A Brighter Day Begins with His Word.

PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK

A Dictionary of the Bible — Volume 1

James Hastings · 1,192,276 words · 1189 reading sections

SECTION 1021

Section 1021

1 Maccabees. — This book is entirely wanting io eschatological teaching, if we except the writer't expectation of a prophet in 4''" 14*'. Psalms of Solomon (B.C. 70-40). — Like the Simili- tudes, this book is of Pharisaic authorship. They proclaim in common a vigorous Messianic hope, but on very divergent lines. In th…

1,100 words
SECTION 1022

Section 1022

(C) 1st cent. A.D. Book of Jubilees. — Like many of the books just reviewen, tlie Hook of Jubilees makes no mention of a Messianic king. It sketches, however, in vigorous terms, the woes that are to be the prelude of the Messianic kingdom, the attacks of the heathen powers, and then the gradual introduction of the kin…

969 words
SECTION 1023

Section 1023

* Sco Charles' Aiaumption q/ Moaea, pp. 69, OO. 746 ESCHATOLOGY ESCHATOLOOY PMlo (B.C. 25-A.D. 50).— We shall touch only on the main points of Philonic eschatology. Philo looked forward to the return of the tribes from captivity, to the establishment of a Messianic kingdom of temporal prosperity, and even to a Mess…

929 words
SECTION 1024

Section 1024

Apocalypse of Baruch* (A.D. 50-80). — Of this composite work the six or more independent con- stituents may be ranged in three classes when treated from the standpoint of their eschatology. Thus the Messiah Apocalypses A' A' A', i.e. '27- 30' 36-40 53-74, form the first class. i. This differs from the remaining part of…

1,005 words
SECTION 1025

Section 1025

Observe that besides the general resurrection in -31. »j there seems to be a iireliminary resurrecti<m of some special saints to the Messianic kingdom in 7", but this is doubtful. (6) A Son-of-Man Vision. — This writing con.iists of clmpter 13, and was probably composed before A.D. 70. Many signs will |)rccede the adv…

965 words
SECTION 1026

Section 1026

IV. Systematic Exposition of Jewish Es- CHATOLOGY (B.C. 200-A.D. 100). — In the preceding section we have given a suney of eschatological ideas in the order of their historical attestation, and consequently, in large measure, of their actual evolution. By presenting the eschatological scheme of each \mter oy itself in …

953 words
SECTION 1027

Section 1027

The Resurrection. — The resurrection is very variously conceived. The earliest attested view in the 2nd cent. B.C. is that of (a) the resurrection of all Israel (Dn 12'''). About the same period the doctrine of (b) the resurrection of the righteous only is taught in Eth. En. 83-90. Towards the close of the same century…

908 words
SECTION 1028

Section 1028

Abundant information, and copious, though undtscrimiiiatin^, references to authorities will be found in Schiirer, HJ P ll. ii. 126-187. Marti also {IJfuchuihte der Igra^iHUchen lUligion, pp. 270-310) is well worth consulting. The present writer hopes to edit, towards the close of next year (1898), a critical work on J…

910 words
SECTION 1029

Section 1029

The eschatology of the NT being conveyed in this occasional and discontinuous form, we may best understand it by following out the great ideas as they appear first iu one and then in another of tjie main groups of writing.s. The fundameutal question is that of Christ's own mind on the subject. It will he convenient, th…

1,049 words
SECTION 1030

Section 1030

ESCHATOLOGY ESCIIATOLOGY rsi and Christ's coining, and there are passages in which the idea seems to be the same as that of the Synoptic records (14' 21=', cf. 1 Jn 2^). The Hrst point, tlierefore, in Christ's teaching on the subject of the future is the announcement of the objective event of His own Return. But His…

957 words
SECTION 1031

Section 1031

In conjunction with these doctrines of the Parousia and the Judgment, the doctrine of a Resurrection has an essential place in Christ's eschatological teaching. The doctrine of a resur- rection from the dead is implied in the doctrine of a final universal judgment at the end of things. It lies also in the great princip…

921 words
SECTION 1032

Section 1032

In contrast with the fulness and explicitness of Christ's declarations on the Parousia, the Judg- ment, and the Resurrection, is the reserve of His teaching on the subject of the Intermediate State. This is the more remarkable in view of the position given to that topic in the theology and the popular thought of the Je…

859 words
SECTION 1033

Section 1033

however, are few in number, and appear either to be irrelevant (e.g. Lk 12^'- **, wliere the question is, not the duration of the judicial awards, but their adjustment to difFerent degrees of wrong), on to suggest the opposite conclusion {e.g. Mt 5-*- *, Lk 12* *, where tlie idea seems to be tliat of a liability that c…

928 words
SECTION 1034

Section 1034

In the Epistle of Jude Christ's Return is the great event of the future (v.*<) ; the reward of the good is 'eternal life' (v.^') ; the truth of the final judgment (vv.'- ") is asserted ; the doom of the evil is described as the ' blackness of darkness,' a doom ' reserved for ever' (v."). A peculiar feature (appearing a…

1,151 words
SECTION 1035

Section 1035

(4'- ") to which they refer, and in Christ's applica- tion of that passage (Mt IT"'"). So regarded, the restoration of which Peter speaks becomes eithei the moral renewal of Israel, as some explain it, or the renovation of the world, as others think. It is in any case a restoration, not of persons, but of conditions. P…

1,181 words
SECTION 1036

Section 1036

In the Epistle to the Hebrews, where we have a series of ideas and forms of expression in general affinity with the Pauline type of doctrine, and not less with the older ajiostolic type, e.schatology is not the prominent subject. I?ven the ' rest ' and 'the world to come' are not presented primarily as of tlie future. …

950 words
SECTION 1037

Section 1037

The Pauline eschatology has elements which are, 756 ESCHATOLOGY ESCHATOLOGY in some sense, peculiar to itself. Among tliese are the doctrines of the Kapture of the SaLats (1 Th 4") and the Man of Sin (2 Th 2»-'»). Of these the former has a certain affinity with one of the apocalyptic visions (Rev 11"- ^'), as well …

1,135 words
SECTION 1038

Section 1038

The eschatology of the NT, therefore, is in its broad outlines a consistent though not a system- atized doctrine. In the different sections of NT, and with all differences in detail, the eschatology turns on the great truths of the Parousia, the bodily resurrection, the universal, righteous judgment, the final awards o…

993 words
SECTION 1039

Section 1039

with a sudden leap, plunges to the level of the Jordan Valley. This is properly the vale of Jezreel. Between Little Hermon and Tabor another oll'slioot of the plain makes its way down to the Glii'tr, throwing oil' a spur to the N.E. of Tabor. Westward the plain narrows to a gorge between the lower hills of Galilee and …

1,170 words
SECTION 1040

Section 1040

Open of old to the eastern tribesmen, who kept the peasants in constant fear, the Romans inaugu- rated a period of security, and the people made progress m the arts of civilization. But with the fall of the eastern empire, the Arab hordes rushed back, and restored the ancient conditions. In recent years the Turks have …

927 words
SECTION 1041

Section 1041

ESDKAS. FIRST BOOK OF ESDKAS, FIRST BOOK OF 759 the work, and the letter to the Persian king, from it« place in the canonical Ezr, altering Artaxerxes to Camliyses to correct the clironolofjical error ; lie introduces the story of the three pages ; with Es he passes directly from the end of Ezr to Neh 8 ; ana he borr…

951 words
SECTION 1042

Section 1042

A comparison of the two books, however, renders it impossible to maintain the view any longer, that Es A is compiled solely from the Gr. of the other books. There are numerous passages where Es preserves the Heb. more closely than the LXX, or points to a dillerent word in the Heb. original. An examination of all the pa…

952 words
SECTION 1043

Section 1043

Es 126 ,1, xpofixai^ fnfJjxfif 'liptu-iw rpoi^rau ; Ch LXX «u» ^xM/fi r£w kiya,> Nixa*=Heb. Es perhaps read K'5: for "133. 'ItatiMiou is a later insertion ; the Vulg. has * non attendens verbum prophet®.' Es 127 jMt, xxrifiitraf *i kpxamf raU fi»fiXim ; Ch LXX »«j iviiivrttt a'l r*£orsi iri 0ar. = Heb. Es read ^Ty\ …

930 words
SECTION 1044

Section 1044

2. The Contents. — These point to a time when Ch, Ezr, and Neh formed one continuous work, and the division into sections had not yet been made. Es A passes without a break from one book to another, and does not contain the redupli- cation whereby the last two verses of Ch are repeated as the first two of Ezra. 3. The…

964 words
SECTION 1045

Section 1045

* The name Apame Is Oriental, though not found till the Macedonian perio<I. No such person occurs among the wives of Darius 1. The first of the Dame was the wife of Scleucus NIkator, Alexander's general, and daughter of Artahazus ^trabo). Doe* this last name give the explanation of the iiaine fiartacus or *P«3iC«»*k ? …

904 words
SECTION 1046

Section 1046

Whether it goes back to the 2nd cent. B.C. is more uncertain. 5. That such is the case is the opinion of Herz- feld {Ges. d. Volk. Isr. 1863, vol. ii. p. 73), who dates it before the Maccabiean wars, on the ground that after that date, when the books of Ezr and Neh had become canonical (Ryle, Cam. Bible, Ezr. and Neh.…

945 words
SECTION 1047

Section 1047

An interesting problem is presented by the relation of the texts of Codd. A and B in this Dook. The text of A is always the smoother and more readable ; and wherever the reading of E suggests a suspicion of corruption, A almost invariably gives the requisite correction. Several of these corrections may be attributed to…

969 words
SECTION 1048

Section 1048

ESDRAS.SECONDBOOKOF.— Title.— The title which this book bears in the English Apocrypha is derived from the opening words of ch. i., 'the second book of the propliet Esdras ' ; but it is more commonly known by the name which is given it in most Latin MSS, 'The/ourtA book of Esdras.' The variation in the titles of the bo…

1,033 words
SECTION 1049

Section 1049

764 ESDRAS, SECOND BOOK OF ESDRAS, SECOND BOOK OF copied the missing fragment in 1826. M (Mazar- inseus), Paris, Bwl. Mazarine, 3, 4, cent, ix.-x., discovered by M. Berger. V (Abulensis), Madrid, Bibl. Nac. E. R. 8, cent, xiii., a copy of C, dis- covered by M. Berger, and a fourth, not yet fully collated, out probabl…

939 words
SECTION 1050

Section 1050

4tA i wion, 9»-1060. E. eats of the herbs in the Beld ol Ardat,* and sees a vision of a woman mourning for her son, who died on his marriage day. The woman, he is told, is Sion lamenting the fall of her city, and her tliirty years* sterility re- presents the 3000 years before Solomon iiuilt the city. The city in buildi…

935 words
SECTION 1051

Section 1051

But the question of the date really depends upon the interpretation given to the Eagle Vision. Tlie details given al)out the reign of the several wings show that historic facts are here alluded to ; the interpretation which follows the vision is perhaps purposely ob.scure, and does not help much as to the solution of i…

959 words
SECTION 1052

Section 1052

In considering the date, reference should be made to a companion volume to 2 Esdras, which curiously reproduces the language and visions of that book, namely, the Apocalypse of liaruch, first pub. in 1866 by Ceriani from a Syr. MS at Milan {Mon. sacra et pruf., torn. i. fasc. ii., and torn. v. fasc. ii. ; also in Fritz…

1,148 words
SECTION 1053

Section 1053

LrrRRATiTRB. — A full list of the wide lit. on the subject is ^ven in Schurer, HJP n. iii. 93-114. The beat critical edd. o( the Lat. text are in the Camb. Texts and Studif«, vol. iii. 2. ed. Bensly and James, 1895 ; and Bensly, The MUging Fragtaeni of the Fourth Book of Ezra, 1875. The versions are collected in Hilgen…

953 words
SECTION 1054

Section 1054

{rjpixo<Tdtn)y, lit. 'joined you unto,' and here the ref. seems to be to marri.age, not betrothal, ' I have given you in marriage,' thougli the betrothal, which was also carried out by the bridegroom's friend, may be meant). Espousal is found Ca 3" 'in tlie day of his espousals ' (wjnq 017, ' on the dav of his marriage…

1,075 words
SECTION 1055

Section 1055

And such teaching bore fruit. Their life-long purity, their avoiding o( oaths or falsehood, their recognition of a good providence alone, showed their love of God. Their love of virtue revealed itself in their indifference to money, worldly position, and pleasure. Their love of man in their kindliness, their equality, …

949 words
SECTION 1056

Section 1056

There was no single city oi the E., but they were sojourners (utroiiceua;*)\n many, being in number over 4000 (^n(. xviii. i. 5). They eschewed marriage, and, adopting others' children as their own, imbued them with their own tenets (BJ lu viiL 2 ; Ant. xviu. i, 6). There was, however, another sect (rayua) of E., who …

996 words
SECTION 1057

Section 1057

Job. ^ves many indications that the E. were very strict Jews (BJ ll. viii. 9). They revered the name of tlie lawgiver next after God, and punished with deatli one that blasphemed again.st Moses. Above all other Jews they observed the Sabbath, not only not cookin" on that day, and avoiding the lighting of a fire, out fo…

1,075 words
SECTION 1058

Section 1058

770 ESSENES ESSENES The Easenes had hereditary prayers to the sun, as well as the usual Jewish sacred books ; they liad purificatory rites of diti'erent sorts or degrees, and utterances of the prophets. By diligent study of these, some of them learned and protessed to read the future. And their predictions, says Jos…

911 words
SECTION 1059

Section 1059

4. Abstention from marriage. This was equally a counsel o( perfection in the early Church, but was there held to be right in view of the impending second advent and end of the world (1 Co 725ff). 8. Obedience to established authorities. 6. In- ternal government. The officers of the E. community were vari- ously termed …

1,023 words
SECTION 1060

Section 1060

The reclu.se Bannus, with whom Jos. as a young man spent three years as a disciple, resembled the Essenes. For he lived in the desert, wore garments made of the bark of trees, and lived on anything he found growing about, washing himselt often day and night with cold water by way of purifica- tion. However, Josephus' c…

951 words
SECTION 1061

Section 1061

Jos. eiiually implies that they were more or less Hellenized. Would he have conspired with Philo to misrepresent them ? Nothing is more im- probable. The conclusion, then, is probable that they owed their origin to the introduction and diffusion of Greek culture in the early part of tlie 2nd cent. B.C. They woj-" in s…

940 words
SECTION 1062

Section 1062

always in the same sense as ' estimate,' that is, valuation, price (Heb. ^"JB). Only once is 'estima- tion ' found in the mod. sense of ' hi"h value,' ' repute,' Wis 8'° ' For her sake I shall have estimation amon^ the multitude, and honour with the elders, though 1 be young' (54{a, RV 'glory'). Crannier ( Works, 1. 1…

1,229 words
SECTION 1063

Section 1063

Sersonage, depends on the historicity of the look of Est (see below), her name not being men- tioned in any other tmok of the (>T, nor anywhere else in pre-Alex. literature. The only queen of Xerxes mentioned by Herodotus (vii. 61, 82, 114; ix. 108-112; cf. Ctesias, 20) is Amestris, a cruel and superstitious woman, who…

900 words
SECTION 1064

Section 1064

774 ESTHER, BOOK OF ESTUEK, BOOK OF have ever 8ho^vn for this book (of which Ewald has said that in passing to it horn the other books of the or ' we fall, as it were, from heaven to eartli ') illustrates their complete surrender to tlie spirit of the age in which it was produced. It was an age that had fallen out o…

1,037 words
SECTION 1065

Section 1065

II. Historicity. — On this subject the most diverse opinions have been held, ^lany old and a few modern writers * maintain the narrative to be thoroughly historical. But an increasing number t hold it to be more or less a work of imagination ; while some J regard it as a poetical invention, having no appreciable basis …

1,199 words
SECTION 1066

Section 1066

rative is beset with difficulties. Neither Vashti nor Esther can be identilieil with Amestris, the only queen (judging from Herodotus and Ctesias) that Xerxes ever had. Nor is it easy to reconcile Ahasuerus' and Haman's ignorance of Esther's nationality with the frequent presence of Mor- decai (who was known to be a Je…

1,319 words
SECTION 1067

Section 1067

• At the flur-e time It muat be adnittted that, even after the Ki<ihna style was formed, books in imitation of the clsuwical ityle were "^'rittcn, otherwise Ec would have to be plac-ed lon;r liter Sirttch. LrraRATORB.— Driver, LOT i49ff.; Cheyne, art. 'Esther' !■ Ejicyc. Brit. (1878), Fowiders of OT Critici^tm. 3olt f…

962 words
SECTION 1068

Section 1068

ETHANIM (c'lTNij, 'ABafuLr B, 'Aea»tl)i A, Ethanim, 1 K »'). See Time. ETHANUS, one of the ' swift scribes ' who wrote to the dictation of Ezra (2 Es H"). The name occurs in the MSS variously as Ecanus, Ecbanus, Elkana, etc. ETHBAAL (Sv^nn 'with Baal,' i.e. enjoying hi« favour and protection ; 'Ie0f()da\ B, 'la^daX A…

1,056 words
SECTION 1069

Section 1069

778 ETHICS ETHICS tion of ethical ideas, bat does not prevent their real growth. (A) The Pentateuch and the Historical Books. — Tlie note of law is struck in the account of Paradise and the Fall. In this story we have all the elements of the ethical idea as it presented itself to the Jews. God gave a command wliich…

956 words
SECTION 1070

Section 1070

The Priestly Code consists of a number of regu- lations which are largely ceremonial in character. The laws of ceremonial uncleanness and other kindred matters are precisely defined : the great occasions of the ecclesiastical year are ordained, and the ritual due to them established. Further, the various types of sacri…

1,140 words
SECTION 1071

Section 1071

* The second, * Tbou shalt love thy neighbour u thyself, occurs Id Lv 1918. one that belongs by natural a.ssociation to minds lar^ly buried in liialter. The clmracleristic note of this legislation is that God takes command over life as a whole, and, while the actual condition of the people is left unaltered, the way i…

1,344 words
SECTION 1072

Section 1072

On the other hand, the prevalence of evil and the uncertain incidence of affliction absolutely prevent the adoption of the view that each man IS punished simply for his own sins. Evil enters far too deeply into the constitution of things to be explained on the.«e terms. Hence we find in le and elsewhere the view expre…

914 words
SECTION 1073

Section 1073

(C) The Psahru really require a treatise to themselves to set forth their ethical contents adequately. They have formed men's devotional handbook for century after century ; and this, in spite of the fact that they are full of national feel- ing, and are unmistakably Jewish. There are frequent allusions in them to the …

978 words
SECTION 1074

Section 1074

"eliled and produces the fury against the enemies of God, already men- tioned, together with some other remarkable con- ditions of mind. It is to this — the apjjarent triumph of the enemy — that we must assign the sense of being forsaken by God Himself which appears in Ps 22 ; to this also is to be traced the perplexi…

946 words
SECTION 1075

Section 1075

fool is he who does the exact opposite of all thest things. See FooL. It IS this notion of a wise ordering of practical life which reappears in the far more magnificent conception which we owe to these books — of the wisdom of God. This is conceived partly as an attribute of God, partly as a counsellor standing, as it…

990 words
SECTION 1076

Section 1076

II. In the NT. — Wlien we pass over into the NT we come into an atmosphere which is in many respects strikingly difrerent from that of the OT. In the first place, the literature covers a com- paratively small area in point of time, instead of containing history and tradition from a long series of ages. Hence the type o…

1,079 words
SECTION 1077

Section 1077

* Ct. Philo, De Spec. Legg. Tom. ii. p. SI4, ed. Mang. 784 ETHICS ETHICS by certain spiritual qualities, and to leave on one side their relation to the ordinary standards of the world. The opinion of the world is, as such, of no value ; all that matters is the spiritual condition of the citizens of the kingdom. In …

1,239 words
SECTION 1078

Section 1078

fractice in many cases largely determines its form, n the first place, let us observe that there are, in the NT writers, certain moral premises or assump- tions which are inherited from the OT, and have been accentuated by the teaching of Christ. The end of man is union or intercourse with God, and sin impedes it. Men …

1,063 words
SECTION 1079

Section 1079

It would be beyond our purpose to dwell further on these theological points. We have said thus much about them in order to call attention to ths fact that the Christian ethic as it appears in the NT, rests upon certain convictions as to the nature and acts of Christ. The whole bearing and range of morality depends upon…

1,019 words
SECTION 1080

Section 1080

(a) We propose to consider, first, three moral conditions which are sufficiently similar to admit of such treatment, and which all depend upon a lack of zeal or whole-heartedness. In Ja 1°'" we find a severe condemnation passed upon the Slipi'xos or double-souled man. In Rev S's-i' the severest Judgment of all those pa…

901 words
← PreviousPage 18 of 20Next →

Source & rights

Public-domain historical reference work (1898–1905); OCR text from Internet Archive. Historical scholarship and terminology reflect its era; OCR may contain errors. Verify quotations and current scholarly claims independently.

Project Gutenberg source record →

Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.