These words occur in the Scriptures in the three following senses. First, that of dry land in opposition to water; as 'I will make the rivers islands' (). In , the Isle of Ashdod means the country, and is so rendered in the margin. In; , 'the isle' means the country of Tyre, and in , that of Chittim and Elisha (see also ). Secondly, it is used both in Hebrew and English, according to its geographical meaning, for a country surrounded by water, as in , 'the isle (margin) of Caphtor,' which is probably that of Cyprus. 'The isles of the sea' () are evidently put in opposition to 'the land,' or continent. In , 'the multitude of the isles' seem distinguished from the earth or continents, and are evidently added to complete the description of the whole world. Thirdly: the word is used by the Hebrews to designate all those countries divided from them by the sea. In , after an enumeration of countries lying on their own continent, the words 'and the islands of the sea' are added in order to comprehend those situate beyond the ocean. The following are additional instances of this usage of the word, which is of very frequent occurrence (;;;;;; ). It is observed by Sir I. Newton (On Daniel, p. 276), 'By the earth the Jews understood the great continent of all Asia and Africa, to which they had access by land; and by the isles of the sea they understood the places to which they sailed by sea, particularly all Europe.'
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John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
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