Bible Dictionary
JEPHTHAH
JEPHTHAH
“He will open, he will release.”
This man was a Gileadite in two senses: his father’s name was Gilead, and Jephthah spent his youth in Gilead. His brothers, born to his father’s legitimate wife, threw Jephthah out of the house, because he was an illegitimate son (Judg. 11:1-3).
He deeply resented this behavior. Many years later, he accused the elders of Gilead, among whom perhaps were some of his brothers, of having hated him (Judg. 11:7).
Jephthah fled to the country of Tob, where he hunted for a living. His courage became proverbial, and he became the leader of a gang. It would be false to present him as an outlaw bandit, since Jephthah was not lacking in moral sense or unjustified expeditions. He had reverence toward God, and so he taught his daughter.
At the time of Jephthah’s expulsion, the Ammonites invaded the territory of Israel east of the Jordan, and held there for 18 years. In their anguish, the elders of Gilead found themselves at the point of having to implore the return of the same man they had expelled, and also begging him to be their leader and liberator.
Taking his place at the head of the Gileadites, Jephthah informed the Ephraimites, his neighboring tribe, of Gilead’s plight, and exhorted them to help his brothers, but to no avail. He also asked the king of the Ammonites for the reason for his hostility. His response showed that the Israelites had no choice but to resort to arms.
Victory was uncertain from a human point of view. Jephthah then made a reckless vow to offer a burnt offering to anyone who came out to meet him from his house, if the Lord delivered his enemies into his hands.
Upon returning from the defeat of the Ammonites, Jephthah was greeted with timbrels and dancing by his only daughter. He was deeply affected, but it did not change his vote. It is likely that she was sacrificed. However, the Law so firmly prohibited these sacrifices (Deut. 12:31; 18:10; cf. 2 Kings 3:27) that one can be sure that in this case Jephthah did not fulfill the will of God.
Let us add that, according to numerous exegetes, he could have redeemed her with silver (Lev. 27: 1-8; Deut. 18: 9-12) and consecrated herself to perpetual celibacy. The daughters of Israel adopted the custom of lamenting his sad fate four days a year.
Even if she had not been sacrificed, perpetual virginity would be an immense tragedy for an Israelite (cf. Gen. 30:1; 1 Sam. 1:5, 6, etc.).
A conflict then broke out between Jephthah and the Ephraimites who, with characteristic arrogance, complained of not having been summoned by Jephthah against Ammon (cf. Judges 8:1-3).
Jephthah refuted their accusations, and defeated them in battle, making a great slaughter of them (Judg. 12:4-6). Jephthah was judge of Israel for six years, and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead (Judg. 12:7).
Samuel mentions it to demonstrate that the Lord had fulfilled His promise to raise up deliverers when Israel was oppressed (1 Sam. 12:11). In the Epistle to the Hebrews, Jephthah is among the heroes of faith (Heb. 11:32).
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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