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| "The Bible" A Greek Name? The word comes from the Greek "Byblos", the name of the city in Phoenicia, which produced papyrus, the first paper, for the Greeks. The word "biblia" was then coined to describe little books, and since the Scriptures are essentially that - a collection of little books - the word Bible was used to describe them. |
| Greek? The Five Books of Moses - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy are called the Pentateuch by Christians, from the Greek word for "five books". To Jews, these books are known collectively as the Torah, from the Hebrew word for "laws", Because within the stories they tell, that is what they're really all about. (Law) |
| Christians? For years, followers of Jesus still considered themselves to be Jews. According to Acts 11:26, it wasn't until years later, in Antioch (in what is now Turkey), that "the disciples were called Christians." |
| Let there be light… and light. God creates day and night on the first day, in Genesis 1:4, yet it isn't until 1:14, the fourth day, that He creates "lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night." Is this an inconsistency? Not according to experts on the Bible, who say that the first light was the "greater" light, the sun, and the second light was the "lesser" light, the moon. They were not referred to specifically, it is said, because their names are dangerously close to the words for the Babylonian sun and moon gods...references the authors of the Bible would have wanted to avoid. |
| Was Eden A Garden? Eden is the ancient Sumerian word for plain. Though that word doesn't exactly summon up visions of paradise, it must be remembered that the garden itself wasn't called Eden, but that "the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden" (Genesis 2:8). |
| The first woman- Eve? There is some dispute as to the origin of the name. Many scholars believe it comes from the Hebrew havva, which means life. However, others maintain that it derives from the Sumerian word "ev", meaning rib. |
| Born Again: Jesus told the Pharisee Nicodemus. In John 3:1-7, we are told that he came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: For no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God e with you Jesus answered, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." One can almost imagine Nicodemus scratching his head as he asks, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" Jesus answered patiently, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not. I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." The Pharisees The ancient Jewish sect with whom Jesus had serious ideological differences. |
| Alteration? A famous saying from the Bible has been somewhat altered over the years. In proverbs 13:24, we are told, "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: But he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes." No one knows how or when the saying became "Spare the rod and spoil the child." |
| Root of all evil? It isn't money. What the Bible really says, in 1 Timothy 6:10, is "The love of money is the root of all evils." |
| Why is 666 the number of the beast? For various reasons, the number seven is considered holy and perfect, beginning with Genesis 2:2: "And on the seventh day God ended His work." In other words, the perfection of creation had been achieved. Later, in 4:15, God says that "whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." Meaning that God's vengeance will be utter and complete. Other sevens include the number of each clean beast and fowl Noah was instructed to take on the Ark (Genesis 7:2-3), the number of ewes in a special pact between Abraham and Abimelech, the length of time the Hebrews were to eat unleavened bread (Exodus 12:19), the seven deadly sins, the seven Angels of Revelation (with their seven vials of the seven last plagues), and more. Scholars believe that "six hundred threescore and six" is said to represent the ultimate evil (Revelation 13:18) because however many times sixes are placed in succession, they will never equal seven. ..and, thus, the number will always be imperfect and corrupt. |
| "Giants"? (Genesis 6:4 clearly states that a very different breed of creature once dwelt with humans upon the earth:) "There were giants in the earth in those days. ..when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown." Whoever these demigods and titans were, they were destroyed in the flood…though some scholars speculate that Goliath and his giant kin were throwbacks to those beings. |
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| The Bible Code I have always believed the bible stories were written, with a secret code hidden within them, for the future. The code has been discovered. |
| Capital Punishment. The Bible is very clear about the crimes which are punishable by death. Execution awaited any who: "Smiteth (strike) a man) so that he, dies" -Exodus 21:12 "Smitethl} his father, or his mother." -Exodus 21: 15 "Stealeth a man, and selleth him." -Exodus 21:16 Curseth his father, or his mother -Exodus 21:17 "(Be) a witch." -Exodus 22: 18 "Lieth with a beast. -Exodus 22:19 "Sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the Lord only." -Exodus 22:20 "Doeth any work in the Sabbath day." -Exodus 31: 15 "Giveth any of his seed unto Molech." -Leviticus 20:2 "Commiteth adultery with another man's wife." -Leviticus 20:10 "Lieth with his father's wife." -Leviticus 20:11 "Lie with his daughter in law." -Leviticus 20:12 “Lieth with mankind as he lieth with a woman." -Leviticus 20:13 "Take a wife and her mother." -Leviticus 20:14 "Profaneth herself by playing the whore. " (applied to the daughter of any priest) -Leviticus 21:9 Hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God." -Deuteronomy 13:5 "Is stubborn and rebellious (and) is a glutton and a drunkard. " (applied to a son) -Deuteronomy 21:20-21 Hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house. " (applied to any daughter who is not a virgin and weds) -Deuteronomy 22:20-21 "Force (a betrothed damsel in the field) and lie with her." -Deuteronomy 22:25 Stoning appears to have been the most common form of execution, with "the edge of the sword" a close second and hanging third. Among the Romans, of course, crucifixion was the favored mode of execution. |
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| The Book of Kells 'Initium Evangelii Ihu Xpi' Meaning 'The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ'. A record of the Gospels is perhaps the crowning glory of the Celtic art form, consisting of some 340 calfskin leaves featuring elaborate illustrations and Latin calligraphy and thought to have been prepared anytime between the middle 6th century to possibly as late as the 9th century AD. It may have been started by the monks of the island of Iona then moved to the Columban monastery of Kells, County Meath in Ireland to stop it falling into the hands of invading Vikings. Wherever it originated, it is estimated that it may have taken a small team of illustrators up to 30 years to complete. Although it is not the only manuscript book that is known to have existed, others including the Books of Durrow, Lindisfarne, St. Chad, MacRegol and MacDurnan survive in whole or partial form, it is generally regarded as the most accomplished and contains examples of almost all of the various forms and styles of Celtic art known to the scribes and artists of the time. Click on the celtic cross to see the Initial page of St. Marks Gospel and illustration of the text 'Initium Evangelii Ihu Xpi' meaning 'The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ'. |
| The book of Kells contains three Evangelists pages and it is probable that there was once a fourth. These show four winged forms with halos - the symbols traditionally associated with Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In the Book of Revelations, they are described thus 'and around the throne were four beasts...and the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.' The lion represents Mark, the calf Luke, the man is Matthew and the eagle is attributed to John. One theory suggests that the symbols are related to the life of Christ, it claims that the man symbolises the Nativity, the lion shows His royalty and majesty, the calf, as a sacrificial animal represents His sacrifice on the cross, and the eagle His ascending to Heaven |
| The Celtic People themselves are both hard to define and often misunderstood and misinterpreted. It is generally agreed that the roots of the culture began to develop some 4000 years ago. It is however, the dawning of the Iron Age sometime between 700 and 500 BC that sees the loose scattered communities amalgamating into the powerful tribal groups that we now know existed due to the written accounts of the Roman invaders. It is these people that became the Celts of legend. The 5th century and during the dark ages,it was in the areas that had remained out of the control of the Romans, such as Ireland and the north of Britain, areas that were now Christianised, that Celtic art flourished. The great illuminated Gospels of Lindisfarne, the Book of Durrow and the Book of Kells all from around the 7-8th century, feature brightly coloured and intricately interlaced patterning, sometimes including human and animal forms and highly ornate illuminated Latin script. Similarly, carved stone crosses of the period feature complicated panels of interlacing as well as scenes from the old and new testament. |
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| The Word Although there are 340 leaves remaining, it is thought that some 30 have been lost throughout the books 1100 -1400 year history, indeed it was stolen in 1007 and its golden cover was never found. It finally passed into Trinity College Dublin in 1661 where it has remained since. However it seems that each Gospel was to be introduced with 3 decorative pages, a page illustrating the symbols of the evangelists with another showing the individual saint and an Initial page with the highly ornate opening words of the Gospel. Throughout the book there are further full pages illustrating important events in the life of Christ. The Initial page of St. John's Gospel contains the text 'In Principio erat Verbum etVerbum' meaning 'In the beginning was the Word and the Word...' |
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| Copyright © 2001 Lady Lee All rights reserved |