Place name meaning “swelling,” “fat,” “bulge,” or “mound,” It became the proper name of a portion of the hill on which the city of David was built (2 Chron 27:3). The Ophel was just south of Mount Moriah, on which the temple was constructed, joining the old city with the area of Solomon’s palace and temple. The hill has been inhabited since pre-Israelite times by peoples such as the Jebusites from whom David took the site.
Continue reading DEFINITION OF THE DAY (OPHEL)
In addition to rebuilding Jerusalem in a physical sense, Nehemiah was also concerned for the spiritual rebuilding of his people. He was so angry toward the Jewish men who had married pagan woman-a-flagrant disobedience of God’s command (Joshua 23:12-13)-that he beat some of them and pulled out their hair. This violent and serious punishment showed the severity of their sin. Continue reading BIBLE CUSTOMS AND CURIOSITIES (A SEVERE PUNISHMENT)
GENESIS 11:31 NIV- Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out form Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there. Continue reading MEN OF THE BIBLE (TERAH: TOWARD THE LAND OF PROMISE)
Nehemiah describes himself as “the king’s” cup-bearer” (Nehemiah 1:11). That’s a palace servant who brings the king his wine, after tasting it to make sure no one has spiked it with poison. Continue reading MORE THAN THE KING’S WINE TASTER
Doors allow access to or prevent us from entering a room or home. Gates are usually more imposing and important. They guard the access to large spaces: cities, estates, and the way to eternal life. In Bible times, most cities of any size were surrounded by walls, so gates were a constant feature in people’s’ lives. No wonder, then, that the role of gates became symbolic of other values and ideas. Continue reading BIBLE SIGNS AND SYMBOLS (GATE)
We know little of the way that trading was done locally. There was normally an open place inside the city gate that served as a market square, and streets leading from the square would have served as dwellings for traders. There was a street of the bakers in Jeremiah’s time (Jeremiah 37:21), and the valley between the eastern and western ridges of Jerusalem was known as the valley of the cheesemakers. It is clear that there must have Continue reading MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE BIBLE “THE MARKETPLACE”
HOMES FOR THE WEALTHY
The difference between the homes of the wealthy and of the poor lay in the provision of a courtyard. At the lowest level this was simply an enclosure added onto the house. But the Continue reading MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE BIBLE (HOMES FOR THE WEALTHY)
ASSYRIAN AND BABYLONIAN INFLUENCES
It was the exile of the Jews into Assyria and Babylon that led to further developments in education. When they returned and their land became part of the Greek empire, there were still further developments. The Assyrian kings collected thousands of clay tablets into a library at Nineveh. They contain every kind of knowledge–botany,
Continue reading MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE BIBLE “EDUCATION” (PART 2)