SKIFF (אבה ﬨאניו (‘ah nee yoth ‘eh baw) vessels of reed) A kind of boat. Job likened the fleeting days of his life to
swiftly passing skiffs of reed (Job 9).
SKIN (עוﬧ (‘ore), from root meaning nakedness; גלﬢ (geh led); derma (der ma), animal skin; dermatinhn (der ma tih non), leather)
The outer covering of the body of man or an animal.
The skin, bones,
sinews, and flesh make up the human body.
The variation in the hairiness of the skin is recognized in the story of
Jacob and Esau. Apart from the allusion
to Leviathan’s skin in Job 41, all the biblical references to animal skin are
to the hides of dead animals. All such
hides were doubtless tanned in some way before being used. See Leather;
Tanning; Waterskins; Wine.
The hides of some
sin offerings had, like most of the carcass, to be destroyed. The skin of other sin offerings became the
property of the priests. The proverbial
expression “skin for skin” (Job 2) continues to have an unknown meaning. The text of Job’s “by the skin of my teeth”
has probably been corrupted. If the text
is sound, we may have a proverb, the meaning of which in Job would appear to be
either “with the loss of almost everything” or “by the smallest possible
margin.”
SKIRT (ﬤנף (kaw nawf), skirt of loose garment; שול (shole), hem) Kanaf is the loose end, one of the four
corners of a garment. Covering with the
skirt of one’s garment symbolized the right of marriage. Shol is
part of a garment which hangs down loosely, perhaps the lowest part. It is used figuratively in connection with
Jerusalem whose skirts were lifted up in shame.
SKULL, PLACE OF A.
See Golgotha ; Holy Sepulcher.
SKY. See Heaven.
SLANDER (ﬢבה (dib baw), evil report; לשן
(law shan), tongue; ﬧגל (raw gal), back-biting; katalalew (kah tah lah lee oh), undisciplined talk; diaboloV (die ab oh los), treacherous
informer). In the Old Testament several Hebrew words
are used for evil talk intended to damage or destroy a neighbor. The close relationship of slander to the 9th
commandment is seen in Leviticus 19. The
tongue is regarded as a vicious evil instrument. In the New Testament, katalaleo, “to speak evilly,” includes untruthfulness, carelessness,
and lovelessness.
SLAVERY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT (OT)
Glossary
אמה (aw maw), maid-servant
בני עבﬢי שלמה (beh nie
‘ah beh die sheh lo moh)
sons of the servants of the Lord
Solomon
ﬤסף מקנﬨ (me keh nawt kaw saf), thing pur-
chased with silver
מס עבﬢ (mas ‘oh
bed), tribute-service
נﬨינים (neh thih neem), temple servants [slaves]
עבﬢ (‘ah bed), servant
עבﬢי שלמה (ah beh
die sheh lo moh), Solomon’s
[state] slaves
שפחה (she feh
khaw), female servant
The
ownership of people by other people. OT
Palestine, embracing a period of more than 1,000 years, was economically an
integral part of the ancient Near Eastern world. Slavery was an economic institution of that
world. The law codes and the vast number
of private economic documents relating to slavery from Babylonia , Assyria , and Syria
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The most important
sources for the study of slavery in the ancient Near East are: law codes (e.g.
the Ur-Namu Code (2050 B.C.), the Laws of Eshnunna (1920-1900), the
Lipit-Ishtar Law Code (1850), the Code of Hammurabi (1700), the Hittite Laws
(1450), and the Middle Assyria Laws (1500-1200)); private and court documents
from Babylonia and Assyria (scattered over 3,000 years); and Akkadian documents
from Alalakh and Ugarit. There are
references to slavery in Exodus 21, Leviticus 25, and Deuteronomy 15, as well
in many other books of the OT. The only
data outside the Bible relating to Jewish slavery in the period under discussion
are from the Jewish colony at Elephantine , Egypt
The earliest Sumerian
terms for male and female slaves are nita+kur
and munus+kur, respectively. In later Sumerian times the male and female
slave are referred to simply as sag nita and
sag geme. Unlike the Mesopotamian and Ugaritic usage of
the term “slave’ to denote any unfree person, the biblical legislations employ
in some cases the phrase “Hebrew slave.”
This distinction is interpreted in the Talmud to mean that in the former
cases the laws apply to Hebrew slaves and in the latter cases to non-Hebrew
slaves.
Sources of Slavery—The Sumerian term for “slave” indicates that a
powerful country’s source for slaves was war.
Hammurabi’s Code and biblical law take this universal practice of enslaving
war captives for granted and seek to soften the lot of some of those unfortunates. Once a soldier sees among the captives a beautiful
woman and marries her, she must be treated as a free person, and never again as
a prisoner of war.
Traffic in foreign
slaves was an integral part of the merchant’s activity in the ancient Near
East, especially the import and export of slaves to and from various parts of Mesopotamia ; our information on biblical
Palestine is exceedingly meager. We
have only two laws dealing indirectly with exporting Hebrew slaves abroad. The laws do not specifically state that the
stolen free person was sold into a foreign country. The Deuteronomic law prohibiting the
extradition of fugitive slaves most likely has in mind a Hebrew slave who has
fled from a foreign country seeking asylum in his native land.
“Voluntary” sale of
children by their parents was not an uncommon practice in the ancient Near
East. This may have happened in
Israelite Palestine, but we have no proof of it. Exodus 21 and Nehemiah 5 represent no clear
evidence of the outright sale of minors by their parents. Exodus 21 does deal with the sale of a girl,
with the condition that, after having reached puberty, she be married, either
to the master or one of his sons. The
law does not consider this transaction an outright sale, as it clearly stated
that if the master does not take her as his wife, he must let her be
redeemed. If no one of the family
marries her, “she shall go out for nothing”—i.e. the master forfeits the money
paid. In Nehemiah 5, the economic
depression forced some farmers to hand over their land and their children as
pledges for loans.
Hunger or debt drove
people to sell first their children and then themselves into slavery. Exodus 21 provides that if a Hebrew
debtor-slave refuses to go out free after his six-year term of service, he
shall serve his master “for life.”
Deuteronomy 15 is a parallel to Exodus 21, but here the debtor-slave
bases his refusal to go free on the economic reason only. The subject of Leviticus 25 is the Hebrew who
because of poverty enters into the status of slavery. All three slave legislations contain laws
pertaining to self-enslavement of Hebrews.
Although war-captives,
foreign slaves, and children made up a large part of Near Eastern slaves, the
basic supply source for slaves was the free-born native defaulting on debt. Two ancient codes recognize the creditor’s right
to seize the debtor. The source of
insolvency can be traced back to the exorbitant interest rates (20% to 33%)
outside of Palestine
Types of Slaves—The female slave was treated as a commodity: leased for
work; given as a pledge; handed over as part of a dowry; or the utilization of
her body for the breeding of slave children.
The highest position a female slave could achieve was to become a
childbearing concubine to her master.
According to the Code of Hammurabi, a female slave who has borne
children to her mistress’ husband cannot be sold, as in the case of Hagar. All her mistress could do was to embitter her
life; she could not sell her. Female
slaves were mated with male slaves for purpose of giving birth to slave
children. The house-born slave’s legal
status differed in no way from that of the purchased slave; only socially was
the position of the house slave better than the purchased one. What Abraham meant when he said: “A slave born in my house will be my heir,”
was that if no son were born to him, he would have to adopt Eliezer and appoint
as his heir.
Harboring a fugitive
slave was, like receiving and possessing stolen goods, punishable by law. Eshnunna’s Laws impose a fine for harboring
runaway slaves. In Hammurabi’s Code,
harboring a fugitive slave is a capital offense. A fugitive slave was as helpless as a stray,
and anyone who seized him and delivered him to his master was rewarded. The OT slave legislations do not consider the
fugitive slave’s case. Runaway slaves
were handed over to their owners and fugitive slaves in foreign countries were legally
brought back.
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Treatment—Theoretically, the slave was considered a mere chattel
and classed with movable property, but still they were human. We thus have the highly contradictory
situation in which, on the one hand, the slave was recognized as possessing the
qualities of a human being, while, on the other hand he was considered as
being void of these, of having no genealogy.
As a piece of
property the slave was usually marked with a visible sign. Egypt Babylonia the slaves were marked with an abbuttum,
which may have been: a brand on the
forehead; a special haircut; or a small tablet of clay or metal suspended on a
chain. In a later times, Babylonia would tattoo the name of the
owner on the wrist. Temple
The biblical law
prescribes that he who voluntarily submits to perpetual slavery shall have his
ear pierced with an awl. It may be that the hole was made in order to push
through it a ring, or cord, on which was fastened a clay or metal tag. Privately owned slaves in the Jewish colony
of Elephantine in the 400s B.C. were marked on
the wrist with names of their owners.
If he is maimed,
killed, or, in the case of a female slave, violated by a stranger, the master
is compensated for his loss; slaves themselves are never considered as an
injured party. Cases in which a slave is
killed by a goring ox, the owner of the animal must compensate the slave’s
master by paying him 30 shekels of silver. If a betrothed slave has sex with a
stranger, the offender only has to pay a “guilt offering.”
Although both the
Mesopotamian and the biblical laws treat the slave in his relation to a third
party as a “thing,” there is a fundamental difference in these two
legislations. Mesopotamian law puts no
restrictions on the master’s power over the slave. The biblical legislation recognizes the
humanity of the slave by restricting the master’s power over him. If maimed by the master, the slave is set
free; if killed, the master is punished.
It should be
stressed that slavery in biblical Palestine
Marriages between
freeborn women and slaves were common in ancient Babylonia .
A slave could take a freeborn woman and conclude a legal marriage. The children born of such a union were free,
and their father’s master couldn’t lay claim to their service. In Sheshan’s case, he married off one of his
daughters to his slave Jarha. Jarha was
probably manumitted and adopted by Sheshan before the marriage was consummated.
Manumission—The Code of Hammurabi recognizes four legal means by
which a slave is entitled to his freedom:
a defaulting debtor and family are to be freed after three years of service,
regardless of the size of the debt; a slave-concubine and her children are to
be freed after the death of the master; children born of a free woman and a slave are free; and
a Babylonian slave bought by a merchant in a foreign country and brought back
to his native land is to be unconditionally released. There is a conspicuous lack of evidence that
the law regarding three years of service was ever enforced.
The most common
methods of manumission in the ancient Near East were release by adoption and by
purchase. The purchase transaction could
be carried out in two forms, by payment of the whole sum at once or by the
slave’s assuming the role of service to his master for the duration of the
master’s life. To make the release
doubly safe, the manumitted slave was sometimes dedicated to a god to protect
against any future claim by the children of the manumitter.
According to
biblical law there are five means of manumission: A Hebrew slave and his wife are to be
released after a six-year term of service; a Hebrew who has sold himself
voluntarily into slavery is to be freed in the year of the jubilee; a Hebrew
girl who had been sold by her father is to be freed after puberty if she is not
married into the master’s family; a slave permanently maimed by his master; and
a fugitive “slave” must not be delivered to his master but must be granted
asylum.
The subject of the
laws of Exodus 21 and Deuteronomy 15 is the Hebrew debtor-slave. The manumission laws of these two OT passages
are alike; Deuteronomy introduces the issue of women debtor-slaves, which
reflects the changed economic conditions in the country. Jeremiah 34 explicitly states that Hebrew
slaves in his time were not released in the seventh year.
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The subject of
Leviticus 25, which decrees the manumission of the Hebrew slave in the year of
the jubilee, is the poor Hebrew who has sold himself into slavery. Although literally the jubilee law applies
only to cases of self-enslavement, it may be assumed that this law of release
was meant to embrace all Hebrew slaves. “He
that has his ear bored through is acquired by the act of boring, and regains
his freedom at the year of the jubilee or at the death of his master.” It denies the right of any man to own a
Hebrew forever.
The law of Exodus 21
presents considerable difficulty of interpretation. The loss of limb, caused by beatings
administered by the master, is considered sufficient ground for the manumission
of the slave. The ambiguity arises when
we ask for the identity of the slave.
Indications are that the slave laws of the OT restricts the power of the
master over his slave regardless of nationality and grants the slave legal
protection in cases involving loss of limb or death. Leviticus 25’s pronouncement that the
non-Hebrew slave is to remain a “perpetual possession” indicates that the law
of the jubilee does not apply to non-Hebrews.; it does mean that Canaanite
slaves are at the mercy of their Hebrew master.
The Levitical attitude in regard to the foreign slave, therefore, does
not contradict the laws of Exodus and Deuteronomy.
The most common
practice of release in the ancient Near East was manumission by purchase. The Mesopotamian codes do not mention this
practice, since release by purchase was a private matter; a Palestinian slave could
buy his freedom if the master agreed to it.
A non-Hebrew master must grant his Hebrew slave request to buy his
freedom; no such demand is made of a Hebrew master.
The provision in
Deuteronomy 23, prohibiting the extradition of fugitive slaves, has been
considered by some as an unrealistic law reflecting the reformer’s wishful
thinking; if put to practical use, it would have resulted in slavery’s abolition. Verse 16 of the chapter just mentioned makes
it clear that the law has in mind a fugitive slave from a foreign country
seeking asylum in Palestine. Hammurabi’s
Code and the Middle Assyrian Laws provide indirect precedents for
Deuteronomy’s provision. The Middle
Assyrian Laws prohibit the selling abroad of a pledged free man or woman; these
two laws are not exactly parallel to Deuteronomy’s provisions. They do demonstrate the Semitic law’s tendency
to block sales of natives into foreign countries.
No Canaanite code of
laws has as yet been recovered, and we do not know whether restrictions of the sale
abroad of native-born people were imposed by local legislation. Tablets containing two treaties between
Syrian city-state kings have in them clauses promising the return of any
fugitive slaves from the other country.
The assumption that these clauses represent the general practice in
Syrian in the 1600s B.C. leads to the conclusion that Canaanite law did not
prohibit the sale abroad of native slaves; if such slaves managed to return to
their country of origin, they were extradited.
Deuteronomy demands
that a fugitive slave from a foreign country who is a native of Palestine
Slavery: Types and Economy—From very ancient times it was the fate of those who were spared on the battlefield to be reduced to slavery. It was these war captives who constructed roads, erected fortresses, built temples, tilled the crown lands, and worked in the royal factories connected with the palace. During the subsequent period of the “judges,” there was no centralized power in the country, and as a result both the corvee and state slavery were nonexistent inIsrael
State Slavery became an important economic factor only after the Arabah’s conquest. Slave labor is highly unprofitable unless employed on a large scale in non-technical production. The metal industry in the Arabah presented an ideal field. David, Solomon, and the kings who ruled after them, put the state slaves to work in the mines and thus utilized them to considerable advantage. Once established, this class of state slaves remained in existence, varying in number and economic importance, until the end of the Judean kingdom.
Slavery: Types and Economy—From very ancient times it was the fate of those who were spared on the battlefield to be reduced to slavery. It was these war captives who constructed roads, erected fortresses, built temples, tilled the crown lands, and worked in the royal factories connected with the palace. During the subsequent period of the “judges,” there was no centralized power in the country, and as a result both the corvee and state slavery were nonexistent in
State Slavery became an important economic factor only after the Arabah’s conquest. Slave labor is highly unprofitable unless employed on a large scale in non-technical production. The metal industry in the Arabah presented an ideal field. David, Solomon, and the kings who ruled after them, put the state slaves to work in the mines and thus utilized them to considerable advantage. Once established, this class of state slaves remained in existence, varying in number and economic importance, until the end of the Judean kingdom.
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The Palestinian
temple slaves, the nethinim, are
first mentioned in the postexilic period.
Their origin is traced back in Ezra 8 to the temple slaves whom “David
and his official had set apart to attend the Levites.” The Nethinim
were the descendants of war captives and hence non-Hebrew. They could marry outside their own class but
the children born of such marriages were claimed by the temple.
The privilege of a
limited right to hold property (peculium) was granted to Babylonian, Assyrian
and Egyptian slaves from early times. Property
amassed by a slave jointly with his freeborn wife is to be divided after his
death equally between widow and master. In
Assyria and in Neo-Babylonia, slaves
played an active part in the 2 countries’ economic life. Some of them were craftsmen, agents, and
tenant farmers; they even possessed slaves; Palestinian slaves had the same
privilege of accumulating property. Ziba, Saul’s slave, is reported to have had
15 sons and 20 slaves. “All who dwelt in
Ziba’s house became Mephibosheth’s servants.
Slave labor played a
minor role in the fields of agriculture and industry. Unlike Egypt
The counterpart of
the freeborn tenant farmer in agriculture was the freeborn artisan in
industry. Palestinian industries were
located in places where the necessary raw material for the given industry was
to be found in abundance. Skilled
workers were recruited from the free local population. The activities of the slave centered mostly
in the households of the rich and not in local industry.
SLEDGE, THRESHING (גﬧמו (mo rag)) An instrument made of two planks, turned
up slightly at the front, with sharp stones set in holes in the bottom, and pulled by animals, to separate grain from
straw.
SLEEVES (פסים (pas seem), long sleeves) The special feature of Joseph’s
robe, given as a mark of his father’s favoritism. The translation “with sleeves” in the passage
dealing with the dress given to David’s daughter Tamara (II Sam. 13) is
supported by Greek versions. The
explanatory gloss in the Tamara passage may imply some unusual dress feature
during the early monarchy which was unfamiliar in the time the gloss was
written.
SLIME (ﬧיﬧ (ree yer), saliva, spit; ﬨמס (teh mes), melt, waste
away) Reyer
is used as a simile for what is tasteless (Job 6). Temes
is used to describe the trail left by a snail, and the wasting away of the
snail (Psalm 58).
SLING (קלע (kaw lah /
kal law), sling / slinger; מﬧגמה (ma reh gay maw), heap of stones) The sling was carried by
shepherds and warriors hurling small stones or clay pebbles. It consisted of two narrow strips of leather
or woven textiles. One end was tied to
the hand or wrist and other held so that it could be released.
The sling was used
in early times by foreign (Libyan soldiers according to Egyptian reliefs; it
was also well known to the Assyrians. At
Tell Hassuna (4500 B.C.) numerous baked clay pellets were found which probably
served as ammunition for slings. Round
stone balls in great numbers usually identified as sling-stones, are found in
excavated sites in Palestine
Among the Hebrews
the sling was used by shepherds as well as by professional slingers in the Israelite
and Judean armies; great accuracy could be achieved by slingers. If the NRSV reconstruction of a corrupt
passage is correct, Zechariah 9 represents the Israelites overcoming their
foes, devouring and treading down the slingers.
The Roman Army had slingers only in the auxilia, not in the legion itself.
SLOTHFULNESS, SLUGGARD (עצל (‘aw tsel)) The
words “sloth,” “slothful,” and sluggard are found only in the Old Testament’s (OT)
Wisdom literature, and all but one of them in Proverbs. In OT wisdom thought, such a sluggard
represents the opposite of the diligent man.
These opposites constitute one of the contrasting pairs which are used
in the teaching of Proverbs to delineate the two lifestyle choices one can
make. In Israel Israel
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In the New Testament (NT) we find
a clear echo of this concept in Matthew 25, where the “wicked and slothful
servant” appears as the opposite of the ideal “good and faithful servant.” In the entire chapter the “two paths” of the
wisdom literature are placed in the framework of the NT’s view of the end of
this age; the way of sloth and unrighteousness results at the latter day in the
bitter laments of the “outer darkness.”
SMELT (צﬧף (tsaw
raf), refine; צוק (tsoke), pour out) The contexts of these words in Isaiah 1 and
Job 28 clearly indicate the process of separating a metal from its ore by heat.
SMOKE (עשן (‘aw sawn); ﬧקיטו (kee
tor), vapor; kapnoV (kap nos)) As a phenomenon that occurs with the
appearance of God in acts of self-disclosure or in warlike anger, the word
appears throughout the Old Testament (e.g. God’s appearance on Mount Sinai (Exodus, 19, 20). In a stylized form, the smoke and fire of Sinai
becomes a stereotype of the presence of God in God’s glory. In different contexts, smoke derives from the
fire of God’s anger, breaking forth in Wrath against God’s enemies. The smoke of sacrifices and offerings and of
incense is referred to in Psalm 66; and Ezekiel 8. As a figure of that which is ephermal,
“smoke” appears in Psalm 37, 68, 102; Proverbs 10; Isaiah 51; Acts 2; and
Revelation 9, 14.
How or when Christianity first
came to Smyrna Smyrna
When Ignatius, bishop of Antioch Syria Rome Asia Minor , and later wrote letters. Four of seven letters were written from Smyrna Smyrna Smyrna
Some 40 years later, around 156, the
bishop Polycarp, then at least 86 years old, was burned alive as the 12th
martyr in Smyrna
SNAIL (שבלול (sha beh
lul), from the root meaning “flow copious” (i.e. “slime”)) Any of a group of mollusks
with and without external shells. The
Jewish tradition interprets it as being “snail, slug.” There are different interpretations
throughout history.
SNAKE CHARMING (הנחש לחש (ha naw khaws law khash), whispering to serpents) Serpents abound in Palestine, and snake charming was known there. It was used metaphorically to depict enemies, and also sinners who are “like the deaf adder that stops its ear, so that it does not hear the voice of charmers” (Psalm 58).
SNARE. See Traps and Snares; Hunting.
SNOW (שלג (sheh leg);
ciwn
(kie own)) Snow
is relatively rare in Palestine Mount Hermon however, is visible from many
parts of the land, and snow in the Bible is proverbial for its whiteness,
cleanness, and for its beauty. Job
speculates on the storehouses in the sky from which snow comes (Job 38).
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SNUFFDISHES (ﬨﬨיהמח (ma kheet toe teh yaw), New Revised
Standard Version in Exodus 25, 37; Numbers 4 translates as “trays”)
“Snuffdishes” are mentioned together as part of the equipment of the
golden lampstand of the tabernacle. It
may be inferred that makittoteyah (snuffdishes)
were used to remove and dispose of the burned portions of the wicks.
SNUFFERS (ﬧוﬨמזמ (meh zah meh roth), psaltries; מלקחים (meh leh kaw
khah yeem), tongs) Implements used
in tending the lamps in the tabernacle and temple. Described as golden, they were more likely of
bronze. The use of metsamereth and melekalhayim in
the same passage suggests the words refer to different instruments.
SO (סוא) A “king of Egypt Assyria .
No known pharaoh of the time can be fitted to the name. The Assyrian annals mention an Egyptian
general in Asia named Sib’e. The Hebrew consonants
with different vowels could be read as “Sive.”
SOAP (בﬧיﬨ(bo reeth),
from the root verb “to purify) Cleansing substance obtained by
decomposing oil, probably olive oil, with an alkali gotten by burning certain
plants. The infrequent use of terms
translated as “soap” reflects the fact that the ancients used other means of
cleansing.
SOCKET (ﬨפו (poth),
hinges; ﬢןא (‘aw
dan), base of a column) Ancient doors and gates generally swung on
pivots set in stone sockets, many of which have been found in excavations.
SOCO (וﬤשו, hedge) 1. A town in the Shephelah between
Adullam and Azekah. When the Philistines
with Goliath, were preparing to attack, they took over Soco, and then encamped
at Ephesdammim. Rehoboam repossessed
and fortified Soco. In Ahaz’s reign it
was again taken by the Philistines. The
site is most likely Khir-bet ‘Abbad, since pottery of biblical times has been
found there.
2. A town in the southern hill country of Judah Hebron
3. A place in the third district of Solomon, under the administration of
Ben-Hesed. It has been identified with
Tell er-Ras, near another Shuweikeh, some 16 miles northwest of Samaria
4. Soco occurs in I Chronicles 4 seemingly as a personal name, in a genealogy
of the “sons of Judah
SODI (ﬢיסו,
confidant) Gaddiel’s father, who was sent from the tribe
of Zebulun to spy out the land of Canaan
Chedorlaomer and 3 other eastern kings, made war on Bera
king of Sodom Sodom Gomorrah Lot was captured, to be rescued subsequently by Abram. The Lord was determined to destroy them, after
Abram could not find 10 righteous persons in Sodom Sodom Lot sitting in the gate of Sodom Lot , his wife, and their 2 daughters to flee from Sodom Lot begged to be allowed to go to Zoar. “Then the Lord rained on Sodom Hebron
No traces of the valley cities have
been found; the sites may be submerged under the waters of the Dead Sea ’s southern part. Genesis 14 implies that “Siddim Valley Dead Sea ’s surface. The water’s maximum depth in the lake’s
southern part is 5.4 meters; whereas north of the pennisula the lake at its
deepest is 360 meters. Sometime in our
era, something like an earthquake caused the water of the Dead Sea ’s northern part to flow over
into the Siddim Valley Sodom Dead Sea ’s southwest corner; its Arabic
name means Mount of Sodom. The erosion
of this salt mountain over the centuries has caused pinnacles to stand out,
like the “pillars of salt” mentioned in the story.
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The site of Bab edh-Dhra’
was a pilgrimage place about 8 km. east and 150 meters above the Dead Sea ’s shore, southeast of the present-day
el-Lisan peninsula; its pilgrims most likely came from the Siddim Valley
SODOMITE. An English common noun derived
from the story of Sodom Sodom Lot surrender his two male guests to
be used for sexual purposes. The
wickedness of Sodom
SOJOURNER (ﬧג (ger), foreigner; ﬨושב (toe shawb), settler; paroikoV (pah roy
Placing himself
under the protection of a particular clan or chieftain, the sojourner in turn
assumes responsibilities (e.g. Abraham in Egypt Lot in Sodom Philistia ; Jacob with Laban and later in Egypt Canaan ). The covenantal promise to Abraham was that God
would give to Abraham’s descendants “the land of Canaan Egypt land of Goshen
David as a sojourner
made the interests of the Philistine king Achish, his own. Elijah sojourned with a widow in
Zarephath. Cyrus, in his royal decree,
refers to the exiles in Babylon
In the Covenant Code
and preceding decalogue, the Hebrew ger designates
the indigenous population of Palestine Israel Israel
Three perspectives
informed the laws concerning the sojourner. First, Israel Egypt Israel Israel Israel Israel
In the post-exilic
period, the writer of the second part of Isaiah takes up the promise given to
Abraham (“By you all the earth will bless themselves.”) and sets forth the
universal scope of Yahweh and Israel
In post-exilic
writings, ger designates a
naturalized alien, a proselyte. The
proselyte is as much a member of Israel Israel Israel
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SOLDERING (ﬢבק (deh bek), joining) Soldering is mentioned in
connection with idol making. The broad
meaning of the word includes “riveting,” “hammering,” etc. Archaeology gives no evidence of soldering
with lead or tin before Roman times. Egypt
SOLEMN ASSEMBLY (הﬧעצ (‘ah
tsaw raw)) A term used mainly of the community of Israel Israel
SOLOMON (שלמה, peaceable)
The throne name given to Israel
Solomon was David’s and Bathsheba’s
second son; their first son died soon after birth. Solomon was reputed to be a lover of women
and the husband of many wives, particularly foreigners. His chief wife was apparently a pharaoh’s
daughter. One other wife is specifically
mentioned—Naamah, an Ammonitess, who was the mother of Rehoboam, Solomon’s
successor. Two daughters are
known—Taphath and Basemath.
The sources are limited to few
passing references in II Samuel, I Kings, and I and II Chronicles. All of the Kings material is found in a
Deuteronomic framework; the material in Chronicles are found in priestly
writings. The compiler drew on the “book
of the acts of Solomon,” temple archives, and likely some prophetic
reminiscences. There is no connected
history of Solomon. Scholars do not know
why, except for the material dealing with temple, we have only numerous
individual stories and anecdotes (e.g. his securing the kingdom for himself;
the visit of the Queen of Sheba, the prophecy connected with Jeroboam’s
rebellion, etc.) scattered throughout the sources mentioned above.
Solomon’s
Reign—Normally Solomon would not have succeeded David to the throne. The next in line after Absalom was Adonijah,
who, however, acted prematurely in his bid to become king. He had won the support of Joab, the commander
of the army, and Abiathar, the chief priest who had been with the king since
his outlaw days. But while the
legitimate heir was in the act of having himself proclaimed king formally,
another party was busy with other plans of its own.
Zadok, Benaiah, and the prophet
Nathan combined to put Solomon in the place of his father. Nathan advised Bathsheba to approach the
weakening king and remind him of the oath which he swore to her that Solomon
should be king. David is also reputed to
have given Solomon a charge, a kind of last will and testament, i.e. to keep
the commandments of the Lord, to avenge the deeds of Joab and Shimei, and to
treat the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite with kindness because of their
father’s assistance during Absalom’s rebellion.
After the oath with
respect to her son’s succession was confirmed, the agents of David took Solomon
to the spring of Gihon, where Zadok anointed him king with as much pomp and
ceremony that could be provided (e.g. riding the king’s mule and sounding the
trumpet.) Absent from Solomon’s
induction were the elders of Judah Israel
Solomon occupied the position of
co-regent with his father as king as long as the latter lived. When faced with the fact of Solomon’s
ascension to the throne, the followers of Adonijah dispersed and he himself
laid hold of the horns of the altar, where he was given both assurance and
warning by Solomon. Adonijah’s request
for Abishag, who was at least thought of as a member of the harem, intruded on
King Solomon’s royal rights and possessions.
Solomon, recognizing at once that to accede to the request of Adonijah
would undermine his own authority, had him executed by Benaiah.
Abiathar was unfrocked and banished,
which I King’s narrator regarded as the fulfillment of the word of the Lord
against the house of Eli. Next Solomon
dealt with Joab, David’s powerful commander of the army. Finally, Shimei was kept under house
restriction. When he went to Gath Edom
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When news reached Hadad, now grown
to manhood, that both David and Joab were dead, he made preparations to return
to his homeland, and to slice off a piece of Edomite territory while operating
in the region most inaccessible to Solomon, leaving Ezion-geber’s industry and
shipping unaffected. Rezon of Zobah
broke away from Solomon and became the leader of a group of outlaws. Apparently he took Damascus Damascus
Organization
and Administration—The recent uprisings demonstrated the need for some kind
of effective organization of the empire.
Aware of this, David ordered a census taken, which came toward the very
end of David’s reign. Consequently it
fell to Solomon’s lot to put into effect the program worked out by David’s
officials. Solomon kept many of the same
offices created by his father, and filled them with many of the same people,
and added two more offices, namely the palace steward and the chief of district
governors. (See table below). The Zadok
and Nathan families were rewarded for their early services to the king, and the
royal bodyguard was merged into the army, for it is not mentioned again in the
royal annals.
David’s and Solomon’s
Royal Offices and Officers
Official Title Early Late
Listed in II Sam. 8 Listed in II Sam. 20 I Kings 4
Commander Joab Joab Benaiah
Chief of Bodyguard Benaiah Benaiah Jehoshaphat
Recorder
Scribes Seraiah Sheva Adorniram
Tribute chief
Chief of district
governors
Steward
Chief Priest Azariah
Priests
Personal Priest Sons of David Ira Zabu
Chief Priest Azariah
Priests
Personal Priest Sons of David Ira Zabu
For purposes of administration the nation was divided
into 12 districts. The list gives the
names of the officers and the district for which each was responsible. The districts themselves cut across the old
tribal boundaries deliberately, in order to modify local loyalties and thus
bind the nation more securely to the central government at Jerusalem
Solomon’s 12 Districts
Officers Description
Ben-Hur Ephraim
hill country
Ben-Deqer Makaz, Shaalbim,
Beth-shemesh, etc.
Ben-Hesed Arubboth, Socoh,
Hepher
Ben-Manasseh Argob
in Bashan
Geber, son of Uri Gilead
Ben-Abinadab Naphath-dor
(Solomon’s son in law)
Baana, Taanach,Megiddo
son of Ahilud Beth-shean
Ben-Geber Ramoth-Gilead,
Baana, son of Hushi Asher
Solomon’s 12 Districts
Jehoshaphat, Paruh’s son Bealoth
(Solomon’s son in law)
Baana, Taanach,
son of Ahilud Beth-shean
Ben-Geber Ramoth-Gilead,
Baana, son of Hushi Asher
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Solomon’s 12 Districts
Regional
Officers Description Jehoshaphat, Paruh’s son Bealoth
Ahinadab, son of
Iddo Mahanaim
Ahimaaz (Solomon’s Naphtali,
son-in-law) Issachar
Shimei, son of Ela Benjamin
[unnamed official] Judah
[unnamed official] Judah
The above list reflects carefully planned
divisions which were pretty largely retained subsequently and were of the
utmost significance for the purpose for which they were instituted. Note that two of the district administrators
were related to the king by marriage.
The officer or prefect’s duty was the handling of the business of the
district as it concerned the central government at Jerusalem
As the passage from I Kings 9
indicates, Solomon continued the policy of David in converting captives from
the surrounding areas into forced-laborers, which was widespread in the ancient
world. For normal purposes these groups
might have been adequate; but Solomon was not an ordinary king. He was extravagant, and had such a far-reaching
program that normal methods and supplies soon ran out; hence he was compelled
to draft Israelites as mentioned above.
Forced labor was one of the causes for the rebellion of northern tribes
under Jeroboam, who was originally one of Solomon’s officials in charge of the
Joseph levy. He witnessed the hardship
the corvee and heavy tribute caused,
but was rebuffed when he lodged these complaints with Solomon’s son Rehoboam after
Solomon’s death.
Building
Enterprises—Organization, forced labor, and heavy taxation were demanded by
Solomon’s building projects, which were so extravagant that they undermined the
empire’s economy. David’s plans called
for building Lord’s house; this was Solomon’s first undertaking. Arrangements were made with Hiram of Tyre to
supply the lumber. His men supervised the
lumber’s cutting and shipping, which included getting it from forests to the sea,
rafting the logs, and floating them to a port along the Mediterranean , perhaps Joppa.
In exchange for services
and material, Solomon agreed to give Hiram “food for my household.” This agreement is one of only two formal
treaties which the Israelites ever ratified with a foreign state. The amount of supplies which Solomon sent
annually to Hiram, plus his own needs, led to bankruptcy; he was compelled to
mortgage some of his cities in Galilee .
The temple was begun
“in the 480th year after the people of Israel Egypt Ugarit Megiddo Canaan rituals.
The temple and its cults were responsible for the syncretism that was so
apparent later.
The temple’s
completion in Solomon’s 11th year was the signal for a great
celebration. The ark was taken from the
southern part of the one-hill city that was early Jerusalem
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The palace formed
the 2nd of Solomon’s building operations.
The palace’s most celebrated portion was the House of the Forest of Lebanon Jerusalem
Outside Jerusalem Megiddo Gezer Megiddo
The stables were
constructed in building stabling about 120 horses. Each stall had its pillar properly holed for
purposes of securing the horses, while it helped support the roof. In view of the archaeological materials the
numbers of Solomon’s chariots and horsemen as 1,400 and 12,000 respectively, do
not appear too extravagant. At Megiddo
A type of
fortification similar to that at Megiddo Gezer Lachish Gulf of Aqabah Megiddo Lachish
Solomon: Diplomat and Merchant—Such enormous building operation
required both labor and materials of vast quantity. Stones for walls, paving, and pillars were
abundant in the land. Cedar and cypress
timbers were procured from the Lebanon Mountains .
All kinds of metals were required, some of them from distant
places. Wide contacts are thus indicated
on both the diplomatic and the trade levels.
It will be recalled
that Solomon, early in his reign, entered into a marriage alliance with the
Pharaoh of Egypt, for which he received a city.
There was the treaty with Hiram of Tyre (I Kings 5) under which cedar
and cypress were supplied for various building projects. In fact political arrangements with foreign
countries account for many of Solomon’s wives.
His marriage relationships with Moab Ammon , Edom
Solomon’s diplomacy
was directed primarily toward commercial ends.
More significant is the establishment of the great seaport on the Gulf of Aqabah Africa somewhere in Somaliland .
They exported copper and iron and manufactured articles and brought
back gold, silver, ivory, and monkeys.
Solomon has been called
a “copper king” because of his vast shipping and mining interests. Archaeological explorations in southern Palestine Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqabah Syria Egypt
The Queen of Sheba’s
visit was more of a trade mission than anything else. The queen’s appearance at Solomon’s court
resulted in an exchange of goods from her country for goods which the king had
and which she desired. A quest for
wisdom was involved, but the main objective of her long journey was to observe
for herself the wealth and power of the famous king. The visit ended in a kind of treaty
consummated by the exchange of goods.
Numerous references to Sheba
Solomon was not only
a trader in his own right, but he also regulated the trade of others by his
control of the land routes. In the north
he ruled Zobah and probably, early in his reign, Damascus Edom Moab
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Solomon’s Dreams, Visions, and Wisdom—There can be no question that
Solomon was a many-sided personality. On
occasion he was deeply and genuinely religious, as seen from his dreams and
visions, some of which has been magnified by tradition. Dreams and vision played a significant role in
ancient religion. Solomon was a typical
oriental ruler and thus might be expected to exhibit just such qualities. The first story may represent an authentic
tradition pointing to the dual system of Jerusalem Israel
The 1st
dream of Solomon is recorded in I Kings 3 (II Chronicles 1). It took place at Gibeon , one of the cities of the Hivite
tetrapolis, 8 km northwest of Jerusalem Jerusalem Gibeon , outside Jerusalem
Sometime during that
sacrificial period the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream. What the king requested has become one of
the Bible’s most celebrated passages. He
asked for an “understanding mind to govern thy people, that I may discern
between good and evil.” The Lord
promised not only wisdom, but also riches, honor, and long life. The story’s conclusion is confused; it has
Solomon going back to Jerusalem Israel
The wisdom of
Solomon is celebrated in Bible and legend.
Immediately after the dream-appearance of God, and the request for
wisdom, comes the passage dealing with the king’s wisdom in handling the case
of the harlots. The visit of the Queen
of Sheba was in part to confirm the wide-spread rumors of his wisdom. She found that his wisdom excelled rumor and
her own expectations. The book of
Proverbs begins with: “The proverbs of
Solomon, son of David, king of Israel
To understand the
meaning of Solomon’s wisdom, it is essential to investigate the terminology
employed in the passages. In I Kings 3
wisdom is applied to the judicial process whereby the king governed his people
(i.e. “God’s wisdom was in him to render justice.”). In another sense, Queen of Sheba came “to
test him with riddles,” to match wits with him.
Wisdom to solve riddles or outwit another person is quite different from
that involved in court. She concluded
that: “Your wisdom and prosperity
surpass the report which I heard.”
No doubt there is
material from Solomon in the book of Proverbs.
The statement near the end of I Kings 4 (“Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all
the people of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt Mesopotamia , Egypt Canaan , whose wisdom must have been known and recognized in Israel
It is rather
significant that, according the narrator, Solomon “spoke of trees, from the
cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall; he spoke
also of beasts, and of birds and of reptiles, and of fish.” Since Solomon was concerned almost entirely
with cultural interests there can be no doubt that he took great pains to
imitate and amplify not only architectural interests but educational interest
as well.
Solomon is said to
have maintained his father’s kingdom, which extended from the north and east
limits of the Aramean state Zobah to the border of Egypt Damascus
Jeroboam’s revolt
shows that these extensive interests were burdensome, but they had their
constructive side. They provided more
economic and territorial security. The
nation’s population grew. Religion was
accorded a prominent place. The court
records of David and the Gezer Calendar demonstrate that cultural interests
were advanced.
SOLOMON, PSALMS OF.
See Psalms of Solomon in the OT/Intertestamental section of
the Appendix.
SOLOMON, WISDOM OF.
See Wisdom of Solomon in the OT/Intertestamental section of
the Appendix.
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SOLOMON’S PORTICO.
A part of
the outer court of Herod’s temple. This
portico was the east side of the colonnaded covered walk that went all the way
around the outer court. According to
Josephus, this device was first used by Solomon. The temple area of Zerubbabel may also have
had a supporting wall and platform.
SOLOMON’S SERVANT.
All kings
have servants. “Solomon’s servants
(princes and officers)” were shown by the lists in I Kings 4. In I Kings 5 Solomon’s servants and laborers
and, indeed, the corvee reveal the
presence of state slaves in Solomon’s labor force, used especially for
building the temple, palace, and fortifications; slaves were also used in
the industries of Ezion-geber. Perhaps
Solomon even sold the people to Egypt
SON OF GOD (בﬧ אלהין (bar eh lo heen), son of God in Aramaic; uioV qeou (ye os thay oo)) A term used in the Old Testament (OT) to
denote a divine and in the New Testament (NT) to refer to Jesus.
The only passage in the OT where
this exact phrase is found is in Dan 3:25, where King Nebuchadnezzar sees in
the furnace a 4th man whose appearance is that of a “son of the
gods.” The sons of God in Genesis 6
sought union with the beautiful human daughters; giants were the result. “Sons of God” appeared with the Lord when Job
was first put to the test. In a
different sense Israel
Jesus
as Son of God: Pauline Letters—Although Paul’s letters are earlier in date
than the Synoptic gospels, they usually represent a more advanced
theology. Paul uses the term “Son of
God,” often in connection with God’s love and his adoption of believers as
God’s sons.
In considering Jesus’ own
possible use of the concept, it must be noted that the Synoptic gospels don’t
have him using the phrase “Son of God.”
He isn’t often represented speaking of “the Son” in an absolute sense. Many references to God as “my Father” appear
to have been introduced by Matthew.
There is less reason to question the references to the God as “your
Father,” though Matthew has increased their number. Jesus apparently had a strong sense of filial
relation to God. This aspect of Jesus’
teaching may be one of the reasons for Christology’s development; it probably
explains why to the evangelists he is the
Son of God.
In his earliest
letter, I Thessalonians, Paul uses the term “his Son” in connection with the
hope of Christ’s return from heaven. A
slightly later letter, I Corinthians, speaks of the Son as the Messiah (I
Corinthians 15). The Son, in the passage
just mentioned, will have a temporary messianic kingdom. Another passage, from Romans 1, may be an
example of Paul’s missionary preaching “concerning God’s Son, descended from
David and designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by
his resurrection.” In this careful
statement, the Pauline formula avoids saying that Jesus became Son of God only
after the Resurrection.
Paul probably believed that Christ,
as Son of God, was pre-existent. There
is no suggestion here of the Virgin Birth.
God made God’s Son subject to all human conditions. In other places Paul speaks of the Son in
connection with his fundamental gospel.
Christ Jesus was proclaimed as Son of God to the Corinthians, and they
were called into communion with God’s Son.
Paul contributed to the idea by
working out of the relationship between Christ and other people as sons of
God. God’s son redeemed those who were
under the law and made it possible for them to be adopted. Believers have been reconciled by the Son’s
death and will be saved by his life and freed from sin. It has been God’s plan that they should be
conformed to the image of God’s Son.
Through faith the believers are all sons of God in Christ Jesus. Paul says that he now lives as he does
because of his faith in the Son of God.
“Son of God” in Paul
therefore calls attention to the relation between God and Christ. In Colossians 1, Paul develops his
Christology most completely. The Father
has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the
kingdom of his beloved Son. He is the
image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation. He is before all things, and in him all
things hold together. In him all the
fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things,
whether on earth or in heaven.
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Jesus
as Son of God: The Gospel of Mark and “Q”—The Gospel of Mark uses “Son of
God” as its favorite designation of Jesus.
The first verse, which may be the gospel’s original title, reads: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
Son of God.” At the Cross the centurion
who is probably a pagan, exclaims:
“Truly this man was a son of God” (Mark 15).
In Mark the phrase has many
points of reference, the most prominent being that God claims Jesus as his
Son. At the Baptism, where Jesus sees
the heavens opened and the Spirit descending like a dove, the phrase translated:
“With thee I am well pleased,” might also mean:
“I have decided on you”; the evangelist may believe that Jesus became
Son of God then. The 2nd half
of Mark’s voice from heaven alludes to Isaiah 42 and refers to God’s chosen Servant. The Transfiguration story likewise ends with
words from heaven: “This is my beloved
Son; listen to him.” For a moment the
disciples are given a vision of Jesus’ glory in heaven. “Son of God” in these passages suggests not
only Messiah but also the Lord of II Corinthians 3 and 4.
The other 4 uses are as
follows. 1st, to be Son of
God is to be Son of Man. The transfigured
Christ’s traits are reminiscent of the Son of man’s glory. 2nd, “Son of God” is used to mean Messiah. 3rd, “Son of God” is the title
given Jesus by demons and pagans. “The
Most High God” was a title which might refer to the God of Israel or, when used
by pagans, to their pantheon’s highest god.
The term therefore suggests the miraculous side of Jesus’ work, as where
he walks on the water. 4th,
“Son of God” suggests also Jesus’ filial relationship, who obeys God even in
death. As Son of God in this sense,
whoever does God’s will is Jesus’ brother, sister, and mother. God is the disciples’ Father in heaven.
“Q (Quelle)” is the source used by Matthew and Luke when they weren’t
using their own material or Mark’s. In
Q, which was created in the time between Mark and Matthew, the disciples are
taught to love their enemies. If they,
evil though they are, know how to give good gifts to their children, how much
more will the heavenly Father give good things.
But while in Q those who depend on God and imitate his loving-kindness
are God’s sons, Jesus is uniquely the Son of God. The tempter so addresses him twice and calls
on him to display his God-given powers.
Jesus, as God’s true and obedient Son, will not violate his Father’s
teaching.
It is also possible that Mark’s Baptism’s
story was originally part of Q. Q also contains
Matthew 11:25-30, where Jesus says in verse 25:
“I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden
these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to
infants.” If in this passage Jesus embodies
heavenly wisdom, then the passage’s form would also suggests that of certain
divine self-revelations that pagans would recognize. This wisdom has been hidden from the world’s
rulers, and is a Jewish stumbling block and foolishness to the Greeks. He then declares that all things have been
delivered to him by his father and that no one knows the Son but the
Father. This is different from the
Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), where Jesus’ teaching assumes that
God is known to all believers. According
to Jewish teaching, the Messiah could not be recognized until Elijah anointed
him. Matthew’s passage concludes with an
appeal to those who toil and are burdened to accept Jesus’ yoke (perhaps the Torah’s
yoke), which is easy, and to learn from him.
Jesus
as Son of God: The Gospels of Matthew, Luke, and John—An analysis of
Matthew shows that he frequently adds to his sources, Mark and Q, the phrase
“my Father” or “my Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew replaces Luke’s “Son of man” with the implication of sonship
with “my Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew develops with equal emphasis the thoughts that God is the
disciples’ Father.
Matthew inserts the phrase “Son
of God” into his sources at various points (chapters 8, 16, 26, 27, and
28). One piece of special material
implies that the disciples are sons of God.
They are not required to pay temple tax, but they should pay anyway. Matthew’s Annunciation and Virgin Birth stories
curiously do not use “Son of God,” but imply sonship instead. He seems to have regarded Jesus as Son of God
from birth or conception. The Synoptic
Gospels have no clear idea of Christ’s pre-existence.
Luke clearly regards
“Son of God” as one of the Davidic Messiah’s titles. Actually, for both Matthew and Luke, the term
“Son of God” is primarily one of Jesus’ messianic titles, and it can almost be
used instead of “Messiah” and “Son of man.”
It calls attention to his miraculous birth, to his filial relationship
to God, and to his relationship to his disciples, who are also sons of
God. The language at the end of Luke 1
is completely biblical and messianic and would seem to be a very primitive
Christian theology. Mark and Q teach
that Jesus became Son of God at his baptism.
Luke says that he is Son of God at least from his birth. In other places Luke’s editorial work shows
that he identifies “Son of God” and “Messiah.”
In the
transfiguration story God addresses Jesus as God’s Son and Chosen .
The Son of God sayings in Luke sometimes strike the filial note
(chapters 2 and 23). Luke also refers to
Adam as son of God. Jesus says that
people will be equal to angels “and are sons of God, being sons of the
resurrection” (chapter 20). This is very
Semitic language, and the “sons of God” are practically identical with angels.
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“Son of God” is the title of Jesus
most characteristic of John’s Gospel. It
is coupled with “king of Israel
See
also the entry in the New Testament Apocrypha section of the Appendix.
Miscellaneous
Letters--Shortly
before 100 A.D., the Letter to the Hebrews develops further the idea of Paul
that the world was created through the Son of God. In contrast to the former, partial revelation
through the prophets, God has now spoken through God’s Son, who is heir of all
things. “He reflects God’s glory and has
the stamp of God’s nature. Here we find
a doctrine similar to Philo’s Logos, except
that Christ is clearly distinct from God.
Despite his dignity as Son, or perhaps as a mark of his filial
relationship, he learned obedience through suffering and was perfected. The author’s doctrine of Jesus’ sonship has
two sides, and Christians are sons of God as in the gospels. The First Letter of John adds very little to
the doctrine. Faith in Jesus binds the
church in union with the Father and the Son, while one who denies it is
antichrist. As Son of God, Jesus
destroys the devil’s works, cleanses his people with his blood, expiates their
sins, and gives them life.
SON OF MAN (םﬢא בן (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; in the New
Testament (NT) a title for Jesus. The
form is used frequently in Ezekiel as God’s address to the prophet, where it
means “O man.” The Aramaic bar enash is found in Daniel 7, where
one “like a son of man” is apparently contrasted with beasts. All of the “heavenly man” material that is
outside of the Bible suggests that the “heavenly man” idea arose independently
of Judaism and Christianity. (See the
entries in the Old Testament Apocrypha / Intertestamental section and the New
Testament Apocrypha section of the Appendix.)
Jesus’ Use of Term and Paul’s Interpretation—The double question of whether
Jesus described himself as Son of man and what he meant by it, is of great
importance. The most powerful
affirmative argument is that in the gospels the term is always found in words
attributed to Jesus. It is a Semitic
phrase that would be familiar to Jews, but no Christian influenced by Greek
culture would be likely to insert it into the tradition. But it is conspicuously lacking in the
parables, occurring only in the interpretation of the “tares” parable. Interpretations attached to parables usually
shows marks of having arisen out of early Christian preaching. The “Son of man” idea is also not closely
associated with Jesus’ teaching about the Kingdom of God
Evidence in Mark and
Luke may mean that Jesus never used the phrase “Son of man,” but that it was
added to the tradition by Jewish Christians.
If the passage “That you may know that the Son of man has authority on
earth to forgive sins” (Mark 2:10 ) are the words of Jesus, they
could mean that God has given humans the authority to forgive sins. Was the prerogative of forgiveness reserved
to Jesus alone?
Since it is Mark’s
basic theology that Jesus is Messiah only as Son of Man, and since the
tradition was fond of adding OT quotations and allusions, some doubt arises as
whether Jesus himself made the “Parousia” (Second Coming) statements. There can be little doubt that Jesus spoke of
himself as the Son of Man and also spoke of the Son of man’s future coming. Though we have only Mark’s passages to show
that Jesus connected the humble, earthly Son of man with the one to come, that
conclusion would be obvious to his hearers.
While it has been
objected that Jesus, being a Jewish prophet and very humble, could not have
ascribed to himself the glory of the heavenly Son of man, we cannot rule this
out. Jesus shared the Son of Man’s deep
involvement in suffering or persecuted humanity. If Moses or Enoch could be elevated to
divinity, Jesus might have believed that his calling would lead to heavenly
office. Humility and reluctance kept him
from claiming this openly. His hearers
found his words enigmatic and the gospel tradition has preserved their mystery.
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Paul’s
interpretation of Jesus’ teaching is the earliest one. Paul shows no sign of being influenced by the
Anthropos speculation found in OT and NT Apocrypha, but he may derive some
ideas from Enoch. Although Paul does not
use “Son of Man,” his concept of Christ as the heavenly man may be related to
it. Paul’s heavenly man is the coming
Lord, and not the pre-existent first man.
Through Adam came condemnation and death; through Jesus came the free
gift of grace, which brought justification and resurrection. The contrast is between the beginning and the
end, between sin and grace. Christ Jesus
took upon himself the morphe (form)
of a slave. As he was obedient, God has
exalted him and given him a name above every other name.
Gospel Use of Term—The phrase occurs frequently in the gospels,
always in sayings ascribed to Jesus or in indirect discourse reporting his
words. The Son of man idea in the
Synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew, Luke) seems to have no origin
other than the book of Enoch. While the
Synoptic gospels all identify Jesus with the Son of man, the associations of
the phrase vary. In Mark’s thought it
comes to be assimilated to the ideas of Messiah and the Servant of the Lord. Mark’s gospel has two passages, one referring
to the authority to forgive sins, and the other to the Lord of the Sabbath,
where the phrase might possibly mean “a man,” (chapter 2:10 , 28). Judging from 8:38 , the evangelist himself must
think of “Son of man” as referring to one who is more than human, who will come
in his Father’s glory. Similarly in 13:26 the Son of man will be seen
coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
The other instances
of “Son of man” in Mark teach that the Son of man must suffer, and that “the
Son of man also came not to be served but to serve . . .” (10:45 ). The phrase’s last use is in 14:41 , where “The Son of man is
betrayed into the hands of sinners.”
Mark’s concept of this phrase is highly developed. It is Jesus’ own designation for himself and
denotes one who is a man but who will also come in angelic glory; who is also
Messiah and Son of God; and who will suffer and give his life for others in
accordance with scripture. The plural
phrase “sons of Men,” meaning “human beings,” and not referring to Jesus, is found
in Mark 3:28.
The so-called Q
passages in Matthew and Luke are of 2 kinds.
The phrase’s 1st use is a self-designation, with no clear
implication of the Son of man coming in future glory (e.g. Matt. 8:20 ; 11:19 ; 12:32 , 40; Luke 7:34 ; 9:58 ; 11:30 ; 12:10 , 40). In their present setting in the gospels these
have a certain pathos and irony—to the evangelists they mean that the heavenly
Son of man is friendless and rejected.
The total impression of these passages is that Jesus, the Son of man, is
a preacher and teacher with a decisive message, which is being rejected. The 2nd group of phrases (Matt. 24:27,
44; Luke 17:22 , 26), all teach that the appearance of the Son of man
will be sudden and unexpected, and perhaps unmistakable. In 3 more Q passages (Matt. 19:28 , 25:31; Luke 6:22 ; 12:8), only one evangelist uses
the phrase while the other uses the passage without the phrase.
Matthew uses the
phrase several times where it is not paralleled by the other evangelists (10:23 ; 13:41 ; 24:30; 25:31). Twice Matthew
adds the words to Mark’s passages (16:28 ; 26:2). There remain several passages found only in
Luke (18:8; 19:10 ; 22:48 ; 24:7). Thus, Q passages divide into two groups, where
“Son of Man” is: the transcendent one;
or Jesus’ self-designation.
The use of the term
in the Gospel of John is like that in the other gospels. John emphasizes the point that he who is
Messiah and Son of God is also Son of man.
Likewise John carries on and develops in his characteristic way Mark’s
teaching that the Son of man must suffer. John, however, preserves the old idea of the
Son of man as Judge. The most difficult
problem in John’s use of the term is raised by 1:51 , where Jesus tells Nathanael
that he will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending
upon the Son of Man. In 12:34 the phrase” Son of man” is used
after a voice has come from heaven.
The “Parousia”
(Second Coming) sayings fall into several groups. 1st, the Son of man is described
in his glory (Mark 13:26 ; 14:62). 2nd, verses are related to the
time of his coming. The disciples will
desire to see it, but will not (Luke 17:22 ); the Son of man will be like
the lightning flashing (Luke 17: 23 -24); his coming will be
unexpected (Matthew 24:44; Luke 12:40 ). Matthew makes a prediction (10:23 ) and speaks of a visible sign
of the Son of man in heaven (Matthew 24:30).
Both Matthew and Luke seem to picture the Son of Man as a judge. 3rd, there are statements that in
the Parousia, the Son of man will be ashamed of those who are ashamed of
Jesus. The beatitude on those who are hated
and rejected for the Son of man’s sake (Luke 6:22 ) may be related to these, but it
reverses Mark’s order; apparently the earthly Jesus is the Son of man.
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There is some slight
indication that for John the term “Son of Man” carries also a reference to
Jesus’ humanity. Jesus’ believers must eat
the Son of man’s flesh if they are to have life within them. John’s distinctive contribution to doctrine
is that the Son of man, come down from heaven, will ascend again. He was pre-existent in heaven. His Ascension occurs by his being lifted up;
his disciples will see him ascend, and his lifting up will draw all to
him. Seeing, for the Fourth Evangelist,
is believing, and believing results in salvation. A Son-of-man tradition evolving beyond the
Synoptic gospels must underlie these passages in John, perhaps as a result of
combining Enoch, the Synoptic Gospels, and then adding developments in
Christian tradition that took place between the first three gospels and John.
SONG OF SONGS [SOLOMON] (םﬧ השיﬧשי (sheer
hash shih reem) The Old Testament (OT) book normally
appearing after Job in the Hebrew Bible, and after Ecclesiastes in the primary
Greek OT, as well as the Protestant and Roman Catholic Bibles. It is called Song of Solomon in the related
English versions from the King James Version through the New Revised Standard
Version, and Canticles in Roman Catholic versions.
The Song of Songs is a collection of
lyrics celebrating love. Solomon’s
authorship is not possible. Some will treat the Song as an allegory of divine
love, a pagan liturgy with the lover as the dying and rising god, but it is
best seen as a gathering of pastoral lyrics, some of which were used in
weddings. Israel
Origins
and Canonical Status—As long as Solomon was considered the poet, the Song
was treated as a unity dating from the 900s B.C. Once Solomon’s authorship is set aside, the
place of origin of the book is thrown into relative obscurity. The sole evidence of Solomon’s authorship is
the first verse: “The Song of Songs,
which is Solomon’s. However, the Hebrew
construction is ambiguous and may denoted possession, dedication, style, or
subject matter. There is no way of
knowing which interpretation the editor intended.
Solomon’s
name appears six times in the text, besides the first verse. The first two and last two of these are
allusions to Solomon’s wealth. In the third chapter, Solomon is mentioned three
times as principal in a spectacular procession.
One may allow that in one or two of the poems Solomon is the chief
figure, without assuming him to be the author.
The true hero and author is love.
The geographical setting for the Song
is diverse. Northern locations are
frequently named, sites east of the Jordan River appear, and Judah
There are no passages in the Song that conclusively date any part, but
there are 1 or 2 clues. Tirzah, is
mentioned with Jerusalem Jerusalem
Aramaic’s influence can be seen and
the occurrence of foreign terms caused many scholars to date the Song in the
Persian or Greek period. But Aramaic as
a language had a checkered history and was present in the ancient Near East
from at least 1200 B.C. There is a
growing feeling that Aramaic was a strong factor in northern Israel
The Song’s peculiar terms are often
due to the subject matter. No other OT book
has so much mention of plants, animals, and spices (See entries in the main section).
The Song’s technical terms most often find their parallels in other literature
which is seen as post-exilic. The
chronological limits are Solomon’s reign (961-922 B.C.) and the period when
Aramaic became the peasant tongue (450-300 B.C.). Only 1 or 2 poems suit Solomon’s time; others
may have written before 722. The
argument that the Song’s sensuous spirit would be inconceivable in the prudish
and rigid post-exilic age is a reflection of the prevailing view of that era.
Dispute over including the Song of
Songs in the canon flared at Jamnia in 90 A.D., when Rabbi Akiba said: “For all
the world is not as worthy as the day on which the Song of Songs was given to
Israel, for all the writings are holy, but the Song of Songs is the Holy of
Holies”; it is not certain that Akiba interpreted the work symbolically It is widely assumed that only claiming that
Solomon wrote it and the allegorical interpretation allowed it to be included
in the canon. It is probable that
allegory was used to make it “more suitable” to the Bible. Ever since, there have been those militantly
opposed to its inclusion in the canon.
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Interpretation:
Allegorical and Cultic—Four schools
of interpretation have arisen to explain the moral and literary complexities of
the Song: allegorical; cultic; dramatic; and lyrical. The
treatment of an ancient tradition whereby one ignores its literal meaning and
discovers new hidden meanings in each term, or allegory, was predominant among
Jews and Christians through 17 centuries.
In the Jewish version the lover is Yahweh and beloved is Israel
Christian changed the allegory used so that
the bride was the church. It was the
Church Father Origen’s 12-volume commentary that displayed the allegorist’s fertile
imagination. Most Christian interpreters
didn’t try to make the allegory into a church history. A few, both Jew and Christian read the Song
as a historical allegory of Judaism and the church. Christian allegory was also able to see in
the Song the relationship of God and the individual soul. Another common Christian allegory was to
treat the bride as the Virgin Mary.
It is typical of those defending the Song
as allegory that they are able to see more than one level of meaning in the
same symbols. Some recognize the bride
as more than one of following: Israel
A popular theory of Near Eastern cults is
the assumption that the Song was a pagan ritual later modified for Yahweh’s
use. The lover is the dying and rising
god; the beloved is his sister or mother (See
also Baal, Anath, and Tammuz). The
pagan liturgy entered Israel
But it is undemonstrated that the harvest
festivals in Israel
Interpretation:
Dramatic and Lyrical—The dramatic theory assumes that the Song involves plot
and characterization, with Solomon and a rustic maiden as the characters. A three-character variation involved a
country lover, the maiden, and the king.
In its two-character form the book would extol the joys of conjugal love
as exemplified in Solomon. In its
three-character version it would celebrate pre-marital fidelity to true
love. In accord with the dramatic
instinct the conversations in the Song were divided among Solomon, the maiden,
the shepherd, and the chorus. The
“daughters of Jerusalem
The weaknesses in the dramatic
theory are fatal. The analysis of the
Song into acts or scenes, takes as many turns as there are interpreters. The variant schemes cancel out one another as
obvious figments of the imagination. If
the three-character hypothesis is thought preferable, then the resulting
defamation of the king’s character would hardly have been a theme to endear the
work to later rabbis. The lovers taste
of full union, praise one another, recoil and are reunited again and again,
without the slightest shred of story form.
It was doubtless the plain sense of
the Song which the Jews before Jamnia recognized but which the allegorical
tide swamped. The Song of Songs is a
collection of love songs that do not have the least intent of symbolizing divine
love, nor have they been derived from pagan religious celebration; they are not
the work of a single poet. The Song
teaches no lesson and tells no story. It
extols human love in courtship and marriage by letting the lovers speak for
themselves. The first interpreter to
call the Song secular (360-429) A.D. was declared heretical. Others suffered banishment or the Inquisition
for similar views.
One scholar in 1873 described the
seven day Syrian wedding festivals he had witnessed. He saw the Song as a disordered cycle of
songs for Jewish weddings. There are
many attractive features to the wedding-song theory, but it cannot account for
all the poems, such as the one near the beginning of chapter 3. It provides the background for the rather
unrestrained bodily descriptions, but the entire Song cannot be regarded as
toasting marital love. Another
difficulty with the wedding-cycle theory is that certain elements are lacking,
such as war songs. The criticisms don’t invalidate the theory’s essence, but only
prevents its rigid application.
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The lyrical theory, now widely held,
is the only one that avoids the pitfalls of finding a pattern in allegorical,
cultic, and dramatic methods. It sees an
anthology of lyrics and lyric fragments, some for use at weddings, others
singing the raptures of pre-marital love.
Form-criticism has separated from 20 to 40 poems. Those uncomfortable with the Song’s frankness
have offered an interpretation emphasizing the purity and propriety of married
love and the religious character of marriage; it is clouded by an
over-apologetic attitude. The prude’s discomfort and the
censor’s fear must not efface the simple delight of the Song in sexuality. “Love is strong as death,” and stronger than
the reluctance and embarrassment of interpreters.
Poetics
and Content—The Song of Songs shares with other biblical poetry the
technical features of parallelism (see
Poetry, Hebrew) as well as boldness of imagery.
In Egypt Egypt
Allegorists have seldom inquired
about the genre, since in their view the Song’s spiritual meaning is entirely separate
from the literal. Lyricists are inclined
to see in the anthology pure folk lyrics with no settled “situation in
life.” The female chorus and the addresses
to the lovers may be the parts spoken by the young companions, who are given a
prominent role in oriental weddings. Many of the poems, however, must be forced into the
mold of a wedding script. The love songs
were reckoned as wisdom genre originally because the musician’s and singer’s technical
skill was regarded as khokma (wise or
skilled). The hired wedding celebrants
who rendered the Song could have been termed “the wise”; thus were wisdom and
song connected.
The
rich imagery springs mainly from the Song’s constant interweaving of nature and
love. The country side passes over into a
symbolic representation of love. The
more expensive spices and gums were named as erotic lures in peasant
singing. We should also recall that
standards of taste in women have changed so radically toward slimness that we
easily forget the preference for plumpness in most cultures and eras as a sign
of the ability to work and bear children.
Comparison of the beloved to such massive and solid things as towers and
walls, is regularly confined to some one feature (e.g. a tower’s gracefulness
or a wall’s ability to protect).
The
interaction between the external world and the lovers’ psychic state produces
an almost un-Hebraic delight in nature for its own sake. Elsewhere in the OT, nature is mentioned
incidentally as the vehicle or occasion for religious meaning. But the projection of the love experience
into nature and the reflection of nature’s moods in the lovers is abundantly
present in Near Eastern poetry. It is a
basic element of human nature which did not perish among the Hebrews simply
because their religion made no direct use of it.
The
Song supplies almost no data on the mores or institutions of Hebrew
marriage. Monogamy appears to be the poems’
ethos. Attitudes toward sex and marriage
find forceful articulation here. Poems
deal with concrete cases, sensations, desires of lovers, and their youthful
friends on things like: coquetry;
flirtation; lovesickness; fear of loss; and sensuous longing. Candor about sexual desire and gratification
is no proof of low morality standards. The
poem reflects no self-consciousness about the man-woman relationship. The poems were edited and collected without
being censored; they are not lewd or crudely sensate. Man and woman are joined in a psycho-physical
unity which the poets neither hide nor exploit.
SONS
OF GOD (אלהים בני(beh
nie el oh heem)) An ancient designation of
heavenly beings, used in Genesis 6. In
accordance with regular Hebrew usage, “sons of God” means “being of the
god-class.” In their anxiety to avoid
any suggestion of polytheism, several ancient and modern translators have
rendered the word as “sons of the mighty.”
In Job 38, “sons of God” stands parallel to “morning stars.” This suggests that the beings in question may
sometimes have been identified with heavenly bodies. This phrase has been thought to foreshadow
the later Jewish concept that every land and people is under the tutelage of a
distinct patron angel.
SONS OF PROPHETS (בני הנביאים (beh nie ha neh bee ‘eem), disciples)
This phrase hardly denotes physical descent from a Prophet, but rather
members of a prophetic guild. They are also
called a “band” of prophets. The sons of
the prophets appear again prominently in the 800s B.C. in association with
Elisha.
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SONS OF THUNDER. See Boanerges.
SOOTHSAYER (מעונן (meh ‘oh nen), diviner, originally it meant
specifically divining using the clouds) A practitioner of divination, who
foretells future events by means derived from nature or those artificially
produced. Acts 16 tells about a girl in Philippi who was possessed with a spirit
of Divination. Paul rebuked the spirit
and drove it out of the girl.
SOPATER (SopatroV (so pah tros)) Act of Pyrrhus; a man from
Beroea who, with others, accompanied Paul from Greece Jerusalem
SOPHERETH (ﬧﬨסופ, scribe) Head of a family of the
“sons of Solomon’s servants.”
SORCERY. See Magic.
SOREK, VALLEY OF (שﬧק נחל (nah khal so rek),
valley of vine) The valley in which Delilah, Samson’s
mistress, lived. It begins about 24 km
west-southwest of Jerusalem Mediterranean in a northwesterly
direction. The valley is guarded at its
west end by Beth-Shemesh, a fortress city on the frontier between Israel Philistia .
The Valley of Sorek
SORES (אבעבעﬨ (ab ‘eh boo ote), boils, pustules)
Blisters or infections, mentioned only in connection with the sixth
Egyptian plague. Perhaps the malignant
pustule of cutaneous anthrax is meant (Exodus 9).
SORROW (ﬢאב (daw ‘ab), pining away; יגון (yaw gone), affliction,
grief; ﬤעס (kah ‘as), vexation, grief; מﬤאב (ma keh ‘obe), painful grief; עמל (‘aw
mawl), travail, vexation; עצבן (‘ee tsaw bone),
travail, pain; luph (loo peh), pain, distress, grief) Poignant descriptions of purely human sorrow
occur in II Samuel 1. Israelite Wisdom
knew that joy and sorrow are intertwined in human life. Though trouble and sorrow are part of human
existence, they do not belong to
God’s order, but are connected with human sinfulness. The cultic rites of repentance before Yahweh
are patterned upon customs of mourning.
In the New Testament, Jesus is called
the “man of sorrows”; Jesus recalls Isaiah 52-53’s servant of the Lord. The Christian community’s tension which is
“in, but not of,” the world is reflected in II Corinthians 7 and John 16. Sorrow because of one’s disobedience is
called “godly grief.” Jesus’ departure
will cause sorrow at his leaving, and because the world’s hatred and
persecution will be focused on the disciples as well.
SOSIPATER (SwsipatroV (so sih pat ros), saving one’s
father) A Christian mentioned by Paul as sending
greetings to the recipients of the Letter to the Romans. Sopater is another form of the same name.
SOSTHENES (SwsqenhV) 1. Corinth
SOTAI (יסט, departing) Head of a family of “sons of
Solomon’s servants,” which returned from the Exile (Ezra 2)
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SOUL (נפש (neh fesh), breath, life; yuch (psie keh), breath, life) The
translation of several words in the Bible.
The English word “soul” frequently carries with it overtones, coming
from philosophical Greek. In the Old
Testament (OT) it never means the immortal soul, but is essentially the life
principle, or the living being, or the self.
Psyche in the New Testament (NT)
corresponds to nephesh in the OT but
is relatively infrequent. A heightened
meaning of the word appearing occasionally is to be noted.
The Hebrew word is probably from
Akkadian napashu, “expand,” giving napishtu, “throat, neck,” with a
possible meaning “breath.” In Genesis 2,
“the Lord God formed man of dust, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of
life, and the man became a living being.”
Hebrew thought could distinguish soul from body as material basis of
life, but they could not be separate, independent entities. The Hebrew could not conceive of a
disembodied nephesh. The Hebrew could speak of his flesh as we
would say “body.” But often he spoke of his nephesh,
namely himself as a psycho-physical organism.
He did not have a body but was an animated body. Life is always a totality, which may express
itself in the body as a whole or concentrate itself in some part, member, or
organ of the body. The soul, like the
spirit, can increase or decrease in strength.
When all the strength ebbs away, death intervenes. To pour out the soul is to stand forth as
helpless.
Nephesh
was generally preferred when the self was thought of as having desire or
appetite or emotional experiences. The nephesh hungers, thirsts; is greedy;
feels joy, sorrow, love, and hatred. When
expressing volition or the organization of the soul for action the word Heart
was available. The Heart also is the
chief seat of the intelligence.
Compared to nephesh in the OT, psyche
in the NT is relatively infrequent. In
Paul, the self-transcendent self can be expressed by soma and consciousness by pneuma. Psyche and
pneuma can be synonymous. In general in the NT, psyche continues the old Greek usage. When contrast is intended, psyche (mind) is opposed to soma (body)
and pneuma (spirit) to sarx (human nature). In I Corinthian 2, Paul
uses a form of psyche in a negative
fashion by using psychikos to describe
the “unspiritual” man. Paul depreciates
the living being because humans are hopelessly in thrall to sin and need
Christ. In some NT passages, especially
in Hebrews and the Pastoral letters, psyche
receives a heightened meaning (Heb. 6, 10, 13; James 1; I Peter 1, 2).
SOUTH. See Orientation.
SOUTH, THE.
See
Negeb.
SOWER, SOWING. See Agriculture.
The first inhabitants of Spain cave of Altamira North Africa ; the peninsula was anciently
called Iberia Spain Cadiz
See
also the entry in the Old Testament Apocrypha / Intertestamental section of
the Appendix.
The chief evidence which suggests
that Paul was able to fulfill his hope of visiting Spain Spain Seville Spain
SPAN (ﬧﬨז (tseh ret)) A measure based on the distance between ends
of thumb and little finger when the fingers are spread wide, a half cubit, 20
cm or a little more.
SPARROW (ﬧצפו (tsee for), bird; strouqion (stroo thos), any small bird) Any
bird of the finch family; a small bird or song bird. The “altars” mentioned in Psalm 84 mean the
various structures in the temple area which would be natural haunts for small
birds. Jesus asserts that, as such an
insignificant creature has its place in God’s care, so the disciples must not
fear opposition, for “you are of more value than many sparrows.”
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SPECK (karfoV (kar fos), any small, dry, thing)
A minute piece of dried material from wood, straw, or wool, contrasted
by Jesus with a log.
SPECKLED BIRD OF PREY (צבוע עיט (‘aw eet tsaw bo ‘ah), speckled beast (could be bird
or hyena)) The text of Jeremiah 12 is admittedly
difficult; no solid translation as yet exists.
SPELT (ﬤסמﬨ (koos seh meth)) A kind of coarse, inferior wheat. The Hebrew, however, may refer to another
similarly inferior wheat, called emmer.
That kussemeth was a kind of
wheat seems likely from its use with wheat in three biblical passages. In Exodus 9 wheat and spelt escaped the
plague of hail in Egypt Palestine
SPICE (בשם (bo sem) perfume or its scent; םסמי (sam
meem), sweet spices; arwma (ah ro ma), aromatic substance)
Any vegetable product highly prized in ancient times for cosmetics, sacred oil
and incense, perfume and burial preparations.
The term seems not to be associated in the Bible with foods. The majority of the occurrences of bosem would tend to argue for a generic
meaning. Sammin is generally an adjective.
Spices formed an important part
of the wealth of the ancient world. The land of Sheba Arabia .
Tradition claimed that Solomon had spice gardens near Jericho
The many references to spices in the
Song of Songs [Solomon] indicate specifically and figuratively the personal
emphasis upon them. Beauty treatment
with spices suggests their use in cosmetics.
The use of spices in the preparation of a body for burial is mentioned
in connection with the burial of Asa (II Chronicles 16) and prophetically of
Zedekiah (Jeremiah 34), but particularly of the burial of Jesus (Mark).
SPIDER (בישﬤע (‘ah kaw
bees)) An arachnid, not an insect, with hundreds of
species in Palestine
SPIES ( מﬧגלים (meh rah
gale eem); ﬨﬧים (toe reem), from the root “to travel”; egkaqetoV (eg ka theh tos), one who
persuades others to do a criminal act; kataskopoV (ka tah sko pos), to observe
closely and accurately) Persons sent into hostile territory to gather
information. The usual Hebrew word for “spies”
is meragalim, from the root meaning
“foot.” The rendering of ‘etarim as “spies” may be due to
confusing it with torim.
In ancient as in modern warfare,
spies were often used to discover weaknesses in a country’s defenses; Moses
sent 12 spies. In the Jericho
SPIKENARD (נﬧﬢ (nay
red); nardoV pistikh (nar
dos pis tee keh), essence of spikenard)
King James Version translation of the Hebrew word given; New Revised
Standard Version has “nard.” See also Nard; Plants.
SPIRIT (וחﬧ (roo akh),
wind, breath; pneuma (pnoo mah), wind, breath, mind; diakriseiV pneumatwn (die ak rih says pnoo mah ton), distinguishing spirits)
Both Hebrew and Greek words have the broad meaning of “wind,” “breath,”
and “spirit.” The 2nd verse
of Genesis takes on a fuller meaning with this in mind: “. . . a wind [breath] [spirit] from God
swept over the face of the waters.
Elsewhere in the Bible something of the nature of wind survived in the
concept of spirit.
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As the life
principle, ruach and pneuma, “spirit” dwells in living,
breathing beings, in the flesh of both humans and animals. The Spirit of God (ruach elohim) in the Old Testament (OT) is thought of as inspiring
the prophets, especially the ecstatic type.
It impels prophets to utter instruction or warning. It rests especially on the messianic king. Ruach
is apparently always used in an individualized sense. The statement applies almost equally well to
pneuma in the New Testament
(NT). But there one comes upon
intimations of philosophical developments.
The study of “spirit” in the Bible must not be limited to consideration
of particular words. “Spirit” is so
intimately connected with the supernatural in our thought that we should look
for expression of this idea, as well as for words which are translated
“spirit.”
When we say that God
is spirit, we usually mean that God has no physical body. We say that God is pure spirit. In this sense, “spirit” indicates the nature
of God’s being. Some early biblical
stories do not hesitate to attribute a physical body to God, as the idea of
“God without body” was foreign to early Hebrews. Jacob wrestled with God in the form of a
man. This idea that God has a corporeal
body was left behind as the prophets acquired a belief that God is universal,
eternal, and with no physical likeness whatever.
Important special
manifestations of God are the Spirit of the Lord; the Spirit of God; the Spirit
of the Lord Jesus Christ; the Holy Spirit; and the Spirit of Truth. (See Jesus
Christ, Holy Spirit, and Truth entries in the main section.) The statement “. .
. you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem 4:21 , 24) is as close as the Bible
comes to working out a philosophical conception of God.
Various types of
incorporeal beings are mentioned in the Bible.
There is a sea serpent named Leviathan (Job 3; Psalm 74; Isaiah 27)
Rahab, and a dragon which causes storms at sea Job 9; 26; Psalm 89. Leviticus 16 refers to Azazel, a strange
creature of the wilderness similar to the Greek satyrs, to whom a goat was sacrificed
on the Day of Atonement. Eventually
dragons disappeared from Christian thought.
Satan doesn’t appear
in the Bible’s earlier part. We
encounter him first in I Chr. 21; Job 1; and Zech. 3. He appears under various names. In the Dead Sea Scrolls and II Cor. 6, he is
Beliel or Beliar. In Mat. 4’s temptation
story, he is referred to as the devil.
In Rev. 12, 20 he is both a dragon and a serpent. Although dragons disappeared from Christian
thought, Satan is still portrayed with a barbed tail. Angels appear frequently in the OT, but they
remain anonymous until Daniel 8, 10, etc.
Evil spirits or demons are rare in the OT; another category of spiritual
beings is souls of the dead. Gen. 6 and
Job 1 refer to angels as sons of God.
(See also entry in the Old Testament (OT)
Apocrypha/Influences outside the OT section of the Appendix.)
The divine element in humans is indicated
first by believing they are created in God’s image. This means that they have intelligence, free
will, and are moral beings. The Bible
also indicates the humans’ spiritual nature by saying they are sons of
God. In Luke 3 and Acts 17 this means
all are by nature sons of God; the Bible mostly uses “image” rather than “son” for
this idea. Hebrew kings were regarded as
God’s son; it was a moral covenant relationship involving anointing. In the NT only believers are considered sons
of God.
In Paul’s language there is a
contrast between God’s Spirit and the world’s spirit. Paul also likes to distinguish
between the flesh and the Spirit (John 6 is familiar with this
distinction.). The spirit enters into
Paul’s triangle of personality, which is developed in Romans 7 and Galatians
5. In Romans part of the personality is nous (mind), which is replaced in
Galatians with pneuma (spirit). We can harmonize the two passages by assuming
that pneuma resides in the nous.
Paul’s analysis of personality, one element of which is human spirit,
enables him to present his idea of the Christian’s fellowship with the Holy
Spirit. It is everyone’s spiritual
nature that makes it possible for God’s Spirit to dwell in humans. It provides a basis for a continuing conversation
between human spirit and the divine Spirit.
Paul places diakriseis pneumaton (distinguishing spirits) among the spiritual
gifts; inspired messages may come from good or evil spirits. The spirits can be distinguished, and the inspiration’s
validity established. Spiritual
discrimination is essential in maintaining Christian truth. The tests are theological, affirming Jesus’ lordship
and the apostolic witness, and a moral and practical test (i.e. fruits of Christ’s
Spirit must be produced by the inspiration).
SPIRIT, HOLY. See Holy
Spirit.
SPIRITS, DISTINGUISHING.
See the end of the Spirit entry above.
SPIRITS IN PRISON (pneumata en fulakh (pnoo mah tah en
fool ah keh)) A phrase which refers to Christ’s descent
into Hades. The spirits can be human
beings or angelic beings (i.e. the fallen angels of Genesis 6. Behind the mythological setting is the idea
that the event of Christ had a universal significance and that Christ as the
Redeemer of all humankind opened the door of the prison of death.
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SPIRITUAL BODY (soma pneumatikon (so ma pnoo mah tee kon)) The resurrection
body. In this life the human soul, the
principle of one’s physical life, animates a flesh and blood body. “Spirit,” when used of humans, denotes them
in their relation to God. In the resurrection
one will possess a body corresponding to one’s total redemption, a “spiritual
body,” wholly possessed by and wholly an instrument of the Holy Spirit.
SPIRITUAL GIFTS (carismata (kar is mah tah), free favor,
divinely conferred endowment; pneuma-tika (pnoo mah tih kah)) The term used in the New Testament (NT) to
designate the special endowments of church members for its service. The NT picture of the church from its
earliest days is that of a community under the direction of the Spirit. The salvation gospel first declared by Jesus,
then proclaimed by those who had received it, has been confirmed by God by
gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to God’s will.
Nature
and Diversity—There are 2 usages for pneumatika,
general and particular. NT writers like
Paul hold a democratic view of such gifts.
The general use has to do with some favor, truth, or endowment shared by
an individual; spiritual gifts are “grace gifts.” When humans had earned condemnation and
death, because sin, God by God’s free gift (charisma)
gave righteousness and life. Deliverance
from peril is a charisma calling for
thanksgiving. The power to live a
celibate life, is a charisma. One must not neglect the talent that one has. One should earnestly desire “higher gifts.” The church’s blessing, privileges, and powers
are “spiritual gifts.” One may impart a gift or charisma to others, as the apostle wishes to impart the gospel’s truth.
The particular use of charisma has to do with specific
abilities or responsibilities. The focus
of interest here is the church, the fellowship of those who are “in Christ
Jesus.” The use of one’s gifts must show
no tinge of self-importance, but rather sincere humility. The list of “spiritual gifts” in Romans 12
and I Corinthians 12 is: wisdom; knowledge; faith; healing; miracles;
prophecy, discerning of spirits; tongues; and interpretation of tongues. It assigns all gifts to the operation of the
Spirit and co-ordinates the Spirit with the Father and with Christ. All gifts are related to the corporate body,
are diverse because its needs are diverse, and are assessed in the light of
their contribution to that body’s proper functioning.
The primary gift is the Spirit. The exalted Lord, the Spirit, bestows gifts
upon the church. The Spirit gives
apostles and prophets the gift of utterance to speak the things they have “seen
and heard” with boldness, freedom, and clearness. The Spirit comforts, strengthens, and guides
the church in its work, and worship (Acts 13; I Cor. 14). The Spirit gives teachers, who instruct
converts, and the church generally, in faith and practice. They become increasingly important in
discriminating between true and false teachings. Bishops are expected to possess more of this
gift. The Spirit creates evangelists,
traveling missionaries, somewhat lower in standing than apostles and prophets,
but noted for their emphasis upon preaching the “good news.”
The gifts thus far defined are all
related, though not exclusively, to the early church’s very fluid ministry, a
ministry of varied functions inspired by the Spirit for the corporate body’s
good. From the first, the “laying on of
hands” sets persons apart for particular work, but later becomes a more
official act. The act does not bestow
the charisma, but gives authority and
confirmation to the zeal and capacity already evidenced.
There are also gifts which are
shared by the ministry, but are not particularly of it; faith is a gift. Christians believe that “the dunamis of God” present in the Gospels’
Christ, and delegated to his apostles, still operates in the church to impart
the spiritual gifts. Those performing
works of charity have the gift of service, while the leaders or overseers in
the church affairs have the gift of administration. A gift greatly coveted, but placed last by
Paul is “speaking in tongues,” which is useless unless the gift of
interpretation is applied to it.
The NT confronts us with a
Spirit-created, Spirit-endowed community.
Quite probably, only the extraordinary gifts were attributed to the
Spirit at first. As Christian fellowship
grew and understood its need, new capacities were found to meet them, clearly
indicating the Spirit’s constant action.
Paul speaks of “varieties of gifts,” “varieties of service,” “varieties
of working,” in order to indicate how the Spirit’s widespread operations find
their expression. They all come from the
same Spirit, the same Lord, the same God.
Spiritual
Gifts: Evaluation, Control, and the New Age—All spiritual gifts are valid;
not all are equally good. Paul sees the
necessity of guiding spiritual gifts into ethical and rational channels. Paul stresses the charismata’s diversity, and that they are designed to give unity,
solidarity, and healthy growth to Christian fellowship. All gifts are to be subordinated, and have
value in proportion as they do what they are designed to do. Every gift is justified to the extent it
contributes to faith and knowledge, peace and order in the church.
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Paul finds the
answer in love, the undeserved grace bestowed on humans that they might bestow
it in complete self-giving upon their fellows.
By introducing this regulatory concept of love, his basic moral
premise, Paul corrects the confusion and disorder of the Corinthian church and
prepares the way for a more ethical apprehension of the Spirit’s activity.
Spiritual gifts in
the NT presuppose the messianic community, the new Israel of God, furnished and
sustained in every good and necessary function by the Spirit, inheriting the
promises made to the old Israel Israel
SPIT. The act of spitting is uniformly
a sign of the strongest rejection and contempt in the Old Testament (OT) and
the New Testament, apparently as part of quasi-legal formulas. None of the OT occurrences reflects directly
the widespread superstition that human spittle contains the mysterious essences
of the human self. Jesus follows the
widespread Jewish practice in the use of spittle to heal in Mark 8. In Mark 7 the act of spitting may entail the
dispersal of demonic forces rather than an act of healing.
SPOIL (שלל (shaw
lawl), plunder, booty; בזה (be tsah), prey, booty; משוסה (meh shoo saw), prey, booty skulon (skoo lon), something stripped
off an enemy, plunder, booty; akroqinion (ak roth een eeon), choicest spoils of war)
Plunder taken as right of conquest.
Warfare in the ancient Near East
inevitably involved plunder. The victor
automatically assumed his right to possess anything belonging to the
vanquished, including women and children.
Spoils division followed certain rules among the Hebrews. As among the later Arabs the leader probably
received a special share. Israel Jericho
SPONGE
(spoggoV (spog gos)) The skeleton of a type of marine animal.
The usefulness of the sponge is dependent upon its power to absorb liquids
without losing its own toughness. The word is used in Matthew 27, Mark 15, and John
19 to describe Jesus being given vinegar in a sponge.
SPOON
(ﬤף (kaf), pan, dish, from the root
“to bend”) King James Version translation, more likely
“dishes for incense.” See Incense,
Dishes for.
SPRING
(עין (‘ane), fountain; מעין (ma ‘eh yawn), fountain, well) Usual translation of Hebrew. See also Fountain.
SPRING RAIN (מלקוש (ma leh
kos), latter rain) April and May showers which bring the
rainy season to an end.
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SQUAD (tetradion (teh tra dee on), set of four) A guard usually consisting of 4
soldiers, one for each night watch. Even
where the words tetradion were not
used, a guard was customarily made up of four soldiers.
In Acts 12, Peter was guarded by
four squads, which appear to be named with reference to the four watches of
the night. Peter was bound with chains
to a guard on each side. Luke is
primarily concerned to show that no matter how extravagantly Peter might be
guarded, he could not be held.
SQUARE (ﬧחוב (reh khobe), wide open place, market-place) A
word of uncertain meaning; perhaps a public gathering place inside the gate of
a typical Israelite city, as found in the excavations.
STABLE (נוה (naw vaw), fold, pasture) King James Version translation of the Hebrew. In modern Palestine
STACHYS (StacuV (stak yoos), ear of corn) A Christian man greeted by
Paul and designated as “my beloved.”
STACTE (נטף (naw tawf),
from the root “drop, distill”) One of the four aromatic ingredients of the
holy incense which was burned “before the testimony in the tent of meeting.” The Hebrew root meaning suggests the droplets
of gum exuded from a number of shrubs and trees, most likely the storax and the
opobalsamum.
STADIA (stadia (stay dee ah), ⅛ of a Roman mile) See Weights and Measures.
STAFF (מטה, (ma teh),
branch, rod; משענה (ma
sheh ‘ay naw), support; שבט (shay
bat), rod for punishment; rabdoV (rab dos), rod, wand, scepter; xulon (eksoo lon), club, post) In
addition to many references to the literal use of a staff there are a number of
figurative references to “staff,” particularly the “staff of bread” in Ezekiel
4, 5, and 14. Moses’ staff or rod and also
Aaron’s, like those of the Egyptian magicians, were the instruments of
miraculous powers. Moses’ rod became his
scepter and in battle symbolized God’s presence.
According to II Kings 4, the staff
of Elisha possessed healing power. Evidently
the staff of the shepherd gave a sense of security to his flock. Both rod and staff are instruments of divine
judgment. Old people who sit with staff
in hand, unafraid and undisturbed, are a symbol of security. Jesus sent his disciples forth with the
suggestion that they carry neither money nor extra clothes nor a staff. In Hebrews 11 mention is made of Jacob
leaning on his staff while blessing the sons of Joseph.
STAIRS (לולים (loo leem), winding-stairs; מדﬧגה (mah deh ray gaw), step; מעלה (mah
‘ah law), ascent, step; anabaqmoV (ah nah bath
mos), steps) Since the roof of a Palestinian house was a
place for family activities, stairs were a common feature. In the one-story house the stairs normally
would be on the outside. In a two-story
house there would also be an inside flight to the 2nd story. Stairs have been found leading down into deep
wells or cisterns at Gezer Megiddo Gibeon , and Qumran .
The “ladder” in Jacob’s dream may be stairs. By New Testament times Greek and Roman theaters
throughout the Mediterranean had stairs.
STAIRS OF THE CITY OF DAVID Jerusalem David
STALL (מﬧבק (mah reh bake); אﬧוﬨ (‘ah roth), stable; ﬧפﬨים (rah
faw teem)) A place for tying and feeding cattle. In the average home animals were kept in the
yard. In Amos 6 and Malachi 4 the phrase
“calves from the stall” means calves specially fattened with fodder in the
stable.
Both Hezekiah (II
Chr. 32) and Solomon (I Kings 4) had very extensive stalls or stables. Most scholars consider the 40,000 an
exaggeration. However, the very large
extent of Solomon’s stables has been strikingly substantiated by excavations at
Megiddo Gezer Megiddo Gezer
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STANDARD (ﬢגל (dah gal), flag banner נם (nem), banner) A troop or tribal ensign
used as a rallying signal.
STEADFASTNESS (upomonh (oo po mo neh), patient endurance) A
term which sometimes connotes reliability, constancy, fidelity, but which
primarily means patient or steadfast endurance.
It is usually related explicitly to adverse circumstances.
Paul, referring to Christ, quotes
Psalm 69: “The reproaches of those who reproached thee fell on me . . . This was written for our instruction, that by
steadfastness . . . we might have hope.”
Christians are steadfast both because they hope and in order that they
may have hope. II Thessalonians 1 also
has: We boast of you in the churches of
God for your steadfastness and faith . . . and in the afflictions which you are
enduring.” James 1 bids the brethren to
rejoice when they meet trials, for the testing of faith “produces
steadfastness.”
STEED (אביר (aw beer), mighty one; אמץ
(‘oh mats), strong one; רכש (rah kash), swift horse, stallion) A horse which is especially strong,
brave, swift, and of generally high mettle, suited particularly for battle.
STEEL (נחושה (neh khoo
shaw), brass) King James Version translation of the Hebrew
word.
STEER (ﬧפ (par),
young bull) A term used in the
translation of the Hebrew word.
STEPHANAS (StefanaV, crown) A man who, along with his household is
included among the few individuals personally baptized by Paul. Paul urges the Corinthian Christians to
follow the leadership of such men. Stephanas
and his 2 companions seem to have constituted a Corinthian delegation, sent to
consult with Paul. They probably brought
the letter to Paul from the Corinthian church and took back with them the letter
known as I Corinthians. Their actions
represent a 1st step in the direction of a local ministry in the
churches.
STEPHEN (StefanoV (ste fah nos), crown)
One of 7 men “of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom,” who at
the command of the 12 were selected by the “body of the disciples,” who laid
their hands upon them. Stephen’s name
heads the list of the 7; and only he is honored with a character
qualification.
The only available information
about Stephen is that which is found in Acts, which gives us no biographical
data about him. Luke does not call him a
deacon; yet the question remains: Is this the origin of the diaconate? Did Stephen really “serve tables” (provide
daily for widows) or was this charitable service only a minor part of their
work. Was the charity problem of such
nature as to call for the selection and setting apart of seven “full of the
Spirit and of wisdom”?
Since Stephen and Philip are
described as doing only evangelistic work, we may supposed that Luke was
concerned with charity to the extent that: it points to the existence of a
movement from the original Jewish-Christian tradition to the Greco-Roman
church; it was or was reputed to have been responsible for summoning Stephen
to a position of official responsibility; it provided an occasion for setting
forth a new stage in the organization; and it provided Luke an opportunity to
set forth his theory of the primacy of the 12.
Stephen’s verbal opponents are
certainly intended to be Greek-speaking, Greek-minded, Jewish Christians. The dispute was intended to be viewed as a
conflict between diverging types of Jewish Christians, one keeping the whole
law; the other moving towards the Gentile Christians. Although it is probable that Luke regarded
the conflict as one between the 2 types of Jewish Christians, Stephen’s real
conflict is with the Jews.
The first martyr
meeting death at the hands of Jews is in accord with Luke’s style of writing in
Luke and Acts. First, the resemblances
between the accounts of the trial and death of Jesus and of Stephen in Acts are
too great to be coincidental. Second, as
described in Acts, Jewish hostility to the expanding church, especially after
70 A.D. was exerted by Diaspora Jews.
Apart from the
details of the text, the speech of Stephen presents four problems. First, how is it related to its literary
context? Second, why doesn’t Stephen
speak to the charges brought against him?
Third, what is its source? Fourth, what is its function? In Acts 6-8 there are most probably three
sources, two different Stephen traditions, and a possible third source in the
form of an anti-Jewish polemic in chapter 7.
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If this is a correct
analysis of the narrative’s 3 sections, then the fact that Stephen does not
address himself to the charges is to be explained by Luke’s using the occasion
for another purpose. Luke sees in the
event of Stephen’s martyrdom the proper occasion for giving an argument and
condemnation of Jewish resistance.
First, they rejected Moses; they “refused to obey him.” Then they made their own gods. And finally
they built a temple, although “the Most High does not dwell in houses made with
hands.” Stephen says: “You stiff-necked people . . . you are
forever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors did.” (Acts 7:51 ). For Luke Stephen’s death was not “mob”
action; it was official. Just as Israel
The speech’s function
in Acts is sufficiently explained above.
Luke prepares the way for abandoning temple Judaism Israel
STEPPE ( מﬢבﬧ (me deh bawr), large plain, desert, wilderness; עﬧבה(‘ar ah baw), plain,
desert) A translation used twice for words more
frequently translated “desert” or “wilderness.”
The references are to level, unforested land, receiving little rain,
and found in Palestine Judah
STEWARD, STEWARDSHIP (מלצﬧ (meh leh tsar), Babylonian chief of wine,
butler; oikonomoV (oy ko
no mos), manager; epitropoV (eh pih tro pos), agent, manager) An official who controls a
large household’s affairs, overseeing
service of the master’s table, directing household servants, and controlling
household expenses on the master’s behalf.
Israel
Bishops are stewards of the affairs
of God. All Christians are to be
stewards. The Christian concept of
stewardship before God involves time, talents, possessions, and self. Obviously a stewardship can be betrayed. The master or epitropos of a vineyard is also a steward.
STIFF-NECKED (קשה ףﬧע (‘oh ref kaw sheh), hard
or unyielding neck; sklhrotrachloV (skleh ro tra keh los), obstinate) A metaphor for rebellion
and unteachableness. The term typically
describes Israel Israel
STOCKS (ﬨמהפﬤ (ma
heh peh ket), imprisonment; xulon (zoo lon), cross)
An instrument of punishment, in which the victim is confined to a given
position by having his hands and feet locked in a wooden frame. Roman incarceration was aggravated by chains
and stocks. Roman stocks were wooden
frames with several holes designed to force the legs apart.
STOICS. See the
entry in the Old Testament (OT) Apocrypha/Influences Outside the OT section of
Appendix.
STOMACHER (ליגיﬨפ (peh tee geel), wide mantle, vest) King James Version
translation of Hebrew; a decorative covering worn in front of the upper
portion of the body.
STONECUTTER (אבן חצב (khow
tsabe ‘eh ben), hewer of stone; ﬧשח (khaw
rawsh), engraver) Quarrier, cutter of
stone for building, etc. Solomon had 80,000 quarrymen in the hill country
preparing the temple’s stone.
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STONE (אבן (eh ben); liqoV (lee thos)) Palestine Gibeon (II Sam. 20), Bohan (Josh. 15,
18), Zoheleth (I Kings 1), and Ezel (I Sam. 20). They also marked roads and boundaries (Jer. 31).
Stone’s most important use was
for building; it was seen as superior to brick.
In the Neolithic period massive stone slabs were used to construct
burial chambers called dolmens. The
Israelites used unhewned stones for altars; Elijah’s altar on Mount Carmel was of this kind. Stone was used for city walls, vineyard
dikes, and to plug wells and cisterns.
Stone was among the materials collected by David. Jehoash made repairs with hewn stones. The stones of Herod’s temple are referred to
in Mat. 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21.
Stone had military uses. They were convenient missiles for the sling
or catapult. Another use of stones was
in making ornaments. The priests’
breastplates were decorated with stones.
Beads were made of quartz, agate, amethyst, etc. Stones were used to commemorate events, and
were consecrated as memorials to God. Stones
set up by Joshua at Gilgal were an example of a circle with memorial
significance. Inscriptions might be
placed on stone monuments or on stone tablets such as the 10 Commandments. By the Dog River Beirut
It is quite possible that the
Israelites shared the feeling common among other early Semites that stones,
perhaps meteorites, partook of the nature of the divine. Gilgal means “circle,” and the
stones set up by Joshua may represent an early circle for
stone-worshipers. The hardness and
strength of stones lent symbolic meaning to their use in metaphorical
language. In Zechariah 3 a stone with 7
facets is set before Joshua, the high priest, perhaps as the foundation stone
of the temple, the “top stone” in the high priest’s breastplate.
The New Testament refers
to stones in object lessons as sterile.
The Christians are called a living stone, one that is sound and not
broken, because they are built into the spiritual temple of which Christ is the
chief cornerstone. In Revelation 2 a
white stone is mentioned. This is an
obscure symbol that may be a charm or amulet bearing the victor’s name. It is white to symbolize the heavenly character
of the victorious believer. The symbol
is derived from familiar beliefs and practices concerning defense against evil
and evil ones.
STONES, PRECIOUS. See Jewels and Precious Stones.
STONING (סקל (saw kal); ﬧגם (raw gam); liqazw
(lih tha zoe); liqobolew (lih
tho bo leh oh)) The following are stoning offenses in the Bible: worship
of other gods, incitement thereto; child-sacrifice to Molech; prophesying in another
god’s name; spirit-divination; blasphemy; Sabbath-breaking; homicide by an ox;
adultery; insubordination to parents; and violation of kherem (possessing that committed to God and destruction).
As Palestine
STOOL (ﬤסא (kee
say’), seat; אבן (oh ben), seat) Kisa and oben
are translated as “stool” in the King James Version. The New Revised Standard Version translates
them as “chair” and “birthstool,” respectively.
STORE-CITIES ( מסﬤנוﬨ i עיﬧ (‘eer me seh keh noth), city of treasuries; ﬧהאוצ i ביﬨ (beeth ha oh tsawr), house of treasury) Sites on which were built warehouses for the
storage of government supplies of various kinds.
Egypt Tanis Judah
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STORK (הﬢחסי (kha
see daw), from the root word meaning “loyal,” “trustworthy.” The primary Greek Old Testament uses many
different Greek words to translate this Hebrew word.) Any of a family of large, long-legged wading birds, related to
the herons, whose food consists of fish.
Their faithful tending of their young is proverbial. While most of these birds were migrating
northward to Europe , some remained at established nests in the Holy Land .
It is reasonable but by no means certain that “stork” is the correct
translation. The somewhat similar
appearance of the heron and the stork may have confused ancient observers.
STORM ﬧםז (tsah ram), downpour; הוספּ (so faw),
whirlwind, hurricane; סער (sah ‘ar), tempest;שאה (sho ‘ah), tempest,
destruction; lailay (lahee laps), wind squall, hurricane; seismoV (sice mos), shaking, earthquake)
See Palestine
STRANGER (גר (ger), sojourner; זר (tsawr), barbarian; xenoV (eks en os), alien) The New Revised Standard Version
mostly uses the above words for the Hebrew and Greek, not “stranger,” which earlier
translations use.
STRANGLING. One of the 4 methods of capital
punishment prescribed in rabbinic law; this penalty is not mentioned in the Old
Testament. It is the most merciful form
of execution and is applicable to cases where biblical law does not specify
some other method.
In Acts 15, James agrees that
Gentile converts need not conform to the entire law, so long as they abstain
from the eating of blood or of “what is strangled,” which conforms to the
Jewish method of slaughtering. From some
sources it appears that the term “strangling” was sometimes applied to any form
of slaughtering not approved by Jewish law.
STRAW (תבן (taban);
מתבן (ma teh bane)) Wheat or barley stalks cut to 3.8 to 5 cm
lengths in the process of threshing.
Straw seems to have had several uses.
Some passages suggest its use for the bedding down of animals but not
necessarily for food; whole stalks were not used in the ancient Near East. It was however, also used for food, either
alone or mixed with grains; straw was also used as a binder in brick-making.
STREET. See Bazaar; Broad Place
STRINGED INSTRUMENTS.
See Musical Instruments.
STRIPES. See Scourging.
STRONG DRINK (שכר (sheh
kawr), intoxicating drink; sikera (sih keh ra), intoxicating drink) While shekar seems to have meant “barley beer” as one time, it later came
to mean any intoxicating beverage; it was forbidden to priests and Nazirites. Strong drink often appears in parallel with
wine to refer to intoxicants in general.
Hannah protested to the priest at Shiloh that she had “drunk neither wine
nor strong drink.” Proverb 20 contains
the verse: Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray
by it is not wise.”
STRONGHOLD (ﬧמבצ (me beh tsawr), fortification; ﬠוזמ (mah ‘ots), place of
strength; ocurwma (ok oo ro
ma))
Like “fortress,” “stronghold” is used figuratively to mean God as
the refuge of the righteous (Psalm 9), or the temple as the symbol of a
deceptive and false security (Ezekiel 24).
STUBBLE (קש (kash),
chaff) Dry grain stalks considered as refuse or
fuel. In Exodus 5, the word describes
the people as “scattered abroad through all the land of Egypt
STUFF (ﬤלי (kel ee)) It is most often used to designate
“material” or “cloth.” Such material was
contributed as offerings for the making of cult objects such as the sacred
vestments of the priests.
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STUMBLING BLOCK (מכשול (me keh
shole), cause of stumbling or offense; proskomma (pro skom ma), inducement to
sin; skandalon (skan
dah lon), trap-spring, cause of ruin) That which causes one to stumble or fall;
mentioned in both a literal and a figurative sense in the Old Testament. Isaiah 8:14 relates the meaning to a “trap”
and a “snare.” In the New Testament this
word is applied twice of Christ (Romans 9 and I Peter 2). The most important Greek noun, skandalon, has both a messianic and a
moral application. Spiritual ruin may
result from wrong relation to Christ or to others.
SUAH (סוח (soo akh))
A division of the clan of Zophah in the tribe of Asher (I Chronicles 7).
SUCATHITES (כתיםשו (soo ka theme), from the root meaning fence or hedge)
One of 3 families of scribes who lived in Jabez of Judah, descended from
Caleb, Kenites, and Rechabites.
SUCCOTH ( סﬤוﬨ, booths) 1. A city of Gad Jordan Valley Jordan
The city was a part
of the Sihon kingdom. Gideon called upon
the people of Succoth to supply food; they refused to do so. He then caught a young man, made him write
down the names of Succoth’s princes and elders, and then inflicted a cruel
punishment upon them. The bronze vessels
for Solomon’s temple were cast near Succoth.
There are two references in Psalms to the Vale of Succoth. There are evidences of settlement from at
least Middle Bronze times (2100 B.C.), and the site was apparently flourishing
until the 500s B.C.
2.
An Egyptian city mentioned in Exodus 12, 13, Numbers 33 as a station on
the route of the Exodus. Succoth is
mentioned as the first stop in the flight of the Israelites from Egypt
SUCCOTH-BENOTH (בנוﬨ סﬤוﬨ , booth of daughters) A deity or deities worshiped by colonists
from Babylon Samaria Babylon
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); צר (tsawr), adversity; ponhroV (po neh ros), bad, wickedness; qliyiV (thel ip sis),
distressing circumstances, affliction)
Suffering
in the Old Testament (OT)—Suffering is caused by evil. The OT does not contrast physical and mental
suffering, since humans are seen in their totality. The biblical writers are not particularly
interested in the origin of suffering either.
Rather, they inquire into the reason and purpose of suffering. Below are the questions asked about suffering
and the answers given. In view of the
answers given below, it is remarkable that the Israelites were never moved to
take a pessimistic view of life. Even
Ecclesiastes, the gloomiest of the OT writers, counsels his readers to enjoy
life.
Old Testament Suffering
Questions
and Answers
Question:
What is God’s relationship to wickedness and suffering?
Response: The Israelites interpreted suffering as
divine punishment for sin. They were
firmly convinced that moral order guided human destinies. They were sure that God’s judgment would
eventually reach the wicked, but often they became impatient. They took their own calamities as indications
of God’s wrath. In agreement with their
belief in collective life, the nation’s members might suffer for their king’s
wickedness.
Question: Why did the prophets
suffer?
Response: In solidarity with the people, the Servant of
God has taken vicariously upon himself the punishment of the nation (Isaiah
53). There is also the idea of atoning
suffering (Isaiah 40 and 55). By accepting
the Lord’s punishment, one will be delivered of one’s guilt.
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Question: Why did the righteous man suffer?
Response: Job resigns himself to the wisdom of
God. The author of Psalm 44 assails God
violently for neglecting his people.
Others found satisfaction in the idea that God would finally vindicate
their cause (e.g. Psalms 22, 31, 34, 37, 43, 46, 50, 55, 77; Proverbs 10). In later biblical writing, thinking began to
prevail that they should not hope for immediate help, but look forward to the
end of this age, to a Day of Yahweh.
Question: What can we learn from suffering?
Response: Suffering is a divine education, by which
people could be led away from their self-centered outlook and from sin back to
God and to obedience.
Suffering
in the New Testament (NT)—The primitive church adopted OT views of
suffering, but modified them because of Jesus’ passion and cross. While in the OT believers become so
preoccupied with their own suffering that they seem to lose sight of the
world, Christ’s followers feel as a result of their suffering compassion for others’
suffering. Below are the questions asked
about suffering and the answers given. In
the NT God’s relationship to suffering and the reasons why the prophet (Jesus)
suffered are inseparable.
New
Testament Suffering
Questions
and Answers
Question: What’s God’s relationship to
wickedness & suffering? Why did the prophet (Jesus) suffer?
Response: Jesus taught that his suffering was a divine
necessity, which had been laid upon the Son of man. The atoning of his suffering rested upon his
willingness as the sinless one to give his life for sinners in perfect
obedience to God’s judgment. Jesus did
not act under a compulsion placed upon him, but accepted the burden of
humankind with the spontaneity of love.
Satan uses the suffering of our
“flesh” to destroy in us the desire for the new life in Christ and our faith,
either by making us shrink from the pain or by persuading us to trust in our
own strength. Further, Satan’s device is
to call forth new evils by visiting evil upon a person through another person,
in the hope that the victim will resort to evil in retaliation. But the Tempter flees when firmly opposed.
Question: Why did the righteous accept suffering?
Response: The believers who accept suffering not only
serve Christ’s cause, but continue his suffering for humankind. In completing “what is lacking in Christ’s
afflictions,” the believers participate in Christ’s atoning work. The believers’ suffering both brings into
focus the suffering of the universe, and purges from faith the dross of self-love
and love of the world. Since the
believers realize that their new life in the “flesh” is Christ’s, their
suffering serves as evidence of Christ’s triumph, as well as unmasking evil’s
wickedness.
Suffering “for the
name” is, therefore, a privilege and a sign of divine election. The worldly powers hate the disciples even as
they hate the master and his work.
Christians will endure suffering patiently and without fear or anxiety,
because believers can be sure of Christ’s final triumph over all the powers of
evil, and because they experience that victory in their own life, and are sure
that the evils of this world will never crush them.
Question: What can we learn from suffering?
Response: Suffering in the primitive church deepened understanding of the sinfulness of all, and led to realizing that suffering is the rightful fate of all people in this evil age. The public confession that Jesus is the Christ will result in tribulation and martyrdom that is to come upon humankind and will continue until his Second Coming. By showing that suffering results from both the sinfulness of humankind and from the missionary activity of God’s people, the NT almost completely dismisses the idea of individual suffering.
Response: Suffering in the primitive church deepened understanding of the sinfulness of all, and led to realizing that suffering is the rightful fate of all people in this evil age. The public confession that Jesus is the Christ will result in tribulation and martyrdom that is to come upon humankind and will continue until his Second Coming. By showing that suffering results from both the sinfulness of humankind and from the missionary activity of God’s people, the NT almost completely dismisses the idea of individual suffering.
The suffering of the
followers of Jesus is unavoidable, because the savior’s work runs counter to
the aspirations of the world and its powers.
If the temptation has been overcome and the tribulation accepted as a divine
education, it serves to strengthen our inner life, but self-inflicted suffering
is worthless. Believers can look at all
evils with equanimity and patience. In their
suffering they never cease to entertain hope, because whatever they may lose in
this life is like nothing in comparison with what they are to obtain with Christ.
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Jesus’ followers are
capable of overcoming their anxious cares and their worries about the future’s uncertainty. Evils and suffering are experienced with
greater intensity under the New Covenant.
Believers who have been harmed or wronged must not retaliate upon their
adversary, because by so doing they would serve the ends of the devil. Disciples of Jesus are to respond with love
to all acts of enmity, for they are called upon to imitate the example of
Christ. By such action the power of evil
will definitely be broken in this world.
Evil—In
Hebrew, rah measures both objects and
person with reference to God’s ultimate purpose. The results of the divine curse were evil
primarily because their presence was an indication that humans did not enjoy
that unbroken fellowship with God which was their destiny; the equivalent Greek
word is poneros. The Hebrew word tsar means something that hurts, limits, or oppresses people. It designates the evil condition which people
are in, rather than the quality or action of beings; the equivalent Greek word
is thlipsis.
The numerous references to evil
found in the OT and the NT indicate that the biblical writers were fully aware
of its existence and took it seriously.
Evils or “acts of God” that are frequently mentioned are: storms;
diseases; toil; hardship; hopeless situations; injustice; and oppression. Evil also includes the state of mind created
by these evils (e.g. hunger, thirst, sorrow, fear, anxiety, and despair).
The evil character of events and
conditions is not seen in their being obstacles to human happiness, but rather
in their making faith difficult. They
create the impression that God is unable to overcome them. Worse than the evils which humans suffer are
those which they bring upon themselves (e.g. unrighteousness, not caring about
their neighbor, and unbelief). To them
the NT adds the stumbling block, or actions through which the other person’s
faith is endangered. These things the
Lord hates and pours out wrath on those that do them. Biblical thought is not primarily concerned
with escaping suffering, but rather with shunning sin.
Even though the Jewish rules
governing the clean and the unclean had their roots in primitive taboos, the
prophets interpreted them in a moral sense.
Nothing is evil in itself, but “the whole world lies under the power of
the evil one (New Revised Standard Version).”
While human depravity is assumed, the fall of humans also presupposes evil’s
existence; the divine curse does not bring those evil things into being. Humans have to bear the responsibility for
their sinfulness, but the origin of these evils lies outside themselves. Nevertheless, evil, which disturbs the
harmony of this world, would never have become fact except for human sin.
The biblical view
differs from Iranian dualism. Belief in
a personal devil appears at a late stage in the OT. While it became an integral part of the NT’s message,
it did not impair the idea of God’s exclusive work in creation. The devil has
the power to bring forth evils. This
brings to light behind evils a malicious intention. Satan’s power was God-given, and thus it is
limited and lacks creativity. Throughout
the Bible the view prevails that God the Creator made the existence of evils
possible, and uses them to curb one another.
The biblical outlook
maintains the basic difference between good and evil, but it may be difficult
for the individual to tell what specific end certain evils serve. Though it is by the Creator’s will that evils
are found in this world; they do not originate, as is held in Stoicism, out of
a necessity inherent in nature. The
differentiation of good and evil is therefore in the Bible not a subjective
one, but rather has an objective reason.
With God as Creator,
evil remains constantly under divine control.
In the OT, this expresses itself in the many prayers in which God is
requested to deliver the individual or all those around the individual from all
kinds of evil. Only slowly does the idea
dawn that God will eventually abolish all evils. The end-time blessing anticipates originally
a realm of peace and prosperity in which Israel
In the NT, the view
is held that God will make an end to all evil.
In its manifestations the power of evil is not free but must follow a
divine program. No evil, however mighty,
is powerful enough to prevent or thwart the execution of God’s saving
purpose. Notwithstanding this hopeful
outlook, however, the reality of evil is taken seriously. Evils are not mere lack of goodness, nor do
they exist contrary to God, but rather as willed and sent by God to wherever
sin is found. However, evil is inferior
in power to goodness. Unlike Zoroastrianism,
which holds that evil exists of and by itself, the Bible teaches that evil
comes into being only in opposition to Creation’s goodness. It cannot last forever, and individual evils
go on only for “a little while.”
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SUICIDE. The word “suicide” does not appear
in the Bible, but there are several instances of the occurrence (e.g. Saul and his armor-bearer (I Samuel 31);
Ahithophel (II Samuel 17); and Zimri (I Kings 16). In the New Testament (NT), the single case is
that of Judas (Matthew 27).
There are no biblical prohibitions
of suicide, nor is the act as such condemned.
There were social conditions and an implicit attitude which can be
inferred from religious tenets common to the Old Testament and (NT). God as Creator alone has authority to give and
take away. The 6th
Commandment and the regulations regarding shedding human blood (Genesis 9)
influenced the attitude. Rabbinic
literature cites the latter passage in specifically prohibiting suicide. Josephus sees suicide as an “impious act
against God our Creator,” though he approves of the Jews at Masada , who took their own lives in
patriotic and religious devotion. While
early Christians undoubtedly shared in the Jewish attitude, further
implications may be inferred from Romans 14; I Corinthians 6, and Ephesians
5. In Acts 16 Paul prevents a suicide.
SUKKIM (סכיים,
tent-dwellers) Part of the forces which Shishak brought up
from Egypt
SUKKOTH (סכות, booths) See Booths,
Feast of.
The name Sumer Sumer Sumer Arabian desert lands entered the community,
both as peaceful immigrants and as conquering warriors.
The Sumerians probably did not
arrive in Sumer Caucasus . Some of the
early Sumerian rulers had an unexpectedly close and intimate relationship with
Aratta, located northeast of Sumer Armenian Mountains Caspian Sea ; Aratta’s rulers had Sumerian
names.
But wherever the
Sumerians may have come from, this much is certain: their arrival led to an
extraordinarily fruitful fusion with the native population, and brought about
a creative spirit that had significance for the history of civilization. Sumer
History: Early Dynastic Period (3000-2300 B.C.)—The 1st ruler of Sumer Kish Sumer Erech Mediterranean to the Zagros Mountains . Meskiaggasher’s son Enmerkar conducted an expedition
against Aratta, mentioned earlier.
One of Enmerkar’s
heroic heralds and companions was a warrior named Lugalbanda, who succeeded him
on the Erech throne. A whole cycle of
epic tales grew up about them both. 4 of
these poems have been recovered and restored quite recently. By the end of Lugalband’s reign, the power of
the city of Erech Kish Sumer Nippur Nippur Sumer
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Enmebaraggesi’s son,
Agga, tried to carry on in his father’s footsteps, but by this time the
city-state of Ur Sumer Ur Ur Sumer Sumer
The next great
Sumerian ruler concerning whom we have any information is Lugalannemundu, a
king of the city of Adab Kish Sumer Lagash
History: Defeat (2300-2100) and Revival (2100 1720)—Semites from the west and north
of Sumer Western Asia , and perhaps even parts of Ethiopia Egypt Cyprus Agade , from whence came the name Akkad , for northern Sumer
Upon Sargon’s death,
two of his sons carried on in his footsteps, and tried to hold on to their
father’s empire. His grandson,
Naram-Sin, for some unknown reason destroyed Nippur Sumer Agade itself was completely destroyed
and never restored. After less than a
century of Semitic rule, the mighty empire of Sumer
It took the
Sumerians several generations to recover from the blow. The city of Lagash Lagash Anatolia , and Egypt Ethiopia Bahrain India
Not long after
Gudea, the Sumerians under the leadership of Utuhegal, Erech’s king, finally
freed themselves altogether from the Guti yoke. A struggle for power between Lagash Ur Ur
Ur-Nammu’s son
Shulgi was a skillful diplomat and soldier.
Throughout his reign, Sumer Arabian Desert of the west, and in the course
of time made themselves masters of some of the more important cities (e.g.
Isin, Larsa, and Babylon Ur
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During the 2½
centuries following the fall of Ur Sumer Akkad between Isin and Larsa, and
later between Larsa and Babylon Sumer Akkad .
By this time the Sumerian people were practically extinct, and the
Semites were in complete control. Kings
were all Semites, and the spoken language was the Semitic Akkadian. The culture as a whole was still
predominantly Sumerian in form and content.
The vast majority of the Sumerian literary works are known from copies
prepared—presumably by Semites—from 2000-1600 B.C.
Social and Economic Institutions—Sumer
Sumerian architects
beautified the walls by means of regularly spaced buttresses and recesses. They also introduced the mud-brick column and
half-column, and covered these with colored zigzags, lozenges, and
triangles. Sometimes the shrine’s inner
walls were painted with human and animal figures. The temple was the largest, tallest, and most
important building in the city, in accordance with the religious theory that
the entire city belonged to its deity.
In practice, however, the temple corporation owned and rented only some land.
Political power lay
originally in the hands of the free citizens and a governor known as the ensi, a peer among peers. As the struggles between the various Sumerian
city-states grew more violent and bitter, and as the pressures from the
barbaric peoples east and west of Sumer increased, military leadership became a
pressing need, and the lugal (“big
man”) or king came to the fore.
Kingship, with all its privileges and prerogatives became a hereditary
institution gradually, and came to be seen as the hallmark of civilization. Sumer’s conquests were due largely to its superiority
in military weapons, tactics, organization, and leadership.
But priests,
princes, and soldiers constituted, after all, only a small fraction of the
cities’ population. The great majority
were farmers and cattle-breeders, boatmen and fishermen, merchants and scribes,
doctors and architects, masons and carpenters, smiths, jewelers, and
potters. A number of rich and powerful
families owned large estates; even the poor managed to own farms. Riches and poverty, success and failure, were
the result of private enterprise and individual drive. Artisans and craftsmen sold their handmade
products, receiving payment either in kind or in “money,” a disk or ring of
silver of a standard weight. Not a few
merchants were probably private individuals rather than temple or palace
representatives.
Slavery was a
recognized institution, and the temples, palaces, and rich estates owned
slaves. Many slaves were prisoners of
war, and these were not necessarily foreigners, but Sumerians from a
neighboring city. Freemen might be reduced
to slavery as punishment; parents could sell their children; a man might even
turn over his entire family to creditors in payment of a debt, but for no
longer than 3 years. The slave could be
branded and flogged and was severely punished if he attempted to escape. It was to his master’s advantage that a slave
stay strong and healthy. They even had
certain legal rights: engaging in business; borrowing money; and buying their
freedom. The sale price of a slave
varied with the market. The average
price for a grown man was 10 shekels, which at times was less than the price of
an ass.
The basic unit of
Sumerian society was the family, knit closely together by love, respect, and
mutual obligation. Marriage was arranged
by the parents, and the betrothal was legally recognized as soon as the groom
presented a bridal gift to the bride’s father.
There is some evidence to show that pre-marital sex was not altogether
unknown. The woman in Sumer
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There is no way of
estimating the population of Sumerian cities, as no official census has been
discovered in excavations. The city
streets were narrow, winding, and irregular, with high, blank house walls on
either side. The average Sumerian house
was a small, one-story, mud-brick structure.
The well-to-do Sumerian probably lived in a 2-story house of about 12
rooms. The ground floor consisted of a
reception room, kitchen, lavatory, servant’s quarters, and a private
chapel. Furniture included low tables,
high-backed chairs, and beds with wooden frames. Vessels were made of clay, stone, copper, and
bronze; baskets and chests were made of reed and wood. Floors and walls were adorned with reed mats,
skin rugs, and woolen hangings.
Below the house
there was often located the family mausoleum.
In early times, cemeteries for the dead were located outside the
cities. The Sumerians believed that life
continued in the nether world, more or less as on earth. In the case of kings, they sometimes even
buried with them some of their courtiers, servants, and attendants, chariots
and animals.
Science and Religion—On the science side, some of Sumer
The Sumerian
thinkers and sages evolved an origin of the world and theology which became the
basic creed and dogma of the entire Near East.
They believed that sea and water surrounded the universe on all sides. In the primeval sea the universe was created,
consisting of a vaulted heaven superimposed over a flat earth and united with
it. In between was the expanding
atmosphere. Following the separation of
heaven and earth, and the creation of astral bodies, animal and human life came
into existence.
This universe was
under the charge of a pantheon of human-like beings, only superhuman and
immortal, who controlled the cosmos in accordance with well-laid plans and duly
prescribed laws. There were minor gods
in charge of the sun, moon, wind, states, farms, irrigation, etc. The leading deities of the pantheon were the 4 “creating gods” in control
of heaven, earth, air, and water (An, Ki, Enlil, and Enki, respectively). Their creating involved the divine word and
name. To keep the cosmic entities and
cultural phenomena operating continuously and harmoniously, they devised the me, a set of universal and unchangeable
rules and laws.
The Sumerian
thinkers had no exaggerated confidence in humans and human destiny. They were firmly convinced that humankind had
been fashioned from clay in order to supply the gods with food, drink, and
shelter. Life is full of insecurity,
since one does not know one’s destiny.
When a person dies, the spirit descends to the dark, dreary nether
world, where life is a dismal and wretched reflection of earthly life.
One fundamental
moral problem never troubled the Sumerian thinkers; namely “free will.” Humans were created by gods solely for their
own benefit and pleasure. The gods got
all the credit for the high moral qualities and ethical virtues of their
worshipers. It was the gods who
planned; humans only followed divine orders.
The Sumerians and their gods both cherished goodness and truth, law and
order, justice and freedom, righteousness, mercy and compassion, and abhorred
their opposites. The proper course for a
Sumerian “Job” to pursue was not to argue and complain, but to plead and wail,
to lament and confess the inevitable sins and failings. The great gods were far away in the distant
sky, so the Sumerian thinkers evolved the idea that each person had a special,
personal god, who would hear prayer, and through whom a person would find
salvation.
While private
devotion and personal piety were important religious acts, it was the public
rites and rituals which played the more prominent role in Sumerian religion. The temple, with its priests and priestesses,
held daily sacrifices where food was offered.
In addition, there were the New Moon Feast and other monthly celebrations. Most important was the New Year celebration,
when the reigning monarch married Inanna, goddess of love and reproduction, and
thus ensured fertility to the soil.
There were 2
theological inconsistencies which disturbed the methodical Sumerian mind. First was the bitter and incontrovertible
fact that all vegetation died and all animal life languished during the hot, dry
summer months. This led to the
assumption that the vegetation god had “died,” and that he remained in the
nether world during the hot, lifeless months.
He did not return to the earth until the autumnal equinox or New
Year.
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Second, the Sumerian
king began to be thought of as a deity.
This inconsistency was resolved by identifying the king with the
vegetation-god. Every New Year,
Sumerians celebrated with pomp and ceremony the king’s marriage to the goddess,
who was the latter’s wife. There were
quite a number of “dying gods” in ancient Sumer
Art, Writing, Education, and the “National Character”—In art, the Sumerian were
particularly noted for their sculptures.
The earliest sculptures were abstract and impressionistic. The temple statues in particular show
spiritual intensity but no modeling skill.
Later sculptors were technically more superior, but their images lost
inspiration and vigor. The Sumer
One of the most
original art contributions of the Sumerians was the cylinder seal, a small
cylinder of stone engraved with a design, which became clear and meaningful
when rolled over a clay tablet. The
cylinder seal became a sort of Mesopotamian trade mark. The earliest cylinder seals are carefully
incised gems. Later the designs became
more decorative and formalized. Finally,
one particular design became predominant: the “presentation scene,” in which a
worshiper is being presented to a god by his “good angel.”
Both instrumental
and vocal music played a great role in Sumerian life. Beautifully constructed harps and lyres have
been excavated in the royal tombs at Ur
Probably the most
important Sumerian contribution to civilization was the invention and
development of the cuneiform, or wedge-shaped, system of writing, which was
borrowed by others who adapted it to their own language. The cultural progress of the entire ancient
world would have been much slower without it.
The script began as a series of pictographic signs developed by temple
administrators. At first it was used for
the simplest administrative notations only.
In the course of the centuries, scribes and teachers so modified the
script so that it lost its pictographic character, and became a purely phonetic
system of writing.
Clay tablets,
inscribed by means of a reed stylus have been excavated by the 10,000's in the
ancient buried cities of Sumer Sumer
A direct outgrowth
of the invention of the cuneiform system of writing was the introduction and
development of the Sumerian educational system. The main goal of the Sumerian school was
“professional”; it sought to train scribes, secretaries, and administrative
people. While it grew and developed, and
particularly as a result of its ever-widening curriculum, the Sumerian school
came to be the center of culture. Within
its walls flourished the scholars, “scientists,” and writers of poetry and
prose. Its headmaster was known as the
“school father”; his assistant was called the “big brother”; and the pupils
were the “school sons.” Teachers’
salaries were low; although the students all came from rich families, the
tuition fee was probably quite small.
The courses
consisted of copying and memorizing “textbooks” containing long lists of words
and phrases, including the names of trees, animals, birds, insects, countries,
cities, villages, stones, and minerals.
The Sumerian schools also prepared mathematical tables and
problems. On the literary side, the
pupils studied, copied, and imitated poetic narratives, hymns, proverbs, and
essays. Schools discipline was harsh and
severe. Most graduates probably became
scribes in the employment of the palace, the temples and rich private estates.
To judge from
several Sumerian essays recently pieced together, Sumer
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SUMMER AND WINTER
(קיץ (kah yeets), fruit-harvest, summer; ﬧףח (kho ref), autumn and winter; qeroV (theh ros), warm season, summer paraceimazw (pah rah kie ma zo), winter) The two principal seasons
in Palestine
SUN (שמש (sheh mesh); חﬧס (kheh res); חמה
(kheh maw), hot one) References to the sun occur especially in
passages dealing with the beginning or end of the world. There are also diverse allusions to the
heathen worship of it. The Hebrew word shemesh is common to all the Semitic languages, although it varies
from masculine to feminine, depending on the specific language. The Hittites have both a male and a female
solar deity.
The sun was fashioned and placed in
the firmament on the fourth day of creation. It was regarded as a symbol of permanence. At the end of the present era, when all things
revert to primordial chaos, it will be darkened. But at the final triumph of Yahweh, when a
new order is brought to birth it will shine sevenfold as bright as now.
The
sun figures in all the Semitic pantheons.
The popularity of the sun cult is attested in the names “Beth-shehmesh
(house of the sun) and En-shemesh (spring of the sun). The sun-god is associated with the “Lady of
Byblos” in a letter from Tell el-Amarna in northern Syria
Sun worship, as of other heavenly
bodies, was forbidden in the religion of Yahweh. Nevertheless it was adopted officially by the
apostate king Manasseh of Judah (697-643 B.C.).
Although formally proscribed in 621 B.C. as part of the Josiah reforms,
it seems still to have survived in popular practice in the days of Ezekiel. A feature of this cult was the placing of
model horses and chariots at the entrance to the sanctuary. These doubtless represented the conveyance in
which the solar deity was believed to traverse the heavens. Pottery models of horses and chariots have
been found in the pre-Israelite levels at several Palestinian sites.
Several items of popular lore
relating to the sun are mentioned in the Bible.
In Joshua 10 the sun is said to have stood still at the command of
Joshua; the Greeks and Celts have similar stories. In II Kings 20 and Isaiah 38, the shadow the
sun is said to have receded 10 degrees on a sundial as a sign that the ailing
King Hezekiah would not die. In Malachi
4 it is said that on Judgment Day the “sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing
in its wings.” Psalms 91 regards the midday sun as a demon. The expression “under the sun” is used in
Ecclesiastes 1 and 2 (The expression also occurs in Phoenician inscriptions of
the 200s B.C.). And the gospels assert that the sun was darkened at Jesus’ crucifixion
(Matthew 27; Mark 15; Luke 23; and John 19).
SUN, CITY OF ( ﬠיﬧ ההﬧס (‘eer ha
heh res), city of destruction; ﬠיﬧ החﬧס (‘eer ha kheh res),
city of the sun) Seemingly a city in Egypt Egypt Heliopolis Israel Egypt
SUN, HORSES OF THE. See Sun.
SUPERSTITION (deisidaimonia (die see dahee mo nee ah), fear
(terror) of god) An word, originally having a negative
meaning (See above), but in the New
Testament it is used in a neutral, a favorable, and an unfavorable sense. A belief or practice toward which one might
be neutral, another might approve, and another reject, might by all be called deisidaimonia. It has strictly speaking, no English
equivalent. Every translation presumes
to know what the writer meant. The
context of the word’s 2 uses in Acts are both indecisive.
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In Paul’s Areopagus speech (Acts
17), the translation “superstition” survives only in the King James Version
(KJV). One scholar urges that Paul does
not begin with oratorical flattery, but attacks the Athenians as polytheisitic,
demon-fearing idolaters. Paul could be using
an ambiguous meaning, or subtly suggesting blame in choosing a word which
points to a distinction between pagan and Christian piety. If the speech was Luke’s creation,
“religious” is preferable. If the words
are Paul’s words, the problem is more complicated.
In Acts 25, Festus reports on Paul’s
audience with him and the Jewish authorities.
The KJV speaks of the Jews’ “superstition,” while the New Revised
Standard Version speaks of their “religion.”
This article takes a position between the two, and uses the word in the
sense of “scruples” or finer points of their religion. This assumes Luke’s viewpoint, namely that he
seeks to trivialize the Jewish complaint against Paul.
SUPH (סוף, seaweed,
reed)
One of the expressions describing the location of Moses’ address to Israel Jordan
SUPHAH (הפּסו, whirlwind) An area in Moab Red Sea .”
SUR, GATE (שﬠﬧ סוﬧ (shah‘ar soor), from the root “to depart”) A
gate in Jerusalem
SURETY (ﬠﬧב, (‘ah robe), pledge; egguoV (eg goo os), pledge, sponsor)
A person held as legally responsible for a debt, default, or failure of
another. The word “surety” is used
technically in such texts of the Old Testament as Genesis 43, 44, where Judah
In the New Testament, Jesus
Christ shall be surety for all in the New Covenant (Hebrews 7).
SURNAME (ﬤנה (kaw naw), call by name; epikaleomai (eh pee kah leh oh mahee), to add
a name)
In Isaiah 44 it is said that at the coming time of blessing some
(Gentiles) will “surname” themselves Israel
In New Testament 4 men have been
surnamed. Simon was surnamed by Jesus “Peter.” To James and John, Zebedee’s sons, Jesus gave
the name of “Boanerges,” which Mark translates as “sons of thunder” (The Greek
could also mean “hot-tempered.”) Joseph
called Barsabbas is surnamed “Justus” in Acts 1, and in Acts 4 we are told that
the apostles surnamed Joseph “Barnabas,” after which he went by that name
exclusively.
In a well-known
inscription Darius the Great describes the building of his palace at Susa Lebanon Sardis Bactria Egypt Elam Susa Sardis
Archaeological
investigations since the middle of the 1800s A.D. centered around 4 tells: the apadana, or royal palace; the acropolis;
the royal city: and the “tell of the artisans.”
They have revealed the main futures of Susa Elam Mesopotamia confirm the frequent political,
military, commercial, and cultural relations between the two areas.
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SWALLOW (ﬢﬧוﬧ (deh rore); סוס (soos),
horse) Any of a family of small, long-winged birds
noted for their graceful flight. We do
not know what species dedor refers
to, but the allusion to its flying and to its nesting in the temple area make
the identification with “swallow” not unreasonable. The meaning of sus is also uncertain, and may come from the sound the bird in
question makes.
SWAMP (בצה (be tsaw), marsh) Translation of Hebrew in Isaiah 35 and
Ezekiel 47. See Marsh.
SWAN (ﬨנשמﬨ (tee neh shah mat), lizard, seagull) There is no apparent reason for such a bird to be among Israel’s
unclean birds. The naturalist Tristam
described it in the 1700s as a rare bird in Palestine
SWARTHY (שחﬧחﬧﬨ (sheh
khah reh kho ret), blackish) The sun-browned skin color of the peasant
maiden.
SWEAT (NT) (idrwV (ee dros)) Luke 22 mentions the appearance of an angel
to Jesus and that in his agony “sweat became like great drops of blood.” The passage’s absence from manuscripts
indicates that this is an apocryphal addition to Luke. The author probably meant to say only that
the perspiration of Jesus formed in drops like blood.
SWEET CANE (קנה (cane eh), reed) A
species of reed which yielded an aromatic oil used in holy oils and perfumes;
in 5 Old Testament references it is listed along with imported spices. Sweet cane was used in the holy anointing
oil. It is included in a figure of a fragrant
garden, to which the bride is likened.
Identification with some of the aromatic reed grasses of India
SWINE (ﬧחזי (khah tseer); coiroV (koy ros)) In Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, swine’s flesh is forbidden to Israelites. Around 4000 B.C. atGezer Israel
SWINE (ﬧחזי (khah tseer); coiroV (koy ros)) In Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, swine’s flesh is forbidden to Israelites. Around 4000 B.C. at
In the New Testament there is the
same metaphorical usage. In Matthew 7,
what is holy must not be given to the dogs, and pearls must not be thrown to
swine. Religious truth must not be
shared with certain kinds of men. In the
parable of the prodigal son, the younger son became a keeper of pigs, which
expresses extreme degradation for Jews.
Similarly in II Peter 2 the inevitable dirtiness of the sow as an
unclean animal is emphasized, as a figure of heresy. The demons who as Legion possessed the
Gadarene demoniac requested permission of Jesus that they might be transferred
from the man to the large herd of swine; most probably the swine, as unclean,
were regarded as fit bearers of the demons.
SWORD (בﬧח (khah rab);
פּﬨחוﬨ (peh tee khote), drawn swords; macaira (mah kahee ra), a large knife; romfaia (rome
Near Eastern swords were basically
of 2 types: a straight, thrusting sword,
and a bent (or sickle) sword. Straight
swords have been found in Palestine
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Sickle swords have been found as
early as 1800 B.C. in Palestine Syria Byblos Near East , possibly through the
Hyksos. Egypt
Both machaira and romphaia are
used literally as a weapon for warfare.
“Sword” is also commonly used in a figurative sense. It is a symbol for war and dissension, for
political authority, or for a mother’s anguish.
In Ephesians 6 the “sword of the spirit” (Word of God) is worn by the
Christian.
SYCAMINE (sukaminoV (sik ah mih nos))
A tree referred to by Jesus in a statement concerning faith: “ If you
had faith as a grain of mustard seed; you could say to this sycamine tree, ‘Be
rooted up, and be planted in the sea, and it would obey you.” It is likely that “sycamine was meant to
refer to the mulberry tree; the black mulberry is abundant in Palestine
SYCAMORE (שקמה (seh keh maw); sukamorea (sik ah mo ree ah), fig-mulberry
tree) A tree and its fruit associated particularly
with the Shephelah. The name in English
was derived from the Greek, which clearly indicated a type of fig tree with a
leaf looking much like a mulberry leaf; the tree has no relationship to the
American sycamore. The importance of
this tree in Bible times is indicated by David’s appointment of an overseer for
these trees in the Shephelah.
Amos found
employment as a “dresser of sycamore trees,” which involved puncturing the
unripe fruit to make it more edible. The
trees grow only in the lowlands and coastal plains, where they escape the
frost. Even today this tree provides
many a poor family with some food, for the tree bears fruit several times
during the year, although it is inferior in quality to the common fig.
SYCHAR (Sucar)
A city of Samaria Palestine
Those who distinguish Shechem and
Sychar identify the latter with the Arab village of “Askar,” which is 0.8 km
north of Jacob’s well. A Samaritan
speaks of a town called “Ischar” as near Shechem. Although it is clear that Sychar appears in
the best manuscripts, it is undoubtedly a textual error. Since Jerome’s time the reports of various
travelers, beginning with Arculf (700 A.D.), have asserted the 2 words refer to
the same place. Excavations at Tell
Balatah have demonstrated that it is the Old Testament Shechem and the city of John Nablus Mount Gerizim Mount Ebal
SYENE (סונה (seh vay
nay))
A village now called Assuan, situated on the eastern bank of the
Nile just north of the first cataract in Upper Egypt. Its name signifies “market” or “trading
post,” this village and its neighbors are points of exchange in the commerce
between inner Africa and Egypt
Located at the southernmost
boundary of ancient Egypt Egypt Elephantine declined that Syene attained any
great importance. The strategic location
of Elephantine in the Nile , and its fertility, made Elephantine a natural frontier station
against Nubia Elephantine .
One early source of information
concerning Syene and Elephantine is the body of Aramaic papyri originating in
that district. They consist of business
documents and letters of a Jewish colony established on Elephantine. In these documents, however, Syene does not
seem to have the military importance of Elephantine , where the chief temples of both
the Egyptian god Khnum and the Jewish God Yahweh were located.
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In
addition to the commercial and military significance of Syene and Elephantine , the proximity of extensive
granite quarries used from the first dynasty onward contributed much to the
growing prosperity of the district. The
stone quarried there, rose granite, bore the name Syenite. Syene, Elephantine , and the neighboring island of Philae
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. Taken from the realm of
human experience, they relate man to that which is of ultimate concern. Among
the Hebrews there was no clear-cut distinction between the sacred and the
secular. Insofar as words, persons,
events, or actions summed up the deepest feelings and the meaning of Israel
Old
Testament (OT) Symbols: Words; Persons;
Objects; and Places—Israel Israel
The dynamic of a word is seen in
blessings and curses. Once the word has
been spoken, the effect becomes assured.
Word symbolism is also inherent in a name. A name is representative, an extension of the
personality, carrying in the soul, vitality, power, and authority of the person
to whom its belongs. To invoke the
divine (“Thus says the Lord”) is to call forth the divine power.
At times symbolic names were given
to children to indicate something had happened or was about to happen (Isaiah 7:
Hosea 1). Word symbolism also appears in the way God is portrayed. God is described symbolically, so as to make
God’s nature and activity easier to understand.
God is represented as a man, beast, or as nature itself. By all such descriptions God as a living
force was made known; God’s will, purposes, and activities were made plain.
From the beginning of Israel Israel Israel
A certain symbolism was attached to
numerous objects/symbols: the pillar of
witness, a covenant; the pillar of cloud, divine guidance; fire, divine
presence, guidance, and wrath; the ark, presence of God; the tables of
testimony, the law; and the altars of incense and sacrifice, prayer and
revelation, respectively. Parts of the
body also had certain spiritual significances.
The intimate union of the spiritual and the physical in Hebrew
psychology resulted in every physical organ having psychical and ethical
attributes: the eye, mental perception;
the ear, obedience; the hand, strength; the nose, anger; the heart, intellect
and will; the kidneys, emotions; the bowels, love or sympathy; the liver, the
center of life; and blood, the principle of life.
Such places as the Deep, Sheol, and
the Pit were a remnant of mythology and had symbolic meaning. Names of geographical sites at times became
symbolic such as: Sodom Egypt Jerusalem Babylon Rome
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OT
Prophetic and Cultic Symbolism—The prophets more than anyone else, were
responsible for the symbolism of the OT. The prophetic task and experience,
together with the naïve realism of Semitic thought, made symbolism an essential
element. The visions of the prophets
were the pledge of impending divine activity (e.g. An almond rod indicated the certainty of
divine action; a boiling pot meant terror from the north.) Closely akin to vision are dreams which
foretell the future. Of religious
significance is the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, in which a great image of gold,
silver, bronze, iron, and clay is destroyed by a stone, symbolizing the
founding of the eternal kingdom.
Of a similar nature were the
symbolic prophetic actions. We read of
Samuel’s tearing his mantle, a symbol that God had torn the kingdom from
Saul. Ahijah’s rending his garment into
12 pieces symbolized the rending of Solomon’s kingdom, and Jeremiah’s wearing
of the yoke, Judah Babylon
Again, the prophets made abundant
use of symbolic imagery. There were
figures which portrayed the meaning of Israel Israel Israel Egypt Israel
The sheep was another figure which
saw versatile use in depicting Israel Israel
A third figure, taken from everyday
life, especially suited to convey religious truth is that of a way. The concern in life is to take the right
road. Israel Israel Egypt Canaan , from bondage to freedom, from
death to life. When she lost her way,
was taken captive, a way had to be prepared again. This figure particularly emphasized that
conduct had fateful implications for life.
The lion was also used by the prophets to typify the divine wrath and
judgment. Destruction will be sure and
devastating; only a few fragments will be left.
The great cultic symbol was that of
covenant. Covenant was the basic feature
of life on all levels. Israel’s
existence as God’s people was created by a great covenant ceremony at Sinai;
she heard the divine voice here, and received the law. She was sworn to obedience, dedicated to
service, subject to discipline, dependent on mercy. Her station in life depended on keeping
covenant.
Cultic symbolism was often in the
form of action. The offering of first
fruits sanctified the harvest; the first-born offering sanctified the herds and
flocks; the burnt offerings and sin offerings renewed holiness; and the Day of Atonement ceremonies,
brought forgiveness. At the great
festivals, cult dramas were reenacted which strengthened the foundation of
national life.
Passover celebrated
the exodus from Egypt
See
also entry in the Old Testament (OT) Apocrypha/Influences Outside the OT
section of the Appendix.
New
Testament (NT) Symbols—NT symbolism, for the most part centers around the
person of Jesus Christ, his identity, and the significance of his life and
ministry. The one, all-inclusive symbol
in the NT is Jesus Christ—the Anointed One, the Messiah—who sums up in himself
the nation Israel
Most meaningful of these is
perhaps that of Son. He is the one,
unique Son, sent to gather the fruit of God’s vineyard. Another symbol which emphasizes Jesus’
humility is that of the Lamb. Closely
connected with this figure is that of priest, the great contribution of the
writer to the Hebrews. Jesus is also
termed the Word, the agent of creation, revelation, and redemption. Jesus is furthered termed Lord, the one true
master of all, claiming their allegiance.
Lord becomes a word with many religious and social affiliations.
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Jesus consistently used imagery and
symbolism in the form of figures from the most common and elementary spheres
of life to illustrate religious truth.
His primary symbol was that of the kingdom of God
The chief symbol of salvation is the
Cross, for the Cross is the way of salvation, the means of uniting the divided
segments of humanity. Since the NT era,
the Cross has become the one universal symbol of salvation through Christ. When describing the reality of salvation, the
NT writers use the symbols:
“justification,” (a legal term for a sentence of acquittal); “adoption,”
(a means of entering a family fellowship); “ransom,” (manumission of a slave,
or redemption of a prisoner); and “expiation,” (restoration of fellowship, or
removal of guilt, through sacrifice).
The redeemed community is called the body of Christ.
The symbolism of worship comes to
the fore in the sacraments, which are a dramatic portrayal of the gospel. In baptism water signifies the triumph over
the forces of evil, the passing from death to life, the removal of defilement,
and the giving of life. NT baptism takes
the place of OT circumcision as the act of inauguration in the holy
community. It becomes an enactment of
the drama of salvation. In a similar
manner communion dramatizes the gospel.
It is the mark of the new covenant and recalls the fellowship meals of
Jesus with his disciples. Here is
dramatized the whole meaning of salvation, with an emphasis on the death of
Christ and the new life of fellowship.
In the study of the end of this age
as portrayed in the NT, there is recourse again to the apocalyptic, with its
heavenly worship, plagues, heavenly warfare, resurgence of evil, its
destruction, judgment, and restoration of life.
By this rewriting of history in cosmic terms, using symbolic imagery,
the author sought to comfort and strengthen the church in the face of
persecution.
After apostolic
times one meets the symbol of a fish.
Each of the Greek letters which make up I.CH.TH.Y.S (fish) are part of the phrase Iesous CHristos THeou Yios Soter (Jesus Christ, Son of God). In these times there was also the ship, which
represented the church, and there was an elaboration of symbolic objects
depicted in Christian art and architecture.
The word “symbol” has also been used to designate a summary statement
of faith, e.g. the Roman Symbol, forerunner of the Apostles’ Creed.
SYMEON (Sumewn) 1. Symeon Niger Antioch
2.
The name of Simon Peter as used by James in Acts 15.
SYMMACHUS (See the entry
in the New Testament Apocrypha & Bible Versions section of the Appendix).
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), collecting, gathering, congregation; for other Hebrew or Aramaic words
for “synagogue,” see the glossary in
the entry in the Old Testament (OT) Apocrypha/Influences outside the OT section
of the Appendix.)
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
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Greek Glossary
arcisunagwgoV (ar keh sih nah go gos), president, moderator of a synagogue
ekklhsia (ek kleh see
ah), congregation of Israel
kibwtoV (kee bow
tos), chest, ark of the covenant
proseuch (pro say oo keh) place of prayer
sabbateion (sab bah
tahee on) place of sabbath worship
sunagwgh (sih na gog), congregation, assembly, synagogue building
To oikoV (toe oy kos),
the house
TopoV (toe pos), place
uphrethV (oo peh re tes), attendant, servant of the synagogue
All available data point to the fact that
synagoge obtained its final Jewish
stamp during the rise of the Christian community, which assumed the name ekklesia. Jewish scholars endeavor to show that the Christian
choice of ekklesia was due to the
need of an external mark of distinction from the Jewish community. The following suggestion may also be
ventured. About the beginning of the
Christian Era, the word synagoge came
into disrepute, and was used by Gentiles with an air of contempt. Those who embraced Greek culture shunned the
term, preferring the more reputable synonym ekklesia;
the Jews clung to synagogue. Through the association of synagoge with Sinai, the word lent
itself perfectly to distinguish the Jewish community of worship from the new
Christian community.
Origin—The beginnings of the synagogue cannot be certainly
recovered; rabbinic sources offer no clue whatsoever. Various passages in
Jewish religious literature imply the existence of the synagogue from the very
inception of the Jewish people. None of
these writers conceived the synagogue as a man-made institution. It was in the 1500s A.D. that an expert in
the field of political institutions conjectured that synagogues were first
erected in the Babylonian exile for the purpose that those who have been
deprived of the Jerusalem Babylon Jerusalem
Some scholars in the 1800s recognized
that the Babylonian exile was not the proper place for the synagogue’s
establishment. It was the Persian
period, the period when Ezra and his successors brought to fruition the work
begun in the Babylonian exile. What
baffled these scholars was that express mention of the synagogue could not be
found in Hebrew literature before the last century of the second temple.
Another discordant voice challenged the
view that the beginning of the synagogue was a place of worship. The origin is to be sought in the secular
realm of municipal life. There was a
special building in Jerusalem
The new trend in biblical studies toward
an earlier dating of portions of scripture could not fail to exercise an
influence on the dating of the synagogue.
Psalm 74’s origins were changed from the 200s B.C. to the 400s B.C. Based on this, some scholars make the
synagogue a direct descendant of the reformation of 621 B.C. The tendency to deflate the importance of the
Babylonian captivity and to recognize the influence of the people who remained
in Palestine Palestine Israel
In these several theories the temple of Jerusalem Egypt
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Expansion—At the time of Jesus a synagogue existed within the
precincts of the Jerusalem Jerusalem Rome Palestine Jerusalem
In the Christian Era’s first century most
cities and bigger villages had some kind of synagogue. Two of the Galilean synagogues singled out
were the one in Nazareth Capernaum Jerusalem Rome Caesarea ’s synagogue
was desecrated by the Greek population, and the great proseuche in Tiberias was a “huge building capable of accommodating
a large crowd.” The number of synagogues
in Tiberias increased in the 200s A.D., after it became the seat of Judah
I. The second major center in Galilee , Sepphoris, likewise the seat of Judah I for a certain period,
presents a similar configuration of synagogues in the 200s. There was a “great synagogue,” and also
synagogues for foreign groups.
Archaeological excavations in Palestine Galilee , with Tiberias as its center. Of special interest are Capernaum Hebron
Very few literary records of ancient
Babylonian synagogues have come down to us.
In the Babylonian city of Nahardea temple of Jerusalem
The NT and abundant written material are
the chief sources for the synagogues in the Greco-Roman world. The following synagogues are mentioned in
Acts: Damascus Salamis , Cyprus Antioch Phillipi , Macedonia Athens Corinth Ephesus
See
also entry in the OT
Apocrypha/Influences outside the OT section of the Appendix.
Religious Education and Secular Use—From the first, reading from the Scriptures and exposition of the Law constituted the focal point in the sabbatical gatherings, which gave the synagogue the character of an educational institution. It is obvious, therefore, that educational institutions should have been closely connected with the synagogue. The beth hammederash or “house of study,” generally conceived as the place of instruction for more advanced youth, is considered in the 200s as a parallel to the synagogue rather than a part of it. Jesus and Paul appear teaching in the synagogue; no mention is made of the “house of study” in the NT.
Following certain rabbinic sources, most scholars agree that the synagogue was the place where children received their elementary instruction. In the Palestinian tradition, the Beth-Sepher, the alleged children’s school, appears at the same level as the Beth Hammiderash; both are connected with the synagogue but locally separated. In the Babylonian tradition the alleged children’s school is often identified locally with the synagogue proper. Beth Sepher was a place which afforded facilities for anyone eager to the read the Scriptures. Beth Hammiderash is properly thought of as a place for anyone desiring to be an expert in the exposition of the Law. The only pertinent archaeological find, the Ophel Inscription says that the synagogue was to offer facilities “to read the Law and to teach the commandments.”
Religious Education and Secular Use—From the first, reading from the Scriptures and exposition of the Law constituted the focal point in the sabbatical gatherings, which gave the synagogue the character of an educational institution. It is obvious, therefore, that educational institutions should have been closely connected with the synagogue. The beth hammederash or “house of study,” generally conceived as the place of instruction for more advanced youth, is considered in the 200s as a parallel to the synagogue rather than a part of it. Jesus and Paul appear teaching in the synagogue; no mention is made of the “house of study” in the NT.
Following certain rabbinic sources, most scholars agree that the synagogue was the place where children received their elementary instruction. In the Palestinian tradition, the Beth-Sepher, the alleged children’s school, appears at the same level as the Beth Hammiderash; both are connected with the synagogue but locally separated. In the Babylonian tradition the alleged children’s school is often identified locally with the synagogue proper. Beth Sepher was a place which afforded facilities for anyone eager to the read the Scriptures. Beth Hammiderash is properly thought of as a place for anyone desiring to be an expert in the exposition of the Law. The only pertinent archaeological find, the Ophel Inscription says that the synagogue was to offer facilities “to read the Law and to teach the commandments.”
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Officers—The
highest officer is known as “head of the synagogue” or archisynagogos. Originally
the archisynagogos was the presiding
officer of the assemblies, the head of the assembly. He was responsible for maintaining order
during the meetings; he was authorized to distribute honors. Early on the archisynagogos selected the prophetical reading on the sabbath and
thus could fix the topic of the sermon.
The archisynagogos played an
important role in mourning feasts.
Later the leadership of the archisynagogos extended beyond the limit
of the meetings; he was probably the head of the synagogue building. The office of the archisynagogos seems to have been at first elective for a limited
time. Modern scholars are inclined to
limit the office to one in each synagogue.
The NT, early Tannaitic tradition, and written material bear witness to
the spread of this title all through the Greco-Roman world from the beginning
of the Christian Era to 400 A.D.
Like its
corresponding Greek term, “khazzan”
has a variety of meaning in connection with the idea of service (i.e.
“minister”; “servant”; and “officer”).
An examination of the rabbinic sources by Christian scholars in the
1600s resulted in downgrading the khazzan
to the rank of the Christian deacon. In
the earlier rabbinic sources the khazzan
appears at the most solemn religious ceremonies as an assistant to the archisynagogos. He also assigned the functions during the
worship. At the proper moment he called
upon the priests to pronounce the benediction.
The khazzan accompanied the members of the
synagogue in the procession when they brought the firstlings to Jerusalem
Closely connected
with the office of khazzan was that
of the sheliah zibbur (messenger of
the congregation). His main assignment
consisted in reciting prayers aloud in order that the congregation could follow
his lead. The official view considered
him as representative of the congregation, absolving its members from praying
themselves. The sages did not recognize
this priestly role; they confined the messenger’s task to leading the members
of the congregation in prayer. In the
course of time the reciting of the prayers and the reading from the Scriptures
became the main feature of the khazzan.
The messenger who
recited the prayer was preceded by the herald of the Shema, who recited the
Shema with the blessings attached to it.
Most modern scholars render the phrase paras eth Shema somewhat literally, as the dividing the verses to
be recited in the service between the reader and the congregation. A more plausible explanation has been
suggested, namely that paras has
become synonymous with “to proclaim the Shema.”
The proclamation of the Shema from a written scroll seems to have come
into disuse in Palestine
In Palestine Babylonia the reading was accompanied by
an Aramaic translation. Anyone who was
capable was entitled to give the translation.
As a rule it was the schoolmaster who furnished orally the translation. When a competent person was present, the
Scripture reading was followed by an exposition of the lessons. It was customary to invite any teacher who
happened to attend the service to deliver this address.
SYNOPTIC GOSPELS. The designation of the first
three gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), used to indicate the common
perspective in which they view the career and teaching of Jesus. There is overlapping between the first three
and the fourth gospel, but only about 9% of the material in the Synoptics
coincides with material in the fourth.
Within the Synoptics, approximately 91% of Mark is paralleled in one of
the other two gospels or in both. The
same thing can be said of about 50% of Matthew and about 41% of Luke.
Despite the common characteristics
of the first three gospels, their relationship each to the other creates a
problem. When they are arranged in the parallel columns, there is an extremely
complex combination of similarities and differences in their
interrelationships between single sentences and between large blocks of
material which demands an explanation.
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Similarities
and Differences—A large body of material is common to all three
gospels. It is similar in content and
wording, and the units are arranged in approximately the same order; it is
mainly narrative in nature. If either
Matthew or Luke differs from Mark, the other agrees with Mark. About 60 verses of Mark are found only in
Mark. 21 of these are short selections
peculiar to Mark. The remaining 39
verses consist of minor narrative touches.
Of Mark’s material with an equivalent in either Matthew or Luke, it is
Matthew which provides the greater number of parallels.
The leper healing is related in
the end of Mark 1 in 98 words, 38 of which are peculiar to him; by Matthew in
62 words, with 19 peculiar to him; and by Luke in 100 words; with 46 peculiar
to him. The heart of the narrative finds
Mark paralleled almost verbatim by either Matthew or Luke and often by both. The healing of the palsied man (Mark 2) illustrates
a difference in introductory sentences but not in the conclusion.
The story of the
disciples’ plucking corn on the sabbath (end of Mark 2) is related in a similar
manner by the three; Mark has a verse unique to his version, and Matthew has 3
unique verses. The story of Christ in Gethsemane (end of Mark 14) is reported by
Mark and Matthew with very close verbal similarity, but Luke’s report is
abbreviated and contains very few words employed by either of the others. The sending out of the 12 (end of Matthew
9-10) presents a very confusing
combination of similarities and differences, especially with regard to
materials paralleled only in Matthew and Luke or peculiar to Matthew.
Between 200-220
verses of Matthew and Luke parallel each other with no corresponding material
in Mark. Some of this material is almost
verbally equivalent. The temptation of
Jesus has as its core material in Matthew 4 and Luke 3 which is not in Mark at
all. There are interesting variations
along with the similarities. The
Beatitudes illustrate not only a difference in the number, but also a
difference in wording. Matthew’s are in
the third person, Luke’s in the second person.
The Lord’s Prayer is reported in Luke in a shorter form.
The small percentage
of material found only in Mark has already been noted. Matthew contains about 212 and Luke about 214
verses peculiar to each. The infancy
stories belong in this category. The
material peculiar to Matthew has a strong Judaic flavor, that in Luke a more
humanitarian and universalistic note.
History of Synoptic Gospel Study: Beginning to 1900—Scientific study of the Synoptics
had to wait until the 1700s. The line of
progress moved from an oral hypothesis to a full realization that the problem
was a documentary one. The ancients
contributed nothing substantial to the solution of the problem. The patristic tradition, led by Augustine,
considered Matthew to be the original gospel, Mark being a condensed version of
it, and Luke being dependent upon both Mark and Matthew. It is still the official position of the Roman
Catholic scholars and is espoused by an occasional Protestant scholar.
The earliest
attempts to deal scientifically with the synoptic problem produced three main
hypotheses: primitive oral gospel;
original written gospel; and fragment hypothesis. In the primitive oral gospel theory, the
differences among the three gospels were attributable to the variant forms of
the oral gospel. Most scholars are now
in favor of the theory that between the oral stage and the finished gospels
there was an intermediate stage in which most of the oral tradition was
reduced to writing.
The second
hypothesis of an original written gospel in Aramaic or Hebrew held that this
gospel was not identical to any current gospel, and that each evangelist
secured from it the material which he used.
The third hypothesis, the “fragment hypothesis,” explained the
inter-relationship of the gospels as due to the use by the evangelists of both similar
and dissimilar collections of material.
From 1835-1900, the
stage was set for the development of the documentary hypothesis which was to
crown the work of the 1800s. Scholars of
the 1800s concluded that Mark was the earliest gospel and that it had provided
both the framework and the bulk of the narrative content of Matthew and
Luke. The other twin in the two-document
theory was concluded to be a collection of sayings of Jesus, some 200 verses,
known as Quelle (Q) or the
source. Under this theory, the Synoptic
Gospels may be described as follows:
The
Gospel of Mark= The first gospel and
primary source for the other two.
The Gospel of Matthew= Mark + Quelle + Matthew Fragment
The Gospel of Luke=
Mark + Quelle + Luke Fragment
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History of Synoptic Gospel Study: 1900-1962—Largely in an effort to account
for the materials peculiar to Matthew and Luke, there developed after World
War I, the multiple source hypotheses.
In the several areas of discussion the main developments were as
follows.
Because of Matthew’s
and Luke’s use of different passages from the Markan source, a theory of the
use by Matthew and Luke of different editions or versions came into being
early. The current trend was toward the
view that Matthew and Luke had used Mark in substantially the form in which we
now possess it. Different verses were
used by Matthew and Luke to make different points. In the pursuit of Mark’s sources, Peter was
recognized as having an influence on Mark, as was the importance of other
sources. The use of Q by Mark was
favored by some but not by the majority.
The majority of
scholars agreed that Q was primarily a discourse source, with little narrative
and no passion story. Most agreed that
its original order was better preserved by Luke. To account for the differences in its use by
Matthew and Luke, the theory of different revisions or parallel collections of
sayings was favored by most over theories of oral tradition or different
translations of an Aramaic document.
The theory of a
“Luke fragment,” either written or oral, represented mainly by stories and
parables, came to be generally accepted.
A still different source for the infancy narrative, either as a
translated document or as the free composition of the evangelist, was generally
taken for granted. The theory of a
“Matthew fragment” was proposed, but there was great dispute over various
aspects of this proposal, namely that the material peculiar to Matthew, when
brought together, is not enough alike to form a coherent unit. Most scholars considered the infancy story to
be from a different cycle of tradition than that of Luke.
Theories of Aramaic
originals persisted in the view that all the gospels were direct translations
of Aramaic documents before 60 A.D.
There has emerged from the laborious work devoted to the solution of the
synoptic problem, the hypothesis of two major documents (Mark and Q) employed
by Matthew and Luke. The continued
disagreement over many details indicates that literary criticism has
accomplished about as much as it can. (See also the separate entries for each
of the Synoptic Gospels).
SYNTYCHE (suntuch, coincidence, success)) A
woman in the church at Philippi , advised by Paul to settle her differences with Euodia.
SYRO-PHOENICIA. According to Mark, a Greek woman
of Syro-phoenician origin heard of Jesus’ mission in the boundaries of Tyre Sidon Jesus , Phoenicia Tyre Sidon province of Syria
SYRTIS (SurtiV) The Greek name of 2 shallow gulfs
on the northern coast of Africa, now called the Gulf of Sidra and the Gulf of
Gabes. The Gulf of Sidra , west of Cyrenaica , is probably the one mentioned
in Acts 27.
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