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1 Samuel 5
[Bible]1 Samuel 5 recounts how the ark of God (the Ark of the Covenant), captured by the Philistines, was carried to Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron. During this time the image of Dagon fell before the ark, and each city was struck with a plague of tumors.
2 Kings 12
[Bible]Second Kings 12 recounts the forty-year reign of Joash, king of Judah. It records his repair of the temple with silver gathered in a collection chest, his sending of sacred treasures to Hazael king of Aram to induce him to withdraw, and his death in a conspiracy by his servants.
Myrrh
[Bible]Myrrh is the fragrant resin of trees native to southern Arabia and northeastern Africa. In the Bible it was used as a spice, a cosmetic, and an ingredient in the holy anointing oil, and it appears as one of the gifts of the Magi and as a burial spice for Jesus.
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.
Manuscript
[Bible]A manuscript is a book or document copied by hand from an original. None of the original documents of the Bible survive, and modern Bibles are translated from texts established by comparing manuscripts from many periods.
Rabbinic Judaism
[History]Rabbinic Judaism is the form of Judaism that was reconstituted after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in AD 70, centered on the study of the Law, prayer, and the synagogue in place of sacrifice. Most of contemporary Judaism derives from this tradition.
Exodus 30
[Bible]Exodus 30 contains the ordinances for making and using the tabernacle's altar of incense, the half-shekel ransom paid at a census, the bronze laver, the holy anointing oil, and the holy incense.
Leviticus 11
[Bible]Leviticus 11 contains the dietary laws that distinguish creatures that may be eaten (clean) from those that may not (unclean), together with regulations on the uncleanness incurred by touching their carcasses. It closes with the words "ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy."
Numbers 7
[Bible]Numbers 7 records how, on the day the tabernacle was set up, the leaders of the twelve tribes of Israel presented wagons and oxen and then, over twelve days, one tribe per day, brought offerings for the dedication of the altar.
Joshua 4
[Bible]Joshua 4 records how, after Israel crossed the Jordan River, twelve men, one chosen from each tribe, carried twelve stones from the middle of the river and set them up at Gilgal as a memorial.
1 Samuel 23
[Bible]1 Samuel 23 is the chapter in which David, pursued by Saul, delivers Keilah from the Philistines, makes a covenant with Jonathan in the wilderness of Ziph, and narrowly escapes capture by Saul in the wilderness of Maon.
Ezekiel 45
[Bible]Ezekiel 45, part of the vision of the new temple, sets out the allotment of a holy district in the land, the prince's duty to practice justice and maintain honest weights and measures, the people's offerings and the prince's responsibility for the sacrifices, and the purification of the sanctuary and the festival offerings.
Firstfruits
[Bible]Firstfruits were an Old Testament offering to God of the first grain and produce harvested from the land each year. In the New Testament the term is used figuratively for the risen Christ and for those who were the first to believe.
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.
Leviticus 14
[Bible]Leviticus 14 sets out the ritual for cleansing a person healed of leprosy (a serious skin disease) and restoring that person to the community, along with the regulations for inspecting and dealing with a plague that appears in a house.
Numbers 26
[Bible]Numbers 26 records the second census of Israel, taken on the plains of Moab after the plague at Baal-peor. It gives the totals by tribe (601,730 in all), the principles for dividing the land, and the census of the Levites, and it notes that of the wilderness generation only Caleb and Joshua remained.
Jeremiah 19
[Bible]Jeremiah 19 is the chapter in which Jeremiah buys a potter's earthen bottle and breaks it in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, proclaiming that Jerusalem will be destroyed beyond repair because of its idolatry and child sacrifice.
Amos 8
[Bible]Amos 8 announces the "end" of the northern kingdom of Israel through the vision of a basket of summer fruit, indicts those who cheat the poor, and foretells a day of judgment when the sun goes down at noon, along with a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.
Jericho
[Bible]Jericho was an oasis city in the Jordan Valley, west of the Jordan River. It was the first city Israel captured after entering Canaan, as recounted in Joshua 6. In the New Testament it is the setting of the stories of Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus.
Hokmah
[Bible]Hokmah is the Hebrew word for "wisdom." In the Old Testament it covers a wide range of meanings, from a craftsman's skill to the wisdom of a life lived in the fear of God. It is a central concept of the wisdom literature, including Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes.