Bible Dictionary
DANIEL
DANIEL
Proper name of three Israelite characters:
(a) Daniel, the fourth of the so-called “major prophets”, is the main biblical character who bears this name, author of the book that bears his name, highly esteemed among the Jews of all times (Mt. 24:15), descendant of the royal family of David (Dan. 1:3), who was taken captive to Babylon as a young man, in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim of Judah (600 B.C.).
He was chosen with three of his companions (Ananiah, Mishael and Azariah) to reside at the court of Nebuchadnezzar, where he found favor like Joseph in Egypt, and made great progress in the sciences of the Chaldeans, as well as in the sacred language but refused to be contaminated. eating from the provisions of the king’s table, which were often ceremonially impure for a Jew or tainted by contact with idolatrous worship.
At the end of about three years of education, Daniel and his companions surpassed all the others and received good jobs in the royal service. There Daniel briefly displayed his prophetic gifts, interpreting a dream of Nebuchadnezzar, by whom he was made governor of Babylon and head of the educated and priestly class.
He seems to have been away, perhaps at some foreign embassy, when his three companions were thrown into the burning furnace.
Some time later he interpreted another dream of Nebuchadnezzar, and later the famous vision of Belshazzar, one of whose last acts was to promote Daniel to a much higher position than he had previously held during his reign (Dan. 5:29; 8: 27).
After the capture of Babylon by the Medes and Persians, Darius the Mede, who “took the kingdom” after Belshazzar, made him “first president” of some 120 princes. Envy caused them to form a plot to have him thrown into the lions’ den, an act that brought about their own destruction (Dan. 6).
Daniel continued in all his high offices, and enjoyed the favor of Cyrus until his death. During this period he worked fervently, with fasting and prayers, as well as taking timely measures to ensure the return of the Jews to their own land, the promised time having arrived for them (Dan. 9).
He lived long enough to see the decree issued in that regard and many of his people returned to Jerusalem; but it is not known if he ever visited that city again, as he was over 80 years old at the time (356 BC).
In the third year of Cyrus he had a series of visions that showed him what the State of the Jews had to be until the coming of the promised Redeemer; and by which we see him calmly awaiting the peaceful end of a life well spent.
Daniel always followed the will of God. Both his youth and his old age were equally consecrated to God. He preserved his honesty in difficult circumstances, and amid the fascination of an Eastern court, he was pure and just. He confessed the name of God before the idolatrous princes, and was on the point of being a martyr, had it not been for the miracle that preserved him from death.
(b) Among the other characters who bore this name of Daniel, the Bible highlights:
(A) The second son of David, also called Chileab (1 Chron. 3:1; 2 Sam. 3:3).
(B) Descendant of Ithamar, fourth son of Aaron. He was one of the leaders who accompanied Ezra from Babylon to Judea, and who later had an important part in the reform of the people (Ezra 8:2; Neh. 10:6).
BETHEL
is the name of a Canaanite city in the ancient region of Samaria, located in the center of the land of Canaan, northwest of Ai on the road to Shechem, 30 kilometers south of Shiloh and about 16 kilometers north of Jerusalem.
Bethel is the second most mentioned city in the Bible. Some identify it with the Palestinian village of Beitin and others with the Israeli settlement of Beit El.
Bethel was the place where Abraham built his altar when he first arrived in Canaan (Genesis 12:8; Genesis 13:3). And at Bethel Jacob saw a vision of a ladder whose top touched heaven and the angels ascended and descended (Genesis 28:10-19).
For this reason Jacob was afraid, and said, “How terrible is this place! It is nothing other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven »and he called Bethel the place that was known as «Light» (Genesis 35-15).
Bethel was also a sanctuary in the days of the prophet Samuel, who judged the people there (1 Samuel 7:16; 1 Samuel 10:3). And it was the place where Deborah, the nurse of Rebekah, Isaac’s wife, was buried.
Bethel was the birthplace of Hiel, who sought to rebuild the city of Jericho (1 Kings 16:34).
When Bethel did not yet belong to the people of Israel, Joshua had to battle against the king of Bethel and other kings and defeated them (Joshua 12-16).
When the people of Israel had taken possession of the promised land, in the division by tribes it was assigned to the Tribe of Benjamin (Joshua 18-22), but in later times it belonged to the Tribe of Judah (2 Chronicles 13:19).
It was one of the places where the Ark of the Covenant remained, a symbol of the presence of God.
In Bethel the prophet Samuel judged the people.
Then the prophet Elisha went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up the road, some boys came out of the city and mocked him, and said to him: “Go up, bald man; Come up, bald! When he looked back and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the forest and tore to pieces forty-two boys” (2 Kings 2:23).
After the division of the kingdom of Israel, Jeroboam I, king of Israel, had a golden calf raised at Bethel (1 Kings 21:29) which was destroyed by Josiah, king of Judah, many years later (2 Kings 23:15). .
Bethel was also a place where some of the Babylonian exiles who returned to Israel in 537 BC gathered. (Ezra 2:28).
The prophet Hosea, a century before Jeremiah, refers to Bethel by another name: “Bet-Aven” (Hosea 4:15; Hosea 5:8; Hosea 10:5-8), which means ‘House of Iniquity’, ‘House of Nothingness’, ‘House of Vanity’, ‘House of Nullity’, that is, of idols.
In Amos 7: 12-13 the priest Amaziah tells the prophet Amos that he flee to Judah and no longer prophesy in Bethel because it is the king’s sanctuary, and the head of the kingdom.
The prophet Jeremiah states that “the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel” (Jeremiah 48:13), because of their idolatry and, specifically, the worship of the golden calf.
PUTEOLI
(lat.: “small fountains”).
Two days after arriving in Rhegium, the ship carrying Paul arrived at Puteoli, which was then an important maritime city.
The apostle found Christians there, and enjoyed their hospitality (Acts 28:13).
It was located on the northern coast of the Gulf of Naples, near the site of present-day Pouzzoles.
The entire surrounding region is volcanic, and the Solfatare crater rises behind the city.
PUT
Name of a nation related to the Egyptians and neighbors of their country (Gen. 10:6).
Put is mentioned with Egypt and other African countries, especially Libya (Nah. 3:9) and Lud (Ez. 27:10; Is. 66:19 in the LXX. Put appears between Cush and Lud in Jer. 46:9; Ez. 30:5).
In the LXX he is translated as Libyans in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Josephus also identifies it with Libya (Ant. 1:6, 2), but in Nah. 3.9 is distinguished from the Libyans.
Current opinion is divided between Somalia, Eastern Arabia and Southern Arabia (Perfume Coast).
PURPLE
A coloring substance that is extracted from various species of mollusks. The ancient Tyrians used two types of them: the “Murex trunculus”, from which the bluish purple was extracted, and the “Murex brandaris”, which gave the red.
The ink of its coloring matter varies in color depending on the region in which it is fished.
Piles of murex shells, artificially opened, have been discovered in Minet el-Beida, port of ancient Ugarit (Ras Shamra), which gives evidence of the great antiquity of the use of this purple dye (see UGARIT).
Due to its high price, only the rich and magistrates wore purple (Est. 8:15, cf. the exaltation of Mordecai, v. 2, Pr. 31:22; Dan. 5:7; 1 Mac. 10 :20, 62, 64; 2 Mac. 4:38; cf. v 31; Luke 16:19; Rev. 17:4).
The rulers adorned themselves in purple, even those of Midian (Judg. 8:26). Jesus was mocked with a purple robe (Mark 15:17).
Great use had been made of purple-dyed fabrics for the Tabernacle (Ex. 25:4; 26:1, 31, 36) and for the high priest’s vestments (Ex. 28:5, 6, 15, 33; 39: 29). The Jews gave symbolic value to purple (Wars 5:5, 4).
PURIM
(Heb., plural of “luck”).
Haman cast lots to determine a day of good omen for the destruction of the Jews.
As Haman’s designs were undone, the liberation of the Jews was marked by an annual festival (Est. 3:7; 9:24-32) on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar.
This festival is not mentioned by name in the NT, although there are exegetes who assume that it is the one referred to in Jn. 5:1.
This festival continues to be celebrated within Judaism: the book of Esther is read, and curses are pronounced on Haman and his wife, blessings are pronounced on Mordecai and the eunuch Harbonah (Est. 1:10; 7: 9).
PURIFICATION, PURITY
In the Mosaic Law four ways to purify oneself from contamination were indicated:
(a) Purification of contamination contracted by touching a dead person (Num. 19; cf. Num. 5:2, 3),
(b) Purification from impurity due to bodily emissions (Lev. 15; cf. Num. 5:2, 3).
(c) Purification of the woman in labor (Lev. 12:1-8; Luke 2:21-24).
(d) Purification of the leper (Lev. 14).
To this, the scribes and Pharisees added many other purifications, such as washing hands before eating, washing vessels and dishes, showing great zeal in these things, while inside they were full of extortion and iniquity (Mark 7: 2-8).
In Christianity the necessary purification extends:
to the heart (Acts 15:9; James 4:8),
to the soul (1 Pet. 1:22), and
to the conscience through the blood of Christ (Heb. 9:14).
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BETHEL
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