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"Jehovah" is a name for God that is found in the American Standard Version (1901) of the Old Testament. The word is actually a hybrid term, composed of four Hebrew consonants, YHWH, and vowel sounds taken from the name "Lord" (Adonai). The term "Jehovah" attempts to approximate the original term,...
The fourth book of the Pentateuch, Numbers, derives its title from the fact that a census of the Israelite people was taken after they had departed from Egypt. There were some 603,550 men, above the age of twenty who were capable of military combat (Num. 1:46), which may suggest an overall popula...
This book contains the record of the forty-year administration of the Hebrews' most illustrious ruler, David, who was an ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ. The book details David's victories, his weaknesses, and his contrite disposition. His administration was racked with controversy and rebellio...
This book surveys some 424 years, from the beginning of Solomon's reign to the edict from the Persian king, Cyrus, to free the Jews. Cyrus commissioned the Jews to return from the Babylonian captivity to re-establish their dominion in Canaan. He even furnished the financing for the project. The b...
The Old Testament, the revered Hebrew Bible, is a divine collection of thirty-nine books. These books, inspired by God (Mt. 22:31-32; 2 Tim. 3:15-17), were produced over a period of about 1,000 years, authored by some thirty or so writers. There are four major divisions of the Old Testament. Thes...
"Translation" is the process of bringing the message of the Scriptures from the original languages -- Hebrew, Aramaic (O.T.), and Greek (N.T.) -- into the various languages and dialects of the nations of the world. Translations vary in quality. Producing a translation from one language to another...
Some religions are based upon philosophical premises that are embraced emotionally, apart from intellectual substance. That is not the case with Christianity. Christianity is grounded in history, and there are historical facts and concepts that must be understood and endorsed, preliminary to acce...
A "mediator" is a "go-between" (from mesos, "middle" and eimi "to go"). Ideally, the role of a mediator is to work for the reconciliation of parties that have become estranged. (a) Moses was a mediator between God and Israel. He delivered the law to the nation on behalf of Jehovah (Jn. 1:17; Gal....
Woman was fashioned from flesh and bone taken from the side of man (Gen. 2:21-24). Male and female qualities were designed by God (Mt. 19:4); these characteristics are not accidental developments of an imagined "evolutionary" process. The Hebrew term for "woman" is ishsha, thought to derive from ...
References to "worship" are common in both the O.T. and the N.T. The Hebrew term shachah (about 100 times) refers to "bowing" before an object of religious devotion. Similarly, proskuneo (59 times) in the N.T. means to prostrate oneself, do obeisance. Worship can be offered to the true God (Gen. ...
Mary was a Hebrew maiden who was chosen to be the mother of Jesus Christ. Her miraculous conception was prophesied in the O.T. (Isa. 7:14). Mary was certainly worthy of honor as a godly Jewish woman (see Mt. 1:16ff; Lk. 1:27ff; Jn. 19:25ff), but the cult-like superstition that has evolved regardi...
A significant portion of the Old Testament record embodies the law of Moses. Some basic facts relative to that system must be understood. (a) It was given by God, and ordained by angels; it came through Moses as a mediator (Gal. 3:19). (b) It was given at Sinai (cir. 1500 B.C.), and was terminate...
The term "heaven" is used in different ways in the Bible. The expression may refer to the atmospheric region just above the earth where the birds fly, the rain forms, and the wind blows (Gen. 1:10; 7:11; Dan. 8:8). The outer space region that houses the stars, the sun, and the planets is also des...
Marriage is a covenant between a man and woman, whereby they pledge to belong to one another in a life-long union. There are several elements relative to this institution that are important to understand. (a) The origin of marriage is divine, commencing from the sixth day of the creation week (Ge...
Homosexual activity is sexual intimacy between two persons of the same gender. This form of sexual conduct is uniformly condemned in the Bible. (a) It stands outside the divinely prescribed realm of authorized sexual gratification, i.e., the marriage union (Gen. 2:24; Mt. 19:4; 1 Cor. 7:2), and i...
Idolatry is the worship of any being or object other than the true God, or the worship of supposed images of Jehovah himself (Ex. 20:3-6). A more subtle form of idolatry is the slavish yielding to one's passions (Phil. 3:19; Col. 3:5). Idolatry is strongly condemned and, if persisted in, will lea...
The Greek word psallo is found five times in the N.T. It is rendered by the English terms "sing" (Rom. 15:9; 1 Cor. 14:15; Jas. 5:13), and "make melody" (Eph. 5:19). In the era of classical Greek (cir. 900 to 330 B.C.), the word was used in the sense of "to touch" or "to twang," as with a carpent...
The "Ten Commandments" constituted the core element of the law of Moses (see Ex. 19:16-20:17). They were written by God himself on the two tables of stone (Ex. 31:18; 32:15-16; 34:1, 28; Dt. 10:4). Moses shattered the first set when he learned of Israel's worship of the golden calf (Ex. 32:19). E...
The Greek word krino means to render a verdict (Lk. 7:43; Acts 15:9). Prepositions may be attached as prefixes to provide some direction to the term. For example, diakrino suggests the idea of distinguishing between objects (1 Cor. 6:5; 11:31; 14:19); anakrino means to investigate or thoroughly s...
The most common Greek word representing this idea is apollumi. The term can suggest the idea of an object that is estranged from its owner. A shepherd loses his sheep, a woman loses a coin, a Father loses a son (Lk. 15:4, 9, 32). When men, by their sins, wander away from their Creator, they are "...