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Joab
[People]Joab was the son of Zeruiah, King David's sister, and served as commander of the army during David's reign. Though an outstanding military leader, he committed murders for personal ends and was executed when Solomon came to the throne.
Abihail
[People]Abihail is a personal name in the Old Testament borne by several individuals, both men and women. The best known are the father of Esther, the daughter of Eliab (David's elder brother), and the father of the Levite Zuriel.
Ruler of the Synagogue
[Bible]The ruler of the synagogue was the official who led worship and assemblies in Jewish synagogues during the New Testament period. Jairus in the Gospels and Crispus and Sosthenes in the Acts of the Apostles are identified as rulers of the synagogue.
Cornerstone
[Bible]A cornerstone is an important stone set at the corner of a building to align its walls and stabilize its structure. It appears in Psalm 118 and Isaiah 28, and the New Testament takes up the image as a reference to Jesus Christ.
High Priest
[Bible]The high priest held the foremost position among the priests of Old Testament Israel, an office whose holder entered the Most Holy Place on the Day of Atonement to make atonement for the people. The New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews presents Jesus Christ as the eternal High Priest.
Zacchaeus
[People]Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector of Jericho who appears in Luke 19. He climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see Jesus and, after Jesus called him, welcomed him into his home. He then declared that he would give half of his goods to the poor and repay fourfold anything he had taken by fraud.
Doeg
[People]Doeg was an Edomite who served as King Saul's chief herdsman. He denounced Ahimelech, the priest of Nob who had helped David, to Saul, and at Saul's command he killed eighty-five priests and the people of the city of Nob (1 Samuel 21–22).
Gog
[People]Gog is the figure prophesied in Ezekiel 38–39 as the leader of an army that comes from the north against Israel in the last days. In Revelation 20, "Gog and Magog" serves as a name for the nations that oppose God.
Teman (son of Eliphaz)
[People]Teman was a son of Eliphaz, the firstborn of Esau, and one of the chiefs of the Edomites. His name is also used for a region in the land of Edom and for its people.
Jaalam
[People]Jaalam was a son of Esau and his wife Aholibamah, an Old Testament figure recorded in Genesis 36 as one of the chiefs (dukes) of Edom.
Nahath
[People]Nahath was a son of Reuel, the son of Esau, and is recorded in Genesis 36 as one of the chiefs of Edom.
Jeush
[People]Jeush was a son of Esau by his wife Aholibamah. Genesis 36 records him as one of the chiefs of Edom.
Pashur
[People]Pashur was a priest who served as chief officer of the Temple in Jerusalem during the last years of the Kingdom of Judah. He struck the prophet Jeremiah and put him in the stocks, and he then received the new name "Magor-missabib" along with a word of judgment concerning the Babylonian captivity.
Gregory I
[People]Gregory I (c. 540–604) was bishop of Rome (pope) from 590 to 604. He is regarded as one of the leading Fathers of the Western Church and is also known as Gregory the Great.
Oreb
[People]Oreb was one of the two princes (leaders) of Midian who were captured and killed by the men of Ephraim during the judge Gideon's war against Midian. He appears in Judges 7 and 8 and is mentioned again in the Psalms and Isaiah as an example of God's overthrow of His enemies.
Kenaz
[People]Kenaz is the name of several individuals in the Old Testament. The best known are a grandson of Esau who became a chief of Edom and the father of Othniel, the first judge. The term "Kenezite," applied to Caleb's family, also derives from this name.
Phoenicia
[Bible]Phoenicia is a New Testament place name for the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, roughly the coastal region of present-day Lebanon. Its chief cities were Tyre and Sidon, and in Acts it appears as a gateway through which the gospel spread into Gentile lands.
Silas
[People]Silas appears in the New Testament book of Acts as a leader of the Jerusalem church who accompanied Paul on his second missionary journey. In the Pauline epistles and 1 Peter he appears under the name Silvanus.
Eunuch
[Bible]In the Bible, a eunuch is a castrated male official who served in an ancient royal court; more broadly, the term can denote any high-ranking court official. Eunuchs appear in several Old Testament court narratives and in the account of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8.
Abijah
[People]Abijah was the second king of the southern kingdom of Judah during the divided monarchy, the son of Rehoboam and the father of Asa. The books of Kings call him "Abijam," and he reigned for about three years.