Bible Dictionary
AMMONITES
AMMONITES
Name of the descendants of “Ben-ammi”, the youngest son of Lot with his youngest daughter, born in a cave on a mountain near Zoar, now called “Zi’ara”, a few kilometers north of Heshbon.
His descendants were neighbors of Israel to the east, between the Arnon and the Jabbok, and had a lot to do with the history of Israel. God had commanded Moses not to touch the Ammonites; their land could not be possessed by Israel (Deut. 2:19, 37).
God had given it to the children of Ammon. Their capital was Rabat-amun, which was perhaps their only city, since they were a nomadic nation.
None of this nation was to be allowed entry into the congregation of Israel until the tenth generation, that is, never (Deut. 23:3; Neh. 13:1). Together with Amelech, they helped the king of Moab against Israel, and Jericho fell into their power (Judges 3:13).
Israel served their gods, and God gave the tribes on both banks of the Jordan to serve the Ammonites. As the Israelites cried out to Jehovah, the children of Ammon were defeated by Jephthah.
In the early days of King Saul they besieged Jabesh-gilead, and were only willing to make peace on the condition that the right eyes of its inhabitants would be gouged out, in order to cast dishonor on Israel.
Saul rushed to their aid, and sent the Ammonites into disarray (1 Sam. 11:1-11; 12:12). The gold and silver taken from them in battle were dedicated to Jehovah by David.
Their king insulted David’s servants when he sent messengers to comfort him over the death of his father, just as the world refuses the king’s kindness from God, and this brings judgment upon him (2 Sam. 10:1). -10; 11:1; 12:26-31).
On the other hand, Sobi of Rabbah brought provisions when David fled from Absalom (2 Sam. 17:27), and Selech, an Ammonite, is counted among David’s thirty mighty men (2 Sam. 23:37).
Solomon loved some of his wives, and the mother of Rehoboam, his successor, was Naamah, an Ammonite (1 Kings 14:21, 31). They harassed Israel with varying fortunes until the days of Jehoiakim (2 Kings 24:2).
Since Lot was the father of Moab and Ammon, it is not surprising that both nations frequently joined forces in their attacks against Israel.
The hatred of God’s people united them in a common desire to blot out the name of Israel as a nation (Ps. 83:4-8).
Tobiah, an Ammonite, was a disruptive adversary of the Jews upon their return from Babylonian captivity (Neh. 2:10, 19; 4:3, 7). However, the Jews “mixed the holy race” with this nation (Ezra 9:1, 2; Neh. 13:23-25).
All history gives us instruction regarding the imperative need to keep separate from the pollutions of the world in order to walk with God, and receive blessing from Him.
When the king of the north, at a future day, enters “the glorious land,” Edom, Moab, and Ammon will escape from his hand (Dan. 11:41); They are reserved to be subdued by Israel, whom they had seduced and persecuted in the past (Is. 9:14).
Milcom and Molech were the gods of the Ammonites; Solomon was seduced into worship by his foreign wives (1 Kings 11:5, 7).
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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