Youngblood - Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary

New and Enhanced Edition. - Thomas Nelson, 2014

ISBN 978-0-5291-0624-7

Rev. ed. of: Nelson’s illustrated Bible dictionary.

ISBN 0-8407-2071-8 (CB)

 

Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, New and Enhanced Edition is an up-to-date sourcebook of biblical information that is accurate, thorough, dependable, and easy to understand. More than 7,000 entries on the people, places, things, and doctrines of the Bible appear in the book, making it one of the most comprehensive one-volume Bible dictionaries ever published.

 

Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, New and Enhanced Edition consists of the most current, dependable findings and insights to enrich one’s study and teaching of the Bible. Some of the world’s leading evangelical scholars produced articles for the original edition—Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary edited by Herbert Lockyer, Sr., and published in 1986. Drawing upon the groundbreaking work of Dr. Lockyer, F.F. Bruce, R.K. Harrison, and others on that project, Ronald F. Youngblood undertook the general editorship of this comprehensive revision in 1995. Every entry in the dictionary was reviewed, revised, corrected, replaced, rewritten, and updated as needed to provide the most comprehensive, current, and dependable Bible dictionary available.

 

In addition to the complete revision and update, special features include: the largest typeface of any Bible dictionary on the market for easier reading; The Visual Survey of the Bible; a how-to-use guide for effective Bible study; a new full-color page design throughout to enhance user friendliness; full-color three-dimensional maps that bring Bible events and locations to life; and a fully updated cross-reference system.

 

Readers of Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, New and Enhanced Edition will also appreciate many of the features from the original edition, including: more than 500 full-color photographs throughout; the easy-to-use study and teaching outlines of books of the Bible; tables, charts, and diagrams that further illustrate Bible teachings and life in Bible times; and indexed maps to biblical places.

 

Users will benefit from the book’s extensive cross-reference system, which makes it easy to use with most of the popular English translations of the Bible available today. The key words in each article in the book are based on the New King James Version of the Bible (NKJV), but variant names from five additional translations—KJV, NASB, REB, NIV, and NRSV—are fully cross-referenced to this list.

 

Throughout the book, readers are also referred to related articles in the dictionary for further information. The article on the “Levites,” for example, contains a reference to priests (which appears in small capital letters: “PRIESTS”). This format refers the reader to the article on priests in the Dictionary that contributes to a better understanding of the Levites.

 

Finally, a selection of full-color maps from major periods of biblical history appears at the end of the book. A handy index preceding these maps helps the reader locate sites of specific cities, rivers, mountains, and nations in biblical times. Articles within the Dictionary referencing selected sites also refer the reader to the actual grid coordinates for these respective places on the maps.

 

Written in plain language, Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, New and Enhanced Edition enables Bible readers and teachers to do authoritative research, making their own Bible study and teaching more rewarding. The publisher sends forth this new edition trusting that it will provide a gateway of understanding to the full riches of the Word of God.

 

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GIBEONITES

 

[GIB ee un ites]—the Canaanite inhabitants of the city of GIBEON, probably also including the people of its three dependent towns (2 Sam. 21:1–9). When the Gibeonites heard of Joshua’s victories at JERICHO and AI, they pretended to be ambassadors from a far country in order to make a peace treaty with the invading Israelites (Josh. 9:4–5). When the deception was discovered, the Israelites permitted the Gibeonites to live, according to their agreement. However, they were made slaves, “woodcutters and water carriers for all the congregation and for the altar of the Lord” (Josh. 9:21).

 

Apparently King Saul broke this covenant of peace with the Gibeonites in later years. During the reign of David, when a three-year famine blighted the land, it was discovered that the Lord was angry with the “bloodthirsty house” of Saul, who had “killed the Gibeonites” (2 Sam. 21:1) in a frenzy of patriotic zeal. To make up for this wrong, David allowed the Gibeonites to execute seven of Saul’s descendants (2 Sam. 21:9).

 

POTSHERD

 

[POTT shurd]—a fragment of broken pottery; a shard found in an archaeological excavation. Job used a potsherd to scrape the sores of his body (Job 2:8). The sharp points of a potsherd are compared to the scales of LEVIATHAN (Job 41:30). The dryness of a potsherd is likened to one whose strength is totally gone (Ps. 22:15). Larger fragments of broken pottery were used to “take fire from the hearth”—that is, carry hot coals from one house to another—and “take water from the cistern” (Is. 30:14).

 

The same Hebrew word translated as potsherd can also refer to unbroken earthenware pots (Lev. 6:28; Jer. 19:1).

 

A careful analysis of the make-up, style, and method used in making pieces of pottery gives archaeologists an important clue for dating different levels of occupation of ancient cities. Potsherds were also used as a writing material in Bible times. These potsherds, called ostraca, contained tax receipts, military correspondence, and other short bits of information. The famous Lachish ostraca were potsherds containing correspondence between the city of Lachish and its military outposts.

 

RUST

 

—corrosion of metal. This term is often used symbolically in the Bible. In the Old Testament, the prophet Ezekiel’s parable of the corroded copper cauldron (Ezek. 24:6–13, NASB; pot, NRSV) speaks of the rust (or scum, NKJV, KJV) that has become encrusted on the cooking pots as a symbol of the ingrained filthiness of the unbelievers in Jerusalem. In the New Testament, Jesus contrasted “treasures on earth” that moth and rust destroy with “treasures in heaven” (Matt. 6:19–20).

 

In an indictment of the rich who have oppressed the poor, James said that the rich would be judged: “Your gold and silver are corroded and their corrosion will be a witness against you” (James 5:3).

 

RUTH [rooth] (friendship)—the mother of Obed and great-grandmother of David. A woman of the country of Moab, Ruth married Mahlon, one of the two sons of Elimelech and Naomi. With his wife and sons, Elimelech had migrated to Moab to escape a famine in the land of Israel. When Elimelech and both of his sons died, they left three widows: Naomi, Ruth, and Orpah (Ruth’s sister-in-law). When Naomi decided to return home to Bethlehem, Ruth chose to accompany her, saying, “Wherever you go, I will go” (Ruth 1:16).

 

In Bethlehem, Ruth was permitted to glean in the field of Boaz, a wealthy kinsman of Elimelech (Ruth 2:1). At Naomi’s urging, Ruth asked protection of Boaz as next of kin—a reflection of the Hebrew law of LEVIRATE MARRIAGE (Deut. 25:5–10). After a nearer kinsman waived his right to buy the family property and provide Elimelech an heir, Boaz married Ruth. Their son, Obed, was considered one of Naomi’s family, according to the custom of the day.

 

Ruth’s firm decision—“Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God” (Ruth 1:16)—brought a rich reward. She became an ancestor of David and Jesus (Matt. 1:5).