Category Archives: Alphabetical

Abana

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made of stone; a building

Geography: Abana and Pharpar – two rivers of Damascus in Syria 2Ki 5:12.

ABANA, AND PHARPAR

Rivers of Damascus, 2Ki 5:12. The Abana, (or, Amana), was undoubtedly the present Barada, the Chrysorrhoas of the Greeks. It is a clear, cold, and swift mountain stream, rising in Anti-Lebanon, north east of Hermon, flowing south east into the plain, and near Damascus turning eastward, skirting the northern wall of the city, and terminating 20 miles east in one of three large lakes. It is a perennial river, and so copious, that though no less than nine or ten branches or canals are drawn off from it to irrigate the plain and supply the city and the villages around it, the stream is a large one to the end.
The only other independent river of any size in the territory of Damascus is the Awaj, which crosses the plain south of Damascus, and enters the southernmost of the three lakes above referred to. This is supposed to be the Pharpar of the Bible. As these rivers of Damascus were never dry, but made the region they watered like the Garden of Eden for fertility and beauty, Naaman might well contrast them with most of “the waters of Israel,” which dry up under the summer sun.

[Amtrac]

Moth

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Moth. Moths are mentioned several times in the Bible as a symbol of destructiveness and the perishable nature of all earthly goods. In (Hosea 5:12), God says, “I will be to Ephraim like a moth.” Just as the damage caused by moths takes place slowly and undetected, so God would quietly, but inevitably, bring judgment upon His backsliding people.

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Backsliding

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Backsliding Concordance

Backsliding – Is when a believer turns away from God and goes after his sinful ways.

Concordance of Verses

Is turning from God 1Ki 11:9
Is leaving the first love Re 2:4
Is departing from the simplicity of the gospel 2Co 11:3; Ga 3:1-3; 5:4,7
God is displeased at Ps 78:57,59
Warnings against Ps 85:8; 1Co 10:12
Guilt and consequences of Nu 14:43; Ps 125:5; Isa 59:2,9-11; Jer 5:6; 8:5,13; 15:6; Lu 9:62
Brings its own punishment Pr 14:14; Jer 2:19
A haughty spirit leads to Pr 16:18
Proneness to Pr 24:16; Ho 11:7
Liable to continue and increase Jer 8:5; 14:7
Exhortations to return from 2Ch 30:6; Isa 31:6; Jer 3:12,14,22; Ho 6:1
Pray to be restored from Ps 80:3; 85:4; La 5:21
Punishment of tempting others to the sin of Pr 28:10; Mt 18:6
Not hopeless Ps 37:24; Pr 24:16
Endeavour to bring back those guilty of Ga 6:1; Jas 5:19,20
Sin of, to be confessed Isa 59:12-14; Jer 3:13,14; 14:7-9
Pardon of, promised 2Ch 7:14; Jer 3:12; 31:20; 36:3
Healing of, promised Jer 3:22; Ho 14:4
Afflictions sent to heal Ho 5:15
Blessedness of those who keep from Pr 28:14; Isa 26:3,4; Col 1:21-23
Hateful to saints Ps 101:3

Exemplified

Israel. Ex 32:8; Ne 9:26; Jer 3:11; Ho 4:16
Saul. 1Sa 15:11
Solomon. 1Ki 11:3,4
Peter. Mt 26:70-74

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Mouse

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Mouse.

About 40 kinds of mice are found in the Holy Land. These include house and field mice, moles, small rats, jerboas, and even hamsters. Arabs ate hamsters, but the Hebrew people considered all rodents unclean (Lev. 11:29; Is. 66:17).

In spite of its small size, the mouse is one of the most destructive animals in the world. Swarms of mice threatened grain crops in ancient times. When the Philistines stole the ARK OF THE COVENANT, God punished them by sending a swarm of mice which infected them with a disease (1 Sam. 6:4-5, 11,18); (rats, NKJV).

Source: [Anon-Animals]

The Jerboa or Mouse.

See Jerboa

You will not find the name of the Jerboa in the Bible; but it is supposed to be the same animal that is called a mouse in the 17th verse of the 66th chapter of Isaiah, “They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens, eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord;” and also in Leviticus, where God is telling the children of Israel what animals they may be allowed to eat, and also what they must not taste. He says, “These also shall be unclean to you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth; the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind.” Whether the Jerboa is the same animal or not, the Israelites must have been well acquainted with it, for it is found in great numbers in Syria and Egypt, and other countries mentioned in the Bible. They like to live where the soil is sandy, and make their burrows, or holes to live in, in the sides of sand-hills. These burrows are often several yards long, and the part where they sleep is made soft with grass.

The Jerboa is about as large as a rat, and its color is a tawny yellow, something like that of dried lemon-peel. Its fur is very smooth and soft; its eyes are full and round, and its head is much like that of a young rabbit. When it eats, it sits and hold its food in its fore-paws, very much as a squirrel does.

There is a very great and curious difference in the length of its legs; those in front being so short that you would hardly notice them, and those behind very long. It bounds along over the ground very rapidly; so that the greyhound, which is one of the swiftest of dogs, is often unable to overtake it. It seems, when you first look at it, to use only its hind legs in jumping, but his is not so. When it is about to take a leap, it raises its body upon the toes of its hind feet, keeping the balance by the help of its long tail. It springs and comes down on its short fore legs, but does it so very quickly that you can hardly see how it is done, and the animal seems to be upright all the time.

They appear to be very fond of each other’s company, and great numbers are usually found together. They sleep during the day, but like the hare and rabbit, go out of their burrows to eat and to play as soon as it begins to be dark.

[Cook, Scripture Alphabet of Animals]

A mouse or mice are known for their ability to enter a house no matter how well it is guarded. Yet they enter undetected and eat the food of the house.

Andronicus

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Andronicus meaning man-conquering, a Jewish Christian, the kinsman and fellowprisoner of Paul ( Romans 16:7 ); “of note among the apostles.”

[Easton]

A traveling companion of Paul, being in that apostolic band that was missionary based, carrying the Gospel to the world.

Ancient of Days

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an expression applied to Jehovah three times in the vision of ( Daniel 7:9 Daniel 7:13 Daniel 7:22 ) in the sense of eternal. In contrast with all earthly kings, his days are past reckoning.

[Easton]

A name referring to God as his all-existing throughout eternity (past and present), therefore being all wise also. This refers to his deity.

Allegory

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Allegories are stories which teach a lesson. They have a hidden or symbolic meaning which parallel parts of the story with a teaching lesson behind them. These stories deal with constructs on two realms, one in the story, and the other in real life.

There is a bad form of interpreting Scripture which carries this name, “allegorizing Scripture” in which the true meaning of Scripture is interpreted in such a way as it is clouded. Many times insignificant elements of parts of the Scripture are torn from their narrative to mean something totally foreign and alien from the biblical context. While Scripture has allegories that are legitimate, many people twist and turn Scripture to mean things that Scripture really does not teach.

An example of a biblical allegory is Nathan’s confrontation of David in 2 Samuel 12:1-4. Jesus liked to use allegories in his teaching.

[Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology]

Abbess

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See Abbey

The superior of an abbey or convent of nuns. The abbess has the same rights and authority over her nuns that the abbots regular have over their monks. The sex, indeed, does not allow her to perform the spiritual functions annexed to the priesthood, wherewith the abbot is usually invested; but there are instances of some abbesses who have a right, or rather a privilege, to commission a priest to act for them. They have even a kind of Episcopal jurisdiction, as well as some abbots who are exempted from the visitation of their diocesan.

Sources: [Buck]

Abbe

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The basic concept of an Abbe (see also Abbey, Abbess) is a place of retirement from interaction with the world whereby Christians can build their faith. But God never wants us to retire from the world because this is the concept of dying and going to heaven. [David Cox]

The same with Abbot, which see. Also the name of curious popular characters in France; who are persons who have not yet obtained any precise or fixed settlement in church or state, but most heartily wish for and would accept of either, just as it may happen. In the mean while their privileges are many. In college they are the instructors of youth, and in private families the tutors of young gentlemen.

Sources: [Buck]

This was formerly a title belonging to the head of a French monastery, corresponding to that of Abbot in England. [Abbot]. In the age preceding the French Revolution it became the designation of a multitude of sinecurists, who drew large incomes from the monasteries, and who were not always even priests, dispensation from Holy Orders being frequently granted to lay Abbés by the Popes. In more modern times the title of Abbé has been given to secular priests (that is, priests not belonging to any monastic order), who have no cure of souls, those who are parish priests being called Curés.

Sources:[Benham]

Abbe, before the French Revolution, was the title of all those Frenchmen who devoted themselves to divinity, or had at least pursued a course of study in a theological seminary, in the hope that the king would confer on them a real abbey; i.e. a certain part of the revenues of a monastery. Ordained clergymen were those only who devoted themselves entirely to the performance of clerical duty; the others were engaged in every kind of literary occupation. There were so many of them, poor and rich, men of quality and men of low birth, that they formed a particular claim in society, and exerted an important influence over its character. They were seen everywhere; at court, in the halls of justice, in the theatres, the coffee-houses, etc. In almost every wealthy family was an abbé, occupying the post of familiar friend and spiritual adviser, and not seldom, that of the gallant of the lady. They corresponded, in a certain degree, to the philosophers who lived in the houses of the wealthy Romans in the time of the emperors.

Sources: [Buck]