Any possibility that persons continuing in the practice of a “disgusting thing” might gain entrance into the “New Jerusalem,” the Lamb’s chaste “bride” class, is ruled out at Revelation 21:8-10, 27.

DISHAN

(Diʹshan) [antelope].

A Seirite, a sheik of the Horite in the land of Edom. (Gen. 36:20, 21; 1 Chron. 1:38) Genesis 36:28 says the sons of “Dishan” were Uz and Aran, while 1 Chronicles 1:42 in the Masoretic text, Septuagint, and Syriac Peshitta refers to “Dishon” as their progenitor. This difference in vocalization, apparently the result of a copyist’s error, is resolved in many English translations (AS, AV, JB, Kx, Le, NW, Ro, Yg) by using “Dishan” in both texts, as does the Latin Vulgate.

DISHON

(Diʹshon) [antelope].

The name of one or possibly two different men in the genealogies recorded at Genesis 36:20-28 and 1 Chronicles 1:38-42.

At Genesis 36:20, 21 (also verses 29, 30) seven “sons of Seir the Horite” are listed as sheiks, namely, Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer and Dishan. Then, in verses 22 to 28, each of the seven sheiks is listed with his sons. At verse 25 one of the sons of Anah is named Dishon. Some believe that this Dishon is a grandson of Seir and a nephew of Sheik Dishon, considering that the seven sheiks were all “sons” of Seir in the strict sense of the word, that is, of the same generation.

Others, however, believe the account to present the seven sheiks merely as descendants of Seir, not of the same generation, hence “sons” in the broad sense of the word. So they suggest that the Dishon of verse 25 is the same as Sheik Dishon (vss. 21 and 26) and not his nephew. According to this view, although actually the son of Sheik Anah, Dishon is named with the other six sheiks not because of being their brother but because of being their equal in the sense of being a sheik.

DISTAFF

A stick from which the prepared, loosely wound fibers of flax, wool or other materials were drawn and then attached to the spindle to make thread.—Prov. 31:19; see SPINNING.

DISTRICT

A term taken from several original-language words and variously translated to mean either a specific or a general area.

At Nehemiah 3:14-16 reference is made to the ‘districts’ of Beth-haccherem, Mizpah and Beth-zur. Commentators have expressed the view that “district” may here be used as an official governmental term, that is, that each Persian “jurisdictional district” or “province” (1:3; AV, RS) was partitioned into smaller administrative districts. According to this opinion, the references to half of the district of Jerusalem (3:9, 12) and of Keilah (vss. 17, 18) mean that, for geographical or other reasons, the districts in which these cities stood were divided into two sections. Some hold that the Hebrew peʹlekh (translated “district”) may, like the related Assyrian term (pilku), in the case of Jerusalem and Keilah, refer simply to an “assigned portion.” The “prince” or “ruler” of the half district (AS, AT, AV, JB) would thus refer to an overseer who had charge of the work in that portion of the town.

DISTRICT OF THE JORDAN

[Heb., kik·karʹ hay·yar·denʹ].

The term kik·karʹ is variously translated as “district,” “valley,” “circuit” and “plain,” and here implies a roughly circular basin, or oval-shaped area.

The “District of the Jordan” thus embraces the region into which the Jordan flows as into a basin. This includes the lower part of the Jordan valley, as can be seen by the mention of the “District of the Jordan” in connection with Solomon’s copper-casting activities between Succoth and Zarethan. (1 Ki. 7:46; 2 Chron. 4:17; compare 2 Samuel 18:23.) However, the “District” also appears to extend down to the southern end of the Dead Sea where the “cities of the District” evidently were located. (Gen. 13:10-12) Thus it not only took in the valley plain of Jericho but reached as far as Zoar, the city to which Lot and his daughters fled.—Gen. 19:17-25; Deut. 34:3.

Research conducted at the southern extremity of the Dead Sea indicates that a large portion of land below the tongue of land called the Lisan has become covered by the waters of the Sea. It is generally believed that the “cities of the District” lie submerged in this region. It was once “well-watered” and like “the garden of Jehovah.” (Gen. 13:10) This was true not only of the region N of the Dead Sea, where today only the Plains of Moab and the oasis of Jericho retain considerable fertility, but also of the southern part of the District. Even today the plain that lies beside the Lisan is described as a “prolonged oasis” where barley, wheat, dates and vines can be cultivated. The delta region of the Zered River, which flows into the southern end of the Dead Sea, is also called a “rich oasis.”

DIVAN

See BED.

DIVINATION

From Latin divus, “pertaining to god,” meaning that information received is from the gods. “Divination” embraces generally the whole scope of gaining secret knowledge, especially about future events, through the aid of spiritistic occult powers. (See SPIRITISM.) For consideration of specialized aspects of divination, see ASTROLOGERS; CONJURER; FORETELLER OF EVENTS; MAGIC AND SORCERY.

Practitioners of divination believe that superhuman gods reveal the future to those trained to read and interpret certain signs and omens, which, they say, are communicated in various ways: By celestial phenomena (the position and movement of stars and planets, eclipses, meteors), by terrestrial physical forces (wind, storms, fire), by behavior of creatures (howling of dogs, flight of birds, movement of snakes), by patterns of tea leaves in cups, by oil configurations on water or the direction falling arrows take, by the appearance of the liver, lungs and entrails of sacrificed animals, by the lines in the palm of the hand, by the casting of lots, and by the “spirits” of the dead.

Certain fields of divination have been given specific names. For example, augury, popular with the Romans, is a study of birds in flight; palmistry predicts the future from lines on the inside of the hand; hepatoscopy inspects the liver; haruspication inspects entrails; axinomancy divines with ax heads; belomancy with arrows; rhabdomancy uses the divining rod; oneiromancy is divination by dreams; necromancy is a purported inquiring of the dead. Crystal gazing and oracular divination are still other forms.

ORIGIN

The birthplace of divination was Babylonia, the land of the Chaldeans, and from there these occult practices spread around the earth with the migration of mankind. (Gen. 11:8, 9) Of that portion of Ashurbanipal’s library unearthed, one-fourth, it is said, contains omen tablets that purport to interpret all the peculiarities observed in the heavens and on earth, as well as all the incidental and accidental occurrences of everyday life. King Nebuchadnezzar’s decision to attack Jerusalem was made only after resorting to divination, concerning which it is written: “He has shaken the arrows. He has asked by means of the teraphim; he has looked into the liver. In his right hand the divination proved to be for Jerusalem.”—Ezek. 21:21, 22.

Looking into the liver in quest of omens was based on the belief that all vitality, emotion and affection were centered in this organ. One-sixth of man’s blood is in the liver. The variations in its lobes, ducts, appendages, veins, ridges and markings were interpreted as signs or omens from the gods. (See ASTROLOGERS.)