< Previous | Contents | Next >

The Hebrew word (‘ayyalah) in Proverbs 5: 19 thus rendered (R.V., “doe”), is properly the “wild she-goat,” the mountain goat, the ibex. (See 1 Samuel 24:2; Psalm 104:18; Job 39:1.)

ROGELIM fullers, a town of Gilead, the residence of Barzillai the Gileadite (2 Samuel 17:27; 19:31), probably near to Mahanaim.

ROLL the common form of ancient books. The Hebrew word rendered “roll” or “volume” is meghillah, found in Ezra 6:2; Psalm 40:7; Jeremiah 36:2, 6, 23, 28, 29; Ezekiel 2:9; 3:1-3; Zechariah 5:1, 2. “Rolls” (Chald. pl. of sephar, corresponding to Hebrews sepher) in Ezra 6:1 is rendered in the Revised Version “archives.” In the New Testament the word “volume” (Hebrews 10:7; R.V., “roll”) occurs as the rendering of the Greek kephalis, meaning the head or top of the stick or cylinder on which the manuscript was rolled, and hence the manuscript itself. (See BOOK.)

ROMAMTI-EZER elevation of help, one of the sons of Heman, “the king’s seer in the words of God, to lift up the horn.” He was head of the “four-and-twentieth” course of singers (1 Chronicles 25:4, 31).

ROMANS, EPISTLE TO THE This epistle was probably written at Corinth. Phoebe (Romans 16:1) of Cenchrea conveyed it to Rome, and Gaius of Corinth entertained the apostle at the time of his writing it (16:23; 1 Corinthians 1:14), and Erastus was chamberlain of the city, i.e., of Corinth (2 Timothy 4:20).

The precise time at which it was written is not mentioned in the epistle, but it was obviously written when the apostle was about to “go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints”, i.e., at the close of his second visit to Greece, during the winter preceding his last visit to that city (Romans 15:25; comp. Acts 19:21; 20:2, 3, 16; 1 Corinthians 16:1-4), early in A.D.

58.

It is highly probable that Christianity was planted in Rome by some of those who had been at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:10). At this time the Jews were very numerous in Rome, and their synagogues were probably resorted to by Romans also, who in this way became acquainted with the great facts regarding Jesus as these were reported among the Jews. Thus a church composed of both Jews and Gentiles was formed at Rome. Many of the brethren went out to meet Paul on his approach to Rome. There are evidences that Christians were then in Rome

in considerable numbers, and had probably more than one place of meeting (Romans 16:14, 15).