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1000 articles found for “a Canaanite”

• Captain of Fifty

  [Bible]

  A captain of fifty is an Old Testament title for a person who governed or commanded a unit of fifty people. The title appears in passages such as Exodus 18 and 2 Kings 1.

• Donatist Controversy

  [History]

  A schism and controversy in the North African church of the early fourth century over whether sacraments administered by clergy who had renounced the faith during persecution were valid, and over how pure the church must be.

• Midwife

  [Bible]

  A midwife is a woman who assists another woman in childbirth. In the Bible, midwives appear in Genesis and Exodus. They are best known through the account of Shiphrah and Puah, who defied Pharaoh's order and saved the lives of Hebrew baby boys.

• Ruler of Tens

  [Bible]

  A ruler of tens was a leader placed over a unit of ten Israelites who governed them and judged minor disputes. The office appears in Exodus 18 and Deuteronomy 1.

• Juridical Parable

  [Bible]

  A juridical parable is a biblical narrative form in which a seemingly unrelated case is presented so that the hearer pronounces judgment, only for that judgment to turn back upon the hearer. Nathan's parable to David is the best-known example.

• Wadi

  [Bible]

  A wadi is a valley watercourse that flows only during the rainy season and lies dry during the dry season. The term, of Arabic origin, is used in biblical commentary to describe the landform the Hebrew Bible calls a nahal.

• Christmas Tree

  [Feasts & Seasons]

  A Christmas tree is a decoration set up in the days before Christmas, consisting of an evergreen or a tree of similar shape adorned with a star, lights, and ornaments. Although it is not a rite grounded in Scripture, most churches in Korea set one up inside and outside their sanctuaries during Advent and the Christmas season.

• Sign

  [Bible]

  A sign is a mark that reveals God's will or shows in advance what is to come. In the Old Testament the term refers to signs of the covenant and to the symbolic acts of the prophets; in the New Testament it extends to the signs performed by Jesus and to the signs of the end times.

• Hermit

  [Christian Life]

  A hermit is a person who lives alone in a remote place apart from the world, cultivating faith through prayer and ascetic discipline. The tradition originated with the monks of the Egyptian desert in the third and fourth centuries.

• Relic

  [Doctrine & Theology]

  A relic is the preserved remains of a saint or martyr, an object that a saint or martyr used, or an object associated with the life of Jesus, kept as an object of veneration. The Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church venerate relics, while Protestants generally reject the practice.

• Eunuch

  [Bible]

  A eunuch was an official who served the king and the royal household closely in ancient palaces; in many cases he was a castrated man. The Hebrew and Greek terms appear across both Testaments, and the Korean Revised Version renders the same original term with several different words depending on context.

• Measuring Line

  [Bible]

  A measuring line is a cord used to measure length and area. In the Bible it appears chiefly in visions that anticipate the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple, and it also expresses the standard of divine judgment.

• Proverbs 11:26

  [Bible Verses]

  A proverb teaching that whoever hoards grain in a time of famine and refuses to release it will be cursed by the people, while whoever sells it will be blessed. The verse rebukes the hoarding of goods for profit and is cited in discussions of sharing and the social responsibility of wealth.

• Mediator

  [Doctrine & Theology]

  A mediator is one who stands between two estranged parties and restores the relationship between them. Protestants confess Jesus Christ as the one Mediator between God and humanity.

• Proselyte

  [Bible]

  A proselyte (Greek prosēlytos) is, in New Testament usage, a person born a Gentile who came to believe in the God of Israel and formally entered the Jewish community through circumcision and other rites.

• Threshing Floor

  [Bible]

  A threshing floor was a broad, level area where harvested grain was threshed to separate the kernels from the chaff. In the Bible it can signify abundance, and it also serves as an image of judgment, in which the grain is separated from the chaff.

• Fallen Angel

  [Doctrine & Theology]

  A fallen angel is a spiritual being created by God as a good angel that rebelled against God and fell from its original place. Christian tradition generally identifies Satan and demons as fallen angels.

• Religious Order

  [Organization & Polity]

  A religious order is a community of men or women religious who live under a common rule, take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and pray together. Religious orders exist mainly in the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion.

• Yoke

  [Bible]

  A yoke is a wooden frame placed on the neck of a draft animal such as an ox so that it can pull a plow or cart. In the Bible it is a figure for domination and bondage, and also for obedience and the life of discipleship.

• Store City

  [Bible]

  A store city was a city built to store a nation's grain, supplies, weapons, and similar provisions. Pithom and Raamses, which the Israelites built for Pharaoh according to Exodus 1:11, are the best-known examples.