Bible Dictionary
TIME
TIME
Time can be described as “the measure of motion”; Its measurement is carried out in principle by the movements of the heavenly bodies (Gen. 1:14).
The divisions of time constitute the framework in which the events and circumstances of the Bible are inserted, which is an eminently historical book, whose action takes place in a clearly chronological framework, firmly related to time and space.
The main divisions of time, in the Bible, are:
(a day.
See DAY.
(b) Night.
Period of darkness (Gen. 1:5), divided into three watches of four hours each: from sunset to midnight; from midnight until rooster crow; from the crowing of the rooster until the sunrise (Ex. 14:24; Judges 7:19; Lam. 2:19).
In the time of the NT there were four vigils, according to Greek and Roman usage (Mark 6:48; Luke 12:38); The Romans counted 12 hours at night, from sunset to sunrise (cf. Acts 23:23). (See NIGHT).
(c) Week.
See WEEK.
(d) Month.
See MONTH.
(e) Year.
The Hebrew year was made up of twelve lunar months (1 Kings 4:7; 1 Chron. 27:1-15); Consequently, with the current duration of the lunar month, it probably had 354 days, 8 hours, 48 minutes and 34 seconds. The annual festivals were closely related to agricultural work and the seasons.
A year based strictly on the lunar system would have caused a constant delay of these holidays by not exactly synchronizing a number of lunar months with the year. When it became necessary to coordinate the lunar year with the solar year of 365 days, an intercalary month was established, which was added every two or three years after the twelfth month; It was called “Ve’adar” and consisted of 29 days.
This custom is not mentioned in the Bible. Thus, the lunar cycle after the cosmic disturbances of Joshua and Hezekiah (see previous section (d), Month) consisted of nineteen years; The 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th years had an intercalary month. The religious year began with the month of Abib, also called Nisan (Ex. 12:2; 23:15; Est. 3:7).
It began with the new moon, immediately before or after the spring equinox, when the sun was in the constellation Aries (Ant. 3:8, 4; 10:5). But from the earliest times, the Hebrews also observed the civil year, based on agricultural work, and which began in autumn (cf. Ex. 23:16; 34:22; Lev. 25:4, 9 ff.).
This nation of farmers was evidently interested in matching the beginning of the calendar year with plowing and sowing, and its end with harvesting. They frequently indicated the dates by the agricultural work then in progress, instead of by the number of the month (cf. Num. 13:20; Rt. 1:22).
Some time after the return from the Babylonian captivity, they began to celebrate the New Year on the new moon of the seventh month, Tishri. This custom surely does not come from the events recorded in Esd. 3:6 and Neh. 2, although they have contributed to its establishment.
(f) Time and eternity.
Prior to and infinitely surpassing human time and its divisions, biblical eternity is presented as an attribute of God. “Jehovah is King forever and ever” (Ps. 10:16). “From everlasting to everlasting, you are God” (Ps. 90:2, V.M.).
“You are from eternity!” (Ps. 93:2, V.M.). That is why for Him a thousand years are like one day, and one day is like a thousand years (2 Pet. 3:8). In the same way, God dominates time with his omniscience. The past, present and future do not really exist for the Eternal; he knows everything before it comes to be (Ex. 3:14; Jn. 8:58; Is. 48:5-7).
When speaking of Israel he constantly uses “the prophetic past”, that is, he considers already fulfilled the events that for men are still hidden in the, for them, impenetrable cloak of the future. The Hebrew tenses lend themselves admirably to the expression of these notions.
When speaking of the eternal God, Alpha and Omega, creator and finisher of all things, the Bible presents us with three ages:
(A) the eternity before creation, “before the ages” (1 Cor. 2:7; cf. Eph. 3:11; 1 Pet. 1:20; Col. 1:26; Acts 15:18 );
(B) the “present age” (or age, Gk. “aiõn”), which runs from creation to the glorious coming of the Lord (Gal. 1:4; Eph. 1:21; Tit. 2:12). The first coming of Christ took place at the center of this period and therefore at the center of all time.
(C) the “age to come,” that is, the eternity that we have before us (Eph. 1:21, 2:7; Heb. 6:5; Mt. 12:32; Mark 10:30, etc. ). For the OT, as for the NT, the difference between time and eternity does not have to do with their nature, but with duration; Eternity is a time without limits, whose infinite line coincides for a brief period with the history that constitutes the human temporal horizon.
This notion is totally opposite to the speculative Greek concept that represented time as a circle in which there was an eternal return (cf. with the inexorable wheel of Hindu reincarnations).
“The symbolic expression of biblical time is expressed with an ascending line, because the line that starts from creation has its end… in God” (A. Lamorte, “Le Probleme du Temps dans le Prophétisme Biblique”, Beatenberg, 1960 , p. 108 ff.).
This end “gives the whole of history, which develops along this line, a movement of elevation towards Him” (O. Cullmann, “Christ et le Temps, Delachaux” 1947)
The eternal God, the “King of the ages” (1 Tim. 1:17; Ps. 145:13) by creating man in his image “has put eternity in their hearts” (Eccl. 3:11 ).
Through the incarnation, He humbled Himself to us in time, to bring us into participation with Him for all eternity (Ps. 133:3). (See ETERNAL LIFE.).
The believer’s prayer is that the Lord will lead him on the eternal path (Ps. 139:24). The Lord will welcome His own in His grace into His eternal kingdom (2 Pet. 1:11).
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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From Heavenly Greatness to Inexhaustible Love
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Healing Time
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BETHEL
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