LEGERDEMAIN (lerer-de--man). See MAGI. LEGION (leym), (Gr. At--yettzr, leg-ee-one', a Greek lorm of the Latin legio), a division of the Roman army. It always comprised a large body of men; but the number varied so much at differ ent times that there is considerable discrepancy in the statements with reference to it.
The legion appears to have originally contained about 3,000 men, and to have risen gradually to twice that number, or even more. As all the divis ions of the Roman army are noticed in scripture, we may add that each legion was divided into ten cohorts or regiments, each cohort into three man iples or bands, and each maniple into three cen turies or companies of too each. This smaller division into centuries or hundreds, from the form in which it is exhibited as a constituent of the larger divisions, clearly shows that 6,000 had be come at least the formal number of a legion.
The military standard of the Romans was at first a bunch of straw attached to a pole. Later an eagle and four other animals formed the stand ards of a legion, but after to4 B. C. the eagle alone was employed (Pliny', Hist. iVat. x:4). It was committed to the custody of the chief cen turion. In addition to the eagle, the standard also commonly bore a small image of the em peror, and the introduction of these images into Jerusalem by Pontius Pilate caused an insurrec tion of the Jews (Antiq. xviii:3, 1; IVar ii :9, 2). But while the great standard of the whole legion was the eagle, each cohort and century had its own standard. and these minor ensigns assumed a variety of forms.
FiguratiVe. The word /egioa came to be used to express a great number or multitude (Matt. xxvi :53). Thus, the unclean spirit (Mark
v :9), when asked his name, answers, `My name is Legion, for We are many' (comp. verse 15). The Rabbinical writers even apply it to inanimate ob jects, as when they speak of `a legion of olives,' etc.
beein', fiery, flaming), the third son of Mizraim (Gen. x:13; Chron. i:1 0. Some think that Leha bim denotes the Libyans, one of the most ancient peoples in Africa.
In Nah. iii :9, and Dan. xi:43, we find mention of the Lubim, which the Vulgate and LXX every where render Libyans; or, what comes to the same in Nahum and Daniel, they render Nubians. It is clear that this name describes colonies of Egyptians (Calmet). They are undoubtedly the Re Bit or Le Btt of the Egyptian monuments and are of Midianitish or kindred origin with the Egyptians. "The Lehabim are the fair-haired, blue-eyed Libyans, who as far back as the nine teenth and twentieth dynasties had been incor porated into the Egyptian army. At one time they occupied much the same place in Egyptian history as was subsequently occupied by the Lyd ians, and it is probable that the twenty-second dynasty, that of Shishak, was of Libyan extrac tion, and owed its rise to power to the influence of the Libyan troops." (Sayce, Higher Crit. and Mon. p. 135.) LEHI (le'hi), lekh'ee, meaning cheek or jawbone). A place in Judah where Samson, single-handed, conquered the Philistines with a jawbone (Judg. xv:9, 14, 19). It was probably on the border of the Philistine country', but the exact location has not yet been settled.