A
Abdon
Meaning: servile; servitude / Hebrew: “Abdown.”
The
name of four biblical men and one city:
1.
The son of Hillel,
a Pirathonite, the tenth judge of Israel (Judg. 12:13-15). He is
probably
the Bedan of 1 Sam. 12:11.
2.
The first-born
of Gibeon of the tribe of Benjamin (1
Chr.
8:30; 9:36). King Saul was his nephew.
3.
The son of Micah, one of
those whom Josiah sent to
the prophetess Huldah to
find the meaning of the recently discovered book of the law (2 Chr.
34:20). He
is called Achbor in 2 Kings 22:12.
4.
One of the “sons” of Shashak (1
Chr. 8:23).
5.
This is the name also of
a Levitical town of the Gershonites, in
the tribe of Asher (Josh. 21:30; 1 Chr. 6:74).
The
ruins of Abdeh, 8 miles northeast of Accho, probably mark its site.
Abel-beth-maachah
Meaning: meadow of
the house of Maachah.
This was the name
of a city in northern Israel, in the neighborhood of Dan and Ijon,
in the tribe of Naphtali.
It was a place of considerable strength and importance. It is called a
“mother
in Israel”, i.e., a metropolis (2 Sam. 20:19). It was besieged by Joab (2
Sam. 20:14), by Benhadad (1 Kings 15:20), and by Tiglath-pileser (2
Kings 15:29) about B.C. 734.
Elsewhere, it is called Abel-maim, meadow of the waters, (2 Chr.
16:4).
Its site is
occupied by the modern Abil or Abil-el-kamh, on rising ground to the
east of
the brook Derdarah, which flows through the plain of Huleh into the Jordan,
about 6 miles to the
west-north-west of Dan.
Accad
(also spelled
“Akkad”)
Meaning: the high
land or mountains.
This was the name
of a city in the land of Shinar. It was one of the cities of Nimrod’s kingdom
(Gen. 10:10). It was near to
the Euphrates, opposite Sippara.
Accad is also the
name of the country of which this city was the capital, namely,
northern or
upper Babylonia.
The Accadians who
came from the “mountains of the east,” where the ark rested,
attained to a high degree of civilization. In the Babylonian
inscriptions they
are called “the black heads” and “the black
faces,” in contrast to “the white
race” of Semitic descent. They invented the form of writing in
pictorial
hieroglyphics, and also the cuneiform
system, in which they wrote many books partly on papyrus and partly on
clay.
The Semitic Babylonians (“the white race”), or, as some
scholars think, first
the Cushites, and afterwards, as
a second immigration, the Semites, invaded and conquered this country;
and then
the Accadian language ceased to be a spoken language, although for the
sake of
its literary treasures it continued to be studied by the educated
classes of Babylonia.
A large portion of
the Ninevite tablets brought to light by Oriental
research consists of interlinear or parallel translations from Accadian
into Assyrian; and thus that long-forgotten
language has been recovered by scholars. It belongs to the class of
languages
called agglutinative, common to the Tauranian race; i.e., it consists
of words
“glued together,” without declension or conjugation. These
tablets in a
remarkable manner illustrate ancient history. Among other notable
records, they
contain an account of the Creation which closely resembles that given
in the
book of Genesis, of the Sabbath as a day of rest, and of
the Deluge and its cause.
Achmetha
This is the name
of a city mentioned in Ezra 6:2.
It was called Ecbatana by classical writers, the capital of northern
Media.
Here was the palace which was the residence of the old Median monarchs,
and of Cyrus and Cambyses.
In the time of Ezra, the Persian kings resided
usually at Susa of Babylon. But Cyrus held his court at
Achmetha; and Ezra,
writing a century after, correctly mentions the place where the decree
of Cyrus
was found.
Author: Matthew G.
Easton .
Achshaph
Meaning:
fascination.
This was the name
of a royal city of the Canaanites,
in the north of Canaan (Josh. 11:1; 12:20; 19:25).
It was in the eastern boundary
of the tribe of Asher, and is
identified with the modern ruined village of Kesaf or Yasif, northeast
of Accho
(Acre).
Achzib
Meaning:
falsehood.
The name of two
biblical cities:
1.
A town in the Shephelah, or plain country of Judah (Josh.
15:44); probably the same as Chezib of Gen.
38:5 = Ain Kezbeh.
2.
A Phoenician city (the Greek: Ecdippa),
always retained in their possession though assigned to the tribe of Asher (Josh.
19:29; Judg. 1:31). It is identified with the
modern es-Zib, on the Mediterranean, about 8 miles north of Accho.
Adamah
Meaning: red
earth.
Adamah was the
name of a fortified city of Naphtali,
mentioned in Joshua. It is
possibly the modern Damieh, on the west side of the sea of Tiberias
(Josh.
19:33, 36).
Adam, the city of
This city is the
scene of a miracle referred to in Joshua 3:16. It stood
“beside
Zarethan,” on the west bank of Jordan (1 Kings 4:12).
At this city, the
water flow was stopped and rose up “upon an heap” when the
Israelites' passed
over the river (Josh. 3:16).
Adramyttium
This was a city in
Asia Minor on the coast of Mysia,
which in early times was called Aeolis.
The ship in which Paul embarked
at Caesarea belonged to this city (Acts 27:2). He
was traveled on in it only to Myra,
in Lycia, from where he sailed on
an Alexandrian ship to Italy. It was a rare thing for
a ship to sail from any port of Judea direct for Italy.
The modern city
bears the name Edremit, now in Turkey.
Adullam
Meaning: (unknown)
Adullam was one of
the royal cities of the Canaanites,
later named 'Aid-el-ma (Josh. 12:15; 15:35). It stood on
the old Roman road
in the valley of Elah (q.v.), which was the scene
ofDavid’s memorable victory over Goliath (1 Sam.
17:2), and not far from Gath. It was one of the towns which Rehoboam fortified
against Egypt (2 Chr. 11:7). It was called “the
glory of Israel” (Micah 1:15).
The Cave of
Adullam has been discovered about 2 miles south of the scene of David’s triumph,
and about 13 miles west from Bethlehem. At this place is a hill
some 500 feet high pierced with numerous caverns, in one of which David gathered
together “every one that was
in distress, and every one that was in debt,
and every one that was discontented” (1 Sam. 22:2). Some of these
caverns are
large enough to hold 200 or 300 men. According to tradition this cave
was at
Wady Khureitun, between Bethlehem and the Dead Sea, but
this view cannot be well
maintained.
Ai
Meaning: ruins.
The name of two
biblical cities:
1.
One of the royal cities of the Canaanites (Josh.
10:1; Gen. 12:8; 13:3). It was the scene of Joshua’s defeat,
and afterwards of his victory.
It was the second Canaanite city taken by Israel (Josh. 7:2-5; 8:1-29).
It was rebuilt and inhabited
by the Benjamites (Ezra 2:28; Neh. 7:32; 11:31). It
lay to the east of Bethel, “beside Bethaven.”
Archaeologists of theAssociates for Biblical Research (ABR) have
spent many years in trying
to determine the controversial site of both these ancient cities. The
Bethel/Ai
Project is central to the Associates for Biblical Research’s work
on the
Israelite Conquest of Canaan. A major scholarly battle has developed
over the
identification of the biblical cities of Ai and Bethel. Dr. David
Livingston,
founder and former director of the Associates for Biblical Research,
pioneered
research in this area. ABR is currently excavating Khirbet el-Maqatir
as a
possible candidate. The site is located 10 miles north of Jerusalem.
Excavations since 1995 have
revealed a city gate and wall system. ABR is continuing to excavate
these
features as they uncover the plan of this 15th-century B.C. Canaanite fortress.
2.
A city in the Ammonite territory (Jer. 49:3).
Some have
thought that the proper reading of the word is Ar (Isa. 15:1).
Ajalon / Aij'alon
Meaning: place of
deer.
This was the name
of 2 biblical places:
1.
a town and valley originally assigned to the tribe of Dan,
from which, however, they could
not drive the Amorites (Judg. 1:35)
It
was one of the Levitical cities given to the Kohathites (1
Chr. 6:69). It was not far from Beth-shemesh (2 Chr. 28:18).
It was the boundary
between the kingdoms of and Israel, and is frequently
mentioned in
Jewish history (2 Chr. 11:10; 1
Sam. 14:31; 1 Chr. 8:13).
With
reference to the valley named after the town, Joshua uttered
the celebrated command, “Sun,
stand thou still on Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the
valley of Ajalon” (Josh.
10:12).
It
has been identified as the modern Yalo, at the foot of the Beth-horon
pass. In
the Tell Amarna letters Adoni-zedek speaks of the destruction of the
“city of
Ajalon” by the invaders, and describes himself as
“afflicted, greatly
afflicted” by the calamities that had come on the land, urging the king of Egypt to
hasten to his help.
2.
A city in the tribe of Zebulun (Judg.
12:12), the modern Jalun, three
miles north of Cabul.
Akkad
also spelled Accad
a city founded by Nimrod in Shinar (Genesis
10:10)
The ancient
language of the region is Akkadian, named after the city. Akkadian was
written
in cuneiform (wedge-shaped characters) impressed into clay tablets with
a
wedge-shaped stylus.
Alemeth
Meaning:
Covering.
The
name
of two biblical men and one city:
1.
One of the nine sons
of Becher, the son of Benjamin (1 Chr. 7:8).
2.
One of the sons of Jehoadah, or
Jarah, son of Ahaz (1 Chr. 8:36).
3.
A priestly city
of Benjamin (1 Chr. 6:60), called also Almon (Josh.
21:18),
now Almit, a mile northeast of the ancient Anathoth.
Alexandria
This was a great
metropolis of ancient Lower Egypt.
It was named after its founder, Alexander
the Great (about B.C. 333). For a
long period, it was the greatest city in the world, for both Nineveh and Babylon had
been destroyed, and Rome had
not yet risen to greatness. It was the residence of the kings of Egypt for
200 years. It is not mentioned in
the Old Testament, and only incidentally in the New Testament. Apollos,
eloquent and mighty in the
Scriptures, was a native of this city (Acts 18:24).
Many Jews from
Alexandria were in Jerusalem,
where they had a synagogue (Acts 6:9), at the time of Stephen’s martyrdom.
At one time it is said that
as many as 10,000 Jews resided in this city. It possessed a famous
library of
700,000 volumes, which was burned by the Saracens (A.D. 642). It was
here that
the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek. This is called the
Septuagint (70)
version, from the tradition that seventy learned men were engaged in
executing
it. It was, however, not all translated at one time. It was begun B.C.
280, and
finished about B.C. 200 or 150.
Almon
Meaning: hidden.
This was the name
one of the priestly cities of Benjamin (Josh.
21:18), called also Alemeth (1 Chr. 6:60).
Amphipolis
Meaning: city on
both sides
This was a Macedonian city, a
great Roman military station, through which Paul and Silas passed
on their way from Philippi to Thessalonica,
a distance of 33 Roman miles from Philippi(Acts
17:1).
Anab
Meaning: grape-town
This was the name
of one of the cities in the mountains of Judah,
from which Joshua expelled the Anakim (Josh. 11:21; 15:50).
It still retains its ancient
name. It lies among the hills, 10 miles south-southwest of Hebron.
Ananiah
Meaning: protected
by Jehovah.
This was the name
of a town in the tribe of Benjamin between Nob and Hazor (Neh.
11:32). It is probably the
modern Beit Hanina, a small village 3 miles north of Jerusalem.
Anathoth
This was the name
of one of the cities of refuge,
in the tribe of Benjamin (Josh. 21:18). The Jews,
as a rule, did not change the
names of the towns they found in Canaan;
so this town probably derived its name from the goddess Anat. It was
the native
place of Abieezer, one of David’s “thirty”
(2 Sam. 23:27), and of Jehu, another of his mighty men (1
Chr. 12:3).
It is most
importantly notable as the birthplace and usual residence of Jeremiah (Jer.
1:1; 11:21-23; 29:27; 32:7-9). It suffered greatly from
the
army of Sennacherib, and only 128
men returned to it from the Exile (Neh. 7:27; Ezra
2:23). It lay about 3 miles north
of Jerusalem. It has been
identified with the village of
'Anata .
Anem
Meaning: two
fountains.
a Levitical city in the tribe of Issachar (1
Chr. 6:73). It is also called En-gannim in Josh.
19:21; the modern Jenin.
Aner
Meaning: a boy.
1.
the name of a Canaanite chief who joined his
forces with those
of Abraham in pursuit of Chedorlaomer (Gen. 14:13, 24)
2.
a city of Manasseh given to the Levites of Kohath’s family
(1 Chr. 6:70)
Anim
Meaning:
Fountains.
This was the name
of a city in the mountains of Judah (Josh. 15:50), now
el-Ghuwein, near
Eshtemoh, about 10 miles southwest of Hebron.
Antioch
The name of two
biblical cities:
1.
In Syria,
on the river Orontes, about 16 miles from the Mediterranean, and some
300 miles
north of Jerusalem. It was the
metropolis of Syria, and
afterwards became the capital of the Roman province in Asia. It ranked
third,
after Rome and Alexandria in importance, of the
cities of the
Roman empire. It was called the “first city of the East.”
Christianity
was introduced early into this city (Acts 11:19, 21, 24),
and the name “Christian” was first applied here to its
professors (Acts 11:26).
It is intimately connected with the early history of the gospel (Acts
6:5; 11:19, 27,28,30; 12:25; 15:22-35; Gal.
2:11-12). It was the great
central point from where missionaries to the Gentiles were
sent forth. It was the birthplace
of the famous Christian father Chrysostom, who died A.D. 407. It bears
the
modern name of Antakia . Like Philippi, it was raised to the
rank of
a Roman colony. Such colonies were ruled by “praetors”
(Acts 16:20-21).
2.
Another Antioch existed in the extreme north of Pisidia.
It was visited by Paul and Barnabas on the first
missionary journey (Acts
13:14). Here they found a synagogue and many proselytes. They
met with
great success in preaching the gospel, but the Jews stirred up a
violent
opposition against them, and they were obliged to leave the place. On
his
return,Paul again visited Antioch
for the purpose of confirming the disciples (Acts 14:21). It has been
identified with the modern Yalobatch, lying to the east of Ephesus.
Antipatris
a city built
by Herod the Great, and called by
this name in honor of his father, Antipater
It lay between Caesarea and Lydda,
two miles inland, on the great Roman road from
Caesarea to Jerusalem.
To this place, Paul was
brought by night (Acts 23:31) on his way to Caesarea,
28 miles away.
It is identified
with the modern, Ras-el-Ain which have the largest springs in
Israel, Aujeh.
Aphik / Aphek
Meaning:
Stronghold. (Judg. 1:31); Aphek (Josh. 13:4; 19:30)
This was the name
of three biblical cities.
1.
a city of the tribe of Asher
It
was the scene of the licentious worship of the Syrian Aphrodite.
The ruins of the temple,
“magnificent ruins” in a “spot of strange wildness
and beauty”, are still seen
at Afka, on the north-west slopes of Lebanon,
near the source of the river Adonis (now Nahr Ibrahim), 12 miles east of Gebal.
2.
a city of the tribe of Issachar,
near to Jezreel (1 Sam. 4:1; 29:1; compare 28:4)
3.
a town on the road from Damascus to Israel, in
the level plain east of Jordan, near which Ben-hadad was
defeated by the Israelites (1
Kings 20:26, 30; 2 Kings 13:17)
It
has been identified with the modern Fik, 6 miles east of the Sea
of Galilee, opposite Tiberias.
Apollonia
a city of Macedonia between Amphipolis and Thessalonica
It was about 36
miles from Thessalonica. Paul and Silas passed
through it on their way to
there. (Acts 17:1)
Ar
Meaning:
A city; Awakening; “a place guarded by a
watch” / Similar to the Hebrew word for city: 'iyr, in the
plural 'ar.
Ar
was the capital city of ancient Moab. The
exact location is still uncertain. If Ar is the city referred to
in Numbers 22:36, then Ar was located near the river Arnon,
at the
southern edge of Israel, on the south side of the river. According
to
Smith,
“In
later times the place known as Areopolis and
Rabbath-Moab. The site still called Rabba. It lies about halfway
between Kerak
and the Wady Mojeb, 10 or 11 miles from each, the Roman road passing
through
it” (Smith’s Bible Dictionary).
Ar
is mentioned by name in the following verses,
only:
1.
Numbers 21:15 (“…at the
stream of the brooks that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar, and lieth
upon the
border of Moab.”).
2.
Numbers 21:28 (“For there is
a fire gone out of Heshbon… it hath consumed Ar of
Moab…”).
3.
Deuteronomy 2:9 (“…I have
given Ar unto the children of Lot…”).
4.
Deuteronomy 2:18 (“Thou art
to pass over through Ar, the coast of Moab, this day.”).
5.
Deuteronomy 2:29 (“…the
Moabites which dwell in Ar…”).
6.
Isaiah 15:1 (“…Ar of Moab is
laid waste…”)
Ar
may also be referred to in certain other verses,
such as Numbers 22:36; Deuteronomy 2:36; Joshua
13:9, 16; 2 Samuel 24:5.
“The
prophecy against Moab (descendants
of Lot and inveterate enemies of Israel) occupies chapters
15 and 16 [of the book of Isaiah]. The Moabites'
lands were
often invaded, and they finally disappeared from history shortly before
the
first coming of Christ. Their land, currently part of the kingdom of
Jordan, is
now largely desolate, though once quite fruitful” (Henry M.
Morris, The
Defender’s Study Bible, footnote for Isa. 15:1).
Editor:
Paul S. Taylor.
Arab
Meaning: ambush.
This was the name
of a city in the mountains of Judah (Josh.
15:52). It was later named
Er-Rabiyeh.
Arad
This
was
the name of a city and a man.
1.
now Tell Arad,
a Canaanite city, about 20 miles south of Hebron
The king of
Arad
“fought against Israel and took of them
prisoners” when they were
retreating from Edom (Num. 21:1; 33:40; Judg.
1:16). It was
finally subdued by Joshua(12:14).
2.
One of the sons
of Beriah (1 Chr. 8:15).
Author:
Matthew G. Easton, with minor editing by Paul S. Taylor.
Archi
a city on the
boundary of Ephraim and Benjamin (Josh. 16:2),
between Bethel and Beth-horon .
Arimathea
a “city of the
Jews” (Luke 23:51)
This was the
birthplace of the Joseph in whose tomb our Lord was laid
(Matt.
27:57, 60; John 19:38). It is probably the same
place as Ramathaim in Ephraim,
and the birthplace ofSamuel (1
Sam. 1:1, 19). Others identify it
with Ramleh in Dan, or Rama in Benjamin (Matt.
2:18).
Aroer
Meaning: ruins
This is the name
of 3 biblical towns/cities.
1.
a town on the north bank of the Arnon (Deut.
4:48; Judg. 11:26; 2 Kings 10:33), the southern boundary
of the kingdom of Sihon (Josh. 12:2)
It
is now called Arair, 13 miles west of the Dead
Sea.
2.
one of the towns built by the tribe of Gad (Num.
32:34) “before Rabbah” (Josh.
13:25), the Ammonite capital
It
was famous in the history of Jephthah (Judg. 11:33) and of
David (2 Sam.
24:5). (Compare Isa. 17:2; 2 Kings 15:29.)
3.
a city in the south of Judah, 12 miles southeast of Beersheba,
to which David sent presents after recovering the
spoil from the Amalekites at Ziklag (1 Sam. 30:26, 28)
It
was the native city of two of David’s warriors
(1 Chr. 11:44). It is now called
Ar'arah.
Arpad
Meaning: support
(Isa. 10:9; 36:19; 37:13), also Arphad.
a Syrian city near Hamath,
along with which it is
invariably mentioned (2 Kings 19:13; 18:34; Isa. 10:9), and Damascus (Jer.
49:23)
After a siege of
three years it fell (B.C. 742) before the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser
II. Now Tell Erfud.
Arvad
aka Aruada / Arada
Meaning: wandering (Ezek.
27:8)
a small island and city on
the coast of Syria, mentioned as furnishing
mariners and soldiers for Tyre
The inhabitants
were called Arvadites. The name is written Aruada or Arada in the
Tell-el-Amarna tablets.
Ashdod
Meaning:
stronghold
Ashdod was a Philistine city (Josh.
15:47), about midway between Gaza and Joppa,
and 3 miles from the Mediterranean.
It was one of the chief seats of the worship of Dagon (1
Sam. 5:5).
It belonged to the tribe of Judah (Josh.
15:47), but it never came into
their actual possession. It was an important city,
as it stood on the highroad from Egypt to Canaan,
and hence was strongly fortified (2 Chr. 26:6; Isa. 20:1).
Uzziah took it, but fifty years
after his
death it was taken by the Assyrians (B.C. 758). According to Sargon’s record,
it was captured by him in B.C.
711.
The only reference
to it in the New Testament, where
it is called Azotus, is in the account
of Philip’s return from Gaza (Acts
8:40).
It is now called
Eshdud.
Ashkelon
aka Askelon /
Ascalon
Ashkelon was one
of the five cities of the Philistines (Josh. 13:3; 1
Sam. 6:17). It stood on the shore of
the Mediterranean, 12 miles north
of Gaza.
It is mentioned on
an inscription at Karnak in Egypt as having been taken by king Rameses II,
the oppressor of the Hebrews.
In the time of the judges (Judg.
1:18) it fell into the
possession of the tribe of Judah;
but it was soon after retaken by the Philistines (2 Sam.
1:20), who were not finally
dispossessed till the time of Alexander the Great.
Samson went down to this place from Timnath,
and slew thirty men and took
their spoil. The prophets foretold its destruction (Jer.
25:20; 47:5, 7).
It became a noted
place in the Middle Ages, having been the scene of many a bloody battle
between
the Saracens and the Crusaders. It was beseiged and taken by Richard
the
Lion-hearted, and “within its walls and towers now standing he
held his court.”
Among the Tell
Amarna tablets are found letters or official
despatches from Yadaya, “captain of horse and dust of
the king’s feet,” to the “great king”
of Egypt, dated from Ascalon. It is now
called 'Askalan.
Ashtaroth
a city of Bashan, in the kingdom of Og (Deut.
1:4; Josh. 12:4; 13:12; 9:10)
It was in the
half-tribe of Manasseh (Josh. 13:12), and as a Levitical city
was given to the Gershonite (1 Chr. 6:71). Uzzia, one of David’s valiant
men (1 Chr. 11:44), is named
as of thiscity.
It is identified
with Tell Ashterah, in the Hauran,
and is noticed on monuments B.C. 1700-1500. The name Beesh-terah (Josh.
21:27)
is a contraction for Beth-eshterah, i.e., “the house of
Ashtaroth.”
Asshur
second son of Shem (Gen.
10:22; 1 Chr. 1:17)
He went from the
land of Shinar and built Nineveh, etc. (Gen. 10:11-12).
He
probably gave his name to Assyria,
which is the usual translation of the word, although the form Asshur is
sometimes retained (Num. 24:22, 24; Ezek. 27:23, etc.).
In Gen. 2:14 “Assyria”
ought to be “Asshur,” which
was the original capital of Assyria,
a city represented by the mounds of Kalah Sherghat, on the west bank of
the
Tigris. This city was founded by Bel-kap-kapu about B.C.
1700. At a later date the capital was shifted to Ninua, or Nineveh,
now Koyunjik, on the eastern
bank of the river.
Ataroth
Meaning: crowns
The name of three
different biblical cities:
1.
A city east of Jordan,
not far from Gilead (Num. 32:3).
2.
A town on the border of Ephraim and Benjamin (Josh.
16:2, 7), called also Ataroth-adar (16:5).
Now ed-Da'rieh.
3.
“Ataroth, the house of Joab” (1 Chr.
2:54), a town of Judah inhabited by the descendants of Caleb.
Athens
the capital city
of Attica, the most celebrated city of the ancient world, the seat of
Greek
literature and art during the golden period of Grecian history
Its inhabitants
were fond of novelty (Acts 17:21), and were remarkable for their zeal
in the
worship of the gods. It was a sarcastic saying of the Roman satirist
that it
was “easier to find a god at Athens than a man.”
On his second
missionary journey Paul visited this city (Acts 17:15; compare 1
Thess. 3:1), and delivered in the Areopagus his famous speech
(17:22-31). The altar of which Paul there
speaks as dedicated “to the [properly an] unknown God”
(23) was probably one of several which bore the same inscription. It is
supposed that they originated in the practice of letting loose a flock
of sheep
and goats in the streets of Athens on the occasion of a plague, and of
offering
them up in sacrifice, at the spot where they lay down, “to the
god concerned.”
Aven
Meaning:
nothingness; vanity
1.
Hosea speaks of the “high
places of Aven” (10:8), by which he means Bethel. He also
calls
it Beth-aven, i.e., “the house of vanity” (4:15),
because of the golden
calves Jeroboamhad set up there (1 Kings 12:28).
2.
Translated by the LXX. “On”
in Ezek. 30:17. The Egyptian Heliopolis or city
of On (q.v.).
3.
In Amos 1:5 it denotes
the Syrian Heliopolis, the modern Baalbec.
Author:
Matthew G. Easton, Edited by: Paul S. Taylor.
Azekah
Meaning: dug over
Azekah was a town
in the Shephelah or low hills of Judah (Josh. 15:35), where
the five
confederated Amorite kings were defeated by Joshua and
their army destroyed by a hailstorm(10:10-11). It was one of the
places re-occupied by the Jews on their return from the Captivity (Neh.
11:30).
Author: Matthew G.
Easton, with minor editing by Paul S.
Taylor.
B
Baal
Meaning:
lord.
This
was the name of a false-god, a man, and a
place:
1.
Baal was the name used for the
principal male god of the Phoenicians. It is found in
several
places in the plural BAALIM (Judg. 2:11; 10:10; 1 Kings
18:18; Jer. 2:23; Hos. 2:17).
Baal
is identified
with Molech/Moloch (Jer. 19:5). It was known to the
Israelites as
Baal-peor (Num. 25:3; Deut. 4:3), was worshipped till
the time
of Samuel (1 Sam 7:4), and was afterwards the religion of the
ten tribes in the time of Ahab (1 Kings
16:31-33; 18:19, 22). It prevailed also for a time in the
kingdom
of Judah (2 Kings 8:27; compare11:18; 16:3; 2 Chr.
28:2),
till finally put an end to by the severe discipline of
the Captivity (Zeph.
1:4-6). The priests of Baal were in great numbers (1 Kings 18:19), and
of
various classes (2 Kings 10:19). Their mode of
offering sacrifices is
described in 1 Kings 18:25-29.
The sun-god,
under the
general title of Baal, or “lord,” was the chief object
of worship of
the Canaanites. Each locality had its special Baal, and the
various local
Baals were summed up under the name of Baalim, or “lords.”
Each
Baal had a wife, who was a
colourless reflection of himself.
Baalah
Meaning: mistress; city.
This was the name
of two biblical cities and one mountain:
1.
A city in the south of Judah (Josh.
15:29), elsewhere called Balah (Josh. 19:3) and Bilhah (1
Chr. 4:29). Now Khurbet Zebalah.
2.
A city on the northern border of the tribe of
Judah (Josh. 15:10), called also
Kirjath-jearim, q.v. (15:9; 1
Chr. 13:6)
3.
A mountain on the northwestern boundary of Judah and Dan (Josh.
15:11).
Baalbec
This city was
called Heliopolis by the Greeks, i.e., “the city of the sun,”
because of its famous Temple of
the Sun.
Some have supposed
that this was Solomon’s “house of the forest of Lebanon”
(1 Kings 7:2; 10:17; 2 Chr. 9:16); others identified it
with Baal-gad (q.v.).
Baalbec was a city about 42 miles
northwest of Damascus. It was one of the most
splendid of Syrian cities, existing from a remote
antiquity. After sustaining several sieges under the Moslems and
others, it was
finally destroyed by an earthquake in 1759. Its ruins are very large.
Baale of Judah
Meaning: lords of Judah.
This was the name
of a city in the tribe of Judah from which David brought
the ark into Jerusalem (2 Sam. 6:2). Elsewhere (1
Chr. 13:6)
called Kirjath-jearim.
Baal-gad
Meaning: lord of
fortune, or troop of Baal.
This was the name
of a Canaanite city in the valley of Lebanon at the
foot of Hermon, hence called Baal-hermon (Judge. 3:3; 1
Chr. 5:23), near the source of the Jordan (Josh. 13:5;11:17; 12:7).
It was the most northern point
to which Joshua’s conquests extended. It probably
derived its name from the worship of Baal.
Its modern representative is Banias. Some have supposed it to be the
same as Baalbec.
Baal-hazor
Meaning: having a
courtyard, or Baal’s village.
This was the name
of the place on the borders of Ephraim and Benjamin where Absalom held
the feast of sheep-shearing when Amnon was assassinated (2
Sam. 13:23).
Probably it is the same with Hazor (Neh. 11:33), now Tell'
Asur, 5 miles
northeast of Bethel.
Baal-hermon
Meaning: lord of Hermon.
1.
A city near Mount Hermon inhabited by the Ephraimites
(1 Chr. 5:23). Probably identical with Baal-gad (Josh. 11:17).
2.
A mountain east of Lebanon (Judg. 3:3).
Probably it may be the
same as Mount Hermon, or one of its three peaks.
Babylon
the Greek form of BABEL;
Semitic form Babilu,
meaning “The Gate of God.”
In the Assyrian tablets it means “The city of the
dispersion of the tribes.”
The monumental
list of its kings reaches back to B.C. 2300, and
includes Khammurabi, or Amraphel (q.v.), the contemporary of Abraham.
It stood on the Euphrates, about 200 miles above its
junction with the Tigris, which flowed through its midst and divided it
into
two almost equal parts.
The Elamites invaded Chaldea (i.e.,
Lower Mesopotamia, or Shinar, and Upper Mesopotamia, or Accad,
now combined into one) and held
it in subjection. At length Khammu-rabi delivered it from the foreign
yoke, and
founded the new empire of Chaldea (q.v.), making Babylon the
capital of
the united kingdom.
This city gradually
grew in extent and grandeur, but in time it became subject to Assyria.
When Nineveh fell (B.C. 606) it threw off the Assyrian yoke,
and became the capital of the
growing Babylonian empire. Under Nebuchadnezzar it
became one of the most splendid cities of the ancient world.
After passing
through various vicissitudes, the city was occupied by Cyrus,
“king of Elam,”
B.C. 538, who issued a decree permitting the Jews to return to
their own land (Ezra 1). It then
ceased to be the capital of an empire. It was again and again visited
by
hostile armies, till its inhabitants were all driven from their homes,
and the
city became a complete desolation, its very site being forgotten from
among
men.
On the west bank
of the Euphrates, about 50 miles
south of Bagdad, there is a series of artificial mounds of vast extent.
These
are the ruins of this once famous, proud city. These ruins are
principally:
1.
the great mound called Babil by the Arabs. This was
probably the noted
Temple of Belus, which was a pyramid about 480 feet high.
2.
The Kasr (i.e., “the palace”). This was the
great
palace of Nebuchadnezzar. It is almost a square, each side of which is
about
700 feet long. The little town of Hillah, near the site of Babylon, is
built
almost wholly of bricks taken from this single mound.
3.
A lofty mound, on the summit of which stands a modern
tomb called Amran ibn-Ali. This is probably the most ancient portion of
the
remains of the city, and represents the ruins of the famous
hanging-gardens, or
perhaps of some royal palace. The utter desolation of the city once
called “The
glory of kingdoms” (Isa.13:19) was foretold by theprophets (Isa.13:4-22; Jer.
25:12; 50:2-3; Dan. 2:31-38).
The Iraqi leader,
Sadam Hussein, has rebuilt parts of the city.
The Babylon
mentioned in 1 Pet. 5:13 was not Rome, as some have
thought, but the
literal city of Babylon, which was inhabited by many Jews at
the time Peter wrote.
In Rev. 14:8; 16:19; 17:5;
and 18:2, “Babylon” is supposed to mean Rome, not
considered as pagan, but as
the prolongation of the ancient power in the papal form. Rome, pagan
and papal,
is regarded as one power. “The literal Babylon was the beginner
and supporter
of tyranny and idolatry… This
city and its whole empire were taken by the Persians under Cyrus;
the Persians were subdued by the Macedonians, and the
Macedonians by
the Romans; so that Rome
succeeded to the power of old Babylon. And it was her method to adopt
the
worship of the false deities she had conquered; so that by her own act
she
became the heiress and successor of all the Babylonian idolatry, and of
all
that was introduced into it by the immediate successors of Babylon, and
consequently of all the idolatry of the Earth.” Rome, or
“mystical Babylon,” is
“that great city which reigneth over the kings of the
Earth” (17:18).
Baghdad
a major city in
modern day Iraq, formerly the kingdom
of Babylon
Bajith
Meaning: House.
Bajith was the
name of a city, probably in Moab,
which had a celebrated idol-temple (Isa. 15:2). It has also been
regarded as
denoting simply the temple of the idol of Moab as opposed to
the “high place.”
Balah
a city in the
tribe of Simeon (Josh. 19:3), elsewhere called Bilhah
(1 Chr. 4:29) and Baalah (Josh. 15:29)
Bashan-havoth-jair
“Bashan-havoth-jair”
was the Bashan of the villages of Jair, the general name given to Argob
by Jair, the son of Manasseh (Deut. 3:14), containing
sixty cities
with walls and brazen gates (Josh. 13:30; 1
Kings 4:13).
Beeroth
Meaning: wells
one of the four
cities of the Hivites which entered by fraud into a league with
Joshua
It belonged to Benjamin (Josh.
18:25). It has by some been
identified with el-Bireh on the way to Nablus, 10 miles north of Jerusalem.
Beersheba
Meaning: well of
the oath, or well of seven
a well dug by Abraham, and so
named because he and Abimelech here entered into a compact
(Gen.
21:31)
On re-opening it, Isaac gave
it the same name (Gen. 26:31-33).
It was a favorite place of abode of both of these patriarchs (21:33-22:1,
19; 26:33; 28:10). It is mentioned among the
“cities” given to the tribe of Simeon (Josh. 19:2; 1
Chr. 4:28). From Dan to Beersheba, a
distance of about 144 miles (Judg. 20:1; 1
Chr. 21:2; 2 Sam. 24:2), became
the usual way of designating the whole Promised Land, and passed into a
proverb. After the return from the Captivity the phrase is narrowed
into “from
Beersheba unto the valley of Hinnom”
(Neh. 11:30). The kingdom of the ten tribes extended from Beersheba to
Mount
Ephraim (2 Chr. 19:4). The name is not found in the New Testament. It
is still
called by the Arabs Bir es-Seba, i.e., “well of the seven,”
where there are to
the present day two principal wells and five smaller ones. It is nearly
midway
between the southern end of the Dead
Sea and the Mediterranean.
Bela
Meaning: a thing
swallowed
The name of a
biblical city and three men…
1.
a city on the shore of the Dead Sea, not
far from Sodom, called
also Zoar
It
was the only one of the five cities that was spared at Lot’s intercession
(Gen. 19:20, 23). It is
first mentioned in Gen. 14:2, 8.
2.
the eldest son of Benjamin (Num. 26:38;
“Belah,” Gen. 46:21)
3.
King Bela, the son of Beor, and a king of Edom (Gen.
36:32-33; 1 Chr. 1:43)
4.
a son of Azaz (1 Chr. 5:8)
Berea
a city of Macedonia to which Paul with Silas and Timotheus went
when persecuted at Thessalonica
(Acts 17:10, 13), and from which also he was compelled to withdraw,
when he
fled to the seacoast and thence sailed to Athens (14, 15)
Sopater, one of Paul's companions
belonged to this
city, and his conversion probably took place at this time
(Acts
20:4). It is now called Verria.
Betah
Meaning:
confidence
a city belonging
to Hadadezer, king of
Zobah, which yielded much spoil of brass to David (2 Sam. 8:8)
In 1 Chr. 18:8 it
is called Tibhath.
Beth-anath
Meaning: house of
response
one of the fenced cities of
Naphtali (Josh. 19:38)
It is perhaps
identical with the modern village 'Ainata, 6 miles west of Kedesh.
Beth-anoth
Meaning: house of
answers
a city in the mountainous
district of Judah (Josh. 15:59). It has been identified with the modern
Beit-'Anun, about 3 miles northeast of Hebron.
Beth-arabah
Meaning: house of
the desert
one of the six
cities of Judah, situated in the
sunk valley of the Jordan and Dead
Sea (Josh. 18:22)
In Josh. 15:61 it is said to
have been “in the wilderness.”
It was afterwards
included in the towns of Benjamin.
It is called Arabah (Josh. 18:18).
Beth-dagon
Meaning: house of Dagon
The name of two
biblical cities…
1.
A city in the low country or plain of Judah, near
Philistia (Josh. 15:41); the modern Beit Degan, about 5 miles from Lydda.
2.
A city near the southeast border of Asher (Josh.
19:27). It was a Philistine colony. It is identical with the
modern ruined village of Tell D'auk.
Beth-diblathaim
Meaning: house of
two cakes of figs
a city of Moab, upon which Jeremiah (48:22)
denounced destruction
It is called also
Almon-diblathaim (Num. 33:46) and Diblath (Ezek. 6:14). (Revised
Version,
“Diblah.”)
Bethel
Meaning: house of God
1.
A place in Central Israel, about 10 miles north of Jerusalem,
at the head of the pass of Michmash and Ai.
It
was originally the royal Canaanite city of Luz (Gen.
28:19).
The
name Bethel was at first apparently given to the sanctuary in
the neighborhood of Luz, and was not given to the city
itself till after its conquest by Ephraim.
When Abram entered Canaan,
he formed his second
encampment between Bethel and Hai (Gen. 12:8); and on his return from Egypt he
came back to it, and again “called
upon the name of the Lord” (13:4).
Here Jacob, on
his way from Beersheba to Haran,
had a vision of the angels of God ascending
and descending on the ladder whose top reached unto heaven (28:10,
19); and on his return he
again visited this place, “where God talked with
him” (35:1-15), and there
he “built an altar, and called
the place El-beth-el” (q.v.). To this second occasion ofGod's
speaking with
Jacob at Bethel, Hosea (12:4,5) makes reference.
In
troublous times the people went to Bethel to ask counsel of God (Judg.
20:18, 31; 21:2). Here the ark of
the covenant was kept for a long time under the
care of Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron (20:26-28). Here
also Samuel held in rotation his court of justice (1
Sam. 7:16).
It
was included in Israel after the kingdom was divided, and it
became one of the seats of the worship of the golden calf (1
Kings 12:28-33; 13:1). Hence the prophet Hosea(Hos. 4:15; 5:8; 10:5,
8) calls it in contempt Beth-aven,
i.e., “house of idols.”
Bethel
remained an abode of priests even after the kingdom
of Israel was desolated by the king of Assyria (2
Kings 17:28, 29). At length all
traces of the idolatries were extirpated by Josiah, king of Judah (2
Kings 23:15-18); and the place was
still in existence after the Captivity (Ezra 2:28; Neh.
7:32).
It
has been identified with the ruins of Beitin, a small village amid
extensive
ruins some 9 miles south of Shiloh.
2.
Mount Bethel was a hilly district near Bethel (Josh.
16:1; 1 Sam. 13:2).
3.
A town in the south of Judah (Josh. 8:17; 12:16).
Beth-gamul
Meaning: camel-house
a city in the
“plain country” of Moab denounced by the prophet (Jer.
48:23); probably the
modern Um-el-Jemal, near Bozrah,
one of the deserted cities of the Hauran.
Bethlehem (Beth-lehem)
Meaning: house of
bread
The name of two
biblical cities…
1.
A city in the “hill country” of Judah
It
was originally called Ephrath (Genesis 35:16, 19; 48:7; Ruth
4:11). It was also called
Beth-lehem Ephratah (Micah 5:2), Beth-lehem-judah (1 Sam.
17:12), and “the city of David”
(Luke 2:4).
Bethsaida
/ Beth Saida
Meaning:
house of fish
The
name of one or two biblical cities…
Shore
of
the Sea of Galilee, showing the location of Bethsaida (1, below),
near Capernaum. Photo provided by ChristianAnswers
Associate, BiblePlaces.
1.
A town in Galilee, on the
west side of the Sea of Galilee , in the “land
of Gennesaret.”
It was the native place of Peter, Andrew, and Philip,
and was
frequently resorted to byJesus (Mark 6:45; John
1:44; 12:21). It
is supposed to have been at the modern 'Ain Tabighah,
a bay to the
north of Gennesaret.
2.
A city near
which Christ fed 5,000 (Luke 9:10; compare John
6:17; Matt. 14:15-21), and where the blind man had his
sight
restored (Mark 8:22), on the east side of the lake, two miles up
the Jordan. It stood within the region of Gaulonitis, and was
enlarged
by Philip the tetrarch, who called it “Julias,” after
the emperor’s
daughter. Or, as some have supposed, there may have been but one
Bethsaida
built on both sides of the lake, near where the Jordan enters it. Now
the ruins
et-Tel.
Author:
Matthew G. Easton, with minor editing by Paul S. Taylor.
Beth-shean / Bethshan
Meaning: house of
security or rest
a city which
belonged to Manasseh (1 Chr. 7:29), on the west of Jordan.
The bodies of Saul and
his sons were fastened to its walls. In Solomon’s time
it gave its name to a district (1
Kings 4:12). The name is found in an abridged form, Bethshan, in 1
Sam. 31:10, 12 and 2
Sam. 21:12. It is on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus,
about 5 miles from the Jordan, and 14 from the south end of the Lake of Gennesaret.
After the Captivitym it was called
Scythopolis,
i.e., “the city of the Scythians,” who about B.C. 640 came
down from the
steppes of Southern Russia and settled in different places inSyria. It
is now
called Beisan.
Beth-shemesh
Meaning:
house of the sun
The
name of four biblical places…
1.
A sacerdotal city in the tribe
of Dan (Josh. 21:16; 1 Sam. 6:15), on the north border
of Judah (Josh. 15:10). It was the scene of an encounter
between Jehoash, king of Israel,
andAmaziah, king of Judah, in which the latter was made
prisoner (2
Kings 14:11,13).
It
was afterwards taken by
the Philistines (2 Chr. 28:18). It is the modern ruined
Arabic
village 'Ain-shems, on the northwest slopes of the mountains of Judah,
14 miles
west ofJerusalem.
See
the Christian archaeological
video which describes this ancient city: On the Promised Land:
Crossroads
of the World (part of the Faith Lessons video series).
“Unlike Samson, who succumbed to the evils of
the Philistine culture, our lives must be distinctive,
virtuous, and
godly if we are to effectively influence modern society.”
2.
A city
between Dothan and the Jordan, near the southern border
of Issachar (Josh. 19:22), 7 1/2 miles south
of Beth-shean. It
is the modern Ain-esh-Shemsiyeh.
3.
One of the fenced
cities of Naphtali (Josh. 19:38), between Mount Tabor and the
Jordan. Now
Khurbet Shema, 3 miles west of Safed. But perhaps the same as No. 2.
4.
An idol sanctuary in Egypt (Jer.
43:13); called by the Greeks Heliopolis, and by the Egyptians On
(q.v.), Gen. 41:45.
Author:
Matthew G. Easton, with minor editing by Paul S. Taylor.
Bethuel
Meaning: man of
God, or virgin of God, or house
of God
The name of a
biblical man and a city…
1.
The son of Nahor by Milcah; nephew of Abraham,
and father of Rebekah (Gen. 22:22, 23; 24:15, 24, 47).
He appears in person
only once (24:50).
2.
A southern city of Judah (1 Chr. 4:30); called also
Bethul (Josh. 19:4) and Bethel (12:16; 1 Sam. 30:27).
Bezer
Meaning: ore of
gold or silver
The name of a
biblical city and a man…
1.
A city of the Reubenites; one of the three cities of
refuge on the east of Jordan (Deut. 4:43; Josh.
20:8). It has been identified with the modern ruined village of
Burazin, some
12 miles north of Heshbon; also
with Kasur-el-Besheir, 2 miles southwest of Dibon.
2.
A descendant of Asher (1 Chr. 7:37).
Bozrah
Meaning:
enclosure; sheepfold; fortress.
The name of two
biblical cities…
1.
The city of Jobab,
one of the early Edomite kings (Gen. 36:33). This place is
mentioned
by the prophets in later times (Isa. 34:6; Jer.
49:13; Amos 1:12; Micah 2:12). It lies in the mountain
district of Petra, 20 miles to the southeast of
the Dead Sea.
2.
A Moabite city in the “plain
country” (Jer.
48:24), i.e., on the high level down on the east of the Dead Sea.
C
Cabul
Meaning: how
little! as nothing
This was the name
of two biblical places…
1.
A town on the eastern border of Asher (Josh.
19:27), probably one of the
towns given by Solomon to Hiram;
the modern Kabul, some 8 miles east of Accho,
on the very borders of Galilee.
2.
A district in the northwest of Galilee, near to Tyre,
containing twenty cities given to Hiram by Solomon as a reward for
various
services rendered to him in building the temple (1 Kings
9:13), and as
payment of the six score talents of gold he had borrowed from
him. Hiram gave the cities this
name because he was not pleased with the gift, the name signifying
“good for
nothing.” Hiram seems afterwards to have restored these cities to
Solomon (2
Chr. 8:2).
Caesara Philippi
a city on the
northeast of the marshy plain of el-Huleh, 120 miles north of Jerusalem,
and 20 miles north of the Sea of Galilee, at the “upper
source”
of the Jordan, and near the base
of Mount Hermon
It is mentioned in Matt. 16:13 and Mark
8:27 as the northern limit of our
Lord’s public ministry. According to some its original name was Baal-Gad (Josh.
11:17), or Baal-hermon (Judg. 3:3; 1 Chr. 5:23), when it
was a Canaanite sanctuary of Baal.
It was afterwards
called Panium or Paneas, from a deep cavern full of water near the
town. This
name was given to the cavern by the Greeks of the Macedonian kingdom
of Antiochbecause of its likeness to the
grottos of Greece, which were
always associated with the worship of their god Pan.
Its modern name is
Banias.
Here Herod built a
temple, which he dedicated to Augustus
Caesar. This town was afterwards enlarged and embellished by Herod
Philip, the tetrarch of
Trachonitis, of whose territory it formed a part, and was called by him
Caesarea Philippi, partly after his own name, and partly after that of
the
emperor Tiberius Caesar. It is
thus distinguished from the Caesarea of Israel.
Author: Matthew G.
Easton .
Caesarea
also known as
Palestinae, a city on the shore of the Mediterranean, on the great road
from
Tyre to Egypt, about 70 miles northwest of Jerusalem,
at the northern extremity of the plain of Sharon
It was built by Herod the Great (B.C.
10), who named it after Caesar
Augustus, hence called Caesarea Sebaste (Greek: Sebastos =
“Augustus”), on the site of an old
town called “Strato’s Tower.” It was the capital of
the Roman province of Judaea, the seat of the governors or
procurators, and the headquarters
of the Roman troops. It was the great Gentile city of Judea,
with a spacious
artificial harbor.
It was adorned
with many buildings of great splendour, after the manner
of the Roman cities of the West. Here Cornelius the centurion was
converted through the
instrumentality ofPeter (Acts
10:1, 24), and thus for the first time the door of faith was opened to
the
Gentiles. Philip the evangelist resided here with
his four daughters
(21:8). From this place Saul sailed for his native Tarsus
when
forced to flee from Jerusalem (9:30), and here he landed when
returning from his second missionary journey (18:22). He remained as a
prisoner
here for two years before his voyage to Rome (Acts 24:27; 25:1, 4,
6, 13).
Here on a “set
day,” when games were celebrated in the theatre in
honor of the emperor Claudius, Herod Agrippa I appeared
among the people in great
pomp, and in the midst of theidolatrous homage
paid to him was suddenly smitten by an angel,
and carried out a dying man. He was “eaten of worms”
(12:19-23), thus perishing
by the same loathsome disease as his grandfather, Herod the Great.
It still retains
its ancient name Kaiseriyeh, but is now desolate. “The present
inhabitants of
the ruins are snakes, scorpions, lizards,
wild boars, and jackals.” It is
described as the most desolate city of all Israel.
Author: Matthew G.
Easton .
Calah
one of the most
ancient cities of Assyria
“Out of that land
he [i.e., Nimrod] went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh,
Rehoboth-Ir, and Calah, and Resen” (Gen. 10:11, Revised
Version).
Its site is now
marked probably by the Nimrud ruins on the left bank of the Tigris.
These cover
an area of about 1,000 acres, and are second only in size and
importance to the
mass of ruins opposite Mosul. This city was at one time the
capital of the
empire, and was the residence of Sardanapalus and his successors down
to the
time of Sargon, who built a new
capital, the modern Khorsabad. It has been conjectured that these four
cities
mentioned in Gen. 10:11 were afterwards all united into one
and called Nineveh (q.v.).
Calneh
Meaning: fort
one of the cities
founded by Nimrod (Gen. 10:10)
It is the modern
Niffer, a lofty mound of earth and rubbish situated in the marshes on
the left,
i.e., the east, bank of the Euphrates,
but 30 miles distant from its present course, and about 60 miles
south-southeast from Babylon. It
is mentioned as one of the towns with which Tyre carried on
trade. It was finally taken
and probably destroyed by one of the Assyrian kings(Amos 6:2).
It is called Calno
(Isa. 10:9) and Canneh (Ezek. 27:23).
Camon
Meaning: full of
stalks
a place (Judg.
10:5) where Jair was buried
It has usually
been supposed to have been a city of Gilead,
on the east of Jordan.
It is probably,
however, the modern Tell-el-Kaimun, on the southern slopes of Carmel,
the Jokneam of Carmel (Josh. 12:22; 1 Kings 4:12), since
it is not at all
unlikely that after he became judge, Jair might
find it more convenient to live on the west side of Jordan; and
that he was buried where
he had lived.
Capernaum (Capharnaum,
Kfar Nahum)
Meaning: Nahum’s town
Modern
shore of the Sea of Galilee, showing the location of Capernaum.
Archaeological evidence indicates the town did not begin until the 2nd
century
B.C., which explains why it is only mentioned in the New Testament, not
the
Old. It is located below sea level, and is 10 miles (16 kilometers)
fromTiberias. The ruins can be reached by road and by boat.
Capernaum
was a large Galilean fishing
village and busy trading center. This place is of special interest to
Christians because of its frequent mention in the history of Jesus
Christ.
Peter, Andrew, James and John also lived here. It played a unique and
important
part in Christ’s life and ministry, and in his outreach to the
people of
Israel. The inhabitants of Capernaum, including various high ranking
citizens,
were given unique and abundant opportunities to hear Jesus
Christ’s message
firsthand and witness His awesome power and love.
2.5
miles (4 km) from the Jordan River,
Capernaum stood on the northwestern shore of the Sea of
Galilee (modern Lake Kinneret, which the Bible also called
the lake
of Gennesaret,Sea of Chinnereth and the Sea of Tiberias). The
ancient
city of Capernaum was abandoned about a thousand years ago or more, and
was
rediscovered by archaeologists beginning in the 1800s. In modern times,
it is
called Kefar Nahum (Hebrew) and Talhum (Arabic).
Ancient
Via Maris highway milestone at Capernaum.
The Gennesaret area
was one of the most
prosperous and crowded districts of Israel. Capernaum lay on the great
Via
Maris highway between Damascus (Syria) and Caesarea
Maritima on the Mediterranean Sea, and
between Tyre and Egypt. Customs taxes were
collected
from travelers at this crossroads (Matthew 9:9). This was the job
of Levi,
the tax collector, who became Christ’s disciple and was
later
named Matthew. Jews criticized Jesus for befriending him
and
other tax collectors.
Caravans
stopped at Capernaum to resupply
themselves with produce and dried fish. At the lake shore, where Peter
and
other fishermen worked, archaeologists discovered a fish sales area.
This
well-built structure measured 2 meters in
width and 5 meters in length and contained two large, rather shallow,
semicircular pools, one at each end, with a rectangular platform in the
middle
on which, presumably, the fish were cleaned and sold… The two
pools had a thick
coat of watertight plaster. [Herold Weiss, “Recent Work at
Capernaum,” Bible and Spade, Vol. 10, No. 1 (Associates for
Biblical
Research, 1981), p. 24.]
After
our Lord’s expulsion
from Nazareth (Matt. 4:13-16; Luke 4:16-31), Capernaum
became
his “own city.” It was the scene of many acts and incidents
of his life (Matt.
8:5, 14,15;9:2-6, 10-17; 15:1-20; Mark 1:32-34,
etc.).
Well-preserved
ruins of Capernaum’s white stone synagogue that
replaced the one
built by the centurion .
Excavations revealed one residence that stood out from the others. This
house
was the object of early Christian attention with 2nd century graffiti
and a 4th
century house church built above it. In the 5th century a large
octagonal
Byzantine church was erected above this, complete with a baptistery.
Pilgrims
referred to this as the house of the apostle Peter.
SYNAGOGUE—The
Bible tells us that a
Roman centurion built a synagogue here for
the Jews (Luke 7:1-5). His servant was later healed from
severe palsy
by Jesus (Matt. 8:5-13;Luke 7:1-10). The remains of what must have been
a
beautiful basalt synagogue has been discovered by
archaeologists. As
expected for such a sacred building, it was found at the highest point
in town.
Capernaum
synagogue wall with earlier basalt level below—the remains of the
synagogue
where Jesus taught
This
is the synagogue where our Lord frequently
taught (John 6:59; Mark 1:21; Luke 4:33). Here, Jesus cured
a demon-posssed man (Mark 1:21-28) and delivered the sermon
on the
bread of life (John 6:25-59). He even restored the life of the daughter
of one
rulers of this synagogue (Mark 5:22; Luke 8:41).
The
synagogue is near the lake, and is built so
that when the Jews prayed here, they faced Jerusalem. It was
destroyed
along with Jerusalem's temple, around 70 A.D. Many years later, it
was
replaced with a white stone synagogue (perhaps 250-300 A.D.) (shown
above).
PETER’S
HOUSE - Only a few hundred feet from
the synagogue, the stone house of the disciple Peter has also
been
found at Capernaum. This is where Jesus healed Peter’s
mother-in-law
and others (Matthew 8:14-16). Jesus may have lived with Peter while
staying in
Capernaum. In the years following Jesus' death and resurrection, the
house
apparently became a house-church. Centuries
later, Christians honored the site by building a church here.
It was
destroyed in a later conquest of the city. Archaeologists have
excavated both
the church and the earlier house below. Stanislao Loffreda reported,
Archaeological
reconstruction of Peter’s house as it may have appeared at Jesus'
time.
Literary
sources and recent archaeological
discoveries make the identification of the house of St. Peter in
Capernaum
virtually certain.
The house was built at the very end of the Hellenistic period (first
century
B.C.). In the second half of the first century A.D. some peculiar
features set
apart this building from all the others so far excavated in Capernaum.
Here, in
fact, the pavements received floors of lime several times.
Interesting enough, many pieces of broken lamps were found in the thin
layers
of lime. …One hundred and thirty-one inscriptions were found.
They were written
in four languages, namley: in Greek (110), Aramaic (10), Estrangelo
(9), and
Latin (2).
The name of Jesus appears several times. He is called Christ, the Lord,
and the
Most High God. An inscription in Estrangelo mentions the Eucharist.
There are also symbols and monograms, namely:
crosses of
different forms, a boat, the monogram of Jesus. The name of St. Peter
occurs at
least twice: his monogram is written in Latin but with Greek letters.
In
another graffito St. Peter is called the helper of Rome. A third
inscription
mentions Peter and Berenike. This Peter, however, might be the name of
a
pilgrim. On several hundred pieces of plaster, decorative motifs
appear. The
colors employed are: green, blue, yellow, red, brown, white and
black.
Among the subjects one can distinguish floral crosses, pomegranates,
figs,
trifolium, stylized flowers and geometric designs such as circles,
squares,
etc.
…At the beginning of the fifth century, the house of
St. Peter was
still standing, but it had been previously changed into a church. This
we learn
from Eteria, a Spanish pilgrim, who wrote in her diary: “In
Capernaum, the
house of the Prince of the Apostles (=St. Peter) became a church. The
walls,
however, (of that house) have remained unchanged to the present
day.”
[Stanislao Loffreda, “Caperaum - Jesus' Own
City,” Bible and Spade, Vol.
10, No. 1 (Associates for Biblical Research, 1981), pp. 12, 7-8.]
Mary,
the mother of Jesus, made her way to
Capernaum with her other sons (Matt. 12:46,48,49). It was here that
Christ
uttered the memorable words, “Who is my mother? and who are my
brethren? And he
stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my
mother and
my brethren!”
Some miracles of
Christ that occurred at
Capernaum are:
Jesus
restored the life of the Capernaum synagogue ruler’s
daughter.
Dead daughter
of Jairus raised (Mark 5:22; Luke 8:41)
Drove evil spirit
from a man in the synagogue (Mark 1:21-28)
Paralyzed man let
down through the roof and healed (Mark 2:1-12)
Jesus caused four
of disciples to catch fish in a miraculous way (Luke 5:1-11)
Through a fish,
Jesus supplied tribute tax money needed by Peter (Matthew 17:24-27)
Healing of the
centurion’s servant afflicted with palsy (Matt. 8:5-13)
Healing of the son
of a nobleman in the King’s court (Herod Antipas) (John
4:46-54)
Healing many other
people and casting out demons, as “all the city was gathered
together at the door” (Mark 1:29-34)
Despite
the unique number of evidences our Lord
presented to them, most of the people of Capernaum remained unrepentant
disbelievers. Because they turned so strongly away from the uniquely
gracious
light given, they were strongly judged. “For unto whomsoever much
is given, of
him shall be much required…” (Luke 12:48). Thus, along
with
nearby Chorazinand Bethsaida, Capernaum received a very stern
warning
from Jesus (Matt. 11:21-24). “It shall be more tolerable for the
land of Sodom
in the day of judgment, than for thee.” Ultimately, the cities
were all
destroyed, and Capernaum became virtually uninhabited ruins for
centuries.
Today,
Capernaum’s inhabitants consist of a Franciscan
Monastery and a nearby Greek Orthodox Church.
Author:
Paul S. Taylor and Matthew G. Easton.
Carchemish
Meaning: fortress
of Chemosh
a city on the west
bank of the Euphrates (Jer. 46:2; 2 Chr. 35:20), not, as
was once
supposed, the Circesium at the confluence of the Chebar and
the Euphrates, but a city
considerably higher up the river, and commanding the ordinary passage
of the
Euphrates; probably identical with Hierapolis
It was the capital
of the kingdom of the northern Hittites.
The Babylonian army, under Nebuchadnezzar,
the son of Nabopolassar, here met and conquered the army of Pharaoh
Necho,king of Egypt (B.C. 607). It is mentioned
in monuments in B.C. 1600 and down to B.C. 717.
Cenchrea
Meaning: millet
the eastern harbor
of Corinth, from which it was
distant about 9 miles east, and the outlet for its trade with the
Asiatic
shores of the Mediterranean
When Paul returned
from his second missionary journey to Syria,
he sailed from this port (Acts 18:18). In Rom.
16:1 he speaks as if there were
at the time of his writing that epistle an organized church there. The
western
harbor of Corinth was Lechaeum, about a mile and a half from the city.
It was
the channel of its trade with Italy and the west.
Chephirah
Meaning: village
one of the four
cities of the Gibeonitish Hivites with whom Joshua made a league (9:17).
It belonged to Benjamin
It has been
identified with the modern Kefireh, on the west confines of Benjamin,
about 2 miles west of Ajalon and 11 from Jerusalem.
Chinnereth
Meaning: lyre
the singular form
of the word (Deut. 3:17; Josh.
19:35), which is also used in the plural form, Chinneroth, the name of a fenced
city which stood near the shore of the lake
of Galilee, a little to the south of Tiberias
The town seems to
have given its name to a district, as appears from 1 Kings 15:20,
where the plural form
of the word is used.
The Sea of
Chinnereth (Num. 34:11; Josh.
13:27), or of Chinneroth (Josh. 12: 3), was the “lake of Gennesaret”
or “sea of Tiberias”
(Deut. 3:17; Josh. 11:2).
Chinnereth was probably an ancient Canaanitish name adopted by the
Israelites
into their language.
Chor-ashan
Meaning: smoking furnace
one of the places
where “David himself and his men were wont to haunt” (1
Sam. 30:30, 31)
It is probably
identical with Ashan (Josh. 15:42; 19:7),
a Simeonite city in the Negeb, i.e., the south, belonging to Judah. The
word
ought, according to another reading, to be “Bor-ashan.”
Chorazin
Was named along
with Bethsaida and Capernaum as one of the cities in
which our Lord’s “mighty works” were done,
and which
was doomed to woe because of signal privileges neglected (Matt. 11:21; Luke
10:13).
It has been
identified by general consent with the modern Kerazeh, about 2½
miles up the
Wady Kerazeh from Capernaum;
i.e., Tell Hum.
Chun
one of the cities
of Hadarezer, king of Syria
David procured brass (i.e.,
bronze or copper) from it for the temple (1 Chr.
18:8). It is called Berothai in 2
Sam. 8:8; probably the same as Berothah in Ezek.
47:16.
Cinnereth
Meaning: a harp
one of the “fenced
cities” of Naphtali (Josh. 19:35; compare Deut.
3:17)
It also denotes,
apparently, a district which may have taken its name from the adjacent
city or
lake of Gennesaret, anciently
called “the sea of Chinnereth” (q.v.), and was probably
that enclosed district
north of Tiberias afterwards called “the plain of
Gennesaret.” Called
Chinneroth (Revised Version, Chinnereth) Josh. 11:2. The
phrase “all Cinneroth,
with all the land of Naphtali” in 1
Kings 15:20 is parallel to “the
store-houses of the cities of Naphtali” (Revised Version marginal
note) in 2 Chr. 16:4.
Colossae (or Colosse, Colassa,
Colasse)
The tell of the
ancient city of Colossae (viewed from the
north)
It was about 12
miles above Laodicea, and near
the great road from Ephesus to the Euphrates, and was
consequently of
some mercantile importance. It does not appear that Paul had
visited this city when he wrote his letter to the church there (Col.
1:2). He expresses in his letter to Philemon (verse 1:22)
his hope to visit it on being
delivered from his imprisonment. From Col.
1:7; 4:12 it has been concluded that Epaphras was
the founder of the Colossian church.
This town
afterwards fell into decay, and the modern town of Chonas or Chonum
occupies a
site near its ruins.
Author: Matthew G.
Easton.
Corinth
a Grecian city, on the
isthmus which joins the
Peloponnesus to the mainland of Greece
It is about 48
miles west of Athens. The ancient city was
destroyed by the Romans (B.C. 146), and that mentioned in the New
Testament was quite a new city, having been
rebuilt about a century afterwards and peopled by a colony of
freedmen from Rome.
It became under
the Romans the seat of government for Southern Greece or Achaia (Acts
18:12-16). It was noted for its
wealth, and for the luxurious and immoral and vicious habits of the
people. It
had a large mixed population of Romans, Greeks, and Jews.
When Paul first
visited the city (A.D. 51 or 52), Gallio,
the brother of Seneca, was proconsul. Here Paul resided for
eighteen months (18:1-18).
Here he first became aquainted withAquila and Priscilla, and
soon after his
departure Apollos came to it from Ephesus. After an
interval he visited
it a second time, and remained for three months (20:3).
During this second
visit his Epistle to the Romans was written (probably A.D.
55).
Although there were many Jewish converts at Corinth, yet the Gentile element
prevailed in the churchthere.
Some have argued
from 2 Cor. 12:14; 13:1, that Paul visited
Corinth a third time (i.e., that on some unrecorded occasion he visited
the
city between what are usually called the first and second visits). But
the
passages referred to only indicate Paul's
intention to visit Corinth (compare 1
Cor. 16:5, where the Greek present tense denotes an intention), an
intention
which was in some way frustrated. We can hardly suppose that such a
visit could
have been made by the apostle without more distinct reference to it.
Cuthah
one of the
Babylonian cities or districts from which Shalmaneser transplanted
certain
colonists to Samaria (2 Kings 17:24)
Some have
conjectured that the “Cutheans” were identical with the
“Cossaeans” who
inhabited the hill-country to the north of the river Choaspes. Cuthah
is now
identified with Tell Ibrahim, 15 miles northeast of Babylon.
Cyrene
a city (now
Tripoli) in Upper Libya, North
Africa, founded by a colony of Greeks (B.C. 630)
It contained
latterly a large number of Jews, who were introduced into the city by
Ptolemy,
the son of Lagus, because he thought they would contribute to the
security of
the place. They increased in number and influence; and we are thus
prepared for
the frequent references to them in connection with the early history of
Christianity. Simon, who bore our Lord’s cross, was a native of
this place
(Matt. 27:32; Mark 15:21). Jews
from Cyrene were in Jerusalem at Pentecost (Acts 2:10); and
Cyrenian
Jews had a synagogue at Jerusalem (6:9). Converts belonging
to Cyrene
contributed to the formation of the first Gentile church at Antioch (11:20).
Among “the prophets and
teachers” who “ministered to the Lord at Antioch”
was Luciusof Cyrene (13:1).
D
Damascus
Meaning: activity.
This is the name
of the most ancient of Oriental cities, the capital of Syria (Isa.
7:8; 17:3) located about 133 miles north of Jerusalem. It has
also been known by
the name Esh-Sham; i.e., “the East.” The location of this
city is said to be
the most beautiful of all Western Asia.
Damascus is
mentioned among the conquests of the Egyptian king Thothmes
III. (B.C. 1500), and in the Amarna tablets (B.C. 1400).
It is first
mentioned in Scripture in connection with Abraham's
victory over the confederate kings under Chedorlaomer (Gen.
14:15). It was the native place
of Abraham's steward (15:2). It
is not again noticed till the time of David, when “the Syrians of
Damascus came to succour Hadadezer” (q.v.), 2 Sam. 8:5; 1
Chr. 18:5. In the reign of Solomon,
Rezon became leader of a band who revolted from Hadadezer (1 Kings
11:23), and
betaking themselves to Damascus, settled there and made their leader king.
There was a long war, with
varying success, between the Israelites and Syrians,
who at a later period became allies of Israel against Judah (2 Kings
15:37).
The Syrians were at length
subdued by the
Assyrians, the city of Damascus was taken and destroyed, and the
inhabitants
carried captive into Assyria (2 Kings 16:7-9; compare Isa. 7:8).
In this, prophecy was fulfilled (Isa. 17:1; Amos 1:4; Jer.
49:24). The kingdom of Syria remained a province of Assyria
till
the capture of Nineveh by the Medes (B.C. 625),
when it fell under the
conquerors. After passing through various vicissitudes, Syria was
invaded by the Romans (B.C. 64),
and Damascus became the seat of the government of the province. In A.D.
37 Aretas, the king of
Arabia, became master of Damascus, having driven back Herod Antipas.
This city is
memorable as the scene of Saul’s conversion (Acts
9:1-25). The street called
“Straight,” in which Judas lived, in whose house
Saul was found
by Ananias, is known by the name
Sultany, or “Queen’s Street.” It is the principal
street of the city. Paul visited Damascus again on
his return from Arabia (Gal.
1:16-17). Christianity was planted here as a center (Acts 9:20), from
which it
spread to the surrounding regions.
In A.D. 634 Damascus was
conquered by the growing Islamic power. In A.D. 1516 it fell
under the
dominion of the Turks, its present rulers.
Dannah
Meaning: murmuring
a city (Josh.
15:49) in the mountains of Judah about 8 miles southwest of Hebron
Debir
Meaning: oracle town;
sanctuary
The name of a
biblical city, a place, and a king.
1.
one of the eleven cities to the west of Hebron,
in the highlands of Judah
(Josh. 15:49; Judg. 1:11-15)
It
was originally one of the towns of the Anakim (Josh. 15:15),
and was also called Kirjath-sepher (q.v.) and Kirjath-sannah (49). Caleb,
who had conquered and taken
possession of the town and district of Hebron (Josh. 14:6-15), offered
the hand
of his daughter to any one who would successfully lead a party against
Debir. Othniel, his younger brother (Judg.
1:13; 3:9), achieved the
conquest, and gained Achsah as his wife. She was not
satisfied with the
portion her father gave her, and as she was proceeding toward her new
home, she
“lighted from off her ass” and
said to him, “Give me a blessing [i.e., a dowry]:
for thou hast
given me a south land” (Josh. 15:19, Authorized Version); or, as
in the Revised
Version, “Thou hast set me in the land of the south,”
i.e., in the Negeb, outside the rich valley of Hebron, in the dry
and barren land.
“Give
me also springs of water. And he gave her the upper springs, and
the nether springs.”
Debir
has been identified with the modern Edh-Dhaheriyeh, i.e., “the well on
the ridge”, to the south of Hebron.
2.
a place near the “valley of Achor”
(Josh. 15:7), on the north
boundary of Judah, between Jerusalem and Jericho.
3.
King Debir
of Eglon, one of the five Canaanitish kings who were hanged by Joshua (Josh.
10:3, 23) after the victory at Gibeon
These kings fled
and took refuge in a cave at Makkedah. Here they were
kept confined
till Joshua returned from the pursuit of their discomfited armies, when
he
caused them to be brought forth, and “Joshua smote
them, and slew them, and hanged them on five trees”
Diblathaim
Meaning: two cakes
a city of Moab, on the east of the Dead
Sea (Num. 33:46; Jer. 48:22)
Dibon
Meaning: pining;
wasting
The name of two
biblical cities…
1.
A city in Moab (Num. 21:30); called also Dibon-gad
(33:45), because it was built by Gad and Dimon (Isa. 15:9). It has been
identified with the modern Diban, about 3 miles north of the Arnon and
12 miles east of the Dead Sea. (See Moabite stone.)
2.
A city of the tribe
of Judah, inhabited after the Captivity (Neh. 11:25); called also
Dimonah
(Josh. 15:22). It is probably the modern ed-Dheib.
Dimnah
Meaning: dunghill
a city of Zebulun
given to the Merarite Levites (Josh. 21:35)
In 1 Chr. 6:77 the name
“Rimmon” is substituted.
Dinhabah
Meaning: robbers'
den
an Edomitish city, the capital of king Bela (Gen.
36:32)
It is probably the
modern Dibdiba, a little northeast of Petra.
Dor
Meaning: dwelling
the Dora of the
Romans, an ancient royal city of the Canaanites (Josh. 11:1-2; 12:23)
It was the most
southern settlement of the Phoenicians on the coast of Syria.
The original inhabitants seem
never to have been expelled, although they were made tributary by David.
It was one of Solomon’s commissariat districts (Judg.
1:27; 1 Kings 4:11).
It has been
identified with Tantura (so named from the supposed resemblance of its tower to
a tantur, i.e., “a horn”). This tower fell in 1895,
and
nothing remains but debris and foundation walls, the remains of an old
Crusading fortress. It is about 8 miles north of Caesarea .”
Dothan
Meaning: two wells
a famous
pasture-ground where Joseph found his brethren watching their flocks
Here, at the
suggestion of Judah, they sold him to the Ishmaelite merchants (Gen.
37:17). It is mentioned on
monuments in B.C. 1600.
It was the
residence of Elisha (2 Kings 6:13), and the scene of a
remarkable vision of chariots and horses of fire surrounding
the
mountain on which the city stood. It is identified with the modern
Tell-Dothan,
on the south side of the plain of Jezreel,
about 12 miles north of Samaria, among the hills of Gilboa. The
“two wells” are still in
existence, one of which bears the name of the “pit of
Joseph” (Jubb Yusuf).
The ancient city
of Dothan was excavated and studied by Bible archaeologist Dr. Joseph
Free of
Wheaton College.
Author: Matthew G.
Easton, with minor editing by Paul S.
Taylor.
E
Eder
Meaning: flock
The name of a
biblical city and a man…
1.
A city in the south of Judah, on the border of Idumea
(Josh. 15:21).
2.
The second of the three sons of Mushi, of the family
of Merari,
appointed to the Levitical office (1 Chr. 23:23; 24:30).
Edrei
Meaning: mighty;
strength
Edrei is the name
of two biblical towns.
1.
one of the chief towns of the kingdom of Bashan (Josh.
12:4, 5)
Here Og was
defeated by the Israelites, and the strength of the Amorites broken
(Num. 21:33-35). It
subsequently belonged to Manasseh,
for a short time apparently, and afterwards became the abode of
banditti and outlaws (Josh. 13:31).
It
has been identified with the modern Edr'a, which stands on a rocky
promontory
on the southwest edge of the Lejah (the Argob of the Hebrews,
and Trachonitis of the
Greeks). The ruins of Edr'a are the most extensive in the Hauran.
They are 3 miles in
circumference. A number of the ancient houses still remain; the walls,
roofs,
and doors being all of stone. The wild region of which Edrei was the
capital is
thus described in its modern aspect:
“Elevated
about 20 feet above the plain, it is a labyrinth of clefts and
crevasses in the
rock, formed by volcanic action; and owing to its impenetrable
condition, it
has become a refuge for outlaws and turbulent characters, who make it a
sort of cave of Adullam… It is, in fact, an
impregnable natural fortress, about 20 miles in length and 15 in
breadth”
(Porter’s Syria,
etc.).
Beneath
this wonderful city there is also a subterranean city, hollowed out
probably as
a refuge for the population of the upper city in times of danger. (See BASHAN.)
2.
a town of Naphtali (Josh. 19:37).
Eglon
Meaning: the bullock; place of heifers
The name of a
biblical king and a city…
1.
Chieftain or king of one of the Moabite tribes
(Judg. 3:12-14). Having entered
into an alliance with Ammon and Amalek,
he overran the trans-Jordanic region, and then crossing the Jordan,
seized on
Jericho, the “city of palm trees,” which had been by this
time rebuilt, but not
as a fortress. He made this city his capital, and kept Israel in
subjection for
eighteen years. The people at length “cried unto the Lord”
in their distress,
and he “raised them up a deliverer” in Ehud (q.v.),
the son of Gera, a Benjamite.
2.
A city in Judah, near Lachish (Josh. 15:39). It was
destroyed by Joshua (10:5, 6). It has been identified with Tell
Nejileh, 6
miles south of Tell Hesy or Ajlan, northwest of Lachish.
Elath
Meaning: grove;
trees, (Deut. 2:8)
also in plural
form Eloth (1 Kings 9:26, etc.); called by the
Greeks and Romans Elana; a city of Idumea, on the east, i.e., the
Elanitic,
gulf, or the Gulf of Akabah, of the Red Sea
It is first
mentioned in Deut. 2:8. It is
also mentioned along with Ezion-geber in 1
Kings 9:26. It was within the limits of Solomon’s dominion, but
afterwards
revolted. It was, however, recovered and held for a time under King
Uzziah (2
Kings 14:22). Now the ruin Aila.
Elon
Meaning: oak
1.
A city of Dan (Josh. 19:43).
2.
A Hittite, father of Bashemath, Esau’s wife
(Gen. 26:34).
3.
One of the sons of Zebulun (Gen. 46:14).
4.
The eleventh of the Hebrew judges. He held office for
ten years (Judg. 12:11, 12). He is called the Zebulonite.
Eltekeh
Meaning: God is
its fear
a city in the
tribe of Dan. It was a city of
refuge and a Levitical city
(Josh. 21:23)
It has been
identified with Beit-Likia, northeast of latrum.
En-gannim
Meaning: fountain
of gardens
1.
A town in the plains of Judah (Josh. 15:34), northwest
of Jerusalem, between Zanoah and
Tappuah. It is the modern Umm Jina.
2.
A city on the border of Machar (Josh. 19:21), allotted
to the Gershonite Levites (21:29). It is identified with
the modern Jenin, a large and prosperous town of about 4,000
inhabitants,
situated 15 miles south of Mount Tabor, through which the road from Jezreel to
Samaria and Jerusalem passes. When Ahaziah, king of
Judah, attempted to escape from Jehu,
he “fled by the way of the garden house” i.e., by way of
En-gannim. Here he was
overtaken by Jehu and wounded in his chariot,
and turned aside and fled to Megiddo,
a distance of about 20 miles, to die there.
Enoch (same as Henok, Chenok or
Chanokh)
Meaning:
initiated; dedication; commencement—probably signifying a new
manner of life
This was the name
of a pre-Flood city and two biblical
men (one a righteous son of Jared,
the other of Cain), both of the
pre-Flood world…
1.
the oldest son of Cain (Gen.
4:17)—Scripture notes that he was the father of Irad (possibly
meaning: “Townsman”) and grandfather of Mehujael.
2.
the city of Enoch (Gen. 4:17)—It was
built by Cain, east of Eden in
the land of Nod. Cain named it
after his oldest son Enoch (above). This is the first
“city” mentioned in
Scripture. Nothing else is known about it.
He
built a city, in token of a fixed
separation from the church of God,
to which he had no thoughts of ever returning. This city was to be the
headquarters of the apostasy. … He undertook this building, to
divert his
thoughts from the consideration of his own misery, and to drown the
clamours of
a guilty conscience with the noise of axes and hammers. Thus many
baffle their
convictions by thrusting themselves into a hurry of worldly business
(Matthew
Henry, Commentary
on the Whole Bible).
Cain
went out from the presence of the Lord, and we never find that he came
into it
again, to his comfort. The land Cain dwelt in was called the land of Nod,
which means, ‘shaking,’ or
‘trembling,’ and so shows the restlessness and uneasiness
of his own spirit, or
‘the land of a vagabond:’ they that depart from God cannot
find rest any where else. Those on Earth who looked for the heavenly
city,
chose to dwell in tabernacles or tents;
but Cain, as not minding that city, built one on Earth. Thus all who
are cursed
of God seek their settlement and satisfaction
here below (Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary).
3.
a righteous man who was apparently taken directly to Heaven,
without dying
The
son of Jared, and father of Methuselah (Gen. 5:21; Luke
3:37). His father was one hundred
and sixty-two years old when he was born. After the birth of
Methuselah, Enoch
“walked with God three hundred years” (Gen.
5:22-24),
when he was translated without tasting death. His whole life on Earth
was three
hundred and sixty-five years. He was the “seventh from Adam”
(Jude 1:14), as distinguished
from the son of Cain, the third
from Adam. He is spoken of in the catalogue of Old Testament worthies
in the Epistle to the Hebrews (11:5). When he was translated,
only
Adam, so far as recorded, had as yet died a natural death, and Noah was
not yet born. Mention is made of Enoch’s prophesying only
in Jude 1:14 (Matthew G. Easton).
The
only other biblical example of a person being taken to heaven without
apparently dying is Elijah, the Tishbite, who was taken up by God in
a chariot with horses of fire,
amidst “a whirlwind into heaven.”
Ephah
Meaning:
gloom
The
name of 2 biblical men, a woman, and a city…
1.
One of the five sons
of Midian, and grandson of Abraham (Gen. 25:4).
2.
The city of Ephah, to which the
above man gave his name, is mentioned Isa. 60:6,7. This city, with
its
surrounding territory, formed part of Midian, on the east shore of
the Dead Sea. It abounded in dromedaries
and camels (Judg. 6:5).
3.
1 Chr. 2:46,
a concubine of Caleb.
4.
1 Chr. 2:47, a descendant
of Judah.
Ephah,
a word of Egyptian origin, meaning measure;
a grain measure containing “three seahs or
ten omers,” and
equivalent to the bath for liquids (Ex. 16:36; 1 Sam.
17:17; Zech. 5:6).
The
double ephah in Prov. 20:10 (marginal
note, “an ephah and an ephah”), Deut. 25:14, means two
ephahs, the one
false and the other just.
Author:
Matthew G. Easton, with minor editing by Paul S. Taylor.
Ephesus
the capital of
proconsular Asia, which was the western part of Asia Minor
It was colonized
principally from Athens. In the time
of the Romans it bore the title of “the first and
greatest metropolis of Asia.” It was distinguished for the Temple
of Diana (q.v.), who there had her chief
shrine; and for its theatre, which was the largest in the world,
capable of
containing 50,000 spectators. It was, like all ancient theaters, open
to the
sky. Here were exhibited the fights of wild beasts and of men with
beasts.
(Compare 1 Cor. 4:9; 9:24, 25; 15:32.)
Many Jews took
up their residence in this city,
and here the seeds of the gospel were sown immediately after
Pentecost
(Acts 2:9; 6:9). At the close of
his second missionary journey (about A.D. 51), when Paul was
returning from Greece to Syria (18:18-21), he first
visited this
city. He remained, however, for only a short time, as he was hastening
to keep
the feast, probably of Pentecost, at Jerusalem;
but he left Aquila and Priscilla behind him to
carry on the work of
spreading the gospel.
During his third
missionary journey Paul reached Ephesus from the “upper
coasts” (Acts 19:1), i.e., from the inland parts of Asia Minor,
and tarried
here for about three years; and so successful and abundant were his
labors that
“all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus,
both Jews and
Greeks” (19:10). Probably during this period the seven churches
of the Apocalypse were founded, not by Paul's personal
labors, but by
missionaries whom he may have sent out from Ephesus, and by the
influence of
converts returning to their homes.
On his return from
his journey, Paul touched at Miletus, some 30 miles
south of
Ephesus (Acts 20:15), and sending for the presbyters of Ephesus to meet
him
there, he delivered to them that touching farewell charge which is
recorded in Acts 20:18-35. Ephesus is not again
mentioned till near the close of Paul's
life, when he writes to Timothy exhorting him to “abide still at
Ephesus” (1
Tim. 1:3).
Two of Paul's companions,
Trophimus and
Tychicus, were probably natives of Ephesus (Acts 20:4; 21:29; 2
Tim. 4:12). In his second epistle to Timothy, Paul speaks
of Onesiphorusas having served
him in many things at Ephesus (2 Tim. 1:18). He also “sent
Tychicus to Ephesus”
(4:12), probably to attend to the interests of the church there.
Ephesus is
twice mentioned in the Apocalypse (1:11; 2:1).
The apostle John,
according to tradition, spent many years in Ephesus, where he died and
was
buried.
A part of the site
of this once famous city is now occupied by a Turkish village,
Ayasaluk, which
is regarded as a corruption of the two Greek words, hagios
theologos;
i.e., “the holy divine.”
Author: Matthew G.
Easton.
Ephratah (Ephrath)
Meaning: fruitful
The name of a
biblical woman and a city…
1.
The second wife of Caleb,
the son of Hezron, mother of Hur, and grandmother of Caleb,
who was one of those that were
sent to spy the land (1 Chr. 2:19, 50).
2.
The ancient name of Bethlehem in Judah (Gen.
35:16, 19; 48:7). In Ruth 1:2 it is called
“Bethlehem-Judah,” but
the inhabitants are called “Ephrathites;” in Micah
5:2, “Bethlehem-Ephratah;” in Matt.
2:6, “Bethlehem in the land of
Judah.” In Ps. 132:6 it is mentioned as the place where David spent
his youth, and where he heard
much of the ark, although he
never saw it till he found it long afterwards at Kirjath-jearim;
i.e., the “city of the
wood,” or the “forest-town” (1 Sam. 7:1; compare 2
Sam. 6:3, 4).
Erech
Septuagint (LXX.),
“Orech”), length, or Moon-town
one of the cities
of Nimrod’s kingdom in the plain of Shinar (Gen.
10:10); the Orchoe of the Greeks
and Romans
It was probably
the city of the Archevites, who were transplanted to Samaria by Asnapper (Ezra
4:9). It lay on the left bank of
the Euphrates, about 120 miles
southeast of Babylon, and is now
represented by the mounds and ruins of Warka. It appears to have been
the
necropolis of the Assyrian kings, as the whole region is
strewed
with bricks and the remains of coffins.
“Standing on the
summit of the principal edifice, called the Buwarizza, a tower 200 feet
square
in the center of the ruins, the beholder is struck with astonishment at
the
enormous accumulation of mounds and ancient relics at his feet. An
irregular
circle, nearly 6 miles in circumference, is defined by the traces of an
earthen
rampart, in some places 40 feet high.”
Eshtemoa
Meaning: obedience
a town in the
mountains of Judah (Josh. 21:14; 1
Chr. 6:57), which was allotted, with the land round it, to the priests
It was frequented
by David and his followers during their wanderings; and he sent
presents of the
spoil of the Amalekites to his friends there (1 Sam. 30:28).
It is identified with es-Semu’a, a village about 3 1/2 miles east
of Socoh, and
7 or 8 miles south of Hebron, around which there are ancient remains of
the
ruined city. It is the center of the “south country” or
Negeb. It is also
called “Eshtemoh” (Josh. 15:50).
Etam
Meaning: eyrie
This was the name
of one biblical man and two cities.
1.
A man of the tribe
of Judah whose sons where Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash, and
daughter was Hazelelponi (1 Chronicles 4:3).
2.
“A village of the tribe of Simeon (1 Chr. 4:32).
Into
some cleft (“top,” Authorized Version,; Revised Version,
“cleft”) of a rock
here Samson retired after his slaughter of the Philistines (Judg. 15:8,
11). It
was a natural stronghold. It has been identified with Beit 'Atab, west
of Bethlehem, near Zorah and Eshtaol. On the crest of a rocky
knoll, under the village, is a long tunnel, which may be the
“cleft” in which
Samson hid.” (Matthew G. Easton)
3.
“A city of Judah,
fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chr. 11:6). It was near Bethlehem and
Tekoah, and some distance
apparently to the north of the Etam in Simeon. It seems to have been in
the
district called Nephtoah (or Netophah),
where were the sources of the water from which Solomon’s gardens
and
pleasure-grounds and pools, as
well as Bethlehem and the temple, were supplied. It is
now 'Ain 'Atan, at the head of the Wady Urtas, a fountain sending forth
a
copious supply of pure water.” (Matthew G. Easton)
Ezion-geber
Meaning: the
giant’s backbone (so called from the head of a mountain which
runs out into the sea)
an ancient city and
harbor at the northeast end of the Elanitic branch of the Red
Sea, the Gulf of Akabah, near Elath or Eloth (Num. 33:35; Deut.
2:8)
Here Solomon built ships,
“Tarshish ships,” like those trading from Tyre to Tarshish and
the west, which traded with Ophir (1 Kings 9:26; 2 Chr.
8:17); and here also Jehoshaphat’s fleet was
shipwrecked (1 Kings 22:48; 2 Chr. 20:36).
It became a
populous town, many of the Jews settling in it (2 Kings 16:6,
“Elath”). It is
supposed that anciently the north end of the gulf flowed further into
the
country than now, as far as 'Ain el-Ghudyan, which is 10 miles up the
dry bed
of the Arabah, and that
Ezion-geber may have been there.
F
G
Gadara
the capital of the
Roman province of Peraea
It stood on the
summit of a mountain about 6 miles southeast of the Sea of Galilee.
Mark (5:1)
and Luke (8:26-39) describe the miracle of the healing of the
demoniac
(Matthew [8:28-34] says two demoniacs) as having been wrought “in
the country
of the Gadarenes,” thus
describing the scene generally. The miracle could not have
been wrought at Gadara
itself, for between the lake and this town there is the deep, almost
impassable
ravine of the Hieromax (Jarmuk). It is identified with the modern
village of
Um-Keis, which is surrounded by very extensive ruins, all bearing
testimony to
the splendour of ancient Gadara.
“The most
interesting remains of Gadara are its tombs, which dot the cliffs for a
considerable distance round the city, chiefly on the northeast
declivity; but
many beautifully sculptured sarcophagi are scattered over the
surrounding
heights. They are excavated in the limestone rock, and consist of chambers of
various dimensions, some more than
20 feet square, with recesses in the sides for bodies… The
present inhabitants
of Um-Keis are all troglodytes, ‘dwelling in tombs,’ like
the poor maniacs
of old, and occasionally they are almost as dangerous to unprotected
travellers.”
Gath
Meaning:a wine-vat
one of the five
royal cities of the Philistines (Josh. 13:3) on which the ark brought
calamity
(1 Sam. 5:8, 9; 6:17)
It was famous also
as being the birthplace or residence of Goliath (1 Sam.
17:4). David fled from Saul to Achish, king of
Gath (1 Sam. 21:10; 27:2-4; Ps. 56), and his connection with
it
will account for the words in 2
Sam. 1:20. It was afterwards conquered by David (2 Sam. 8:1). It
occupied a
strong position on the borders of Judah and Philistia (1 Sam. 21:10; 1
Chr. 18:1). Its site has been
identified with the hill called Tell esSafieh, the Alba Specula of the
Middle
Ages, which rises 695 feet above the plain on its east edge. It is
noticed on
monuments about B.C. 1500.
Gath-rimmon
Meaning: press of
the pomegranate
The name of two
biblical cities…
1.
A Levitical city in the tribe of Dan (Josh. 19:45; 21:24; 1
Chr. 6:69).
2.
Another city of the same name in Manasseh, west of the
Jordan (Josh. 21:25), called also Bileam (1 Chr. 6:70).
Gaulanitis
a name derived
from “Golan” (q.v.)
one of the cities of refuge in
the territory of Manasseh (Josh.
20:8; 21:27; Deut. 4:43)
This was one of
the provinces ruled by Herod Antipas.
It lay to the east of the Lake of Galilee, and included among its towns
Bethsaida-Julias (Mark 8:22) and Seleucia.
Gaza
called also Azzah, which
is its Hebrew name (Deut. 2:23; 1
Kings 4:24; Jer. 25:20), meaning:
strong
a city on the
Mediterranean shore, remarkable for its early importance as the chief
center of
a great commercial traffic with Egypt
It is one of the
oldest cities of the world (Gen. 10:19; Josh. 15:47).
Its earliest inhabitants
were the Avims, who were
conquered and displaced by the Caphtorims (Deut. 2:23; Josh. 13:2,
3), a Philistine tribe. In the division of the land it
fell to the lot of Judah (Josh. 15:47; Judg.
1:18). It was the southernmost of the five great Philistine cities
which gave
each a goldenemerod as a
trespass-offering unto the Lord (1 Sam. 6:17). Its gates were carried
away by Samson (Judg. 16:1-3). Here he was afterwards
a prisoner, and “did grind in the prison house.”
Here he also pulled down the temple of Dagon, and slew “all
the
lords of the Philistines,” himself also perishing in the ruin
(Judg. 16:21-30).
The prophets denounce the judgments
of God against it (Jer. 25:20; 47:5; Amos 1:6, 7; Zeph.
2:4). It is referred to in Acts 8:26. Philip is here told to take
the road from Jerusalem to Gaza (about 6 miles southwest of Jerusalem),
“which is desert”, i.e., the “desert
road,”
probably by Hebron, through the desert hills of Southern Judea.
(See SAMSON.)
It is noticed on
monuments as early as B.C. 1600. Its small port is now called el-Mineh.
Geba
Meaning: the hill
(2 Sam. 5:25 [1 Chr. 14:16,
“Gibeon”]; 2 Kings 23:8; Neh. 11:31), a Levitical
city of Benjamin (1 Kings 15:22; 1 Sam. 13:16; 14:5,
wrongly “Gibeah” in the
Authorized Version), on the north border of Judah near Gibeah (Isa.
10:29; Josh. 18:24, 28)
“From Geba to Beersheba”
expressed the whole extent
of the kingdom of Judah, just as “from Dan to Beersheba”
described the whole length of Palestine (2 Kings 23:8). It has been
identified
with Gaba (Josh. 18:24; Ezra
2:26; Neh. 7:30), now Jeb’a,
about 5½ miles north of Jerusalem.
Gebal
Meaning:a line (or
natural boundary, as a mountain range)
The name of two
biblical places…
1.
A tract in the land of Edom south of the Dead Sea (Ps.
83:7); now called Djebal.
2.
A Phoenician city, not far from the sea coast, to the
north of Beyrout (Ezek. 27:9); called by the Greeks Byblos. Now Jibeil.
Mentioned in the Amarna tablets.
An
important Phoenician text, referring to the temple of Baalath, on
a monument of Yehu-melek,
its king (probably B.C. 600), has been
discovered.
Gedor
Meaning: a wall
This was the name
of three biblical places.
1.
A city in the mountains or hill country of Judah
(Josh. 15:58), identified with Jedar, between Jerusalem and Hebron.
2.
1 Chr. 4:39, the Gederah of Josh.
15:36, or the well-known Gerar,
as the LXX. read, where the patriarchs of old had sojourned
and fed their
flocks (Gen. 20:1, 14, 15; 26:1,
6, 14).
3.
A town apparently in Benjamin (1 Chr. 12:7),
the same probably as Geder (Josh. 12:13).
Gennesaret (Gennesareth)
Meaning: a garden
of riches
1.
A town of Naphtali,
called Chinnereth (Josh. 19:35), sometimes in the plural
form Chinneroth (11:2). In later times the name was gradually changed
to
Genezar and Gennesaret (Luke 5:1). This city stood on the western shore
of the
lake to which it gave its name. No trace of it remains. The plain of
Gennesaret
has been called, from its fertility and beauty, “the Paradise of
Galilee.” It
is now called el-Ghuweir.
2.
The Lake of Gennesaret, the Grecized form of
CHINNERETH (q.v.).
Gezer
Meaning: a
precipice
an ancient royal Canaanitish city
(Joshua 10:33; 12:12)
It was allotted
with its suburbs to the Kohathite Levites (21:21; 1
Chr. 6:67). It stood between the
lower Beth-horon and the sea (Josh. 16:3; 1 Kings 9:17).
It was the last
point to which David pursued the Philistines (2
Sam. 5:25; 1 Chr. 14:16) after the battle of Baal-perazim.
The Canaanites
retained possession of it till the time of Solomon,
when the king of Egypt took it and gave it to
Solomon as a
part of the dowry of the Egyptian princess whom he
married (1 Kings 9:15-17).
It is identified
with Tell el-Jezer, about 10 miles southwest of Beth-horon. It is
mentioned in the
Amarna tablets.
Author: Matthew G.
Easton .
Gibbethon
Meaning: a height
a city of the
Philistines in the territory of Dan,
given to the Kohathites (Josh. 19:44; 21:23)
Nadab the king of
Israel, while besieging it, was
slain under its walls by Baasha,
one of his own officers (1 Kings 15:27). It was in the possession of
the
Philistines after the secession of the ten tribes (2 Chr. 11:13, 14).
Gibeah of Judah
(Josh. 15:57), a
city in the mountains of Judah, the modern Jeba, on a hill in the Wady
Musurr,
about 7 1/2 miles west-southwest of Bethlehem
Gibeah of Phinehas
(Josh. 15:57,
Revised Version marginal note), a city on mount
Ephraim which had been given to
Phinehas (24:33 “hill,” Authorized
Version; Revised Version marginal note and Hebrew: “Gibeah.”).
Here Eleazar the son of Aaron was buried. It has
been identified
with the modern Khurbet Jibia, 5 miles north of Guphna towards Shechem.
Gibeon
Meaning: hill-city
“one of the royal cities,
greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty” (Josh. 10:2)
Its inhabitants
were Hivites (11:19). It lay within the territory
of Benjamin, and became a
priest-city (18:25; 21:17). Here
the tabernacle was set up after the destruction of Nob, and here it
remained
many years till the temple was built by Solomon. It is represented by
the
modern el-Jib, to the southwest of Ai, and about 5 1/2 miles
north-northwest of Jerusalem.
A deputation of
the Gibeonites, with their allies
from three other cities (Josh. 9;17), visited the camp at Gilgal,
and by false representations
induced Joshua to enter into a league with them, although the
Israelites had
been specially warned against any league with the inhabitants of Canaan
(Ex.
23:32; 34:12; Num. 33:55; Deut. 7:2). The deception
practiced on
Joshua was detected three days later; but the oath rashly
sworn “by Jehovah God of Israel” was kept, and
the lives of
the Gibeonites were spared. They were, however, made
“bondmen” to the sanctuary
(Josh. 9:23).
The most
remarkable incident connected with this city was the victory Joshua
gained over
the kings of Canaan (Josh. 10:16-27). The battle
here fought has been regarded as “one of the most important in
the history of
the world.” The kings of southern Canaan entered into a
confederacy against Gibeon (because it had entered into a league with
Joshua)
under the leadership of Adoni-zedec, king of Jerusalem,
and marched upon Gibeon
with the view of taking possession of it. The Gibeonites entreated
Joshua to
come to their aid with the utmost speed. His army came suddenly upon
that of
the Amorite kings as it lay encamped before the city. It
was completely routed, and only broken remnants of their great host
found
refuge in the fenced cities. The five confederate kings who
led the army were taken prisoners,
and put to death at Makkedah (q.v.). This eventful battle of Beth-horon sealed
the fate of all the cities of
Southern Israel. Among the Amarna tablets is a letter from Adoni-zedec (q.v.)
to the king of
Egypt, written probably at Makkedah after the defeat, showing that the kingscontemplated
flight into Egypt.
This place is
again brought into notice as the scene of a battle between the army of Ish-bosheth under Abner and
that of David led by Joab. At the suggestion of Abner, to
spare the effusion of blood twelve men on either side were chosen to
decide the
battle. The issue was unexpected; for each of the men slew his fellow,
and thus
they all perished. The two armies then engaged in battle, in which
Abner and
his host were routed and put to flight (2 Sam. 2:12-17). This battle
led to a
virtual truce between Judah and Israel, Judah, under David, increasing
in
power; and Israel, under Ish-bosheth, continually losing ground.
Soon after the
death of Absalom and David’s restoration to his throne his
kingdom was visited
by a grievous famine, which was
found to be a punishment for Saul’s violation (2 Sam. 21:2, 5) of
the covenant
with the Gibeonites (Josh. 9:3-27). The Gibeonites demanded blood for
the wrong
that had been done to them, and accordingly David gave up to them the
two sons
of Rizpah (q.v.) and the five sons of Michal,
and these the Gibeonites took and hanged or crucified “in the
hill before the
Lord” (2 Sam. 21:9); and there the bodies hung for six months
(21:10), and all
the while Rizpah watched over the blackening corpses and
“suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them
by day, nor
the beasts of the field by night.” David afterwards removed the
bones of Saul
and Jonathan at Jabesh-gilead (21:12, 13).
Here, “at the
great stone,” Amasa was put to death by Joab (2
Sam. 20:5-10). To the altar of burnt-offering which was at
Gibeon,
Joab (1 Kings 2:28-34), who had taken the side ofAdonijah, fled for
sanctuary
in the beginning of Solomon’s reign, and was there also slain by
the hand of Benaiah.
Soon after he came
to the throne, Solomon paid a visit of state to Gibeon, there to offer
sacrifices (1 Kings 3:4; 2 Chr.
1:3). On this occasion the Lord appeared to him in a memorable dream,
recorded
in 1 Kings 3:5-15; 2 Chr. 1:7-12. When the temple was
built “all the men of Israel assembled themselves” to King
Solomon, and brought
up from Gibeon the tabernacle and “all the holy vessels that were
in the
tabernacle” to Jerusalem, where
they remained till they were carried away by Nebuchadnezzar (2
Kings 24:13).
Giloh
Meaning: exile
a city in the
southwest part of the hill-country of Judah (Josh. 15:51)
It was the native
place or residence of the traitor Ahithophel “the
Gilonite” (Josh. 15:51; 2 Sam. 15:12), and where he
committed
suicide (17:23). It has been identified with Kurbet Jala, about 7 miles
north
of Hebron.
Gimzo
Meaning: a place
fertile in sycamores
a city in the
plain of Judah, the villages of which were seized by the Philistines (2
Chr.
28:18)
It is now called
Jimzu, about 3 miles south-east of Ludd, i.e., Lydda.
Gittite
Meaning: a native
of the Philistine city of Gath (Josh. 13:3)
Obed-edom, in
whose house the ark was placed, is so designated (2 Sam. 6:10). Six
hundred
Gittites came with David from Gath into Israel (15:18, 19).
Golan
Meaning: exile
a city of Bashan (Deut.
4:43), one of the three cities of refuge east of Jordan,
about 12 miles northeast of the Sea of Galilee (Josh.
20:8)
There are no
further notices of it in Scripture.
It became the head of the province of Gaulanitis,
one of the four provinces into which Bashan was divided after
the Babylonish captivity, and almost identical with
the modern Jaulan, in Western Hauran,
about 39 miles in length and 18 in breath.
Gomorrah
Meaning:
submersion
one of the five
cities of the plain of Siddim (q.v.) which were destroyed by
fire
(Gen. 10:19; 13:10; 19:24, 28)
These cities
probably stood close together, and were near the northern extremity of
what is
now the Dead Sea. This city is
always mentioned next after Sodom,
both of which were types of impiety and wickedness (Gen. 18:20; Rom.
9:29). Their destruction is
mentioned as an “example unto those that after should live
ungodly” (2 Pet.
2:6; Jude 1:4-7). Their
wickedness became proverbial (Deut. 32:32; Isa.
1:9, 10; Jer. 23:14). But that
wickedness may be exceeded (Matt. 10:15; Mark
6:11).
H
Hadashah
Meaning: new
a city in the
valley of Judah (Josh. 15:37)
Hammath
Meaning: warm
springs
one of the “fenced
cities” of Naphtali (Josh. 19:35)
It is identified
with the warm baths (the heat of the water ranging from
136 degrees to 144 degrees) still found on the shore a little to the
south of
Tiberias under the name of Hummam Tabariyeh (“Bath of
Tiberias”).
Hammon
Meaning: warm
springs
The name of two
biblical places…
1.
A town in the tribe of Asher, near Zidon (Josh.
19:28),
identified with 'Ain Hamul.
2.
A Levitical city of Naphtali (1 Chr. 6:76).
Hammoth-dor
Meaning: warm
springs
a Levitical city
of Naphtali (Josh. 21:32); probably Hammath in 19:35.
Haran
This is the name
of two biblical men and one city.
1.
Hebrew: haran; i.e., “mountaineer”
Haran,
the eldest son of Terah—Haran was
a brother of Abraham and Nahor,
and father of Lot, Milcah, and Iscah. He died before his
father (Gen.
11:27), in Ur of the Chaldees.
2.
Hebrew: haran חָרָן, i.e.,
“parched;” or probably from the Accadian charana,
meaning “a road”
Haran,
Harran or Charran—a celebrated city of Western Asia,
now Harran, where Abram remained, after he left Ur of
the Chaldees, till his father Terah died (Gen.
11:31-32), when he continued his journey into the land of Canaan
It
is called “Charran” in the LXX. and in Acts
7:2. It is called the “city of Nahor” (Gen.
24:10), and Jacob resided here with Laban (30:43).
It stood on the river Belik, an affluent of the Euphrates,
about 70 miles above where
it joins that river in Upper Mesopotamia or Padan-aram,
and about 600 miles northwest of Ur in a direct line. It was
on the
caravan route between the east and west. It is afterwards mentioned
among the
towns taken by the king of Assyria (2 Kings 19:12; Isa.
37:12). It was known to the Greeks and Romansunder
the name Carrhae.
3.
Haran, son of Caleb of Judah (1 Chr. 2:46) by
his concubine Ephah
Harosheth of the Gentiles
(Judg. 4:2) or
nations
a city near Hazor in Galilee
of the Gentiles, or Upper
Galilee, in the north of Israel
It was here that Jabin’s great
army was marshalled before it
went forth into the great battlefield of Esdraelon to
encounter the army of Israel, by
which it was routed and put to flight (Judg. 4). It was situated
“at the entrance
of the pass to Esdraelon from the plain of Acre” at the base of Carmel.
The name in the Hebrew is Harosheth ha Gojim,
i.e., “the smithy of the nations;” probably, as is
supposed, so called because
here Jabin’s iron war-chariots, armed with scythes, were made. It
is identified
with el-Harithiyeh.
Hazar-gaddah
Meaning: village
of fortune
a city on the
south border of Judah (Josh. 15:27), midway between the Mediterranean
and the Dead Sea
Hazar-shual
Meaning: village
or enclosure of the jackal
a city on the
south border of Judah (Josh. 15:28; Neh.
11:27)
It has been
identified with the ruins of Saweh, halfway between Beersheba and Moladah.
Hazar-susah
Meaning: village
of the horse
the same as Sansannah, one of
Solomon’s “chariot cities” (Josh. 15:31; 2
Chr. 1:14), a depot in the south
border of Judah
Hazor
Meaning: enclosed;
fortified
Hazor was a heathen
Canaanite city.
Conquered and burned
by Joshua in his victory over a league of northern Canaanite cities at
Lake Merom(Joshua 11:1-11).
City came under the
ownership of thetribe of Naphtali (Joshua 19:36).
Later, Hazor was
again taken by Canaanites.
Deborah delivered
Israel from the oppression of the King of Hazor and “king of
Canaan” (Jabin) and his general Sisera (Judges 4-5).
Hazor was again part of the kingdom of Israel.
King Solomon fortified
Hazor to control the northern portion of the “Way of the
Sea” (1 Kings 9:15).
Destroyed
by Ben-Hadad I ofDamascus when he invaded Israel at
King Asa’s invitation (1 Kings 15:18).
Rebuilt by
Israelites (possibly by Omrior Ahab).
Hazor destroyed for
the last time by Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III in
733 BC (2 Kings 15:29). The Israelites were taken captive to Assyria.
This
city was, however, afterwards rebuilt by the
Canaanites, and was ruled by a king with the same hereditary
name
of Jabin. His army, under a noted leader of the name
of Sisera, swept
down upon the south, aiming at the complete subjugation of the country.
This
powerful army was met by the Israelites
under Barak, who went forth by the advice of
the prophetess Deborah.
The result was one of the most remarkable victories for Israel recorded
in the
Old Testament (Josh. 19:36; Judg. 4:2; 1 Sam. 12:9). The city
of
Hazor was taken and occupied by the Israelites.
It
was fortified by Solomon to defend the
entrance into the kingdom from Syria and Assyria. When
Tiglath-pileser, the Assyrian king, invaded the land, this was one
of the
first cities he captured, carrying its inhabitants captive into Assyria
(2
Kings 15:29)…” (Matthew G. Easton).
ChristianAnswers.Net’s
archaeology Team
Member, Associates for Biblical Research, has been doing extensive
research at Hazor:
Why
Dig Hazor?
Hazor
is an important and impressive site. In fact,
Hazor is the largest archaeological site in Israel. This 200-acre city
consists
of two parts, the Upper City, or Acropolis, and the Lower City. The
next
largest cities, apart from Jerusalem,
are Gezer and Lachish at 18 acres. Hazor is eleven
times
the size of these cities!
For
the student of the Bible, Hazor has an
impressive amount of Biblical history and the archaeological remains to
go
along with it.
The
first mention of Hazor in the Bible is
in Joshua 11.
“Joshua turned
back at that time and took
Hazor, and struck its king with the sword; for Hazor was
formerly the
head of all those kingdoms. And they struck all the people who were in
it with
the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them. There was none left
breathing.
Then he burned Hazor with fire. But as for the cities that stood on
their
mounds, Israel burned none of them, except Hazor only, which Joshua
burned”
(11:10-11, 13; cf. 12:19).
The
first Israeli excavator of Hazor, Yigel Yadin,
and the present excavator, Amnon Ben-Tor, believe the burn level of the
Late
Bronze II period is evidence ofJoshuas destruction.
Hazor
was allotted to the tribe of
Naphtali (Josh. 19:36) and is mentioned in the account
of Judges
4 and 5, the story
of Deborah and Barak (Judges
4:2-3, 24).
Hazor-hadattah
New Hazor, a city
in the south of Judah (Josh. 15:25). It is probably identified with the
ruins
of el-Hazzarah, near Beit Jebrin.
Hebron
Meaning: a
community; alliance
This was the name
of two biblical cities and one man.
1.
a city in the south end of the valley of Eshcol,
about midway between Jerusalem and Beersheba,
from which it is distant about 20 miles in a straight line
It
was built “seven years before Zoan in Egypt” (Gen. 13:18; Num.
13:22). It still exists under the
same name, and is one of the most ancient cities in the
world. Its earlier name was Kirjath-arba (Gen. 23:2; Josh.
14:15; 15:3). But “Hebron would appear to
have been the original name of the city, and it was not till after Abraham's
stay there that it received
the name Kirjath-arba, who [i.e., Arba]
was not the founder but the conqueror of the city, having led thither
the tribe
of the Anakim, to which he
belonged. It retained this name till it came into the possession of Caleb,
when the Israelites restored
the original name Hebron” (Keil, Com.).
The
name of this city does not occur in any of the prophets or in the New
Testament. It is found about forty
times in the Old.
It
was the favorite home of Abraham.
Here he pitched his tent under the oaks of Mamre,
by which name it came afterwards to be known; and here Sarah died, and
was
buried in the cave of Machpelah (Gen. 23:17-20),
which he bought from Ephron the Hittite. From this place the patriarch departed
for Egypt by way of Beersheba (37:14; 46:1).
It
was taken by Joshua and given to Caleb (Josh.
10:36, 37; 12:10; 14:13). It became a Levitical city and
a city of refuge (20:7; 21:11).
When
David became king of Judah this was his royal residence,
and he resided here for seven and a half years (2 Sam. 5:5); and here
he was anointed as king over all Israel (2 Sam.
2:1-4, 11; 1
Kings 2:11).
It
became the residence also of the rebellious Absalom (2 Sam. 15:10), who
probably expected to find his chief support in the tribe of Judah,
now called el-Khulil.
In
one part of the modern city is a great mosque, which is built over the
grave of Machpelah. The first European who was
permitted to enter this mosque was the Prince of Wales in 1862. It was
also
visited by the Marquis of Bute in 1866, and by the late Emperor
Frederick of
Germany (then Crown-Prince of Prussia) in 1869.
One
of the largest oaks in Israel is found in the valley of Eshcol,
about 3 miles north of the
town. It is supposed by some to be the tree under which Abraham pitched
his tent, and is called “Abraham's oak.”
(See: oak.)
2.
the third son of Kohath the Levite (Ex.
6:18; 1 Chr. 6:2, 18)
3.
the son of Mareshah (1 Chr. 2:42,43).
4.
a town in the north border of Asher (Josh.
19:28).
Heleph
Meaning: exchange
a city on the
north border of Naphtali (Josh. 19:33)
Hena
one of the cities
of Mesopotamia destroyed by Sennacherib (2 Kings 18:34; 19:13)
It is identified
with the modern Anah, lying on the right bank of the Euphrates,
not far from Sepharvaim.
Hepher
Meaning: a well or
stream
This was the name
of a biblical city and three men…
1.
A royal city of the Canaanites taken by Joshua (12:17).
2.
The youngest son of Gilead (Num. 26:32; 27:1).
3.
The second son of Asher (1 Chr. 4:6).
4.
One of David’s heroes (1 Chr. 11:36).
Heshbon
Meaning:
intelligence
a city ruled over
by Sihon, king of the Amorites (Josh. 3:10; 13:17)
It was taken by Moses (Num.
21:23-26), and became afterwards
a Levitical city (Josh. 21:39) in the tribe of Reuben (Num. 32:37).
After the Exile it was taken possession of by
theMoabites (Isa. 15:4; Jer. 48:2, 34, 45). The ruins of this
town are still seen about 20 miles east of Jordan from the north end of
the Dead Sea. There are reservoirs in this
district, which are probably the “fishpools” referred to in Song
of Songs 7:4.
Hierapolis
Meaning: sacred
city
a city of Phrygia, where was a
Christian church
under the care of Epaphras (Col. 4:12, 13)
The church at this
city was founded at the same time as that of Colosse.
The city now bears
the name of Pambuk-Kalek, i.e., “Cotton Castle”, from the
white appearance of
the cliffs at the base of which the ruins are found.
Horem
Meaning:
consecrated
one of the fenced cities of Naphtali (Josh.
19:38)
Horonaim
Meaning: two
caverns
a city of Moab to
the south of the Arnon, built,
apparently, upon an eminence, and a place of some importance (Isa. 15:5; Jer.
48:3, 5, 34)
I
Ibleam
Meaning:
people-waster
A city assigned to Manasseh (Josh.
17:11), from which the
Israelites, however, could not expel the Canaanites (Judg. 1:27)
It is also called
Bileam (1 Chr. 6:70). It was probably the modern Jelamah, a village 2
1/2 miles
north of Jenin.
Iconium
the capital of
ancient Lycaonia (now south-central Turkey)
It was first
visited by Paul and Barnabas from Antioch-in-Pisidia during
the apostle’s first missionary journey (Acts
13:50-51). Here they were persecuted by the Jews,
and being driven from the city, they fled to Lystra.
They afterwards returned to Iconium, and encouraged the church which
had been founded there
(14:21-22). It was probably again visited by Paulduring
his third missionary journey along with Silas (18:23). It is
the modern Konieh, at
the foot of Mount Taurus, about 120 miles inland from the Mediterranean.
Author: Matthew G.
Easton, with minor editing by Paul S.
Taylor.
Idalah
Meaning: snares(?)
a city near the
west border of Zebulun (Josh. 19:15)
It has been
identified with the modern Jeida, in the valley of Kishon.
Iim
Meaning: ruins
1.
A city in the south of Judah (Josh. 15:29).
2.
One of the stations of the Israelites in the
wilderness (Num. 33:45).
Ijon
Meaning: a ruin
a city of Naphtali, captured by Ben-hadad of Syria at
the instance of Asa (1
Kings 15:20), and afterwards by Tiglath-pileser of Assyria (2 Kings
15:29) in
the reign of Pekah; now el-Khiam
Irha-heres
According to some
manuscripts, the meaning of this name is “city of
destruction.” Other
manuscripts read 'Irhahares; rendered “city of the
sun”, Isa. 19:18, where alone the word
occurs. This name may probably refer to Heliopolis. The prophecy here
points to a time when the Jews
would so increase in number there as that the city would fall under
their
influence. This might be in the time of the Ptolemies.
Ivah
Meaning:
overturning
a city of the
Assyrians, whence colonists were brought to Samaria (2 Kings 18:34; 19:13)
It lay on the Euphrates, between
Sepharvaim and
Henah, and is supposed by some to have been the Ahava of Ezra
(8:15).
J
Jaazer
Meaning: he (God) helps
a city of the Amorites on the
east of Jordan, and assigned,
with neighboring places in Gilead,
to Gad (Num. 32:1, 35; Josh. 13:25)
It was allotted to
the Merarite Levites (21:39). In David's time it was occupied
by the
Hebronites, i.e., the descendants of Kohath (1 Chr. 26:31).
It is mentioned in the
“burdens” proclaimed over Moab (Isa. 16:8, 9; Jer.
48:32). Its site is marked by the
modern ruin called Sar or Seir, about 10 miles west of Amman, and 12
from Heshbon. “The vineyards that once
covered the hill-sides are gone; and the wild Bedawin from the eastern desert make
cultivation of any kind
impossible.”
Jabesh-Gilead
a town on the east
of Jordan, on the top of one of the green hills of Gilead, within the
limits of
the half tribe of Manasseh, and in full view of Beth-shan
It is first
mentioned in connection with the vengeance taken on its inhabitants
because
they had refused to come up to Mizpeh to take part with
Israel against the
tribe of Benjamin (Judg. 21:8-14). After the battles at Gibeah,
that tribe was almost
extinguished, only six hundred men remaining. An expedition went
against
Jabesh-Gilead, the whole of whose inhabitants were put to the sword,
except
four hundred maidens, whom they brought as prisoners and sent to
“proclaim
peace” to the Benjamites who had fled to the crag Rimmon. These
captives were
given to them as wives, that the tribe might be saved from extinction
(Judg.
21).
This city was
afterwards taken by Nahash, king of
the Ammonites, but was delivered
by Saul, the newly-elected king of Israel. In gratitude for
this
deliverance, forty years after this, the men of Jabesh-Gilead took down
the
bodies of Saul and of his three sons from the walls of Beth-shan, and
after
burning them, buried the bones under a tree near the city (1 Sam.
31:11-13).
David thanked them for this act of piety (2 Sam. 2:4-6), and afterwards
transferred the remains to the royal sepulchre (21:14). It is
identified with
the ruins of ed-Deir, about 6 miles south of Pella, on the north of the
Wady
Yabis.
Jabneel
Meaning: built by God
The name of two
biblical towns…
1.
A town in the north boundary of Judah (Josh. 15:11),
called afterwards by the Greeks Jamnia, the modern Yebna, 11 miles
south of
Jaffa. After the fall of Jerusalem (A.D. 70), it became one
of the most
populous cities of Judea, and the
seat of a celebrated school.
2.
A town on the border of Naphtali (Josh. 19:33). Its
later name was Kefr Yemmah, “the village by the sea,” on
the south shore of
Lake Merom.
Jagur
Meaning: place of
sojourn
a city on the
southern border of Judah (Josh. 15:21)
Janoah (Jano'hah)
Meaning: rest
The name of two
biblical cities…
1.
A town on the northeastern border of Ephraim, in the
Jordan valley (Josh. 16:6-7). Identified with the modern Yanun, 8 miles
southeast of Nablus.
2.
A town of Northern Israel, within the boundaries of
Naphtali. It was taken by the king of Assyria (2 Kings 15:29).
Jarmuth
Meaning: height
The name of two
biblical places…
1.
A town in the plain of Judah (Josh. 15:35), originally
the residence of one of the Canaanitish kings (10:3, 5, 23).
It has been identified
with the modern Yarmuk, a village about 7 miles northeast of
Beit-Jibrin.
2.
A Levitical city of the tribe of Issachar (Josh.
21:29), supposed by some to be
the Ramah of Samuel (1 Sam. 19:22).
Jattir
Meaning:
pre-eminent
a city in the
mountains of Judah (Josh. 15:48; 21:14)
Jebus
Meaning: trodden
hard, or fastness, or “the waterless hill”
the name of the
Canaanitish city which stood on Mount Zion (Josh. 15:8; 18:16,
28)
It is identified
with Jerusalem (q.v.) in Judg. 19:10, and with the castle or city
of David (1 Chr. 11:4,5). It was
a place of great natural strength, and its capture was one of David's
most
brilliant achievements (2 Sam. 5:8).
Jericho
Jericho was a fenced city in
the midst of a vast grove of palm trees, in the plain of Jordan,
over against the place where
that river was crossed by the Israelites (Josh. 3:16). Its
site was near the
'Ain es-Sultan, Elisha's Fountain (2 Kings 2:19-22), about 5
miles west of Jordan. It was the
most important city in the Jordan valley (Num. 22:1; 34:15),
and the strongest fortress in
all the land of Canaan. It was
the key to Western Canaan.
According to Associates for
Biblical Research, the
inhabitants of Jericho at Joshua's time were generic Canaanites.
Beyond that we really
cannot say anything definite.
This city was
taken in a very remarkable manner by the Israelites (Josh. 6). God gave
it into their hands. The city was “accursed” (Hebrew: herem,
“devoted” to Jehovah), and accordingly (Josh. 6:17; compare Lev.
27:28,29; Deut. 13:16) all the inhabitants and all
the spoil of the city were to be destroyed, “only the silver,
and the gold, and the vessels ofbrass and of iron”
were reserved and “put into the
treasury of the house of Jehovah”
(Josh. 6:24; compare Num.
31:22,23, 50-54).
Only Rahab “and her
father's household, and all
that she had,” were preserved from destruction, according to the
promise of the
spies (Josh. 2:14).
In one of the
Amarna tablets Adoni-zedec (q.v.) writes to the king of Egypt informing
him that the 'Abiri
(Hebrews) had prevailed, and had taken the fortress of Jericho, and
were
plundering “all the king's lands.” It would seem
that the
Egyptian troops had before this been withdrawn from Canaan.
This city was
given to the tribe of Benjamin (Josh. 18:21), and it was
inhabited in
the time of the Judges (Judg. 3:13; 2 Sam. 10:5).
It is not again
mentioned till the time of David (2 Sam. 10:5).
“Children of Jericho”
were among the captives who returned under Zerubbabel (Ezra
2:34; Neh. 7:36).
Hiel (q.v.) the Bethelite attempted
to make it once more a
fortified city (1 Kings 16:34). Between the beginning and the end of
his
undertaking all his children were cut off.
In New Testament
times Jericho stood some distance to the southeast of the ancient one,
and near
the opening of the valley of Achor.
It was a rich and flourishing town, having a considerable trade, and
celebrated
for the palm trees which adorned the plain around.
It was visited by
our Lord on his last journey to Jerusalem.
Here he gave sight to two blind men (Matt. 20:29-34; Mark
10:46-52), and brought salvation
to the house of Zacchaeus thepublican (Luke 19:2-10).
“The soil of the
plain,” about the middle of which the ancient city stood,
“is unsurpassed in
fertility; there is abundance of water for irrigation,
and many of the old aqueducts are almost perfect … The
climate of Jericho is
exceedingly hot and unhealthy. This is accounted for by the depression
of the
plain, which is about 1,200 feet below the level of the sea.”
There were three
different Jerichos, on three different sites, the Jericho of Joshua,
the
Jericho of Herod, and the Jericho of the Crusades. Er-Riha, the modern
Jericho,
dates from the time of the Crusades. Dr. Bliss has found in a hollow
scooped
out for some purpose or other near the foot of the biggest mound above
the Sultan's
Spring specimens of Amorite or pre-Israelitish pottery precisely
identical with what he had
discovered on the site of ancient Lachish.
He also traced in this place for a short distance a mud brick wall in
situ,
which he supposes to be the very wall that fell before the trumpets of
Joshua.
The wall is not far from the foot of the great precipice of Quarantania
and its
numerous caverns, and the spies of Joshua could easily have fled from
the city
and been speedily hidden in these fastnesses.
Author: Matthew G.
Easton; Editor: Paul S. Taylor.
Jerusalem
The city of
Jerusalem is also called Salem, Ariel, Jebus, the
“city of God,” the “holy city;” by the
modern
Arabs “el-Khuds,” meaning “the holy;” once
“the city
of Judah” (2 Chr. 25:28).
This name is in the
original in the dual form, and means “possession of peace,”
or “foundation of
peace.” The dual form probably refers to the two mountains on
which it was
built, viz., Zion and Moriah;
or, as some suppose, to the two parts of the city, the
“upper” and the “lower
city.”
Jerusalem is a
“mountain city enthroned on a mountain fastness” (compare Ps.
68:15,16; 87:1; 125:2; 76:1,2; 122:3). It stands on
the edge of one
of the highest tablelands in Israel, and is surrounded on the
southeastern, the
southern, and the western sides by deep and precipitous ravines.
It is first
mentioned in Scripture under the name Salem (Gen. 14:18;
compare Ps. 76:2). When first mentioned under
the name Jerusalem, Adonizedek was its king (Josh.
10:1).
It is afterwards
named among the cities of Benjamin (Judg. 19:10; 1 Chr.
11:4); but in the time of David it was divided between Benjamin and Judah.
After the death of Joshua the
city was taken and set on fire by
the men of Judah (Judg. 1:1-8); but the Jebusites were
not wholly driven out of it.
The city is not
again mentioned till we are told that David brought the head of Goliath here
(1 Sam. 17:54). Davidforces against the Jebusites still
residing
within its walls, and drove them out, fixing his own dwelling on Zion,
which he called “the city of David” (2 Sam. 5:5-9; 1
Chr. 11:4-8). Here he built an altar to the Lord on the threshing-floor
of Araunah the Jebusite (2 Sam. 24:15-25), and
thither he brought up the ark of the covenant and placed it
in the
new tabernacle which he had prepared for it.
Jerusalem now became the capital of the kingdom.
After the death of
David, Solomon built the temple, a house for the name of the Lord, on
Mount Moriah (B.C. 1010). He also greatly
strengthened and adorned the city, and it became the great center of
all the
civil and religious affairs of the nation (Deut. 12:5; compare 12:14; 14:23; 16:11-16; Ps.
122).
After the
disruption of the kingdom on the accession to the throne of Rehoboam,
the son
of Solomon, Jerusalem became the capital of the kingdom of the two
tribes. It
was subsequently often taken and retaken by the Egyptians, the
Assyrians, and
by the kings of Israel (2 Kings 14:13, 14; 18:15, 16; 23:33-35; 24:14; 2
Chr. 12:9; 26:9; 27:3, 4; 29:3;32:30; 33:11), till
finally, for the
abounding iniquities of the nation, after a siege of three years, it
was taken
and utterly destroyed, its walls razed to the ground, and its temple
andpalaces consumed by fire, by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of
Babylon (2 Kings 25; 2 Chr. 36; Jer. 39), B.C. 588. The
desolation of the
city and the land was completed by the retreat of the principal Jews
into Egypt
(Jer. 40-44), and by the final carrying captive into Babylon of all
that still
remained in the land (52:3), so that it was left without an inhabitant
(B.C.
582). Compare the predictions, Deut.
28; Lev. 26:14-39.
But the streets
and walls of Jerusalem were again to be built, in troublous times (Dan.
9:16,
19, 25), after a captivity of seventy years. This restoration was begun
B.C.
536, “in the first year of Cyrus”
(Ezra 1:2, 3, 5-11). The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah contain the history
of the
re-building of the city and temple, and the restoration of the kingdom
of the
Jews, consisting of a portion of all the tribes. The kingdom thus
constituted
was for two centuries under the dominion of Persia, till B.C. 331; and
thereafter, for about a century and a half, under the rulers of the
Greek
empire in Asia, till B.C. 167. For a century the Jews maintained their
independence under native rulers, the Asmonean princes. At the close of
this
period they fell under the rule of Herod and of members of his family,
but
practically under Rome, till the time of the destruction of Jerusalem,
A.D. 70.
The city was then laid in ruins.
The modern
Jerusalem by-and-by began to be built over the immense beds of rubbish
resulting from the overthrow of the ancient city; and whilst it
occupies
certainly the same site, there are no evidences that even the lines of
its
streets are now what they were in the ancient city. Till A.D. 131 the
Jews who
still lingered about Jerusalem quietly submitted to the Roman sway. But
in that
year the emperor (Hadrian), in order to hold them in subjection,
rebuilt and
fortified the city. The Jews, however, took possession of it, having
risen
under the leadership of one Bar-Chohaba (i.e., “the son of the
star”) in revolt
against the Romans. Some four years afterwards (A.D. 135), however,
they were
driven out of it with great slaughter, and the city was again
destroyed; and
over its ruins was built a Roman city called Aelia Capitolina, a name
which it
retained till it fell under the dominion of the Mohammedans, when it
was called
el-Khuds, i.e., “the holy.”
In A.D. 326
Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine, made a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem with
the view of discovering the places mentioned in the life of our Lord.
She
caused a church to be built on what was then supposed to be the place
of the nativity at Bethlehem.
Constantine, animated by her example, searched for the holy sepulchre,
and
built over the supposed site a magnificent church, which was completed
and
dedicated A.D. 335. He relaxed the laws against the Jews till this time
in
force, and permitted them once a year to visit the city and wail over
the
desolation of “the holy and beautiful house.”
In A.D. 614 the
Persians, after defeating the Roman forces of the emperor
Heraclius, took
Jerusalem by storm, and retained it till A.D. 637, when it was taken by
the
Arabians under the Khalif Omar.
It remained in their possession till it passed, in A.D. 960, under the
dominion
of the Fatimite khalifs of Egypt, and in A.D. 1073 under the Turcomans.
In A.D. 1099 the
crusader Godfrey of Bouillon took the city from the Moslems with great
slaughter, and was elected king of Jerusalem. He converted
the Mosque
of Omar into a Christian cathedral. During the eighty-eight years which
followed, many churches and convents were erected in the holy city. The
Church
of the Holy Sepulchre was rebuilt during this period, and it alone
remains to
this day. In A.D. 1187 the sultan Saladin wrested the city from the
Christians.
From that time to the present day, with few intervals, Jerusalem has
remained
in the hands of the Moslems. It has, however, during that period been
again and
again taken and retaken, demolished in great part and rebuilt, no city
in the
world having passed through so many vicissitudes.
In the year 1850
the Greek and Latin monks residing in Jerusalem had a fierce dispute
about the
guardianship of what are called the “holy places.” In this
dispute the emperor
Nicholas of Russia sided with the Greeks, and Louis Napoleon, the
emperor of
the French, with the Latins. This led the Turkish authorities to settle
the
question in a way unsatisfactory to Russia. Out of this there sprang
the
Crimean War, which was protracted and sanguinary, but which had
important
consequences in the way of breaking down the barriers of Turkish
exclusiveness.
Modern Jerusalem
“lies near the summit of a broad mountain-ridge, which extends
without
interruption from the plain of Esdraelon to a line drawn
between the southern
end of the Dead Sea and the southeastern corner of the
Mediterranean.” This
high, uneven table-land is everywhere from 20 to 25 geographical miles
in
breadth. It was anciently known as the mountains of Ephraim and Judah.
“Jerusalem is a
city of contrasts, and differs widely from Damascus,
not merely because it is a stone town in mountains, whilst the latter
is a mud
city in a plain, but because while inDamascus Moslem
religion and Oriental custom are unmixed with any foreign element,
in Jerusalem every form of
religion, every nationality of East and West, is represented at one
time.”
Jerusalem is first
mentioned under that name in the Book of Joshua, and the Tell-el-Amarna collection of
tablets includes six letters from
its Amorite king to Egypt, recording the attack of the
Abiri about B.C. 1480. The name is there spelt Uru-Salim (“city
of peace”).
Another monumental record in which the Holy City is named is that of
Sennacherib's attack in B.C. 702. The “camp of the
Assyrians” was still shown
about A.D. 70, on the flat ground to the northwest, included in the new
quarter
of the city.
The city of David included
both the upper city and Millo, and was surrounded by a wall
built by David and Solomon, who appear to have restored the original
Jebusite
fortifications. The name Zion (or Sion) appears to have been,
like Ariel (“the hearth of God”),
a poetical term for Jerusalem, but in the Greek age was more specially
used of
the Temple hill. The priests' quarter grew up on Ophel, south of
the Temple, where also
was Solomon's Palace outside the original city of David.
The walls of the city
were extended by Jotham and Manasseh to include this suburb
and the Temple (2 Chr. 27:3; 33:14).
Jerusalem has ancient mediaeval
walls, partly on
the old lines, but extending less far to the south. The traditional
sites, as a
rule, were first shown in the 4th and later centuries A.D., and have no
authority. The results of excavation have, however, settled most of the
disputed questions, the limits of the Temple area, and the course of
the old
walls having been traced.
Author: Matthew G.
Easton, with minor editing by Paul S.
Taylor.
Jeshanah
a city of the kingdom of Israel (2
Chr. 13:19)
Jeshua / Jeshuah
This was the name
of 10 biblical men and a city.
1.
head of the ninth priestly order (Ezra 2:36);
called also Jeshuah
(1 Chr. 24:11)
2.
a Levite appointed by Hezekiah to
distribute offerings in the priestly cities (2
Chr. 31:15)
3.
a descendant of Pahathmoab who went out of the Captivity (Ezra
2:6; Neh. 7:11)
4.
a Levite (Ezra 2:40; Neh. 7:43)
5.
the son of Jozadak, and high priest of the Jews under Zerubbabel (Neh.
7:7; 12:1, 7, 10, 26); called Joshua (Hag.
1:1, 12; 2:2, 4; Zech.
3:1, 3, 6, 8-9)
6.
a Levite with a son named Jozabad (Ezra
8:33)
7.
the father of Ezer (Neh. 3:19)
8.
a Levite who assisted in the reformation under Nehemiah (8:7; 9:4-5)
9.
son of Kadmiel (Neh. 12:24)
10.
a city or village of Judah (Neh.
11:26)
11.
Joshua, the son of Nun (Neh. 8:17)
Jethlah
Meaning:
suspended; high
a city on the
borders of Dan (Josh. 19:42)
Jokdeam
a city in the
mountains of Judah (Josh. 15:56)
Jokmeam
Meaning: gathering
of the people
a city of Ephraim,
which was given with its suburbs to the Levites (1 Chr. 6:68)
It lay somewhere
in the Jordan valley (1 Kings 4:12, Revised Version; but in Authorized
Version incorrectly
“Jokneam”).
Jokneam
Meaning: gathered
by the people
a city “of Carmel”
(12:22), i.e., on Carmel,
allotted with its suburbs to the Merarite Levites (Josh. 19:11; 21:34)
It is the modern
Tell Kaimon, about 12 miles southwest of Nazareth, on the south of the
river Kishon.
Joktheel
Meaning: subdued
by God
The name of two
biblical places…
1.
A city of Judah near Lachish (Josh. 15, 38).
Perhaps the ruin
Kutlaneh, south of Gezer.
2.
Amaziah, king of Judah, undertook a great
expedition
against Edom (2 Chr. 25:5-10), which was completely successful. He
routed the
Edomites and slew vast numbers of them. So wonderful did this victory
appear to
him that he acknowledged that it could have been achieved only by the
special
help of God, and therefore he
called Selah (q.v.), their great fortress city, by the name of Joktheel
(2
Kings 14:7).
Joppa
Meaning: beauty
a town in the
portion of Dan (Josh. 19:46; Authorized Version,
“Japho”), on a sandy promontory between Caesarea and Gaza,
and at a distance of 30 miles northwest from Jerusalem
It is one of the
oldest towns in Asia. It was and
still is the chief sea-port of Judea.
It was never wrested from the Phoenicians.
It became a Jewish town only in the second century B.C.
It was from this
port that Jonah “took ship to
flee from the presence of the Lord” (Jonah 1:3). To this place
also the wood
cut in Lebanon by Hiram's men for Solomon was
brought in floats (2 Chr. 2:16);
and here the material for the building of the second
temple was also landed (Ezra 3:7).
At Joppa, in the
house of Simon the tanner, “by the sea-side,” Peter resided
“many days,” and here, “on the house-top,”
he had his “vision of tolerance” (Acts 9:36-43).
It bears the
modern name of Jaffa .
“Scarcely any
other town has been so often overthrown, sacked, pillaged, burned, and
rebuilt.”
It was taken by
the French under Napoleon in 1799, who gave orders for the massacre
here of
4,000 prisoners.
It is connected
with Jerusalem by road , and also by a railway
completed in
1892.
It is noticed on
monuments B.C. 1600-1300, and was attacked by Sannacharib B.C. 702.
Author: Matthew G.
Easton, Edited by: Paul S. Taylor.
Juttah
Meaning: extended
a Levitical city
in the mountains or hill-country of Judah (Josh. 15:55; 21:16)
Its modern name is
Yutta, a place about 5 1/2 miles south of Hebron. It is supposed to
have been
the residence of Zacharias and Elisabeth,
and the birthplace of John the Baptist, and on this account is annually
visited
by thousands of pilgrims belonging to the Greek Church (Luke 1:39).
K
Kabzeel
Meaning: gathering
of God
a city in the
extreme south of Judah, near to Idumaea (Josh. 15:21), the
birthplace of Benaiah, one of David's chief warriors
(2 Sam. 23:20; 1 Chr. 11:22)
It was called also
Jekabzeel (Neh. 11:25), after the Captivity.
Kadesh
the sacred city of
the Hittites, on the left bank of the Orontes, about 4 miles south of
the Lake
of Homs
It is identified
with the great mound Tell Neby Mendeh, some 50 to 100 feet high, and
400 yards
long. On the ruins of the temple of Karnak, in Egypt, has been found an
inscription recording the capture of this city by Rameses II.
Kartah
Meaning: city
a town in the
tribe of Zebulun assigned to the Levites of the family of Merari (Josh.
21:34)
It is identical
with Kattath (19:15), and perhaps also with Kitron (Judg.
1:30).
Kartan
Meaning: double
city
a town of Naphali,
assigned to the Gershonite Levites, and one of the cities of
refuge (Josh. 21:32)
It was probably
near the northwestern shore of the Sea of Tiberias, identical with the
ruined
village el-Katanah.
Kedemoth
Meaning:
beginnings; easternmost
a city of Reuben,
assigned to the Levites of the family of Merari (Josh. 13:18)
It lay not far
northeast of Dibon-gad, east of the Dead
Sea.
Kedesh
Meaning: sanctuary
The name of three
biblical places…
1.
A place in the extreme south of Judah (Josh. 15:23).
Probably the same as Kadesh-barnea (q.v.).
2.
A city of Issachar (1 Chr. 6:72). Possibly Tell
Abu
Kadeis, near Lejjun.
3.
A “fenced city” of Naphtali, one of the
cities of
refuge (Josh. 19:37; Judg. 4:6).
It was assigned to the Gershonite Levites (Josh. 21:32). It
was
originally a Canaanite royal city (Josh. 12:22), and was the residence
of Barak (Judg. 4:6); and here he and Deborah assembled
the tribes of Zebulun and
Naphtali before the commencement of the conflict with Sisera in the
plain of Esdraelon, “for Jehovah among the
mighty” (9, 10). In the reign of Pekah it was taken by
Tiglath-Pileser (2 Kings
15:29). It was situated near the “plain” (rather “the oak”)
of Zaanaim, and has been
identified with the modern Kedes, on the hills fully four miles
northwest of
Lake El Huleh.
It
has been supposed by some that the Kedesh of the narrative, where Barak assembled
his troops, was not the
place in Upper Galilee so named, which was 30 miles distant from the
plain of Esdraelon, but Kedish, on the shore of
the Sea of Galilee, 12 miles from
Tabor.
Keilah
Meaning: citadel
a city in the
lowlands of Judah (Josh. 15:44). David rescued it from the attack of
the
Philistines (1 Sam. 23:1-8); but the inhabitants proving unfaithful to
him, in
that they sought to deliver him up to Saul (13), he and his men
“departed from
Keilah, and went whithersoever they could go”
They fled to the
hill Hareth, about 3 miles to the
east, and thence through Hebron to Ziph (q.v.). “And David was in
the wilderness
of Ziph, in a wood” (1 Sam. 23:15). Here Jonathansought
him out, “and strengthened his hand in God.”
This was the last interview between David and Jonathan (23:16-18). It
is the
modern Khurbet Kila. Others identify it with Khuweilfeh, between Beit
Jibrin
(Eleutheropolis) and Beersheba,
mentioned in the Amarna tablets.
Kenath
Meaning:
possession
a city of Gilead
It was captured by Nobah, who
called it by his own name
(Num. 32:42).
It has been
identified with Kunawat, on the slopes of Jebel Hauran (Mount Bashan),
60 miles east from the south
end of the Sea of Galilee.
Kerioth
Meaning: cities
The name of two
biblical places…
1.
A town in the south of Judah (Josh. 15:25). Judas the
traitor was probably a native of
this place, and hence his name Iscariot.
It has been identified with the ruins of el-Kureitein, about 10 miles
south of
Hebron. (See HAZOR [4] ).
2.
A city of Moab (Jer. 48:24, 41), called Kirioth (Amos
2:2).
Keziz
Meaning: abrupt;
cut off
a city of the
tribe of Benjamin (Josh. 18:21)
Kibzaim
Meaning: two heaps
a city of Ephraim,
assigned to the Kohathite Levites, and appointed as a city
of refuge (Josh. 21:22)
It is also called Jokmeam (1
Chr. 6:68).
Kinah
Meaning: an elegy
a city in the
extreme south of Judah (Josh. 15:22)
It was probably
not far from the Dead Sea, in the
Wady Fikreh.
Kir
Meaning: a wall or
fortress
a place to which
Tiglath-pileser carried the Syrians captive after he had
taken the city of Damascus (2 Kings 16:9; Amos 1:5; 9:7). Isaiah (22:6),
who also was contemporary with
these events, mentions it along with Elam
Some have supposed
that Kir is a variant of Cush (Susiana), on the south of Elam.
Kir-haraseth
Meaning: built
fortress
a city and
fortress of Moab, the modern Kerak, a small town on the brow of a steep
hill
about 6 miles from Rabbath-Moab and 10 miles from the Dead Sea;
called also Kir-haresh,
Kir-hareseth, Kir-heres (Isa. 16:7, 11; Jer.
48:31, 36).
After the death of Ahab, Mesha, king of
Moab (see Moabite Stone, threw
off allegiance to the king of Israel, and fought successfully
for
the independence of his kingdom. After thisJehoram, king of
Israel, in seeking to regain his supremacy over Moab, entered into an alliance with Jehoshaphat, king of
Judah, and with the king of Edom. The three kings led
their armies against Mesha, who was driven back to seek
refuge in Kir-haraseth. The Moabites were driven to despair. Mesha then
took
his eldest son, who would have reigned in his stead, and offered him as
a
burnt-offering on the wall of the fortress in the sight of the allied armies.
“There was great indignation
against Israel: and they departed from him, and returned to their own
land.”
The invaders evacuated the land of Moab, and Mesha achieved the
independence of
his country (2 Kings 3:20-27).
Kirjath
Meaning: city
a city belonging
to Benjamin (Josh. 18:28), the modern Kuriet
el-'Enab, i.e., “city of grapes”, about 7 1/2 miles
west-northwest of Jerusalem
Kirjathaim
Meaning: two
cities; a double city
The name of two
biblical places…
1.
A city of refuge in Naphtali (1 Chr. 6:76).
2.
A town on the east of Jordan (Gen. 14:5; Deut. 2:9,
10). It was assigned to the
tribe of Reuben (Num. 32:37). In the time of Ezekiel (25:9) it was one
of the
four cities which formed the “glory of Moab” (compare Jer.
48:1, 23). It has been identified
with el-Kureiyat, 11 miles southwest of Medeba,
on the south slope of Jebel Attarus, the ancientAtaroth.
Kirjath-arba
Meaning: city of Arba
the original name
of Hebron (q.v.), so called from the name of its
founder, one of the Anakim (Gen. 23:2; 35:27; Josh.
15:13)
It was given to Caleb by Joshua as
his portion. The Jews interpret
the name as meaning “the city of the four”, i.e., of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
and Adam, who were all, as they allege,
buried there.
Kirjath-huzoth
Meaning: city of
streets
Num. 22:39, a Moabite city,
which some identify with Kirjathaim
Balak here received and entertained Balaam,
whom he had invited from Pethor, among the “mountains of the
east,” beyond the Euphrates, to
lay his ban upon the Israelites, whose progress he had no hope
otherwise of arresting.
It was probably from the summit of Attarus, the high place near the
city, that
the soothsayer first saw the encampments of Israel.
Kirjath-jearim
Meaning: city of
jaars; i.e., of woods or forests
a Gibeonite town (Josh. 9:17)
on the border of Benjamin, to which tribe it was
assigned (18:15, 28)
The ark was
brought to this place (1 Sam. 7:1, 2) from Beth-shemesh and
put in charge of Abinadab, a Levite. Here it remained
till it was removed by David to Jerusalem (2 Sam.
6:2, 3, 12; 1 Chr. 15:1-29; compare Ps. 132). It was also
called Baalah (Josh. 15:9) and Kirjath-baal (60). It
has been usually identified with Kuriet el-'Enab (i.e., “city of
grapes”),
among the hills, about 8 miles northeast of 'Ain Shems (i.e., Beth-shemesh).
The opinion, however, that
it is to be identified with 'Erma, 4 miles east of 'Ain Shems, on the
edge of
the valley of Sorek, seems to be better supported. (See KIRJATH.)
The words of Ps. 132:6, “We
found it in the fields
of the wood,” refer to the sojourn of the ark at Kirjath-jearim.
“Wood” is here
the rendering of the Hebrew word jaar, which is the singular of Jearim.
Kirjath-sannah
Meaning: city of
the sannah; i.e., of the palm(?)
Josh. 15:49; the
same as Kirjath-sepher (15:16; Judg. 1:11) and Debir (q.v.),
a Canaanitish royal city
included in Judah (Josh. 10:38; 15:49),
and probably the chief seat of learning among the Hittites
It was about 12
miles to the southwest of Hebron.
Kirjath-sepher
Meaning: city of
books
Josh. 15:15; same
as Kirjath-sannah (q.v.), now represented by the valley
of ed-Dhaberiyeh, southwest of Hebron
The name of this
town is an evidence that the Canaanites were acquainted with writing
and books.
“The town probably contained a noted school, or was the site of an oracle and
the residence of some learned
priest.” The “books” were probably engraved stones or bricks.
Kishion
Meaning: hardness
a city of Issachar assigned
to the Gershonite Levites (Josh. 19:20), the same as Kishon (21:28)
Kitron
Meaning: knotty
a city of Zebulun
(Judg. 1:30), called also Kattath (Josh. 19:15); supposed to
be “Cana of
Galilee”
L
Laban
Meaning: white
The name of a
biblical man and a city…
1.
The son of Bethuel,
who was the son of Nahor, Abraham's brother. He lived at Haran in
Mesopotamia. His sister Rebekah was Isaac's wife (Gen. 24).
Jacob, one of the sons
of this marriage, fled to the house of Laban, whose daughters Leah and
Rachel (ch. 29) he eventually married. (See JACOB.)
2.
A city in the Arabian desert in
the route of the Israelites (Deut. 1:1), probably identical
with Libnah (Num. 33:20).
Author: Matthew G.
Easton, with minor editing by Paul S.
Taylor.
Lachish
Meaning:
impregnable
a royal Canaanitish city in
the Shephelah, or maritime
plain of Canaan (Josh. 10:3,5; 12:11)
It was taken and
destroyed by the Israelites (Josh. 10:31-33). It afterwards
became, under Rehoboam, one of
the strongest fortresses of Judah (2 Chr. 10:9).
It was assaulted
and probably taken by Sennacherib (2 Kings 18:14,17; 19:8; Isa.
36:2). An account of this siege
is given on some slabs found in the chambers of the palace of
Koyunjik, and now in the British
Museum. The inscription has been deciphered as follows:
“Sennacherib, the
mighty king, king of
the country of Assyria, sitting
on the throne of judgment before the city of Lachish: I gave permission
for its
slaughter.” (SeeNINEVEH.)
Lachish has been
identified with Tell-el-Hesy, where a cuneiform tablet has been found,
containing a letter supposed to be from Amenophis at Amarna in reply to
one of
the Amarna tablets sent by Zimrida from Lachish. This letter is from
the chief
of Atim (=Etam, 1 Chr. 4:32) to
the chief of Lachish, in which the writer expresses great alarm at the
approach
of marauders from the Hebron hills. “They have entered
the land,”
he says, “to lay waste… strong is he who has come down. He
lays waste.” This
letter shows that “the communication by tablets in cuneiform
script was not
only usual in writing to Egypt,
but in the internal correspondence of the country. The letter, though
not so
important in some ways as theMoabite stone and
the Siloam text, is one of the most valuable discoveries ever made in
Palestine” (Conder's Tell Amarna Tablets, p. 134).
Among other
discoveries is that of an iron blast-furnace, with slag and ashes,
which is supposed to have
existed B.C. 1500. If the theories of experts are correct, the use of
the
hot-air blast instead of cold air (an improvement in iron manufacture
patented
by Neilson in 1828) was known fifteen hundred years before Christ.
(See FURNACE.)
Author: Matthew G.
Easton .
Laish
Meaning: a lion
The name of two
biblical places and one man…
1.
A city of the Sidonians, in the extreme north of
Israel (Judg. 18:7, 14); called also Leshem (Josh. 19:47) and Dan
(Judg. 18:7,
29; Jer. 8:16). It lay near the
sources of the Jordan, about 4 miles from Paneas. The restless and
warlike
tribe of Dan (q.v.), looking out for larger possessions, invaded this
country
and took Laish with its territory. It is identified with the ruin
Tell-el-Kady,
“the mound of the judge,” to the north of the waters of Merom (Josh.
11:5).
2.
A place mentioned in Isa.
10:30. It has been supposed to be the modern el-Isawiyeh, about a mile
northeast of Jerusalem.
3.
The father of Phalti (1 Sam. 25:44).
Laodicea
The city of this
name mentioned in Scripture lay on the confines of Phrygia and Lydia,
about 40 miles east of Ephesus (Rev. 3:14), on the banks of
the
Lycus. It was originally called Diospolis and then Rhoas, but
afterwards
Laodicea, from Laodice, the wife of Antiochus II., king of Syria,
who rebuilt it.
It was one of the
most important and flourishing cities of Asia Minor. At a very early
period it
became one of the chief seats of Christianity (Col. 2:1; 4:15; Rev.
1:11, etc.).
Author: Matthew G.
Easton, with minor editing by Paul S.
Taylor.
See the Christian
archaeological video which describes this city and the cultural context
surrounding the early Church: On the Early Church (“Hot
or Cold,” part of the Faith Lessons video series).
“Laodiceans had a unique
understanding of why lukewarm water was worthless. Today, we are to be
like a
hot bath or a cold drink to a world in need of cleansing and
refreshment.”
Lasaea
a city in the island of Crete (Acts
27:8)
Its ruins are
still found near Cape Leonda, about 5 miles east of “Fair
Havens.”
Libnah
Meaning:
transparency; whiteness
The name of two biblical
places…
1.
One of the stations of the Israelites in the
wilderness (Num. 33:20, 21).
2.
One of the royal cities of the Canaanites taken by
Joshua (Josh. 10:29-32; 12:15).
It became one of the Levitical towns in the tribe
of Judah (21:13), and was strongly
fortified. Sennacherib laid siege to it (2 Kings 19:8; Isa. 37:8).
It was the native place of Hamutal, the queen of Josiah (2
Kings 23:31). It stood near Lachish, and has been identified with
the modern Arak el-Menshiyeh.
Luz
Meaning: a
nut-bearing tree, the Almond
The name of two
biblical cities…
1.
The ancient name of a royal Canaanitish city near the
site of Bethel (Gen. 28:19; 35:6),
on the border of Benjamin (Josh. 18:13). Here Jacob halted,
and
had a prophetic vision. (See BETHEL.)
2.
A place in the land of the Hittites, founded (Judg.
1:26) by “a
man who came forth out of the city of Luz.” It is identified with
Luweiziyeh, 4
miles northwest of Banias.
Lystra
a town of Lycaonia, in Asia Minor,
in a wild
district and among a rude population
Here Paul preached
the gospel after he had been driven by persecution from Iconium (Acts
14:2-7). Here also he healed a
lame man (8), and thus so impressed the ignorant and superstitious
people that
they took him for Mercury, because he was the “chief
speaker,” and his companion Barnabas for Jupiter,
probably in consequence of his stately, venerable appearance; and were
proceeding to offer sacrifices to them (13), when Paul earnestly
addressed them and turned their attention to the true source of all
blessings.
But soon after, through the influence of the Jews from Antioch in
Pisidia and Iconium, they stoned Paul and
left him for dead (14:19). On recovering, Paul left for Derbe;
but soon returned again,
through Lystra, encouraging the disciples there to steadfastness. He in
all
likelihood visited this city again on his third missionary tour (Acts
18:23).
Timothy, who was probably born here (2 Tim. 3:10, 11), was no doubt one
of
those who were on this occasion witnesses of Paul's
persecution and his courage in Lystra.
M
Madmen
a Moabite town threatened
with the sword of the Babylonians (Jer. 48:2)
Madon
Meaning: strife
a Canaanitish city in
the north of Canaan (Josh. 11:1; 12:19), whose king was
slain by Joshua
perhaps the ruin
Madin, near Hattin, some 5 miles west of Tiberias
Magdala
Meaning: a tower
a town in Galilee, mentioned only
in Matt. 15:39
In the parallel
passage in Mark 8:10 this place is called Dalmanutha. It
was the birthplace of Mary called
the Magdalen, or Mary Magdalene.
It was on the west shore of the Lake ofTiberias, and is now probably
the small
obscure village called el-Mejdel, about 3 miles northwest of Tiberias.
In the Talmud this city is
called “the city of color,” and a
particular district of it was called “the tower of dyers.”
The indigo plant was much cultivated here.
Mahanaim
Meaning: two
camps; two hosts (“referring to the small visible company of
faithful followers
and the vastly superior invisible host of mighty
angels”—Dr. Henry M. Morris, The Defender's
Study Bible)
a place near the Jabbok, beyond
Jordan, where Jacob was
met by the “angels of God,” and
where he divided his retinue into “two hosts” on his return
from Padan-aram (Gen. 32:2)
This name was
afterwards given to the town which was built at that place.
Mahanaim is
mentioned 13 or 14 times in the Bible…
1.
Genesis
32:2—“This is God's camp… he called the
name of that place
Mahanaim.”
2.
Joshua
13:26—“…from Mahanaim unto the border of Debir;”
3.
Joshua
13:30—“…their coast was from Mahanaim…”
4.
Joshua
21:38—“…out of the tribe of Gad …Mahanaim
with her suburbs”
5.
2 Samuel
2:8—“…Abner… took Ishbosheth …to
Mahanaim”
6.
2 Samuel
2:12—“…Abner …went out from
Mahanaim…”
7.
2 Samuel
2:29—“…Abner …came to Mahanaim.”
8.
2 Samuel
17:24—“…David came to Mahanaim.”
9.
2 Samuel
17:27—“…when David was come to
Mahanaim…”
10.
2 Samuel 19:32—“…Barzillai …provided
the king of
sustenance …at Mahanaim…”
11.
1 Kings 2:8—“…cursed me
…when I went to Mahanaim…”
12.
1 Kings 4:14—“Ahinadab the son of Iddo had
Mahanaim”
13.
1 Chronicles 6:80—“…Mahanaim with her
suburbs”
14.
Song 6:13—“Why would you gaze on the Shulammite as
on the dance of Mahanaim?” (NIV)
(other translations say “two camps”
or “two armies” instead of
“Manhanaim”)
“It was the
southern boundary of Bashan (Josh. 13:26, 30), and
became a city of
the Levites (21:38). Here Saul's son Ishbosheth reigned
(2 Sam. 2:8, 12), while Davidreigned at Hebron. Here
also, after a troubled
reign, Ishbosheth was murdered by two of his own bodyguard (2 Sam.
4:5-7), who
brought his head to David at Hebron, but were, instead of being
rewarded, put
to death by him for their cold-blooded murder. Many
years after this, when he
fled from Jerusalem on the rebellion of his sonAbsalom, David made
Mahanaim, where Barzillai entertained him, his
headquarters, and here he
mustered his forces which were led against the army that
had gathered around Absalom.
It was while
sitting at the gate of this town that tidings of the great
and decisive battle between the two hosts and of the death of his son Absalom reached
him, when he gave way to the
most violent grief (2 Sam. 17:24-27).”
Mahanaim is also
mentioned as a station of one of Solomon's purveyors (1 Kings
4:14).
It has been
identified with the modern Mukhumah, a ruin found in a depressed plain
called
el-Bukie'a, ‘the little vale,’ near Penuel, south of the Jabbok,
and northeast of es-Salt.”
[Matthew G. Easton]
Makkedah
Meaning: herdsman's place
one of the royal cities of the Canaanites (Josh.
12:16), near which was a cave where
the five kings who had confederated against Israel sought
refuge (10:10-29)
They were put to
death by Joshua, who afterwards
suspended their bodies upon five trees.
It has been
identified with the modern village called Sumeil, standing on a low
hill about
7 miles to the northwest of Eleutheropolis (Beit Jibrin), where are
ancient
remains and a greatcave. The Palestine Exploration surveyors have,
however,
identified it with el-Mughar, or “the caves,” 3 miles from Jabneh and
2½ southwest of Ekron, because, they say, “at this
site only of all possible sites for Makkedah in the Palestine plain do
caves
still exist.”
Maktesh
Meaning: mortar
a place in or near Jerusalem inhabited
by silver merchants (Zeph. 1:11)
It has been
conjectured that it was the “Phoenician quarter” of the
city, where the traders
of that nation resided, after the Oriental custom.
Mareshah (Maresha)
Meaning:
possession; at the head; that which is at the head; capital; leadership
This name is
mentioned eight times in Scripture. It was the name of a biblical place
and two
Israelite men of the tribe of Judah.
1.
a city in the plain of Judah (Joshua
15:44)
“Here Asa defeated Zerah the Ethiopian (2
Chr. 14:9, 10). It is identified
with the ruin el-Mer'ash, about 1 1/2 mile south of Beit Jibrin”
(Matthew G.
Easton).
In 2 Chronicles
20:37, it is recorded
that a man named Dodavah lived here, and had a son named Eliezer who prophecied against Jehoshaphat.
2.
son of Laadah, grandson of Shelah, great-grandson of Judah (1
Chronicles 4:21)
3.
a grandson of Caleb / Caleb was one of the
family chiefs
of the tribe of Judah. This Mareshah was the son of Ziph, and
father of Hebron (1 Chronicles 2:42; 2 Chronicles 11:8)
/ descendant of Judah
Author: Paul S.
Taylor.
Medeba
Meaning: waters of quiet
an ancient Moabite town (Num.
21:30)
It was assigned to
the tribe of Reuben (Josh. 13:16). Here was fought the great battle in
which Joab defeated
the Ammonites and their allies (1 Chr. 19:7-15;
compare 2 Sam. 10:6-14). In the
time of Isaiah (15:2) the Moabites regained possession of it from the
Ammonites. (See Hanun.)
The ruins of this
important city, now Madeba or Madiyabah, are seen about 8 miles
southwest of Heshbon, and 14 east of the Dead Sea. Among
these are the ruins of
what must have been a large temple, and of three cisterns of
considerable extent, which are now
dry. These cisterns may have originated the name Medeba, “waters of
quiet.”
Megiddo (Megiddon)
Meaning: place of
troops
originally one of
the royal cities of the Canaanites (Josh. 12:21), belonged to
the tribe of Manasseh (Judg. 1:27), but does not
seem to
have been fully occupied by the Israelites till the time of Solomon (1
Kings 4:12; 9:15)
The valley or
plain of Megiddo was part of the plain of Esdraelon,
the great battlefield of Israel. It was here Barak gained a
notable victory over Jabin, the king of Hazor,
whose general,Sisera, led on
the hostile army. Barak rallied the warriors of the northern
tribes, and under the encouragement of Deborah (q.v.), the
prophetess, attacked the
Canaanites in the great plain. The army of Sisera was thrown into
complete
confusion, and was engulfed in the waters of the Kishon,
which had risen and overflowed
its banks (Judg. 4:5).
Many years after
this (B.C. 610), Pharaoh Necho
II., on his march against the king of Assyria,
passed through the plains of Philistia and Sharon;
and King Josiah, attempting to
bar his progress in the plain of Megiddo, was defeated by the Egyptians.
He was wounded in
battle, and died as they bore him away in his chariot towards Jerusalem (2
Kings 23:29; 2 Chr. 35:22-24), and all Israel mourned
for him. So general and bitter was this mourning that it
became a
proverb, to which Zechariah (12:11,12) alludes.
Author: Matthew G.
Easton, with minor editing by Paul S.
Taylor.
Archaeologists
have found Megiddo. See the Christian archaeological video which
describes this
ancient city: On
the Prophets & Kings of Israel (“Innocent
Blood,” part of the Faith Lessons
video series). “When evil dominates society as it did at Megiddo,
it's a
wake-up call for Christians to fight for righteousness.”
Memphis
(only in Hos. 9:6)
Hebrew: Moph
In Isa. 19:13; Jer. 2:16; 46:14,
19; Ezek. 30:13, 16, it is mentioned under
the name Noph. It was the capital
of Lower, i.e., of Northern Egypt. From certain remains found half
buried in
the sand, the site of this ancient city has been discovered near the
modern
village of Minyet Rahinch, or Mitraheny, about 16 miles above the
ancient head
of the Delta, and 9 miles south of Cairo, on the west bank of the Nile.
It is said to have been founded
by Menes, the first king of Egypt, and to have been in
circumference about 19 miles. “There are few remains above
ground,” says
Manning (The Land of the Pharaohs),
“of the splendour of ancient Memphis. The city has utterly
disappeared. If any
traces yet exist, they are buried beneath the vast mounds of crumbling bricks and
broken pottery which meet the eye in every direction.
Near the village of Mitraheny is a colossal statue of Rameses the
Great. It is
apparently one of the two described by Herodotus and Diodorus as
standing in
front of the temple of Ptah. They were originally 50 feet in height.
The one which
remains, though mutilated, measures 48 feet. It is finely carved in
limestone, which takes a high
polish, and is evidently a portrait. It lies in a pit, which, during
the
inundation, is filled with water. As we gaze on this fallen and
battered statue
of the mighty conqueror who was probably contemporaneous with Moses,
it is impossible not to
remember the words of the prophet Isaiah, 19:13; 44:16-19,
andJeremiah, 46:19.”
Mephaath
Meaning: splendour
a Levitical city
(Josh. 21:37) of the tribe of Reuben (13:18)
Middin
Meaning: measures
one of the six
cities “in the wilderness,” on the west of the Dead
Sea, mentioned along with En-gedi
(Josh. 15:61)
Migdal-el
Meaning: tower of God
a fortified city
of Naphtali (Josh. 19:38), supposed by some to be identical with Magdala (q.v.)
Mishal
a city of the
tribe of Asher (Josh. 21:30; 1 Chr. 6:74)
It is probably the
modern Misalli, on the shore near Carmel.
Mitylene
the chief city of
the island of Lesbos, on its east coast, in the
AEgean Sea
Paul, during his
third missionary journey, touched at this place on his way from Corinth
to Judea (Acts 20:14), and here tarried for a
night. It lies between Assos and Chios.
It is now under the Turkish rule, and bears the name of Metelin.
Mizpah (Miz'peh)
Meaning:
watch-tower; the look-out
1.
A place in Gilead, so named by Laban, who overtook
Jacob at this spot
(Gen. 31:49) on his return to Canaan from Padan-aram.
Here Jacob and Laban set up their memorial cairn of stones. It is the
same as
Ramath-mizpeh (Josh. 13:26).
2.
A town in Gilead,
where Jephthah resided, and where he assumed the
command of the Israelites in a time of national danger. Here he made
his rash
vow; and here his daughter submitted to her mysterious fate (Judg.
10:17; 11:11, 34). It may be the same as
Ramoth-Gilead (Josh. 20:8), but it is more likely that it is identical
with the
foregoing, the Mizpeh of Gen.
31:23, 25, 48-49.
3.
Another place in Gilead, at the foot of Mount Hermon,
inhabited by Hivites (Josh. 11:3, 8). The name in Hebrew
here has the article before it, “the Mizpeh,” “the
watch-tower.” The modern
village of Metullah, meaning also “the look-out,” probably
occupies the site so
called.
4.
A town of Moab to which David removed his parents for
safety during his persecution by Saul (1 Sam. 22:3). This was
probably the citadel known as Kir-Moab, now Kerak. While David resided
here he
was visited by the prophet Gad, here mentioned for the first time, who
was
probably sent by Samuel to bid him leave the land of Moab and betake
himself to
the land of Judah. He accordingly removed to the forest of Hareth (q.v.),
on the edge of the mountain
chain of Hebron.
5.
A city of Benjamin,
“the watch-tower”, where the people were accustomed to meet
in great national
emergencies (Josh. 18:26; Judg.
20:1, 3; 21:1, 5; 1 Sam. 7:5-16). It has been supposed
to be the same as Nob (1 Sam. 21:1; 22:9-19).
It was some 4 miles northwest of Jerusalem,
and was situated on the loftiest hill in the neighborhood, some 600
feet above
the plain of Gibeon. This village
has the modern name of Neby Samwil, i.e., the prophet Samuel, from a
tradition
that Samuel's tomb is here. (See NOB.)
Samuel
inaugurated the reformation that characterized his time by convening a
great
assembly of all Israel at Mizpeh, now the politico-religious center of
the
nation. There, in deep humiliation on account of their sins, they
renewed their
vows and entered again into covenant with the God of their
fathers. It was a period of
great religious awakening and of revived national life. The Philistines
heard
of this assembly, and came up against Israel. The Hebrews charged the
Philistine host with great fury,
and they were totally routed. Samuel commemorated this signal victory
by
erecting a memorial-stone, which he called “Ebenezer”
(q.v.), saying, “Hitherto
hath the Lord helped us” (1 Sam. 7:7-12).
Moladah
Meaning: birth
a city in the
south of Judah which fell to Simeon (Josh. 15:21-26; 19:2)
It has been
identified with the modern el-Milh, 10 miles east of Beersheba.
Mozah
Meaning: an
issuing of water
a city of Benjamin (Josh.
18:26)
N
Naamah
Meaning: the
beautiful
The name of two
biblical women and one city…
1.
descendant of Cain and the daughter of Lamech and Zillah (Gen.
4: 22) and sister of Tubalcain.
2.
The daughter of the king of Ammon,
one of the wives of Solomon, the
only one who appears to have borne him a son, viz., Rehoboam (1
Kings 14:21, 31).
3.
A city in the plain of Judah (Josh. 15:41), supposed
by some to be identified with Na'aneh, some 5 miles southeast of Makkedah.
Nahallal
Meaning: pasture
a city in Zebulun
on the border of Issachar (Josh. 19:15), the same as Nahalol
(Judg. 1:30)
It was given to
the Levites. It has been by some identified with Malul in the plain of Esdraelon,
4 miles from Nazareth.
Nazareth
Meaning:
separated, generally supposed to be the Greek form of the Hebrew netser,
a
“shoot” or “sprout”, a watch tower
Some, however,
think that the name of the city must be connected with the name of the
hill
behind it, from which one of the finest prospects in Israel is
obtained, and
accordingly they derive it from the Hebrew notserah, i.e., one
guarding or watching, thus designating
the hill which overlooks and thus guards an extensive region.
This city is not
mentioned in the Old Testament. It was the home of Joseph and Mary (Luke
2:39), and here the angel announced to the Virgin the birth
of
the Messiah (1:26-28).
Here Jesus grew up
from his infancy to manhood (4:16); and here he began his public
ministry in
the synagogue (Matt. 13:54), at which the people
were so offended that they sought to cast him down from the precipice
whereon
their city was built (Luke 4:29). Twice they expelled him from their
borders
(4:16-29; Matt. 13:54-58); and he
finally retired from the city, where he did not many mighty works
because of
their unbelief (Matt. 13:58), and took up his residence in Capernaum.
Nazareth is
situated among the southern ridges of Lebanon,
on the steep slope of a hill, about 14 miles from the Sea of
Galilee and about 6 west from Mount Tabor. It is identified
with the
modern village en-Nazirah . It
lies “as in a hollow cup” lower down upon the hill than the
ancient city. The
main road for traffic between Egypt and the interior of Asia passed by
Nazareth
near the foot of Tabor, and thence northward to Damascus.
It is supposed
from the words of Nathanael in John
1:46 that the city of Nazareth
was held in great disrepute, either because, it is said, the people of Galilee were
a rude and less cultivated class,
and were largely influenced by the Gentiles who mingled with
them, or because of
their lower type of moral and religious character. But there seems to
be no
sufficient reason for these suppositions.
The Jews believed
that, according to Micah 5:2, the
birth of the Messiah would take place at Bethlehem,
and nowhere else. Nathanael held the same opinion as his countrymen,
and
believed that the great “good” which they were all
expecting could not come
from Nazareth. This is probably what Nathanael meant. Moreover, there
does not
seem to be any evidence that the inhabitants of Galilee were in any
respect
inferior, or that a Galilean was held in contempt, in the
time of
our Lord. (See Dr. Merrill's Galilee in the Time of Christ.)
The population of
this city (now tens of thousands)
in the time of Christ probably amounted to 15,000 or 20,000 souls.
“The so-called
‘Holy House’ is a cave under the Latin church,
which appears
to have been originally a tank. The 'brow of the hill', site of the
attempted
precipitation, is probably the northern cliff: the traditional site has
been
shown since the middle ages at some distance to the south. None of the
traditional sites are traceable very early, and they have no authority.
The name Nazareth
perhaps means ‘a watch tower’ (now en-Nasrah), but is
connected in the New
Testament with Netzer, 'a branch'
(Isa. 4:2; Jer. 23:5; Zech. 3:8; 6:12; Matt.
2:23),Nazarene being quite a different word from Nazarite.”
Author: Matthew G.
Easton, with minor editing by Paul S.
Taylor.
Neapolis
Meaning: new city
a town in Thrace
at which Paul first landed in Europe (Acts 16:11)
It was the
sea-port of the inland town of Philippi, which was distant about 10
miles. From
this port Paul embarked on his last journey to Jerusalem (Acts
20:6). It is identified with the
modern Turco-Grecian Kavalla.
Nibshan
Meaning: fertile;
light soil
a city somewhere
“in the wilderness” of Judah (Josh. 15:62), probably near Engedi
Nicopolis
Meaning: city of
victory
where Paul intended
to winter (Titus 3:12)
There were several
cities of this name. The one here referred to was most probably that in
Epirus,
which was built by Augustus Caesar to commemorate his victory
at the
battle of Actium (B.C. 31). It is the modern Paleoprevesa, i.e.,
“Old Prevesa.”
The subscription to the epistle to Titus calls it “Nicopolis of Macedonia”,
i.e., of Thrace. This is,
however, probably incorrect.
Nimrah
Meaning: pure
a city on the east
of Jordan (Num. 32:3); probably the same as Beth-nimrah (Josh. 13:27)
It has been
identified with the Nahr Nimrin, at one of the fords of Jordan, not far
from
Jericho.
No (or No-A'mon)
Meaning: the home
of Amon
the name of
Thebes, the ancient capital of what is called the Middle Empire, in
Upper or
Southern Egypt
“The multitude of
No” (Jer. 46:25) is more correctly rendered, as in the Revised
Version, “Amon
of No”, i.e., No, where Jupiter Amon had his temple. In Ezek.
30:14, 16 it is simply called “No;” but in ver.
15 the name has the Hebrew Hamon prefixed to it, “Hamon
No.” This
prefix is probably the name simply of the god usually styled Amon or Ammon.
In Nah. 3:8the “populous No” of the
Authorized Version is in the Revised Version correctly rendered
“No-Amon.”
It was the
Diospolis or Thebes of the Greeks, celebrated for its hundred gates and
its
vast population. It stood on both sides of the Nile, and is by
some supposed to have
included Karnak and Luxor. In grandeur and extent it can only be
compared to Nineveh. It is mentioned only in the
prophecies referred to, which point to its total destruction. It was
first
taken by the Assyrians in the time of Sargon (Isa. 20). It was
afterwards
“delivered into the hand” of Nebuchadnezzar and
Assurbani-pal (Jer. 46:25, 26).
Cambyses, king of the Persians (B.C. 525), further
laid it waste by fire. Its ruin was completed (B.C. 81) by Ptolemy
Lathyrus.
The ruins of this city are still among the most notable in the valley
of the Nile. They have formed a great
storehouse of interesting historic remains for more than two thousand
years.
“As I wandered day after day with ever-growing amazement amongst
these relics
of ancient magnificence, I felt that if all the ruins in Europe,
classical,
Celtic, and medieval, were brought together into one center, they would
fall
far short both in extent and grandeur of those of this single Egyptian
city.”
Manning, The
Land of the Pharaohs.
Nob
Meaning: high
place
a city of the
priests, first mentioned in the history of David's wanderings (1 Sam.
21:1)
Here the
tabernacle was then standing, and here Ahimelech the priest
resided. (See Ahimelech.) From Isa. 10:28-32 it seems to
have been near Jerusalem. It has been identified by
some with el-Isawiyeh, one mile and a half to the northeast of Jerusalem.
But according to Isa.
10:28-32 it was on the south of Geba,
on the road to Jerusalem, and
within sight of the city. This identification does not meet these
conditions,
and hence others (as Dean Stanley) think that it was the northern
summit of
Mount Olivet, the place where David “worshipped God”
when fleeing from Absalom (2 Sam.
15:32), or more probably (Conder) that it was the same as Mizpeh (q.v.), Judg.
20:1; Josh. 18:26; 1 Sam. 7:16, at Nebi Samwil, about 5
miles northwest ofJerusalem.
After being
supplied with the sacred loaves of showbread, and girding on the sword
of Goliath, which was brought forth from
behind the ephod, David fled from
Nob and sought refuge at the court of Achish,
the king of Gath, where he was cast into prison.
(Compare titles of Ps. 34 and 56.)
Nobah
Meaning: howling
The name of a
biblical man and a city:
1.
Num. 32:42— “Nobah went and took Kenath, and
the
villages thereof.”
2.
The name given to the city of Kenath (q.v.)
by Nobah when he conquered it.
It was on the east of Gilead (Judg. 8:11).
Noph
the Hebrew name of
an Egyptian city (Isa. 19:13; Jer.2:16; 44:1; 46:14, 19; Ezek.
30:13, 16)
In Hos. 9:6 the Hebrew name is Moph,
and is
translated “Memphis,” which is its Greek and Latin form. It
was one of the most
ancient and important cities of Egypt, and stood a little to the south
of the
modern Cairo, on the western bank of the Nile.
It was the capital of Lower Egypt. Among the ruins found at this place
is a
colossal statue of Rameses the Great. (SeeMemphis.)
Nophah
Meaning: blast
a city of Moab
which was occupied by the Amorites (Num. 21:30)
O
On
Meaning: light;
the sun
(Gen. 41:45, 50), the great seat
of sun-worship,
called also Bethshemesh (Jer. 43:13) and Aven (Ezek. 30:17), stood on
the east
bank of the Nile, a few miles
north of Memphis, and near Cairo,
in the northeast
The Vulgate and
the LXX. [Septuagint] Versions have “Heliopolis”
(“city of the sun”) instead of
On in Genesis and of Aven in Ezekiel. The “city of
destruction” Isaiah speaks
of (19:18, marginal note “of Heres;“
Hebrew: 'Ir-ha-heres,
which some MSS. read Ir-ha-heres, i.e., “city of the
sun”) may be the name given
to On, the prophecy being that the time will come when
that city which was known as the ”city of the sun-god”
shall become the “city
of destruction” of the sun-god, i.e., when idolatry shall
cease, and the worship of the
true Godbe established.
In ancient times
this city was full of obelisks dedicated to the sun. Of these only one
now
remains standing. “Cleopatra's Needle” was one of those
which stood in this
city in front of the Temple of Tum, i.e., “the sun.” It is
now erected on the
Thames Embankment, London.
“It was at On that
Joseph wooed and won the dark-skinned Asenath,
the daughter of the high priest of its great temple.” This was a
noted
university town, and here Moses gained his acquaintance with
“all the
wisdom of the Egyptians.”
Open place
Gen. 38:14, 21,
mar. Enaim; the same probably as Enam (Josh. 15:34), a city in the
lowland or
Shephelah
Ophni
Meaning: mouldy
a city of Benjamin (Josh.
18:24)
Ophrah
Meaning: a fawn (1
Chr. 4:14)
The name of two
biblical cities…
1.
A city of Benjamin (Josh. 18:23); probably
identical with Ephron (2 Chr. 13:19) and Ephraim (John
11:54).
2.
“Of the Abi-ezrites.” A city of Manasseh, 6
miles
southwest of Shechem, the residence of Gideon (Judg. 6:11; 8:27,
32). After his great victory
over the Midianites, he slew at
this place the captive kings (8:18-21). He then assumed the
function of high priest, and sought to make Ophrah what Shiloh should
have
been. This thing “became a snare” to Gideon and his house.
After Gideon's death
his family resided here till they were put to death by Abimelech (Judg.
9:5). It is identified with
Ferata.
P
The city of Palm trees
the name given to Jericho (q.v.), Deut.
34:3; Judg. 1:16; 3:13
Patara
a city on the
southwest coast of Lycia at which Paul landed
on his return from his third missionary journey (Acts 21:1, 2)
Here he found a
larger vessel, which was about to sail across the open sea to the coast
of Phoenicia. In this vessel he set
forth, and reached the city of Tyre in perhaps two or three days.
Pau
(Gen. 36:39) or
Pai (1 Chr. 1:50), meaning: bleating
an Edomitish city
ruled over by Hadar
Pelusium
This was the Greek
name for the city of Sin in Egypt.
Penuel
Meaning: face of God
a place not far
from Succoth, on the east of the Jordan and north of the river Jabbok
It is also called
“Peniel.” Here Jacob wrestled (Gen. 32:24-32) “with a
man” (“the angel”, Hos. 12:4. Jacob says of him,
“I have
seen God face to face”) “till the break of
day.”
A town was
afterwards built there (Judg. 8:8; 1
Kings 12:25). The men of this place refused to succour Gideon and
his little army when they were in
pursuit of the Midianites (Judg. 8:1-21). On his return, Gideon slew
the men of this city and razed
its lofty watch-tower to the ground.
Pergamos (Pergamum)
the chief city of Mysia, in Asia
Minor
One of the “seven
churches” was planted here (Rev. 1:11; 2:17).
It was noted for
its wickedness, insomuch that our Lord says “Satan's seat”
was there. The
church of Pergamos was rebuked for swerving from the truth and
embracing the
doctrines ofBalaam and the Nicolaitanes. Antipas,
Christ's “faithful martyr,” here sealed his testimony
with his blood.
This city stood on
the banks of the river Caicus, about 20 miles from the sea. It is now
called
Bergama .
Parchment (q.v.) was first made
here, and was
called by the Greeks pergamene, from the name of the city.
Author: Matthew G.
Easton, with minor editing by Paul S.
Taylor.
Pethor
Meaning:
interpretation of dreams
a city identified
with Pitru, on the west bank of the Euphrates,
a few miles south of the Hittite capital of Carchemish (Num.
22:5, “which is by the river of
the land of the children of [the god] Ammo”)
Petra
also known as: Sela or Selah, The
Rock (Judges 1:36), Hor, Seir,
Stronghold of the Edomites, Rock
city of the Edomites
Petra is a Greek
word meaning: rock, Isa. 16:1,
marginal note.
The name “Petra”
does not appear in the Bible.
Petra is now a
World Heritage Site located in southern Jordan.
Philadelphia
Meaning: brotherly
love
a city of Lydia in Asia
Minor, about 25 miles
southeast of Sardis
It was the seat of
one of the “seven churches” (Rev. 3:7-12). It came into the
possession of the
Turks in A.D. 1392. It has several times been nearly destroyed by earthquakes.
It is still a town of
considerable size, called Alashehir (in Turkish “Ala”).
Philippi
The name of two
biblical cities…
1.
Formerly Crenides, “the fountain,” the
capital of the
province of Macedonia. It stood
near the head of the Sea, about 8 miles northwest of Kavalla. It is now
a
ruined village, called Philibedjik. Philip of Macedonia fortified
the old Thracian town of
Crenides, and called it after his own name Philippi (B.C.
359-336). In the time of the
Emperor Augustus this city became a Roman colony, i.e.,
a military settlement of
Roman soldiers, there planted for the purpose of controlling the
district
recently conquered.
It
was a “miniature Rome,” under the
municipal law of Rome, and governed by military officers, called
duumviri, who
were appointed directly from Rome. Having been providentially guided
thither,
here Paul and his companion Silas preached the gospel and
formed the first church in Europe. (See Lydia.) This
success stirred up the enmity of the people, and they were
“shamefully entreated” (Acts 16:9-40; 1
Thess. 2:2). Paul and Silas at length left this city and
proceeded to Amphipolis (q.v.).
2.
When Philip the tetrarch,
the son of Herod, succeeded to
the government of the northern portion of his kingdom, he enlarged the
city of
Paneas, and called it Caesarea,
in honor of the emperor. But in order to distinguish it from the Caesarea on
the sea coast, he added to it
subsequently his own name, and called it Caesarea-Philippi (q.v.).
Pithom
Egyptian: Pa-Tum,
“house of Tum,” the sun-god
one of the
“treasure” cities built for Pharaoh Rameses II.
by the Israelites (Ex.
1:11)
It was probably
the Patumos of the Greek historian Herodotus. It has now been
satisfactorily
identified with Tell-el-Maskhuta, about 12 miles west of Ismailia, and
20 east
of Tel-el-Kebir, on the southern bank of the present Suez Canal. Here
in 1883
were discovered the ruins of supposed grain-chambers, and other
evidences to
show that this was a great “store city.” Its immense
ruin-heaps show that it
was built of bricks, and partly
also of bricks without straw.
Succoth (Ex. 12:37) is supposed by
some to be
the secular name of this city, Pithom being its sacred name.
This was the first
halting-place of the Israelites in their exodus.
It has been argued
(Dr. Lansing) that these “store” cities “were
residence cities, royal dwellings, such as the Pharaohs of
old, the Kings of Israel, and our modern Khedives have ever loved to
build,
thus giving employment to the superabundant muscle of their enslaved peoples,
and making a name for
themselves.”
Ptolemais
a maritime city of
Galilee (Acts 21:7)
It was originally
called “Accho” (q.v.), and received the name Ptolemais from
Ptolemy Soter when
he was in possession of Coele-syria.
Puteoli
a city on the
coast of Campania, on the north shore of a bay running north
from the bay of
Naples, at which Paul landed on his way to Rome, from which
it was distant 170 miles
Here he tarried
for seven days (Acts 28:13, 14). This was the great
emporium for the Alexandrian corn ships. Here Paul and
his companions began their journey, by the “Appian Way,” to Rome.
It is now called Pozzuoli. The
remains of a huge amphitheatre, and of the quay at which Paul landed,
may still be seen here.
Q
R
Rabbah
or Rab'bath,
meaning: great
The name of two
biblical cities…
1.
“Rabbath of the children of Ammon,” the
chief city of
the Ammonites, among the eastern
hills, some 20 miles east of the Jordan, on the southern of the two
streams
which united with the Jabbok.
Here the bedstead of Og was preserved (Deut. 3:11),
perhaps as
a trophy of some victory gained by the Ammonites over the king of Bashan.
After David had subdued all
their allies in a great war, he sent Joab with a strong force
to take their
city. For two years it held out against its assailants. It was while
his army
was engaged in this protracted siege that David was guilty of that deed
of
shame which left a blot on his character and cast a gloom
over
the rest of his life. At length, having taken the “royal
city” (or the “city of
waters,” 2 Sam. 12:27, i.e., the
lower city on the river, as distinguished from the citadel), Joab sent
for
David to direct the final assault (11:1; 12:26-31).
The city was given up to plunder, and the people were ruthlessly put to
death,
and “thus did he with all the cities of the children of Ammon.”
The destruction of Rabbath was
the last of David's conquests. His kingdom now reached its farthest
limits (2
Sam. 8:1-15; 1 Chr. 18:1-15). The
capture of this city is referred to by Amos (1:14), Jeremiah (49:2,
3), and Ezekiel(21:20; 25:5).
2.
A city in the hill country of Judah (Josh. 15:60),
possibly the ruin Rubba, six miles northeast of Beit-Jibrin.
Rakkath
Meaning:
shore-town
a “fenced city” of
the tribe of Naphtali (Josh. 19:35)
The old name of Tiberias,
according to the Rabbins.
Rama / Ramah
(Matt. 2:18), the
Greek form of Ramah
Several biblical
cities were referred to by this name…
1.
A city first mentioned in Josh. 18:25, near Gibeah of Benjamin.
It was fortified by Baasha, king of
Israel (1 Kings 15:17-22; 2 Chr.
16:1-6). Asa, king of Judah, employed Benhadad the Syrian king to
drive Baasha from this city (1 Kings 15:18, 20).
Isaiah (10:29) refers to it, and also Jeremiah, who was once a prisoner
there
among the other captives of Jerusalem when it was taken by Nebuchadnezzar (Jer.
39:8-12; 40:1). Rachel, whose tomb lies close
to Bethlehem, is represented as
weeping in Ramah (Jer. 31:15) for her slaughtered children. This prophecy is
illustrated and fulfilled in the
re-awakening of Rachel's grief at the slaughter of the infants in Bethlehem (Matt.
2:18). It is identified with
the modern village of er-Ram, between Gibeon and Beeroth,
about 5 miles due north of Jerusalem.
(See Samuel.)
2.
A town identified with Rameh, on the border of Asher,
about 13 miles southeast of Tyre, “on a solitary hill in the
midst
of a basin of green fields” (Josh. 19:29).
3.
One of the “fenced cities” of Naphtali (Josh.
19:36), on a mountain slope,
about seven and a half miles west-southwest of Safed, and 15 miles west
of the
north end of the Sea of Galilee,
the present large and well-built village of Rameh.
4.
The same as Ramathaim-zophim (q.v.), a town of Mount
Ephraim (1 Sam. 1:1, 19).
5.
The same as Ramoth-gilead (q.v.), 2 Kings
8:29; 2 Chr. 22:6.
Rameses
1.
“the land of” (Gen. 47:11), was probably
“the land of Goshen” (q.v.) 45:10
After
the Hebrews had built Rameses, one of the “treasure
cities,” it came to be
known as the “land” in which that city was built.
2.
The city bearing this name (Ex. 12:37) was probably
identical with Zoan, which Rameses II. (“son of the sun”)
rebuilt. It became
his special residence, and ranked next in importance and magnificance
to
Thebes. Huge masses of bricks,
made of Nile mud, sun-dried, some of them mixed
with stubble, possibly moulded by Jewish hands, still mark the site of
Rameses.
This was the general rendezvous of the Israelites before they began
their march
out of Egypt. Called also Raamses (Ex. 1:11).
Ramoth
Meaning: heights
A Levitical city
in the tribe of Issachar (1 Sam. 30:27; 1 Chr. 6:73),
the same as Jarmuth (Josh. 21:29) and Remeth (q.v.), 19:21.
Ramoth-gilead
Meaning: heights
of Gilead
a city of refuge on the east
of Jordan; called “Ramoth
in Gilead” (Deut. 4:43; Josh.
20:8; 21:38)
Here Ahab, who joined Jehoshaphat in
an endeavour to rescue it from the
hands of the king of Syria,
was mortally wounded (1 Kings 22:1-36). A similar attempt was
afterwards made
by Ahaziah and Joram,
when the latter was wounded (2 Kings 8:28). In this city Jehu, the
son of Jehoshaphat, was anointed by one of the sons of the
prophets
(9:1, 4).
It has with
probability been identified with Reimun, on the northern slope of the Jabbok,
about 5 miles west of Jerash
or Gerasa, one of the cities of Decapolis.
Others identify it with Gerosh, about 25 miles northeast of es-Salt,
with which
also many have identified it.
Rehoboth
Meaning: broad
places.
1.
A well in Gerar dug by Isaac (Gen.
26:22), supposed to be in Wady
er-Ruheibeh, about 20 miles south of Beersheba.
2.
An ancient city on the Euphrates (Gen. 36:37; 1
Chr. 1:48), “Rehoboth by the river.”
3.
Named among the cities of Asshur (Gen. 10:11).
Probably, however, the
words “rehoboth'ir” are to be translated as in the Vulgate
and the margin of
Authorized Version, “the streets of the city,” or rather
“the public square of
the city”, i.e., of Nineveh.
Resen
Meaning: head of
the stream; bridle
one of Nimrod's cities (Gen.
10:12), “between Nineveh and Calah”
It has been
supposed that the four cities named in this verse were
afterwards
combined into one under the name of Nineveh (q.v.). Resen was on the
east side
of the Tigris. It is probably identified with the mound of ruins called
Karamless.
Rimmon
Meaning: pomegranate
The name of a
biblical man, an idol, and two places…
1.
A man of Beeroth (2 Sam. 4:2), one of the four
Gibeonite cities. (See Josh.
9:17.)
2.
A Syrian idol, mentioned only in 2 Kings
5:18.
3.
One of the “uttermost cities” of Judah,
afterwards
given to Simeon (Josh. 15:21, 32; 19:7; 1 Chr. 4:32). In Josh.
15:32 Ain and Rimmon are mentioned separately, but
in 19:7 and1
Chr. 4:32 (compare Neh. 11:29) the two words are probably
to be combined, as forming together the name of one place,
Ain-Rimmon=the
spring of the pomegranate. It has
been identified with Um er-Rumamin, about 13 miles southwest of Hebron.
4.
“Rock of,” to which the Benjamites fled
(Judg. 20:45, 47; 21:13), and where they maintained
themselves for four months after the fearful battle at Gibeah, in
which they were almost
exterminated, 600 only surviving out of about 27,000. It is the present
village
of Rummon, “on the very edge of the hill country, with a
precipitous descent
toward theJordan valley,”
supposed to be the site of Ai.
Author: Matthew G.
Easton.
Rome
The most
celebrated city in the world at the time of Christ.
It is said to have been founded B.C. 753. When the New Testament was
written, Rome was enriched and
adorned with the spoils of the world, and contained a population
estimated at
1,200,000, of which the half were slaves,
and including representatives of nearly every nation then known. It was
distinguished for its wealth and luxury and profligacy. The empire of
which it
was the capital had then reached its greatest prosperity.
On the day of Pentecost there
were in Jerusalem “strangers from Rome,” who
doubtless carried with
them back to Rome tidings of that great day, and were instrumental in
founding
the church there. Paul was
brought to this city a prisoner,
where he remained for two years (Acts 28:30-31) “in his
own hired house.” While here, Paul wrote
his epistles to thePhilippians, to the Ephesians, to the Colossians,
to Philemon, and probably also to the Hebrews. He had during
these years for companions Luke and Aristarchus (Acts
27:2), Timothy(Philippians 1:1; Col. 1:1), Tychicus (Eph.
6:21), Epaphroditus (Phil. 4:18), and John Mark (Col.
4:10). (See PAUL.)
Beneath this city are
extensive galleries, called “catacombs,” which were used
from about the time of
the apostles (one of the inscriptions found in them
bears the date A.D. 71)
for some three hundred years as places of refuge in the time
of persecution, and also of worship and burial.
About four thousand inscriptions have been found in the catacombs.
These give
an interesting insight into the history of the church at Rome
down to the time of
Constantine.
S
Salcah
Meaning: wandering
a city of Bashan assigned to
the half tribe of Manasseh
(Deut. 3:10; Josh. 12:5; 13:11), identified with Salkhad,
about
56 miles east of Jordan
The city of Salt
one of the cities
of Judah (Josh. 15:62), probably in the Valley
of Salt, at the southern end of the Dead
Sea
Sardis
the metropolis of Lydia in
Asia Minor
It stood on the
river Pactolus, at the foot of mount Tmolus. Here was one of the seven
Asiatic
churches (Rev. 3:1-6). It is now a ruin called Sert-Kalessi.
Author: Matthew G.
Easton.
Secacah
Meaning: enclosure
one of the six
cities in the wilderness of Judah, noted for its “great cistern”
(Josh. 15:61)
It has been
identified with the ruin Sikkeh, east of Bethany.
Seleucia
the sea-port of Antioch, near the
mouth of the Orontes
Paul and his companions sailed
from this
port on their first missionary journey (Acts 13:4). This city was built
by
Seleucus Nicator, the “king of Syria.” It is said
of him that “few
princes have ever lived with so great a passion for the building of
cities. He is reputed to have built
in all nine Seleucias, sixteen Antiochs,
and six Laodiceas.” Seleucia
became a city of great importance, and was made a “free
city” by Pompey. It is
now a small village, called el-Kalusi.
Sepharvaim
a city taken by
Sargon, king of Assyria (2 Kings 17:24; 18:34; 19:13; Isa.
37:13)
It was a double
city, and received the common name Sepharvaim, i.e., “the two
Sipparas,” or
“the two booktowns.” The Sippara on the east bank of the Euphrates is
now called Abu-Habba; that on the
other bank was Accad, the old
capital of Sargon I., where he established a great library. (See Sargon.)
The recent discovery of
cuneiform inscriptions at Tel el-Amarna in Egypt, consisting of
official
despatches to Pharaoh Amenophis IV. and his predecessor from their
agents in
Israel, proves that in the century before the Exodus an
active literary intercourse was
carried on between these nations, and that the medium of the
correspondence was
the Babylonian language and script.
Shaaraim
Meaning: two gates
The name of two
biblical places…
1.
A city in the plain of Judah (1 Sam. 17:52);
called also Sharaim (Josh. 15:36).
2.
A town in Simeon (1 Chr. 4:31).
Shalem
Meaning: perfect
a place (probably
the village of Salim) some 2
miles east of Jacob's well
There is an
abundant supply of water, which may have been the reason for Jacob's settling
at this place (Gen.
33:18-20). The Revised Version translates this word, and reads,
“Jacob came in
peace to the city of Shechem,”
thus not regarding it as a proper name at all.
Shechem
Meaning: shoulder
This was the name
of two biblical men and one city:
1.
The son of Hamor the Hivite (Gen. 33:19; 34).
2.
A descendant of Manasseh (Num. 26:31; Josh.
17:2).
3.
A city in Samaria (Gen. 33:18), called also Sichem (12:6),
Sychem (Acts 7:16)
It
stood in the narrow sheltered valley between Ebal on
the north and Gerizim on the south, these mountains at their
base being only some 500 yards apart. Here Abrahampitched
his tent and built his first altar in the Promised
Land, and received the
first divine promise (Gen. 12:6-7). Here also Jacob “bought
a parcel of a field at the
hands of the children of Hamor”
after his return from Mesopotamia,
and settled with his household, which he purged from idolatry by
burying the teraphim of his followers under an oaktree,
which was afterwards called
“the oak of the sorcerer” (Gen.
33:19; 35:4; Judg. 9:37). (See Meonenim.) Here too,
after a while, he
dug a well, which bears his name
to this day (John 4:5, 39-42).
To
Shechem Joshua gathered all Israel “before God,”
and delivered to them his second
parting address (Josh. 24:1-15). He “made a covenant with
the people that day” at the very
place where, on first entering the land, they had responded to the law
from Ebal and Gerizim (Josh. 24:25), the terms of
which were
recorded “in the book of the law ofGod”, i.e., in
the roll of the law of Moses; and in memory of this
solemn transaction a great stone was set up “under an oak”
(compare Gen. 28:18; 31:44-48; Ex. 24:4; Josh. 4:3,
8, 9), possibly the old
“oak of Moreh,” as a silent
witness of the transaction to all coming time.
Shechem
became one of the cities of
refuge, the central city of refuge for Western Israel (Josh. 20:7), and
here
the bones of Joseph were buried (24:32). Rehoboam was
appointed king in
Shechem (1 Kings 12:1, 19), but Jeroboam afterwards took
up his residence here.
This city is mentioned in connection with our Lord's conversation with
the woman of Samaria (John 4:5);
and thus, remaining as it does to the present day, it is one of the
oldest
cities of the world. It is the modern Nablus, a contraction for Neapolis,
the name given to it by
Vespasian. It lies about a mile and a half up the valley on its
southern slope,
and on the north of Gerizim,
which rises about 1,100 feet above it, and is about 34 miles north of Jerusalem.
The
site of Shechem is said to be of unrivalled beauty. Stanley said it is
“the
most beautiful, perhaps the only very beautiful, spot in Central Palestine.”
Gaza,
near Shechem, only mentioned 1
Chr. 7:28, has entirely disappeared. It was destroyed at the time of
the
Conquest, and its place was taken by Shechem.
Shiloh
1.
generally understood as denoting the Messiah,
“the peaceful one,” as the
word signifies (Gen. 49:10)
The
Vulgate Version translates the word, “he who is to be
sent,” in allusion to the Messiah; the Revised Version,
margin,
“till he come to Shiloh;” and the LXX., “until that
which is his shall come to
Shiloh.” It is most simple and natural to render the expression,
as in the
Authorized Version, “till Shiloh come,” interpreting it as
a proper name
(compare Isa. 9:6).
2.
Shiloh, a place of rest, a city of Ephraim,
“on the north side of Bethel,” from which it is
distant 10
miles (Judg. 21:19); the modern Seilun (the Arabic for Shiloh), a
“mass of
shapeless ruins.”
Here
the tabernacle was set up after the Conquest (Josh. 18:1-10), where it
remained
during all the period of the judges till the ark fell into the hands of
the Philistines. “No spot in Central
Palestine could be more secluded than this early sanctuary, nothing
more
featureless than the landscape around; so featureless, indeed, the
landscape
and so secluded the spot that from the time of St. Jerome till its
re-discovery
by Dr. Robinson in 1838 the very site was forgotten and unknown.”
It is
referred to by Jeremiah (7:12, 14; 26:4-9) five hundred
years after its
destruction.
Shimron
Meaning:
watch-post
an ancient city of
the Canaanites; with its villages, allotted to Zebulun (Josh.
19:15); now probably Semunieh,
on the northern edge of the plain of Esdraelon,
5 miles west of Nazareth
Shimron-meron (Shimronmeron)
a city, probably
the same as Shimron (Josh. 12:20)
Author: Matthew G.
Easton, with minor editing by Paul S.
Taylor.
Sichem
=She'chem, (q.v.), a city mentioned in Gen.
12:6
Author: Matthew G.
Easton, with
minor editing by Paul S. Taylor.
Sidon
Meaning: fishing;
fishery
The name of a
biblical man and a city…
1.
The son of Canaan (Gen. 10:15, 19)
2.
A city mentioned several times in the Bible
(Authorized Version marginal note, Tzidon; Revised Version, Zidon); Matt.
11:21, 22; Luke 6:17
Sin
the word used to
denote the willful breaking of God's
law
It is also the
name of a biblical city and a wilderness (see bottom
of this page).
1.
Sin is “any want of conformity unto or
transgression
of the law of God” (1 John 3:4; Rom. 4:15), in the
inward state and
habit of the soul, as well as in the outward conduct of the life,
whether by
omission or commission (Rom. 6:12-17; 7:5-24).
It
is “not a mere violation of the law of our constitution, nor of
the system of
things, but an offense against a personal lawgiver and moral governor who
vindicates his law with
penalties. The soul that sins is always conscious that his sin
is…
1.
intrinsically vile and polluting, and…
2.
that it justly deserves punishment, and
calls down the righteous wrath of God.
Hence,
sin carries with it two inalienable characters,
3.
ill-desert, guilt (reatus);
and
4.
pollution (macula).”
[Hodge's Outlines]
The
moral character of a man's actions is determined by the moral state of
his
heart. The disposition to sin, or the habit of the soul that leads to
the
sinful act, is itself also sin (Rom. 6:12-17; Gal.
5:17; James 1:14-15).
The
origin of sin is a mystery, and must for ever remain such to us. It is
plain
that for some reason God has permitted sin to enter this
world, and that is all we
know. His permitting it, however, in no way makes God the
author of sin.
Original
sin
Adam’s sin
(Gen. 3:1-6) consisted in his
yielding to the assaults of temptation and eating
the forbidden fruit. It involved in it:
5.
the guilt of disobedience to a positive command
6.
lack of trust in God’s
goodness in what He might do
about his mate, Eve—she having
been deceived by Satan into disobeying God’s command
7.
the sin of unbelief, virtually making God a liar
By
this sin, he became an apostate from God,
a rebel in arms against his Creator.
He lost the favor of God and communion with him;
his whole nature became depraved, and he incurred the penalty involved
in the covenant of works.
“Our first
parents being the root of all mankind, the
guilt of their sin was imputed,
and the same death in sin and corrupted nature were
conveyed to all their posterity,
descending from them by ordinary generation.”
Adam was
constituted by God the
federal head and representative of all his posterity, as he was also
their
natural head, and therefore when he fell they fell with
him (Rom. 5:12-21; 1 Cor. 15:22-45). His probation was
their probation, and his fall their fall.
Because of Adam's first sin, all his posterity came into
the world in a state of sin andcondemnation, i.e., (1) a state of moral
corruption, and (2) of guilt, as having judicially imputed to
them the guilt of Adam's first sin.
“Original
sin” is frequently and properly used to denote only the moral
corruption of
their whole nature inherited by all men from Adam.
This inherited moral corruption consists in, (1) the loss of original righteousness;
and (2) the presence of
a constant proneness to evil, which is the root and origin of all
actual sin.
It is called “sin” (Rom. 6:12,14, 17; 7:5-17),
the “flesh” (Gal. 5:17, 24), “lust” (James
1:14-15), the “body
of sin” (Rom. 6:6), “ignorance,” “blindness of
heart,” “alienation from the
life of God” (Eph. 4:18-19).
It
influences and depraves the whole man, and its tendency is still
downward to
deeper and deeper corruption, there remaining no recuperative element
in the
soul. It is a total depravity, and it is also universally inherited by
all the natural descendants of Adam (Rom.
3:10-23; 5:12-21; 8:7).
Pelagians deny
original sin, and regard man as
by nature morally and spiritually well; semi-Pelagians regard him as
morally
sick; Augustinians, or, as they are also called, Calvinists, regard man
as
described above, spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1; 1
John 3:14).
The doctrine of original
sin is proved…
h.
from the fact of
the universal sinfulness of men
“There
is no man that sinneth not” (1 Kings 8:46; Isa.
53:6; Ps. 130:3; Rom. 3:19, 22-23; Gal. 3:22).
i.
from the total
depravity of man
All
men are declared to be destitute of any principle of spiritual life;
man's
apostasy from God is total and complete (Job 15:14-16; Gen.
6:5-6).
j.
from its early manifestation (Ps. 58:3; Prov.
22:15)
k
It is proved also
from the necessity, absolutely and universally, of regeneration (John
3:3; 2 Cor. 5:17).
l.
from the
universality of death (Rom. 5:12-20)
Smyrna
Meaning: myrrh
an ancient city of
Ionia, on the western coast of Asia Minor, about 40 miles to the north
of Ephesus
It is now the
chief city of Anatolia, having a mixed population of about 200,000, of
whom
about one-third are professed Christians. The church founded here was
one of
the seven addressed by our Lord (Rev. 2:8-11). The celebrated Polycarp,
a pupil
of the apostle John, was in the
second century a prominent leader in the church of Smyrna. Here he
sufferedmartyrdom, A.D. 155.
Socho
Meaning: a fence; hedge
(1 Chr. 4:18;
Revised Version, Soco)=So'choh (1 Kings 4:10; Revised Version, Socoh),
Sho'choh
(1 Sam. 17:1; Revised Version, Socoh), Sho'co (2 Chr. 11:7; Revised
Version,
Soco), Sho'cho (2 Chr. 28:18; Revised Version, Soco)
a city in the
plain or lowland of Judah, where
the Philistines encamped when they invaded Judah after their defeat at Michmash
It lay on the
northern side of the valley of Elah (Wady es-Sunt). It has
been identified
with the modern Khurbet Shuweikeh, about 14 miles southwest of Jerusalem.
In this campaignGoliath was slain, and the Philistines were
completely routed.
Sodom
Meaning: burning;
the walled
Sodom was a city in
the valley of Siddim (Gen. 13:10; 14:1-16). The
wickedness of its
inhabitants brought down upon it fire from heaven,
by which it was destroyed (18:16-33; 19:1-29; Deut. 23:17).
This city and its
awful destruction are frequently alluded to in Scripture (Deut.
29:23; 32:32; Isa. 1:9-10; 3:9; 13:19; Jer.
23:14; Ezek. 16:46-56; Zeph. 2:9; Matt. 10:15; Rom.
9:29; 2 Pet. 2:6, etc.).
Succoth
Meaning: booths
1.
The first encampment of the Israelites after leaving Rameses (Ex.
12:37); the civil name of Pithom (q.v.).
2.
A city on the east of Jordan, identified with Tell
Dar'ala, a high mound, a mass of debris, in the plain north of Jabbok and
about one mile from it (Josh.
13:27). Here Jacob (Gen. 32:17, 30; 33:17), on his
return from Padan-aram after his interview with Esau,
built a house for himself and
made booths for his cattle. The princes of this city churlishly refused
to afford help to Gideon and his 300 men when “faint
yet
pursuing” they followed one of the bands of the fugitive Midianites after
the great victory at Gilboa. After overtaking and routing
this band at Karkor, Gideon on
his return visited the rulers of the city with severe punishment.
“He took the
elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and
with them he taught the
men of Succoth” (Judg. 8:13-16). At this place were erected the
foundries for
casting the metal-work for the temple (1 Kings 7:46).
T
Taanach
Meaning: a sandy
place
an ancient royal
city of the Canaanites, on the southwestern border of the plain of Esdraelon,
4 miles south of Megiddo. Its king was
conquered by Joshua (12:21). It was assigned to the
Levites of the family of Kohath (17:11-18; 21:25). It is
mentioned in the song of Deborah (Judg. 5:19). It is
identified with
the small modern village of Ta'annuk.
Tadmor
Meaning: palm
a city built by Solomon “in
the wilderness” (2 Chr. 8:4)
In 1 Kings 9:18, where the word
occurs in
the Authorized Version, the Hebrew text and the Revised
Version read “Tamar,”
which is properly a city on the southern border of Israel and
toward the wilderness (compare Ezek. 47:19; 48:28).
In 2 Chr. 8:14 Tadmor is
mentioned in connection with Hamath-zobah. It is called Palmyra by
the Greeks and Romans.
It stood in the great Syrian wilderness, 176 miles from Damascusand
130 from the Mediterranean
and was the center of a vast commercial traffic with Western Asia.
It was also an
important military station. (See Solomon.)
“Remains of
ancient temples and palaces,
surrounded by splendid colonnades of white marble,
many of which are yet standing, and thousands of prostrate pillars,
scattered
over a large extent of space, attest the ancient magnificence of this
city of
palms, surpassing that of the renowned cities of Greece and
Rome.”
Tahapanes
Tahpanhes =
Tehaphnehes, (called “Daphne” by the Greeks, now Tell
Defenneh), an ancient
Egyptian city, on the Tanitic branch of the Nile, about
16 miles from Pelusium.
The Jews from Jerusalem fled to this place after the death of Gedaliah (q.v.),
and settled there for a time
(Jer. 2:16; 43:7; 44:1; 46:14). A platform of
brick-work,
which there is every reason to believe was the pavement at
the entry of Pharaoh's palace, has been discovered at this
place. “Here,” says the discoverer, Mr. Petrie, “the
ceremony described by Jeremiah [43:8-10;
“brick-kiln”, i.e., pavement of brick] took place
before the chiefs
of the fugitives assembled on the platform, and here Nebuchadnezzar spread
his royal pavilion” (Revised Version,
“brickwork”).
Tappuah
Meaning: apple-region
The name of three
different places in the Bible…
1.
A town in the valley or lowland of Judah; formerly a
royal city of the
Canaanites (Josh. 12:17; 15:34).
It is now called Tuffuh, about 12 miles west of Jerusalem.
2.
A town on the border of Ephraim (Josh. 16:8).
The “land” of Tappuah
fell to Manasseh, but the “city”
to Ephraim (17:8).
3.
En-tappuah, the well of the apple, probably one of
the springs
near Yassuf (Josh. 17:7).
Tarsus
the chief city of Cilicia. It was
distinguished for its
wealth and for its schools of learning, in which it rivalled, nay,
excelled
even Athens and Alexandria,
and hence was spoken of as “no mean city.”
It was the native
place of the Apostle Paul (Acts
21:39).
It stood on the
banks of the river Cydnus, about 12 miles north of the Mediterranean.
It is said to have been
founded by Sardanapalus, king of Assyria. It is now a filthy,
ruinous Turkishtown, called
Tersous
Thessalonica
a large and
populous city on the Thermaic bay.
It was the capital of one of the four Roman districts of Macedonia,
and was ruled by a praetor.
It was named after Thessalonica, the wife of Cassander, who built the
city. She
was so called by her father, Philip, because he first heard of her
birth on the
day of his gaining a victory over the Thessalians. On his second
missionary
journey, Paul preached in the synagogue here, the
chief synagogue of the Jews in that part of Macedonia, and laid the
foundations
of a church (Acts 17:1-4; 1 Thes.
1:9). The violence of the Jews drove him from the city, when he fled to Berea (Acts
17:5-10). The “rulers of the
city” before whom the Jews “drew Jason,”
with whom Paul and Silas lodged, are in the
original called
politarchai, an unusual word, which was found, however, inscribed on an
arch in
Thessalonica. This discovery confirms the accuracy of the historian. Paul visited
the church here on a subsequent occasion (20:1-3). This city long
retained its
importance. It is the most important town of European Turkey, under the
name of
Saloniki, with a mixed population of about 85,000.
Thyatira
a city of Asia
Minor, on the borders of Lydia and Mysia.
Its modern name is Ak-hissar, i.e., “white castle.”
Here was one of the seven churches (Rev. 1:11; 2:18-28). Lydia,
the seller of purple, or rather
of cloth dyed with this color, was from this city
(Acts 16:14). It was and still is famous for its dyeing. Among the
ruins,
inscriptions have been found relating to the guild of dyers in that
city in
ancient times.
Tiberias
a city, the modern
Tubarich, on the western shore of the Sea
of Tiberias
It is said to have
been founded by Herod Antipas (A.D. 16), on the site of
the ruins of
an older city called Rakkath, and to have been thus named by him after
the
Emperor Tiberius.
It is mentioned
only three times in the history of our Lord (John 6:1,23; 21:1).
In 1837 about
one-half of the inhabitants perished by an earthquake.
The population of the city is now about six thousand, nearly the
one-half being
Jews.
“We do not read
that our Lord ever entered this city.
The reason of this is probably to be found in the fact that it was
practically
a heathen city, though standing upon Jewish
soil.
Herod, its
founder, had brought together the arts of Greece,
the idolatry of Rome,
and the gross lewdness of Asia. There were in it a theatre
for the performance of comedies, a forum, a stadium, a palace roofed
with gold in
imitation of those in Italy,
statues of the Roman gods, and busts of the deified emperors. He who
was not
sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel might well hold
himself aloof from such scenes as these” (Manning's Those
Holy Fields).
After the fall of Jerusalem (A.D.
70), Tiberias became one of the
chief residences of the Jews in Judea. It was for more than three
hundred years
their metropolis. From about A.D. 150 the Sanhedrin settled here, and
established rabbinical schools, which rose to great celebrity. Here the Jerusalem Talmud
was compiled about the
beginning of the fifth century.
To this same
rabbinical school also we are indebted for the Masora, a “body of
traditions
which transmitted the readings of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament,
and
preserved, by means of the vowel-system, the pronunciation of the
Hebrew.” In
its original form, and in all manuscripts, the Hebrew is written
without
vowels; hence, when it ceased to be a spoken language, the importance
of
knowing what vowels to insert between the consonants. This is supplied
by the
Masora, and hence these vowels are called the “Masoretic
vowel-points.”
Timna (Timnah)
Meaning: Timna =
Holding in check; restraint (from a root word meaning: “to
restrain”) / Timnah
and Timnath = an assigned portion; a gift (from a root word meaning:
“to
allot;” “to divide”)
This was the name
of two biblical women, one man and two cities.
1.
a concubine of Eliphaz,
son of Esau / Her son was Amalek (Genesis 36:12).
2.
daughter of Seir and sister of Lotan (Genesis
36:22; 1 Chronicles 1:39) / They were Horites.
3.
a “duke” or sheik of Edom—grandson
of Esau and son of Eliphaz (Genesis 36:40; 1
Chronicles 1:36, 51).
4.
a town of Judah (Josh. 15:10) / Samson married a Philistine woman
here and asked a riddle here
about a lion and honey (Judges 14). “The Philistines took
possession of it in thedays of Ahaz (2 Chr. 28:18). It
was about 20 miles
west of Jerusalem. It has been
identified with Timnatha of Dan (Josh. 19:43), and also with
Timnath
(Judg. 14:1,5)” (Matthew G. Easton).
5.
a city in Judah (Josh.15:57) and probably the
same
city (Timnath) to which Judah traveled to visit his
sheepshearers
and had sex with Tamar his daughter in law (Genesis 38:12-14)
/ This city is identified with Tibna near Jeba.
Author: Paul S.
Taylor.
Timnath-serah
Meaning: remaining
portion
the city of Joshua in the
hill country of Ephraim, the same as Timnath-heres (Josh.
19:50; 24:30). “Of all sites I have seen,”
says Lieut. Col. Conder, “none is so striking as that of Joshua's
home,
surrounded as it is with deep valleys and wild, rugged hills.”
Opposite the town
is a hill, on the northern side of which there are many excavated
sepulchres.
Among these is the supposed tomb of Joshua, which is said to be
“the most
striking monument in the country.” It is a “square chamber with
five excavations in three of its
sides, the central one forming a passage leading into a second chamber
beyond.
A great number of lamp-niches cover the walls of the porch, upwards of
two
hundred, arranged in vertical rows. A single cavity with a niche for a lamp has
been thought to be the resting-place of the warrior-chief of
Israel.”
The modern Kefr
Haris, 10 miles southwest of Shechem.
Tirza (Tirzah)
Meaning: pleasantness
This is the name
of a biblical city and a woman…
1.
An old royal city of the Canaanites, which was
destroyed by Joshua (Josh. 12:24). Jeroboam chose
it for his residence, and he
removed to it from Shechem, which
at first he made the capital of his kingdom. It remained the chief
residence of
the kings of Israel till Omri took Samaria (1
Kings 14:17; 15:21; 16:6, 8, etc.). Here Zimri perished
amid the flames of the palace to which in his despair he had
set
fire (1 Kings 16:18), and here Menahem smote Shallum (2
Kings 15:14, 16). Solomon refers to its beauty (Song of Songs
6:4). It has been identified with the modern mud hamlet Teiasir, 11
miles north
of Shechem. Others, however, would identify it with Telluza, a village
about 6
miles east of Samaria.
2.
The youngest of Zelophehad's five daughters
(Num. 26:33; Josh. 17:3).
Troas
a city on the
coast of Mysia, in the northwest
of Asia Minor, named after ancient Troy, which was at some little
distance from
it (about 4 miles) to the north. Here Paul,
on his second missionary journey, saw the vision of a “man of Macedonia,”
who appeared to him,
saying, “Come over, and help us” (Acts 16:8-11). He visited
this place also on
other occasions, and on one of these visits he left his cloak and
some books there (2 Cor. 2:12; 2 Tim. 4:13). The ruins of Troas
extend over many miles, the site being now mostly covered with a forest
of oak
trees. The modern name of the ruins is Eski Stamboul i.e., Old
Constantinople.
Tyre
Meaning: a rock,
now es-Sur
an ancient
Phoenician city, about 23 miles, in a direct line, north of Acre, and
20 south
of Sidon
Sidon was the
oldest Phoenician city, but Tyre had a longer and more illustrious
history. The
commerce of the whole world was gathered into the warehouses of Tyre.
“Tyrianmerchants were the first
who ventured to navigate the Mediterranean waters;
and they founded their colonies on the coasts and neighboring islands of
the Aegean Sea, in Greece, on the northern coast of
Africa, at Carthage and other places, in Sicily and Corsica, in Spain
at
Tartessus, and even beyond the pillars of Hercules at Gadeira
(Cadiz)”
(Driver's Isaiah). In the time of David, a friendly alliance was
entered into between the Hebrews
and the Tyrians, who were long ruled over by their native kings (2
Sam. 5:11; 1 Kings 5:1; 2 Chr. 2:3).
Tyre consisted of
two distinct parts, a rocky fortress on the mainland, called “Old
Tyre,” and
the city, built on a small, rocky island about half-a-mile distant from
the
shore. It was a place of great strength. It was besieged by
Shalmaneser, who
was assisted by the Phoenicians of the mainland, for five years, and by Nebuchadnezzar (B.C.
586-573) for thirteen years,
apparently without success. It afterwards fell under the power of
Alexander the
Great, after a siege of seven months, but continued to maintain much of
its
commercial importance till the Christian era. It is referred to in Matt.
11:21 and Acts
12:20. In A.D. 1291 it was taken by the Saracens, and has remained a
desolate
ruin ever since.
“The purple dye of
Tyre had a worldwide celebrity on account of the durability of its
beautiful
tints, and its manufacture proved a source of abundant wealth to the
inhabitants of that city.”
Both Tyre and
Sidon “were crowded with glass-shops, dyeing and
weaving establishments; and among
their cunning workmen not the least important class were those who were
celebrated for the engraving of precious stones.” (2 Chr. 2:7,14).
The wickedness and idolatry of
this city are frequently denounced
by the prophets, and its final destruction predicted (Isa. 23:1; Jer.
25:22; Ezek. 26; 28:1-19; Amos 1:9, 10; Zech.
9:2-4).
Here a church was
founded soon after the death of Stephen, and Paul,
on his return from his third missionary journey spent a week in
intercourse
with the disciples there (Acts 21:4). Here the scene at Miletus was
repeated on his leaving them. They
all, with their wives and children, accompanied him to the sea-shore.
The
sea-voyage of the apostle terminated at Ptolemais, about 38 miles from
Tyre.
Thence he proceeded to Caesarea (Acts 21:5-8).
“It is noticed on
monuments as early as B.C. 1500, and claiming, according to Herodotus,
to have
been founded about B.C. 2700. It had two ports still existing, and was
of
commercial importance in all ages, with colonies at Carthage (about
B.C. 850)
and all over the Mediterranean. It was often attacked by Egypt and
Assyria, and
taken by Alexander the Great after a terrible siege in B.C. 332. It is
now a
town of 3,000 inhabitants, with ancient tombs and a ruined cathedral. A
short
Phoenician text of the fourth century B.C. is the only monument yet
recovered.”
U
Ur
Meaning: light, or
the moon city
a city “of the Chaldees,”
the birthplace of Haran (Gen. 11:28,31), the largest city of
Shinar or northern Chaldea, and
the principal commercial center of the country as well as the center of
political power. It stood near the mouth of the Euphrates, on its
western bank, and is
represented by the mounds (of bricks cemented by bitumen)
of el-Mugheir, i.e., “the
bitumined,” or “the town of bitumen,”
now 150 miles from the sea and some 6 miles from the Euphrates, a
little above
the point where it receives the Shat el-Hie, an affluent from the
Tigris. It
was formerly a maritime city, as the waters of the Persian
Gulf reached thus far
inland. Ur was the port of Babylonia, whence trade was carried on with
the
dwellers on the gulf, and with the distant countries of India, Ethiopia,
and Egypt. It was abandoned
about B.C. 500, but long continued, like Erech,
to be a great sacred cemetery city, as is evident from the number of
tombs
found there. (See Abraham.)
The oldest king of
Ur known to us is Ur-Ba'u (servant of the goddess Ba'u), as Hommel
reads the
name, or Ur-Gur, as others read it. He lived some twenty-eight hundred
years
B.C., and took part in building the famous temple of the
moon-god Sin
in Ur itself. The illustration here given represents his cuneiform
inscription,
written in the Sumerian language, and stamped upon every brick of the
temple in
Ur. It reads: “Ur-Ba'u, king of Ur, who built the
temple of the
moon-god.”
“Ur was
consecrated to the worship of Sin, the Babylonian moon-god. It shared
this
honor, however, with another city, and this city was Haran, or Harran.
Harran
was in Mesopotamia, and took its name from the highroad which led
through it
from the east to the west. The name is Babylonian, and bears witness to
its
having been founded by a Babylonian king.
The same witness is still more decisively borne by the worship paid in
it to
the Babylonian moon-god and by its ancient temple of Sin. Indeed, the
temple of
the moon-god at Harran was perhaps even more famous in the Assyrian and
Babylonian world than the temple of the moon-god at Ur.
“Between Ur and
Harran there must, consequently, have been a close connection in early
times,
the record of which has not yet been recovered. It may be that Harran
owed its
foundation to a king of Ur; at any rate the two cities were
bound together by the worship of the same deity, the closest and most
enduring
bond of union that existed in the ancient world. That Terah should have
migrated from Ur to Harran, therefore, ceases to be extraordinary. If
he left
Ur at all, it was the most natural place to which to go. It was like
passing
from one court of a temple into another.
“Such a remarkable
coincidence between the Biblical narrative and the evidence of
archaeological
research cannot be the result of chance. The narrative must be
historical; no
writer of late date, even if he were a Babylonian, could have invented
a story
so exactly in accordance with what we now know to have been the truth.
For a
story of the kind to have been the invention of Palestinian tradition
is
equally impossible. To the unprejudiced mind there is no escape from
the
conclusion that the history of the migration of Terah from Ur to Harran
is
founded on fact” (Sayce).
Uzal
a wanderer, a
descendant of Joktan (Gen. 10:27; 1 Chr. 1:21), the
founder apparently
of one of the Arab tribes; the name also probably of the province they
occupied
and of their chief city.
V
W
X
Y
Z
Zareth-shahar
Meaning: the
splendour of the dawn
a city “in the mount of the
valley” (Josh. 13:19)
It is identified
with the ruins of Zara, near the mouth of the Wady Zerka Main, on the
eastern
shore of the Dead Sea, some 3
miles south of the Callirrhoe. Of this town but little remains.
“A few broken
basaltic columns and pieces of wall about 200 yards back from the
shore, and a
ruined fort rather nearer the sea, about the middle of the coast line
of the
plain, are all that are left” (Tristram's Land of Moab).
Zeboim
Meaning: gazelles
or roes
This was the name
of three biblical places.
1.
One of the “five cities of the
plain” of Sodom, generally
coupled with Admah (Gen. 10:19; 14:2; Deut. 29:23; Hos.
11:8)
It
had a king of its own (Shemeber), and was
therefore a place of some importance. It was destroyed along with the
other
cities of the plain.
2.
A valley or rugged glen somewhere near Gibeah in Benjamin (1
Sam. 13:18)
It
was probably the ravine now bearing the name Wady Shakh-ed-Dub'a, or
“ravine of
the hyena,” north of Jericho.
3.
A place mentioned only in Neh. 11:34, inhabited by
the Benjamites after the Captivity.
Zidon / Sidon
a fishery, a town
on the Mediterranean coast, about 25 miles north of Tyre
It received its
name from the “first-born” of Canaan,
the grandson of Noah (Gen. 10:15, 19). It was the first
home of the Phoenicians on the coast of the Land of Israel, and from
its
extensive commercial relations became a “great” city (Josh.
11:8; 19:28). It was the mother
city of Tyre. It lay within the lot of the tribe of Asher, but was
never subdued (Judg.
1:31).
The Zidonians long
oppressed Israel (Judg. 10:12). From the time of David its glory began
to wane,
and Tyre, its “virgin daughter” (Isa. 23:12), rose to its
place of
pre-eminence. Solomon entered into a matrimonial alliance with
the Zidonians, and thus their
form of idolatrous worship found a place in the land of
Israel (1
Kings 11:1, 33). This city was famous for its manufactures and arts, as
well as
for its commerce (1 Kings 5:6; 1
Chr. 22:4; Ezek. 27:8). It is
frequently referred to by the prophets (Isa. 23:2, 4, 12; Jer.
25:22; 27:3; 47:4; Ezek. 27:8; 28:21, 22; 32:30; Joel
3:4). Our Lord visited the
“coasts” of Tyre and Zidon = Sidon (q.v.), Matt.
15:21; Mark 7:24; Luke 4:26; and from this region many
came forth to hear him preaching (Mark 3:8; Luke
6:17). From Sidon, at which the ship put in after leaving Caesarea, Paul finally
sailed for Rome (Acts 27:3, 4).
In 1855, the
sarcophagus of Eshmanezer was discovered in this city. From a
Phoenician
inscription on its lid, it appears that he was a “king of
the Sidonians,” probably in the
third century B.C., and that his mother was a priestess of Ashtoreth,
“the goddess of the
Sidonians.” In this inscription Baal is mentioned as the chief
god of the
Sidonians.
Zior
Meaning:
littleness
a city in the
mountains of Judah (Josh. 15:54); the modern Si'air, 4 1/2 miles
north-northeast of Hebron.
Ziph
Meaning: flowing
The name of two
biblical cities and one man…
1.
A son of Jehaleleel (1 Chr. 4:16).
2.
A city in the south of Judah (Josh. 15:24), probably
at the pass of Sufah.
3.
A city in the mountains of Judah (Josh. 15:55),
identified with the uninhabited ruins of Tell ez-Zif, about 5 miles
southeast
of Hebron. Here David hid himself
during his wanderings (1 Sam. 23:19; Ps.
54, title).
Ziphron
Meaning: sweet
odour
This was the name
of a city on the northern border of the Land of Israel (Num. 34:9),
southeast
of Hamath.
Zoan
(Old Egyptian: Sant=
“stronghold,” the modern San)
a city on the
Tanitic branch of the Nile, called by the Greeks Tanis
It was built seven
years after Hebron in the Land of Israel (Num. 13:22).
This great and important city was the capital of the Hyksos, or Shepherd kings,
who ruled Egypt for more than
500 years. It was the frontier town of Goshen.
Here Pharaoh was holding his court at the time of
his various interviews with Moses and Aaron.
“No trace of Zoan
exists; Tanis was built over it, and city after city has been built
over the
ruins of that” (Harper, Bible
and Modern Discovery). Extensive mounds of ruins, the wreck of the
ancient
city, now mark its site (Isa. 19:11, 13; 30:4; Ezek. 30:14).
“The whole constitutes
one of the grandest and oldest ruins in the world.”
This city was also
called “the Field of Zoan” (Ps. 78:12, 43)
and “the Town of Rameses” (q.v.), because the oppressor
rebuilt and embellished
it, probably by the forced labor of the Hebrews, and made it his
northern
capital.