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Three Uses of the Law
[Doctrine & Theology]The three uses of the law is a teaching of Reformation theology that organizes the work of God's law into three functions: restraining evil in society, bringing people to recognize their sin, and guiding the life of the believer.
Burning Bush
[Bible]The burning bush is the thornbush in Exodus 3 that burned with fire yet was not consumed when Moses first encountered God at Mount Horeb. The scene is read as a sign of God's presence and of Moses' call.
Holy Convocation
[Bible]A holy convocation was a sacred assembly in which the people of Israel were called together on days appointed by God to rest from work and to worship. Leviticus 23 sets out the holy convocations of the Sabbath and of the annual feasts.
Penitential Psalms
[Bible]The Penitential Psalms are seven psalms (Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143) that church tradition groups together because they give prominent expression to the confession of sin and the plea for God's forgiveness.
Gog and Magog
[Bible]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.
Brook Cherith
[Bible]The Brook Cherith is a brook near the Jordan River where the prophet Elijah hid at God's command when a drought began during the reign of King Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel. There he was sustained by food that ravens brought him. The account appears in 1 Kings 17.
Problem of Evil
[Doctrine & Theology]The problem of evil is the theological and philosophical question of why evil and suffering exist in the world if God is omnipotent and perfectly good.
Lament Psalms
[Bible]Lament psalms are a type of psalm in which the psalmist cries out and appeals to God amid suffering, illness, persecution, or national disaster. They are among the most common types in the Book of Psalms.
Jezreel (Son of Hosea)
[People]Jezreel was the firstborn son of the prophet Hosea and his wife Gomer. His name, given by God himself, symbolizes both judgment on the royal house of Jehu in the northern kingdom of Israel and the restoration to come.
Drink Offering
[Bible]The drink offering was an Old Testament offering in which a beverage such as wine was poured out to God, usually alongside the burnt offering or the peace offering. In the New Testament, Paul compared his own devotion and death to a drink offering.
Merodach
[Bible]Merodach is the Hebrew rendering of Marduk, the chief god of ancient Babylon. It appears in Jeremiah 50:2 in a prophecy of Babylon's fall and also forms part of the names of Babylonian kings.
River of the Water of Life
[Bible]The river of the water of life is the clear river in Revelation 22 that flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the New Jerusalem. Drawing on the river of Eden and the river of Ezekiel's temple vision, it serves as an image of the life that God gives.
Gift of Prophecy
[Doctrine & Theology]The gift of prophecy is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and refers to the ability to convey God's will and word to people. Denominations differ on whether the gift continues today and on what should be regarded as prophecy.
Genesis 26
[Bible]Genesis 26 tells how Isaac stays in Gerar during a famine, receives God's promise anew, and, after disputes over wells, makes a covenant with Abimelech, king of the Philistines.
Genesis 31
[Bible]Genesis 31 is the chapter in which Jacob, at God's direction, secretly leaves Laban's household with his wives, children, and possessions. Laban pursues him, and after a dispute at Mount Gilead the two make a covenant, marked by a heap of stones as a witness, and then part ways.
Exodus 31
[Bible]Exodus 31 is the final chapter of the instructions for building the tabernacle. God appoints Bezalel and Oholiab as craftsmen, commands Israel to keep the Sabbath as a sign of the covenant, and then gives Moses the two tablets of the testimony on Mount Sinai.
Exodus 40
[Bible]Exodus 40 is the final chapter of the Book of Exodus. In obedience to God's command, Moses sets up the tabernacle on the first day of the first month of the second year after the Exodus. The book closes as the cloud covers the tent of meeting and the glory of the LORD fills the tabernacle.
Teresa of Ávila
[People]Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582) was a Spanish Catholic nun and mystic (one who seeks direct union with God). She reformed the Carmelite Order, founding the Discalced Carmelites, and wrote The Interior Castle. In 1970 she became the first woman proclaimed a Doctor of the Church.
Leviticus 22
[Bible]Leviticus 22 contains the purity regulations that priests must observe when eating the holy things (sacred objects and food dedicated to God), together with the requirement that offerings presented to God be without blemish.
Numbers 12
[Bible]Numbers 12 recounts how Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses over his Cushite wife, how God affirms Moses' unique standing, and how Miriam is struck with leprosy and shut out of the camp for seven days.