All Things In The Bible - The ...

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All Things in the
B
ible
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tischler, Nancy Marie Patterson.
All things in the Bible / by Nancy M. Tischler ; Ellen Johnston McHenry, illustrator.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 0–313–33082–4 (set: alk. paper)—ISBN 0–313–33083–2 (Vol. 1: alk. paper)—
ISBN 0–313–33084–0 (Vol. 2: alk. paper)
1. Bible—Encyclopedias. I. Title.
BS440.T57 2006
220.3—dc22 2005034355
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 2006 by Nancy M. Tischler
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2005034355
ISBN: 0–313–33082–4 (set)
0–313–33083–2 (Vol. 1)
0–313–33084–0 (Vol. 2)
ISSN:
First published in 2006
Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
www.greenwood.com
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Preface
ix
Alphabetical List of Entries
xiii
Guide to Related Topics
xix
Abbreviations
xxv
All Things in the Bible
1
Selected Bibliography
725
Index
731
Preface
The Holy Bible is rooted in fact, in the common life of the people. The
words of Scripture are thick with imagery drawn from everyday life: the
voice of the turtledove in spring, the wondrous fl ight of the eagle in the air,
the sturdy industry of the ant. Although the Bible reaches through time
into eternity, from life on earth to mansions in Heaven, yet it is fi rmly
rooted in things, people, and places. The Hebrews were a people whose
way of thinking was concrete and vivid, fi lled with insights from the world
around them. They were also a people with a genius for metaphor, seeing
transcendent meanings behind simple things.
Their history, that great drama of God’s love of his creation, their dis-
obedience and suffering, their redemption and eternal hope, is narrated
through a series of “books.” The Bible is this collection of poetry, stories,
chronicles, proverbs, and prophesies that form their grand epic. To visual-
ize the context in which the stories unfold and to understand the nuances
of the prophetic words in Scripture, the reader must have a wide and deep
knowledge of the “things” that were the everyday stuff of the ancient
world.
“Things”(as defi ned for the purposes of this study) need not be inani-
mate objects: they can be animals, concepts, titles, or historical events. The
term
things
is used here to refer to groups of people (such as professions,
nationalities), commonly referenced cultures and places (such as Egypt,
Galilee), theological constructs (such as the Fall of Man, the Resurrection),
events and activities (festivals, the Great Flood), and pagan gods (Dagon,
Asherah). They are the common reference points among the people who
walk through the pages of Scripture.
Preface
This journey included the tending of sheep, the mending of coats, the
selling of grain, and the swaddling of newborn babes. The Jews and
Christians were also intensely aware of the neighboring peoples who
threatened Israel’s existence or martyred the early Christians. The life
presented in Scripture is full of kings and judges, priests and prophets,
whose roles were fully understood by the community around them. The
Jews believed that their history was the story of God’s covenant with
them involving the call of the Patriarchs, the Egyptian captivity, the
miraculous Exodus, the battles with the indigenous people of Canaan
and with the Philistines, the many invaders, the Exile, the return—all
watershed events in Israel’s history. It is clearly impossible to chronicle
every thing, every group, every event, but this study is an effort to capture
those that appear most frequently in Scripture in both the Old and New
Testaments.
This book, which is a compilation of ideas and facts from hundreds of
sources, is designed as a reference tool for the lay reader of Scripture. It has
little of the scholarly detail and debate that advanced theological students
would demand, nor the discussions of derivations from original languages
that they would expect in their research. It is for those “common readers”
who know something of Scripture, wonder about details and ideas, and are
searching for fuller understanding.
The book is organized alphabetically, with considerable cross- referencing.
If items are not in the Contents, the reader should search the Index at
the back of the second volume. Each entry has selected Bible sources,
etymology (if possible and helpful), scholarly commentary, archaeologi-
cal detail (when relevant), and occasional references regarding later infl u-
ences on intellectual, artistic, or religious history. If the item has symbolic
implications, those also appear in the entry. The cross-references are in
bold type and are also listed after the entry. The bibliographical refer-
ences are included in the text and in the concluding section of the entry.
There is also a selected bibliography at the end of the second volume.
These are by no means exhaustive. Scholarly studies of almost every one
of these 200 plus entries are available in theological libraries and often on
the Internet.
In a few cases, the listings are clustered. Under
Law
or
Cloth
or
Clothing,
the related items appear one after another for more effi cient use of the
material. In some cases, a drawing appeared necessary for better explana-
tion of the process or the object.
I owe my deepest thanks to Ellen McHenry and her assistants—Andrew
McHenry, Hannah McHenry, Levi Staver, and Monica Houston—who
supplied these beautifully drawn and carefully researched illustrations and
maps that are scattered through both volumes. I also owe Jean Sherman a
x
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