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Salem
[Bible]Salem is the name of the city ruled by Melchizedek in Genesis 14. The Hebrew name shares a root with the word for "peace," and Jewish and Christian tradition generally regards it as an ancient name for Jerusalem.
Cainan
[People]Cainan is a name that appears twice in the genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3. One Cainan is an antediluvian figure corresponding to Kenan in Genesis; the other is a son of Arphaxad who does not appear in the Hebrew text of Genesis.
Shalmaneser III
[People]Shalmaneser III was a king of Assyria in the ninth century BC. Because his inscriptions name the Israelite kings Ahab and Jehu, they serve as an important extrabiblical source for the study of the period covered by the books of Kings.
Hippolytus
[People]Hippolytus (c. 170 – c. 235) was a presbyter and theologian of the church in Rome in the early third century. His *Refutation of All Heresies* is an important source for the study of heresies in the early church.
Voluntary Poverty
[Christian Life]Voluntary poverty is the choice to live simply and without desire for wealth, out of purity of heart. In Christianity, it denotes an attitude of faith that is not bound by possessions but relies on God and embraces a modest life.
Zebah and Zalmunna
[People]Zebah and Zalmunna were two kings of Midian who invaded Israel in the time of the judge Gideon. In Judges 8 they are captured and put to death by Gideon, and in Psalm 83 they are cited as an example of the end that befalls the enemies of God.
Gad (Prophet)
[People]Gad was a prophet active during the reign of King David and is called "David's seer" in Scripture. After David's census, he delivered God's judgment and instructed David to build an altar on the threshing floor of Araunah.
Hezron
[People]Hezron, the son of Perez and grandson of Judah, is an Old Testament figure whose name appears in the genealogies of David and of Jesus Christ. The clan of the Hezronites within the tribe of Judah descended from him.
Deborah, Rebekah's Nurse
[People]Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, is a figure in the Book of Genesis who died while Jacob's household was staying at Bethel. She was buried beneath an oak below Bethel, and the tree was named Allon-bachuth.
Linus
[People]Linus was a Roman Christian whose name appears in the closing greetings of 2 Timothy 4:21. He is mentioned only once in Scripture, and early church tradition identifies him as an early leader of the church in Rome.
Seraiah
[People]Seraiah was a high priest in the final years of the Kingdom of Judah who was executed by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, after the fall of Jerusalem. He is recorded as the father of Jehozadak (Jozadak) and as an ancestor of Ezra.
Elnathan
[People]Elnathan was a man of Jerusalem in the final years of the kingdom of Judah and the father of Nehushta, the mother of King Jehoiachin (2 Kings 24:8). Many identify him with "Elnathan the son of Achbor," an official of King Jehoiakim mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah.
Basemath
[People]Basemath is a wife of Esau in the Book of Genesis who, through her son Reuel, became an ancestor of the chiefs of Edom. Genesis 26 and Genesis 36 give differing accounts of her origin. The First Book of Kings mentions a daughter of Solomon who bore the same name.
Hadad the Edomite
[People]Hadad was a member of the Edomite royal family who fled from Edom to Egypt in the time of David and later returned to become an adversary of Solomon. He appears in 1 Kings 11.
Hospitality
[Christian Life]Hospitality is the practice of welcoming guests or unfamiliar strangers into one's home and church and providing them with food and a place to rest. Scripture commends it as a virtue of believers and as an expression of the life of faith.
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.
Walk to Canossa
[History]The Walk to Canossa was the event of January 1077 in which the excommunicated German king Henry IV sought forgiveness from Pope Gregory VII at the castle of Canossa in northern Italy and received absolution. It is regarded as an emblematic episode of the Investiture Controversy, the medieval conflict between the papacy and secular rulers.
Direct Revelation
[Doctrine & Theology]Direct revelation refers to the claim that God, bypassing Scripture, communicates new aspects of His will directly to an individual through dreams, visions, voices, or similar means. In Korean Protestant churches the term (jiktong gyesi) is used chiefly to warn against or criticize such claims.
David's Census
[Bible]David's census was the event in which King David had the fighting men of Israel and Judah counted, after which a plague struck the people; the plague ended when he built an altar on the threshing floor of Araunah. The account appears in 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21.
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.