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Tobiah
[People]Tobiah is an Ammonite official in the Book of Nehemiah. Together with Sanballat and Geshem, he opposed the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. He later occupied a chamber in the temple and was expelled by Nehemiah.
Constantine I
[People]Constantine I (c. 272–337) was the Roman emperor who legalized Christianity and convened the Council of Nicaea. During his reign the church changed from a persecuted minority into a religion enjoying imperial protection.
Hiel
[People]Hiel was a man of Bethel who rebuilt Jericho during the reign of King Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel. He appears only once, in 1 Kings 16:34, which records that he lost his firstborn and youngest sons in the course of building the city.
Betrothal
[Bible]In the Bible, betrothal (espousal) is the stage before marriage in which a man and a woman become legally bound to each other. It appears in Old Testament law and in the account of Mary and Joseph, and it also serves as an image of the relationship between God and his people and between Christ and the church.
Cyprus
[Bible]Cyprus is an island in the eastern Mediterranean, still known today by the same name. In the Book of Acts it appears as the home of Barnabas and as the first place where the gospel was preached on Paul's first missionary journey.
Nahash
[People]Nahash was king of the Ammonites in the time of Saul and David. He besieged Jabesh-gilead and was defeated by Saul. After his death, David sent envoys to his son Hanun to offer condolences.
Shaphan
[People]Shaphan was a scribe in the reign of King Josiah of Judah. He read before the king the Book of the Law found during the repair of the Temple and thus played a part in the events that set Josiah's religious reform in motion.
Judas of Galilee
[People]Judas of Galilee was a Jew who led an uprising against a Roman census in the early first century AD. In Acts 5:37, Gamaliel cites him as an example of a failed movement.
Meekness
[Bible]In the Bible, meekness is a disposition and attitude of not asserting one's own power, entrusting oneself to God, and treating others gently. It appears as the third of the Beatitudes and as one of the fruit of the Spirit.
Hushai
[People]Hushai was a figure of David's time, called "the Archite" and "David's friend." During Absalom's rebellion he feigned allegiance to Absalom, defeated the counsel of Ahithophel, and thereby aided David.
Ittai
[People]Ittai the Gittite was a foreign commander from the Philistine city of Gath who remained with David to the end when the king fled during Absalom's rebellion. He appears in 2 Samuel as the commander of one-third of David's army.
Rehum
[People]Rehum was a Persian provincial official mentioned in Ezra 4. With Shimshai the scribe, he sent a letter to King Artaxerxes that brought the rebuilding work in Jerusalem to a halt.
Hanun
[People]Hanun was king of the Ammonites in the time of David, succeeding his father Nahash at his death. By humiliating the envoys David sent to console him, he provoked war between Israel and Ammon (2 Samuel 10; 1 Chronicles 19).
Geshem
[People]Geshem was an Arabian who, together with Sanballat and Tobiah, mocked and obstructed Nehemiah's work of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. He appears in Nehemiah 2 and 6.
Oded
[People]Oded was a prophet active in Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, during the reign of King Ahaz of Judah. He rebuked the army of Israel and urged it to send back the captives taken from Judah (2 Chronicles 28:9-15).
Zedekiah son of Chenaanah
[People]Zedekiah son of Chenaanah was a prophet in the time of King Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel. He prophesied victory in the war against Aram and struck the prophet Micaiah on the cheek. He appears in 1 Kings 22 and 2 Chronicles 18.
Lahmi
[People]Lahmi is a Philistine mentioned in 1 Chronicles 20:5. He is identified as the brother of Goliath the Gittite and is recorded as having been killed by Elhanan, one of David's warriors.
Julius
[People]Julius was a Roman army centurion mentioned in Acts 27. He was responsible for escorting Paul, then a prisoner, from Caesarea to Rome.
Ebed-melech
[People]Ebed-melech was a Cushite eunuch in the palace of King Zedekiah during the final years of the Kingdom of Judah. He rescued the prophet Jeremiah, who had been left to die in a cistern, and for this deed he received God's promise of deliverance.
Longinus
[People]Longinus is the name that later tradition gave to the soldier who pierced Jesus' side with a spear at the crucifixion, or to the centurion who confessed, "Truly this man was the Son of God." The name does not appear in the Bible.