| Abednego | In the Book of Daniel, the Babylonian name given to Azariah, one of the three Hebrew youths whom Nebuchadnezzar cast into a fiery furnace (Dan. 1-3).
|
 |
|
|
| Alexandria | A major port city and cultural center founded by Alexander the Great on the Egyptian coast. The home of a large Jewish colony during the Hellenistic period, Alexandria nourished a fusion of Hebraic and Hellenic (Greek) ideas, one result of which was the Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible.
|
|
|
|
| Antiochus | The name of several Syrian monarchs who inherited power from Seleucus I, a general and successor of Alexander the Great. The most famous were Antiochus III, who gained control of Palestine from Egypt in 198/197 b.c.e., and Antiochus IV (Epiphanes, or "God Manifest") (175-163 b.c.e.), whose persecution of the Jews led to the Maccabean revolt.
|
|
|
|
| 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.
|
|
|
|
| apocalyptic literature | A branch of prophetic writing that flourished in Judaism from about 200 b.c.e. to 140 c.e. and greatly influenced Christianity. Works such as Daniel, Enoch, 2 and 3 Baruch, 2 Esdras, and the Christian Book of Revelation are distinguished by cryptic language, symbolic imagery, and the expectation of an imminent cosmic catastrophe in which the forces of Good ultimately defeat the powers of Evil, resulting in the establishment of a messianic rule and consequent transformation of the universe. Jesus' prophecies of his return (Mark 13; Luke 21; Matt. 24) are a form of apocalyptic discourse.
|
|
|
|
| Apocrypha | From the Greek, meaning "hidden" books, Apocrypha refers to noncanonical or deuterocanonical literature, especially the fourteen books included in the Greek Septuagint and later editions of the Vulgate but not in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible. It also applies to a body of Christian works that typically parallel or spuriously "supplement" the New Testament canon.
|
|
|
|
| Bel | The Babylonian-Assyrian version of Baal, a common name for Marduk, chief god of Babylon (Isa. 46:1-4), sometimes called Merodach by the Jews (Jer. 50:2).
|
|
|
|
| Belshazzar | In Daniel, the last king of Babylon, son of Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 5:1-31), though archaeological discoveries indicate that he was neither, but merely prince regent for his father, Nabonidus.
|
|
|
|
| Chaldea | A Mesopotamian territory occupied by Semitic Arameans who founded the Neo-Babylonian Empire under Nabopolassar and his son Nebuchadnezzar, first in a brief line of Chaldean rulers (2 Kings 24:2; 25:4-13; Jer. 37:5-12). The Chaldeans were famous for their mastery of astronomy and astrology.
|
|
|
|
| Deuterocanon | The fourteen books or parts of books found in the Greek Septuagint and later editions of the Latin Vulgate-such as Tobit, 1 and 2 Maccabees, and the Wisdom of Solomon-but not included in the Hebrew Bible or most Protestant Old Testaments that Roman Catholics and some others regard as forming a second or later canon. After the Council of Trent, the books of 1 and 2 Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh were deleted from the deuterocanonical list. When Protestant editions of the Bible include these works, they are typically classed as Apocrypha.
|
|
|
|
| Diaspora | Literally, a "scattering," the term refers to the distribution of Jews outside their Palestinian homeland, such as the many Jewish communities established throughout the Greco-Roman world.
|
|
|
|
| Enoch | A son of Cain (Gen. 4:17, J's account) or of Jared (Gen. 5:18, P's version) and father of Methuselah (Gen. 5:21). P's statement that "God took him" (Gen. 5:24)-apparently to heaven and without death-strongly influenced later Hebrew notions of immortality and gave rise to a whole body of pseudepigraphal literature in which Enoch is a model of divine wisdom.
|
|
|
|
| Feast of Dedication | An eight-day Jewish celebration (now known as Hanukkah) instituted in 165 b.c.e. by Judas Maccabeus and held annually on the twenty-fifth day of Kislev (November-December) to commemorate the cleansing and rededication of the Jerusalem Temple, which Antiochus IV had polluted. Referred to in John 10:22-38, it is also known as the Festival of Lights.
|
|
|
|
| Gabriel | In the Hebrew angelic hierarchy, one of the seven archangels whose duty it was to convey the Deity's messages. Gabriel explained Daniel's visions to him (Dan. 8:15-26; 9:20-27) and, in the New Testament, announced the births of John the Baptist and Jesus (Luke 1:5-17; 26-38). The name may mean "person of God" or "God has shown himself mighty."
|
|
|
|
| Gentile | Someone who is not a Jew, an uncircumcised person, one belonging to "the nations" (Ps. 9:17; Isa. 2:2; Zeph. 2:1; Hag. 2:7; Matt. 1:11; 12:21; Luke 21:24; etc.).
|
|
|
|
| haggadah | Jewish narrative writings dating from the early centuries c.e. that illustrate and interpret the nonlegal portions of the Torah (law).
|
|
|
|
| hasidim | Devout Jews who refused to forsake their religion during the persecutions of the Syrian monarch Antiochus Epiphanes (second century b.c.e.).
|
|
|
|
| Hasmoneans | The Jewish royal dynasty founded by the Maccabees and named for Hasmon, an ancestor of Mattathias. The Roman conquest of Palestine in 63 b.c.e. brought Hasmonean rulership and Jewish independence to an end.
|
|
|
|
| Hellenists | Jews living outside Palestine who adopted the Greek language and, to varying degrees, Greek customs and ideas (Acts 6:1; 9:29).
|
|
|
|
| Jubilee | Derived from the Hebrew word for "ram's horn" or "trumpet," the term refers to the sabbatical year described in Leviticus 25:8-24 to be kept every half-century and proclaimed by a trumpet blast on the Day of Atonement. During a Jubilee year, all debts were to be canceled and private property returned to its rightful owners.
|
|
|
|
| Judas Maccabeus | The third of five sons of the Judean priest Mattathias, leader of a successful uprising (c. 167-160 b.c.e.) against the Syrian king Antiochus IV. The epithet Maccabeus is believed to mean "the hammer," referring to Judas's effectiveness in striking blows for Jewish freedom. His story is told in 1 Maccabees. See Maccabees.
|
|
|
|
| Judea | The Greco-Roman designation for territory comprising the old kingdom of Judah, the name first occurs in Ezra 5:8, a reference to the "province of Judaea." In the time of Jesus, Judea was the southernmost of the three divisions of the Roman province of western Palestine, the other two of which were Samaria and Galilee (Neh. 2:7; Luke 1:39; John 3:22, 11:7; Acts 1:1; Gal. 1:22).
|
|
|
|
| Maccabees | A name bestowed on the family that won religious and political independence for the Jews from their Greek-Syrian oppressors. Judas, called Maccabeus (meaning "the hammer"), son of the aged priest Mattathias, led his brothers and other faithful Jews against the armies of Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) (175-163 b.c.e.). The dynasty his brothers established was called Hasmonean (after an ancestor named Hashmon) and ruled Judea until 63 b.c.e., when the Romans occupied Palestine.
|
|
|
|
| Mattathias | A Jewish priest who, with his sons John, Simon, Judas, Eleazar, and Jonathan, led a revolt against the oppressions of Antiochus IV (c. 168-167 b.c.e.) (1 Macc. 2:1-70).
|
|
|
|
| Meshach | The Babylonian name of Mishael, one of Daniel's three Hebrew companions whom Nebuchadnezzar unsuccessfully tried to incinerate in a furnace (Dan. 1-3).
|
|
|
|
| Michael | The angel whom the Book of Daniel represents as being the spirit prince, guardian, and protector of Israel (Dan. 10:13, 21; 12:1). Jude 9 depicts him as an archangel fighting with Satan for Moses' body. In Revelation 12:7, he leads the war against the dragon (Satan) and casts him from heaven. His name means "Who is like God?"
|
|
|
|
| midrash | From a Hebrew work meaning "to search out," midrash refers to a commentary on or interpretation of Scripture. Collections of such haggadic or halakic expositions of the significance of the biblical text are called midrashim.
|
|
|
|
| Philo Judaeus | The most influential philosopher of Hellenistic Judaism, Philo was a Greek-educated Jew living in Alexandria, Egypt (c. 20 b.c.e.-50 c.e.), who promoted a method of interpreting the Hebrew Bible allegorically (which may have influenced Paul in such passages as 1 Cor. 10:4 and Gal. 4:24, as well as the authors of the fourth Gospel and Hebrews). His doctrine of the Logos (the divine creative Word) shaped the prologue to the Gospel of John.
|
|
|
|
| Pseudepigrapha | (1) Literally, books falsely ascribed to eminent biblical figures of the past, such as Enoch, Noah, Moses, or Isaiah. (2) A collection of religious books outside the Hebrew Bible canon or Apocrypha that were composed in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek from about 200 b.c.e. to 200 c.e.
|
|
|
|
| Ptolemy I | (323-285 b.c.e.) was a Macedonian general who assumed rulership of Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great. The Ptolemaic dynasty controlled Egypt and its dominions until 31 b.c.e., when the Romans came to power.
|
|
|
|
| resurrection | The returning of the dead to life, a late Hebrew Bible belief (Isa. 26:19; Dan. 12:2-3, 13) that first became prevalent in Judaism during the time of the Maccabees (after 168 b.c.e.) and became a part of the Pharisees' doctrine. Like the prophets Elijah and Elisha (1 Kings 17:17-24; 2 Kings 4:18-37), Jesus performed several resuscitations: of the widow of Nain's son (Luke 7:11-17), the daughter of Jairus (Mark 5:21-43), and Lazarus (John 11:1-44). Unlike these personages, however, Jesus ascended to heaven after his own resurrection (Acts 1:7-8). Paul gives the fullest discussion of the resurrection in the New Testament (1 Thess. 4; 1 Cor. 15), although he leaves many questions unanswered (see also Matt. 25:31-46 and Rev. 20:13).
|
|
|
|
| scribes | Professional copyists who recorded commercial, royal, and religious texts and served as clerks, secretaries, and archivists at Israel's royal court and Temple (2 Kings 12:10; 19:2; Ezra 4:8; 2 Chron. 34:8; Jer. 36:18). After the Jews' return from exile, professional teachers or "wise men" preserved and interpreted the Mosaic Torah (Ezra 7:6; Neh. 7:73-8:18). In the New Testament, scribes are often linked with Pharisees as Jesus' opponents (Matt. 7:29; 23:2, 13; Luke 11:44) who conspired to kill him (Mark 14:43; 15:1; Luke 22:2; 23:10), although some became his followers (Matt.8:19; see also Acts 6:12; 23:9; 1 Cor. 1:20).
|
|
|
|
| Seleucids | The Macedonian Greek dynasty founded by Alexander's general Seleucus (ruled 312-280 b.c.e.), centered in Syria with Antioch as its capital. After defeating the Ptolemies of Egypt, it controlled Palestine from 198 to 165 b.c.e., after which the Maccabean revolt defeated the forces of Antiochus IV and eventually drove the Syrians from Judea (142 b.c.e.) (1 and 2 Macc.).
|
|
|
|
| Septuagint (LXX) | A Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible traditionally attributed to seventy or seventy-two Palestinian scholars during the reign of Ptolemy II (285-246 b.c.e.), the Septuagint was actually the work of several generations of Alexandrine translators, begun about 250 b.c.e. and not complete until the first century c.e. The later additions to the Septuagint were deleted from the standard Hebrew Bible (Masoretic Text) but included in the Christian Scriptures as the Apocrypha.
|
|
|
|
| Shadrach | The name the leading eunuch of Babylon gave the Hebrew boy Hananiah (Dan. 1:7; 2:49). Along with Abednego and Meshach, he survived incarceration in a fiery furnace (Dan. 3:1-30).
|
|
|
|
| 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).
|
|
|
|
| Son of Man | 1. A Hebrew Bible phrase used to denote a human being (Pss. 8:4; 80:17; 144:3; 146:3; Isa. 56:2; Jer. 51:43), including a plural usage (Pss. 31:19; 33:13; Prov. 8:4; Eccles. 3:18-19; 8:11; 9:12). The phrase is characteristic of the Book of Ezekiel, where it is commonly used to indicate the prophet himself (Ezek. 2:1).
2. In Daniel 7:12-14, "one like a son of man" refers to Israel itself or to a divinely appointed future ruler of Israel, although this figure is not given specific messianic significance.
3. In some pseudepigraphal writings, particularly the Similitudes of the Book of Enoch, he who serves as Yahweh's agent in the coming Day of Judgment is variously called "the Elect One," "the Anointed One," and "the Son of Man."
4. In the Gospels, the phrase is always spoken by Jesus and in most cases applied to himself (Matt. 8:20; 9:6; 11:19; 12:8; 16:27-28; 19:28; 24:30; 28:31; Mark 2:28; 8:38; 9:31; 10:45; 13:26; Luke 12:8-10; 18:8; 21:27; 22:22; John 3:14). Outside the Gospels, it is used only once (Acts 7:56), although the author of Revelation echoes Daniel 7:13 (Rev. 14:14).
|
2003 McGraw-Hill Higher Education