Bible Dictionary
NOAH
NOAH
“rest, tranquility.”
Son of Lamech, descendant of Seth (Gen. 5:28-29). Based on the words of Lamech, the name of Noah meant for him both rest and consolation: «This one will relieve us (y’nahamênû) from our works and from the labor of our hands, because of the land that Jehovah cursed. »
Indeed, in Heb. It is common to play games on words and assonances. We are not told anything more about Noah until he reached 500 years of age, and that he had three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth (Gen. 5:32).
(a) The preacher of justice.
This is how Peter designates Noah (2 Pet. 2:5). He was righteous, upright, and walked with God, which made him stand in stark contrast to his impious and corrupt generation (Gen. 6:9; cf. 5-6, 11-13). While God’s patience lasted (1 Pet. 3:20), Noah preached to his contemporaries in various ways:
(A) By the example of his clean life (cf. Phil. 2:15);
(B) because of his “preaching,” because he clearly warned the men of his generation,
(C) By the building of the ark, possessed of awe, he believed in the outraged holiness of God and in the imminence of the coming judgment (Heb. 11:7). Taking the Word of the Lord seriously, he clung to the only means of salvation for himself and his people. There was plenty of room in the ark for many other people (if they had wanted to enter), as well as for the animals.
It was thus that he “by that faith he condemned the world” demonstrating that the wicked were going to die, not by the waters of the Flood, but by their indifference and disbelief. As for Noah, he became “heir of the righteousness that comes through faith.” Indeed, no matter how upright he was he was not without sin (Rom. 3:10, 23, 24) and he was literally saved by faith.
(b) Noah in the ark.
For details and confirmations of the flood account see FLOOD. Noah’s behavior during this prolonged period in which his patience and faith are tested is impressive. He was 600 years old when he entered the ark (Gen. 7:6).
He left the door open for seven days and then God Himself closed the door behind him (Gen. 7:4, 7, 10, 16). We do not see in Noah any haste or confusion, he did “according to all that God commanded him” (Gen. 6:22; 7: 5, 9, 16) and his express attitude, the same as his name , rest and tranquility of him. After the long months of the terrible cataclysm, God showed that he remembered Noah (cf. Gen. 8: 1).
In a calm and methodical manner, Noah examined a solution, letting out the raven and up to three times the dove, to factually verify the state of the earth (Gen. 8:6-12); He then opened the cover of the ark (Gen. 8:13). He only left it, however, in obedience to a certain order from God (eight weeks later, neither before nor after) with all his people, and with the animals that had been saved (Gen. 8: 15-19) .
(c) The covenant with Noah.
Immediately, the patriarch erected an altar, offering sacrifices to God. “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission” (Heb. 9:22), and it is on the basis of sacrifice that Jehovah establishes a covenant with Noah and his descendants (Gen. 8:20; 9:9). The essential points of this pact are:
(A) God promises never again to send a flood of waters over the entire earth; the days, the seasons, and the crops will last as long as the earth (Gen. 8:21-22; 9:11, 15). However, one day the heavens and the earth will be destroyed by fire (2 Pet. 3:6-7, 10, 12).
(B) As with Adam in the past (Gen. 1:28), Noah and his children were commanded to be fruitful and to multiply and fill the earth (Gen. 9:1, 7).
(C) God gave the animals into their hands, and granted them meat as food, while Adam, before his fall, was a vegetarian (Gen. 9: 2-3; 1:29).
(D) There is a general prohibition on eating blood (Gen. 9:4; cf. Lev. 17:10-11).
(E) Human life is protected against animals and men themselves (Gen. 9:5-6). This text institutes the death penalty for the first time in the OT (cf. Lev. 24:17, etc.; for the NT, cf. Ro. 13:4).
(F) The rainbow is given as a sign of this perpetual covenant (Gen. 9:12-17).
(d) Noah’s drunkenness.
Noah tilled the land and planted a vineyard, being surprised by the intoxicating effect of the wine. Shem and Japheth behaved towards his father with filial respect.
But Ham behaved with an unseemly attitude, which aroused the anger of Noah, and which brought upon Canaan, son of Ham, a prophetic curse (Gen. 9:20-27; cf. Ex. 20:5-6). For a consideration of this curse, and why Noah cursed Canaan instead of Ham.
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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