| Term | Definition |
|---|
| garden of Eden | adam and eve; paradise prepared by god |
| Adam | first man |
| Eve | first woman |
| the fall | refers to grace; resulted in the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden |
| the serpent | chief of god's fallen angels; Satan the tempter |
| the tree of knowledge or life | eating the fruit gave them the knowledge of good and evil |
| Cain and Abel | children of adam and eve; Cain killed Abel |
| Methuselah | the oldest person whose age is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible; has become a general synonym for any living creature of great age. |
| Noah | followed god; built the ark and saved his own family |
| tower of babel | constructed a tower to heaven; god got angry; nobody spoke the same language |
| Abraham | means "exalted Father"; father of Ishmael and Isaac; an important figure in Islam, Judaism and Christianity |
| Sarah | Abraham's wife; mother of Isaac; laughed when she heard she would have a child in her old age |
| Isaac | son of Abraham and Sarah; father of Jacob and Esau |
| Sodom and Gomorrah | Abraham lived among evil towns; god wished to destroy them; abraham brought out righteous people |
| Hagar | handmaiden or servant of Sarah; mother of Ishmael |
| Ishmael | son of Abraham and Hagar |
| Jacob and Esau | twin sons of Issac and Rebbecca; Jacob stole Esau's birthright |
| Jacob's ladder | vision of god's angels ascending and descending; commonly referred to as a "wrestling with God" |
| Joseph | favorite son of Jacob; sold into slavery by his brothers because they were jealous of his coat of many colors; a prince in Egypt; saved his family from famine |
| Moses | Hebrew parents in Egypt; mother hid him in bulrushes; through Moses, god delivered the Israelite slaves from Egypt |
| burning bush | god appeared to Moses in this form |
| land of milk and honey | the promised land for Abraham and his descendants after escaping from Egypt and wandering in the desert for 40 years |
| the ten plagues | god sent plagues Egypt to convince Pharaoh to release the Israelites from slavery |
| plague 10 | the first born of the cattle and people were killed |
| the passover | Israelite might escape the tenth and last plague; commanded to sprinkle blood of a lamb on their doorposts; angel of death passed over to kill the first born; first born lived if bllood over doorpost |
| manna | special bread sent from Heaven |
| mt. sinai | mountain where god appeared to Moses and gave him the ten commandments |
| golden calf | Moses was on mt. sinai the people became tired of waiting and built a golden calf to worship; moses broke it |
| ark of the covenant | a box where the tablets containing the ten commandments were placed |
| pillar of fire, pillar of cloud | columns of fire and cloud which appeared in the sky |
| serpent on a stick | symbol of healing for the medical profession; Isrealites were healed when they looked up at it |
| Joshua | after the death of Moses, Joshua took over |
| the battle of Jericho | city near the Jordan river captured by the Israelites on the way to the promise land |
| Samson and Delilah | had long hair and was really strong; his strength was in his hair; Delilah- Samson fell in love with her; she cut his hair and turned him over to the Philistines enemy |
| Samuel | last of the great judges who ruled Israel |
| Saul | The Isrealites asked God for a king; he was first Hebrew king; famous for his many moods |
| David | followed Saul as king of Israel; brave warrior who slew the giant Goliath, a Philistine, with a rock from his sling-shot |
| bath-sheba | wife of Uriah and David; had an affair with David |
| Absalom | very handsome son of David; killed his half brother, father David forgave him; |
| Solomon | another son of king David; wisest man on earth; god told him he could have anything he wished for and he asked for Wisdom |
| Ahab | a king of the divided kingdom of Judah; married Jezebel |
| Jezebel | wife of Ahab; responsible for turning him the worship of god; woman who turns someone from good to evil; another term for a "controlling wife" |
| Elijah | famous prophet under king Ahab who challenged the prophets of the false idol Baal |
| Esther | was queen of Persia but also a Jew; saved all the Isrealites from being killed by the King Xerxes |
| Job | righteous man in god's sight; Satan made job lose his wealth and respect and job stood steadfast and never cursed god and god returned everything back to job |
| Daniel | taken to Babylon after the fall of Jerusalem in 826 b.c.; thrown in the lion's den and the fiery furnace because of his faith in god; interpreted dreams |
| Jonah | After running from God, he was thrown overboard and a big fish swallowed him; he prayed, god rescued, he repented and was spit out after three days |
| Christ | known as Jesus; the promised savior; or messiah; |
| Joesph | Jesus' earthly father and a carpenter in Nazareth |
| Mary | mother of Christ; told by the angel Gabriel that she would bear a son and name him emmanuel or jesus |
| immaculate conception | prophets of the old testament foretold that the savior would be bron of a virgin |
| the nativity | term used for the birth of Jesus, the son of god, to the virgin Mary |
| the magi | known as the wise men from the east who brought gifts to Christ when he was 2 years old |
| Herod | king of Judah at the time of the birth of christ; ordered that all male children under the age of two were to be killed |
| john the baptist | cousin of Jesus who preached repentance; Jesus was baptized by him in the river Jordan |
| the sermon of the mount | first sermon of Jesus; contained the beatitudes; a list of type of people who will be blessed |
| apostle or disciple | were twelve men handpicked by Jesus to be his chosen followers; after his death and resurrection they were to carry on his mission |
| Matthew | was a tax collector and one of the twelve disciples of Jesus |
| Peter | was one of Jesus' disciples; known as the rock; betrayed Jesus but repented |
| Judas Iscariot | one of the twelve disciples of Jesus; betrayed Jesus with a "kiss of death" for thirty pieces of silver; later repented but too late; hung himself |
| parable | simple story illustrating moral or religious point |
| good Samaritan | the parable in which a man is attacked by thieves and left at the side of the road. A passing Samaritan binds his wounds, takes him to an inn, and cares for him. A good Samaritan now refers to anyone who freely helps others in their time of need. |
| prodigal son | parable in which a son leaves home to fritter away his money on a hedonistic lifestyle, only to end up destitute. The son crawls home, filled with shame and remorse, upon which his father welcomes him with open arms and "kills the fattened calf" for him. Somebody who leaves home to lead a dissolute life and regretfully returns home is called a prodigal son. |
| wedding at Cana | the site of jesus' first miracle; jesus took 70 storage barrels of water and turned them into wine |
| Lazarus | brother of Mary and Martha- Jesus raised him from the dead |
| Mary and Martha | were sisters and devoted followers of Christ |
| pharisees, Sadducees, scribes | were the educated men during the time of Jesus; questioning the things he did and trying to trap him into blasphemy |
| palm Sunday | day that Christ rod triumphantly into Jerusalem on a donkey |
| garden of Gethsemane | place where Jesus often went with his disciples to pray, rest, and talk; here that he was betrayed by judas iscariot |
| the last supper | followers were to reenact this meal as a remembrance of Jesus |
| Pilate | governor of Jerusalem; washes his hands of Jesus' death as if to say "it's no longer my problem" |
| crucifixion | was the method used to kill Jesus; nailed to a cross by his hands and feet and left to die |
| Golgotha | hill on which Jesus was crucified |
| resurrection | term meaning rising from the dead |
| the ascension | occurred 40 days after the resurrection of Christ; Jesus promised the disciples that they would recieve help in taking the message to the people |
| Paul | known as Saul before he was converted to the christian faith; saul was blinded by the strong light |
| Babylon | city know for its wealth, grandeur, and wickedness; citizens of Jerusalem were taken there in exile |
| Armageddon | the site of the final battle between God and Satan;it can also refer to an apocalyptic catastrophe. |
| second coming | some Christians believe that Christ will come again to judge the earth. |
| Antediluvian | Latin for "before the flood," referring to the flood Noah rode out in Genesis; exaggeratedly referring to something very old or outdated |
| Goliath | . a giant warrior—more than nine feet tall—who was slain by David in I Samuel. In modern usage, both giants and very large or powerful people or things are called Goliath. |
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