Search the encyclopedia

Search the Bible

105 articles found for “Ham”

• Sin

  In Christianity, sin refers both to acts that transgress God's will and law and to the state of having departed from a right relationship with God. The sin that all humanity is held to have inherited from Adam is called original sin.

• Feast of Unleavened Bread

  The Feast of Unleavened Bread was a seven-day festival, beginning the day after Passover, during which Israel ate bread without leaven to commemorate the Exodus. In the New Testament it is named together with Passover, and Paul uses it as an illustration of the Christian life.

• Riblah

  Riblah was a town in the land of Hamath in Syria. The kings of Egypt and Babylon used it as a military base, and the Bible records it as the place where Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, interrogated and punished Zedekiah, king of Judah.

• Pur

  Pur is a word meaning "lot." In the Book of Esther it refers to the lot that Haman cast to fix the day for destroying the Jews, and the Jewish festival of Purim takes its name from it.

• Hill of Moreh

  The hill of Moreh is a hill in the Jezreel Valley mentioned in Judges 7:1. When Gideon fought the Midianite army, the Midianites encamped in the valley by this hill.

• Western Wall

  The Western Wall is the exposed above-ground portion of the ancient retaining wall that supports the western side of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. A remnant of Herod's Temple, it has become the most important place of prayer in Judaism.

• Genesis 9:25

  Genesis 9:25 records the words Noah spoke after awaking from his drunkenness, cursing Canaan, the son of Ham, and declaring that he would be a servant to his brethren. In the modern era the verse, under the label "the curse of Ham," was used to justify the enslavement of Black Africans, and it is frequently cited as a leading example of the misuse of Scripture.

• Achmetha

  Achmetha is a city in the province of Media mentioned in Ezra 6:2. The decree of Cyrus authorizing the rebuilding of the temple was discovered in its palace. It was the ancient capital of Media, commonly known as Ecbatana.

• Gog and Magog

  Gog and Magog are names that appear in Ezekiel 38–39 and Revelation 20 for hostile forces that come against the people of God in the last days. Magog also appears in Genesis 10 as a son of Japheth.

• Mount of Corruption

  The Mount of Corruption is a mountain east of Jerusalem mentioned in 2 Kings 23:13. Solomon built high places for foreign gods there, and Josiah later defiled and destroyed them. It is commonly identified with the southern part of the Mount of Olives.

• Genesis 10:6

  Genesis 10:6 lists the four sons of Ham, the son of Noah: Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan. The verse is frequently discussed both for the question of which regions and peoples these names designate and because the so-called "curse of Ham" was misused in the past to justify racial discrimination.

• Esther 3

  Esther 3 is the chapter in which King Ahasuerus promotes Haman, Mordecai refuses to bow to him, and the enraged Haman casts Pur (the lot) to fix a date and secures a decree ordering the destruction of all the Jews in the Persian Empire.

• Esther 8

  Esther 8 is the chapter in which, after Haman's death, Mordecai receives the king's ring and, at Esther's entreaty, a new decree is issued throughout Persia allowing the Jews to defend themselves.

• Jeremiah 23:29

  Jeremiah 23:29 is a verse that likens the word of God to "a fire" and to "a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces." Because it appears in a passage rebuking false prophets, it is frequently cited in discussions of the power of God's word and of discerning true from false prophecy.

• Arpad

  Arpad was an Aramean city in ancient northern Syria, north of Hamath. The Old Testament frequently mentions it alongside Hamath as an example of a city conquered by Assyria.

• Esther 4

  Esther 4 is the chapter in which Mordecai, having learned of Haman's decree to destroy the Jews, urges Esther to go before the king and plead for her people. Esther asks for a three-day fast and then resolves to go in, saying, "If I perish, I perish."

• Nimrod

  Nimrod, who appears in Genesis 10, is the son of Cush and the grandson of Ham. The Bible describes him as one who "began to be a mighty one in the earth" and "a mighty hunter before the LORD," and it associates him with cities such as Babel and Nineveh.

• Cush

  Cush is the name the Old Testament uses for the region of the upper Nile south of Egypt and for its people. It is also the name of a son of Ham. The Septuagint rendered it "Ethiopia."

• Table of Nations

  The Table of Nations is the list of the descendants of Noah's three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, recorded in Genesis 10. Arranged in genealogical form, the passage describes how the various peoples spread across the earth after the Flood.

• Canaanites

  The Canaanites were the inhabitants of the land of Canaan before Israel entered it. The Bible presents them as descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham, and the name can refer either to the entire population of the land or to one group among several peoples.