 |  |
never takes away for the `gifts and calling of God are without repentance' (i.e. change of
mind on His part, Rom. 11: 29).
CAST DOWN. These words appear in Daniel's description of the overwhelming
vision that he records in the seventh chapter, "I beheld till the thrones were cast down,
and the Ancient of days did sit" (7: 9). But in what sense could these thrones which
were intimately connected with God, be cast down or overthrown? In which case, how
could they be sat on? The contemporary translations of Coverdale, Matthew and the
Great Bible render it "until the seates were prepared" and the Geneva and the Bishop's
Bible had "till the thrones were set up". The Septuagint and Vulgate have words which
mean "were placed" and undoubtedly this is the correct meaning and fits the context,
which the A.V. translation does not.
CHAMPAIGN. This word occurs in Deut. 11: 30 ". . . . . in the land of the
Canaanites, which dwell in the Champaign over against Gilgal, beside the plains of
Moreh". It was an old French word meaning "open, level country or plain" and this is its
meaning in Deuteronomy.
CHAPMEN. The A.V. uses this word in II Chron. 9: 13, 14:
". . . . . the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and
threescore and six talents (666) of gold, beside that which chapmen and merchants
brought . . . . ."
Chapmen were traders who traveled about selling goods. Even in 1611 the word had
begun to lose its primary significance of `merchant' and came to be used of itinerant
hawkers and pedlars, and was looked on with disdain, as is expressed in Shakespeare's
lines from Troilus and Cressida:
"Fair Diomed, you do as chapmen do,
Disguise the thing that you desire to buy" (Act 2, scene 1),
and in another context he speaks of the "base sale of chapmen's tongues". "Traders" is
the meaning in II Chron. 9: 14.
CHARGEABLE. This word in 1611 meant `burdensome' and refers to persons rather
than commodities. In Neh. 5: 15 we read of governors `who were chargeable unto the
people', that is, they laid heavy burdens on the people. The Apostle Paul reminds the
Thessalonians that he worked night and day so that he `might not be chargeable' to them
(I Thess. 2: 9; II Thess. 3: 8). "I was chargeable to no man" (II Cor. 11: 9) means I did
not burden anyone.
CIEL, CIELING (I Kings 6: 15). These words are obsolete spelling of CEIL and
CEILING, and mean walls lined with wood paneling. In II Chron. 3: 5 it states that