S
SABBATH (שבﬨ (shah bawth), rest, cease) In origin, the closing day
of a seven-day week. The noun is derived
from the verb meaning “to cease, to abstain, to desist from, to terminate, to
be at an end.” In its early stages the
Sabbath was observed as a day upon which all physical labor was taboo, probably
because it was regarded as an unlucky, evil day, under the control of gods or
spirits hostile to humankind. Ultimately
it became a day of positive worship of the Deity, with both abstention from
ordinary occupations and assemblage
in the synagogue. Judaism has always
observed the Sabbath upon the seventh day of the week, Saturday. So fundamental did sabbath observance become
in the ritual expression of Judaism from the 400s B.C. onward that the most
extreme penalties were prescribed for its violation, at first excommunication, but
ultimately death itself.
SABBATICAL YEAR (השמטה שנﬨ (sheh nat ha sheh me tah), year of release [from
debt]; שנﬨ שבﬨון (sheh nat
shah baw tone), year of ceasing [agricultural] labor) The final year in a cycle
of seven years; an institution of ancient Israelite time-reckoning and
religious, social, and economic practice.
It had its origin in
the “50-day” calendar, the earliest calendar current among the ancient Semitic
peoples, a calendar of strictly agricultural character. In this calendar the seventh or sabbatical
year bore to the other years precisely the same relationship as the sabbath
bore to the other days. 7 years made up
another, larger unit of time-reckoning, with the 7th and final year
observed as a taboo year, in which, for its entire duration, all agricultural
labor ceased.
In the original
Holiness Code legislation for the sabbatical year, two late, priestly revisions
can be detected. They coin the new and
decidedly descriptive title shenat
shabaton, the “year of sabbatical desistance.” These revisions indicate a Jewish sectarian
movement of the late 300s or early 200s (325-275 B.C.), recruited from the
rural Jewish community of Palestine
The dominant
practice of the Jewish farmers of the first half of the 100s B.C. caused
Beth-zur to fall to Antiochus V because the food supply of the garrison, scanty
in a sabbatical year, was quickly exhausted.
Josephus tells that under John Hyrcanus the Jewish nation refrained
from aggressive warfare during the sabbatical year. Julius Caesar remitted the annual tribute of
the Jewish people in the sabbatical year.
Various Jewish
sectarians groups stressed the observance of the sabbatical year in its primary
aspect, by leaving the fields lie fallow, and also as a convenient unit of
time. Jubilees, a Jewish sectarian
writing, tells that Enoch “recounted the Sabbaths of the years,” with the 7th
and final year of each cycle a sabbatical year, undoubtedly strictly observed
by the members of this sect. The Qumran groups of roughly 200 years (134
B.C.-68 B.C., likewise observed the sabbatical year.
SABEAN (סבאי or שבאי) A
Semitic people who dwelt in the southwest corner of the Arabian Peninsula , and who traded in spices, gold,
and precious stones. Seba is perhaps the
name of a Sabean colony, in Africa . The Sabeans
occupied that part of southwestern Arabia which roughly corresponds to modern Yemen Arabia , augmented in antiquity through
enormous irrigation works. Located as
they were on the periphery of the ancient Near East at a safe distance from the
great empires to the north, the Sabeans enjoyed comparative peace and
security.
During the 200s and 100s B.C., Saba became increasingly weak. Qataban and Ma’in emerged as the dominant
southern Arabia states. In 24 B.C., Augustus
Caesar, seeking to share in the lucrative incense trade, dispatched Aelius
Gallus to conquer this area. After a
disastrous march, Aelius Gallus laid siege to Marib; six days later he lifted
the siege, because of lack of water.
Contact with the Greco-Roman world was made early in this period and
increased greatly during the hundred years before and after the beginning of
the Christian Era. Objects influenced by
Greek art were imported or were made locally from imported molds.
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SADDUCEES
(ﬢוקיםצ (tsad do
keem), from the name of Zadok (meaning “just) the high priest; Saddoukaioi) The priestly aristocratic party in Judaism, whose
interests centered in the temple, and whose views and practices opposed those
of the Pharisees. The Sadducees supported the Hasmonean development of
the Jewish state. The Sadducees suffered
heavily in the revolt against Rome 70
A .D.
History—The
name Sadducee was probably derived from the Zadok who was, together with
Abiathar, priest under David and was appointed chief priest by Solomon. It is now commonly accepted that the name
Sadducee was derived from Solomon’s priest Zadok, who became the father of the Jerusalem Jerusalem
The Jewish priesthood is
traditionally said to have descended from Aaron. While the Sadducees derived their name and
lineage from Zadok, it appears that they emerged as a party in Judaism during
Maccabean times. It appears that the old
priesthood, heavily influenced by Greek culture, was disrupted by the
rebellion. This necessitated the
creation of a new high-priestly line.
The priestly party
of the Sadducees must have grown about the loyal priesthood and centered in the
new Hasmonean high priests. It was not
until recognized divisions or schools of thought and practice arose in Judaism
that the Sadducees became known as a party.
The doctrine of resurrection that was put forward around this time,
along with other factors that various groups could not agree on, became a means
of creating different parties within Judaism.
The Hasmoneans
continued as high priests until the Roman period, usually with the support of
the temple priesthood. The Hasmonean
break with the Pharisees, possibly under Hyrcanus, was probably over the
spectacle of the high priest’s engaging in military exploits. With Aristobulus (104-103 B.C.), the
Hasmonean priest-rulers adopted the royal title. When Salome Alexandra (76-67) succeeded her
husband, Alexander Janneus (103-76), to the throne, she appointed her elder
son, Hyrcanus II, high priest without civil authority. For the first time the Pharisees became
influential in the government.
Aristobulus II
(67-63), a younger but more vigorous son of Janneus, began an insurrection in
which, after his mother’s death, he displaced Hyrcanus as high priest and
resumed the royal title of his father.
When Hyrcanus was induced by Antipater to seek to regain his crown,
there followed a struggle between the brothers that was concluded only by the
intervention of Rome
Knowledge of the Sadducees under the
Romans is primarily to be derived from Josephus’ accounts of the high
priesthood. The rise of Herod, however,
did represent a usurpation of power that the priests considered rightfully
theirs. Hence, it was possibly Sadducean
pressure that stirred Hyrcanus II to bring Herod to trial for the execution of a
brigand chief. Antigonus, son of
Aristobulus II, probably received Sadducean support when he drove out the now
pro-Herod Hyrcanus II. The Sadducees
suffered in Herod’s revenge when he took Jerusalem
Characteristics,
Views and Doctrines—Scholarly opinion usually has characterized the
Sadducees as the high priestly party that supported the introduction of Greek culture
under Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and also supported the Hasmoneans. Being at home in Greek culture, and with
political interests, they supported the status quo. The Pharisees are described as Jews, loyal to
the law and resisting Greek influence.
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But it is doubtful
that Greek influences survived in the priesthood after the Maccabean
Rebellion. And it has been shown that
the Pharisees were influenced by Greek culture to such a degree that Greek
culture can no longer be an effective distinction. Any Greek influences on either party must
have been largely incidental and unconscious.
It is now known that Josephus exaggerated the importance of the
Pharisees, in order to suggest that the Romans should support the Pharisees,
if they hoped to succeed in their dealings with the Jews.
Other opinions
depict the Sadducean-Pharisaic distinction as one between economic classes
(provincial aristocrat vs. urban merchant), one based on differing views as to
the nature of Judaism (political vs. religious), or one based on the nature of
religion (temple and priesthood vs. synagogue and teachers). But such sharp distinctions do not seem to
have existed between the Sadducees and the Pharisees.
The Sadducees are better
understood as defenders of their priestly prerogatives (i.e. temple service and
the priestly interpretation of the law).
The Sadducees learned from the outlawing of Judaism by Antiochus IV
Epiphanes, and the threat of temple desecration by Roman Emperors, that foreign
domination was more than political; it represented a constant threat to
continuous temple service, and the high priest’s right to rule.
Likewise, the
controversy with the Pharisees over the oral law probably arose from the
priestly prerogative to interpret the law.
Since the priesthood was concentrated in Jerusalem Jerusalem Jerusalem
Since any tradition
of interpretation tended to restrict the priestly interpretation of the law,
the Sadducees rejected the authority of the Pharisaic oral law. The Sadducean student need not regard the
teacher as authoritative; it was a virtue to discuss and dispute with
them. The Sadducees did not receive even
the Prophets and the Writings as authoritative commentaries on the law. The law stood alone unencumbered, subject to
immediate interpretation; any tradition of interpretation could be challenged.
All our information
concerning the Sadducees is from their opponents and must be regarded with
caution. The rabbinic materials continue
this tendency to disparage the Sadducees.
The Tannaitic period may preserve some historical information concerning
the Sadducees. Talmudic sources concur
with Josephus that in the later day public opinion forced the Sadducees to
yield to Pharisaic pressures. It is doubtful
that the Pharisees had any significant influence upon the priestly function of
the conduct of the temple service and festivals while the temple stood.
Whether discussions
on matters not so evidently of priestly jurisdiction are more reliable is doubtful. The Sadducees appear more lenient than the
Pharisees in the treatment of false witnesses; the Sadducees would not inflict
the death penalty unless the false testimony was instrumental in the execution
of the accused. The Sadducees extended
the power of contamination to indirect contact.
They are also said to have interpreted the verses in Deuteronomy 21 and
25, regarding inheritance rights literally, while the Pharisaic teachers were
inclined to interpret the words figuratively.
It would appear that the fundamental issues dividing Sadducees and
Pharisees were forgotten.
See also the entry in the main section.
SALAMIEL (Salamihl) An ancestor of Judith; son of Sarasadai.
See also the
entry in the main section.
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SALVATION (ישועה (yeh shoo ‘ah), deliverance, safety; גאל (gah ‘al), redeem, ransom, recover [debt];
swzein
(so tsine, save,
deliver, preserve, free; swthria (so teh ree ah), saving preservation, deliverance)
The saving or deliverance of a
person or group from spiritual destruction.
The Hebrew and Greek words which are translated in their religious
context as “salvation” actually have meanings that range from the most ordinary
and everyday sense of the word to the most profoundly theological and religious
sense. For instance, the Hebrew ga’al transforms from its original
meaning of recovering property to a word meaning “to deliver” or “to save,”
with God as go’al, the deliverer or
savior (Isaiah 41, 43, and 44).
Redemption is conceived as deliverance from adversity, oppression,
death, and captivity.
In the New Testament (NT), the
Greek sozein occurs more than 100
times; soteria is translated as
“salvation,” and is found 46 times in the NT.
“Savior” is represented by soter. It will be noted that the great majority of
uses occur in those parts of the NT which probably belong to the period after
the death of Paul. Perhaps under the
influence of Gnosticism, the title soter began
to be commonly used of Christ.
Salvation may be the ultimate
concern of all religion; different religions view salvation in very different
ways. While the canonical OT says little
about a coming savior other than God, the continued frustration of Jewish national
aspirations in the Greek and Roman eras gave rise to wishful dreaming about a
coming national salvation, a worldly
deliverer raised up by God. The
literature of these eras writes, not only of national salvation, but also of individual salvation, as opposed to the
corporate salvation that made up OT thought.
It introduces a doctrine of resurrection which envisages a distribution
of rewards and punishments after the individual’s death. Some literature has the expected salvation
take place on this earth, in a Jerusalem
The most striking developments of
the period are found in Enoch, Apocalypse of Baruch, and Assumption of Moses,
in which the scene of the expected salvation is laid beyond this world of time
and history. In Enoch, the messiah is a
wholly supernatural being, the Son of man, with whom in a transformed heaven
the elect live forever. The concept of
Isaiah’s Servant of Yahweh may have influenced Enoch’s concept of the heavenly
Son of man. This figure becomes righteous
by making the elect ones righteous, which means they are saved. God prepared this savior before the creation
of the world. This savior’s existence is
the guarantee that the oppressed righteous shall be delivered at the future
epiphany. There is no conception of the
redemption of the elect through the vicarious suffering of the Son of man. Isaiah’s Servant of Yahweh is identified with
the Messiah and turned into a nationalistic, political hero by the Targums.
Intertestamental
literature is valuable in understanding the NT’s prevalent ideologies, because
“the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet
it doth not apply them to establish doctrine.”
The most significant development in the salvation concept during the intertestamental
period is the transference of salvation from this world where the OT firmly puts
it, to the world to come, or to a millennium or long period of Utopian bliss
upon the earth after the intervention in history of God or God’s Messiah.
It is about 67 km north of Jerusalem Judah 40 km east of the Mediterranean Sea .
Samaria Palestine Jerusalem Plain of Esdraelon and the north. The hill itself is a long east-west ridge
which terminates in a summit on the west; the site is easily defensible. The modern village still there, Sebastiyeh,
preserves Herod’s name for it (Sebaste).
The Greek period,
beginning with Palestine Samaria 14.4
meters in diameter. Taken with other
structures found, they must be dated around 300 B.C.
The second defense
system replaced the Israelite casemate wall around the summit, and was a wall
about 3.9 meters thick. Portions of a similarly built city wall were
also found on the lower slopes near the western gate. These walls were probably constructed about the
middle of the 100s B.C. to protect the Seleucid city from the Maccabees. Between 111 and 107 John Hyrcanus besieged Samaria Samaria
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The Roman period is
divided into three phases. The first and
only one covered in this article covers the period from the Roman conquest of Palestine 70 A .D.). Following the capture of Jerusalem Samaria province of Syria
After Alexander the
Great, the territory of Samaria 6 A .D.
SAMARITANS (שמﬧני (sah meh roe nee), Jewish name for group; ﬧיםשמ (shah meh reem),
observant, group’s name for themselves; SamareithV) The term “Samaritans” is now restricted to a particular
religious
community, or sect living in Samaria
claims to be the remnant of Israel
possesses an ancient revision of the Old Testament’s first five books. Certain of its characteristic doctrines
reappear
in the Pseudepigrapha (writings under an assumed famous name) of the Old
Testament and in the
Dead Sea Scrolls.
The rivalry between the
Samaritans and the Jews reached its culmination in the erection of a Samaritan
temple on Mount Gerizim Jerusalem
Scholars have long suspected the
authenticity of this story. The marriage
tale seems to be an elaboration of a very similar incident, 100 years before
the story in question. The Jews tried to
discredit the Samaritan temple by associating it with the familiar “unfrocked”
priest incident, while the Samaritans had sought to give it equal status with
the Jerusalem
The Samaritan temple on Gerizim was
razed by John Hyrcanus in 129/128 B.C., in exasperation over their prolonged
apostasy and treachery. The Samaritans
designate as the “era of favor” the time, from the conquest of Canaan until the apostasy of Eli, when
the presence of God rested on Gerizim, approximately 260 years. Going back 260 years from its destruction in
128, would put the construction at 388 B.C.
The Samaritans’ subsequent history
is related by Josephus. During the wars
between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids, Samaria Syria
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The island held a special importance as an international
religious center comparable to Olympia Asia Minor . Excavation unearthed the remains of the Sanctuary
of the Great Gods, from the time of Alexander and his successors. The cult of the Great Gods is referred to by
well-known Greek writers. 2 of the
pre-Greek divinities called Cabiri became identified by the Greeks with
their twin-gods the Dioscuri, reverenced as the protectors and guides of sailors. The cult was unique in its inclusive
acceptance of all without restriction who desired initiation. Philip of Macedon was initiated into the
Samothracian mysteries.
SAMPSAMES (SamysamhV) A seaport on the Black Sea, and
one of the places to which Roman consul Lucius addressed a letter in order
further interests of the Jews.
SANHEDRIN (ﬢﬧינסנה, the spelling of a Greek label for the assembly in Hebrew
letters; Gerousia (geh
roo see ah, senate) The supreme Jewish council of 71 members
in Jerusalem Jerusalem
In Greek sources the earliest
mention of Jewish gerousia has
reference to the time of Antiochus the Great (223-187 B.C.). It would seem that the new Hasmonean dynasty
had to enlist the support of experts in the interpretation of the law as well
as influential priestly families; representatives of both sections were soon
appointed to the sanhedrin. A Pharisee
named Eleazar cast doubt on the legitimacy of the birth of John Hyrcanus I,
whereupon Hyrcanus joined himself to the Sadducees and declared the enactments
of the Pharisees to be invalid.
Alexander Janneus (103-76) advised his wife Salome Alexandra to ally
herself with the Pharisees. This she
did, and during her reign (76-67) the Pharisees for the first time became the
dominant party.
The Roman Pompey in 63 B.C.
abolished the monarchy and made Hyrcanus II high priest and ethnarch of the
Jews. The proconsul of Syria Jerusalem Palestine
At the beginning of his reign Herod
the Great (37-4 B.C.) sought to destroy the influence of the priestly
aristocracy by prosecuting his capital charge against the aged Hyrcanus before
the sanhedrin. He reduced the importance
of the office by making it no longer hereditary. The authority of the sanhedrin was curtailed,
and Herod soon came to be hated as a cruel tyrant.
See
also the entry in the main section.
According to the Greek sources, the Apocrypha,
the New Testament, and the writing of the Jewish historian Josephus, the
sanhedrin was basically composed of men drawn from the priestly nobility. Talmudic literature, on the other hand,
described it as a court of experts in the interpretation of the law. Pairs of famous rabbis, whose names can be
given, filled the offices of president (nisia,
“one lifted up”) and vice-president (ab
bet din, “father of the house of justice”) from 160 B.C. to 10 A .D.
SARAH ( שﬧי (sah rie),
contentious; השﬧ,
princess, noble lady) The wife of Abraham, and mother of
Isaac. In the time between the OT and
the New Testament (NT), Judaism looked upon its first mother not only as an
example of piety but also as a paragon of beauty; this may be observed in some
of its legends and midrashes (rabbinic interpretations). A description of her charms has been
discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls.
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SATAN (שטן, adversary;
diaboloV
(dee ab oh los),
instigator, slanderer) The archfiend; chief of the devils; instigator
of all evil; the rival of God; the Antichrist.
The Hebrew root satan means
primarily “obstruct, oppose” (e.g. obstructing a man’s path; opposing in war;
playing the part of an adversary).
In I Chronicles 21 “Satan” is said
to have incited David to the sin of taking a census. It is not a proper name, but rather a spirit
who is the personification of human frailty.
The book of Enoch and the Dead Sea Scrolls, written sometime after 100
B.C., speak similarly of “satans.” The
theory that disaster was a divine retribution for apostasy had become
increasingly unsupportable both emotionally and intellectually. First, afflicted people will not be
persuaded of God’s justice unless convinced at the same time of God’s
mercy. Secondly, unless the misfortune
is temporary, the Jews of that time might resign themselves to the fact that
the covenant was broken and Israel
Judaism fought its way out of this
dilemma by increasing recourse to the dualistic theory that the world was
currently in the clutches of a demonic spoiler of God’s plans by inspiring
sinfulness. On this theory, the current
“dark night” was not so much an expression of God’s irremediable vengeance as a
temporary setback in his continuous battle against the Evil One. Out of the individual casual “satans” of
popular belief there now emerged the figure of an archdevil. The concept of a supreme evil deity did not
automatically eliminate the countless individual devils of popular lore, but
reduced them to the status of his agents and adjutants.
The archfiend was not always called
Satan. His more usual name was Belial (the worthless one). Alternatively,
he was known as Mastemah (hostility). As the bringer of death he might be called
Gadriel. It was said, in fact, that he
had originally been an angel named Satanel, but that the divine element (el) had been cut off when he led a
rebellion against God.
The role of Satan was that of
obstructer of human happiness and prosperity in that he led them to discord and
violence. He implanted corruption among
the sons of Noah, and led Potiphar’s wife to attempt to seduce Joseph. He was likewise the cause of sicknesses; all
human tribulation was due his malevolence.
Moreover, he was now represented as the obstructer or satan, not only of humans but also of
God. In the days that this concept was
forming, the Evil One sometimes retained his earlier character of a
servant. Divinely appointed dooms and
trials were thought to be executed through him.
In these times he was seen as God’s instrument in the slaying of the
first-born of the Egyptians.
As the figure of the Evil One
developed, traditional legends were modified to accommodate him. He came necessarily to be identified with the
serpent in the Garden of Eden.
Similarly, he was identified with the ringleader of the “sons of
God.” The other source of the concept of
the Evil One was Iranian dualism. Satan
was simply a Judaized version of the Avestan figures of Angra Mainyu (Ahriman),
the foe of Ahura-mazda (Ormazd). Rabbis
and Sadducees of this time disapproved of the tendency to resort to dualism as
an escape from acknowledgment of God’s chastisement. In
Barnabas 4 Satan is described as “the Black One.” In the Gnostic Pistis Sophia, the fiend who presides over one of the hells is
called “the Ethiopian Ariuth.” Much later in Jewish legend, the
Devil is sometimes portrayed as clad in black silk.
See also the entries in the main section
and the New Testament Apocrypha section of the Appendix.
SCRIBE (סופﬧ (so fer); grammateuV (gram mah tayoos), clerk) The
original scribe, or sopher, was a
person able to “cipher,” from this came the meaning of “secretary” or
“scribe.” The term is applied to an
official who had charge of legal documents.
During the time of Greek
influences in Israel
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SCYTHE (armata drepanhfora (ar mah ta dreh pah neh for ah), chariot sickle) A curved blade attached to a war chariot. The military equipment against Judas at
Beth-zur included 300 chariots equipped with scythes. The scythed chariot was a popular weapon
among the Egyptians and the Persians, but it was not used by the Greeks and the
Romans.
SCYTHOPOLIS (skuqwn poliV (skih thown po lis)
Another name for Beth-Shan in the Apocrypha.
1.
See Seleucia Syria
2. Seleucia Mesopotamia —This city was founded by
Seleucus Nicator in 332 B.C., and was intended to be his capital in Mesopotamia .
It was cosmopolitan having a mixed population of Macedonians, Greeks,
Syrians, and Jews.
3. Seleucia Cilicia (also known as Seleucia
Trachea)—This was an autonomous city, also owing its origin to Seleucus. It was situated on a river about 3 km from the sea. It was probably designed to protect Cilicia against attacks from the sea.
4. Seleucia Palestine Seleucia kingdom of Syria Seleucia Bashan , situated on the east side of Lake Merom Palestine Seleucia
The ancient city was resplendent
with many temples. As one of the cities
of the Syrian Tetrapolis, it prided itself on its loyalty to Greek cultural
ideals. The ruins of the ancient great road
connecting Antioch Seleucia Doric Temple Turkey Orontes , has converted the ancient
harbor into a level, marshy expanse.
There is no doubt that Seleucia Antioch Laodicea Syria Antioch Seleucia Egypt
Strabo, the
ancient Greek geographer refers to a special kind of asphalt which was mined
there. The monk John Malalas, who was
born in Antioch Seleucia Antioch Seleucia port of Al Mina Greece
Early
in its history Seleucia Egypt Egypt Egypt Syria Egypt Seleucia Phoenicia Seleucia Seleucia
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It
was not until the energetic campaigns of Antiochus III “the Great” that Seleucia Egypt Seleucia Seleucia
Around
66, Armenian armies invaded Syria Jerusalem Seleucia Pontus
SELEUCUS (SeleukoV) The name of four kings of Syria Macedonia Greece
1. Seleucus I
Nicator (323-282 B.C.). One of Alexander
the Great’s general, who after Alexander’s death in 323 B.C. gradually made
himself king of Syria Phrygia drove him out. Seleucus placed
himself under Ptolemy of Egypt, and assisted him in the defeat of Antigonus at Gaza Syria Asia Minor . The founding of several cities, including Antioch Laodicea Edessa Berea Seleucia
2. Seleucus II
Callinicus (246-226). Son of Antiochus
II of Syria Selucia
3. Seleucus II
Soter (226-223), son and heir of Seleucus II and brother of Antiochus III the
Great. He died while trying to put down
King Attalus of Pergamum
4. Seleucus IV
Philopator (187-175). Nephew of Seleucus III and Brother of Antiochus
Epiphanes. He is mentioned in connection
with an unsuccessful attempt to rob the temple at Jerusalem Rome Rome
SENATOR (geronta Aqhnaion (geh
ron tah ah theh nahee on), senator [elder]
of Athens
SEPTUAGINT. See the entry
in the Bible Version section (Appendix C).
SERON (Serwn) Governor of Coele-Syria and general of the Syrian
army. He was defeated by Judas at the
ascent of Beth-horon, about 12 miles northwest of Jerusalem
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SHECHEM (םﬤש, shoulder, part, portions) Ancient Canaanite city in hill country of
Ephraim. Shechem is located about 64 km north of Jerusalem Mount Gerizim Mount Ebal
There was a possibly a period of
abandonment after the fall of the northern kingdom. It was rebuilt in the period and under the
influence of Greek culture. Between 325
and 100 B.C., Shechem was a prosperous city, probably rebuilt with the
deliberate intent of making a religious, if not political, rival of Jerusalem Samaria
SHEKINAH (שﬤינה, that which dwells (with the Lord?)) The
places chosen by Yahweh are many, but a few are of special importance. The ark is represented as his place of
abode. Whenever the ark set out, Moses
said, ‘Arise, O Lord, and let thy enemies be scattered.” Long before its move to Jerusalem Shiloh in the war against the
Philistines. One of the early narratives
speaks of the ark guiding Israel Israel Jerusalem
The principal powers used to
designate the presence of God are spirit, word, and wisdom. God’s word is at times the power by which God
heals God’s people and delivers them from destruction. The Targums first used “Shekinah,” along with
yekara (glory) and memra (word), as a designation for God
in God’s earthly dwelling. It is the
Shekinah that passes before Moses in Exodus 34.
In Numbers 11 the Shekinah and the Spirit, though not identical are
closely associated.
The Talmud contains numerous
references to the Shekinah. The Mishna,
the oldest part of the Talmud, contains only two references to the
Shekinah. Most of the references to the
Shekinah are found in the Haggadah, the non-legal portion of rabbinical
literature. The presence of the idea in
the popular literature of the Jewish people perhaps reflects the usage at the time
of New Testament writings. The universal
presence of God is compared to light, a light that is said to be the food of
angels. If the earth shines with the
glory of God, it is said to be the “face of the Shekinah.”
The particular presence of God is
experienced most vividly in the sanctuary.
This special dwelling of God with God’s people was the supreme purpose
for which the tabernacle was built. The
day of the tabernacle’s consecration was the first day of the Shekinah’s
existence in the universe. The temple of
Solomon also becomes a particular dwelling place for God. The windows of the temple were “narrow within
but wide without” to let the light of the Shekinah illumine the world. “Wherever the righteous go, the Shekinah goes
with them.” The Shekinah draws near to
the righteous, but it departs from the sinful.
The presence of God in the world and God’s nearness to God’s people was
powerfully expressed by the idea of the Shekinah. The employment of Greek terminology by the
church fathers and the Jewish identification of Christian beliefs with the minim (heresies) made it impossible for
most Jews to move from God dwelling in a place to God dwelling in a concrete
person.
SHEMAIAH (שמעיה, the Lord has heard)
1. A son of Adonikam; head of a
father’s house that returned with Ezra from the Exile (I Esdra 8). 2. A leading man, one of a delegation sent
by Ezra to Iddo at Casiphia to obtain Levites (I Esdra 8). 3. A priest, descended from Harim, in a list
of those who put away foreign wives and their children (I Esdra 9). 4. A layman, descended from Harim, in the
list mentioned in 3 above (I Esdra 9). 5. One
of the “sons of Ezora” listed among the laymen with foreign wives (I Esdra
9).
SHETHAR-BOZENAI (בוזני ﬨﬧש, burst of contempt) An official, perhaps a
royal scribe, in the Persian government for the province “Beyond the
River.” He wrote to the Persian king
Darius inquiring about the authority given to the Jews to rebuild the temple at
Jerusalem
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SIDE (Sidh, iron (?)) A port on a promontory on the coast of Pamphylia ; a favorite haunt of Cilician
pirates. It was the scene of a sea
battle between the Rhodians and Antiochus III the Great; ships from Side and
Aradus formed the left wing of the fleet of Antiochus. This was one of the places to which the Roman
consul Lucius is said to have written letters in 139 B.C. requesting kindly
treatment for the Jews and the return of all fugitive Jews to Simon Maccabee.
Like Tyre Byblos Sidon Sidon Sidon Phoenicia Sidon Sidon
SIMEON (שמעון, hearing,
accepting; Sumewn) 1. The second son of Jacob by Leah, and the source of the
name of the tribe of Simeon.
2. Grandfather of Mattathias I in I Maccabees.
SIMON (שמעון, a hearing, accepting) Simon II, high priest (died 198 B.C.),
Onias II’s son and Onias III’s father.
SIMON MACCABEE. The second of Mattathias’ five
sons, he became a Hasmonean leader and high priest of Judea (200-136 B.C.). Mattathias is said to have enjoined his sons:
“Now behold, I know that Simeon your brother is wise in counsel; always listen
to him; he shall be your father.”
From the moment that Jonathan was
chosen leader to succeed Judah Beth-zur Jerusalem Jerusalem
When Jonathan was taken captive by
Trypho Diodotus, a notorious opportunist, Simon naturally assumed
leadership. Simon rallied his forces and
drove Trypho out of Judea and then built fortresses throughout the land. Simon then proceeded to achieve a brilliant
diplomatic victory. He sent a delegation
to Demetrius and asked for relief of taxation and the recognition as a
sovereign state that implied. Demetrius,
being desperate for allies, was forced to grant his request. He took the citadel of Jerusalem
Simon’s leadership brought Judea to such status that both Sparta Rome
Antiochus VII Sidetes renewed his
predecessor’s pact with Simon; he was at war with Trypho and he too needed
allies. Antiochus turned on Simon and
demanded the return of Judean cities and Jerusalem
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SIN, SINNERS (See Glossary in Main Section entry) The Bible, unlike many religionists who seek
to find excuses for sin, had a awareness of its heinousness, culpability, and
tragedy. They looked upon it as
alienation from God. There are few
chapters which don’t contain a reference to what sin is or does. Humankind finds itself in sin and suffers for
it; God graciously offers salvation from it.
As might be expected, the Bible shows a marked development in its
understanding of sin. An unavoidable
aspect of every religion is recognizing the human-divine alienation. There is reason to believe that the Hebrews
possessed early at least the beginnings of an awareness of sin’s theological
meaning, which then developed slowly. As
it developed, their recognition of sin’s seriousness increased. The prophets preached the reality of the
nation’s sin.
Sin continued to be a problem in
the intertestamental period (ITP). This
period’s literature offers examples of a sin-consciousness like that of the
prophets. There was a realization that
sin is willful defiance of and alienation from God. The conception of sin during the period was
legalistic. To sin was to break the law;
to do righteousness was to keep it. The
idea that a person could sin in ignorance was retained. The most heinous transgression was, of
course, that which was committed knowingly and deliberately against the law.
With increased sharpness the lines
were drawn between the righteous, who were faithful to the law, and the wicked,
who transgressed it. A work which
strongly manifests the spirit of the Pharisees, the Psalm of Solomon, takes the
view that a righteous person may sin, but this is through weakness and error:
“The righteous stumbles and holds the Lord righteous . . . There lodges not in the house
of the righteous sin upon sin. The righteous continually searches his house, to remove
utterly all his iniquity done in error . . . The Lord
counts quiltless every pious man
and his house. The sinner stumbles and curses his life. He adds sins to sins. . . He
falls—verily grievous in his fall—and rises no more. The destruction of the sinner is
forever.”
(Psalm of Solomon 3:5-13).
All
of humanity is sharply divided into 2 classes.
According to their attitude toward the law all are judged and
rewarded. The essence of piety is the
doing of good works. This is the true
wisdom and fear of God.
Origin, Development, and Extent—The
literature of the ITP is rife with speculation concerning the origin of sin and
evil. It is small wonder that many
earnest souls were constantly seeking for answers to this urgent question, and
at the same time were increasingly taking refuge in the apocalyptic as an
ultimate solution for it. Speculations
concerning the origin of sin took their departure chiefly from the story of
Adam’s fall in Genesis 3, from the account of the marriage of the “sons of God”
with women in Genesis 6; and from various OT passages which speak of universal
sinfulness and of the corruption of the heart.
Although
II Esdras approaches very close to blaming God for sin, most of the literature
of this period is very certain that it is not God but humans who are
responsible. In Alexandria
In
the early literature of the ITP (200s B.C.) little consequence was drawn from
Adam’s sin. In 3 apocalyptic writings of
the century before Christ (Slavonic Enoch, II Baruch, and II Esdras) the
relation be-tween Adam’s sin and the sinfulness of all humankind is forcefully
stated. Enoch uses a vision to make a
tragic connection of “the ruin of [the forefather’s] honor” with Adam and
Eve. In II Baruch, Adam plunged “many
into the darkness sin.” Because of
Adam’s sin death came upon all humankind:
“O Adam, what have you done to all those
who are born from you. . . For all this
multitude are going to corruption, nor is there any
numbering of those whom the fire
devours.
Each one of them has prepared for his own soul's torment to come. Each
one of them has chosen for themselves glories to come. Adam therefore is not the
the cause, save only of his own soul,
but each of us has been the Adam of their own soul."
(II Baruch 48: 42-3;
54:15,19)
Individuals are responsible for their own
transgression. Adam has somehow given
them an evil propensity, but it is they who choose to do wrong.
II Esdras likewise posits a close
relation between Adam’s transgression and the corruption of the human
race. “For a grain of evil seed was sown
in Adam’s heart from the beginning, and how much ungodliness it has produced
until now. In II Esdras 7: 118-119 the
writer says: “O Adam, what have you done?
For though it was you who sinned, the fall was not yours alone, but ours
also who are your descendants.”
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From the tradition of the “sons of
God” inter-marrying with women and producing giants, ITP Judaism develops the period’s
angelology and demonology. The Testament
of Reuben blames women for seducing the Watchers but in other passages it is
the latter who are at fault. Another
tradition closely associated with the theory of demonic seduction was developed
in the Testaments of the 12 Patriarchs. There
is a close connection between the “spirit of deceit” and the “evil inclination”
as these appear in the Testaments.
The Testaments develop the theory of
the evil inclination as the source of sin.
In its development in Judaism, it was never construed as something basically
wrong at the core of human beings. This
last is forcefully expressed by II Esdras, which speaks of sin’s arising from a
“grain of evil seed,” or from the evil heart that has grown in us. This reflects the teaching of the prophets
that humans sin because their hearts are corrupt at their core. In a passage similar in expression to verses
in Roman 1, which it may have influenced, the Wisdom of Solomon describes the idolatrous
people’s blindness and the resulting spiritual corruption.
It necessarily follows from the
hereditary transmission of sinfulness that all of humanity is corrupt. Out of the corrupt mass of humanity there
have been a few who have not sinned.
Judaism never abandoned its belief in the freedom of the will despite
all this. The sinner’s only recourse is
to follow the prescribed ritual for atonement, and to cast themselves on upon
God’s mercy by repentance and confession.
We now know them
almost exclusively as they were built into a rigid system by the ascetic
brotherhood living near the shore of the Dead Sea .
The law was also for them pre-eminent, and the practical criterion of
sin. They knew of the fall of the
Watchers. They too made a distinction
between a deliberate sin and one of ignorance.
Believing that they were presently living under “epoch of wickedness,”
they had separated themselves into a saintly brotherhood governed by rigid
rules.
To comprehend this
community’s rationale, and especially its preoccupation with sin, it is important
to take note of cosmic dualism, which was its theology’s basis. The Qumran community made the antithesis of “righteous” and
“wicked” absolute. Qumran theology spoke of good and evil
as opposing “spirits,” “. . . spirits of truth and of perversity. . . All who practice righteousness are under the Prince
of Lights’ domination, and walk in the ways of light; all who practice
perversity are under the Angel of Darkness’ domination and walk in way of
darkness. . . The spirits of truth and
perversity have been struggling in man’s heart [eternally].” The ideal place for the “children of light”
to oppose darkness is the holy community.
The initiate vows “to keep far from all evil and . . . to walk no more
in the stubbornness of a guilty heart and of lust. Henceforth he spends every moment fighting
wickedness. If he backslides, he is
censured or cast out.”
It is obvious that this artificial structure
contained great dangers for hypocrisy and externalism, but for many it promoted
a deep spiritual sensitivity to the constant reality of sin. Their greatest dread was to fall into the
power of the “Angel of Darkness,” who is constantly bent on causing the sons of
light to stumble. The Qumran believer attributed his
inability to fulfill the ideals of moral perfection, not only to temptation,
but also to the weakness of his flesh.
Because his flesh is weak, the spirit of error often overwhelms
him:
“I belong to wicked
humankind, to the communion of sinful flesh.
My transgression, my iniquities and sins, and
the waywardness of my heart
Condemn me to communion with the worm and with
all that walks in darkness.”
The only hope is to cast oneself upon the
mercy of God. There can be little doubt
that in this tradition, rather than in the theology of the rabbis, Paul’s
concept of an antagonism between flesh and Spirit originated.
SIRACH, SON OF (uios Seirac (yoo ee os sie rak), from the Hebrew Ben Sirach) The author of
Eccleasiasticus, which is often called the Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach.
SISINNES (SisinnhV) Governor of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia
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At early as 195 B.C., Smyrna Rome Rome Smyrna Ephesus Pergamum Asia .
Smyrna Smyrna
See
also the entry in the main section.
SON OF GOD ( בﬧ אלהין (bar eh lo heen), son of God in Aramaic; uioV qeou (ye os thay oo)) The Old Testament usages are characteristic
of the inter-testamental and apocryphal literature as well. Here Israel
SON OF MAN (בן אﬢם (ben ah dam), son of a
human being, from the root meaning “red”; בן אנוש (ben
eh nosh), son of mortals; אנש ﬧב (bar ‘eh nash), son of humankind in Aramaic; uioV anqrwpou (whee os an thro poo), son of a human being) In
the Old Testament (OT), a term for human being; an apocalyptic figure.
The Son-of-man idea appears in
Judaism at a time when Jewish thought is moving towards the strictest
monotheism and angels and angelic figures are becoming, in rabbinic thought at
least, more definitely subordinate to God. In most Jewish Apocrypha, Adam is mainly
idealized, and the tendency is to explain the origin of all evil as due to
Cain. Speculations about the heavenly
man arose independently of Judaism and Christianity. Iranian religion uses a figure called Gayomart, who was the first human being
to die. At the final resurrection his
bones will be raised up first. It is
sometimes argued that Gayomart’s trait of being champion of humanity was
borrowed from the Babylonian god Marduk.
Iranian thought greatly influenced Jewish views of the end of this age,
even among the Pharisees, from 200 B.C. on (See
Persia
IV Ezra, the II
Esdras of the English Apocrypha, contains the figure of a man who rises from
the sea and flies with the clouds to heaven.
This man had been kept hidden by God until the time comes for him to
deliver the creation and to order those who are preserved after the great
conflict. In most Jewish Apocrypha, Adam
is idealized, and the tendency is to explain the origin of all evil as due to
Cain. II Esdras and the Apocalypse of
Baruch are the only apocryphal writings where an ancient and famous name is
attached to a much later writing, and where the beginning of sin and evil are
ascribed to Adam.
The Son of Man comes
to be identifies with the Messiah of Jewish expectation only in the book of
Enoch and the New Testament (NT). Daniel’s Son of man probably furnishes the
author of Enoch with his basic picture; the book of Enoch then changes the Son
of man from a symbol to an actual being. The Ethiopic version of Enoch, a book written
in Aramaic and Hebrew, uses the phrase many times in that portion which is
usually called the Similtudes of Enoch (see
Enoch, book of). It is likely that the Similitudes are pre-Christian. They predict the coming of an Elect or Chosen
One. This Elect One will sit on the
throne of glory. In him dwells the
spirit of wisdom, understanding, and might.
At the resurrection of the dead he chooses out the righteous and holy
and sits on the throne of God.
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The Son of man appears in chapters
where the Elect One does not, which seems to indicate separate sources for the
two titles. The final author of the
Similitudes appears to regard the two as identical. Chapter 46 begins with the description of
“one who had a head of days,” and also of one who had the appearance of man. He “has righteousness,” and will remove from
their seats the kings and mighty who have persecuted God’s congregations, and
they will suffer “when they see that Son of man sitting on the throne of his
glory.” The Son of man was hidden from
the beginning; the most high revealed him to the elect. At the conclusion of the Similitudes, Enoch’s
“name” is raised, within his lifetime, to that of the Son of man. The son of Man has not been mentioned in any
of the Qumran literature that has
been published.
Philo, a contemporary of
Jesus, distinguishes between two men created at the beginning of the world—the
heavenly man of Genesis 1:27
(“created in God’s image”), and the first earthly man, which the Lord
fashioned from “the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the ruach (breath) of life (Genesis
2:7). The heavenly man or archetype of
humankind is also the first-born Son of God and prototype of Israel
SONG OF THE
THREE YOUNG MEN (The King James Version has “Song of the three
Holy Children). The first of the
apocryphal Additions to the book of Daniel.
A prayer and confession of Azariah precedes the hymn. Here, Azariah, one of the three men, prays
for his people and seeks to probe into the sin which brought them to being
thrown into the furnace.
The Song of the Three Young Men is the praise given by the three to the
Almighty because they have been saved from the fiery furnace. It is an acknowledgment of his justice even
when calamity is brought to the Jews, a prayer for deliverance, and a prayer
for the punishment of the enemies of Israel
SOSTRATUS (SostratoV) Governor of the citadel of Jerusalem
SOUL (נפש (neh fesh), breath, life; yuch (psie keh), breath, life) The
translation of several words in the Bible.
The word “soul” frequently carries with it overtones of Greek philosophy. The evidence yielded by the Apocrypha is
significant only in the case of the Wisdom of Solomon. In it, there are clear traces of Greek conceptions
(e.g. pre-existence; immortality; and the soul burdened by the body).
By the 200s B.C. the Carthaginians had taken most of the
peninsula and established their capital at Carthago Nova, now Cartagena Spain Hannibal
By 197 B.C. two Roman provinces were
established in Spain Ebro River Guadalquivir (Hispania Ulterior). Under Augustus, Spain Lusitania Segovia Spain Spain
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SPIRIT (וחﬧ (roo akh), wind, breath; pneuma (pnoo mah), wind, breath, mind)
Both Hebrew and Greek words have the broad meaning of “wind,” “breath,”
and “spirit.” Various types of
incorporeal beings are mentioned in the Apocrypha. There is a “dragon” called Behemoth in the apocryphal I Enoch 60
and II Esdras 6 like the ones of the Old Testament. There also numerous angel names mentioned in
books such as Enoch, and while evil spirits or demons are rare in the Old
Testament, they became prominent in the inter-testamental period.
STOICS (stwikoi (stow ih koi), from stoa or portico, where Zeno taught) Adherents of a school of
philosophy founded at Athens Middle East , to
become the dominant philosophy of the Hellenistic world, and eventually of the Roman
Empire .
When Zeno turned to
philosophy, he became a follower of Crates, a disciple of Antisthenes the
Cynic. From Crates Zeno learned the
Cynic spirit of inward freedom. His
wider interest in logic and in physical theory was fostered by Megarian
Stilpo. Stoicism was simply a broadened
and humanized Cynicism; and Stoic and Cynic were alike in the burning
missionary zeal to turn men’s hearts to the pursuit of virtue.
Stoicism had a
succession of great teachers over 500 years: Zeno (332-262 B.C.); Cleanthes and
Aratus (303-232 B.C.); Chrysippus of Soli (232-185); Panaetius (185-109 B.C.);
and Posidonius of Syria (135-51); and Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. Aratus published the philosophical poem Phainomena; Chrysippus brought acute
logical powers to the support of the system.
The school passed to Rhodes under Panaetius, who also introduced
Stoicism into the powerful aristocratic circle of Scipio Aemilianus in Rome Cicero
The severely rational Stoiciam of Panaetius was popularized and degraded
by the acceptance of star-worship, astrology, and divination. Panaetius’ system was eclectic—owing as much
to Plato as to Zeno and Chrysippus. For
complete works of Stoic philosophers, we have to turn to the later exponents of
the doctrine, particularly the philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius. Stoicism could be embraced with equal fervor
by slave and emperor.
The fundamental tenet of the Stoic philosophy is that virtue is the good,
and vice the only evil. Virtue consists
in living conformably to nature, for virtue is the goal toward which nature
leads us. The End is to live in keeping
with Nature, our own nature and the nature of the Universe, doing nothing that
is forbidden by the General Law, which is the right Reason. And this very thing is the virtue of the
happy man and the smooth flow of life.
Wise people will be indifferent to all of their external circumstances,
fortify themselves with the impenetrable armor of apatheia (lack of sensitivity to external forces), and learn to be
absolutely content, independent of everything that is not in their own power.
The course of the universe and of every individual life is determined by eimarmene or destiny, and a human’s
whole freedom consists in accepting the “good, acceptable, and perfect” destiny
which is ordained for them. Yet this
will and purpose in the universe is not personally conceived. Though Zeus’ name is retained, it is no more
than a symbol for the power, itself material, which pervades the universe as
ever-living fire. The human’s essential
nature is therefore one with the essential nature of the universe. Humans are related to the universe as
microcosm to macrocosm, and the fiery principle of life, law, and reason
pervades both.
The creative fire or reason which sparks and begins the growth of
everything is the soul of the world is also known as providence, for it governs
the world and all that is in the world by intelligence and wisdom. Stoics point to the order and regularity that
reign in nature; to the laws of cause and effect, and to the manifold beauty
of the universe. It would be absurd to
suppose that this mighty system, harmonious in all its parts, came into
existence by chance or without conscious purpose. The high endowments of humans show that it
exists and is governed for their benefit.
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Counting themselves a member of such a commonwealth, a city of gods and
people which embraces the whole world, Stoics are no longer rooted in the life
of a particular state or nation. Their
ideal republic is an empire of wisdom and justice embracing all humankind, and
they each are a cosmopolites, a
citizen of the cosmos. For the
providence which governs all things is not concerned with humans as Athenian or
Spartan or Roman, but with the entire human race and with every
individual. Sparks
STONE (אבן (‘eh ben); liqoV (lee thos)) Palestine
STORAX (stakth (stak teh)) A gum like substance gathered from a
tree. See Stacte Biblical entry.
SUBAS (Soubas)
Head of a family of sons of Solomon’s servants who returned with
Zerubbabel; the name is omitted in Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7.
SUD (Soud)
A river
near the city of Babylon, according to Baruch 1, which states that Baruch,
after writing his book, read it to King Jeconiah and others by the river
Sud.” It may have been the name of a
canal or branch channel of the Euphrates .
SUFFERING AND EVIL (Hebrew is such that no word for suffering is used,
but is implied in the words describing deprivation (e.g. hunger and thirst); רע (rah),
wicked (deeds); רצ (tsawr), adversity). Intertestamental Judaism found consolation in
the recompense of the suffering righteous ones after death. There was further development of Isaiah’s
idea of atoning suffering in the Apocryphal Psalms of Solomon.
See also the
main entry on this subject.
SUR (Sour)
A
coastland city of Syria Carmel
SUSANNA (Susanna)
An addition to the book of Daniel wherein the prophet displays his
wisdom. It is widely regarded as the
“first detective story.” Susanna was
accused of adultery by two elders whose advances she had repulsed. In her trial she was about to be found guilty
when Daniel was permitted to cross-examine the elders. He asked them separately under what tree the
sin had been committed; the elders contradicted each other by naming different
trees, so that Susanna was acquitted and the elders executed. It is believed that the story may have been
written by a supporter of the Pharisees.
The story of the trial indicates the
value of cross-examination of witnesses.
The story is in direct contradiction to the Pharisaic practice of
putting false witnesses to death only
on the basis of an alibi. The book of
Susanna depicts only a contradiction of “witnesses in fact.” Because of this contradiction to Pharisaic
law, the book was not included in the canon.
Its general style reveals that it
was written first in Hebrew. Some
scholars believe that it was not written in Babylon Israel
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SYMBOL, SYMBOLISM.
A
representation, visual or conceptual, of that which is unseen and
invisible. The religious symbol points
beyond itself to reality, participates in its power, and compresses it into a
simple, meaningful whole, readily grasped and retained. Symbols are part of faith’s language, the
means by which faith expresses itself when it interprets the holy, the eternal,
the beyond; symbolism was a part of biblical religion from its beginning, and
is the vehicle of revelation. Symbols
are created, given, born, grow, and die amid changing circumstances.
Postexilic and later Judaism,
enhanced by allegorical interpretation, read symbolic significance into the Old
Testament. Hidden truths were felt to be
behind the literal word. The temple, its
accessories, sacrifices, institutions, and dietary laws, were all given
symbolic meaning. Figurative meaning was
attributed to metals (e.g. gold, the glory of God; silver, moral innocence; and
brass, strength) and colors (blue, holiness; purple, royalty; white, purity;
and black, evil and disaster). The
seven-branched candlestick was said to represent the soul; the ram’s horn, the
messianic.
With the rise of apocalyptic vision
of the end of this age, a weird and bizarre imagery was brought into being. Historic kings and kingdoms were represented
by weird beasts. The horn of a he-goat
signified Alexander the Great; a great ram’s horn signified Judas
Maccabee. A further development was an
extended system of angels and demons.
Among Jewish sects we have also a reinterpretation of certain prophetic
books in line with the spiritual conditions of the day to give them
contemporary meaning.
SYNAGOGUE
(ﬤנסﬨה ביﬨ (bet ha kaw nah soth), house of assemblies; term
first appeared 1-100 A.D., at the same time “synagogue” appeared; ﬤנישﬨא (kah
nee shih taw (?)), gathering; used in Aramaic versions of the Bible; sunagwgh (sin ah
gog), collection, gathering, congregation.)
The place of assembly used by Jewish
communities primarily for public worship
and instruction, or the assembly itself.
Another Greek name for the place of Jewish worship is proseuche; this was actually the term
used from around 330 B.C. until 100 A.D.
Various scholarly attempts to construct a wall of separation between proseuche and synagogue fail to do justice to all available data; probably the
two terms originated in different cultural centers. Between the two extremes, the one endowing the synagogue
with all the attributes of the sanctuary of Jerusalem
Glossary:
אﬧון הקﬢש(aw rone ha ka doshe), holy chest, ark
אﬨﬢא קﬢישא (‘ah to dah kah dee sha), holy place
ביﬨ הספּﬧ (bet
ha seh far), house of the book
המﬢﬧש ביﬨ (bet ha me deh rawsh), house of study, commentary
המﬢﬧש ביﬨ (bet ha me deh rawsh), house of study, commentary
ﬨ שבﬨאבי (bet shah baw theh), house of the sabbath
ﬨ ﬨפּלהבי (bet
teh pee law) house of prayer, supplication
הﬢין ביﬨא (ha deen
bah yeh taw), this house of the judgment
ישﬧאל ﬤנסﬨ (keen
na seh tee yis ra el) assembly of Israel
ﬠﬢה (‘ay daw), congregation
קהל (kaw hawl),
assembly, congregation
ﬧאש הﬤנסﬨ (roshe
ha keen na seh tee) leader of the assembly
ﬨיבה
(tee bah) abbreviation for tibahshel
sepherim (chest of books)
ﬨיקון גﬢול (tee kone
gee dole), great enactment
In Egypt temple of Jao Alexandria Alexandria Lower Egypt and four in middle Egypt Asia Minor, comes an inscription honoring the archisynagogos and the archon, who restored, partly out of their own expenses, the outside of the
synagogue. The suggested date of this
inscription is near 100 A.D.
No structural remains of any ancient
synagogue have been discovered in Rome Syria Rome Lebanon Rome
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In both Rome Alexandria Egypt Rome
Location, Orientation, Architecture, and Use—The authoritative rabbinic canon,
the Mishna, had nothing dealing with the synagogue, its position, orientation,
and architecture. It seems that central
authorities in Palestine temple of Jerusalem Egypt Greece
According to the general view, the
orientation was determined from the very beginning by the principle of the
orientation of the worshiper during prayer.
“Those standing outside the land of Israel land of Israel Jerusalem Palestine Palestine Jerusalem
The search for the development of
architecture of this building is still at the stage of mere speculation. It seems clear that any regulations promoting
specific architecture must come after the temple of Jerusalem Palestine
At the same time (1-100 A.D.)
another pattern of synagogue was taking shape in Babylonia .
The Babylonians turned to the interior and adopted the holiest symbols,
the ark and the Menorah, as the most effective links between temple and
synagogue. With the decline of the Palestine
The detached and at
times hostile attitude of the Palestinian authorities toward both types of
synagogues underwent a basic change in the middle of the 100s A.D. Palestinian Jewry also had to resign itself
to organizing its religious life without the temple. Thus the need was felt to transform the
simple “houses for reading the Law and teaching the commandments” into “little
sanctuaries.” At first, Palestine Palestine
Architectural
style was in part dictated by the separation of the sexes, namely the erecting
of a gallery in the temple of Jerusalem Alexandria
SZ-19
One group of scholars believes that
the silence of earlier rabbinic sources reflects an earlier, more liberal
attitude toward women. Another group
suggests that women were excluded from active participation in public worship
and so were not mentioned. Only the
latter interpretation seems to fit the evidence that provisions for separation
of sexes appear mainly in synagogues favoring Greek culture. Another consideration should be borne in
mind. It is probable that the basilical
type of synagogue followed the temple’s example in building galleries, while
other more conservative styles were stricter in restricting the women to a
separate room.
Secular
Use—Modern historians tend to exaggerate the role of the synagogue as a
communal center. It fulfilled some
secular and semi-secular functions. The
synagogue seems to have been used as a law court. Rabbinic sources relate of Rabbi Yohanan and
Rabbi Abahu that they have acted as judges and decided legal cases in the
ancient synagogue of Caesarea . The Torah
scroll, of which the khazzan was
custodian, was used also in the civil process such as oath-taking. For a somewhat similar reason funeral
services, especially the delivery of the eulogies, for deceased communal
teachers were held in the synagogue.
The synagogue was used often for
political gatherings because of its facilities.
As a meeting place, especially on Sabbaths and festivals, the synagogue
offered the opportunity to communal officers for various public
announcements. The use of the synagogue
as an inn for itinerants is still a subject of discussion among scholars. Most scholars take the term “synagogue” in
this connection in its larger sense of comprising the precinct which contained
a special guest room. There seem to be
some references which indicate the use of the synagogue proper as a hospice.
Furniture—The one indispensable piece of
furniture in the ancient synagogue was the Torah shrine, in which one or more
Torah scrolls and probably some prophetical rolls were kept. Most scholars believe Talmudic sources make
it clear that until the end of the 300s the Torah shrine had no permanent place
with the synagogue but that, as a simple portable chest, it was brought in the
synagogue from an adjoining room, when required for public worship. Later investigations led experts to the
reconstruction of a “small architecture,” a shrine-like structure with some of
the earlier synagogues.
Attempts to assert that the
“small architecture” was a later addition or by challenging the existence of
such an internal structure are not convincing.
These efforts assume that the various forms represent various stages of
the same type of synagogue. But it is
equally possible that there were different types of synagogues side by side in
the same period. It seems reasonable to
conclude that the name tebah was
adequate for a Torah chest placed in some adjoining room. But when a “sanctuary” was erected to house
the Torah shrine, the association with the ark of the tabernacle imposed itself
and gave origin to the name. This
association caused opposition to the term “tebah,” so all through the 100s the
name was avoided in Palestine
The assumption among scholars that
the use of a portable tebah is
inconsistent with the existence of a permanent repository for the Torah shrine
is far from obvious. Like the ark of the
tabernacle, the Torah shrine was covered and screened. Either a paroket
(“veil” or “curtain”) screened the whole platform, or a killah (shroud) covered the shrine. Archaeological data have supported the
existence of a paroket in the
Dura-Europos synagogue, but the attempt to find traces of the shroud on the top
of the paroket is not convincing.
Next to the Torah shrine and closely
connected with it was the bema, an
elevated podium used for the reading of the lessons and the recital of certain
benedictions. Its name is traced to the
scene of Ezra’s reading the Torah “on a wooden pulpit.” It is reported that a wooden bema was erected in the temple hall of
Agrippa I. In the 200s A.D., the need to
rule upon its degree of sacredness would seem to indicate that the bema was newly introduced in Babylonia ; there is no mention of the bema in the New Testament.
Most of the excavated ancient
synagogues were provided with one or two rows of stone benches running along
two or three walls. No traces of chairs
have been found in the center of synagogue, though there are literary and
archaeological indications that in the 200s in Babylonia mats were spread in the center
for the people to sit upon. It might
well be that the Greek synagogues used chairs in place of the mats of Babylonia .
Rabbinic sources of the 100s and
200s indicate that the Menorah was a favorite gift to be offered to the
synagogue. In the ornamentation of the
earlier Palestinian synagogues the Menorah motif remains inconspicuous. In the Babylonian synagogue of Dura-Europos
the Menorah, together with the aron
or Torah chest, is dominant, especially in the ornamentation of the Torah’s
niche.
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SYNAGOGUE, THE GREAT.
Traditionally,
a council having Ezra as its founder and first president; it is not mentioned
in the Bible. According to legend, the
Great Synagogue consisted of 120 men, who controlled Jewish affairs around
450-200 B.C. It is said to have played
an important role in fixing the Old Testament canon. The Great Synagogue appears to be wholly
legendary, though perhaps based on stories (Nehemiah 8-10) of a single great
gathering.
The first Greek colony was Naxos ; the second established a year
later, probably in 734 B.C., was Syracuse.
The new colony was planted on the island of Ortygia Syracuse Syracuse Sicily Athens Syracuse
Under the Romans, Syracuse Sicily Syracuse temple of Athena
T
TABLE (שלחן (shoo lee khan); Trapeza (tra pay za), eating-table) The root meaning of shulikhan, “skin, “hide,” indicates that
it was originally a piece of leather, like those still used by Bedouins in the
desert. Jesus the son of Sirach condemns
miserliness at table. The table of the
second temple was taken by Antiochus Epiphanes; Judas Maccabee made another
one. The table was taken from Herod’s
temple by the Romans and was represented among the spoils on the Arch of Titus
in Rome
TALMUD (ﬨלמוﬢ, from the root meaning “to learn”) The
written story, in Hebrew and Aramaic, of biblical interpretation, of the
making of bylaws, wise counsel, covering a period of almost 1,000 years from
the time of Ezra to the middle of the 500s A.D.
The earliest method of teaching the
oral law was by means of a running commentary, Midrash, on the biblical
text. When it yielded a legal teaching,
the result was Midrash Halachah; other commentary was part of Midrash
Haggadah. The Midrash method was
employed by Ezra in the public reading of the Law in the year 444 B.C., at
which time the Torah was enthroned in the constitution of the new community in Judea .
The Midrash method was followed by teachers who succeeded Ezra, the Soferim (scribes), whose activities came
to a close around 270 B.C.
After the Soferim came in succession the five “Pairs” of teachers, of whom
the last and greatest were Shammai and Hillel.
With Zugoth a new method of teaching began to emerge as a rival to that
of the Midrash in which the oral law was taught without reference to the Holy
Writ. It enabled the teachers to put on
the order of the day any such subjects as they desired, without being tied to
the sequence of biblical texts.
Deprived of the aid to memory which the Holy Writ, could supply, the
oral law could be imparted and retained chiefly by means of repetition. Hence the name Mishna (repetition) was given
to the new method of teaching. The
adoption of the Mishna method did not oust altogether the older Midrash form. It was allowed to retain the Haggadic,
non-legal field almost to itself, but it had influence in the Halachah, legal
realm.
SZ-21
In 333 Alexander saved the city of Tarsus Antioch Tarsus Province of Cilicia Tarsus
After the murder of
Caesar, Tarsus Tarsus Cydnus River Tarsus Tarsus Tarsus Rome
TAX, TAXES (ﬠﬧך (‘ay rek), valuation, estimate; מס (mase), tribute; הלך (ha lawk),
toll; khnsoV (ken
sos), assessment, tribute; foroV (foe ros), tribute) A compulsory contribution to the support
of government, local or federal, civil or ecclesiastical.
Under the influence of Greek
culture, under the yoke of the Ptolemies and the Seleucids, the office of tax
collecting was not assigned by the foreign king to his local representatives,
but rather was awarded to the highest bidder, who had army help in collecting
the taxes. Men of eminent rank from the
various Ptolemaic provinces gathered in Alexandria
Though we know very little of the
Seleucid system of taxation, it is likely that the same auctioning practice
persisted. From Antiochus III and
Demetrius, we learn of a poll tax, salt tax, and crown tax. At times the Seleucids exacted as much as a
third of all grain produced, half of the fruit grown, and a share of the Jewish
tithes. When Pompey had captured Jerusalem
TEKOA (ﬨקוﬠ, from the root meaning “to smite,” )
A city in the highlands of Judah Jerusalem Bethlehem
In 160 B.C., Jonathan and his
brother Simon escaped from the Syrian general Bacchides by taking refuge in the
wilderness of Tekoa, whose hard limestone surface made it difficult to track
anyone in this desolate region, or to sneak up on or encircle them. Thus the wilderness was a good place to go to
gain time and reorganize one’s forces.
Less than 5 km south of Tekoa is the Saffron Well. It may have been here that Jonathan and his
troops pitched camped and from here made their raid against Madeba. In 68 A.D. Simon, one of the Jewish
revolutionaries, camped at Tekoa. He sent a representative, Eleazar, to
Herodium. The Idumeans killed Eleazar
and then sent James to ascertain Simon’s strength. James misrepresented the strength of Simon’s
army so greatly that when Simon approached with his forces, the Idumeans fled
in panic.
SZ-22
Zerubbabel’s
Temple
Ben Sirach of Ecclesiasticus
mentions the work of Governor Zerubbabel and High Priest Jeshua in building
the temple. More extended is the
description of High Priest Simon II’s (son of Onias) activities shortly after
200 B.C. In Ecclesiasticus 50, Simon seems to have been in full charge of the
city, repairing the temple, constructing a large reservoir and fortifying the
city. The same chapter contains an
eloquent description of Simon’s splendor when performance of his duties in the
holy of holies and at the altar of burnt offering. He poured a libation at the foot of the
altar; a fragrant odor arose; the priests shouted and blew trumpets; the people
fell on their faces.
I Maccabees 1 and 4 provide the most
extensive apocryphal references because of it preoccupation with the attack of
Antiochus and the purification and rededication of the temple. Chapter 1 gives a list of temple furnishings
plundered by Antiochus. The veil is
mentioned, as are the pollution of the sanctuary and the altar of the burnt
offering, which had to be dismantled and a new one built of “unhewn
stones.
Chapter 4 tells the
inspiring story of the purification and rededication of the temple, after the
victories of Judas Maccabee. This
chapter also mentions curtains before the nave, and before the holy of holies,
the repair of the chambers of the priest and the high walls around the
sanctuary. Thus the temple became a
stronghold in the battle against the foreign garrison in the nearby
citadel. Jonathon Maccabee repaired
later damage, and assumed the high priesthood around 153 B.C. Simon Maccabee took over all these duties,
strengthened further the fortification of the temple and refurbished the
sanctuary. II Maccabees yields very
little further factual information about the structure itself, its history or
its services.
The Letter of
Aristeas contains a glowing description of the temple and its rich furnishing,
with an emphasis on the table of the bread of the Presence, This and other
furnishings were donated by Ptolemy Philadelphus. Unfortunately, the dating of this document is
so debatable (i.e. from 200 B.C. to 33 A.D.) that it is uncertain whether the
writer is describing the structure of Zerubbabel, that of Herod, or simply
using his imagination. Since some of
the description surpasses in grandeur what we know of Herod’s magnificent
structure, the third alternative would seem to be the safest.
Zerubbabel’s Temple Mount Gerizim Jerusalem
In Book XII,
Antiochus III, the Great (223-187 B.C.), was very friendly to the Jews. He subsidized the sacrifices, financed
repairs and construction, and reaffirmed the legal ban against foreigners and
unclean animals within the sacred precincts.
Book XIII leads beyond the apocryphal material, so that Josephus becomes
almost our sole literary source. In Book
XIV, there is the civil war between Aristobolus
II and Hyrcanus II. Aristobulus
took refuge in the temple, which was besieged by Aretas during Passover. The Roman general Scaurus forced Aretas to
raise the siege.
Pompey captured Jerusalem Jerusalem
SZ-23
In the Rabbinic
sources of the Mishna, a stone called the Shethiyah
was said to remain after the ark of the covenant disappeared in the destruction
of the first temple; it projected a few inches above the floor or ground
level. This “foundation stone” has also
been interpreted as a movable stone brought in to replace the ark in Zerubbabel’s
temple. Elsewhere in the Mishna there
may be a list of five things in Solomon’s temple that were lacking in
Zerubbabel’s: the ark; the sacred fire,
the Shekinah (God’s Presence), the Holy Spirit, and Urim and Thummim (the
Hebrew equivalent of an oracle).
Exact and reliable
information about the details of Zerubbabel’s temple are lacking. The probabilities are that it was similar in
plan and size to Solomon’s structure.
The new temple was somewhat less rich and costly than the old. Definitely lacking were the “sea” and wheeled
lavers outside, the ark of the covenant and the cherubim within. The nave contained an altar of incense and a
table of the bread of the Presence, but only one lamp stand. Notable was the fortifying of the temple by
the high priest Simon II. The Letter of
Aristeas speaks of three encompassing walls, fortifications, or perhaps only
partitions. Surviving remains in the
area belong to the Herodian, not the pre-Herodian period. Reconstruction of the Zerubbabel’s temple
can’t be attempted because of scarcity of definite evidence.
Herod’s Temple
The fortress near the northwest
corner of the temple area, built or rebuilt in Hasmonean times and called
Baris, was strengthened by Herod and renamed Antonia, in honor of Antony Tyropoeon Valley
Inside this first enclosure was a
smaller enclosure to be reached by a few ascending steps. This inner enclosure was surrounded by a low
stone wall; an inscription on it warned foreigners to go no farther. The enclosure had 3 equidistant gates on the
north side and 3 on the south. On the
east there was one large gate where Jews might enter with their wives, since
the area within this gate was the Women’s Court. Beyond this was an area into which the women
could not go. Within all was the temple
building itself, with an altar of burnt offering in front. These courts and enclosures required 8 years
to build. The building itself was completed
in a year. As in Solomon’s days, a
dedicatory sacrifice was held on the anniversary day of the king’s
inauguration. The king had an
underground passage from Antonia to the east gate of the inner enclosure built.
In Josephus’ Antiquities we read
that the construction of the temple precincts was “finished” during the time of
Agrippa II in 63 A.D. Later Agrippa
gathered material to increase the height of the sanctuary building by 9 meters,
but never completed the extension. His Jewish War writings were earlier than Antiquities, shortly after the war. It affords us more details about the temple
area, and puts the beginning of construction in Herod’s 15th, as
opposed to the 18th. There
were great colonnaded porticoes around the whole. The 5th section of War describes the sacred area just as it
was before the attack of the Romans. The
top of the hill was leveled and foundation walls were built on all sides except
the east, where Solomon’s wall still existed.
Above the foundations and pavement
rose all around the double porticoes, supported by shining marble columns 11.3
meters high. The total circumference,
including the Tower of Antonia
SZ-24
the south led into this court. It
also had a gate in front, on the eastern side, and another opposite, on the
west, leading still closer to the sacred edifice. Inside the wall of the inner area were
storage chambers and single-columned porticoes.
Of the ten gates, nine were overlaid with gold and silver, but the one
on the east was of Corinthian bronze, far exceeding the others in value. Each gate had two doors 13.6 by 6.8
meters. The one leading into the
sanctuary from the Women’s Court was larger, having doors 18.2 meters
high. The centrally located sanctuary
building was reached by 12 steps.
The porch entrance
was 31.7 meters high and 11.3 meters wide and was without doors. The main doorway had double doors, each 25
meters high and 7.3 meters wide, overlaid with gold. Before it hung a full-length curtain of
Babylonian tapestry. There were numerous
side chambers in three stories around the lower part of the building. The upper 18.2 meters of the building had no
side chambers. The outside of the
building was covered with so much gold that an onlooker could scarcely look
directly at it in bright sunlight. All
not overlaid with gold was of pure white stone like the snow on a
mountaintop.
The altar of burnt
offering in front of the building was 6.8 meters high and 22.7 meters on
side. The top had horns at the corners,
and was approached by a ramp on the south side.
No ritually unclean person was allowed near the sanctuary. The high priest wore sumptuous garments on
the Day of Atonement, the only day when he entered the holy of holies. The temple dominated the city, and the Tower of Antonia
Herod’s Temple Jerusalem
Herod’s Temple in
Josephus and Middoth
(lengths
in meters)
# of Gates 7 or 8 gates 5 gates
Circum. 1090 (including 1030
Tower of Antonia
Dimensions no dimensions 85
x 15.9
Gates 9 gates 7
gates
Fence 1.4 0.75
Women’s Court no dimensions 61.4
square
Court of
Israel
Altar of Burnt
Porch
Width 9.1 5
Entrance 31.8 x
11.4 18.2 x 9.1
Front Wall not
given 2.3 thick
Back Wall not given 2.7 thick
Side Chambers 36.4 x 9.1 36.4 x
6.8
Greatest Outside
Width, and Height 45.5 x 45.5 x 45.5 45.5 x 45.5 x 45.5
¹Height of Middoth
altar assumes the 14.5 meter ramp on the south side reaches the top 1.8 meters
short of the other side of the base.
SZ-25
The tract opens with a statement of
how the priests and Levites kept watch at various points around the holy
place. The larger enclosed area is
referred to as the Temple Mount Temple Temple Court Mount of Olives .
There were 38 side chambers or cells arranged in 3 stories. Each story was broader than the one below;
there were offsets in the main building like those in Solomon’s temple. In Middoth, the parapet had a scarecrow
arrangement, while in Josephus’ writing there are “sharp golden spikes.” The interior dimensions of both Middoth and
Josephus agree with Solomon.
Archaeological Data and Modern Study—It has long been obvious that
Josephus and Middoth cannot be made to agree; this is where archaeological
research is helpful. The Muslim
structures now covering the enclosed site retain some traces and features of the
Herodian area, such as the arch projecting from the western Haram wall and the
remains of an old gate just north of the arch.
A little further
north is the famous Wailing Wall or Western wall. This stretch (about 45 meters) of the western
wall of the Haram area was uncovered at some unknown time during the Turkish
period. The lower courses are composed
of large blocks of smooth-faced, marginally drafted limestone, usually 4.5
meters long and around 1 to 1.2 meters high.
This type of stonework has become very well known under the name of
“Herodian masonry.” At this spot there
are smaller blocks of Roman masonry above the Herodian, and above the Roman
rests Arabic and Turkish work. In many
places the Herodian blocks are now below ground level, and hence cannot be seen
without excavation.
A short distance
north of the Wailing Wall is the principal modern entrance to the area. In 1865 Charles Wilson discovered, under the
modern street and gate, an arch built against the Haram wall and linked up with
the vaults. The arch is now several
yards below the street level. This structure
probably marks the site of Herod’s route to the main entrance of the temple
which included a bridge at this point.
About 60 meters north of this arch were found the remains of “Warren
Turning to the
eastern Haram wall, now constituting the southeast part of the city wall, two
features present themselves to the eye: the so-called Golden Gate , now walled up, and the great
stones in the “Herodian masonry” at the southeast angle. Later Christian traditions connected the Golden Gate with the Beautiful Gate and with
Jesus’ triumphal entry. The southeast
angle’s great stones are 21 courses of stone underground, discovered by
excavation, and 14 more above. There can
be no doubt that we have here not only the southeast corner of the modern city
wall, but also the southeast corner of the supporting structure of Herod’s temple
precincts. In the southern wall, the
obvious noteworthy features are from east to west, the great corner stones, the
small Single Gate, the Triple Gate, and the Double Gate; all are now walled up. The Single Gate is of late date and has no
relevance to our problem. The Triple
Gate and the Double Gate probably mark the sites of the Huldah gates mentioned
in Middoth.
If it is fairly
clear that the east, south, and west sides of the present Haram largely
coincide with corresponding sides of Herod’s temple area, the same is not true
of the north side. There is no wall like
the other three, and there is no Herodian masonry. The present circumference is about 1,515
meters, whereas the largest circumference given by Josephus is about
1090. One scholar suggested that the
present circumference includes a post-Herodian northern extension.
The quadrilateral
Haram area is neither a true rectangle nor a parallelogram. Archaeology has been fruitful in recovering
the line of Herod’s wall; the idea of the Middoth’s perfect square must be
abandoned. But the sacred area’s insides
is another matter. What now exists is
completely different, and what is there cannot be investigated very closely
because of Muslim sensibilities. The
only point in common is the sacred rock, which is now within the building; it
may have been inside of Solomon’s, Zerubbabel, and Herod’s temples.
SZ-26
The temples in the 100s B.C. had indirect
connections with the religion of Yahweh.
Such is the temple of the Samaritans.
It was turned by Antiochus Epiphanes into a temple of Zeus temple of Jerusalem Palestine Elephantine in Upper
Egypt , where they worshiped
Yahweh jointly with other gods.
According to the Jewish historian Josephus, a party of Jewish refugees
in Egypt
TEPHON (Tefwn)
A Judean
city fortified by Bacchides. It may
perhaps be Tekoa, because Josephus names it Tochoa; but it was more probably
Tappuah.
TESTAMENT OF THE 12 PATRIARCHS (TTP), THE (Diaqhkai twn
Patriarcwn (die ah
theh kie ton pah tree ar kone)) A work in which the author
assumed a famous historical name, and which probably had its present form by
the 100s or 200s A.D.; it includes material from as much as 400 years earlier. The
patriarch calls together his sons and tells them of his life. He warns them against vice or recommends some
specific virtue. The individual speeches develop the biblical form found in
Josh. 23-24 and is the chief preserved example of a Judeo-Christian group of
“testaments,” in the sense of “last words,” rather than of “covenant.”
In the TTP, the individual
sections are composed of material closely related to the apocryphal Jubilees
and Enoch, rabbinic commentary, Qumran literature, and Wisdom literature. Parts of it are also related to the New
Testament (NT), the Didache, the Epistle of Barnabas, and the Shepherd of
Hermas. At the same time, many of the
sections are examples of confession of sins.
These various elements enabled the work to appeal to many different
groups, and it evidently enjoyed considerable circulation.
History
of Text and Criticism—Much of the material in the present work was
originally written in Hebrew or Aramaic.
The Qumran or Essene sect of Dead Sea Scroll fame possessed a work so closely related
to the preserved Testament of Levi that it must have been either the source or
a variant form; pieces of it, translated into Greek have survived. The Qumran sect also possessed a work closely related to the
Testament of Naphtali. So long as no
fragment of any testament save that of Levi had been found in the Qumran material, this fact was taken as
evidence that the Qumran sect did not possess the other testaments.
It is still possible that the sect possessed only the Testament of Levi
and Naphtali. This notion is made
unlikely by the frequent occurrence in the other testaments of terms and
concepts characteristic of the literature of the Qumran sect.
Apart from such literary
parallelism, the first evidence for the preserved work’s existence is generally
thought to be a reference by Origen in his 15th homily on Joshua to
a “certain book which is called ‘The Testament of the 12 Patriarchs. . .” Jerome refers to the “book of Patriarchs,
although it is reckoned among the aprocryphal books.”
It is very probable
that the preserved text had by this time reached substantially its present
form. This text was apparently popular
in the 900s A.D. There were two textual
families, separated by considerable differences, and copied often in the
interval which separated them from their common original. The Latin translation was made in the 1200s
by Grossteste, bishop of Lincoln England
With the increasing
study of church history in Germany
SZ-27
Having thus secured
a Jewish text, he found it still contained contradictions about the messiah and
the descendants of Levi. Therefore, this
English scholar concluded that the basic text was a pro-Hasmonean work of the
latter years of John Hyrcanus, to which had been added passages by writers
opposed to Hasmoneans, and concerned to revive the earlier hope for a messiah
from Judah Qumran documents have provided
important parallels, and in particular have made it probable that Levi and
Judah in messianic passages represents, not late additions, but an original
expectation of two messiahs.
Outcome
of Criticism—These attempts at re-dating testify to the extremely edited
nature of the text, which has been excerpted, abbreviated, expanded, has
received late additions, and at least in places, has been practically
rewritten. It is quite probable that
the author(s) worked into them elements from other written sources, and that
these elements continued to circulate apart from the Testaments. Given such a history of the text, it is
apparently hopeless to try to unscramble the present omelet. On the other hand, along with this editing
has gone a surprising concern for preserving certain details. Because of this it is sometimes possible to
date particular elements in the present text.
However, we know too little of ancient Judaism and of ancient
Christianity to be quite sure about the possible limits of the variations of
either religion; identification of particular passages as “Jewish” or
“Christian” is necessarily somewhat hazardous.
Because of this uncertainty it is
tempting to say of the Testaments that they were never written, they grew. But the Testaments have a consistent,
literary frame, which is almost certainly the work of one editor. Even if one could date the frame, any one of
the pieces framed might be several centuries older or younger than the
framework. The TTP’s historical value is
that of a stream bed. They show us the
confluence and direction of certain elements in the religion of Palestine
TTP contains: pride in Israel’s tradition and exclusive
attitude toward the Gentiles; faith in Israel’s future and in the Gentiles’ ultimate
salvation; concepts of the messiah as both priest and king; conflicting
attitudes toward the Maccabees; intense awareness of spiritual or psychological
forces which influences humans; belief in human freedom and moral
responsibility; idealization of rural simplicity; a wisdom tradition promising
to make its students citizens of the world; and a morality of asceticism,
self-sacrifice, and brotherly love.
We can also trace
the stream in which they sooner or later converged. It rose in the pre-Maccabean period from
rabbinic commentary to which was added Greek details. In the early Maccabean times it received a
great afflux of national feeling. For a
brief period this tradition of the pious came very near to the tradition of the
people. Later the stream of pious
tradition reasserted it uniqueness; the primitive piety cut for itself ever
deeper and narrower channels, and became more and more the tradition of special
groups. In the TTP we have the Christian
branch of the stream, as it was eventually frozen when Christianity lost touch
with Judaic literature. It is by no
means certain that the Dead Sea sect either shaped the elements of the TTP or contributed
largely to them, since they contain no trace of communal organization or
compulsory discipline. Instead, it
speaks of personal piety and self-discipline.
TEXT, HISTORY OF OLD TESTAMENT. See section in the Introduction to
this part of the Appendix.
THASSI (Qassi, jealous) Surname of Simon one of the 5 sons of
Mattathias. Following Jonathan’s defeat
at Ptolemais, the last survivor of the “glorious brothers,” negotiated a treaty
for Judean independence and be-came the founder of the Hasmonean Dynasty.
THEATER (qeatron (the at ron)) Structures taking advantage of natural land
formations were designed as early as the 400s B.C. in Greece
Greek theaters were built on
natural ground slopes, with tiers of seats cut from rock, stone, wood, or
marble slabs, arranged in ascending concentric crescents and separated into two
or more sections by gangways; the theater auditorium was semicircular in
form. The best-preserved theater of this
type is that at Epidaurus Peloponnesus , dating from the 300s B.C.,
which may have seated up to 14,000 spectators.
The ruins of three great theaters at Rome
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Rival dramatic
contests at the chief festival of the god Dionysus involved choric readings and
a spoken dialogue between the leader and a person called the eupokrites. The introduction of themes drawn from
national history or folklore, flowered into drama or tragodia. Comedy often
caricatured political events and personages of the day, did not use the chorus,
and took the form of a comedy of manners.
THEODOTION. According to church tradition, a
translator in the 100s A.D. who wrote a Greek translation of the Old Testament;
nothing certain is known of him. He is
perhaps a proselyte from Ephesus
THEODOTUS (QeodotoV)
One of the ambassadors sent by Nicanor to Judas Maccabee for the purpose
of establishing peace. The Greek phrase “to give and receive right hands,” is
translated in the King James Version as “to make peace” and in the Revised
Standard Version as “to give and receive pledges of friendship.”
THESSALONICA
(h Qessalonikh) An
important Macedonian city, known today as Salonika, and located on the Thermaic
Gulf, now the Gulf of Salonika, at the western side of the peninsula of
Chalcidice; from the beginning it was Macedonia’s chief seaport.
Cassander named it after his wife, who was the daughter of Philip and
sister of Alexander the Great, probably in 316 or 315 B.C. When Macedonia Macedonia
Thessalonica was surrounded by a city
wall. The surviving wall on the north
and east of the city are from Byzantine times, but rest at least in part upon
more ancient foundations. The Via
Egnatia ran through the city from the southeast to the northwest. Two Roman arches spanned the Via Egnatia, one
at the western entrance to the city known as the Vardar Gate, and the other
near the eastern wall, the Arch of Galerius built to celebrate the triumph of
that emperor over the Persians in 297 A.D.
The agora probably lay in the middle of the city, north of the Via
Egnatia; the place of the hippodrome was near the southeastern wall. The Vardar Gate inscription probably dates
between 30 B.C. and 143 A.D.; one of the other inscriptions belongs to the
reign of Augustus; and yet another is dated under Claudius.
THISBE
(QisbhV) A place in
northern Galilee referred to as that from which Tobit was taken
captive by the Assyrians. The site is
unidentified, but it is described in Tobit as lying south of Kedesh Naphtali
and above Hazor. It is not named in the
Hebrew and Aramaic texts.
THRASEAS. King James Version translation of
Thrasaios, as the name of the father
of Apollonius. The Revised Standard
Version translates it as a place name, Tarsus
THYATIRA (Quatera) A city in western Asia Minor .
It was near the southern bank of Lycus River Pergamum Sardis
Little is known of Thyatira’s
early history. At the beginning of the
200s B.C., Seleucus Nicator refounded it by settling Macedonian soldiers
there. It was never a great city, but it
was the chief city of the Lycus Valley
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Prominent among the deities
worshiped at Thyatira were Tyrimnos, who became identified with Apollo, and
Boreitene, a goddess identified with Artemis.
The image of a Son of God with “eyes like flame” and feet “like
burnished bronze” (Revelation 2) are a reference to Thyatira’s sun-god. Under the Roman Empire the worship of Apollo Tyrimnaios
was joined with the emperor-worship cult.
A minority of Thyatirian Christians accepted a woman named Jezebel as a
prophetess.
TIME. Since the 100 years before the
Christian Era, the Hebrew word ‘olam
had taken on the new meaning of “world,” whereas up until then “world” had been
expressed in the phrase “heaven and earth.”
Through this new meaning of ‘olam,
aeon approaches the idea of kosmos.
Temporal and spatial meanings cross over into one another in the Jewish
apocalyptic doctrine of the two aeons.
Much of what was said about the
conception of time in the OT is true of the late Jewish Apocrypha and the
Pseudepigrapha, although a Greek way of thinking appears now to some
extent. More than any others, the
apocalyptic writings provide material on the concept of time. (See the Judgment Day entry in this
section of the Appendix). The idea of
pre-existence is developed; expressions for “eternity” are manifold. It is not clear whether time will play a role
in the aeon, or whether it will be
timeless.
TIMNAH (ﬨמנה, portion, possession) A
town fortified in 160 B.C. by the Seleucid general Bacchides along with Emmaus
and Bethel Thamna Bethel province of Thamna territory of Diospolis
TIMOTHY (TimoqeoV (Tih mo thay os), one who honors
God)
A leader of the Ammonite forces who opposed and was defeated by Judas Maccabeus and his
followers in several encounters around 164 B.C.
TOBIAS (TwbiaV) 1. A “man of very prominent
position,” father of Hyrcanus. 2. Son
of Tobit, and one of the principal characters in the book of Tobit.
TOBIT, BOOK OF (Twbit, Greek form of Hebrew Tobi, which is an abbreviation for Tobiyah, “the good of Yahweh”) A
romance concerning a devout Jew of the Dispersion, Tobit, whose faithfulness
and good deeds result in a supernatural deliverance from affliction for
himself, his son Tobias, and Tobias wife, Sarah. It was a part of the Apocrypha, both as
contained in the primary Greek Old Testament (OT) and as adopted and circulated
by the early Christians.
The exact circumstances of the
origin of the writing are in doubt, but there is general agreement on a date of
around 200-170 B.C. The originally was
most likely written in Aramaic or Hebrew, as evidenced by the discovery of
Hebrew and Aramaic fragments of the book among the Qumran scrolls. The Greek is a simple and fairly idiomatic,
colloquial type, but it abounds in Semitic-sounding phrases. The form of the text also presents a problem,
for it exists in 2 chief and quite different versions.
Title and Contents—The book describes itself as the “book of the acts
of Tobit.” The story concerns Tobit of
Naphtali, who had been taken captive to Nineveh Nineveh
After being blind
for 4 years, he prayed for divine help.
At the same time, Sarah uttered a prayer for deliverance from an unhappy
plight in which her 7 husbands had been slain by the evil, jealous demon, Asmodaeus. God dispatched the angel Raphael to aid
them. Tobit planned to send Tobias to
Rages to recover a sum of money deposited with Gabael, a kinsman. Raphael was employed to guide Tobit on the
journey. The travelers camped at the Tigris River
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Before they arrived
at Ecbatana Upper Egypt , where Raphael followed and bound him. The next morning Sarah’s father was elated
to find the young man alive, and the wedding celebration was carried on for 14
days. Raphael went on alone and
obtained the money from Gabael.
Tobit and Hannah
were in despair at Tobias’ long absence.
Tobias, as Raphael had instructed him, placed the gall of the fish upon
his father’s eyes, and his sight was immediately restored. The angel made his true identity known, bade
them thank God for his mercies, and disappeared. Tobit then uttered a long prayer of praise
and rejoicing. Tobit and Tobias both
lived to a good old age after enjoying many blessings, including for Tobias,
the news of the destruction of Nineveh
Text—The oldest complete surviving text of the book is found in Greek in ancient
texts from the 300s A.D., which scholars rely in seeking the original. Of this there are two chief versions, and a
third which is derived from them. The
Dead Sea Scrolls contain fragments of this text, three in Aramaic and one in
Hebrew, dating from the 100s B.C. and later.
The two principal
Greek versions seem to depend on one another, but the quantity and quality of
disagreement suggest a common Greek source with influences from Semitic
documentary sources. The longest of the
two versions has 7200 words; the other has 5500. Scholars disagree whether the longer is an
expansion, or the shorter a reduction of the longer. In spite of being shorter, the shorter
version fills in 2 major gaps in the longer text. The longer appears to reflect an earlier
historical, political, and religious situation than the shorter, which also
exhibits a later standpoint in theology and in such religious customs as
tithing and fasting. The longer is in
general closer to Hebrew or Aramaic in style, and more likely to rely upon a
Semitic original.
The question of
priority of texts involves the problem of the original language of Tobit;
opinions are evenly divided between a Greek or a Semitic form. From internal evidence, it has been argued
that much of the book’s phrases are purely Greek idiom. The style is not typically that of
translation Greek. If the book was
composed in Alexandria
Scholars favoring a
Semitic original contend that the style and phrases of the book, especially in
the longer version, have a definitely un-Greek and Semitic character; certain
constructions demand an author who thought and wrote in a Semitic
language. The names of the characters
fit better into a Semitic context. One
scholar finds that the Qumran fragments suggest Aramaic as the original language. Some of the arguments are subjective in
character; but there seems to be a definite disposition to favor Aramaic.
Sources and History—The use of various earlier sources also throws
light upon the problems of origin. The
book contains reflections of biblical ideas and events, biblical phrases,
frequent allusions to specific passages, and a few quotations or near
quotations. Correspondences with
Ecclesiasticus point to a similar period of origin for these 2 books.
Among the
extra-biblical sources the popular Wisdom of Ahikar is evidently used. Its most primitive form was Aramaic, an
indication to some, again, of Aramaic as the original language of Tobit. Ahikar was a prominent official under
Sennacherib. He adopted his nephew,
Nadan, and arranged for the young man to succeed him. The nephew, however forged a charge of
treason against him. Ahikar was
condemned, but the executioner kept him safely hidden. When trouble called for Ahikar’s wisdom, the
executioner produced Ahikar. When Ahikar
returned home in honor, Nadan was reviled and imprisoned and eventually
died. In the Tobit story Ahikar is
presented as a prominent official and a nephew and benefactor of Tobit.
Tobit also reflects
the knowledge and use of the so-called Fable of the Grateful Dead. The corpse of a debtor is rescued and buried;
the dead man’s spirit returned in human form.
He delivers the merchant from mortal danger and arranges a bride for
him. Another variant makes the bride a
princess whose bridegrooms successively have been slain. Other minor sources of similar kind have been
identified with some plausibility. The
name of the demon in Tobit, Asmodaeus, is Persian in origin. The various sources have been so skillfully
woven into the story most scholars regard the book as a unity. A very small minority would see in it a long
process of elaboration and accretion.
Aside from the possible addition of material in chapters 13-14, there is
no conclusive evidence against the general integrity of the composition.
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The character of the
book, together with its interesting story, ensured its preservation and use; it
became an undisputed part of the Apocrypha in the primary Greek OT. It was not used in orthodox Jewish circles,
but there is evidence that it was highly regarded in both early and late
Judaism. Traces of it are found in other
Jewish writings; the Dead Sea Scroll fragments attest its use in Palestine
Place, Date, and Purpose—With the exception of a very few
scholars, there has been general agreement that a Diaspora situation is
reflected in the book. Demonology and
magic, among other things, suggests locating Tobit’s origin outside of Palestine
TOPARCHY (toparcia) A small district administered by a toparch. In the time of the Jewish historian
Josephus, Judea was divided into ten or eleven toparchies.
TRADE AND COMMERCE.
Besides
references from the Bible, we have literature from neighboring countries, contracts,
archives, and archaeological evidence to inform us about trade and commerce.
The conquest of Western Asia by Alexander brought about
important demographic and economic changes.
Food production saw an increase in the production of chickens and eggs,
and the development of fisheries on the Lake of Tiberias Sea of Galilee ). The export of Palestinian olive oil must have
been affected. The oil shipped from Palestine Jordan Valley Palestine India China Mediterranean were appreciated by wine drinkers.
The trade of slaves became a
significant feature of Palestine Greece Rome
Archaeology and historical research
have revealed some information on the equipment of trading centers and the
organization of commercial routes.
Excavation has brought to light large buildings similar in plan to
modern khans or caravansaries, consisting of storerooms distributed along the 4
sides of a square courtyard. People took
their quarters in the rooms on the 2nd-floor gallery.
The network of
overland trade routes passed under the control of the Nabateans and of the
Palmyrenians, along the borders of the Syro-Arabian Desert Damascus Petra Arabia was directed northward toward Damascus Palestine Egypt Red Sea .
The establishment of a system of customs broke the monopoly of the
Nabateans.
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In the northern part
of the Syrian
Desert ,
the oasis of Tadmor became the capital of the Palmyrenians. Palmyre controlled the northern Syrian traffic
and the caravans to and from Central Asia .
Palmyrenian caravan leaders cut straight across the wilderness, instead
of detouring to the north. Sea
transports continued in the Mediterranean in the hands of the Phoenicians and of the
Greeks. The harbor facilities at Tyre Caesarea , and Ashkelon were greatly increased. In Egypt Red Sea , but were hampered by the
Nabateans. Trajan’s cus-tom system resulted
in heavy maritime traffic, the cargoes being unloaded at the Egyptian ports of
the Red
Sea ,
and at Aila, formerly Elath, on the northern shore of the Gulf of Aqabah
The heavy trade was
accompanied by the appearance of local currencies. In addition to the Persian money, Roman,
Macedonian, Ptolemaic, Seleucid, Maccabean, and Herodian coins were
circulated. So many coins led to wide
fluctuations in value, which made the profession of Money-changers
all-important. The gospels make a
special reference to the changers established in the courtyards of the temple of Jerusalem
Alexander the Great brought a new
element in to the population of Transjordan , for numerous Greek colonists settled in the
cities of the Decapolis . About the same time the Nabateans
had extended their rule into Edom kingdom of Herod
TRAVEL AND COMMUNICATION.
In Egypt Italy Greece Asia Minor , the religious of the people was
a basis for important trades and industries.
As Greek religion was a polytheism, it had many temples; the cult of
Dionysus inspired Greek theater. The
Panathenea were celebrated annually at Athens Attica as pilgrim. The
Olympian games occurred every four years in Elis Athens Smyrna Pergamum North Africa and Crete .
Wars continued to be important
reasons for travel. The spread of Greek
culture was ushered in by the conquests of Alexander the Great. His armies marched through Asia Minor , Syria Palestine Egypt Mesopotamia and Persia India Egypt Judah Judah
TRIPOLIS (TripoliV, three cities) The Greek name of a Phoenician sea port north
of Byblos
Neither the founding nor the original name
of the city is known. Probably during
the late Perisan period the city became a center of conclaves for Phoenician
cities, perhaps a joint colony founded the three cities of Sidon Tyre Cyprus Egypt
TRIREME (trihrhV (try eh res)) A galley with three men on each bench, each
rowing one oar. Jason sent sacred
ambassadors to the games at Tyre
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Its ancient name was Sigia. The city was founded by Antigonus and named
Antigonia Troas. The Thracian King
Lysimachus added improvements and renamed it Alexandria Troas. It was a residence of Seleucid kings, and for
a time a free city. In 133 B.C. it came
under Roman control. Julius Caesar
thought of moving his capital to Alexandria Ilium (Troy
TRYPHO (Trufwn (try fon))
A murderous upstart who usurped Syria Arabia to succeed his father, but really
Trypho was after the throne for himself.
Trypho eventually murdered the young king and took the throne.
Jonathan Maccabee
met his army at Beth-shan in 143 B.C. He
was fooled by Trypho and was imprisoned at Ptolemais. Simon tried to effect his brother’s release,
but Trypho invaded Judea instead, and had Jonathan put to death after twice failing to reach Jerusalem
TURBAN (KidariV (kih dah ris), priestly turban;
reward for contest winner, who sat next to the king.)
TWIN BROTHERS (Dioskouroi (die skoo roy Sparta Temples Rome
Castor the horse-tamer became the
god of horsemen. Polydeuces became the
god of wrestlers. Poseidon gave them
power over wind and waves, hence they were also the gods of navigators, and
were identified with the constellation Gemini; the two brightest stars are
known as Castor and Pollux. They might
show themselves in the form of brush-like discharges of electricity or tips of
light on the ends of masts during storms (i.e. modern-day St. Elmo’s
fire). Symbols or images of the Twins
would be used as ship figureheads.
See also entry in main section.
TYRE (ﬧצו (tsor),
rock, sharp stone) An important Phoenician city in the
southernmost part of the country, situated on a small island 40 km south of
Sidon, and famous for its navigators and traders. The main harbor was probably on the south
side of the island, and was protected by a breakwater built by Hiram (986-935
B.C.). The breakwater was 745 meters
long and about 8 meters thick; it was one of the best harbors in Phoenicia Tyre Sidon Tyre Sidon
Alexander the Great defeated the
Persians at Issus in 333; Sidon Tyre Tyre Tyre Tyre
U
URIEL (Ourihl, flame of God) One of the four chief angels, the others
being Michael; Gabriel; and Raphael (mentioned in 11 chapters of Enoch). He also appears in II Esdras in an appearance
to Ezra. In the midrashic literature
Uriel is associated with light and is called the “one who brings light to Israel
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W
WAR. The Maccabean revolt reflects the holy war ideology. Matthias is described in terms reminiscent of the inspired military commanders of the period of judges. “It is not on the size
of the army that victory in battles depends, but on the strength that comes from Heaven
(I Macc.3). The Maccabees’ revolt originally had the character of partisan warfare. The
rebels engaged in guerilla warfare suddenly appearing seemingly out of nowhere, attacking,
and then withdrawing. These tactics forced the Syrians to come to Palestine with huge forces
including infantry, cavalry, & chariots. In hilly Palestine such a group was slow & awkward;
small guerilla bands were able to make raids on it almost at will. The methods of siege
warfare developed by the Assyrians & Babylonians were also adopted by the Seleucids in
the 100s B.C. in their siege of Jerusalem. Characteristics of holy-war thought can also be
found in accounts of the 1st & 2nd Jewish revolts against Rome (66-73 & 132-135 A.D.).
Most of the
apocalyptic material on war was written between the Old Testament and the New
Testament. 4 elements may be distinguished in apocalyptic ideas of war: the presence of demonic powers affecting
world order; the end of that order; a final great holy war; and an era of peace
under the rule of God. The apocalyptic
writers considered the present world order to be under the control of demonic
powers who, using the godless rulers with their lust for power, led the world
toward general destruction. Jewish
soldiers were known to carry charms to ensure their safety. Wars will increase in intensity, brutality
and destructiveness, and an uncontrolled outburst of warfare is a sign of the age’s
imminent end. When God acts to assert
his final control of the cosmos, God’s people will march under the messiah of
David’s line. The War of the Sons of
Light and the Sons of Darkness found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, provides a
detailed description of such a war.
WATCHER (ﬠיﬧ (eer)) The celestial beings of Daniel 4 are
fully described in several of the apocryphal books, most notably in Enoch,
where they are identified with the angels and with those denizens of heaven
that were expelled. They also appear in
the book of Jubilees, the Testaments of the 12 Patriarchs and Genesis Apocry-phon
discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls.
WATER (מים (may eem); udwr (you dor)) In many instances the word refers to springs,
lakes, seas, rain, etc. In other cases
the characteristics of water provide the basis for metaphors. Moreover, water figured prominently in ritual
usage and symbolism. The Testament of
Levi associates the coming Day of Judgment with the drying of the waters, among
other things.
WISDOM ( חﬤמה (khaw keh maw);ﬠצה (‘eh tsaw), counsel; sofia (so fee ah), knowledge, prudence) A quality of mind distinguishing the wise
man, by virtue of which he is skilled and able to live well and both succeed
and counsel success; also a quality in itself apart from the person, above and
beyond the person, existing ideally with God and imparting form to creation.
The wise man in Israel Egypt Babylonia , Persia Egypt
Biblical and other Near
Eastern wisdom literature occupy a lot of common ground. The correspondence of Amen-em-opet with the
last half of Proverbs 22 and the 1st half of 23, is close enough
that the influence of the Egyptian source, or some common source upon this
Proverbs passage is nearly beyond question.
More general but quite probable is the influence of Canaanite and
Akkadian sources. The Bible’s wisdom
literature is a segment of the “wisdom of the east.” Much of the Near Eastern influence is more
diffuse than specific.
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Wisdom
Apocrypha—The Old Testament (OT) book of Daniel, both its biblical and apocryphal
parts, is apocalypse and only incidentally related to wisdom; it shows that God
protects the faithful from martyrdom. It
looks forward to a book like IV Maccabbees, in which martyrs for the faith
prove that reason is stronger than the human passions. Indeed, despite its apparent setting, Daniel
was written in and about the times before and during Maccabean times. Both books would educate men to loyalty and
fortitude.
Although a decade older than
Daniel, Ecclesiasticus (Ecclus.) was not admitted to the canon. This book is the best representative of
wisdom literature in the Apocrypha. It
has a lot in common with the book of Proverbs, but unlike it Ecclus. was not
ascribed to Solomon. Originally composed in Palestine Egypt
Balanced-line proverbs sometimes
appear singly, but more often they appear clustered by subject or in expanded
form. Thus, the thought units are longer
than in Proverbs and discourses or brief essays are of more common occurrence. From a study of his book Ben Sirach emerges
as a teacher concerned with the education of patrician youth. The content of instruction is in large part
the same as in Proverbs. Ecclus. also
includes hymns not clearly reflecting the features of wisdom, but rather are
prayers, praise, thanksgiving, and poems about great biblical people.
In canonical books
of wisdom, folk traditions are notably absent; the focus is not on a people but
on humanity. Apocryphal Ecclus. alludes
at length to great men and events of Bible times. Significant is the thought that wisdom chose
to reside in Jerusalem Palestine
The Wisdom of
Solomon (Wis. Sol.) was probably composed in Alexandria
WISDOM OF SIRACH. See Ecclesiasticus.
WISDOM OF SOLOMON (Wis. Sol.) (Sofia SalwmwnoV (so fee ah sal oh moe nos)) A book of the Greek, but not the
Hebrew Bible, placed between Job and Ecclesiasticus. It pioneers a fusion of Greek and Hebrew
elements. The unifying theme is the
praise of Wisdom.
Contents;
Category; Greek and Hebrew: In chapters 1-9 the theme is righteousness and wisdom;
the 2nd theme illustrates the effectiveness of righteousness in Israel
Wis. Sol. belongs to wisdom
literature but differs from works in this category. It is fluid and varied in style, and is an
example of the fusion of Greek and Hebrew elements in late Greek
literature. The form is that of a spoken
discourse in artistic Greek style employing both Hebrew and Greek modes of
thought and expression. The use of
Greek words give familiar Hebrew ideas they represent new connotations (e.g. ambrosia means more than manna and psyche means more than nephesh.
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Greek modes of thought are obvious
in such notions as that wisdom is an emanation of God. The definite personification of wisdom is
Greek; here wisdom possesses moral and religious virtue and all the secular knowledge
the Greeks had acquired (This innovation has special importance as a stage in
the development of the doctrine of the Logos.
However significant they may be, the Greek elements are a modernization
and naturalization of a basically Hebraic work. Solomon’s prayer may have been composed in
Greek for liturgical use in Alexandria
Audience;
Authorship; Date; Aim; Influence on New Testament (NT)—The Wis. Sol. was
certainly composed in and for a Greek-educated Jewish community, probably at
Alexandria. Wis. Sol. recalls the more
popular Cynic-Stoic diatribe, and seems to envisage a Jewish, mixed, and
Gentile audience at various points. The
author seems to have seen the cult of animal-worship. On the other hand, the opening chapters seem
to fit Palestinian conditions better than any other.
Solomon was early recognized as a
literary device. All scholars agree that
in the main the book is an original Greek composition, not a translation; the
general consistency of style, the use of favorite “theme” words have convinced
critics that the book in its present form is the work of a single hand. The most plausible position is that chapters
1-5 are a direct translation from Hebrew and the remainder an original
continuation by the translator. These
chapters are Jewish in content and addressed to Jewish rulers whereas the
remainder is in a less constrained style with more rhetorical flourishes. Most modern scholars hold to the “one author”
theory. Whether or not our author translated
directly, it is clear that he used pre-existing materials. In theological and ethical premises, there
are striking resemblances between the parts.
The hypothesis of a Palestinian
Hebrew for chapters 1-5 and an Alexandrian origin for the remainder
facilitates, and receives support from, the establishment of a date. The exhortation to pursue righteousness, and
the out spoken indictment of their worldliness fit the reign of Alexander
Janneus (104-78 B.C.). The source may
well have come from some such pieties group as that which occupied the retreat
at Qumran .
For fixing the latest date it could have been written the best evidence
is the denunciation of idolatry. The
Roman introduction of the poll tax deprived the Jews of privileges and reduced
their status. This would place at the
beginning of Roman rule in Egypt
The object of Wis. Sol. is to
hearten the pious by showing that evil’s dominance is only apparent and
transitory. God is aware of good and
evil in the world; each will receive due requital, but rewards need not be
temporal. Our author would appear to be
the earliest Jewish writer to make individual immortality so specific and to
make righteousness a condition of eternal salvation. Our author alludes to Enoch without
mentioning his name. The 2nd
and more traditional part of Wisdom does not speak of messianic hopes. Moses is spoken of as a prophet, not a
lawgiver. This would suit the author
being part of a Palestinian pietist in retreat, or part of the Alexandrian
diaspora. The communication of faith is
more important than the logical theory behind it.
There are no direct citations of Wis.
Sol. in the NT. Passages in the NT
letters which appear to parallel Wis. Sol. are: Romans 1, 2, 9; II Corinthians
5; Ephesians 6; Hebrews 1, 12; James 3; I Peter 1. John’s teachings of the Logos exhibits many parallels: John 1
and 5. It may be that the trumpets in
Revelation 8-9 reflects the arrangement of visitations in Wis. of Sol. The text of Wis. Sol. is well preserved in
several prominent manuscripts.
WORD (ﬢבﬧ (daw bawr), speech, command; אמﬧה (‘ee meh
raw), saying, discourse; logoV (lo gos), speech, language, talk, statement, formula, divine word; rhma (reh ma), speech, command,
promise) In the Old Testament (OT),
the characteristic means whereby God makes God’s will known to humans in law
and prophecy. By it, God created the
heavens and the earth. In the New
Testament (NT), the Word of the Lord is frequently the Word of Christ. The main Hebrew word dabar most likely comes from the root-verb meaning “to speak.” The Greek word logos has a great range of meanings in classical Greek, which
reflect those of the the root-word lego
meaning “pick up,” with secondary senses “count, tell, recount, say,” and
“speak.” The Greek word rema is derived from an old root meaning “speak,” and means “that
which is spoken.”
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Non-biblical
Greek—The
earliest use of logos was by
Heraclitus of Ephesus before 500 B.C. He
was understood by the Stoics to have anticipated their doctrine that the
universe is controlled by logos in
the sense of “reason” or “law.” He was
regarded by early Christian writers as a Gentiles’ prophet. It seems more likely that the Stoics were
simply reading back their own ideas into the enigmatic words of Heraclitus.
Stoicism (see Stoics) as taught by its founder,
Zeno, held that the universe was identified with God and was regarded as
permeated and controlled by fiery vapor, which was also logos. Early Stoicism was
uncompromising in its opposition to Platonic idealism and to popular religion;
later Stoics came to terms with both. Logos became the divine Reason governing
the world. Later Stoics interpreted
popular mythology with allegory in terms of their own beliefs. It was this later Stoicism which was so
influential in the broader Greek culture, and which Philo found so convenient
for his purposes.
But if it is possible to
use allegory to transform gods into abstract ideas, then personifying
abstractions was also possible. In the
period when Judaism was open to the influence of Stoic ideas, the
personification of such divine attributes as Wisdom, and the Word began. The Word of the Lord was related to the Stoic
logos. A similar influence was exercised by Stoicism
on other Eastern religions, and a creation story similar to Genesis is reinterpreted
with the Stoic logos taking the part
of the creative divine word.
In the Greek OT—In the primary Greek OT the use of logos to interpret the Hebrew dabar led readers who had its Stoic
associations in mind to interpret the Genesis creation myth in terms of
creation by the divine reason.
Moreover, there was in the early spread of Greek culture a tendency to
put a fresh emphasis on God’s transcendence, so as to remove God from direct
contact with the world. The next step
then was to personify both “Wisdom” and “Word.” Wisdom appears fully personified in Prov. 8
and Wisdom of Solomon.
The next step, taken by Philo,
was to make the Word or Logos the intermediary between the transcendent God and
the created order. For Philo God is
absolutely transcendent, and it is unthinkable that he should have any direct
contact with the universe. The Logos is
both “pattern,” and “instrument” of God in creation. Logos is God’s “first-born son,” God’s
ambassador, and humankind’s advocate. He
is sometimes identified with Wisdom; sometimes Wisdom is the mother of Logos.
WORLD, THE (אﬧץ (‘er
ets), earth, land; ﬨבל (tay
bale), earth;
חלﬢ
(khah
lad), time, lifetime; הﬠולם (ha ‘oh lawm), the eternal; Oikoumenh (oy koo meh neh), habitable; Aiwn (ae on), era, age; KosmoV (kos mos),
present order of things, ornament, embellishment.) The word primarily means
what is well built or artistically arranged.
From denoting what is well ordered, kosmos
came, in the 500s B.C., to be used of the world system, the universe as a
whole. There is nothing outside the kosmos, which is without beginning or
end.
The relation between God and the
world was somewhat differently conceived as between Platonist and Stoic. Platonists envision the kosmos noetos (world of the mind).
God was either the highest Idea or Essence in the “world of the mind”,
or its cause and ground. Good is said to
be altogether “beyond being.” The
ultimate logic of this was that no quality can be ascribed to God. For Stoics, God was the principle of
reason. Logos did not transcend the world but was entirely confined within
it. No Greek ever posited the
relationship between God and the world as that between Creator and
creature. Ktizo (Creation) in the proper sense was unknown to the Greeks.
Whether the world is an emanation
from the divine being (Platonism) or animated by the divine Logos (Stoicism),
there is a sense in which it must itself be divine. There emerged a kind of dualism: the material world, if not actually evil, was
an obstruction to the soul. Redemption
came to be conceived as a release from matter.
As Greek thought came into contact with the Orient: the stars, which
were so many embodiments of the divine, were obviously capable of exercising
bad as well as good influences. As much
as kosmos came early to signify”
heaven,” it also came to be used of the earth, as an integral part of the
world-whole.
In the times of the primary Greek OT
(LXX) and the Apocrypha, Greek philosophies found a home in Alexandria
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WORLD, ORIGIN OF. During the
intertestamental period the Jews were increasingly exposed to foreign
philosophies and religious doctrines.
Traditional Judaism held that people should not explore what was beyond
his powers, but should stick with doing what God requires of them. Yet, with all this fidelity to tradition, in
an increasingly cosmopolitan atmosphere intellectual isolation was obviously
impossible.
The
scriptural God that saw everything as very good is developed into the notion
that, since God is intrinsically good, nothing that comes from God can be
other than healthy. Closely related is
the concept that the scheme of things is necessarily beneficial to people,
because it is the product of God's inherent love. Another concept is the creative word of
God. The word wherewith God called
things into being came to be thought of as a productive force in and of itself,
and wisdom came to be thought of as the craftsman who attended upon God during
the process of creation.
Another
favorite notion at this period was that God had activated phenomena by creating
them spirits that controlled them. For
example, what God created on the second day was not the firmament, but rather
the spirit of it. This idea could come
from either ancient Greece Iran
Quite
apart from these foreign influences, there was in this period a certain amount
of speculation concerning the purpose of creation. Two main theories appear to have been
prevalent. First, the world had been
brought into being for the sake of man.
Second, all things had been created solely for God's glory. The world was the inevitable self-expression
of God's inherent nature, the realization of his being in a concrete
medium. (See also the Biblical entry in
the main section).
It
was a widespread notion in antiquity that time was a cycle rather than a linear
progression. The cycle could be
conceived as one that revolved over periods up to millenniums, or as one that
revolved annually. Eschatology, or the
lore of the last things, thus became the story of the origin of the new world
in the future tense. Or, by the annual
cycle, every New Year became a new creation.
In Judaism, a radical transformation of this concept of cyclic creation
found its most articulate and vivid expression during the postexilic and
intertestamental periods, when it provided a ray of consolation and hope.
WORSHIP IN NEW TESTAMENT (NT) TIMES, JEWISH. The prayer and the ceremonial reading, quoting,
interpreting of scripture. Burnt
offerings characterized worship in the temple at Jerusalem Egypt
Places and Times of Worship—Among the places of congregate
worship, we find the temple at Jerusalem
There could obviously be no fixed
date or hour for marriage and to eulogies for the dead. Certain prayers were recited 3 times a
day. Other acts of worship occurred
twice a day any time after there was light enough to distinguish colors. Grace was pronounced at every meal place
every sabbath. Special prayers for the
sabbath were said weekly. Priest
beginning duty on the sabbath would say a blessing on the group whose week of
duty had just terminated. The priestly
benediction would be invoked 4 times a day, 3 times a year. The Dead Sea Scrolls, the Manual of Discipline
prescribes that the general members of the community are to keep awake for a
third of all nights. For ministering at
the temple in Jerusalem Jerusalem
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The
annual days of observance were Purim (February-March), associated with the story
of Esther; Passover (March-April; mentioned in Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22,
and John 13); Pentecost (May-June; mentioned in Act 2); New Year
(September-October); the Day of Atonement (September-October); Feast of
Tabernacles (September-October; mentioned in John 7); and the Feast of
Dedication (November-December; mentioned in John 10), which commemorated the
dedication of the new altar after the Syrian monarch Antiochus had defiled the
previous altar. The king read certain
passages from Deuteronomy once every 7 years.
Texts of Worship—The Mishna prescribes the wording to some prayers. Other prayers are referred to by title
only. The wording of these prayers seems
to be fluid or optional (e.g. prayers entering or leaving a fortified city;
prayers upon contingent finishing temple duties by contingent beginning
duties; praises sung at the torchlight
procession on the Feast of Tabernacles. The
following are samples of prescribed phrases:
“Blessed be He whose power and whose might fill the universe.” “Blessed be He who is good and who doth
good.” “Blessed be the truthful
Judge.” “Blessed art thou, O Lord our
God, King of the universe, who has permitted us to live, hast enabled us to
endure, and hast brought us to this time.”
For times of danger: “Lord, save Thy people, Israel
On the Day of
Atonement, the high priest entered the Holy of Holies (only once every
year). Upon leaving the inner
sanctuary, he said a personal prayer that went something like: “O Lord my God, may it be Thy will that, if
the year is to be one tending toward drought, the rainfall may nonetheless be
sufficient. Let not him who reigns pass
from the house of Israel Judah Israel
High
Priest: “O Lord, I have acted perversely, I have transgressed, I have
sinned before Thee, O Lord, pardon the iniquities . . . & sins wherein I
have
acted perversely . . . I & the sons of Aaron.
Multitude (while prostrated): “”Blessed be the name of the glory of His
Kingdom forever and ever.”
High Priest: Pardon the iniquities, the
transgressions, and the sins
wherein Thy people, the house of Israel
Multitude
(while prostrated): [Repeat 1st response].
On the Feast of Tabernacles, marchers would
chant: “Our fathers, in this place
turned their faces east . . . they made obeisance toward the sun. We turn our eyes [west] towards God.” The Hymns of Qumran (i.e. Dead Sea Community,
B.C.) dwell upon God’s concern for the worshiper’s sins.
The most important
of the Jewish prayers was the one known as the “18 Benedictions.” Every Jewish person was expected to recite
the 18 Benedictions every morning, afternoon, and evening (See below)
18 Benedictions
# Content or Subject # Content or Subject
1 Blessed art Thou, O Lord, our God & 8 Healing the Sick
God of Isaac,
and God of Jacob, 9 The Harvest
the great, mighty,
and revered God, 10 Gather the banished ones
the most high God,
who bestowest 11 Righteous Judges
hesed (lovingkindness)
and 12 Support of the righteous ones
possessest all things . . . Blessed 13 Rebuilding Jerusalem
art Thou, O Lord, shield of Abraham.” 14 Descendants of King David
2 For divine help for the falling, the sick, 15 Listening to our prayers
resurrection of the dead thanks.” 16 Restoring divine presence to Israel
3 Divine holiness 17 “. . . to whom it is fitting to give
3 Divine holiness 17 “. . . to whom it is fitting to give
4 Giver of knowledge 18 “ . . . who makest peace.”
5 Repentence 19 [between 11 & 12] “. . . Blessed art
6 Forgiveness thou, O Lord, who breakest the
6 Forgiveness thou, O Lord, who breakest the
7 Redemption of Israel enemies & humblest the arrogant.
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The
last, restive words added to this benediction appeared around 70 A.D. and
reflect the conflicts between Israel Rome
Use of Scripture in Worship—Passages
from scripture constituted a large part of Jewish worship during NT times. The morning devotions by the priest would
include the Decalogue and the Aaronic benediction. Drought-time services utilized the sequence
of: Psalms 120, 121, 130, 102; I Kings 8: 37ff; Solomon’s prayer for rain; or
Jeremiah 14. Passover quotations were
from: Deuteronomy 26; Psalms 113, 114, 115,-18.
The weekly service was regulated by an elaborate reading schedule
(e.g. New Moon=Numbers 28; certain fast
days=Leviticus 26; poll tax=Exodus 30; paschal lamb preparation=Exodus 12;
Feast of Lots=Esther & Exodus 17; Deuteronomy=16; New Year’s=Leviticus 23;
Atonement Day=Leviticus 16, 23, Numbers 29; Feast of Tabernacles=Numbers 29;
every 7 years=Deuteronomy 1-6, 14, 17, 28; Feast of Dedication= Numbers
7). Of course, every sabbath there was
the reading of some selection from the Pentateuch and one from the prophets. The reading of II Samuel 11 (“David and
Bathsheba), is reported to been prohibited.
The
Mishna relates that a part of the temple service once consisted of Psalm
44. Later accounts maintain that certain
Psalms were read on special days. (See below).
Psalms on Special Days
Special Day Psalm(s) Special Day Psalm(s)
Feast of Tabernacles
Feast
of Lots Psalm 7 1st day Psalm 29
Passover: first day Psalms 83 or 148 2nd day Psalm 50:16
intervening days Psalms 72 and 104 3rd day Psalm 94
last day Psalm 136 4th day Psalm 9
Feast of Weeks Psalm 29 5th day Psalm 81:17
Feast of Dedication Psalm 145 6th day Psalm 82:5
The
set of paragraphs known as the Shema (“Hear
(O Israel), which gets its name from the first word in Deuteronomy 6:4, was
recited every morning and every evening.
The Shema includes: Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:
13 -21;
Numbers 15:37-41.
Shema (From NRSV)
love the Lord your God with all you
heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you
today in your heart. Recite them to your
children and talk about them
when you are at home and when you are away; when
you lie down
and when you rise. Bind
them as a sign upon your hand, fix them as
an emblem on your forehead, & write them on the doorposts of your
house and on your gates . . . so that your
days and days of your
children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord
swore to your
ancestors to give them, as long as the heavens are above the
earth.
If
you will only heed his every commandment that I am
commanding you today—loving
the Lord your God, and serving him
with all your heart and with all your
soul—then he will give the rain
for your land in its season, the early rain and
the later rain, and you
will gather in your grain, your wine, and your oil; and
he will give
grass in your fields for your livestock, and you will eat your
fill.
Take care, or you will be seduced
into turning away, serving other
gods and worshiping them, for them the anger
of the Lord will be
kindled against you and he will shut up the heavens, so
that there
will be no rain and the land will yield no fruit; then you will
perish
quickly off the good land the Lord is giving you.
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.
. . Tell the Israelites to make fringes on the corners of their
garments
throughout their generations and to put a blue cord on the
fringe of each corner. You have the fringe so that, when you see it,
you will remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them,
and not follow
the lust of your own heart and your own eyes.
. . . and you shall be holy to your God . . . who
brought you out of
the land of Egypt
This trio of biblical passages was
preceded and followed by some paragraphs of supplication. The following are excerpts from 2
introductory paragraphs:
“Blessed art
thou, O Lord, our God, King of the universe, who
formest light and createst
darkness, and who makest peace and
createst all things . . . O put into our
hearts to understand and to
discern, to mark, learn, and teach, to heed to do
and to fulfill in love
all the words of instruction in they Law”; and “Blessed
art thou, O
Lord, our God, King of the universe, who at thy word bringest on
the
evening twilight . . . and thou rollest away light from dark and dark
from
light . . . Blessed art thou, O Lord, who lovest thy people Israel.”
Concluding paragraphs may have resembled the
following excerpts:
“True and firm,
established and enduring, right and faithful,
beloved and precious . . . good
and beautiful is thy word unto us
forever and ever”; and “Cause us, O Lord, our
God to lie down in
peace, and raise us up, O our King, unto life. Spread over us the
tabernacle of thy peace . . . be thou a shield about us.”
In
NT times and for centuries thereafter, the wording was carried in memory.
Components of Worship—The number participating in an act of worship
was a factor. The presence of 10 adult males was required for congregate
worship. There would be variation in the
response formulas depending on how many were in attendance. Things such as attentiveness, interruptions,
errors, audibility, and fluency were considered in connection with Jewish
worship in NT times. One was not allowed
to interrupt one’s recitation of the “Hear O Israel,” except at paragraph
breaks. In the recitation of the 18
Benedictions, certain abridgements were permitted to one whose recitation
lacked fluency.
At congregate worship leaders
performed a variety of functions (e.g.
18 Benedictions; “Hear, O Israel”; a priest would announce the Aaronic
blessing. Functioning as priest and leader
was permissible if the person could change from one role to another without
committing blunders. Another function at
congregate worship was reading from scripture.
On an ordinary sabbath,
the Pentateuchal (1st 5 OT books) portion was divided among 7
persons. Minors might read from the
Pentateuch and might translate, but they were not allowed to read in other
parts of the service. Women, slaves,
minors, bridegrooms, and mourners were exempt from the obligation to recite the
“Hear, O Israel.” From certain acts of
worship, ritually defiled persons were barred. If a person did not know the psalms recited at
the Feast of Tabernacles, someone else might speak them, and the person would
either repeat that he had heard, or merely respond “Hallelujah.” There is disagreement as to whether the
leader spoke only for those unable to read or speak them or whether the leader
spoke for everyone.
Different numbers would
read on the Day of Atonement, New Moon, the days between the beginning and end
of Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles.
Numbers 29 was recited from memory on the Day of Atonement, and the high
priest would roll up the scroll and place it in his bosom. According to Luke 4, Jesus read in the
synagogue from Isaiah 61. Paul listened
to the readings from the Law and the Prophets in Acts 13.
There were Jewish teachers in NT
times who cautioned against routine mechanical prayer; for prayer, a reverent
mood was indispensable. The Mishna
reports that certain of the old-time saints would, before praying, spend an
entire hour in silent meditation, “directing their heart toward the
Infinite.” The scholar Gamaliel urged
that “in every generation one should feel as if oneself personally had come
forth out of Egypt
Prostration would, on
occasion be the prayer posture. On the
Day of Atonement there were moments when the entire assembled multitude fell
upon their faces. At table, people
sometimes sat, but sometimes they reclined on couches. It was the practice of some to assume a
reclining position for the evening “Hear, O Israel. The priest were required to hold their hands
at a specified height when pronouncing the Aaronic benediction. When on Atonement day, the high priest would
speak the confession, he would have his hands on the head of a bullock to be
sacrificed. Fasting attended not only
the observance of Atonement Day but also the supplications of drought
time. There would be increasing degrees
of austerity as the drought grew worse.
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Some worship rituals
involved marching in procession, such as the ceremony of water drawing on the
Feast of Tabernacle. On each of the 8
days of this feast there would be a circling of the altar. There would also be a procession at the
bringing of the first fruits; the king himself would place a basket on his
shoulder and enter the temple court.
While certain devotional
pieces might be recited in any language, there were others that required
Hebrew. Ancient sources indicate that
the language of Jewish worship was Greek in Greek-speaking communities. Among those who functioned at the reading of
scripture was the translator. Certain
readings were occasionally rendered in translation only. On certain occasions at congregate worship
liturgic passages would be repeated at one and the same service.
In
the course of time, all Jewish worship was sung or chanted. The NT mentions singing in connection with
the dinner-table devotions at the outset of Passover. Otherwise Jewish accounts mention singing only
in connection with the temple. In the
torchlight procession on the Feast of Tabernacle, layfolk of piety and prestige
were apparently included. See Music.
A central part of the
synagogue was the ark of the Law, in which were preserved the scrolls of the
Pentateuch. The services during
drought would be attended by the highest
dignitaries of the community, and these could be seen putting ashes upon their
heads. The ram’s horn was sounded also
in the fast-day service at drought time.
Trumpets, harps, psalteries, and cymbals would be played by priests on
the Feast of Tabernacles. The conveying
of the first fruits to the temple was in baskets made of stripped twigs of
willow; the rich carried baskets of gold or silver. When pronouncing the benediction, some of the
priests would still be holding their sacrificial implements in their hands.
There
was unrest in Jewish worship in NT times over various heresies. Recitation of the 10 Commandments outside
the temple was discontinued because of heretical interpretations. Objectionable insertions into the 18
Benedictions and heretical, metaphorical interpretations were made of the laws
against incest in Levitcus 18. When the
sect arose which denied a hereafter, a phrase was modified to read “from
everlasting to everlasting.” To a
benediction spoken by any sectarian, “Amen” was not to be added until the whole
benediction had been heard.
WRATH OF GOD (אף (af),
anger; ﬧהח
(khaw raw), anger kindled; חמה (kheh mah), heat, anger; ﬠבﬧה (‘ah baw raw), anger, the act of losing one’s
temper; קצף (kaw tsaf), to be angered, to provoke to anger; ﬠםז (tsaw am),
to be angry, indignant; orgh (or geh), anger, indignation; qumoV, qumowsw (thuh mos, thuh mo so), anger, to be angered).
With the exception of Aristeas, the picture of God in the Apocrypha and
the Pseudopigrapha displays God’s wrath as both a historical and an
end-of-the-age force to be reckoned with.
The visions of Enoch behold the entire human race subject to God’s
anger. The averting of God’s wrath is
sought through prayer, a life of righteousness, repentance, a new priesthood,
intervention of Moses or Elijah, or God’s own intercession directly. The full OT notion of God’s wrath is taken up
in the Talmudic literature.
The non-canonical writings among the Qumran
(Dead Sea ) scrolls seem to dwell mainly on the effects of God’s
wrath. A sharp line is drawn in these
writings between those who can expect divine blessing and those who expect annihilation
at God’s hand. The Manual of Discipline
promises “eternal perdition in the fury of the God of vengeance. Prominent in the imagery of divine wrath is
the metaphor of refining or the refiner’s crucible, denoting an experience
through which the saints must persevere.
X
XANTHICUS (XanqikoV) A month in the Seleucid or
Macedonian calendar, corresponding to the Jewish month Nisan (April).
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Z
ZABADEANS (Zabadaioi) Arab inhabitants of a town called Zabad. Jonathan Maccabeus pursued his enemies, who
retired to the other side of the river Eleutherus, turned against the Arab
Zabadeans, and defeated them and carried of their property. The name Zabad probably refers to different
places. Since it is mentioned in
connection with river Eleutherus, one of these towns may have been situated east
of the river, or it may be modern Zebedani, northwest of Damascus
ZABDIEL (ﬢיאלזב,
gift of God) An Arabian who decapitated Alexander Balas
when he fled to Arabia for shelter.
ZACCHAEUS (ZakcaoiV) An officer of Judas Maccabeus’ army.
ZACCUR (ﬤוﬧז, mindful) A post-exilic temple singer among those
forced to put away foreign wives and children (I Esdras).
ZADOKITE FRAGMENTS (ZF) (ﬢוקצ, just) The remains from 2 medieval copies of a
sectarian manual in Hebrew, which were found in 1896-97. They were related to different Jewish groups
like the Pharisees, the Sadducees, or the Dositheans. However, the famous manuscript finds in the
caves near the Dead Sea prove that the original Zadokite work was composed and used in an Essene
community. They are important for a
better understanding of the main trends in Jewish piety at the time of Jesus
and of early Christianity itself.
Name, Condition, and Author—“ZF” is one of the titles for an old
Jewish writing whose original name is unknown. It was discovered in the Genizahi (repository
for worn out manuscripts) of the Ibn-Ezra Synagogue in Old Cairo. It was written by the Karaites, a Jewish sect
flourishing in the Middle Ages which rejected the rabbinic tradition of the
Talmud and restricted itself to the study of the Scriptures alone. The community of this script called itself
the “New Covenant in the Land of Damascus
The name “ZF,” is right insofar
as the name Zadok is mentioned there.
Zadok is said to have revealed the Law, which was hidden in the ark of
the covenant after Eleazar’s death. The
sect seems to have ascribed the religious reform of 622 to Zadok. These priests emphasized their Zadokite
origin by reference to Ezekiel, according to whom only Zadokites are
legitimate priests. They also claimed to live in a new era of rediscovering the
Law. They shared this conviction with
the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) community.
“Sons of Zadok” occur in the Manual of Discipline as the sect’s priests. The DSS community made a play on the words “Zadok” and “zedek” (righteousness) by saying “the Sons of Zadok” were the “Sons
of Zedek.”
The consists of two
parts. Text A has 8 leaves of parchment
measuring about 22 by 19 cm, with 21-23 lines written on both sides. Text B consists of one great leaf with 2
pages of 35 lines each. Text A started
with 8 pages of admonition revealing the end-of-the-age mission of the sect,
and ending with 8 pages of rules. The
admonition illuminates both the present and the imminent future, by drawing a
lesson from God’s mighty deeds. The laws
are badly mutilated. Text B starts with
the last part of the admonition in Text A.
The beginning and end of both parts, admonition and laws, seem to have
been lost. Traces of authorship are
scarce. The preacher in the admonition
claims to give new revelation to his hearers.
He is a teacher who in the Thanksgiving Psalms compares his disciples to
sons or to children at a nurse’s breast.
The overseer is the authority in explaining the Torah’s exact
meaning. The ZF have their setting in
the education of the sect, as a manual to teach applicants and members this community’s
aims and customs.
Contents—At the beginning of his revelation the teacher calls
attention to an important statement.
“Hearken all ye that know righteousness and consider the works of God,
for He hath a controversy with all flesh and he executes judgment upon all that
despise Him . . . But when He remembered
the covenant . . . He caused a remnant to remain for Israel Israel
SZ-44
The teacher’s arguments are not
well ordered or easily understood. The
history of sin and punishment starts with the fall of the angels. The sin of the angels penetrated all humankind. But there always existed an unbroken line of
pious ones. God’s covenant is an eternal
one, but the way of keeping it differs in the subsequent periods of time. Every successive stage of revelation opens up
a new era of the covenant, which cant then be called a new one. One can reconstruct 7 eras connected with
outstanding men of the Bible: Noah;
patriarchs; Moses and Aaron; Eleazar, Joshua, and elders; Zadok; the
right-teacher of the messianic age.
The sect does not think
merely in cycles but knows a development of history toward the end which God
has determined for it. Nothing happens
in heaven and on earth which is not ordered and predetermined by God. This theory of predestination, though severe,
does not exclude human responsibility.
Even a member of the sect can fail and transgress the limits of the
law. The sect is waiting for 2 messiahs,
one of Aaron and one of Israel Israel
Until this messianic age
the law has to be studied in order to be understood. Both human effort and divine illumination are
needed for revelation. The Song of the
Well in Numbers 21 is used allegorically.
The members of the sect are digging the well of the Law. The time of Moses represents the great ideal
for the sect. Its teacher is a second
Moses, with the exodus leading in the opposite direction, i.e. to sojourn in
the Land of Damascus Damascus land of Damascus
The divine law is the
heart of the sect’s life and teaching.
Every Jew outside the sect is considered to outside the law. The sect is aware of its interpretation when
compared with the eventual knowledge in the messianic age. It harshly criticizes false teachers, the
“remover of boundaries” (e.g. Pharisees
who tried to accommodate the Mosaic law to actual conditions; official priests
at Jerusalem
Their 3 main sins were
whoredom, wealth, and uncleanness. (i.e.
allowing divorce or the marrying of a niece; unjust handling of the vows to the
sanctuary; and the wrong interpretation of “clean and unclean” laws. The sect had a solar calendar that was found
in the DSS. The laws listed in their
legal code do not differ much from the Pharisaic code, except that they were
more rigorous. There were regulation
regarding the oath and vows, the ritual purification with water, and especially
the sabbath.
Community and Historical Conclusions—More revealing for the
character of the sect are how it was administrated. Members of the community lived in “camps”
like Israel Israel
The priestly element pervades the
whole sect. The holy service of the sect
is characterized by the order of worship to be followed at the end of this age,
given in the last chapters of Ezekiel.
The sect does not participate in the temple worship at Jerusalem
The ZF are closely related
to the DSS, especially to the Manual of Discipline. These writings belong to the sect which was
called from the outside “the Essenes” (“the pious ones”). The Manual is written for the closed Essene
community at Qumran , while the ZF are concern with those Essenes who settled in different
camps and cities of Palestine
SZ-45
The ZF offer some dates
which seem to give a key to the historical problems. Numbers derived from the period after the
fall of Jerusalem
“Damascus land of Damascus Judea suddenly; many of them could
have gone to the “Land of Damascus Qumran community, “Damascus Jerusalem
ZAMBIS. King James Version Apocrypha form
of Amariah #8.
ZAMBRI. King James Version Apocrypha form
of Zimiri #2.
ZAMOTH. King James Version Apocrypha form
of Zattu
ZARACES. King
James Version Apocrypha form of Zarius.
ZARAIAS. King
James Version Apocrypha form of Zerahiah and Zeraiah.
ZARATHUSTRA The Prophet of ancient Iran
As Zarathustra’s homeland,
later commentators may have preferred western Iran
ZARIUS (ZarioV) When the King of Egypt placed Jehoiakim upon the Judean
throne Jehoiakim rescued Zarius from Egypt
ZEALOT (קנאנא (kan Rome
ZECHARIAH (ﬤﬧיהז, whom the Lord remembers; ZacariaV) 1. This name appears in I Esdras 1 instead of the Heman of
II Chronicles 35. 2. The
father of Joseph, Maccabean captain (I Maccabean 5).
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ZEPHANIAH, APOCALYPSE OF. A lost work to
which a famous name was attached, known through a citation by Clement of
Alexandria near the end of the 100s A.D.
The quotation states that Zephaniah was taken by the Spirit to the 5th
heaven, where he saw and heard glorious angels on their thrones singing hymns
of praise to the ineffable Most High God.
In an early 400s Coptic papyrus manuscript Sophoniah saw a human soul in
the lower world being terribly flogged by angels for sins which had gone
unrepented. The relation of the
Sophoniah fragment to the Zephaniah fragment cited by Clement is uncertain. Some believe that the Coptic “Anonymous Apocalypse”
is from an Apocalypse of Sophoniah.
There is also a description of the mighty angel who records the good
deeds of the living in the Book of Life.
ZERUBBABEL (זﬧבבל, scattered or sown
(begotten) in Babylon Palestine Jerusalem Jerusalem
ZOROASTRIANISM. As a general term, the religion founded by Zarathushtra. More specifically it is the form of this
religion as developed by the later Zoroastrian theologians. Its literary sources are the Avesta and an
extensive literature in Pahlavi. A
tendency toward emphasizing monotheism is noticeable in Parsiism. The ancient customs are still observed. Generosity, formerly restricted to Parsis, is
nowadays extended to members of other castes, races, and religions.
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