Tenney – Silva - The Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible

Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009. – 5616 p. (5 volumes)

ePub Edition JUNE 2010 ISBN: 978-0-310-87700-4

ISBN 978-0-310-24135-5 (hardcover, printed)

ISBN 978-0-310-24136-2 (set)

 

Since its initial publication in 1975, the Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible has provided a treasury of knowledge for anyone interested in the biblical text and the historical context of Scripture. With its breadth of coverage, detailed treatments, reverent approach to the text, and profuse illustrations, this work has met the needs of scholars, pastors, and serious students of the Bible for over three decades. The present revised edition seeks to preserve the original contributions as much as possible while at the same time updating the material to serve a new generation.

 

Accordingly, hundreds of brief new articles have been added, making it easier for the user now to obtain quick information on a broad range of relevant topics, including Judaism (e.g, “Akiba, Rabbi”; “Mishnah”; “Tosefta”), the ANE (“Aleppo”; “Lagash”; “Parthians”), Greco-Roman culture (“Acropolis”; “Epictetus”; “Marcus Aurelius”), extrabiblical documents (“Adam, Testament of”; “Execration Texts”; “Shem, Treatise of”), early Christianity (“Epiphanius”; “Irenaeus”; “Nag Hammadi Library”), and assorted items (“amanuensis”; “linguistics”; “rhetorical criticism”).

 

Moreover, some twenty new in-depth articles have been commissioned, including “Apologetics” (William Edgar), “Cartography, Biblical” (Barry J. Beitzel), “Ebla” (Richard S. Hess), “Deuteronomistic History” (J. Alan Groves), “Ethics in the Old Testament” (Esteban Voth), “Ethics of Paul” (Alexander Cheung), “God, Biblical Doctrine of” (John M. Frame), “Land, Theology of” (Carl G. Rasmussen), “Pseudonymity” (Stanley Porter), “Type, Typology” (Grant R. Osborne), “Union with Christ” (Richard B. Gaffin, Jr.), “Warrior, Divine” (Tremper Longman III), “Wars, Jewish” (J. Julius Scott, Jr.).

 

Various existing articles have been totally rewritten (e.g., “Greek Language,” “Septuagint”). Others have received substantive updating, such as “Archaeology” (Richard S. Hess), “Biblical Criticism” (Grant R. Osborne), “Dead Sea Scrolls” (Martin G. Abegg, Jr.), “Versions of the Bible, English” (Mark L. Strauss). All other articles have been carefully reviewed and, when necessary, corrected; frequently, new material has been added alerting the reader to developments in the field.

 

Special effort has been expended to make bibliographical references more current. Many hundreds of new titles have been included, with emphasis on publications from 1990 through 2007; works published in 2008 have been added less systematically. To aid the user in finding relevant material, thousands of new cross-references have been added (indicated with small caps). A large proportion of them are new entries that guide the reader to the relevant article(s). Within the body of the articles, cross-references are normally marked only upon first mention.

 

The original edition of ZPEB was based primarily on the KJV and the RSV (with frequent reference to the ASV). Because of the historical significance and continued use of the KJV, some of the attention given to this translation has been preserved; for example, all of its distinct name forms (including those in the Apocrypha) still receive a separate entry, with a cross-reference to the form used in the NIV (or in the NRSV Apocrypha). On the other hand, articles that summarized the biblical data on the basis of renderings from the KJV (and RSV) have been rewritten. All biblical quotations, unless otherwise noted, come from the NIV (with selective references to changes in the TNIV, which appeared after most of the revisions had been completed). Frequently, however, alternate NRSV renderings are included; other translations, such as the NJPS, are referred to on a more selective basis. Quotations of the Apocrypha are taken from the NRSV.

 

Although scholars will continue to find the ZEB a useful resource, this new edition seeks to make the material more accessible to a broad readership. Accordingly, the use of Hebrew and Greek script is, with few exceptions, reserved for the initial parenthetical information in articles dealing with names (see also below, “Proper Names”); elsewhere, standard transliteration is employed. For the benefit of readers who are not proficient in the biblical languages, the Goodrick-Kohlenberger numbers are included with individual Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek words. For several reasons (including constraints associated with the use of electronic files), Hebrew verbs in their basic form are vocalized as qal perfect 3rd person masc. sing., even when that particular form is not attested.

 

Instead of including at the end of each article a list of works cited, bibliographical information is whenever possible incorporated into the article itself at the appropriate points. Many entries, however, still include at the end a substantial list of titles (mainly in English), guiding the user to further reading. While these titles occasionally refer to articles in scholarly journals, the focus is on books that either survey the field broadly or offer in-depth treatment of selected topics. Because commentaries are a major source of information for most of the material covered in this work, articles dealing with books of the Bible include more extensive bibliographies, with emphasis on commentaries that treat the biblical text in the original languages.

 

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Gall

 

This English term is used in Bible versions with two different meanings, both of which are related to the sense “bitterness.” (1) It may refer to a bitter or poisonous herb, comparable to HEMLOCK and WORMWOOD. The KJV uses it a number of times to render Hebrew rō(š H8032, which modern versions usually translate “poison” or the like (e.g., Deut. 29:18; Ps. 69:21; Jer. 8:14). According to some, this word refers to the inner pulp of the Colocynth, possibly the same as the “vine of Sodom” (Deut. 32:32; see VINE, VINEYARD). The belief that the gall comes from the poppy, whose juice is certainly bitter, is also feasible. A solution of poppy heads in water could describe the phrase mê-rō(š , “water of gall” ( Jer. 8:14; 9:15). However, the Hebrew word was perhaps used generally of any poisonous or semipoisonous bitter herb grown in Palestine at that time. In addition, most translations use “gall” to render Greek cholēe G5958 in Matt. 27:34, referring to the substance that was mixed with the wine given to the Lord; this Greek term probably means nothing more than “something bitter” (see below).

 

(2) The word gall can also be used in the sense of “bile,” the emulsive fluid secreted by the liver and stored in the gallbladder. This secretion can cause extreme bitterness and disgust, when by mistake left inside a cooked hare or rabbit. The figurative biblical usage of the word suggests a despairing or hopeless predicament, reflecting the ghastly taste of the gall bile. The word renders Hebrew mererâ H5354 (Job 16:13; cf. 20:25 NRSV for Heb. merorâ H5355, NIV, “liver”) and Greek cholē G5958 (Acts 8:23, lit., “in the gall of bitterness”).

 

W. E. SHEWELL-COOPER

 

Miriam

 

mihr’ee-uhm (image 459 H5319, derivation disputed, with proposals including Egyp. mryt [“beloved”], Akk. rym [“gift”], Heb. image 460 H5286 [“to be obstinate”], and others; see also MARY).

 

(1) Daughter of AMRAM and JOCHEBED, and sister of MOSES and AARON (Num. 26:59; 1 Chr. 6:3). Miriam is first mentioned by name on the occasion of her leading the women in the chorus of the Song of Moses at the time of the crossing of the RED SEA by the Israelites on dry land when they left Egypt (Exod. 15:20–21). At an earlier time she had watched the ark that her mother had prepared for the baby Moses (2:3–8). The little ark was put into the river and floated until PHARAOH’s daughter took the child from the ark. Miriam, seeing all of this, alertly offered to the princess the services of Moses’ real mother to care for the child.

 

In the book of Numbers she is mentioned frequently. With her brother Aaron, she opposed Moses at Hazeroth because of his wife who was a CUSHITE WOMAN (Num. 12:1). The opposition was more deep-seated than this, however, for it is clear that a jealousy over his leadership was involved (v. 2). God completely vindicated Moses at this time and rebuked Miriam and Aaron for their challenge to his leadership (vv. 4–8). Miriam was probably the instigator, for the brunt of the punishment for this insurrection fell upon her and she became leprous (v. 10). Aaron interceded before Moses for her and Moses pleaded to God that she be healed (vv. 11–12), and she was healed; however, she was compelled to remain outside the camp of Israel for seven days after the cleansing.

 

The death of Miriam is recorded. She died in the wilderness of ZIN at KADESH BARNEA and was buried there. The punishment of Miriam continued to be a warning in Israel that they should not rebel against the Lord’s chosen ones. Moses recalled the punishment of Miriam to the people in his address to Israel just before his own death (Deut. 24:9). She is long afterward still recognized as one of the great leaders of Israel in the wilderness (Mic. 6:4). She is called a prophetess and undoubtedly was highly regarded in Israel long after her death. (Jewish tradition identifies Miriam further as an ancestor of BEZALEL; cf. Jos. Ant. 3.6.1 §105.)

 

(2) Son of MERED (apparently by his wife BITHIAH, Pharaoh’s daughter) and descendant of JUDAH through CALEB (1 Chr. 4:17; note that NRSV, to clarify the sense, includes here part of v. 18). Some leave open the possibility that this Miriam too was a woman.

 

J. B. SCOTT