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FABLE  A form of teaching narrative in which plants or animals think, speak, 

        and behave as people do; it is related to allegories and parables.  What 

        distinguishes the fable from these other forms is the human behavior in it 

        of trees and beasts and inanimate nature. 

                   The Hebrew Bible contains two prime examples of the fable; both 

        are political.  In Judges 9, the trees seeking a king, appeal in vain to the 

        olive tree, the fig tree, and the vine; the bramble alone is willing, but it 

        promises tyranny; it warns the people of Shechem against the violent 

        Abimelech.  In II Kings 14, Jehoash of Israel rebuffs King Amaziah by 

        saying that a thistle acted presumptuously against a cedar, & a wild beast 

        came and trampled the thistle; he is warning Amaziah that he is courting 

        disaster.  When it is said of Solomon in I Kings 4 that he speaks “of trees” 

        and “of beasts,” it may mean that he was reputed as a fable teller. 

FACE  (פנים (paw neem))  In many instances “face” refers to the human or 

        animal face, but it is also used in “face of the deep,” or “face of the 

        waters.”  The face is the part of the body through which a human's attitude 

        is most clearly expressed, anything from displeasure to hostility to friendly 

        acceptance to determination.

                   Since a human “face” reflects their personality and character, the 

        word can be used to mean “person” & is frequently so translated; in other 

        instances it has the meaning of presence. From this second usage is de-

        rived the theological use of the term “face” to indicate God's presence.  In 

        a few places the term is used to designate a local manifestation of Yahweh 

        where the writer reverently chose to avoid the unqualified use of the divine 

        name or even a pronoun indicating the divine.

FACETS (עינים (‘ay nah yeem), face, surface) The flat surfaces of a cut gem.  

        A stone with 7 facets on which inscriptions were to be placed was given to 

        the postexilic priest Joshua.

FAIENCE.  The term applied to a type of glazed ware used in Egypt from pre-

        dynastic times.  The material consists of: an inner core of coarse grains of 

        quartz; a second layer (sometimes missing) of finely ground quartz; and an 

        external layer of glass glaze with chemically obtained colors. 

FAIR HAVENS  A harbor on the south side of Crete.  The harbor is to be iden-

        tified with a bay east of Cape Littinos which is still known as Kalous Limi-

        onas.  A sea captain in 1853 discovered a chapel dedicated to Paul; he 

        considered that the harbor would be inconvenient and unsafe in winter on 

        account of east and southeasterly winds blowing directly into the bay, 

        which agrees with the opinion expressed in Acts 27.

FAITH, FAITHFULNESS.  (אמונה (‘em oo naw), firmness; האמין (heh ‘eh 

        meen), to be firm; it has same word-root as “amen;” אמת (‘eh meth), firm-

        ness, stability; it has the same root as preceding word; pistiV (pis tis), 

        conviction)  Faith is belief in something or trust in some person.  In theo-

        logy it properly describes human understanding of the absolute or tran-

        scendent. It is response to revelation as contrasted with discovery of new 

        knowledge.  The Hebrew aman means to “say Amen (so be it)” to God.

                  List of Topics—Terminology;     Conception of Faith in the 

        OT; Conception of Faith in the Gospels and Acts;      

        The Pauline Connotation; The Distinctive Connotation of John's       Gospel;       Other Connotations of Faith

                   Terminology—The usage of the Greek pistis may be examined in 

        four classes.  1st, in the Synoptic (first three) gospels, the most common 

        of usages to be noted is the use of the verb form in the sense of belief in 

        God (Christ) as almighty, self-revealing, & beneficent in his attitude to-

        ward humankind. Among less frequent uses in these gospels is the mea-

        ning “trust,” “give credence to,” with the dative case of the person or 

        thing.  As for the noun, it carries the meaning of confidence in God and 

        trust in God's power to heal and save. 

                    2nd, in the writings of Paul, there is no real development of usage. 

        However, the noun form in Paul carries deeper and more theological signi-

        ficance than the usage in the first group of writings.  It is clear that a theo-

        logian rather than a historian of the church is writing in Romans 4 and 

        Colossians 2.

            

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               3rd, in the writings attributed to John, the usage is distinctive.  The 

        use of the absolute form of the verb is very frequent.  And John does not 

        use the phrase “believe in,” but rather “believe that.”  It means then, not 

        trust in or moral reliance on Christ, but belief and a certain knowing that 

        he is the Messiah or was sent by the Father, or the like.  Knowing the truth 

        is synonymous with knowing Christ, the opposite is denying Christ, the 

        lowest possible point of unbelief.  

                   This usage is as prominent in John as it is rare elsewhere in the 

        New Testament (NT).  “To believe into the name of Christ” means to 

        receive Christ.  Believing on the name in the deepest Old Testament (OT) 

        conception of “name,”  means accepting fully the character or authority of 

        Jesus. 4th, the NT develops a new meaning for pistos which makes it syno-

        nymous with the participle form of the verb, and which is taken to mean 

        “a believer,” or “Christian.”

                   For the Bible the object of faith is God, and the highest personaliza-

        tion is reached in the NT proclamation that God has revealed God's self in 

        a human life. In this usage faith is primarily trust rather than belief, and 

        personal relationship rather than abstract knowledge. Faith is the essential 

        beginning without which true religious experience cannot develop.  God 

        has the initiative, but there mut be movement on the human side; this is 

        basically what is meant by faith. The main thing to note is that it is human 

        acceptance of God. God has spoken God's word; humans can say Yes or 

        No to it.  Faith is the human Yes to God’s Word.  

                    Conception of Faith in the OT—In the light of the linguistic 

        usage catalogued above, we may set out the OT conception of faith under

        the following headings.  1st, the foundation stone of OT faith is that God 

        is the One to whom the world and every living thing owe their existence 

        and on whom they depend for their survival and well-being.  An objective 

        ground to faith is emphasized over the subjective.  

                   Human feeling about God is not much considered.  Humans must 

        accept the fact of God and their own dependence, & this is faith.  Human

        status before God is that of a creature in relation to its creator, a finite 

        being in relation to the infinite.  Thus it appears that penitence and obedi-

        ence, rather than faith, are the key words.  Here faith appears as a moral 

        quality rather than as a religious quality.  Faith in the OT is thus a moral 

        response, not the acceptance of ideas or dogmas about God.  It is trust 

        rather than belief. 

                   2nd, the meaning of faith must be seen in relation to the covenant, 

        not simply in relation to creation.  It is trust in the God who within his 

        general providence has brought Israel into a special relationship.  Yahweh 

        can be relied on to keep his part of the contract.  Faith on the side of his 

        earthly partner is to be shown in keeping the “commandments and the 

        statutes and the ordinances.” For the Hebrew the moral aspect of faith 

        took precedence, over the intellectual and emotional.  

                   This faith clearly includes a sense of election and membership

        of a specially favored people. It also includes the need for a “sign,” based

        on the premise that whoever is worthy of trust must be able to give evi-

        dence of it. It isn't denied that other nations may have some knowledge of

        God.  But Israel is drawn into a special relationship; its faith is a heigh-

        tened kind of awe, trust, and hope, insofar as Israel experiences Yahweh's

        “steadfast love.”

                   This development of faith depended on being born an Israelite, a 

        “son of Abraham.”  Abraham's own faith and experience are thus exem-

        plary for his descendants.  The earliest statement of the promise to Abra-

        ham is in Genesis 12.  Abraham's faith is clearly “confidence in Yahweh's

        promise.”  The promise to Abraham is fundamental in these narratives of 

        the patriarchs. God guarantees the promise, & this is God's emeth, God's 

        “truth” or faithfulness.  It remained for Christian development to point 

        out that it was possible to be a son of Abraham without being a member 

        of the true people of God.  In the Christian proclamation there was a new

        center of loyalty, Christ, taking the place of Abraham and Moses.

                   3rd, Israel's religion was a corporate rather than an individual expe-

        rience. To some extent the Psalms, provide an exception to this. It must 

        be remembered that an originally private confession or prayer may be-

        come the expression of a whole congregation's devotion, as any hymnbook

        shows.  The Psalms are unique expressions of Israel's faith.  We note the 

        following:  many Psalms give evidence of intense personal trust in God; 

        Yahweh's faithfulness is often referred to; trust in Yahweh is most fre-

        quently expressed as thankfulness and joy over some deliverance; and 

        faith appears sometimes as undivided concentration on Yahweh.

                   4th, the Hebrew's trust in God could contain within itself the fear of

        God. Fear of Yahweh is paralleled with hope in God's love.  The fear of 

        the Lord is allied to knowledge and wisdom; it is the “beginning” of wis-

        dom.  A Hebrew would say “I believe in order to understand.”  And if one 

        fears Yahweh, what else need one fear?  The fear of Yahweh brings a 

        sense of security, and thus is related to trust or confidence. 

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                   5th, Hebrew religion made a total demand upon its adherents, along 

        with unwavering confidence & undivided allegiance.  Isaiah saw more 

        deeply into faith’s significance than any other OT writer.  He condemned 

        the behavior of Jerusalem's rulers at 2 times of crisis: in 734 and in 701 

        B.C.  Isaiah in the strength of his faith in God could detach himself from 

        the immediate danger and survey it objectively in its true proportions; he 

        was sure of God's presence. Belief was a necessity, for “If you will not be-

        lieve, surely you shall not be established (Isaiah 7).”  This is faith which 

        expresses the whole person, an attitude which determined all one's con-

        duct, the self’s total dedication to God, resulting in peace of mind, freedom

        of action and strength.  

                   (See also the Faith entry in the OT Apocrypha/Influences Outside 

         the Bible section of the Appendix.).       

                   Conception of Faith in the Gospels and Acts—For Jesus him-

        self, faith was essentially trust in God.  Jesus' sense of the presence of 

        God must be pronounced unique.  His faith was, indeed, communion with 

        God to which human experience offers no parallel.  3 basic passages 

        where Christ refers to God as Father in a sense which puts him alone in 

        the category of Son:  Mark 12:1-9; Mark 13:32b; and Matthew 11:27. 

                   Jesus' sense of his special relationship to God as Father is behind 

        all his utterances about faith.  It appears that Jesus was surprised at peo-

        ple's obtuse lack of faith in God's goodness and power to save.  The oppo-

        site of faith is worry, so typical of humankind.  The animal and plant crea-

        tion simply relies on divine providence: if only humans could follow that 

        example.  Jesus rebukes the disciples after a storm, not simply for cowar-

        dice, but for losing faith i.e., forgetting that God is near and his providence 

        is real.  We may take his surprise as a further indication of the intimacy of

        his own communion with God, or of the depth of his own faith.

                   God is King as well as Father; the kingship or kingdom of God is 

        the other twin focus around which the Jesus’ teaching moves.  And faith in 

        God's kingdom meant for Jesus belief that through his ministry in Palestine,

        God was dynamically present as never before in Israel's history. Jesus’ tea-

        ching is the laws of this kingdom.  His presence constitutes the kingdom, 

        his disciples are its citizens, and their response is entry into the kingdom.  

        It may also be called the culmination of faith, or faith being transformed 

        into the vision of God.

                   Christ’s teaching and ministry culminated in his death and resurrec-

        tion. In its Christian meaning “faith” is faith in God's activity through 

        Christ for the redemption of all people.  It was not a general belief in God, 

        nor even in God’s saving activity as proclaimed in the OT; but in God as 

        revealed in and through Christ.  After the later convictions of the church 

        are filtered out, there remain so many utterances of Christ that directed 

        people's attention & loyalty to himself, that they constitute the nucleus or 

        embryo of the fuller apprehension which the Resurrection made possible.  

        3 examples are:  Mark 8:34-38; Mark 10: 29-30; and Mark 12:1-11.

                   In primitive Christianity faith meant, in the first place, acceptance of 

        the gospel message.  The core of this message was the God's redemptive 

        actions culminated in Jesus of Nazareth, whose divinely controlled ministry

        terminated in martyrdom, but who was authenticated as Messiah and Lord 

        by his resurrection from the dead. Those united in these convictions can be

        described as “the believers.” 

                   Gentiles also were included, for the “door of faith” was opened to 

        them as well as to Jews.  It meant, basically, abandoning idolatry for the 

        one true God.  This faith:  a.) is a break from the past, from other religious 

        allegiances; b.) is still belief in God's word, but that word has been perso-

        nalized in Christ; c.) is not the subjective attitude, but also the content of 

        what is believed d.) is described in the Greek word pisteuein as not the ac-

        tivity but the state of being a Christian. e.) is the conviction that God has 

        not only acted in the past history of Israel but also is acting now decisively 

        and finally.

                   The Pauline Connotation—In Paul, we find a new emphasis on 

        the indispensability of faith.  Only when one has faith is one in a right 

        relationship with God, able to understand himself and to act rightly.  And 

        for the Hebrew there was no ethics apart from religion and so this problem 

        was essentially a religious problem. It was not a problem of knowing what 

        God's will is.  God's will had been revealed for Israel in the law of Moses; 

        all that was necessary was for every Israelite to hear and obey. To Paul this

        problem presents itself as more complex than this. 

                  What the Jews had was a particularly high & developed moral code.

        These codes didn't actually result in high moral achievement.  The “power 

        for salvation” which Paul proclaims as good news is that God has taken 

        upon God's self responsibility for human race’s desperate plight, and is 

        offering God's own righteousness to fill the gap left by humankind's mani-

        fest inability to achieve righteousness by their own endeavors.

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                   Becoming aware of this action by God is what Paul means by faith.

        Paul devaluates the privileged status of the Jew, and his own high merit by 

        Jewish standards, in comparison with acceptance of the need for such an 

        action by God, an acceptance which comes with faith.  Knowing Christ 

        and taking a new status of utter dependence on God is now of “surpassing 

        worth.”

                   The Jews have not attained righteousness, and many things have 

        gone wrong in the world, but the revelation remains.  Jews have misinter-

        preted it and their own privilege.  Paul first establishes universal sinful-

        ness.  Then he affirms humankind’s chance to gain righteousness by God's

        special provision; and it is a continuing process.  The only means of recei-

        ving righteousness on the human side is faith.  The law's function, Paul 

        argues elsewhere, was not to inspire good conduct, but to reveal bad con-

        duct in its true colors. 

                   This is the new insight Paul has contributed on the nature of faith, 

        it is the inauguration of freedom from sin, and harmony with God.  A per-

        son's confession of helplessness against sin & their willingness to depend 

        on God, abandoning self-sufficiency and the effort to make themselves 

        worthy, is faith in the Pauline sense.  In the last resort man's fate depends 

        on God; but how loath human dignity is to admit this!

                   In virtue of faith “believers” are a new creation, a new society.  They 

        are incorporated “in Christ.”  Alternatively Christ may be said to be in 

        them.  Again, the experience of being in Christ may be described as being 

        in the Spirit.  In more individual reference, it is a communion with the risen 

        Lord that can only be experienced, not described.  And Paul sees in the 

        sacrament of baptism, with its features of total immersion & reemergence 

        from the water, an apt symbol of old life's end & new life's beginning. 

                   Faith means freedom, primarily from wickedness. The new society 

        of faith, its members, are Christ’s sons and daughters, sharing in Christ's 

        sonship.  Paul says their faith's content is a crucified Messiah, in whom 

        paradoxically the power and wisdom of God are made known.  From the 

        secular point of view this is folly: it is not what men expect or can easily 

        reconcile with their worldview.  The moral effect of faith can be expressed 

        in terms of agape, or unconditional love.  Agape is the chief product of the 

        Spirit in human lives.  Paul also uses “faith” in the sense of “conviction.”  

        Elsewhere in a similar discussion Paul uses the term “conscience.”

                   The Distinctive Connotation of John's Gospel—This gospel has 

        a distinctive conception of faith, parallel to the Pauline, but deviating from

        it through closer association with knowledge. This gospel's prologue intro-

        duces the thought of bearing witness to Christ, & faith is the acceptance of 

        that witness.  He is the Logos, the Word of God & the Son of God, bringer 

        of life and light, grace & truth—in other words knowledge of God.  Recei-

        ving Christ and Christ's words means sonship with God and an election by 

        their choice to true eternal life. Not  receiving Christ, rejecting Christ, is in 

        fact self-condemnation, though the rejecters of Christ do not  realize it.  

        The actual verb pisteuein, is not prominent in the Prologue; in verse 7 it 

        means acceptance of the message about the incarnation of the Word.

                   John uses the Greek word martyria, in the sense that John the Bap-

        tist was the first witness.  After the Prologue in chapter 1, the content of 

        the Christian faith is summarily stated as the divine sonship of Christ, his 

        endowment with the Holy Spirit and ability to impart it, and his efficacy 

        as bearer or remover of the world's sin.  This vital witness is not purely 

        human advocacy, even though men are its mouthpiece.  It is ultimately 

        divine.  The assertion that God is the guarantor of the witness is in John 5

        and again in I John 5.  Christian preaching is no less than God's calling at-

        tention to his own gift of eternal life for men. 

                  Nothing is more important than that the testimony should be heard 

        and responded to.  The first narrative of Jesus at work shows the disciples 

        finding, seeing, and believing in him.  True faith is independent of mate-

        rial aids, as future generations of believers will exemplify.  Faith results 

        from witnessing a “sign,” which is more than just a miracle.  It means 

        something done or said by Jesus which makes people aware of the power 

        of God operating through him.  In John signs are performed to evoke faith 

        while in the other 3 miracles are performed only in response to faith.  

        Faith is a much deeper thing than dependence on human opinions. Clearly 

        John is not interested in how faith is produced so much as in its contents.  

        In many passages John writes of “belief in” Jesus, emphasizing faith's 

        content.

                   This faith is centered upon God’s Son, & causes a new birth in the 

        believer and creates what this gospel calls eternal life.  In the discourse 

        with the Samaritan woman, faith is the experience of the climax of revela-

        tion.  Faith’s object is Jesus, who is Messiah of both Jews & Samaritans.  

        Here, the Samaritans represent the whole non-Jewish section of human-

        kind.  The verb “believe” is used also in an absolute sense, with no refer-

        ence to its object.  Faith is the primary privilege & obligation.  Not belie-

        ving is the greatest tragedy.

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                   Other Connotations of Faith—In the Letter to the Hebrews 11, we 

        have a concise definition of faith: it is the solid reality of hope, conviction 

        about the invisible world.  This is somewhat platonic, but the subsequent 

        illustrations are in the manner of Hellenistic Judaism.  Faith means such 

        awareness of God and the ideal world, that it enables one to endure all 

        kinds of tribulations and to live in detachment from the things of time and 

        sense, realizing that eternal salvation involves quite different conditions.

                   Other parts of the NT put a different emphasis on faith.  The well-

        known passage in the Letter of James disparages faith as mere belief, a 

        nominal monotheism which neither affects behavior nor calls forth per-

        sonal trust; James magnifies conduct at the expense of faith.  The Pastoral 

        Letters, Jude, and Revelation reflect conditions of the second or third 

        generation, when the term “faith” can be used to denote the basic doctrine 

        of churches.  The same tendency is to be found in Acts, where it is often 

        hard to say whether faith is the believer's attitude toward Christ, or the 

        churches’ doctrine. Faith is something to be obeyed.

FALCON  (איה ('ay ya))  A small or medium-sized bird of prey; several species

        have been observed in Palestine.  Equating the Hebrew ayya with these 

        birds is only an educated guess, although a reasonable one.

FALL, THE.  The New Testament (NT) speaks of the “fall” of individuals into sin 

        as a continuing occurrence.  In Christian theology “the Fall” signifies 

        Adam’s and Eve’s transgression.  Although the Garden story appears to 

        have had little effect upon Old Testament (OT) thought, it dominates the 

        NT doctrine of sin’s origins.  The background of the Genesis  narrative is to 

        be found in mythological elements common to the traditions of  various an-

        cient Near Eastern peoples.  It contains conceptions which are entirely 

        strange to the standpoint of Yahwism, such as a God fearful of human 

        equality with God, & a talking (& walking) serpent.  There can be little 

        doubt that the Hebrews knew the cosmological legends of the ancient 

        Near East. 

                   It may be that the Akkadians knew a temptation tradition similar to 

        that of Genesis, judging from a cylinder seal in the British Museum.  In the 

        Gilgamesh Epic, Gilgamesh is given two chances to obtain immortality but 

        loses them both, first through weakness and second by a cruel accident in 

        which a serpent steals a life-giving plant from him.  In the Adapa story, 

        Adapa is tricked by the god Ea into refusing the gift of immortality offered 

        by Anu, the chief of the gods.

                   It should be obvious that none of these traditions parallels the bibli-

        cal story of the Fall closely enough to be considered a direct antecedent.  

        The most striking difference is the entirely distinct morality of the Genesis 

        story, which attributes human failure to their own sin, and not their weak-

        ness or to fate or to the envy of the gods.  Also, the basic Genesis material 

        is concerned with the obtaining of knowledge instead of the obtaining of 

        life.   It seems very likely that the Hebrews were familiar with a polythei-

        stic legend current in Palestine that was similar to the story of the Fall as it 

        came down to us.

                   The Yahwistic (J) writer managed to transform this story into an ac-

        count that was in keeping with the high moral and spiritual insights of his 

        religion.  The serpent of the story isn't Satan, as that idea is created much 

        later in the Hebrew religion.  This writer omits mention of the Tree of Life 

        and speaks only of the Tree of Knowledge. In other mythology it may have 

        been a magic tree, but in the biblical tradition it became nothing more than 

        the object by which human obedience to God was tested.

               The story attempts to answer basic human questions:

                       Why are people ashamed of their nakedness?

                       Why do serpents creep in the dust; why does humankind hate 

               him?

                       Why do women suffer when they bear children?

                       Why are women dominated by their husbands?

                       Why do people have to toil so hard for their bread?

                 The Fall story also answers the questions of the origin of sin and the 

        origin of death.  In the J writer's mind humans had contracted a fatal ten-

        dency toward spiritual corruption.  The origin of death appears in the con-

        demnation of humans to return to the dust from which they were taken; 

        God left sinful humankind to return to its natural end.

                   The writer who put together the sources of the OT, also known as 

        the redactor, felt that the J writer was not explicit enough, so by using the 

        Tree-of-Life image he pictured Yahweh as being envious of humans, who 

        actually had obtained divine knowledge.  It may be that the redactor in-

        tended the reference to human equality to God to be understood ironically.

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                   The story of the Fall is simple and effective.  No human being who 

        has themselves sinned can escape from discerning that Eve's and Adam's 

        sin is their own.  Every reader knows that ambitious self-assertion, morbid

        curiosity for something undiscovered & forbidden, the reckless decision 

        against unresisting obedience, the overpowering shame that comes over 

        sinners as their courage leaves them, are things that they too experience. 

        Adam's and Eve's behavior afterwards is something anyone could imagine 

        doing themselves. 

                   Modern theologians are able to turn to the Genesis story for an in-

        sight into the real paradox of human existence.  Adam represents human 

        nature as related to nature and yet rising above it through the free spirit 

        which his Creator gave Adam.  He also represents humankind as owing 

        unquestioning allegiance to God; he should have valued harmony with his

        Creator rather than an independent self-sufficiency.  Further, Adam's temp-

        tation to snatch a knowledge which as a mere creature he could never 

        have, born of anxiety and distrust, is typical of the temptation in which 

        everyone stands at every moment of their existence.

                   Aside from his part in the hereditary transmission of the Fall's con-

        sequences, Adam's real theological importance is his representation of all 

        humankind in its defiance of God's will.  The Apostle Paul sees him as the 

        counterpart of Christ.  Sin is possible only because humans have been cre-

        ated in God's image, with a freedom of self-assertion which is God's divine 

        endowment.  Sin comes when humans use this freedom to measure them-

        selves against God, trying to be independent of God's control.  

                   Humans discover their mistake when they learn that their freedom 

        is only a finite freedom, and that they can never really be as God.  Humans

        have a practical knowledge of the possibilities of good & evil, but through 

        a life of pain and spiritual bondage which is ever a continual frustration of 

        the true greatness for which God has made him. 

FALLOW DEER  (יחמור (yakh moor), Revised Standard Version translates

        as “roebuck”)  In Deuteronomy 14, it refers to a cud-chewer.  Scholars dis-

        agree as to whether it is the Fallow Deer, which is around 90 cm, and was 

        found in the Mediterranean, or the Roe Deer. 

FALLOW GROUND  (ניר (neer))  Fallow ground is usually broken up with 

        plow & harrow, but it is left unseeded for the purpose of destroying weeds 

        & insects and allowing the fertility of the soil to be restored.  The custom 

        of letting land lie fallow was common among primitive people.  The religi-

        ous law of Israel required that the cultivated land should lie idle every se-

        venth year.  There is no evidence that a fallow year was observed during 

        any long stretch of Israelite history. 

FALSE APOSTLES  (yeudapostoloi (soo dah pos toe loy), false teacher)  

        Persons who came to Corinth in II Corinthian 11, claiming to be “servants 

        of Christ.”  They evidently boasted of their Jewish origin.  They came with 

        letters of recommendation, and asked for such when they left Corinth.  It is

        not clear that they were either Judaizers or antinomians, but Paul says 

        bluntly that they preach “another Jesus” and a “different gospel.”  They 

        were largely responsible for the rebellion against Paul in the church at 

        Corinth. 

FALSE CHRIST.  Person who will imitate Jesus Christ, & who by their preten-

        sions and miracles, & presumably by their false teachings as well, will de-

        ceive people and lead them astray.  False Christs are not the same as the 

        satanic Antichrist, who is to be the personal adversary of Jesus Christ at 

        his second coming. 

FAMILIAR SPIRIT  (אוב (obe), necromancer, one who communicates with the 

        dead; ידעני (yid day oh nee),  knowing one)  The technique used by the

        necromancer is nowhere described in detail.  In the story of the witch of 

        Endor (I Samuel 28), Saul seeks her out, & she conjures up Samuel’s spirit.

        In the story of Endor Samuel’s spirit is depicted as conversing with Saul in 

        a clear voice.  In Isaiah 8 and 29, the spirits come up from the ground in a 

        chirping, muttering or whispering sound.  The art of necromancy is prohi-

        bited in the Old Testament, and its practitioners, as well as those who seek 

        guidance from them, are liable to the death penalty.   

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FAMILY  (משפחה (mish pa khaw), household, clan; בית (bah yith), house 

        (as in place to live), house (as in family or clan) ; אלופ (al lofe), head of a 

        family or tribe; oikoV (oy kos); qerapeia (theh ra pi ah), household) 

                   Since marriage was patriarchal or family-centered, the family was a 

        community of persons, related by marriage and kinship, and ruled by the 

        father’s authority.  The biblical family, especially when marriage was poly-

        gamous, was large.  It included the father, mother(s), sons, daughters, bro-

        thers, sisters, grandparents, other kinsmen, servants, concubines, & so-

        journers.  Families were large for economic and religious reasons.    

                   The solidarity of the family was maintained by its organization 

        around the father figure and by retributive justice in terms of corporate 

        (family) responsibility.  This responsibility to protect the family's honor 

        & name through the practice of blood revenge was an effective instrument 

        in biblical times.  And each member was obligated to protect the entire fa-

        mily by the uprightness and correctness of his own conduct.  In a time of 

        economic distress an entire family might be sold for debt.

                   The family functioned as a religious community preserving past tra-

        ditions and passing them on through instruction and worship.  The impor-

        tance of the family is to be seen in this concept's projection beyond the 

        boundaries of the family as such.  It then refers to Hebrew tribes, the 

        nations of Israel & Judah, foreign nations, and to all of Israel.  In the New 

        Testament it identifies the Christian community as well.

                   The Hebrew family was an inclusive community, consisting not only 

        of immediate members closely related by ties of blood or marriage.  It in- 

        cluded also slaves, concubines, foreigners, and hired servants.  Children, 

        especially sons, were very important in the biblical family.  The Hebrew 

        people were commanded to be fruitful & multiply.  Family sizes would vary

        greatly, depending on the number of wives a man had.  

                   Marriage is actually a covenant between 2 families, which produces 

        a larger kin group.  The family also grew by the purchase of slaves, the 

        birth of slaves to slaves already owned, and by caring for the impoverished 

        and the sojourner.  Marriages with more than one wife in effect created fa-

        milies within families, in that the children of one mother would live in her 

        quarters and be set apart from those of another wife.

                   In the community the functions and relationships of its various 

        members are defined by custom and enforced by codes of law.   Central, 

        of course, is the role of the father; the mother's relation to this community 

        is characterized by special tasks & responsibilities.  Sons are of supreme 

        importance in carrying on the family's name.  Their sisters play a subordi-

        nate role until their marriage. 

                  The father’s authority stands out in the Scriptures.  He can destroy 

        family members if they entice him from his allegiance to God, and compas-

        sion for his children is used to describe the divine mercy.  The father be- 

        gets, instructs, disciplines, & loves his children.  The father as the family 

        or clan’s ancestor became the center of orally preserved tradition, so that 

        his devotion to God could be an example for his descendants.

                   The mother, although having the primary function of producing chil-

        dren, has considerable authority over the family's life.  Respect and obedi-

        ence were also demanded toward the mother.  The mother, the essential 

        bearer of children and the wife, who satisfies the sexual desires of her hus-

        band, is also the object of love and honor; her authority is second only to 

        that of the father.

                   Second in importance only to the father in the Hebrew family are 

        sons. Besides designating the male offspring of a particular father and 

        mother, the Hebrew word ben signifies descendants or membership in a 

        particular tribe or nation.  As a word to identify a particular member of the

        family, it involves the obligation of respect, obedience, the willingness to 

        accept the task of continuing the family line, & in the first-born's case, the 

        duty of training for leadership as the prospective head of the family.  The 

        Hebrew word bath is employed to identify the female child born of a 

        woman. 

                   The Hebrew words for “brother” and “sister” are awkh and awkhoth, 

        respectively.  In a polygamous family, the family the words also identified, 

        respectively, a half brother or sister & a nephew or niece.  Awkh may also 

        describe membership in the same tribe. With respect to each other, “sis-

        ters” have no special functions or obligations that are not imposed upon 

        them because of their sex in a patriarchal family.  Kinsmen are also men-

        tioned in the Old Testament, although their precise relationship to the 

        family is usually not defined.  Other classes represented in the Hebrew 

        family, perhaps especially in those which were wealthy, include aliens, 

        slaves, servants, and the needy, who may or may not have been kinsmen.

                   The family was held together by the central, dominant father figure, 

        supported by the influence of the mother and wife in many cases.  With the 

        development of an agricultural, urbanized culture, the Hebrew family was 

        required to make adaptations to new conditions without allowing cherished 

        ways to perish.  In light of this, ancient customs were reaffirmed and the 

        ancient faith was used to undergird them.

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              In ancient Israel, religion played a positive role in the determination 

        of family solidarity, as noted above with respect to the father's function.  

        Under the impact of Canaanite culture, Israel's faith sought to survive in 

        terms of the old pastoral ideal.  Canaanite concepts and behavior in their 

        fertility cult worked against such a survival.  After the Exile, drastic steps 

        were taken by the enforcement of wholesale divorces, with a resulting de-

        struction of many families for the sake of the purity of the faith. 

                    A similar problem confronted Christian families; it caused dissen-

        sion in many families; believers were told of eternal life’s rewards which 

        awaited those who forsook their families. Other passages speak of betrayal

        of believers by family members.  These words point to a radical disruption 

        of family life; in the transition period, religion becomes a divisive force. 

        The family’s importance in biblical society and its function as the religious

        center of instruction account for the term’s application to Israel and to 

        Christ’s community. 

                   The allusions to the actual family of Jesus are sometimes colored by

        the purpose of his teachings and the motive of the compilers of the gospels

        which contain those allusions.  The names of Jesus’ brothers are given, but

        his sisters’ names are not mentioned. The Gospel of John declares that 

        Jesus’ brothers did not believe him.

                   It is probable the first churches were house-churches.  The place of 

        women in the history of this period in the church's life is significant.  Mee-

        tings in house-churches, or at least in homes are reported in Romans 16.  

        Christians were urged to demonstrate their faith by providing for their own

        families.  All believers are members of the household of God & the family

        of faith.  The language of family relations is transferred to the vocabulary 

        of religion to describe God and the human's relation to him.  We may note 

        such terms as “Father,” “children,” “sons,” and “brothers.”  

FAMINE  (רעב (rah ab); כפן (ka fawn))  The word is used to express degrees 

        of the general condition of scarcity of food, ranging from general famine, to 

        particular ones.  The specific ones mentioned are in the times of: Abram 

        (Genesis 12), of Isaac (Genesis 26), of Joseph in Egypt (Genesis 41), of 

        Ruth (Ruth 1), of David (II Samuel 21), of Elijah (I Kings 18), of Elisha (II 

        Kings 4 and 8), & of Claudius (Acts 11).

                   Also mentioned is the famine in Samaria's besieged cities (II Kings 6

        and 7) and Jerusalem (II Kings 25 & Lamentations 4). Since rainfall in Pale-

        stine is marginal & irregular, crop failure through drought, blight or locusts,

        quickly led to starvation. 

FARE (שכר (saw kawr))  The term is used here in connection with the pur-

        chase by Jonah of passage on a ship bound for Tarshish (Jonah 1). 

FARMER (gewrgoV (ghe or gos), tiller of the earth)  A tiller of the soil.  The word

        is used in general of one who raises crops.  (See also Agriculture). 

FAST, FASTING (צום (tsome); nhsteuw (nace tyoo oh)) The origins of fas-

        ting as a moral and religious discipline are obscure.  Scholars have sought 

        the origin of the custom in the leaving of food and drink with the dead, & in 

        the discovery that abstinence from food and drink would induce a state of 

        susceptibility to visions, or in preparation for the sacramental eating of holy 

        flesh in a ritual meal. 

                   No clue to the origin or original purpose of fasting is to be found in 

        the biblical literature.  For the Bible, fasting means complete abstinence 

        from food, and can be an expression of any strong emotion or grief.  Juda-

        ism developed set fasts at regular times of the year.  Fasting as a private, 

        individual act of devotion also became extremely popular in postexilic 

        times.  And although neither Jesus nor the early church laid down rules for 

        fasting, it was taken for granted as a religious discipline by them.

             Though fasting was undoubtedly practiced from the earliest times in 

        Israel, references to it in literature that can with certainty be dated before 

        the Exile aren't numerous.  Fasting must simply have been taken for gran-

        ted in the earlier period.  And there is no indication that fasting, in itself, 

        was considered meritorious, as it was usually accompanied by other ex-

        pressions of self-humiliation, particularly by the wearing of sackcloth.  

        Fasting was used in the Bible in preparation for receiving communica-

        tions from God in dreams and visions and by other such means; Moses, 

        Saul, and Elijah all fasted for that reason. 

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             It is not until after the Exile that any record of set fasts for the whole 

        community is found. The question of whether or not the Day of Atonement, 

        the occasion of a set, public fast, was observed prior to the Exile, is one 

        that can't be answered on the basis of available evidence.  Nevertheless, 

        the fact remains that the only public fasts mentioned as having taken place 

        in the pre-exilic period are spontaneous ones, performed at times of mour-

        ning, as urgent supplications for divine aid and as an expression of peni-

        tence by the community for wrongdoing in its midst. They could be group 

        expressions of deep emotion or officially proclaimed by the king.  The only 

        fast of pre-exilic times which could be interpreted as a definitely set occa-

        sion is the one mentioned in connection with Baruch's reading of Jere-

        miah's scroll. 

                   It was in the postexilic period that the stated public fasts of later Ju-

        daism came to be observed and that private fasting came to be a popular 

        expression of piety.  Spontaneous fasts on occasions of distress or mour-

        ning continued in later times.  The prophetic book of Joel reflects the way 

        in which a disaster such as a plague of locusts could provide the occasion 

        for a solemn fast, which was not only an expression of supplication at a 

        time of dire need but also a repentant pleading for mercy in the day of 

        God's visitation of God's people. 

                   The postexilic movement of the Jews into a unified, worshiping 

        community, centered around the temple in Jerusalem.  The movement was 

        responsible for the establishment of set days of fasting in the calendar.  It 

        may be that such days originated and were observed in earlier times, but 

        their universal and established observance among the Jews was the result 

        of the movement toward a normative Judaism that followed the Exile.  It 

        was the Day of Atonement (See Atonement, Day of), which became the 

        most prominent occasion of fasting in postexilic Judaism.  It was on this 

        day that fasting was an expression of penitence accompanying Israel's so-

        lemn confession of her sins and the ritual through which atonement was 

        sought. 

                   Fasting by individuals continued, in later times, to be a means by 

        which mourning, penitence, urgent supplication, and other such moods 

        could find expression.  As time went on, however, fasting came to be a 

        formalized expression of piety in Judaism, and, with or without some 

        specific occasion of distress, was an accepted act of devotion.  The em-

        phasis on fasting in Judaism sprang more from a desire for meritorious 

        living in line with the ethical emphasis of the Old Testament, than it did 

        from the ascetical emphasis which came into Christianity from Greek 

        dualism. 

                   The only reference to fasting that could at be ascribed to a great 

        pre-exilic prophet is found in Jeremiah 14.  The other references to fas-

        ting in prophetic books, aside from Joel, are from the period of disillu-

        sionment and strife which followed early postexilic attempts to re-esta-

        blish Israel in her homeland. The prophets did not condemn fasting as 

        such, but were against the insincerity with which it was being practiced.

                   Jesus' attitude was in accord with the prophetic insistence on since-

        rity in religious observances and also that his mission and the coming of 

        the kingdom of God left no time for attention to the lesser details of pious 

        practice.  Jesus maintained that fasting is something done to the glory of

        God, not a means by which the admiration of others is to be sought.  The 

        worth of fasting, as of any other act, lies in the devotion of which it is the 

        expression.  Without such devotion it is, of itself, meaningless. 

                   Jesus’ second saying resulted from a request that he, like other tea-

        chers, give his disciples some rule on fasting.  Jesus refused to lay down

        any specific regulation on the nature or frequency of fasting for his disci-

        ples.  The latter part of this saying, the assertion that the time for fasting 

        will come when the bridegroom is gone, was undoubtedly influential in 

        he rise of the tradition of a pre-Easter fast in the Christian community.  

                   It is probable that Jesus did keep such fasting as the one connec-

        ted with the Day of Atonement.  Apparently, he also fasted at times of 

        spiritual crisis.  But his teaching on the subject was in line with the pro-

        phetic tradition and with his own vision of the age to come after the pre-

        sent age.  The only clear New Testament references to a religious act of 

        fasting in the early Christian community associate it with times of solemn 

        prayer.  Paul's use of the word seems to indicate a lack of food, rather 

        than a religious act.  There can be no doubt that fasting did soon come to 

        be regarded by the Christians as a commendable pious practice. 

FATE  (דרך (deh rek), going, way, journey; מקרה (mik reh), to befall or 

        happen to) That which is one's lot or fortune in life.  In the Bible “fate” 

        usually has reference to death's inevitability.  For the biblical writer fate is

        directly related to the sovereign will of God.  God, in his providence 

        determines what shall befall someone, but not whether someone will be 

        righteous or wicked.

                   The mystery of the divine rule was ever a problem.  A theory of 

        blessing for the righteous and adversity for the wicked was developed, 

        but the Hebrew discovered that this theory didn't accord with experience.  

        The biblical author ultimately solved the problem by faith.  Life could not

        be explained in terms of rewards and punishments, but God was found to 

        be sufficient for every need, & the rewards of the spirit were found to be 

        infinitely greater than any physical misfortune.

F-9

FATHER (אב (ab); pathr (pay ter))  The family’s father demanded honor &

        obedience & his authority could not be questioned.  Death may be the 

        penalty for cursing or striking a father.  He was responsible for conducting 

        the required religious observances & ceremonies, such as circumcision.  

        “Father” may refer to an individual’s or a community’s forefathers.  The 

        term is commonly applied to ancestors of Israel as a whole.  

                   The phrase “slept with the fathers” or “gathered to the fathers” sig-

        nifies death in several biblical passages.  Micah said to the Levite: “Be to 

        me a father and a priest” (Judges17).  Elijah was addressed as “my father” 

        by Elisha, and David called Saul his “father.”  “Fathers” is a title applied to

        older members of the Christian community, equivalent to “elders.”

                   The term is also used for a group's founder.  Spokesmen for the 

        Rechabite group named Rechab as their father in the sense of “founder”; 

        Jubal was the “father” of the musicians “who play the lyre and pipe.”  The 

        word also occurs in both parts of the Bible in relation to the nature of God.  

        It appears often as an element in proper names (such as the “Ab” in Abra-

        ham) revealing some attribute of divine being, as in our previous example, 

        which means “father of a multitude.”

FATHERLESS  (יתום (yah thome), orphan; opfanoV (or pha nos))  Al-

        though this word may be equated with “orphan,” in no instance of the use 

        of the Hebrew word yathom in the Bible is it clear that both parents are 

        dead.  Hebrew law carefully provided for fatherless children with special 

        tithes at the end of every three-year period and with the requirement that 

        gleanings be left in the field for them.  The fatherless child is often asso-

        ciated with the widow in the biblical pleas that compassion be shown for 

        the needy.

                   Perhaps in some instances the fatherless was a daughter rather 

        than a son, although this cannot be proved.  The daughter inherited only in

        the absence of sons.  It has been suggested that the “fatherless” were the  

        female children of sacred prostitutes, who obviously had no identifiable 

        father.  These cult children were sometimes adopted by barren women. 

FATHER'S HOUSE  (בית־אב (beth-ab); oikia (oy kee ah))  In the Old Tes-

        tament the expression is used when Joseph speaks to his brothers and to 

        his “father's household” (Genesis 46).  In this passage Joseph addresses 

        the larger family community consisting of his brothers, their families, & 

        the herdsmen who serve them.  In the New Testament the words identify 

        the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem: “You shall not make my Father's house a 

        house of trade” (John 2).  Also in this gospel the expression signifies hea-

        ven as God’s dwelling place.  

FATHOM (orguia (org wee ah))  A unit of measurement based on the length 

        from the tip of one hand to the tip of the other when the arms are out-

        stretched, about 180 cm or 6 feet.

FATLING  (מריא (mer ee); משנה (mish neh), double; sitistoV (sit is tos)) 

         A domestic animal, bovine, which was important for its use in Israel's 

        sacrificial practices.

                   The fatling figured prominently among those animals worthy 

        to be used for cultic offerings.  The name is concerned primarily with the 

        quality of the animal rather than the species.  Only the most desirable, the

        choice, could be offered to the Lord.  Most important of the terms is 

        meree, used for cattle which are raised & fed for meat.  The term in many

        places is related to sacrifice.  While the term applies specifically to cattle 

        in a technical sense, it is also an inclusive term for any animal worthy of 

        sacrifice.   The cattle especially fed for meat were used both for cultic and

        non-cultic activity.  The fatling, as a sacrificial animal, is not unique, other 

        than that it represented the best Israel could take from its life with which to 

        come before its God. 

FATTED (אבוס (ay booce), feeding stall; מרבק (mar bake), (tied in) stall (for 

        feeding); siteutoV (sit yoo tos))  A participial adjective used to render the 

        above Hebrew and Greek words.  Aboos is used in Proverbs 15 and 

        I Kings 4. Marbaq  is used in I Samuel 28 and Jeremiah 46.  Siteutos is 

        used in Luke 15. 

FAWN  (עפר (‘o pher))  A young animal, usually a deer)  'Opher occurs only in 

        the Song of Solomon, chapters 2, 4, and 7; it is being used figuratively.

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FEAR OF ISAAC (יצחק פחד (fa khad  yits khak))  An ancient divine name 

        which comes from the pre-Mosaic cult of the “God of the fathers.”  In this 

        case, the deity was known within Isaac’s circles by the name of the patri-

        arch who received the revelation and established the cult. The phrase’s 

        more ancient meaning is “Kinsman of Isaac," which would fit in well with 

        the fathers’ cult, where the god was one who revealed the god’s presence 

        in a special way to the patriarchal leader.  This name was later used by 

        Israel as a title for Yahweh. 

FEASTS AND FASTS  (חגים (khaw geem), festival; צומים (tsow meem), 

        fasts;  מועדים(mow ‘ah deem), appointed time)  The seasonal occa-

        sions of national and religious celebration in Israel.  The feasts were 

        marked by thanksgiving, while the fasts were seasonal recollections of 

        national disaster and times of national penitence. 

                   In a broad sense the term “feasts” can be used with reference to 

        all set times of communal observance in Israel.  The Day of Atonement 

        is on the list of mo'ahdim, or “appointed (i.e. periodical or seasonal) 

        feasts,” though it is properly speaking, fast rather than a feast.  In con-

        trast, khagim is used almost exclusively of the three great annual pil-

        grim festivals:  Unleavened Bread, Weeks, and Booths.  The verb from 

        which the noun is derived means “to make pilgrimage.”  The term 

        “feast” is used of the celebrations Israel made in honor of the idola-

        trous golden calf. 

                   It is interesting to note that while “feast” is used many times to 

        describe the observance of Unleavened Bread, it is used only once in 

        an explicit reference to the Passover as a feast.  The festival of Booths 

        is also called “feast.”  Many historians of the Israelite cult hold that 

        originally Booths was the pilgrim festival; in I Kings 8 it is referred to 

        simply as “the feast.” It is counted as one of the three great pilgrimages.

                   At the center of the great pilgrim feasts were the festal sacrifices.  

        These sacrifices were mainly communal meals eaten with great joy.  The 

        festal sacrifice was known as a zebakh or “slaughter.”  It was eaten at the 

        sites of ancestral altars or at the designated centers of worship as a com-

        mon meal “before God.”  God was assumed to participate symbolically 

        by receiving the choice portions of fat which were burned on the altar.  

        God also shared the wine that was offered later. 

                   As in the case of the great feasts, communal fasts were held at a 

        central shrine.  The great public fasts, not regularly scheduled but called 

        for reasons of dire emergency, their natural center in the temple at Jeru-

        salem.  The public summons to a fast seems to have been an accepted 

        custom in time of crisis.  The occasion that Naboth was supposed to 

        have cursed God and King Ahab—the charges were false—was such a 

        fast.

                   A typical fast was for a single day, with the abstinence lasting 

        until sunset.  Abstinence from wine and water as well as from food, was

        practiced.  Garments were rent or exchanged for sackcloth; people sat 

        on the ground and threw dust & ashes on their heads; there was weeping.

        Along with forms of abstinence, sacrifice in some form was a characteri-

        stic of all communal fasts.  The ordinance for the Day of Atonement in-

        dicates that the sin offering was the most typical sacrifice offered on a 

        fast day; but burnt offerings and peace offerings are also mentioned. 

                   Some fasts, both individual and public, were acts of repentance to

        avert threatening disaster.  Other fasts, perhaps even more common, were

        really acts of mourning, with confessions of guilt following the occur-

        rence of disaster.  In external form the observances of the 2 types of fast 

        were very similar, though the motivation is fundamentally different.  In 

        the late Old Testament period, the private fast, seems to have become in-

        creasingly prevalent.  The 2 motivations cited above became combined.  

        In addition to this, the fast seems to have acquired a new function as a 

        means of personal spiritual cleansing and illumination.

                   For festal observances, there are those that were provided for in 

        the law and were, therefore, canonical; and those that rested simply on 

        custom.  There is a wide range of legal material that serves as a basis 

        for the observance of the Sabbath.  The great bulk of this material be-

        longs to the priestly strand of the Pentateuch.  While sabbaths were un-

        doubtedly a feature of Israelite observance from the beginning, its cen-

        tral role as a sign of Israel's relation to the Lord, was probably a much 

        later development. 

                   Originally sabbaths were very probably lunar observances, mar-

        king important phases of the moon.  In Israel, however, the sabbath no 

        longer depends on this natural cycle; it occurs every 7th day.  The sab-

        bath commemorates both creation and Israel's release from slavery.  It 

        is a sign of Israel's state of holiness & their relation to God in the cove-

        nant.  It served to separate Israel on the sabbath from all work and ordi-

        nary occupation and from contact with the secular world outside the 

        house.  And on the positive side it was the sanctification of the home.  

        The breaking of the sabbath constituted apostasy from the covenant.

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            The feast of the New Moon was probably the original form of the

        sabbath. The sacrifices on this feast are greater than those for the sab-

        bath.  It was assimilated by Israelite faith and was a sign of the eternal 

        character of the covenant & of the faithfulness of the Lord.  The persi-

        stence of the Feast of the New Moon contributed to Israel's adherence 

        to a lunar calendar in governing its religious & communal life. 

                   There is specific prescription in the Law for festal observance of

        the New Moon of the 7^th month.  The sacrifices are greater than for the 

        other new moons.  The 7^th month is Tishri, in which both the Day of 

        Atonement and the Feast of Booths occur.  Since the Jewish New Year 

        currently occurs on the first of Tishri, some of those who consider the 

        Feast of the 7th New Moon a new year's observance have proposed that 

        the change was made by the Jews to offset celebration of the Babylo-

        nian New Year on the first of Nisan.

                   Every 7^th year was a festal year.  It was a celebration of Israel's 

        faith that the land was God’s gift to his people.  This feast was for the 

        sake of the land, so that it might rest.  It was the year when all Israelite 

        slaves were to be set free, in which the poor and the animals might eat 

        freely of what the land produced by itself.  Jeremiah notes that the re-

        quirement of the festal year was frequently ignored or observed opportu-

        nistically.  The 50th year, or the Jubilee year, followed the completion 

        of a series of 7 sabbatical years.  This special festal year is provided for 

        only in priestly legislation; its requirements were virtually identical with 

        those of the sabbatical year.  There are grounds to question whether Ju-

        bilee was ever much more than an idealistic "plan." 

                   The Passover and Unleavened Bread Feast combined 2 originally 

        separate observances.  The Feast of Weeks was a 1-day festival that was 

        kept early in the 3^rd month, on the 50^th day after the barley sheaf offe-

        ring at the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  It marked the end of the grain har-

        vest & the beginning of the season for the first fruits offering. The Feast 

        of Booths was kept for 7 days beginning on the 15^th of the 7^th month.

                   Other feasts developed other than those prescribed in Scripture.  

        Hanukkah was an eight-day festival and was also known as Lights.  It com-

        memorates the victories of Judas Maccabeus and the purification and rede-

        dication of the temple.  The Feast of Purim or lots is a carnival-like cele-

        bration of one or two days, beginning on the 14th day of the twelfth month, 

        to celebrate the deliverance of the Jews from Haman by Esther & Morde-

        cai. The Simhath Torah observance is now an appendix of Booths. 

                   The Mosaic law provides for only one communal fast, the Day of 

        Atonement.  In its complex rites, indebted to a great variety of sources, the 

        Day was both an act of repentance and expiation to ward off disaster & a 

        means of making available the effectiveness of divine power.  Though it 

        was of post-exilic origin, the Day of Atonement incorporated many ancient

        Israelite practices and meanings in its forms.  2 proclaimed fasts became 

        annual events. The 1st commemorated the temple's burning on the 9th 

        day of the 5th month, and the 2nd mourned the murder of Gedaliah on the 

        2nd day of the 7th month.  

FELIX, ANTONIUS (fhlix)  Procurator of Judea from 52 to 60 A.D. and suc-

        cessor to Cumanus.  Felix was procurator at the time of Paul's last visit to

        Jerusalem.  When Felix was recalled by Nero, Paul was turned over to the

        new procurator, Festus.

                   Felix, according to Josephus was the brother of an influential Ro-

        man named Pallas.  By treachery Felix seized the leader of a band of rob-

        bers, Eleazar the son of Denas.  He utilized the services of these robbers 

        in the murder of the high priest.  Felix was recalled to Rome.  A deputa-

        tion of Jews went to Rome to accuse Felix, but the influence and interven-

        tion of Pallas saved him from punishment.  Felix married Drusilla, a sister 

        of Agrippa II after persuading her to leave her husband. 

                   Scattered notices about Felix appear in the works of the Roman his-

        torians Suetonius and Tacitus.  A conflict exists between them and Jose-

        phus.  Tacitus supposes that Felix was procurator of Samaria and Judea 

        while Cumanus was procurator of Galilee; Josephus relates that Felix suc-

        ceeded Cumanus in Judea.  Suetonius reports that Felix had been married 

        to 3 women:  Drusilla; a granddaughter of Mark Antony; and a third un-

        known woman. 

                   Tacitus reports that Felix believed that he could commit all kinds of 

        evil with impunity.  The influence of his brother was undoubtedly a spur to

        his arbitrariness.  Some six years after Felix's recall, the Jewish War broke 

        out; Josephus is the source of the credible contention that Felix's term, 

        with its cruelties & oppression, provided the cause of the war.  Apparently 

        he was a freedman, deriving his name Antonius from Antonia, the mother 

        of the Emperor Claudius.

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              Acts relates that the Roman tribune Claudius Lysias sent Paul from 

        Jerusalem to Felix in Caesarea; 5 days later the high priest Ananias & one 

        Tertullus laid before Felix the case against Paul.  A few days later, Felix & 

        Drusilla heard Paul speak about faith in Christ Jesus.  Felix was alarmed 

        when Paul “argued about justice, self-control, and future judgment.”  Felix 

        hoped “that money would be given by Paul. So he sent for him often and 

        conversed with him.”  Neither Josephus nor Paul's letters indicate any con-

        nection between Paul and Felix. 

FELLOE (See Rim) 

FENCE  (גדר (gah dar), King James Version hedge)  A stone wall enclosing a 

        field, town, etc.  A man beset by enemies is described as a “tottering 

        fence.”  

FENCED (CITY) (בצר (bah tsar), fortified; צור (tsoor), fortified city) King 

        James Version translation of Hebrew. 

FERRET (אגקה (an ah kah) See Gecko) 

FERTILITY CULTS.  The ancient Near Eastern religions' oldest common fea-

        was the worship of a great mother-goddess, the personification of fertility.  

        Associated with her, usually as a consort was a young god who died and 

        came to life again.  His absence produced infertility of the earth, humans, 

        & beasts.  His consort mourned and searched for him. His return brought 

        renewed fertility & rejoicing. In Mesopotamia the divine couple appeared 

        as Ishtar and Tammuz, in Egypt as Isis and Osiris.  The great mother-god-

        dess Asherah, the “old” god El’s wife, seems on the way to becoming the 

        consort of the rising young god Baal.  

                   The Old Testament furnishes abundant evidence as to the character

        of the religion of the land into which the Israelites came.  Fertility rites 

        were practiced at the numerous shrines which dotted the land.  The Israe-

        lites absorbed the Canaanite ways and learned to identify their god with 

        Baal.  A characteristic feature of the fertility cult was sacral sexual inter-

        course by priests, priestesses, and sacred prostitutes of both sexes.  Child-

        sacrifice was also a feature of the rites.  It was a matter of life and death 

        in which the dearest things of life, and life itself, were offered to ensure 

        the on-going of life. 

FESTAL GARMENT (שמלת חלפות (khay laf oth  sim eh loth), King James 

        Version translation “change of raiment”)  An outfit worn on gala occa-

        sions.  The word khalafoth acquires the meaning of a special change of 

        garment for other than everyday use. 

FESTAL ROBE  (מחלצה (mah kha lah tsah), King James Version translation 

        of “changeable suit of apparel”)  In the Isaiah passage it is a part of the

        finery of the daughters of Zion, and may refer to extra fine, white robes. 

        In the Zechariah passage the allusion is to the garments which replaced 

        the filthy garments in which Joshua the high priest was brought before 

        the heavenly courts.  

FESTUS, PORCIUS  (fhstoV)  Procurator of Judea probably from 60 to 62 

        A.D. He is known only from the New Testament and Josephus. 

                   According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Festus followed 

        Felix as procurator, and preceded Albinus.  At Caesarea under Felix, 

        bloody conflicts between Jews and pagans had arisen.  The Jews ap-

        pealed to Nero, but in vain.  The Sicarii (wielder of small swords) 

        were regarded by Festus as bandits.  The forces of Festus destroyed 

        both the leader and his followers.  A dispute arose between Agrippa II 

        and the priests over the erection of a wall designed to blot out Agrip-

        pa's view of the temple.  Festus sided with Agrippa. 
            In Acts 24 Paul was already in prison for two years when he came 

        under Festus' jurisdiction.  It is in the presence of Festus that Paul “ap-

        pealed to Caesar” as a Roman citizen.  When Agrippa II and his sister 

        Bernice visited Caesarea, Festus put Paul's case before the king, so that 

        Agrippa expressed a wish to hear Paul.  After his speech Agrippa told 

        Festus that Paul could have been set free, had he not appealed to Caesar. 

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            There is in all this a problem of timing. Eusebius declares that 

        Festus became procurator in the 2nd year of Nero's reign (56) and Albi-

        nus in the 6th or 7th year (61 or 62). This would have Festus’ term last 

        5 or 6 years; Josephus’ account seems to suppose a very short term.  

        Either Josephus is wrong or Eusebius and Jerome are wrong about the 

        date of Festus' entrance into the procuratorship. 

                   It is best to assume that the incident of Paul and Festus is not 

        based on fact, making it unnecessary to construct a consistent and per-

        suasive chronology. If Josephus was indeed a source utilized by Luke, 

        then he used it with the freedom and imagination of an artist, and not 

        with the discipline of a modern historical researcher. 

FETTER  (נחשת (nekh oh sheth), bronze; כבל (keh bel), braid together; 

         pedh (ped ay))  The translation of words which have the general 

        meaning “anything that restricts or restrains.”  In ancient times, fetters

        were called “bronze,” just as in modern English fetters are called 

        “irons.” 

                   Fetters were made from wood, bronze, or iron.  A captive's 

        hands could be inserted in a manacle which would then be suspended 

        from his neck by a rope. His feet might be bound with shackles, which

        were joined by a chain or rope so that the hobbled prisoner could take 

        only short steps.  In Ecclesiastes 7, the hands of a woman are meta-

        phorically described as “fetters.” 

FEVER  (חרחר (khar khoor), inflammation; דלקת (dal lek keth); קדחת 

        (kad dakh ath); שחפת (sha khe feth), consumption; puretoV (puh ree 

         tos); dusenterion (do sen teh ree on), dysentery)  

                   Kharkur is probably a description of undulant or Malta fever.  Dalle-

        keth probably describes malarial fever. Kaddakhath may describe both 

        jaundice caused by malaria & the fever itself.  Shakhefeth is translated as 

        “consumption.”  It is a wasting disease accompanied by fever. The disease 

        is more probably undulant fever. 

                   Puretos is generally used to describe malaria, a disease of frequent 

        incidence and severe mortality in ancient Palestine.  Dusenterion is dysen-

        tery from relapsing malarial fever or acute gangrenous dysentery, which is 

        normally fatal. 

FIELD (שדה (saw dah ee), country (nation); חלקה (khel kaw), portion; בר 

        (bar), (rural) country; agroV (ag ros); cwrion (kho ree on))  

                   Sadahe is the one most commonly translated “field,” & is often used 

        where it is impossible to determine its size or purpose. The word was used 

        to designate a larger area than would be owned by one person, and was 

        used to designate an uncultivated region where game could be hunted. 

        The Greek words agros and chorion may refer either to areas limited in 

        size or to the open country. 

FIELD OF BLOOD.  See Akeldama. 

FIERY SERPENT (שרף (saw raf))  The serpent sent among the Israelites in 

        the wilderness of wandering, which caused the death of many of the Israe-

        lites (Numbers 21; Deuteronomy 8). The flying (fiery) serpents of Isaiah 

        14 and 30 are apparently legendary in character. 

FIG TREE  (תאנה (teh ‘ay naw)) A tree and its fruit, referred to more than 60

        times in the Bible.  The tree's large palmate leaves provided the “aprons”

        for Adam and Eve.  Almost all the references to the fruit of the fig tree are 

        indications of its great importance to the life of ancient times, an impor-

        tance which still continues.  The majority of the references to the fig are 

        metaphorical.  It is used in two fables, one in Judges 9, and one in Jere-

        miah 24.  The most difficult passage to interpret is the story of Jesus' cur-

        sing the fig tree (Mark 11 & Matthew 21); it seems so out of character.  It 

        may have been a dramatic illustration of the parable in Luke 13, pointing 

        to the tragic end of those who produce no fruit from their lives.  It is clear

        that the story's original context & meaning have been obscured or lost. 

FIGUIRED STONE (משכית (mas keeth))  Probably religious scenes painted 

        or carved on stone, depicting some kind of ritual offensive to Hebrews. 

        At any rate, they were forbidden to set up such stones. 

FIGUREHEAD  (parashmoV (par ah she mos), distinguishing mark)  The 

        word used for the emblem on the prow of the Alexandrian ship on which 

        Paul sailed from Malta on the way to Rome. It was of Castor and Pollux, 

        twin sons of Zeus and Leda.  Seeing the constellation of them in bad 

        weather was a good omen.

FILIGREE  (משבצות (mish beh tsoth), interwoven)  Ornamental work in 

        fine gold wire, used in making clasps and settings for jewels.  Two onyx

        stones on the ephod and the twelve jewels of the breastplate were set in 

        filigree, & filigree clasps held the breastplate to the ephod's shoulders. 

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FILLET (חשוק (khaw shook))  A metal band or collar binding the tops of the 

        pillars of the court and of the tabernacle door, probably just below the 

        capitals.  Those of the door pillars were of gold, while those of the pillars 

        of the court were of silver.  In them were fixed hooks by which the curtains 

        were hung from the pillars. 

FINERY  (תפארת (tif eh reth), ornament, beauty, splendor)  A term referring 

        to the luxuriousness of the anklets worn by the society women of Jerusa-

        lem (Isaiah 3). 

FINGER OF GOD (אצבע אלהים (ets bah  el oh heem))  A figurative ex-

        pression for the power of God.  The finger is viewed as the instrument of

        God.  The finger is viewed as the instrument of work &often as the equi-

        valent of the hand.  Thus it was the finger of God that brought forth the 

        plagues of Egypt.  The Law was written by the finger of God.  The crea-

        tion of the heavens was the work of God's fingers.  By contrast, human 

        hands and fingers of s are often given over to the fabrication of idols. 

FINING POT  See Crucible. 

FIR TREE  (תדהר (tid har); ברוש (beh rosh))  The true fir tree is too sparse 

        to fit in the places where the Hebrew word berosh is used most.  Most 

        scholars believe that the Grecian juniper or the Eastern Savin is the tree 

        that was mentioned in the Old Testament.  The Hebrew word tidhar is 

        associated with the “glory of Lebanon.”  As there are no similar words to

        assist in its identification, any translation that is offered is primarily 

        guesswork. 

FIRE  (אש (‘aysh); להט (law hat), flame; נור (noor); pur (poor))  Fire is

        used as a motif of theophany and of divine punishment and purification. 

        Fire is of course, also an important part of domestic life. 

                   Fire is a consistent element of the description of God's appearing 

        before humans throughout biblical literature, as in the burning bush, the 

        pillar of fire, the fire on Mount Sinai.  In later biblical writing, the image

        of fire persists in the visions of God's appearance during the end of the 

        present age & the beginning of the next (Isaiah 4 and 64; Daniel 7; Joel 2;

        Micah 1; Zechariah 2, etc.).    In the New Testament the Holy Spirit is ac-

        companied by “tongues of fire,” (Acts 2), and Christ appears in John's 

        vision with “eyes of fire.”

                    The use of fire in Israel’s worship mirrors the principal meaning of

        the symbol.  The ever-burning fire on the altar shows the continual pre-

        sence of God. The practice of burning offerings in fire mirrors the use of 

        fire as symbolic both of the divine judgment on sin and or the purification

        of the sinner.  In most cases fire represents the divine action on earth.  By 

        far the majority of instances have fire as being a punishing destruction.  

        Fire served as a symbol of both holiness & destruction (See also the entry

        in the Old Testament Apocrypha / Influences Outside the Bible section of 

        the Appendix.).  

                   Just as the fire of altar and sacrifice denotes purification of sin, so 

        the fire metaphor has this meaning.  The experience of history is some-

        times seen as purification by fire, particularly in the Babylonian exile.  

        Fire, as a metaphor of God's holiness, may destroy or purge.  It does not 

        leave humankind comfortably alone. 

FIREBRAND  (אוד ('ood), wooden poker; צקים (tsake yeem), fire arrows)  

        The Hebrew word 'ood is used metaphorically by Isaiah for two angry 

        kings, who are described as “smouldering stumps of firebrands.”  The 

        Hebrew word tsakayim is an object thrown by a madman in Proverbs 26. 

FIREPAN  (מחתה (makh taw))  A pan for raking and carrying live coals to &

        from the altar; most likely made of bronze.  When incense was dropped 

        on the live coals, the pan became a censer. 

FIRKIN  (metrhthV  (met ray tace))  A measure of around ten gallon.

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FIRMAMENT  (רקיע (raw kee ah), literally “a strip of beaten metal”)  The 

        English word used to indicate the expanse stretched across the sky in 

        order to separate the upper and lower waters.  The Hebrew word reflects 

        the conception of the sky as a mirror-like surface.  In Job 26, the move-

        ment of winds across the sky is represented as God's breathing on its sur-

        face in order to polish it. 

FIRST AND LAST  (ואחרון ﬨראשי  (ray sheeth  vah akh ar own))  A title 

        used by the writer of Isaiah's second part to express Yahweh's eternal ma-

        jesty and power. It is also expressed by Isaiah 43:10:  “Before me no god

        was formed, nor shall there be any after me.”

FIRST FRUITS  (בכורים (bek oh reem))  The sacrifice offered by the Hebrews

        for the redemption of the annual crop.  The early Semitic belief was that 

        the creator of all things was also their “owner.”  All things were holy, & 

        human use of them for any purpose was a violation of the Deity's prior 

        rights in them and would bring divine retribution. The principle prevailed 

        that the sacrifice to the Deity, the giving back to the Deity of a part, parti-

        cularly the first (i.e. the best) part of the tabooed object “redeemed” the

        remainder, nullified the Deity's prior property rights to it, and rendered it

        “profane” in the sense of it being free for ordinary use.

                   First fruits were regularly offered in ancient Israel at the annual 

        Festival of Weeks.  In the latest calendar of Bible times these fifty days 

        were reckoned from the second day of the Passover, and so the festival 

        fell upon the sixth of the month Sivan, which still holds true today. 

FIRST-BORN  (בכור (beh kor))  That which first opens the womb.  The an-

        cient Semites believed the first-born belonged to the deity & were to be 

        sacrificed to him. Within the family & tribal spheres a certain preferential 

        status, sanctity, authority, sovereignty, responsibility, and right of succes-

        sion accrued to the first-born. 

                   The Hebrews gave a special distinction to the first-born son.  He be-

        came the next head of the family, and embodied the soul & character of 

        the social group, becoming responsible for its continuance.  As such he 

        acted with a certain authority.  As his birthright he had claims on the fami-

        ly blessing and received a double portion of the family inheritance.  It was 

        perhaps a father's privilege to pass by the first-born for a younger son, but 

        custom frowned upon the procedure, and later Deuteronomic law banished 

        the practice. 

                   From pre-Canaanite days, Israel acknowledged that the first-born to 

        belong to God.  The first-born possessed a peculiar sanctity and efficacy, 

        & when offered to the deity, guaranteed the fertility and continuity of the 

        flock or herd, & released the remainder from taboo so they could be appro-

        priated.  In the early days, the firstlings were sacrificed at the local sanc-

        tuary.  In the Deuteronomic regulations the sacrifice was to be an unble-

        mished animal, offered yearly at the central sanctuary. In the Priestly Code

        the sacrifices became the property of the priest.  When the Levites took the

        place of the first-born of Israel, possibly all firstling domestic animals 

        were to be redeemed for a price. 

                   How the human first-borns were offered to Yahweh is not certain.  

        Human sacrifice doesn’t seem to have been unknown, or especially revol-

        ting, to Israel in the early days. Substituting a ram for Isaac seems to vindi-

        cate using a ram instead of the human first-born. In Israel’s law codes, first-

        born sons were to be redeemed. When the Levites became the Lord's in-

        stead of the first-born, all first born were perhaps to be redeemed.

                    There was a revival of human sacrifice in the time of Ahaz.  Foun-

        dation & wall sacrifices of human beings were certainly known.  At times 

        these involved the first-born.  The prophets spoke out against this revival 

        in no uncertain terms, emphasizing that it did not bring about God's for-

        giveness of sin, and in fact that it did bring about the downfall of the nation.

        In a figurative sense the word “first-born” is used to designate a special 

        quality or strength, the first of a thing being the strongest.  The term also 

        implies that the subject shares a special close relationship, affection, autho-

        rity, and sovereignty as the preferential heir.

                   In the New Testament the term is applied chiefly to Jesus, who is 

        called the first-born of Mary.  When the word is figuratively applied to 

        Jesus, it implies a certain preferential status and closeness to God.  In 

        Hebrews 11, the phrase “assembly of the first-born,” refers to the departed 

        faithful.  Such is the blessing of salvation; it makes one fellow heir with 

        Christ, who is the first-born of God. 

FIRSTLING.  See Sacrifice and Offerings.

F-16 

FIRST-RIPE  (בכור (bek ore))  An adjective describing the fruits, vegetables, 

        and grains which ripen first and are a token of the coming harvest.  These 

        were to be offered to God, the Creator of all life. The term was used meta-

        phorically by several New Testament writers and came to have popular 

        theological connotations. 

FISH  (ﬢג (dag))  The Bible makes no distinction among the many species of 

        fish in the Mediterranean and in the fresh waters of Palestine.  Since the 

        New Testament makes reference to fishing on the Sea of Galilee, it is of in-

        terest to mention the main species of fish which are to be found there.  

        There is the musht of the Arabs, a family of mouth-breeding fishes which 

        resemble the North American sunfish. There is a larger species of the carp

        family present, as well as a type of catfish. 

                   All fish with fins & scales were regarded as clean; those without 

        them were regarded as unclean.  Among the Sea of Galilee's unclean fish 

        is the catfish, in the coastal waters the eel, & in the Mediterranean proba-

        bly sharks, rays, and lampreys.  The fish from Tyre and Sidon were, of 

        course, preserved by being salted, dried, or pickled.

                   Fish were created by God and are subject to God's will.  Over the 

        fish, as over all other subhuman life, humans are to exercise dominion.  

        The fish of Egypt are also mentioned in the Old Testament, as eaten by 

        the Hebrew, and as victim of the first plague in Moses' time.  In Ezekiel's

        picture, the life-giving river flowing from the temple is to sweeten the 

        waters of the Dead Sea so that fish will abound there.

                   There are three literary fish in the Scriptures:  the great fish of the

        book of Jonah; the fish that met Tobias at the Tigris River; and the fish 

        that paid the temple tax for Jesus & Peter.  The Bible makes very slight 

        use of fish as a figure of speech.  In Ecclesiastes 9 and Habakkuk 1, the 

        human's helplessness in the world is compared to that of fish taken in a 

        net.  Clean fish may be cooked in milk and served with cheese.  Fish oil 

        could be put in lamps, and the skins of some fish were used for various 

        domestic purposes. 

                   Fish are frequently introduced into ancient art to give a realistic 

        touch to water scenes.  When they appear with no apparent appropriate-

        ness, they apparently have the symbolic significance, possibly to repre-

        sent deity, power, fecundity, etc.  The fish appears in designs on painted 

        pottery found in the excavations of Canaanites cities, especially around 

        1500 B.C.  Jewish artists & craftsmen made a limited use of the fish.  In

        some cases the fish was employed as a conventional decorative detail; 

        in others, the past association of fish with various cultic practices may 

        have established it popularly as a kind of talisman. 

                  Its use as a talisman in Jewish art may account for the appea-

        rance of the fish in the art of the oldest Christian catacombs.  We do not

        know how early the Greek word for “fish”  (Ichthys) came to be interpre-

        ted as a cipher for “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.”  Once this identi-

        fication was made, the fish became a standard Christian symbol. 

FISH GATE  (הדגים שער (sha 'ar  ha dag eem))  A Jerusalem gate men-

        tioned in connection with the Mishneh or 2^nd Quarter.  The Fish Gate was

        located in the middle of the northern wall, and was restored by Nehemiah. 

FISHHOOK  (חכה (khak kaw); סיר דוגה (see raw  doo gah))  English word

        used to translate these Hebrew words. 

FISHING  This work may be for pleasure, profit, or provision. The kings of Egypt 

        engaged in fishing for sport; the Phoenicians were fisherfolk.  The Phili-

        stines called their god Dagon, which is similar to the Hebrew word for fish.  

        There is no evidence that the Israelites engaged in fishing for pleasure or 

        sport.  To them it was hard work, catching, drying, and salting, and men-

        ding boats and nets.  There was a fish gate in the northern wall, & possibly 

        a fish market in Jerusalem. 

                  The fishermen often worked together in bands or guilds. Several me-

        thods of fishing are noted in the Bible.  Fishhooks have been used from 

        prehistoric times in Palestine & Egypt; bone was used for them at first, & 

        later in Solomon's time iron hooks were used.  The spear or harpoon was 

        also used from prehistoric times. 

                   The other method of fishing was to use nets of 2 different types.  

        One was thrown by hand usually while the fisherman was standing on the 

        shore.  A larger net was used from the boats and was operated like a sieve 

        from a circle of boats closing in to one another or to the shore.  Metaphori-

        cally the symbol of fishing is used for captive Israel.  God's judgment 

        against Israel is as if many fishermen and hunters have been sent out to 

        catch the rebellious (Jeremiah 16 and Ezekiel 29). 

F-17

            Jesus performed miracles of fishing, not to mention the feeding of 

        the five thousand.  The disciples & all succeeding them are called by Jesus

        to be “fishers of men.”  The Greek word Ichthys came to be interpreted as 

        a cipher for “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior. 

FITCHES (ﬤסמים (koos seh meem), corn, spelt; קצח (ket sakh), dill, black 

        cummin) Fitch" is an archaic form for the common “vetch," a pea or bean

         plant; many varieties are found in Bible lands.  The King James Version 

        used this word to translate the above Hebrew words; it's doubtful that 

        vetch was present in Biblical times. 

FLAG  (אחו (aw khoo), grass reeds, bulrushes, it is an Egyptian word; סוף 

        (soof), reed, rush, bulrush)  “Flag” is the word used in the King James Ver-

        sion to translate the above Hebrew words, which refer to reeds or grass

        that grows by rivers and lakes.  Akhu appears in Job 8, Genesis 41, and 

        Hosea 13, and is best translated  as “marsh grass” or “reed grass.” Suf 

        usually occurs in the phrase yam suf (Sea of Reeds), which the Greek Old 

        Testament translated as Red Sea. When the word appears alone, it seems 

        to mean “reed” or “rush.” 

FLAGON  (נבלים (nay bel eem); אשישה (ash ee shah), cake of raisins)  A 

        large wine pitcher.  Nabelim is translated by the King James Version (KJV) 

        as “flagon” in Isaiah 22.  'ashishah is also translated by the KJV as “fla-

        gon,” but is now known to be a “cake of raisins.” 

FLAGSTAFF (תרן (toh ren), beacon in King James Version, mast)  The Re-

        vised Standard Version's translation of toren in Isaiah 22.  Elsewhere the 

        word is translated as “mast.”

FLASK  (פך (pak); בקבק (bak book), bottle;  aggeion (ag gay ee on); ala-

        bastron (al ah bas tron), alabaster flask.) The Revised Standard Ver-

        sion uses it to refer to 4 different vessels.  In II Kings 9, pak is the small 

        perfume juglet used in the anointing of Jehu. In Jeremiah 19, bakbuk is a 

        narrow-necked water decanter used on the tables of better-class homes.  

        In Matthew 25, aggeion is a small-sized oil jar or juglet.  In Luke 7, ala-

        bastron is an alabaster flask that contained ointment with which the wo-

        man anointed Jesus.  Alabaster juglets were used for thousands of years 

        as containers for the more expensive perfumes.  By New Testament times 

        glass was just coming in to replace alabaster. 

FLAX  (פשתה (pish tah); linon (lee non))  A cultivated plant, and some pro-

        ducts made from it.  The plant is referred to only in Exodus 9 as it is de-

        stroyed by hail, & in Joshua 2, where Rahab hid the spies under stalks of 

        flax.  Elsewhere pishtim seems to refer to the combed fibers or spun 

        thread already prepared for weaving. Samson snapped the new ropes by 

        which he was bound as though they were burned flax ropes.

                   The stalks of the flax plants are pulled when the seeds are ripe, 

        dried, deseeded, then soaked or retted until the outer fibers are loosened. 

        They are dried again, after which the outer fibers are separated from the 

        inner core.  The short tangled fibers which are left over are the “tow,” 

        which makes a coarse yarn. 

FLEA  (פרעש (par oshe))  An insect leaper.  Many species are found in Pale-

        stine.  David uses it symbolically to indicate his insignificance. 

FLESH IN THE OLD TESTAMENT (OT) (בשר (baw sawr), flesh (next to 

        skin); שאר sheh air), inner flesh (full of blood))  The word basar desig-

        nates the soft, muscular part of the body of both men and animals.  The 

        flesh is thought of as dust which has been made alive.

                   “Flesh” is the word Hebrew normally uses when reference has to

        be made to the body.  Flesh can have psychic functions, and the word 

        can be used in the same way as “soul,” the phrase “all flesh” can denote

        living creatures, both animal and human.  The word "flesh" can be used

        in connections where natural relationship is being spoken of.

                   The fact that “flesh” was used to indicate different degrees of 

        kinship, could suggest that man was essentially a social being.  It pro-

        vided a natural basis for the recognition by the individual that his obli-

        gation to obey God was inclusive of the obligation to serve his brother.  

        A number of passages make it plain that “flesh” to the Hebrew mind 

        suggested “weakness,” and “frailty.”  Yet, while flesh in the OT is re-

        garded as weak, it is not regarded, as in the New Testament, as also 

        sinful. 

F-18

FLESH IN THE NEW TESTAMENT (NT) (sarx (sarks), body, human nature; 

         kreaV (kreh as), meat)  The elementary meaning of “flesh” is the sub-

        stance covering the bones of animals or humans, but the word has nume-

        rous figurative meanings.  Kreas occurs only in Romans 14 and I Corin-

        thians 8.  Sarx is also used in this sense as well as many other ways.

                    Flesh enters into a common idiom from the Old Testament (OT) 

        when it expresses blood kinship.  “Flesh” is used as another word for 

        “human,” especially when humans were thought of as a frail being in 

        contrast with God.  On the other hand, the essential difference between a

        human and a bodiless spirit was seen in the concept of “flesh & bones,” 

        which was also used to express kinship. “Flesh and blood” was used as a 

        substitute for “human” and to express kinship. Jesus uses it in Matthew 

        16:  “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not re-

        vealed this to you.” 

                   The earliest this phrase appears in writing is in Paul's letters.  In 

        Galatians 1, Paul says: “I did not confer with flesh and blood”; in Ephe-

        sians he remarks:  “We are not contending against flesh and blood.”  He 

        used the phrase as another term for “human being.”  “Flesh" and "blood”

        is also used to express the idea of kinship in the New Testament interpre-

        tation of the Lord's Supper, although this is along spiritual lines.  The 

        idea appears to be that the very essence of the life of Christ is found in 

        his flesh and blood, and that the disciple is able to participate in this 

        divine life by means of the sacrament.

                   Paul also provides one of the most interesting developments in the 

        meaning of “flesh.”  Paul views the self as reason, which is the seat of 

        God's law, the flesh, out of which lawless desire rises, and the ego or “I” 

        in control of the will,  which must choose between the law of God and 

        the lawless desires of the flesh.  According to Paul, humans are in bon-

        dage to the flesh, from which they can be delivered only by the grace of 

        God through Christ.  Paul's view has only a slight affinity with anything 

        in the OT.  Its kinship is closer to that of Philo, who wrote after the OT 

        period, and who speaks of the flesh as the chief cause of ignorance.  

        Paul echoes the OT use of "flesh" as another word for the penis in refer-

        ring to the rite of circumcision. 

FLESH POT  (הבשר סיר (seer  ha bah sawr))  Literally, a kettle (full) of meat.   

        The Israelites spoke of sitting by the flesh pots and eating bread to the 

        full while they were in Egypt, which is a striking statement, considering

        that meat is not part of the poor man's diet at that time. 

FLINT  (חלמיש (khal law meesh); קרבות צרים (khah re both  tso reem))  

        An impure variety of quartz.  It breaks with a wedge-shaped fracture and 

        is very hard. Flint artifacts were among humankind's earliest implements 

        and prehistoric cultures may be distinguished by flint types which can be 

        used to date each level of artifacts that archaeologists find.  They were 

        used for many purposes—as scrapers, axes, knives, weapons, sickle 

        blades, picks, awls, etc.  The sor in Exodus 4 is Zipporah's instrument for 

        circumcising her son.  Chareboth tsorim in Joshua 5 designates the flint 

        instruments used by Joshua in circumcising the Israelites at Gilgal.

FLOGGING  (מהלמות (mah hal oom oth), beatings, blows)  The practice or

        system of punishment by repeated lashes or blows, usually with a rod or 

        whip.  Beating is recognized as a legitimate form of punishment in Deu-

        teronomy 25.  It is permissible to beat a child and so correct him.  Else-

        where in the Old Testament it is recognized that even the innocent may 

        sometimes be smitten & crushed by evil individuals and cliques.

                    In the New Testament, Jesus warned certain of his disciples that 

        they would be beaten in the synagogues if they continued to preach the 

        gospel.  Paul, who himself had beaten and imprisoned many Christians 

        was flogged with rods three times. 

FLOOD  (מים בלהות (may eem  bal lah hoth), waters of calamities, flash 

        flood;מבול  (mab bool), flood before Creation and Noah's flood)  The 

        imagery of mayim ballahoth is taken from the sudden rush of water in a 

        wadi or ravine following heavy rains in the vicinity.  Mabul reflects the 

        cosmological myth of Yahweh's victory at Creation over the dragon of 

        chaotic waters, and the belief that waters from the cosmic sea poured 

        down through the lattice windows of heaven &gushed up from beneath 

        the earth.

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FLOOD  (GENESIS)  (המבול (ha mab bool), The flood)  The catastrophic 

        deluge recounted in Genesis 6-9  as divine judgment on the corrupt world

        from which only Noah and those with him in the Ark of Noah were saved.  

        Similar sagas of a great flood in the prehistoric past, many of which relate 

        as their cause the sin of humankind, exist throughout the world.  Their re-

        lation to one another is not always clear.  The flood catastrophe ends one 

        epoch and begins a new age with a new people. 

                   Because of human wickedness, God repented of God's creation & 

        determined to destroy both humans & beasts.  God therefore announced 

        to Noah his intentions and ordered him to build an ark according to a defi-

        nite plan and dimension. Noah was to take all his family, & members of 

        every animal species.  Noah followed the divine command, and when the 

        ark was finished, he entered with all his family and every animal species.  

        Then the heavens were opened & rain descended, and all the fountains of 

        the great deep burst forth. 

                   Finally, after the water had subsided, the ark landed “upon the 

        mountains of Ararat.”  Noah sent out first a raven & then a dove.  When 

        he knew the land was dry, Noah and all who were with him went forth 

        from the ark, & Noah sacrificed to God.  Whereupon God was pleased &

        determined never again to destroy humans as God had done. God blessed

        Noah and his family and gave the rainbow as the sign of his covenant. 

                    Even though the story appears simple & as a single unit, the exi-

        stence of two independent & partially inconsistent parallel stories, the 

        earlier J(Y)ahwistic or J source & the postexilic Priestly or P source, can 

        be easily demonstrated.  When one separates the tow strands of the story

        one discovers two series of, passages each of which forms an all-but-con-

        tinuous narrative.  (See Table Below)

            Sources of Material in the Flood Story(Genesis 6:5-9:17)

            Legend

J = J(Y)ahwistic writer(s) (800s or 900s B.C.)

      P = Priestly writer(s) (500s B.C.)

Chapter                                          Chapter

    No.        From J        From P         No.        From J          From P

      6             5-8              9-22              8                2b                1-2a

      7             1-5                6                  8                3a                3b-5

      7             7-10              11                8               6-12

      7              12             13-16a            8                13b               13a

      7             16b                                   8              20-22            14-19

      

      7             17               18-21            9                 1-11

      7          22-23                24              9                   12             13-15

                                                              9                  16                17

                   The thesis that only two sources are to be found in the flood narra-

        tive is not quite satisfactory in explaining all the diversity present in the 

        existing biblical account.  The presence of separate strands in the biblical 

        story is apparent,  but any theory to explain the phenomenon completely 

        is only a working hypothesis.  The Hebrew word mabbul or hamabbul 

        used alone to describe the Flood appears only in the Priestly (P) source.  

                   In the Yahwistic (J) source, Noah learns, to begin with, only God's

        intention to destroy the earth with water.  In J, the Flood is never spoken 

        of as hamabbul, but only as the “waters of the mabbul.” Under this con-

        ception the mabbul was actually located and remained in heaven, while its 

        waters covered the earth. 

                   The use in P of hamabbul and mabbul, indicates the firm place the 

        term had in the flood tradition, as well as the gradual fading from memory

        of its original meaning.  The concept here could be that just as God separa-

        ted the waters of the primeval world, giving each its place above or be-

        neath the firmament, so he allowed them to flow together again in the 

        flood story to form a new chaos.

                   Biblical Flood & Other Flood Legends—There are many flood 

        legends that exist in the world, as well as numerous cultures who have no 

        flood legend in their literature.  Few flood stories appear in Africa and Eu-

        rope & many parts of Asia.  They are widespread in America, Australia, & 

        the islands of the Pacific.  Often the heroes save themselves in boats or by 

        scaling mountains, without divine intervention.  Often storms cause an in-

        undation, sometimes rains & ocean tidal waves, occasionally earthquakes.

        The saved may be a single person, a couple, an entire family, or a number 

        of people, sometimes definite, sometimes indefinite.

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                    There is, however, one flood tradition which is so much like the 

        biblical story that it must be directly related to it.  This is the cuneiform 

        (Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian) tradition.  Berossus, a Babylonian 

        priest, compiled a Babylonian history, containing a flood story, which was

        written down around 2000 B.C., long before the Hebrew migrations into 

        Palestine.  The copy of this story we have comes from Ashurbanipal.

                   The Flood story constitutes a single episode of 300 lines in the Gil-

        gamesh Epic.  Gilgamesh, mourning the death of his friend  Enkidu, and 

        increasingly obsessed with the  fear of death, decides to go to his ancestor 

        Utnapishtim, which he manages with great difficulty.  Utnapishtim tells of 

        how he and his wife won immortality by surviving a flood, the details of 

        which he recounts vividly.  

                   When the gods determined to destroy the world, the god Ea defies 

        the will of En-lil and commands Utnapishtim in a dream to tear down his 

        house and build a ship with the shape of an exact cube measuring almost 

        67 meters per side.  When Utnapishtim awoke, he began work on the ship, 

        and within five days had “laid her framework.”  The vessel had six decks, 

        and each of the seven stories was divided into nine sections, providing 63

        compartments; on the 7^th day he had it ready for launching.  After Utna-

        pishtim himself had entered, the skies grew black with clouds, lightning 

        flashed, thunder rumbled, the rivers rose, breaking dams and dikes, and 

        the tempest swept over the land; even the gods cowered.  On the seventh 

        day the sea grew quiet. 

                   After an unspecified time the ship came to rest upon Mount Nisir.  

        On the seventh day Utnapishtim released a dove.  Then he set free a swal-

        low.  Finally he released a raven.  When En-lil arrived, he was angry to 

        find that someone had escaped the Deluge, but he submitted to Ea's re-

        proach that the Flood had been too severe and rewarded Utnapishtim and 

        his wife with immortality.

                   The oldest account of the Flood is the partial Sumerian version that 

        survived on a part of a tablet found at Nippur.  In this story Ziusudra learns

        of the gods decision to send a flood “to destroy the seed of humankind.”  

        The instructions to Ziusudra which must originally have been included in 

        the story are missing. When the text resumes, the Flood has already raged 

        upon the earth 7 days and nights.  Finally “Anu (and) En-lil cherished Ziu-

        sudra, [and gave] him breath eternal like (that of) a god.”

                   The Atrahasis (Old Babylonian “Atramhasis”) epic containing a 

        flood narrative is known to us only from 4 small fragments, 2 from Old 

        Babylonian, 2 from an Assyrian version.  The Assyrian tablets were found 

        in the library of Ashurbanipal, while the Babylonian are about 1,000 years

        older.  In this story the Flood was preceded by severe plagues sent by En-

        lil.  Ea warned Atrahasis in a dream, in words strikingly like those of the 

        Gilgamesh story, and Atrahasis built is ship according to the design given 

        him by Ea.  After the Flood subsided, the earth was repopulated from “14 

        wombs.” 

                   The youngest known Babylonian flood version is that of Berossus, 

        partially preserved for us in extracts from it made by Eusebius (260? A.D.-

        340? A. D.).  According to Berossus’ account, a deluge occurred during 

        the reign of Xisouthros (Ziusudra).  Cronos (Ea) commanded him to write

        a history & bury it in Sippar, to build a boat, stock it with provisions, take 

        into it all species of animals, and set sail. After the storm abated, Xisou-

        thros released “some birds,” which returned to the boat; after some days 

        he released them again, only to have them return with mud on their feet.  

        When he had sacrificed to the gods, he and those who had disembarked 

        with him disappeared.  Xisouthros continued to guide those remaining by 

        disembodied voice. 

                   The contact points between Hebrew and the Mesopotamian flood 

        stories are numerous.  There is a pious man, divinely warned of a coming 

        catastrophe.  In both stories careful attention is given to the boat’s size.  

        The duration of the storm is variously given. The Flood’s effect is total 

        destruction. Birds are released so that the hero may secure information 

        about the waters’ decrease.  Both traditions relate several acts of worship 

        after the hero's escape from the Flood, & both traditions recount divine 

        blessings on the survivors, with an indication (in Gilgamesh) and a pro-

        mise (in Genesis) that a similar catastrophic deluge will never again occur.

                    Historical Basis of Biblical Flood—The historical relation be-

        tween the actual biblical and Mesopotamian flood stories cannot be deter-

        mined precisely.  Literary dependence of the biblical and Mesopotamian 

        flood stories cannot be proved and is, in fact, improbable.  The Babylonian

        flood tradition was, in all likelihood, mediated to the Hebrews through the

        Amorites and proto-Arameans, and they then adapted the story to fit their 

        theology.  The petty, lying, cowering gods in the Babylonian tradition are 

        replaced by the righteous, omnipotent, merciful God of the Bible. In Gene-

        sis the Flood is interpreted unmistakably as divine judgment on a corrupt 

        world, and the story is so well told that it has even today the same power to

        stir the conscience.

F-21

                   In Genesis the flood story is incorporated into the humankind’s his-

        tory, so that all the then known peoples of the earth are said to be descen-

        ded from Noah's 3 sons & Canaan.  Was there an actual inundation which

        forms the historical core of this Near Eastern flood tradition?  The belief in

        a deluge covering the whole earth and destroying all men and animals ex-

        cept those preserved in an ark has been largely given up.  The ark could 

        never have weathered a storm such as Genesis describes, it couldn't pos-

        sibly have contained a pair of every existing species of animals, and 8 peo-

        ple could not have taken care of them all. 

                   If there is historical substance to the flood tradition, it must be found 

        in some local Mesopotamian disaster of special magnitude.  Such a flood 

        would leave an alluvial deposit, above and below which could be found 

        traces of human activity, but within which would be found none.  Several

        Mesopotamian cities show such evidence, but the timing of the floods 

        don't coincide in all those cities. Ur and Nineveh share a narrow period not 

        long after 4000 B.C. where there is evidence of a major flood.  Likewise, 

        Kish, Shuruppak, Uruk, Lagash, share a narrow span of time around 2800 

        B.C. where there is evidence of a major flood. These may form the basis 

        for the flood tradition in cuneiform literature on which the Genesis account

        depends.   

FLOOR  (קרקע (kar kah); גרן (go ren), a threshing floor)    1.  Solomon's 

        temple is described as having a floor covered with boards of cypress.  The 

        dust of the tabernacle's earthen floor was regarded as possessing special 

        qualities.  2.  Go ren is the Hebrew word for threshing floor, an open space 

        of rocks or pounded earth exposed to the wind and used for threshing and 

        winnowing grain.

FLOUR (סלת (so leth))  Flour is to be distinguished from meal in that flour was 

        ground, from only the wheat's inner kernels, whereas meal was ground 

        from the whole kernels and the bran.  Accordingly flour was a luxury.  

        By far its most extensive use was in cereal offerings.

FLOWERS (PLANTS)  (גבעל (gab bal), outer husk of flower; פרח (peh 

        rakh), young shoot; ציץ (tseets))  The blossom, or reproductive part, of 

        trees, shrub, & other flora.  Among the hundreds of species of flowers 

        believed to have grown in Palestine since ancient times, barely a dozen

        are mentioned specifically.  Flowers of the field are a symbol of the 

        springtime, and of the transitory nature of human life.  The springtime tra-

        veler to the Holy Land today is impressed by the great masses of yellow 

        flowers, mostly chrysanthemums that dominate the hillsides & valleys &

        cover almost every ancient tell.

                   Of the nearly one hundred different flora species mentioned in the 

        Bible the following are the only flowers or tree blossoms specified: 

          almond (לוז (looz); שקד (sha keed)         mallow(מלוח (mal lu akh)

      colchicum (חבצלת (khab hats tseh leth)   narcissus (חבצלת) (khab

     crocus (חבצלת (khab hats tseh leth)            hats tseh leth)

     fig (פגה (pag gah)                                      olive (זית (zay ith)

     flax (פשתה (pish tah); linon (lee non)    pomegranate (רמון 

     henna (כפר (ko pher)                                 (rim mone)

     lily (שושן (sho shan)                               vine (סמדר (se may dar)    

     lotus (צאלים (tseh eh leem)      

       Scholars identify flowers by the context in which they're used. For the kha-

        batstseleth of the Song of Solomon 2, different scholars interpret it as the 

        colchicum, narcissus, and crocus, and the New Revised Standard Version 

        (NRSV) translates the Hebrew word as Rose in Song of Songs Solomon 2, 

        and as crocus in Isaiah 35.  NRSV also translates tse'ehlim (lotus in the list 

        above) as lily in I Kings 7.  

FLY  (זבוב (zeh boob); ערוב (aw robe), gadfly)  Generally, tsebub is under-

        stood as the common housefly.  When used metaphorically of Egypt’s in-

        vading army tsebub more likely means the wasp-sized horsefly.  The 'arob 

        of the 4th plague in Exodus could be the housefly, bluebottle fly, dog fly, 

        Barghas midge, or Tabanid fly.

F-22

FODDER  (בליל (bel eel); מספוא (mis po))  Food for animals consisting of a 

        mixture of grains.  Some scholars believe that belil may have been 

        brought to a preliminary stage of fermentation by soaking in water.

FOLLY (אויל (‘ev eel); כסיל (kes eel); נבל (naw bawl), these 3 mean either

        foolish or wicked; אולת (‘iv veh leth); סכלות (sik luth); נבלה (neb ay

        law), these 3 mean either folly or wickedness; afrwn (af rone), foolish, 

        wicked; afrosunh (af ro soo nay), folly, wickedness))  The preceding 

        Hebrew and Greek words were often  used in the Bible, particularly in the 

        wisdom literature, to describe persons lacking wisdom. 

                   Folly is often known by its opposite; it is contrasted with wisdom.  

        Not that folly is merely the negation of wisdom; folly appears as a power 

        in its own right, which especially offers itself to the unsuspecting young.  

        For the most part biblical people mostly held the view that wisdom was 

        superior to folly. Only in Ecclesiastes 2 is it recognized that, whether wise

        man or fool, “one fate comes to all.”

                   The literature contains a number of clues also as to the specific na-

        ture of folly and the behavior of fools, particularly in Ecclesiastes and Pro-

        verbs.  Fools are neither provident or prudent; they are hot tempered. 

        Fools talk loosely and too much.  A fool may be merely simple and unin-

        structed, young and susceptible, or he may also be willfully perverse.

                   Folly, at its best, is dedication to a life of pleasure.  At its worst, a 

        fool's folly is rank immorality, rape fornication, incest, & adultery.  Folly 

        is the rejecting of God's will, for “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of 

        knowledge.” So a fool learns the hard way, through the “rod of discipline,”

        or goes to meet a bitter fate.  Both wisdom and folly are personal philoso-

        phies, different ways of looking upon life.  Wisdom is the way of the reli-

        gious person, and it leads to victory; folly is the way of the impious, and 

        its end is defeat. 

FOOD.  Although food was, of course, one of the necessities of life in biblical 

        times, the Hebrews and Christians did not enjoy as wide a variety of food-

        stuffs as their modern descendants. Furthermore, the danger of famine

        due to crop failure and natural disasters was much greater.  For these rea-

        sons the simple gathering & preparation of food occupied a major part of 

        human life; the alternative was death by starvation.  From the very begin-

        ning, it must not be assumed that all the foodstuff consumed in biblical 

        times are specifically mentioned in its pages.  The main categories can be 

        determined, although many of the details are missing. 

                   In biblical times meat wasn't a regular part of the diet.  When God 

        created humans, God gave humans for food “every plant yielding seed 

        which is upon the face of all the earth”; only after the Flood were humans 

        permitted to eat animal food.  Even when permitting animal food, God

        prohibits the consumption of blood for that is “its life.”  Apart from reli-

        gious scruples, the chief reason for abstaining from meat was simply the 

        scarcity of domestic cattle in biblical times.  Meat was usually eaten only 

        after a sacrifice.

                   These restrictions did not apply to the wealthy.  We are told that 

        Solomon's provisions for one day included “ten fat oxen, and twenty pas-

        ture-fed cattle, a hundred sheep, besides harts, gazelles, roebucks, & fat-

        ted fowl.”  Roasting & boiling were the usual methods of preparing meat.  

        The Passover lamb is to be roasted, not boiled.  Meat was also obtained 

        from fowl; quails were sent from heaven to the Israelites.  Eggs from wild

        birds were eaten in Old Testament (OT) times.  The eating of fish was rare 

        in the OT, but fish was a common food in New Testament (NT) times.

                   Olive and grapes were the most important fruits in biblical times, but 

        they were generally made into oil and wine.  Of the fruits consumed in their 

        natural state figs were the most popular. Since the Hebrew word for "apple"

        is used in the OT, it might be assumed that apples were eaten in that time.  

        Actual references are few, & the identification of the fruit mentioned is dif-

        ficult; perhaps the apricot is meant.

                   The climate of Palestine isn't suited for the growing of a wide variety

        of vegetables.  Indeed, on the basis of modern parallels it is likely that oni-

        ons & leeks were rather widely cultivated.  More important, however, were 

        beans and lentils.  They could be boiled into a thick broth, eaten in their na-

        tural state, or mixed with flour to increase the yield of bread.  The husks of 

        the carob tree served as emergency food. 

                   In view of the above-mentioned reluctance to eat meat and the rela-

        tive scarcity of fruits and vegetables, it is natural that cereal foods should 

        make up a large part of the diet in biblical times.  Bread was made from 

        both wheat flour & barley meal, and was eaten at every meal.  In a time of 

        need, however, millet and spelt could also be used in bread.  It was custo- 

        mary to rub off the husks in one's hands and eat the fresh kernels.

F-23

                   Food had wide significance in the social and the economic life of 

        OT times; almost every pact or covenant was sealed with a common meal.

        The food consumed by both parties made them, in a sense, members of 

        the same family or clan.  Examples of this are Jacob and Laban, as well as 

        Joshua's men and the Gibeonites.  The refusal to eat food with someone 

        was a mark of anger and a symbol of the rupture of fellowship. 

                   This significance of food as a bond of fellowship may even be pre-

        served in the Hebrew word for “covenant,” which is often held to be de-

        rived from the root meaning “to eat.”  A “covenant of salt” means a “per-

        manent covenant.”  Jesus' injunction: “Have salt in yourselves” is an en-

        couragement to mutual loyalty among the disciples.  Because of food's 

        function in sealing personal & communal relationships, gifts of food were

        not merely a matter of form.  The recipient, if he accepted the gift, was 

        put under an obligation, and the giver was well aware of this.  

                   Jacob advised his sons to “take some of the choice fruits of the land 

        in your bags.”  In his own past, Jacob, who was naturally worried about 

        his reception at the hand of his disinherited brother, Esau, had sent on 

        ahead a gift of goats, sheep, cows, bulls, and asses.  And when David was 

        forced to flee on the occasion of Absalom's revolt, David was brought 

        food by loyal subjects.  The earlier prophets were also given gifts of food, 

        either as payment for services rendered or as a sign of good faith. 

                  In spite of unreliable food supplies in Palestine itself, foodstuffs were

        the most important items of foreign trade in biblical times; food was also 

        given in exchange for foreign aid.  Hiram, king of Tyre, offered to supply 

        cedar & cypress timber for the building of the temple, if Solomon would 

        provide food for his household.  Large quantities of wheat and oil were sent

        from Israel to Tyre each year. Zerubbabel and his associates sent “food, 

        drink, & oil” to Tyre and Sidon in return for the cedar required for the re-

        building of the temple. 

                   Perhaps the best-known famines in biblical times are those de-

        scribed in the story of Joseph and in the Elijah narratives.  Amos graphi-

        cally describes the catastrophes sent by Yahweh: he withheld the rain; he 

        sent blight and mildew; he caused the locust to devour fig and olive trees; 

        and created a pestilence.  The only way to ward off the consequences of 

        such a famine was to build up reserves of food in plentiful times. 

                   Since God is the creator and sustainer of life, it is natural that bi-

        blical people should regard food as a divine gift.  The Lord God planted 

        the Garden of Eden, and every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good 

        for food.  The gift of food was renewed at the Conquest; Yahweh gave the

        wandering Israelites a “land of wheat of barley, of vines and fig trees and 

        pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey.”

                   One must not presume upon God's gifts, however.  The Israelites in 

        the desert decided to test God by demanding food.  Since food is a bond 

        between people, it is even more natural that it should find a place in ex-

        pressing the relationship between humans and God.  One of the most im-

        portant motifs in sacrifice and offerings is food consumption.  Food offe-

        rings continued to be made as long as the temple stood, & the pious Israe-

        lite undoubtedly felt that they became closer to God when they returned to

        God a part of God's gifts. 

                   Since God created at fruitful garden at the beginning of God's work, 

        God will naturally bestow an abundance of food upon God's faithful peo-

        ple after the end of this age, at the beginning of the New Age.  Later apo-

        calyptic books give descriptions of a messianic banquet to be held in hea-

        ven after this earth passes away; the NT contains several allusions to this 

        coming event. 

                  Important as food naturally was in both secular and religious affairs, 

        it was never regarded as the sole source or end of human life.  “Man does 

        not live by bread alone, but .  .  . by everything that proceeds out of the 

        mouth of the Lord.” The clearest insight into the ultimate importance of 

        food is to be found in the NT. Jesus says, "Do not be anxious about your 

        life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body.  .  .  

        life [is] more than food, and the body more than clothing.”  Jesus calls him-

        self the “bread which comes down from heaven”; if any man eats it, he will 

        never be hungry again.  In I Corinthians 6, Paul quotes a slogan of his op-

        ponents:  “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food,” and 

        concludes:  “God will destroy both one and the other.” 

FOODS, CLEAN AND UNCLEAN.  Those foods permitted and prohibited to the 

        Jews.  (See Clean and Unclean.)

FOOT  (רגל (reh gel); pous (poos))  In the Bible this word normally has it 

        ordinary physical sense.  The word is used metaphorically only as a pic-

        turesque equivalent of “person.”  The expression “to put under the feet” 

        is a symbol of conquest & dominion recalling the actual practice of con-

        querors in ancient times. To sit “at the feet” is a symbol of discipleship.

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                   Because of the dusty roads of the ancient world, feet quickly be- 

        came dirty in traveling, and provision for the washing of a guest's feet 

        was an ordinary act of hospitality.  The removal of the shoes in a holy 

        place was necessary because of their previous defilement by contact 

        with the profane earth.  The most natural gesture of humility and self-

        abasement was to “fall at the feet.”  A common method of punishment in

        ancient Israel was to bind the feet in the stocks.

FOOT WASHING.  A hospitable amenity in Palestine, extended to guests upon 

        arrival at the home of their host.  It was usually performed by a servant, or 

        by the wife of the host.  Jesus performed this menial service to his disciples

         at the Last Supper, as an example of the humble ministry they must ever 

        be ready to perform one for another, and as a parable acted out for his dis-

        ciples.  “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and 

        whoever would be first among you must be slave to all.” 

                   It was a sign of Jesus’ selfless love that took him to the humiliation 

        of the Cross.  Many commentators also believe that John the Evangelist 

        considered foot washing to symbolic of the sacraments of baptism and 

        Eucharist. The ceremonial washing of feet in the church's liturgy is first 

        attested around 400 A. D. 

FOOTMAN  (רגלי (rag lee), soldier)  A soldier in the infantry.

FOOTSTOOL (הדם רגל (had ome  reh gel))  A word usually used metapho-

        rically.  “Footstool” is a metaphor for Zion, if not for the temple itself.  In 

        Isaiah 66 it is a metaphor of the earth.  Christians are warned not to give 

        the best  seats to the wealthy and  show  the poor to a standing  or a lowly 

        place  (“footstool”).   The place at God's feet, which was originally the ark,

        then the temple, then the earth, is the place where the enemies demon-

        strate the divine dominion through obeisance. 

FORBEARANCE  (דמם (daw mam), rest, cease, leave off; חשך (khaw sak), 

        hold back, restrain; חדל (khaw del), decline, omit; stegw (steg oh), 

        hold off, hold in; anoch an oh khay), patience) 

                  In the King James Version of the Old Testament there are several ex-

        amples of  “forbearance” in the sense of “desisting, abstaining, & refrai-

        ning from.”  The Revised Standard Version has replaced all but 4 of these 

        instances with “refrain,”  “cease,” “refuse,” etc.  The only appearance of 

        “forbearance” in the sense of  “enduring” is mashak, “stretch out,” in Nehe-

        miah 9.  The idea that God patiently endures for a time the sinfulness & re-

        bellion of his people appears several times. 

                   In the New Testament “forbear” occurs in the King James Version in 

        both senses.  In Ephesians 4 a more strongly positive meaning is indica-

        ted; “forbearing one another in love” must mean more than “put up with,” 

        since there's nothing negative about Christian Love. Jesus says in Mark 9, 

        “O faithless generation, how long am I to bear with you?”  In spite of God's 

        mercy Israel's people of  have a long record of faithlessness, sinfulness, & 

        rebellion. Such conduct merits punishment; & punishment must be meted 

        out.  Since, however, God is also a God of mercy, God stays God’s hand in 

        the hope that repentance will take place.

                   In secular Greek the word meant “holding back,” “stopping,” and is 

        therefore used most frequently for an “armistice” or “truce.”  In Roman 2, 

        it is used to explain the delaying of God's wrath.  The thought is a reply to 

        one who might say that, if man is as bad as Paul paints him, then a just 

        God would visit punishment upon him. Only repentance can prevent the 

        application of the wrath on the “day of wrath.”  In  “God's divine forbea-

        rance” he had passed over former sins “because the redemption ”which is 

        in Christ Jesus had not been revealed.  This “forbearance” is part of God's    righteousness. 

FORD  (מעברה (mah ab aw raw))  A place where a river or other body of 

        water can be crossed by wading.  It was the Romans who built the first 

        bridges in Palestine, in the early Christian centuries.  In order to cross 

        rivers in biblical times, other means had to be used; the commonest was 

        a ford.

                   The Jordan fords are referred to in Joshua 2, Judges 3 & 12, I 

        Samuel 13, II Samuel 15, 17, and 19.  The location of none of these cros-

        sings is known for certain.  Presumably the fords associated with Jericho 

        and Moab cannot have been too far from the Jordan's mouth.  The Jordan

        flows strongly on a serpentine course of 320 km, and a geographic dis-

        tance of 104 km.  Its depth ranges from 1 to 3 meters & a width of about 

        27 meters.  The numerous places to ford changed constantly with chan-

        ges in the river bed.

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FOREHEAD  (מצח (may tsakh); metwpon (met oh pon))  The spot where the 

        golden plate on Aaron's turban was to be situated.  The marks which dis-

        tinguish the men of God, and the men of “the beast” were to be placed 

        there.  Metaphorically, the hard forehead is a symbol of stubbornness. 

FOREIGNER  (זר (zare), stranger; נכרי (nok ree), stranger)  The foreigner is 

        different from the sojourner in that the foreigner comes into temporary 

        contact with Israel as trader, traveler, or soldier, without cutting ties with

        his original home. 

                   The 1st of 4 types of foreigners is the enemies who invade and 

        threaten to overthrow the established order of Israel.  The 2nd type is the 

        gods of the foreign nations which are temptations for Israel.  The 3rd 

        were the non-Israelites who came into ordinary contacts with the Israe-

        lites.  Special legislation was necessary with regard to financial dealings 

        with them.  Lastly, there were those barred from the cult.  The attitude 

        toward foreigners in the worship of Israel in the pre-exilc period was more 

        positive than the attitude seen in the post-exilic period, with its horror of 

        defilement. 

                   In the New Testament “foreigner” is used rarely to refer to non-Jews.

        The reason for the term’s rare use as compared with the Old Testament is 

        that foreigners who were sojourners or strangers could now be full mem-

        bers of God’s household.  Christians considered themselves as “aliens” on 

        earth after Jerusalem’s destruction and the Jews’ disappearance as a politi-

        cal base.  Their highest service is to care for strangers as for Jesus.  

FOREKNOWLEDGE  (prognwsiV (prog no sis))  This and similar words occur

        several times in the New Testament (NT).  The idea they represent, is 

        much more pervasive throughout the Bible than might appear from the in-

        frequent appearance of these terms. 

                   According to the ancient view, the gods are distinguished from men 

        by virtue of their superior knowledge, as well as their immortality.  Human 

        knowledge is severely limited, and therefore he must seek divine direction. 

        The methods of gaining knowledge of the future were dream interpretation, 

        speaking to the dead, sacred lot, and prophetic oracle.  Divine foreknow-

        ledge is the forerunner of the prophetic message which never surrendered 

        its predictive reference to the future. 

                   When the theme of foreknowledge is abstracted from faith's expe-

        rience of the historical sovereignty of God, it devaluates human freedom 

        and historical creativity.  However, divine foreknowledge has nothing to 

        do with fatalism or determinism.  It doesn't mean that history is written in 

        advance.  The affirmation about divine foreknowledge springs out of the 

        experience of human relations to a personal Lord whose personal will go-

        verns human life from beginning to end.  In any given situation, the person 

        of faith is conscious of the priority of God's purpose.  The situation belongs 

        intrinsically to God's purpose. 

                   In the biblical tradition God's foreknowledge is of a different kind 

        from human foresight of future developments.  In the biblical understan-

        ding, God alone has foreknowledge.  Modern beliefs about the nature of 

        knowledge tends to assume that humans are thinkers who stands over 

        against the objects to be known.  But in the Bible knowledge comes, not so

        much through an intellectual vision of timeless reality or through the per-

        ceptions of objective facts, but in the context of personal relationship.

                   This is especially true of God's knowledge of humans & the human 

        knowledge of God.  God enters into relation with humans, visiting, deman-

        ding, judging, & blessing.  Thus God's knowing is also an act of election.  

        As humans stand in a personal relationship to God, the biblical human af-

        firms that his whole life, from beginning to end is known by God.  From 

        the experience of being known by God comes also the confession that 

        God is omniscient; nothing or no one can slip beyond the range of God's 

        personal lordship. 

                   The priority of God's purpose is one of the fundamental themes of 

        the prophecy used in the 2nd part of Isaiah.  The gods of the nations can't 

        announce the things to come.  Yahweh, on the other hand, is the eternal 

        God, whose purpose spans history from beginning to end.  Yahweh alone 

        can declare the things to come.  History is the unfolding of Yahweh's 

        purpose. 

                   Divine foreknowledge and divine election are intimately related. 

        God's call not only summons a person to perform a task within the divine 

        plan but also discloses God's divine purpose in personal history.  Israel's 

        election was grounded primarily in God's deliverance of God's people from

        Egypt. The book of Genesis emphasizes that even in advance of the Exo-

        dus, Yahweh was calling a people into existence & manifesting Yahweh’s 

        purpose in the lives of the patriarchs. Jeremiah responded to Yahweh's call 

        out of an intense inner struggle. Nevertheless, he perceived that Yahweh 

        had meant for him to be a prophet all along. 

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                   The book of Daniel gives the impression that divine foreknowledge, 

        communicated through prophetic vision, involves advance knowledge of 

        historical details.  Some of the problems of the Daniel apocalypse vanish, 

        when it is realized that is was written in the Maccabean period and that the

        prophetic “predictions” are, for the most part, a retrospective narration of 

        historical events.  The book shows that history is not governed by caprice 

        or by the powerful ambitions of nations, but solely by the purpose of God.  

        Similarly in the story of Judith, the heroine acts in the confidence that God

        has designed the things that have come to pass as well as those that are 

        to come. 

                   The NT is dominated by the announcement that God's promises 

        have been fulfilled.  In the NT it is affirmed that nothing falls beyond 

        the range of God's concern.  The Lord’s word pierces to the innermost cen-

        ter of man's life.  Thus God’s personal lordship means that nothing is hid-

        den from him.  The gospel writers comment that events in the Messiah’s 

        story occurred so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled.

                   Jesus himself believed his task was to carry out the foreordained 

        divine plan.  Jesus was betrayed & crucified “according to the definite plan

        & foreknowledge of God.”  It is wrong to deduce from these and similar 

        NT statements that Jesus’ career was mapped out in advance.  Rather, the 

        NT writers discern in these events God’s purpose. The NT also affirms that

        the Elect One was purposed from the beginning.  Thus the saving activity 

        of God, as manifested in Jesus Christ, is the expression of God's eternal 

        purpose, not a mere accommodation to historical circumstance.  

                   Paul proclaims God’s gospel “which God promised beforehand 

        through his prophets in the holy scriptures.  Paul says of his divine election

        that he was set apart before he was born, called through divine grace. The 

        initiative is on God's side, God's purpose underlies every moment of one's 

        life right from the beginning. The church is also bound together by a divine

        calling.  Those “who are called according to God's purpose” confess that 

        God works for good.  Faith is grounded solely upon God's initiative and 

        grace, not upon changing human fortunes or in the way the world's re-

        sponds to the gospel.  “God had foreseen something better for us,” & the 

        names of the faithful have been inscribed on the book of life from the foun-

        dation of the world.  

                   These statements about foreknowledge & pre-destination aren't in-

        tended as expressions of pride or exclusiveness.  On the contrary, they tes-

        tify to God's initiative.  Salvation is traced back beyond anything human &

        temporal to the eternal purpose of God, which spans history from begin-

        ning to end.  The certainty that human salvation is in God's hand frees the 

        believer from worldly anxieties & enables him to affirm that “in all these 

        things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” 

FORERUNNER  (prodromoV (pro dro mos), explorer)  A scout sent in ad-

        vance of troops.  It is a technical military term for light-armed soldiers sent 

        out as advance scouts.  The word can thus be understood as precursor, 

        herald, or scout, preparer of the way.  The Old Testament notion of prepa-

        ring the way for the one coming, as in Isaiah and Malachi, is applied in the 

        gospels to John the Baptist as forerunner of Jesus.

FORESAIL  (artemwn (ar teh moan))  A small square sail rigged to the fore-

        mast on Roman ships. 

FORESKIN.  See circumcision. 

FOREST.  (יער (yah 'ar); חרש (kho resh), wooded hills; פרדם (par ah 

        deem), garden, park)  There are numerous Old Testament (OT) references 

        to forests which included shrubs, thickets, & trees.  The same word is used 

        in Isaiah 21 to designate the “thickets in Arabia,” on the supposition that 

        there were no forests in Arabia. Paradim in Nehemiah may indicate a royal 

        preserve.  Although forests in ancient Palestine were not extensive, the OT

        mentions them as being located in the hill country of Ephraim and in the 

        Negev.  When David took refuge in the forest of Horeth, in all likelihood it  

        was in an area near the Philistine Plain. 

FOREST OF LEBANON.  See House of the Forest of Lebanon. 

FORGE.  See Furnace. 

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FORGETFULNESS, LAND OF  (ארצ נשיה (eh rets  nesh ee yaw))  A poetic 

        term for Sheol which suggests that God forgets those who died, & that the 

        dead pass into utter oblivion. 

FORGIVENESS.  (כפר (kaw far), cover over; מחה (maw khaw), wipe out; 

 סלח         (saw lakh), send away; afesiV (af eh sis), deliverance)  In the 

        Bible forgiveness is primarily the act of God by which God graciously 

        takes away the obstacles or barriers which separate humans from God's 

        presence, thus opening the way to reconciliation and fellowship.  It is 

        secondarily human forgiveness of one another. 

                   The New Testament (NT) has a variety of “theologies,” but it pre-

        sents basically the same understanding of forgiveness as the Old Testa-

        ment (OT).  It is the covering or removal of sins, transgressions, iniquity, 

        or impiety; it makes reconciliation possible. But Jesus’ teaching horizons 

        broaden with the union of repentance and faith in the Messiah, and with

        relating the forgiveness question to the messianic kingdom’s fulfillment. 

                   Sin has multiple consequences in human life, involving rebellion 

        against God, guilt, and bondage in sin.  The writers of the gospels and 

        Paul differ from the other writers of the letters in their choice of empha-

        sis.  The gospels lay most stress on Christ's conflict with the powers hol-

        ding humankind in bondage.  Forgiveness appears here in the context of 

        wholeness of life.  What one experiences through the power working in 

        Jesus will be the gift of God to all who accept God's reign.    

                   Where sin as guilt is stressed, forgiveness appears as a release 

        from guilt, deliverance from anxiety and a burdened conscience, and 

        recovery of peace with God.  This concept is found in Hebrews, Paul's 

        letters, I Peter, and letters written by John the Evangelist's followers.  

        Where sin is rebellion, forgiveness is reconciliation, and expresses the 

        removal of enmity between humans and God.  Forgiveness makes possi-

        ble the sinner's adoption, renewal of fellowship with the Father, and ac-

        cess to the new age’s renewing powers.

                   In the OT—Forgiveness is an expression of the religious relation-

        ship between God and humans.  God is Creator.  Humans are God's crea-

        tures, but are separated from God by their sins, & thus need forgiveness, 

        for they cannot live under God's wrath.  Israel has encountered a God of 

        power.  But where sin separates humans from God, humans don't experi-

        ence God's blessing.  Holiness is necessary for harmonious human life, 

        for humans can't live without God, and as sinners humans can't approach 

        God.  Only the removal of sin can enable humans to have a life of integri-

        ty and wholeness.  But Israel's God is also merciful.  In spite of human 

        backsliding and unfaithfulness the covenant mediates God’s mercy, be-

        cause it is based upon the righteousness and reliability of God.

                   Living in confrontation with a holy God, humans know themselves 

        as sinners. Sin is a fundamental distortion of human personality. Sin is dis-

        obedience, an informed and deliberate violation of the law.  It is perversity, 

        the human spirit’s petulant rebellion.  Through sin humans have lost fellow-

        ship with God.  They live under God's wrath, filled with anxieties and fears, 

        out of harmony with nature and with other human beings.

                   Forgiveness is removal of barriers between God & humans. Forgive-

        ness renews fellowship with God, who is the source of all holiness & life.  

        God's mercy and favor replace God's wrath and judgment.  Terror of con-

        science & dread of judgment give way to peace.  Human souls are healed, 

        the powers of their personality are restored and strengthened. 

                   For Israel there were 3 elements in the realization of forgiveness.  

        1st, Israel's assurance that sin can be forgiven rests ultimately upon its 

        Covenant relationship to God. Israel's awareness of its election gradually 

        transforms its religion and theology.  The naive and naturalistic relationship

        between God and people prevalent in Semitic religion gives way before the

        knowledge of Yahweh as the transcendent One.  Forgiveness isn't some-

        thing people gain by painstaking performance of ritual; it is God’s free and 

        sovereign gift.

                   2nd, the chief instrument for forgiveness is the sacrificial cult.  But 

        Israel's understanding of sacrifice gradually changes as it becomes aware 

        of the covenant's implications.  Participation in sacrifice became a drama-

        tic-liturgical expression of the worship.  One's approach to the altar was an 

        expression of one's awareness of need, one's sense of guilt.  As one 

        placed hands upon the sacrifice, one symbolized identification with one's 

        guilt and with the sacrifice, so that in offering one's gift, one's self was 

        being offered.  

                   Sacrifice isn't a barter transaction in which God forgives for a con-

        sideration, but that sacrifice is effectual because God in God's mercy choo-

        ses to accept the offering as the offering of the worshiper's life.  Sacrifice 

        is not the purchase of forgiveness but the claiming of God's promise of 

        mercy.  The sacrificial meal expresses the restoration of fellowship be-

        tween God and human.

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             The OT itself makes it clear that the prophetic understanding of the 

        covenant religion did not always prevail in Israel.  The sacrificial cult was

        a significant agent in the tradition of the religion of the Israelite, who grew

        up in an environment permeated with the atmosphere of sacrifice, which 

        communicated religious realities by using non-verbal symbols of faith. 

                   The 3rd element in the realization of forgiveness is repentance.  

        The prophetic movement emphasizes the demand for genuine repentance 

        and amendment of life.  The prophets protest vehemently against the 

        mechanical and formalistic performance of sacrifice.  The prophetic insi-

        stence on repentance is not so much concerned with sorrow and contrition 

        as with amendment of life, restitution, and righteousness.

                   The focus of forgiveness in the OT is the renewal of holiness.  It is 

        1st, the removal of that which separates humans from God, the source of 

        holiness.  2nd, it is the restoration of divine favor and the overcoming of 

        God's wrath.  3rd, holiness heals the soul, and recovers strength and 

        power in human life.  A 4th emphasis comes to the fore in the exilic and 

        postexilic periods: the stress on forgiveness as opening the way to holi-

        ness.  During this period, forgiveness is seen more narrowly as the remo-

        val of guilt. 

                   In the NT—Rabbinic Judaism was jealous to hold the prophetic faith

        of Israel. An earnest seeking for holiness accompanied strenuous religious 

        discipline.  For communities outside Jerusalem the synagogue became the 

        center of religious life, increasing the prominence of the Torah and streng-

        thening the tendency to think of forgiveness in primarily ethical and legal 

        terms.  The long-frustrated yearning for the Davidic kingdom found an out-

        let in apocalyptic thought, with its hopes for the dramatic or even catastro-

        phic intervention of God.  The effect of this thought was to lessen confi-

        dence in human powers. 

                   The work of John the Baptist introduced new elements into the religi-

        ous situation.  John proclaimed a baptism of repentance unto remission of 

        sins, and pointed to one to come who should bring the baptism of the Holy 

        Spirit.  1st, John's preaching & baptism aroused great interest because the 

        voice of prophecy was heard in Israel again after centuries of silence.  This 

        prophetic voice disturbed the well-regulated system of Torah tradition and 

        cult.  

                   2nd, his baptism was a striking innovation, combining the prophetic 

        call to repentance with the promise of forgiveness of sins through bap-

        tism.  3rd, John pointed to the imminent fulfillment of age-old messianic 

        hopes, asserting that God's anointed one was in their midst & that the king-

        dom was at hand.  Even after John's death, his connection of forgiveness 

        with repentance & baptism continued to be significant in the work of Jesus

        of Nazareth. 

                   John the Baptist gave his demand for repentance a strongly ethical 

        content with his insistence on fruits worthy of repentance.  Jesus began 

        his ministry with words strikingly similar to John's.  “The time is fulfilled, 

        & the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”  Jesus 

        whets the cutting edge of the law by his insistence on inner purity and sin-

        cerity.  The law of God requires not only outward conformity, but also a 

        deep and complete correspondence to the God's holy will.  He insists that 

        repentance go beyond sorrow for sin and issue in a radical reorientation of

        personality.

                   Jesus also broadens the meaning of repentance.  Jesus announced

        that the significant time was fulfilled and God's royal rule was at hand.  

        Repentance has been broadened to include faith, which is the human re-

        sponse to the manifestation of God's kingly rule.  Jesus’ teaching concer-

        ning forgiveness must be seen in relation to the kingdom of the Age after 

        this age.  In the new age the sinners are not only forgiven; they also share 

        in the life and power of God and are able to forgive others.  In the new age

        forgiveness of sin is conditional not only upon repentance and faith, but 

        also upon forgiveness of others. 

                   In the teachings of Jesus, the meaning of the word “forgiveness” re-

        tains its OT content:  the removal of barriers between humans & God or 

        humans between each other.  But he relates the term to new & richer con-

        texts.  To do justice to his teaching, the word “forgiveness” must take on a 

        heavier cargo of meaning.  The omitting of the word “forgiveness” in some

        of Jesus’ teaching suggest that Jesus found the term in its rabbinic mea-

        ning too narrow for his purposes.   

                 However creative Jesus was as teacher of repentance and a new 

        ethic, his most significant contribution comes through his relation of for-

        giveness to his own person & mission.  Jesus’ attitude toward the tradition

        of the elders was offensive enough, but his interpretation of the OT with 

        himself as the center of it seemed not merely shocking, but blasphemous. 

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              For Jewish theology it was quite clear that God alone could forgive

        sins.  Jesus healed the paralytic, asserting that he had authority on earth 

        to forgive sins. Jesus made the claim of authority to forgive, a claim 

        which sounded presumptuous to his pious contemporaries, & backed up 

        his claim with an act of restoring soundness & health.  Another example 

        of Jesus radical reinterpretation of the OT is his relation to the temple.  In

        cleansing the temple Jesus either acted in disregard of law or asserted 

        proprietary authority, especially when he said, “My house shall be called 

        a house of prayer; but you make it a den of robbers.” 

                   Another aspect of Jesus’ reinterpretation of the OT is his identifica-

        tion of his life and death with the sacrificial cult. His death could be inter-

        preted as the unfortunate result of Jewish malice, Pilate's cowardice, or 

        the uncertain temper of a festival crowd.  Jesus understood his work as the

        act of God and held that “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit 

        never has forgiveness, but is guilty of eternal sin.”  In other words, labe-

        ling as diabolical the way in which God chooses to act and show mercy is 

        rejecting that approach & is a perilous misuse of pious theology. 

                   In the Apostolic Church—Jesus' interpretation of the OT, specifi-

        cally the use of the “name of God” theology is the starting point of the 

        early church's religious thought.  The word “name” emphasizes that the 

        holy and transcendent God has revealed God's self in the covenant.  The 

        apostles use this language of Jesus:  “There is no other name under hea-

        ven given among men by which we must be saved.” 

                   Forgiveness of sins is still spoken of in sacrifice language, but the 

        cult has given way to Christ’s offering.  The sacrificial cult is now seen, 

        not as an end in itself but as a prophetic foreshadowing of the great offe-

        ring made by God in Jesus; repentance and faith remain conditions of for-

        giveness.  Where Jesus uses forgiveness language even though he finds 

        it inadequate, the apostolic church coins new vocabulary. 

                   Paul speaks seldom of forgiveness of sins but often of being “in 

        Christ.”  He prefers the verb charizomai, “to be gracious.”  This word 

        stresses the generous & personal character of God's action and avoids the 

        juridical associations of “membership in Christ's body.”  The writings by 

        John the evangelist and his close followers also seldom use the word “for-

        giveness,” although allusions to temple and sacrifice are frequent. 

FORK  (מצלג (maz layg), fleshhook (KJV); מזרה (miz reh), winnowing fork; 

         ptuon peh too on), winnowing fork)  The translation “fork” is used in the 

        King James Version I of Samuel 13, but many other interpretations have 

        also been used.  Forks were among the implements belonging to the taber-

        nacle's altar.  Forks were also used by the priest at Shiloh in taking their 

        portions from the pot in which the sacrifice was boiled.  Similar sacrificial

        implements were ordered by David for the proposed Jerusalem temple.  

FORM  CRITICISM  (See Introduction at the beginning of this Dictionary). 

FORNICATION  (זנה (za nah) and זנות (zeh nooth), whoredom, harlotry; 

        porneia por ni ah), whoredom)  The practice of sexual immorality and

        harlotry.  In the Old Testament it is equivalent to “playing the harlot.”  In 

        the New Testament the words for “fornication,” refer to every kind of sexual

        intercourse outside of marriage. 

FORT  (מצורה (met soo raw); דיק (daw yake), surrounding wall)  King 

        James Version translation of words which the Revised Standard Version 

        translates “siege work,” “siege wall,” “fortress,” “stronghold,” “hill/high 

        fortifications.” 

FORTIFICATION.  The erection of artificial defense works around a city or 

        camp.  The base fortification is an encircling wall or walls, strengthened by 

        towers and defended externally by a dry moat or a beaten-earth rampart.  

        Potential weak spots, such as gateways, pose special problems, as does 

        the frequent necessity of bringing a water supply from outside the city. 

F-30

FORTRESS  (מצורה (met soo daw); מבצר (mib tsaw raw); מעוז (maw 

        ooz), stronghold) A fortified city, a fortified place, a secure height, a 

        stronghold, a citadel.  The fortress is symbolic of God as a refuge.  The 

        phrase “god of fortresses” in Daniel 11 most likely means the god Jupi-

        ter. Possibly it refers to Antiochus, whose assumed title “Epiphanes” 

        means “god manifest”; his successes made him a dread enemy to any 

        besieged fortress. 

FORTUNATUS  A prominent member of the earliest Christian church at Co-

        rinth.  Along with Stephanas and Achaicus, he was the bearer of the letter 

        to Corinth; it is also possible that they brought to Paul the letter mentioned 

        in I Corinthians 5. 

FORTUNE.  See Destiny. 

FORTY.  See Number. 

FORUM.  The open place or market of a town, or the settlement itself. 

FORUM OF APPIUS  (to 'Appiou foron (toe  ap pee oo  fo ron))  A station 

        on the Appian Way, about 69 km from Rome, through which Paul passed 

        as he was going to Rome.  The Forum of Appius was also at the head of a 

        canal which was used to travel through the Pontine Marshes to Ferona. 

FOUNDATION  (יסד (yes ode); qemelioV (theh meh lee os); katabolh (ka ta 

        bo lay), lay foundation)  The bottom stones upon which a structure was 

        built; the term is used by literally and metaphorically in the Bible.  La-

        ying the foundation of a city or a temple was an elaborate ceremony in 

        the ancient Middle East and was often accompanied by human sacrifice.  

        In excavations frequently remains of foundations show ground plans 

        where the superstructure has been destroyed.         

FOUNDATION, GATE OF THE  (היסוד שער (shah' ar  ha yes ode))  A gate in 

        Jerusalem, possibly leading from the king's palace to the temple, men-

        tioned in the narrative of the murder of Athaliah. 

FOUNTAIN  (עין (ah yin); מעין (mah yawn); pegh (pay gay))  Spring of water

        flowing from opening in a hillside or valley.  Fountains are also men-

        tioned in the Old Testament in a figurative sense in referring to the Lord

        or wisdom as life source.  Although considerable skill was developed in 

        conserving water in pools and cisterns, fountains were important as a 

        source of water supply, and their presence often determined a village’s 

        location.

                   Among the famous springs mentioned in the Old Testament was the

        one in the city of Nahor where Abraham's servant met Rebekah.  Primitive 

        peoples believed that springs were inhabited by spirits.  For Hebrew patri-

        archs springs were places where one met God, as well as water sources.   

        The Lord is referred to as Israel's fountain.  Among the fountains which 

        are still sources of  water for modern biblical villages may be mentioned 

        the ones at Solomon's pools south of Bethlehem, in the Kidron valley at

        Jerusalem, Tell es-Sultan near Jericho, and the Virgin's Fountain in 

        Nazareth. 

FOUNTAIN GATE  (שער העין (shah' ar  ha yeen))  A city gate in the south-

        east section of Jerusalem, probably so named because it was used by 

        persons bringing water from En-rogel; it was restored by Nehemiah.         

FOWL  (ברברים (bar bar eem))  Any feathered vertebrate animal.  It is 

        agreed that domestic fowl comes from the Indian jungle fowl, but the

        time of its introduction into Western Asia is debatable.  The New Testa-

        ment and the Mishna indicate that domestic fowl were well known to the  

        Jews by the opening of the Christian era, but it is uncertain when they 

        first came into Israel's life.  A Hebrew seal, depicting a fighting cock and

        thought to date around 600 B.C., was found, as well as 2 potsherds, also 

        from the same period, with fowl incised on them. 2 cylinder seals from a

        slightly later period have cocks on them. In view of this, it is unlikely 

        that domestic fowl were on Solomon's table; if any birds appeared there, 

        they were probably game. 

FOWLER  (יקוש (yaw koosh))  One who traps birds by sling, bait, or snare for

        sport or for food.  It is used metaphorically in the Bible.  False prophets 

        are likened to fowlers, and Jesus used the metaphor of the snare.

F-31

FOX  (שועל (shoo awl))  Any of certain widely distributed carnivorous mam-

        mals of the genus Vulpes, smaller than the wolves, having a long bushy

        tail, and noted for speed, cunning and resource.  The fox is normally a 

        solitary animal, mostly nocturnal.

                   The fox usually excavates its own burrow.  Its proverbial slyness

        explains Jesus’ allusion to Herod, though in Jewish usage “fox” may 

        also suggest insignificance.  The Old Testament references to foxes 

        may in fact, be to jackals, for only the latter hunt in packs, and, unlike 

        the fox they tend to be scavengers.  “Foxes” and “little foxes” in Song of

        Song [Solomon] 2 are used symbolically, but the precise meaning of this 

        verse depends upon the interpretation given to Song of Songs [Solomon]

        as a whole. 

FRACTURE  (שבר (shay ber), King James Version  translates it as breach)  

        The act of breaking a bone or cartilage or the result of such a break. 

FRAGRANCE  (See Odor; Perfume). 

FRAME  (1.  מוט (mote), pole, staff;      2.  מסגרת (mih seg gay rath), border, 

        ridge;     3. קרש (keh resh), board;     4.  שלב (shaw lawb), joint, brace; 

        5.שקף   (shaw koof);      6. יצר(ya w tsar); עצם (‘eh tsem), bone, body; 

         ערך(‘eh rek), row, pile;      7. צמד (tsaw mad), plan, devise)  

                   1.  A receptacle for carrying the lamps & utensils of the tabernacle 

        (Numbers 4).      2.  Either a brace for the legs of the table of the presence, 

        about 8cm wide and running around the legs about halfway down (Exodus 

        25 & 37), or a side panel of the stands for the ceremonial vessel used for 

        washing. (I Kings 7; II Kings 16).       3.  A section of the skeletal structure

        of the Tabernacle, over which the curtains were spread.  They were most 

        likely formed of two uprights of light wood, joined at the top middle, and 

        base by crossbars. (Exodus 26, 35-37, 39, 40; Numbers 3 & 4). 

                   4.  A horizontal brace of the stands for the ceremonial vessel used 

        for washing in the temple (I Kings 7).       5.  Window or door frames. 

        (I Kings 6 & 7).      6.  3 words having to do with the human form.  The 

        1st is used in Psalm 103.  The 2nd is used in Psalm 139.  The 3rd is used

        in Job 41. 7.  This word is used in Psalm 50, Jeremiah 18, Judge 12, and 

        Hosea 5. 

FRANKINCENSE (לבנה (leb o nah); libanoV (lib ah nos))  A fragrant gum 

        resin consisting of small, white chunks and beads which are easily ground 

        into a powder; this powder emits a balsam-like odor when burned.  Fran-

        kincense comes from the milky sap of low trees or shrubs with featherlike

        leaves.  They grow in eastern tropical Africa, in tropical Arabia, 7 in India. 

                   It was one of the major ingredients of the incense which was holy 

        unto the Lord; the use of this incense for purposes other than its priestly 

        use was forbidden.  Frankincense was set before the holy of holies with 

        the Bread of the Presence.  Frankincense and oil were added to the cereal 

        offerings.  The addition of frankincense to a sin offering or to a cereal of-

        fering of jealousy was forbidden. Stores of frankincense were kept in the 

        Jerusalem temple.  It was one of the gifts offered to the infant Jesus by the 

        Wise Men. 

FREEDMEN, SYNAGOGUE OF THE  (sunagwgh twn Libertinwn (sin ah 

        gog eh  tone  lib er tee none)  One of several synagogues at Jerusalem, 

        conducted for Jews who spoke Greek rather than Aramaic, mentioned in 

        Acts 6.  “Those from Cilicia and Asia” mentioned in the same chapter 

        might describe the freedmen themselves. 

                   Assuming the standard text's correctness, these freedmen were for-

        mer captives, who had been set free and had returned to Jerusalem.  The 

        Roman historian Tacitus indicates that freed Jewish captives were a spe-

        cial problem for the government.   Evidently the young church found it 

        necessary to debate its faith with these Greek-speaking people.  The apo-

        stle Stephen was one of seven men who had been ordained to minister 

        particularly to Greek-speaking converts. 

FREEDOM.  See Liberty. 

F-32

FREEWILL OFFERING. See Sacrifice and Offering

FRIEND, FRIENDSHIP.  (רעה (ray eh), neighbor; אהב (aw hab); etairoV 

        (et ah ee ros); filoV (fie los)) Usually the understanding binding one 

        man to another or one woman to another, as distinct from love and a 

        family.  Notable examples of friendship in the Bible are the love between

        David and Jonathan.  Though awkward, Job's friends were well-meaning

        and stayed with him in time of trouble. 

FRIEND OF THE KING  (מרעהו (may ray ah hoe), companion)  A high court 

        officer, intimate counselor and companion to the king, mentioned in 

        Genesis 26.               

FRINGE  (גדל (ged eel), “fringe” in King James Version, “tassel” in other trans-

        lations; raspedon (kra spe don), tassel)  A cord or thread which 

        ended in a kind of tassel, sewn on at the 4 corners of the outer garment, 

        most often a cloak.  It was the square outer garment which was also used 

        as a cover at night.  According to Numbers, the cord was to be blue. Later

        on white was permitted, probably because of the difficulty & costliness 

        of the dye required. The fringes couldn't be made from the overhanging 

        threads of the woven garment itself, but needed to be sewn on. 

                   Both Numbers & Deuteronomy indicate that the tassels were to be 

        attached to the outer garment, where they were quite conspicuous.  When 

        the Jews were forced out of their land 7 were dispersed in foreign lands, 

        such outward marks became especially noticeable & served to attract per-

        secutors.  Hence the custom of wearing the fringes or tassels on a square 

        woolen cloth carried under the outer garment.  

                   There were three tokens of remembrance prescribed for every Jew:

        the “fringes;” the small cylinder with parchment scroll attached to the 

        doorpost; and arm and head bands or phylacteries.  The purpose of the 

        fringe or tassel was “to look upon and remember all the commandments 

        of the Lord, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own 

        eyes, which you are inclined to go after wantonly.”

                   The term “fringes” occurs in the New Testament in connection with 

        the woman who had an issue of blood & who touched the fringe of Jesus” 

        garment.  Jesus also condemns the long fringes of the scribes and Phari-

        sees, made long for vanity's and pride's sake.  All the references are mani-

        festly to the four fringes worn on the garments of Jews for purposes noted 

        above. 

FROG  (צפרדע (tsef ar day ‘ah))  Any of the various tailless leaping amphibi-

        ans.  All the references to frog in the Old Testament and the Apocrypha are

        to the frogs of the second plague in the Exodus story. 

FRONTLETS  (טוטפת (tah feh tah foth))  Objects worn on the forehead be-

        tween the eyes, just below the hairline, at prayer times.  In later times, the 

        phylacteries, which consisted of small cubical cases into which were inser-

        ted parchments. The injunction to bind the words of God as a sign on the 

        hands and that they should be as frontlets between the eyes was probably 

        intended to be taken literally. 

FROST. See  Snow; Palestine, Climate of.

FRUIT (PRODUCTS)  (פרי (per ee); karpoV (kar pos))  The edible pulp 

        which surrounds the seed of many plants and trees, including nuts.  Peri 

        appears more than 100 times in the Old Testament & karpos more than 

        60 in the New Testament, but the majority of these are symbolic rather 

        than literal or specific.  The most basic fruits of the ancient economy 

        were the olive, the fig, & the grape.  Specific fruits mentioned include:

        raisin cake (אשישה (ash ee             cluster of raisin (צמוק (tsim 

                shaw))                                                  mook))

        first-ripe figs  (בכור (bek                     summer fruit (קיצ (kay eets))

                ore)) 

        cake of figs  (דבלה (deb hay             fruit of fig, good fruit (תנובה

                ah))                                                     (te noob lah))

        Fruit from a newly planted tree could not be eaten until the fifth year.  

        The fourth year's crop was dedicated to the Lord, and any fruit of the 

        first three years was considered forbidden. 

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FRUIT (SYMBOL)  (פרי (per ee); karpoV (kar pos))  Most frequently “fruit” is 

        the total result that issues from any specific action or disposition. The 

        fruit of righteousness is the benefit bestowed for right action, while the 

        fruit of wickedness is the judgment it incurs.  Often “fruit” denotes the 

        rewards meted out by God.  Children are sometimes referred to as the 

        “fruit of the womb.”

                   Paul describes his mission in terms of “fruits,” and reserves a spe-

        cial place for the “fruit of the Holy Spirit.”  Elsewhere in the New Testa-

        ment, seed, tree, and vine illustrate how God produces life among people.  

        In like fashion disciples are urged to “bear fruit.”

FRYING  PAN (מרחשת (mar kha sheth))  King James Version translation of 

        Hebrew word.  It is more accurately translated as a pan for deep-frying.

FUEL (אכלה לאש (‘ok law  la ‘aysh), food for fire)  In ancient Israel many 

        different substances were used for burning: wood; vine branches; thorn 

        bushes; withered grass; dung; charcoal; & chaff.  According to numerous 

        references, the thorn was a very common fuel.  This, as well as other 

        shrubs, gave off a very intense heat, especially when reduced to charcoal.

        Chaff & straw burned quickly, while dung burned slowly with low heat 

        and much smoke. 

FULFILL (כלה (kaw law), finish; מלא (maw law), fill one's hand; plhrow 

        (play roo oh); telew (tel eh oh), finish) In the Old Testament (OT) the 

        only important uses are idiomatic ones.  Malah is “to fill the hand,” mea-

        ning “to ordain to the priesthood,” as in filling the hand of the ordination 

        candidate with offerings as part of the ritual. It is also used in a literal 

        sense in II Kings 9, where Jehu “filled his hand with the bow.” 

                   In the New Testament (NT) there are entirely straightforward uses.

        In Luke 2, the child Jesus was filled with wisdom, while in Luke 3 a val-

        ley is filled in.  In John 12, a house is filled with fragrance, while in John

        16 grief fills a heart. Acts 5 speaks of the apostles filling Jerusalem with 

        their teaching, while in Acts 6 the Spirit of God fills a person.

                   Other well-known uses include:  Matthew 23, where the religious 

        authorities are ironically bidden to fill up the measure of their fathers (i.e. 

        to come up to their forefathers’ standard of wickedness; Numbers 32, 

        where Caleb and Joshua are said to have “filled after God,” (i.e.  followed 

        God completely); in Colossians 4, Archippus is told to “see that you fulfill

        the ministry” (i.e.  carry it through to completion); and the famous passage

        in Colossian 1, where Paul says “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your 

        sake, & in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for 

        the sake of his body, that is, the church.”  

                   The above  uses seem to have the connotation of “completing by 

        action.” It is clear that the message of the NT as a whole keeps inviolate 

        the completeness & efficacy of the cross of Christ, while at the same time 

        closely associating the apostles, and the whole church, with the implemen-

        ting and the entering into what God has thus done in Christ.  The verb form

        of the word is used to describe God as “filling heaven and earth.”           

                   Theologically, the most important use is probably in connection with 

        “fulfilling” prophecy or the law.  “Fulfill” can signify the observing or mee-

        ting of the law’s full requirements; it can also signify the bringing about of 

        something which has been predicted.  Clearly, Jesus marks the confluence 

        of these 2 senses as the one who perfectly fulfills God’s will, while confir-

        ming prophecy’s prediction.  One example of this is “All this took place to 

        fulfill what the Lord had  spoken by the prophet” in Matthew 1.  This verse 

        bears witness to the paradox that the Incarnation is the meeting place of 

        freewill & predestination.  Some passages balance both parts of this para-

        dox, while other passages emphasize one part of the paradox at the ex-

        pense of the other.

                   A verse in Matthew 5 may be an instance of balancing the paradox:  

        “Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I haven't 

        come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  Truly I say to you . . . not an iota,

        not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.”  It may repre-

        sent a view at the extreme “legalistic” end of the Jesus traditions.  On the 

        other hand, it may represent an “extreme” saying of the Lord, designed to 

        correct the impression that the way of life he taught and showed was easier

         than that of the rabbis. 

                   The phrase “until all is accomplished” may again be meant literally,

        or it may mean that Christ's new “law” fulfills the old law by for the first 

        time fully accepting and performing God's will, rather than by literally car-

        rying out its detailed observances.  Christ's obedience in humbly accepting

        baptism is a way of fulfilling all God's just requirements. 

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                   The above examples which emphasize predestination are balanced

        by a clear stress on the freedom of Christ's own will and the responsibility 

        of his hearers. Here is the new Moses, who, by “departing” from this life 

        voluntarily, in the pursuit of God's will, was to achieve the Exodus, the des-

        tined rescue of the people of God, of which the exodus of the old Moses 

        was a foreshadowing. The essence of prophecy is the interpretation of the 

        will of God. And when Jesus comes and perfectly, with his whole soul,         

        achieves that will, he necessarily acts in such a way as to fulfill the predic-

        tions on their deepest level. 

                    In the NT the fulfillment of time is achieved by God’s Incarnation in 

        Jesus, by which the Old Dispensation was fulfilled in the New. Within the 

        ministry itself, Jesus is shown in John’s Gospel as working to a divine plan, 

        and refusing to act until the right moment has come. Further, beyond the 

        ministry there is also seen a “divine timetable.” One very important phrase 

        in this connection is in Ephesian 1: “For he has made known to us in all 

        wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which 

        he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in 

        him, things in heaven and things on earth.” 

FULLER (כובס (kaw bas); gnafeuV (nah fay oos)) One who thickens and 

        shrinks newly shorn wool and newly woven cloth, after cleansing it of na-

        tural oils.  The cloth was cleaned by treading on it, or by beating it.  Blea-

        ching by the sun was the final stage; this took place on the fuller's field.

                  Soap wasn't used in Old Testament times (OT), but borith or ashes of

        borith were used as an alkaline cleanser, which caused an unpleasant odor

        & forced the placing of the fuller's plant outside the city gate.  In OT times 

        the concept of a fuller's cleansing is used metaphorically of persons 

        cleansed of evil.  In the New Testament the garments of the transfigured 

        Christ are whiter than any fuller could make them.

FULLER'S FIELD  (שדה כובס (saw deh   kaw bas))  In suburban Jerusalem, a 

        place accessible by means of a road which passed near the canal of the 

        Upper Pool.  It is mentioned in connection with the interview of Isaiah & 

        Ahaz. The Fuller's field has been tentatively identified with the area ad-

        joining Job's well, or with an area below the south wall & the City of David

        which is close to an ancient fuller's plant. 

FULLNESS OF TIME  (plhrwma twn kairwn (play roe ma  tone  kie rone), 

       plhroma tou cronou (play roe ma  too  cro noo))  A final fruition of 

        God's purposes for humans and history.             

FUNERAL.  This is not a biblical term.  For discussion of customs and beliefs 

        relating to last rites, see bier; burial; embalming; immortality; mourning; 

        resurrection; Dead, Abode of the; Tombs. 

FURLONG  (stadion (stay dee on))  The measure of distance used consi-

        stently in the King James version to translate stadion.  Elsewhere it is 

        translated in terms of miles.  A stadion is 215.5 yards (196 meters), a fur-

        long is 220 yards (an eighth of a mile or 200 meters). 

FURNACE  (כבשן (kib shawn), smelting furnace; כור (koor), smelting; אתון 

        ('at toon); kaminoV  (kam ee nos))  Furnaces in the biblical period 

        were made of brick or stone and varied considerably in size and plan, 

        from the small ones used in domestic industries to large commercial 

        smelters such as those of Solomon at Ezion-geber. 

                   The parts of a furnace are a fire box or chamber, flue, area or 

        chamber for the material to be fired and an opening to give access to 

        the interior.  Furnaces were used for: smelting or reducing ore, melting 

        ore for casting or heating it for forging, firing pottery and other ceramic 

        objects, firing bricks, and making lime.  “Furnace” and related figures, 

        along with various metals & combustible materials  and “fire,” are used 

        figuratively in a variety of contexts meaning generally “to prove, try, 

        test.” 

                The discovery of King Solomon's huge smelters at Tell el-Kheleifeh 

        (Ezion-geber) and smaller refineries to the north provide good patterns 

        for the type of industrial furnace in use in the Iron Age.  Three wishbone-

        shaped kilns were discovered at Megiddo.  The draft of these furnaces en-

        tered under the door, blew through both arms of the furnace, and escaped

        in a double flue at the rear. In size the Megiddo kilns are nearly 3 meters 

        by 2.4 meters.  It is entirely possible that furnaces like these where used 

        for both metal work and firing ceramics and brick.  Lime kilns were less 

        elaborate.

 F-35

FURNITURE (כלי (kel ee), utensil; כר (kar))  This term refers to the total of 

        the furnishings of the tabernacle.  The Revised Standard Version trans-

        lates the Hebrew word as “furnishings.”  The King James Version (KJV) 

        translates the term as “furniture” also when it refers to the table utensils 

        in the tabernacle. The KJV also translates kar as furniture, whereas the 

        KJV translates the same word as “saddle.”

FURROW  (מענה (mah ‘an aw); גדוד (ghe dood); תלם (teh lem))  The

        shallow ditch left by plowing.  The King James Version also translates 

        the Hebrew words aveh & arugah as “furrow.”  Aveh is better translated 

        as “iniquity,” and arugah is better translated as “branch” or “bed.”  The 

        Revised Standard Version has the better translation of both Hebrew words.