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New Jerusalem
[Bible]The New Jerusalem is the holy city in the Book of Revelation that comes down out of heaven at the end of the age and in which God dwells with his people forever. It is portrayed as the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophets' hope for a restored Jerusalem.
Asherah
[Bible]Asherah is the name of a Canaanite goddess mentioned in the Old Testament. The word also refers to the wooden pole or carved image used in her worship. It often serves as a representative term for Israel's idolatry.
Idolatry
[Bible]Idolatry is the worship of gods other than God or of images made by human hands. Scripture forbids it in the Ten Commandments and treats it as a fundamental sin that breaks the covenant.
Sinai Covenant
[Bible]The Sinai Covenant is the covenant God made at Mount Sinai with the people of Israel after the Exodus, with Moses serving as mediator. Centered on the Ten Commandments and the law, it established Israel as "a kingdom of priests."
Baal
[Bible]Baal, a Hebrew word meaning "lord" or "master," is the name of the god whom the Canaanites worshiped as a deity of rain and fertility in the Old Testament. The name appears in Judges, Kings, and the prophetic books as the chief representative of the idolatry into which Israel repeatedly fell.
Shechem
[Bible]Shechem was an ancient Canaanite city in the hill country of Ephraim, situated between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. In Scripture it appears as a major setting for covenant and political events from the patriarchal period through the division of the kingdom.
High Place
[Bible]A high place is an Old Testament term for a local site of sacrifice, often located on elevated ground; it translates the Hebrew word bamah. In the books of Kings, the high places frequently serve as a criterion for evaluating the faithfulness of the kings.
Ahaz
[People]Ahaz was a king of the southern kingdom of Judah in the late eighth century BC, the son of Jotham and the father of Hezekiah. Scripture records him as a king who introduced pagan worship and relied on Assyria. He received Isaiah's Immanuel prophecy (Isaiah 7:14).
Denarius
[Bible]The denarius was a silver coin of the Roman Empire in the New Testament era. In the Gospels it appears as the standard of a laborer's daily wage, and in passages such as the feeding of the five thousand and the parable of the laborers in the vineyard it serves as a benchmark for gauging the size of a sum.
Jerome
[People]Jerome (c. 347–420) was a biblical scholar and Church Father of the ancient Western church. He translated the Latin Bible known as the Vulgate.
Son of David
[Bible]A term meaning a descendant of King David. In the New Testament it is applied to Jesus as a messianic title for the king who, in keeping with the Old Testament promise, was to come from the house of David.
Jotham
[People]Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was a king of Judah who reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem in the mid-eighth century BC. Scripture assesses him as a king who did what was right in the sight of the LORD.
Ruler of the Synagogue
[Bible]The ruler of the synagogue was the official who led worship and assemblies in Jewish synagogues during the New Testament period. Jairus in the Gospels and Crispus and Sosthenes in the Acts of the Apostles are identified as rulers of the synagogue.
Pillar of Cloud and Pillar of Fire
[Bible]The pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire were a miracle of the Exodus in which God led the Israelites by going before them as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. They first appear in Exodus 13.
Nimrod
[People]Nimrod is a son of Cush and grandson of Ham who appears in Genesis 10. The Bible describes him as one who "began to be a mighty one in the earth" and as "a mighty hunter before the LORD," and it associates him with cities such as Babel and Nineveh.
Decapolis
[Bible]The Decapolis (Greek for "ten cities") was a region of Hellenistic cities located mainly east of the Jordan River. It appears three times in the Gospels as a place of Jesus' ministry.
Vineyard
[Bible]A vineyard is a plot of land where grapevines are planted and cultivated. In the Bible it is part of agricultural life, and it frequently serves as a symbol of the people (Israel) whom God tends and from whom He expects fruit.
Water of Life
[Bible]The water of life is a biblical expression that likens the life God gives to water. In the book of Revelation it is depicted as a river flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb in the New Jerusalem.
Gershom
[People]Gershom was the firstborn son of Moses and Zipporah, a Midianite woman, and appears in Exodus and 1 Chronicles. His name derives from Moses' experience of living as a stranger in a foreign land.
Teraphim
[Bible]Teraphim are household idols mentioned in the Old Testament, generally thought to have been venerated in the home or used for divination. They appear in the accounts of Rachel and Michal and are condemned as a form of idolatry in the prophetic and legal traditions.