Following this a certain Syrian rebel named Rezon, who fled from Hadadezer, made himself king at Damascus, and became a resister of Israel all the days of Solomon. (1 Ki. 11:23-25) With these developments Damascus became the most prominent Syrian city, and was long recognized as “the head of Syria,” toward which Jehovah’s pronouncements against that nation were directed.—Isa. 7:8; 17:1-3; Amos 1:5.

After division of Israel’s kingdom

Bible history of the Syrians following the death of Solomon and the dividing of his kingdom tells, in the main, of their successes and reverses in their relations with the Israelites of both the northern and southern kingdoms. Particular events are mentioned as occurring during the reigns of Asa (1 Ki. 15:18-20; 2 Chron. 16:2-4, 7), Ahab (1 Ki. 20:1-34; 22:3, 4, 29-35; 2 Chron. 18:10, 28-34), Jehoram of Israel (2 Ki. 6:24–7:16; 8:28, 29; 9:14b, 15; 2 Chron. 22:5, 6), Jehoash of Judah (2 Ki. 12:17, 18; 2 Chron. 24:23, 24), Jehoahaz (2 Ki. 13:3-7, 22), Jehoash of Israel (2 Ki. 13:14-19, 24, 25), Jotham (2 Ki. 15:37, 38), Ahaz (2 Ki. 16:5-9; 2 Chron. 28:5; Isa. 7:1-8; 9:12) and Jehoiakim (2 Ki. 24:2). It was most unusual, worthy of special mention, when there were ‘three years without war between Syria and Israel.’—1 Ki. 22:1.

Jehovah’s prophet Elisha had certain contacts with the Syrians, as for example, when he cured the Syrian army chief Naaman of leprosy (2 Ki. 5:1-20), and when he disclosed to Hazael that he would be king of Syria in place of his master, Ben-hadad II. (2 Ki. 8:7-15) On another occasion when a detachment of Syrians surrounded Dothan to take Elisha captive, the prophet first asked God to strike them with a form of blindness, and then he led them to Samaria, where their vision was restored, had them fed and sent them home. (2 Ki. 6:8-23) For further details on these experiences of the Syrians with the prophet, see the article on ELISHA.

The Syrians were Semites, closely related and associated with the Israelites. Yet in the eighth century B.C.E. there was sufficient difference between their languages that the common Jew did not understand Aramaic. (2 Ki. 18:26-28; Isa. 36:11, 12; see ARAMAIC [The Language].) Also religiously, there were vast differences between the polytheistic Syrians and the Jews, and it was only when the latter apostatized that worship of the Syrian gods was allowed in the land of Israel.—Judg. 10:6; 2 Ki. 16:10-16; 2 Chron. 28:22, 23.

IN THE FIRST CENTURY C.E.

Syria of apostolic times meant the Roman province that Pompey annexed to the empire in 64 B.C.E. This province embraced much of the old territory of Syria as well as the whole of Palestine. At the time of Jesus’ birth it was ruled over by Governor Quirinius, the legate of Emperor Augustus, whose residence was in the capital of the province and third-largest city of the Roman Empire, Antioch, on the Orontes River. (Luke 2:1, 2) Jesus restricted his ministry to Palestine proper, but reports of his wonderful miracles reached out “into all Syria.”—Matt. 4:24.

When the Christians in Jerusalem were scattered because of the persecution following the stoning of Stephen, some of them carried the good news to Syria’s capital, Antioch. First the Jews there heard the message, and later those of other national groups. Barnabas and Paul were both instrumental in building up the congregation of Antioch. It was first in this Syrian city where “the disciples were by divine providence called Christians.”—Acts 11:19-26; Gal. 1:21.

About the year 46 C.E., during the reign of Emperor Claudius when a great famine occurred, the Christians in and around Antioch sent a relief ministration by Barnabas and Paul to their brothers in Jerusalem. (Acts 11:27-30) The letter regarding circumcision sent out by the apostles and older men in Jerusalem was addressed particularly to the congregations in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia (a neighboring region). (Acts 15:23) During the years when Paul traveled extensively as a missionary he used Antioch of Syria as his home base.—Acts 15:40, 41; 18:18; 20:3; 21:3; Gal. 2:11; see ARAM No. 5; ASSYRIA.

SYROPHOENICIAN

(Sy·ro·phoe·niʹcian).

The designation applied in Mark 7:26 to a non-Israelite woman from the regions of Tyre and Sidon. Being a combination of “Syrian” and “Phoenician,” the expression “Syrophoenician” probably had its origin in the circumstance that Phoenicia was part of the Roman province of Syria. The Syrophoenician woman is also called a Kha·na·naiʹa (literally, Canaanitess; translated “Phoenician” in NW), for the early inhabitants of Phoenicia descended from Canaan and, in time, “Canaan” came to refer primarily to Phoenicia. (Matt. 15:22) Her being termed “Grecian” likely means that she was of Greek descent.—Mark 7:26; see GREECE, GREEKS, page 691.

Not long after Passover of 32 C.E., this Syrophoenician woman approached Jesus Christ, repeatedly requesting that he expel a demon from her daughter. At first Jesus declined, saying: “It is not right to take the bread of the children and throw it to little dogs.” To the Jews dogs were unclean animals. But, in likening the non-Jews to “little dogs,” such as might be kept in a home and not wild dogs of the street, Jesus softened the comparison. Nevertheless, what Jesus said apparently served to test the woman. Humbly, she acknowledged: “Yes, Lord; but really the little dogs do eat of the crumbs falling from the table of their masters.” Her words reflected great faith and, therefore, her daughter was healed.—Matt. 15:21-28; Mark 7:24-30.

SYRTIS

(Syrʹtis).

The Greek name of two gulfs located within the large indentation on the coast of northern Africa. The western gulf (between Tunis and Tripoli) was called Syrtis Minor (now the Gulf of Gabes). Just to the E was Syrtis Major, the modern Gulf of Sidra. (See the map on pages 684 and 685.) Ancient sailors dreaded both gulfs because of their treacherous sandbanks, which were constantly being shifted by the tides. Regarding vessels that became involved in the shoals, Strabo, a geographer of the first century C.E., reported that ‘rarely would a skiff be saved.’

When the apostle Paul was being taken to Rome as a prisoner, the ship on which he traveled was seized S of Crete by a northeasterly gale. The crew, therefore, feared that the ship would be run aground on the “Syrtis,” evidently the quicksands or sandbanks of the Gulf of Sidra.—Acts 27:14-17.

SYSTEMS OF THINGS

The phrase “system of things” expresses the sense of the Greek term ai·onʹ in more than thirty of its occurrences in the Christian Greek Scriptures.

On the meaning of ai·onʹ, Archbishop R. C. Trench’s book Synonyms of The New Testament (pp. 216, 217, 1960 printing of ninth edition) states: “Like kosmos [world] it [ai·onʹ] has a primary and physical, and then, superinduced on this, a secondary and ethical, sense. In its primary [sense], it signifies time, short or long, in its unbroken duration; . . . but essentially time as the condition under which all created things exist, and the measure of their existence; . . . Thus signifying time, it comes presently to signify all which exists in the world under conditions of time; . . . and then, more ethically, the course and current of this world’s affairs.” In support of this latter sense, he quotes German scholar C. L. W. Grimm as giving the definition: “the totality of that which manifests itself outwardly in the course of time.”

The basic sense of ai·onʹ, therefore, is “age” or “period of existence,” and in Scripture it often denotes a long space of time (Acts 3:21; 15:18), including an endless period of time, that is, forever, eternity. (Mark 3:29; 11:14; Heb. 13:8) For these senses, see AGE, page 41. Here, however, we consider the sense of the term