Urim
In the Hebrew Bible, the Urim ( he, ''ʾŪrīm'', "lights") and the Thummim ( he, ''Tummīm'', meaning uncertain, possibly "perfections") are elements of the ''hoshen'', the breastplate worn by the High Priest attached to the ephod. They are connected with cleromancy (with divination by casting lots). Most scholars suspect that the phrase refers to a set of two objects used by the high priest to answer a question or reveal the will of God.'' A Commentary on the Bible'', ed. Arthur Peake, p191etc. (1919). The Urim and the Thummim first appear in Exodus 28:30, where they are named for inclusion on the breastplate to be worn by Aaron in the holy place. Other books, especially 1 Samuel, describe their uses. Name and meaning ''Urim'' () traditionally has been taken to derive from a root meaning ''lights''; these derivations are reflected in the Neqqudot of the Masoretic Text. In consequence, ''Urim and Thummim'' has traditionally been translated as "lights and perfections" (by ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ephod
An ephod ( he, אֵפוֹד ''ʾēfōḏ''; or ) was a type of apron, which according to the Hebrew Bible, was worn by the Jewish high priest the kohen gadol, an artifact and an object to be revered in ancient Israelite culture, and was closely connected with oracular practices and priestly ritual. In the Books of Samuel and Books of Chronicles, David is described as wearing an ephod when dancing in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant (2 Samuel 6:14, 1 Chronicles 15:27) and one is described as standing in the sanctuary at Nob, with a sword behind it (1 Samuel 21:9). In the book of Exodus and in Leviticus one is described as being created for the High Priest to wear as part of his official vestments (Exodus 28:4+, 29:5, 39:2+; Leviticus 8:7). Description In the Bible, in the contexts where it is worn, the ephod is usually described as being linen, but did not constitute complete clothing of any kind, as the Books of Samuel describe.Cheyne and Black, ''Encyclopedia Biblica'' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kohen Gadol
High Priest ( he, כהן גדול, translit=Kohen Gadol or ; ) was the title of the chief religious official of Judaism from the early post-Babylonian captivity, Exilic times until Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE), the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Roman Empire, Romans in 70 CE. Previously, in the Yahwism, Israelite religion, including during the time of the History of ancient Israel and Judah, kingdoms of Israel and Judah, other terms were used to designate the leading priests; however, as long as a king was in place, the supreme ecclesiastical authority lay with him. The official introduction of the term "high priest" went hand-in-hand with a greatly enhanced ritual and political significance bestowed upon the chief priest of the Israelites in the post-Exilic period, especially from 411 BCE onward due to the religious transformations brought about during the time of the Babylonian captivity and due to the lack of a List of Jewish states and dynasties, Jewish kin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Priestly Breastplate
The priestly breastplate or breastpiece of judgment ( he, חֹשֶׁן ''ḥōšen'') was a sacred breastplate worn by the High Priest of the Israelites, according to the Book of Exodus. In the biblical account, the breastplate is termed the ''breastplate of judgment'' ( he, חֹשֶׁן מִשְׁפָּט ''ḥōšen mišpāṭ'' - ), because the Urim and Thummim ( he, הָאוּרִים וְהַתֻּמִּים ''hāʾūrīm wəhattummīm'') were placed upon it.(). These elements of the breastplate are said in the Exodus verse to carry the judgement ( he, מִשְׁפָּט ''mišpāṭ'') of God concerning the Israelites at all times. Hebrew Bible According to the description in Exodus, this breastplate was attached to the tunic-like garment known as an ephod by gold chains/cords tied to the gold rings on the ephod's shoulder straps, and by blue ribbon tied to the gold rings at the belt of the ephod. The biblical description states that the breastplate was also to be made f ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Aaron
According to Abrahamic religions, Aaron ''′aharon'', ar, هارون, Hārūn, Greek (Septuagint): Ἀαρών; often called Aaron the priest ()., group="note" ( or ; ''’Ahărōn'') was a prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of Moses. Knowledge of Aaron, along with his brother Moses, exclusively comes from religious texts, such as the Hebrew Bible, Bible and the Quran. The Hebrew Bible relates that, unlike Moses, who grew up in the Egyptian royal court, Aaron and his elder sister Miriam remained with their kinsmen in the eastern border-land of Egypt ( Goshen). When Moses first confronted the Egyptian king about the enslavement of the Israelites, Aaron served as his brother's spokesman ("prophet") to the Pharaoh (). Part of the Law given to Moses at Sinai granted Aaron the priesthood for himself and his male descendants, and he became the first High Priest of the Israelites. Aaron died before the Israelites crossed the Jordan river. According to the Book of N ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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William Muss-Arnolt
William (Wilhelm) Muss-Arnolt (May 7, 1860 in Cologne – June 25, 1927 in New York) was an Assyriologist and librarian known for his exposition of the Assyrian language. Muss-Arnolt received a B.D. from New Brunswick Theological Seminary in 1883, and a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1888. He taught at the University of Michigan for one semester, then went to the University of Chicago, where he continued work on his ''Concise Dictionary of the Assyrian Language''. He ended his career as a librarian at the Boston Public Library.William W. Bishop, "College Days—1889–93: Fragments of Autobiography"; ''Michigan Alumnus: Quarterly Review'', Vol. LIV No. 10, December 6, 1947; p351 In 1900 Muss-Arnolt published an article positing a Babylonian origin for the words Urim and Thummim in the Hebrew Bible. This article originally appeared in the '' American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures'' and was thereafter published separately by the University of Chicago Press. Mu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cleromancy
Cleromancy is a form of sortition (casting of lots) in which an outcome is determined by means that normally would be considered random, such as the rolling of dice, but that are sometimes believed to reveal the will of a deity. In classical civilization In ancient Rome fortunes were told through the casting of lots or ''sortes''. In Judaic and Christian tradition Casting of lots is mentioned 47 times in the Bible. Some examples in the Hebrew Bible of the casting of lots as a means of determining God's will: * In the Book of Leviticus , God commanded Moses, "And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the , and the other lot for the scapegoat." * According to Numbers , Moses allocated territory to the tribes of Israel according to each tribe's male population and by lot. * IJoshua 7:14 a guilty party ( Achan) is found by lot. * In the Book of Joshua , Joshua says, "Ye shall therefore describe the land into seven parts, and bring the description hither to me, that I ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Saul
Saul (; he, , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered tribal society to organized statehood. The historicity of Saul and the United Kingdom of Israel is not universally accepted, as what is known of both comes from the Hebrew Bible. According to the text, he was anointed as king of the Israelites by Samuel, and reigned from Gibeah. Saul is said to have died by suicide when he "fell on his sword" during a battle with the Philistines at Mount Gilboa, in which three of his sons were also killed. The succession to his throne was contested between Ish-bosheth, his only surviving son, and David, his son-in-law; David ultimately prevailed and assumed kingship over Israel and Judah. Biblical account The biblical accounts of Saul's life are found in the Books of Samuel: House of King Saul According t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach" ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tānāḵh''), also known in Hebrew as Miqra (; Hebrew: ''Mīqrā''), is the Biblical canon, canonical collection of Hebrew language, Hebrew scriptures, including the Torah, the Nevi'im, and the Ketuvim. Different branches of Judaism and Samaritanism have maintained different versions of the canon, including the 3rd-century Septuagint text used by Second-Temple Judaism, the Syriac language Peshitta, the Samaritan Torah, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and most recently the 10th century medieval Masoretic Text, Masoretic text created by the Masoretes currently used in modern Rabbinic Judaism. The terms "Hebrew Bible" or "Hebrew Canon" are frequently confused with the Masoretic text, however, this is a medieval version and one of several ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Marduk
Marduk (Cuneiform: dAMAR.UTU; Sumerian: ''amar utu.k'' "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) was a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon. When Babylon became the political center of the Euphrates valley in the time of Hammurabi (18th century BC), Marduk slowly started to rise to the position of the head of the Babylonian pantheon, a position he fully acquired by the second half of the second millennium BCE. In the city of Babylon, Marduk was worshipped in the temple Esagila. Marduk is associated with the divine weapon Imhullu. His symbolic animal and servant, whom Marduk once vanquished, is the dragon Mušḫuššu. "Marduk" is the Babylonian form of his name. The name ''Marduk'' was probably pronounced ''Marutuk''. The etymology of the name ''Marduk'' is conjectured as derived from ''amar-Utu'' ("immortal son of Utu" or "bull calf of the sun god Utu"). The origin of Marduk's name may reflect an earlier genealogy, or have had cultural ties to the anc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pluralis Excellentiae
The ''pluralis excellentiae'' is the name given by early grammarians of Hebrew, such as Wilhelm Gesenius, to a perceived anomaly in the grammatical number and syntax in Hebrew. In some cases it bears some similarity to the ' or "royal plural". However the idea of excellence is not necessarily present: Hebrew distinguishes grammatical number by endings in nouns, verbs and adjectives. A grammatical phenomenon occurs with a small number of Hebrew nouns, such as ''elohim'' 'great god' and ''behemoth'' 'giant beast', whereby a grammatically redundant plural ending (''-im'', usually masculine plural, or ''-oth'', usually feminine plural) is attached to a noun, but the noun nevertheless continues to take singular verbs and adjectives. Abstract plurals with feminine singular Abstract plurals with ''-im'' endings such as in words for 'uprightness', 'blessedness', 'sweetness', 'youth', 'strength', etc. take feminine singular verbs and adjectives. Behemoth—beasts or great beast Sometime ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tablet Of Destinies (mythic Item)
In Mesopotamian mythology, the Tablet of Destinies ( sux, ; akk, ṭup šīmātu, ṭuppi šīmāti, script=Latn, italic=yes) was envisaged as a clay tablet inscribed with cuneiform writing, also impressed with cylinder seals, which, as a permanent legal document, conferred upon the god Enlil his supreme authority as ruler of the universe. Other mention In the Sumerian poem '' Ninurta and the Turtle'' it is the god Enki, rather than Enlil, who holds the Tablet, as Enki has stolen it and brought it to the ''Abzu''. Both this poem and the Akkadian Anzû poem also share concern of the theft of the tablet by the bird Imdugud (Sumerian) or Anzû (Akkadian).. In the Babylonian '' Enuma Elish'', Tiamat bestows this tablet on Kingu and gives him command of her army. In the end, the Tablet always returns to Enlil. See also *List of Mythological Objects Mythological objects encompass a variety of items (e.g. weapons, armor, clothing) found in mythology, legend, folklore, tall tal ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Canaan
Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interpretes. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : Dt. Bibelges., 2006 . However, in modern Greek the accentuation is , while the current (28th) scholarly edition of the New Testament has . ar, كَنْعَانُ – ) was a Semitic-speaking civilization and region in the Ancient Near East during the late 2nd millennium BC. Canaan had significant geopolitical importance in the Late Bronze Age Amarna Period (14th century BC) as the area where the spheres of interest of the Egyptian, Hittite, Mitanni and Assyrian Empires converged or overlapped. Much of present-day knowledge about Canaan stems from archaeological excavation in this area at sites such as Tel Hazor, Tel Megiddo, En Esur ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |