is of the simplest, consisting only in the arrangement of the discourse in lines of uniform length—usually heptasyllabic (Ephraim’s favourite metre) or pentasyllabic. A more complicated arrangement is found in other poems, such as the Carmina Nisibena: these are made up of strophes, each consisting of lines of different lengths according to a settled scheme, with a recurring refrain. T. J. Lamy has estimated that, in this class of poems, there are as many as 66 different varieties of metres to be found in the works of Ephraim. These strophic poems were set to music, and sung by alternating choirs of girls. According to Ephraim’s biographer, his main motive for providing these hymns set to music was his desire to counteract the baneful effects produced by the heretical hymns of Bardaiṣan and his son Harmonius, which had enjoyed popularity and been sung among the Edessenes for a century and a half.
The subject-matter of Ephraim’s poems covers all departments of theology. Thus the Roman edition contains (of metrical works) exegetical discourses, hymns on the Nativity of Christ, 65 hymns against heretics, 85 on the Faith against sceptics, a discourse against the Jews, 85 funeral hymns, 4 on freewill, 76 exhortations to repentance, 12 hymns on paradise, and 12 on miscellaneous subjects. The edition of Lamy has added many other poems, largely connected with church festivals. It must be confessed that, judged by Western standards, the poems of Ephraim are prolix and wearisome in the extreme, and are distinguished by few striking poetic beauties. And so far as they are made the vehicle of reasoning, their efficiency is seriously hampered by their poetic form. On the other hand, it is fair to remember that the taste of Ephraim’s countrymen in poetry was very different from ours. As Duval remarks: “quant à la prolixité de saint Éphrem que nous trouvons parfois fastidieuse, on ne peut la condamner sans tenir compte du goût des Syriens qui aimaient les répétitions et les développements de la même pensée, et voyaient des qualités là où nous trouvons des défauts” (Littér. syriaque, p. 19). He is no worse in these respects than the best of the Syriac writers who succeeded him. And he surpasses almost all of them in the richness of his diction, and his skill in the use of metaphors and illustrations.
Of Ephraim as a commentator on Scripture we have only imperfect means of judging. His commentaries on the O.T. are at present accessible to us only in the form they had assumed in the Catena Patrum of Severus (compiled in 861), and to some extent in quotations by later Syriac commentators. His commentary on the Gospels is of great importance in connexion with the textual history of the N.T., for the text on which he composed it was that of the Diatessaron. The Syriac original is lost: but the ancient Armenian version survives, and was published at Venice in 1836 along with Ephraim’s commentary on the Pauline epistles (also only extant in Armenian) and some other works. A Latin version of the Armenian Diatessaron commentary has been made by Aucher and Mösinger (Venice, 1876). Using this version as a clue, J. R. Harris[1] has been able to identify a number of Syriac quotations from or references to this commentary in the works of Isho’dadh, Bar-Kepha (Severus), Bar-ṣalibi and Barhebraeus. Although, as Harris points out, it is unlikely that the original text of the Diatessaron had come down unchanged through the two centuries to Ephraim’s day, the text on which he comments was in the main unaffected by the revision which produced the Peshitta. Side by side with this conclusion may be placed the result of F. C. Burkitt’s[2] careful examination of the quotations from the Gospels in the other works of Ephraim; he shows conclusively that in all the undoubtedly genuine works the quotations are from a pre-Peshitta text.
As a theologian, Ephraim shows himself a stout defender of Nicaean orthodoxy, with no leanings in the direction of either the Nestorian or the Monophysite heresies which arose after his time. He regarded it as his special task to combat the views of Marcion, of Bardaiṣan and of Mani.
To the modern historian Ephraim’s main contribution is in the material supplied by the 72 hymns[3] known as Carmina Nisibena and published by G. Bickell in 1866. The first 20 poems were written at Nisibis between 350 and 363 during the Persian invasions; the remaining 52 at Edessa between 363 and 373. The former tell us much of the incidents of the frontier war, and particularly enable us to reconstruct in detail the history of the third siege of Nisibis in 350.
Of the many editions of Ephraim’s works a full list is given by Nestle in Realenk. f. protest. Theol. und Kirche (3rd ed.). For modern students the most important are: (1) the great folio edition in 6 volumes (3 of works in Greek and 3 in Syriac), in which the text is throughout accompanied by a Latin version (Rome, 1732–1746); on the unsatisfactory character of this edition (which includes many works that are not Ephraim’s) and especially of the Latin version, see Burkitt, Ephraim’s Quotations, pp. 4 sqq.; (2) Carmina Nisibena, edited with a Latin translation by G. Bickell (Leipzig, 1866); (3) Hymni et sermones, edited with a Latin translation by T. J. Lamy (4 vols., Malines, 1882–1902). Many selected homilies have been edited or translated by Overbeck, Zingerle and others (cf. Wright, Short History, pp. 35 sqq.); a selection of the Hymns was translated by H. Burgess, Select Metrical Hymns of Ephrem Syrus (1853). Of the two recensions of Ephraim’s biography, one was edited in part by J. S. Assemani (B.O. i. 26 sqq.) and in full by S. E. Assemani in the Roman edition (iii. pp. xxiii.-lxiii.); the other by Lamy (ii. 5-90) and Bedjan (Acta mart. et sanct. iii. 621–665). The long poem on the history of Joseph, twice edited by Bedjan (Paris, 1887 and 1891) and by him attributed to Ephraim, is more probably the work of Balai. (N. M.)
EPHRAIM, a tribe of Israel, called after the younger son of
Joseph, who in his benediction exalted Ephraim over the elder
brother Manasseh (Gen. xlviii.). These two divisions were often
known as the “house of Joseph” (Josh. xvii. 14 sqq.; Judg. i. 22;
2 Sam. xix. 20; 1 Kings xi. 28). The relations between them are
obscure; conflicts are referred to in Is. ix. 21,[4] and Ephraim’s
proud and ambitious character is indicated in its demands as
narrated in Josh. xvii. 14; Judg. viii. 1-3, xii. 1-6. throughout,
Ephraim played a distinctive and prominent part; it probably
excelled Manasseh in numerical strength, and the name became
a synonym for the northern kingdom of Israel. Originally the
name may have been a geographical term for the central portion
of Palestine. Regarded as a tribe, it lay to the north of Benjamin,
which traditionally belongs to it; but whether the young
“brother” (see Benjamin) sprang from it, or grew up separately,
is uncertain. Northwards, Ephraim lost itself in Manasseh,
even if it did not actually include it (Judg. i. 27; 1 Chron. vii.
29); the boundaries between them can hardly be recovered.
Ephraim’s strength lay in the possession of famous sites:
Shechem, with the tomb of the tribal ancestor, also one of the
capitals; Shiloh, at one period the home of the ark; Timnath-Serah
(or Heres), the burial-place of Joshua; and Samaria, whose
name was afterwards extended to the whole district (see
Samaria).
Shechem itself was visited by Abraham and Jacob, and the latter bought from the sons of Hamor a burial-place (Gen. xxxiii. 19). The story of Dinah may imply some early settlement of tribes in its vicinity (but see Simeon), and the reference in Gen. xlviii. 22 (see R.V. marg.) alludes to its having been forcibly captured. But how this part of Palestine came into the hands of the Israelites is not definitely related in the story of the invasion (see Joshua).
A careful discussion of the Biblical data referring to Ephraim is given by H. W. Hogg, Ency. Bib., s.v. On the characteristic narratives which appear to have originated in Ephraim (viz. the Ephraimite or Elohist source, E), see Genesis and Bible: Old Testament Criticism. See further Abimelech; Gideon; Manasseh; and Jews: History.
EPHTHALITES, or White Huns. This many-named and enigmatical tribe was of considerable importance in the history of India and Persia in the 5th and 6th centuries, and was known to the Byzantine writers, who call them Ἐφθαλίτοι, Εὐθαγίτοι Νεφθαλίτοι or Ἀβδελοί. The last of these is an independent attempt to render the original name, which was probably
- ↑ Fragments of the Commentary of Ephrem Syrus upon the Diatessaron (London, 1895).
- ↑ “Ephraim’s Quotations from the Gospel,” in Texts and Studies, vol. vii. (Cambridge, 1901).
- ↑ There were originally 77, but 5 have perished.
- ↑ Inter-tribal feuds during the period of the monarchy may underlie the events mentioned in 1 Kings xvi. 9 sq., 21 sq.; 2 Kings xv. 10, 14.
