HEBREW BIBLE TERMS SAMSON He is a judge from the book of Judges who persecutes the Philistines with his

s divinely appointed strength. He is unique in many ways, in particular, the fact that he is born from a barren woman, is made a Nazirite, spends most if not all his time with the Philistines, touches carcasses and seems to kill Philistines for play. All while God is helping him by giving him the strength to do all this. However, Delilah, his Philistine girlfriend, cuts his hair and makes him weak, but he regains his strength while enduring public humiliation in a Philistine arena and pushes over two main columns that support the arena, killing thousands with him. JOSIAH He was a king of Judah from 640-609 B.C.E. Though he was only 8 years old when he took the throne, he ruled for 31 years and is helped by his divine attraction (as deep as Davids) to God. He cleanses Judah of the shrines put up by Manasseh, and while doing so, finds the Law Book, influencing further his religious reform in bringing the people back to God, including the reinstitution of Passover. However, he dies prematurely when he is killed at Meggido by Pharoh Neco because he has gone astray from Gods power to fight someone who is not an enemy, rather, who is only helping the Assyrians regain their power. JONADAB He is Davids nephew. He was also Ammon, King Davids sons friend and he advised Ammon how to seduce his sister Tamar. Two years later, he reassures David that Absalom has only killed Ammon and not all of Davids sons. He is viewed by many as a crafty, wicked man for all this. JOAB Not only is he the commander in chief of King Davids army but is also his right hand man, and his loyal caring servant. He is also Davids nephew, but he is also the leading military figure of Davids reign, and all soldiers answered to him. He has Absalom killed, and uses the wise woman of Tekoa to bring David back to asserting himself over his rebellious son, Absalom. He also helped David carry out the cover-up of his affair with Bathsheba by sending out Uriah to a dangerous part of battle and having him killed. In the end however, he is wronged when he tries to put Adonijah at the throne ahead of Solomon, and ends up being put on the backburner in terms of power. JAEL She is the wife of Heber the Kenite, who gave shelter and milk to Sisera, commander of the Canaanite forces, and then killed him as he was running away after being defeated by Israel under the leadership of Barak and Deborah. She was a member of the pro-Israelite Kenites, but is also a Kenite, who depended on the peaceful relations with their Canaan neighbors as well, but chooses to side with Israel, and becomes a biblical legend of sorts for this act. HISTORY OF DAVIDS RISE Samuel is told by God to go to the house of Jesse, where he picks out the youngest son David, for anointment. Then, with the spirit of God withdrawn from King Saul and an evil spirit laid on him, he becomes depressed and David is brought in with his harp to cheer up the king. Then, in a battle against the Philistines, David emerges from a crowd of terrified Israelites to smite their biggest soldier, Goliath with a sling and a stone to the head. David is then made a celebrity over Saul and is known for killing his ten-thousands over Sauls thousands. Saul then pursues David killing many in the way, but is almost killed himself by David, but is spared. Saul then goes to battle against the Philistines, but is killed, and Judah anoints David as king. However, Ish-Boshet, Sauls son, remains ruler over Israel for another

two years into Davids reign while Abner, Sauls commander, has a rivalry with Joab, Davids general, but Abner is killed along with Ish-Boshet and David is anointed King a third and final time by a united Israel at Hebron. PROMISE TO DAVID David is promised more than a royal house in Jerusalem when he shows his desire to have one. God also promises him that his descendents would always have the throne in Judah and would always exhibit power over the nation. This would extend all the way to the 11th century A.D when office of the Exilarch in Babylonia, the head of the Jewish Diaspora in Babylonia, and a direct descendent of David, was eliminated. He is also promised that the Temple would be built by his successor and not by him since he had shed blood in battle. DEUTORONOMISTIC HISTORY The name commonly used to designate the book of Deutoronomy as well as the section of the Hebrew Bible known as the Former Prophets (Joshua, Judges, 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings). Throughout these books, the law of God is not given, but it tries to reinforce itself among the Israelites when they go astray from God with their synchronistic practices involving the practice of foreign gods. Each time, they are made to suffer, only to repent and bounce back with Divine power, only to take it for granted and go astray once again. Little is said in Deutoronomistic History about Israels economics and politics, rather much of it pertains to, or is related in some way to how well and not well Israel conducts itself religiously. ABSALOM He is Davids third son and murders Ammon, his half-brother when he rapes his sister, Tamar. He begins an active campaign of subversion against David his father, and because of his reputable beauty and wisdom, is able to become a serious threat to Davids throne. He is anointed King and comes to Jerusalem with no resistance, but David rebounds to the throne when Absalom is killed by Davids forces when his long hair is caught in a tree and Joab finds him and kills him. David is very upset by Absaloms death, since he too love Absalom as did many people from Israel. GIDEON One of the great tribal leaders in the era of the book of Judges. He mobilized a force, which at last put an end to annual raids at harvest time from across the Jordan by Midianites. He is called upon by an angel of God to lead his people in the struggle against the Midianites and make them repent to God. But he holds back until he is shown a miracle since he claims to be weakest of his family which is in the weakest clan in Manasseh, to which God complies and shows him the fleece-test in which the fleece has dew while the ground all over is dry. CYRUS A great conqueror and statesman, who helped defeat the Babylonian Empire, thereby establishing the Persian Empire, which benevolently allowed the Israelites in the Diaspora to return to Israel and build another Temple. His policy of maintaining respect for local cultures and traditions enables him to do this for the Israelites in 538 B.C.E, though he dies soon afterwards in battle in 530 B.C.E. ABIGAIL Was a wife to Nabal the Calebite and then to David. When Nabal refuses to shelter and care for David with food, she decides to go undercover and give David his food while apologizing for the rude conduct of her husband. When he finds out that she has done this and realizes his sin, his heart dies within him and he dies ten days later, whereby she is taken by

David to be his wife. This was useful in bringing David much needed support from the south and it was instrumental in Davids being anointed king at Hebronan area associate with Caleb. ADONIJAH He is Davids fourth son, and the oldest when David dies. His own personal ambitions led to his own demise. He had Joab and head-priest Abitathar, prepare a sacrifice and ceremony to gather support to make him king before Davids death. However, Bathsheba lets David know of the plan and in return, commands that Solomon take to the Royal Mule in a procession to the springs of Gihon to be anointed king by Zadok. After Davids death, Adonijah asks Bathsheba if he could marry Abishag, Davids sexy concubine, but Solomon interprets this as a bid to the throne and orders his execution at the hands of Benaiah. OBED The son of Ruth and Boaz after their marriage. He is also the grandfather of King David. NATHANS PARABLE When King David sinned by killing Uriah for his wife, Nathan brought out a parable. It goes as follows: There were two men, one rich and one poor. The poor man had a little lamb that he brought up with his children and it was like a daughter to him. There was a traveler who came to the rich man and the rich man didnt want to take of his own flock, so he went and took from the poor mans flock to feed the guest. King David was angry and said that the man deserved to die and that the poor man should be restored fourfold because he did this without pity for the poor man. While King David did repent for his sin with Uriah, four of his sons, his first son with Batsheba, Absalom, Ammon and Adonijah were all murdered. OMRI A king in Israel and founder of the first monarchial dynasty in Israel after a halfcentury of political instability. Though he only ruled 7-11 years, his dynasty lived on to last 33 years. He founded Samaria as the capital of the Israel kingdom, and this remained the seat of the monarch until Israel was exiled in 722. He was noted in the Bible of having been bad religiously, but nevertheless was successful at bringing stability to the throne of Israel and economic stability as well. He brings peace between the two kingdoms, Israel enjoys a period of international prestige and internal prosperity. He moves the capital from Tirzah to the hill of Samaria, while initiating extensive building programs (archaeological evidence). REHOBOAM He succeeded the throne after Solomon in 922 B.C.E and reigned 17 years. He encountered immediate trouble when his father policies of heavy taxation and labor on the northern 10 tribes and the seceding of northern cities to Phoenicia angered the people there to rebel under Jeroboam, who had been exiled by Solomon to Egypt and now returned. At the Shechem Assembly, Rehoboan is confronted by the ten tribes who are willing to return to him if he does not impose the same policies that his father had. He refuses due to the council of the younger advisers and tells Israel of his intentions not to decline his fathers policies. Israel declares its own kingdom and though Rehoboam sets out for war, the prophet Shemaiah tells him not to fight since this was the will of God. He is also King for when Pharaoh Shishak invades Jerusalem and takes many of the Temples treasures. This happens, according to the Bible, because he has forsook the Bible of God and his people are beginning to practice synchronistic religious practices.

JEROBOAM He had served in Solomons royal administration, but later opposed his policies and rebelled against the King leading to his escape and exile in Egypt where he remained until Solomons death and under the protection of Pharaoh Shishak. He had been put in charge by Solomon to administer the royal labor in the house of Joseph and seeing the oppressiveness of Solomon caused him to rebel. He later returned to take reigns of the monarchy in the northern Israel Kingdom and remained king for 22 years, building golden calves in Bethel and Dan and making them into Temples for Israel so they would have no need to go worship God in Jerusalem. He also made non-Levites into priests, established other sanctuaries and celebrated the three Pilgram festivals in his temples and not in Jerusalem. This would become the downfall of the northern Kingdom since without access to Gods true home in Jerusalem they unknowingly grew susceptible to synchronistic practices and worshipped other Gods to the point that they were exiled many years before the southern kingdom of Judah. URIAH THE HITTITE He was serving the army besieging Rabbah, the Ammonite capital when David sent for him, shortly after he had been with his wife. David told Uriah to sleep with Bathsheba in order to cover up his part in Bathshebas pregnancy, but Uriah refused, showing his dedication to the Israeli Army and his need to be in battle helping his comrades and not in bed. Finally, David has him killed when he tells Joab to place him in the thick of the battle and be isolated so he could be an easy target for the enemy. Uriah dies and his wife is taken from him. SYRO-EPHRAMITE CRISIS Lasted from 734-722 B.C.E, culminating in the destruction and exile of the northern kingdom of Israel. King Peekah of Israel decided in 735 B.C.E not to pay anymore tribute to the Assyrians. Hes an Ephramite. He joins with Syrian king Rezin of Damascus and they decide to throw off the Assyrians. But they want Judah to help them. Isaiah tells then King of Judah, Ahaz, not to join the coalition and not to do anything at all, rather to stay put until the smoke clears. But Ahaz refuses and he enlists the help of Tiglath Pileaser and he is protected from any invasion on the Israel and Syrian front, and those countries are eventually put down. In the meantime, Judah loses autonomy since they have sold their power to Assyria in return for help. HEXATEUCH - A name commonly used by the critics to designate the first six books of the Old Testament, i.e. the Pentateuch and Joshua. The purpose of the name is to show that the five books of the Pentateuch, together with the book of Joshua, form a literary whole. The name Hexateuch, in the intention of the critics, does not mean that the sources of these books are to be found only in the six books herein included. Von Rad believed the story of the first five books of the OT was incomplete without the entry into the promised land (found in Joshua) so he considered a unit of six not five books. SAMARIA The Capital of Israel in the 9th and 8th Century B.C.E. It was built by King Omri in 880 B.C.E. It was stripped of its capital status in 722 B.C.E with the Assyrain invasion and exile of Israel, but it has served many different functions throughout time and still remains a city today. KOHELET The book of Ecclesiastes (The Teacher), who assumes the persona of the wise King Solomon, though it was not written by him. It focuses upon the limits and contradictions of life in order to teach wisdom. Even the best life is limited in knowledge, virtue and power,

troubled by evil and injustice, and ultimately ending with death. From the pinnacle of human success and power, Kohelet surveys life and finds it vain. It maintains wisdom is better than folly and in the face of death and vanity, Kohelet repeatedly urges humans to embrace life and its goods-food drink, love, work, play-as gifts from God. It has two points about good: 1. Fear God and keep his commandmentsthat is the duty of everyone. 2. Since humans are not masters of the universe, but afflicted by vanity in all its forms, their good is simply to enjoy life as Gods gift and the lot for which they are responsible for. MASORETIC TEXT This term can be applied to any text of the Hebrew Bible produced under the care of scholars known as Masoretes, or any copy of such a text. It also refers to the standard text of the Hebrew Bible, which is derived from the tradition of the Masoretes of Tiberias, the Tiberian Tradition. The standard text has three main components: letters, vowel signs and the accents. In most manuscripts, a fourth component, the marginal notes of the Masorah, is represented at least to some extent. ABIMELECH He is the son of Gideon and administered the central hill country his father had helped protect in the aftermath of his fathers death. His convinced the men of Shechem to prefer his personal kingship over the oligarchy of Gideons sons. Killing his seventy brothers, therefore, he enters into a covenant of kingship and stays king for 3 years over Shechem and the hills around it. However, God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the lords of Shechem and they deceived him and they set ambushes on the mountain tops and robbed all who passed by them along that way. With further deceptions, Abimelech takes action and fights, killing thousands in burning the tower of Shechem. He then goes to fight in another rebellious town but is killed when he enters by a lady with a millstone. He is so humiliated that he is dying because of a woman, he asks one of his soldiers to kill him since he doesnt want to die by the hands of a woman. TIGLATH PILESER An Assyrian King from 744-727 B.C.E who invaded Israel twice, once intervening on behalf of Judah during the SYRO-EPHRAMITE CRISIS. In 745 B.C.E, he had thrown off a weak Assyrian king and had reasserted the Assyrian power over its empire while uniting Assyria with Babylonia, making it the largest empire ever created at the time. He changes the terror policies, exiling everyone unless they relinquish their king, thereby setting up the exile of Israel which would occur after his death. He succeeds in building the empire westward, taking over Judah with smart diplomacy. He rebuilt the Assyrian military and political stability and helps initiate a century of continuous successful existence until 605 B.C.E with the emergence of the Babylonian Empire. LADY WISDOM Her figure, the personification of the sages teachings in the form of a woman who reaches out to the world of humans, is another intriguing feature of this book. She speaks with Divine Authority, played a role in creation and resists categorization as a simple literary device of personification. MANASSEH He is the son of Hezekiah and ruled Judah for 55 years, longest in the Torah. From the age of in 687 until his death in 642 B.C.E, he is described as having been the worst Israelite King by the Bible, rebuilding the shrines destroyed by Hezekiah, establishing idolworship in the Temple, and killing many people in Jerusalem. However, he was very tight with

Assyria by helping transport building materials there and helped maintain security in Judah. Nevertheless, he and his sins are credited for having Jerusalem and the Temple destroyed a halfcentury later. He is said to have done idol-worship since the people of Judah at the time were disillusioned about God since Hezekiah had caused them to lose their autonomy. He is included by some Rabbis in a group that will have no share in the world to come. MESSIAH The Anointed Onethis term is used to denote any figure expected to introduce an era of eternal bliss. Though many biblical figures have been anointed, this figure is someone who has not come yet, but will to deliver Israel out of exile and into the promised land, while uniting the world under one God. WISE WOMAN OF TEKOA A woman that Joab had set up to bring David out of his concern for his son who had run away after killing Ammon. She tells him a story that she is a widow, and that her son engaged in a fight and killed someone else and now the family of the deceased asks for his throat as well. But by having him killed, she will have no one left in her family and no one to carry on her husbands name. When David pardons her son from being murdered, she scolds the king for not being receptive to his son after he had committed murder. So David has Joab bring back Absalom to his house, but not to his presence, even though he knows that Joab had made her tell him this story. MOUNT CARMEL A range of hills and mountains running along where the city of Haifa is. This was the site where Elijah encountered the prophets of Baal in front of Israel to see whose God was powerful. Elijah wins, when God comes down to take his sacrifice and the people repent and King Ahab kills all the false prophets afterwards, but his wife Jezebel threatens to kill Elijah and he runs away for his life. NEW CONVENANT This is mentioned in Jeremiah 31:31-34. Here, God promises Israel that the day will come when he makes a New Covenant with them, unlike the convenant he made with their ancestors who fled Egypt and which they had broken since. Unlike the other covenant which had been written in stone, this one is promised to be written in their hearts and they will be free from past sins, righteous from doing other sins, and they will always inform each other about God and knowing him. The Law will continue to exist, but the form by which it existed will be change into something more spiritual and easier to grasp. Divine-Human relations will be different and closer than they had been before. It will be easy to keep, since the heart had been once the home of lust and evil and now it will be home to the Law of God. BETHEL House of God has the significance of being named by Jacob after he dreamed of the DUN ladder. However, it is notable because it is the site of Jeroboams sin. He puts a golden calf there, rendering it the center of worship by the inhabitants of the northern kingdom of Israel. Instead of Jerusalem, the people go there to worship, and it uses non-Levitical priests, and the people lose their connection to God who is in Jerusalem and so they end up doing synchronistic practices because of this. NABOTH The victim of a judicial murder perpetrated by Jezebel in the name of her husband, King Ahab of Israel. Ahab sought to acquire Naboths ancestral property, a vineyard in Jezreel, but Naboth refuses out of religious attachment. Jezebel engineers a conspiracy by which Naboth

is accused of cursing God and the King, convicted on perjured testimony and stoned to death. Ahab then takes his vineyard, but Elijah comes to condemn Ahab, and Ahab repents, so his punishment of being killed and eaten by dogs on the street, and the obliteration of his whole line is deferred to his son. NEBUCHADNEZZAR The second king of the chaldean dynasty of babylonia. He ruled for 43 years 605-562 B.C.E, and he was already known for his skills as a field commander beforehand, defeating the Egyptian in 605. He invades Judah twice. Once in 597 B.C.E when he places Uncle Zedekiah on the throne and deports the king Jehoiachin and his followers and in 586, when he sieges Jerusalem and gets in, destroying the Temple and looting it of all its goods and putting the people of Judah in exile. HEZEKIAH King of Judah from 715-687 B.C.E. He tries to enact religious reform while gaining political independence from Assyria. He helps the people repent to God and destroys many site of idol-worship in Judah and refurbishes the Temple and tries to religiously unite Judah with the remnants of Israel. He rebels against Sennacherib and he responds by laying siege on Jerusalem, but 85,000 of his men are struck by a plague of God and Sennacherib retreats to Assyria. However, he later makes the mistake when he is sick and envoys from Babylonia come to visit him to give him presents to make him feel better, of showing them the treasures of the Temple. To this, Isaiah tells him that one day these treasures will be theirs. He fails though since Judah is still under Assyrian rule and must pay heavy tribute, leading to his son, Manasseh being the worst moral king ever, and leading to the Judaites being more sinful than ever before and rebuilding the structures destroyed by Hezekiah himself. HANNAH The favorite of two wives of Elkanah. She is barren like most famous mothers of the Bible, but is granted a child when she goes to the Temple and prays to God that she would give her son back as a Nazirite if she were granted one. Eli, the head priests misinterprets her prayers for drunkenness since she is silently praying, but soon realizes his mistake and expresses his hope that God would come through on the request tip. She indeed has Samuel soon afterwards and after weaning him for three years, she leaves him in the Temple in Shiloh to serve God.