the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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Bible Encyclopedias
Parbar
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (Heb. hap-Parbar', הִפִּרְבָּר, with the article; Sept. διαδεχομένους; ‘ Vulg. cellulae), a word occurring in Hebrew and A.V. only in 1 Chronicles 26:18, but there found twice: "At [the] Parbar westward four [Levites] at the causeway, two at [the] Parbar." From this passage, and also from the context, it would seem that Parbar was some place on the west side of the Temple enclosure, the same side with the causeway and the gate Shallecheth. The latter was cause to the causeway — probably on it, being that which in later times gave place to the bridge: and we know from its remains that the bridge was at the extreme south of the western wall. Parbar therefore must have been north of Shallecheth, apparently where the Bab Silsilis now is. As to the meaning of the name, the rabbins generally agree (see the Targum of the passage; also Buxtorf, Lex Talm. s.v. פרב; and the references in Lightfoot, Prospect of Temple, ch. v) in translating it "the outside place;" while modern authorities take it as equivalent to the parvarim in 2 Kings 23:11 (A.V. "suburbs"), a word almost identical with parbar, and used by the early Jewish interpreters as the equivalent of migrashim, tie precincts (A.V. "suburbs") of the Levitical cities. Accepting this interpretation, there is no difficulty in identifying the Parbar with the suburb (τὸ προάστειον ) mentioned by Josephus in describing Herod's Temple (Ant. 15:11, 5), as lying in the deep valley which separated the west wall of the Temple from the city opposite it; in other words, the southern end of the Tyropeeon, which intervenes between the Wailing-place and the (so-called) Zion. The two gates in the original wall were in Herod's Temple increased to four. It does not follow (as some have assumed) that Parbar was identical with the "suburbs" of 2 Kings 23:11, though the words denoting each may have the same signification. For it seems most consonant with probability to suppose that the "horses of the Sun" would be kept on the eastern side of the Temple mount, in full view of the rising rays of the god as they shot over the Mount of Olives, and not in a deep valley on its western side. Parbar is probably an ancient Jebusitish name, which perpetuated itself after the Israelitish conquest of the city. Gesenius (Thesaur. p. 1123 a) and Furst (Handwb. 2:235 b) connect parbar and parvarim with a similar Persian word, farwar, meaning a summer-house or building open on all sides to the sun and air. (See TEMPLE).
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Parbar'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/p/parbar.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
