GNASH (clash), (Heb. khaw-rak', to grate the teeth; Gr. 13p6xtu, broo'kho), "to gnash with the teeth," and "gnashing of teeth", are expressions denoting rage or sorrow (Job xvi:9; Lam. ii:16; Matt. viii:12; Acts. vii:54).
GNAT (nat), (Gr. ta.lvtog.,, koh'nohfis, Vulg. culex Order, difitera, Linn., cuncida, Latr.; occurs in Matt. xxiii:24).
It is a small insect abounding in marshes and vexatious by reason of its bite, from which the Egyptians protected themselves at night by sleep ing under nets (Herod. ii :95). It is evidently some species of Culex, a genus known by its hairy antennpe, plumed in the males, its proboscis, its slender body, its two gauzy wings, its long legs and its blood-sucking propensities.
FiguratiVe. Our Savior's allusion to the gnat is a kind of proverb, either in use in his time, or invented by himself, 'Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow down (bolt, as we say) a camel.' He adopts the antithesis of the
smallest insect to the largest animal, and applies it to those who are superstitiously anxious in avoiding small faults, yet' do not scruple to com mit the greatest sins. The typographical error, 'strain at a gnat,' first found its way into King James' translation, 1611. It is 'strain out' in the previous translations. The custom of filtering wine, among the Jews, for this purpose, was founded on the prohibition of 'all flying, creep ing things' being used for food, excepting the saltatorii (Lev. xi :23). The custom seems alluded to by the Sept., which, in Amos vi :6, reads in the Hebrew, 'filtered wine'-a passage having a simi lar scope. According to the Talmud, eating a gnat incurred scourging or excommunication.
J. F. D.