DAUGHTER (da'ter), (Heb. bath, feminine of 1;:. bane, son; Gr. Otrydrnp, thaa-gat air).
It has in Scripture a more extended applica tion than our word daughter. Besides its usual and proper sense of 1. A daughter real or adopted, we find it used to designate: 2. A uterine sister, niece or any female de scendant (Gen. XX :12 ; XXiV :48 ; XXViii :6; xxxvi : 2 ; Num. xxv :1 ; Dem. ).
3. Women, as natives, residents or professing the religion of certain places, as 'the daughter of Zion' (Is. iii:16) ; 'daughters of the Philistines' (2 Sam. i:20) ; 'daughters of a strange God' (Mal. ii:t1) ; 'daughters of men,' 1. e., carnal women (Gen. vi:2), etc.
4. Metaphorically, small towns are called daughters of neighboring large cities—metropoles or mother cities—to which they belonged, or from which they were derived, as 'Heshbon and all the daughters (Ruth. Version, villages) thereof' Num. xxi:25; so Tyre is called the daughter of Sidon (Is. xxiii :12), as having been originally a colony from thence, and hence also the town of Abel is called 'a mother in Israel' (2 Sam. xx :19), and Gath is in one place (comp. 2 Sam. i :2o; Chron. xviii:t) called Gath-Ammah, or Gath the mother town, to distinguish it from its own de pendencies, or from another place called Gath. See other instances in Num. xxi :32 ; Judg. xi :26; Josh xv :45, etc.
5. The people collectively of any place, the name of which is given, as 'the daughter (i. e., the people) of Jerusalem bath shaken her head at thee (Is. xxxvii :22 ; see also Ps. xlv :13; cxxxvii:
8; Is. x:3o; Jer. xlvi:19; Lam. iv.22; Zech. ix:9).
6. The word 'daughter,' followed by a numeral, indicates a woman of the age indicated by the numeral, as when Sarah (in the original) is called 'the daughter of ninety years' (Gen. xvii: 17).
The significations of the word 'daughter' in its scriptural use might be still more minutely dis tinguished, but they may all be referred to one or other of these heads.
Respecting the condition of daughters in fam ilies (see WOMEN ; NIAIMIAGE).
FiguratiVe. (1? Joseph is called 'a fruitful bough whose daughters (branches) run over the wall' (Gen. xlix :22). (2) The daughters of a city, chiefly a capital one, signify not only its in habitants, but also lesser cities or villages (Num. xxi :25). (3) The saints arc represented as daughters; they are dear to God and to their elder brother, Christ ; they receive their all from him, and are affectionate and beautiful (Ps. xlv: 10-14. (4) The daughters of the horse-leech are her young ones, that are never satisfied with blood (Prow. xxx :15). (5) The daughters of music ore brought in old age the lungs and other organs of singing are weakened, and the cars that attended to it become dull (Eccles. xii:4). (6) The daughters of trees arc their branches and sprouts iGen. xlix :22).