WATCH. 1. (Heb. shaw-mar'), denot ing 'to cut into,' thence 'to impress on the mind,' 'to observe,' to watch ;' the original meaning of which is 'to look out,' thence 'to watch ;' as in English 'to keep a look out' is a nautical phrase for 'to watch.' Watching must have been coeval with danger, and danger arose as soon as man became the enemy of man, or had to guard against the attacks of wild animals. Accordingly we find traces of the practice of watching in early portions of the Hebrew annals. Watching must have been carried to some degree of completeness in Egypt, tor we learn from Exod.xiv:24 that the practice had, at the time of the Exodus, caused the night to be di vided into different watches or portions, mention being made of the 'morning watch.' Compare I Sam. xi:It. In the days of the Judges (vii:to), we find the 'middle watch' mentioned. (See Luke xii :38). At a later period Isaiah plainly intimates (xxi:5, 6) that there ,was a watchtower in Jeru salem and that it was customary on extraordinary occasions to set a watchman. Watchmen were, however, even at an earlier day, customarily em ployed in the metropolis, and their post. was at the gates (2 Sam. xviii :24, sq.; 2 Kings ix :i 7 sq.; Ps. cxxvii:t ; Prov. viii :34), where they gave signals and information, either by their voice or with the aid of a trumpet (Jer. vi :17; Ezek. xxxiii :6). At night watchmen were accustomed to perambulate the city (Cant. iii:3; v:7). In the New Testa ment we find mention made of the second, the third, and the fourth watch (Luke xii:38; Matt. xiv :25). The space of the natural night, from the setting to the rising of the sun, the ancient Jews divided into three equal parts of four hours each. But the Romans, imitating the Greeks, di vided the night into four watches (vigilicr), and the Jews, from the time they came under subjec tion to the Romans, following this Roman custom, also divided the night into four watches, each of which consisted of three hours ; these four periods Mark (xiii :35) has distinguished by the terms evening, midnight, cock crowing, and morning.
The terms by which the old Hebrew division of the night was characterized are : the first watch, beginning of the watches (Lam. ii :19) ; (2) `the middle watch' (Judg. vii :1g) ; 'the morning watch' (I Sam. xi :it). The first ex tended from sunset to our ten o'clock, the second from ten at night till two in the morning, and the third from that hour till sunrise (Ideler, Clironol. i, 486). J. R. B.
2. Shaw-kad' (Heb. to be alert) is to be wakeful, and so watchful, either for good (Jer. xxxi :28 ; 1i :12) or evil (Is. xxix :2o).
3. Koos-to-dee' ah (Gr. a Roman sentry, one of the soldiers who guarded the tomb of our Lord (Matt. xxvii :65, 66).
4. Gray-gor-eh'o (Gr. ymoplw) means to keep awake, to watch, and so take heed lest through carelessness some great calamity suddenly over take one (Matt. xxiv :42; xxv :13; Mark xiii :35; Rev. xvi :15), or lest one be led to forsake Christ (Matt. xxvi :4t; Mark xiv :38), or fall into sin (1 Thess. v:6; 1 Cor. xvi :13 ; I Pet. v:8 ; Rev. iii :2, sq.). To "watch" (Col. iv :2) is to employ the greatest care.
5. Nay'fo (Gr. vhcpw, to abstain from wine, be sober, is used in the New Testament figuratively, to be calm and collected in spirit; to be temperate, dispassionate, circumspect (1 Thess. v :6, 8; 2 Tim. iv :5 ; I Pet. i :13 ; v :8). (Barnes' Bib. Cyc.; Strong's Concord.) WATER mah'yinz). No one can read far in the sacred Scriptures without be ing reminded of the vast importance of water to the Hebrews in Palestine, and indeed in every country to which their history introduces us; and more particularly in the deserts in which they wandered on leaving Egypt, as well as those into which they before or afterwards sent their flocks for pasture.
The natural waters have already been disposed of in the articles PALESTINE and RIVER; and in CISTERN and JERUSALEM ( which see) notice has been taken of some artificial collections. It now remains to complete the subject, under the present head, by the addition of such details as may not have been comprehended under the articles re ferred to.