1.
Book of Obadiah
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The Book of Obadiah is an oracle concerning the divine judgment of Edom and the restoration of Israel. The text consists of a chapter, divided into 21 verses. In Judaism and Christianity, its authorship is attributed to a prophet who lived in the Assyrian Period and named himself in the first verse and his name means “servant of Yahweh”. In Christianity, the Book of Obadiah is classified as a prophet of the Old Testament. In Judaism, Obadiah is considered a “later prophet” and this Masoretic Text is chronologically placed in the Tanakh under the section Neviim in the last category called The Twelve Prophets. The book of Obadiah is based on a vision concerning the fall of Edom. Obadiah describes an encounter with God who addresses Edom’s arrogance and charges them for their violent actions against their brother nation, the western half of ancient Edom is the Negev desert all the way to Eilat, all part of modern Israel. The eastern half is possessed by the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan, in the days of Obadiah, the Edomites lived along the cliffs and mountaintops of the arid land south of the Dead Sea, all the way to the Gulf of Aqaba on the Red Sea. There was very little in the way of land, so the Edomites made their living supporting the main caravan route between Egypt and Babylon that passed through their whole land. Throughout most of the history of Judah, Edom was controlled absolutely from Jerusalem as a vassal state, among the regions great powers, Edom was held in low regard. Obadiah said that the elevation of their dwelling place in the mountains of Seir had gone to their head. Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down, in 597 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar II sacked Jerusalem, carted away the King of Judea and installed a puppet ruler. The Edomites helped the Babylonians loot the city, Obadiah, writing this prophecy around 590 BCE, suggests the Edomites should have remembered that blood was thicker than water. On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, Obadiah said in judgement God would wipe out the house of Esau forever, and not even a remnant would remain. The Edomites land would be possessed by Egypt and they would cease to exist as a people, but the Day of the Lord was at hand for all nations, and someday the children of Israel would return from their exile and possess the land of Edom. The date of composition is disputed and is difficult to due to the lack of personal information about Obadiah, his family. The date of composition must therefore be determined based on the prophecy itself, Edom is to be destroyed due to its lack of defense for its brother nation, Israel, when it was under attack. There are two major historical contexts within which the Edomites could have committed such an act, the earlier period would place Obadiah as a contemporary of the prophet Elijah as reflected in 1 Kings 18, 1-16
2.
Judaism
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Judaism encompasses the religion, philosophy, culture and way of life of the Jewish people. Judaism is an ancient monotheistic Abrahamic religion, with the Torah as its text, and supplemental oral tradition represented by later texts such as the Midrash. Judaism is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the relationship that God established with the Children of Israel. With between 14.5 and 17.4 million adherents worldwide, Judaism is the tenth-largest religion in the world, Judaism includes a wide corpus of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization. Modern branches of Judaism such as Humanistic Judaism may be nontheistic, today, the largest Jewish religious movements are Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism. Major sources of difference between groups are their approaches to Jewish law, the authority of the Rabbinic tradition. Orthodox Judaism maintains that the Torah and Jewish law are divine in origin, eternal and unalterable, Conservative and Reform Judaism are more liberal, with Conservative Judaism generally promoting a more traditional interpretation of Judaisms requirements than Reform Judaism. A typical Reform position is that Jewish law should be viewed as a set of guidelines rather than as a set of restrictions and obligations whose observance is required of all Jews. Historically, special courts enforced Jewish law, today, these still exist. Authority on theological and legal matters is not vested in any one person or organization, the history of Judaism spans more than 3,000 years. Judaism has its roots as a religion in the Middle East during the Bronze Age. Judaism is considered one of the oldest monotheistic religions, the Hebrews and Israelites were already referred to as Jews in later books of the Tanakh such as the Book of Esther, with the term Jews replacing the title Children of Israel. Judaisms texts, traditions and values strongly influenced later Abrahamic religions, including Christianity, Islam, many aspects of Judaism have also directly or indirectly influenced secular Western ethics and civil law. Jews are a group and include those born Jewish and converts to Judaism. In 2015, the world Jewish population was estimated at about 14.3 million, Judaism thus begins with ethical monotheism, the belief that God is one and is concerned with the actions of humankind. According to the Tanakh, God promised Abraham to make of his offspring a great nation, many generations later, he commanded the nation of Israel to love and worship only one God, that is, the Jewish nation is to reciprocate Gods concern for the world. He also commanded the Jewish people to one another, that is. These commandments are but two of a corpus of commandments and laws that constitute this covenant, which is the substance of Judaism
3.
Christianity
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Christianity is a Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, who serves as the focal point for the religion. It is the worlds largest religion, with over 2.4 billion followers, or 33% of the global population, Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the savior of humanity whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Old Testament. Christian theology is summarized in creeds such as the Apostles Creed and his incarnation, earthly ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection are often referred to as the gospel, meaning good news. The term gospel also refers to accounts of Jesuss life and teaching, four of which—Matthew, Mark, Luke. Christianity is an Abrahamic religion that began as a Second Temple Judaic sect in the mid-1st century, following the Age of Discovery, Christianity spread to the Americas, Australasia, sub-Saharan Africa, and the rest of the world through missionary work and colonization. Christianity has played a prominent role in the shaping of Western civilization, throughout its history, Christianity has weathered schisms and theological disputes that have resulted in many distinct churches and denominations. Worldwide, the three largest branches of Christianity are the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the denominations of Protestantism. There are many important differences of interpretation and opinion of the Bible, concise doctrinal statements or confessions of religious beliefs are known as creeds. They began as baptismal formulae and were expanded during the Christological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries to become statements of faith. Many evangelical Protestants reject creeds as definitive statements of faith, even agreeing with some or all of the substance of the creeds. The Baptists have been non-creedal in that they have not sought to establish binding authoritative confessions of faith on one another. Also rejecting creeds are groups with roots in the Restoration Movement, such as the Christian Church, the Evangelical Christian Church in Canada, the Apostles Creed is the most widely accepted statement of the articles of Christian faith. It is also used by Presbyterians, Methodists, and Congregationalists and this particular creed was developed between the 2nd and 9th centuries. Its central doctrines are those of the Trinity and God the Creator, each of the doctrines found in this creed can be traced to statements current in the apostolic period. The creed was used as a summary of Christian doctrine for baptismal candidates in the churches of Rome. Most Christians accept the use of creeds, and subscribe to at least one of the mentioned above. The central tenet of Christianity is the belief in Jesus as the Son of God, Christians believe that Jesus, as the Messiah, was anointed by God as savior of humanity, and hold that Jesus coming was the fulfillment of messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. The Christian concept of the Messiah differs significantly from the contemporary Jewish concept, Jesus, having become fully human, suffered the pains and temptations of a mortal man, but did not sin
4.
Calendar of saints
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The word feast in this context does not mean a large meal, typically a celebratory one, but instead an annual religious celebration, a day dedicated to a particular saint. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, a calendar of saints is called a Menologion, Menologion may also mean a set of icons on which saints are depicted in the order of the dates of their feasts, often made in two panels. As the number of recognized saints increased during Late Antiquity and the first half of the Middle Ages, eventually every day of the year had at least one saint who was commemorated on that date. To deal with this increase, some saints were moved to days in some traditions or completely removed. For example, St. Perpetua and Felicity died on 7 March, when the 1969 reform of the Catholic calendar moved him to 28 January, they were moved back to 7 March. Both days can thus be said to be their feast day, the Roman Catholic calendars of saints in their various forms, which list those saints celebrated in the entire church, contains only a selection of the saints for each of its days. A fuller list is found in the Roman Martyrology, and some of the saints there may be celebrated locally, Saint Martin of Tours is said to be the first or at least one of the first non-martyrs to be venerated as a saint. The title confessor was used for saints, who had confessed their faith in Christ by their lives rather than by their deaths. Martyrs are regarded as dying in the service of the Lord, a broader range of titles was used later, such as, Virgin, Pastor, Bishop, Monk, Priest, Founder, Abbot, Apostle, Doctor of the Church. Pope Pius XII added a common formula for Popes, the 1962 Roman Missal of Pope John XXIII omitted the common of Apostles, assigning a proper Mass to every feast day of an Apostle. The present Roman Missal has common formulas for the Dedication of Churches, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Martyrs, Pastors, Doctors of the Church, Virgins, some Christians continue the tradition of dating by saints days, their works may appear dated as The Feast of Saint Martin. Poets such as John Keats commemorate the importance of The Eve of Saint Agnes, as different Christian jurisdictions parted ways theologically, differing lists of saints began to develop. In the present ordinary form of the Roman Rite, feast days are ranked as solemnities and those who use even earlier forms of the Roman Rite rank feast days as Doubles, Semidoubles, and Simples. See Ranking of liturgical days in the Roman Rite, in the Eastern Orthodox Church the ranking of feasts varies from church to church. In the Russian Orthodox Church they are, Great Feasts, middle, each portion of such feasts may also be called feasts as follows, All-Night Vigils, Polyeleos, Great Doxology, Sextuple. There are also distinctions between Simple feasts and Double, in Double Feasts the order of hymns and readings for each feast are rigidly instructed in Typikon, the liturgy book. In the Church of England, there are Principal Feasts and Principal Holy Days, Festivals, Lesser Festivals, and Commemorations. com
5.
Saint symbolism
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Christianity has used symbolism from its very beginnings. Each saint has a story and a reason why he or she led an exemplary life, symbols have been used to tell these stories throughout the history of the Church. A number of Christian saints are traditionally represented by a symbol or iconic motif associated with their life, termed an attribute or emblem, the study of these forms part of iconography in art history. They were particularly used so that the illiterate could recognize a scene and they are often carried in the hand by the Saint. Attributes often vary with time or geography, especially between Eastern Christianity and the West. Orthodox images more often contained inscriptions with the names of saints, many of the most prominent saints, like Saint Peter and Saint John the Evangelist can also be recognised by a distinctive facial type – as can Christ. Some attributes are general, such as the palm frond carried by martyrs, the use of a symbol in a work of art depicting a Saint reminds people who is being shown and of their story. The following is a list of some of these attributes, a New Dictionary of Saints, East and West. Catholic Forum Patron Saints Index Saints Badges or Shields On the Canonizations of John Paul II
6.
Prophet
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Claims of prophethood have existed in many cultures through history, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, in Ancient Greece, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism and many others. Traditionally, prophets are regarded as having a role in society that promotes change due to their messages and actions which can convey the displeasure of God for the behavior of people. In the late 20th century the appellation of prophet has been used to refer to individuals particularly successful at analysis in the field of economics, alternatively, social commentators who suggest escalating crisis are often called prophets of doom. In Hebrew, the word נָבִיא, spokesperson, traditionally translates as prophet, the second subdivision of the Hebrew Bible, TaNaKh, is devoted to the Hebrew prophets. The meaning of navi is perhaps described in Deuteronomy 18,18, where God said. and I will put My words in his mouth, thus, the navi was thought to be the mouth of God. The root nun-bet-alef is based on the two-letter root nun-bet which denotes hollowness or openness, to receive transcendental wisdom, cf. Rashbams comment to Genesis 20,7. In addition to writing and speaking messages from God, Israelite or Jewish neviim often acted out prophetic parables in their life. For example, in order to contrast the people’s disobedience with the obedience of the Rechabites, God has Jeremiah invite the Rechabites to drink wine, the Rechabites refuse, wherefore God commends them. Other prophetic parables acted out by Jeremiah include burying a linen belt so that it gets ruined to illustrate how God intends to ruin Judahs pride. Likewise, Jeremiah buys a jar and smashes it in the Valley of Ben Hinnom in front of elders and priests to illustrate that God will smash the nation of Judah. God instructs Jeremiah to make a yoke from wood and leather straps and to put it on his own neck to demonstrate how God will put the nation under the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. The prophetic assignment is not always portrayed as positive in the Hebrew Bible, likewise, Isaiah was told by his hearers who rejected his message, Leave the way. Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel, the life of Moses being threatened by Pharaoh is another example. According to I Samuel 9,9, the old name for navi is roeh, רֹאֶה and that could document an ancient shift, from viewing prophets as seers for hire to viewing them as moral teachers. The seer-priests were usually attached to a shrine or temple, such as Shiloh. Canonical prophets were not organised this way, the similar term ben-navi means member of a seer-priest guild. Some examples of prophets in the Tanakh include Abraham, Moses, Miriam, Isaiah, Samuel, Ezekiel, Malachi, in Jewish tradition Daniel is not counted in the list of prophets. A Jewish tradition suggests that there were twice as many prophets as the number which left Egypt, the Talmud recognizes the existence of 48 male prophets who bequeathed permanent messages to mankind
7.
Hebrew language
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Hebrew is a language native to Israel, spoken by over 9 million people worldwide, of whom over 5 million are in Israel. Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Israelites and their ancestors, the earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE. Hebrew belongs to the West Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family, Hebrew is the only living Canaanite language left, and the only truly successful example of a revived dead language. Hebrew had ceased to be a spoken language somewhere between 200 and 400 CE, declining since the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Aramaic and to a lesser extent Greek were already in use as international languages, especially among elites and it survived into the medieval period as the language of Jewish liturgy, rabbinic literature, intra-Jewish commerce, and poetry. Then, in the 19th century, it was revived as a spoken and literary language, and, according to Ethnologue, had become, as of 1998, the language of 5 million people worldwide. After Israel, the United States has the second largest Hebrew-speaking population, with 220,000 fluent speakers, Modern Hebrew is one of the two official languages of the State of Israel, while premodern Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world today. Ancient Hebrew is also the tongue of the Samaritans, while modern Hebrew or Arabic is their vernacular. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Leshon Hakodesh, the modern word Hebrew is derived from the word Ivri, one of several names for the Israelite people. It is traditionally understood to be a based on the name of Abrahams ancestor, Eber. This name is based upon the root ʕ-b-r meaning to cross over. Interpretations of the term ʕibrim link it to this verb, cross over, in the Bible, the Hebrew language is called Yәhudit because Judah was the surviving kingdom at the time of the quotation. In Isaiah 19,18 it is called the Language of Canaan, Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group of languages. In turn, the Canaanite languages are a branch of the Northwest Semitic family of languages, according to Avraham ben-Yosef, Hebrew flourished as a spoken language in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah during about 1200 to 586 BCE. Scholars debate the degree to which Hebrew was a vernacular in ancient times following the Babylonian exile. In July 2008 Israeli archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel discovered a ceramic shard at Khirbet Qeiyafa which he claimed may be the earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating around 3000 years ago. The Gezer calendar also dates back to the 10th century BCE at the beginning of the Monarchic Period, classified as Archaic Biblical Hebrew, the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the Phoenician one that through the Greeks, the Gezer calendar is written without any vowels, and it does not use consonants to imply vowels even in the places where later Hebrew spelling requires it
8.
Bible
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The Bible is a collection of sacred texts or scriptures that Jews and Christians consider to be a product of divine inspiration and a record of the relationship between God and humans. Many different authors contributed to the Bible, what is regarded as canonical text differs depending on traditions and groups, a number of Bible canons have evolved, with overlapping and diverging contents. The Christian Old Testament overlaps with the Hebrew Bible and the Greek Septuagint, the New Testament is a collection of writings by early Christians, believed to be mostly Jewish disciples of Christ, written in first-century Koine Greek. These early Christian Greek writings consist of narratives, letters, among Christian denominations there is some disagreement about the contents of the canon, primarily the Apocrypha, a list of works that are regarded with varying levels of respect. Attitudes towards the Bible also differ amongst Christian groups and this concept arose during the Protestant Reformation, and many denominations today support the use of the Bible as the only source of Christian teaching. With estimated total sales of over 5 billion copies, the Bible is widely considered to be the book of all time. It has estimated sales of 100 million copies, and has been a major influence on literature and history, especially in the West. The English word Bible is from the Latin biblia, from the word in Medieval Latin and Late Latin. Medieval Latin biblia is short for biblia sacra holy book, while biblia in Greek and it gradually came to be regarded as a feminine singular noun in medieval Latin, and so the word was loaned as a singular into the vernaculars of Western Europe. Latin biblia sacra holy books translates Greek τὰ βιβλία τὰ ἅγια ta biblia ta hagia, the word βιβλίον itself had the literal meaning of paper or scroll and came to be used as the ordinary word for book. It is the diminutive of βύβλος byblos, Egyptian papyrus, possibly so called from the name of the Phoenician sea port Byblos from whence Egyptian papyrus was exported to Greece, the Greek ta biblia was an expression Hellenistic Jews used to describe their sacred books. Christian use of the term can be traced to c.223 CE, bruce notes that Chrysostom appears to be the first writer to use the Greek phrase ta biblia to describe both the Old and New Testaments together. The division of the Hebrew Bible into verses is based on the sof passuk cantillation mark used by the 10th-century Masoretes to record the verse divisions used in oral traditions. The oldest extant copy of a complete Bible is an early 4th-century parchment book preserved in the Vatican Library, the oldest copy of the Tanakh in Hebrew and Aramaic dates from the 10th century CE. The oldest copy of a complete Latin Bible is the Codex Amiatinus and he states that it is not a magical book, nor was it literally written by God and passed to mankind. In Christian Bibles, the New Testament Gospels were derived from traditions in the second half of the first century CE. Riches says that, Scholars have attempted to reconstruct something of the history of the oral traditions behind the Gospels, the period of transmission is short, less than 40 years passed between the death of Jesus and the writing of Marks Gospel. This means that there was time for oral traditions to assume fixed form
9.
God
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In monotheism, God is conceived of as the Supreme Being and principal object of faith. The concept of God as described by most theologians includes the attributes of omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, divine simplicity, many theologians also describe God as being omnibenevolent and all loving. Furthermore, some religions attribute only a purely grammatical gender to God, incorporeity and corporeity of God are related to conceptions of transcendence and immanence of God, with positions of synthesis such as the immanent transcendence of Chinese theology. God has been conceived as personal or impersonal. In theism, God is the creator and sustainer of the universe, while in deism, God is the creator, in pantheism, God is the universe itself. In atheism, God is not believed to exist, while God is deemed unknown or unknowable within the context of agnosticism, God has also been conceived as the source of all moral obligation, and the greatest conceivable existent. Many notable philosophers have developed arguments for and against the existence of God, there are many names for God, and different names are attached to different cultural ideas about Gods identity and attributes. In the ancient Egyptian era of Atenism, possibly the earliest recorded monotheistic religion, this deity was called Aten, premised on being the one true Supreme Being and creator of the universe. In the Hebrew Bible and Judaism, He Who Is, I Am that I Am, in the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, God, consubstantial in three persons, is called the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Judaism, it is common to refer to God by the titular names Elohim or Adonai, in Islam, the name Allah is used, while Muslims also have a multitude of titular names for God. In Hinduism, Brahman is often considered a concept of God. In Chinese religion, God is conceived as the progenitor of the universe, intrinsic to it, other religions have names for God, for instance, Baha in the Baháí Faith, Waheguru in Sikhism, and Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism. The earliest written form of the Germanic word God comes from the 6th-century Christian Codex Argenteus, the English word itself is derived from the Proto-Germanic * ǥuđan. The reconstructed Proto-Indo-European form * ǵhu-tó-m was likely based on the root * ǵhau-, in the English language, the capitalized form of God continues to represent a distinction between monotheistic God and gods in polytheism. The same holds for Hebrew El, but in Judaism, God is also given a proper name, in many translations of the Bible, when the word LORD is in all capitals, it signifies that the word represents the tetragrammaton. Allāh is the Arabic term with no plural used by Muslims and Arabic speaking Christians and Jews meaning The God, Ahura Mazda is the name for God used in Zoroastrianism. Mazda, or rather the Avestan stem-form Mazdā-, nominative Mazdå and it is generally taken to be the proper name of the spirit, and like its Sanskrit cognate medhā, means intelligence or wisdom. Both the Avestan and Sanskrit words reflect Proto-Indo-Iranian *mazdhā-, from Proto-Indo-European mn̩sdʰeh1, literally meaning placing ones mind, Waheguru is a term most often used in Sikhism to refer to God
10.
Septuagint
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The Septuagint is a Koine Greek translation of an Hebraic textual tradition that included certain texts which were later included in the canonical Hebrew Bible and other related texts which were not. As the primary Greek translation of the Old Testament, it is called the Greek Old Testament. This translation is quoted a number of times in the New Testament, particularly in Pauline epistles, the title and its Roman numeral LXX refer to the legendary seventy Jewish scholars who solely translated the Five Books of Moses into Koine Greek as early as the 3rd century BCE. Separated from the Hebrew canon of the Jewish Bible in Rabbinic Judaism, the traditional story is that Ptolemy II sponsored the translation of the Torah. The Septuagint should not be confused with the seven or more other Greek versions of the Old Testament, of these, the most important are those by Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion. However, it was not until the time of Augustine of Hippo that the Greek translation of the Jewish scriptures came to be called by the Latin term Septuaginta. This narrative is found in the pseudepigraphic Letter of Aristeas to his brother Philocrates, the story is also found in the Tractate Megillah of the Babylonian Talmud, King Ptolemy once gathered 72 Elders. He placed them in 72 chambers, each of them in a separate one and he entered each ones room and said, Write for me the Torah of Moshe, your teacher. God put it in the heart of one to translate identically as all the others did. Philo of Alexandria, who relied extensively on the Septuagint, says that the number of scholars was chosen by selecting six scholars from each of the tribes of Israel. After the Torah, other books were translated over the two to three centuries. It is not altogether clear which was translated when, or where, some may even have been translated twice, into different versions, the quality and style of the different translators also varied considerably from book to book, from the literal to paraphrasing to interpretative. The translation of the Septuagint itself began in the 3rd century BCE and was completed by 132 BCE, initially in Alexandria, the Septuagint is the basis for the Old Latin, Slavonic, Syriac, Old Armenian, Old Georgian and Coptic versions of the Christian Old Testament. Some sections of the Septuagint may show Semiticisms, or idioms and phrases based on Semitic languages like Hebrew, other books, such as Daniel and Proverbs, show Greek influence more strongly. The Septuagint may also elucidate pronunciation of pre-Masoretic Hebrew, many nouns are spelled out with Greek vowels in the LXX. However, it is unlikely that all ancient Hebrew sounds had precise Greek equivalents. As the work of translation progressed, the canon of the Greek Bible expanded, the Torah always maintained its pre-eminence as the basis of the canon, but the collection of prophetic writings, based on the Jewish Neviim, had various hagiographical works incorporated into it. In addition, some books were included in the Septuagint
11.
Bishops' Bible
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The Bishops Bible is an English translation of the Bible which was produced under the authority of the established Church of England in 1568. It was substantially revised in 1572, and the 1602 edition was prescribed as the text for the King James Bible that was completed in 1611. The Bishops Bible succeeded the Great Bible of 1539, the first authorized bible in English, the thorough Calvinism of the Geneva Bible offended the high-church party of the Church of England, to which almost all of its bishops subscribed. They associated Calvinism with Presbyterianism, which sought to replace government of the church by bishops with government by lay elders, in an attempt to replace the objectionable Geneva translation, they circulated one of their own, which became known as the Bishops Bible. The promoter of the exercise, and the figure in translating was Matthew Parker. It was at his instigation that the various sections translated by Parker and his fellow bishops were followed by their initials in the early editions. For instance, at the end of the book of Deuteronomy, we find the initials W. E. which, according to a letter Parker wrote to Sir William Cecil, stand for William Alley, Bishop of Exeter. Parker tells Cecil that this system was to make more diligent, hence, in most of the Old Testament the tetragrammaton YHWH is represented by the LORD, and the Hebrew Elohim is represented by God. But in the Psalms the practice is the way around. The books that Parker himself worked on are fairly sparingly edited from the text of the Great Bible, while those undertaken by Grindal of London emerged much closer to the Geneva text. The bishops deputed to revise the Apocrypha appear to have delivered very little, as the Apocrypha of the Great Bible was translated from the Latin Vulgate, the Bishops Bible cannot strictly claim to have been entirely translated from the original tongues. The Bishops Bible was first published in 1568, but was then re-issued in a revised form in 1572. From 1577 the new translation was dropped altogether, while further incremental changes were made to the text of the New Testament in subsequent editions. The Bible had the authority of the warrant, and was the second version appointed to be read aloud in church services. It failed to displace the Geneva Bible as a domestic Bible to be read at home, the intention was for it to be used in church as what would today be termed a pulpit Bible. The version was more grandiloquent than the Geneva Bible, the first edition was exceptionally large and included 124 full-page illustrations. The second and subsequent editions were rather smaller, around the size as the first printing of the King James Bible. The last edition of the complete Bible was issued in 1602, the Bishops Bible or its New Testament went through over 50 editions, whereas the Geneva Bible was reprinted more than 150 times
12.
Talmud
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The Talmud is a central text of Rabbinic Judaism. It is also referred to as Shas, a Hebrew abbreviation of shisha sedarim, the six orders. Talmud translates literally as instruction in Hebrew, and the term may refer to either the Gemara alone, or the Mishnah, the entire Talmud consists of 63 tractates, and in standard print is over 6,200 pages long. The Talmud is the basis for all codes of Jewish law, Rabbis expounded and debated the Torah and discussed the Tanakh without the benefit of written works, though some may have made private notes, for example of court decisions. It is during this period that rabbinic discourse began to be recorded in writing, the earliest recorded oral Torah may have been of the midrashic form, in which halakhic discussion is structured as exegetical commentary on the Pentateuch. But an alternative form, organized by subject matter instead of by biblical verse, became dominant about the year 200 CE, the Oral Torah was far from monolithic, rather, it varied among various schools. The most famous two were the School of Shammai and the School of Hillel, in general, all valid opinions, even the non-normative ones, were recorded in the Talmud. The oldest full manuscript of the Talmud, known as the Munich Talmud, each tractate is divided into chapters,517 in total, that are both numbered according to the Hebrew alphabet and given names, usually using the first one or two words in the first mishnah. A perek may continue over several pages, each perek will contain several mishnayot with their accompanying exchanges that form the building-blocks of the Gemara, the name for a passage of gemara is a sugya. A sugya, including baraita or tosefta, will comprise a detailed proof-based elaboration of a Mishnaic statement. A sugya may, and often does, range widely off the subject of the mishnah, in a given sugya, scriptural, Tannaic and Amoraic statements are cited to support the various opinions. In so doing, the Gemara will highlight semantic disagreements between Tannaim and Amoraim, and compare the Mishnaic views with passages from the Baraita. Rarely are debates formally closed, in instances, the final word determines the practical law. There is a literature on the procedural principles to be used in settling the practical law when disagreements exist, see under #Logic. The Mishnah is a compilation of legal opinions and debates, statements in the Mishnah are typically terse, recording brief opinions of the rabbis debating a subject, or recording only an unattributed ruling, apparently representing a consensus view. The rabbis recorded in the Mishnah are known as the Tannaim, the Mishnahs topical organization thus became the framework of the Talmud as a whole. But not every tractate in the Mishnah has a corresponding Gemara, also, the order of the tractates in the Talmud differs in some cases from that in the Mishnah. In addition to the Mishnah, other tannaitic teachings were current at about the time or shortly thereafter
13.
Edom
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Edom is the name of a country and a people located initially in Transjordan, between Ammon to the north, the Dead Sea and the Arabah to the west, and the Arabian desert to the south and east. Edom is a used in written sources relating to the late Bronze Age and to the entire Iron Age in the Levant, such as the Hebrew Bible. In classical antiquity the cognate name Idumea was used to refer to an area in the same general region. Edom is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, but also in a list of the Egyptian pharaoh Seti I from c.1215 BC, the Edomites, who have been identified archaeologically, were a Semitic people who probably arrived in the region around the 14th century BC. Archaeological investigation showed that the country flourished between the 13th and 8th centuries BC, and was destroyed after a period of decline in the 6th century BC by the Babylonians. Once pushed out of their territory, the Edomites settled during the Persian period in an area comprising the hills of Judea down to the area north of Beer Sheva. Here the people appear under the form of their old name, as Idumeans or Idumaeans, and their new territory is called Idumea or Idumaea. The Hebrew word Edom means red, and is derived from the name of its founder, whose name was Esau. Later, as an adult, he sold his birthright to his brother Jacob for red pottage. The Tanakh describes the Edomites as descendants of Esau, the Edomites may have been connected with the Shasu and Shutu, nomadic raiders mentioned in Egyptian sources. The earliest Iron Age settlements—possibly copper mining camps—date to the 9th century BC, settlement intensified by the late 8th century BC and the main sites so far excavated have been dated between the 8th and 6th centuries BC. This occurred after the Hebrew prophet Isaiah had earlier quoted Yahweh as pronouncing that Edom was marked for destruction, another scriptural reference from Ezekiel chapter 35 foretells that Edom will be completely destroyed. According to the Egyptian inscriptions, the Aduma at times extended their possessions to the borders of Egypt, after the conquest of Judah by the Babylonians, Edomites settled in the region of Hebron. They prospered in this new country, called by the Greeks and Romans Idumaea or Idumea, the Edomites original country, according to the Hebrew Bible, stretched from the Sinai peninsula as far as Kadesh Barnea. Southward it reached as far as Eilat, which was the seaport of Edom, on the north of Edom was the territory of Moab. The boundary between Moab and Edom was the Wadi Zered, the ancient capital of Edom was Bozrah. According to Genesis, Esaus descendants settled in land after displacing the Horites. It was also called the land of Seir, Mount Seir appears to have been identified with them
14.
Job (biblical figure)
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Job is the central figure of the Book of Job in the Bible. Job is a prophet in the Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, in rabbinical literature, Iyov is called one of the prophets of the Gentiles. Job is presented as a good and prosperous family man who is beset with horrendous disasters that take all that he holds dear, including his offspring, his health. He struggles to understand his situation and begins a search for the answers to his difficulties, the Hebrew Book of Job is part of Ketuvim of the Jewish Bible. Not much is known about Job based on the Masoretic text of the Jewish Bible, the characters in the Book of Job consist of Job, his wife, his three friends, a man named Elihu, God, and angels. It begins with an introduction to Jobs character—he is described as a man who lives righteously in the Land of Uz. The Lords praise of Job prompts an angel with the title of satan to suggest that Job served God simply because God protected him, God removes Jobs protection, ordering the angel to take his wealth, his children, and his physical health. Despite his difficult circumstances, he does not curse God, and although he anguishes over his plight, he stops short of accusing God of injustice. Jobs miserable earthly condition is simply Gods Will, in the following, Job debates three friends concerning Jobs condition. They argue whether it was justified, and they debate solutions to his problems, Job ultimately condemns all their counsel, beliefs, and critiques of him as false. God then appears to Job and his friends out of a whirlwind, Job, by staying silent before God, stresses the point that he understands that his affliction is Gods Will even though he despairs at not knowing why. Job appears faithful without direct knowledge of God and without demands for attention from God. And the text gives an allusion to Job 28,28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding. God rebukes the three friends and gives them instruction for remission of sin, followed by Job being restored to a better condition than his former wealthy state. Job 42, 10–17 Job is blessed to have seven sons and his daughters were said to be the most beautiful women in the land. The Greek Old Testament of the Christian Bible has a revised and updated final verse that claims Jobs genealogy, asserting him to be a grandson of Esau and a ruler of Edom. And he himself was the son of his father Zare, one of the sons of Esau, and his friends who came to him were Eliphaz, of the children of Esau, king of the Thaemanites, Baldad sovereign the Sauchaeans, Sophar king of the Minaeans. In addition to the Book of Job, Job is mentioned in religious texts
15.
Ahab
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Ahab was the seventh king of Israel since Jeroboam I, the son and successor of Omri, and the husband of Jezebel of Sidon, according to the Hebrew Scriptures. Ahab is considered a king in the Hebrew Bible. He is criticised for going after his wife Jezebel, killing Naboth, the existence of Ahab is historically supported outside of the Bible. Shalmaneser III documented 853 BC that he defeated an alliance of a dozen kings in the Battle of Qarqar, Ahab became king of Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa, king of Judah, and reigned for twenty-two years, according to 1 Kings. William F. Albright dated his reign to 869–850 BC, while E. R. Thiele offered the dates 874–853 BC, most recently, Michael D. Coogan has dated Ahabs reign to 871–852 BC. Omri seems to have been a military leader, he is reported in the text of the Moabite Mesha Stele to have oppressed Moab for many days. During Ahabs reign, Moab, which had been conquered by his father, Ahab was allied by marriage with Jehoshaphat, who was king of Judah. Only with Aram Damascus is he believed to have had strained relations, Ahab married Jezebel, the daughter of the King of Tyre. 1 Kings 16–22 tells the story of Ahab and Jezebel, and indicates that Jezebel was a dominant influence on Ahab, Ahab was succeeded by Ahaziah and Jehoram who reigned over Israel until Jehus revolt of 842 BC. Ahabs contribution was estimated at 2,000 chariots and 10,000 men, in reality, however, the number of chariots in Ahabs forces was probably closer to a number in the hundreds. If, however, the numbers are referring to allies it could possibly include forces from Tyre, Judah, Edom, a treaty was made whereby Ben-hadad restored the cities which his father had taken from Ahabs father, and trading facilities between Damascus and Samaria were granted. Jezreel has been identified as Ahabs fortified chariot and cavalry base, in the Biblical text, Ahab has five important encounters with prophets. The first encounter is with Elijah, whom Ahab refers to as the troubler of Israel and this encounter ends with Elijah victorious over the official Baal prophets of Israel in a contest held for the sake of the Israelites and their king, Ahab. The contest ends when Elijahs God consumes the offering which the Baal worshipers could not induce their god to touch, the second encounter is between Ahab and an unnamed prophet in 1 Kings 20,22. The third is again between Ahab and a prophet who condemns Ahab for his actions in a battle that had just taken place. The fourth is when Elijah confronts Ahab over Ahabs and Jezebels execution of Naboth, upon the prophets remonstration, Ahab displayed sincere remorse. Three years later, war broke out east of the Jordan River, during this battle Ahab disguised himself, but was mortally wounded by an unaimed arrow. The Hebrew Bible says that dogs licked his blood, according to the prophecy of Elijah, but the Septuagint adds that pigs also licked his blood, symbolically making him unclean to the Israelites, who abstained from pork
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Jezebel
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Jezebel was a queen, identified in the Book of Kings as the daughter of Ithobaal I of Sidon and the wife of Ahab, King of Israel. According to the Hebrew Bible, Jezebel incited her husband King Ahab to abandon the worship of Yahweh and encourage worship of the deities Baal and Asherah instead. Jezebel persecuted the prophets of Yahweh, and fabricated evidence of blasphemy against an innocent landowner who refused to sell his property to King Ahab, Jezebel became associated with false prophets. In some interpretations, her dressing in finery and putting on makeup led to the association of the use of cosmetics with painted women or prostitutes, Jezebel is the Anglicized transliteration of the Hebrew אִיזָבֶל. The Oxford Guide to People & Places of the Bible states that the name is best understood as meaning Where is the Prince, a ritual cry from worship ceremonies in honor of Baal during periods of the year when the god was considered to be in the underworld. Jezebels story is told in the Books of Kings and she was a Phoenician princess, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of Tyre. According to genealogies given in Josephus and other sources, she was the great-aunt of Dido. Jezebel married King Ahab of the Northern Kingdom and this marriage was the culmination of the friendly relations existing between Israel and Phoenicia during Omris reign, and possibly cemented important political designs of Ahab. Jezebel, like the foreign wives of Solomon, required facilities for carrying on her form of worship, so Ahab made an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, Jezebel went so far as to require that her religion should be the national religion of Israel. She organized and maintained guilds of prophets,450 of Baal and she also destroyed such prophets of Israel as she could reach. Obadiah, the overseer of Ahabs house, rescued one hundred of these, hid them. Bromiley points out that it was Phoenician practice to install a woman as a priestess of Astarte. As such she would have an active role in temple. The prophet Elijah confronted Ahab and charged him with the sin of following Baal, Ahab had two altars set up at Carmel, one dedicated to Baal, one to Yahweh, and a bull sacrificed upon each altar. The supporters of Baal called upon their god to send fire to consume the sacrifice, when Elijah called on Yahweh, fire came down from heaven immediately and consumed the offering. Elijah ordered the people to seize the prophets of Baal and Asherah, the superiority of Elijah and of his God in the test at Carmel, and the slaughter of the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah, fired the vengeance of Jezebel. Elijah fled for his life to the wilderness, where he mourned the devotion of Israel to Baal, Naboth owned a vineyard near the royal palace in the city of Jezreel. When Jezebel saw that her husband was depressed by this, she arranged for the elders to falsely accuse Naboth of blasphemy, three years later, Ahab died in battle
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Esau
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Esau, in the Hebrew Bible, is the older son of Isaac. He is mentioned in the Book of Genesis, and by the prophets, Obadiah, the New Testament of the Christian Bible alludes to him in the Epistle to the Romans and in the Epistle to the Hebrews. According to the Hebrew Bible, Esau is the progenitor of the Edomites and the twin brother of Jacob. Esau and Jacob were the sons of Isaac and Rebekah, of the twins, Esau was the first to be born with Jacob following, holding his heel. Isaac was sixty years old and Rebekah is believed to have been younger when the boys were born, Esaus grandfather Abraham was still alive, being 160 years old at that time. Esau, a man of the field became a hunter who had rough qualities that distinguished him from his twin brother, among these distinguishing qualties were his red hair and noticeable hairiness. Jacob was a shy or simple man, depending on the translation of the Hebrew word Tam, throughout Genesis, Esau is frequently shown as being supplanted by his younger twin Jacob. Genesis 25,25 narrates Esaus birth, Now the first came forth, red all over like a hairy garment, the meaning of the word Esau is disputed, with some connecting it to the word ‘āsāh. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan specifically connects the name Esau to this etymology, stating because he was fully completed, with hair of the head, beard, teeth. It could also be related to the Arabic root ġšw, meaning to cover, others have noted the similarity to Arabic ’a‘tay meaning stupid or šāv meaning worthless. In Hebrew, the word hairy is a wordplay on Seir, the name Edom is also attributed to Esau, meaning red, the same color describing Esaus skintone. Genesis parallels his redness to the red lentil pottage that he sold his birthright for, Esau became the progenitor of the Edomites in Seir. In Genesis, Esau returned to his twin brother Jacob, famished from the fields and he begs Jacob to give him some red pottage This, of course, refers to his red hair. Jacob offers Esau a bowl of stew in exchange for Esaus birthright. This is believed to be the origin of the English phrase for a mess of pottage, in Genesis 27, 1–40, Jacob uses deception, motivated by his mother Rebecca, to lay claim to his blind father Isaacs blessing that was inherently due to the firstborn, Esau. In Genesis 27, 5–7, Rebecca is listening while Isaac speaks to his son Esau, Jacob follows through with the plan to steal his brothers birthright by bringing the meal his father Isaac requested and pretending to be Esau. Jacob pulled off his disguise by covering himself in hairy lamb skin so that when his father went to touch him. Jacob successfully received his father Isaacs blessing, as a result, Jacob becomes the spiritual leader of the family after Isaacs death and the heir of the promises of Abraham
18.
Books of Kings
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In the Hebrew Bible, Kings is a single book called the Book of Kings. The fourth book of Neviim, the division of the Tanakh. In the Septuagint, Samuel and Kings was divided into four books and Kings became III, the two Books of Kings presents a history of ancient Israel and Judah from the death of David to the release of Jehoiachin from imprisonment in Babylon, a period of some 400 years. Solomon comes to the throne after Davids death, at the beginning of his reign he assumes Gods promises to David and brings splendour to Israel and peace and prosperity to his people. The centrepiece of Solomons reign is the building of the First Temple, at the end, however, he follows other gods and oppresses Israel. The kings who follow Rehoboam in Jerusalem continue the line of David, in the north, however, dynasties follow each other in rapid succession. At length God brings the Assyrians to destroy the northern kingdom, Yahweh saves Jerusalem and the kingdom from an invasion by Assyria. But Manasseh, the king, reverses the reforms. Manassehs righteous grandson Josiah reinstitutes the reforms of Hezekiah, but it is too late, God, speaking through the prophetess Huldah, affirms that Jerusalem is to be destroyed. God brings the Babylonians against Jerusalem, Yahweh deserts his people, Jerusalem is razed and the Temple destroyed, in the original Hebrew Bible First and Second Kings are a single book, as are First and Second Samuel. When this was translated into Greek in the last few centuries BCE, then, what it is now commonly known as 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel are called by the Vulgate, in imitation of the Septuagint,1 Kings and 2 Kings respectively. What it is now known as 1 Kings and 2 Kings would be 3 Kings and 4 Kings in old Bibles before the year 1516 such as the Vulgate. The division we know today, used by Protestant Bibles and adopted by Catholics, some Bibles still preserve the old denomination, for example, Douay Rheims bible. According to Jewish tradition the author of Kings was Jeremiah, who would have been alive during the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. The Deuteronomic perspective is particularly evident in prayers and speeches spoken by key figures at major transition points, a third source, or set of sources, were cycles of stories about various prophets, plus a few smaller miscellaneous traditions. The conclusion of the book was based on personal knowledge. A few sections were editorial additions not based on sources, judgement is not punishment, but simply the natural consequence of Israels failure to worship Yahweh alone. Another and related theme is that of prophecy, the main point of the prophetic stories is that Gods prophecies are always fulfilled, so that any not yet fulfilled will be so in the future
19.
Jehoram of Israel
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Jehoram was a king of the northern Kingdom of Israel. He was the son of Ahab and Jezebel, and brother to King Ahaziah, according to 2 Kings,8,16, in the fifth year of Joram of Israel, Jehoram became king of Judah, when his father Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, indicating a co-regency. The author of Kings speaks of both Jehoram of Israel and Jehoram of Judah in the passage, which can be confusing. Joram began to reign in Israel in the 18th year of Jehoshaphat of Judah, william F. Albright has dated his reign to 849–842 BC, whereas E. R. Thiele proposed 852–841 BC. Unike his predecessors, Joram did not worship Baal, but followed in the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who led the Israelites to sin, with Jehoshaphat of Judah, Jehoram attacked Mesha, King of the Moabites. In the war between Aram-Damascus and Israel, Elisha befriended Joram, revealing to him the plans of the enemy, subsequently, when Ben-hadad besieged Samaria, reducing the city almost to starvation, Joram sought to kill the prophet. When Hazael, king of the Arameans, revolted in Damascus, as Elisha had predicted, Jehoram made an alliance with his nephew Ahaziah, the two kings set forth to take Ramoth-gilead from Aram. The battle failed, Joram was wounded in the fighting, and it is likely that his defeat at Ramoth-Gilead was a disaster. As a result, while Joram was recuperating at Jezreel, his general, Jehu, incited a revolt. Jehu executed Joram by shooting him in the back with an arrow, with the death of Joram and his other family members, the Ahab Dynasty came to an end. Jehu claimed the throne of Israel as his own, the author of the Tel Dan Stele claimed to have slain both Ahaziah and Jehoram. Hazael is the most likely to have written it
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Abraham
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Abraham, originally Abram, is the first of the three patriarchs of Judaism. His story features in the texts of all the Abrahamic religions and Abraham plays a prominent role as an example of faith in Judaism, Christianity. The biblical narrative revolves around the themes of posterity and land, Abraham is called by God to leave the house of his father Terah and settle in the land originally given to Canaan, but which God now promises to Abraham and his progeny. Various candidates are put forward who might inherit the land after Abraham, Abraham later marries Keturah and has six more sons, but on his death, when he is buried beside Sarah, it is Isaac who receives all Abrahams goods, while the other sons receive only gifts. Terah, the ninth in descent from Noah, was the father of three sons, Abram, Nahor, and Haran, Haran was the father of Lot, and died in his native city, Ur of the Chaldees. Abram married Sarah, who was barren, Terah, with Abram, Sarai, and Lot, then departed for Canaan, but settled in a place named Haran, where Terah died at the age of 205. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran with his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and the substance and souls that they had acquired, and traveled to Shechem in Canaan. There was a famine in the land of Canaan, so that Abram and Lot and their households. On the way Abram told his wife Sarai to say that she was his sister, however, God afflicted Pharaoh and his household with great plagues, for which he tried to find the reason. Upon discovering that Sarai was a woman, Pharaoh demanded that they and their household leave immediately. When they came back to the Bethel and Hai area, Abrams and this became a problem for the herdsmen who were assigned to each familys cattle. But Lot chose to go east to the plain of Jordan where the land was well watered everywhere as far as Zoar, Abram went south to Hebron and settled in the plain of Mamre, where he built another altar to worship God. During the rebellion of the Jordan River cities against Elam, Abrams nephew, the Elamite army came to collect the spoils of war, after having just defeated the king of Sodoms armies. Lot and his family, at the time, were settled on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Sodom which made them a visible target, one person who escaped capture came and told Abram what happened. Once Abram received this news, he immediately assembled 318 trained servants, Abrams force headed north in pursuit of the Elamite army, who were already worn down from the Battle of Siddim. When they caught up with them at Dan, Abram devised a plan by splitting his group into more than one unit. Not only were able to free the captives, Abrams unit chased and slaughtered the Elamite King Chedorlaomer at Hobah. They freed Lot, as well as his household and possessions, upon Abrams return, Sodoms king came out to meet with him in the Valley of Shaveh, the kings dale
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Shechem
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Traditionally associated with Nablus, it is now identified with the nearby site of Tell Balata in Balata al-Balad in the West Bank. The site of Shechem in patristic sources is almost invariably identified with, or located close to, the old city of Shechem dates back to about an estimated four thousand years. Shechem is mentioned in the third-millennium Ebla tablets found at Tell Mardikh in the context of a city of which Rasap is the patron deity, Shechem was a commercial center due to its position in the middle of vital trade routes through the region. It traded in local grapes, olives, wheat, livestock, Shechem had been a Canaanite settlement, first mentioned in Egyptian texts on the Sebek-khu Stele, an Egyptian stele of a noble at the court of Senusret III. In the Amarna Letters of about 1350 BC, Šakmu was the center of a carved out by Labaya. It may be identical to the Sakama mentioned in an account dated to the 19th Egyptian dynasty, Shechem first appears in the Hebrew Bible in Genesis 12, 6-8, which records how Abraham reached the great tree of Moreh at Shechem and offered sacrifice nearby. Genesis, Deuteronomy, Joshua and Judges hallow Shechem over all other cities of the land of Israel, at Shechem, Abram built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him. And had given land to his descendants. The Bible states that on occasion, God confirmed the covenant he had first made with Abraham in Harran. In Jewish tradition, the old name was understood in terms of the Hebrew word shékém — shoulder, saddle, the oak is associated with the Oak of Moreh where Abram had set up camp during his travels in this area. Shechem and its lands were given as a Levitical city to the Kohathites. The city, including its Bronze Age temple, fell to the Israelites sometime before 1000 BC, jerubbaal, whose home was at Ophrah, visited Shechem, and his concubine who lived there was mother of his son Abimelech. She came from one of the leading Shechemite families who were influential with the Lords of Shechem, after Gideons death, Abimelech was made king. Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon, made a speech on Mount Gerizim in which he warned the people of Shechem about Abimelechs future tyranny. When the city rose in rebellion three years later, Abimelech took it, utterly destroyed it, and burnt the temple of Baal-berith where the people had fled for safety, from the excavations, it was learned that the city was destroyed in 1100 BC. The city was rebuilt in the 10th century BC and was probably the capital of Ephraim, when the kings of Israel moved first to Tirzah, and later on to Samaria, Shechem lost its importance, and we do not hear of it until after the fall of Jerusalem. The events connected with the restoration were to bring it again into prominence, in Acts 7,16 the place is called Sychem. It is not known whether Sychar in the Gospel of John 4,5 refers to Shechem or to a nearby village, Shechem is also the location of Jacobs Well, where John 4, 5–6 describes Jesus meeting with the woman of Samaria
22.
Ahaziah of Israel
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This entry is not about King Ahaziah of Judah. Ahaziah was king of Israel and the son of Ahab and Jezebel, william F. Albright has dated his reign to 850-849 BC, while E. R. Thiele offers the dates 853-852 BC. The author of the Books of Kings criticized him for following the ways of his father Ahab, during his reign the Moabites revolted against his authority. This event is recorded on the Mesha stele, an inscription written in the Moabite language. Joram formed a partnership with Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. However, because Jehoshapat had made an alliance with Ahaziah the ships were wrecked, according to the Second Book of Kings, he did not recover from his injuries and died. Having no son, Ahaziah was succeeded as king of Israel by Joram, the ancestors of Ahaziah can be recognized by the Bible. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Easton
23.
Elijah
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Elijah or Elias was a prophet and a miracle worker who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of Ahab, according to the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible. According to the Books of Kings Elijah defended the worship of Yahweh over that of the Canaanite deity Baal, Yahweh also performed many miracles through Elijah, including resurrection, bringing fire down from the sky, and entering Heaven alive by a whirlwind. He is also portrayed as leading a school of prophets known as the sons of the prophets, after his death, Elisha his disciple and most devoted assistant took over his role as leader of this school. References to Elijah appear in Ecclesiasticus, the New Testament, the Mishnah and Talmud, the Quran, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and Baháí writings. In Judaism, Elijahs name is invoked at the weekly Havdalah ritual that marks the end of Shabbat, and Elijah is invoked in other Jewish customs, among them the Passover Seder and the brit milah. He appears in stories and references in the Haggadah and rabbinic literature. The Christian New Testament describes how Elijah was thought, by some, Jesus makes it clear that John the Baptist is the Elijah who was promised to come in Malachi 4,5. Elijah appears with Moses during the Transfiguration of Jesus, Elijah is also a figure in various Christian folk traditions, often identified with earlier pagan thunder or sky gods. In Islam, Elijah appears in the Quran as a prophet and messenger of God, due to his importance to Muslims, Catholics and Orthodox Christians, Elijah has been venerated as the patron saint of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1752. However, scholars today are divided as to whether the united Kingdom under Solomon ever existed, omri achieved domestic security with a marriage alliance between his son Ahab and princess Jezebel, a priestess of Baal and the daughter of the king of Sidon in Phoenicia. Under Ahabs kingship, these tensions were exacerbated, Ahab built a temple for Baal, and his wife Jezebel brought a large entourage of priests and prophets of Baal and Asherah into the country. It is in context that Elijah is introduced in 1 Kings 17,1 as Elijah the Tishbite. No background for the person of Elijah is given except for his description as being a Tishbite. His name in Hebrew means My God is Yahweh, and may be a title applied to him because of his challenge to worship of Baal, as told in the Hebrew Bible, Elijahs challenge is bold and direct. Baal was the Canaanite god responsible for rain, thunder, lightning, Elijah not only challenges Baal on behalf of his own God, Yahweh, he challenges Jezebel, her priests, Ahab and the people of Israel. After Elijahs confrontation with Ahab, God tells him to out of Israel, to a hiding place by the brook Chorath, east of the Jordan. When the brook dries up, God sends him to a living in the town of Zarephath in Phoenicia. When Elijah finds her and asks to be fed, she says that she not have sufficient food to keep her and her own son alive
24.
Amos (prophet)
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Amos was one of the Twelve Minor Prophets. An older contemporary of Hosea and Isaiah, Amos was active c, 760-755 BC during the reign of Jeroboam II. He was from the southern Kingdom of Judah but preached in the northern Kingdom of Israel, Amos wrote at a time of relative peace and prosperity but also of neglect of YHWHs laws. He spoke against an increased disparity between the wealthy and the very poor. His major themes of justice, Gods omnipotence, and divine judgment became staples of prophecy. The Book of Amos is attributed to him, before becoming a prophet, Amos was a sheep herder and a sycamore fig farmer. Amos prior professions and his claim I am not a prophet nor a son of a prophet indicate that Amos was not from the school of prophets, Amos declaration marks a turning-point in the development of Old Testament prophecy. The Bible speaks of his ministry and prophecies concluding around 762, the prophet Zechariah likely was referencing this same earthquake several centuries later. From Zechariah 14,5, And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Despite being from the kingdom of Judah Amos prophetic message was aimed at the Northern Kingdom of Israel, particularly the cities of Samaria. Jeroboam II, ruler of the Northern kingdom, had rapidly conquered Syria, Moab, and Ammon, the whole northern empire of Solomon thus practically restored had enjoyed a long period of peace and security marked by a revival of artistic and commercial development. Social corruption and the oppression of the poor and helpless were prevalent, many availed themselves of the throngs which attended the sacred festivals to indulge in immoderate enjoyment and tumultuous revelry. Others, carried away by the association with heathen peoples which resulted from conquest or commercial contact. Amos is the first of the prophets to write down the messages he has received and he has always been admired for the purity of his language, his beauty of diction, and his poetic art. In all these respects he is Isaiahs spiritual progenitor, what we know of Amos derives solely from the book that he himself authored. This makes it hard to know who the historical Amos truly was, Amos felt himself called to preach in Bethel, where there was a royal sanctuary, and there to announce the fall of the reigning dynasty and of the northern kingdom. But he is denounced by the head priest Amaziah to King Jeroboam II and is advised to leave the kingdom, there is no reason to doubt that he was actually forced to leave the northern kingdom and to return to his native country. Being thus prevented from bringing his message to an end, and from reaching the ear of those to whom he was sent, he had recourse to writing
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Saint
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A saint, also historically known as a hallow, is a term used for a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness or likeness to God. Depending on the context and denomination, the term also retains its original Christian meaning, as any believer who is in Christ and in whom Christ dwells, whether in Heaven or on Earth. Depending on the religion, saints are recognized either by official ecclesiastical declaration, the English word saint comes from the Latin sanctus. The word translated the Greek ἅγιος, which derives from the verb ἁγιάζω, the word ἅγιος appears 229 times in the Greek New Testament, and its English translation 60 times in the corresponding text of the King James Version of the Bible. In the New Testament, saint did not denote the deceased who had recognized as especially holy or emulable. Many religions also use similar concepts to venerate persons worthy of some honor, the anthropologist Lawrence Babb in an article about Sathya Sai Baba asks the question Who is a saint. These saintly figures, he asserts, are the points of spiritual force-fields. They exert powerful attractive influence on followers but touch the lives of others in transforming ways as well. In the Bible, only one person is called a saint, They envied Moses also in the camp. The apostle Paul declared himself to be less than the least of all saints in Ephesians 3,8, in the Catholic Church, a saint is anyone in Heaven, whether recognized on Earth or not. There are many persons that the Church believes to be in Heaven who have not been formally canonized, sometimes the word saint also denotes living Christians. They remind us that the Church is holy, can never stop being holy and is called to show the holiness of God by living the life of Christ, the Catholic Church teaches that it does not make or create saints, but rather recognizes them. Proofs of heroicity required in the process of beatification will serve to illustrate in detail the general principles exposed above upon proof of their holiness or likeness to God. On 3 January 993, Pope John XV became the first pope to proclaim a person a saint, on the petition of the German ruler, before that time, the popular cults, or venerations, of saints had been local and spontaneous. Pope John XVIII subsequently permitted a cult of five Polish martyrs, walter of Pontoise was the last person in Western Europe to be canonized by an authority other than the Pope, Hugh de Boves, the Archbishop of Rouen, canonized him in 1153. Thenceforth a decree of Pope Alexander III in 1170 reserved the prerogative of canonization to the Pope, one source claims that there are over 10,000 named saints and beatified people from history, the Roman Martyrology and Orthodox sources, but no definitive head count. Alban Butler published Lives of the Saints in 1756, including a total of 1,486 saints, the latest revision of this book, edited by Rev. Herbert Thurston, SJ and British author Donald Attwater, contains the lives of 2,565 saints. Monsignor Robert Sarno, an official of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints of the Holy See, expressed that it is impossible to give an exact number of saints
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Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria
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The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria is the largest Christian Church in Egypt, Northeast Africa and the Middle East. According to tradition, the Church was established by Saint Mark, the head of the Church and the See of Alexandria is the Patriarch of Alexandria on the Holy See of Saint Mark, who also carries the title of Coptic Pope. The See of Alexandria is titular, and today the Coptic Pope presides from Saint Marks Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in the Abbassia District in Cairo. The precise Christological differences that caused the split with the Coptic Christians are still disputed, highly technical, the foundational roots of the Coptic Church are based in Egypt, but it has a worldwide following. Isaiah the prophet, in Chapter 19, Verse 19 says In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, the first Christians in Egypt were common people who spoke Egyptian Coptic. There were also Alexandrian Jews such as Theophilus, whom Saint Luke the Evangelist addresses in the chapter of his gospel. When the church was founded by Saint Mark during the reign of the Roman emperor Nero, in the 2nd century, Christianity began to spread to the rural areas, and scriptures were translated into the local languages, namely Coptic. The Catechetical School of Alexandria is the oldest catechetical school in the world, St. Jerome records that the Christian School of Alexandria was founded by Saint Mark himself. Origen wrote over 6,000 commentaries of the Bible in addition to his famous Hexapla, many scholars such as Jerome visited the school of Alexandria to exchange ideas and to communicate directly with its scholars. The scope of this school was not limited to subjects, science, mathematics. The question-and-answer method of commentary began there, and 15 centuries before Braille, wood-carving techniques were in use there by blind scholars to read, the Theological college of the catechetical school was re-established in 1893. Many Egyptian Christians went to the desert during the 3rd century, by the end of the 5th century, there were hundreds of monasteries, and thousands of cells and caves scattered throughout the Egyptian desert. A great number of these monasteries are still flourishing and have new vocations to this day, countless pilgrims have visited the Desert Fathers to emulate their spiritual, disciplined lives. In the 4th century, an Alexandrian presbyter named Arius began a dispute about the nature of Christ that spread throughout the Christian world and is now known as Arianism. We confess one Baptism for the remission of sins and we look for the resurrection of the dead, as a consequence of this, he denied the title Mother of God to the Virgin Mary, declaring her instead to be Mother of Christ Christotokos. When reports of this reached the Apostolic Throne of Saint Mark, Pope Saint Cyril I of Alexandria acted quickly to correct this breach with orthodoxy, when he would not, the Synod of Alexandria met in an emergency session and a unanimous agreement was reached. Pope Cyril I of Alexandria, supported by the entire See and this epistle drew heavily on the established Patristic Constitutions and contained the most famous article of Alexandrian Orthodoxy, The Twelve Anathemas of Saint Cyril. In these anathemas, Cyril excommunicated anyone who followed the teachings of Nestorius, for example, Anyone who dares to deny the Holy Virgin the title Theotokos is Anathema
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Eastern Orthodox Church
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The Eastern Orthodox Church teaches that it is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church established by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission to the apostles. It practices what it understands to be the original Christian faith, the Eastern Orthodox Church is a communion of autocephalous churches, each typically governed by a Holy Synod. It teaches that all bishops are equal by virtue of their ordination, prior to the Council of Chalcedon in AD451, the Eastern Orthodox had also shared communion with the Oriental Orthodox churches, separating primarily over differences in Christology. Eastern Orthodoxy spread throughout the Roman and later Eastern Roman Empires and beyond, playing a prominent role in European, Near Eastern, Slavic, and some African cultures. As a result, the term Greek Orthodox has sometimes used to describe all of Eastern Orthodoxy in general. However, the appellation Greek was never in use and was gradually abandoned by the non-Greek-speaking Eastern Orthodox churches. Its most prominent episcopal see is Constantinople, there are also many in other parts of the world, formed through immigration, conversion and missionary activity. The official name of the Eastern Orthodox Church is the Orthodox Catholic Church and it is the name by which the church refers to itself in its liturgical or canonical texts, in official publications, and in official contexts or administrative documents. Orthodox teachers refer to the Church as Catholic and this name and longer variants containing Catholic are also recognized and referenced in other books and publications by secular or non-Orthodox writers. The common name of the Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, is a shortened practicality that helps to avoid confusions in casual use, for this reason, the eastern churches were sometimes identified as Greek, even before the great schism. After 1054, Greek Orthodox or Greek Catholic marked a church as being in communion with Constantinople and this identification with Greek, however, became increasingly confusing with time. Missionaries brought Orthodoxy to many regions without ethnic Greeks, where the Greek language was not spoken. Today, many of those same Roman churches remain, while a large number of Orthodox are not of Greek national origin. Eastern, then, indicates the element in the Churchs origin and development, while Orthodox indicates the faith. While the Church continues officially to call itself Catholic, for reasons of universality, the first known use of the phrase the catholic church occurred in a letter written about 110 AD from one Greek church to another. Quote of St Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans, Wheresoever the bishop shall appear, there let the people be, even as where Jesus may be, thus, almost from the very beginning, Christians referred to the Church as the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. The Orthodox Church claims that it is today the continuation and preservation of that same Church, a number of other Christian churches also make a similar claim, the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Assyrian Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches. The Church of England separated from the Roman Catholic Church, not directly from the Orthodox Church, the depth of this meaning in the Orthodox Church is registered first in its use of the word Orthodox itself, a union of Greek orthos and doxa
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Byzantine Rite
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It has also been employed, although less frequently, in the Anglican Communion and Lutheran churches. Its development began during the century in Constantinople and it is now the second most-used rite in Christendom after the Roman Rite. Traditionally, the stands throughout the whole service, and an iconostasis separates the sanctuary from the nave of the church. The faithful are very active in their worship, making frequent bows and prostrations, also, traditionally, the major clergy and monks neither shave nor cut their hair or beards. Scripture plays a role in Byzantine worship, with not only daily readings. The entire psalter is read each week, and twice weekly during Great Lent, fasting is stricter than in the Roman rite. On fast days, the faithful give up not only meat, but also dairy products, and on many fast days they also give up fish, wine, the rite observes four fasting seasons, Great Lent, Nativity Fast, Apostles Fast and Dormition Fast. In addition, most Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year are fast days, there are two ancient liturgical traditions from which all of the Eastern Rites developed, the Alexandrian rite in Egypt and the Antiochene Rite in Syria. These two Rites developed directly from practices of the Early Church, of these two traditions, the Rite of Constantinople developed from the Antiochene Rite. Prior to the see of Constantinoples elevation to the dignity of patriarch by the Second Ecumenical Council in 381, with the councils elevation of Constantinople to primacy in the East, with the words The Bishop of Constantinople. Further developments continued to occur, centered mostly around Constantinople and Mount Athos, monasticism played an important role in the development of the rituals. In Constantinople, the work of the monastery of the Studion greatly enriched the liturgical traditions, iconography continued to develop and a canon of traditional patterns evolved which still influences Eastern religious art to this day. Historical events have also influenced the development of the liturgy, the great Christological and Trinitarian controversies of Late Antiquity are reflected in the glorifications of the Trinity heard in the numerous ekphonies encountered during the services. All liturgical rites change and develop over time, as new saints are canonized, new hymns are composed, as new needs arise, new prayers are written. The rite also profits from the fact that the Christian East is not so centralized in ecclesiastical polity as the West and this allows for greater diversity, and as members of one church visit another, a natural cross-pollination occurs with resultant enrichment on all sides. In spite of its emphasis on tradition, the Byzantine Rite comprises a constantly growing and expanding ritual. The tradition of the Church of Constantinople ascribes the oldest of its two main Divine Liturgies to St. Basil the Great, Metropolitan of Cæsarea in Cappadocia and this tradition is confirmed by the witness of several ancient authors, some of whom were contemporaries. It is certain that St. St. Basil himself speaks on several occasions of the changes he made in the services of Cæsarea. Basil had as his goal the streamlining of the services to make them more cohesive and attractive to the faithful
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Syriac Christianity
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With a history going back to the 1st century AD, Syriac Christianity is, in modern times, represented by denominations primarily in the Middle East, Asia Minor and in Kerala, India. Christianity began in the Middle East in Jerusalem among Jewish Aramaic-speaking Semitic peoples of Judah and it quickly spread, initially to other Semitic peoples, in Parthian-ruled Assyria and Mesopotamia, Roman-ruled Syria, Phoenicia, southern and eastern Asia Minor, and northwestern Persia and Malta. Adherents sometimes identify as Syriacs or Syrians, Syriac Christian heritage is transmitted through various Neo Aramaic dialects of old Aramaic. Unlike the Greek Christian culture, Assyrian Christian culture borrowed much from early Rabbinic Judaism, Antioch was the political capital of this culture, and was the seat of the Patriarchs of the church. However, Antioch was heavily Hellenized, and the Assyrian cities of Edessa, Nisibis and this split owed just as much to the politics of the day as it did to theological orthodoxy. Ctesiphon, which was at the also the Sassanid capital. After the Council of Chalcedon in 451, many Syriac Christians within the Roman Empire rebelled against its decisions, the Patriarchate of Antioch was then divided between a Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian communion. The Chalcedonians were often labelled Melkites, while their opponents were labelled as Monophysites and Jacobites, the Maronite Church found itself caught between the two, but claims to have always remained faithful to the Catholic Church and in communion with the bishop of Rome, the Pope. The church has persisted as an entity under Islamic rule. The community was one of those granted autonomy in governing itself in religious, in the 19th century many left for other parts of Christendom, creating a substantial diaspora. Over time, some groups within each of these branches have entered into communion with the Church of Rome, when they lost Assyria itself to the Parthian Empire, they retained the name Syria but only applied it to what had been Aramea, which they still retained. The Neo-Assyrian kingdom of Osroene was the first Christian kingdom in history, in 431 A. D. the Council of Ephesus declared Nestorianism to be a heresy. The Nestorian priests, who were persecuted in the Byzantine Empire, sought refuge in Mesopotamia where the Church of the East was dominant, there was a synthesis between the Assyrian Church and Nestorian doctrine. From there they spread Christianity to Persia, India, China and this was the beginning of the Nestorian Church, the eastern branch of Syrian Christianity. The western branch, the Jacobite Church, appeared after the Council of Chalcedon condemned Monophysitism in 451 A. D and these people are in fact ethnic Assyrians originating from the Assyrian homeland in northern Iraq. The older Assyrian designation has almost completely replaced the word Nestorian, however, the word Nestorian continues to be used in some Western academic literature. The word Syrian has become ambiguous in English since it can refer now to a citizen of Syria regardless of ethnicity, in Arabic, however, the word for a citizen of Syria has a different form from the traditional word for an ethnic Assyrian/Syrian. The Maronites in Lebanon are divided between those who claim Lebanese-Phoenician national identity and those who claim Arab national identity, the Maronite Church, a West Syrian Rite Eastern Catholic Church
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Malankara Church
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This faction soon entered into a relationship with the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch, and was thereafter often known as the Malankara Syrian Church. As part of the Saint Thomas Christian community, the church traced its origins to the activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. As an independent faction, it originated in the first major split within the Saint Thomas Christian community, historically, the Thomas Christians had been united in leadership and liturgy, and were part of the Church of the East, based in Persia. Resentment of these led the majority of the community to join the archdeacon, Thoma. Several months later Thoma was ordained as the first indigenous Metropolitan of Malankara, the remaining 32 communities stayed independent, and formed a relationship with the Syriac Orthodox Church. However, through time the church experienced a series of splits. Motions by the leaders and two Supreme Court decisions in the 20th century failed to heal the rift. In 1930, a group split away and entered into communion with the Catholic Church as the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church. | The word Malankara derives from the name of the island of Maliankara near Muziris, later, many of the churches that subsequently branched off have maintained the word in their names. This latter group evolved into the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and these appellations have been somewhat controversial, as both groups considered themselves the true heirs to the Saint Thomas tradition, and saw the other as heretical. Following the association with the Syriac Orthodox Church, the church was known as the Malankara Syrian Church in reference to their connection to the West Syrian tradition. As such they were known as Jacobites, Syrian Jacobites, or Jacobite Syrians. After the split between Metropolitan- and the Patriarch-supporting factions, the Jacobite designation has been associated with the latter group. As a Saint Thomas Christian group, the Malankara Church traced its origins to Thomas the Apostle, different strains of the tradition have him arriving either by sea or by land. The earliest text connecting Thomas to India is the Acts of Thomas, some early Indian sources, such as the Thomas Parvam or Song of Thomas, further expand on the tradition of the apostles arrival and activities in India and beyond. Generally he is described as arriving in the neighbourhood of Maliankara and establishing Seven Churches, as the community grew and immigration by East Syrians increased, the connection with the Church of the East, centred in the Persian capital of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, strengthened. In the 8th century Patriarch Timothy I organised the community as the Ecclesiastical Province of India, after this point the Province of India was headed by a metropolitan bishop, provided from Persia, the Metropolitan-Bishop of the Seat of Saint Thomas and the Whole Christian Church of India. His metropolitan see was probably in Cranganore, or in Mylapore, under him were a varying number of bishops, as well as a native Archdeacon, who had authority over the clergy and who wielded a great amount of secular power
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Armenian Apostolic Church
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The Armenian Apostolic Church is the national church of the Armenian people. Part of Oriental Orthodoxy, it is one of the most ancient Christian communities, Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion, in the early 4th century. The church claims to have originated in the missions of Apostles Bartholomew and it is sometimes referred to as the Armenian Orthodox Church or Gregorian Church. It is also known as the Armenian Church. The Armenian Church believes apostolic succession through the apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus, according to legend, the latter of the two apostles is said to have cured Abgar V of Edessa of leprosy with the Image of Edessa, leading to his conversion in 30 AD. After this, Bartholomew came to Armenia, bringing a portrait of the virgin Mary, Bartholomew then converted the sister of Sanatruk, who once again martyred a female relative and the apostle who converted her. Both apostles ordained native bishops before their execution, and some other Armenians had been ordained outside of Armenia by James the Just. According to Eusebius and Tertullian, Armenian Christians were persecuted by kings Axidares, Khosrov I, and Tiridates III, ancient Armenias adoption of Christianity as a state religion has been referred to by Nina Garsoïan as probably the most crucial step in its history. This conversion distinguished it from its Iranian and Mazdean roots and protected it from further Parthian influence, other scholars as well have stated that the acceptance of Christianity by the Arsacid-Armenian rulers was partly in defiance of the Sassanids. When King Trdat IV made Christianity the state religion of Armenia between 301 and 314, it was not a new religion there. It had penetrated the country from at least the third century, Tiridates declared Gregory to be the first Catholicos of the Armenian Church and sent him to Caesarea to be consecrated. Upon his return, Gregory tore down shrines to idols, built churches and monasteries, while meditating in the old capital city of Vagharshapat, Gregory had a vision of Christ descending to the earth and striking it with a hammer. From that spot arose a great Christian temple with a huge cross and he was convinced that God intended him to build the main Armenian church there. With the kings help he did so in accord with his vision and he renamed the city Etchmiadzin, which means the place of the descent of the only-begotten. Initially the Armenian church participated in the church world. Its Catholicos was represented at the First Council of Nicea and the First Council of Constantinople, although unable to attend the Council of Ephesus, the Catholicos Isaac Parthiev sent a message agreeing with its decisions. Christianity was strengthened in Armenia in the 5th century by the translation of the Bible into the Armenian language by the theologian, monk. Before the 5th century, Armenians had a language
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Sebastia, Nablus
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Sebastia is a Palestinian village of over 4,500 inhabitants, located in the Nablus Governorate of the West Bank some 12 kilometers northwest of the city of Nablus. The villages total area is 4,810 dunums, the built up area of which comprises 150 dunums, much of the village lands are located in Area C under the Oslo Accords. It is the home of Nabi Yahya Mosque, a former Crusader cathedral, according to Josephus, the original name of the town was Shomron, before King Herod renamed it in honor of Augustus Caeasar. The Greek sebastos, venerable, translates the Latin epithet augustus, according to the Hebrew Bible it was settled by several Israelite tribes, in ancient times. Sebastia is home to a number of important archaeological sites, the ancient site of Samaria-Sebaste is located just above the built up area of the modern day village on the eastern slope of the hill. The ruins dominate the hillside and comprise remains from six successive cultures dating back more than 10,000 years, Canaanite, Israelite, Hellenistic, Herodian, Roman and Byzantine. The city was destroyed by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE, pompey rebuilt the town in the year 63 BCE. In 27 BCE, Augustus Caesar gave it to Herod the Great, Herod expanded and renovated the city, bringing in six-thousand new inhabitants, and named it Sebaste, meaning Augustus, in the Emperors honor. Herod the Great had his sons Alexander and Aristobulus brought to Sebaste, Sebastia was the seat of a bishop in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. It is mentioned in the writings of Yaqut al-Hamawi, the Syrian geographer and he also writes, There are here the tombs of Zakariyyah and Yahya, the son of Zakariyyah, and of many other prophets and holy men. Sebastia was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine and it had a population of 20 households and 3 batchelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, occasional revenues, the French explorer Victor Guérin visited the village in 1870 and found it to have less than a thousand inhabitants. In 1882, the Palestine Exploration Funds Survey of Western Palestine described Sebastia as A large and flourishing village, of stone and mud houses, on the hill of the ancient Samaria. There is a plateau on the top, on the east end of which the village stands. A higher knoll rises from the plateau, west of the village, the whole hill consists of soft soil, and is terraced to the very top. On the north it is bare and white, with steep slopes, and a few olives, a sort of recess exists on this side, the village itself is ill-built, and modern, with ruins of a Crusading church of Neby Yahyah, towards the northwest. A sarcophagus lies by the road on the north-east, but no rock-cut tombs have as yet been noticed on the hill, There is a large cemetery of rock-cut tombs to the north, on the other side of the valley. The neighbourhood of Samaria is well supplied with water, vegetable gardens exist below the spring
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Elisha
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Elisha is a Hebrew prophet and a wonder-worker whose life is documented in the Hebrew Bible. Also mentioned in the New Testament and the Quran, Elisha is venerated as a prophet in Judaism, Christianity, amongst new religious movements, Baháí writings refer to him by name. His name is transliterated into English as Elisha via Hebrew, Eliseus via Greek and Latin, or Alyasa via Arabic. He was a disciple of Elijah and, after Elijah was taken up into the whirlwind, Elishas story is related in the Book of Kings in the Hebrew Bible. He was a prophet and a wonder-worker of the Northern Kingdom of Israel who was active during the reign of Joram, Jehu, Jehoahaz, Elisha was the son of Shaphat, a wealthy land-owner of Abel-meholah, he became the attendant and disciple of Elijah. His name first occurs in the given to Elijah to anoint him as his successor. After learning in the cave on Mount Horeb, that Elisha, on his way from Sinai to Damascus, Elijah found Elisha one of them that were ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen. Elisha delayed only long enough to kill the yoke of oxen and he went over to him, threw his mantle over Elishas shoulders, and at once adopted him as a son, investing him with the prophetic office. Elisha accepted this call about four years before the death of Israels King Ahab, for the next seven or eight years Elisha became Elijahs close attendant until Elijah was taken up into heaven. During all these years we hear nothing of Elisha except in connection with the scenes of Elijahs life. After he had shared this farewell repast with his father, mother, and friends, the chosen prophet went after Elijah. Elisha then was separated from Elijah by a chariot. Before Elijah was taken up into the whirlwind, Elisha asked to inherit a double-portion of Elijahs spirit. Some scholars see this as indicative of the property inheritance customs of the time, in this interpretation Elisha is asking that he may be seen as the rightful heir and successor to Elijah. Critics of this point out that Elisha was already appointed as Elijahs successor earlier in the narrative. In this interpretation the double-portion isnt merely an allusion to primacy in succession, before he settled in Samaria, Elisha passed some time on Mount Carmel. When the armies of Judah, Israel and Edom, then allied against Mesha and his double prediction regarding relief from drought and victory over the Moabites was fulfilled on the following morning. When a group of boys from Bethel taunted the prophet for his baldness, Elisha cursed them in the name of Yahweh and he became noted in Israel, and for six decades held the office of prophet in Israel
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John the Baptist
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John the Baptist, also known as John the Baptizer, was a Jewish itinerant preacher in the early first century AD. John is revered as a religious figure in Christianity, Islam, the Baháí Faith. He is called a prophet by all of these traditions, and is honoured as a saint in many Christian traditions, John used baptism as the central symbol or sacrament of his messianic movement. Most scholars agree that John baptized Jesus, scholars generally believe Jesus was a follower or disciple of John and several New Testament accounts report that some of Jesus early followers had previously been followers of John. John the Baptist is also mentioned by the Jewish historian Josephus, according to the New Testament, John anticipated a messianic figure greater than himself. Christians commonly refer to John as the precursor or forerunner of Jesus, John is also identified with the prophet Elijah. John the Baptist is mentioned in all four canonical Gospels and the non-canonical Gospel of the Nazarenes, the Synoptic Gospels describe John baptising Jesus, in the Gospel of John it is implied in John 1, 32-34. The Gospel of Mark introduces John as a fulfilment of a prophecy from the Book of Isaiah about a messenger being sent ahead, John is described as wearing clothes of camels hair, living on locusts and wild honey. John proclaims baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin, and says another will come after him who will not baptize with water, Jesus comes to John, and is baptized by him in the river Jordan. The account describes how, as he emerges from the water, the heavens open, a voice from heaven then says, You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased. Later in the gospel there is an account of Johns death and it is introduced by an incident where the Tetrarch Herod Antipas, hearing stories about Jesus, imagines that this is John the Baptist raised from the dead. It then explains that John had rebuked Herod for marrying Herodias, Herodias demands his execution, but Herod, who liked to listen to John, is reluctant to do so because he fears him, knowing he is a righteous and holy man. The account then describes how Herods daughter Herodias dances before Herod, when the girl asks her mother what she should request, she is told to demand the head of John the Baptist. Reluctantly, Herod orders the beheading of John, and his head is delivered to her, at her request, Johns disciples take the body away and bury it in a tomb. There are a number of difficulties with this passage, the Gospel wrongly identifies Antipas as King and the ex-husband of Herodias is named as Philip, but he is known to have been called Herod. Although the wording clearly implies the girl was the daughter of Herodias, many texts describe her as Herods daughter, Herodias. Since these texts are early and significant and the reading is difficult, many see this as the original version, corrected in later versions and in Matthew. Josephus says that Herodias had a daughter by the name of Salome, scholars have speculated about the origins of the story
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Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
