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NAAM (נעם, pleasantness)  One of Caleb's descendants, son of Jephunneh, 

        of the tribe of Judah (I Chr. 4).

NAAMAH  (נעמה, pleasant)  1.  Sister of Tubal-cain (Genesis 4).      2.  Am-

        monitess wife of Solomon; mother of Rehoboam (I Kings 14).      3.  A 

        village of Judah in the   Shephelah district of Lachish; the modern loca-

        tion is probably between Timnah   and Eltekeh.

NAAMAN  (נעמן, pleasantness) In the Ugaritic language it means “charm” and

        is used to describe heroes.

                   1.  An obscure Benjaminite, the ancestor and origin of the name for 

        the Naamite tribe (Genesis 46).

                   2.  Commander of the army of the king of Aram (probably Ben-ha-

        dad II of   Damascus), who was cured of leprosy by the prophet Elisha.  

        Naaman’s “leprosy”   could have been one of several types of disease and 

        must not have been highly   contagious, since neither he nor Gehazi, upon

        whom the blight fell later, were   isolated.  Naaman was reported leprous 

        without the disease being interpreted as a   punishment, but for Gehazi the 

        malady was punishment for his designing greed.     Although no moral re-

        sponsibility was laid upon Naaman as payment for his newfound health, he

        was led to confess his faith in and loyalty to the God of Israel.  He  swore 

        loyalty to God while giving lip service to his Syrian national god, according

        to court etiquette.

                   The characters’ motives are many and varied.  The general’s maid-

        servant took compassion upon him in his distress and seemed interested 

        only in his cure.     Elisha was concerned primarily to demonstrate his pro-

        phetic power.  Elisha’s servant Gehazi first showed greed, and then ac-

        knowledged the prophet’s great power.  Naaman seemed preoccupied sim-

        ply with grateful acknowledgement of  Yahweh’s sole godhead.  Naaman 

        swore that he would worship only the Lord, who alone is God.   He appa-

        rently believed that sacrifice to Yahweh could only be offered on Israelite

        soil, so he took 2 mules’ burden of earth back to Syria.  The kind of inter-

        national hospitality in medicine illustrated here was apparently common in 

        the ancient world.

                   Another common belief, that of a king’s divine power to heal, is re-

        flected in the Israelite king’s reply to Naaman’s request:   “Am I God, to 

        kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of 

        his leprosy?  The healing, or indeed, life-giving  power of Elisha was not 

        considered a mark of his divinity, but greater powers, of a superhuman 

        sort, were attributed to prophets in Israel than to kings.   Naaman’s cure 

        was alluded to by Jesus as an example of God’s gracious concern for the 

        non-Israelite. 

NAAMATHITE  (נעמתי)  A resident of Na’ameh in northwestern Arabia, speci-

        ically Job’s friend Zophar.

NAARAH  (נערה, girl, young woman)  1.  One of the two wives of Ashhur, a

        man of Judah (I Chronicles 4).

                   2.  A city on the eastern border of Ephraim, not far northeast of Je-

        richo, at the foot of the mountains.  It was the first city of Benjamin (Joshua

        16).  In Roman times it was called Noaran.

NAARAI (נערי, youth) Ezbai’s son and a member of the company of Davidic

        Mighty Men known as the “Thirty.” 

NABAL (נבל, foolish, wicked)  A wealthy Calebite.   His rude treatment of Da-

        vid’s demand for provisions led his wife Abigail to placate David with gene-

        rous supplies. Nabal lived in Maon.   David appears to have protected the 

        flocks of Nabal from the predatory raids of the Bedouins.  Nabal not only 

        refused “payment,”  but also grievously insulted David and his followers.  

        Abigail’s graciousness of manner and personal charm dissuaded David 

        from revenge.   When Nabal was informed of his wife’s action, he suffered 

        a stroke and died; David married Abigail.

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NABATEANS(Nabataioi) Arab people playing an important role in the history

        of Palestine and the neighboring countries in the 200 years before Christ 

        and the 100 years after.  They are not mentioned in the Old (OT) or New 

        Testament; Paul escaped arrest by the Nabatean King Aretas.  When Paul

        speaks of Arabian travels, he is referring to Nabatea rather than the Ara-

        bian  peninsula. Petra, 80 km south of the Dead Sea, is the Nabatean 

        capital. (See also entry in the OT Apocrypha/Influences Outside the Bible

        section of the Appendix.)

                   The 3 Nabatean kings during the NT are as follows:   Aretas IV (9 

        B.C. – 40 A.D.); Malichus II (40-70); Rabel II (70-106).  After Rabel II’s 

        death in 106 A.D.,  Trajan annexed all the Nabatean kingdom.  It is even 

        possible that Philip the Arab,  Roman emperor from 244 to 249, was a 

        Nabatean.  Their language must originally have been a form of Arabic, 

        but the inscriptions from the latter period of the kingdom are written in 

        Aramaic.   In fact, some of the inscriptions are partly in Aramaic and part-

        ly in Greek.  The alphabet that they used in their Aramaic inscriptions is a 

        distinctive one; it has letters similar to ancient Hebrew.  A number of Naba-

        tean papyri of the first century after Christ have been found in the Qumran 
        neighborhood.  They reveal an alphabet which is an intermediate stage be-

        tween Hebrew and Arabic.

                   The Nabateans’ religion, like that of the early Israelites, added to its 

        own deities those of the countries they conquered.  Their supreme god 

        was Dushara; others were Allat, Ara, and several others.   In time, they 

        worshiped Hadad, the storm-god; Atargatis, the fish-goddess; and Gad 

        the god of luck.  The kings beginning with Obodas I were regularly deified.

        In addition to being clever traders and skilled agriculturists, the Nabateans

        were fine artists in pottery and sculpture.  They also accomplished ama-

        zing engineering feats.

NABONIDUS (Nabu is awe-inspiring)  The last king of Babylon (555-539 B.C.); 

        very little more than basic facts is known of him.  We have three texts that 

        describe the background and activities of Nabonidus from widely differing 

        viewpoints: a basalt stela where he describes his rise to kingship; a me-

        morial and biographical inscription from his mother; and a damaged ta-

        blet that contains a political poem directed against Nabonidus.

                   When he was a military commander in his 60s, he was made king 

        of Babylon after only six years of being ruled by Nebuchadnezzar’s 3 suc-

        cessors.  Nabonidus was a native of Harran, where his father and mother 

        seem to have been high Assyrian officials.  Soon after his accession, he 

        left his capital for the West,   and was gone for most of the next 10 years.  

        He was on minor military operations in Syria, rebuilt the sanctuary of Sin 

        in Harran, and had a short stay in the Anti-Lebanon.

                   Nabonidus later conquered the Adummu and the city of Tema in 

        northwestern Arabia. He made Tema the center of his activities in Arabia 

        and stayed there for many years.  There is no proof for any of the reasons 

        given for his long stay in Tema;  most likely it had to do with overland 

        trade.  Nabonidus made his son Belshazzar ruler of Babylon and comman-

        der of the main part of the army when departing westward.

                   Very little is known about the situation in Babylon.  Some kind of un-

        derstanding seems to have existed between Nabonidus and Cyrus.  With

        the defeat of Croesus and the fall of Sardis (546), Cyrus became the most 

        powerful king of the ancient near East.  After the fall of Opis, Ugbaru, the 

        governor of Gutium, led the Persian army into Sippar and Babylon without

        a fight and Nabonidus fled. 

                   Nabonidus, whose religious sympathies seem clearly to have been 

        favorable to the cult of Sin is consistently represented by the Persians as 

        an impious innovator with sacrilegious intent, in spite of Assyrian reports to

        contrary.  It is quite possible that Nabonidus was steeped in the tradition of 

        the Assyrian concept of divine kingship, which caused friction in Babylonia, 

        where the king had no part in religious activities.  His revival of the office of 

        the high priestess of Sin probably reflects his attitude towards other cults.  

        It should be finally mentioned that his unprecedented absence from his ca-

        pital and other unconventional acts gave rise to the legend of a mad king 

        of Babylonia, which is reflected in Daniel 4.

NABOPOLASSAR (Nabu protect the son) Babylonian King (626-605 B.C.); 1^st 

        king of the Chaldean Dynasty;  Nebuchadrezzar II’s father.   All the years 

        4-9 of his reign are mentioned in the Neo-Babylonian chronicles.

                   He rebelled in the very year in which Sinsharishkun succeeded his 

        father.   He failed to take Nippur, but soon entered Babylon after its inhabi-

        tants had defeated an Assyrian army.   After Nabopolassar had become 

        king of Babylon, he began to take the large cities one by one:  Uruk in 623; 

        Nippur in 622.   An attack on Asshur in 615 failed.   In 614 Asshur fell to 

        the Medes, and he met their  king,  Cyaxares, and established an alliance.  

        It is possible that marriage between Nabopolassar’s son Nebuchadrezzar 

        and the daughter of the king of the Medes was to seal this alliance.

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                   Nabopolassar succeeded in forcing the remnant of the Assyrian
        army out of Harran, and kept them out.  In 606 Nabopolassar again took 

        up the Euphrates front, where the Egyptian hold on Carchemish posed a 

        threat.  Babylonia met with success  only when Nebuchadrezzar, the crown

        prince achieved the conquest of Carchemish.   In his inscriptions Nabopo-

        lassar represents himself as a pious man who rose from low status to king-

        ship, but he refers with pride to his victory over Assyria.

NABOTH (נבות, produce, fruit) Owner of a vineyard in Jezreel adjacent to the 

        country palace of King Ahab.   Naboth refused to sell to Ahab; Jezebel, 

        Ahab’s queen proceeded to secure the land for him by devious means.  Na-

        both was stoned to death on a false conviction of blasphemy.  The prophet 

        Elijah condemned Ahab for this crime.  Jehu interpreted his killing of Joram,

        son of Ahab, as the fulfillment of Elijah’s oracle.   Some interpreters have 

        held that Ahab had a collateral right of inheritance to Naboth’s vineyard.

NACON  (נכון, established)  The owner of a threshing floor near which Uzzah 

        was smitten of God, during the transfer of the ark of the covenant from 

        Baale-judah to Jerusalem.   

NADAB (נדב, liberal)   1. Eldest son of Aaron.  With Moses and Aaron, Abihu, 

        and 70 of the elders of Israel, Nadab took part in the ceremony of the rati-

        fication of the covenant at Mount Sinai.  After the ceremony he became a 

        priest.  Later tradition repudiated both Nadab and Abihu because they “of-

        fered” unholy fire before the Lord,” and were consumed by fire.  The na-

        ture of the actual offense, however, remains obscure.

                   2.  A Judahite of the family Hezron; descendant of Tamar (I Chroni-

        cle 2)

                   3.  A Benjaminite, Jeiel’s and Maacah’s son; Kish’s brother, King 

        Saul’s uncle (I Chronicles 8,9)

                   4.  King of Israel (northern kingdom; 901-900 B.C.); Jeroboam I’s 

        son and successor; murdered by Baasha.  The only noteworthy event re-

        corded for his reign was the Gibbethon siege, by the Israelites.  In the 

        course of the siege a revolt   broke out in the army, led by Baasha.  This 

        resulted in Nadab’s death and the extermination of Jeroboam’s house.  

        Nadab’s murder indicated how unstable   the northern kingdom was.

NAHALAL  (נחלל, pasture) A Levitical town in Zebulun, possibly north of the 

        Kishon River near the south end of the Plain of Acco, from which Zebulun

        was unable to expel the Canaanite inhabitants (Judges 1).

NAHALIEL  (נחליאל, river valley of God)  A stopping place of the Israelites in   

        Transjordan, just east of the Dead Sea between the Arnon and Mount 

        Nebo.

NAHAM (נחם, consolation)  The brother-in law of Hodiah of Judah (I Chroni- 

        cles 4).

NAHAMANI (נחמני, compassionate) Someone who returned from the Exile 

        with Zerubbabel (Nehemiah 7).

NAHARAI  (נחרי, snorer)  One of the company of the Mighty Men of David 

        known as the “Thirty”; the armor-bearer of Joab.

NAHASH (נחש, serpent)  1. Ruler of the semi-nomadic Ammonites.  His attack

        on Jabesh-gilead and subsequent defeat by the troops which Saul brought 

        to the aid of the besieged town was the occasion of Israel’s accepting Saul 

        as king (I Samuel 11).  He allowed the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead to con-

        tact Saul for the sake of honor, but miscalculated the size of the force Isra-

        el could send.  The fact that Saul was a mutual enemy may account for the 

        friendship between Nahash and David (II Samuel 10).  2 of Nahash’s sons 

        appear to have ruled the Ammonites after him; Shobi ruled as David’s 

        viceroy.

                   3.  In II Samuel 17, it is not clear whether Nahash is the ruler men-

        tioned above, which would make Abigail his daughter (David’s half-sister),

        or whether Nahash is the “sister of Zeruiah.”   If the former is true, this re-

        lationship between  Abigail and David might be another reason for Nahash

        and David’s friendship.

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NAHATH (נחת, rest, quiet)  1.  An Edomite clan chief, first son of Reuel (Gene-

        sis 36; I Chonicles 1).      2.  A Levite, grandson of Kohathite Elkanah 

        (I Chronicles 6), probably the same as Toah in the same chapter.

                3.  Overseer in the time of Hezekiah (II Chronicles 31).

NAHBI (נחבי, hidden)  A member of the tribe of Naphtali sent to spy out the 

        land of  Canaan; son of Vophsi.

NAHOR (נחור, snorer)    1.  Son of Serug, of the line of Shem; father of Terah, 

        and grandfather of Abraham.   After the birth of Terah in his 29^th year, 

        Nahor lived 119 years longer (Genesis 11).

                   2. Son of Terah, and brother of Abraham and Haran.   He married 

        Milcah daughter of Haran and sister of Iscah (Genesis 11).  The relations 

        of this Nahor serve to link the Hebrew patriarch with other peoples of the 

        ancient Near East.  The genealogy of  Shem, like that of Seth, comes to a 

        climax with three brothers.   The particular Semitic genealogy focuses at

        tention upon the family of Abraham as the principal group.  

                   The Nahorite genealogy would present Nahor as the progenitor of 

        twelve kindred tribes.  The sons of Nahor’s wife relate the Israelites to the 

        Aramean tribes who dwelt to the east and northeast of Palestine.  The sons

        of his concubine relate the Israelites to the Damascene and Kadesh region.

        In the covenant at Mizpah,   Jacob swore by the “Fear [kinsmen] of his 

        father, Isaac, while Laban, by the “God of Nahor.”

                    3.  A city mentioned in Genesis 24; it is close by Haran, probably 

        to the south or east of it. 

NAHSHON (נחשונ, enchanter) Leader of Judah; son of Amminadab; one of 12

        tribal chiefs who assisted Moses in taking a census.  His ancestry is traced

        to Perez, son of Judah and Tamar; his own descendants are Boaz, his 

        grandson, and King David. In Matthew 1 and Luke 3, he is included as an

        ancestor of Jesus.

NAHUM  (נחום, compassionate)   1. See Nahum, Book of.      2.  An ancestor 

        of Jesus (Luke 3).

NAHUM, BOOK OF.  The 7^th book of the 12 Prophets' collection.   Nothing is 

        known about the prophet except his name and place of birth in Elkosh, a

        town in southwest Judah.  Scholars differ on the date of the book.  It could

        be no earlier than 663 B.C., the fall of Egyptian Thebes.  The book “pre-

        dicts” Nineveh’s fall in Assyria in 612.   Some scholars date composition 

        right before this date, some date it immediately after. 

                   In 625 the Chaldean Nabopolassar founded the Neo-Babylonian 

        state.  He soon brought all Babylonia solidly under his control.  He inflic-

        ted a decisive defeat on the Assyrian army at Qablinu; the Medes attacked 

        the Assyrian from the east, taking and sacking the major Assyrian city of 

        Asshur.  The Medes and Chaldeans continued their attacks until mighty 

        Nineveh fell.

                   It is most likely that Nahum was a temple prophet. He identified a 

        historical enemy with the cosmic adversaries who had been conquered at 

        the beginning of the world.  The book has the character of a prophetic 

        curse pronounced against the enemy.  To curse such an enemy, the very 

        incarnation of Evil, is a way of professing loyalty to God.

                   Beginning with the 2nd verse of the book, there is an alphabetic 

        acrostic which describes a meeting with God.  Each of the separate lines 

        begins with a different letter from the first Hebrew letter to the 15th.  Most

        of the 1st chapter contains a message of promise for Judah.  2 verses near

        the end of this chapter begin a threat against Nineveh which continues in 

        most of chapter 2.     The word  of promise has to do with the destruction 

        of the oppressing power and the consequent  recovery of Israel.

                  Yahweh takes vengeance on his enemies; in whirlwind and storm he 

        comes, drying up sea and rivers.  Tree sprouts wither before him.  Streams 

        of lava from volcanic mountains pour down the mountainsides.  All nature 

        reacts in terrified awe to its Creator.  The prophet’s thought suddenly turns, 

        in vivid contrast, to this mighty Lord’s lessing; to them he is a “stronghold 

        in the day of trouble.”    Yahweh has used Assyria to discipline his people, 

        but now his disciplinary use of Assyria is a thing of the past.  He will break 

        the Assyrian yoke.  And Nahum summons Judah, rejoicing in glad release, 

        to observe her festivals and to fulfill her vows.

                   Nineveh was destroyed as the result of an exceptional rising of the 

        Tigris; the conquerors of Nineveh leap upon the fabulous spoil of that great

        city, which becomes a mass of corpses.   Nineveh’s fortress capitulates to 

        the rapacious Chaldeans and Medes, who devour it as first-ripe figs are de-

        voured by hungry men.  The destruction of Nineveh is the cause of univer-

        sal rejoicing.  The city falls because it deserves to all.  The liturgy ends in 

        the mood of irony.   Let Nineveh try to recover, but it can never recover.  Ni-

        neveh’s rulers have been asleep; severe are the consequences.   Every 

        neighboring nation which has felt Nineveh’s brutal heel glories in its fall. 

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                   Nahum’s poetic genius ranks with the highest in the Hebrew Bible.  

        He sketches scenes of warfare with a vivid sense of the picturesque or hor-

        rible detail.  Many commentators have noted that Nahum is different from 

        the other literary prophets, since he concerns himself not with national cor-

        ruption but with the defeat of a hated oppressor.   He is animated by an in-

        tense faith in Yahweh.  The prophet shows also the ultimate failure of injus-

        tice in a national policy.

NAIL (צפרן (tsee for en); מסמר (ma seh mare); hloV (eh los); proshlow

        pro seh low))   Tsephoren is the covering of a finger or toe.  A captive wo-

        man, brought to the home of a Hebrew, had to shave her head, pare her 

        nails, and go through a month’s mourning before she could be accepted as

        his wife.  

                   The Hebrew word masemar and the Greek elos are the biblical 

        words for carpenter’s nails.  I Chronicles 22 tells how David stored quan-

        tities of iron for nails for the temple gates; gold nails were used in the in-

        ner sanctuary.  Nails have been found in excavation at most biblical sites, 

        though not in great numbers.  The earliest nails are of bronze.  Some are 

        long—17-22 cm—and some are short—2.5 to 4 cm.   Most are squared 

        shanks rather than round.   John 20 uses the Greek elos to refer to the 

        prints of the nails used to fasten Jesus to the cross.   They were long 

        spikes 13 to 17 cm long.  Translation of the Greek verb proselo in Colos-

        sians 2 states that God canceled the bond which stood against us, nailing 

        it to the cross.

NAIN (Nain) A town of southwestern Galilee mentioned in the Bible only in con-

        nection with the raising of a widow’s son.  The Jewish historian Josephus

        mentions a “Nain,” but it is in southern Palestine.  Most likely the name 

        survives in the name of the modern Arab village of Nein, on the lower 

        slope of the northwest side of Nebi Dahi, a hill between Gilboa and Tabor, 

        about 8 km southeast of Nazareth.

                   The town of Nein has a fine view of the Plain of Esdraelon; there 

        is a spring which supplies water to attractive groves of olive and figs.  

        The village of Nein now consists of a few houses and about 200 inhabi-

        tants, but there are ruins which indicate that it was once a town of some 

        importance.  It was near the village of Nain that Jesus and disciples met 

        the funeral procession of the only son of a widow.  The setting of the mira-

        cle of the raising of the son was near the gate of the village.

NAIOTH (נוית, dwellings) A name designating the common dwelling place of a

        prophetic fraternity in Ramah under the leadership of Samuel.  David fled

        here for refuge; Saul and his messengers sought him, but were seized 

        with prophetic frenzy.   Though it is possible that it may be translated 

        “dwelling,” the derivation of such a meaning is quite precarious.  Saul had 

        previously been the guest of  Samuel in a high place and hall, which sug-

        gests the possibility of a settlement of  prophets.  Some early translations 

        interpret “Naioth” as “house of instruction,”  suggesting the possibility of a 

        prophetic school.

NAME (שם (sheme), זכר (tsee ker), memorial; onoma (oh no ma))  In biblical

        thought a name is not a mere label of identification; it is an expression of 

        the essential nature of its bearer, and a revelation of his character.  As ap-

        plied to God, it means that to know the name of God is to know God.  The

        full disclosure of God’s nature  and character is given in Jesus Christ.  The 

        words “name,” “fame,” “memorial,”   etc. occur over 800 times in the En-

        glish versions of the Old Testament (OT) and  some 180 times in the New 

        Testament (NT).

                   Name in the OT—The uses of the word “name” in the OT are rela-

        ted to the conception of name as revealing its bearer’s essential being.  In 

        Hebrew, name is inseparable from existence.  Nothing exists unless it has 

        a name.  Personal existence continues posthumously in the name which is 

        perpetuated by one’s descendants.  God’s pledge that the name of God’s 

        people shall remain is a pledge of their continuing existence.  The name in

        the OT is the essence of personality, the expression of innermost being.  A 

        name has an inherent power which has an effect upon its bearer.  Hence a 

        change of name accompanies a change in character.   Changing Jacob’s 

        name to Israel indicates a change in the personality of the man himself.

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                   To speak or act in someone’s name is to act with his authority.  “To 

        be called by a person’s name,” implies being owned by that person.  What-

        ever or whoever is so called comes under the authority & the protection of 

        the one whose name it is called by.  That which is called by Yahweh’s name

        is Yahweh’s possession and therefore comes under both his authority and 

        his protection.   When a person gains a reputation, it is as though his name

        is being acted out, so name becomes synonymous with “fame.”   In Pro-

        verbs 22 and Ecclesiastes 7, “name” means a good reputation, which is of 

        supreme worth.

                   The name of God means primarily his revealed nature and charac-

        ter.   For the Hebrew, God is both transcendent and immanent.   The re-

        moteness of God is bridged in OT thought by various related conceptions 

        of the manifestation of God—God’s angel, face, glory, or “name.”  The 

        name of God is frequently used as a synonym for God.   To know the 

        name of God is to know God as one revealed. 

                   On two occasions in the OT the divine name is withheld.  Both the 

        mysterious being who wrestles with Jacob and the “angel” who appears to 

        Manoah and his wife (Judges 13) withhold their names.  They did this to 

        avoid surrendering something in which the power of personality resides. 

        Common to both stories is the theme of perseverance.  Through his conti-

        nuing inward struggle, Jacob receives the divine blessing, becomes a new 

        man, and is given a new name.   Manoah and his wife must persevere in 

        the attempt to know the divine will for their son.  In both cases the name 

        is withheld until the recipient has shown that he is fit to receive it.  Only in

        retrospect does the hidden God become the revealed God. 

                   God’s name is great. When God acts for the sake of God’s name,  

        God is acting in accordance with God’s revealed character and to uphold 

        the honor of God’s revelation as it was revealed to Israel.   When the  peo-

        ple to whom this revelation has been given behave contrary to the re-

        vealed character of God, God’s name is profaned.  To call upon the 

        name of God is to invoke God on the basis of God’s revealed nature and 

        character.

                   In the early OT literature, “the name” is applied to temporary mani-

        festations of Yahweh.  The name of God “in the angel” of the wilderness 

        signifies that during this period the angel acts as God’s representative.  In 

        Canaan, altars are to be built and sacrifice offered wherever God causes 

        his name to be remembered, as special indication of divine presence.  

                   Deuteronomy, on the other hand, imagines a permanent manifes-

        tation of the divine presence at Jerusalem.  Yahweh’s own dwelling place 

        is still in the heavens; but Yahweh’s presence is manifested on the earth 

        through Yahweh’s name.  The gap between the transcendence of God and 

        God’s abiding presence is resolved by giving Yahweh’s name almost a life

        of its own.  This theological development of God’s name is to some extent 

        paralleled by the personification of God’s wisdom.

                   Hebrew Proper Names—They may be classified as simple or com-

        pound (one element or more than one element).  They may be classified on

        the basis of origin. The name of a place may reflect physical features, or it 

        may be an animal name.  A person’s name may derive from circumstances 

        attending his birth, or some physical characteristic, some aspiration of his 

        parents, or an animal or plant’s name.

                   Place names are more obscure than are the names of persons, and 

        more ancient.  Many place names in Palestine are older than the Israelite 

        conquest of the land.  Evidence of existence of over 30 OT place names

        before Israel’s conquest (1501-1225 B.C.) is afforded by the lists of Thut-

        mose III, Seti I, and Ramses II (e.g. Gath, Gaza, Joppa, and Migdal).  A 

        further 10 names (e.g. Aijalon, Jerusalem, Lachish, and Megiddo, occur in 

        the Tell el-Amarna Tablets (1300s B.C.). 

                   Outstanding characteristics of the locality account for many place 

        names.   A number of compound names express religious beliefs and cus-

        toms.  Sin and Sinai bear the name of the Babylonian moon-god.  Names 

        which are compounded with Baal are, strictly speaking, titles of deities.  

        Some 33 Palestinian towns, almost all of them in the south, have animal 

        names.  The names of trees and plants occur frequently as place names.

                   In early OT times a child was usually named by the mother.  The

        name, however, could be altered by the father.  It seems that the name was

        given at birth or shortly after.  There is a marked difference in the way per-

        sonal names were regarded before and after the Exile.  In the early period 

        a child was given a particular name because of its intrinsic significance.  

        After the Exile it became customary to name a child after some relative, 

        especially the grandfather.

                   In the early period the name was vitally related to the personality 

        of the child.  It frequently signified some circumstance attending his birth. 

        Sometimes the name indicated some personal characteristic of the child.  

        Personal names frequently express the parents’ gratitude to God for a 

        child, or their aspirations concerning him.  The children of a prophet are 

        sometimes given symbolic names which epitomize his oracles.   

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                   Altogether 100 animal names are used as proper names in the OT. 

        Most of these occur as the names of places, clans, or foreign individuals.  

        Only 22  are the names of Hebrew individuals.  The best known ones are: 

        Caleb (dog); Deborah (bee); Jonah (dove); Rachel (ewe); and Zimri (moun-

        tain sheep).  The  derivation of these personal names is not necessarily to-

        temistic.  People living in the open air would quite naturally name their 

        children after beasts or birds.  Personal names which are the names of 

        trees are less frequent. 

                  There was an increasing tendency in the 600s B.C., to use com-

        pound names.  Some, which indicate kin-ship, are compounds with Ab( i ) 

        (father), Ah( i ) (brother), and Am (mi) (kinsman).   Less frequent are 

        names indicating dominion which contain the words Melech (king), Ado-

        ni (lord), and Baal (master).  These forms would seem to have come

        into use after  the settlement in Canaan, and they ceased to be used after 

        the Exile. 

                   The most numerous compounds are those containing the divine 

        names El and Yah.   Out of some 135 names using “El” in the OT, 22 are 

        the names of places or foreigners, and the remaining 113 are personal He-

        brew names.   Names compounded with Yah number over 150 and are al-

        most entirely person or family names. 

                    In the earliest period they are infrequent.   But they increase rapidly 

        from the time of David onward.   In the early period they stand at the begin-

        ning of names, but they come to stand increasingly at the end, moving the 

        emphasis from God to the quality or activity ascribed to God.  A variety of 

        names for God are found in the OT (See God, Names of).   In the literature 

        of the Apocrypha the term “name” has the same meaning and uses as in 

        the OT.  The name of God is frequently a synonym for God.

                   Names in the New Testament (NT)—Apart  from having at times a 

        more general sense, "name" is used in the NT in ways which are both pa-

        rallel and complementary to its OT usage.  In the NT the term "name" is 

        frequently used in the ordinary sense.  The names of Christian are in the 

        Book of Life.   In the Revelation the heavenly Jerusalem has inscribed on 

        its gate the names of the twelve tribes.  The term is used extensively in the 

        same way to introduce personal proper names.    

                   The characteristic NT usage of “name,” however, links it very close-

        ly with personality, as in the OT.  Joseph is charged by the angel to call the 

        son Joshua—Jesus in Greek—or Deliverer.  As in the OT, a change in cha-

        racter or status is accompanied by a change of name.  Simon is renamed 

        Peter, “rock man.”  James and John, because of their fiery disposition are 

        surnamed Boanerges, “sons of thunder.  When Saul of Tarsus enters upon 

        a missionary vocation to the Gentile world, his name is appropriately 

        changed from the Hebrew form, Saul, to the Roman, Paul.  Another exam-

        ple of linking name with personality may be seen in the Sanhedrin’s ques-

        tion to Peter:  “By what power or by what name did you do this?”  

                   The use of “name” as indicating “renown” or “fame” is rare in the 

        NT.   The disciples are warned that because of their association with Je-

        sus, they will lose their reputation.  The name of God is mentioned some 

        40 times in the NT, 15 places in a quotation from the OT and at other times

        in phrases reminiscent of the OT.  In all cases it is used in the OT sense of 

        the  revealed nature of the Savior God.

                   As in the OT, God’s name is frequently used as a synonym for God.  

        Prophets spoke in the Lord’s name with divine authority. God has visited 

        the Gentiles to take from them a people for God’s name.  Christ’s claim to 

        have come in his Father’s name means as the Father’s representative.  

        The distinctive feature of NT usage is the way in which Jesus’ name is sub-

        stituted for, or placed alongside, God’s name.  Prophesying in God’s name 

        becomes prophesying in Jesus’ name.   Believing in Jesus’ name corre-

        sponds to trusting in God’s name. 

                   The expression “to believe in the name of Jesus” is restricted to the 

        John’s writings.  In the foreground of the 4^th Gospel there is the idea of a 

        mystical  faith union between the believer and Christ.  Belief in his name 

        is linked with the discernment of the significance of his miracles as “signs”

        of the Messiah.   Baptism in the name is mentioned 5 times in the NT.  

        Greek propositions gives shades of meaning which are absent from the 

        English versions.  The proposition en conveys the idea of acting on the au-

        thority of another.  The preposition epi gives the sense of being devoted to 

        Christ’s  person.  Eis is equivalent to the Hebrew “l” in the sense “with re-

        gard to.”   Christians at Samaria and Ephesus receive baptism as the out-

        ward symbol of union with Christ. 

                  There's no reason to believe that in NT times the name of Jesus was

        used in any magical way.  The same 3 prepositions, in addition to the sim-

        ple dative case are used in the phrase “acting in the name,” all 3 indicating 

        authority.

                   In the “John” sayings, en is associated with the mystical faith-union

        concept.   Prayer in his name is prayer that is prompted by the mind of 

        Christ.   The preposition epi has the sense of relying upon.  Preaching, tea-

        ching, and healing are all carried out in reliance upon Christ’s messianic 

        authority, to which appeal is made.  The preposition eis  is used in Matthew

        18 (“to be gathered together in Christ’s name) to mean that Christians are 

        assembled with minds directed toward him; Christ is present with his peo-

        ple.  Finally, the references to Christ’s followers’ being hated or persecuted 

        for his name’s sake means Christ.  To suffer for the name means to suffer 

        as a Christian.

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NANNAR.  A title of the Sumerian moon-god Sin, under which he was wor-

        shiped at Ur.  

NAOMI (נעמי, my pleasantness)  One of the leading characters in the book 

        of Ruth.   Elimelech of Bethlehem and his wife Naomi sought refuge in    

        Moab, where the sons married; Elimelech and both sons later died.   Nao-

        mi urged her two daughters-in-law to go back to their own families.   Or-

        pah eventually yielded.   The other, Ruth, declared her devotion to her 

        mother-in-law. 

                   Ruth happened to come to the field of Boaz.  Naomi later sent her 

        daughter-in-law to find Boaz, and ask his protection as next-of-kin. Boaz 

        accepted the request, redeemed the property of Elimelech, and married 

        Ruth.  Their child was hailed as a “son born to Naomi.”   The line of Eli-

        melech was thus preserved.

NAPHATH-DOR (נפת דור, upper dwelling place) A city or region identical with

        or adjacent to Dor (Joshua 12).

NAPHISH (נפיש, recreated)  The 11^th of Ishmael’s 12 sons.  The Naphishites 

        were subdued by the Israelites living east of the Jordan I Genesis 25; 

        I Chronicles 1).

NAPHTALI  (נפתלי, my wrestling)  The 6th son of Jacob, 2nd son of Bilhah, 

        Rachel’s maid, the founding ancestor and origin of the name for the tribe 

        of Naphtali.  Naphtali is usually mentioned along with Dan.

                   The special relationship of the tribe to Dan is because of their geo-

        graphical proximity in Galilee.   Naphtali’s territory was a broad strip pa-

        rallel to the Jordan from Lake Huleh to the southern end of the Lake of 

        Gennesaret (Sea of Galilee).  They are separated from the Rachel group 

        by Issachar and Zebulun.  Naphtali either migrated there northward from 

        their initial settlement in central Palestine, or had already separated from 

        the Rachel group right after the Jordan crossing.   They came into the 

        upper valley of the Jordan and up the eastern slope of the Galilean Moun-

        tains, into the territory of the city of Hazor.  

                   The king of Hazor occupied a leading position among the Canaa-

        nites.   Naphtali had to make so many concessions to the Canaanites that 

        the tribe was hence forth valued only as half-caste.   The tribe's name pro-

        bably is not of Semitic origin.  Naphtalites “dwelt among the Canaanites, 

        the inhabitants of the lands.”   

                   In the Blessing of Jacob, Naphtali as the last of the Galilean tribes

        get  a somewhat gloomy comment when it is compared to an unleashed

        hind.   The Naphtali saying in the Blessing of Moses is essentially religi-

        ous in content, but it speaks of possession of the sea (of Galilee).   The 

        Song of Deborah lauds Naphtali because of its death-defying action for 

        Israel's freedom.   The leader of the levy came from Naphtali.  Under Gi-

        deon, Naphtali proved its loyalty in the expulsion of the Midianites.

                   In the period of the kings, Naphtali constituted a separate region in 

        Solomon’s arrangement of districts.   Solomon’s brass-founder, Hiram, 

        was Naphtalite.  Under Baasha of Israel (Northern Kingdom), Naphtali 

        suffered under invasion by the Arameans. Naphtali is found in a comment

        from the annals which described the route of Tiglath-pileser III.  The later 

        literature mentions Naphtali almost exclusively in statistical contexts.  In 

        the Deuteronomic historical work, 

                  Naphtali appears in the lists of Levite cities and the cities of refuge.

        In Ezekiel 48, Naphtali receives the third strip in the north, next to Dan 

        and Asher.  Later in the same chapter, the last gate on the west side of 

        Ezekiel’s Holy City is given the name of Naphtali.  In the New Testament, 

        Naphtali appears in the fifth position in the list of the sealed (Revelation 7).

NAPHTUHIM (נפתחים) An unidentified ethnic group in Genesis 10.  The iden-

        ification of   the Lehabim and the Pathrusim has led scholars to believe that

        the term   “Naphtuhim” refers to people in the Egyptian Delta.

NAPKIN  (soudarion (soo da ree on), handkerchief)  A small cloth.  In Luke 19

        it refers to the small cloth in which the one-talented man concealed his 

        pound for safekeeping against the day of reckoning.  In John 11 it  is the 

        cloth wrapped   around the face of the dead.  Acts 19 refers to the small 

        sweat-cloth handkerchiefs   which had come into contact with Paul and 

        were thought to possess healing power.

NARCISSUS (NarkissoV)  The head of a household, some of whom were 

        Christians.

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NARD (נרד, spikenard; nardoV)  A costly fragrant ointment prepared from the

        roots and hairy stems of an aromatic Indian herb.  In the Old Testament it 

        appears in Song of   Solomon 1 as a perfume giving fragrance to the king’s

        couch.  In Mark 14 and   John 12 it designates the costly ointment which 

        the woman used to anoint Jesus   when he visited Bethany.   

NATHAN (נתן, gift, giver)    1.  The third son of David and Bathsua, born in 

        Jerusalem and the elder brother of Solomon.  Jesus’ genealogy is traced 

        through this son of   David in Luke 3.

                   2.   A prophet contemporary with David, appear twice in II Samuel 

        (chapters 7 and 12) and once in I Kings (chapter 1).  Apparently Nathan 

        was a court prophet who had an intensive interest in the Davidic dynasty.  

        The first time, he was consulted by David concerning the king’s plans to 

        erect a temple.  At  first Nathan approved, but later he revealed the divine

        word which prohibited the building of a sanctuary, but promised the esta-

        blishment of the Davidic dynasty forever.  When David committed adul-

        tery with Bathsheba, Nathan presented a fictive legal case to David in 

        which a rich man took away the only lamb of a poor man.  When the en-

        raged David announced that the rich man deserved to die,   Nathan coura-

        geously confronted the royal murderer with his own crime. 

                   In Solomon’s succession to the throne of David, Nathan played an 

        important role.  He sent Bathsheba to the senile David to ask him to ful-

        fill his promise to make Solomon his successor.  David ordered Nathan 

        and Zadok the priest to anoint Solomon to be king over Israel.  The Chro-

        nicler maintains that Nathan wrote chronicles on the acts of David.

                   3. A man of Zobah; father of Igal, who was one of the 30 Mighty 

        Men of David (II Samuel 23).

                   4. Father of two sons: Azariah, a chief officer of Solomon; and Za-

        bud, a priest and the king’s friend.

                   5. A descendant of the patriarch Judah, from the clan of Jerahmeel, 

        Attai’s son (I Chronicles 2).

                   6. One of the leading men in the group of returnees, who was sent 

        by Ezra to Iddo in Casiphia to ask for servants for the house of God 

        (Ezra 8).

NATHANAEL (נתנאל, God has given)  A guileless Israelite whom Jesus 

        called to become a disciple and witness of his future glory.  Nathanael, 

        from Cana in Galilee, was brought to Jesus by Philip.   Nathanael’s initial

        skepticism was overcome by Jesus’ knowledge of “what was in man.”  By

        describing Nathanael as a true, guileless Israelite, Jesus meant, not that 

        he was sinless, but that he was utterly sincere, enlightened, and complete-

        ly dedicated to God.  Jesus’ response to Nathanael’s confession of faith 

        contains an allusion to Jacob’s experience at Bethel.   Nathanael serves in

        the Gospel of John as a symbol of the pious, God- fearing Israelite who 

        stands incomplete, and who must pass beyond his intellectual difficulties 

        concerning Jesus.

                   See also the entry in the Old Testament Apocrypha/Influences Out-

        side the Bible section of the Appendix.

NATHAN-MELECH (נתן־מלך, the King (or the God Melech) has given) A eu-

        nuch or chamberlain under King Josiah near whose quarters the sacrificial

        horses for sunworship were kept.   It is remotely possible that the name 

        means “Gift of Melech.”

NATIONALITY.  The concept of nationality in the ancient Near East, is the state

        or quality of a people living in a given territory, bound together by common

        language, traditions, history, customs, government, and sometimes religion.

        In the Bible, especially concerning Israel, the term usually has a religious 

        connotation.   Nationality became symbolized by monarchy, and with the 

        mingling of peoples, there came at times some sense of inter-depen-

        dence.  The word “nationality” does not appear in the English versions of 

        the Bible.

                   We cannot speak of actual Egyptian nationality until the beginning 

        of the   dynastic period (3000 B.C.).   The Egyptians drew a distinction be-

        tween themselves as “men” and other peoples as “humans.”  To the Egyp-

        tians it meant that other peoples were in some manner inferior beings.  

        When an alien, however,  came to live permanently in Egypt, he might ulti-

        mately be accepted as a member of the nation.

                   In the earliest historical periods Mesopotamia was made up of city-

        states. Strong kings arose whose subjects gave these rulers their complete

        loyalty, but it was impermanent at best. The real beginnings of nationality 

        belong to the Akkadians in the 2300s B.C., and the Babylonians in the 

        1700s B.C. Thus a pattern was set for the two dominant nations, Assyria  

        and Babylonia. They could live in peaceful co-existence, but frequently 

        tensions between them led to open warfare. 

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                   Most of the books of the Old Testament (OT) have a strong interest 

        in  nationality, not in the political sense so much as in the social and religi-

        ous sense.  In the Table of Nations (Genesis 10), the Priestly Writer shows

        all the nations of the world descending from Noah’s 3 sons.   With his 

        “Tower of Babel” story, the Yahwistic Writer divides humankind by lan-

        guage as a result of human arrogance.

                   The first point at which Israel is named is Genesis 32, but we can't 

        truly speak of nationality as concerns ancient Israel until the establishment

        of a loose tribal confederacy centering on a particular shrine.  The Israelite

        nation came to regard itself as the chosen people of Yahweh.   The Yahwi-

        stic writer had traced the idea of election as far back as Abraham.   The co-

        venant at Sinai was usually looked upon as the seal of the divine choice.  

        The covenant was conditioned upon the nation’s remaining faithful to her 

        God.

                   In view of the Israelite belief in the covenant’s “everlasting” nature 

        it was inconceivable that her nationality should ever perish.  This hope of 

        survival of  nationality took several forms at various times in Israel’s his-

        tory.  Some passages, written before or during calamity, cling to the hope 

        that a faithful, repentant  Remnant will survive; others expect a messianic 

        king who will be ruler of the  restored nation.

                  The most magnanimous hope for the enduring survival of Israel was

        that of the second part of Isaiah (40-55), where there was a reconstitution 

        of the nation in the homeland.  Israel is to bear responsibility for other peo-

        ples, far beyond her care for her own nationality.   The actual history of suc-

        ceeding periods didn't bear out this burgeoning hope, but she did maintain 

        her status as a religious community, a holy nation, or people.   In Nehemi-

        ah's and Ezra's time, this meant a type of theocracy, a government cen-

        tered on God.   Following the Greek period came a century of religious, 

        then political, freedom under the Hasmonean kings.

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

        Bible section of the Appendix.

                   The New Testament (NT) contains emphases on nationality both si-

        milar to and differing from the OT.   Jewish nationality in the religious 

        sense remained strong among both those who followed and those who op-

        posed Jesus.   There was opposition because of Jesus’ thrusting aside 

        many of the religious requirements of  the national life, or because in pro-

        claiming himself “King of the Jews” he was subverting Roman power.  

        And when the Christian movement reached out toward non-Jews, it con-

        flicted with imperial Roman claims of political (and religious) nationality.  

        But NT contains no plans for a Christian state.

                  Jesus himself was a Jew by nationality and never forswore it.  What

        little Jesus may have said that had any bearing upon nationality would 

        have had to do with the Roman state; he was concerned with spirituality, 

        not nationality. Evidences of the non-political character of his ministry 

        are many.   Yet, paradoxically, he was condemned to death as a revolutio-

        nist.   It appears that Jesus accepted the state as a present fact, entitled to 

        receive taxes necessary to its existence, but the state wasn't the final form

        of society in the new age. Jesus appears definitely to have rejected the me-

        thod of the Zealot to use force or the sword against the Roman state.

                   Paul enjoyed dual nationality, one political and one racial and spiri-

        tual, both of which he esteemed. Paul’s pronouncement in Romans 13 is 

        often interpreted as calling for unconditional obedience to the state as a 

        divinely ordained institution.   If it is read in context, it may be seen that 

        Paul’s position is similar to Jesus’:  The state is a necessary but imperma-

        nent institution. His Roman nationality did not prevent him from critici-

        zing Roman courts of law. Paul’s view is that his gospel and the Christian 

        movement transcend nationality.

                   In Revelation 13 the Roman Empire is called a “beast.”  This book 

        was written in a time of persecution and used imagery common to apoca-

        lypses written in similar situations (e.g. Daniel 7).   The book doesn't sum-

        mon its Christian readers to revolt.   Instead it advocates passive resis-

        tance, endurance, and faithfulness; the Roman state’s destruction rests 

        with God.   At the same time the author sees a “new Jerusalem.”   It is 

        uncertain whether these passages about the end of this age foresee the 

        destruction or the survival of nationality.  

                  4 other passages in the NT deal with Christian attitudes towards the 

        Roman state.  I Peter 2 and Titus 3 offer counsel to Christian readers simi-

        lar to Paul’s.  I Peter 3 calls for Christians to manifest confidence, endu-

        rance, and faith.   Finally, I Timothy 2 advises Christians to pray “for all 

        people, for kings, and all in high positions,” and states that God “desires 

        all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”   Nationality 

        was thus transcended at certain points in both the OT and the NT.

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NATIONS (עם (‘am); לאמים (leh oh meem); laoV (lah os); eqnoV (eth nos), 

        the 2 Hebrew and 2 Greek words are used in both singular and plural    

        forms; all of them mean people or peoples; גוןם (goy eem), foreign peo-

        ple).   In the biblical drama there are 3 main characters or groups:  God, 

        the nations, and Israel.  In the table of nations in Genesis 10 there are 

        over 70 ethnic groups mentioned.   It includes all humankind as known by

        the author.   This interest in nations accurately reflects the biblical preoc-

        cupation with history as revelation’s vehicle. 

                   List of Topics—1.  The Nations in “Patriarchal”

        Theology;      2,  Israel as Kingship and priesthood;   

        3.  The Nations in the “Exodus” Theology;      4.  The Nations

        in “Exile” Theology;      5.  Nations in Post- Exilic Theology;  

        6.  Gathering the Nations in the New Testament (NT);      7.  NT

        Nations;      8.  Nations in The Revelation

                   1.  The Nations in “Patriarchal” Theology—In biblical history, af-

        ter the first period of prehistory ending with  the Flood, humankind makes 

        a new start with Noah and differentiates into  families, languages, lands, 

        and nations; the Bible takes the special details of each group very serious-

        ly.   Israel understood her origin to lie among the nations, through the cal-

        ling of and covenant with Yahweh.  The multitude that went up from Egypt

        had its origins from:   Arameans, Hittites, Egyptians, Kenites, Gibeonites, 

        and others.   This testifies to early Israel's heterogeneous nature.   Jesus’ 

        ancestry with all the nations is asserted in Luke 3, and the new people of 

        God is formed from all nations. 

                   The Yahwist historian has so arranged his material that the scatte-

        ring and mutual alienation of the nations is immediately followed by Yah-

        weh’s call of Abraham.  One new nation is to be the means of spreading 

        Yahweh’s blessing to all nations.   In this motif, the nations won't merge 

        their identity in a common humanity, but each will receive the particular 

        blessing fitted to its character.  It's this kind of blessing which is to spread

        to all the nations, and which implies universal peace and the establish-

        ment of a covenant relationship between Yahweh and the nations.

                   The covenant word to Moses fits well into this motif.  Yahweh 

        makes a nation out of all the peoples to be a kingdom of priests for the 

        whole earth.   The blessing received by God’s nation would spread 

        through her king to the nations of the earth. The internationalism of Solo-

        mon’s reign is seen in Solomon's prayer  that Yahweh will answer the peti-

        tions of the foreigner.   The collapse of the royal theology is seen in the 

        motif's use by Jeremiah, just before the monarchy's end.  

                   While the Yahwist tradition shows the spread of Yahweh's blessing 

        to the nations, the Priestly tradition anticipates a reverse moment, namely 

        the gathering of the nations and peoples in Canaan as sons of Abraham 

        and worshipers of El Shaddai.  In Psalm 68, the tribes of Israel's proces-

        sion to the temple is joined by kings and people from Egypt and Ethiopia 

        and the kingdoms of the earth.   In other Psalms, Israel called on “kings 

        of the earth” to praise Yahweh’s name (Ps. 113,117, and 148).

                   Although it doesn't occur elsewhere in the Priestly tradition, the mo-

        tif becomes most prominent in the exilic & postexilic prophecies about the 

        end of this age.  When the peoples at the ends of the earth are waiting for 

        Yahweh’s rule, then their survivors join in a pilgrimage to Israel to converge

        on Jerusalem.   The alienation of Babel is removed when Yahweh gives 

        them a pure speech so that they may call on his name.  They come, join 

        themselves to Yahweh and  become his people.

                   The object of the pilgrimage is the world sanctuary at Zion, which  

        shall become a house of prayer for all nations.  The pilgrimage at the end 

        of this age will be climaxed by a great “festal banquet on Mount Zion.”  

        The Jewish mission to the nations in later postexilic times belongs to this 

        motif.  It was closely linked with Jewish nationalism and legalism.   This

        was behind Jesus’ severe condemnation of the proselyte movement.        

                    2,  Israel as Kingship and priesthood;  —Isaac blesses Jacob

        with the words,  “Let people serve you, and nations bow down to you.”  

        According to Exodus 19, Israel is chosen for a vocation of kingship as well

        as priesthood.  As might be expected, this motif is prominent in the royal 

        theology.  Israelite kings had to save their people from the enemies round 

        about her, to claim rule of the earth as did Mesopotamia or Egypt.   

                   With the Israelites as with other peoples, the King was adopted as 

        “Son of God.”   As God's regent of the whole earth, and Israel's champion, 

        the king had the right to rule over the nations.  But with Israel there was 

        always the qualifying idea that the nations are not ultimately enemies, but 

        God's creatures meant for blessing. Psalm 72, which  tells of the world rule

        of the Israelite king, ends with God’s blessing of Abraham.      

        

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                  3.  The Nations in the “Exodus” Theology—The holy war is upper-

        most in the period of exodus from Egypt and conquest of Canaan.   In this 

        period Israel was led by Yahweh into battle, and  the holy war was just as 

        much a part of their sacred obligation as cultic worship.   The prophets 

        gave a new dimension to the nations as her enemies.  Israel becomes the 

        victim of the attacks of her enemies by express appointment of Yahweh 

        as his judgment on his people. 

                   The nations themselves were under God’s judgment (Amos 1-2; 

        Is. 29, 30).   It is in this category that many of the oracles against the fo-

        reign nations belong.   They include: Ammon (Jer. 49); Babylon (Is. 13); 

        Edom (Is. 34); Egypt (Is. 19); Elam (Jer. 49); Ethiopia (Is. 18); Kedar 

        (Jer. 49); Moab (Is. 15-16); Philistia (Is. 14); Sidon (Ez. 28); and Tyre 

        (Ez. 26, 28).   In the monarchy’s later years, confidence in Yahweh’s ulti-

        mate protection in spite of historical disaster was shaken.  Jeremiah asked

        Yahweh to destroy the “nations that know thee not,” and urged submis-

        sion to Nebuchadrezzar's yoke.  The holy war against the nations has now

        become a holy suffering.  But, such humiliation is not to last forever.       

                   The first 2 of the 10 Commandments define the nations, not as ene-

        mies, but as temptations for Israel.   The ways of her neighbors were at-

        tractive to Israel —their fertility cult, the royal splendor, their cultural 

        achievements, their military power, all exercised a fascination on her. The 

        danger to which Israel was exposed in her life in Canaan is expressed re-

        peatedly in Deuteronomy and the fear of contamination lies behind the 

        command to exterminate the peoples of the cities she conquered.   The 

        mystery of the great systems of idolatry in the presence of the God of the

        nations was not a subject of much speculation on the part of the Hebrews. 

        Yahweh allotted the nations the sun, moon, and stars to worship.

                   When God brought Israel out of Egypt with mighty signs and won-

        ders, the nations were looking on in fear.   The nations are pictured as fea-

        ring Yahweh because of his power.   As witnesses they will be able to be-

        hold God’s salvation in the saved people, and the wisdom and understan-

        ding of Israel.  Yahweh’s motive for redeeming Israel is that the nations 

        may know his power and name.  Moses appeals for mercy with the words: 

        “Now if thou dost kill this people as one man, then the nations will say, 

        ‘Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which the

        Lord swore to give them. . . .” 

                   It is also important to note that cultural borrowing from the nations 

        is not in every case condemned in itself.  Hymns, Myths, agricultural festi-

        vals, and cultic practices could be adapted for Israelite priestly purposes 

        as long as they did not threaten loyalty of the nation to Yahweh.  However,

        the prophetic and historical literature gives ample evidence that the strain 

        imposed by such existence was too great.   Israel met defeat after defeat 

        from inner corruption rather than outward attack, and the end result was 

        her destruction as a nation.   The prophets denounce Israel as a faithless 

        wife turned harlot.

                  4.  The Nations in “Exile” Theology—Israel is often pictured as 

        God’s flock under God’s care and that of God’s shepherds.  The threat to 

        scatter Israel for her disobedience originated in the wilderness, almost at 

        the moment God gathered her from the slavery of Egypt.  

                  In Genesis 11 humankind is scattered abroad in division, but Israel 

        is gathered from among them in Abraham.  At the destruction of Samaria 

        and Jerusalem, Israel receives the same curse as the nations and is scat-

        tered among them; the scattered people is still the covenant people.  The 

        silent suffering of the sheep led to slaughter among the nations.  

                   Jesus saw the people as sheep without a shepherd.  He scattered 

        his disciples as sheep among wolves when he sent them out to proclaim 

        the kingdom of God.   Persecution in Jerusalem after Stephen's martyr-

        dom results in the scattering of the Christians in tribulation and mission 

        throughout Judea and Samaria.

                   In the Exile, Israel reacts in two different manners to the tempta-

        tion of the nations.  First there is revulsion.  The Exile was, according to

        Ezekiel, a shock to call Israel to repentance.  Yahweh would then restore 

        Israel as a holy people and thus vindicate Yahweh’s own holiness in the 

        eyes of the nations.   According to the second part of Isaiah, the tempta-

        tion for Israel in exile is to renounce her faith in the purpose of the Lord 

        of history, to give up to despair, or to adopt a historically irrelevant or sim-

        ply nationalistic religion. 

                     In the exilic period the motif of dominion over the nations is subor-

        dinated to that of the servant who suffers at the hands of the nations.  Peo-

        ples come to rebuild Jerusalem as the servants of Israel.  In the post-exilic 

        period the royal theology is applied to the Messiah.  The stone “cut out by 

        no human hands,” which becomes a great mountain to fill the whole earth

        is God’s kingdom.    

               When Israel shares the curse of the nations by being herself scat-

        tered among them, a new interpretation of her vocation is given by the 2nd

        part of Isaiah.  Now Israel is the humble servant going out to the nations 

        with torah (law) and mishpat (judgment).  Thus Israel appears as the bea-

        rer of the great invitation to the peoples to turn to Yahweh for salvation.  

        In the postexilic literature there is the prophecy that the blessing will one 

        day be restored to Israel & will spread to her ancient enemies (Isaiah 19).

        There is the recurring royal theology in the prophecy of the messianic king 

        who will command the blessing of peace.   Although this motif becomes 

        fainter after the Exile and after the  Bible’s contents became official and 

        final, it still persisted.          

    

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                   5.  Nations in Post- Exilic Theology Jeremiah sends out the word

        that “he who scattered Israel will gather him.”   The post-exilic community 

        understood its own gathering as a foretaste of the final gathering.  The pur-

        pose of God is fulfilled as Israel is scattered in tribulation and mission 

        among the nations, then gathered symbolically in worship and praise from 

        the nations in anticipation of the final gathering of every nation before the 

        throne of the Lamb.

                   In the postexilic literature the holy-war motif appears again, but this

        time Israel no longer plays an active role.   In early apocalyptic literature 

        the enmity of the nations toward Israel grows in intensity until the climac-

        tic struggle at Mount Zion, where Yahweh both summons them and puni-

        shes them for their violence on Israel.   This literature shows us extreme 

        enmity between the Jews and the nations.  There is thus a complete polari-

        zation between Israel and  the nations.  Yet there are hints that some 

        among the nations will be saved in the final day, if they call on the name 

        of Yahweh. 

                   Therefore, the nations and peoples of the earth are exhorted to 

        praise the God of Israel for God’s deliverance of God’s people.  For this 

        reason Israel declares Yahweh’s praise among the nations for them to hear

        and know him.  When Yahweh is about to judge his people for their unfaith-

        fulness, Yahweh explains the reasons for Yahweh’s action.  The nations ob-

        serve the fate of Israel as a result of her disloyalty to her God.  In the 2nd 

        part of Isaiah,   Yahweh calls Yahweh’s servant to the attention of the na-

        tions twice, in Isaiah 41 and 52.  Their reaction is to shut their mouths in 

        silent surprise and respect.

                   In the post-exilic period, Israel’s effort to maintain her cultural iden-

        tity without political power led to her virtual separation from the peoples in 

        order to exclude their “pollutions”; intermarriage posed a threat to the very 

        existence of the people of God.  On the other hand there was considerable 

        borrowing from Iranian and Hellenistic cosmic speculation and philosophy.

                   6.  Gathering the Nations in the New Testament (NT)—In the NT

        there appears a consciousness that the promise made to Abraham is now 

        being fulfilled.   John the Baptist begins his preaching with a rebuke to 

        Jewish  nationalists.   There will be a gathering of all nations before the 

        King’s throne, and the righteous among the nations will receive their inheri-

        tance in God’s kingdom.   In Acts, the joy of Jewish Christians at the re-

        sponse of the nations is a foretaste of the joy of the kingdom; Paul, indeed, 

        sees the promise made to Abraham fulfilled in the justification of the na-

        tions by faith.  

                   Jesus is described as a “light for revelation to the nations.”   He be-

        gins his ministry in the “Galilee (circle) of the nations.”   Later he makes a 

        journey into Tyre and Sidon, beyond the borders of the Jewish population; 

        he exorcises the demon in a Phoenician girl, and cures a deaf mute in the 

        Decapolis; feeds 4,000 in the wilderness; he heals a centurion’s servant, 

        and a demoniac in Gerasa.   The mission of the 70 is to be to the nations.   

        His triumphal entry into Jerusalem revealed him as the messianic king.   

                   7.  NT Nations—The early Christians knew that the risen Christ had

        sent them to the nations.   Paul found the purpose of the death of Christ to 

        be that “in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come upon the na-

        tions.”  According to Jesus the nations themselves will judge Israel for her 

        hardness of heart. Christ was meant to be a light to both the Jews and the 

        nations; but since the Jews reject the light, the apostles turn to the 

        nations.  

                    In the NT, Israel is seen to exist among the nations as enemies.  Now,

        however, the line is not between Jews and nations but between the Chris-

        tian community and the nations.  The Son of Man will be handed over to 

        the nations.  Thus all nations, including the Jews, are at enmity with him.  

                   The alliance of Jew and Gentile against the followers of Jesus is a 

        prominent theme of Acts.  The promise of the risen Christ to Paul was to 

        deliver him both from the people (Jews) and from the nations.  The tempta-

        tions of NT nations are seen in the descriptions of their way of life as over

        against that of the people of God.  They are “darkened in their understan-

        ding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in

        them.”  To “learn Christ” was to put off the old nature, and put on the new,

        that of Christ.  Separation from the nations wasn't withdrawal from them.     

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                   Matthew reports that when Jesus was dying on the Cross, one of 

        the soldiers exclaimed at the end:   “This was a son of God!”   The early 

        Christians were aware that they were living under the gaze of the nations.

        “Maintain good conduct . . .  so that . . . they may see your good deeds and

        glorify God on the day of visitation.”   Their suffering at the end of history 

        would be under the gaze of the “men from the . . . nations.”

                   8.  Nations in The Revelation—Suffering at the hands of the na-

        tions is a prominent theme in I Peter and Revelation.   The nations play a 

        large part in the apocalyptic drama in Revelation,  as the enemies of God.

        Satan, deceiver of nations will be bound during the reign of the saints.  In

        Revelation, the community of saints is composed of those who have resis-

        ted the temptation.

                   In Revelation, Israel's mission of  to the nations takes the form of 

        “an angel flying in mid-heaven, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to . . . 

        every nation . . .”  The pilgrimage at the end of the age appears finally in 

        Revelation.   After the 7 bowls of wrath have been poured out, kings and 

        nations come to the new Jerusalem to walk in the light of God’s glory. 

                   In the final destruction of Babylon and Satan, the temptation of the

        nations for Israel is removed, & all nations walk with Israel in the Lamb's 

        light.  In the end the nations at the 4 corners of the earth are destroyed, 

        Satan is cast into the lake of fire, and the dead are raised for judgment.

        

NAVE (היבל (hay bal), palace, temple; גב (gab), curvature of a wheel)    

                   1.  The main room of the temple between the vestibule and the in-

        ner room.      2.  King James Version translation of gab, a block or center 

        of a wheel through which the axle passes.  The reference is more proba-  

        bly to the rim, as it is translated in the New Revised Standard Version.

NAVEL STRING (שר (sor))  The mention of an uncut navel string was Ezeki-

        el’s dramatic way of reminding his people that their very survival was an 

        act of mercy on the part of God (Ezekiel 16).  Israel did not receive even 

        the most elementary medical attention at her birth (i.e. “your navel string 

        was not cut”).  She was abandoned, but God found and loved and cared 

        for this abandoned child. 

NAZARENE (NazarhnoV; NazwraioV).  A New Testament term used almost 

        exclusively as an appellation of Jesus.  Mark used the 1st Greek word 

        listed above; Matthew, John and Luke the 2nd; there is no noticeable 

        difference in meaning.  While either form can be used, it remains unex-

        plained how the unusual form Nazoraios could maintain its position in 

        Scripture so consistently alongside the simpler Nazarenos.

                   In Acts 24, Nazoraion is used for the sect of Nazarenes.  This 

        makes it probable that originally, the term was the name of a Jewish sect

        or heresy.   It is possible that we have here a Jewish Christian group uni-

        ted with the Mandeans, a pre-Christian Gnostic sect.  Heretical Jewish 

        Christian groups perpetuated the designation of Christians as Nazoraioi.  

        It is also possible that we have 2 separate groups, a pre-Christian Jewish 

        sect (Nasaraioi) and a Jewish Christian sect (Nazoraioi), whose names 

        are very similar.

NAZARETH  (Nazaret)  A village of Lower Galilee; home of Joseph, Mary,

        and Jesus, 24 km from the Sea of Galilee, 32 km from the Mediterranean, 

        and almost 100 km north of Bethlehem.

                   There is no mention of Nazareth in the Old Testament, the Talmud,

        the Midrash, or the historian Josephus’ writings.  The earliest evidence for

        Nazareth is from Julius Africanus (170-240 A.D.).  Nonetheless, the iden-

        tification of the site of the ancient village with the modern Nazareth is ge-

        nerally accepted.  Nazareth lies to the north of the Plain of Esdraelon in a

        valley or basin open only to the south.  It is about 400 meters above sea 

        level.  The climate is favorable to vegetation but the town has only one 

        spring.  The ancient village seems to have extended farther up the hill.  

        Although various traditional holy places are shown as connected with the

        gospel, the only one which may be authentic is Mary’s well.

                   Nazareth is first mentioned as the home of Joseph and Mary at the

        time of the Annunciation.  From there they set out for Bethlehem, and to 

        it they returned after Jesus’ birth.  Jesus left Nazareth to go to be baptized

        by John; no reason is given for why Jesus left Nazareth to dwell in Caper-

        naum.  There are many passages in which Jesus is identified as the 

        “Nazarene.”

                   Nazareth didn't become an important Christian shrine until the reign

        of Constantine (324-337 A.D.).  Nazareth suffered much persecution and 

        destruction under the Muslim conquest (700 A.D.).  During the Crusades it

        was made the seat of a bishop, and its churches rebuilt.   At the end Naza-

        reth was captured and finally destroyed in 1291 by the Mameluke Beybars.

        The modern resurgence of Nazareth as a Christian shrine and city began in

        1620.  Modern Nazareth has an estimated population of nearly 20,000.

 

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NAZIRITE (נזיר (nah tseer), separated, consecrated to God)  One who marks 

        his status of special sanctity or his vow of self-dedication by letting his  

        hair grow and abstaining from wine and strong drink. 

                   Historically the Nazirite was a sacred person.  In the beginning he  

        was a charismatic by virtue of a mysterious divine endowment and/or the

        vow of his mother.  The consecration is not an ascetic separation but an 

        expression of loyalty to God.    Reference to Nazirites span all of Old Tes-

        tament history.  At first the commitment was spontaneous and lifelong.  

        Gradually the institution became standardized and regulated by law so 

        that any person could become a Nazirite for a temporary period.  Eventu-

        ally, the offering at the vow's termination became the most important part 

        of a Nazirite’s dedication.

                   In early Israel the holy man played a large role.   Holy men were 

        under the power of the Lord’s Spirit.  Invariably, spontaneity, expressed in

        ecstasy and enthusiasm, characterized these sacred persons. War in early 

        Israel was a holy enterprise and sometimes included warriors like Saul in 

        holy war.  Samson was a holy warrior, a long-haired charismatic figure.  

        Princes may have been Nazrities in the sense that they were warrior chief-

        tains.   Amos mentions the prophet and the Nazirite together as persons 

        with a special vocation.   Samuel was a prophet, a lifelong Nazirite, as 

        well as a priest, and perhaps the bridge between the early, spontaneous 

        devotee and the later voluntary and temporary devotee.   The Nazirite 

        seems to have been a holy person in both of these senses.

                   All the prescriptions concerning the Nazirite are found in Num. 6.  

        It assumes that a man or woman became a Nazirite for a special term.  

        The Rechabites combined the voluntary vow with a hereditary and life-

        long commitment.  In the law of his consecration the Nazirite was bound 

        to:  avoid wine and strong drink; to leave his hair uncut; and to avoid the 

        presence of the dead;  it seems doubtful that all these were observed by 

        earlier Nazirites. 

                   The consecration law places the Nazirite in the same sphere of 

        sanctity as the high priest.   The practice of not cutting the hair is present 

        throughout.  In the law of Num. 6, the focus is upon the hair’s cutting and

        offering at the vow’s completion.  Like blood, hair symbolized a person’s 

        life. For a permanent Nazirite such as Samson, the hair is a symbol of the 

        charismatic divine power with which he is endowed.

                   The duration of a Nazirite’s consecration was normally indicated 

        at the time he made his vow.  Aside from the fact that the days of his con-

        secration had to be repeated in full, the real burden incurred by a Nazirite

        polluted by the dead was the cost of the additional sacrifices.  There are 

        many elements of similarity between the Nazirite’s vow in its later stages 

        and the vow of Ihram made by Muslim pilgrims.   Remnants of very an-

        cient ritual forms, descriptive of a sacred state indicated by spontaneous 

        charismatic gifts, have been recast to serve as rules governing the perfor-

        mance of a sacred duty. 

NEAH (נעח, a shaking)  A border town in Zebulun; the site is unknown 

        (Josh. 19).

NEAPOLIS (NeapoliV) The seaport of Philippi.  Neapolis is mentioned

        as a city in Thrace in an Athenian tribute list of the 400s B.C.   It is men

        tioned at least twice in Roman historical records.   In Byzantine times 

        Neapolis was called Christoupolis, and it's now the Greek town Kavalla.  

        Archaeological discoveries include the remains of a Greek village, with 

        a structure identified as the sanctuary of the goddess Parthenos.

NEARIAH (נעריה, servant of the Lord)    1.  A remote descendant of David 

        (I Chronicles 3).      2. A Simeonite commander of Hezekiah’s times who  

        destroyed the Amalekite remnant (I Chronicles 4).

NEBAI (ניבי, prosperous) One of the chiefs of the people signatory to the co-

        venant of Ezra.

NEBAIOTH (נביות, heights) The eldest son of Ishmael, brother of Kedar, and

        the origin of the name of a clan of Ishmaelite Arabs.   Most scholars dis-

        miss the similarity of this name with “Nabateans” because the Hebrew 

        letter signifying the “t” sound in each word is different.

NEBALLAT (נבלט) A town in hills overlooking the southeast end of the Plain

        of Sharon and settled by Benjaminites, 6.4 km east of Lod and nearly 

        3.2 km north of Hadid (Nehemiah 11).

 

NEBAT (נבט, aspect)  The father of Jeroboam I (I Kings 11).

N-15

NEBO (נבו, announcer, height)  1.  A Babylonian deity, “announcer” for the

        gods, mentioned by Isaiah in his taunt song on the downfall of Babylon. 

        He was specifically associated with Borsippa. His image and that of his 

        father Marduk were carried together in the spring procession of the New

        Year festival.   

                   2.  A city in Moab, most likely 8 km southwest of Heshbon, 

        requested by the tribes of Reuben and Gad as good grazing land.  The 

        Moabite Stone records its capture by the Moabite king Mesha. 

                   3.  A town mentioned just after Bethel and Ai in the lists of repa-

        triated Israelites, perhaps northwest of Beth-zur and about 24 km south-

        west of Jerusalem (Ezra 2).

NEBO, MOUNT (הר נבו, mountain of the height [of the god Nabu])  A mountain 

        of the Abarim range opposite Jericho about 10 km east of the Dead Sea's 

        northeast corner.  Moses was commanded to ascend Mount Nebo.  There 

        he was to view the land of Canaan and to die on the mountain.

                 In Old Testament times Mount Nebo changed hands several times. 

        The Israelites captured it from Sihon, and to this area the Moabite king 

        Balak brought Balaam to curse the Israelites.  The territory was assigned 

        to the tribes of Reuben and Gad.  King David subdued Moab, so at least 

        by his time Mount Nebo was again Israelite.   King Mesha of Moab re-

        conquered territory that would include Mount Nebo.

                   It is a noteworthy mountain, seen from the Plains of Moab just west

        of its foot.  Mount Nebo is connected to a slightly lower summit to the NW, 

        which may be the “top of Pisgah” from which Moses viewed the Promised 

        Land.  The lower summit commands a view to the north, west and south-

        west.   Several sites indicating habitation have been found in the area, one 

        from the Bronze period (2300-1900 B.C.), and several from the Iron Age 

        (1200-600 B.C.).  Another 4 centuries went by before the area was inhabi-

        ted again in the 200s.

 

NEBUCHADREZZAR, NEBUCHADNEZZAR (נבוכדראצר or נבוכדנאצר,

        prince of the god Nebo or Nebo, god of splendor)   The history of 

        Nebuchadrezzar's rule (605-562 B.C.) have been known for quite some 

        time.   New texts show Nebuchadrezzar, a Babylonian, acting in every re-

        spect as would an Assyrian king.   He conducted annual campaigns to col-

        lect tribute; his planning was on a wide and international scale. Of the 43 

        years of his reign, only the first 10 are well known. 

                  As crown prince during his father’s failing health, Nebuchadrezzar 

        was sent out as commander-in-chief to Carchemish. His victory there over 

        Pharaoh Neco in 605 brought all of Syria and Palestine to its knees.   Ne-

        buchadrezzar then had to return to Babylon after having received news of

        his father's death; but he soon returned as king, collected tribute, and put 

        down two minor rebellions in the next ten years.   

                    In 601, he fought a battle with Egyptian troops, from which he 

        emerged just short of being defeated.  In 599 he appeared again just east 

        of Syria and Palestine.  In 598, Nebuchadrezzar started out from Babylon 

        and laid siege to the “city of Judah  (Jerusalem).”   In March of 597, the 

        city was captured; it had to pay heavy tribute and accept a new king.  Of 

        the next 3 years of Nebuchadrezzar we know that he continued his cam-

        paigns in Syria.  

                   In the last 33 years of Nebuchadrezzar’s reign fall the following 

        events, which can't be clearly dated from the written sources of the time, 

        took place: the  siege of Tyre; Jerusalem's 2nd siege & destruction in 586;

        and his intervention between the Medes & the Lydians. Nebuchadrezzar 

        had the great advantage over all Assyrian kings in having as ally the 

        Medes, being married to the Median king's daughter. Much of the tribute 

        collected went into decorating the Babylonian temples he built. The refe-

        rence in Daniel 4 to Nebuchadrezzar's madness may refer to Nabonidus.

NEBUSHAZBAN (נבושז־בן, adorer of [the god] Nebo)   Chief eunuch of Ne-

        buchadrezzar; mentioned among the “princes of the king of Babylon.”

NEBUZARADAN (נבוזראדן, prince and lord of Nebo) High court official of      

        Nebuchadrezzar.   He destroyed the temple, the palace, and the houses of 

        Jerusalem.   He reappeared four years later to deport more people.

NECKLACE (ענק (‘aw nak); רביד (raw bide), collar, neck-chain) See Jewels

        and Precious Stones entry.

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NECO (נכו, smitten) A pharaoh (609-594 B.C.) of the 26^th Dynasty; who slew 

        Josiah and installed Jehoiakim.

                   In 671 B.C. the Assyrian king Esarhaddon invaded Egypt.  Esar-

        haddon confirmed in rule a number of Delta prince including Neco of 

        Sais.  Later a son of this Neco, Psammetichus I (663-609), claimed the 

        rule of all Egypt and founded the 26^th Dynasty; this dynasty was sup-

        ported by Assyrian patronage.

                   A second Neco succeeded his father in 609, 3 years after the fall

        of Nineveh.  Neco captured Gaza and Ashkelon to establish entry bases 

        into Palestine.   At the Megiddo pass through the Carmel Range, Josiah

        of Judah attempted to withstand Neco’s Greek mercenaries and was 

        killed for his boldness.  The people chose another anti-Egyptian king, 

        Jehoahaz.  Neco, summoned him, deposed him,  and replaced him with 

        Eliakim, changing his name to Jehoiakim.

                   For a few years Neco enjoyed success in Asia.  With the rem-

        nants of the Assyrian army and with his own Anatolian and Aegean 

        mercenaries, he was able to fortify Carchemish.  However, in 605 B.C.,

        the Babylonian king Nabopolassar sent his son Nebuchadrezzar north, 

        and Neco suffered a crushing defeat at Carchemish.  Nebuchadrezzar 

        pursued him as far as the River of Egypt, but was called back home by

        his father’s death.  For other events in Neco’s reign our chief sources 

        are classical, rather than Egyptian.  At great cost of life, Neco tried to 

        push a canal through the Wadi Tumilat from the Nile to the Red Sea.  

        The tradition that Neco sent out sailors to circumnavigate Africa is also

        insistent and accords with the mercantile curiosity of the day.

NECROMANCY.  Divination by means of communication with spirits of the dead.

NECTAR (נפת (no fet), dropping, distilling) The sweet fluid secreted by plants;

        the principal source of the honey of bees, by which it is collected.

NEDABIAH (נדביה, noble of the Lord)  A son of Jeconiah (I Chronicles 3).

 

NEEDLE (raqiV (ra this),  belonh (beh low neh)) An instrument for sewing 

        with leather, thong, or thread.  Needles have been found at most excava-

        tions in the Near East, from earliest to latest periods.  Earliest examples, 

        dating from the 5000s B.C., are of bone.  In the Old Testament period 

        bone needles were rarer and bronze needles more common.  Some, how-

        ever were made by looping the head end and bending it in tightly in such

        a way that it would not catch on the cloth.

                   In the New Testament period bronze needles continued to predo-

        minate, but bone needles are found and some very fine examples of 

        ivory needles as well.  Jesus used the figure of the impossibility of a 

        camel’s going through the eye of a needle, to teach the difficulty of a rich

        man’s entering the kingdom of God.

NEEDLEWORK.  See Embroidery.

NEESINGS (עטישה (‘eh tie shaw), sneezing)  Archaic term used in  King 

        James Version.

NEGEB, THE  (הנגב, the desert)  One of the main regions of Canaan, com-

        prised in an inverted triangle, with one side along the Wadi el-Arabah; 

        another near the Sinai Peninsula; and its base an irregular line from 

        the coast eastward a little north of Beer-sheba, to the Dead Sea.  As it 

        lay to the south of the hill country of western Palestine, the word has 

        come to mean “south.”

                   Despite the fact that the same Negeb indicates a region which has 

        considerably  less rain than the rest of the country, the district was never a

        desert in pre-biblical or  biblical times.  The vegetation which helped hold 

        moisture in the  soil has been lost by  the neglect of more modern times.  

        Evidence has been discovered of the presence of settlements as far back 

        as Paleolithic times (7000-5000), Chalcolithic (5000-3200), and Early 

        Bronze (3200-2100).  There was a very extensive period of settlement in 

        the  Middle Bronze age (2100-1900). 

                   When Abraham journeyed in the Negeb on his way to and from 

        Egypt, he was able to find numerous cities and places of pasturage. This 

        abundant settlement disappeared at the end of the period, possibly as a 

        result of the invasion of Chedorlaomer and his allies.  Since this was a 

        raid and not a conquest, it probably created an intentional desolation, 

        tearing down the houses and filling up the wells.

N-17

                   The Israelites appeared in the region after the Exodus and their 

        fruitless attempt to storm the land of Canaan from Kadesh-barnea; the 

        route they followed was probably the old north-south route through the 

        Negeb.   It was not until many years later that the tribes of Judah and 

        Simeon came down from the north & began to push into the Amalekite 

        region of the Negeb.  The Amalekites had at least 1 city there, which 

        was destroyed by Saul.  A little later there were  5 separate districts of 

        the Negeb:  the Negeb of the Cherethites; of Judah; of the Calebites; of  

        the Jerahmeelites; and of the Kenizzites

                   In the times after David conquered Edom and got possession of 

        the Arabah, settlement of the Negeb came into its own with numerous 

        fortresses and settlements from 900-600 B.C.  The tribe of Simeon in 

        particular enlarged its territory, spreading over the region near Gerar.  

        After the fall of the Judean state and the deportation of its people from 

        597 on, the northern part of the Negeb was occupied by the Edomites. 

                   The central and southern parts were later occupied by the Naba-

        teans, who settled in previously occupied sites as well as creating new 

        ones of their own.   As a result, under their rule the Negeb soil showed 

        its underlying fertility, and the region became once more a place of far-

        ming.  This is how the Negeb was all through New Testament times, and

        it was only war and neglect that caused it to be regarded as a desert.

NEHELAM ( נחלמיה) The name, referring to Shemaiah, one of the false pro-

        phets whom Jeremiah rebuked, may be that of an unknown locality.  

        However, Nehelam might be a family name.

NEHEMIAH (נחמיה, Lord's consolation)  1.  One of those whose names head

        the list of exiles returned from Babylon with Sheshbazzar in 538 B.C.

                   2.  Son of Azbuk, and “ruler of half the district of one of those who 

        Nehemiah in rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem in 444 B.C.

                   3.  Son of Hacaliah; cupbearer of Artaxerxes I king of Persia.  Upon 

        receiving the news of the sad plight of the Jews in Jerusalem, Nehemiah 

        became ill with grief and was allowed by his king to go to Jerusalem as go-

        vernor.   His decision to rebuild the city walls provoked Sanballat and

        Tobiah's scorn of; the walls were rebuilt by devoted Jews.   Nehemiah or-

        dered 1 out of 10 Jews to live in the capital. Nehemiah corrected some of 

        the worst economic hardships.  The list of the inhabitants of this Jerusalem

        in Nehemiah 11 and the account of the dedication of the walls may have 

        been added by the Chronicler to the memoirs of Nehemiah.

                   In 432 B.C. Nehemiah drove Tobiah out from the temple and sought

        to abolish mixed marriages.   Nehemiah, in contrast with Ezra, was a suc-

        cessful man of action.  Through his energy, unselfishness, and cleverness 

        he brought new life to the dying Jewish community in Jerusalem.   He 

        strengthened it physically through the new city walls, socially by helping 

        the needy, and nationally by enforcing the law of Moses.

NEHEMIAH, BOOK OF. See Ezra and Nehemiah, Books of.

  

NEHILOTH.  See Music.

NEHUM (נחום, compassionate) One of those whose names head the list of ex-

        iles returned from Babylon (Nehemiah 7). The same list in Ezra 2 has 

        Rehum, which is probably the correct form.

NEHUSHTA  (נחשתא, brass)  The wife of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and mo-

        ther of Jehoichin.  She was taken into exile to Babylon in 597 B.C.

NEHUSHTAN (נחשתן, brazen serpent)  The bronze snake destroyed by King 

        Hezekiah in his campaign to purify Hebrew worship.  The writer believed 

        that the object destroyed by Hezekiah was the actual image fashioned by 

        Moses.  It has been assumed by some scholars that the name Nehushtan 

        was given to it by Hezekiah in contempt.  It is more probable that this had 

        long been the name of the object.   It is probable that Nehustan was the 

        name of a deity, perhaps the snake-god of Baalism.  Tensions between the 

        prophetic party, protagonists for the Yahweh religion, and the adherents 

        of Baalism are notable throughout much of biblical history.

  

NEIEL (נעיאל)  A border town in Asher, probably on the eastern edge of the

        Plain of Acco (Joshua 19).

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NEIGHBOR (רע (ray ‘aw), friend, beloved)  Neighbor in the Old Testament 

        (OT) generally denotes a fellow member of the people of the covenant.  

        This fellowship among the covenant people involved the assumption of 

        moral obligations and the guarantee of certain rights for each member.  

        This obligation is categorically stated in Leviticus 19:18:  “You shall love 

        your neighbor as yourself.”

                   In OT thought, relations among neighbors were subject to the law.  

        Cities of refuge were established in Israel so that if a man should uninten-

        tionally kill his neighbor, he might escape and so save his life.  This rela-

        tionship had been established by God. Moral disintegration and national 

        catastrophe follow when men deny the rights of their neighbors. The indi-

        vidual’s treatment of his neighbor and his neighbor’s wife is a prominent 

        criterion in Ezekiel’s distinction between righteous and sinful man.  In the

        age of the new Covenant, the law will be written upon men’s hearts.  One 

        of the Israelites' fears was that they should fall onto bad times and so be-

        come a subject of derision and scorn among their neighbors.

                 In the New Testament, where the injunction from Leviticus is repeated

        with approval, the definition of “neighbor” is presented in the Good Samar-

        itan parable.   Actually Jesus didn't use the parable in order to suggest that 

        the man in need was the neighbor; rather, it was the man who had compas-

        sion who “proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers.”   An-

        cient interpretation of this parable viewed Christ as the compassionate 

        neighbor. In Christian terms it becomes the obligation of the followers of  

        Christ to serve as compassionate neighbors.  One’s neighbors are those of 

        one’s fellow beings who come forth in a variety of ways to do good.  Jesus 

        extends the term “neighbor” until it is essentially “humankind.”  This wider 

        interpretation belongs to the term in the rest of the New Testament.

NEKEB (הנקב, pipes)  If it is a town, it may be located at el-Bossa.  However,

        it is almost certainly part of the place name Adami-Nekeb.

NEKODA (נקודא, marked)    1. The ancestor and origin of the name of some 

        temple servants who returned to Jerusalem after the Exile.      2. The an-

        cestor and origin of the name of some returned exiles unable to prove 

        descent from Israelites.

NEMUEL (נמואל)   1. A Simeonite; head of the Nemuelites in Num. 26, called

        Jemuel in Genesis 46.      2.   A Reubenite; brother of Dathan and Abiram 

        (Numbers 26).

NEOLITHIC AGE.  The second cultural stage (6000-4000 B.C.), marked by the 

        domestication of plants and animals, permitting settled communities.

NEPHEG (נפג, sprout)    1. A Levite; Izhar's son & Korah & Zichri's brother

        (Exodus 6)      2.  One of the sons of David who were born at Jerusalem 

        (II Samuel 5; I Chronicles 3 and 14). 

NEPHILIM (נפלים, giants)  The exact meaning of the word is uncertain; it is 

        therefore left untranslated.   In Genesis 6 we have a narrative which 

        shows that in the race's early history, the sons of God chose wives from   

        among the daughters of men.   From these unnatural unions a race of 

        giants arose, an intermediate between the divine and human orders.   

        Even though these Nephilim are referred to only once again in the Old

        Testament, the tradition survived into historic times.  We seem to have 

        in this tradition a theme common in many ancient literatures. 

                   There's no clear basis for the long-standing interpretation that this

        passage is an introduction to the story of the Flood.  These Nephilim 

        introduced some disorder into the world.  It is sometimes suggested that 

        certain of the wives of Noah’s sons were from this race and so bore 

        giants after the Flood. The reference to the Nephilim has been abridged 

        so drastically that no real continuity holds the verses of the fragment toge-

        ther.   It is probable that the legend of the Nephilim was considerably 

        more popular in the Hebrew tradition than the treatment of it by the edi-

        tors of the Hexateuch would indicate.

NEPHISIM (נפיסים) The ancestor and origin of the name for family of Nethinim,

        or temple servants (Ezra 2).

NEPHTOAH (נפתוח, opening)   A place name, used only in “Waters of Neph-

        toah,” 5 km northwest of Jerusalem.

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NER (נר, light)  A Benjaminite whose son Abner was the army commander un-

        der Saul.  Some have considered Ner the uncle of Saul and the brother of 

        Kish, but changes in the text are necessary to achieve this relationship.  On

        the other hand, if Ner is considered to be the grandfather of Saul and the 

        father of Kish and Abner, no changes in the text are necessary.

NEREUS (NhreuV)  A Christian who receives a greeting, together with his sister

        in Roman 16.  Nereus in Greek mythology was the wise old man of the 

        sea, father of 50 daughters known as Nereids.

NERGAL. A Mesopotamian god whose name occurs in II Kings 17.  Nergal was

        a god worshiped by the military colonists settled by the Assyrians in Sama-

        ria.  Originally he was associated with fire and the sun's heat, and then with

        war, hunting, and disasters.

NERGAL-SHAREZER (נרגל שר־אצר, Nergal protect the king) He is possi-

        bly to be identified with King Neriglissar (559-556 B.C., who was a son-in-

        law of Nebuchadrezzar.  Of Neriglissar nothing is known besides a report 

        on a campaign of his deep into Cilicia.

NERI (Neri, from נ ר or lamp)  An ancestor of Jesus (Luke 3).

NERO.  Nero Claudius Caesar, successor of Claudius as Roman emperor 

        (54-68 A.D.); born in 37, the son of Agrippina and L. Domitius Ahenobar-

        bus.  In 50 Agrippina persuaded Claudius to adopt Nero.  4 years later 

        Claudius died, probably poisoned by Agrippina.  In 55 Britannicus was 

        murdered.

                   Nero’s empire was governed by his mother, his tutor Seneca, and 

        by Burrus, praetorian prefect.   In 59 Nero had his mother put to death, 

        Burrus died, Seneca retired, and Nero divorced his wife in order to marry 

        his mistress Poppea.   He was now free to turn to chariot races, shows of 

        various kinds, and a promiscuous search for pleasure. His heavy expenses

        led to the confiscation of estates.

                   On July 19, 64 A.D., a disastrous fire broke out in Rome, destroy-

        ing nearly  1/4 of the city.   A rumor persisted that Nero had ordered the 

        fire started to provide space for his building operations; he found scape-

        goats among the “Chrestians.”   The 1st to be arrested confessed either to 

        starting the fire or Christianity, it is not clear which.  They were afflicted 

        with cruel and unusual punishments and death.  His savagery raised 

        doubts as to the Christians’ guilt.   Seneca, who knew Nero well and 

        warned him against this trait, died as Nero’s victim.  It is probable that the

        apostles Peter and Paul were put to death in this persecution.

                   The emperor went on an extended tour of Greece (67-68), as the 

        political situation grew steadily worse.  Nero demanded and received 3 sui-

        cides from top administrators in Germany.   In the spring of 68, revolt 

        broke out in Gaul, Spain, and Africa; the Senate declared Nero an enemy

        of the state.   Nero committed suicide on June 9^th.  In 1 year Galba, Otho, 

        and Vitellius served as emperor.  Stability was restored only when Vespa-

        sian became emperor. Nero’s memory was detested by aristocracy as well

        as by Christians.  As late as the early 100s most men believed that Nero 

        was still alive.

                   As far as Nero’s relation to the Christian church, it is a fact that he 

        persecuted Christians at Rome.  It is by no means certain that an edict of 

        Nero served as the legal basis for later persecutions.  Tertullian mentions 

        Christians being condemned on grounds of sacrilege, enmity toward the 

        state, and treason.  According to Tacitus the crime for which Christians 

        were put to death was arson.

                   The reign of Nero, together with the subsequent fall of Jerusalem,

        strongly influenced the Christian church.  It is likely that the Gospel of 

        Mark is a product of Nero’s reign.  When it became evident that persecu-

        tion and the fall of Jerusalem were not signs of the immediate end of the 

        world, there was an increased concern for the continuity of the church 

        and of its ministry.  And by this time, there was now a relatively clear 

        distinction between Judaism and Christianity.

NEST (קן (kane); kataskhnosiV (ka tas ken os sees), dwelling-place, tent) 

        The Old Testament use of this word is usually in reference to birds and 

        their nests, though at times it is to a temporary abiding place for a hu-

        man being. The above Greek word is translated “nests” in Matthew 8 

        and Luke 9.

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NET (חרם (kheh rem); מכמר (me keh mawr), snare; amfiblhstron (am

        fee bleh stron), dragnet)  A fabric of twine or cord, woven into meshes 

        and used for catching fish, birds, and other animals.   Cord and rope ma-

        king is one of the oldest human skills, and nets made from such have 

        been traced back to the Mesolithic period (8000-6000 B.C.).  In the Old 

        Testament (OT) the precise difference between a net and a snare is not 

        always clear; some snares must in fact have been concealed nets.  

                   While the biblical data don't permit definitive conclusions, it seems

        probable that fishing nets were either a cone shaped hand-cast net or a 

        large draw net, hauled ashore in a wide semi-circle.   Fowling nets are re-

        ferred to in Prov. 1 and Hosea 7, but we can only conjecture how they were

        operated.  Wild animals were caught by being overtaken and a net thrown 

        over it, or animals would be driven into an ambush in which nets were 

        concealed.

                   The OT informs us that the two pillars, Jachin and Boaz had some

        bronze “network” on their capitals.  Also in the OT (nowhere in the New

        Testament, the net serves frequently as a figure of speech.  It is used to de-

        signate the Lord’s chastisement of Israel, or the plots or snares of Israel’s 

        leaders.  In Proverb 29 “nets” typifies the wiles of the flatterer.

NETAIM  (נטעים, plantings)  A place in Judah where some royal potters lived. 

        The site  is unknown (I Chr. 4).

NETHANEL  (נתנאל, gift of God)    1. A leading chief of Issachar; son of Zuar; 

        commander of 54,400 men.      2.  The 4th son of Jesse, and a brother of

        David (I Chronicles 2).      3.  A priest who was to blow the trumpets be-

        fore the ark (I Chronicles 15).      4. One of the princes of Judah sent out 

        by King Jehoshaphat to instruct all in the “book of the Lord's law” (II Chro-

        nicles 17).      5. A Levite; the father of Shemiaiah (I Chronicles 24).       

                   6.  A Levite; son of Obed-edom, a gatekeeper in the temple (I Chro-

        nicles 26).      7.  A Levite; brother of Conaniah, and one of those chief Le-

        vites who contributed to the Passover offering in the time of Josiah (II Chro-

        nicles 35).      8. Son of Pashhur; one of the priests who had married a fo-

        reign wife while in exile (Ezra 10).      9.  Head of the priestly house of Je-

        daiah in the high priest Joiakim's days (Nehemiah 12).      10.  A priest who 

        took part in the dedication of the rebuilt wall of Jerusalem.

NETHANIAH (נתניה, gift of the Lord)    1. The father of Jehudi (Jeremiah 36).

              2. The father of Ishmael, murderer of Gedaliah (II Kings 25; Jeremiah 

        40, 41).      3.  A Levite sent by King Jehoshaphat to teach the law of the 

        Lord throughout Judah (II Chronicles 17).      4.  A Levite, and one of the 

        sons of Asaph whom David set apart to prophesy with lyres, harps, and 

        cymbals (I Chronicles 25). 

NETHER WORLD.  See Dead, Abode of.

NETHINIM (נתינים, temple servants)  The lists in Ezra-Nehemiah portray 5 

        clerical orders among the returned exiles including the Nethinim, who are

        persons appointed for the lowest menial tasks of the temple.

                   Very little is known of temple slaves in the pre-exilic period.  Mo-

        ses took 1 of every 50 captive Midianites and gave them to the Levites.  

        Joshua made the Gibeonites menial laborers for the congregation and for 

        Yahweh’s altar.  The descendants of David’s and Solomon’s servants ap-

        pear in the lists of the returned exiles.   In either 458 or 398 B.C., Ezra 

        came to Jerusalem, and 220 Nethinim were sent with him.

                   The Nethinim were organized under family heads.  The Ezra list 

        gives 35 families and 10 families of Solomon’s servant; Nehemiah gives

        32 families.  The Nethinim were largely from foreign ancestors. The tra-

        ditional view is that Nethinim were descended from prisoners. Solomon’s

        servants are mentioned next  after the Nethinim; their functions then were

        similar.  The Nethinim, though unmentioned in the 1st 5 books of the Old

        Testament, were the lowest class of temple servants and were “given” to 

        the priests; they nevertheless were considered part of the congregation.  

        They had the same tax-exempt status as the priests and Levites.

                   Later Jewish traditions mention Nethinim with contempt and for-

        bid marriage of Jews and Nethinim. It is likely that the lot and status of 

        the Nethinim showed a progressive improvement.   From Nehemiah 3 it 

        seems clear that a good proportion at least, of the Nethinim dwelt in quar-

        ters on the southern extension of the temple hill.  Nehemiah 3 ascribes a 

        residence to the Nethinim on the wall probably northeast of the precincts

        of the temples, possibly for more important Nethinim.

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NETOPHAH  (נטפה, dropping)  A town in Judah’s hill country, closely associ-

        ated with Bethlehem and probably on the spur of a ridge about 5.6 km 

        southeast of Bethlehem.   2 of David’s Mighty Men, Mahariai and Heleb, 

        were natives of this town.  A certain Netophathite, Seraiah was among 

        the captains of the scattered Judean forces which gathered about Geda-

        liah, Judea’s governor after Jerusalem's fall.   56 men who counted Neto-

        phah their ancestral home were among those returning with Zerubbabel.  

        Levites also took up residence near Netophah, including certain singers 

        who assembled in Jerusalem for the dedication of the wall.

NETTLE  (חרול, khaw rool; קמוש kim mos)  An annual wild plant noted for its 

        stinging effect when touched.  Many scholars conclude that the meaning 

        of harul is generic (i.e. scrub brush).  The word is used in a description 

        of men in the lowest state of  poverty.  Qimmos is more generally agreed 

        to be the word for “nettles.”  The 2 words appear together in Proverbs 24,

        which argues against translating both as “nettles.”   The passage in Pro-

        verbs might refer to nettles and wild mustard, two weeds which are still 

        found in neglected fields.

NETWORK (רשת (reh sher); שבכה (seh baw keh))    1. Resher is a bronze

        grating on the altar of burnt offering (Exodus 27, 38).      2. Sebakeh is 

        bronze latticed work on the 2 pillars'  (Jachin and Boaz) capitals, in So-

        lomon’s temple. The network may have been a grill of bronze covering 

        the sides of huge lamp bowls on the pillars and serving as material upon  

        which pomegranates which adorned them were fastened.   The precise 

        relationship of the net work, the bowl, & the capital remains uncertain.

NEW (חדש (khaw dawsh), recent, fresh; kainoV (ky nos), recent; neoV (neh

        os), recent, fresh)   The most significant Old Testament (OT) occurrences

        of the concept of “newness” are connected with:  the calendar; the new 

        age to come; a new covenant; a new heart and spirit; a new heavens and 

        a new earth.

                   For the New Testament (NT), it has generally been held that kai-

        nos means “new” in reference to character, whereas neos means “new” in

        reference to time.  The OT concepts of “newness” are taken up and ap-

        plied to God’s kingdom introduced by Christ.  By the new birth which they

        receive through faith-union with Christ, they inherit the promise of a new 

        heart and spirit foretold by Ezekiel; with them Jeremiah’s “new covenant” 

        is ratified. From Christ his people receive a “new name” and a “new com-

        mandment,” which is the old commandment of love, filled with a deeper, 

        fresher meaning by its re-enactment and fulfillment by Jesus. 

                 The “new song” which saints and angels sing in heaven is “... thou ... 

        didst ransom men for God . . . and made them a kingdom and priests to our

        God and they shall reign on earth (Rev. 5).”  Christ’s people have as spiri-

        tual mother the “Jerusalem above,” but that heavenly city will come down

        to earth.”  Ezekiel had drawn the blueprint of a new Jerusalem, and others 

        had elaborated his vision’s details.  In Rev. 21 this vision is used to portray

        the day when “God’s dwelling is with men.”  A new meaning, in terms of 

        NT fulfillment, is given the verse in Is. 42:  “Behold, the former things 

        have come to pass, and new things I now declare.”

NEW BIRTH (gennan anwqen (gen nan  ah no then), birth anew or birth from

        above (John 3) anakinwsiV (an ah kee no sees), renewal (Romans 12;

        Titus 3); kainh ktisiV (ky neh  keh tee sis), new creation (II Corinthians

        5; Galatians 6); neoV anqrwpos (neh os  an thro pos), new human 

        (Colossians 3)).  “Newness” of life, as an Old Testament concept and an 

        idea from the New Testament outlook for the new age, does occur in the

        New Testament designations for regeneration mentioned above, among 

        others.

NEW EARTH, NEW HEAVEN (ouranon kainon kai ghn kainhn (oo rah non

         ky non  ky  gen  ky non))   The phrase used for the idea of a new crea-

        tion, a part of John’s theodicy in Rev. 21.  Is. 65 & apostle Paul saw the 

        former creation judged unworthy because of the “futility which it shared

        with humans in their sin.”

NEW GATE (שער בית יהוח החדש (sha ‘ar  bah yeeth  yah weh  heh khaw 

        dawsh) [“yahweh” would be replaced with “adonai” if spoken], new gate

        of the Lord’s house)  A gate of the Jerusalem Temple.  The text in Jere-

        miah 26 translates as “New gate of the Lord.” The more likely phrase is 

        given above; location unknown.

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NEW HUMAN (neoV anqrwpoV (neh os  an thro pos), The exalted cosmic 

        Christ, the church his body, and thus man’s true self.  The cosmic reconcili-

        ation effected by Christ at his exaltation created “one new man” or “one 

        body” which the church is equipped by the “one Spirit” to realize.   The 

        Christian imperative becomes “Put on the new nature.” In this “new nature”

        man reaches his true destiny of God's image.

NEW JERUSALEM (thV kainhV Ierousalhm (tes  ky nes  yeh roo sah

        lem))  The capital city of God’s new creation.  The conception is found in 

        the Old Testament and in later Jewish literature.  The description of this 

        city in Revelation 21 makes certain its identification with the church.  

NEW MOON (חדש, kho desh)  The festal religious observance of the 1^st  day

        of the month, coinciding with the appearance of the new moon.  Israel’s 

        communal and religious life was based on a lunar calendar.  The Passover 

        and Booths feasts were set on the basis of the appearance of the new 

        moon.   Easter and the Christian Pentecost still reflect this pattern; the 

        sabbath was separate from the lunar cycles and occurred every 7^th day. 

                   The New Moon observance was similar to sabbath observance in 

        that there was rest from work, rejoicing, and special sacrifices.  The New

        Moon of the 7th month was especially important, because it once may 

        have marked the beginning of the year.  In postexilic Judaism the New 

        Moon feast's importance apparently increased.  All historic Jewish rites 

        for the announcement of the New Moon, made on the preceding sabbath, 

        contain a prayer which speaks of the coming of the new age.  This was 

        linked with an emphasis upon God as Creator of time; the observance of 

        the New Moon wasn’t continued in the church.

                   Before the dates of the New Moon were set by a fixed calendar, 

        they were observed visually.   After the destruction of the temple, it be-

        came a function of the supreme rabbinic council to designate the date.  

        Since the 1500s the day preceding a New Moon has been a fast day, 

        often called a little yom kippur.

NEW TESTAMENT (NT) ( h kaino diaqhkh (eh  ky no  di ath eh keh), new 

        covenant)  In the current usage, the 27 books which form the 2nd part of 

        the Christian Bible.

NT CANON.   See Canon of the New Testament in the Main Section’s 

         Introduction.

NT CHRONOLOGY.  See Chronology of the New Testament in the Main Sec-

        tion’s Introduction.

NT LANGUAGE.  See Greek Language in both the Main Section’s Introduction

        and entry.

NT TEXT.  See Text of the New Testament.

NEW YEAR (השנה ראש (rowsh  ha shah nah))  Each calendar employed by 

        Israel had its own specific New Year’s Day.  The earliest was distinctly agri-

        cultural in character, directly associated with the annual crop stages.   Its 

        New Year’s Day was the day cutting the first sheaf of the new crop.  During

        this festival, observed during  the old year’s closing week, all that remained

        of the that year's crop had to be eaten or destroyed.  The old year’s god of 

        vegetation must be dead and vanished before his successor could appear.

        The cutting of the 1st sheaf symbolized the birth,  from the womb of Mother

        Earth, of the new year’s god of vegetation. 

                   We know relatively little of this ceremonial observance on a calendar

        that was employed originally by the Canaanites and was borrowed from 

        them by the Israelite.  Absalom’s rebellion was timed for the Massoth Festi-

        val and the ensuing New Year’s Day.  On the first day of the festival the 

        King of Jerusalem led a solemn procession forth from the city.  In larger 

        measure the king was enacting the role of the god of the annual crop.  In 

        Jerusalem folklore the Mount of Olives was thought to cover the exit from

        the nether world.  There the king would normally abide during the 7 days of

        the Massoth Festival.  

                   The Mount of Olives was thought to split asunder, and through this 

        opening the god of vegetation would ascend into this world of life and 

        would return in solemn procession from the realm of death.  In the morning,

        back at Jerusalem,   the “ram’s horn” would be blown. These 2 ceremonies,

        the blowing of the ram’s horn and the formal ascension by the king, were 

        the distinctive ritual acts of the New Year’s Day of the Canaanite calendar. 

        This New Year’s Day was one when the maidens would go out to dance in 

        the vineyards, there to be seized and taken as wives.

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                   In response to evolving political, economic, and social conditions, 

        Solomon finally adopted the solar calendar of his Tyrian neighbors, and set 

        its New Year’s Day upon the day of the autumnal equinox.  He also shifted 

        the 7-day Festival of Ingathering so that it would mark the final seven days 

        of the solar year, during which the altar's sacred fire was extinguished, to 

        be relit on New Year’s Day.  

                   The equinox could be determined accurately, because the rising sun

        on this day shone on a straight line through the outer eastern gate.  It then 

        shone across the eastern temple court and  over the great altar, across the 

        porch and through the doors of the temple.   It finally reached the western 

        end, after going between the brazen pillars, down the long axis of the tem-

        ple and into the debhir, the sacred recess.  Deviation of the sun's 1st rays 

        from this line so that they no longer passed between the two brazen pillars 

        and into the temple proper would indicate that a day must be added to the 

        year. 

                   These sun rays symbolized the entrance into Yahweh's sanctuary.  

        There in the temple, in fiery, radiant form, surrounded by his heavenly 

        host, Yahweh held court.   Several authorities maintain that the king of 

        Judah enacted the resurrected sun-god's role.   Closely linked with this 

        vivid and meaningful ceremony was the ascension or re-ascension of his 

        throne by the king.   The years of the reigns of Judah's kings (Southern 

        Kingdom) were regularly reckoned from the first New Year’s Day after 

        actual succession.

                   In the 600s B.C., the Assyrian system of designating months by 

        number was introduced.  Now, New Year’s Day fell upon the 10^th day 

        of the 7^th month.   Upon this day the dedication of Solomon’s temple 

        reached its culmination, and tradition placed the date of the consecration

        of Aaron and his sons on this day.   In the post-exilic period, the “anoin-

        ted priest” replaced the king in the ancient, solar ritual.  Psalms 47, 81, 

        and 98 reflect the persistent New Year’s Day ceremonies of the rising 

        sun of the equinox.

                   In the last quarter of the 400s B.C., after the erection of the third

        temple by Ezra, the New Year’s Day was formally transferred from the 

        10th to the 1st day of the 7th month.   With this went the heralding of the

        new year by blowing the sophar and the traditional re-ascension of the 

        divine throne by Yahweh.   Despite this transfer of dates, the 10th day of

        the 7th month, the ancient New Year’s Day continued to be observed as 

        a day of sanctity.  As a concession to popular demand, it was reinstituted 

        as a day of particular sanctity.  As such it has persisted in Jewish ceremo-

        nial practice to the present.   

NEZIAH  (נציח, excellent) The ancestor and origin of the name of a family of

        Nethinim, or temple servants, listed among the exiles returned from Baby-

        lon (Ezra 2; Nehemiah 7).

NEZIB  (נציב, pillar, garrison)  A village of Judah in the Shephelah district of 

        Libnah-Mareshah; east of Lachish, about 29 km southwest of Jerusalem.

NIBHAZ  (נבחז) A deity worshiped by Syrian colonists from Iwwa settled by the 

        Assyrians in Samaria after 722 B.C.  “Nibhaz” is a corruption in the early 

        text or possibly a willful Jewish distortion of mizbeah (altar), such as is 

        known to have been deified and so the object of worship (II Kings 17).

NIBSHAN (נבשן, soft soil)  A village of Judah in the “wilderness” district, south-

        west of Jericho (Joshua 15).

NICANOR (Nikanwr, conqueror)  One of the seven chosen to administer the

        daily distribution of food in the Jerusalem church (Acts 6).

NICODEMUS (NikodhmoV, conqueror)  A Jewish leader, member of the Jewish 

        Sanhedrin and a teacher, who appears in John's Gospel as a questioner of 

        Jesus, and later as a secret follower.  The name Nicodemus was common 

        among both Greeks and Jews in the New Testament (NT) period.

                   Even though he was a Pharisee, and as such should have had inte-

        rest in and knowledge about God's kingdom, in John’s gospel he didn't 

        understand the basic truths about the kingdom of God.  Jesus’ answers 

        were provocative and make Nicodemus appear as a symbol of Israel’s 

        spiritual blindness.   The detail that Nicodemus came “by night” points 

        both to the fact that Nicodemus and other Jewish leaders associated with 

        Jesus only in secret, and to the darkness of understanding out of which 

        Nicodemus asked his questions. 

                   Nicodemus, therefore, represents the Jewish inquirer who, though 

        he does not yet believe fully, seeks fuller understanding of the meaning 

        of Jesus.  Nicodemus’ cautious sympathy with Jesus is attested in John 7.

        The final mention of Nicodemus occurs in 19, where he joined with 

        Joseph of Arimathea in preparing the body of Jesus for burial.  He provi-

        ded a huge amount of spices for the linen cloth.

N-24

NICOLAITANS (NikolaithV ) Followers of a Nicolaus.  Their works and tea-

        ching in Ephesus, Pergamum, and possibly Thyatira are condemned by  

        John; 3 out of 7 churches to whom John wrote were afflicted with this 

        heretical sect. John conveys Christ’s messages to the 7 churches.   The 

        Ephesians are commended; Pergamum was censured; the Thyatirans, 

        who refused Jezebel's teaching, receive no other burden.  

                   Nothing is confidently known about the Nicolaitans beyond John’s 

        references to them.  Their works are not described, but were compared to 

        what Balaam had taught Balak, who led the Israelites into fornication and

        idolatry.  Food sacrificed to idols referred to the remainder, used for home 

        or market place; to eat this food might influence a Christian to return to 

        idolatry.   At Thyatira followers of Jezebel claim to know Satan's deep 

        things. This claim to special knowledge of mysteries marks the incipient 

        Gnosticism which flourished a century later.  Christians couldn’t avoid in 

        daily life contacts with heathen culture.  But a deep cleft separated church

        and world, and at Thyatira the prophetess who taught indulgence wasn't to 

        be tolerated. 

                   Irenaeus asserts that the Nicolaitans were heretical followers of the 

        proselyte Nicolaus from Antioch.  Tertulian reports the lust and the luxury 

        of the Nicolaitans, cites evidence from Revelation, and adds that there was

        a satanic sect, called the Gaian heresy.   Clement undertakes to show that 

        Nicolaus was a true ascetic and that the later, immoral Nicolaitans weren't 

        his followers, though they claimed him as their teacher.  This division of 

        opinion about whether the Nicolaitans of Revelation had any connection

        with Nicolaus of Antioch still exists.   We know little about Nicolaus, the 

        proselyte, and we know only the information about the Nicolaitans in Reve-

        lation, with no certain connection between them and later sects of a similar 

        name. 

     

NICOLAUS (NikolaoV, conqueror of the people) One of the seven appointed

        by the church at Jerusalem to preside over food distribution.   Apparently it

        was among  proselytes like Nicolaus that Christianity caught hold so rapid-

        ly in Antioch.  Nicolaus may have become the founder of a heretical sect 

        called the Nicolaitans.

NICOPOLIS (NicopoliV , city of victory)  Probably the city of this name in Epirus

        in northwestern Greece.  The name Nicopolis was bestowed upon many 

        ancient towns.  The most likely place is the one founded by Octavian to ce-

        lebrate his decisive victory  over Mark Antony at Actium, on the north side 

        of the entrance to the Sinus Ambracicus or Gulf of Arta.  Herod the Great 

        built most of the public buildings there.

NIGER (Niger , black) The surname of Symeon, one of the Antioch church's 

        group of prophets and teachers (Acts 13).   Some believe that he was 

        Simon of Cyrene.

NIGHT (ליל (lah yeel); nux (nukz), darkness) For the Hebrew night was con-

        trasted to the day as darkness is to light.   Reference to "night" occurs  

        more than 200 times in the Old Testament (OT).   The Hebrews spoke 

        of “midnight” and divided the night into watches; there were 3 in the later 

        Jewish system and 4 according to the Greco-Roman reckoning.  The night

        is the symbol of blessing in Is. 16, but the symbol of calamity in Micah 3. 

        There is little evidence in the OT of belief in the night as a time of demo-

        nic activity, as in later Judaism.

                   The New Testament employs nux for “night.”   By Jesus’ time the 

        night was divided into hours & watches.  Night assumes an ominous sym-

        bolical importance, where it becomes equivalent to death, and in Romans 

        13, night is the dark time of evil.

NIGHT HAG (לילית (lee leeth), screech-owl)  An incorrect, translation of the 

        Hebrew “Lilith.”  The rendering is based on the assumption that the name

        is connected with the Hebrew root-wood layil, “night.” One possibility is 

        that it derives from the Sumerian lil, “air,” and is a popular contraction 

        for a phrase meaning “air (-borne) maiden,” or a special type of female 

        demon.  The other possibility is that it refers to the screech-owl, as wild 

        animals are mentioned before its use, and the nesting owl is mention 

        afterwards. 

N-25

NIGHTHAWK (תחמם (teh khah meem))  By “nighthawk” presumably the Eng-

        lish translators mean the night jar.  These rather small birds, whose food 

        consists of insects, fly about in the early evening.  The naturalist Tristram

        in the 1800s favored identifying the bird with the barn owl.  Other natura-

        lists also prefer owls.  

NILE (יאור (yeh or), stream, canal) The river which flows in an irregular 

        course nearly 5,600 km in length from the highland regions of East Cen-  

        tral Africa to the Mediterranean.  The watershed of the river is estimated

        to be over 2 ½ million square km.  At Khartum, just south of the 6th cata-

        ract, 2 branches known as the White Nile and the Blue Nile unite to form 

        the Nile itself.   In spite of the numerous suggestions, the Greek word 

        Neilos' origin remains obscure.   The most ancient name of the river in 

        Egypt itself was h’py.  By the Middle Kingdom (2000-1800 B.C.), the 

        word itrw had become the name of the river.  This word was taken into 

        Hebrew as a loan word and appears as the word given above. 

                   The White Nile may be seen as originating at Lake Victoria.  The 

        Blue Nile rises in the Gojam Highland of Abyssinia in the region south of

        Lake Txana.  Between Khartum and Wadi Halfa, there are a series of ra-

        pids known as the cataracts (the 6^th to the 2^nd).  The 1^st cataract, the most 

        northerly, is at Assuan.  Just north of modern Cairo, the Delta starts, with 

        the Nile dividing into two main channels, the Rosetta and the Damietta. 

                   The river’s steady flow, so devoid of tributaries in its northern half,

        is assured by the lake system near the lakes Victoria, Albert, and Albert 

        Edward in the south.   Excessive seasonal rainfall at the headwaters of the

        Blue Nile and the Atbara,  results in an annual inundation of Egypt’s river

        valley.  At Assuan the Nile reaches    its minimal level in late May, rises 

        steadily during July and August, and attains its maximum in September.

                   The absolutely vital role which the Nile played in the ancient Egyp-

        tians’ agricultural life led very early to the river’s personification in the 

        Nile-god Hapi.  The most famous of the hymns about the Nile is known as

        the “Adoration of the Nile.”  Hapi is pictured as bringing offerings of food 

        and drink to other deities, thus symbolizing the abundance provided by the 

        river itself.  

                   Hapi never attained a strong position among the Egyptian gods.  

        Osiris became known as the lord of the inundation.  The exact locations 

        and ancient names of the Delta branches remains an unanswered ques-

        tion.  The branches’ locations are important to understanding the Exodus’ 

        route.  

                   Because the courses of the Delta branches were constantly chan-

        ging, we cannot assume that the information available from one period re-

        flects the same geographical situation existing at another.  In Ramses’ 

        time the principal courses were known as: the Great River (central); the 

        Water of Pre (east); and the Western River.  Other names were used but 

        cannot be matched with any of the above with certainty.

NIMRIM, THE WATERS OF (מים נמרים (may eem  nim rim), waters of leo-

        pards) Waters in Moab which became desolate in oracles against Moab (Is.

        15 and Jer. 48).  Some would identify the Waters of Nimrim with the Wadi 

        en-Numeirah, flowing into the Dead Sea’s eastern side, 13.5 km from its 

        southern end.  Others identify the Waters of  Nimrim with Wadi Nimrin, 

        which flows into the Jordan 12.8 km north of the Dead Sea.

NIMROD (נמרוד, let us rebel)  “Nimrod’s”  origin is quite uncertain.  If Hebrew, it

        is apparently from marod, “to rebel”; however, it is probably Mesopotamian.

        The name most frequently suggested as its source is Ninurta.   If “Ninurta” 

        is accepted and assumed to refer strictly to a god, it would point to the 

        Babylonian war-god.  If it refers to a  person, the Assyrian king Tukulti-

        Ninurta I (1246-1206 B.C.) is an attractive choice.  If, however, the Cushite

        origin of  “Nimrod” is maintained, the Egyptian monarch Amenophis III 

        (1411-1375) is the likely choice.   Regardless of origin, Nimrod must have 

        become a legendary figure in the ancient Near East.

                   Nimrod son of Cush of the Kassites who conquered the Babylonians

        in the 1000s  B.C., was the first to become a mighty hero on earth.  Nim-

        rod was famed also for his  Mesopotamian kingdom; he was closely associ-

        ated with Asshur.  The appearance of a  Nimrod story in the Old Testament 

        may be due to the Yahwist’s frequent use of ancient  material for his cultu-

        ral and ethnic etiologies.   Here it helps him account for the origin of the 

        great Assyro-Babylonian civilization. 

NIMSHI (נמשי, drawn out)  Grandfather or father of King Jehu of (northern) 

        Israel (I Kings 19 or II Kings 9).

N-26 

 

NINEVEH (נינוה)  One of the oldest and greatest cities of Mesopotamia, capi-

        tal of Assyria at its heights, but since its fall in 612 B.C. a symbol of Assy-

        ria’s utter collapse. 

                   The city was situated on the Tigris’ eastern side, directly across the

        river from Mosul.  Nineveh’s ruins on the Quyunjiq and Nebi Yunus 

        mounds are surrounded by an almost regular rectangle of walls over 12 km

        in circumference.  Nebi Yunus is almost entirely out of reach of excavators 

        because of its village, cemetery, and mosque. Excavations on Quyunjiq 

        were begun by the French in 1842 and continued by the British.

                   The Ninua of cuneiform sources goes back to an earlier form, Ninu-

        wa, which is still found at Mari.  The name itself appears to be of Hurrian 

        origin.  The interest of outsiders, including the ancient Greeks, in the back-

        ground of Nineveh is indirect proof of the city's reputation and importance.

        The earliest occupation of Nineveh dates back to remote prehistoric times.  

        The place is named in the Prologue of Hammurabi's Code  as the site of a 

        famous temple of Ishtar. The city reached  its height of fame at the turn of 

        the 700s B.C., when Sennacherib made Nineveh the capital of a steadily 

        expanding Assyrian Empire. In 612 B.C., the city fell to the Babylonians' 

        and Medes' combined forces. Only Ashurbanipal's great library was to be 

        discovered largely intact some 25 centuries later.

                   Genesis 10 has Nineveh being founded by Nimrod.  It is clear from 

        this that Nineveh’s fame had already spread to Israel in the time reflected 

        in the Jahwist document of the 900s or 800s B.C. Nineveh’s end is pro-

        claimed by 2 contemporary  biblical prophets, Zephaniah and Nahum.   

        Nahum’s poem manages to evoke an event that was a major juncture in 

        world history.  Another biblical work which centers on Nineveh is the book

        of Jonah.  Historical facts are reshaped so as to serve the purposes of a re-

        markable moral lesson.  The Ninevites to whom Jonah preached, would 

        arise at the Last Judgment to condemn Jesus’ generation.   

NINLIL.  A nickname for Belit, consort of En-lil, god of Nippur.

NINURTA.  In Sumerian mythology the son of the storm-god En-lil and herald 

        of the gods.

NIPPUR.  A city about 160 km south of Baghdad.  It was founded by the “Ubaid”

        people about 4000 B.C.  From the early 2000 B.C. to the days of Hammu-

        rabi (1900), Nippur was Sumer’s undisputed religious and cultural center. 

        It wielded no political power and was never the seat of a Sumerian dyna-

        sty.   Enlil, was the Sumerian gods' chief and monarch of the entire uni-

        verse; he had his temple at Nippur. 

                   Sumerian rulers legitimized their royal authority at Enlil’s temple, 

        the Ekur (mountain house) at Nippur.  It was built by Enmebaraggesi, the

        second to last ruler of the “Etana” dynasty.  Following him, practically all 

        Sumerian rulers made sure that they either built or rebuilt parts of it.  Nip-

        pur was the seat of Sumer’s most important “academy.”  In myths and 

        hymns, Nippur and its leading deities, Enlil, his wife Ninlil, and his son 

        Ninurta, play a large role.  Nippur’s destruction in the 1900s B.C. is vivid-

        ly described in a lamentation.  

                    Excavations conducted in Nippur by American expeditions laid 

        bare parts of the Ekur, a small temple, a large temple of the goddess Inan-

        na, and the scribal quarter of the city.  Among the most important finds are

        inscriptions, and 30,000 to   40,000 tablets and fragments, 4,000 of which 

        are Sumerian literary works.

NISAN (ניסן ; Nisan)  1^st month of the Hebrew Calendar (March-April). It was

        called Abib before the Exile.

NISROCH  (נסרוך)  A deity worshiped by Sennacherib; in his temple Senna-

        cherib was killed.  The name is quite unknown in our Mesopotamian sour-

        ces and is probably a corruption by Hebrew scribes; the original name may

        have been “Nusku” or “Marduk”; the evidence identifying Nisroch with 

        Marduk is inadequate.  Nusku, the fire-god, was Sin’s son. Nusku was seen

        as an intermediary between gods and men.

NITRE (נתר, soap)  King James Version spelled out the Hebrew word in Eng-

        lish letters.   See lye.

NO (נא) Hebrew/Egyptian name for Thebes.   King James Version spelled out 

        Hebrew word in English letters.   

NO-AMON  (נא אמון)  A fuller form of No, the Hebrew name, from Egyptian, of 

        Thebes.

N-27

NOADIAH (נועדיה, with whom the Lord meets)    1.  A Levite, son of Binnui; 

        one of those given charge of the temple treasures brought by Ezra from

        Babylon (Ezra 8).      2.  A prophetess referred to by Nehemiah as among 

        those who had wanted to make him “afraid” (Nehemiah 6).

NOAH (נה); See discussion of name at the article’s end.) Survivor with his fa-

        mily of the Flood and discoverer of the art of making wine.  He is consi-

        dered the Flood’s hero, who with his family, was preserved from annihila-

        tion because of his faith.  Lamech’s son, 9^th descendant of Adam through 

        Seth, Noah was born 126 years after Adam’s death.  His birth was the first

        after Adam’s death; he thus becomes humankind’s second father. 

                   The reason Lamech gives for naming his son Noah is that “out of 

        the ground which Yahweh has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from 

        our work and from the toil of our hands.”  Noah lived 500 years before he

        “became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”   He was a “righteous 

        man.”  When God determined to   destroy “man and beast and creeping 

        things and birds of the air . . .  Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”

                   God ordered Noah to build an Ark of gopher wood. Noah obeyed 

        the command and, together with his family and the living creatures taken 

        by him, was saved from annihilation.   The Flood occurred “in the 600th 

        year of Noah’s life and one year later, “the waters were dried from off the

        earth.”   Noah, however, awaited God’s command to disembark and final-

        ly stepped onto dry ground seven weeks after that.

                   After Noah had attended to the disembarkation of every creature in

        the ark,  he “took of every clean animal and of every clean bird” and of-

        fered to God an enormous sacrifice of propitiation.   God accepted the 

        worship and determined that God would “never again curse the ground 

        because of humans.”  Then Noah received the same injunction which God

        had given to Adam:  “Be fruitful and multiply”; God also forbade Noah 

        from eating blood and committing murder.  God adopted the rainbow as a

        sign of God’s promise.

                   Noah is also referred to by the Yahwist as the “first tiller of the soil.”

        The  emphasis in the narrative of Genesis 9 is on Noah’s discovery of the

        culture of  the vine and the consequences of “immoderate indulgence in its 

        fruit.”   He “uncovered   himself in his tent.”   Canaan found him this way 

        and told his brothers, Shem and Japheth.  They took a garment and en-

        tered the tent, walking backward in order not to see the shame of their fa-

        ther, and covered his nakedness.  Noah cursed Canaan with slavery and 

        blessed Shem and Japheth.   Noah lived after the Flood 350  years and 

        died at the ripe old age of 950 years.

                  The Noah of the last part of Genesis 9 almost certainly belongs to a 

        tradition different from that of the blameless hero of the Flood.  This part of 

        Genesis refers to Noah as the man of the ground, as though he were well  

        known, not as the builder of the ark, but rather as the gardener par excel-

        lence. 

                   In addition, the youngest son of Noah becomes Canaan in this 

        story, rather than Ham.   A later verse names Ham as the “father of Ca-

        naan,”  which is more than likely an attempt to harmonize the Flood 

        story with the farmer story.  The latter is clearly a culture myth descri-

        bing the discovery of wine.  Noah, no longer a nomad, has advanced 

        beyond the simplest forms of agriculture to vine cultivation.  There ap-

        pears in this story the same nomadic mistrust of and hostility toward

        agricultural life as in the story of Cain and Abel.

                   Scholars are in disagreement as to the meaning of Noah’s name, 

        and the biblical explanation makes little sense.  It has been suggested 

        that Genesis 5:29 preserves the nucleus of a perhaps more extended 

        birth-legend of Noah.  The flood story appears to have been a cult legend 

        used in connection with a seasonal festival.   Even if the original biblical 

        etymology connected the name Noah with the Hebrew root nuah, little is 

        won for the meaning and origin of the name.  Originally the name was 

        thought to derive from Assyrian naxu, “to rest,” but one of the Akkadian 

        consonants does not have a corresponding Hebrew one.

                   2 suggestions have received scholarly support: that Noah is derived

        from a Hebrew root-word nachache (generosity); and that it is connected 

        with the Akkadian element nah, which is apparently a divine name.  Noah

        could be a name inspired by a deity worshiped before the Israelites existed.

        Unfortunately, this raises a multitude of unanswerable questions.  These 

        questions focus on the problem of the Babylonian sources for most of the 

        early stories of Genesis, which Amorites and Arameans brought west with 

        them.  The original Noah may have had nothing to do with the flood tradi-

        tion but was a gardener.

NOAH (DAUGHTER OF ZELOPHEHAD) (נעה, habitation) One of the Zelo-

        phehad’s 5 daughters who asked for and received an inheritance, although 

        their father was dead and they had no brothers (Numbers 26, 27, 36)

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NOB (נב, height) Ahimelech the priest was in charge of the sanctuary which 

        had been at Shiloh and evidently was moved to Nob after the destruction 

        of Shiloh.   David on his flight from Saul came to Nob and persuaded 

        Ahimelech to give him sacred bread and Goliath’s sword.  Doeg the Edo-

        mite reported to Saul, and when Saul’s servants refused to kill the priests, 

        Doeg killed 85 people, and then put to the sword the city of Nob.  Only 

        one son of Ahimelech, Abiathar, escaped.  Nob was in Benjamin and near

        Anathoth, between it and Jerusalem.  A most likely location is Mount Sco-

        pus, a little over a kilometer northeast of Jerusalem.  Another possibility is

        Qu ‘meh, a low hill about 1.6 km north of Scopus; there is no satisfactory 

        explanation of the name Nob.

NOBAH (נבח, a barking)    1. Apparently a chieftain of the Manasseh tribe; 

        conqueror of Kenath during the Israelite conquest of Canaan.  Nobah’s 

        capture of Kenath and its villages forms part of the Manassite tribe’s 

        occupation of Gilead.  Numbers 32:40 is an editorial attempt to recon-

        cile the independent action of the Manassite clans with the preceding 

        account of Moses’ “united” efforts against Canaan.

      2.  A town in Gilead named for its conqueror (Numbers 32).

      3.  A town in the east of Gilead near Jogbehah; the site is unknown.

NOBLE  (אדיר (‘ad deer), mighty; חורים (kho reem), free-born; נדיב (neh 

        deeb); פרתמים  (pa ret teh meem), princes; יהיר (yaw yeer), honorable; 

        eugenhV (oy geh nes), generous; kreisswn (krays sone), more useful)

        persons doing illustrious deeds or otherwise distinguished for skill or ge-

        nius;  persons of high birth, title, or exalted position; and persons having

        moral qualities and ideals who are recognized for their morality and supe-

        riority.  The primitive meaning of khorim is “freed man.” A nobleman 

        freely supports and defends his community. 

NOD (דנו, wandering) A country east of Eden where Cain went and dwelt (Ge-

        nesis 4).  Possibly the name represents a play on words, a place of wande-

        ring for the condemned wanderer.

NODAB (נודב, noble)  A Hagrite people mentioned in connection with Jetur and 

        Napish as waging war against the Israelite tribes of Transjordan.   Kede-

        mah and Nodab are possibly different names for the same people.

NOGAH (נגה, shining) One of the sons of David who were born at Jerusalem; 

        some scholars believe it is a scribal error, that it should read Nepheg.

NOHAH (נוחה, rest) The fourth born of Benjamin (I Chronicles 8).

NOMADISM.   A way of life in which a people have no permanent home, but 

        move from place to place seeking game or pasture in a pattern based on a

        center or a direction. Climate, topography, & technological advance deter-

        mine the nomadic style.  The nomad is respected by sedentary neighbors, 

        despite his seeming poverty. 

                   There are three significantly different types of nomadism found in 

        all parts of the world and in all periods of history.  Hunting and collecting 

        nomads are made up of separate bands who rarely assembled together as 

        tribes.  The band’s size depends on food supply; there is little surplus and 

        no developed division of labor; poverty is the prevalent condition.  Some-

        times these bands became pastoral nomads, but not always.

                   The pastoral nomads follow a consistent pattern of grazing, regu-

        lated by the season and type of herd or flock; wealth is in the herd, and 

        all have a greater security than the hunting nomad.  The same democratic

        practice prevails, but the voice of the wealthier elder is more likely to car-

        ry the day.   The division of labor is on a sexual basis.   Agricultural no-

        mads stay in one spot until the crop has exhausted the land.

                   Most present-day Bedouins are camel nomads who also possess 

        horses, but it is a fallacy to believe that the modern nomad is a pattern of

        the patriarch.  The camel is mentioned in several stories of the patriarch, 

        but other historical evidence supports the Midianites of the 1100s B.C.—

        when camels were first domesticated—as the first true camel nomads.  

        The patriarchs seem to be typical ass nomads.   Also, contrary to older 

        theories, nomadism does not fit into an evolutionary pattern.  Similarly, 

        well-developed cities go back to Neolithic times.  Therefore, nomadism

        & strict moralism are by no means part of Israel’s revolutionary process. 

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                   Nomads are erupting into the centers of civilization at the beginning

        of  our records.  The pressure of nomads on settled communities is reflec-

        ted in many of the documents from Mari.  Some think the Hyksos and Ha-

        biru also reflect Semitic nomadic movements.  The Arameans came into 

        the picture about the middle of the 1000s B.C. Other nomads came down 

        from the northern steppes.  The Hurrians, Hittites, and later the Medes and

        still later the Parthians perhaps reflect this same pattern of conquest and 

        renewal.

                   Jabal, a descendant of Cain, is the father of nomads; the patriarchs 

        are pictured as ass nomads.  Abraham’s tent may have been divided into 2,

        with the wife behind the curtain in her quarter.   The Ishmaelites are 

        throughout the Old Testament and in modern times related to Arab nomads;

        Ishmaelite place names and encampments support identification with the 

        Arabs.  Isaac’s story seems consistent with a semi-nomadic state.  Jacob’s 

        return from Laban is described like the movement of a tribe of nomads with

        several tents.   Jacob’s family seeking provender from Joseph in Egypt is 

        paralleled by many similar events in Egypt.

                   The Kenites and the Midianites seem to be tent-dwelling nomads. 

        In Egypt the Israelites lived in the area frequented by nomads and semi-no-

        mads.  Moses takes refuge among a pastoral nomadic tribe.  The promise 

        of a land flowing with milk and honey is calculated to appeal to such no-

        mads whose traditions were on a mere sustenance level.  The tabernacle 

        can be appropriate  only as a shrine for people with a nomadic tradition.

                   In the Conquest as described in Joshua and Judges there are ele-

        ments of ass nomadism.  Some of Israel remained in tents and were shep-

        herds long after the settlement.  The Rechabites intensified this traditional

        nomadic ideal.  All the prophets championed this nomadic ideal against the 

        seductiveness and idolatry of urban society.  Later generations would say

        when referring to Jacob, “a wandering Aramean was my father.”

                   Throughout history the conflict between nomads and city dwellers 

        has continued.   The clash is intensified whenever drought brings on scar-

        city of game or pasture.   The nomad acquires foreign wives by capture and

        is perhaps influenced by his latest acquisition to abandon some of his no-

        madic traditions & ideals.   For some reason, nomadic tribes which seek to 

        conquer agricultural societies usually prevails, as Israel did over Canaan.

                   The Near East saw many raids, infiltrations, and conquests of set-

        tled communities by nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes.   The Israelites 

        themselves raided, conquered, and opposed the remnants of Canaanite 

        civilization, but were in turn harassed by Midianites Moabites, Ammo-

        nites, etc.   There was within Israel a conflict between those who became  

        urbanized and those who lived as semi-nomads.  

                   The prophets from Nathan to Elijah tried to keep the nomadic ideal

        alive.  It reached its zenith in the Rechabites, who didn't drink wine.   A 

        certain type of moralism, strictly enforced, characterizes the nomad in all

        periods of history.  Vengeance is also characteristic of nomadic society 

        and is perhaps reflected in the “eye for an eye, tooth for tooth” verse (Exo-

        dus 21; Leviticus 24).  In direct contrast, hospitality is also traditional in 

        nomadic society.  This custom was horribly broken in Sisera’s murder by 

        Jael.       

NOPHAH (נפח, blowing) A town of Moab, mentioned poetically in Amorite king 

        Sihon's exploits.

NORTH COUNTRY, THE (ןצפו ארץ (eh rets  tsaw phone)) A name applied by

        the prophets to the country of any invader of Palestine that approached 

        from the north.  Since Palestine was a land bridge in the ancient world,

        its principal international highways ran north and south.

                   For those Hebrews who believed that manifestations of their own 

        god, Yahweh, likewise came from the north, a prophet’s reference to a 

        foe from the north might have been interpreted as an encounter with an 

        army of God’s own avengers.  When a dominant nation menaced the 

        Hebrews, a veiled reference by the prophet to the foe from the north 

        country would be readily identified by the people.  Sometimes it is As-

        syria, together with its western provinces.  It is at other times the Chal-

        dean kingdom in Babylonia, Persia, or the Seleucid kingdom of Syria.  

        Sometimes non-Semitic northerners are mentioned, in which case they

        appear to be mercenary allies or dependents in the armies of the stron-

        ger nation.

NORTHEASTER  (Eurokulwn (oy ro koo lone)) Name of a northeasterly gale 

        wind before which Paul’s ship was driven (Acts 27).

NORTHERNER  (הצפוני  (ha tseh foh nie), expectation) A term which ap-

        parently refers to locust swarms which, contrary to usual circumstances, 

        came to Jerusalem from the north.  God promised removal of the locust 

        plague and with it the shame and distress which the plague had caused.  

        Joel’s choice of the term “northerner” for the locusts must have reminded

        many of the earlier prophecies concerning the enemy from the north.

N-30

NOSE RINGS (נזמי האף (nee zeh my  haw ‘af))  The word nezem may desig-

        nate a nose ring.   Figurative reference is made to putting a ring on the    

        nose, as a gift of the Lord to Israel.

NOT MY PEOPLE  (לא עמי (lo ‘am mi))  Symbolic name given by the pro-

        phet Hosea to his 3rd child, a son, to indicate God’s impending judgment 

        upon Israel (Hosea 1).

NOT PITIED (לא רחמה ( lo  rah kheh mah), compassion, mercy)  Symbo-

        lic name given by the prophet Hosea to his second child, a daughter, to 

        indicate God’s impending judgment upon Israel (Hosea 1).

NUMBERS (מספר (mes seh fawr); מנין (me neh yawn)  The Hebrews don't

        appear to have taken any interest in theoretical mathematics, but they ap-

        plied such math tools as they had to cope with various practical problems;

        they were greatly indebted to the older and more advanced civilizations.

                   Egyptian & Mesopotamian Mathematics—As early as the 3000s

        B.C. the Egyptians had developed a method of writing large numbers, 

        based on a rigid decimal system.   Ones were represented by single 

        strokes, the tens by an inverted “u,” & there were symbols for 100, 1,000, 

        10,000, 100,000, 1,000,000.   To write "985" required 22 symbols in-

        stead of the minimum of 3.   Addition and subtraction were no problem, 

        but they had some difficulty with multiplication and division.  Common 

        fractions were too much for them to cope with, so they avoided them in 

        computation.   Those having a numerator one less than the denominator  

        (2/3, ¾, 4/5, etc.) were frequently used and had special symbols. 

                   A notable accomplishment of the Egyptian mathematics was the 

        equation of the area of a circle with a square whose sides were 8/9 of the

        diameter.  Egyptian mathematics reached its peak of development in the

        1000s B.C., a fact we learned through the Moscow Papyrus, dating 

        around 1850 B.C., and  the Rind Mathematical Papyrus from about 1650

        B.C.  Although Egyptian and Sumero-Akkadian mathematics were of 

        about equal antiquity, the Egyptian remained the more primitive. 

                   In Mesopotamia a remarkable level was achieved in mathematics 

        and geometry.  From earliest times the Sumerians and Akkadians knew 

        both the numbering system based on 6 and that based on ten.  The two 

        systems blended without difficulty, preserving the advantages of each.  

        Its use continues in our divisions of time, the degrees of a circle, the do-

        zen, and the gross.  In the cuneiform system, as in the Egyptian, unity

        was represented by a vertical stroke or wedge; ten was represented by a 

        tailless wedge.  The symbol for unity was also used for 60.   Another 

        cause of uncertainty is that a blank space sometimes indicated "0".  The  

        problem of common fractions was partially solved by converting them 

        into ones with a denominator of 60.

                   The Sumerians and Akkadians made extensive application of prac-

        tical mathematics in the complex business dealings.  The Mesopotamian 

        mathematicians knew how to square and to extract the root of a number.

        They were acquainted with the Pythagorean Theorem, and were able to 

        make practical application of the knowledge in metrology and in building.  

        The rudiments of algebra were known to them. 

                   Biblical Mathematics—The Old Testament (OT) presents a lot of 

        data on the Hebrews’ use of numbers, but most of it is simple enumera-

        tion.    The Hebrews were familiar with the 4 basic operation of arithmetic.

         Basic arithmetical operations are illustrated in several simple examples: 

        addition, Numbers 1 and 26; subtraction, Genesis 18; multiplication, Levi-

        ticus 25; Numbers 7; division Numbers 31.  Since the Hebrew system was 

        decimal, the tenths were much used.   The problem of converting mixed 

        fractions to a common denominator was avoided.  The Hebrew phrase she-

        tay hayadot, “two hands,” meant two parts (out of three); “four hands” 

        means “4-5ths.”  This form of the idiom, like “two mouths,” also came to 

        mean “twice as much. 

                   The measurements of the temple's molten sea, 10 cubits in diameter

        and 30 cubits in circumference, show that the value of p was known only 

        approximately.  The earliest treatise on geometry, Mishnat ham-Middot, 

        written around 150 A.D., gives the value of p as 3 1/7.   We have little or 

        no data outside the OT to illustrate the ancient Hebrews’ dealing with 

        numbers. 

                   In the OT, the numerals are always spelled out.   The fact that we 

        have no evidence for the use of symbols for numbers among the Hebrews 

        doesn't have to mean that they didn't have and use some system of fi-

        gures.  Aramaic inscriptions of the time spell out the numerals and also 

        use figures.  In view of the fact that other peoples around them used sym-

        bols and the written names for the numerals, it seems likely that the pre-

        exilic Israelites also used symbols.  

                   The use of the letters of the alphabet for numbers is first found on  

        Maccabean coins.  The units are denoted by aleph-mem, the tens by yod-

        tsada, the first 400 by qoph-tet, 500 by tet plus the symbol for the other 

        hundreds.  Some numbers given in the OT are obviously absurd, discre-

        pant, and suspect.  The tradition of how to represent certain numbers has

        changed over the years and has added to the confusion.

N-31

                   Rhetorical, Cultic, and Symbolic Use of Numbers—The rhetorical

        and symbolic use of numbers is a part of biblical literature.  Many of the 

        uses have parallels in Egyptian, Sumerian, Akkadian, Canaanite, and Hit-

        tite literature.  The frequency of certain numbers suggests these numbers 

        had special significance.  The use of a numeral with its sequel in a poetic 

        clause is related to a similar rhetorical device in northwestern Semitic 

        poetry. 1 and 2 are used in Deut. 32,   Job 33 and 40, and Jer. 3; 2 and 3 

        are used in Hos. 6 and Is. 17. 3 and 4 are used in Prov. 30 and Amos 1-2.  

        4 and 5 are used in Is. 17 with the pair mentioned earlier; 5 and 6 don't 

        appear in the OT. 6 and 7 are used in Job 5 and Prov. 6. 7 and 8 are used 

        in Micah 5. 

                   "10's" convenience as the basis of the decimal system derives obvi-

        ously from the use of the fingers for simple calculations.  As a sacred num-

        ber, 10 may derive some of its significance from the fact that it is the sum 

        of the two other especially sacred numbers, 3 and 7.   The Ten Command-

        ments lent themselves to the number's sanctity.  The tithe as a convenient 

        fraction also became a sacred figure.   Patriarchs before the Flood num-

        bered 10, as did the patriarchs after the Flood.   Of multiples of 10, 40 and 

        50 are common round numbers.   Multiples of a thousand are used for 

        hyperbole.

                   The Jewish historian Josephus in the preface to his Antiquities says 

        that Moses expressed some things enigmatically, but Josephus apparently 

        did not understand this to apply to numbers in particular.  The Talmudic, 

        Midrashic, and Cabalistic literatures developed and used for the interpre-

        tation of the Scriptures a sort of numerology called Gematria, which 

        sought to discover a hidden sense of the Hebrew text. The letters of the al-

        phabet were given numerical values.   

                    Christians took over this mode of exegesis.  This mode of interpre-

        tation has almost limitless possibilities and was carried to fantastic limits

        in the Cabalistic literature.  The one authentic example of this sort of num-

        ber game is "666."  One interpretation links it with the Roman Empire 

        (lateinos), whose Greek letters add up to 666.  Other candidates are Nero 

        and Trajan Hadrianus.   There can be no certainty, but Nero appears to be 

        the most likely candidate. 

NUMBERS, BOOK OF (במדבר (beh me deh bar), In the wilderness)  The  

        4^th book of the first 5 books of the Old Testament (OT).  It contains ele-

        ments from all 4 of the principal sources—the Yahwist (J), the Elohwist   

        (E), the Deuteronomist (D), and the Priestly Writer (P)—and its narra-

        tive is continuous with the books before and after it.  The Hebrew name 

        is the first Hebrew word of this book, while in the English Bible it is 

        taken from the Latin Numeri, which is in turn a translation of the title in 

        the Primary Greek OT, Arithmoi.  The English, Latin, and Greek refer to 

        the numbering the tribes, which occupies only chapters 1-4, and 26; it is 

        by no means the book’s most distinctive feature. 

                   Outline and Sources—Since the book has no real unity, whatever

        outline may be imposed upon it is largely subjective and arbitrary.  The 

        narrative suggests a rough division into 3major periods: Israel’s journey 

        from Sinai to Canaan; the 40 years of wandering; and the final, trium-
    phant march to the edge of the Jordan opposite Jericho. The book’s geo-

        graphy suggests the division into: events at Sinai (20 days); events in the 

        desert south of Palestine (38 years); and events in Edom and Moab, east 

        of the Dead Sea (5 months +).

                   The 1st section, nearly 10 chapters, is entirely concerned with cen-

        sus details and other information of a purely legal or ecclesiastical charac-

        ter.   The 2nd section, the next 10 chapters, contains the people’s com-

        plaints about their diet and the choice of 70 elders to assist Moses (chapter

        11); Miriam and Aaron’s opposition (12); spy report (13); failed invasion 

        of Canaan (14); Korah, Dathan, and Abiram rebellion (16); water from the 

        Kadesh rock (first part of 20).

                   The 3rd section, 17 chapters, is in some ways the most important, 

        containing as it does so many valuable fragments of ancient Hebrew poe-

        try.  The stories it contains are:  refusal of Edom’s king to grant Hebrews 

        passage (last part of 20); Israel’s defeat of the Amorite king Sihon, and the 

        Bashan king Og (21); Israel’s triumph over King Balak and his seer, Ba-

        laam (22-24).

                   Strung out on this thread of narrative and geography, are laws and 

        statistical summaries which are likely to bore the ordinary reader.  The 1st

        section records tribe sizes, the camp arrangement, and Levite numbers 

        and duties (chapters 1-4); the treatment of lepers and wives accused of 

        adultery (5); Nazarite vow (6); sanctuary gifts (7); Levite ordination (8); 

        supplementary passover (9); and silver trumpets (first part of 10).     

                  The 2nd statistical and legal section adds to the basic narrative 

        some laws with regard to sacrifice (15); the income of the priests and Le-

        vites (18); and purification after contact with the dead (19).  The 3rd sec-

        tion contains the 2^nd census (26); female inheritance rules (27 and 36); a 

        sacrifice schedule (28-29); validity of a woman’s vows (30); Israel’s itine-

        rary from Egypt to the plains of Moab (33); Promised Land apportionment

        (34); Levitical cities and places of refuge for homicides (35).  It is perhaps 

        better not to think of it as a book so much as a more or less arbitrary divi-

        sion in the larger structure of the first 5 books of the OT.

                   The D element in Numbers is confined to a small part of chapter 21;

        J, E, P Writers are all represented. The main source is P, which is nearly ¾

        of the book; within P itself there are 3 clear divisions.  The combined JE 

        writings are clearly distinct from P, but J cannot be easily separated from E,

        even though clearly there are two parallel narratives going on at the same 

        time.

                   The Narratives—While some of the legal and statistical material in

        the opening chapters is written ostensibly in narrative form, the book’s true 

        narrative begins in the last two-thirds of 10.  At the chapter’s end the editor 

        who combined J & E has preserved two ancient battle cries associated with

        the ark's movement.  Chapters 11-12 (JE) narrate the problems which Mo-

        ses faced as leader of a dissatisfied and rebellious people.  Into this has 

        been interwoven the choosing of 70 elders and their endowment with a por-

        tion of Moses’ spirit.

                   The next 2 chapters (13-14) deal with the dispatch of spies into the 

        Promised Land.  According to P, spies went through the whole land and, 

        with Caleb and Joshua dissenting, brought back a report that it was unpro-

        ductive; in JE they go only through the Negeb.   The people’s reaction to 

        the spies’ report is punished by their condemnation to 40 years of desert 

        wandering.  

                   The story of the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram in 16 is 

        also clearly composite.  In the JE account Dathan and Abiram, members 

        of the Reuben tribe complain of Moses’ arrogance; according to P, Korah's

        revolt was in support of a doctrine of the priesthood of all believers.  

        Some scholars break down P further and present a third story in which Ko-

        rah is represented as a Levite.  The theme of chapter 17 is closely related 

        to that of the Korah story in its original form.

                   Chapter 20 tells of the transition from the wilderness wandering 

        period to that of progress toward the Promised Land when the 40 years 

        were over, explaining none too clearly that Moses and Aaron weren’t per-

        mitted to enter Canaan with the tribes because of some unspecified sin of 

        disbelief.  Moses requests permission for his people to pass peacefully 

        through Edom, but has to lead them by a different, less direct route.   

                                     N-32

       

                     In Chapter 21, their journey's story is seemingly interrupted by

        the story of the bronze serpent.  Eventually they reach the southern bor-

        ders of Moab; 2 quotations of ancient Hebrew poetry are included in this

        section.  The remainder of  the chapter contains another enigmatic poem 

        fragment.  Of the 35 verses, 30 are from JE, 2 are from P, and 3 are from 

        D.  In many ways the most valuable part of Numbers is chapters 22-24, 

        which tell of King Balak, Balaam the seer, and a series of undoubtedly 

        ancient oracles.

                   In the analysis of 22’s verses, there is a clear split  between J and   

        E.  Verses 2-21 & the last half of verse 35 through verse 41 are E; the rest

         is J.   The oracles of chapters 23-24 are derived from more than one 

        source. Chapter 25, which tells of the people’s apostasy at Shittim, can be 

        divided between JE in the first 5 verses, and P for the rest.  The last half 

        of 27 is P, as is chapter 31.  Chapter 32, the concluding narrative of Num-

        bers and the last to exhibit traces of the JE document, tells of Reuben and

        Gad’s settlement east of the Jordan. 

                   The Law and Statistics—The Numbers narrative is in many places

        used simply as an artificial setting for the publication of laws, which be-

        long to P.  Besides the regulations concerning the Levites in chapters 1-4, 

        the first important collection of laws is found in chapters 5-6.  It is evident

        that this material isn’t homogeneous and that no discernible principle go-

        verns its compilation.  It provides the classic instance of the use of the ord-

        eal in the OT. This inconsistent and repetitive account shows that the pre-

        sent law in chapter 5:11-31 has a long  literary history behind it.  The other

        important law in this section describes the Nazirites (6). 

                   The first 3 verses of chapter 8 give directions with regard to the lamp

        stand of the tabernacle.   The period of service assigned to Levites in this 

        chapter doesn't not agree with the provisions of chapter 4.  Chapter 9 pro-

        vides that those who are unable to take part in the Passover because of 

        ceremonial uncleanness may celebrate it a month later on the same date.  

                   Chapter 10 gives directions for the blowing of the 2 silver trumpets

        for calling an assembly.  The laws of chapter 15 have no relation either to 

        the context in which they are now found or to one another.  Verses 22-31 

        are of great importance for the clear distinction they make between unwit-

        ting offenses and sins done “with a high hand.”  Without a clear understan-

        ding of this distinction, the interpreter is likely to misinterpret the whole 

        priestly system of atonement. 

                  Chapter 18 is more closely related to the narrative than is ordinarily 

        the case.  The rebellion of the Levites and the vindication of the superiority

        of the Aaronic priesthood in the preceding chapters is followed by this 

        chapter, which deals with the proper functions of the Levites.  Chapter 19 

        once again exhibits the phenomenon of complete irrelevance to context, 

        since it deals with purification of those who have touched the dead.  It can 

        hardly have been a part of the original P document. 

                   In distinction to the religious laws previously discussed, the law of 

        27 is of a civil nature, dealing with the inheritance of property.  Ancient He-

        brew law allowed only sons to inherit.  The present law provides a more 

        rational method of dealing with the problem of no sons. Chapter 36 pro-

        vides that women who inherit property in this fashion shall marry only 

        within the tribe.  Chapters 28-29 contain a schedule of the public taberna-

        cle offerings.  All of chapter 30 is occupied with a discussion of women’s

        vows.  Chapter 35 returns again to the subject of the Levites and provides 

        them 48 cities in the new land of Canaan. 

                   It is the large amount of purely statistical information incorporated in 

        Numbers which makes it seem tedious to the modern reader.  Some of it 

        seems purely idealistic and unhistorical, while in other cases it seems that 

        there must be historical information behind it.  Chapters 1-4 contain the re-

        sults of the census made at Sinai toward the end of the sojourn at the holy 

        mount.  Chapter 7 lists the offerings made by the tribal chiefs at the taber-

        nacle’s consecration.  In chapter 26 a 2nd census of Israel is recorded.  

        Chapter 33 is a brief description of the whole journey, and chapter 34 de-

        scribes the ideal boundaries of the land of Canaan. 

                   Historical and Religious Value—The question of the historical 

        value of Numbers really belongs to the question of the historical reliability 

        of the first 5 books of the OT.  The P document in Numbers can be largely

        disregarded, so far s history is concerned.  It is thought by many scholars 

        that the 2 periods covered by JE preserve the memory of two different inva-

        sions made at widely separated periods by different groups of tribes.  It is 

        probable that some genuine historical memories are preserved in the 

        place names.  The JE document in Numbers is good historical evidence 

        for Hebrew traditions in the days of the early monarchy. 

                   Along with the rest of the 5 books, Numbers bears witness to some 

        of the basic convictions of Israel:   that God manifests God’s self in histo-

        ry, that God demands obedience and is able to accomplish God’s good 

        purposes.  Furthermore, the character of Moses in this book appears in a 

        more attractive and religiously suggestive light than it does elsewhere; he 

        appears as a deeply compassionate  human being, who sympathizes with 

        others even in their sins.  Some elements from this traditional picture of 

        Moses have undoubtedly entered into the portrait of the Servant of the 

        Lord in Second Isaiah. 

                   Finally, one must admit that much of Numbers can hardly be re-

        garded as having any direct religious significance for the modern reader. 

        It does serve as a reminder that the Old Testament story is intended to be

        read as history and not as myth. If one would understand the religion of 

        the Old Testament, one must first of all grasp this history-centered menta-

        lity of the people who produced it.

                        N-33

NUN (PERSON) (נון, fish) Nothing is reported about Nun except that he was

        the father of Joshua and consequently a member of the tribe of Ephraim.

NUN (נ) The 14th letter of the Hebrew alphabet as it is placed in the King 

        James Version at the head of the 14th section of Psalm 119, where each

        verse of this section of the psalm begins with this letter.

NUNC DIMITTIS.   Traditional designation of the Song of Simeon, one of 3 

        psalms in Luke’s nativity story.  The song emphasizes the universal impli-  

        cations of the Incarnation, which is a “light” for the Gentiles.

NURSE (מנקתה (may nee keh taw); אמן (‘oh mane), nurse-father; trofoV 

        (tro fos))  A woman engaged to suckle or to take charge of an infant.  Chil-

        dren were nursed perhaps up to 3 years of age.   A wet nurse was occasio-

        nally used.  Such women had a firm place in the family circle, and honor 

        was theirs.   In most instances the nurse seems to remain as servant.   It is 

        probable that male tutors were sometimes considered nurses; Moses was 

        called “nurse” in Numbers 11.     Paul considered himself “nurse” to the 

        Thessalonians (chapter 2).

NUTS (אגוז (eg oz); בטנים (bot neem), pistachio)  The edible seeds of se-

        veral species of fruit trees.  “I went down to the nut orchard” is part of a 

        description of the springtime in the Song of Songs [Solomon] 6. 

                   The walnut tree is a native of Persia; it was introduced to Palestine 

        from there.  Some of the “choice fruits of the land” sent by Jacob down to

        gypt included pistachio nuts. The pistachio nut is considered a delicacy in

        all the Near East  Coming from Syria, roasted nuts are readily available in

        the markets of Jordan.     

NUZI.  A city to the east of Ashhur, which flourished around 1500 B.C.  The Nuzi 

        Texts throw much light on the social customs of the patriarchs.  The vast 

        majority of the people of that district were Hurrians. 

                   The present site of Nuzi is 240 km north of Baghdad; it was exca-

        vated in 1925-31.  The name Nuzi was in use during the Hurrian occupa-

        tion of the city.   The name is best known to us from local documents 

        which cover the 1400s and 1300s, when the whole area was a province 

        of Mitanni.  The city itself declined rapidly after its conquest by the As-

        syrians, in the late 1300s or early 1200s B.C. 

                   Prior to the Hurrian settlement, the earliest occupation goes back to 

        prehistoric times.  Later, in the Old Akkadian period, the city bore the name

        of Gasur.  The cuneiform texts of the Nuzi period number several thousand

        from private and public archives.  There is also an important collection 

        from nearby Arrapkha.  Together they provide commentary on the life and 

        customs of the Hurrians.  This particular community is far to the east of the 

        Middle Euphrates Valley where the patriarchs lived before their arrival in 

        Palestine, but there was a similar, Hurrian-dominated community at Mitan-

        ni so the results at Nuzi are valid there as well. 

                   The following are some of the available instances of biblical con-

        cepts that can now be traced back to the Hurrians.  The texts from Arrap-

        kha and Nuzi have supplied the details behind Rachel’s possession of her

        father’s teraphim, or “house gods.”   In special circumstances, property 

        could pass to a daughter’s husband, but only if the father had given his 

        house gods to his son-in-law as a formal token that legalized the 

        arrangement. 

                   In 3 passages of Gen. 12, 20, and 26, a patriarch’s wife is intro-

        duced as his sister, for no apparent worthy reason.  The Nuzi Texts, de-

        monstrate that in Hurrian society the bonds of marriage were most so-

        lemn when the wife had legally the status of sister at the same time.   

        Thus, in falling back on the wife-sister equation, both Abraham and Isaac

        were availing themselves of the strongest safeguards that the law could 

        afford them. 

                   Nuzi marriage contracts occasionally include that a given slave girl

        is presented outright to a new bride, exactly as in the case with Leah.  

        Other marriage provisions in the Nuzi Documents specify that a wife who

        had borne her husband no sons was expected to furnish him with a slave 

        girl as concubine; the wife was entitled to treat the concubine’s offspring

        as her own.  In Hurrian society birthright wasn't so much a matter of chro-

        nological priority as of paternal decree.  Such decrees were binding above

        all others when made as a deathbed declaration which began: “Now that I 

        have grown old.” 

                   Aside from supplying an authentic background for the patriarchs, the

        Nuzi Tablets also help to clarify the complex problem of the Habiru, the 

        majority of whom were of Akkadian origin. All Habiru of these documents 

        were outsiders and shared an inferior social status.  The material before us 

        bears out the conclusion that the term “Habiru” was largely a designation 

        for a particular class of people, and not a distinctive ethnic name.   Thus, 

        the small city of Nuzi, gone before the time of Moses, left us with resources

        that can still shed light on the ancient Near East, including Palestine.

NYMPHA (Numfa) A Christian in whose house a church held its meetings, and

        to whom Paul sends greeting.  The name could be masculine or feminine.  

        It is impossible to decide which is right, though the feminine form has the

        disadvantage of being Doric for the more usual Nymphe.

                                N-34