 |  Understanding the Bible: Sixth Edition, 6/e Stephen Harris,
California State University--Sacramento
The Writings (Kethuvim): Books of Poetry, Wisdom, Short Fiction, and Sacred History
Glossary| Ahasuerus (Xerxes I) | Son of Darius Hystaspes and Atossa, daughter of Cyrus the Great, the Ahasuerus of the Book of Esther is usually identified with Xerxes I (486-465 b.c.e.), who led the second Persian invasion of Greece and was defeated at the Battle of Salamis (480 b.c.e.). There is no record that he ever had a Jewish queen named Esther.
| | | | | allegory | A literary narrative in which persons, places, and events are given a symbolic meaning. Some Hellenistic-Jewish scholars of Alexandria tended to interpret the Hebrew Bible allegorically, as Paul does the story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar (Gal. 4:21-31).
| | | | | apocalypse | From the Greek apokalypsis, meaning to "uncover" or "reveal," the term refers to a special kind of prophetic literature that purports to foretell the future in terms of symbols and mystical visions and deals primarily with eschatological events.
| | | | | Artaxerxes | King of Persia (465-423 b.c.e.), son of Xerxes I. According to Nehemiah 2, Artaxerxes commissioned Nehemiah, his Jewish cupbearer, to go to Jerusalem and rebuild the city's walls. Scholars are not agreed on whether Ezra returned to Jerusalem during the reign of Artaxerxes I or Artaxerxes II.
| | | | | Boaz | A wealthy landowner of Bethlehem (Ruth 2:1) who married the Moabite Ruth and became an ancestor of David (Ruth 4:22).
| | | | | Darius | The name of several Persian rulers mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. (1) Darius I (522-486 b.c.e.), son of Hystaspes, was the emperor whose forces invaded Greece and were defeated at Marathon (490 b.c.e.). He continued Cyrus the Great's favorable treatment of the Jews (Ezra 5-6). (2) Darius "the Mede" (Dan. 5:31; 9:1), alleged to have condemned Daniel to the lion's den (Dan. 6:7-26), is unknown to history.
| | | | | doxology | In a religious writing or service, the formal concluding expression of praise or formula ritually ascribing glory to God.
| | | | | Elihu | A young man who condemns Job's alleged self-righteousness (Job 32-37).
| | | | | Esther | Heroine of the canonical book bearing her name, cousin and adopted daughter of Mordecai (Esther 2:15), queen of Persia under Xerxes (Esther 1:1-2:18), Esther became a national heroine by delivering her people from a mass slaughter planned by Haman (Esther 2:19-4:17). The Book of Esther commemorates the Feast of Purim (Esther 9:17-10:3).
| | | | | Ezra (Esdras) | A postexilic Jewish priest who returned to Jerusalem from Babylon during the reign of the Persian Emperor Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:1) to promulgate the Mosaic Torah and supervise a reformation of the Jewish religion (Neh. 8-10; Ezra 7-10). His influence on later Judaism was so great that he was conceived as the re-creator of the Hebrew Bible and author of several pseudohistorical and apocalyptic works (1 Esd. 8-9; 2 Esd. 14).
| | | | | Fast of the Ninth Av | A solemn observance mourning the two destructions of the Jerusalem Temple, the first by the Babylonians (587 b.c.e.) and the second by the Romans (70 c.e.), both in the month of Av (August). The dirges in the Book of Lamentations are read to commemorate the sanctuary's dual fall.
| | | | | Feast of Tabernacles | Also called the Festival of Booths, it was a joyous annual celebration of the autumn harvest (late September-early October). Commemorating the Mosaic period when Israel dwelt in tents or huts (booths) in the wilderness, it expressed the people's gratitude to Yahweh for supplying them with grain and wine (Exod. 23:16; 34:22; Lev. 23:39-43; Deut. 16:13-15). See Succoth.
| | | | | Haman | An official at Ahasuerus's (Xerxes') court who attempted to engineer the mass extermination of the Jews (Esther 3, 7).
| | | | | Koheleth (Qoheleth) | The title-meaning "the president" or "the preacher" of an assembly or church (qahal)-that the otherwise anonymous author of Ecclesiastes (the Greek equivalent of the term) gives himself (Eccles. 1:1; 12:9-10).
| | | | | liturgy | A body of rites, including both actions and spoken formulas, used in public worship, such as the ceremony of the Eucharist (Holy Communion). The Didache (c. 100 c.e.) describes some of the church's earliest liturgical practices, including baptism and Communion.
| | | | | Manasseh | 1. The elder son of Joseph and the Egyptian Asenath, daughter of a high priest at On, who received a lesser blessing from the dying Jacob than his full brother Ephraim (Gen. 48:1-20), reflecting the tribe of Ephraim's greater importance in the later history of Israel.
2. One of Israel's twelve tribes, divided into two sections and occupying land east and west of the Jordan River (Josh. 17:1-18).
3. A son of Hezekiah and Hephzibah who was king of Judah longer than any other Davidic monarch (c. 687-642 b.c.e.). Despite the Deuteronomistic condemnation of him as the most evil ruler of Judah for his encouragement of Baalism, astrology, and human sacrifice, he proved an effective king, maintaining his country's relative independence during troubled times (2 Kings 21:1-18; 2 Chron. 33:1-20). The historicity of his supposed deportation to and return from Babylon has been questioned. In 2 Kings 23:26-27, Judah's final destruction is attributed to Manasseh's wickedness.
| | | | | megillot | A Hebrew word meaning "scrolls"; the five Hebrew Bible books-Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther-each of which was read publicly at one of Israel's annual religious festivals.
| | | | | metaphor | A figure of speech in which one object is used to describe the quality of another, an implied comparison of one thing to another, inferring that the first has a hitherto unrecognized likeness to the second. Biblical poets, for example, call Yahweh a "shepherd" because he guides and protects Israel, his "flock," and a "rock" because he is solid and reliable (cf. Ps. 23:1; Deut. 32:4).
| | | | | Mordecai | His name derived from Marduk or Merodach (the chief Babylonian deity), Mordecai was the cousin and foster father of Esther, who according to the book bearing her name, was the Jew married to Ahasuerus, emperor of Persia. Representing the typically devout but politically ambitious Jew living in the Diaspora, Mordecai saved his sovereign's life (Esther 2:21-23) and outwitted Haman, who attempted to exterminate him and all Jews throughout the Persian domain (Esther 3:6-15), a plot he employed his beautiful cousin to foil so that, by his astuteness, he became second in power to the emperor (Esther 8-10).
| | | | | Naomi | Wife of Elimelech of Bethlehem (Ruth 1:2) and mother-in-law to Ruth, whose marriage she arranged to her Jewish kinsman Boaz (Ruth 3-4). Her name means "my pleasantness."
| | | | | Nehemiah | A Jewish court official (cupbearer) living at the Persian capital in Susa who persuaded the emperor Artaxerxes I (465-423 b.c.e.) to commission him to go to Judea and rebuild Jerusalem's walls (Neh. 1:1-2:20). Although he encountered resistance from Judah's jealous neighbors, Nehemiah finished the rebuilding in record time (Neh. 3:33-6:19) and, with the priest Ezra, effected numerous social and religious reforms among the returned exiles (Neh. 8:1-9:3; 11:1-3; 12:27-13:3).
| | | | | Passover | An annual Jewish observance commemorating Israel's last night of bondage in Egypt when the Angel of Death "passed over" Israelite homes marked with the blood of a sacrificial lamb to destroy the firstborn of every Egyptian household (Exod. 12:1-51). Beginning the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread, it is a ritual meal eaten on Nisan 14 (March-April) that traditionally includes roast lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs (Exod. 12:15-20; 13:3-10; Lev. 23:5; Num. 9:5; 28:16; Deut. 16:1). The Passover was scrupulously observed by Israel's great leaders, including Joshua (Josh. 5:10), Hezekiah (2 Chron. 30:1), Josiah (2 Kings 23:21-23; 2 Chron. 35:1-18), and the returned exiles (Ezra 6:19), as well as by Jesus and his disciples (Matt. 26:2, 17-29; Mark 14:1-16; Luke 22:1-13; John 13:1; 18:39). According to the Synoptics, Jesus' Last Supper with the Twelve was a Passover celebration (Matt. 26; Mark 14; Luke 22) and the model for Christian Communion (the Eucharist) (1 Cor. 11:17-27).
| | | | | Pentecost | (1) Also known as the Feast of Weeks (Exod. 34:22; Deut. 16:10), the Feast of Harvest (Exod. 23:16), and the Day of the First Fruits (Num. 28:26), Pentecost was a one-day celebration held fifty days after Passover at the juncture of May and June. (2) The occasion of the outpouring of Holy Spirit on early Christians assembled in Jerusalem (Acts 2:1-41), regarded as the spiritual baptism of the church.
| | | | | Purim | A Jewish nationalistic festival held on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar (February-March) and based on events in the Book of Esther.
| | | | | Ruth | A widow from Moab who married Boaz of Bethlehem and became an ancestor of King David (Ruth 4:17).
| | | | | Sheol | According to the Hebrew Bible, the subterranean region to which the "shades" of all the dead descended, a place of intense gloom, hopelessness, and virtual unconsciousness for its inhabitants. The term was translated Hades in the Greek Septuagint and in later Hellenistic times was regarded as an abode of the dead awaiting resurrection (Gen. 42:38; 1 Sam. 2:6; Job 7:9; 14:13-14; 26:6; Pss. 6:5; 16:10; 55:15; 139:8; Prov. 27:20; Eccles. 9:10; Isa. 14:15; 28:15; 38:10, 18; Hos. 13:14; Jon. 2:2; cf. references to Hades in Matt. 16:18; Luke 10:15; Acts 2:31; Rev. 1:18; 20:15). It is not the same theological concept as hell or Gehenna (Matt. 10:28; 23:33; Mark 9:43; Luke 12:5).
| | | | | Talmud | A huge collection of Jewish religious traditions consisting of two parts: (1) the Mishnah (written editions of ancient oral interpretations of the Torah), published in Palestine by Judah ha-Nasi (died c. 220 c.e.) and his disciples; (2) the Gemara, extensive commentaries on the Mishnah. The Palestinian version of the Talmud, which is incomplete, was produced in about 450 c.e.; the Babylonian Talmud, nearly four times as long, was finished in about 500 c.e. Both Talmuds contain Mishnah and Gemara.
| | | | | Vashti | The empress of Persia (unknown to history) who refused to exhibit herself to the male friends of her husband, Ahasuerus (Xerxes I), and whom Esther replaced as queen (Esther 1:9-2:18).
| | | | | wisdom literature | Biblical works dealing primarily with practical and ethical behavior and ultimate religious questions, such as the problem of Evil. The books include Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiasticus, and the Wisdom of Solomon. Habakkuk, 2 Esdras, and the New Testament Book of James also have characteristics of wisdom writing.
| | | | | Zerubbabel | A son of Shealtiel or Salathiel (Ezra 3:2, 8; Hag. 1:1; Matt. 1:12) or of Pedaiah (1 Chron. 3:19), Zerubbabel (meaning "begotten in Babylon") was a grandson of Jehoiachin, the king of Judah imprisoned in Babylon (1 Chron. 3:17), and therefore a legitimate heir to the Davidic throne. Appointed governor of the restored Jewish community in Jerusalem (Ezra 3; Hag. 1:1, 14), he returned from Babylon with the first group of exiles and, with Joshua, the High Priest, set up an altar to Yahweh and made arrangements to rebuild the Temple. Between the time the work began and the Temple's dedication in 515 b.c.e. (Ezra 6), however, Zerubbabel disappeared from history. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah, who had urged the rebuilding, had both regarded him as a potential messianic king (Hag. 2:20-23; Zech. 4:6b-10a; 6:9-15-the latter passage reworked by later scribes). When these political expectations failed to materialize, hopes were focused on a priestly hierarchy represented by Joshua (Zech. 3:1-4; 6:11-12).
| | | | | Zion | The name, probably meaning "citadel," for a rocky hill in old Jerusalem, it was originally a Jebusite acropolis that David captured and on which he built his palace and housed the Ark of the Covenant (Judg. 19:11-12; 2 Sam. 5:6-12; 6:12-17; 1 Chron. 11:5-8). David purchased a threshing floor in Zion (2 Sam. 24:18-25) on which Solomon later built the Temple. In time, the term referred either to the hill on which the Temple stood or to the surrounding city of Jerusalem (Pss. 2:6; 9:11; 76:2; 127:3; Isa. 1:26-27; 10:24; 30:19; 64:10; Jer. 31:6; Amos 1:2; Mic. 3:12).
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