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Nehushtan
In the biblical Books of Kings ( 2 Kings 18:4; written c. 550 BC), the Nehushtan (; ) is the bronze image of a serpent on a pole. The image is described in the Book of Numbers, where Yahweh instructed Moses to erect it so that the Israelites who saw it would be cured and be protected from dying from the bites of the " fiery serpents", which Yahweh had sent to punish them for speaking against him and Moses (). According to 2 Kings 18:4, King Hezekiah instituted an iconoclastic reform: "He abolished the shrines, smashed the pillars, and cut down the sacred post. He also broke into pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until that time, the Israelites had been offering sacrifices to it; it was called Nehushtan." Etymology "Nehushtan" is a pun off either the Hebrew word for "snake" (, ''nāḥāš'') or "brass" (, ''nəḥošeṯ''), and thus may mean "The (Great) Serpent" or "The (Great) Brass". Alternative translations The English Standard Version of the Bible and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2 Kings 18
2 Kings 18 is the eighteenth chapter of the second part of the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible or the Second Book of Kings in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is a compilation of various annals recording the acts of the kings of Israel and Judah by a Deuteronomic compiler in the seventh century BCE, with a supplement added in the sixth century BCE. This chapter records the events during the reign of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, a part of the section comprising 2 Kings 18:1 to 20:21, with a parallel version in Isaiah 36– 39. Text This chapter was originally written in the Hebrew language. It is divided into 37 verses. Textual witnesses Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), Aleppo Codex (10th century), and Codex Leningradensis (1008). There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snake
Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors and relatives, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads ( cranial kinesis). To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most only have one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca. Lizards have independently evolved elongate bodies without limbs or with greatly reduced limbs at least twenty-five times via convergent evolution, leading to many lineages of legless lizards. These resemble snakes, but several common groups of legless lizards have eyelids and external ears, which snakes lack, althoug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Books Of Kings
The Book of Kings (, ''Sefer (Hebrew), Sēfer Malik, Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of ancient Israel also including the books of Book of Joshua, Joshua, Book of Judges, Judges, and Books of Samuel, Samuel. Biblical commentators believe the Books of Kings mixes legends, folktales, miracle stories and "fictional constructions" in with the annals for the purpose of providing a Theology, theological explanation for the Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC), destruction of the Kingdom of Judah by Babylon in c. 586 BC and to provide a foundation for a return from Babylonian captivity, Babylonian exile.Sweeney, p1/ref> The two books of Kings present a history of ancient Israel and Judah, from the death of King David to the release of Jehoiachin from imprisonment in Babylon—a period of some 400 years (). Scholars tend to treat the books as cons ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiery Flying Serpent
The fiery flying serpent (Hebrew: ''sārāf mə‘ōfēf''; ; ) is a creature mentioned in the Book of Isaiah in the Tanakh. The term translated as "fiery serpent", ', appears elsewhere in the Book of Isaiah to signify the seraphim, the singular form of which is also ''saraph''. Biblical accounts Book of Isaiah * Isaiah 14:29: "Do not rejoice, all you of Philistia, because the rod that struck you is broken; for out of the serpent's roots will come a viper, and its offspring will be a fiery flying serpent." * Isaiah 30:6: "The burden against the beasts of the South. Through a land of trouble and anguish, from which came the lioness and the lion, the viper and the fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people who shall not profit." Other sources References to "fiery serpents" lacking a mention of flight can be found in several places in the Hebrew Bible. * "Who led thee through that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iconoclasm
Iconoclasm ()From . ''Iconoclasm'' may also be considered as a back-formation from ''iconoclast'' (Greek: εἰκοκλάστης). The corresponding Greek word for iconoclasm is εἰκονοκλασία, ''eikonoklasia''. is the social belief in the importance of the destruction of icons and other images or monuments, most frequently for religious or political reasons. People who engage in or support iconoclasm are called iconoclasts, a term that has come to be figuratively applied to any individual who challenges "cherished beliefs or venerated institutions on the grounds that they are erroneous or pernicious." Conversely, one who reveres or venerates religious images is called (by iconoclasts) an ''Iconolatry, iconolater''; in a Byzantine context, such a person is called an ''iconodule'' or ''iconophile.'' Iconoclasm does not generally encompass the destruction of the images of a specific ruler after their death or overthrow, a practice better known as ''damnatio memoriae'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snake Worship
Snake worship is devotion to serpent deities. The tradition is nearly universal in the religions and mythologies of ancient cultures, where snakes were seen as the holders of knowledge, strength, and renewal. Near East Ancient Mesopotamia Ancient Mesopotamians and Semites believed that snakes were immortal because they could infinitely shed their skin and appear forever youthful, appearing in a fresh guise every time. The Sumerians worshipped a serpent god named Ningishzida. Before the arrival of the Israelites, snake cults were well established in Canaan in the Bronze Age, for archaeologists have uncovered serpent cult objects in Bronze Age strata at several pre-Israelite cities in Canaan: two at Megiddo, one at Gezer, one in the ''sanctum sanctorum'' of the Area H temple at Hazor, and two at Shechem. In the surrounding region, serpent cult objects figured in other cultures. A late Bronze Age Hittite shrine in northern Syria contained a bronze statue of a god holding a ser ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hezekiah
Hezekiah (; ), or Ezekias (born , sole ruler ), was the son of Ahaz and the thirteenth king of Kingdom of Judah, Judah according to the Hebrew Bible.Stephen L Harris, Harris, Stephen L., ''Understanding the Bible''. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985. "Glossary", pp. 367–432 In the Biblical narrative, Hezekiah witnessed the destruction of the northern Kingdom of Israel (Samaria), Kingdom of Israel by the Neo-Assyrian Empire under Sargon II in . He was king of Judah during the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib in 701 BC.Encyclopædia Britannica (2009)Hezekiah Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 12 November 2009. The Historicity of the Bible, historical accuracy of King Hezekiah’s reign is a topic of academic discussion, with scholars debating the reforms and Assyrian events based on textual, archaeological, and external evidence. He is considered a very righteous king in both the Second Book of Kings and the Second Book of Chronicles. He is also one of the more prominent kings o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moses
In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritanism, and one of the most important prophets in Christianity, Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islam, the Manifestation of God (Baháʼí Faith)#Known messengers, Baháʼí Faith, and Table of prophets of Abrahamic religions, other Abrahamic religions. According to both the Bible and the Quran, God in Abrahamic religions, God dictated the Mosaic Law to Moses, which he Mosaic authorship, wrote down in the five books of the Torah. According to the Book of Exodus, Moses was born in a period when his people, the Israelites, who were an slavery, enslaved minority, were increasing in population; consequently, the Pharaohs in the Bible#In the Book of Exodus, Egyptian Pharaoh was worried that they might ally themselves with New Kingdom of Egypt, Eg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Book Of Numbers
The Book of Numbers (from Biblical Greek, Greek Ἀριθμοί, ''Arithmoi'', , ''Bəmīḏbar'', ; ) is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah. The book has a long and complex history; its final form is possibly due to a Priestly source, Priestly redaction (i.e., editing) of a Yahwistic source made sometime in the early Yehud medinata, Persian period (5th century BC). The name of the book comes from the two censuses taken of the Israelites. Numbers is one of the better-preserved books of the Torah, Pentateuch. Fragments of the Ketef Hinnom scrolls containing verses from Numbers have been dated as far back as the late seventh or early sixth century BC. These verses are the earliest known artifacts to be found in the Hebrew Bible text. Numbers begins at Mount Sinai, where the Israelites have received their Covenant (biblical), laws and covenant from God in Judaism, God and God has taken up residence among them in the Tabernacle, san ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Esagila
The Ésagila or Esangil ( , ''"temple whose top is lofty"'') was a temple dedicated to Marduk, the protector god of Babylon. It lay south of the ziggurat Etemenanki. Description In this temple was the statue of Marduk, surrounded by cult images of the cities that had fallen under the hegemony of the Babylonian Empire from the 18th century BC; there was also a little lake which was named '' Abzu'' by the Babylonian priests. This ''Abzu'' was a representation of Marduk's father, Enki, who was god of the waters and lived in the ''Abzu'' that was the source of all the fresh waters. Esarhaddon, king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (681 – 669 BC), reconstructed the temple. He claimed that he built the temple from the foundation to the battlements, a claim corroborated by dedicatory inscriptions found on the stones of the temple's walls on the site. The Esagila complex, completed in its final form by Nebuchadnezzar II (604–562 BC) encasing earlier cores, was the center of Babylon. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marduk
Marduk (; cuneiform: Dingir, ᵈAMAR.UTU; Sumerian language, Sumerian: "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) is a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of Babylon who eventually rose to prominence in the 1st millennium BC. In Babylon, Marduk was worshipped in the temple Esagila. His symbol is the spade and he is associated with the Mušḫuššu. By the 1st millennium BC, Marduk had become astrologically associated with the planet Jupiter. He was a prominent figure in ancient near eastern cosmology, Babylonian cosmology, especially in the Enūma Eliš creation myth. Name The name of Marduk was solely spelled as dAMAR.UTU in the Old Babylonian Period, although other spellings such as MES and dŠA.ZU were also in use since the Kassite Period. In the 1st millennium BC, the ideograms dŠU and KU were regularly used. The logogram for Adad is also occasionally used to spell Marduk. Texts from the Old Babylonian period support the pronunciation Marutu or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shechem
Shechem ( ; , ; ), also spelled Sichem ( ; ) and other variants, was an ancient city in the southern Levant. Mentioned as a Canaanite city in the Amarna Letters, it later appears in the Hebrew Bible as the first capital of the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria), Kingdom of Israel following the split of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), United Monarchy. According to , it was located in the tribal territorial allotment of the tribe of Ephraim. Shechem declined after the fall of the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria), northern Kingdom of Israel. The city later regained its importance as a prominent Samaritans, Samaritan center during the Hellenistic Palestine, Hellenistic period. Traditionally associated with the city of Nablus, Shechem is now identified with the nearby site of Tell Balata in the Balata al-Balad suburb of the West Bank. Geographical position Shechem's position is indicated in the Hebrew Bible: it lay north of Bethel and Shiloh (Biblical city), Shiloh, on the high road ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
