Old Testament Survey Glossary
A B C D E F G H I J L K M N O P Q R S T U W Y
AARON - the brother of Moses, Israel's first high priest.
ABEL - the second son of Adam and Eve; he was murdered by his brother Cain.
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.
ABSALOM - a son of David who murdered his half-brother Amnon, took the throne from David, and was killed by Joab.
ACHAN - a contemporary of Joshua who kept spoil from the conquest of Jericho, was held responsible for Israel's defeat at Ai, and was executed by the Israelites.
ACROSTIC - a writing in which the first or last letters of each line create a word or the sequence of the alphabet. Most poems in the Hebrew Bible which are acrostics (e.g., Ps. 111, 112, 119, Lam. 1, 2, 3, 4) are constructed so that the first letters of lines create the Hebrew alphabet in proper order.
ADAM - the first male God created; he and his mate Eve disobeyed God and were expelled from the garden of Eden. See Chapter 1 Yahwist Creation Story. The Hebrew term adam can variously designate humankind collectively (as in Genesis 1:24, 27), the first man (when used with the definite article the as in Genesis 2-3), or the personal name Adam (when used without the definite article as in Genesis 5:3).
A.D. - Abbreviation of anno domini, Latin for "year of our Lord".
ADONIJAH - a son of David who was executed by Solomon.
AHAB - (869-850) King of Israel, married to Jezebel, whose Baalistic practices were opposed by the northern prophet Elijah.
ANTHROPOMORPHIC - a term referring to describing non-human beings in human terms. In the Hebrew Bible God is often described in human terms as having human features and emotions. While God and humanity are similar since humans are made in God's image, we must be careful not to conceive of God as simply a greater human being. See also Theophany.
APOCRYPHA - a term referring to thirteen books or additions to Hebrew Bible books not included in the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Septuagint and most current translations of the Apocrypha include these books. The thirteen books are Epistle of Jeremiah, Tobit, Judith, 3 Ezra, Additions to Esther, Additions to Daniel (The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men, Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon), 1 Baruch, Ben Sira, Wisdom of Solomon, and 1 and 2 Maccabees. Sometimes 4 Ezra and Prayer of Manasseh are included but it is doubtful that these two were ever part of the Apocrypha. With the exception of Wisdom of Solomon and 2 Maccabees, all of the books were originally written in a Semitic language somewhere in Palestine. Wisdom of Solomon and 2 Maccabees were written in Greek probably in Alexandria. The word apocrypha means "hidden." The designation may refer to the fact that the books were not considered part of the canon by the Jews and were thus to be hidden and not used as scripture. See also Septuagint.
ARK OF THE COVENANT - a rectangular box made in the time of Moses which held a copy of the Ten Commandments and was enshrined in the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle and later Solomon's Temple. The Ark of the Covenant was also referred to as the Ark of God/the Lord, Ark of the Testimony (Josh. 4:16), Ark of the Covenant of the Lord (1 Sam. 4:3-5), or the Ark (Num. 10:35). The Hebrew word used for the Ark means "chest" (cf. 2 Kings 12:9-10) or "coffin" (cf. Gen. 50:26). A different Hebrew word is used for the ark constructed by Noah (Gen. 6:14).
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 during the holy days of See Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement).
BAAL - word which means "lord, master" (in Modern Hebrew, "husband") that was applied to the chief god of Canaan; various locations in Canaan had their patron Baal gods, for example, Baal of Peor and Baal of Hermon.
BABEL - Tower of Babel and Babylon. The capital city of Babylonia in southern Mesopotamia; the Babylonians led by Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem in 587 B.C.E. and took Judeans into Babylonian exile; called Babel in Genesis 11.
BALAAM - a thirteenth century B.C. Mesopotamian seer-prophet who was hired by Balak of Moab to curse the Israelites but ended up blessing them instead.
BATHSHEBA - the wife of Uriah who committed adultery with David, later became his wife and the mother of Solomon.
B.C. - means Before Christ.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U W Y
CAIN - the first son of Adam and Eve; he murdered his brother Abel.
CALEB - one of the twelve spies Joshua sent into Canaan; of the generation which left Egypt in the Exodus, only he and Joshua were allowed to enter Canaan.
CANAAN - the geographical territory between the Mediterranean coast and the Jordan River that was claimed and occupied by the Hebrews; also called the Promised Land.
CANON- it means rule or measure, It also refers to 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 in the Septuagint) are the canon of the Roman Catholic and Protestant Christian communities.
CHERUB - (Hebrew pl. cherubim) a category of angelic beings, in appearance something like a human but with wings; they were mythical celestial winged creatures prominent in Temple decoration; cherubim were considered God's ruling council, also called the host of heaven.
CIRCUMCISION - the practice of removing a male's foreskin. The practice dates back to at least the third millennium B.C.E. and is probably far older. Many western Semitic peoples in Syria and Palestine practiced circumcision. Israel was unique in that males were circumcised on the eighth day after birth (Gen. 17:12) rather than at a later time such as puberty. Circumcision was the sign of the covenant God made with Abraham and his descendants (Gen. 17:9-14).
CITIES OF REFUGE - Six cities designated in Mosaic law for those who accidentally killed someone.
CLEAN ANIMALS - animals which were approved for ritual sacrifices.
COVENANT - (Hebrew berit or brit) there were 6 Covenants in the Bible. 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 covenant (Exodus 19-24) between God and Israel, and David A succession of covenants to track the development of salvation history; 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).
DAVID - became Israel's second King after Saul. Related to Boaz who married Ruth. He was the son of Jesse, born in Bethlehem, who was 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.
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 or Yahweh - it is day that God judges and battles his enemies; derives from the holy war tradition and was cited by Amos, Joel, Obadiah, and Zephaniah.
DECALOGUE - another term used to refer to the Ten Commandments. The term comes from the Greek words deka logoi meaning "ten words." The phrase "ten words" occurs in Exod. 34:8 when Moses wrote the ten words upon the tablets.
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EDEN- the Garden of Eden was the place God located the first created humans, Adam and Eve (Genesis 2-3).
ELI- the high priest at Shiloh with whom Samuel ministered in his early years.
ELIJAH - an Israelite prophet during the reign of Ahab; he defeated the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel and was taken to heaven in a fire storm.
ELISHA - the prophet who succeeded Elijah in the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
ELOHIM - a Hebrew word meaning God; Israel's most general way of referring to its deity; the Elohist portions of the Pentateuch refer to God with this term.
ESAU - the first son of Isaac and Rebekah, the twin of Jacob; he was the ancestor of the Edomites.
ESTHER- also called Hadassa in Hebrew. A Jewish heroine of the diaspora who became queen of Persia under Xerxes I; she secured the safety of the Jews when they were threatened with genocide; her story is told in the book which carries her name.
EVE- the first female God created; mated to Adam, her name means "life."
FALL OF MAN - the disobedience and expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden (Genesis 3) associated with Original Sin.
FIVE SCROLLS - (sometimes called the Five Megillot) A sub-group of books within the Writings section of the Hebrew Bible consisting of the Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther; each book or scroll is associated with a festival occasion in the life of Israel.
GENEALOGY - a list or family tree of ancestors or descendants; the Priestly history and the Chronicler's history contain extensive genealogies.
GIBEON - a village north of Jerusalem which tricked Joshua and the Israelites into making a treaty with them.
GIDEON - a judge who delivered the Israelites from the tyrrany of the Midianites.
GILGAL - a village near Jericho where the Israelites first stopped after they entered the Promised Land.
GOLDEN CALF - a statue constructed by Aaron at Mount Sinai that the Israelites worshiped; Jeroboam, first king of Israel, built golden calf shrines at Bethel and Dan.
GOLIATH - the Philistine giant who was killed by David.
GOMER - the wife of Hosea the prophet who turned out to be unfaithful to their marriage.
GOSHEN - the territory in the eastern Nile delta of Egypt where Joseph settled the family of Jacob.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U W Y
HAGAR - the servant of Sarah and one of Abraham's wives; the mother of Ishmael, who was driven away from the family by Sarah.
HANNAH - the wife of Elkanah and mother of Samuel; she prayed for a son; after Samuel was born she dedicated him to God's service under Eli at Shiloh.
HEBREW SCRIPTURES - 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.
HEBRON - a major city in Judah, the place from which David first ruled; Abraham and many other ancestors were buried here.
HEZEKIAH - (715-687) A king of Judah; he restored the temple, reinstituted proper worship and received God's help against the Assyrians.
HIGH PRIEST - first mentioned being Aaron Moses' brother, who was the chief religious official in Israel; he offered the most important sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. He was the only one allowed in the Holy of Holies during the Day of Atonement. It is the tribe of Levi that all the priests ascended.
IDOL - a physical image or form intended to represent a deity or a reality that was considered to be divine. Idols were widespread throughout the Ancient Near East and Israel encountered them from its earliest days. Most people who used idols did not worship the idol as the deity but worshiped using the idol as the channel to the deity. Worship of the God of Israel was to be idol-free but Israel still fell prey to idolatry at times even in its own cult (e.g., Exod. 32:1-6, 1 Kings 12:28-33, 2 Kings 18:4) despite blistering condemnations of idolatry by the prophets (e.g., Isa. 44:9-20). After the return from exile in Babylon, idolatry became less of a threat.
IMAGE OF GOD - phrase deriving from Genesis 1:26-7; God created humankind in his own image.
IMMANUEL - (sometimes spelled Emmanuel) The figure in Isaiah's prophecy (chapter 7), which means "God is with us".
ISHMAEL - the son of Abraham and Hagar; he was not the son of the promise; he and his mother were expelled by Sarah and Abraham.
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.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U W Y
JACOB - the second son of Isaac and Rebekah; he was the twin brother of Esau; his name was changed to Israel after he wrestled with God at the Jabbok River; he became the recipient of the ancestral promises and his twelve sons because the tribes of Israel.
JEHOIACHIN - King of Judah for only three months in 598 B.C., he was taken captive to Babylon.
JEHOIAKIM - (609-598) One of the last kings of Judah.
JEHOVAH - an artificial name for God that combines the consonants of the divine name YHWH (JHVH) with the vowels from the Hebrew word 'Adonai. Those who developed this name failed to recognize that the vowels of 'Adonai had intentionally been placed with the consonants YHWH to remind people not to pronounce the divine name. The form Jehovah dates to the 16th century.
JERICHO - the first city in Canaan conquered by Joshua and the Israelites.
JEROBOAM - (922-901) an administrator in Solomon's court who rebelled and became the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel; he built non-Yahwistic shrines in the cities of Dan and Bethel; a king of Israel in the eighth century B.C. also held this name and is sometimes referred to as Jeroboam II.
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.
JETHRO - a Midianite priest who was the father of Zipporah and father-in-law of Moses, also called Reuel.
JEW - the term derived from those descendants from the Tribe of Judah applied to the people of God after the Babylonian exile; it is derived from the Hebrew/Aramaic term for Judeans, jehudi.
JEZEBEL - the Phoenician pagan wife of Ahab a King of Israel who promoted Baal worship in Israel and opposed Elijah the prophet.
JEZREEL - an Israelite royal city of the Omride dynasty, the place where Jehu executed Jezebel; it became a byword for Jehu's cruelty and Hosea named his son Jezreel to signal God's judgment; the Jezreel Valley.
JONATHAN - a son of King Saul, he had a close friendship with David; he was killed by the Philistines on Mount Gilboa along with his father Saul.
JORDAN - the river which flows from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea; it is the border between Canaan and Transjordan. Many key biblical events occurred there.
JOSHUA or JESHUA - Moses' predecessor. Another Jeshua was the high priest of Judea in the sixth century B.C. during the time of Zerubbabel, Haggai, and Zechariah.
JOSIAH - (640-609) King of Judah who reformed Judean religion and died in battle at Megiddo.
JUBILEE YEAR - every fiftieth year in Israel was to be a Jubilee Year (Lev. 15:8-55). In this year three things were to occur: Fields were to lie fallow. Since the preceding year would be a Sabbath Year this would mean that the crop harvested in the 48th year would have to last for three years. Slaves were to be freed. Strange this would be mentioned since slaves should have been freed in the preceding Sabbath Year. Property (i.e., land) was to be returned to its original owner. Disobedience to this command was one of the reasons God allowed the Children of Israel to be in captivity for 70 years.
JUDAISM - from the Hebrew name of the ancestor Judah, whose name also came to designate the tribe and tribal district in which Jerusalem was located; thus the inhabitants of Judah and members of the tribe of Judah come to be called "Judahites" or, in short form, "Jews"; the religious outlook, beliefs, and practices associated with these people comes to be called "Judaism," and has varying characteristics at different times and places, such as early Judaism and rabbinic Judaism.
JUDGES - there were 12 judges God raised up to guide Israel prior to a King of Israel.
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KASHRUT - Kosher or 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.
KETUVIM - (Hebrew for "Writings") The last of the three main divisions of the Hebrew Bible (the k of Tanak), including Psalms, Proverbs, Job, the Five Megilloth or Five Scrolls (Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther), Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles.
LABAN- Rebekah's brother and Jacob's uncle who lived in Aram; Jacob married Laban's daughters Rachel and Leah, and Jacob gained wealth there.
LEAH - eldest daughter of Laban who married Jacob. Mother of Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Isaachar and Zebulon.
LEVIRATE MARRIAGE - (from Latin levir for Hebrew yabam, "brother-in-law") A biblical system of marriage in which the levir marries his brother's widow (see Deuteronomy 25:5-10).
LEVITE - a member of the tribe of Levi; the Levites took care of the tabernacle and later the temple but generally could not serve as priests; only Levites specifically from the family of Aaron could become priests.
LORD - (Hebrew adonay) This term (note the use of small capital letters) substitutes for God's Hebrew personal name Yahweh in most modern translations of the Hebrew Bible.
LORD God - a name of God, Yahweh Elohim in Hebrew. It is used notably in Genesis 2-3, though often elsewhere the phrase "the LORD our God" is used.
LOT - the nephew of Abraham who accompanied him to Canaan.
MANNA - it means in Hebrew "what is it" the food God provided to the Hebrews while they sojourned in the wilderness for forty years.
MENORAH - a 7 branched lamp or candelabrum that was used in the tabernacle and temple.
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.
MEZUZAH - (pl. mezuzot; Hebrew for "doorpost") A parchment scroll with selected Torah verses (Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:13-21) placed in a container and affixed to the exterior doorposts (at the right side of the entrance) of observant Jewish homes (see Deuteronomy 6:1-4), and sometimes also to interior doorposts of rooms; the word shaddai, "Almighty," usually is inscribed on the container.
MIRIAM- the sister of Moses and Aaron; she led the Israelites in worship after the crossing of the Red Sea. Another name for today's name Mary.
MOAB - a territory or country located in Transjordan, to the east of the land of Israel; a frequent enemy of the Israelites.
MOSES - the leader of the Hebrews at the time of the Exodus from Egypt (thirteenth century B.C.); he led the people of Israel out of Egyptian bondage; God revealed the Torah through him on Mount Sinai; he is also described as the first Hebrew prophet.
MOUNT SINAI - the mountain in the Sinai peninsula where God communicated with Moses and revealed the covenant and ten commandments.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U W Y
NADAB and ABIHU - these two sons of Aaron offered "strange fire" to God, for which they both died; see Leviticus 10.
NAZARITE - a person dedicated by a strict vow to do special work for God; elements of the vow could include not cutting hair and refraining from alcohol; Samson lived under a Nazirite vow.
NAZARITE VOW - a pledge to live under a special set of restrictions as an act of dedication to God, detailed in Numbers 6.
NEBUCHADNEZZAR - (605-562) Monarch of the Neo-Babylonian empire who invaded Judah and destroyed Jerusalem in 587.
NEVI'IM - (sometimes spelled nebi'im; Hebrew for "prophets") The second main division of the Hebrew Bible, comprising the Former and the Latter Prophets; the n of Tanak. See Tanak.
NEW COVENANT - Jer. 31:31 a theme of the prophet Jeremiah based on the Mosaic covenant; God would renew the covenant with his people and write it on their hearts.
NOAH - built an Ark or large boat over 100 years to house animals and his family during a 40 day flood sent by God to judge the world. His sons were Ham, Shem and Japheth.
OFFERING - something given to God as an act of worship, often animals and grains; the offering of animals made right the relationship between God and the worshiper.
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 the Apocrypha.
PASSOVER - (Hebrew pesah) The major Jewish spring holiday (with agricultural aspects) also known as hag hamatzot, "festival of unleavened bread," commemorating the exodus or deliverance of the Hebrew people from Egypt (see Exodus 12-13); the festival lasts eight days, during which Jews eat roasted lamb and refrain from eating all leavened foods and products.
PATRIARCHS - the founding fathers of Israel, specifically Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel), and, to a lesser extent, the 12 sons of Jacob. The term itself is a combination of the Latin word pater ("father") with the Greek word archo ("to rule"). Thus the word refers to the ruling fathers or ruling ancestors. While these individuals never ruled a nation or kingdom, they did rule sizeable clans and the name is appropriate.
PENTATEUCH - (from Greek for "five scroll jars" it comes to mean "five books/scrolls"; adj. Pentateuchal) refers to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible traditionally attributed to Moses that together comprise the Torah (the t of Tanak): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy; known in Jewish tradition as Torat Mosheh, the teaching of Moses.
PENTECOST - or Shavuot (Greek for "fiftieth [day]") A Jewish feast celebrated fifty days after Passover marking the first fruits of the agricultural year.
PHAROAH - Egyptian term for "great house" that became the generic term for a king of Egypt.
PHINEAS - (1) The grandson of Aaron who violently defended the covenant; he was granted the "covenant of priesthood" by which the line of Aaron was given the privelege of the priestly office forever. See Numbers 25:10-13 and Chapter 4. (2) Another Phineas was the son of Eli, the high priest at Shiloh during the time of Samuel.
PRIEST - (Hebrew kohen) a male from the tribe of Levi given the responsibility of offering sacrifices and prayers to God on behalf of the people; in Israel, only Aaronic Levites could be legitimate priests. They were considered to take the place of the "firstborn."
PROPHETS - (from Greek for "to speak for, to speak forth") term used of someone used by God to warn their nation. There are 4 Major and 12 Minor Prophetic books in the Hebrew Scriptures.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U W Y
QUMRAN SCROLLS - the scrolls (also called the Dead Sea Scrolls) which were discovered in caves near the settlement of Qumran. The settlement (located on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea) dates back to the 8th century B.C. but the scrolls were probably produced from the 2nd century B.C. to the 1st century A.D. The scrolls are useful in textual analysis because they are earlier than the Masoretic Text. A fragment or copy of every Hebrew Bible book with the exception of Esther has been discovered as well as books that were written and used by the community itself.
RACHEL - the daughter of Laban, most loved wife of Jacob, and mother of Joseph and Benjamin.
RAHAB - the prostitute of Jericho who harbored and assisted the Israelite spies prior to the conquest of Canaan who is listed in Jesus' geneaology.
RAMSES II - (1290-1224) According to most historians, the king of Egypt at the time of the Hebrews' exodus (thirteenth century B.C.).
REBEKAH - (sometimes spelled Rebecca) The sister of Laban, Isaac's wife, mother of Esau and Jacob.
RED SEA also called the Reed Sea in Egypt. This is the body of water the Israelites crossed on dry ground as part of the exodus from Egypt.
REHOBOAM - (922-915 B.C.) The son of Solomon who became the first king of Judah after the division of the kingdoms.
ROSH HASHANNAH - (Hebrew for "beginning of the year") Jewish New Year celebration in the fall of the year, the month of Tishri.
ROSH HODESH - (Hebrew for "beginning of a lunar month") The New Moon Festival.
RUTH- the Moabite widow who followed her mother-in-law Naomi back to Bethlehem; she married Boaz and was an ancestor of David.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U W Y
SABBATH, SABBATH YEAR - (from 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; every seventh day was considered holy or every 7th year in Israel was to be a Sabbath Year (Lev. 25:1-7, Deut. 15:1-11. Three things were to occur in the Sabbath Year: Fields were to lie fallow. The preceding year's crop would last for two years. Slaves were to be freed. Debts were forgiven.
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.
SAMUEL - the last judge of Israel and the first prophet, he was also a priest; the son of Hannah and Elkanah, he succeeded Eli as priest, anointed first Saul and then David to be king.
SARAH - the wife of Abraham; first called Sarai, she was barren until God enabled conception and Isaac was born in her old age.
SAUL - (1020-1000) The first king of Israel, he was anointed by Samuel but was later deposed because of disobedience.
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.
SEMITIC - pertaining to a race, language
or culture linked to the line of Shem (see Genesis 10); Semitic languages
include Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, and Akkadian.
SEPTUAGINT - the general designation for the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible and the Apocrypha. The Septuagint includes the Hebrew Bible, additions to some of the Hebrew Bible books, and other books not included in the Hebrew Bible. According to tradition, 72 (some traditions mention 70 or 5) scholars translated the Torah into Greek and thus the translation came to be known as the Septuagint from the Latin word septuaginta meaning "seventy." Many scholars believe the Torah translation was completed in the 3rd century B.C. and the remainder of the translation was completed by the first part of the 1st century B.C.. The Septuagint remains an important witness to the early Hebrew text and is often used in textual analysis of the Hebrew text.
SERVANT OF YAHWEH - the "suffering servant" or Son of Joseph of the book of Isaiah chapter 53 who delivered God's people through suffering, variously identified by interpreters as Jeremiah, Zerubbabel, Israel, and Jesus of Nazareth.
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.
SHECHEM - City in central Israel that was the capital of the tribal confederacy during the time of Joshua and the Judges.
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 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.
SHILOH - the city in central Israel that contained a sanctuary during the time of Eli and Samuel where the ark of the covenant was housed.
SHOFAR - a ram's horn trumpet; in Jewish worship, a ram's horn sounded at Rosh Hashanah morning worship and at the conclusion of Yom Kippur, as well as other times in that period during the fall.
SIN - transgression or offense against God's laws or wishes; more generally in Christian belief, a continuing state of estrangement from God. See also Original sin.
SINAI - the desert region south of Canaan and east of Egypt.
SOLOMON - (961-922) The son of David and Bathsheba who became the king of united Israel after David; he was renowned for his wisdom; he built the temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem.
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).
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TABERNACLE - the portable tent sanctuary where God met Israel and where Israel worshiped. The tent sanctuary was also known as the "tent of meeting" and the "tent or tabernacle of testimony." The first tent of meeting was pitched outside the camp of the Israelites in the wilderness (Exod. 33:7-11, 34:34-35). Here people could come and consult God although only Moses entered the tent. The second tabernacle is the one people most often refer to. Instructions for its construction (Exod. 25:1-27:21) and the report of its construction (Exod. 35:20-40:33) indicate how large and luxurious the tent and its surrounding courtyard were. The Ark of the Covenant rested inside the Tabernacle as did the other items used in worship. David erected a third tent for the Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem (2 Sam. 6:17). It was later replaced by Solomon on Mount Moriah with the 1st Temple.
TANAK - (sometimes spelled Tanakh) A relatively modern name for the Hebrew Bible; the acronym is composed of the first letters of the three parts of the Hebrew Bible, the Torah (Law), the Nevi'im (Prophets), and the Ketuvim (Writings).
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 C.E.
TEN COMMANDMENTS - also called the decalogue, the "ten words" God delivered through Moses that became the heart of the Mosaic covenant; it is found in two versions, Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5: 1-21.
TENT OF MEETING - asimple form of the tabernacle used as the place Moses met God during the period of the wilderness sojourn.
TETRAGRAMMATON - (Greek for "four lettered [name]") See YHWH.
THEOPHANY - a visual and/or audible self-manifestation of a god. In the Hebrew Bible God manifested Himself sometimes in natural form such as through the burning bush (Exod. 3:2), pillar of cloud and of fire (Exod. 13:21), and storm (Exod. 19:16). God also revealed Himself in human form (Gen. 32:30, Exod. 33:11), through an angel or messenger (Gen. 16:7-12, Josh. 5:13-15), in a vision (Isa. 6:1, Ezek. 1:26-28), and through His name (Deut. 12:5).
TORAH - (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.
TOWER OF BABEL - the tower of Genesis 11 built by humans and interpreted by God as an act of defiance; they wanted to make a "name" for themselves..
TREE OF KNOWLEDGE - the tree of knowledge, or more fully, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, stood in the middle of the garden of Eden. Adam and Even were forbidden to eat from it at the risk of death.
TRIBES OF ISRAEL - 12 sons of Jacob, later called Israel.
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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UNIFIED KINGDOM - (also called united monarchy and united kingdom) The period of Israel's monarchy when all twelve tribes were united under one king; this period lasted through the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon.
UNLEAVENED BREAD - (Hebrew matzah; pl. matzot) Bread baked without leaven or yeast; the festival of unleavened bread, matzot, was celebrated in connection with Passover.
UR - an ancient Sumerian and Babylonian
city on the Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia; the home of Abraham before
he left for Canaan.
WILDERNESS WANDERING - (also called the wilderness sojourn) The forty year period after the exodus from Egypt when the Israelites lived in the Sinai peninusla before they entered the Promised Land.
WISDOM LITERATURE - in the Hebrew Bible, those books of a predominantly didactic (Proverbs) or philosophical (Job, Ecclesiastes) cast; in the Apocrypha, Ecclesiasticus and the Wisdom of Solomon belong to the didactic tradition of wisdom literature.
WRITINGS - the third main division of the Hebrew Bible, the ketuvim; it is the k of Tanak.
YHWH - the "Tetragrammaton." The divine name for the God of Israel given in Exod. 3:14. When Moses asked God to reveal His name so that he could tell the Israelites in Egypt who had sent him, God said that His name was "I AM WHO I AM." While that phrase did provide a name to call God, the name was still very mysterious since it could be translated in various ways (e.g., "I AM WHO I WILL BE," "I WILL BE WHO I AM," "I WILL CREATE WHAT I CREATE") and since one could never know God in all His fullness. Israel could not refer to God as "I AM" so they called him YHWH "He is." As time passed by the name was considered too holy to even pronounce so it has come down to us with no vowels. Most suspect the name with vowels was "Yahweh" but no one is certain. In the Masoretic text, the name was written with the vowels from 'adonai, the name for "lord" to ensure that when a reader came to the divine name he would say the word "lord" rather than pronounce the divine name. Mistakenly assuming that the vowels that appear with YHWH are correct, the name "Jehovah" was created. "Jehovah" is a hybrid name composed of the consonants of YHWH and the vowels of 'adonai. Some modern translations like the New Revised Standard Version indicate the translation of the divine name by writing LORD in all capital letters.