but that He has remained indifferent toward his creation. Also, materialism and the never-ending quest for pleasure are imbued with the very spirit of Epicureanism. Moreover, the notion that “God is dead” and thus far removed from mankind and in no position to assist them mirrors the teaching of Epicurus.

EPILEPSY

A chronic disease of the central nervous system manifested in convulsions or in impairment or loss of consciousness, and perhaps both. This disorder is linked with abnormal electrical activities of the brain. A severely convulsive epileptic fit accompanied by unconsciousness is called grand mal, whereas the mild form, attacks of which are of very brief duration, is termed petit mal, these being two principal types of epilepsy. An epileptic is a person afflicted with epilepsy.

On the day following the transfiguration, Jesus Christ healed an epileptic that his disciples had been unable to cure. (Matt. 17:14-20) This boy had a “speechless and deaf spirit” that, among other things, periodically from childhood threw the victim into convulsions accompanied by foaming at the mouth. Jesus rebuked the demon, it came out, and the boy was thus healed.—Mark 9:14-29; Luke 9:37-43.

Though demon activity was associated with epileptic symptoms in this particular case, epilepsy normally has natural causes and the Scriptures do not infer that it is generally caused by demon possession. Rather, Matthew (4:24) reports that people brought Jesus ailing ones including “demon-possessed and epileptic” persons, drawing a distinction between these two types of individuals cured by Christ.

The English term “epilepsy” is derived from the Greek word e·pi·le·psiʹa, meaning “a seizure.” However, e·pi·le·psiʹa is not used in the Bible. Rather, for this disorder Matthew (4:24; 17:15) employed forms of the Greek word se·le·ni·aʹzo·mai, meaning, literally, “to be moonstruck.” Whereas AV uses “lunatick,” certain modern translations employ “epileptic(s)” at Matthew 4:24; 17:15.—AS; NW; RS.

Interestingly, The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (Vol. III, p. 1941) states: “The original meaning of the term selēniazomai, ‘moon-struck,’ is connected with the popular belief, widespread and of strange persistency, that the moon, in certain of its phases, is injurious to human beings, esp[ecially] in the case of diseases of a periodic or remittent character. There are no data by which to determine whether, in the N[ew] T[estament] times, this particular word represented a living and active belief or had passed into the state of usage in which the original metaphor disappears, and the word simply indicates the fact signified without reference to the idea embodied in the etymology. We still use the word ‘lunatic’ to signify a person mentally diseased, although we have long since ceased to believe in the moon’s influence in such cases.”

Hence, Matthew’s use of forms of se·le·ni·aʹzo·mai does not mean that he held any superstitious views associating such a disease with certain phases of the moon. Evidently, he was merely employing the Greek term that was then commonly used to denote an epileptic. Also, the symptoms Matthew, Mark and Luke describe as present in the boy’s case are certainly those associated with epilepsy.

EPSILON

[Ε, ε] (epʹsi·lon).

The fifth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the koi·neʹ Greek there were two sounds for the vowel “e”; and eʹpsi·lon had the short sound of “e,” as in the English “met.”—See ETA.

Eʹpsi·lon, as to its numerical value, represents five when it has the acute accent (εʹ), and 5,000 when it has the subscript (====ε).—See ALPHABET.

ER

[watching].

1. Judah’s firstborn son by his Canaanite wife. His father took Tamar as a wife for him, but, because Er proved to be wicked in the eyes of God, Jehovah put him to death before he was able to father any offspring.—Gen. 38:1-7; 46:12.

2. A son of Shelah the third son of Judah by his Canaanite wife.—Gen. 38:2-5; 1 Chron. 4:21.

3. An ancestor of Jesus Christ; the son of Jesus [Jose(s)] and the father of Elmadam.—Luke 3:28.

ERAN

(Eʹran) [watchful], Eranites (Eʹran·ites).

Eran was the son of Ephraim’s son Shuthelah and the forefather of the Eranites.—Num. 26:35, 36.

ERASTUS

(E·rasʹtus) [beloved].

1. A Christian who ministered to Paul on his third missionary tour and whom Paul sent from Asia to Macedonia along with Timothy. (Acts 19:22) Likely he is the Erastus who remained in Corinth at the time Paul wrote his second letter to Timothy.—2 Tim. 4:20.

2. The city steward of Corinth whose greetings Paul includes in his letter to the Romans. (Rom. 16:23) During excavations in Corinth in 1929 Professor T. L. Shear discovered a pavement with the Latin inscription: “ERASTVS. PHO. AED. S. P. STRAVIT” (“Erastus, procurator and aedile, laid this pavement at his own expense”). Although it is not known whether this is the Erastus mentioned by Paul, interestingly, the pavement is believed to have existed in the first century C.E. It has been suggested that the city steward was also Paul’s traveling companion (see No. 1, above). However, since it would have been difficult for Erastus to accompany Paul and at the same time care for his duties as city steward, those who favor this identification generally conclude that Erastus held this official position at an earlier time and therefore Paul refers to him by this title.

[Picture on page 528]

Inscription bearing the name Erastus, from Corinth

ERECH

(Eʹrech).

One of the four cities constituting the “beginning of [Nimrod’s] kingdom” in the land of Shinar. (Gen. 10:10) Erech is today represented by a cluster of mounds at the site called Warka by the Arabs and known as Uruk to the ancient Akkadians of Mesopotamia. It is situated about a hundred and ten miles (177 kilometers) SE of Babylon on the W bank of the old bed of the Euphrates (the Shattek-Kar), or some four miles (6.4 kilometers) E of the present course of that river. An ancient ziggurat has been uncovered here, along with many mounds and coffins that seem to indicate that Erech was once a burial ground of the Assyrian kings.

Inhabitants of Erech (“Archevites,” AV) were among those peoples transported to Samaria by Assyrian Emperor Asenappar.—Ezra 4:9, 10.

ERI

(Eʹri) [watchful, vigilant], Erites (Eʹrites).

The fifth-named son of Gad, Eri, was the forefather of the Erites.—Gen. 46:16; Num. 26:16.

ESAR-HADDON

(Eʹsar-hadʹdon) [Asshur has given brother(s)].

A younger son and successor of Sennacherib, king of Assyria. In one of his inscriptions Esar-haddon confirms the Scriptural account of his father’s death (Isa. 37:37, 38), saying: “A firm determination fell upon my brothers. They forsook the gods and turned to their deeds of violence, plotting evil. . . . To gain the kingship they slew Sennacherib their father.”