94 entries · Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(assembly of God) (Josh 15:21) - a town in southern Judah near Edom. Nehemiah 11:25 calls it Jekabzeel. Judahites lived there after the captivity, and it was the native town of Benaiah, one of David's mighty warriors. Its location had not been identified.
(holy place) (Gen 14:7; Num 13:26; Deut 1:2) - the name sometimes denotes a city and sometimes a broad wilderness in southern Canaan. The wilderness containing Kadesh is called the wilderness of Zin (Num 20:1), or simply the wilderness, and appears repeatedly in the account of Israel's forty years of wandering. It extended east and west between Wadi Arabah and Hagar's well. Kadesh was eleven days from Horeb by way of Mount Seir (Deut 1:2). Israel camped there at the end of the first year of wandering; the spies returned there from searching the Promised Land (Num 13:26), and Miriam, Moses' sister, died there (Num 20:1).
(God is of old) - a Levite whose descendants, called the sons or house of Kadmiel, returned from Babylonian captivity with Ezra (Ezra 2:40).
(easterners) (Gen 15:19) - an ancient people whose origin and dwelling place were difficult to determine. Some identified them with the Hivites living near Mount Hermon. Dr. Thomson placed their home at Hermon's foot, where he thought descendants of this ancient people might still be found.
(the LORD is light, according to Fürst) (Neh 12:20) - a priest, head of a priestly house descended from Sallai, in the days of Joiakim the high priest.
(standing place, or abundance of bread) (Judg 10:5) - a city in Gilead where the judge Jair was buried, according to Josephus. Its exact location was unknown.
(reedy) - the name of three biblical places:
- see Hane.
(2 Esdras 5:15) - one of the temple servants in Ezra's time.
(bald) (Jer 40:8 and elsewhere) - father of Johanan and Jonathan, Jewish military commanders in the time of Gedaliah, whom Nebuchadnezzar appointed to govern the Jews remaining in their homeland. See Johanan.
(floor, or pavement) (Josh 15:3) - a place on Judah's southern boundary. The Hebrew name indicates a level surface rather than necessarily a town, though Eusebius testified that a town of this name stood there in his time.
(with a meaning like the preceding word) (Judg 8:10) - a fortified place east of the Jordan to which the kings Zebah and Zalmunna fled after Gideon first defeated them. Its position had not been precisely determined.
- see Ashtaroth.
(city) (Josh 21:34) - a town of Zebulun given with its pasturelands to the Levites. Scripture says nothing further about it.
(double city) (Josh 21:32) - a town of Naphtali given with its pasturelands to the Levites. First Chronicles 6:76 calls it Kiriathaim. The two names have the same meaning, Kartan being the older Phoenician form and Kiriathaim a comparatively later Hebrew form.
(small) (Josh 19:15) - a town of Zebulun, called Kitron in Judges 1:30. The source cautions that their identity was not certain.
(2 Esdras 5:31) - one of the temple servants. Ezra 2:48 reads Gazzam.
(dark, gloomy, black) - the name of a person and a people:
(eastward) (Gen 25:15; 1 Chr 1:31) - Ishmael's youngest son. The source asks whether the town and wilderness of Kedemoth took their name from him. See Kedemoth.
(ancient, or eastern) (Josh 13:18) - a town of Reuben east of the Jordan, given to the Levites. It probably lay in the wilderness of the same name south of Heshbon toward Jahaz (Deut 2:26), but its exact site was unknown.
(1 Macc 11:63, 73) - a Levitical city and city of refuge in Galilee, in Naphtali, and the native town of Barak. The source identifies it with a small settlement north of Lake Huleh.
(sanctuary) - the name of three towns:
(Tobit 1:2) - a Galilean town in Naphtali, thought to be Kedesh-naphtali.
(antiquity) (Judg 5:21) - a name of a torrent or brook generally taken as an appellative designation of the Kishon.
(assembly) (Num 33:22) - one of Israel's encampments during the wilderness wanderings.
(fortress) (Josh 15:44) - the name of a city and a person:
(poor, despised by the LORD) (Ezra 10:23) - a Levite who, at Ezra's exhortation, put away his foreign wife. In 2 Esdras 9:29 he is variously called Calitas, Kelita, or Kolius; he is also listed among the Levites at the reading of God's law.
(assembly of God) - the name of the following persons:
(possession) (Num 32:42) - a city in Gilead conquered by Nobah the Manassite and renamed Nobah. The source locates biblical Kenath on the western slope of Jebel Hauran. Pliny counted it among the cities of the Decapolis, and its ruins were extensive and remarkable.
(hunting) - the name of the following persons:
(meaning uncertain) (Gen 15:19) - an ancient nomadic people of northwestern Arabia, first mentioned in Abraham's time. They were connected in some way with the Midianites: Moses' father-in-law Jethro is called a Kenite though he lived in Midian (Judg 1:16; 4:11). They therefore had a relationship with the Hebrews and were regarded as distant descendants of Abraham. Some may have drawn near to Israel in the wilderness (Num 10:29-32). Balaam spoke of their strong dwelling and foretold its wasting and their captivity (Num 24:21-22).
(Gen 15:19) - an ancient people whose land, with the other territories named there, was promised by God to Abraham.
(horn of eye-paint) (Job 42:14) - Job's third daughter, born after his severe trials.
(cities) (Jer 48:24; Amos 2:2) - a Moabite town identified by the source with the surviving ruins of El-Kureiyat, several miles northeast of Bozrah. Jeremiah and Amos foretold its destruction. Amos prophesied: 'I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet' (Amos 2:2).
(bent, stooping) (Ezra 2:44) - one of the temple servants whose descendants returned from Babylon with Nehemiah. Second Esdras 5:29 reads Kiras.
(fruitfulness, abundance of fruit) (Josh 15:10) - a town in northern Judah near Mount Jearim, identified with Kesla south of Kuryet el-Enab and northeast of Beth-shemesh.
(Gen 22:22) - a son of Nahor, Abraham's brother.
(foolish) (Josh 15:30) - a town of Judah later assigned to Simeon. It was evidently the same as Bethul, or Bethuel, and was identified by the source with Khalasa, or Elusa, south of Beersheba.
(Job 9:9) - an ancient name for the constellation in the northern heavens now known as Orion, one of the chief constellations and one of the most important figures in ancient pagan mythology.
(incense; Gen. 25:1–6; 1 Chron. 1:32)—a wife or concubine of Abraham after Sarah, and the mother of Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them eastward, while giving his principal inheritance to Isaac. A later Jewish tradition identified Keturah with Hagar, but Genesis does not make that identification.
(Judg. 3:25)—an instrument for moving a lock or bolt. Ancient keys could be large wooden implements fitted with pegs that raised corresponding pins in a lock. See Lock.
- see Cassia, under the second sense.
(graves of craving) (Num 11:34-35; 33:16) - one of Israel's wilderness encampments. It received this name because God struck the Israelites with a plague for their gluttonous craving for meat and their murmuring when deprived of it. Their next encampment was Hazeroth, a detail used by the source in locating Kibroth-hattaavah, tentatively at El-Ain.
(two gatherings) (Josh 21:22) - a town of Ephraim later given to the Levites. First Chronicles 6:68 calls it Jokmeam.
(black, dark) - the name of a brook, valley, and place in the Bible:
(2 Esdras 5:15) - an Israelite whose descendants returned from captivity with Zerubbabel.
(Job 9:9; 38:31; Amos 5:8)—the Hebrew name commonly understood as the Pleiades. See Stars.
(meaning uncertain) (Josh 15:22) - a town in southern Judah near Edom, not identified in the source's day.
(1 Sam 30:29) - perhaps another name for the same town as Kinah.
- see Kenites.
—a title applied in Scripture to military leaders, rulers of tribes and cities, governors of peoples, pagan gods in the speech of idolaters, the LORD, and the Messiah. The Assyrian monarch is called “the great king,” and Nebuchadnezzar “king of kings” (Isa. 36:4; Ezek. 26:7). Yet throughout Scripture earthly rulers remain servants or instruments of the invisible King who rules over all.
(2 Kings 25:4; Jer. 39:4)—a garden probably situated on the south side of Jerusalem near the meeting of the Kidron and Hinnom valleys.
(Neh. 2:14)—a reservoir outside Jerusalem in the valley, traditionally identified by the source with Birket es-Sultan west of the city. The identification is uncertain.
(Gen. 14:17)—the valley, also called the Valley of Shaveh, where the king of Sodom met Abraham after Abraham’s victory. Absalom later erected a monument for himself in the King’s Valley (2 Sam. 18:18). Josephus placed it two stadia from Jerusalem, and the source associates it with the Kidron Valley; the exact site is uncertain.
—an expression especially frequent in Matthew. Elsewhere the New Testament commonly speaks of the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Christ, or simply the Kingdom. The source distinguishes three related senses: God’s reign drawing near in the person and ministry of Jesus, its manifestation in the Church and the new covenant, and the final Kingdom of glory when God makes a new heaven and a new earth. These senses overlap rather than describing three unrelated kingdoms.
- after ten tribes of Israel separated from Rehoboam, this kingdom consisted of two tribes, Judah and Benjamin. Under Kings Asa, Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah its strength and prosperity reached a height comparable to the best days of David and Solomon. Unfortunately, most of its kings and its people often forgot the true God and sank into idolatry, impiety, and pagan vice. As punishment, the people of Judah were taken to Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kgs 25:21), and the kingdom was destroyed. The kings of Judah in succession were as follows:
The LORD was Israel’s King. Moses, Joshua, and the judges executed His commands; the Law ordered the people’s worship and common life; God disclosed His will through the Urim and Thummim and through the prophets; and the tabernacle marked His special presence. Idolatry was therefore not only sin but covenantal treason. Nevertheless, the people asked for a visible king. God granted the request while warning them of the burdens royal government would impose (1 Sam. 8).
(city) (Amos 1:5; 9:7; Isa 22:6; 2 Kgs 16:9) - an ancient city first named by Amos as the place of captivity appointed by God for the Syrians. Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria indeed carried the people of Damascus captive to Kir (2 Kgs 16:9). Isaiah 22:6 probably points to the same city. Its location was difficult to determine; that it lay under Assyrian rule was all the source considered certain.
(Isa 16:11) - a Moabite city identified by Ptolemy with ancient Characmoba and commonly equated with Kir-hareseth (2 Kgs 3:25) and Kir-heres (Isa 16:11). Its later name Kerak belonged to a substantial town several English miles east of the Dead Sea toward its southern end. Apocryphal books, Christian writers, and later travelers also mention it. The town stood on a hill six miles south of Ar of Moab, surrounded by a partly ruined wall with towers, and contained about 550 families, mostly Muslim. The surrounding district bore the same name.
(2 Esdras 5:20) - a town of Benjamin. Ezra 2:44 reads Keros.
(2 Esdras 5:29) - one of the temple servants. Ezra 2:26 reads Ramah.
(city) - the name of two towns:
(city of Arba) (Gen 23:2; 35:27) - the ancient name of Hebron in Canaan, named after Arba, one of the giants and father of Anak. The name persisted even into Nehemiah's time (Neh 11:25). See Hebron.
(city of Baal; also city of forests) (Josh 15:9; Judg 18:12; 1 Sam 6:21 and elsewhere) - a town on the border of Judah and Benjamin, therefore assigned in the cited passages to both tribes, though Judges 18:12 and 2 Samuel 6:2 call it a town of Judah. Uriah son of Shemaiah, a contemporary of Jeremiah, was born there (Jer 26:20), and the ark of the covenant remained there for twenty years (1 Sam 7:1-2; 2 Sam 6:2). The town was inhabited again after the Babylonian captivity. The source identifies it with Kuryet el-Enab northwest of Jerusalem toward Joppa.
Though its ancient forest had been cut down, olive and mulberry groves remained. Ruins of a large old monastery, apparently built by Crusaders in the twelfth century, were especially noteworthy.
(1 Chr 2:50-53) - one of Caleb's descendants, of the line of Judah.
(city of books, or writings) (Josh 15:49) - another name for Debir. Its name suggests that it was a center of Canaanite learning. It was also a stronghold of the Anakim, conquered by Joshua and assigned to Judah (Josh 10:38-39). The Canaanites later retook it, and Othniel recovered it for Israel (Josh 15:15-17); it was afterward given to the Levites (Josh 21:15). The source also distinguishes another Debir, or Lo-debar, east of the Jordan in Gad, associated with Mephibosheth's youth (Josh 13:26), and a third place near the Valley of Achor on Judah's border with Benjamin (Josh 15:7).
(double city) - the name of the following towns:
(city of streets) (Num 22:39) - a place in Moab where Balak and Balaam offered sacrifice. It lay near Bamoth-baal and was identified with Kerioth, or Kureiyat, at the foot of Mount Attarus.
(Neh 7:47) - one of the temple servants whose descendants returned from captivity with Zerubbabel. Second Esdras 5:29 reads Kiras.
(snare, trap, net) - the name of the following persons:
(1 Chr 6:44) - a Levite, father of Ethan and descendant of Merari, also called Kushaiah (1 Chr 15:17).
(hard ground) (Josh 19:20) - a town allotted to Issachar and afterward assigned to the Levites. First Chronicles 6:72 calls it Kedesh. Nothing further was known.
(winding, tortuous) (Judg 4:7; Ps 83:9) - a well-known Palestinian stream, called both river and brook, rising near Mount Tabor, crossing the plain of Esdraelon, and entering the Mediterranean below Ptolemais. It first appears in the account of Israel's battle with Jabin and Sisera (Judg 4:7, 13). After victory Deborah and Barak sang, 'The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength' (Judg 5:21). Elijah later slew Baal's priests on its banks (1 Kgs 18:40).
(Neh. 1:1; Zech. 7:1)—the ninth month of the religious year and third of the civil year, falling approximately in November and December. See Kislev.
(Neh 1:1; Zech 7:1) - the ninth month of the Hebrew sacred year and the third of the civil year, corresponding to the latter half of November and the first half of December. The Hebrews were thought to have borrowed this and several other month names from the Babylonians.
(Gen. 27:26)—a gesture of affection, kinship, respect, greeting, or homage. Samuel kissed Saul after anointing him king (1 Sam. 10:1), and early Christians greeted one another with a holy kiss (Rom. 16:16). The woman who anointed Jesus’ feet kissed them in reverence and love (Luke 7:38). The same outward gesture can be corrupted: Judas used a kiss to identify and betray Jesus in Gethsemane (Matt. 26:48-49). Scripture therefore judges the truth or falsehood expressed through the sign, not the physical gesture alone.
(2 Esdras 5:30) - one of the temple servants.
. See the individual entries Plates, Forks, Knives, and related terms.
(Lev 11:14) - see Hawk.
(bond, fetter) (Judg 1:30) - a town of Zebulun, considered by some the same as Kattath, identified with Tell Kartani north of Geoth.
(Dan 11:30) - Kittim was a son of Javan and grandson of Japheth. According to Josephus, his descendants moved from Phoenicia to Cyprus. The name probably first denoted Cyprus and later became a general term for Mediterranean coasts and islands. Isaiah 23:1 says that news of Tyre's destruction would reach the ships of Tarshish as they passed the land of Chittim, understood as Cyprus. Many commentators extended Balaam's prophecy about ships from Chittim humbling Asshur and Eber and then perishing (Num 24:24) beyond Alexander's Macedonian kingdom to later earthly empires. Apocryphal books use Kittim for Macedonians, while the Vulgate renders it Romans in Daniel 11:30.
(Josh. 5:2 and others)—among the Hebrews some knives were often made of sharp stones (Ex. 4:25); metal knives were also in use (Prov. 27:17), employed in the slaughtering of sacrificial victims (Gen. 22:10, Judg. 19:29). At the table the Hebrews did not use knives, because meat was eaten already cut up, and bread was broken by hand. In Holy Scripture mention is also made of razors (Num. 6:5) and of penknives, or scribes’ knives (Jer. 36:23).
- a word of uncertain meaning, evidently the name of a people or country connected with Assyria. It occurs only once in Scripture, in Ezekiel 23:23 together with Pekod and Shoa.
(assembly) (Gen 46:11 and elsewhere) - Levi's second son, grandfather of Moses and Aaron, and head of the Kohathites. Scripture tells only that he had four sons and died at the age of 133 (Exod 6:18-20).
(voice of the LORD) (Neh 11:7) - a Benjaminite ancestor of Sallu, whose descendants were assigned by lot to live in Jerusalem after the return from Babylon.
(Jer 29:21) - father of the false prophet Ahab, whose death at Nebuchadnezzar's hand Jeremiah foretold.
(2 Esdras 9:23) - see Kelaiah.
(Judith 4:4) - an unidentified locality.
(baldness) - the name of the following persons:
(Acts 21:1) - a small island of the Sporades in the Aegean Sea opposite the Carian cities of Cnidus and Halicarnassus. Its chief city was also named Kos. Paul stopped there briefly while returning to Jerusalem from Greece and Macedonia after his third journey. The island had long been celebrated for fertility, wine, and costly silk fabrics, and was regarded as the birthplace of Apelles and Hippocrates. In the source's day it was called Stanchio and remained known for lemons, maples, and sugar trees.
(2 Esdras 5:32) - a temple servant whose descendants returned from captivity with Zerubbabel.
(1 Kgs 10:28; 2 Chr 1:16) - some took the Hebrew word as a common noun meaning a multitude, heap, or group. The source considers it more likely a proper name for a city or country, though its location was unknown. Most commentators placed it near Egypt, on its frontier in Arabia or Ethiopia, a region where excellent Arabian or other horses could still be found.
(God is the foundation) (Josh 15:59) - one of Judah's hill-country towns, identified by the source with the village of Kulonieh northwest of Jerusalem on the road to Ramleh.
(bow of the LORD) (1 Chr 15:17) - a Merarite and father of Ethan, the celebrated singer in David's time. First Chronicles 6:44 calls him Kishi.