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Person Library

Browse 848 person entries alphabetically, or search by title and description. Each page shows up to 50 entries.

Entries are automatically sourced from the published Bible Dictionary. A manually created record with the same slug takes precedence.

Person beginning with A

Aaronites

The descendants of Aaron, and therefore priests. Jehoiada, the father of Benaiah, led 3,700 Aaronites as "fighting men" to the support of David at Hebron (1 Chr. 12:27). Eleazar (Num. 3:32), and at a later period Zadok (1 Chr. 27:17), was their chief.

Abda

a servant; servitude

Abdon

servant; cloud of judgment

Abi

my father

Abia

My father is the Lord, the Greek form of Abijah, or Abijam (Matt. 1:7), instead of Abiah (1 Chr. 7:8). In Luke 1:5, the name refers to the head of the eighth of the twenty-four courses into which David divided the priests (1 Chr. 24:10).

Abiah

the Lord is my father

Abiathar

excellent father; father of the remnant

Abida

Or Abi'dah, father of knowledge; knowing, one of the five sons of Midian, who was the son of Abraham by Keturah (1 Chr. 1:33), and apparently the chief of an Arab tribe.

Abieezer

Father of help; i.e., "helpful." (1.) The second of the three sons of Hammoleketh, the sister of Gilead. He was the grandson of Manasseh (1 Chr. 7:18). From his family Gideon sprang (Josh. 17:2; comp. Judg. 6:34; 8:2). He was also called Jeezer (Num. 26:30). (2.) One of David's thirty warriors (2 Sam. 23:27; comp. 1 Chr. 27:12). (3.) The prince of the tribe of Dan at the Exodus (Num. 1:12).

Abiezrite

Father of help, a descendant of Abiezer (Judg. 6:11, 24; 8:32).

Abihud

father of praise; confession

Abijah

the Lord is my father

Abinadab

father of a vow, or of willingness

Abiram

high father; father of deceit

Abishur

father of the wall; father of uprightness

Abital

the father of the dew; or of the shadow

Ablution

Or washing, was practised, (1.) When a person was initiated into a higher state: e.g., when Aaron and his sons were set apart to the priest's office, they were washed with water previous to their investiture with the priestly robes (Lev. 8:6). (2.) Before the priests approached the altar of God, they were required, on pain of death, to wash their hands and their feet to cleanse them from the soil of common life (Ex. 30:17-21). To this practice the Psalmist alludes, Ps. 26:6. (3.) There were washings prescribed for the purpose of cleansing from positive defilement contracted by particular acts. Of such washings eleven different species are prescribed in the Levitical law (Lev. 12-15). (4.) A fourth class of ablutions is mentioned, by which a person purified or absolved himself from the guilt of some particular act. For example, the elders of the nearest village where some murder was committed were required, when the murderer was unknown, to wash their hands over the expiatory heifer which was beheaded, and in doing so to say, "Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it" (Deut. 21:1-9). So also Pilate declared himself innocent of the blood of Jesus by washing his hands (Matt. 27:24). This act of Pilate may not, however, have been borrowed from the custom of the Jews. The same practice was common among the Greeks and Romans. The Pharisees carried the practice of ablution to great excess, thereby claiming extraordinary purity (Matt. 23:25). Mark (7:1-5) refers to the ceremonial ablutions. The Pharisees washed their hands "oft," more correctly, "with the fist" (R.V., "diligently"), or as an old father, Theophylact, explains it, "up to the elbow." (Compare also Mark 7:4; Lev. 6:28; 11: 32-36; 15:22) (See [4]WASHING.)

Abraham

father of a great multitude

Abraham's bosom

(Luke 16:22, 23) refers to the custom of reclining on couches at table, which was prevalent among the Jews, an arrangement which brought the head of one person almost into the bosom of the one who sat or reclined above him. To "be in Abraham's bosom" thus meant to enjoy happiness and rest (Matt. 8:11; Luke 16:23) at the banquet in Paradise. (See [8]banquet; [9]MEALS.)

Achab

brother of the father

Achaichus

(1 Cor. 16:17), one of the members of the church of Corinth who, with Fortunatus and Stephanas, visited Paul while he was at Ephesus, for the purpose of consulting him on the affairs of the church. These three probably were the bearers of the letter from Corinth to the apostle to which he alludes in 1 Cor. 7:1.

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