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Year of Release
[Bible]The year of release is an institution prescribed in Deuteronomy 15 under which, every seventh year, Israelites were to release debts owed to them by fellow Israelites.
Feast of Firstfruits
[Bible]The Feast of Firstfruits was an Old Testament rite, prescribed in Leviticus 23:9-14, in which the first sheaf of the spring barley harvest was waved before the LORD. It served as the starting point for counting the date of the Feast of Weeks and is often read in connection with the New Testament description of Christ's resurrection as the "firstfruits."
Feast of Trumpets
[Bible]The Feast of Trumpets was an Old Testament festival observed on the first day of the seventh month of Israel's religious calendar. It was marked by the blowing of trumpets and a holy convocation, as prescribed in Leviticus 23 and Numbers 29.
Devoted Thing
[Bible]A "devoted thing" (Hebrew herem) is an object or person wholly dedicated to God, which therefore can no longer be put to private use or redeemed. The term is best known from the account of Achan in Joshua 7.
Tribe of Ephraim
[Bible]The tribe of Ephraim was an Israelite tribe made up of the descendants of Ephraim, the second son of Joseph. It settled in the central hill country of Canaan, and after the division of the kingdom its name came to stand for the northern kingdom of Israel.
Battle of Ai
[Bible]The Battle of Ai is an event recorded in Joshua 7–8. After the fall of Jericho, Israel attacked the small city of Ai and was defeated once because of Achan's sin. Once the sin had been dealt with, Israel captured the city by means of an ambush.
Merit
[Doctrine & Theology]Merit is a theological term for an act that serves as the ground for receiving a reward or salvation from God, or for the value of such an act. Because it bears directly on the place of human works in salvation, it is one of the principal issues that divided Catholicism and Protestantism.
Book of Jasher
[Bible]The Book of Jasher is an ancient Israelite record cited in the Old Testament. It is named in Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18, and the original has not survived.
Tribe of Manasseh
[Bible]The tribe of Manasseh was an Israelite tribe descended from Manasseh, the firstborn son of Joseph. Because it received land both east and west of the Jordan River, the expression "the half tribe of Manasseh" came into use.
Covenant of Salt
[Bible]The covenant of salt is an Old Testament expression that uses salt as an image of the eternal, unchanging nature of a covenant made with God. It appears in Numbers 18:19 and 2 Chronicles 13:5, and Leviticus 2:13 contains the related phrase "the salt of the covenant."
Wilderness of Judah
[Bible]The Wilderness of Judah is an arid region stretching from the eastern slopes of the Judean hill country down to the Dead Sea. Scripture presents it as the place where David hid from Saul and where John the Baptist proclaimed repentance.
Edward Mote
[People]Edward Mote (1797–1874) was an English Baptist minister and hymn writer, best known as the author of the hymn "My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less," which is also sung in Korean translation in Korean churches.
Prohibition of Interest
[Bible]The prohibition of interest is an Old Testament legal provision that forbade charging interest when lending money or food to a poor neighbor. It appears in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy and reflects the law's concern for protecting the vulnerable.
William Carey
[People]William Carey (1761–1834) was an English Baptist minister and missionary to India. Through his writings arguing for the duty of foreign missions and his role in founding a missionary society, he is known as the "father of modern missions."
Bride of the Lamb
[Bible]The Bride of the Lamb is an expression in the Book of Revelation for the bride who is married to the Lamb, Jesus Christ. It is commonly read as a symbol of God's redeemed people, that is, the church.
Stem of Jesse
[Bible]The "stem of Jesse" is an image from Isaiah 11:1 in which a shoot springs from the stump of Jesse, the father of David. The expression prophesies an ideal king who will arise from the house of David. Christians generally read it as a messianic prophecy concerning Jesus Christ.
Book of Jubilees
[Bible]The Book of Jubilees is an ancient Jewish work that retells the narrative from Genesis through the opening portion of Exodus, dividing history into units of forty-nine years called "jubilees." It is a pseudepigraphal book not included in Protestant or Catholic Bibles.
William Miller
[People]William Miller (1782–1849) was an American Baptist lay preacher who, on the basis of calculations from the prophecies of Daniel, proclaimed that Christ would return in 1843–1844. He was the central figure of the nineteenth-century Advent movement and of the Great Disappointment.
Middle Wall of Partition
[Bible]The "middle wall of partition" is an expression from Ephesians 2:14 for the barrier between Jews and Gentiles that Christ broke down through the cross. In Korean churches the phrase is frequently cited in connection with reconciliation and unity.
Epic of Gilgamesh
[History]The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem recounting the quest of Gilgamesh, a king of ancient Mesopotamia, for eternal life. Because its flood story resembles the account of Noah's flood in Genesis, it is frequently discussed in biblical studies.