Bible Dictionary
PENTECOST OR FEAST OF WEEKS.
PENTECOST OR FEAST OF WEEKS
The second of the three annual solemnities (Passover, Feast of Weeks and Feast of Booths or Tabernacles) in which all Israelite males had to appear at the sanctuary. It was the first of the festivals that had to do with the harvest (Ex. 34:22, 23; 2 Chr. 8:12, 13; 1 Kings 9:25).
It was called the Feast of Weeks because its date was set seven weeks after the offering of the barley sheaf (Lev. 23:15, 16; cf. Deut. 16:9, 10). The sheaf was waved on the day after a Sabbath (Lev. 23:11).
The most authoritative opinion places this day on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This is presented in the LXX (Lev. 23:7, 11), as are the organizers of Zerubbabel’s temple services (Ant. 3:10, 5). Thus, the Feast of Weeks took the name Pentecost because it was celebrated on the fiftieth day from the waving of the sheaf (in Greek “Pentecost” means “fiftieth”; cf. Acts 2:1).
It was also called the festival of the harvest, or day of the first fruits, because the wheat harvest ended almost in all of Palestine at this time, and two loaves of new wheat were offered (Ex. 23:16; 34: 22; Num. 28:26).
On this day all work was suspended: there was a solemn convocation (Lev. 23:21; Num. 28:26; Lev. 23:17, 20; cf. Lev. 34:22; Num. 28:26; Deut. 16 :10). In addition to the two symbolic loaves, a burnt offering of ten animals was offered; A goat was also sacrificed as a sin offering and two lambs as a sacrifice of thanksgiving (Lev. 23:18, 19).
In Israel the festival did not last more than one day, but Jews who lived outside the country celebrated it two days in a row. During Pentecost, as during the other festivals, the Israelites were to give gifts to the poor (Deut. 16:11, 12).
At a later time, the rabbis alleged a connection, not mentioned in the OT, between the date of the promulgation of the Law at Sinai and Pentecost. But it cannot be proven that the Law of Moses was given exactly fifty days after the departure from Egypt.
The most decisive Pentecost was the one that took place after the resurrection and ascension of Christ. At the third hour (around 9 a.m.), the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles and about one hundred and twenty disciples (Acts 2:15-21). This is how the Church was founded.
The Holy Spirit was given, without distinction of age, sex or social status, to all those gathered in the upper room (Acts 2:1-4, 14-21). (See TONGUES [GIFT OF].) In the past, the Spirit had been given in power to prophets and certain believers, but the first Christian Pentecost marks the beginning of the dispensation of the Spirit.
Since then, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to believers, sealed by Him, and they are consequently exhorted to be filled with Him (Acts 1:8; 2:38-39; Eph. 1:12-13; 5:18), and this without the observance of particular rites. God had raised up the people of Israel in the past, to whom he revealed himself in a special way.
Today, in this new dispensation, the Lord acts through the Church, of which the Spirit is the bond of union, strengthening it, increasing it and building it on the earth (Acts 2:39; Eph. 1:22, 23; see HOLY SPIRIT, CHURCH).
It is noteworthy that the Law of Moses itself has placed this very important festival on the day after a Sabbath (in fact, the fiftieth day fell on the day after seven Sabbaths). In the same way, the resurrection of Christ and the descent of the Spirit, with the consequent founding of the Church, took place on the first day of the week, the characteristic day of the new creation.
Bible Dictionary
BETHEL
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.
Bible Dictionary
PUTEOLI
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.
Bible Dictionary
PUT (Nation)
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).
Bible Dictionary
PURPLE
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).
Bible Dictionary
PURIM
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).
Bible Dictionary
PURIFICATION, PURITY
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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