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Magi
[People]The Magi were men from the East who, at the time of Jesus' birth, saw a star, came to worship the infant Jesus, and presented him with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They appear only in Matthew 2.
Star of Bethlehem
[Bible]The Star of Bethlehem is the star in Matthew 2 that the wise men from the east saw and that led them to seek the child born King of the Jews. Scripture calls it "his star."
Simon Magus
[People]Simon Magus is the Samaritan sorcerer who appears in Acts 8. After being baptized, he tried to buy the power to impart the Holy Spirit and was rebuked by Peter. The term "simony," meaning the buying and selling of church offices, is derived from his name.
Bar-Jesus
[People]Bar-Jesus, also called Elymas, is a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet who appears in Acts 13. At Paphos on the island of Cyprus, he tried to keep the proconsul Sergius Paulus from believing, was rebuked by Paul, and was struck blind for a time.
Elymas
[People]Elymas, also called Bar-Jesus, was a Jewish sorcerer who, according to Acts 13, opposed the preaching of Paul and Barnabas at Paphos on Cyprus and was struck temporarily blind.
Massacre of the Innocents
[Bible]The Massacre of the Innocents was the killing, ordered by King Herod, of all male children two years old and under in Bethlehem and its surrounding region in an attempt to eliminate the newborn "King of the Jews." It is recorded only in Matthew 2.
Flight into Egypt
[Bible]The Flight into Egypt is the event in which Joseph, warned in a dream that Herod the Great sought to kill the infant Jesus, took Mary and the child and fled to Egypt. After Herod's death the family returned and settled in Nazareth. The account appears only in Matthew 2.
Radical Reformation
[History]The Radical Reformation is a collective term for the various movements of the sixteenth-century Reformation that called for a more thoroughgoing reform than the mainstream reforms of Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin. It includes the Anabaptists, the Spiritualists, and the anti-Trinitarian Rationalists.
Myrrh
[Bible]Myrrh is the fragrant resin of trees native to southern Arabia and northeastern Africa. In the Bible it was used as a spice, a cosmetic, and an ingredient in the holy anointing oil, and it appears as one of the gifts of the Magi and as a burial spice for Jesus.
Daniel 2
[Bible]Daniel 2 is the chapter in which Daniel receives from God, reveals, and interprets King Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a great image. It centers on the vision of an image made of gold, silver, brass, iron, and clay that is broken in pieces by a stone cut out without hands, together with the interpretation of that vision.
Philippian Jailer
[People]The Philippian jailer was the keeper of the prison at Philippi who, in Acts 16, held Paul and Silas in custody and, after a midnight earthquake, was baptized together with his whole household. Scripture does not record his name.
Romans 13:3–4
[Bible Verses]A passage describing the ruler as "the minister of God," appointed to encourage good and punish evil. It is frequently cited in discussions of the legitimacy and limits of state power, Christian submission, and capital punishment.
Exodus 8
[Bible]Exodus 8 records the second through fourth of the ten plagues: frogs, lice, and swarms of flies. Each time a plague ends, Pharaoh hardens his heart and refuses to let the people of Israel go.
Roman Citizenship
[Bible]Roman citizenship was a legal status that the Roman Empire conferred on its citizens. In the New Testament, Paul invoked this status to avoid scourging and to appeal to Caesar, and the Epistle to the Philippians speaks of the believer's "heavenly citizenship."
Jannes and Jambres
[People]Jannes and Jambres are two figures named in 2 Timothy 3:8 as men who opposed Moses. Jewish tradition identified them as the Egyptian magicians at Pharaoh's court in the Book of Exodus.
Aaron's Rod
[Bible]Aaron's rod was the staff carried by Aaron, the elder brother of Moses, and was used to perform signs before Pharaoh during the Exodus. In the wilderness it budded and bore fruit overnight, becoming a sign that confirmed the priesthood of Aaron's house.
Judges
[Bible]Judges is the seventh book of the Old Testament, a twenty-one-chapter historical book recounting the stories of the "judges" who led Israel from the death of Joshua until the establishment of the monarchy.
Jeong Yak-jong
[People]Jeong Yak-jong (1760–1801) was a Catholic lay leader in late Joseon Korea. He wrote the Jugyo yoji (Essentials of the Lord's Teaching), regarded as the first catechism written in Hangul, served as the first president of the Myeongdohoe, and was martyred during the Sinyu Persecution of 1801.
Meister Eckhart
[People]Meister Eckhart (c. 1260–c. 1328) was a medieval German Dominican friar, theologian, and preacher. He is regarded as a leading representative of "German mysticism."
Acts of the Apostles
[Bible]The Acts of the Apostles is the fifth book of the New Testament. It records how, after the ascension of Jesus Christ and with the coming of the Holy Spirit, the church began in Jerusalem and spread as far as Rome.