depicts an extreme condition in stating that a quart of wheat or three quarts of barley would cost a denarius (a full day’s wage).

If the costly nard that Mary, Lazarus’ sister, used in greasing Jesus Christ had been sold for 300 denarii (nearly a year’s wages), likely this would have meant that a sizable amount of money would have gone into the money box kept by Judas Iscariot. Little wonder that dishonest Judas Iscariot raised strong objections, since he would be unable to embezzle even a fraction of this large sum.—John 12:3-6; 13:29; Mark 14:3-11.

The neighborly Samaritan of Jesus’ illustration spent two denarii (two days’ wages) to help an unknown stranger and declared himself willing to care for additional expenses in his behalf. (Luke 10:33-35) By contrast, in one of Jesus’ illustrations emphasizing the need of being forgiving, a slave whose debt of 60,000,000 denarii had been canceled was unwilling to pardon the 100-denarii debt of a fellow slave.—Matt. 18:24-33.

DEPENDENT TOWNS

[literally, “daughters”].

Small towns in the neighborhood of a larger town or city. The capital or primary city of a district was the metropolis, or “mother” city, as at 1 Chronicles 18:1: “Gath and its dependent towns” (literally, “Gath and her daughters”). Tyre is called the “daughter” of Sidon, a city evidently older than Tyre, which seems to have been originally a colony of Sidon. (Isa. 23:8, 12; Gen. 10:19; Josh. 11:8) The towns of Judah were dependent on Jerusalem. (Ps. 48:11; 97:8; Lam. 3:51) Other “mother” cities with dependent towns were Samaria and Sodom (Ezek. 16:53), Rabbah of Ammon (Jer. 49:3), Kenath (Num. 32:42), Ekron (Josh. 15:45), Ashdod and Gaza (Josh. 15:47), Beth-shean, Ibleam, Dor, En-dor, Taanach and Megiddo.—Josh. 17:11.

The “daughter” towns either originated from or were politically, economically (and sometimes religiously) dependent on the “mother” city. In some cases the dependent towns were unwalled or less fortified, and in times of siege the inhabitants would seek safety in the “mother” city.—Jer. 4:5; 8:14.

The ancient city of Jerusalem as the “mother” of the dependent towns of Judah is used symbolically to picture “Jerusalem above,” Jehovah’s place of safety, in which those seeking righteousness will find refuge in the “day of Jehovah against all the nations.”—Gal. 4:26; Obad. 15, 17; Ps. 48:11-13; Joel 2:32.

Babylon the Great is pictured in Revelation, chapter 17, as a prostitute woman and as a city, with daughters. These are organizations springing from the mother organization. Dependent on her, they will fall to destruction with her.

DEPUTY

[Heb., na·tsavʹ, n^etsivʹ, to set up or station, hence a pillar, prefect or deputy].

During the reign of Solomon (1037-997 B.C.E.) twelve deputies were appointed to high-ranking administrative positions. Each was responsible for providing food and other supplies for the royal household one month during the year, on a rotational basis.—1 Ki. 4:7

In lieu of a general tax for the support of the government, foodstuffs were taken from the produce of the land. The deputies were therefore overseers of production, harvesting, storage and delivery of the monthly quotas, which amounted to a considerable tonnage. (1 Ki. 4:22, 23) These deputies may also have served as civil administrators in their assigned territories, in addition to their work of supervising the commissary supplies.

There was equity in this system, for it appears that the districts were set up with due consideration to population and productivity of the land, rather than according to the fixed tribal boundaries. Nine of the administrative districts were located W of the Jordan; the other three, E. Since the listing of the districts is not in any sequence according to location, they may be listed according to the monthly order in which each deputy furnished his supplies.

The personal names of only seven deputies are given in the Masoretic text; the other five are listed only as “son of” so-and-so. (1 Ki. 4:8-19) Some translations (AS, AT, Dy, Ro, RS) simply prefix “Ben” (meaning “son of”) to the father’s name, as “Ben-hur,” “Ben-deker,” “Ben-hesed,” “Ben-abinadab,” “Ben-geber.” So that all ran smoothly, with no shortages, the twelve deputies were placed under the supervision of one of Solomon’s leading princes, “Azariah the son of Nathan.”—1 Ki. 4:5.

“Princely deputies” also served as foremen and overseers of the labor force engaged in construction during Solomon’s reign. It seems that the two accounts of these deputies in First Kings and Second Chronicles differed only in methods of classification, the first listing 3,300 plus 550 for a total of 3,850 (1 Ki. 5:16; 9:23), and the second giving 3,600 plus 250, which also totals 3,850. (2 Chron. 2:17, 18; 8:10) Scholars (Ewald, Keil, Michaelis) suggest that the Chronicles figures distinguish between the 3,600 non-Israelite and the 250 Israelite deputies, whereas in Kings the distinction in deputies is between 3,300 subordinate foremen and 550 chief supervisors, this latter figure including 300 non-Israelites.

During the rule of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah (936-911 B.C.E.), “a deputy was king” in Edom, which, at the time, was under Judean control. (1 Ki. 22:47) This indicates that a vicegerent had been appointed or approved to act in the place of the king.

“Deputy rulers” (Heb., s^egha·nimʹ, always used in the plural) occurs seventeen times in the Bible, as, for example, at Ezra 9:2; Nehemiah 2:16; Isaiah 41:25; Jeremiah 51:23 and Ezekiel 23:6. It meant subordinate rulers or petty officials, as distinguished from nobles, princes and governors. Some translators render it “deputies.”—Mo, Ro.

DERBE

(Derʹbe).

A ‘city of Lycaonia’ in Asia Minor, personally visited two times, or perhaps three, by the apostle Paul.

Probably sometime prior to the winter of 47-48 C.E., during his first missionary journey, Paul arrived at Derbe after a severe stoning at nearby Lystra. At Derbe, he and Barnabas ‘declared the good news’ and made “quite a few disciples,” including, possibly, “Gaius of Derbe,” who is later mentioned as a traveling companion of the apostle. While secular history indicates that after 41 C.E. Derbe was the easternmost city of the political province of Galatia, Luke’s description of it in this account as a ‘city of Lycaonia’ is apparently in a regional or ethnographic sense. (Acts 14:6, 19-21; 20:4) A number of months later, after the Jerusalem council concerning circumcision (c. 49 C.E.), and while on his second tour, Paul returned to Derbe. (15:36; 16:1) Though not singled out by name, Derbe may have also been a stop on Paul’s third tour when he strengthened the disciples in “the country of Galatia.”—18:23.

There is no record of Paul’s meeting physical resistance at Derbe and he makes no mention of the city many years later when recounting his sufferings at other places in its vicinity. (2 Tim. 3:11) In 1964, the location of the ancient city of Derbe was identified with Dervi Shehri (“city of Derbe”), a site about a hundred and twenty-five miles (201.1 kilometers) W-NW of Tarsus. As to whether Derbe was included in Paul’s letter addressed “to the congregations of Galatia,” see GALATIANS, LETTER TO THE.—Gal. 1:2.

DESERT

See WILDERNESS.

DETESTABLE THING

The words ta·ʽavʹ and toh·ʽe·vahʹ (derived from ta·ʽavʹ) occur some 140 times in the Hebrew Scriptures. Ta·ʽavʹ is a Hebrew root word meaning “to loathe” or, in a moral sense, “to detest.” Its usage in the Bible indicates strong aversion to or rejection of things or persons on the basis of their violating certain principles or not meeting