New Testament Survey Glossary

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A

A.D. - abbreviation of anno domini, Latin for "year of our Lord".

Abraham - (Abram before Genesis 17; adj. Abrahamic) The first father (patriarch) of Israel; first called Abram, God made a covenant with him in which God promised to make him a great nation; Isaac was his son by Sarah, and Ishmael was his son by Hagar. Abraham is consisered to be the "father or patriarch" of all Jews and Christians. It was through his "seed or offspring" that redemption would come; namely Jesus.

Abrahamic Covenant - the covenant Yahweh made with Abraham, sealed by circumcision (Genesis 17). Jews consider themselves to be the descendants of Abraham.

Adam / Eve - the original parents of all humanity. Jesus is called the "second Adam and the last man." The new Eve is one through whom her "seed of the woman" would redeem humanity (Gen.3 Protevangelium).

Allegory - a literary device in which characters and events stand for abstract ideas, principles, or forces, so that the literal sense has or suggests a parallel, deeper symbolic sense.

Anointing - to pour oil over the head; this was part of a ritual of designation by which priests and kings were initiated into office; an "anointed one" (Hebrew meshiach) was a divinely designated leader.

Anthropomorphism - (adj. anthropomorphic) a Greek term for the attribution of human behavior or characteristics to inanimate objects, animals, natural phenomena, or deity; with regard to deity, anthropomorphism became a point of theological discussion in Judaism and Christianity.

Apocalypse - (adj. apocalyptic; Greek for "revelation") an "unveiling" of something hidden; apocalyptic literature is a genre of literature (attested in Jewish and Christian literature) in which the author claims to reveal the future and to show how the divine plan will be worked out in history, often expressing it in vivid symbolism; the final book of the Christian New Testament is sometimes called (in accord with its Greek title) "the Apocalypse" (it is also known as "the book of Revelation").

Apocalyptic literature - Old Testament, intertestamental Jewish and early Christian literature that consists predominantly of apocalypses;Daniel 7-12 and the Book of Revelation is apocalyptic literature.

Ark of the covenant - a gold-overlayed wooden chest with two cherubim on the lid which stored the tablets of the covenant; it was housed first in the tabernacle, then in the Holy of Holies room of the Jerusalem temple; it was the location of God's presence within Israel. In 586 B.C. it disappeared and it was not in the second Temple, or present in the Temple of Jesus' day.

Armageddon - derived from Hebrew "mountain of Megiddo," it is the symbolic site of the final battle between God and the forces of evil in apocalyptic thought.

Atonement - (v. atone) to make right with God by satisfying the penalty for breaking relationship; in the Old Testament this was done through offering sacrifices to God. See Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement).

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B

Babylon - the capital city of Babylonia in southern Mesopotamia; the Babylonians led by Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem in 587 B.C. and took Judeans into Babylonian exile; called Babel in Genesis 11. Symbolically spoken of in the Book of Revelation.

Berakah - (Hebrew for "blessing") in Judaism, an offering of thankfulness that praises God for a benefit conferred or a great event experienced. Blessings were also given prior to meals. The object of the blessing was God. Blessing - blessing, bless Divine favor and approval; blessing is a mark of God's grace and evidence of his protecting and prospering presence; in return people can bless God as a display of gratitude for his goodness.

Berit - (also spelled brit; Hebrew for "covenant") used in Judaism especially for the special relationship believed to exist between God and the Jewish people.

Bethel - a city which became a center of Israelite worship; literally means "house of El / God."

Bethlehem - a city in the tribe of Judah, it means "house of bread." Home town of King David and the birth place of Jesus.

Bible - (adj. biblical; from Greek biblos, "book") The designation normally used for the Hebrew Bible plus the Christian New Testament; in classical Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Christianity it designates the Hebrew Bible plus the Apocrypha plus the New Testament .

Birthright - the special inheritance rights of the "first-born son" giving him claim to the bulk of the ancestral property.

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C

Calendar - Judaism follows a lunar calandar adjusted every three years or so to the solar cycle (by adding a second 12th month)-thus "lunisolar"; the oldest Jewish annual observances are Passover/pesah, Shevuot, Yom Kippur and Sukkot; other ancient celebrations include Rosh Hashanah, Simhat Torah, Hannukah and Purim; in general, Christianity operates on a "solar" calendar based on the relationship between the sun and the earth (365.25 days per year); the main Christian observances are Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas.

Canon - the authorized collection of material constituting the sacred writings of a religious community; the material is believed to have special, usually divine, authority; the Hebrew Bible is the canon of the Jewish community; the Old and New Testaments (respectively with and without the Apocrypha) are the canon of the Roman Catholic and Protestant Christian communities.

Christ - (see also Messiah) (from Greek christos, "anointed one"; Greek translation of Hebrew meshiach) Applied to Jesus/Joshua of Nazareth by his followers as a title, but soon came to be treated as a sort of second name. See Messiah.

Christians / Christianity - a term first used in Antioch used to refer to the followers of Jesus of Nazareth who believe him to be the Jewish messiah (christos) of God; Christianity is the collective body of Christians who believe the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.

Church - from the Celtic word "Kirk" or building (from Greek ekklesia, "summoned group"; compare "ecclesiastical") the designation traditionally used for a specifically Christian assembly or body of people, and thus also the building or location in which the assembled people meet, and by extension also the specific organized sub-group within Christianity (e.g. Catholic and Protestant); similar to synagogue and kahal in Judaism.

Circumcision - circumcision was the ritual attached to the covenant God made with Abraham; in Judaism, it is ritually performed when a boy is eight days old in a ceremony called brit milah, which indicates that the ritual establishes a covenant between God and the individual.

Clean / Unclean - also called kosher or kashrut. Foods and animals which were approved for ritual sacrifices. Gentiles, contact with dead bodies and those with sicknesses were also considered to be unclean and were not allowed in temple worship.

Commandments - (Hebrew mitzvot; sing, mitzvah) Orders given by God; God gave Ten Commandments as the core of the covenant on Mount Sinai, and a multitude of other moral and cultic laws; according to rabbinic Jewish tradition, there are 613 religious commandments referred to in the Torah (and elaborated upon by the rabbinic sages); of these, 248 are positive commandments and 365 are negative; the numbers respectively symbolize the fact that divine service must be expressed through all one's bodily parts during all the days of the year; in general, a mitzvah refers to any act of religious duty or obligation; more colloquially, a mitzvah refers to a "good deed."

Covenant - (Hebrew berit or brit) a pact or formal agreement between two parties in which there are mutual obligations and expectations; covenant is used as a metaphor of God's relationship with his people; the 5 major covenants in the Old Testament are God's covenant with Adam, Noah, Abraham (Genesis 15), and the Sinai / Moses / Deuteronomic covenant (Exodus 19-24) between God and Israel, and with King David. In Judaism, the covenant is a major theological concept referring to the eternal bond between God and the people of Israel grounded in God's gracious and steadfast concern (Hebrew chesed) that calls for the nation's obedience to the divine commandments (mitzvot) and instruction (torah); for Christianity (e.g. Paul), God has made a "new covenant" (rendered as "new testament" in older English) with the followers of Jesus in the last times, superseding the "old covenant" (thus, "old testament") with Moses at Sinai (see Jeremiah 31:31-34).

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D

David - the son of Jesse, anointed by Samuel to become king in place of Saul; he killed Goliath; his sons Amnon, Absalom, Adonijah, and Solomon fought to follow him on the throne; he is associated with the biblical psalms and is credited with politically and militarily uniting the ancient Israelite confederation into a centralized kingdom with Jerusalem as its capital; he created the largest empire Israel ever knew; David is said to have planned for the Temple which his son and successor Solomon built.

Davidic covenant - a covenant God made with David pledging that the family of David would provide kings to rule over Israel in perpetuity (2 Samuel 7).

Day of Atonement - (Hebrew yom kippur) the one day each year when special sacrifices were made by the high priest for the sins of the people; only on this day the high priest entered the Most Holy Place of the temple to sprinkle blood on the ark of the covenant to reconcile Israel with God (Leviticus 16).

Day of the Lord / Yahweh - the day God battles his enemies; derives from the holy war tradition and was cited by Amos, Joel, Obadiah, and Zephaniah.

Dead Sea Scrolls - a collection of scrolls dating to the first century B.C. found in caves near the Dead Sea; they are generally thought to be linked with the settlement at Qumran, and with a Jewish religious group called the Essenes.

Decalogue - (Greek for "ten words") refers to laws collected into a group of ten; The Decalogue is the Ten Commandments received by Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:1-21); the cultic decalogue is found in Exodus 34.

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E

Election - a term used theologically in Judaism and Christianity to indicate God's choice of Israel and the Church to receive the covenant a choice not based on the superiority or previous accomplishments of the people, but on God's graciousness (see covenant).

Elijah - an Israelite prophet during the reign of King Ahab who spoke against his pagan wife Jezabel. He defeated the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel and was taken to heaven in a fire storm. Spoken of in the last chapter of Malachi to be a forerunner of the Messiah. John the baptizer was a type of Elijah. He spoke against King Herod and his adulterious affair.

Elisha - the prophet who succeeded Elijah in the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

Eretz Yisrael/Israel - (Hebrew for "land of Israel") In Jewish thought, the special term for the Palestinian area believed to have been promised to the Jewish people by God in the ancient covenant.

Esau - the first son of Isaac and Rebekah, the twin of Jacob; he was the ancestor of the Edomites.

Eschatology - (adj. eschatological; from Greek eschaton, "last" or "the end-time") Refers in general to what is expected to take place in the "last times" (from the inquirer's perspective); thus the study of the ultimate destiny or purpose of humankind and the world, how and when the end will occur, what the end or last period of history or existence will be like. See also Apocalypse and Apocalyptic literature.

Essenes - a Jewish group that lived in retreat in the wilderness of Judea between the first century B.C.. and the first A.D., according to Josephus, the elder, Pliny, and Philo. See also Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran.

Exegesis - (from Greek for "interpretation") The process of drawing out meaning from a text; interpreting a text in its literary and historical context.

Exodus - (from Greek for "to exit, go out") The term refers to the event of the Israelites leaving Egypt and to the biblical book that tells of that event, the second book of the Torah; the release from Egyptian captivity and the exodus from Egypt were led by Moses, probably in the thirteenth century B.C.. See Passover.

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F

Faith - defined in Hebrews chapter 11. To believe without neccesarily receiving. Without faith it is impossible to see God.

Fall / Original Sin - the disobedience and expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden (Genesis 3).

G

Galilee - the northern part of Israel, specifically the territories north and west of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus spent most of his time in the Galilee's, especially in Capernaum.

Genealogy - a list or family tree of ancestors or descendants; the Priestly history and the Chronicler's history contain extensive genealogies. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke both contain Jesus' genealogy. Every Jewish child had to be brought after their birth to the Temple in Jerusalem. The Bible is a story about a specific family or genealogy.

Generation - a group of people born and living at about the same time, usually reckoned as forty years in the Old Testament; grandparents, parents, and children are three generations.

Gentiles - (Hebrew goyyim) In pre-Christian times, non-Jewish peoples; thereafter, non-Jewish and non-Christian (roughly synonymous with "pagan").

God-Fearers - a term given to gentile converts to Judaism who obeyed certain Jewish laws.

Gog - an eschataological figure, a personification of evil, that battled God's forces in Ezekiel 38-39, Rev.20:8.

Grace - an undeserved gift or favor; the undeserved attention, forgiveness, kindness and mercy that God gives.

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H

Hasmonaean - Hasmon is the family name of the Maccabees, so the Maccabaean rulers are often referred to as Hasmonaean; the Hasmoneans included the Maccabees and the high priests and kings who ruled Judea from 142 to 63 B.C.

Hebrew Bible - the collection of 24 books constituting the Old Testament according to the arrangement of the Jewish canon; it can also be referred to as the Tanak; originally written in Hebrew and Aramaic, it is the written canon of Judaism and the first half of the canon of Christianity.

Hellenism - (adj. hellenistic; Greek for "Greekish") The civilization that spread from Greece through much of the ancient world from 333 (Alexander the Great) to 63 (dominance of Rome) B.C.E.; as a result, many elements of Greek culture (names, language, philosophy, athletics, architecture, etc.) penetrated the ancient Middle East.

Hermeneutics - (from Greek for "to interpret, translate"; hence, "science of interpretation") It denotes the strategy of interpreting texts to enable them to be applied to circumstances contemporary with the interpreter; the term is often used with reference to the study of Jewish and Christian scriptures.

High priest - the chief religious official in Israel; he offered the most important sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. In Jesus' time they were political appointees who were Saducees and did not believe in angels, the resurrection of the dead or miracles.

Hillel - often called by the title "the Elder"; probably a Babylonian, Hillel was an important sage of the early Jewish period in Israel around the turn of the era; his teachings convey the Pharisaic ideal, through many epigrams on humility and peace (found in Sayings of the Fathers 1-2); and were fundamental in shaping the Pharisaic traditions and modes of interpretation; in rabbinic lore, Hillel is famous for a negative formulation of the "golden rule" (recited to a non-Jew): "What is hateful to you do not do to your fellow man. That is the whole Torah, the rest is commentary. Go and learn it"; his style of legal reasoning is continued by his disciples, known as Beit Hillel ("House/School of Hillel"), and is typically contrasted with that of Shammai (a contemporary) and his school.

Holy - (holiness) To set apart for God; to belong to God; to be pure.

Holy Spirit - (sometimes termed the "holy ghost") In Judaism, the presence of God as evidenced in the speech of the prophets and other divine manifestations; in Christianity, understood more generally as the active, guiding presence of God in the church and its members.

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I

Immanuel - (sometimes spelled Emmanuel) The figure in Isaiah's prophecy (chapter 7), which means "God is with us".

Intertestamental period - the period in which early Judaism developed, between about 400 B.C.E. (the traditional end date for the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible) and the first century A.D. (the composition of the Christian New Testament); the Jewish intertestamental literature includes the Apocrypha (mostly preserved in Greek) and the Pseudepigrapha (works from this period ascribed to ancient authors like Enoch, the ancestors, and Moses).

Israel - a secondary name for Jacob; the name of the ten northern tribes who formed the "kingdom of Israel" (alternatives are "Ephraim" and "Samaria"), destroyed in 721 B.C.; also used as the name of the Twelve Tribes and for the whole territory occupied by the Israelites, Canaan; historically, Jews have continued to regard themselves as the true continuation of the ancient Israelite national-religious community; in modern times, it also refers to the political state of Israel; Christians came to consider themselves to be the "true" Israel, thus also a continuation of the ancient traditions.

J

Jerusalem - the political and religious capital of Israel when it was united, then of the southern kingdom of Judah; David captured Jebus and made it his capital city, the City of David; Mt Zion is the ridge in Jerusalem on which the royal palace and temple were built; Jerusalem is where Jesus/Joshua was crucified and resurrected.

Jesus/Joshua - ("Jesus" is the Greek attempt to transliterate the Semitic name "Joshua") The Palestinian popular figure from the first century A.D. whose death and resurrection as God's Messiah/Christ became foundational for an early Jewish sub-group known as the Nazarenes, from which Christianity ultimately developed as a separate religion.

Jew - the term applied to those from the Tribe of Judah and the people of God after the Babylonian exile; it is derived from the Hebrew/Aramaic term for Judeans, Jehudi.

John the baptizer - a forerunner of Jesus; the son of Elizabeth and Zechariah who were from the Tribe of Levi. He was also a cousin of Jesus through Mary on Elizabeth's side. Jesus said that John came in the "power and spirit of Elijah." He was later beheaded by Herod.

Jonah - an eighth century B.C. Israelite prophet who was called to preach to the Assyrians in Nineveh; the book of Jonah is one of the twelve books of the minor prophets. Jesus compared himself to Jonah.

Jordan River - the river connected to the Sea of Galilee and empties into the Dead Sea. Many important biblical events occurred at the Jordan River; Joshua crossed the Jordan River into the promised land, Elijah ascended into heaven at the Jordan River and John baptized in the Jordan River.

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K

Kingdom of God - the realm where God rules; the state of the world in which God's will is fulfilled; expected to be brought into being at the end of time when the Messiah returns.

Kosher - clean (Hebrew kasher, kashrut for "proper, ritually correct") Kosher refers to ritually correct Jewish dietary practices; traditional Jewish dietary laws are based on biblical legislation; only land animals that chew the cud and have split hooves (sheep, beef; not pigs, camels) are permitted and must be slaughtered in a special way; further, meat products may not be eaten with milk products or immediately thereafter; of sea creatures, only those (fish) having fins and scales are permitted; fowl is considered a meat food and also has to be slaughtered in a special manner.

L

Law - (See Commandments and Torah) Halaka, Oral torah, Ten commandments, Torah.

M

Mary (Hebrew Miriam) - there were many Mary's in the NT: mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the less, Joses and Salome the mother of Zebedee's children, Mary the sister of Lazarus and Martha.

Messiah - (from Hebrew meshiach; "anointed one"; equivalent to Greek christos) Ancient priests and kings (and sometimes prophets) of Israel were anointed with oil; in early Judaism, the term came to mean a royal descendant of the dynasty of David and redeemer figure who would restore the united kingdom of Israel and Judah and usher in an age of peace, justice and plenty; the messianic age was believed by some Jews to be a time of perfection of human institutions, others believed it to be a time of radical new beginnings, a new heaven and earth, after divine judgment and destruction; the title came to be applied to Jesus/Joshua of Nazareth by his followers, who were soon called Christians in Greek and Latin usage.

Mikvah / Baptism - a ceremonial process where by a person was immersed in water to become ritually clean. This was done in preparation for Holy Days and weddings. It was also done as part of the process of declaring a person to be clean and thus allowed to participate in Temple worship. A Mikvah pool must be running water. There were many pools near the Temple.

Millennium - (from Latin for "thousand"; adj. millenarian) A thousand year period; millenarian has to do with the expected millennium, or thousand-year reign of Christ prophesied in the New Testament book of Revelation ("the Apocalypse"), a time in which the world would be brought to perfection; millenarian movements often grow up around predictions that this perfect time is about to begin. See also Apocalypse and Eschatology.

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N

Nazareth - a small town whose descendants were from the tribe of David. It was called Netzeria in Hebrew (or branch Isa.11:1, 60:21). Jesus was raised there.

Nazirite vow - a pledge to live under a special set of restrictions as an act of dedication to God, detailed in Numbers 6.

New Covenant - a theme of the prophet Jeremiah 31:31 based on the Mosaic covenant; God would renew the covenant with his people and write it on their hearts. In the Book of Hebrews it speaks of it being "better."

New Testament - (abbreviated NT) the collection of 27 Christian canonical writings that constitutes the Christian Bible and the writings of the Apostles.

O

Old Testament - (abbreviated OT) The name of the Hebrew Bible used in the Christian community; it presupposes that there is a New Testament; the term testament goes back to testamentum, the Latin equivalent for the Hebrew word covenant; for most Protestant Christians, the Old Testament is identical to the Hebrew Bible; for classical Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Christianity, the Old Testament also includes 7 books contained in the Septuagint.

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P

Parable or Hebrew Remez - a symbolic story representing a spiritual meaning.

Passover - (Hebrew Pesah) The major Jewish spring holiday (with agricultural aspects) also known as hag hamatzot, "feast of unleavened bread," commemorating the exodus or deliverance of the Hebrew people from Egypt (see Exodus 12-13); the feast lasts eight days, during which Jews refrain from eating all leavened foods and products; a special ritual meal (called the Seder) is prepared, and a traditional narrative (called the Haggadah), supplemented by hymns and songs, marks the event. Jesus celebrated the Last Supper during the Passover.

Patriarchs - a common designation for the early founding figures of ancient Semitic tradition (before Moses) such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the twelve tribal sons of Israel.

Pentecost / Shavuot - (Greek for "fiftieth [day]") a Jewish feast celebrated fifty days after Passover marking the first fruits of the agricultural year. Commemorated in the Book of Acts as when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and disciples of Jesus.

Pharisees - (from Hebrew perushim, "separatists"; adj. pharisaic). The name given to a group or movement in early Judaism, the origin and nature of which is unclear; many scholars identify them with the later sages and rabbis who taught the oral and written torah; according to Josephus and the New Testament, the Pharisees believed in the immortality of souls and resurrection of the dead, in a balance between predestination and free will, in angels as active divine agents, and in authoritative oral law; in the early Christian materials, Pharisees are often depicted as leading opponents of Jesus/Joshua and his followers, and are often linked with "scribes," but distinguished from the Sadducees.

Phylactery - (pl. phylacteries; Greek for "protector") See Tefillin.

Priest - (Hebrew Kohen) a functionary usually associated, in antiquity, with temples and their rites; a priest offered sacrifices and prayers to God on behalf of the people; in Israel, only Aaronic Levites could be legitimate priests.

Prophecy - a message from God that a prophet delivers to the people.

Prophesy - the act of delivering a prophetic message of God to the people.

Prophet - (from Greek for "to speak for, to speak forth") Designation given to accepted spokespersons of God (or their opposites, "false prophets"); a person who speaks in the name of God. Prophets were usually killed by the ones they prophesied to.

Prophetic Eschatology - the perspective on the goal and end of history held by Old Testament prophets.

Prophets - a designation for the second main section of the Hebrew Bible, called the Nevi'im; the N of TaNaK; referring to the OT divisions.

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Q

Qumran - (Khirbet Qumran) the site near the northwest corner of the Dead Sea in modern Israel (west bank) where the main bulk of the Jewish "Dead Sea Scrolls" were discovered beginning in 1947; the "Qumran community" that apparently produced the scrolls seems to have flourished from the third century B.C. to the first century A.D., and is usually identified with the Jewish Essenes; a counter-temple movement.

R

Rabbi - (adj. rabbinic; Hebrew for "my master or teacher") an authorized teacher of the classical Jewish tradition after the fall of the second temple in 70 A.D.; traditionally, rabbis serve as the legal and spiritual guides of their congregations and communities.

Rabbinic Judaism - the Judaism associated with the Pharisees that survived the Jewish revolts against Rome to become the dominant shape of Judaism today.

Redeem - (Hebrew go'el, "redeemer"; n. redemption) to free from captivity or domination by paying a ransom; to buy back.

Resurrection of the body - the idea that dead persons who have found favor with God will ultimately (in eschatological times) be raised from the dead with restored bodily form. A doctrine taught by Jesus and the Apostles.

Righteous - Saddiq - (Hebrew for "righteous one") to be one who does what is right; to be in a right relationship with God. It was also a title given to observant Jewish men. sometimes spelled tsaddik or zaddik). A righteous person, the ideal Israelite characterized by wisdom and piety; the spiritual leader of the modern Hasidim is the Saddiq, popularly known as rebbe.

Rosh Hashanah - (Hebrew for "beginning of the year") Jewish New Year celebration in the fall of the year, the month of Tishri. It is the beginning of the "civil new year." Passover, in the month of Abib / Nissan, was the beginning of the "agricultural new year."

Rosh Hodesh - (Hebrew for "beginning of a lunar month") the New Moon Festival. The biblical calendar is lunar not solar. A 24 hour day begins at sunset and ends at sunset.

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S

Sabbath - (Hebrew shabbat, "to cease, rest") the seventh day of the week, a day of rest and worship; it extends from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday; it was the sign of the Mosaic covenant, and became especially important as an identifier of Jewishness. There were added laws in the time of Jesus as to what was considered to be acceptable work during the Sabbath.

Sacrifice - (verb, "to offer a sacrifice"; noun, "an offering given to God to atone for the sins of the people or to establish fellowship with God"). Though there are many specific types of sacrifices, typically a sacrificial animal was slaughtered and burned on an altar, and its blood was splattered on the altar. They were to be a reminder of Israel's sin of idolatry and to be a renunciation. Jesus gave His life as a final sacrifice for sin.

Sadducees - a group of Jewish leaders, many of them priests, who ruled during the late Second Temple period; Sadducees supported priestly authority and rejected traditions not directly grounded in the Torah/Pentateuch, such as the concept of life after death; they ceased to exist when the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D.

Samaria - was built as the capital of Israel, the northern kingdom, in the ninth century B.C. and fell in 721 B.C., after which leading members were deported; exiles from elsewhere were settled here and mixed with the Israelites who remained; their descendants are known as Samaritans.

Samaritans - descendants of the Northern Tribes of Israel. Residents of the district of Samaria north of Judah and a sub-group in early Judaism; they are said to have recognized only the Torah / Pentateuch as Scripture and Mount Gerizim as the sacred center rather than Jerusalem; there was ongoing hostility between Samaritans and Judahites.

Sanctify - (n. sanctification) to make holy.

Sanhedrin - (from Greek for "assembly" of persons seated together) a legislative and judicial body from the period of early Judaism and into rabbinic times, traditionally composed of 71 members. See also Synagogue, Church.

Scribe - (sometimes called an amanuensis, the Greek term for "scribe") a person trained in literacy who copied letters and books, and sometimes trained in the legal tradition; Baruch was Jeremiah's scribe; Ezra was a Jewish-Persian scribe. Many of the Scribes and Pharisees in Jesus' day criticized Him.

Second temple - the Jerusalem temple rebuilt by Zerubbabel and completed in 515 B.C. that stood until it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.; the first temple was the one built by Solomon, which stood until 587 B.C.. It was later renovated by King Herod and still under reconstruction during the time of Jesus.

Septuagint - the Greek translation of the Old Testament prior to the 1st century A.D., consisting of the books of the Hebrew Bible and some deutero-canonical books, now know as the Apocrypha; traditionally dated to the reign of Ptolemy II (285-246) it is abbreviated LXX because it supposedly was translated by some seventy Jewish scholars.

Servant of Yahweh - the otherwise anonymous figure of the book of Isaiah 53 who delivered God's people through suffering, also called the Son of Joseph, variously identified by interpreters as Jeremiah, Zerubbabel, Israel, and Jesus of Nazareth.

Shalom - Hebrew word for "peace, wholeness, completeness."

Shavuot - (sometimes spelled shabuot; Hebrew for "weeks"; Pentecost) Observed fifty days after Passover (pesach), the day the first sheaf of grain was offered to the priest; it celebrates the harvest and the giving of the Torah; also known as Festival of First Fruits.

Shema - (Hebrew imperative, "Hear!") title of the Great Commandment, the fundamental, monotheistic statement of Judaism, found in Deut. 6:4 ("Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One"); this statement affirms the "composite unity" of God, and is recited daily in the liturgy (along with Deuterenomy 6:5-9, 11:13-21; Numbers 15:37-41 and other passages), and customarily before sleep at night; this proclamation also climaxes special liturgies (such as Yom Kippur), and is central to the confessional before death and the ritual of martyrdom; the Shema is inscribed on the mezuzah and the tefillin; in public services, it is recited in unison.

Sheol / Hell / Hades / Gehenna - the shadowy underworld to which the departed spirits of the dead go.

Sin - transgression or offense against God's laws or wishes; a continuing state of estrangement from God.

Son of Man - a phrase found in Daniel 7 that refers to a divine authority figure who has the appearance of a human being; it is also the phrase simply meaning "fellow" used by God throughout the book of Ezekiel to refer to the prophet. It also refers to Jesus in the NT.

Soul - (Hebrew nefesh) in the Old Testament this refers to the whole person, including body, psyche and spiritual identity.

Sukkot - (Hebrew for "booths, tabernacles") a seven-day Jewish fall festival beginning on Tishri 15 commemorating the sukkot where Israel lived in the wilderness after the exodus; also known as hag ha'asiph, the Festival of Ingathering (of the harvest).

Synagogue - (Greek for "gathering") a place for meeting together that arose after the Babylonian exile; the central institution of Jewish communal worship and study since antiquity, and by extension, a term used for the place of gathering; the structure of such buildings has changed, though in all cases the cabinet or ark containing the Torah scrolls faces the ancient temple site in the East to Jerusalem.

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Tabernacle / Sukkah - the portable sanctuary built by the Israelites in the Sinai, described in the book of Exodus.

Tabernacles Festival / Feast of Sukkot.

Talet - a type of prayer shawl used to cover the head of male Jews when in prayer 3 times a day. On the fringes of the garement were many threads representing God's commandments and 4 knots representing the name of God. It was to worn throughout the day as part of their clothing.

Tefillin - (Aramaic term usually translated as phylacteries) Box-like accessories that accompany prayer, worn by Jewish adult males at the weekday morning services; the boxes have leather thongs attached and contain scriptural excerpts; one box (with four sections) is placed on the head, the other (with one section) is placed (customarily) on the left arm, near the heart; the biblical passages emphasize the unity of God and the duty to love God and be mindful of him with "all one's heart and mind" (for example, Exodus 13:1-16; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:13-21).

Temple - a place of worship; in the ancient world, temples were the centers of outward religious life, places at which public religious observances were normally conducted by the priestly professionals; in Israel there were many temples in various locations, but the Temple in Jerusalem built by Solomon eventually became the central and only authorized place to worship Yahweh; first built by king Solomon around 950 B.C., it was destroyed by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in 587 B.C., and rebuilt about 70 years later; it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.; the site of the ancient Jewish Temple is now occupied, in part, by the golden domed Mosque of Omar; in recent times, "temple" has come to be used synonymously with synagogue in some Jewish usage.

Torah / Pentateuch - (Hebrew for "teaching, instruction, direction") in general, Torah refers to study of the whole gamut of Jewish tradition or to some aspect thereof; in its special sense, "the Torah" refers to the "five books of Moses", the first main division of the Hebrew Bible; it is the T of TaNaK. See Pentateuch and Tanak.

Typology - a form of (usually biblical) interpretation wherein a person, event, or institution is viewed as foreshadowing a later one; for example, for Christian interpreters, Abraham's intended sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22) is seen as a "type" of the sacrificial death of Christ.

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Unleavened Bread - (Hebrew matzah; pl. matzot) bread baked without leaven or yeast; the festival of unleavened bread, matzot, was celebrated in connection with Passover.

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Writings - the third main division of the Hebrew Bible, the ketuvim; it is the K of TaNaK.

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YHWH - the "Tetragrammaton" (Yahweh) The sacred name of God in the Hebrew Bible; also known as the tetragrammaton; since Hebrew was written without vowels in ancient times, the four consonants YHWH contain no clue to their original pronunciation; they are generally rendered Yahweh in contemporary scholarship; in traditional Judaism, the name is not pronounced, but Adonai ("Lord") or something similar is substituted; in most English versions of the Bible the tetragrammaton is represented by "LORD" (or less frequently, "Jehovah").