Bible Dictionary
ALTAR
ALTAR
A structure on which sacrifices were offered to God; imitated by the pagans in honor of their false gods.
The first altar of which we have mention in the Scriptures is the one built by Noah when he abandoned the Ark; On it he offered sacrifices of every pure animal and bird (Gen. 8:20).
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob also erected altars to the Lord; these were surely built of stone or earth, but it is notable how rarely we read of sacrifices being offered on them.
Sometimes it is simply said that they erected an altar to Jehovah, and at other times that they erected an altar and called on the name of Jehovah. It seems that the altars were erected as places to get closer to God, sacrifice being the basis of this.
Moses was commanded that in all places where God made the memory of his name to be, they should erect an altar of wood, earth or stone, and offer sheep and oxen on it as a burnt offering and peace offerings; If the altars were made of stone, they should not be of carved stone; If they lifted a tool over it, it would be defiled (Ex. 20:25, 26).
He should not do any human works in approaching God; Unfortunately, this principle has been terribly violated by huge sections of Christianity, which teach that man must approach God with good works to be accepted by Him (contrast Tit. 3:4-7; Eph. 2:8 -10). (See WORKS)
It is also added: “You shall not climb steps to my altar, so that your nakedness may not be revealed near it.” Human additions are prohibited here, because in divine things what arises from man himself only manifests the absolutely shameful condition of everything that arises from fallen nature (cp. Col. 2:20-30).
When the work of the tabernacle was undertaken, Moses received precise instructions and was ordered to do everything as he had been shown on the mountain.
(a) BRONZE ALTAR The bronze altar was to be made of acacia wood covered with bronze; It was to be 3 cubits high and 5 cubits on the side (Ex. 27:1-8).
In the temple erected by Solomon this altar was made of bronze, and was 10 cubits high and 20 cubits on each side (the same size as the most holy place (2 Chron. 4:1)).
The altar of the millennial temple is described in the book of Ezekiel (Ez. 43:1317). The bronze altar was also called the “altar of the holocaust”; In it was the fire burning continually (Lev. 6:9), and it was in it that the offerings were consumed, that is, in the grate that was placed in its middle.
It had a horn in each corner, on which blood from the sin offering was put. There those who sought protection took refuge, clinging to the horns of the altar (1 Kings 1:50, 51; cp. Ex. 21:14).
The bronze altar was situated so that it was the first thing encountered upon entering the courtyard, and it indicated that the only way of entry before Jehovah was through sacrifice.
There had to be death before fallen man could have access to the abode of God. The NT expresses the principle that eating a sacrifice is a manifestation of communion with the altar where the sacrifice is made.
Thus, one cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons, nor partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons (1 Cor. 10:1821).
The Hebrew believers were told, “We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat” (Heb. 13:10).
This refers to the sin offering, whose blood was taken to the most holy place, and whose flesh was not eaten, but burned outside the camp. Jesus suffered outside the gate, and so, to be in his company, believers were instructed to leave the camp; that is, to abandon Judaism.
As servants of the tabernacle that they still were, they had no right to the Christian altar.
In Revelation we have a golden altar in heaven, and much incense ascends with the prayers of the saints; but the fire from the brazen altar is cast upon the earth, and is followed by judgments (Rev. 8:3-5; cp. also Rev. 9:13).
And John heard the altar say (this is how this passage should be translated), “Truly, Lord God Almighty, your judgments are true and just” (Rev. 16:7). This is undoubtedly the bronze altar (cf. Rev. 6:9; Is. 6:6).
(b) ALTAR OF INCENSE The altar of incense was made of acacia wood, overlaid with pure gold (Ex. 30:1-5; 37:2528). It was 1 cubit on the side and 2 cubits high.
In Solomon’s temple, this altar was made of cedar wood, overlaid with gold, but its dimensions are not given. In the future millennial temple described by Ezekiel the altar of incense is 2 cubits on a side and 3 cubits high (Ez. 41:22).
The altar of incense is also called the “golden altar.” It was situated in the holy place, along with the golden lampstand and the table of shewbread.
On this altar holy incense was to be burned morning and evening, a type of the Lord Jesus as a perpetual taste pleasing to God. It was next to this altar that the angel appeared to Zechariah to announce the conception and birth of John the Baptist (Luke 1:11). (See SACRIFICES)
(c) ALTAR TO THE UNKNOWN GOD The altar to the unknown God was an inscription on an altar in Athens. Whatever the origin of this inscription, it gave the apostle Paul an admirable thesis for his address to the Athenian idolaters. This was precisely the God he had come to reveal to them (Acts 17:23).
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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