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A – Adrammelech
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A
The first letter in almost all alphabets. In Hebrew, it is called aleph, in Greek, alpha, the last letter in the Greek alphabet being omega. Both the Hebrews and Greeks used their letters as numerals; and hence A (aleph or alpha) denoted one, or the first. So our Lord says, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last;" thus declaring his eternity and that he is the cause and end of all things, ,; ; ; ; ; .
Aaron
The son of Amram and Jochabed, of the tribe of Levi, and brother of Moses and Miriam, ; born about the year B. C. 1574. He was three years older than Moses, and was the spokesman and assistant of the latter in bringing Israel out of Egypt, . His wife was Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab; and his sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. He was 83 years old when God summoned him to join Moses in the desert near Horeb. Cooperating with his brother in the exodus from Egypt, :36, he held up his hands in the battle with Amalek, ; and ascended Mount Sinai with him to see the glory of God, ,,.
Aaron’s chief distinction consisted in the choice of him and his male posterity for the priesthood. He was consecrated the first high priest by God’s directions, :46; ; and was afterwards confirmed in his office by the destruction of Korah and his company, by the staying of the plague at his intercession, and by the budding of his rod, :13. He was faithful and self-sacrificing in the duties of his office, and meekly "held his peace" when his sons Nadab and Abihu were slain, . Yet he fell sometimes into grievous sins: he made the golden calf at Sinai, ; he joined Miriam in sedition against Moses, ; and with Moses disobeyed God at Kadesh, . God, therefore did not permit him to enter the promised land; but he died on Mount Hor, in Edom, in the fortieth year after leaving Egypt, at the age of about 123 years, ; . In , he is said to have died at Mosera, which was probably the station in the valley west of Mount Hor, whence he ascended into the mount. The Arabs still pretend to show his tomb on the mount, and highly venerate it. In his office as high priest, Aaron was an eminent type of Christ, being "called of God," and anointed; bearing the names of the tribes on his breast; communicating God’s will by Urim and Thummim; entering the Most Holy place on the Day of Atonement, "not without blood;" and interceding for and blessing the people of God. See PRIEST.
Aaronites
Descendants of Aaron the high priest, so called ; . Thirteen cities were assigned to them, in Judah and Benjamin, ; .
Ab
1. Father, found in many compound Hebrew proper names: as Abner, father of light; Absalom, father of peace.
2. The fifth month of the sacred, and the eleventh of the civil year among the Jews. It began, according to the latest authorities, with the new moon of August. It was a sad month in the Jewish calendar. On its first day, a fast was observed for the death of Aaron, ; and on its ninth, another was held in memory of the divine edicts which excluded so many that came out of Egypt from entering the promised land; and also, of the overthrow of the first and second temple. See MONTH.
Abaddon, Or Apollyon
The former name is Hebrew, and the latter Greek, and both signify the destroyer, . He is called the angel of death, or the destroying angel.
Abana, And Pharpar
Rivers of Damascus, . The Abana, (or, Amana), was undoubtedly the present Barada, the Chrysorrhoas of the Greeks. It is a clear, cold, and swift mountain stream, rising in Anti-Lebanon, north east of Hermon, flowing south east into the plain, and near Damascus turning eastward, skirting the northern wall of the city, and terminating 20 miles east in one of three large lakes. It is a perennial river, and so copious, that though no less than nine or ten branches or canals are drawn off from it to irrigate the plain and supply the city and the villages around it, the stream is a large one to the end.
The only other independent river of any size in the territory of Damascus is the Awaj, which crosses the plain south of Damascus, and enters the southernmost of the three lakes above referred to. This is supposed to be the Pharpar of the Bible. As these rivers of Damascus were never dry, but made the region they watered like the Garden of Eden for fertility and beauty, Naaman might well contrast them with most of "the waters of Israel," which dry up under the summer sun. See AMANA.
Abarim
Mountains east of the Dead Sea and the lower Jordan, "over against Jericho," within the territory of Moab and the tribe of Reuben. It is impossible to define exactly their extent. The mountains Nebe, Pisgah, and Peor were in the Abarim, ; ,; ; . Ije-abarim, , seems to denote the southern part of the same chain.
Abba
A Syriac word signifying father. When the Jews came to speak Greek, this word may have been retained from their ancient language, as being easier to pronounce, especially for children, than the Greek pater. It expressed the peculiar tenderness, familiarity, and confidence of the love between parent and child, ; ; .
Abednego
Servant of Nego; a Chaldee name give to Azariah, one of the three captive young princes of Judah, who were Daniel’s companions at the court of the king of Babylon, . Their virtue, wisdom, and piety secured their promotion at court, ; ,; and their steadfastness in witnessing for God among idolaters, with their deliverance from the fiery furnace by the Angel-Jehovah, led many to acknowledge the true God, and rendered these pious youth for ever illustrious as monuments of the excellence and safety of faith in Him, ; . See FURNACE.
Abel
1. The second son of Adam and Eve. He became a shepherd, and offered to God a sacrifice from his flocks, at the same time that Cain his brother offered the fruits of the earth. God had respect to Abel’s sacrifice, and not to Cain’s; hence Cain in anger killed Abel, . It was "by faith" that Abel offered a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain; that is, his heart was right towards God, and he worshipped Him in trustful obedience to the divine directions. His offering, made by the shedding of blood, was that of a penitent sinner confiding in the atonement ordained of God; and it was accepted, "God testifying of his gifts," probably by fire from heaven; "by which he obtained witness that he was righteous," that is, justified, . "The blood of Abel" called from the ground for vengeance, ; but the blood of Christ claims forgiveness and salvation for his people, ;
2. Abel is also a prefix in the names of several towns. In such cases it signifies a grassy place or meadow.
Abelbethmaachah
Meadow of the house of Maachah; a town in the tribe of Naphtali, north of lake Merom. It was besieged in the rebellion of Sheba, ; eighty years afterwards it was taken by Ben- hadad, , and again, after 200 years, by Tiglathpileser, . It is called Abelmaim in . Compare . Also simply Abel, .
Abelcarmaim
Meadow of vineyards; a village of the Ammonites, six miles from Rabbath-Ammon; in the history of Jephthah it is called "the plain of the vineyards," .
Abelmeholah
Or ABEL-MEA, a town of Issachar, near the Jordan, ten miles south of Beth-shean. Near this place Gideon defeated the Midianites, ; and here Elisha was born, .
Abelmizraim
Meadow of the Egyptians; so called from the seven days’ lamentation of Joseph and his company, on bringing up the body of Jacob from Egypt for burial, ,. It lay in the plain of Jericho, between that city and the Jordan.
Abelshittim
In the plains of Moab, east of the Jordan, and near Mount Peor. It was one of the last encampments of Israel before the death of Moses, ; called also Shittim, . Here the Israelites were enticed by the women of Moab and Midian into uncleanness and the idolatry of Baal-peor, and 24,000 died of the plague, .
Abia
In the New Testament the same as ABIJAH in the Old Testament, which see.
Abiah
Second son of Samuel, who appointed his brother and him, judges in Israel. Their corruption and injustice were the pretext upon which the people demanded a king, .
Abiathar
Son of Ahimelech, and tenth high priest of the Jews. When Saul sent his emissaries to Nob, to destroy all the priests there, Abiathar, who was young, fled to David in the wilderness, , with whom he continued in the character of priest, ; . Being confirmed in the high priesthood on David’s accession to the throne, he aided in bringing up the ark to Jerusalem, ,, and adhered to David during the rebellion of Absalom, , but afterwards was led to follow Adonijah, thus strangely betraying his royal friend in his old age. Solomon succeeding to the throne, degraded him from the priesthood, and sent him to Anathoth, ,; thus fulfilling the prediction made to Eli 150 years before, . Saul, it would appear, had transferred the dignity of the high priesthood from the line of Ithamar, to which Eli belonged, to that of Eleazar, by conferring the office upon Zadok. Thus there were, at the same time, two high priests in Israel; Abiathar with David, and Zadok with Saul. This double priesthood continued from the death of Ahimelech till the reign of Solomon, after which the office was held by Zadok and his race alone.
A difficulty arises from the circumstance that, in , Abiathar is said to be deprived of the priest’s office by Solomon; while in ; ; ,,, Ahimelech the son of Abiathar is said to be high priest along with Zadok. The most probable solution is, that both father and son each bore the two names Ahimelech and Abiathar, as was not at all unusual among the Jews. See under ABIGAIL. In this was also we may remove the difficulty arising from , where Abiathar is said to have given David the showbread, in allusion to , where it is Ahimelech.
Abib
The first month of the ecclesiastical year of the Hebrews; afterwards called Nisan. It answered nearly to our April. Abib signifies green ears of grain, or fresh fruits. It was so named, because grain, particularly barley, was in ear at the time. On the tenth of this month the passover-lamb was set apart; it was killed on the fourteenth towards sunset, and eaten the same evening after the fifteenth day had begun. The seven days from the fifteenth to the twenty-first inclusive, were "the feast of unleavened bread," closing with a solemn convocation, :22.
Abiezer
Great-grandson of Manasseh, ,, and founder of the family to which Gideon belonged, ; Jud 6.34; 8.2. In this last verse, "the vintage of Abiezer" means the first rout of the Midianites by the 300, mostly Abiezrites; and "the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim," means the capture of Oreb and Zeeb, and other fruits of the victory, gathered by the Ephraimites.
Abigail
1. Formerly the wife of Nabal of Carmel, and afterwards of David. Upon receiving information of Nabal’s ingratitude to David, , she loaded several asses with provisions, and attended by some of here domestics went out to meet him. Her manners and conversation gained for her his esteem, and as soon as the days of mourning for Nabal’s death, which happened soon afterwards, were over, he made her his wife. The issue of the marriage was, as some critics suppose, two sons, Chileab and Daniel, ; ; but it is most probable that these names were borne by one person.
2. A sister of David, and mother of Amasa, ,.
Abihail
The wife of Rehoboam, king of Judah, ; the "daughter" - that is here, the descendant-of Eliab, David’s brother.
Abihu
The second son of Aaron, consecrated to the priesthood with his three brethren, ; but consumed shortly after by fire from the Lord, with Nadab his brother, for burning incense with common fire instead of that kept perpetually on the altar of burnt-offering, ; ; . As this is immediately followed by the prohibition of wine to the priests when ministering in the tabernacle, it is not improbable that Nadab and Abihu were intoxicated when thus transgressing. Their death is a solemn warning not to presume to worship God except with incense kindled at the one altar which Christ hath sanctified, . It is a dangerous thing, in the service of God, to decline from his own institutions. We have to do with a God who is wise to prescribe his own worship, his to require what he has prescribed, and powerful to avenge what he has not prescribed.
Abijah
1. Called, in , Abia; founder of a family among the posterity of Aaron. When David divided the priests into twenty-four courses, to perform the temple-service, in turn, the eighth class was called after him, . To this class of course Zacharias belonged.
2. Son of Jeroboam, the first king of Israel. He died young, and much beloved and lamented, for in him there was found some good thing towards the Lord,
3. Son of Rehoboam, the first king of Judah; called in, , Abijam. He came to the throne A.M. 3046, and reigned only three years. In war with Jeroboam he gained a signal victory, ; yet he followed the evil example of his father. His mother Maachah, or Michaiah, was probably the granddaughter of Absalom, ; ;
4. The mother of King Hezekiah, .
Abilene
The name of a district of country on the eastern declivity of Anti-Lebanon, from twelve to twenty miles north-west of Damascus, towards Heliopolis, or Baalbek; so called from the city of ABILA, and also called Abilene of Lysanias, to distinguish it from others. This territory, in the fifteenth year of Tiberius emperor of Rome, was governed as a tetrarchate by a certain Lysanias, .
Abimelech
1. King of Gerar of the Philistines, who took Sarah into his harem; but being warned of God in a dream, he restored her to Abraham, and gave him 1,000 pieces of silver as a "covering of the eyes" for Sarah, that is, as an atoning present, and to be a testimony of her innocence in the eyes of all. He afterwards made a league with Abraham, .
2. Another king of Gerar, probably son of the former, and contemporary with Isaac. He rebuked Isaac for dissimulation in regard to Rebekah, and afterwards made a new league with him at Beersheba, .
3. A son of Gideon by a concubine, made himself king of Shechem after his father’s death, and slew his father’s seventy sons on one stone, only Jotham the youngest being left. Jotham reproached the Shechemites for their conduct, in his celebrated fable to the trees. Three years afterwards, they rose against Abimelech; he defeated them, and destroyed their city, but as he was attacking Thebez, a woman threw down a piece of millstone on his head, which so injured him, that he called to his armor bearer to slay him, .
Abinadab
The same as Aminadab, b and m is often interchanged in Hebrew.
1. A son of Jesse, one of the three who followed Saul in the war with the Philistines, ; .
2. A son of Saul, slain in the battle at Gilboa, .
3. A Levite of Kirjath-jearim, in whose house the ark of God, when restored by the Philistines, remained seventy years, ; .
Abiram
A prince of Reuben, who with Korah, Dathan, etc., conspired to overthrow the authority of Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, .
Abishag
A beautiful virgin of Shunem, in Issachar, chosen to marry David in his old age and cherish him. After his death, Adonijah sought her hand to promote his treasonable aspirations, and was punished by death, :46.
Abishai
A son of Zeruiah, David’s sister, brother of Joab and Asahel, one of the bravest of David’s mighty men, , and always faithful to his royal uncle. He went with him alone to the tent of Saul, ; and was a leader in the war with Ish-bosheth, ,, in the war with the Edomites, ,, and with the Syrians and Ammonites, . In a battle with the Philistines, he rescued David, and slew Ishbi-benob the giant, ,. He lifted up his spear against three hundred, and slew them, ; and was with David in the affairs of Shimei, Absalom, and Sheb, ; ; ,.
Abishua
Son of Phinehasm and fourth high priest, . He was probably a contemporary of Eglon and Ehud, .
Abner
The son of Ner, Saul’s uncle, and the general of his armies, . For seven years after Saul’s death, he supported Ish-bosheth; but being reproved by him for his conduct towards Rizpah, he undertook to unite the whole kingdom under David. He was, however, treacherously slain by Joab, either to revenge the death of Asahel, Joab’s brother, who Abner had formerly killed, or more probably from jealousy. David abhorred this perfidious act, and composed an elegy on his death, ; . He also charged Solomon to punish the crime of Joab with death, ,.
Abomination
A term applied in Scripture to objects of great detestation. Idols and their worship were so named, because they robbed God of his honor, while the rites themselves were impure and cruel, ,; . The term was used respecting the Hebrews in Egypt, ; , either because they ate and sacrificed animals held sacred by the Egyptians, or because they did not observe those ceremonies in eating which made a part of the religion of Egypt; and in , because they were "wandering shepherds," a race of whom had grievously oppressed Egypt.
Abomination Of Desolation
The ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION foretold by, denotes, probably, the image of Jupiter, erected in the temple of Jerusalem by command of Antiochus Epiphanes. But by the Abomination of Desolation spoken of by our Lord, ; , and foretold as about to be seen at Jerusalem during the last siege of that city by the Romans under Titus, is probably meant the Roman army, whose standards had the images of their gods and emperors upon them, and were worshipped in the precincts of the temple when that and the city were taken. . See ARMOR.
Abraham
Father of a multitude, ,; the great founder of the Jewish nation. He was a son of Terah, a descendant of Shem, and born in Ur, a city of Chaldea, A.M. 2008, B. C. 1996, ,. Here he lived seventy years, when at the call of God he left his idolatrous kindred, and removed to Haran, in Mesopotamia, , accompanied by his father, his wife Sarai, his brother Nahor, and his nephew Lot. A few years after, having buried his father, he again removed at the call of God, with his wife and nephew, and entered the land of promise as a nomad or wandering shepherd. Sojourning for a time at Shechem, he built here, as was his custom, an alter to the Lord, who appeared to him, and promised that land to his seed. Removing from place to place for convenience of water and pasturage, he was at length driven by a famine into Egypt, where he dissembled in calling his wife his sister, . Returning to Canaan rich in flocks and herds, he left Lot to dwell in the fertile valley of the lower Jordan, and pitched his own tents in Mamre, . A few years after, he rescued Lot and his friends from captivity, and received the blessing of Melchizedek, . Again God appeared to him, promised that his seed should be like the stars for number, and foretold their oppression in Egypt 400 years, and their return to possess the promised land, . But the promise of a son being yet unfulfilled, Sarai gave him Hagar her maid for a secondary wife, of whom Ishmael was born, . After thirteen years, God again appeared to him, and assured him that the heir of the promise should yet be born of his wife, whose name was then changed to Sarah. He established also the covenant of circumcision, . Here, too, occurred the visit of the three angels, and the memorable intercession with the Angel-Jehovah for the inhabitants of Sodom, . After this, Abraham journeyed south to Gerah, where he again called Sarah his sister. In this region Isaac was born; and soon after, Hagar and Ishmael were driven out to seek a new home, . About twenty-five years after, God put to trial the faith of Abraham, by commanding him to sacrifice Isaac, his son and the heir of the promise, upon Mount Moriah, . Twelve years after, Sarah died, and the cave of Machpelag was bought for a burial- place, . Abraham sent his steward, and obtained a wife for Isaac from his pious kindred in Mesopotamia, . He himself also married Keturah, and had six sons, each one the founder of a distinct people in Arabia. At the age of 175, full of years and honors, he died, and was buried by his sons in the same tomb with Sarah, .
The character of Abraham is one of the most remarkable in Scripture. He was a genuine oriental patriarch, a prince in the land; his property was large, his retinue very numerous, and he commanded the respect of the neighboring people: and yet he was truly a stranger and a pilgrim, the only land he possessed being the burial-place he had purchased. Distinguished by his integrity, generosity, and hospitality, he was most of all remarkable for his simple and unwavering faith, a faith that obeyed without hesitation or delay, and recoiled not from the most fearful trial ever imposed upon man, so that he is justly styled "the father of the faithful," that is, of believers. No name in history is venerated by so large a portion of the human race, Mohammedans as well as Jews and Christians. As the ancestor of Christ, in whom all the nations are blessed, and as the father of all believers, the covenant is abundantly fulfilled to him: his seed are as the stars of heaven and with them he shall inherit the heavenly Canaan.
Abraham’s Bosom
In , Lazarus is said to have been carried to Abraham’s bosom, that is, to the state of bliss in paradise which the father of the faithful was enjoying. This is often represented by a feast, by sitting down to a banquet, ; . To lie on one’s bosom refers to the oriental mode of reclining at table, . See EATING.
Abram
High father, afterwards named Abraham.
Absalom
Only son of David by Maacah, . He was remarkable for his beauty and for his fine head of hair, , which being cut from time to time when it incommoded him, used to weigh 200 shekels by the king’s standard, that is, probable about thirty ounces, an extraordinary, but not incredible weight. Ammon, another of the king’s sons, having violated his sister Tamar, Absalom caused him to be slain, and then fled to Geshur, where Talmai his grandfather was king. After three years, at the intercession of Joab, David permitted him to return to Jerusalem, and at length received him again into favor, . Absalom, however, grossly abused his father’s kindness; he soon began to play the demagogue, and by many artful devices "stole the hearts of the people," and got himself proclaimed king in Hebron. David retired from Jerusalem; Absalom followed him; and in the battle, which ensued, the troops of the latter were defeated, and he himself, being caught by his head in a tree, was found and slain by Joab. David was much affected by his death, and uttered bitter lamentations over him, .
His history affords instructive lessons to the young against the sins to which they are prone, particularly vanity, ambition, lawless passions, and filial disobedience.
Accad
One of the four cities built in the plain of Shinar by Nimrod, founder of the Assyrian empire, . Its site is identified by some travellers with ruins, which lie from six to nine miles west of Bagdad. There is here a ruinous structure called Tell-i-nimrood, Hill of Nimrod, consisting of a mass of brickwork 400 feet in circumference at the base, and 125 feet high, standing on a mound of rubbish. Most recently, Col. Raw claims that the site of Accad was at a place now called Niffer, amid the marshes of Southern Babylonia.
Accho
A city of the tribe of Asher, . In the New Testament, Accho is called Ptolemais, ; from one of the Ptolemais, who enlarged and beautified it. The crusaders gave it the name of Acre, of St. John of Acre. It is still called Akka by the Turks. It sustained several sieges during the crusades, and was the last fortified place wrested from the Christians by the Turks.
The town is situated on the coast of the Mediterranean sea, thirty miles south of Tyre, on the north angle of a bay to which it gives its name, and which extends in a semicircle of three leagues, as far as the point of Mount Carmel, south-west of Acre. After its memorable siege by Bonaparte, when he was repulsed by Sir Sidney Smith, in 1799, Accho was much improved and strengthened, and its population was estimated at from 18,000 to 20,000. It has since then suffered greatly, having been besieged six months by Ibrahim Pacha, in 1832, and bombarded by an English fleet in 1840. Present population, (1859), 10,000 or 12,000.
Accho and all the seacoast beyond it northwards, was considered as the heathen land of the Jews.
Aceldama
Field of blood, a small field south of Jerusalem, which the priest purchased with the thirty pieces of silver that Judas had received as the price of our Savior’s blood, ; . Pretending that it was not lawful to appropriate this money to sacred uses, because it was the price of blood, they purchased with it the so- called potter’s field, to be a burying-place for strangers. Judas is said, , to have purchased the field, because it was bought with his money. Tradition points out this field on the steep side of the hill of Evil Counsel overhanging the valley of Hinnom on the south. It appears to have been used, since the time of he crusaders, as a sepulchre for pilgrims, and subsequently by the Armenians. At present it is not thus used.
Achaia
Is used in the New Testament for the whole region of Greece south of Macedonia, including the Peloponnesus, or Morea, and some territory north of the gulf of Corinth, ; ; . Achaia Proper, however, was a province of Greece, of which Corinth was the capital, and embraced the northwestern part of the Pelopennesus. See GREECE.
Achan
The son of Carmi, who disobeyed the strict charge of the Lord, and purloined some of the spoils of Jericho which were doomed to destruction. This brought a curse and defeat upon the people. He was discovered by lot, and stoned with all his family in the valley of Achor, north of Jericho, ; . He is called Achar in .
Achish
Kin of Gath, a city of the Philistines, to whom David twice fled for protection from Saul. On the first occasion, being recognized by the king’s officers, and thinking his life in danger, he feigned madness, and by this device escaped, . Several years after, he returned with a band of 600 men, and was welcomed by Achish as an enemy of Saul and of Israel. Achish gave him Ziklag for a residence; and being deceived as to the views and operations of David, expected his assistance in a war with Israel, but was persuaded by his officers to send him home to Ziklag, :11.
Achmetha
, supposed to mean Ecbatana, a city of Media, inferior to none in the East but Babylon and Nineveh. It was surrounded by seven walls, of different heights and colors, and was a summer residence of the Persian kings after Cyrus. Travelers identify it with the modern Hamadan, in which many Jews still reside, and where they profess to point out the tomb of Mordecai and Esther.
Achor
Trouble, a valley north of Jericho; so called, perhaps, from the troubles occasioned by the sin of Achan, who was here put to death, . The prophets allude to it with promises of hope and joy in the gospel era, ; .
Achsah
The daughter of Caleb, given in marriage with a large dowry to his nephew Othniel, as a prize for taking the city Debir, ; ,.
Achshaph
A royal city of the Canaanites, , conquered by Joshua, and assigned to the tribe of Asher, ; .
Achzib
A city of Asher, from which, however, the Jews were unable to expel the Canaanites, . It was afterwards called by the Greeks, Ecdippa, and is now named Zib; it lay on the seacoast, ten miles north of Acre.
Acts Of The Apostles
A canonical book of the New Testament, written by Luke as a sequel to his gospel, and a history in part of the early church. It is not, however, a record of the acts of all the apostles, but chiefly of those of Peter and Paul. In his gospel, Luke described the founding of Christianity in what Christ did, taught, and suffered; in the Acts he illustrates its diffusion, selecting what was best fitted to show how the first followers of Christ in building up his church. Beginning were his gospel indeed, he narrates the ascension of the Savior and the conduct of the disciples thereupon; the outpouring of the Holy Spirit according to Christ’s promise; the miraculous preaching of the apostles, their amazing success, and the persecutions raised against them; with other events of moment to the church at Jerusalem, till they were scattered abroad. He then shows how Judaism was superseded, and how Peter was led to receive to Christian fellowship converts from the Gentiles. The remainder of the narrative is devoted to the conversion and calling of the apostle Paul, his missionary zeal, labors, and sufferings, and the ends with his two years’ imprisonment at Rome.
Luke himself witnessed, to a great extent, the events he narrates. His Greek is the most classical in the New Testament; and the view he gives of the spirit of the early church so many of whose members had "been with the Lord," is invaluable. The book was probably written about A. D. 64, that is, soon after the time at which the narration terminates. The place where it was written is not known.
In order to read the Acts of the Apostles with intelligence and profit, it is necessary to have a sufficient acquaintance with geography, with the manners of the times and people referred to, and with the leading historical events. The power of the Romans, with the nature and names of the public offices they established, and the distinctions among them, must be understood, as well as the disposition and political opinions of the unconverted Jewish nation, which were to prevalent among the Christianized Hebrews.
Adam
1. The progenitor and representative head of our race; formed of the dust of the ground, and made a living soul by the Creator’s breath. He was the last work of the creation, and received dominion over all that the earth contained. That he might not be alone, God provided Eve as a helpmeet for him, and she became his wife. Marriage is thus a divine institution, first in order of time, as well as of importance and blessedness to mankind. Adam was made a perfect man-complete in every physical, mental, and spiritual endowment; and placed in the Garden of Eden on probation, holy and happy, but liable to sin. From this estate he fell by breaking the express command of God, through the temptations of Satan and the compliance of Eve; and thus brought the curse upon himself and all his posterity. Sovereign grace interposed; a Savior was revealed, and the full execution of the curse stayed; but Adam was banished from Eden and its tree of life, and reduced to a life of painful toil. His happiness was farther imbittered by witnessing the fruits of his fall in his posterity. Cain his first born son, and Abel the second, born in the likeness of their fallen parents, were ere long last to them-the one slain, and the other a fugitive. They probably had many other sons and daughters, but the name of Seth alone is given. Adam lived to the age of nine hundred and thirty years, and saw the earth rapidly peopled by his descendants; but "the wickedness of man was great upon the earth." At the time of his death, Lamech, the father of Noah, was fifty-six years of age; and being in the line of those who "walked with God," had probably heard the early history of the race from the lips of the penitent Adam.
The curse pronounced on man includes not only physical labor and toil on a barren and thorny earth, and the physical dissolution of the body, but also the exposure of the soul, the nobler part, to "everlasting death." In that very day he should lose the moral image of his Maker, and become subject not only to physical death, but also to God’s eternal wrath and curse, which is death in the highest sense of the word, and is the doom which has fallen upon all his race. Such is the view of the apostle Paul; who everywhere contrasts the death introduced into the world through Adam, with the life which is procured for our race through Jesus Christ, . This life is spiritual; and the death, in its highest sense, is also spiritual. So far as the penalty is temporal and physical, no man is or can be exempt from it; but to remove the spiritual and eternal punishment, Christ has died; and he who comes to him in penitence and faith will avoid the threatened death, and enter into life eternal, both of the body and the soul.
The Redeemer is called "the second Adam," , as being the head of his spiritual seed, and the source of righteousness and life to all believers, as the first Adam was the sorrow of sin and death to all his seed.
2. A city near the Jordan, towards the sea of Tiberias, at some distance from which the waters of the Jordan were heaped up for the passage of the Jews, .
Adamant
A name anciently used for the diamond, the hardest of all minerals. It is used for cutting or writing upon glass and other hard substances, . It is also employed figuratively, ; . Others supposed the smiris, or emery, to be meant.
Adar
The twelfth month of the Hebrew ecclesiastical year, and the sixth of the civil year. In this month occurred the celebrated feast of Purim. It nearly answers to our March. As the lunar year, which the Jews follow, is shorter than the solar year by eleven days, which after three years by eleven days, which, after three years, make about a month, they then insert a thirteenth month, which they call Ve- Adar, or a second Adar. See MONTH.
Adder
A species of serpent, more commonly called viper. The word adder is used five times in the Bible, as a translation of four different serpents of the venomous sort. In , it seems to mean the cerastes, or horned viper, of the color of sand, and very deadly bite; accustomed to lie hidden in the tracks in the sand, and dart up on the unwary traveller. In ; , it is probably the asp. In perhaps the tarantula, or some serpent that strikes backwards. See SERPANT, VIPER.
Admah
One of the four cities in the plain of Siddim, destroyed by fire from heaven and covered by the Dead Sea, ; ,; .
Adonibezek
Lord of Bezek, a Canaanite tyrant of Bezek, east of Shechem. Having taken seventy of the neighboring petty chiefs, he disabled them by cutting off their thumbs and great toes, and fed them like dogs. The same barbarous treatment was meted out to him, when defeated at the head of an army of Canaanites and Perizzites, by Judah and Simeon, .
Adonijah
The fourth son of David, by Haggith, . After the death of Amnon and Absalom, he aspired to the throne, although it was promised to Solomon, his younger brother. Having gained over Joab and Abiathar and other adherents, he at length openly revolted and claimed the crown while David was yet living. The news of this revolt being brought to the king at once; upon which the friends of Adonijah dispersed, and he took refuge at the horns of the altar. Solomon dismissed him with only an admonition. But soon after the death of David, he applied for the hand of Abishag, thus renewing his pretensions to the throne, for which he was put to death, :46.
Adoniram
A receiver of tributes under David and Solomon, and director of the thirty thousand men sent to Lebanon to cut timber, . The same person is also called Adoram, by contraction, ; ; and also Hadoram, . He was stoned to death by the revolted ten tribes, having been sent to them by Rehoboam, either to induce them to return, or to test by gathering the taxes.
Adonizedek
A king of Jerusalem who made an alliance with four other kings against Joshua. A great battle was fought at Gibeon, where the Lord aided Israel by a terrific hailstorm, and by miraculously prolonging the day. The five kings were utterly routed, and hid themselves in a cave at Makkedah; but were taken by Joshua, and put to death, .
Adoption
Is an act by which a person takes a stranger into his family, acknowledges him for his child, and constitutes him heir of his estate. Jacob’s adoption of his two grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh, , was a kind of substitution, whereby he intended that these his grandson should have each his lot in Israel, as if they had been his own sons: "Ephraim and Manasseh are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine." As he give no inheritance to their father Joseph, the effect of this adoption was simply the doubling of their inheritance.
But Scripture afford instances of another kind of adoption-that of a father having a daughter only, and adopting her children. Thus, , Machir, grandson of Joseph, and father of Gilead, , gave his daughter to Hezron, "who took her; and was a son of sixty years," sixty years of age, "and she bare hi Segub; and Segub begat Jair, who had twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead," ; . However, as well he as his posterity, instead of being reckoned to the family of Judah, as they would have been by their paternal descent from Hezron, is reckoned as sons of Machir, the father of Gilead. Nay, more, it appears, , that this Jair, who was in fact the son of Segub, the son of Segub, the son of Hezron, the son of Judah, is expressly called "Jair, the son of Manasseh," because his maternal great-grandfather was Machir to the son of Manasseh. In like manner we read that Mordecai adopted Esther, his niece; he took her to himself to be a daughter, . So the daughter of Pharaoh adopted Moses; and he became her son, . So we read, , that Naomi had a son-a son is born to Naomi; when indeed it was the son of Ruth.
At the present day, adoption is not uncommon in the East, where it is made before a public officer with legal forms.
In the New Testament, adoption denotes that act of God’s free grace by which, on being justified through faith, we are received into the family of God, and made heirs of the inheritance of heaven. It is "in Christ," and through his atoning merits, that believers "receive the adoption of sons," ,. Some of the privileges of this state are, deliverance from a fearful and servile spirit; the special love and care of our heavenly Father; conformity to his image; a filial confidence in him; free access to him at all times; the witness of the Holy Spirit, whereby we cry, "Abba, Father;" and the title to our heavenly home, ; ,.
Adoraim
A town in the south of Judah, fortified by Rehoboam, . Robinson has identified it with the modern Dura, a large village five miles west by south from Hebron.
Adoram
See ADONIRAM
Adrammelech
1. Son of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, ; , who, upon returning to Nineveh after his fatal expedition against Hezekiah, was killed by his two sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, through fear, according to Jewish tradition, of being sacrificed to his idol Nisroch. They then fled to the mountains of Armenia, B. C. 713.
2. One of the gods adored by the inhabitants of Sepharvaim, who settled in Samaria, in the stead of those Israelites who were carried beyond the Euphrates. They made their children pass through fire, in honor of this false deity, and of another called Anammelech, . Some think that Adrammelech represented the sun, and Anammelech the moon.
William W. Rand (ed.), A Dictionary of the Holy Bible, for General Use in the Study of the Scriptures (American Tract Society, 1859). Public domain. Text from the CrossWire Bible Society.