OVERSEERS (5-ver-se"ers), (Gr. bricrKoros, efi is'kokos, Acts xx:28).
This term denotes the pastor of a congrega tion of Christians, and is identical with presbyter or elder (comp. verse 17). The same Greek word is elsewhere translated "bishop." (Sec Btsnor; EPISCOPACY.) OWL (oul), (Heb. 71.3.;'1:‘,/ee-freth', and L'.%":, koce).
Two other Hebrew names have been likewise assigned in our yersions to presumed species of owls; namely, yan-shoR (hvih:c1//), which, although it must be confessed that in cominon Hebrew it indicates the owl, wc have endeavored to show is applied morc particularly to the night heron, Ardea niclicorax (see lms); and 7'2i7, kip-poze", either the same or confounded. as it appears, with kiprod, which has led to much controversy, and caused one or the other to be referred to six or seven animals. all widely dif ferent, for they include owl, osprey, bittern. hedge hog or porcupine, otter ( ?), and tortoise. Our reasons for applying kippod to the bittern will be found in KIPPOD.
There arc noticed in Egypt and Syria three well-known species of the genus Strix, or owl: —Stri.r bubo, 'the great-eared owl' ; Stri.r flam tnea, the common barn owl ; and Stria- passe rinn, the little owl. In this list Strix otus, the long eared owl, Strix braehyotus or ulula, the short eared owl. known nearly over the whole earth, and Stri.r orientolis of Hasselquist, are not in cluded, and several other species of these wan dering birds. both of Africa and Asiatic regions, occur in Palestine. The barn owl is still sacred in Northern Asia. The eagle-owl, or great-eared owl. Strix bubo, we do not find in ornithological works as an inhabitant of Syria. though no doubt it is an occasional winter visitant: nor the smaller species, Bubo Atheniensis of Gmelin. which may be a rare but permanent resident, probably also visiting Egypt. lt is not, however, we believe, that species.. but the Otits ascalaphus of Cuvier. which is common in Egypt. and which in all probability is the type of the innumerable rep resentations of an eared owl in hieroglyphical inscriptions.
Next we have Strix ulula. Strix braehyatsts. or short-eared owl, likewise found in Egypt and Arabia. as well as to the north of Syria. a bold pugnacious bird, residing in ruined buildings, mistaken by commentators for the screech-owl. Strix stridula, and most probably the leeleth, or screech owl, of the Bible (Is. xxxiv:t4). The spectral species, again, confounded with the goat sucker, is, we believe, Strix commando (see Mani. HAWK, and the same as Strix orientalis of Hasselquist. C. H. S. OX (6x), (Heb.11t, shore, in a collective sense, cattle). The rendering of Heb. baw-kawr', which is also generic for bovines; bak-aw-raw', with the feminine ending, signifies the cow.
Having already noticed the domestic beeves un der Bum.. (to which article we refer), the few words added here will apply to the breeds of Western Asia and the manner of treating them.
(1) Early Uses. The earliest pastoral tribes appear to have had domesticated cattle in the herd; and judging from the manners of South Africa, where we find nations still retaining in many respects primeval usages, it is likely that the patriarchal families, or at least their mov ables, were transported on the backs of oxen in the manner which the Kaffirs still practice, as also the Gwallahs and grain-merchants in India, who come down from the interior with whole droves bearing burdens.
(2) Various Breeds. Thc breeds of Egypt were various, differing in the length and flexures of the horns. There were some with long horns, others with short. and even with none, while a hunched race of Nubia reveals an Indian origin, and indi catcs that at least one of the nations on the Up per Nile had come from the valleys of the Ganges; for it is to the east of the Indus alone that that species is to be found whose original stock ap pears to bc the mountain yak (Bos grunnicns).
The domestic buffalo was unknown to West ern Asia and Egypt till after the Arabian con quest: it is now common in the last-mentioned region and far to the south, but not beyond the equator ; and from structural differences it may be surmised that there was in early ages a domes ticated distinct species of this animal in Africa. In Syria and 1?.gypt the present races of do mestic cattle arc somewhat smaller than the large breeds of Europe, and those of Palestine appear to be of at least two forms, both with short horns and both used to the plow, one being tall and lanky, the other more compact; and we possess pictures of the present Egyptian cattle with long horns bent down and forwards. From Egyptian pictures it is to be inferred that large droves of fine cattle were imported from Abyssinia, and that in the valley of the Nile they were in gen eral stall-fed, used exclusively for the plough, and treated humanely. In Palestine the Mosaic law provided with care for the kind treat ment of cattle; for in treading out corn—the Oriental mode of separating the grain from the straw—it was enjoined that the ox should not be muzzled (Dan. xxv :4), and old cattle that had long served in tillage were often suffered to wander at large till their death—a practice still in vogue, though from a different motive, in India. But the Hebrews and other nations of Syria grazed their domestic stock, particularly those tribes which, residing to the east of the Jordan, had fertile districts for that purpose. Here, of course, the droves became shy and wild; and though we are inclined to apply the passage in Ps. xxii:t2., to wild species, yet old bulls, roaming at large in a land where the lion still abounded, no doubt became fierce ; and as they would obtain cows from the pastures, there must have been feral breeds in the woods, as fierce and resolute as real wild Uri—which ancient name may be a mere modification of Reem. (See REED1.) C. H. S.
Most of the cattle of the Holy Land at present are of inferior breeds. Probably this is but a part of the degeneracy of the country. The best races of animals would thrive there, and even now one sometimes sees fine specimens of horned cattle. (See BEASTS; BULL.) FiguratiVe. (1) To "send forth the feet of the ox and the ass" (Is. xxxii:ao) to let the feet of the ox and the ass go to and fro in freedom, is a figure of great plenteousness, inasmuch as the cattle would not have to be watched lest they should stray into the fields of grain. (2) Where no oxen ore, the crib is clean; c. there is food for neither man nor beasts. But the words, the crib, etc., might be rendered, there is no wheat or corn on the thrashing floor (Prov. xiv :4). (3) In Cor. ix :9, to, the oxen not muzzled in treading out the corn is figurative of a minister's right to support. (4) A rash youth is like an ox led to the slaughter; he is thoughtlessly and easily decoyed, and tempted to that which ruins him (Prov. vii :22) ; or it may signify the saints under persecution (Jer. xi :19). (5) A stalled and fatted ox is used to express the most sumptuous and delicate provision (Prov. xv :17). (6) "As the ox licketh up the grass" (Num. xxii :4) is a figure of easy vic tory. (7) For an "ox to low over his fodder" (Job vi :5) is to complain without cause.