Hahn - Catholic Bible Dictionary

New York: Doubleday, 2009. – 1008 p.

ISBN-13:‎ 978-0385512299

 

A dictionary is, by definition, a reference book listing terms important to a particular subject along with a discussion of their meanings and applications.

 

If the Bible is what Christians say it is, can there be any task more daunting than the compiling of a Bible dictionary? For we believe that the Bible is the written Word of God. We believe it is “inspired by God” (2 Tim 3:16). We believe it is not a dead letter, but “living and active” (Heb 4:12). We believe it “must be fulfilled” (Luke 22:37) and “cannot be broken” (John 10:35). What’s more, it is not subject merely to private interpretation (2 Pet 1:20), but to the discernment of the Church. For people can easily “twist” Scripture “to their own destruction” (2 Pet 3:16).

 

The Bible is as sharp as any two-edged sword (Heb 4:12), and thus it should be handled with care.

 

Yet it should indeed be handled. The Bible itself exhorts us to attend to its study (1 Tim 4:13) and praises those who “examine the Scriptures daily” (Acts 17:11).

 

We live in a time of unprecedented opportunities for Bible study. In the 1970s the Catholic Church revised its lectionary—the order of scriptural readings for the Mass. The readings now unfold in a three-year cycle and include all the books of both testaments of the Bible. The schema proved so effective in communicating the Word of God that it has been adopted and adapted by many Protestant bodies as well. Historians may one day judge the new lectionary to be the most significant ecumenical advance of the twentieth century.

 

The Mass is the one thing that Catholics experience on a weekly basis all their lives, and the Bible is the one book that they will hear at every Mass. Since Masses on Sundays and holy days usually include three readings from the two testaments, plus a fourth from the book of Psalms, the average faithful Catholic spends about fifteen hours a year in focused Bible study. If you include the other overtly biblical parts of the Mass (the “Holy, Holy, Holy,” the “Lamb of God,” the “Lord, Have Mercy,” and so on), the average time per annum doubles or triples. For the Catholic who goes to daily Mass, the times are quite impressive, rivaling even the hours spent by some scholars.

 

What does the lectionary mean, practically speaking? It means that Catholics who keep to their minimum obligations—attendance at Mass on Sundays and holy days—are immersed in the Bible. What’s more, since the lectionary itself is held in common by a growing number of Christians, we find that Catholics and Protestants may find, more and more, that they are “on the same page,” so to speak.

 

The lectionary is the greatest, but surely not the only great new opportunity for Bible study. The Bible is not only fully divine, but also fully human; and so we have to work with its literary sense and historical background in order to get to the theological meaning. And, again, we are blessed to live in a season of abundance.

 

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EYE

The organ of sight. The eye in Scripture has several metaphorical meanings. The eye is considered a gift from God (Prov 20:12) and a mirror of the soul (Sir 14:8–9). Figuratively, the eye is a means of expressing the entire person or the will. Hence, to turn one’s eyes toward God is to be obedient entirely to his will (Ps 25:15; 123:2). Conversely, the eyes betray vices such as pride (Prov 6:17), covetousness (Sir 14:9; Jer 22:17), and greed—as with the blindness of judges (Exod 23:8) in accepting bribes. As death can enter the soul through the eyes, one should keep watch over his eyes (Prov 4:25, 23:26; Sir 9:5–9; cf. 2 Sam 11). “The eyes of God” imply God’s omniscience (2 Chr 16:9; Prov 15:3), power to judge, as with David (2 Sam 11:27), and lasting care for his creatures (1 Kgs 8:29; Isa 37:17).

 

LAZARUS

(Hebrew, “God helps”) The name of two men in the New Testament, one a character in a parable and the other a friend of Jesus. It is possible that the two are really the same person, though decisive evidence is lacking to confirm the identification.

 

1. The name of a poor man who appears in a parable of Jesus in Luke 16:19–31; Lazarus is the only proper name to appear in one of Jesus’s parables. In the parable, Lazarus dies and is carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom , while a rich man who made no effort to relieve the afflictions of the poor man dies and is carried to the flames of Hades (CCC, 633, 1021, 2463, 2831). Jesus may have had his friend Lazarus of Bethany in mind when he told this parable.

 

2. A resident of the village of Bethany and the brother of Martha and Mary. This Lazarus was raised from the dead by Jesus (John 11–12). Lazarus was loved by Jesus (John 11:3, 5, 36) as a friend (John 11:11); in the narrative, he does not speak. His death, which caused Jesus to weep, is vividly described and confirmed in the fourth Gospel: John points out the four days Lazarus spent in the tomb (John 11:6, 17, 39; cf. John 11:13–14), Martha’s fear of the stench of death (John 11:39), and Lazarus’s state in the tomb wrapped in cloths (John 11:44).

 

The resurrection of Lazarus is the sixth of the seven “signs” performed by Jesus in John’s Gospel. Similar resurrection miracles are recorded elsewhere in the Synoptic Gospels (cf. Mark 5:21–43; Luke 7:11–17). Jesus used the death of Lazarus as a means of glorifying God (John 9:3) that would also promote the faith of the disciples (John 11:15, 42) and manifest with great clarity the truth of Jesus’s authority (CCC 994). (See also Resurrection.)

 

The resurrection of Lazarus was also the last of Jesus’s signs before the Passion, and it spurred the enemies of Jesus into action against him. Thus the resurrection of Lazarus was a sign of Jesus’s own Resurrection and triumph over death and the grave, which itself was the final sign of Jesus’s power (John 11:4553, 12:10–11; cf. Mark 11:18; Luke 19:47–48) (CCC 640, 2604).

 

RAGES

Also Ragae, a city in Media, the home of Gabael, to whom Tobit entrusted his money and from whom Tobias collected it (Tob 1:14; 4:1, 20; 5:5; 6:12; 9:2). The city (modern Rai) was located five miles to the southeast of Tehran, Iran.