Levitical service at Sinai was a great religious revolution. The old priesthood of the heads of families passed away. This gave rise to murmurings and discontent, while the Israelites were encamped at Kadesh for the first time, which came to a head in a rebellion against Moses and Aaron, headed by Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Two hundred and fifty princes, "men of renown" i.e., well-known men from among the other tribes, joined this conspiracy. The whole company demanded of Moses and Aaron that the old state of things should be restored, alleging that "they took too much upon them" (Num 16:1). On the morning after the outbreak, Korah and his associates presented themselves at the door of the tabernacle, and "took every man his censer, and put fire in them, and laid incense thereon." But immediately "fire from the Lord" burst forth and destroyed them all (Num 16:35). Dathan and Abiram "came out and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children," and it came to pass "that the ground clave asunder that was under them; and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up." A plague thereafter began among the people who sympathized in the rebellion, and was only stayed by Aaron's appearing between the living and the dead, and making "an atonement for the people" (Num 16:47). The descendants of the sons of Korah who did not participate in the rebellion afterwards rose to eminence in the Levitical service.

Korahites That portion of the Kohathites that descended from Korah. (1.) They were an important branch of the singers of the Kohathite division (Ch2 20:19). There are eleven psalms (Ps. 42 - 49; Psa 84:1; Psa 85:1; Psa 87:1; 88) dedicated to the sons of Korah. (2.) Some of the sons of Korah also were "porters" of the temple (Ch1 9:17); one of them was over "things that were made in the pans" (Ch1 9:31), i.e., the baking in pans for the meat-offering (Lev 2:5).

Kore Partridge. (1.) A Levite and temple-warder of the Korahites, the son of Asaph. He was father of Shallum and Meshelemiah, temple-porters (Ch1 9:19; Ch1 26:1). (2.) A Levitical porter at the east gate of the temple (Ch2 31:14). (3.) In Ch1 26:19 the word should be "Korahites," as in the Revised Version.

Korhites A Levitical family descended from Korah (Exo 6:24; Ch1 12:6; Ch1 26:1; Ch2 20:19).

Koz Thorn. (1.) A descendant of Judah. Ch1 4:8, "Coz;" R.V., "Hakkoz." (2.) A priest, the head of the seventh division of the priests (Ezr 2:61; Neh 3:4, Neh 3:21; Neh 7:63). In Ch1 24:10 the word has the article prefixed, and it is taken as a part of the word "Hakkoz."

Laban White. (1.) The son of Bethuel, who was the son of Nahor, Abraham's brother. He lived at Haran in Mesopotamia. His sister Rebekah was Isaac's wife (Gen. 24). Jacob, one of the sons of this marriage, fled to the house of Laban, whose daughters Leah and Rachel (Gen. 29) he eventually married. (See JACOB.) (2.) A city in the Arabian desert in the route of the Israelites (Deu 1:1), probably identical with Libnah (Num 33:20).

Lachish Impregnable, a royal Canaanitish city in the Shephelah, or maritime plain of Palestine (Jos 10:3, Jos 10:5; Jos 12:11). It was taken and destroyed by the Israelites (Jos 10:31). It afterwards became, under Rehoboam, one of the strongest fortresses of Judah (Ch2 10:9). It was assaulted and probably taken by Sennacherib (Kg2 18:14, Kg2 18:17; Kg2 19:8; Isa 36:2). An account of this siege is given on some slabs found in the chambers of the palace of Koyunjik, and now in the British Museum. The inscription has been deciphered as follows: "Sennacherib, the mighty king, king of the country of Assyria, sitting on the throne of judgment before the city of Lachish: I gave permission for its slaughter." (See Nineveh.) Lachish has been identified with Tell-el-Hesy, where a cuneiform tablet has been found, containing a letter supposed to be from Amenophis at Amarna in reply to one of the Amarna tablets sent by Zimrida from Lachish. This letter is from the chief of Atim (= Etam, Ch1 4:32) to the chief of Lachish, in which the writer expresses great alarm at the approach of marauders from the Hebron hills. "They have entered the land," he says, "to lay waste... strong is he who has come down. He lays waste." This letter shows that "the communication by tablets in cuneiform script was not only usual in writing to Egypt, but in the internal correspondence of the country. The letter, though not so important in some ways as the Moabite stone and the Siloam text, is one of the most valuable discoveries ever made in Palestine" (Conder's Tell Amarna Tablets, p. 134). Excavations at Lachish are still going on, and among other discoveries is that of an iron blast-furnace, with slag and ashes, which is supposed to have existed 1500 B.C.. If the theories of experts are correct, the use of the hot-air blast instead of cold air (an improvement in iron manufacture patented by Neilson in 1828) was known fifteen hundred years before Christ. (See FURNACE.) Letter to Zimrida, governor of Sidon and Lachish, part of the general diplomatic correspondence carried on between Amenophis III. and IV. and their agents in various Palestinian towns. Found by Mr. Bliss. Now in the Imperial Museum, Constantinople.