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Eliab
[People]Eliab was the firstborn son of Jesse of Bethlehem and the eldest brother of David. He is best known from the account in which Samuel, judging by his appearance, assumed he was the one chosen to be king, but God rejected him, declaring that the LORD "looketh on the heart."
Jabez
[People]Jabez is a figure in the genealogy of the tribe of Judah in 1 Chronicles 4. He is known for a brief prayer in which he asked God for blessing and protection.
Jahaziel
[People]Jahaziel was a Levite in the reign of King Jehoshaphat of Judah. When a coalition of Moabites and Ammonites invaded, he was moved by the Spirit and prophesied that "the battle is not yours, but God's" (2 Chronicles 20).
Brook Cherith
[Bible]The Brook Cherith is a stream near the Jordan River where, according to 1 Kings 17, the prophet Elijah hid at God's command during a drought and was sustained by food that ravens brought to him.
Plumb Line
[Bible]A plumb line is a cord with a weight attached, used to check whether a wall stands straight. Because it appears in Amos 7, in a vision of God measuring Israel for judgment, it came to signify God's standard and His judgment.
Hanani
[People]Hanani was a seer (prophet) in the reign of King Asa of Judah. He was imprisoned after rebuking the king for relying on the king of Aram instead of on God. He appears in 2 Chronicles 16 and is also recorded as the father of the prophet Jehu.
Presentation of Jesus in the Temple
[Bible]The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple is the event in which Joseph and Mary brought the infant Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem and presented him to God after the period of purification prescribed by the Law had passed. It is recorded in Luke 2.
Lo-ruhamah
[People]Lo-ruhamah was the daughter of the prophet Hosea and his wife Gomer and appears in Hosea 1. Her name means "not having obtained mercy" and symbolizes God's judgment that He would no longer have mercy on the northern kingdom of Israel.
Tassels
[Bible]Tassels (fringes) were the cords that the people of Israel attached to the four corners of their outer garments in accordance with Old Testament law. They served as a sign reminding the wearer of God's commandments. In the New Testament they are frequently discussed in connection with the account of the woman with the issue of blood who touched the edge of Jesus' garment.
Mahanaim
[Bible]Mahanaim was a town in the region of Gilead, east of the Jordan River. Jacob met the angels of God there, and its name means "two camps." It later became the capital from which Ish-bosheth reigned, and David took refuge there during Absalom's rebellion.
Clean and Unclean
[Bible]Clean and unclean is the distinction in Old Testament law that determined whether persons, animals, or objects were in a fit state to approach God and take part in worship. The New Testament carries this distinction forward in terms of purity of heart and the cleansing accomplished through Christ.
Censer
[Bible]A censer was a portable vessel used in the tabernacle and the Temple to hold live coals from the altar, either for burning incense or for carrying fire. In the Book of Revelation, it appears as a golden censer offered before God together with the prayers of the saints.
Olive Tree
[Bible]The olive tree is an evergreen fruit tree of the Mediterranean world and the land of Canaan. In Scripture it serves as an image of anointing, of the flourishing of God's people, and of the relationship between Israel and the Gentiles.
Leaven
[Bible]Leaven is fermented dough used to make bread rise. In the Old Testament it appears in the regulations for the Feast of Unleavened Bread and for sacrificial offerings. In the New Testament it serves as an image both of the kingdom of God and of evil teaching and sin.
Obed-edom
[People]Obed-edom was the owner of the house where the Ark of the Covenant remained for three months during the reign of King David. Scripture records that God blessed him and his entire household during that time. Chronicles also presents him as a Levite gatekeeper.
Rock
[Bible]A rock is a large, solid mass of stone. In the Bible it appears as the actual rock that gave water in the wilderness, and it also serves as a figure for God's unchanging protection, for Christ, and for the foundation of the church.
Ekron
[Bible]Ekron was one of the five principal cities of the Philistines in the Old Testament. The ark of God was sent there, and 2 Kings refers to it as the city of "Baalzebub the god of Ekron."
Chebar River
[Bible]The Chebar River was a waterway in "the land of the Chaldeans" where the prophet Ezekiel, living among the Judean exiles during the Babylonian exile, saw visions of God. Many scholars identify it as a canal in Babylonia.
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."
Adultery
[Bible]Adultery is sexual intercourse between a married person and someone other than his or her spouse. The Bible forbids it in the Ten Commandments, and the prophets also used the term as a metaphor for forsaking God to serve idols.