Bible Dictionary
WEEK
WEEK
(a) WEEK.
The division of time into periods of seven days is extremely ancient. The figure of “seven days” is found in the creation story (Gen. 2:1-3) and appears again in the Flood story (Gen. 7:4,10; 8:10, 12).
In the time of Laban and Jacob, seven-day wedding feasts were celebrated among the Syrians of Mesopotamia (Gen. 29:27, 28); The same thing happened in Philistia in Samson’s time (Judg. 14:12, 17). Funerals also lasted seven days (Gen. 50:10; 1 Sam.
31:13).
However, the week itself was not established by God until the exodus. It is mentioned regarding the institution of the Passover and the festival of unleavened bread (Ex. 12:15; 13:6-17); However, the moment in which it is solemnly instituted is in the promulgation of the Decalogue: «Six days you will work, and you will do all your work; but the seventh day is a rest to the Lord your God” (Ex. 20:9-10). (See SATURDAY.)
Since then, the seven-day cycle frequently appears in the ordinances of the Law (cf. Ex. 22:30; 29:30, 35, 37; Lev. 12:2, 5; 13:5; 14:8; 15:28; 23:15, 42; Num. 19:11; Deut. 16:9-10, 13, etc.).
However, it can be said that it was counted more by days than by weeks, as among the Greeks and Romans (cf. Lev. 12:4-5).
The week and the names of the days made a late appearance in Rome, which followed an eight-day cycle; On the other hand, the Greeks divided the month into three parts.
At the time of the construction of the pyramids, the Egyptians practiced dividing time into periods of ten days. Each of them began when each of the 36 constellations rose.
The Egyptian year had 360 days. In the 2nd century AD, Dio Cassius, famous historian, states that the use of the recently introduced seven-day week was expanding throughout the Roman Empire.
Christians consecrated on Sunday, the first day of the week. The pagans gave the seven days of the Hebrew week the names of the planets, following the Babylonian custom.
The Christians could not avoid the use of these names, but they gave the first day of the week the name “Lord’s day” (Sunday) instead of the pagan “Day of the Sun” (cf. the English name “Sunday” and the German “Sonntag”).
The Hebrew term “shabua’”, septenary division, week, not only designated seven days, but also a cycle of seven years (cf. the use of the term “dozen”).
The celebration of the sabbatical year tended to expand this designation to the years. It is generally accepted that Daniel uses “shabuã” (week) to indicate “seven-year period.”
(Dn. 9:24-27; cf. Lev. 25:8).
The seventy weeks of Dn. 9:24 are weeks of years, adding up to 490 years (see DANIEL [BOOK OF]).
See TIME.
(b) WEEK OF YEARS.
Period of seven years, the last of which was the sabbatical year, in which the land had to be allowed to rest (Ex. 23:10, 11), in clear parallelism with the week of days (Ex. 23:12). The seven-week cycle of years culminated in the fiftieth year, or jubilee (see JUBILEE).
The Sabbath ordinance was not observed in Israel, so God fulfilled the curse of Lev. 26:31-35 ff. (Cf. 2 Chr. 25:21).
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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