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James 2:1–4
[Bible Verses]James 2:1–4 is a passage instructing believers in Christ not to show partiality between the rich and the poor in their assembly. It is frequently cited as a warning against treating people differently in the church on the basis of wealth or status.
Ephod
[Bible]The ephod was a vest-like outer garment worn by the high priest in the Old Testament. Priests also wore a linen ephod, and the ephod served as a means of inquiring of God's will.
Adonai
[Bible]Adonai is a Hebrew word meaning "my Lord," used in the Old Testament as a title for God. In Judaism, readers did not pronounce the divine name (YHWH) directly but substituted this word in its place.
Immanuel
[Bible]Immanuel is a Hebrew name meaning "God is with us." It first appears as the name of a child given as a sign in Isaiah 7:14, and Matthew 1:23 applies it to the birth of Jesus.
Manger
[Bible]A manger is a trough that holds feed for livestock. In the Gospel of Luke, it is where the newborn Jesus was laid, and in the Christmas story it serves as a symbol of Jesus' coming in lowliness.
Kiriath-jearim
[Bible]Kiriath-jearim was a town on the border between Judah and Benjamin. It is known as the place where the Ark of the Covenant, after its return from Philistia, remained in the house of Abinadab until David brought it to Jerusalem.
Heman
[People]Heman is an Old Testament figure who appears in 1 and 2 Chronicles as a Levite worship leader in charge of temple music in the time of David. The same name also appears in the title of Psalm 88 and in 1 Kings 4.
Sheba
[Bible]Sheba is the name of a land in Arabia and of its people in the Old Testament. It is portrayed as a wealthy, distant land to the south that traded in gold and frankincense. It is best known as the kingdom of the Queen of Sheba, who visited Solomon.
Moresheth
[Bible]Moresheth was a town in southwestern Judah, identified in Scripture as the hometown of the prophet Micah. Micah 1:1 and Jeremiah 26:18 refer to him as "Micah the Morasthite."
Redemptive History
[Doctrine & Theology]Redemptive history refers both to the theological perspective that reads the whole of Scripture as a single history in which God saves humanity and the world fallen into sin, and to the history that this perspective describes.
Bithiah
[People]Bithiah is a woman mentioned once, as "the daughter of Pharaoh," in the genealogy of the tribe of Judah in 1 Chronicles 4. She was the wife of Mered. Jewish tradition sometimes identifies her with the daughter of Pharaoh who rescued the infant Moses.
Ephah
[Bible]The ephah is an Old Testament dry measure of volume used for grain and flour. It appears both in sacrificial regulations and in everyday reckonings of grain, and the prophets condemned the falsified ephah as a symbol of injustice.
Deposition (Church Discipline)
[Organization & Polity]Deposition is a form of church discipline in which an officer such as a minister, elder, or deacon is stripped of the office itself. It is distinct from excommunication, which also removes church membership.
Shofar
[Bible]The shofar is an ancient Israelite trumpet made from the horn of an animal such as a ram. In the Old Testament it was used to proclaim feasts and the Jubilee, to signal in war, to mark the enthronement of kings, and in worship. The New Korean Revised Version usually renders it as "trumpet."
Gog and Magog
[Bible]Gog and Magog are names that appear in Ezekiel 38–39 and Revelation 20 for hostile forces that come against the people of God in the last days. Magog also appears in Genesis 10 as a son of Japheth.
Seir
[Bible]Seir is an Old Testament place name for the mountainous region south of the Dead Sea. Because Esau and his descendants, the Edomites, lived there, Scripture often uses the name as a synonym for Edom.
Liturgy of the Hours
[Worship & Rites]The Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office, is the public prayer of the church in which psalms, canticles, Scripture readings, and prayers are offered at fixed times of the day. The term is used chiefly in the Catholic Church, and similar traditions exist in the Anglican and Lutheran churches.
Apphia
[People]Apphia was a Christian woman of the early church who is named as a "sister" in the greeting of Paul's Epistle to Philemon (Philemon 1:2). This is her only appearance in the Bible.
Imperial Cult
[History]The imperial cult was the practice in the ancient Roman Empire of honoring the emperor, living or deceased, as a god and offering sacrifices to him. Early Christians who refused to take part were persecuted.
Suspension (Church Discipline)
[Organization & Polity]Suspension is a form of church discipline in which an officer such as a pastor, elder, or deacon retains the office itself but is barred from performing its duties, either for a set period or indefinitely.