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  1. ABEL
    British Dictionary definitions for Abel
    noun
    1. (Old Testament) the second son of Adam and Eve, a shepherd, murdered by his brother Cain (Genesis 4:1–8)
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
    © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
    Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

    Word Origin and History for Abel
    masc. proper name, in Old Testament, second son of Adam and Eve, from Hebrew Hebhel, literally "breath," also "vanity." Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Abel in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    (Heb. Hebhel), a breath, or vanity
    The second son of Adam and Eve. He was put to death by his brother Cain (Gen. 4:1-16). Guided by the instruction of their father, the two brothers were trained in the duty of worshipping God. "And in process of time" (marg. "at the end of days", i.e., on the Sabbath) each of them offered up to God of the first-fruits of his labours. Cain, as a husbandman, offered the fruits of the field; Abel, as a shepherd, of the firstlings of his flock. "The Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering; but unto Cain and his offering he had not respect" (Gen. 4:3-5). On this account Cain was angry with his brother, and formed the design of putting him to death; a design which he at length found an opportunity of carrying into effect (Gen. 4:8,9. Comp. 1 John 3:12).

    There are several references to Abel in the New Testament. Our Saviour speaks of him as "righteous" (Matt. 23:35). "The blood of sprinkling" is said to speak "better things than that of Abel" (Heb. 12:24); i.e., the blood of Jesus is the reality of which the blood of the offering made by Abel was only the type. The comparison here is between the sacrifice offered by Christ and that offered by Abel, and not between the blood of Christ calling for mercy and the blood of the murdered Abel calling for vengeance, as has sometimes been supposed.

    It is also said (Heb. 11:4) that "Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain." This sacrifice was made "by faith;" this faith rested in God, not only as the Creator and the God of providence, but especially in God as the great Redeemer, whose sacrifice was typified by the sacrifices which, no doubt by the divine institution, were offered from the days of Adam downward. On account of that "faith" which looked forward to the great atoning sacrifice, Abel's offering was accepted of God.

    Cain's offering had no such reference, and therefore was rejected. Abel was the first martyr, as he was the first of our race to die. Abel (Heb. 'abhel), lamentation (1 Sam. 6:18), the name given to the great stone in Joshua's field whereon the ark was "set down." The Revised Version, however, following the Targum and the LXX., reads in the Hebrew text _'ebhen_ (= a stone), and accordingly translates "unto the great stone, whereon they set down the ark." This reading is to be preferred. Abel (Heb. 'abhel), a grassy place, a meadow. This word enters into the composition of the following words:

  2. ABIATHAR
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    Father of abundance, or my father excels, the son of Ahimelech the high priest.
    He was the tenth high priest, and the fourth in descent from Eli. When his father was slain with the priests of Nob, he escaped, and bearing with him the ephod, he joined David, who was then in the cave of Adullam (1 Sam. 22:20-23; 23:6). He remained with David, and became priest of the party of which he was the leader (1 Sam. 30:7).

    When David ascended the throne of Judah, Abiathar was appointed high priest (1 Chr. 15:11; 1 Kings 2:26) and the "king's companion" (1 Chr. 27:34). Meanwhile Zadok, of the house of Eleazar, had been made high priest. These appointments continued in force till the end of David's reign (1 Kings 4:4). Abiathar was deposed (the sole historical instance of the deposition of a high priest) and banished to his home at Anathoth by Solomon, because he took part in the attempt to raise Adonijah to the throne.

    The priesthood thus passed from the house of Ithamar (1 Sam. 2:30-36; 1 Kings 1:19; 2:26, 27). Zadok now became sole high priest. In Mark 2:26, reference is made to an occurrence in "the days of Abiathar the high priest." But from 1 Sam. 22, we learn explicitly that this event took place when Ahimelech, the father of Abiathar, was high priest.

    The apparent discrepancy is satisfactorily explained by interpreting the words in Mark as referring to the life-time of Abiathar, and not to the term of his holding the office of high priest. It is not implied in Mark that he was actual high priest at the time referred to. Others, however, think that the loaves belonged to Abiathar, who was at that time (Lev. 24:9) a priest, and that he either himself gave them to David, or persuaded his father to give them.

  3. ABIJAH
    Abijah in the Bible

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    father (i.e., "possessor or worshipper") of Jehovah.

    (1.) 1 Chr. 7:8.

    (2.) 1 Chr. 2:24.

    (3.) The second son of Samuel (1 Sam. 8:2; 1 Chr. 6:28). His conduct, along with that of his brother, as a judge in Beer-sheba, to which office his father had appointed him, led to popular discontent, and ultimately provoked the people to demand a royal form of government.

    (4.) A descendant of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, a chief of one of the twenty-four orders into which the priesthood was divided by David (1 Chr. 24:10). The order of Abijah was one of those which did not return from the Captivity (Ezra 2:36-39; Neh. 7:39-42; 12:1).

    (5.) The son of Rehoboam, whom he succeeded on the throne of Judah (1 Chr. 3:10). He is also called Abijam (1 Kings 14:31; 15:1-8). He began his three years' reign (2 Chr. 12:16; 13:1,2) with a strenuous but unsuccessful effort to bring back the ten tribes to their allegiance. His address to "Jeroboam and all Israel," before encountering them in battle, is worthy of being specially noticed (2 Chr. 13:5-12).

    It was a very bloody battle, no fewer than 500,000 of the army of Israel having perished on the field. He is described as having walked "in all the sins of his father" (1 Kings 15:3; 2 Chr. 11:20-22). It is said in 1 Kings 15:2 that "his mother's name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom;" but in 2 Chr. 13:2 we read, "his mother's name was Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah." The explanation is that Maachah is just a variation of the name Michaiah, and that Abishalom is probably the same as Absalom, the son of David. It is probable that "Uriel of Gibeah" married Tamar, the daughter of Absalom (2 Sam. 14:27), and by her had Maachah. The word "daughter" in 1 Kings 15:2 will thus, as it frequently elsewhere does, mean grand-daughter.

    (6.) A son of Jeroboam, the first king of Israel. On account of his severe illness when a youth, his father sent his wife to consult the prophet Ahijah regarding his recovery. The prophet, though blind with old age, knew the wife of Jeroboam as soon as she approached, and under a divine impulse he announced to her that inasmuch as in Abijah alone of all the house of Jeroboam there was found "some good thing toward the Lord," he only would come to his grave in peace. As his mother crossed the threshold of the door on her return, the youth died, and "all Israel mourned for him" (1 Kings 14:1-18).

    (7.) The daughter of Zechariah (2 Chr. 29:1; comp. Isa. 8:2), and afterwards the wife of Ahaz. She is also called Abi (2 Kings 18:2).

    (8.) One of the sons of Becher, the son of Benjamin (1 Chr. 7:8). "Abiah," A.V.

  4. ABSALOM
    noun
    1. (Old Testament) the third son of David, who rebelled against his father and was eventually killed by Joab (II Samuel 15–18)
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
    © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
    Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

    Word Origin and History for Absalom
    masc. proper name, King David's son in the Old Testament, often used figuratively for "favorite son," from Hebrew Abhshalom, literally "father is peace," from abh "father" + shalom "peace."
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

  5. ADAM
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    Adam in the Bible
    red
    A Babylonian word, the generic name for man, having the same meaning in the Hebrew and the Assyrian languages. It was the name given to the first man, whose creation, fall, and subsequent history and that of his descendants are detailed in the first book of Moses (Gen. 1:27-ch. 5). "God created man [Heb., Adam] in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." Adam was absolutely the first man whom God created. He was formed out of the dust of the earth (and hence his name), and God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and gave him dominion over all the lower creatures (Gen. 1:26; 2:7).

    He was placed after his creation in the Garden of Eden, to cultivate it, and to enjoy its fruits under this one prohibition: "Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." The first recorded act of Adam was his giving names to the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, which God brought to him for this end.

    Thereafter the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon him, and while in an unconscious state took one of his ribs, and closed up his flesh again; and of this rib he made a woman, whom he presented to him when he awoke. Adam received her as his wife, and said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." He called her Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

    Being induced by the tempter in the form of a serpent to eat the forbidden fruit, Eve persuaded Adam, and he also did eat. Thus man fell, and brought upon himself and his posterity all the sad consequences of his transgression. The narrative of the Fall comprehends in it the great promise of a Deliverer (Gen. 3:15), the "first gospel" message to man. They were expelled from Eden, and at the east of the garden God placed a flame, which turned every way, to prevent access to the tree of life (Gen. 3).

    How long they were in Paradise is matter of mere conjecture. Shortly after their expulsion Eve brought forth her first-born, and called him Cain. Although we have the names of only three of Adam's sons, viz., Cain, Abel, and Seth, yet it is obvious that he had several sons and daughters (Gen. 5:4). He died aged 930 years. Adam and Eve were the progenitors of the whole human race. Evidences of varied kinds are abundant in proving the unity of the human race. The investigations of science, altogether independent of historical evidence, lead to the conclusion that God "hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth" (Acts 17:26. Comp. Rom. 5:12-12; 1 Cor. 15:22-49).

  6. ADORAM/ADONIRAM
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    (Adoram, 1 Kings 12:18), the son of Abda, was "over the tribute," i.e., the levy or forced labour. He was stoned to death by the people of Israel (1 Kings 4:6; 5:14)

  7. AHIKAM
    Ahikam in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    brother of support = helper, one of the five whom Josiah sent to consult the prophetess Huldah in connection with the discovery of the book of the law (2 Kings 22:12-14; 2 Chr. 34:20). He was the son of Shaphan, the royal secretary, and the father of Gedaliah, governor of Judea after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians (2 Kings 25:22; Jer. 40:5-16; 43:6). On one occasion he protected Jeremiah against the fury of Jehoiakim (Jer. 26:24). It was in the chamber of another son (Germariah) of Shaphan that Baruch read in the ears of all the people Jeremiah's roll.

  8. AMOS
    British Dictionary definitions for Amos
    noun (Old Testament)
    1. a Hebrew prophet of the 8th century bc
    2. the book containing his oracles
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
    © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
    Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

    Word Origin and History for Amos
    masc. proper name; third of the prophets in the Old Testament; from Greek, from Hebrew Amos, literally "borne (by God)."
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Amos in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    borne; a burden,
    One of the twelve minor prophets. He was a native of Tekota, the modern Tekua, a town about 12 miles south-east of Bethlehem. He was a man of humble birth, neither a "prophet nor a prophet's son," but "an herdman and a dresser of sycomore trees," R.V. He prophesied in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and was contemporary with Isaiah and Hosea (Amos 1:1; 7:14, 15; Zech. 14:5), who survived him a few years.

    Under Jeroboam II
    The kingdom of Israel rose to the zenith of its prosperity; but that was followed by the prevalence of luxury and vice and idolatry. At this period Amos was called from his obscurity to remind the people of the law of God's retributive justice, and to call them to repentance.

    The Book of Amos consists of three parts:

    (1.) The nations around are summoned to judgment because of their sins (1:1-2:3). He quotes Joel 3:16.

    (2.) The spiritual condition of Judah, and especially of Israel, is described (2:4-6:14).

    (3.) In 7:1-9:10 are recorded five prophetic visions.

    (a) The first two (7:1-6) refer to judgments against the guilty people.

    (b) The next two (7:7-9; 8:1-3) point out the ripeness of the people for the threatened judgements. 7:10-17 consists of a conversation between the prophet and the priest of Bethel.

    (c) The fifth describes the overthrow and ruin of Israel (9:1-10); to which is added the promise of the restoration of the kingdom and its final glory in the Messiah's kingdom. The style is peculiar in the number of the allusions made to natural objects and to agricultural occupations. Other allusions show also that Amos was a student of the law as well as a "child of nature."

    These phrases are peculiar to him:
    * "Cleanness of teeth" [i.e., want of bread] (4:6);
    * "The excellency of Jacob" (6:8; 8:7);
    * "The high places of Isaac" (7:9);
    * "The house of Isaac" (7:16);
    * "He that createth the wind" (4:13)
    * Quoted, Acts 7:42

  9. ASA
    Asa in the Bible

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

    Physician
    Son of Abijah and grandson of Rehoboam, was the third king of Judah. He was zealous in maintaining the true worship of God, and in rooting all idolatry, with its accompanying immoralities, out of the land (1 Kings 15:8-14). The Lord gave him and his land rest and prosperity.

    It is recorded of him, however, that in his old age, when afflicted, he "sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians" (comp. Jer. 17:5). He died in the forty-first year of his reign, greatly honoured by his people (2 Chr. 16:1-13), and was succeeded by his son Jehoshaphat.

    COMMENTARY
    How sad and ironic that Asa's name actually means "Physician, healer" [The exhaustive Dictionary of Bible Names, page 23], yet it was his going to the physicians instead of God during his sickness that became his demise.

    Jeremiah 17
    5 Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.
    6 For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
    7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.
    8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

    Asa trusted in the worldly physicians instead of the Lord

  10. ATHALIAH
    noun
    1. a daughter of Ahab and Jezebel and usurper of the throne of Judah, reigned 842–837 b.c. II Kings 11:1–3.

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    Whom God afflicts.

    (1.) The daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, and the wife of Jehoram, king of Judah (2 Kings 8:18), who "walked in the ways of the house of Ahab" (2 Chr. 21:6), called "daughter" of Omri (2 Kings 8:26). On the death of her husband and of her son Ahaziah, she resolved to seat herself on the vacant throne. She slew all Ahaziah's children except Joash, the youngest (2 Kings 11:1,2). After a reign of six years she was put to death in an insurrection (2 Kings 11:20; 2 Chr. 21:6; 22:10-12; 23:15), stirred up among the people in connection with Josiah's being crowned as king.

    (2.) Ezra 8:7.

    (3.) 1 Chr. 8:26.

    COMMENTARY:
    Although her name means "Whom God afflicts", God never afflicts anybody with anything negative. This is a figure of speech called a Hebrew idiom of permission. God gives everybody freedom of will and he ALLOWS evil to come upon people because we all reap what we sow.

    Jezebel, Athaliah's mother, was born of the seed of the serpent, who is the devil. This had a powerful negative effect on Athaliah, who murdered all of her grandchildren through her son Ahaziah except one [Joash]. This was because Josiah was crowned king, so most likely, the motive was envy, which often goes hand in hand with murder.

    This is why the phrase "full of envy" comes before the word "murder" in Romans 1:29.

    Romans 1:29
    Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

    The fact that Athaliah was guilty of envy, murder, and causing an insurrection as a result of Josiah being crowned king, plus her mother being born of the seed of the serpent means that Athaliah was most likely born of the seed of the serpent as well. See Belial in the glossary

  11. BALAAM
    British Dictionary definitions for Balaam
    noun
    1. (Old Testament) a Mesopotamian diviner who, when summoned to curse the Israelites, prophesied future glories for them instead, after being reproached by his ass (Numbers 22–23)
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
    © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
    Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

    Balaam in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    Lord of the people; foreigner or glutton, as interpreted by others, the son of Beor, was a man of some rank among the Midianites (Num. 31:8; comp. 16). He resided at Pethor (Deut. 23:4), in Mesopotamia (Num. 23:7). It is evident that though dwelling among idolaters he had some knowledge of the true God; and was held in such reputation that it was supposed that he whom he blessed was blessed, and he whom he cursed was cursed. When the Israelites were encamped on the plains of Moab, on the east of Jordan, by Jericho, Balak sent for Balaam "from Aram, out of the mountains of the east," to curse them; but by the remarkable interposition of God he was utterly unable to fulfil Balak's wish, however desirous he was to do so.

    The apostle Peter refers (2 Pet. 2:15, 16) to this as an historical event. In Micah 6:5 reference also is made to the relations between Balaam and Balak. Though Balaam could not curse Israel, yet he suggested a mode by which the divine displeasure might be caused to descend upon them (Num. 25). In a battle between Israel and the Midianites (q.v.) Balaam was slain while fighting on the side of Balak (Num. 31:8). The "doctrine of Balaam" is spoken of in Rev. 2:14, in allusion to the fact that it was through the teaching of Balaam that Balak learned the way by which the Israelites might be led into sin. (See NICOLAITANES.) Balaam was constrained to utter prophecies regarding the future of Israel of wonderful magnificence and beauty of expression (Num. 24:5-9, 17).

  12. BALAK
    noun
    1. A Moabite king who sent for Balaam to come and curse the Israelites. Num. 22–23.
    Dictionary.com Unabridged
    Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2015.

    Balak in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    empty; spoiler
    A son of Zippor, and king of the Moabites (Num. 22:2, 4). From fear of the Israelites, who were encamped near the confines of his territory, he applied to Balaam (q.v.) to curse them; but in vain (Josh. 24:9).

  13. BENJAMIN
    noun
    1. (Old Testament)
    * the youngest and best-loved son of Jacob and Rachel (Genesis 35:16–18; 42:4)
    * the tribe descended from this patriarch
    * the territory of this tribe, northwest of the Dead Sea
    2. (archaic) a youngest and favourite son

    Word Origin and History for benjamin
    masc. proper name, in Old Testament, Jacob's youngest son (Gen. xxxv:18), from Hebrew Binyamin, literally "son of the south," though interpreted in Genesis as "son of the right hand," from ben "son of" + yamin "right hand," also "south" (in an East-oriented culture). Cf. Arabic cognate yaman "right hand, right side, south;" yamana "he was happy," literally "he turned to the right."

    The right was regarded as auspicious (see left and dexterity ). Also see Yemen, southpaw, and cf. deasil "rightwise, turned toward the right," from Gaelic deiseil "toward the south; toward the right," from deas "right, right-hand; south." Also cf. Sanskrit dakshina "right; south." Slang meaning "money" (by 1999) is from portrait of Benjamin Franklin on U.S. $100 bill.
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Benjamin in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    son of my right hand.

    (1.) The younger son of Jacob by Rachel (Gen. 35:18). His birth took place at Ephrath, on the road between Bethel and Bethlehem, at a short distance from the latter place. His mother died in giving him birth, and with her last breath named him Ben-oni, son of my pain, a name which was changed by his father into Benjamin.

    His posterity are called Benjamites (Gen. 49:27; Deut. 33:12; Josh. 18:21). The tribe of Benjamin at the Exodus was the smallest but one (Num. 1:36, 37; Ps. 68:27). During the march its place was along with Manasseh and Ephraim on the west of the tabernacle. At the entrance into Canaan it counted 45,600 warriors. It has been inferred by some from the words of Jacob (Gen. 49:27) that the figure of a wolf was on the tribal standard. This tribe is mentioned in Rom. 11:1; Phil. 3:5. The inheritance of this tribe lay immediately to the south of that of Ephraim, and was about 26 miles in length and 12 in breadth. Its eastern boundary was the Jordan. Dan intervened between it and the Philistines.

    Its chief towns are named in Josh. 18:21-28. The history of the tribe contains a sad record of a desolating civil war in which they were engaged with the other eleven tribes. By it they were almost exterminated (Judg. 20:20, 21; 21:10). (See GIBEAH.) The first king of the Jews was Saul, a Benjamite. A close alliance was formed between this tribe and that of Judah in the time of David (2 Sam. 19:16, 17), which continued after his death (1 Kings 11:13; 12:20).

    After the Exile these two tribes formed the great body of the Jewish nation (Ezra 1:5; 10:9). The tribe of Benjamin was famous for its archers (1 Sam. 20:20, 36; 2 Sam. 1:22; 1 Chr. 8:40; 12:2) and slingers (Judge. 20:6). The gate of Benjamin, on the north side of Jerusalem (Jer. 37:13; 38:7; Zech. 14:10), was so called because it led in the direction of the territory of the tribe of Benjamin. It is called by Jeremiah (20:2) "the high gate of Benjamin;" also "the gate of the children of the people" (17:19). (Comp. 2 Kings 14:13.)

  14. DANIEL
    British Dictionary definitions for Daniel
    noun
    1. (Old Testament)

    a) a youth who was taken into the household of Nebuchadnezzar, received guidance and apocalyptic visions from God, and was given divine protection when thrown into the lions' den

    b) the book that recounts these experiences and visions (in full The Book of the Prophet Daniel) 2. (often preceded by a) a wise upright person

    Word Origin and History for Daniel
    proper name, Hebrew, literally "God is my judge;" related to Dan, literally "he who judges," the tribe descended from Jacob's son of that name in Old Testament. Consistently in the top 15 names for boys born in the U.S. from 1972 through 2008.
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Daniel in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    God is my judge, or judge of God.
    (1.) David's second son, "born unto him in Hebron, of Abigail the Carmelitess" (1 Chr. 3:1). He is called also Chileab (2 Sam. 3:3).

    (2.) One of the four great prophets, although he is not once spoken of in the Old Testament as a prophet. His life and prophecies are recorded in the Book of Daniel. He was descended from one of the noble families of Judah (Dan. 1:3), and was probably born in Jerusalem about B.C. 623, during the reign of Josiah. At the first deportation of the Jews by Nebuchadnezzar (the kingdom of Israel had come to an end nearly a century before), or immediately after his victory over the Egyptians at the second battle of Carchemish, in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim (B.C. 606), Daniel and other three noble youths were carried off to Babylon, along with part of the vessels of the temple.

    There he was obliged to enter into the service of the king of Babylon, and in accordance with the custom of the age received the Chaldean name of Belteshazzar, i.e., "prince of Bel," or "Bel protect the king!" His residence in Babylon was very probably in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, now identified with a mass of shapeless mounds called the Kasr, on the right bank of the river. His training in the schools of the wise men in Babylon (Dan. 1:4) was to fit him for service to the empire. He was distinguished during this period for his piety and his stict observance of the Mosaic law (1:8-16), and gained the confidence and esteem of those who were over him.

    His habit of attention gained during his education in Jerusalem enabled him soon to master the wisdom and learning of the Chaldeans, and even to excel his compeers. At the close of his three years of discipline and training in the royal schools, Daniel was distinguished for his proficiency in the "wisdom" of his day, and was brought out into public life. He soon became known for his skill in the interpretation of dreams (1:17; 2:14), and rose to the rank of governor of the province of Babylon, and became "chief of the governors" (Chald. Rab-signin) over all the wise men of Babylon.

    He made known and also interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dream; and many years afterwards, when he was now an old man, amid the alarm and consternation of the terrible night of Belshazzar's impious feast, he was called in at the instance of the queen-mother (perhaps Nitocris, the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar) to interpret the mysterious handwriting on the wall.

    He was rewarded with a purple robe and elevation to the rank of "third ruler." The place of "second ruler" was held by Belshazzar as associated with his father, Nabonidus, on the throne (5:16). Daniel interpreted the handwriting, and "in that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain." After the taking of Babylon, Cyrus, who was now master of all Asia from India to the Dardanelles, placed Darius (q.v.), a Median prince, on the throne, during the two years of whose reign Daniel held the office of first of the "three presidents" of the empire, and was thus practically at the head of affairs, no doubt interesting himself in the prospects of the captive Jews (Dan. 9), whom he had at last the happiness of seeing restored to their own land, although he did not return with them, but remained still in Babylon.

    His fidelity to God exposed him to persecution, and he was cast into a den of lions, but was miraculously delivered; after which Darius issued a decree enjoining reverence for "the God of Daniel" (6:26). He "prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian," whom he probably greatly influenced in the matter of the decree which put an end to the Captivity (B.C. 536). He had a series of prophetic visions vouch-safed to him which opened up the prospect of a glorious future for the people of God, and must have imparted peace and gladness to his spirit in his old age as he waited on at his post till the "end of the days." The time and circumstances of his death are not recorded. He probably died at Susa, about eighty-five years of age. Ezekiel, with whom he was contemporary, mentions him as a pattern of righteousness (14:14, 20) and wisdom (28:3). (See NEBUCHADNEZZAR.)

  15. DAVID
    David in Culture

    David definition
    A great king of the Israelites in the Old Testament. David was a shepherd in his boyhood. As a youth, he asked for King Saul 's permission to fight Goliath, the giant Philistine warrior whom all the other Israelites were afraid to face. Despite his small size, David managed to kill Goliath by hitting him in the forehead with a stone flung from a sling. King Saul then gave David command of his army, but he grew jealous of him and tried to kill him; David spent many years fleeing from Saul. After Saul's death, David was made king of the Israelites and served nobly, despite occasional lapses, such as an affair with Bathsheba; he had Bathsheba's husband killed so that he could marry her. Many of the Psalms are attributed to David, who was famed as a harpist. His descendants, the House of David, included Solomon and the subsequent kings of Israel and Judah; according to the Gospels, Jesus was descended from David.

    Note : A “David and Goliath” contest is an unequal one in which one side is far bigger or more numerous than the other.

    David definition
    A large marble statue made by Michelangelo of the biblical king David. Michelangelo portrays him as a youth just about to do battle with the giant Goliath. The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    Beloved, the eighth and youngest son of Jesse, a citizen of Bethlehem.
    His father seems to have been a man in humble life. His mother's name is not recorded. Some think she was the Nahash of 2 Sam. 17:25. As to his personal appearance, we only know that he was red-haired, with beautiful eyes and a fair face (1 Sam. 16:12; 17:42). His early occupation was that of tending his father's sheep on the uplands of Judah. From what we know of his after history, doubtless he frequently beguiled his time, when thus engaged, with his shepherd's flute, while he drank in the many lessons taught him by the varied scenes spread around him.

    His first recorded exploits were his encounters with the wild beasts of the field. He mentions that with his own unaided hand he slew a lion and also a bear, when they came out against his flock, beating them to death in open conflict with his club (1 Sam. 17:34, 35). While David, in the freshness of ruddy youth, was thus engaged with his flocks, Samuel paid an unexpected visit to Bethlehem, having been guided thither by divine direction (1 Sam. 16:1-13). There he offered up sacrifice, and called the elders of Israel and Jesse's family to the sacrificial meal. Among all who appeared before him he failed to discover the one he sought.

    David was sent for, and the prophet immediately recognized him as the chosen of God, chosen to succeed Saul, who was now departing from the ways of God, on the throne of the kingdom. He accordingly, in anticipation, poured on his head the anointing oil. David went back again to his shepherd life, but "the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward," and "the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul" (1 Sam. 16:13, 14). Not long after this David was sent for to soothe with his harp the troubled spirit of Saul, who suffered from a strange melancholy dejection. He played before the king so skilfully that Saul was greatly cheered, and began to entertain great affection for the young shepherd. After this he went home to Bethlehem.

    But he soon again came into prominence. The armies of the Philistines and of Israel were in battle array in the valley of Elah, some 16 miles south-west of Bethlehem; and David was sent by his father with provisions for his three brothers, who were then fighting on the side of the king. On his arrival in the camp of Israel, David (now about twenty years of age) was made aware of the state of matters when the champion of the Philistines, Goliath of Gath, came forth to defy Israel. David took his sling, and with a well-trained aim threw a stone "out of the brook," which struck the giant's forehead, so that he fell senseless to the ground. David then ran and slew him, and cut off his head with his own sword (1 Sam. 17). The result was a great victory to the Israelites, who pursued the Philistines to the gates of Gath and Ekron.

    David's popularity consequent on this heroic exploit awakened Saul's jealousy (1 Sam. 18:6-16), which he showed in various ways. He conceived a bitter hatred toward him, and by various stratagems sought his death (1 Sam. 18-30). The deep-laid plots of the enraged king, who could not fail to observe that David "prospered exceedingly," all proved futile, and only endeared the young hero the more to the people, and very specially to Jonathan, Saul's son, between whom and David a life-long warm friendship was formed.

    A fugitive
    To escape from the vengeance of Saul, David fled to Ramah (1 Sam. 19:12-18) to Samuel, who received him, and he dwelt among the sons of the prophets, who were there under Samuel's training. It is supposed by some that the sixth, seventh, and eleventh Psalms were composed by him at this time. This place was only 3 miles from the residence of Saul, who soon discovered whither the fugitive had gone, and tried ineffectually to bring him back. Jonathan made a fruitless effort to bring his father to a better state of mind toward David (1 Sam. 20), who, being made aware of the fact, saw no hope of safety but in flight to a distance. We accordingly find him first at Nob (21:1-9) and then at Gath, the chief city of the Philistines.

    The king of the Philistines would not admit him into his service, as he expected that he would, and David accordingly now betook himself to the stronghold of Adullam (22:1-4; 1 Chr. 12:8-18). Here in a short time 400 men gathered around him and acknowledged him as their leader. It was at this time that David, amid the harassment and perils of his position, cried, "Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem;" when three of his heroes broke through the lines of the Philistines and brought him the water for which he longed (2 Sam. 23:13-17), but which he would not drink.

    In his rage at the failure of all his efforts to seize David, Saul gave orders for the massacre of the entire priestly family at Nob, "persons who wore a linen ephod", to the number of eighty-five persons, who were put to death by Doeg the Edomite. The sad tidings of the massacre were brought to David by Abiathar, a son of Ahimelech, the only one who escaped. Comp. Ps. 52. Hearing that Keilah, a town on the western frontier, was harassed by the Philistines, David with his men relieved it (1 Sam. 23:1-14); and then, for fear of Saul, he fled to the strongholds in the "hill country" of Judah. Comp. Ps. 31. While encamped there, in the forest in the district of Ziph, he was visited by Jonathan, who spoke to him words of encouragement (23:16-18). The two now parted never to meet again. Saul continued his pursuit of David, who narrowly escaped from him at this time, and fled to the crags and ravines of Engedi, on the western shore of the Dead Sea (1 Sam. 23:29).

    Here Saul, who still pursued him with his army, narrowly escaped, through the generous forbearance of David, and was greatly affected by what David had done for him. He returned home from pursuing him, and David betook himself to Maon, where, with his 600 men, he maintained himself by contributions gathered from the district. Here occurred the incident connected with Nabal and his wife Abigail (1 Sam. 25), whom David married after Nabal's death. Saul again went forth (1 Sam. 26) in pursuit of David, who had hid himself "in the hill Hachilah, which is before Jeshimon," in the wilderness of Ziph, and was a second time spared through his forbearance. He returned home, professing shame and penitence for the way in which he had treated David, and predicting his elevation to the throne.

    Fighting against Israel
    Harassed by the necessity of moving from place to place through fear of Saul, David once more sought refuge among the Philistines (1 Sam. 27). He was welcomed by the king, who assigned him Ziklag as his residence. Here David lived among his followers for some time as an independent chief engaged in frequent war with the Amalekites and other tribes on the south of Judah. Achish summoned David with his men to join his army against Saul; but the lords of the Philistines were suspicious of David's loyalty, and therefore he was sent back to Ziklag, which he found to his dismay may had been pillaged and burnt during his brief absence.

    David pursued after the raiders, the Amalekites, and completely routed them. On his return to Ziklag tidings reached him of Saul's death (2 Sam. 1). An Amalekite brought Saul's crown and bracelet and laid them at his feet. David and his men rent their clothes and mourned for Saul, who had been defeated in battle near Mount Gilboa. David composed a beautiful elegy, the most beautiful of all extant Hebrew odes, a "lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son" (2 Sam. 1:18-27). It bore the title of "The Bow," and was to be taught to the children, that the memory of Saul and Jonathan might be preserved among them. "Behold, it is written in the book of Jasher" (q.v.).

    David king over Judah
    David and his men now set out for Hebron under divine direction (2 Sam. 2:1-4). There they were cordially welcomed, and he was at once anointed as king. He was now about thirty years of age. But his title to the throne was not undisputed. Abner took Ish-bosheth, Saul's only remaining son, over the Jordan to Mahanaim, and there crowned him as king. Then began a civil war in Israel. The first encounter between the two opposing armies, led on the one side by Abner, and on the other by Joab, took place at the pool of Gibeon. It resulted in the defeat of Abner. Other encounters, however, between Israel and Judah followed (2 Sam. 3:1, 5), but still success was on the side of David.

    For the space of seven and a half years David reigned in Hebron. Abner now sided with David, and sought to promote his advancement; but was treacherously put to death by Joab in revenge for his having slain his brother Asahel at Gibeon (3:22-39). This was greatly to David's regret. He mourned for the death of Abner. Shortly after this Ish-bosheth was also treacherously put to death by two Canaanites of Beeroth; and there being now no rival, David was anointed king over all Israel (4:1-12).

    David king over all Israel (2 Sam. 5:1-5; 1 Chr. 11:1-3)
    The elders of Israel now repaired to Hebron and offered allegiance to David in name of all the people, among whom the greatest enthusiasm prevailed. He was anointed king over all Israel, and sought out a new seat of government, more suitable than Hebron, as the capital of his empire. At this time there was a Jebusite fortress, "the stronghold", on the hill of Zion, called also Jebus. This David took from the Jebusites, and made it Israel's capital, and established here his residence, and afterwards built for himself a palace by the aid of Tyrian tradesmen. The Philistines, who had for some time observed a kind of truce, now made war against David; but were defeated in battle at a place afterwards called, in remembrance of the victory, Baal-perazim. Again they invaded the land, and were a second time routed by him. He thus delivered Israel from their enemies.

    David now resolved to bring up the ark of the covenant to his new capital (2 Sam. 6). It was in the house of Abinadab at Kirjath-jearim, about 7 miles from Jerusalem, where it had been for many years, from the time when the Philistines had sent it home (1 Sam. 6; 7). In consequence of the death of Uzzah (for it was a divine ordinance that only the Levites should handle the ark, Num. 4), who had put forth his hand to steady the ark when the cart in which it was being conveyed shook by reason of the roughness of the road, David stayed the procession, and conveyed the ark into the house of Obed-edom, a Philistine from Gath.

    After three months David brought the ark from the house of Obed-edom up to Jerusalem. Comp. Ps. 24. Here it was placed in a new tent or tabernacle which David erected for the purpose. About seventy years had passed since it had stood in the tabernacle at Shiloh. The old tabernacle was now at Gibeah, at which Zadok ministered. David now (1 Chr. 16) carefully set in order all the ritual of divine worship at Jerusalem, along with Abiathar the high priest. A new religious era began. The service of praise was for the first time introduced into public worship. Zion became henceforth "God's holy hill."

    David's wars
    David now entered on a series of conquests which greatly extended and strengthened his kingdom (2 Sam. 8). In a few years the whole territory from the Euphrates to the river of Egypt, and from Gaza on the west to Thapsacus on the east, was under his sway (2 Sam. 8:3-13; 10).

    David's fall
    He had now reached the height of his glory. He ruled over a vast empire, and his capital was enriched with the spoils of many lands. But in the midst of all this success he fell, and his character became stained with the sin of adultery (2 Sam. 11:2-27). It has been noted as characteristic of the Bible that while his military triumphs are recorded in a few verses, the sad story of his fall is given in detail, a story full of warning, and therefore recorded. This crime, in the attempt to conceal it, led to another. He was guilty of murder. Uriah, whom he had foully wronged, an officer of the Gibborim, the corps of heroes (23:39), was, by his order, "set in the front of the hottest battle" at the siege of Rabbah, in order that he might be put to death.

    Nathan the prophet (2 Sam. 7:1-17; 12:1-23) was sent by God to bring home his crimes to the conscience of the guilty monarch. He became a true penitent. He bitterly bewailed his sins before God. The thirty-second and fifty-first Psalms reveal the deep struggles of his soul, and his spiritual recovery. Bathsheba became his wife after Uriah's death. Her first-born son died, according to the word of the prophet. She gave birth to a second son, whom David called Solomon, and who ultimately succeeded him on the throne (2 Sam. 12:24, 25).

    Peace
    After the successful termination of all his wars, David formed the idea of building a temple for the ark of God. This he was not permitted to carry into execution, because he had been a man of war. God, however, sent Nathan to him with a gracious message (2 Sam. 7:1-16). On receiving it he went into the sanctuary, the tent where the ark was, and sat before the Lord, and poured out his heart in words of devout thanksgiving (18-29). The building of the temple was reserved for his son Solomon, who would be a man of peace (1 Chr. 22:9; 28:3).

    A cloudy evening
    Hitherto David's career had been one of great prosperity and success. Now cloudy and dark days came. His eldest son Amnon, whose mother was Ahinoam of Jezreel, was guilty of a great and shameful crime (2 Sam. 13). This was the beginning of the disasters of his later years. After two years Absalom terribly avenged the crime against Tamar, and put Amnon to death. This brought sore trouble to David's heart. Absalom, afraid of the consequences of his guilt, fled to Geshur beyond Jordan, where he remained for three years, when he was brought back through the intrigue of Joab (2 Sam. 14). After this there fell upon the land the calamity of three years' famine (2 Sam. 21:1-14). This was soon after followed by a pestilence, brought upon the land as a punishment for David's sinful pride in numbering the people (2 Sam. 24), in which no fewer than 70,000 perished in the space of three days.

    Rebellion of Absalom
    The personal respect for David was sadly lowered by the incident of Bathsheba. There was a strong popular sentiment against the taking of the census, and the outburst of the plague in connection with it deepened the feeling of jealously that had begun to manifest itself among some of the tribes against David. Absalom, taking full advantage of this state of things, gradually gained over the people, and at length openly rebelled against his father, and usurped the throne. Ahithophel was Absalom's chief counsellor. The revolt began in Hebron, the capital of Judah. Absalom was there proclaimed king. David was now in imminent danger, and he left Jerusalem (2 Sam. 15:13-20), and once more became a fugitive.

    It was a momentous day in Israel
    The incidents of it are recorded with a fulness of detail greater than of any other day in Old Testament history. David fled with his followers to Mahanarm, on the east of Jordan. An unnatural civil war broke out. After a few weeks the rival armies were mustered and organized. They met in hostile array at the wood of Ephraim (2 Sam. 18:1-8). Absalom's army was defeated, and himself put to death by the hand of Joab (9-18). The tidings of the death of his rebellious son filled the heart of David with the most poignant grief. He "went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept" (33), giving utterance to the heart-broken cry, "Would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!" Peace was now restored, and David returned to Jerusalem and resumed the direction of affairs.

    An unhappy dispute arose between the men of Judah and the men of Israel (19:41-43).
    Sheba, a Benjamite, headed a revolt of the men of Israel. He was pursued to Abelbeth-maachah, and was there put to death, and so the revolt came to an end.

    The end
    After the suppression of the rebellion of Absalom and that of Sheba, ten comparatively peaceful years of David's life passed away. During those years he seems to have been principally engaged in accumulating treasures of every kind for the great temple at Jerusalem, which it was reserved to his successor to build (1 Chr. 22; 28; 29), a house which was to be "exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries" (22:5). The exciting and laborious life he had spent, and the dangers and trials through which he had passed, had left him an enfeebled man, prematurely old. It became apparent that his life was now drawing to its close. A new palace conspiracy broke out as to who should be his successor. Joab favoured Adonijah. The chiefs of his party met at the "Fuller's spring," in the valley of Kidron, to proclaim him king; but Nathan hastened on a decision on the part of David in favour of Solomon, and so the aim of Adonijah's party failed.

    Solomon was brought to Jerusalem, and was anointed king and seated on his father's throne (1 Kings 1:11-53).
    David's last words are a grand utterance, revealing his unfailing faith in God, and his joyful confidence in his gracious covenant promises (2 Sam. 23:1-7). After a reign of forty years and six months (2 Sam. 5:5; 1 Chr. 3:4) David died (B.C. 1015) at the age of seventy years, "and was buried in the city of David." His tomb is still pointed out on Mount Zion. Both in his prophetical and in his regal character David was a type of the Messiah (1 Sam. 16:13). The book of Psalms commonly bears the title of the "Psalms of David," from the circumstance that he was the largest contributor (about eighty psalms) to the collection. (See PSALMS.) "The greatness of David was felt when he was gone. He had lived in harmony with both the priesthood and the prophets; a sure sign that the spirit of his government had been throughly loyal to the higher aims of the theocracy.

    The nation had not been oppressed by him, but had been left in the free enjoyment of its ancient liberties. As far as his power went he had striven to act justly to all (2 Sam. 8:15). His weak indulgence to his sons, and his own great sin besides, had been bitterly atoned, and were forgotten at his death in the remembrance of his long-tried worth. He had reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem and seven and a half at Hebron (2 Sam. 5:5). Israel at his accession had reached the lowest point of national depression; its new-born unity rudely dissolved; its territory assailed by the Philistines. But he had left it an imperial power, with dominions like those of Egypt or Assyria. The sceptre of Solomon was already, before his father's death, owned from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates, and from the Orontes to the Red Sea.", Geikie's Hours etc., iii.

  16. EDOMITE
    noun
    1. a descendant of Esau or Edom. Num. 20:14–21.

    British Dictionary definitions for Edomite
    noun
    1. an inhabitant of the ancient kingdom of Edom, whose people were hostile to the Israelites in Old Testament times
    2. the ancient Semitic language of this people, closely related to Hebrew

  17. EPHRAIM
    British Dictionary definitions for Ephraim
    noun (Old Testament)
    1. a) the younger son of Joseph, who received the principal blessing of his grandfather Jacob (Genesis 48:8–22)
    b) the tribe descended from him
    c) the territory of this tribe, west of the River Jordan

    2. the northern kingdom of Israel after the kingdom of Solomon had been divided into two

    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
    © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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    Word Origin and History for Ephraim
    masc. personal name, in Old Testament, younger son of Joseph; also the tribe descended from him, sometimes used figuratively for "Kingdom of Israel;" Greek form of Hebrew Ephrayim, a derivative of parah "was fruitful" (related to Aramaic pera "fruit").
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Ephraim in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    double fruitfulness ("for God had made him fruitful in the land of his affliction").
    The second son of Joseph, born in Egypt (Gen. 41:52; 46:20). The first incident recorded regarding him is his being placed, along with his brother Manasseh, before their grandfather, Jacob, that he might bless them (48:10; comp. 27:1). The intention of Joseph was that the right hand of the aged patriarch should be placed on the head of the elder of the two; but Jacob set Ephraim the younger before his brother, "guiding his hands wittingly." Before Joseph's death, Ephraim's family had reached the third generation (Gen. 50:23).

  18. ESTHER
    British Dictionary definitions for Esther
    noun (Old Testament)
    1. a beautiful Jewish woman who became queen of Persia and saved her people from massacre
    2. the book in which this episode is recounted
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
    © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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    Word Origin and History for Esther
    fem. proper name, Old Testament wife of the Persian king Ahasuerus, from Greek Esther, from Hebrew Ester, from Persian sitareh "star," related to Avestan star- (see star (n.)).
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Esther in Culture

    Esther definition
    A book of the Old Testament that tells the story of a beautiful Jewish woman named Esther who is chosen by the king of Persia (now Iran; see Persian Empire ) to be his queen. Esther, with the aid of her cousin Mordecai, stops a plot to massacre the Jews in Persia, and Mordecai becomes the king's chief minister. Note : This event is celebrated by Jews as the feast of Purim.
    The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
    Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
    Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

    Esther in the Bible

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

    the queen of Ahasuerus, and heroine of the book that bears her name. She was a Jewess named Hadas'sah (the myrtle), but when she entered the royal harem she received the name by which she henceforth became known (Esther 2:7). It is a Syro-Arabian modification of the Persian word satarah, which means a star.

    She was the daughter of Abihail, a Benjamite. Her family did not avail themselves of the permission granted by Cyrus to the exiles to return to Jerusalem; and she resided with her cousin Mordecai, who held some office in the household of the Persian king at "Shushan in the palace." Ahasuerus having divorced Vashti, chose Esther to be his wife. Soon after this he gave Haman the Agagite, his prime minister, power and authority to kill and extirpate all the Jews throughout the Persian empire.

    By the interposition of Esther this terrible catastrophe was averted. Haman was hanged on the gallows he had intended for Mordecai (Esther 7); and the Jews established an annual feast, the feast of Purim (q.v.), in memory of their wonderful deliverance. This took place about fifty-two years after the Return, the year of the great battles of Plataea and Mycale (B.C. 479).

    Esther appears in the Bible as a "woman of deep piety, faith, courage, patriotism, and caution, combined with resolution; a dutiful daughter to her adopted father, docile and obedient to his counsels, and anxious to share the king's favour with him for the good of the Jewish people. There must have been a singular grace and charm in her aspect and manners, since 'she obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her' (Esther 2:15). That she was raised up as an instrument in the hand of God to avert the destruction of the Jewish people, and to afford them protection and forward their wealth and peace in their captivity, is also manifest from the Scripture account."

  19. EZEKIEL
    British Dictionary definitions for Ezekiel
    noun (Old Testament)
    1. a Hebrew prophet of the 6th century bc, exiled to Babylon in 597 bc
    2. the book containing his oracles, which describe the downfall of Judah and Jerusalem and their subsequent restoration
    Douay spelling Ezechiel
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
    © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
    Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

    Word Origin and History for Ezekiel
    masc. proper name; in Old Testament, name of a book and of one of the great prophets of Israel, from Late Latin Ezechiel, from Greek Iezekiel, from Hebrew Yehezqel, literally "God strengthens," from hazaq "he was strong, he strengthened" + El "God."
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Ezekiel in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    God will strengthen.

    (1.) 1 Chr. 24:16, "Jehezekel."

    (2.) One of the great prophets, the son of Buzi the priest (Ezek. 1:3). He was one of the Jewish exiles who settled at Tel-Abib, on the banks of the Chebar, "in the land of the Chaldeans." He was probably carried away captive with Jehoiachin (1:2; 2 Kings 24:14-16) about B.C. 597. His prophetic call came to him "in the fifth year of Jehoiachin's captivity" (B.C. 594). He had a house in the place of his exile, where he lost his wife, in the ninth year of his exile, by some sudden and unforeseen stroke (Ezek. 8:1; 24:18). He held a prominent place among the exiles, and was frequently consulted by the elders (8:1; 11:25; 14:1; 20:1). His ministry extended over twenty-three years (29:17), B.C. 595-573, during part of which he was contemporary with Daniel (14:14; 28:3) and Jeremiah, and probably also with Obadiah. The time and manner of his death are unknown. His reputed tomb is pointed out in the neighbourhood of Bagdad, at a place called Keffil.

  20. EZRA
    British Dictionary definitions for Ezra
    noun (Old Testament)
    1. a Jewish priest of the 5th century bc, who was sent from Babylon by the Persian king Artaxerxes I to reconstitute observance of the Jewish law and worship in Jerusalem after the captivity
    2. the book recounting his efforts to perform this task

    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

    Word Origin and History for Ezra
    masc. proper name, in Old Testament name of a celebrated 5c. B.C.E. scribe, from Late Latin, from Hebrew Ezra, contraction of Azaryah(u), literally "God has helped," from ezer "help" + Yah, a shortened form of Yahweh "God."
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Ezra in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    help.
    (1.) A priest among those that returned to Jerusalem under Zerubabel (Neh. 12:1).

    (2.) The "scribe" who led the second body of exiles that returned from Babylon to Jerusalem B.C. 459, and author of the book of Scripture which bears his name. He was the son, or perhaps grandson, of Seraiah (2 Kings 25:18-21), and a lineal descendant of Phinehas, the son of Aaron (Ezra 7:1-5). All we know of his personal history is contained in the last four chapters of his book, and in Neh. 8 and 12:26. In the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus (see DARIUS ØT0000975), he obtained leave to go up to Jerusalem and to take with him a company of Israelites (Ezra 8).

    Artaxerxes manifested great interest in Ezra's undertaking, granting him "all his request," and loading him with gifts for the house of God. Ezra assembled the band of exiles, probably about 5,000 in all, who were prepared to go up with him to Jerusalem, on the banks of the Ahava, where they rested for three days, and were put into order for their march across the desert, which was completed in four months.

    His proceedings at Jerusalem on his arrival there are recorded in his book. He was "a ready scribe in the law of Moses," who "had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments." "He is," says Professor Binnie, "the first well-defined example of an order of men who have never since ceased in the church; men of sacred erudition, who devote their lives to the study of the Holy Scriptures, in order that they may be in a condition to interpret them for the instruction and edification of the church.

    It is significant that the earliest mention of the pulpit occurs in the history of Ezra's ministry (Neh. 8:4). He was much more of a teacher than a priest. We learn from the account of his labours in the book of Nehemiah that he was careful to have the whole people instructed in the law of Moses; and there is no reason to reject the constant tradition of the Jews which connects his name with the collecting and editing of the Old Testament canon.

    The final completion of the canon may have been, and probably was, the work of a later generation; but Ezra seems to have put it much into the shape in which it is still found in the Hebrew Bible. When it is added that the complete organization of the synagogue dates from this period, it will be seen that the age was emphatically one of Biblical study" (The Psalms: their History, etc.). For about fourteen years, i.e., till B.C. 445, we have no record of what went on in Jerusalem after Ezra had set in order the ecclesiastical and civil affairs of the nation. In that year another distinguished personage, Nehemiah, appears on the scene. After the ruined wall of the city had been built by Nehemiah, there was a great gathering of the people at Jerusalem preparatory to the dedication of the wall.

    On the appointed day the whole population assembled, and the law was read aloud to them by Ezra and his assistants (Neh. 8:3). The remarkable scene is described in detail. There was a great religious awakening. For successive days they held solemn assemblies, confessing their sins and offering up solemn sacrifices. They kept also the feast of Tabernacles with great solemnity and joyous enthusiasm, and then renewed their national covenant to be the Lord's. Abuses were rectified, and arrangements for the temple service completed, and now nothing remained but the dedication of the walls of the city (Neh. 12).

  21. GERSHOM
    noun
    1. the elder son of Moses and Zipporah. Ex. 18:3.
    Dictionary.com Unabridged
    Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2015.

    Gershom in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    expulsion.
    (1.) The eldest son of Levi (1 Chr. 6:16, 17, 20, 43, 62, 71; 15:7)=GERSHON (q.v.).

    (2.) The elder of the two sons of Moses born to him in Midian (Ex. 2:22; 18:3). On his way to Egypt with his family, in obedience to the command of the Lord, Moses was attacked by a sudden and dangerous illness (4:24-26), which Zipporah his wife believed to have been sent because he had neglected to circumcise his son. She accordingly took a "sharp stone" and circumcised her son Gershom, saying, "Surely a bloody husband art thou to me", i.e., by the blood of her child she had, as it were, purchased her husband, had won him back again.

    (3.) A descendant of Phinehas who returned with Ezra from Babylon (Ezra 8:2).

    (4.) The son of Manasseh (Judg. 18:30), in R.V. "of Moses."

  22. GIDEON
    noun
    [gid-ee-uh n]
    noun
    1. Also called Jerubbaal. a judge of Israel and conqueror of the Midianites. Judges 6–8.
    2. a member of the Gideons International.
    3. a male given name: from a Hebrew word meaning “great destroyer.”.
    Dictionary.com Unabridged
    Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2016.

    British Dictionary definitions for Gideon
    noun
    1. (Old Testament) a Hebrew judge who led the Israelites to victory over their Midianite oppressors (Judges 6:11–8:35)
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
    © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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    Word Origin and History for Gideon
    Bible propagation society, 1906, formally Christian Commercial Young Men's Association of America, founded 1899. It takes its name from Gideon, Israelite judge and warrior [Judg. vi:11-viii:25], from Hebrew Gidh'on, literally "feller," from stem of gadha "he cut off, hewed, felled."
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Gideon in the Bible

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    called also Jerubbaal (Judg. 6:29, 32), was the first of the judges whose history is circumstantially narrated (Judg. 6-8). His calling is the commencement of the second period in the history of the judges. After the victory gained by Deborah and Barak over Jabin, Israel once more sank into idolatry, and the Midianites (q.v.) and Amalekites, with other "children of the east," crossed the Jordan each year for seven successive years for the purpose of plundering and desolating the land.

    Gideon received a direct call from God to undertake the task of delivering the land from these warlike invaders. He was of the family of Abiezer (Josh. 17:2; 1 Chr. 7:18), and of the little township of Ophrah (Judg. 6:11). First, with ten of his servants, he overthrew the altars of Baal and cut down the asherah which was upon it, and then blew the trumpet of alarm, and the people flocked to his standard on the crest of Mount Gilboa to the number of twenty-two thousand men.

    These were, however, reduced to only three hundred. These, strangely armed with torches and pitchers and trumpets, rushed in from three different points on the camp of Midian at midnight, in the valley to the north of Moreh, with the terrible war-cry, "For the Lord and for Gideon" (Judg. 7:18, R.V.). Terror-stricken, the Midianites were put into dire confusion, and in the darkness slew one another, so that only fifteen thousand out of the great army of one hundred and twenty thousand escaped alive.

    The memory of this great deliverance impressed itself deeply on the mind of the nation (1 Sam. 12:11; Ps. 83:11; Isa. 9:4; 10:26; Heb. 11:32). The land had now rest for forty years. Gideon died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepulchre of his fathers. Soon after his death a change came over the people. They again forgot Jehovah, and turned to the worship of Baalim, "neither shewed they kindness to the house of Jerubbaal" (Judg. 8:35).

    Gideon left behind him seventy sons, a feeble, sadly degenerated race, with one exception, that of Abimelech, who seems to have had much of the courage and energy of his father, yet of restless and unscrupulous ambition. He gathered around him a band who slaughtered all Gideon's sons, except Jotham, upon one stone. (See OPHRAH.)

  23. HABAKKUK
    British Dictionary definitions for Habakkuk
    noun (Old Testament)
    1. a Hebrew prophet
    2. the book containing his oracles and canticle
    Douay spelling Habacuc
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
    © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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    Habakkuk in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    embrace
    the eighth of the twelve minor prophets. Of his personal history we have no reliable information. He was probably a member of the Levitical choir. He was contemporary with Jeremiah and Zephaniah.

  24. HAGGAI
    British Dictionary definitions for Haggai
    noun (Old Testament)
    1. a Hebrew prophet, whose oracles are usually dated between August and December of 520 bc
    2. the book in which these oracles are contained, chiefly concerned with the rebuilding of the Temple after the Exile
    Douay spelling Aggeus (əˈdʒiːəs)
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
    © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
    Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

    Haggai in the Bible

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

    festive, one of the twelve so-called minor prophets.

    He was the first of the three (Zechariah, his contemporary, and Malachi, who was about one hundred years later, being the other two) whose ministry belonged to the period of Jewish history which began after the return from captivity in Babylon. Scarcely anything is known of his personal history. He may have been one of the captives taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar.

    He began his ministry about sixteen years after the Return. The work of rebuilding the temple had been put a stop to through the intrigues of the Samaritans. After having been suspended for fifteen years, the work was resumed through the efforts of Haggai and Zechariah (Ezra 6:14), who by their exhortations roused the people from their lethargy, and induced them to take advantage of the favourable opportunity that had arisen in a change in the policy of the Persian government. (See DARIUS ØT0000975 [2].)

    Haggai's prophecies have thus been characterized:, "There is a ponderous and simple dignity in the emphatic reiteration addressed alike to every class of the community, prince, priest, and people, 'Be strong, be strong, be strong' (2:4). 'Cleave, stick fast, to the work you have to do;' or again, 'Consider your ways, consider, consider, consider' (1:5, 7;2:15, 18).

    It is the Hebrew phrase for the endeavour, characteristic of the gifted seers of all times, to compel their hearers to turn the inside of their hearts outwards to their own view, to take the mask from off their consciences, to 'see life steadily, and to see it wholly.'", Stanley's Jewish Church. (See SIGNET.)

  25. HERODIAN
    adjective
    1. of or relating to Herod the Great, his family, or its partisans.

    noun
    2. a partisan of the house of Herod.
    3. a member of a political group that supported the dynasty of Herod and opposed Jesus.

    PARTISAN

    noun

    1. an adherent or supporter of a person, group, party, or cause, especially a person who shows a biased, emotional allegiance.

    2. Military. a member of a party of light or irregular troops engaged in harassing an enemy, especially a member of a guerrilla band engaged in fighting or sabotage against an occupying army.

    adjective

    3. of, relating to, or characteristic of partisans; partial to a specific party, person, etc.: partisan politics.

    4. of, relating to, or carried on by military partisans or guerrillas

  26. HOSEA
    British Dictionary definitions for Hezekiah
    noun (Old Testament)
    1. a Hebrew prophet of the 8th century bc
    2. the book containing his oracles
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
    © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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    Word Origin and History for Hosea
    masc. proper name, from Hebrew Hoshea, literally "salvation," from stem y-sh- "to save."
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Hosea in the Bible

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    salvation, the son of Beeri, and author of the book of prophecies bearing his name. He belonged to the kingdom of Israel. "His Israelitish origin is attested by the peculiar, rough, Aramaizing diction, pointing to the northern part of Palestine; by the intimate acquaintance he evinces with the localities of Ephraim (5:1; 6:8, 9; 12:12; 14:6, etc.); by passages like 1:2, where the kingdom is styled 'the land', and 7:5, where the Israelitish king is designated as 'our' king." The period of his ministry (extending to some sixty years) is indicated in the superscription (Hos. 1:1, 2). He is the only prophet of Israel who has left any written prophecy.

  27. HEZEKIAH
    British Dictionary definitions for Hezekiah
    noun
    1. a king of Judah ?715–?687 bc, noted for his religious reforms (II Kings 18–19) Douay spelling Ezechias

    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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    Word Origin and History for Hezekiah

    masc. proper name, biblical, from Hebrew Hizqiyya, literally "the Lord has strengthened," from hazaq "he was strong, he strengthened" + jah, short for yahweh.
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Hezekiah in the Bible

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    whom Jehovah has strengthened.
    (1.) Son of Ahaz (2 Kings 18:1; 2 Chr. 29:1), whom he succeeded on the throne of the kingdom of Judah. He reigned twenty-nine years (B.C. 726-697). The history of this king is contained in 2 Kings 18:20, Isa. 36-39, and 2 Chr. 29-32. He is spoken of as a great and good king. In public life he followed the example of his great-granfather Uzziah. He set himself to abolish idolatry from his kingdom, and among other things which he did for this end, he destroyed the "brazen serpent," which had been removed to Jerusalem, and had become an object of idolatrous worship (Num. 21:9).

    A great reformation was wrought in the kingdom of Judah in his day (2 Kings 18:4; 2 Chr. 29:3-36). On the death of Sargon and the accession of his son Sennacherib to the throne of Assyria, Hezekiah refused to pay the tribute which his father had paid, and "rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not," but entered into a league with Egypt (Isa. 30; 31; 36:6-9).

    This led to the invasion of Judah by Sennacherib (2 Kings 18:13-16), who took forty cities, and besieged Jerusalem with mounds. Hezekiah yielded to the demands of the Assyrian king, and agreed to pay him three hundred talents of silver and thirty of gold (18:14). But Sennacherib dealt treacherously with Hezekiah (Isa. 33:1), and a second time within two years invaded his kingdom (2 Kings 18:17; 2 Chr. 32:9; Isa. 36).

    This invasion issued in the destruction of Sennacherib's army. Hezekiah prayed to God, and "that night the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians 185,000 men." Sennacherib fled with the shattered remnant of his forces to Nineveh, where, seventeen years after, he was assassinated by his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer (2 Kings 19:37). (See SENNACHERIB.)

    The narrative of Hezekiah's sickness and miraculous recovery is found in 2 Kings 20:1, 2 Chr. 32:24, Isa. 38:1. Various ambassadors came to congratulate him on his recovery, and among them Merodach-baladan, the viceroy of Babylon (2 Chr. 32:23; 2 Kings 20:12). He closed his days in peace and prosperity, and was succeeded by his son Manasseh. He was buried in the "chiefest of the sepulchres of the sons of David" (2 Chr. 32:27-33). He had "after him none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him" (2 Kings 18:5). (See ISAIAH.)

  28. HILKIAH
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    hilkiah in the Bible
    portion of Jehovah.
    (1.) 1 Chr. 6:54.

    (2.) 1 Chr. 26:11.

    (3.) The father of Eliakim (2 Kings 18:18, 26, 37).

    (4.) The father of Gemariah (Jer. 29:3).

    (5.) The father of the prophet Jeremiah (1:1).

    (6.) The high priest in the reign of Josiah (1 Chr. 6:13; Ezra 7:1). To him and his deputy (2 Kings 23:5), along with the ordinary priests and the Levites who had charge of the gates, was entrusted the purification of the temple in Jerusalem. While this was in progress, he discovered in some hidden corner of the building a book called the "book of the law" (2 Kings 22:8) and the "book of the covenant" (23:2).

    Some have supposed that this "book" was nothing else than the original autograph copy of the Pentateuch written by Moses (Deut. 31:9-26). This remarkable discovery occurred in the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign (B.C. 624), a discovery which permanently affected the whole subsequent history of Israel. (See JOSIAH ØT0002116; SHAPHAN.)

    (7.) Neh. 12:7.

    (8.) Neh. 8:4.

  29. HIRAM
    British Dictionary definitions for Hiram
    noun
    1. 10th century bc, king of Tyre, who supplied Solomon with materials and craftsmen for the building of the Temple (II Samuel 5:11; I Kings 5:1–18)
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
    © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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    Word Origin and History for Hiram
    masc. proper name, from Phoenician/Hebrew Hiram, perhaps short for Ahiram, literally "brother of the lofty."
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

  30. HUSHAI
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    quick, "the Archite," "the king's friend" (1 Chr. 27:33).
    When David fled from Jerusalem, on account of the rebellion of Absalom, and had reached the summit of Olivet, he there met Hushai, whom he sent back to Jerusalem for the purpose of counteracting the influence of Ahithophel, who had joined the ranks of Absalom (2 Sam. 15:32, 37; 16:16-18). It was by his advice that Absalom refrained from immediately pursuing after David. By this delay the cause of Absalom was ruined, for it gave David time to muster his forces.

  31. ISRAEL
    noun
    1. a republic in SW Asia, on the Mediterranean: formed as a Jewish state May 1948. 7984 sq. mi. (20,679 sq. km). Capital: Jerusalem.
    2. the people traditionally descended from Jacob; the Hebrew or Jewish people.
    3. a name given to Jacob after he had wrestled with the angel. Gen. 32:28.
    4. the northern kingdom of the Hebrews, including 10 of the 12 tribes, sometimes called by the name of the chief tribe, Ephraim. Capital: Samaria.
    5. a group considered by its members or by others as God's chosen people.
    6. a male given name.

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    The name conferred on Jacob after the great prayer-struggle at Peniel (Gen. 32:28), because "as a prince he had power with God and prevailed." (See JACOB.) This is the common name given to Jacob's descendants. The whole people of the twelve tribes are called "Israelites," the "children of Israel" (Josh. 3:17; 7:25; Judg. 8:27; Jer. 3:21), and the "house of Israel" (Ex. 16:31; 40:38).

    This name Israel is sometimes used emphatically for the true Israel (Ps. 73:1: Isa. 45:17; 49:3; John 1:47; Rom. 9:6; 11:26). After the death of Saul the ten tribes arrogated to themselves this name, as if they were the whole nation (2 Sam. 2:9, 10, 17, 28; 3:10, 17; 19:40-43), and the kings of the ten tribes were called "kings of Israel," while the kings of the two tribes were called "kings of Judah." After the Exile the name Israel was assumed as designating the entire nation.

  32. ISAIAH
    British Dictionary definitions for Isaiah
    noun (Old Testament)
    1. the first of the major Hebrew prophets, who lived in the 8th century bc

    2. the book of his and others' prophecies

    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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    Word Origin and History for Isaiah
    masc. proper name, name of a biblical prophet, from Hebrew Yesha'yah, abbreviated form of Yesha'yahu, literally "salvation of the Lord," from yesha, yeshua "salvation, deliverance."
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Isaiah in Culture

    Isaiah [(eye- zay -uh)]

    A major Israelite prophet who foretold the coming of the Messiah; the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament is attributed to him. In the New Testament, his prophecies are treated as predictions of many of the details of the life and death of Jesus. ( See Good Shepherd.)

    The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
    Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
    Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

    Isaiah in the Bible

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

    (Heb. Yesh'yahu, i.e., "the salvation of Jehovah").
    (1.) The son of Amoz (Isa. 1:1; 2:1), who was apparently a man of humble rank. His wife was called "the prophetess" (8:3), either because she was endowed with the prophetic gift, like Deborah (Judg. 4:4) and Huldah (2 Kings 22:14-20), or simply because she was the wife of "the prophet" (Isa. 38:1).

    He had two sons, who bore symbolical names. He exercised the functions of his office during the reigns of Uzziah (or Azariah), Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (1:1). Uzziah reigned fifty-two years (B.C. 810-759), and Isaiah must have begun his career a few years before Uzziah's death, probably B.C. 762. He lived till the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, and in all likelihood outlived that monarch (who died B.C. 698), and may have been contemporary for some years with Manasseh.

    Thus Isaiah may have prophesied for the long period of at least sixty-four years. His first call to the prophetical office is not recorded. A second call came to him "in the year that King Uzziah died" (Isa. 6:1). He exercised his ministry in a spirit of uncompromising firmness and boldness in regard to all that bore on the interests of religion. He conceals nothing and keeps nothing back from fear of man.

    He was also noted for his spirituality and for his deep-toned reverence toward "the holy One of Israel." In early youth Isaiah must have been moved by the invasion of Israel by the Assyrian monarch Pul (q.v.), 2 Kings 15:19; and again, twenty years later, when he had already entered on his office, by the invasion of Tiglath-pileser and his career of conquest. Ahaz, king of Judah, at this crisis refused to co-operate with the kings of Israel and Syria in opposition to the Assyrians, and was on that account attacked and defeated by Rezin of Damascus and Pekah of Samaria (2 Kings 16:5; 2 Chr. 28:5, 6).

    Ahaz, thus humbled, sided with Assyria, and sought the aid of Tiglath-pileser against Israel and Syria. The consequence was that Rezin and Pekah were conquered and many of the people carried captive to Assyria (2 Kings 15:29; 16:9; 1 Chr. 5:26). Soon after this Shalmaneser determined wholly to subdue the kingdom of Israel. Samaria was taken and destroyed (B.C. 722).

    So long as Ahaz reigned, the kingdom of Judah was unmolested by the Assyrian power; but on his accession to the throne, Hezekiah (B.C. 726), who "rebelled against the king of Assyria" (2 Kings 18:7), in which he was encouraged by Isaiah, who exhorted the people to place all their dependence on Jehovah (Isa. 10:24; 37:6), entered into an alliance with the king of Egypt (Isa. 30:2-4).

    This led the king of Assyria to threaten the king of Judah, and at length to invade the land. Sennacherib (B.C. 701) led a powerful army into Palestine. Hezekiah was reduced to despair, and submitted to the Assyrians (2 Kings 18:14-16). But after a brief interval war broke out again, and again Sennacherib (q.v.) led an army into Palestine, one detachment of which threatened Jerusalem (Isa. 36:2-22; 37:8).

    Isaiah on that occasion encouraged Hezekiah to resist the Assyrians (37:1-7), whereupon Sennacherib sent a threatening letter to Hezekiah, which he "spread before the Lord" (37:14). The judgement of God now fell on the Assyrian host. "Like Xerxes in Greece, Sennacherib never recovered from the shock of the disaster in Judah. He made no more expeditions against either Southern Palestine or Egypt."

    The remaining years of Hezekiah's reign were peaceful (2 Chr. 32:23, 27-29). Isaiah probably lived to its close, and possibly into the reign of Manasseh, but the time and manner of his death are unknown. There is a tradition that he suffered martyrdom in the heathen reaction in the time of Manasseh (q.v.).

    (2.) One of the heads of the singers in the time of David (1 Chr. 25:3,15, "Jeshaiah").

    (3.) A Levite (1 Chr. 26:25).

    (4.) Ezra 8:7.

    (5.) Neh. 11:7.

  33. JEHOIADA
    noun
    1. a priest of Judah who led the revolt against Athalia. II Kings 11:1–16.
    Dictionary.com Unabridged
    Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2015.

    Jehoiada in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    Jehovah-known.
    (1.) The father of Benaiah, who was one of David's chief warriors (2 Sam. 8:18; 20:23).

    (2.) The high priest at the time of Athaliah's usurpation of the throne of Judah. He married Jehosheba, or Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram (2 Chr. 22:11), and took an active part along with his wife in the preservation and training of Jehoash when Athaliah slew all the royal family of Judah. The plans he adopted in replacing Jehoash on the throne of his ancestors are described in 2 Kings 11:2; 12:2; 2 Chr. 22:11; 23:24. He was among the foremost of the benefactors of the kingdom, and at his death was buried in the city of David among the kings of Judah (2 Chr. 24:15, 16). He is said to have been one hundred and thirty years old.

  34. JEREMIAH
    British Dictionary definitions for Jeremiah
    noun
    1. (Old Testament)
    a major prophet of Judah from about 626 to 587 bc
    the book containing his oracles

    2. a person who habitually prophesies doom or denounces contemporary society
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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    Word Origin and History for Jeremiah
    masc. proper name, Old Testament prophet (see jeremiad ) who flourished c.626-586 B.C.E., from Late Latin Jeremias, from Hebrew Yirmeyah, probably literally "may Jehovah exalt," but Klein suggests it also might be short for Yirmeyahu "the Lord casts, the Lord founds," and compares the first element in Jerusalem. The vernacular form in English was Jeremy.
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Jeremiah in Culture

    Jeremiah definition

    A major Israelite prophet; also, a book of the Old Testament that chronicles his life and records his angry lamentations about the wickedness of his people.

    Note : A “jeremiad” is any long lamentation or angry denunciation.

    The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
    Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
    Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

    Jeremiah in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    Raised up or appointed by Jehovah.

    (1.) A Gadite who joined David in the wilderness (1 Chr. 12:10).

    (2.) A Gadite warrior (1 Chr. 12:13).

    (3.) A Benjamite slinger who joined David at Ziklag (1 Chr. 12:4).

    (4.) One of the chiefs of the tribe of Manasseh on the east of Jordan (1 Chr. 5:24).

    (5.) The father of Hamutal (2 Kings 23:31), the wife of Josiah.

    (6.) One of the "greater prophets" of the Old Testament, son of Hilkiah (q.v.), a priest of Anathoth (Jer. 1:1; 32:6). He was called to the prophetical office when still young (1:6), in the thirteenth year of Josiah (B.C. 628). He left his native place, and went to reside in Jerusalem, where he greatly assisted Josiah in his work of reformation (2 Kings 23:1-25). The death of this pious king was bewailed by the prophet as a national calamity (2 Chr. 35:25). During the three years of the reign of Jehoahaz we find no reference to Jeremiah, but in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the enmity of the people against him broke out in bitter persecution, and he was placed apparently under restraint (Jer. 36:5).

    In the fourth year of Jehoiakim he was commanded to write the predictions given to him, and to read them to the people on the fast-day. This was done by Baruch his servant in his stead, and produced much public excitement. The roll was read to the king. In his recklessness he seized the roll, and cut it to pieces, and cast it into the fire, and ordered both Baruch and Jeremiah to be apprehended. Jeremiah procured another roll, and wrote in it the words of the roll the king had destroyed, and "many like words" besides (Jer. 36:32).

    He remained in Jerusalem, uttering from time to time his words of warning, but without effect. He was there when Nebuchadnezzar besieged the city (Jer. 37:4, 5), B.C. 589. The rumour of the approach of the Egyptians to aid the Jews in this crisis induced the Chaldeans to withdraw and return to their own land. This, however, was only for a time. The prophet, in answer to his prayer, received a message from God announcing that the Chaldeans would come again and take the city, and burn it with fire (37:7, 8).

    The princes, in their anger at such a message by Jeremiah, cast him into prison (37:15-38:13). He was still in confinement when the city was taken (B.C. 588). The Chaldeans released him, and showed him great kindness, allowing him to choose the place of his residence. He accordingly went to Mizpah with Gedaliah, who had been made governor of Judea. Johanan succeeded Gedaliah, and refusing to listen to Jeremiah's counsels, went down into Egypt, taking Jeremiah and Baruch with him (Jer. 43:6).

    There probably the prophet spent the remainder of his life, in vain seeking still to turn the people to the Lord, from whom they had so long revolted (44). He lived till the reign of Evil-Merodach, son of Nebuchadnezzar, and must have been about ninety years of age at his death. We have no authentic record of his death. He may have died at Tahpanhes, or, according to a tradition, may have gone to Babylon with the army of Nebuchadnezzar; but of this there is nothing certain.

  35. JEROBOAM
    Increase of the people.
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    (1.) The son of Nebat (1 Kings 11:26-39), "an Ephrathite," the first king of the ten tribes, over whom he reigned twenty-two years (B.C. 976-945). He was the son of a widow of Zereda, and while still young was promoted by Solomon to be chief superintendent of the "burnden", i.e., of the bands of forced labourers. Influenced by the words of the prophet Ahijah, he began to form conspiracies with the view of becoming king of the ten tribes; but these having been discovered, he fled to Egypt (1 Kings 11:29-40), where he remained for a length of time under the protection of Shishak I. On the death of Solomon, the ten tribes, having revolted, sent to invite him to become their king.

    The conduct of Rehoboam favoured the designs of Jeroboam, and he was accordingly proclaimed "king of Israel" (1 Kings 12: 1-20). He rebuilt and fortified Shechem as the capital of his kingdom. He at once adopted means to perpetuate the division thus made between the two parts of the kingdom, and erected at Dan and Bethel, the two extremities of his kingdom, "golden calves," which he set up as symbols of Jehovah, enjoining the people not any more to go up to worship at Jerusalem, but to bring their offerings to the shrines he had erected.

    Thus he became distinguished as the man "who made Israel to sin." This policy was followed by all the succeeding kings of Israel. While he was engaged in offering incense at Bethel, a prophet from Judah appeared before him with a warning message from the Lord. Attempting to arrest the prophet for his bold words of defiance, his hand was "dried up," and the altar before which he stood was rent asunder. At his urgent entreaty his "hand was restored him again" (1 Kings 13:1-6, 9; comp. 2 Kings 23:15); but the miracle made no abiding impression on him. His reign was one of constant war with the house of Judah. He died soon after his son Abijah (1 Kings 14:1-18).

    (2.) Jeroboam II., the son and successor of Jehoash, and the fourteenth king of Israel, over which he ruled for forty-one years, B.C. 825-784 (2 Kings 14:23). He followed the example of the first Jeroboam in keeping up the worship of the golden calves (2 Kings 14:24). His reign was contemporary with those of Amaziah (2 Kings 14:23) and Uzziah (15:1), kings of Judah. He was victorious over the Syrians (13:4; 14:26, 27), and extended Israel to its former limits, from "the entering of Hamath to the sea of the plain" (14:25; Amos 6:14).

    His reign of forty-one years was the most prosperous that Israel had ever known as yet. With all this outward prosperity, however, iniquity widely prevailed in the land (Amos 2:6-8; 4:1; 6:6; Hos. 4:12-14). The prophets Hosea (1:1), Joel (3:16; Amos 1:1, 2), Amos (1:1), and Jonah (2 Kings 14:25) lived during his reign. He died, and was buried with his ancestors (14:29). He was succeeded by his son Zachariah (q.v.). His name occurs in Scripture only in 2 Kings 13:13; 14:16, 23, 27, 28, 29; 15:1, 8; 1 Chr. 5:17; Hos. 1:1; Amos 1:1; 7:9, 10, 11. In all other passages it is Jeroboam the son of Nebat that is meant.

  36. JESUS
    noun
    1. Also called Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth. born 4? b.c., crucified a.d. 29? the source of the Christian religion.
    2. ("the Son of Sirach") the author of the Apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus, who lived in the 3rd century b.c.
    3. Christian Science. the supreme example of God's nature expressed through human beings.
    4. Also, Jesús [Spanish he-soos]. a male given name.

    interjection
    5. Sometimes Offensive. (used as an oath or strong expression of disbelief, dismay, awe, disappointment, pain, etc.)

    Origin of Jesus
    1200-50; Middle English < Late Latin Iēsus < Greek Iēsoûs < Hebrew Yēshūaʿ, syncopated variant of Yəhōshūaʿ God is help; in Early Modern English, the distinction (lost in Middle English) between Jesus (nominative) and Jesu (oblique, especially vocative; see Jesu ) was revived on the model of Latin and Gk sources; Jesus gradually supplanted the older form in both nominative and oblique.

    British Dictionary definitions for Jesus
    noun
    1. Also called Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. ?4 bc –?29 ad, founder of Christianity, born in Bethlehem and brought up in Nazareth as a Jew. He is believed by Christians to be the Son of God and to have been miraculously conceived by the Virgin Mary, wife of Joseph. With 12 disciples, he undertook two missionary journeys through Galilee, performing miracles, teaching, and proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom of God. His revolutionary Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–8), which preaches love, humility, and charity, the essence of his teaching, aroused the hostility of the Pharisees. After the Last Supper with his disciples, he was betrayed by Judas and crucified. He is believed by Christians to have risen from his tomb after three days, appeared to his disciples several times, and ascended to Heaven after 40 days

    2. Son of Sirach. 3rd century bc, author of the Apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus

    Word Origin and History for Jesus
    late 12c. (Old English used hælend "savior"), from Greek Iesous, which is an attempt to render into Greek the Aramaic proper name Jeshua (Hebrew Yeshua) "Jah is salvation," a common Jewish personal name, the later form of Hebrew Yehoshua (see Joshua ).

    As an oath, attested from late 14c. For Jesus H. Christ (1924), see I.H.S. First record of Jesus freak is from 1970. Jesu, common in Middle English, is from the Old French objective case.
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Jesus in Culture
    Jesus definition

    A prophet of the first century of our era; to Christians, Jesus Christ, the son of God, a person who was both God and man, the Messiah sent by God to save the human race from the sin it inherited through the Fall of Man.

    Commentary:
    The idea that Jesus was both God and man contradicts the definition of words and holy scripture. Jesus is called "the son of God" 68 times in the bible, and is called "God" only 4 times. Just by the sheer volume of evidence alone, we should conclude that he was the son of God. However, when you research these 4 times he was called God, 2 of them were clear mistranslations and the other 2 have valid explanations, since Lords or Kings were sometimes called "Gods" in the old testament. End commentary.

    The story of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem is called the Nativity. He was conceived by the Virgin Mary ( see Mary, the mother of Jesus ) through the power of the Holy Spirit of God, laid in a manger after his birth in Bethlehem, and raised by Mary and her husband, Joseph ( see Joseph, the husband of Mary ), in Nazareth. As a boy of twelve, he went to the Temple in Jerusalem, where he astonished the teachers of the Mosaic law with his knowledge. As a man, he chose the Twelve Apostles, with whom he traveled throughout his native Palestine teaching the word of God ( see Sermon on the Mount ), healing the sick, and performing miracles ( see loaves and fishes ).

    He attracted many followers and also made many enemies for claiming to be the Messiah and for failing to observe all Jewish laws. He was eventually betrayed by Judas Iscariot, condemned by Pontius Pilate, and crucified by the Roman authorities who ruled his country. Christians believe that he rose again from the dead and that his Resurrection makes salvation possible. Christians also expect a Second Coming of Jesus. (See Crucifixion, gospel, and Gospels.)

    The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
    Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
    Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

    Jesus in the Bible

    (1.) Joshua, the son of Nun (Acts 7:45; Heb. 4:8; R.V., "Joshua").

    (2.) A Jewish Christian surnamed Justus (Col. 4:11). Je'sus, the proper, as Christ is the official, name of our Lord. To distinguish him from others so called, he is spoken of as "Jesus of Nazareth" (John 18:7), and "Jesus the son of Joseph" (John 6:42). This is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua, which was originally Hoshea (Num. 13:8, 16), but changed by Moses into Jehoshua (Num. 13:16; 1 Chr. 7:27), or Joshua. After the Exile it assumed the form Jeshua, whence the Greek form Jesus. It was given to our Lord to denote the object of his mission, to save (Matt. 1:21). The life of Jesus on earth may be divided into two great periods,

    (1) that of his private life, till he was about thirty years of age; and

    (2) that of his public life, which lasted about three years. In the "fulness of time" he was born at Bethlehem, in the reign of the emperor Augustus, of Mary, who was betrothed to Joseph, a carpenter (Matt. 1:1; Luke 3:23; comp. John 7:42). His birth was announced to the shepherds (Luke 2:8-20). Wise men from the east came to Bethlehem to see him who was born "King of the Jews," bringing gifts with them (Matt. 2:1-12). Herod's cruel jealousy led to Joseph's flight into Egypt with Mary and the infant Jesus, where they tarried till the death of this king (Matt. 2:13-23), when they returned and settled in Nazareth, in Lower Galilee (2:23; comp. Luke 4:16; John 1:46, etc.).

    At the age of twelve years he went up to Jerusalem to the Passover with his parents. There, in the temple, "in the midst of the doctors," all that heard him were "astonished at his understanding and answers" (Luke 2:41, etc.). Eighteen years pass, of which we have no record beyond this, that he returned to Nazareth and "increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man" (Luke 2:52).

    He entered on his public ministry when he was about thirty years of age. It is generally reckoned to have extended to about three years. "Each of these years had peculiar features of its own.

    (1.) The first year may be called the year of obscurity, both because the records of it which we possess are very scanty, and because he seems during it to have been only slowly emerging into public notice. It was spent for the most part in Judea.

    (2.) The second year was the year of public favour, during which the country had become thoroughly aware of him; his activity was incessant, and his frame rang through the length and breadth of the land. It was almost wholly passed in Galilee.

    (3.) The third was the year of opposition, when the public favour ebbed away. His enemies multiplied and assailed him with more and more pertinacity, and at last he fell a victim to their hatred. The first six months of this final year were passed in Galilee, and the last six in other parts of the land.", Stalker's Life of Jesus Christ, p. 45. The only reliable sources of information regarding the life of Christ on earth are the Gospels, which present in historical detail the words and the work of Christ in so many different aspects. (See CHRIST.)

  37. JOB
    British Dictionary definitions for job
    noun
    1. (Old Testament)
    a Jewish patriarch, who maintained his faith in God in spite of the afflictions sent by God to test him
    the book containing Job's pleas to God under these afflictions, attempted explanations of them by his friends, and God's reply to him
    2. any person who withstands great suffering without despairing
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
    © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
    Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

    Biblical masc. proper name, from Hebrew Iyyobh, which according to some scholars is literally "hated, persecuted," from ayyabh "he was hostile to," related to ebhah "enmity." Others say it means "the penitent one."
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Job in Culture
    In the Old Testament, a man whose faith was severely tested by Satan, with God's permission. Job was the most prosperous and happy of men, who faithfully praised God for God's goodness. In order to get him to curse God, Satan destroyed all that Job owned, killed his children, and struck Job himself with vile sores from head to foot.

    False friends of Job's suggested that he should abandon his beliefs ( see Job's comforters ). But even in absolute misery, Job would not curse God, saying instead, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord.” As a reward for his steadfast faith, God healed Job and “gave him twice as much as he had before.”

    Note : Figuratively, any long-suffering person can be said to be “as patient as Job.”
    The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
    Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
    Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

    Job in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    persecuted, an Arabian patriarch who resided in the land of Uz (q.v.).
    While living in the midst of great prosperity, he was suddenly overwhelmed by a series of sore trials that fell upon him. Amid all his sufferings he maintained his integrity. Once more God visited him with the rich tokens of his goodness and even greater prosperity than he had enjoyed before. He survived the period of trial for one hundred and forty years, and died in a good old age, an example to succeeding generations of integrity (Ezek. 14:14, 20) and of submissive patience under the sorest calamities (James 5:11). His history, so far as it is known, is recorded in his book.

  38. JOEL
    British Dictionary definitions for Joel
    noun (Old Testament)
    1. a Hebrew prophet
    2. the book containing his oracles
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
    © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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    Word Origin and History for Joel
    masc. proper name, from Hebrew Yoh'el, name of a minor Old Testament prophet, literally "the Lord is God;" the same name as Elijah (q.v.) but with the elements reversed. But the personal name that became common in Devon and Cornwall and the Breton districts of Yorkshire and the Eastern Counties immediately after the Conquest is from Old Breton Iudhael, from Iud- "chief, lord" + hael "generous." It is the source of the modern British surname Joel, as well as Jewell, Joule, and Jolson.
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Joel in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    Jehovah is his God.

    (1.) The oldest of Samuel's two sons appointed by him as judges in Beersheba (1 Sam. 8:2). (See VASHNI Ø(n/a).)

    (2.) A descendant of Reuben (1 Chr. 5:4,8).

    (3.) One of David's famous warriors (1 Chr. 11:38).

    (4.) A Levite of the family of Gershom (1 Chr. 15:7, 11).

    (5.) 1 Chr. 7:3.

    (6.) 1 Chr. 27:20.

    (7.) The second of the twelve minor prophets. He was the son of Pethuel. His personal history is only known from his book.

  39. JONAH
    British Dictionary definitions for Jonah
    noun
    1. (Old Testament)
    a Hebrew prophet who, having been thrown overboard from a ship in which he was fleeing from God, was swallowed by a great fish and vomited onto dry land the book in which his adventures are recounted

    2. a person believed to bring bad luck to those around him; a jinx

    Word Origin and History for Jonah
    masc. proper name, biblical prophet, from Hebrew Yonah, literally "dove, pigeon."

    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Jonah in the Bible

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    a dove, the son of Amittai of Gath-hepher.
    He was a prophet of Israel, and predicted the restoration of the ancient boundaries (2 Kings 14:25-27) of the kingdom. He exercised his ministry very early in the reign of Jeroboam II., and thus was contemporary with Hosea and Amos; or possibly he preceded them, and consequently may have been the very oldest of all the prophets whose writings we possess.

    His personal history is mainly to be gathered from the book which bears his name. It is chiefly interesting from the two-fold character in which he appears,

    (1) as a missionary to heathen Nineveh, and

    (2) as a type of the "Son of man."

  40. JOSEPHUS
    British Dictionary definitions for Josephus
    Josephus
    noun
    1. Flavius real name Joseph ben Matthias. ?37-?100 ad, Jewish historian and general; author of History of the Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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  41. JOSHUA
    British Dictionary definitions for Joshua
    noun (Old Testament)
    1. Moses' successor, who led the Israelites in the conquest of Canaan

    2. the book recounting his deeds

    Douay spelling Josue (ˈdʒɒsjʊiː)
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
    © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
    Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

    Word Origin and History for Joshua
    masc. proper name, biblical successor of Moses, from Hebrew Yehoshua, literally "the Lord is salvation." Joshua tree (1867) is perhaps so called because its shape compared to pictures of Joshua brandishing a spear (Josh. viii:18). In the top 10 list of names for boys in the U.S. since 1979.
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Joshua in Culture

    Joshua definition

    In the Old Testament, the leader who brought the Israelites into the Promised Land after the death of Moses. Joshua is best known for his destruction of the city of Jericho. When Joshua was besieging the city, God instructed him to have his priests blow their trumpets and all his troops give a great shout. At the sound of the shout, the walls of the city collapsed, and Joshua's troops rushed in. ( See “ Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho.”)

    The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
    Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
    Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

    Joshua in the Bible

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

    Jehovah is his help, or Jehovah the Saviour.
    The son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, the successor of Moses as the leader of Israel. He is called Jehoshua in Num. 13:16 (A.V.), and Jesus in Acts 7:45 and Heb. 4:8 (R.V., Joshua). He was born in Egypt, and was probably of the age of Caleb, with whom he is generally associated.

    He shared in all the events of the Exodus, and held the place of commander of the host of the Israelites at their great battle against the Amalekites in Rephidim (Ex. 17:8-16). He became Moses' minister or servant, and accompanied him part of the way when he ascended Mount Sinai to receive the two tables (Ex. 32:17). He was also one of the twelve who were sent on by Moses to explore the land of Canaan (Num. 13:16, 17), and only he and Caleb gave an encouraging report.

    Under the direction of God, Moses, before his death, invested Joshua in a public and solemn manner with authority over the people as his successor (Deut. 31:23). The people were encamped at Shittim when he assumed the command (Josh. 1:1); and crossing the Jordan, they encamped at Gilgal, where, having circumcised the people, he kept the Passover, and was visited by the Captain of the Lord's host, who spoke to him encouraging words (1:1-9).

    Now began the wars of conquest which Joshua carried on for many years, the record of which is in the book which bears his name. Six nations and thirty-one kings were conquered by him (Josh. 11:18-23; 12:24). Having thus subdued the Canaanites, Joshua divided the land among the tribes, Timnath-serah in Mount Ephraim being assigned to himself as his own inheritance. (See SHILOH ØT0003375; PRIEST.)

    His work being done, he died, at the age of one hundred and ten years, twenty-five years after having crossed the Jordan. He was buried in his own city of Timnath-serah (Josh. 24); and "the light of Israel for the time faded away." Joshua has been regarded as a type of Christ (Heb. 4:8) in the following particulars:

    (1) In the name common to both;

    (2) Joshua brings the people into the possession of the Promised Land, as Jesus brings his people to the heavenly Canaan; and

    (3) as Joshua succeeded Moses, so the Gospel succeeds the Law. The character of Joshua is thus well sketched by Edersheim:, "Born a slave in Egypt, he must have been about forty years old at the time of the Exodus. Attached to the person of Moses, he led Israel in the first decisive battle against Amalek (Ex. 17:9, 13), while Moses in the prayer of faith held up to heaven the God-given 'rod.' It was no doubt on that occasion that his name was changed from Oshea, 'help,' to Jehoshua, 'Jehovah is help' (Num. 13:16).

    And this name is the key to his life and work. Alike in bringing the people into Canaan, in his wars, and in the distribution of the land among the tribes, from the miraculous crossing of Jordan and taking of Jericho to his last address, he was the embodiment of his new name, 'Jehovah is help.' To this outward calling his character also corresponded. It is marked by singleness of purpose, directness, and decision...He sets an object before him, and unswervingly follows it" (Bible Hist., iii. 103)

  42. JUDE
    British Dictionary definitions for Jude
    noun
    1. a book of the New Testament (in full The Epistle of Jude)
    2. Saint Jude, Judas, the author of this, stated to be the brother of James (Jude 1) and almost certainly identical with Thaddaeus (Matthew 10:2–4). Feast day: Oct 28 or June 19
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
    © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
    Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

    Word Origin and History for Jude
    masc. proper name, Hellenized form of Judah (q.v.), maintained in the Bible for the names of two disciples of Christ, to distinguish them from Judas (q.v.). Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Jude in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    = Judas. Among the apostles there were two who bore this name,

    (1) Judas (Jude 1:1; Matt. 13:55; John 14:22; Acts 1:13), called also Lebbaeus or Thaddaeus (Matt. 10:3; Mark 3:18); and

    (2) Judas Iscariot (Matt. 10:4; Mark 3:19). He who is called "the brother of James" (Luke 6:16), may be the same with the Judas surnamed Lebbaeus. The only thing recorded regarding him is in John 14:22.

  43. KOLAIAH
    Smith's Bible Dictionary
    Kolaiah
    (voice of Jehovah).

    A Benjamite whose descendants settled in Jerusalem after the return from the captivity. (Nehemiah 11:7) (B.C. before 536.)
    The father of Ahab the false prophet, who was burnt by the king of Babylon. (Jeremiah 29:21) (B.C. before 594.)

    International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
    ko-la'-ya, ko-li'-a (qolayah, "voice of Yah"):
    (1) A Benjamite, son of Maaseiah (Nehemiah 11:7).

    (2) Father of Ahab, a false prophet and a lecherous man (Jeremiah 29:21-23).

  44. LORD
    noun
    1. a person who has authority, control, or power over others; a master, chief, or ruler.
    2. a person who exercises authority from property rights; an owner of land, houses, etc.
    3. a person who is a leader or has great influence in a chosen profession: the great lords of banking.
    4. a feudal superior; the proprietor of a manor.
    5. a titled nobleman or peer; a person whose ordinary appellation contains by courtesy the title Lord or some higher title.
    6. Lords, the Lords Spiritual and Lords Temporal comprising the House of Lords.
    7. (initial capital letter)
    the title of certain high officials (used with some other title, name, or the like):
    Lord Mayor of London.
    the formally polite title of a bishop:
    Lord Bishop of Durham.
    the title informally substituted for marquis, earl, viscount, etc., as in the use of Lord Kitchener for Earl Kitchener.

    8. (initial capital letter) the Supreme Being; God; Jehovah.
    9. (initial capital letter) the Savior, Jesus Christ.
    10. Astrology. a planet having dominating influence.

    interjection
    11. (often initial capital letter) (used in exclamatory phrases to express surprise, elation, etc.): Lord, what a beautiful day!

    Idioms
    12. lord it, to assume airs of importance and authority; behave arrogantly or dictatorially; domineer:to lord it over the menial workers.

    Origin of Lord
    before 900; Middle English lord, loverd, Old English hlāford, hlāfweard literally, loaf-keeper. See loaf1, ward

    British Dictionary definitions for lord
    noun
    1. a person who has power or authority over others, such as a monarch or master
    2. a male member of the nobility, esp in Britain
    3. (in medieval Europe) a feudal superior, esp the master of a manor Compare lady (sense 5)
    4. a husband considered as head of the household (archaic except in the facetious phrase lord and master)
    5. (astrology) a planet having a dominating influence
    6. my lord, a respectful form of address used to a judge, bishop, or nobleman

    verb
    7. (transitive) ( rare) to make a lord of (a person)
    8. to act in a superior manner towards (esp in the phrase lord it over)

    Word Origin and History for lord
    n.
    mid-13c., laverd, loverd, from Old English hlaford "master of a household, ruler, superior," also "God" (translating Latin Dominus, though Old English drihten was used more often), earlier hlafweard, literally "one who guards the loaves," from hlaf "bread, loaf" (see loaf (n.)) + weard "keeper, guardian" (see ward (n.)). Cf. lady, and Old English hlafæta "household servant," literally "loaf-eater." Modern monosyllabic form emerged 14c. As an interjection from late 14c. Lord's Prayer is from 1540s. Lord of the Flies translates Beelzebub (q.v.) and was name of 1954 book by William Golding. To drink like a lord is from 1620s.

    v. c.1300, "to exercise lordship," from lord (n.). Meaning "to play the lord, domineer" is late 14c. Related: Lorded ; lording. To lord it is from 1570s. Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    There are various Hebrew and Greek words so rendered.

    (1.) Heb. Jehovah, has been rendered in the English Bible LORD, printed in small capitals. This is the proper name of the God of the Hebrews. The form "Jehovah" is retained only in Ex. 6:3; Ps. 83:18; Isa. 12:2; 26:4, both in the Authorized and the Revised Version.

    (2.) Heb. 'adon, means one possessed of absolute control. It denotes a master, as of slaves (Gen. 24:14, 27), or a ruler of his subjects (45:8), or a husband, as lord of his wife (18:12). The old plural form of this Hebrew word is _'adonai_. From a superstitious reverence for the name "Jehovah," the Jews, in reading their Scriptures, whenever that name occurred, always pronounced it _'Adonai_.

    (3.) Greek kurios, a supreme master, etc. In the LXX. this is invariably used for "Jehovah" and "'Adonai."

    (4.) Heb. ba'al, a master, as having domination. This word is applied to human relations, as that of husband, to persons skilled in some art or profession, and to heathen deities. "The men of Shechem," literally "the baals of Shechem" (Judg. 9:2, 3). These were the Israelite inhabitants who had reduced the Canaanites to a condition of vassalage (Josh. 16:10; 17:13).

    (5.) Heb. seren, applied exclusively to the "lords of the Philistines" (Judg. 3:3). The LXX. render it by satrapies. At this period the Philistines were not, as at a later period (1 Sam. 21:10), under a kingly government. (See Josh. 13:3; 1 Sam. 6:18.) There were five such lordships, viz., Gath, Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron.

  45. LUCIFER
    British Dictionary definitions for Lucifer
    noun
    1. the leader of the rebellion of the angels: usually identified with Satan
    2. the planet Venus when it rises as the morning star

    Lucifer definition
    A name, traditional in Christianity, for the leader of the devils, an angel who was cast from heaven into hell because he rebelled against God. Lucifer is usually identified with Satan. The name Lucifer, which means “bearer of light” or “morning star,” refers to his former splendor as the greatest of the angels.
    The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
    Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
    Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

    Word Origin and History for Lucifer
    Old English Lucifer "Satan," also "morning star," from Latin Lucifer "morning star," literally "light-bringing," from lux (genitive lucis) "light" (see light (n.)) + ferre "carry" (see infer ).

    Belief that it was the proper name of Satan began with its use in Bible to translate Greek Phosphoros, which translates Hebrew Helel ben Shahar in Isaiah xiv:12 -- "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" [KJV] Because of the mention of a fall from Heaven, the verse was interpreted by Christians as a reference to Satan, even though it is literally a reference to the King of Babylon (cf. Isaiah xiv:4).

    Lucifer match "friction match" is from 1831. Adjectival forms include Luciferian, Luciferine, Luciferous. There was a noted Bishop Lucifer of Cagliari in Sardinia in the 4th century, regarded locally as a saint.
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Lucifer in Culture
    Lucifer definition

    Another name for Satan.

    Lucifer in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    brilliant star, a title given to the king of Babylon (Isa. 14:12) to denote his glory.

  46. LUKE
    noun
    1. an early Christian disciple and companion of Paul, a physician and probably a gentile: traditionally believed to be the author of the third Gospel and the Acts.
    2. the third Gospel.
    3. a male given name: from the Greek word meaning “man of Lucania.”.
    Dictionary.com Unabridged
    Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2015.

    Word Origin and History for Luke
    adj.
    obsolete except in lukewarm (late 14c.), from Middle English leuk "tepid" (c.1200), of unknown origin; perhaps from Middle Dutch or Old Frisian leuk "tepid, weak," or from Old English hleowe (adv.) "warm," all from Proto-Germanic *khlewaz (see lee ).

    masc. proper name, from Latin Lucas (Greek Loukas), contraction of Lucanus literally "of Lucania, " district in Lower Italy, home of the Lucani, a branch of the Sabelline race.
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Luke in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    The evangelist, was a Gentile. The date and circumstances of his conversion are unknown. According to his own statement (Luke 1:2), he was not an "eye-witness and minister of the word from the beginning." It is probable that he was a physician in Troas, and was there converted by Paul, to whom he attached himself. He accompanied him to Philippi, but did not there share his imprisonment, nor did he accompany him further after his release in his missionary journey at this time (Acts 17:1).

    On Paul's third visit to Philippi (20:5, 6) we again meet with Luke, who probably had spent all the intervening time in that city, a period of seven or eight years. From this time Luke was Paul's constant companion during his journey to Jerusalem (20:6-21:18). He again disappears from view during Paul's imprisonment at Jerusalem and Caesarea, and only reappears when Paul sets out for Rome (27:1), whither he accompanies him (28:2, 12-16), and where he remains with him till the close of his first imprisonment (Philemon 1:24; Col. 4:14). The last notice of the "beloved physician" is in 2 Tim. 4:11. There are many passages in Paul's epistles, as well as in the writings of Luke, which show the extent and accuracy of his medical knowledge.

  47. MALACHI
    British Dictionary definitions for Malachi
    noun (Old Testament)
    1. a Hebrew prophet of the 5th century bc
    2. the book containing his oracles. Douay spelling: Malachias

    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
    © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
    Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

    Word Origin and History for Malachi
    masc. proper name, Old Testament name of the last in order of the Twelve Prophets, from Hebrew Mal'akhi, literally "my messenger," from mal'akh "messenger," from Semitic base l-'-k (cf. Arabic la'aka "he sent").
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Malachi in the Bible

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

    Messenger or angel,
    The last of the minor prophets, and the writer of the last book of the Old Testament canon (Mal. 4:4, 5, 6). Nothing is known of him beyond what is contained in his book of prophecies. Some have supposed that the name is simply a title descriptive of his character as a messenger of Jehovah, and not a proper name. There is reason, however, to conclude that Malachi was the ordinary name of the prophet.

    He was contemporary with Nehemiah (compare Malachi. 2:8 with Nehemiah. 13:15; Malachi. 2:10-16 with Nehemiah. 13:23). No allusion is made to him by Ezra, and he does not mention the restoration of the temple, and hence it is inferred that he prophesied after Haggai and Zechariah, and when the temple services were still in existence (Mal. 1:10; 3:1, 10). It is probable that he delivered his prophecies about B.C. 420, after the second return of Nehemiah from Persia (Neh. 13:6), or possibly before his return.

  48. MANOAH
    noun
    1. the father of Samson. Judges 13.
    Dictionary.com Unabridged
    Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2015.

    Manoah in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    Rest, a Danite, the father of Samson (Judg. 13:1-22, and 14:2-4).

  49. MARK
    Mark in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    The evangelist;
    "John whose surname was Mark" (Acts 12:12, 25). Mark (Marcus, Col. 4:10, etc.) was his Roman name, which gradually came to supersede his Jewish name John. He is called John in Acts 13:5,13, and Mark in 15:39, 2 Tim. 4:11, etc. He was the son of Mary, a woman apparently of some means and influence, and was probably born in Jerusalem, where his mother resided (Acts 12:12). Of his father we know nothing. He was cousin of Barnabas (Col. 4:10). It was in his mother's house that Peter found "many gathered together praying" when he was released from prison; and it is probable that it was here that he was converted by Peter, who calls him his "son" (1 Pet. 5:13).

    It is probable that the "young man" spoken of in Mark 14:51, 52 was Mark himself. He is first mentioned in Acts 12:25. He went with Paul and Barnabas on their first journey (about A.D. 47) as their "minister," but from some cause turned back when they reached Perga in Pamphylia (Acts 12:25; 13:13). Three years afterwards a "sharp contention" arose between Paul and Barnabas (15:36-40), because Paul would not take Mark with him. He, however, was evidently at length reconciled to the apostle, for he was with him in his first imprisonment at Rome (Col. 4:10; Philemon 1:24). At a later period he was with Peter in Babylon (1 Pet. 5:13), then, and for some centuries afterwards, one of the chief seats of Jewish learning; and he was with Timothy in Ephesus when Paul wrote him during his second imprisonment (2 Tim. 4:11). He then disappears from view.

  50. MATTHEW
    British Dictionary definitions for Matthew
    noun (New Testament)
    1. Saint Matthew, Levi, a tax collector of Capernaum called by Christ to be one of the 12 apostles (Matthew 9:9–13; 10:3). Feast day: Sept 21 or Nov 16 2. the first Gospel, traditionally ascribed to him
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
    © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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    Word Origin and History for Matthew
    masc. proper name, introduced in England by the Normans, from Old French Mathieu, from Late Latin Matthaeus, from Greek Matthaios, contraction of Mattathias, from Hebrew Mattathyah "gift of Jehovah," from mattath "gift." Variant Matthias is from the Greek version.
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Matthew in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    Gift of God, a common Jewish name after the Exile.
    He was the son of Alphaeus, and was a publican or tax-gatherer at Capernaum. On one occasion Jesus, coming up from the side of the lake, passed the custom-house where Matthew was seated, and said to him, "Follow me." Matthew arose and followed him, and became his disciple (Matt. 9:9). Formerly the name by which he was known was Levi (Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27); he now changed it, possibly in grateful memory of his call, to Matthew. The same day on which Jesus called him he made a "great feast" (Luke 5:29), a farewell feast, to which he invited Jesus and his disciples, and probably also many of old associates. He was afterwards selected as one of the twelve (6:15). His name does not occur again in the Gospel history except in the lists of the apostles. The last notice of him is in Acts 1:13. The time and manner of his death are unknown.

  51. MEDE
    noun
    1. a native or inhabitant of Media.

    Origin of Mede
    1350-1400; Middle English Medis (plural), Old English Mēdas < Latin Mēdī < Greek Mêdoi (plural), Mêdos (singular) < Old Persian Māda
    Dictionary.com Unabridged
    Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2015.

    British Dictionary definitions for Mede
    noun
    1. a member of an Indo-European people of West Iranian speech who established an empire in SW Asia in the 7th and 6th centuries bc

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    (Heb. Madai), a Median or inhabitant of Media (Dan. 11:1). In Gen. 10:2 the Hebrew word occurs in the list of the sons of Japheth. But probably this is an ethnic and not a personal name, and denotes simply the Medes as descended from Japheth.

    Commentary:
    The Medes were one of many different peoples who witnessed the disciples speak in tongues for the first time in history on the day of Pentecost in 28AD.

    Acts 2
    8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
    9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
    10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
    11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.

  52. MEPHIBOSHETH
    Mephibosheth in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    Exterminator of shame; i.e., of idols.
    (1.) The name of Saul's son by the concubine Rizpah (q.v.), the daughter of Aiah. He and his brother Armoni were with five others "hanged on a hill before the Lord" by the Gibeonites, and their bodies exposed in the sun for five months (2 Sam. 21:8-10).

    (2.) The son of Jonathan, and grandson of Saul (2 Sam. 4:4). He was but five years old when his father and grandfather fell on Mount Gilboa. The child's nurse hearing of this calamity, fled with him from Gibeah, the royal residence, and stumbling in her haste, the child was thrown to the ground and maimed in both his feet, and ever after was unable to walk (19:26). He was carried to the land of Gilead, where he found a refuge in the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar, by whom he was brought up. Some years after this, when David had subdued all the adversaries of Israel, he began to think of the family of Jonathan, and discovered that Mephibosheth was residing in the house of Machir.

    Thither he sent royal messengers, and brought him and his infant son to Jerusalem, where he ever afterwards resided (2 Sam. 9). When David was a fugitive, according to the story of Ziba (2 Sam. 16:1-4) Mephibosheth proved unfaithful to him, and was consequently deprived of half of his estates; but according to his own story, however (19:24-30), he had remained loyal to his friend. After this incident he is only mentioned as having been protected by David against the vengeance the Gibeonites were permitted to execute on the house of Saul (21:7). He is also called Merib-baal (1 Chr. 8:34; 9:40). (See ZIBA.)

  53. MICAH
    British Dictionary definitions for Micah
    noun (Old Testament)
    1. a Hebrew prophet of the late 8th century bc
    2. the book containing his prophecies

    Micah in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    A shortened form of Micaiah, who is like Jehovah?
    (1.) A man of Mount Ephraim, whose history so far is introduced in Judg. 17, apparently for the purpose of leading to an account of the settlement of the tribe of Dan in Northern Palestine, and for the purpose also of illustrating the lawlessness of the times in which he lived (Judg. 18; 19:1-29; 21:25).

    (2.) The son of Merib-baal (Mephibosheth), 1 Chr. 8:34, 35.

    (3.) The first in rank of the priests of the family of Kohathites (1 Chr. 23:20).

    (4.) A descendant of Joel the Reubenite (1 Chr. 5:5).

    (5.) "The Morasthite," so called to distinguish him from Micaiah, the son of Imlah (1 Kings 22:8). He was a prophet of Judah, a contemporary of Isaiah (Micah 1:1), a native of Moresheth of Gath (1:14, 15). Very little is known of the circumstances of his life (comp. Jer. 26:18, 19).

  54. MOSES
    British Dictionary definitions for Moses
    noun (Old Testament)
    1. (Old Testament) the Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of Egypt to the Promised Land and gave them divinely revealed laws
    2. Ed. born 1956, US hurdler; winner of the 400 m hurdles in the 1976 and 1984 Olympic Games
    3. Grandma, real name Anna Mary Robertson Moses. 1860–1961, US painter of primitives, who began to paint at the age of 75

    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
    © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
    Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

    Word Origin and History for Moses
    masc. proper name, name of Hebrew prophet and lawgiver, from Latin, from Greek Mouses, from Hebrew Mosheh, of unknown origin.

    Most scholars see in it the Hebraization of Egyptian mes, mesu 'child, son,' which is often used in theophorous names. According to this derivation the words of Pharaoh's daughter in Ex. 2:10, 'For out of the water I drew him' are not the explanation of the Hebrew name Mosheh, but express the idea that the Egyptian name given by Pharaoh's daughter resembles in sound, and therefore, reminds us of, the Hebrew verb mashah 'he drew out,' which is suggestive of the words spoken by Pharaoh's daughter. [Dr. Ernest Klein, "A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language"]
    As an expletive or oath, 1840.
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Moses in Culture

    Moses definition

    The great leader, lawgiver, and prophet of the ancient Israelites (Hebrews ). According to the Old Testament, Moses was born in Egypt, where the Hebrews were living as slaves. When Moses was an infant, the Egyptian ruler, or pharaoh, ordered all the male children of the Hebrews slain. Moses' mother placed him in a small boat made of bulrushes and hid him in a marsh, where he was found by the daughter of the pharaoh, who adopted him.

    When Moses was a grown man, he killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew and had to flee Egypt to escape punishment. One day, while Moses was living in exile, God spoke to him from a burning bush, commanding him to return to Egypt and bring the Hebrews out of bondage. Moses went back to Egypt and told the pharaoh of God's command; when the pharaoh refused to release the Hebrews from slavery, God sent the plagues of Egypt to afflict the Egyptians.

    The pharaoh finally relented, and Moses led his people out of Egypt across the Red Sea, on the journey that became known as the Exodus. Shortly afterward, Moses received the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai. Moses and his people wandered in the wilderness for forty years; then, just as they came within sight of the Promised Land, Moses died.

    The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
    Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
    Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

    Moses in the Bible

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

    Drawn (or Egypt. mesu, "son;" hence Rameses, royal son).
    On the invitation of Pharaoh (Gen. 45:17-25), Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt. This immigration took place probably about 350 years before the birth of Moses. Some centuries before Joseph, Egypt had been conquered by a pastoral Semitic race from Asia, the Hyksos, who brought into cruel subjection the native Egyptians, who were an African race.

    Jacob and his retinue were accustomed to a shepherd's life, and on their arrival in Egypt were received with favour by the king, who assigned them the "best of the land", the land of Goshen, to dwell in. The Hyksos or "shepherd" king who thus showed favour to Joseph and his family was in all probability the Pharaoh Apopi (or Apopis).

    Thus favoured, the Israelites began to "multiply exceedingly" (Gen. 47:27), and extended to the west and south. At length the supremacy of the Hyksos came to an end. The descendants of Jacob were allowed to retain their possession of Goshen undisturbed, but after the death of Joseph their position was not so favourable. The Egyptians began to despise them, and the period of their "affliction" (Gen. 15:13) commenced.

    They were sorely oppressed. They continued, however, to increase in numbers, and "the land was filled with them" (Ex. 1:7). The native Egyptians regarded them with suspicion, so that they felt all the hardship of a struggle for existence. In process of time "a king [probably Seti I.] arose who knew not Joseph" (Ex. 1:8). (See PHARAOH.)

    The circumstances of the country were such that this king thought it necessary to weaken his Israelite subjects by oppressing them, and by degrees reducing their number. They were accordingly made public slaves, and were employed in connection with his numerous buildings, especially in the erection of store-cities, temples, and palaces. The children of Israel were made to serve with rigour. Their lives were made bitter with hard bondage, and "all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour" (Ex. 1:13, 14).

    But this cruel oppression had not the result expected of reducing their number. On the contrary, "the more the Egyptians afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew" (Ex. 1:12). The king next tried, through a compact secretly made with the guild of midwives, to bring about the destruction of all the Hebrew male children that might be born. But the king's wish was not rigorously enforced; the male children were spared by the midwives, so that "the people multiplied" more than ever.

    Thus baffled, the king issued a public proclamation calling on the people to put to death all the Hebrew male children by casting them into the river (Ex. 1:22). But neither by this edict was the king's purpose effected. One of the Hebrew households into which this cruel edict of the king brought great alarm was that of Amram, of the family of the Kohathites (Ex. 6:16-20), who with his wife Jochebed and two children, Miriam, a girl of perhaps fifteen years of age, and Aaron, a boy of three years, resided in or near Memphis, the capital city of that time.

    In this quiet home a male child was born (B.C. 1571). His mother concealed him in the house for three months from the knowledge of the civic authorities. But when the task of concealment became difficult, Jochebed contrived to bring her child under the notice of the daughter of the king by constructing for him an ark of bulrushes, which she laid among the flags which grew on the edge of the river at the spot where the princess was wont to come down and bathe. Her plan was successful.

    The king's daughter "saw the child; and behold the child wept." The princess (see PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER ØT0002924 [1]) sent Miriam, who was standing by, to fetch a nurse. She went and brought the mother of the child, to whom the princess said, "Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages." Thus Jochebed's child, whom the princess called "Moses", i.e., "Saved from the water" (Ex. 2:10), was ultimately restored to her.

    As soon as the natural time for weaning the child had come, he was transferred from the humble abode of his father to the royal palace, where he was brought up as the adopted son of the princess, his mother probably accompanying him and caring still for him. He grew up amid all the grandeur and excitement of the Egyptian court, maintaining, however, probably a constant fellowship with his mother, which was of the highest importance as to his religious belief and his interest in his "brethren."

    His education would doubtless be carefully attended to, and he would enjoy all the advantages of training both as to his body and his mind. He at length became "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians" (Acts 7:22). Egypt had then two chief seats of learning, or universities, at one of which, probably that of Heliopolis, his education was completed. Moses, being now about twenty years of age, spent over twenty more before he came into prominence in Bible history.

    These twenty years were probably spent in military service. There is a tradition recorded by Josephus that he took a lead in the war which was then waged between Egypt and Ethiopia, in which he gained renown as a skilful general, and became "mighty in deeds" (Acts 7:22). After the termination of the war in Ethiopia, Moses returned to the Egyptian court, where he might reasonably have expected to be loaded with honours and enriched with wealth.

    But "beneath the smooth current of his life hitherto, a life of alternate luxury at the court and comparative hardness in the camp and in the discharge of his military duties, there had lurked from childhood to youth, and from youth to manhood, a secret discontent, perhaps a secret ambition. Moses, amid all his Egyptian surroundings, had never forgotten, had never wished to forget, that he was a Hebrew."

    He now resolved to make himself acquainted with the condition of his countrymen, and "went out unto his brethren, and looked upon their burdens" (Ex. 2:11). This tour of inspection revealed to him the cruel oppression and bondage under which they everywhere groaned, and could not fail to press on him the serious consideration of his duty regarding them. The time had arrived for his making common cause with them, that he might thereby help to break their yoke of bondage.

    He made his choice accordingly (Heb. 11:25-27), assured that God would bless his resolution for the welfare of his people. He now left the palace of the king and took up his abode, probably in his father's house, as one of the Hebrew people who had for forty years been suffering cruel wrong at the hands of the Egyptians. He could not remain indifferent to the state of things around him, and going out one day among the people, his indignation was roused against an Egyptian who was maltreating a Hebrew.

    He rashly lifted up his hand and slew the Egyptian, and hid his body in the sand. Next day he went out again and found two Hebrews striving together. He speedily found that the deed of the previous day was known. It reached the ears of Pharaoh (the "great Rameses," Rameses II.), who "sought to slay Moses" (Ex. 2:15). Moved by fear, Moses fled from Egypt, and betook himself to the land of Midian, the southern part of the peninsula of Sinai, probably by much the same route as that by which, forty years afterwards, he led the Israelites to Sinai.

    He was providentially led to find a new home with the family of Reuel, where he remained for forty years (Acts 7:30), under training unconsciously for his great life's work. Suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared to him in the burning bush (Ex. 3), and commissioned him to go down to Egypt and "bring forth the children of Israel" out of bondage. He was at first unwilling to go, but at length he was obedient to the heavenly vision, and left the land of Midian (4:18-26).

    On the way he was met by Aaron (q.v.) and the elders of Israel (27-31). He and Aaron had a hard task before them; but the Lord was with them (ch. 7-12), and the ransomed host went forth in triumph. (See EXODUS.) After an eventful journey to and fro in the wilderness, we see them at length encamped in the plains of Moab, ready to cross over the Jordan into the Promised Land. There Moses addressed the assembled elders (Deut. 1:1-4; 5:1-26:19; 27:11-30:20), and gives the people his last counsels, and then rehearses the great song (Deut. 32), clothing in fitting words the deep emotions of his heart at such a time, and in review of such a marvellous history as that in which he had acted so conspicious a part.

    Then, after blessing the tribes (33), he ascends to "the mountain of Nebo (q.v.), to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho" (34:1), and from thence he surveys the land. "Jehovah shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, and the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar" (Deut. 34:2-3), the magnificient inheritance of the tribes of whom he had been so long the leader; and there he died, being one hundred and twenty years old, according to the word of the Lord, and was buried by the Lord "in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor" (34:6).

    The people mourned for him during thirty days. Thus died "Moses the man of God" (Deut. 33:1; Josh. 14:6). He was distinguished for his meekness and patience and firmness, and "he endured as seeing him who is invisible." "There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and the wonders, which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses shewed in the sight of all Israel" (Deut. 34:10-12).

    The name of Moses occurs frequently in the Psalms and Prophets as the chief of the prophets. In the New Testament he is referred to as the representative of the law and as a type of Christ (John 1:17; 2 Cor. 3:13-18; Heb. 3:5, 6). Moses is the only character in the Old Testament to whom Christ likens himself (John 5:46; comp. Deut. 18:15, 18, 19; Acts 7:37). In Heb. 3:1-19 this likeness to Moses is set forth in various particulars. In Jude 1:9 mention is made of a contention between Michael and the devil about the body of Moses. This dispute is supposed to have had reference to the concealment of the body of Moses so as to prevent idolatry.

  55. NAHUM
    British Dictionary definitions for Nahum
    noun (Old Testament)
    1. a Hebrew prophet of the 7th century bc
    2. the book containing his oracles
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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    Nahum in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    Consolation, the seventh of the so-called minor prophets, an Elkoshite.
    All we know of him is recorded in the book of his prophecies. He was probably a native of Galilee, and after the deportation of the ten tribes took up his residence in Jerusalem. Others think that Elkosh was the name of a place on the east bank of the Tigris, and that Nahum dwelt there.

  56. NAOMI
    British Dictionary definitions for Naomi
    noun
    1. (Old Testament) the mother-in-law of Ruth (Ruth 1:2) Douay spelling Noemi
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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    Word Origin and History for Naomi
    fem. proper name, biblical mother-in-law of Ruth, from Hebrew Na'omi, literally "my delight," from no'am "pleasantness, delightfulness," from stem of na'em "was pleasant, was lovely."
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Naomi in the Bible

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    The lovable; my delight
    The wife of Elimelech, and mother of Mahlon and Chilion, and mother-in-law of Ruth (1:2, 20, 21; 2:1). Elimelech and his wife left the district of Bethlehem-Judah, and found a new home in the uplands of Moab. In course of time he died, as also his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, who had married women of Moab, and three widows were left mourning the loss of their husbands. Naomi longs to return now to her own land, to Bethlehem. One of her widowed daughters-in-law, Ruth, accompanies her, and is at length married to Boaz (q.v.).

  57. NAZARITE
    Nazariteor Nazirite
    [naz-uh-rahyt]

    Word Origin
    noun
    1. (among the ancient Hebrews) a person who had taken certain strict religious vows, usually for a limited period.
    2. Rare. a Nazarene.
    3. Rare. Christ.
    4. Obsolete. a Christian.

    Origin of Nazarite
    1550-60; < Late Latin Nāzar (aeus) (< Greek Nāzēraîos, equivalent to nāzēr (< Hebrew nāzīr consecrated person) + -aios suffix) + -ite1

    Nazarite in the Bible

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

    (Heb. form Nazirite), the name of such Israelites as took on them the vow prescribed in Num. 6:2-21. The word denotes generally one who is separated from others and consecrated to God. Although there is no mention of any Nazarite before Samson, yet it is evident that they existed before the time of Moses. The vow of a Nazarite involved these three things:

    (1) abstinence from wine and strong drink,

    (2) refraining from cutting the hair off the head during the whole period of the continuance of the vow, and

    (3) the avoidance of contact with the dead. When the period of the continuance of the vow came to an end, the Nazarite had to present himself at the door of the sanctuary with
    (1) a he lamb of the first year for a burnt-offering,
    (2) a ewe lamb of the first year for a sin-offering, and
    (3) a ram for a peace-offering.

    After these sacrifices were offered by the priest, the Nazarite cut off his hair at the door and threw it into the fire under the peace-offering. For some reason, probably in the midst of his work at Corinth, Paul took on himself the Nazarite vow. This could only be terminated by his going up to Jerusalem to offer up the hair which till then was to be left uncut. But it seems to have been allowable for persons at a distance to cut the hair, which was to be brought up to Jerusalem, where the ceremony was completed.

    This Paul did at Cenchrea just before setting out on his voyage into Syria (Acts 18:18). On another occasion (Acts 21:23-26), at the feast of Pentecost, Paul took on himself again the Nazarite vow. "The ceremonies involved took a longer time than Paul had at his disposal, but the law permitted a man to share the vow if he could find companions who had gone through the prescribed ceremonies, and who permitted him to join their company. This permission was commonly granted if the new comer paid all the fees required from the whole company (fee to the Levite for cutting the hair and fees for sacrifices), and finished the vow along with the others.

    Four Jewish Christians were performing the vow, and would admit Paul to their company, provided he paid their expenses. Paul consented, paid the charges, and when the last seven days of the vow began he went with them to live in the temple, giving the usual notice to the priests that he had joined in regular fashion, was a sharer with the four men, and that his vow would end with theirs. Nazarites retired to the temple during the last period of seven days, because they could be secure there against any accidental defilement" (Lindsay's Acts).

    As to the duration of a Nazarite's vow, every one was left at liberty to fix his own time. There is mention made in Scripture of only three who were Nazarites for life: Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist (Judg. 13:4, 5; 1 Sam. 1:11; Luke 1:15). In its ordinary form, however, the Nazarite's vow lasted only thirty, and at most one hundred, days. (See RECHABITES.) This institution was a symbol of a life devoted to God and separated from all sin, a holy life.

  58. NEBUZARADAN
    nebuzaradan in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    "the captain of the guard," in rank next to the king, who appears prominent in directing affairs at the capture of Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:8-20; Jer. 39:11; 40:2-5). He showed kindness toward Jeremiah, as commanded by Nebuchadnezzar (40:1). Five years after this he again came to Jerusalem and carried captive seven hundred and forty-five more Jews.

  59. NEHEMIAH
    British Dictionary definitions for Nehemiah
    noun (Old Testament)
    1. a Jewish official at the court of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, who in 444 bc became a leader in the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity

    2. the book recounting the acts of Nehemiah

    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
    © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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    Word Origin and History for Nehemiah
    masc. proper name, Jewish leader under Persian king Artaxerxes, from Hebrew Nehemyah, literally "the Lord comforts."
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Nehemiah in the Bible

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    Comforted by Jehovah.
    (1.) Ezra 2:2; Neh. 7:7.

    (2.) Neh. 3:16.

    (3.) The son of Hachaliah (Neh. 1:1), and probably of the tribe of Judah. His family must have belonged to Jerusalem (Neh. 2:3). He was one of the "Jews of the dispersion," and in his youth was appointed to the important office of royal cup-bearer at the palace of Shushan. The king, Artaxerxes Longimanus, seems to have been on terms of friendly familiarity with his attendant.

    Through his brother Hanani, and perhaps from other sources (Neh. 1:2; 2:3), he heard of the mournful and desolate condition of the Holy City, and was filled with sadness of heart. For many days he fasted and mourned and prayed for the place of his fathers' sepulchres. At length the king observed his sadness of countenance and asked the reason of it. Nehemiah explained it all to the king, and obtained his permission to go up to Jerusalem and there to act as _tirshatha_, or governor of Judea.

    He went up in the spring of B.C. 446 (eleven years after Ezra), with a strong escort supplied by the king, and with letters to all the pashas of the provinces through which he had to pass, as also to Asaph, keeper of the royal forests, directing him to assist Nehemiah. On his arrival he set himself to survey the city, and to form a plan for its restoration; a plan which he carried out with great skill and energy, so that the whole was completed in about six months.

    He remained in Judea for thirteen years as governor, carrying out many reforms, notwithstanding much opposition that he encountered (Neh. 13:11). He built up the state on the old lines, "supplementing and completing the work of Ezra," and making all arrangements for the safety and good government of the city. At the close of this important period of his public life, he returned to Persia to the service of his royal master at Shushan or Ecbatana.

    Very soon after this the old corrupt state of things returned, showing the worthlessness to a large extent of the professions that had been made at the feast of the dedication of the walls of the city (Neh. 12. See EZRA ØT0001294). Malachi now appeared among the people with words of stern reproof and solemn warning; and Nehemiah again returned from Persia (after an absence of some two years), and was grieved to see the widespread moral degeneracy that had taken place during his absence.

    He set himself with vigour to rectify the flagrant abuses that had sprung up, and restored the orderly administration of public worship and the outward observance of the law of Moses. Of his subsequent history we know nothing. Probably he remained at his post as governor till his death (about B.C. 413) in a good old age. The place of his death and burial is, however, unknown.

    "He resembled Ezra in his fiery zeal, in his active spirit of enterprise, and in the piety of his life: but he was of a bluffer and a fiercer mood; he had less patience with transgressors; he was a man of action rather than a man of thought, and more inclined to use force than persuasion. His practical sagacity and high courage were very markedly shown in the arrangement with which he carried through the rebuilding of the wall and balked the cunning plans of the 'adversaries.'

    The piety of his heart, his deeply religious spirit and constant sense of communion with and absolute dependence upon God, are strikingly exhibited, first in the long prayer recorded in ch. 1:5-11, and secondly and most remarkably in what have been called his 'interjectional prayers', those short but moving addresses to Almighty God which occur so frequently in his writings, the instinctive outpouring of a heart deeply moved, but ever resting itself upon God, and looking to God alone for aid in trouble, for the frustration of evil designs, and for final reward and acceptance" (Rawlinson).

    Nehemiah was the last of the governors sent from the Persian court. Judea after this was annexed to the satrapy of Coele-Syria, and was governed by the high priest under the jurisdiction of the governor of Syria, and the internal government of the country became more and more a hierarchy.

  60. OBADIAH
    British Dictionary definitions for Obadiah
    noun (Old Testament)
    1. a Hebrew prophet
    2. the book containing his oracles, chiefly directed against Edom
    Douay spelling Abdias (æbˈdaɪəs)
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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    Word Origin and History for Obadiah
    masc. proper name, fourth of the Twelve Prophets of the Old Testament, from Hebrew Obhadyah, literally "servant of the Lord," from abhadh "he served, worshipped," related to Arabic 'abada "he served," 'abd "slave, worshipper."
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Obadiah in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    Servant of the Lord.
    (1.) An Israelite who was chief in the household of King Ahab (1 Kings 18:3). Amid great spiritual degeneracy he maintained his fidelity to God, and interposed to protect The Lord's prophets, an hundred of whom he hid at great personal risk in a cave (4, 13). Ahab seems to have held Obadiah in great honour, although he had no sympathy with his piety (5, 6, 7).

    The last notice of him is his bringing back tidings to Ahab that Elijah, whom he had so long sought for, was at hand (9-16). "Go," said Elijah to him, when he met him in the way, "go tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here."

    (2.) A chief of the tribe of Issachar (1 Chr. 7:3).

    (3.) A descendant of Saul (1 Chr. 8:38).

    (4.) A Levite, after the Captivity (1 Chr. 9:16).

    (5.) A Gadite who joined David at Ziklag (1 Chr. 12:9).

    (6.) A prince of Zebulun in the time of David (1 Chr. 27:19).

    (7.) One of the princes sent by Jehoshaphat to instruct the people in the law (2 Chr. 17:7).

    (8.) A Levite who superintended the repairs of the temple under Josiah (2 Chr. 34:12).

    (9.) One who accompanied Ezra on the return from Babylon (Ezra 8:9).

    (10.) A prophet, fourth of the minor prophets in the Hebrew canon, and fifth in the LXX. He was probably contemporary with Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Of his personal history nothing is known.

  61. PASHUR
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    Pashur in the Bible

    release.
    (1.) The son of Immer (probably the same as Amariah, Neh. 10:3; 12:2), the head of one of the priestly courses, was "chief governor [Heb. paqid nagid, meaning "deputy governor"] of the temple" (Jer. 20:1, 2). At this time the _nagid_, or "governor," of the temple was Seraiah the high priest (1 Chr. 6:14), and Pashur was his _paqid_, or "deputy."

    Enraged at the plainness with which Jeremiah uttered his solemn warnings of coming judgements, because of the abounding iniquity of the times, Pashur ordered the temple police to seize him, and after inflicting on him corporal punishment (forty stripes save one, Deut. 25:3; comp. 2 Cor. 11:24), to put him in the stocks in the high gate of Benjamin, where he remained all night.

    On being set free in the morning, Jeremiah went to Pashur (Jer. 20:3, 5), and announced to him that God had changed his name to Magor-missabib, i.e., "terror on every side." The punishment that fell upon him was probably remorse, when he saw the ruin he had brought upon his country by advising a close alliance with Egypt in opposition to the counsels of Jeremiah (20:4-6). He was carried captive to Babylon, and died there.

    (2.) A priest sent by king Zedekiah to Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord (1 Chr. 24:9; Jer. 21:1; 38:1-6). He advised that the prophet should be put to death.

    (3.) The father of Gedaliah. He was probably the same as (1).

  62. PHAREZ
    noun
    Pharez in the Bible

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    Breach
    The elder of the twin sons of Judah (Gen. 38:29). From him the royal line of David sprang (Ruth 4:18-22). "The chief of all the captains of the host" was of the children of Perez (1 Chr. 27:3; Matt. 1:3).

  63. PHARISEE
    noun
    1. (Judaism) a member of an ancient Jewish sect that was opposed to the Sadducees, teaching strict observance of Jewish tradition as interpreted rabbinically and believing in life after death and in the coming of the Messiah
    2. (often not capital) a self-righteous or hypocritical person

    Word Origin
    Old English Farīsēus, ultimately from Aramaic perīshāiyā, pl of perīsh separated

  64. PHILEMON
    British Dictionary definitions for Philemon
    Philemon1
    /faɪˈliːmɒn/
    noun (New Testament)
    1. a Christian of Colossae whose escaped slave came to meet Paul
    2. the book (in full The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to Philemon), asking Philemon to forgive the slave for escaping

    Philemon2
    /faɪˈliːmɒn/
    noun
    1. (Greek myth) a poor Phrygian, who with his wife Baucis offered hospitality to the disguised Zeus and Hermes
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
    © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
    Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

    Word Origin and History for Philemon
    masc. proper name, in Greek mythology a pious man, husband of Baucis; from Greek philemon, literally "loving, affectionate," from philein "to love" (see philo- ).
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Philemon in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    An inhabitant of Colosse, and apparently a person of some note among the citizens (Col. 4:9; Philemon 1:2). He was brought to a knowledge of the gospel through the instrumentality of Paul (19), and held a prominent place in the Christian community for his piety and beneficence (4-7). He is called in the epistle a "fellow-labourer," and therefore probably held some office in the church at Colosse; at all events, the title denotes that he took part in the work of spreading a knowledge of the gospel.

  65. PROPHET
    noun
    1. a person who speaks for God or a deity, or by divine inspiration.
    2. a person chosen to speak for God and to guide the people of Israel:
    Moses was the greatest of Old Testament prophets.
    (often initial capital letter) one of the Major or Minor Prophets.
    one of a band of ecstatic visionaries claiming divine inspiration and, according to popular belief, possessing magical powers.
    a person who practices divination.
    3. one of a class of persons in the early church, next in order after the apostles, recognized as inspired to utter special revelations and predictions. 1 Cor. 12:28.
    4. the Prophet, Muhammad, the founder of Islam.
    5. a person regarded as, or claiming to be, an inspired teacher or leader.
    6. a person who foretells or predicts what is to come: a weather prophet; prophets of doom.
    7. a spokesperson of some doctrine, cause, or movement.

    Origin of Prophet
    1150-1200; Middle English prophete < Late Latin prophēta < Greek prophḗtēs, equivalent to pro- pro-2+ -phētēs speaker, derivative of phánai to speak

    British Dictionary definitions for prophet
    noun
    1. a person who supposedly speaks by divine inspiration, esp one through whom a divinity expresses his will related adjective vatic
    2. a person who predicts the future: a prophet of doom
    3. a spokesman for a movement, doctrine, etc
    4. (Christian Science)
    a seer in spiritual matters
    the vanishing of material sense to give way to the conscious facts of spiritual truth

    Word Origin and History for prophet
    n.
    late 12c., "person who speaks for God; one who foretells, inspired preacher," from Old French prophete, profete "prophet, soothsayer" (11c., Modern French prophète) and directly from Latin propheta, from Greek prophetes (Doric prophatas) "an interpreter, spokesman," especially of the gods, "inspired preacher or teacher," from pro- "before" (see pro-) + root of phanai "to speak," from PIE *bha- (2) "speak" (see fame (n.)).

    The Greek word was used in Septuagint for Hebrew nabj "soothsayer." Early Latin writers translated Greek prophetes with Latin vates, but the Latinized form propheta predominated in post-Classical times, chiefly due to Christian writers, probably because of pagan associations of vates. In English, meaning "prophetic writer of the Old Testament" is from late 14c. Non-religious sense is from 1848; used of Muhammad from 1610s (translating Arabic al-nabiy, and sometimes also al-rasul, properly "the messenger"). The Latin word is glossed in Old English by witga.
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Prophet definition
    Someone who brings a message from God to people. The best-known prophets are those of the Old Testament. Their most frequent themes were true worship of God, upright living, and the coming of the Messiah. They often met with bitter resistance when they spoke against the idol worship and immorality of their people. Among the prophets of the Old Testament were Daniel, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonah, and Moses.

    Prophets also appear in the New Testament. Jesus called John the Baptist a prophet; Christians consider him a bridge between the prophets of the Old Testament and those of the New Testament. Jesus mentions “true prophets” and “false prophets” — those who present the true message of God and those who present a counterfeit ( see By their fruits ye shall know them and wolves in sheep's clothing ).

    He himself was considered a prophet in his lifetime ( see A prophet is not without honor save in his own country ) and is still widely revered by non-Christians as a prophet, though not as the Messiah. The New Testament also mentions that some of the early Christians were prophets who spoke inspired messages to their communities.

    Note : In general usage, a “prophet” is someone who can foretell the future. The prophets of the Bible often made predictions, which confirmed their authority when the predictions came true, but changing the lives of their people was a more central part of their mission.

    The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
    Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
    Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

    Prophet in the Bible

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

    (Heb. nabi, from a root meaning "to bubble forth, as from a fountain," hence "to utter", comp. Ps. 45:1).

    This Hebrew word is the first and the most generally used for a prophet. In the time of Samuel another word, _ro'eh_, "seer", began to be used (1 Sam. 9:9). It occurs seven times in reference to Samuel. Afterwards another word, _hozeh_, "seer" (2 Sam. 24:11), was employed. In 1 Ch. 29:29 all these three words are used: "Samuel the seer (ro'eh), Nathan the prophet (nabi'), Gad the seer" (hozeh).

    In Josh. 13:22 Balaam is called (Heb.) a _kosem_ "diviner," a word used only of a false prophet. The "prophet" proclaimed the message given to him, as the "seer" beheld the vision of God. (See Num. 12:6, 8.) Thus a prophet was a spokesman for God; he spake in God's name and by his authority (Ex. 7:1). He is the mouth by which God speaks to men (Jer. 1:9; Isa. 51:16), and hence what the prophet says is not of man but of God (2 Pet. 1:20, 21; comp. Heb. 3:7; Acts 4:25; 28:25).

    Prophets were the immediate organs of God for the communication of his mind and will to men (Deut. 18:18, 19). The whole Word of God may in this general sense be spoken of as prophetic, inasmuch as it was written by men who received the revelation they communicated from God, no matter what its nature might be. The foretelling of future events was not a necessary but only an incidental part of the prophetic office.

    The great task assigned to the prophets whom God raised up among the people was "to correct moral and religious abuses, to proclaim the great moral and religious truths which are connected with the character of God, and which lie at the foundation of his government." Any one being a spokesman for God to man might thus be called a prophet. Thus Enoch, Abraham, and the patriarchs, as bearers of God's message (Gen. 20:7; Ex. 7:1; Ps. 105:15), as also Moses (Deut. 18:15; 34:10; Hos. 12:13), are ranked among the prophets.

    The seventy elders of Israel (Num. 11:16-29), "when the spirit rested upon them, prophesied;" Asaph and Jeduthun "prophesied with a harp" (1 Chr. 25:3). Miriam and Deborah were prophetesses (Ex. 15:20; Judg. 4:4). The title thus has a general application to all who have messages from God to men. But while the prophetic gift was thus exercised from the beginning, the prophetical order as such began with Samuel.

    Colleges, "schools of the prophets", were instituted for the training of prophets, who were constituted, a distinct order (1 Sam. 19:18-24; 2 Kings 2:3, 15; 4:38), which continued to the close of the Old Testament. Such "schools" were established at Ramah, Bethel, Gilgal, Gibeah, and Jericho. The "sons" or "disciples" of the prophets were young men (2 Kings 5:22; 9:1, 4) who lived together at these different "schools" (4:38-41).

    These young men were taught not only the rudiments of secular knowledge, but they were brought up to exercise the office of prophet, "to preach pure morality and the heart-felt worship of Jehovah, and to act along and co-ordinately with the priesthood and monarchy in guiding the state aright and checking all attempts at illegality and tyranny."

    In New Testament times the prophetical office was continued. Our Lord is frequently spoken of as a prophet (Luke 13:33; 24:19). He was and is the great Prophet of the Church. There was also in the Church a distinct order of prophets (1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 2:20; 3:5), who made new revelations from God. They differed from the "teacher," whose office it was to impart truths already revealed.

    Of the Old Testament prophets there are sixteen, whose prophecies form part of the inspired canon. These are divided into four groups:

    (1.) The prophets of the northern kingdom (Israel), viz., Hosea, Amos, Joel, Jonah.

    (2.) The prophets of Judah, viz., Isaiah, Jeremiah, Obadiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah.

    (3.) The prophets of Captivity, viz., Ezekiel and Daniel.

    (4.) The prophets of the Restoration, viz., Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

  66. RABBI
    noun, plural rabbis.
    1. the chief religious official of a synagogue, trained usually in a theological seminary and duly ordained, who delivers the sermon at a religious service and performs ritualistic, pastoral, educational, and other functions in and related to his or her capacity as a spiritual leader of Judaism and the Jewish community. Compare cantor (def 2).
    2. a title of respect for a Jewish scholar or teacher.
    3. a Jewish scholar qualified to rule on questions of Jewish law.
    4. any of the Jewish scholars of the 1st to 6th centuries a.d. who contributed to the writing, editing, or compiling of the Talmud.
    5. Slang. a personal patron or adviser, as in business.

  67. REHOBOAM
    Rehoboam in the Bible

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

    He enlarges the people
    The successor of Solomon on the throne, and apparently his only son. He was the son of Naamah "the Ammonitess," some well-known Ammonitish princess (1 Kings 14:21; 2 Chr. 12:13). He was forty-one years old when he ascended the throne, and he reigned seventeen years (B.C. 975-958). Although he was acknowledged at once as the rightful heir to the throne, yet there was a strongly-felt desire to modify the character of the government.

    The burden of taxation to which they had been subjected during Solomon's reign was very oppressive, and therefore the people assembled at Shechem and demanded from the king an alleviation of their burdens. He went to meet them at Shechem, and heard their demands for relief (1 Kings 12:4). After three days, having consulted with a younger generation of courtiers that had grown up around him, instead of following the advice of elders, he answered the people haughtily (6-15). "The king hearkened not unto the people; for the cause was from the Lord" (comp. 11:31).

    This brought matters speedily to a crisis. The terrible cry was heard (comp. 2 Sam. 20:1): "What portion have we in David? Neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: To your tents, O Israel: Now see to thine own house, David" (1 Kings 12:16). And now at once the kingdom was rent in twain. Rehoboam was appalled, and tried concessions, but it was too late (18). The tribe of Judah, Rehoboam's own tribe, alone remained faithful to him. Benjamin was reckoned along with Judah, and these two tribes formed the southern kingdom, with Jerusalem as its capital; while the northern ten tribes formed themselves into a separate kingdom, choosing Jeroboam as their king.

    Rehoboam tried to win back the revolted ten tribes by making war against them, but he was prevented by the prophet Shemaiah (21-24; 2 Chr. 11:1-4) from fulfilling his purpose. (See JEROBOAM.) In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign, Shishak (q.v.), one of the kings of Egypt of the Assyrian dynasty, stirred up, no doubt, by Jeroboam his son-in-law, made war against him. Jerusalem submitted to the invader, who plundered the temple and virtually reduced the kingdom to the position of a vassal of Egypt (1 Kings 14:25, 26; 2 Chr. 12:5-9).

    A remarkable memorial of this invasion has been discovered at Karnac, in Upper Egypt, in certain sculptures on the walls of a small temple there. These sculptures represent the king, Shishak, holding in his hand a train of prisoners and other figures, with the names of the captured towns of Judah, the towns which Rehoboam had fortified (2 Chr. 11:5-12).

    The kingdom of Judah, under Rehoboam, sank more and more in moral and spiritual decay. "There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days." At length, in the fifty-eighth year of his age, Rehoboam "slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David" (1 Kings 14:31). He was succeeded by his son Abijah. (See EGYPT.)

  68. RUTH
    British Dictionary definitions for Ruth
    noun
    1. (Old Testament)

    A Moabite woman, who left her own people to remain with her mother-in-law Naomi, and became the wife of Boaz; an ancestress of David the book in which these events are recounted

    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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    Word Origin and History for ruth
    fem. proper name, biblical ancestor of David, from Hebrew Ruth, probably a contraction of reuth "companion, friend, fellow woman."
    n. "sorrow for the misery of another; repentance, regret," c.1200, ruthe, from Old Norse hryggð "ruth, sorrow," from hryggr "sorrowful, grieved" (see rue (v.)) + Proto-Germanic abstract noun suffix *-itho (see -th (2)). Or else formed in English from reuwen "to rue" on the model of true/truth, etc. The Old English word was rue (n.2).
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Ruth in Culture

    Ruth definition
    The great-grandmother of King David, known for her kindness and faithfulness. Not an Israelite herself, she married an Israelite who had come to her country with his family. Ruth's husband died, and her mother-in-law, Naomi, set out to return to the country of the Israelites. Ruth insisted on accompanying Naomi, saying, “ Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge.” In the country of the Israelites, Ruth married Boaz, a rich relative of her dead husband; Boaz had been attracted to Ruth by her generosity. Her story is told in the Book of Ruth in the Old Testament.
    The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
    Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
    Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

    Ruth in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    A friend, a Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, whose father, Elimelech, had settled in the land of Moab. On the death of Elimelech and Mahlon, Naomi came with Ruth, her daughter-in-law, who refused to leave her, to Bethlehem, the old home from which Elimelech had migrated. There she had a rich relative, Boaz, to whom Ruth was eventually married.

    She became the mother of Obed, the grandfather of David. Thus Ruth, a Gentile, is among the maternal progenitors of our Lord (Matt. 1:5). The story of "the gleaner Ruth illustrates the friendly relations between the good Boaz and his reapers, the Jewish land system, the method of transferring property from one person to another, the working of the Mosaic law for the relief of distressed and ruined families; but, above all, handing down the unselfishness, the brave love, the unshaken trustfulness of her who, though not of the chosen race, was, like the Canaanitess Tamar (Gen. 38:29; Matt. 1:3) and the Canaanitess Rahab (Matt. 1:5), privileged to become the ancestress of David, and so of 'great David's greater Son'" (Ruth 4:18-22).

  69. SADDUCEE
    noun, Judaism.
    1. a member of a Palestinian sect, consisting mainly of priests and aristocrats, that flourished from the 1st century b.c. to the 1st century a.d. and differed from the Pharisees chiefly in its literal interpretation of the Bible, rejection of oral laws and traditions, and denial of an afterlife and the coming of the Messiah.

  70. SAMARITAN
    noun
    1. an inhabitant of Samaria.
    2. good Samaritan.
    3. (often lowercase) one who is compassionate and helpful to a person in distress.
    4. any of the dialects of Aramaic spoken by the Samaritans in ancient Israel and until recently still spoken in Nablus.

    adjective
    5. pertaining to Samaria or to Samaritans.
    Origin of Samaritan
    before 1000; Middle English, Old English < Late Latin samarītānus < Greek samarī́t (ēs) dweller in Samaria + -ānus -an

    British Dictionary definitions for Samaritan
    noun
    1. a native or inhabitant of Samaria
    2. short for Good Samaritan
    3. a member of a voluntary organization ( the Samaritans) which offers counselling to people in despair, esp by telephone
    4. the dialect of Aramaic spoken in Samaria

    adjective
    5. of or relating to Samaria

    Word Origin and History for Samaritan
    n.
    Old English, "inhabitant of Samaria," a district of Palestine, from Late Latin Samaritanus, from Greek Samareia (see Samaria ). A non-Hebrew race was settled in its cities by the king of Assyria after the removal of the Israelites from the country. They later adopted some Jewish ways, but largely remained apart. Figurative use with reference to the good Samaritan is first recorded 1630s, from Luke x:33. Related: Samaritanism.
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Commentary:
    Although there were occasional small business transactions between them, there was hostility between the Samaritans and the Judeans. Some of the scribes and Pharisees that were sons of the devil had falsely accused Jesus of being a Samaritan, which was an insult.

    John 8:48
    Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?

  71. SAMUEL
    noun
    1. a judge and prophet of Israel. I Sam. 1–3; 8–15.
    2. either of two books of the Bible bearing his name.
    Abbreviation: I Sam., II Sam.
    3. a male given name: from a Hebrew word meaning “name of God.”.
    Dictionary.com Unabridged
    Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2015.

    British Dictionary definitions for Samuel
    noun (Old Testament)
    1. a Hebrew prophet, seer, and judge, who anointed the first two kings of the Israelites (I Samuel 1–3; 8–15)
    2. either of the two books named after him, I and II Samuel
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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    Word Origin and History for Samuel
    masc. proper name, Biblical judge and prophet, from Late Latin, from Greek Samouel, from Hebrew Shemiel, literally "the name of God," from shem "name" + El "God."
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Samuel in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    heard of God.
    The peculiar circumstances connected with his birth are recorded in 1 Sam. 1:20. Hannah, one of the two wives of Elkanah, who came up to Shiloh to worship before the Lord, earnestly prayed to God that she might become the mother of a son. Her prayer was graciously granted; and after the child was weaned she brought him to Shiloh and consecrated him to the Lord as a perpetual Nazarite (1:23-2:11). Here his bodily wants and training were attended to by the women who served in the tabernacle, while Eli cared for his religious culture. Thus, probably, twelve years of his life passed away.

    "The child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the Lord, and also with men" (2:26; comp. Luke 2:52). It was a time of great and growing degeneracy in Israel (Judg. 21:19-21; 1 Sam. 2:12-17, 22). The Philistines, who of late had greatly increased in number and in power, were practically masters of the country, and kept the people in subjection (1 Sam. 10:5; 13:3). At this time new communications from God began to be made to the pious child. A mysterious voice came to him in the night season, calling him by name, and, instructed by Eli, he answered, "Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth." The message that came from the Lord was one of woe and ruin to Eli and his profligate sons. Samuel told it all to Eli, whose only answer to the terrible denunciations (1 Sam. 3:11-18) was, "It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good", the passive submission of a weak character, not, in his case, the expression of the highest trust and faith.

    The Lord revealed himself now in divers manners to Samuel, and his fame and his influence increased throughout the land as of one divinely called to the prophetical office. A new period in the history of the kingdom of God now commenced. The Philistine yoke was heavy, and the people, groaning under the wide-spread oppression, suddenly rose in revolt, and "went out against the Philistines to battle." A fierce and disastrous battle was fought at Aphek, near to Ebenezer (1 Sam. 4:1, 2). The Israelites were defeated, leaving 4,000 dead "in the field."

    The chiefs of the people thought to repair this great disaster by carrying with them the ark of the covenant as the symbol of Jehovah's presence. They accordingly, without consulting Samuel, fetched it out of Shiloh to the camp near Aphek. At the sight of the ark among them the people "shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again." A second battle was fought, and again the Philistines defeated the Israelites, stormed their camp, slew 30,000 men, and took the sacred ark. The tidings of this fatal battle was speedily conveyed to Shiloh; and so soon as the aged Eli heard that the ark of God was taken, he fell backward from his seat at the entrance of the sanctuary, and his neck brake, and he died.

    The tabernacle with its furniture was probably, by the advice of Samuel, now about twenty years of age, removed from Shiloh to some place of safety, and finally to Nob, where it remained many years (21:1). The Philistines followed up their advantage, and marched upon Shiloh, which they plundered and destroyed (comp. Jer. 7:12; Ps. 78:59). This was a great epoch in the history of Israel. For twenty years after this fatal battle at Aphek the whole land lay under the oppression of the Philistines. During all these dreary years Samuel was a spiritual power in the land. From Ramah, his native place, where he resided, his influence went forth on every side among the people. With unwearied zeal he went up and down from place to place, reproving, rebuking, and exhorting the people, endeavouring to awaken in them a sense of their sinfulness, and to lead them to repentance. His labours were so far successful that "all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord."

    Samuel summoned the people to Mizpeh, one of the loftiest hills in Central Palestine, where they fasted and prayed, and prepared themselves there, under his direction, for a great war against the Philistines, who now marched their whole force toward Mizpeh, in order to crush the Israelites once for all. At the intercession of Samuel God interposed in behalf of Israel. Samuel himself was their leader, the only occasion in which he acted as a leader in war. The Philistines were utterly routed. They fled in terror before the army of Israel, and a great slaughter ensued.

    This battle, fought probably about B.C. 1095, put an end to the forty years of Philistine oppression. In memory of this great deliverance, and in token of gratitude for the help vouchsafed, Samuel set up a great stone in the battlefield, and called it "Ebenezer," saying, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us" (1 Sam. 7:1-12). This was the spot where, twenty years before, the Israelites had suffered a great defeat, when the ark of God was taken. This victory over the Philistines was followed by a long period of peace for Israel (1 Sam. 7:13, 14), during which Samuel exercised the functions of judge, going "from year to year in circuit" from his home in Ramah to Bethel, thence to Gilgal (not that in the Jordan valley, but that which lay to the west of Ebal and Gerizim), and returning by Mizpeh to Ramah.

    He established regular services at Shiloh, where he built an altar; and at Ramah he gathered a company of young men around him and established a school of the prophets. The schools of the prophets, thus originated, and afterwards established also at Gibeah, Bethel, Gilgal, and Jericho, exercised an important influence on the national character and history of the people in maintaining pure religion in the midst of growing corruption. They continued to the end of the Jewish commonwealth. Many years now passed, during which Samuel exercised the functions of his judicial office, being the friend and counsellor of the people in all matters of private and public interest.

    He was a great statesman as well as a reformer, and all regarded him with veneration as the "seer," the prophet of the Lord. At the close of this period, when he was now an old man, the elders of Israel came to him at Ramah (1 Sam. 8:4, 5, 19-22); and feeling how great was the danger to which the nation was exposed from the misconduct of Samuel's sons, whom he had invested with judicial functions as his assistants, and had placed at Beersheba on the Philistine border, and also from a threatened invasion of the Ammonites, they demanded that a king should be set over them. This request was very displeasing to Samuel. He remonstrated with them, and warned them of the consequences of such a step.

    At length, however, referring the matter to God, he acceded to their desires, and anointed Saul (q.v.) to be their king (11:15). Before retiring from public life he convened an assembly of the people at Gilgal (ch. 12), and there solemnly addressed them with reference to his own relation to them as judge and prophet. The remainder of his life he spent in retirement at Ramah, only occasionally and in special circumstances appearing again in public (1 Sam. 13, 15) with communications from God to king Saul. While mourning over the many evils which now fell upon the nation, he is suddenly summoned (ch.16) to go to Bethlehem and anoint David, the son of Jesse, as king over Israel instead of Saul.

    After this little is known of him till the time of his death, which took place at Ramah when he was probably about eighty years of age. "And all Israel gathered themselves together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah" (25:1), not in the house itself, but in the court or garden of his house. (Comp. 2 Kings 21:18; 2 Chr. 33:20; 1 Kings 2:34; John 19:41.) Samuel's devotion to God, and the special favour with which God regarded him, are referred to in Jer. 15:1 and Ps. 99:6.

  72. SHEBA, QUEEN OF
    noun
    British Dictionary definitions for Sheba
    noun
    1. Also called Saba. the ancient kingdom of the Sabeans: a rich trading nation dealing in gold, spices, and precious stones (I Kings 10)
    2. the region inhabited by this nation, located in the SW corner of the Arabian peninsula: modern Yemen

    noun
    1. (Old Testament) Queen of Sheba, a queen of the Sabeans, who visited Solomon (I Kings 10:1–13)
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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  73. SHEPHERD
    noun
    1. a person who herds, tends, and guards sheep.
    2. a person who protects, guides, or watches over a person or group of people.
    3. a member of the clergy.
    4. the Shepherd, Jesus Christ.
    5. sheepdog.

    verb (used with object)
    6. to tend or guard as a shepherd: to shepherd the flock.
    7. to watch over carefully.

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    a word naturally of frequent occurrence in Scripture. Sometimes the word "pastor" is used instead (Jer. 2:8; 3:15; 10:21; 12:10; 17:16). This word is used figuratively to represent the relation of rulers to their subjects and of God to his people (Ps. 23:1; 80:1; Isa. 40:11; 44:28; Jer. 25:34, 35; Nahum 3:18; John 10:11, 14; Heb. 13:20; 1 Pet. 2:25; 5:4). The duties of a shepherd in an unenclosed country like Palestine were very onerous. "In early morning he led forth the flock from the fold, marching at its head to the spot where they were to be pastured. Here he watched them all day, taking care that none of the sheep strayed, and if any for a time eluded his watch and wandered away from the rest, seeking diligently till he found and brought it back.

    In those lands sheep require to be supplied regularly with water, and the shepherd for this purpose has to guide them either to some running stream or to wells dug in the wilderness and furnished with troughs. At night he brought the flock home to the fold, counting them as they passed under the rod at the door to assure himself that none were missing. Nor did his labours always end with sunset. Often he had to guard the fold through the dark hours from the attack of wild beasts, or the wily attempts of the prowling thief (see 1 Sam. 17:34).", Deane's David.

    Commentary:

    Ephesians 4:11
    And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

    These are the 5 gift ministries to the church in the age of grace. The word "pastors" comes from the Greek word poimén and is used 18 times in the new testament. However, it is translated in the KJV "shepherd" or "shepherds" 17 times and translated "pastor" only once. Therefore, a more accurate & consistent translation is "shepherd". So now this verse is properly rendered:

    Ephesians 4:11
    And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers;

  74. SHIMEI
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    famous.
    (1.) A son of Gershon, and grandson of Levi (Num. 3:18; 1 Chr. 6:17, 29); called Shimi in Ex. 6:17.

    (2.) A Benjamite of the house of Saul, who stoned and cursed David when he reached Bahurim in his flight from Jerusalem on the occasion of the rebellion of Absalom (2 Sam. 16:5-13). After the defeat of Absalom he "came cringing to the king, humbly suing for pardon, bringing with him a thousand of his Benjamite tribesmen, and representing that he was heartily sorry for his crime, and had hurried the first of all the house of Israel to offer homage to the king" (19:16-23). David forgave him; but on his death-bed he gave Solomon special instructions regarding Shimei, of whose fidelity he seems to have been in doubt (1 Kings 2:8,9). He was put to death at the command of Solomon, because he had violated his word by leaving Jerusalem and going to Gath to recover two of his servants who had escaped (36-46).

    (3.) One of David's mighty men who refused to acknowledge Adonijah as David's successor (1 Kings 1:8). He is probably the same person who is called elsewhere (4:18) "the son of Elah."

    (4.) A son of Pedaiah, the brother of Zerubbabel (1 Chr. 3:19).

    (5.) A Simeonite (1 Chr. 4:26, 27).

    (6.) A Reubenite (1 Chr. 5:4).

    (7.) A Levite of the family of Gershon (1 Chr. 6:42).

    (8.) A Ramathite who was "over the vineyards" of David (1 Chr. 27:27).

    (9.) One of the sons of Heman, who assisted in the purification of the temple (2 Chr. 29:14).

    (10.) A Levite (2 Chr. 31:12, 13).

    (11.) Another Levite (Ezra 10:23). "The family of Shimei" (Zech. 12:13; R.V., "the family of the Shimeites") were the descendants of Shimei (1).

  75. SOLOMON
    noun
    1. fl. 10th century b.c., king of Israel (son of David).
    2. an extraordinarily wise man; a sage.
    3. a male given name.
    Dictionary.com Unabridged
    Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2015.

    Word Origin and History for Solomon
    masc. proper name, Biblical name of David's son, king of Judah and Israel and wisest of all men, from Greek Solomon, from Hebrew Sh'lomoh, from shelomo "peaceful," from shalom "peace." The Arabic form is Suleiman. The common medieval form was Salomon (Vulgate, Tyndale, Douai); Solomon was used in Geneva Bible and KJV. Used allusively for "a wise ruler" since 1550s. Related: Solomonic ; Solomonian. The Solomon Islands were so named 1568 by Spanish explorers in hopeful expectation of having found the source of the gold brought to King Solomon in I Kings ix:29.
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Solomon in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    peaceful (Heb. Shelomoh)
    David's second son by Bathsheba, i.e., the first after their legal marriage (2 Sam. 12). He was probably born about B.C. 1035 (1 Chr. 22:5; 29:1). He succeeded his father on the throne in early manhood, probably about sixteen or eighteen years of age. Nathan, to whom his education was intrusted, called him Jedidiah, i.e., "beloved of the Lord" (2 Sam. 12:24, 25). He was the first king of Israel "born in the purple." His father chose him as his successor, passing over the claims of his elder sons: "Assuredly Solomon my son shall reign after me." His history is recorded in 1 Kings 1-11 and 2 Chr. 1-9.

    His elevation to the throne took place before his father's death, and was hastened on mainly by Nathan and Bathsheba, in consequence of the rebellion of Adonijah (1 Kings 1:5-40). During his long reign of forty years the Hebrew monarchy gained its highest splendour. This period has well been called the "Augustan age" of the Jewish annals. The first half of his reign was, however, by far the brighter and more prosperous; the latter half was clouded by the idolatries into which he fell, mainly from his heathen intermarriages (1 Kings 11:1-8; 14:21, 31). Before his death David gave parting instructions to his son (1 Kings 2:1-9; 1 Chr. 22:7-16; 28). As soon as he had settled himself in his kingdom, and arranged the affairs of his extensive empire, he entered into an alliance with Egypt by the marriage of the daughter of Pharaoh (1 Kings 3:1), of whom, however, nothing further is recorded. He surrounded himself with all the luxuries and the external grandeur of an Eastern monarch, and his government prospered.

    He entered into an alliance with Hiram, king of Tyre, who in many ways greatly assisted him in his numerous undertakings. (See HIRAM.) For some years before his death David was engaged in the active work of collecting materials (1 Chr. 29:6-9; 2 Chr. 2:3-7) for building a temple in Jerusalem as a permanent abode for the ark of the covenant. He was not permitted to build the house of God (1 Chr. 22:8); that honour was reserved to his son Solomon. (See TEMPLE.) After the completion of the temple, Solomon engaged in the erection of many other buildings of importance in Jerusalem and in other parts of his kingdom. For the long space of thirteen years he was engaged in the erection of a royal palace on Ophel (1 Kings 7:1-12). It was 100 cubits long, 50 broad, and 30 high. Its lofty roof was supported by forty-five cedar pillars, so that the hall was like a forest of cedar wood, and hence probably it received the name of "The House of the Forest of Lebanon."

    In front of this "house" was another building, which was called the Porch of Pillars, and in front of this again was the "Hall of Judgment," or Throne-room (1 Kings 7:7; 10:18-20; 2 Chr. 9:17-19), "the King's Gate," where he administered justice and gave audience to his people. This palace was a building of great magnificence and beauty. A portion of it was set apart as the residence of the queen consort, the daughter of Pharaoh. From the palace there was a private staircase of red and scented sandal wood which led up to the temple. Solomon also constructed great works for the purpose of securing a plentiful supply of water for the city (Eccl. 2:4-6). He then built Millo (LXX., "Acra") for the defence of the city, completing a line of ramparts around it (1 Kings 9:15, 24; 11:27).

    He erected also many other fortifications for the defence of his kingdom at various points where it was exposed to the assault of enemies (1 Kings 9:15-19; 2 Chr. 8:2-6). Among his great undertakings must also be mentioned the building of Tadmor (q.v.) in the wilderness as a commercial depot, as well as a military outpost. During his reign Palestine enjoyed great commercial prosperity. Extensive traffic was carried on by land with Tyre and Egypt and Arabia, and by sea with Spain and India and the coasts of Africa, by which Solomon accumulated vast stores of wealth and of the produce of all nations (1 Kings 9:26-28; 10:11, 12; 2 Chr. 8:17, 18; 9:21). This was the "golden age" of Israel. The royal magnificence and splendour of Solomon's court were unrivalled. He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, an evidence at once of his pride, his wealth, and his sensuality.

    The maintenance of his household involved immense expenditure. The provision required for one day was "thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal, ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, and fallow-deer, and fatted fowl" (1 Kings 4:22, 23). Solomon's reign was not only a period of great material prosperity, but was equally remarkable for its intellectual activity. He was the leader of his people also in this uprising amongst them of new intellectual life. "He spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five. And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes" (1 Kings 4:32, 33).

    His fame was spread abroad through all lands, and men came from far and near "to hear the wisdom of Solomon." Among others thus attracted to Jerusalem was "the queen of the south" (Matt. 12:42), the queen of Sheba, a country in Arabia Felix. "Deep, indeed, must have been her yearning, and great his fame, which induced a secluded Arabian queen to break through the immemorial custom of her dreamy land, and to put forth the energy required for braving the burdens and perils of so long a journey across a wilderness. Yet this she undertook, and carried it out with safety." (1 Kings 10:1-13; 2 Chr. 9:1-12.) She was filled with amazement by all she saw and heard: "there was no more spirit in her." After an interchange of presents she returned to her native land.

    But that golden age of Jewish history passed away. The bright day of Solomon's glory ended in clouds and darkness. His decline and fall from his high estate is a sad record. Chief among the causes of his decline were his polygamy and his great wealth. "As he grew older he spent more of his time among his favourites. The idle king living among these idle women, for 1,000 women, with all their idle and mischievous attendants, filled the palaces and pleasure-houses which he had built (1 Kings 11:3), learned first to tolerate and then to imitate their heathenish ways. He did not, indeed, cease to believe in the God of Israel with his mind. He did not cease to offer the usual sacrifices in the temple at the great feasts.

    But his heart was not right with God; his worship became merely formal; his soul, left empty by the dying out of true religious fervour, sought to be filled with any religious excitement which offered itself. Now for the first time a worship was publicly set up amongst the people of the Lord which was not simply irregular or forbidden, like that of Gideon (Judg. 8:27), or the Danites (Judg. 18:30, 31), but was downright idolatrous." (1 Kings 11:7; 2 Kings 23:13.) This brought upon him the divine displeasure. His enemies prevailed against him (1 Kings 11:14-22, 23-25, 26-40), and one judgment after another fell upon the land. And now the end of all came, and he died, after a reign of forty years, and was buried in the city of David, and "with him was buried the short-lived glory and unity of Israel."

    "He leaves behind him but one weak and worthless son, to dismember his kingdom and disgrace his name." "The kingdom of Solomon," says Rawlinson, "is one of the most striking facts in the Biblical history. A petty nation, which for hundreds of years has with difficulty maintained a separate existence in the midst of warlike tribes, each of which has in turn exercised dominion over it and oppressed it, is suddenly raised by the genius of a soldier-monarch to glory and greatness. An empire is established which extends from the Euphrates to the borders of Egypt, a distance of 450 miles; and this empire, rapidly constructed, enters almost immediately on a period of peace which lasts for half a century. Wealth, grandeur, architectural magnificence, artistic excellence, commercial enterprise, a position of dignity among the great nations of the earth, are enjoyed during this space, at the end of which there is a sudden collapse. The ruling nation is split in twain, the subject-races fall off, the pre-eminence lately gained being wholly lost, the scene of struggle, strife, oppression, recovery, inglorious submission, and desperate effort, re-commences.", Historical Illustrations.

  76. TITUS
    British Dictionary definitions for Titus
    noun
    1. (New Testament)

    Saint. a Greek disciple and helper of Saint Paul. Feast day: Jan 26 or Aug 25 the book written to him (in full The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to Titus), containing advice on pastoral matters

    2. full name Titus Flavius Sabinus Vespasianus. ?40–81 ad, Roman emperor (78–81 ad)
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
    © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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    Titus in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    Honourable.
    Was with Paul and Barnabas at Antioch, and accompanied them to the council at Jerusalem (Gal. 2:1-3; Acts 15:2), although his name nowhere occurs in the Acts of the Apostles. He appears to have been a Gentile, and to have been chiefly engaged in ministering to Gentiles; for Paul sternly refused to have him circumcised, inasmuch as in his case the cause of gospel liberty was at stake. We find him, at a later period, with Paul and Timothy at Ephesus, whence he was sent by Paul to Corinth for the purpose of getting the contributions of the church there in behalf of the poor saints at Jerusalem sent forward (2 Cor. 8:6; 12:18).

    He rejoined the apostle when he was in Macedonia, and cheered him with the tidings he brought from Corinth (7:6-15). After this his name is not mentioned till after Paul's first imprisonment, when we find him engaged in the organization of the church in Crete, where the apostle had left him for this purpose (Titus 1:5). The last notice of him is in 2 Tim. 4:10, where we find him with Paul at Rome during his second imprisonment. From Rome he was sent into Dalmatia, no doubt on some important missionary errand. We have no record of his death. He is not mentioned in the Acts.

  77. UZZIAH
    noun
    1. the son and successor of Amaziah as king of Judah, reigned 783?–742? b.c. II Kings 15:13, 30–34. Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    a contracted form of Azari'ah the Lord is my strength.

    (1.) One of Amaziah's sons, whom the people made king of Judah in his father's stead (2 Kings 14:21; 2 Chr. 26:1). His long reign of about fifty-two years was "the most prosperous excepting that of Jehosaphat since the time of Solomon." He was a vigorous and able ruler, and "his name spread abroad, even to the entering in of Egypt" (2 Chr. 26:8, 14).

    In the earlier part of his reign, under the influence of Zechariah, he was faithful to Jehovah, and "did that which was right in the sight of the Lord" (2 Kings 15:3; 2 Chr. 26:4, 5); but toward the close of his long life "his heart was lifted up to his destruction," and he wantonly invaded the priest's office (2 Chr. 26:16), and entering the sanctuary proceeded to offer incense on the golden altar.

    Azariah the high priest saw the tendency of such a daring act on the part of the king, and with a band of eighty priests he withstood him (2 Chr. 26:17), saying, "It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense." Uzziah was suddenly struck with leprosy while in the act of offering incense (26:19-21), and he was driven from the temple and compelled to reside in "a several house" to the day of his death (2 Kings 15:5, 27; 2 Chr. 26:3).

    He was buried in a separate grave "in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings" (2 Kings 15:7; 2 Chr. 26:23). "That lonely grave in the royal necropolis would eloquently testify to coming generations that all earthly monarchy must bow before the inviolable order of the divine will, and that no interference could be tolerated with that unfolding of the purposes of God, which, in the fulness of time, would reveal the Christ, the true High Priest and King for evermore" (Dr. Green's Kingdom of Israel, etc.).

    (2.) The father of Jehonathan, one of David's overseers (1 Chr. 27:25).

  78. ZADOK
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    righteous.
    (1.) A son of Ahitub, of the line of Eleazer (2 Sam. 8:17; 1 Chr. 24:3), high priest in the time of David (2 Sam. 20:25) and Solomon (1 Kings 4:4). He is first mentioned as coming to take part with David at Hebron (1 Chr. 12:27, 28). He was probably on this account made ruler over the Aaronites (27:17). Zadok and Abiathar acted as high priests on several important occasions (1 Chr. 15:11; 2 Sam. 15:24-29, 35, 36); but when Adonijah endeavoured to secure the throne, Abiathar went with him, and therefore Solomon "thrust him out from being high priest," and Zadok, remaining faithful to David, became high priest alone (1 Kings 2:27, 35; 1 Chr. 29:22). In him the line of Phinehas resumed the dignity, and held it till the fall of Jerusalem. He was succeeded in his sacred office by his son Azariah (1 Kings 4:2; comp. 1 Chr. 6:3-9).

    (2.) The father of Jerusha, who was wife of King Uzziah, and mother of King Jotham (2 Kings 15:33; 2 Chr. 27:1).

    (3.) "The scribe" set over the treasuries of the temple by Nehemiah along with a priest and a Levite (Neh. 13:13). (4.) The sons of Baana, one of those who assisted in rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem (Neh. 3:4).

  79. ZEBADIAH
    Zebadiah in the Bible
    Gift of Jehovah.
    (1.) A son of Asahel, Joab's brother (1 Chr. 27:7).

    (2.) A Levite who took part as one of the teachers in the system of national education instituted by Jehoshaphat (2 Chr. 17:7, 8).

    (3.) The son of Ishmael, "the ruler of the house of Judah in all the king's matters" (2 Chr. 19:8-11).

    (4.) A son of Beriah (1 Chr. 8:15).

    (5.) A Korhite porter of the Lord's house (1 Chr. 26:2). Three or four others of this name are also mentioned.

  80. ZECHARIAH
    British Dictionary definitions for Zechariah
    noun
    1. (Old Testament)

    a) A Hebrew prophet of the late 6th century bc

    b) The book containing his oracles, which are chiefly concerned with the renewal of Israel after the exile as a national, religious, and messianic community with the restored Temple and rebuilt Jerusalem as its centre Douay spelling Zacharias

    2. A variant spelling of Zachariah See Zacharias
    Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
    © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
    Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

    Word Origin and History for Zechariah
    masc. proper name, Biblical 11th of the Twelve Prophets; see Zachariah.
    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

    Zechariah in the Bible
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    Jehovah is renowned or remembered.
    (1.) A prophet of Judah, the eleventh of the twelve minor prophets. Like Ezekiel, he was of priestly extraction. He describes himself (1:1) as "the son of Berechiah." In Ezra 5:1 and 6:14 he is called "the son of Iddo," who was properly his grandfather. His prophetical career began in the second year of Darius (B.C. 520), about sixteen years after the return of the first company from exile. He was contemporary with Haggai (Ezra 5:1).

    His book consists of two distinct parts:
    (1) chapters 1 to 8, inclusive, and
    (2) 9 to the end.

    It begins with a preface (1:1-6), which recalls the nation's past history, for the purpose of presenting a solemn warning to the present generation. Then follows a series of eight visions (1:7-6:8), succeeding one another in one night, which may be regarded as a symbolical history of Israel, intended to furnish consolation to the returned exiles and stir up hope in their minds. The symbolical action, the crowning of Joshua (6:9-15), describes how the kingdoms of the world become the kingdom of God's Christ.

    Chapters 7 and 8, delivered two years later, are an answer to the question whether the days of mourning for the destruction of the city should be any longer kept, and an encouraging address to the people, assuring them of God's presence and blessing.

    The second part of the book (ch. 9-14) bears no date. It is probable that a considerable interval separates it from the first part. It consists of two burdens.
    The first burden (ch. 9-11) gives an outline of the course of God's providential dealings with his people down to the time of the Advent.
    The second burden (ch. 12-14) points out the glories that await Israel in "the latter day", the final conflict and triumph of God's kingdom.

    (2.) The son or grandson of Jehoiada, the high priest in the times of Ahaziah and Joash. After the death of Jehoiada he boldly condemned both the king and the people for their rebellion against God (2 Chr. 24:20), which so stirred up their resentment against him that at the king's commandment they stoned him with stones, and he died "in the court of the house of the Lord" (24:21). Christ alludes to this deed of murder in Matt. 23:35, Luke 11:51. (See ZACHARIAS ØT0003862 [2].)

    (3.) A prophet, who had "understanding in the seeing of God," in the time of Uzziah, who was much indebted to him for his wise counsel (2 Chr. 26:5). Besides these, there is a large number of persons mentioned in Scripture bearing this name of whom nothing is known.

    (4.) One of the chiefs of the tribe of Reuben (1 Chr. 5:7).

    (5.) One of the porters of the tabernacle (1 Chr. 9:21).

    (6.) 1 Chr. 9:37.

    (7.) A Levite who assisted at the bringing up of the ark from the house of Obededom (1 Chr. 15:20-24).

    (8.) A Kohathite Levite (1 Chr. 24:25).

    (9.) A Merarite Levite (1 Chr. 27:21).

    (10.) The father of Iddo (1 Chr. 27:21).

    (11.) One who assisted in teaching the law to the people in the time of Jehoshaphat (2 Chr. 17:7).

    (12.) A Levite of the sons of Asaph (2 Chr. 20:14).

    (13.) One of Jehoshaphat's sons (2 Chr. 21:2).

    (14.) The father of Abijah, who was the mother of Hezekiah (2 Chr. 29:1).

    (15.) One of the sons of Asaph (2 Chr. 29:13).

    (16.) One of the "rulers of the house of God" (2 Chr. 35:8).

    (17.) A chief of the people in the time of Ezra, who consulted him about the return from captivity (Ezra 8:16); probably the same as mentioned in Neh. 8:4,

    (18.) Neh. 11:12.

    (19.) Neh. 12:16.

    (20.) Neh. 12:35,41.

    (21.) Isa. 8:2.

  81. ZEPHANIAH
    British Dictionary definitions for Zephaniah
    noun
    1. (Old Testament)
    a Hebrew prophet of the late 7th century bc
    the book containing his oracles, which are chiefly concerned with the approaching judgment by God upon the sinners of Judah. Douay spelling: Sophonias

    Zephaniah in the Bible

    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

    Jehovah has concealed, or Jehovah of darkness.
    (1.) The son of Cushi, and great-grandson of Hezekiah, and the ninth in the order of the minor prophets. He prophesied in the days of Josiah, king of Judah (B.C. 641-610), and was contemporary with Jeremiah, with whom he had much in common.

    The book of his prophecies consists of:
    (a) An introduction (1:1-6), announcing the judgment of the world, and the judgment upon Israel, because of their transgressions.

    (b) The description of the judgment (1:7-18).

    (c) An exhortation to seek God while there is still time (2:1-3).

    (d) The announcement of judgment on the heathen (2:4-15).

    (e) The hopeless misery of Jerusalem (3:1-7).

    (f) The promise of salvation (3:8-20).

    (2.) The son of Maaseiah, the "second priest" in the reign of Zedekiah, often mentioned in Jeremiah as having been sent from the king to inquire (Jer. 21:1) regarding the coming woes which he had denounced, and to entreat the prophet's intercession that the judgment threatened might be averted (Jer. 29:25, 26, 29; 37:3; 52:24). He, along with some other captive Jews, was put to death by the king of Babylon "at Riblah in the land of Hamath" (2 Kings 25:21).

    (3.) A Kohathite ancestor of the prophet Samuel (1 Chr. 6:36).

    (4.) The father of Josiah, the priest who dwelt in Jerusalem when Darius issued the decree that the temple should be rebuilt (Zech. 6:10).

  82. ZIBA
    Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
    post; statue,
    "a servant of the house of Saul" (2 Sam. 9:2), who informed David that Mephibosheth, a son of Jonathan, was alive. He afterwards dealt treacherously toward Mephibosheth, whom he slanderously misrepresented to David.