Cor-Cy

COR  (כר)  A large measure of uncertain quantity.

CORAL  (a.) ראמות (ra mowth); b.) פנינ (paw neen), King James Version 

        uses "ruby")  The red coral of the Mediterranean area, used for jewelry. 

CORBAN  (קרבן)  The term in postexilic Judaism, for a gift consecrated to God 

        for religious purposes; its use originated in circles having to do with the Je-

        rusalem cult.  An object so dedicated could not be used for any other pur-    

        pose.   It was to the strict use of this word that the saying of Jesus in Mark     

        refers. 

CORD, ROPE (a.) חבל (khay bel); b.) מיתר (may thawr); c.) עבת (ab oth  aw);

        d.) scoinion (skoi nee on))  In antiquity a great many fibers were used in the 

        manufacture of rope, such as:  flax; silver; gold; hemp; goat's hair; wool, and later 

        camel's hair. 

                   a.) In one usage, it is a rope strong enough to support a man's  weight (Jo-

        shua 2 and Jeremiah 38); in another it is cords which tie back curtains (Esther 1).

                   b.)  The cords of a tent (Isaiah 54 and Jeremiah 10), and the strings of a bow 

        (Psalm 21).

                   c.)  In the majority of cases the word refers to the bonds of captives, those 

        binding the hands, and those around the waist or neck by which they were led.

                   d.)  A rope made of rushes; possibly of esparto grass (John 2; Acts 27).

CORIANDER SEED (גד (gad); korion (kor ee on))  The seeds of an annual plant 

        with umbrella-shaped foliage.  The seeds were used much as poppy, caraway, and 

        sesame seeds are used today.

CORINTH  (KorinqoV)  The chief commercial city in southern Greece, on the nar-

        row (5.6 km wide) strip of land between the Gulf of Corinth to the north and the 

        Saronic Gulf to the south; the capital of the Roman province of Achaia.  The city 

        site was about 3.2 km inland from the Gulf of Corinth, on an elevated terrace.  

        Corinth was strategically located on its  narrow strip of land and controlled the 

        ports of Lechaion to the north, and Cenechreae to the south.   At its narrowest point

        the smaller vessels were dragged across from one gulf to the other.  By the 100s 

        A.D., Corinth was probably the finest city in Greece.

                   Stone implements and pottery vessels attest to human habitation here in the 

        Neolithic period (5000-4000 B.C.).  Around 2000 B.C. the  settlement seems to 

        have been devastated, and then around 1000 B.C. was occupied by the Dorian 

        Greeks.  Corinth reach great power and prosperity under Periander (625-583 B.C. 

        (approximately)).  (See also entry in the Old Testament (OT) Apocrypha/ Influen-

        ces outside the OT section of the Appendix).   

                   Coming from the port of Lechanion to the north, a road led directly into the 

        central area of Corinth.  Steps built in the road make it evident that it was not inten-

        ded for wheeled traffic; it was lined with colonnades and shops on each side, and it 

        ended at the agora.  This large, generally rectangular area was divided into 2 parts,

        the northern or lower, and the  southern or upper part.  From the southern edge of 

        the agora, the road departed which led to Cenchreae.  

                   To the northwest of the agora was the  theater, which originated in the 400s 

        B.C.  Near the theater was a plaza,  some 18 meters on a  side, paved with lime-

        stone blocks. It is possible that the pavement here was paid for by the Erastus who

        later became a Christian and a friend of  Paul.  To the south of the agora, the Acro-

        corinth rises to 575 meters above sea level.  On its summit was a temple to Aphro-

        dite, the goddess whose worship Strabo said brought so many people and so much 

        wealth to Corinth.    

                   In the connection with Paul’s work at Corinth, the bema, which runs east 

        and west across the southern third of the agora, is of special interest.  It consisted 

        of a high, broad platform raised on two steps, with passageways on either side 

        which gave access from the lower to the upper area of the agora.   Built of white 

        and blue marble, the bema must have presented an impressive appearance, and it 

        served very well as a public speaking platform.  Archaeologists may also have 

        found the very synagogue where the apostle Paul preached.

CORINTHIANS, FIRST LETTER TO THE  (KorinqiouV)  A letter written by the 

        apostle Paul to the church at Corinth; now found as the 7th book of the New Testa-

        ment (NT).  It is one of the most illuminating documents in all Christian literature. 

        It sheds light on typical problems, preserves the earliest account of the church's 

        celebration of the Lord's Supper and the origin of the Resurrection faith, and the 

        hymn about love.  The entire letter is full of spiritual depth and lyrical cadence.

                   Corinth: Description and Paul’s First Contact—The letter was written 

        by the apostle Paul from Ephesus to the church at Corinth.  It is reasonable to as-

        sume that I Corinthians is to be dated not long before the time of Paul's announced 

        departure; i.e. in the late winter or early spring of 55 A.D.  The city in Paul's day 

        was a new and burgeoning metropolis, rebuilt a century earlier after being razed to

        the ground and left desolate for a century.  In Paul's day it was the 4th largest and 

        most important city in the Empire, and the capital of the province of Achaia. 

                    In the first century of the Christian era, Corinth was a city to which immi-

        grants had been attracted from all parts of the Mediterranean world.  Egyptians, 

        Syrians, Jews and other West Asians settled among the earlier Italian and Greek 

        colonists.  Archaeology has identified the remains of temples to the Egyptian divi-

        nities Isis and Serapis, the Phrygian goddess Magna Mater, the Syrian deity Astarte, 

        the Ephesian Artemis,  Helios, Aphrodite and others.  Even at a time when public 

        morality everywhere in the Empire was at a low ebb, Corinth was notorious for its 

        lax morals.   Shortly before Paul's ministry, Aphrodite cult had 1,000 priestess-

        prostitutes attached to its Corinthian temple.  

                   Jews in some numbers had settled at Corinth.  There is physical evidence of 

        a synagogue at the western edge of town.  Jews from Rome, Naples, Alexandria, 

        and Antioch, rich and poor Jews, gathered each sabbath.  There were some prose-

        lytes among them, men and women of non-Jewish birth who had identified them-

        selves ritually and by formal initiation with the Jewish community.  

                                            C-65

   

                   Far more numerous than the proselytes were the so-called “God-fearers,” 

        Gentiles who had informed themselves about the Jewish people, who governed     

        themselves by the regulation of Jewish law, but who had not taken the final step

        of ceremonial identification with the Jewish group.  The hesitation to join was 

        due to the anti-Semitic prejudice and to the fact that the proselyte remained a 

        second-class Jew; only their children were admitted to full rights and privileges.

                   The first acquaintance of the Corinthian Jewish community with the Chri-

        stian sect dated from 49 A.D., when Aquila and Prisca (or Priscilla) arrived in the

        city after being expelled from Rome along with other Jews.  Early in 50, Aquila 

        and Prisca opened their home to Paul, an itinerant  Christian evangelist of the 

        same trade.  He was invited to speak at the synagogue, and he used the opportunity

        to try and convince his listeners that Jesus was the Messiah of Jewish expectation.  

                   Although tolerant to the extreme, the rulers of the synagogue found Paul an 

        exasperating and contentious exponent of what seemed to them dangerous heresy.  

        The Jewish leaders ordered Paul to withdraw.   This the apostle did, taking with 

        him a number of Jewish converts, and a following of non-Jews.  These “God-

        fearers” found Paul's  presentation of the new faith of Christianity an attractive 

        substitute for Judaism, with its circumcision and obedience to strict Jewish 

        regulations. 

                   Christian converts, both from Judaism and from paganism, submitted to the

        rite of baptism.   Both former Jews and pagans had rituals from their past beliefs 

        of which baptism would remind them.  Paul personally baptized only a few of the 

        Corinthian converts; nevertheless, he thought of the rite as a sacrament. Paul's con- 

        verts were drawn from the city's lower economic and social groups.  Some were 

        slaves; some were poverty-stricken wage earners. There were also some people of 

        leisure, wealth, and social influence in the new church.

                   Paul as a Christian missionary followed the rabbinical practice of supporting 

        himself by his own labor, which was that of a leatherworker.  He defended the right 

        of a Christian missionary to receive support from those to whom they minister, and 

        at the same time refused to make use of  this right.  The earliest historian of Christi-    

        anity estimates that Paul spent 18 months in Corinth during the course of his first 

        visit.  Corinthian Jews sought the intervention of the Roman Gallio, who refused to 

        become involved. 

                   Developments after Paul Left—Paul took Prisca and Aquila with him as 

        far as Ephesus; the married couple became residents there, while Paul stayed only 

        a short time.   During Paul's absence, a Jew by the name of Apollos arrived in 

        Ephesus.  Prisca and Aquila heard him speak in the Jewish synagogue, took him 

        aside, and “expounded to him the way of God more accurately,” converting him, 

        either to the Christian faith or to Paul’s interpretation of it. 

                   Apollos journeyed to Corinth and proved of great service to the congrega-

        tion of brethren there.  Paul ranked Apollos with himself as servants of Corinth. 

        Apollos had come back to Ephesus before going to Syria.  At Corinth, Apollos had 

        impressed many of the new converts with his “wisdom.”  Some became his per-

        sonal followers, saying “I belong to Apollos.”  It also possible that Cephas (Peter)

        had also paid a visit to Corinth after Paul's departure, and unintentionally created

        a group who said “I belong to Cephas.”  The emergence in the Corinthian church 

        of Apollos’ and Cephas’ cliques led to still other cliques, ones who proclaimed: “I 

        belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Christ.”

                   After developments such as these at Corinth, Paul came back to Ephesus. 

        Despite a busy and successful mission in Ephesus, the apostle contrived to keep in 

        touch by correspondence and by direct inquiry with the turbulent little Christian 

        community.  Paul refers to a letter, written before the first one we have, in which 

        he warns the Corinthians against association with people guilty of sex, immorality,

        and greed. In I Corinthians, Paul says that he had not meant to prohibit association 

        with immoral people in general, but only those “Christians” who were guilty of 

        immorality.  It's possible that part of this first letter is preserved in II Cor. 6:14-7:1. 

                   Reasons for, Unity, and Authenticity of I Corinthians—Our I Corin-

        thians is in part an answer to a letter that Paul had received at Ephesus from the

        church at Corinth.  In it the church assured the apostle that he was always remem-

        bered and the traditions were maintained as he had delivered them.  What it mainly 

        consisted of was a series of questions concerning which the Corinthian congrega-

        tion desired the apostle's judgment.  

                   Paul felt that the occasion important enough to  warrant a lengthy letter.  In 

        it, he not only answered the questions about sexual intercourse, marriage, and in      

        particular “spiritual marriage,” eating the flesh of animals sacrificed to pagan gods, 

        spiritual possession, the relative worth of “spiritual gifts,” and the proper ordering

        of public worship, but he also instructed them on other matters that needed correc-

        tion.   He addressed the existence of cliques, litigation by Christians in pagan 

        courts, modernistic tendencies among women; and the proper observance of the

        Lord's Supper among others.

                   The many different matters mentioned encouraged some interpreters to 

        regard the canonical document as a composite of several separate writings.  It 

        is suggested that the abrupt transitions in our present letter help to support this 

        hypothesis.  While there is nothing inherently improbable about such a partition 

        hypothesis, I Corinthians can just as easily be understood as a letter composed a

        one time.  The authenticity of I Corinthians was never questioned in ancient times. 

        Only a few Dutch and German scholars questioned it in the late 1800s, and now 

        the vast majority of interpreters assume its authenticity.

                                  C-66    

                   Contents and Date of—In its introduction, Paul follows the pattern evident

        in his other letters:  address; greeting; and a paragraph of praise and thanksgiving.

        In the phrase “the church of God, which is  at Corinth,” Paul reflects the idea that 

        the church is one church with local manifestations, rather than a bunch of separate 

        churches.   The apostle knew of at least 4 factions that were competing for primacy, 

        made of people who felt a special bond to either Paul, Apollos, Cephas, or Christ;

        there is disagreement among scholars as to what the “Christ” faction  represents.  

        Paul protested that these various factions gave to individual apostles a place that 

        belonged only to Christ. 

                   His main concern here was a system of “eloquent wisdom.”  Paul countered 

        with the observation that God's choice of Corinth's church members shows how 

        little God values the wisdom of the world.  As a consequence no church member of

        the had any right to pride oneself on any natural endowment, for the wisdom, righ-

        teousness, sanctification, and redemption were gifts of God “in Christ.”  Paul re-

        minds his readers that he had deliberately chosen to avoid lofty rhetoric time and    

        persuasive words.  The Corinthians did not accept his message because of its im-

        pressive phrasing or logical demonstration, but because they saw in it a manifesta-

        tion of the supernatural power of God.

                   The proclamation of the gospel at times did include a “wisdom.”  But this 

        divine wisdom could be presented only among those who had been spiritually en-    

        dowed to receive and understand what was spiritually imparted.  The Corinthians 

        were not ready for this “wisdom.”  The emergence of factions among them was 

        evidence that they had still not achieved the status of “spiritual men.”

                   Paul then returns to the main theme.  He and Apollos had been nothing but 

        fellow workmen in God’s service.  Paul himself had laid the foundation well, but 

        the structure erected on this foundation might not be above criticism.  Paul reite-

        rates that this world’s wisdom is folly with God and that no one should boast of 

        men.  Paul closes this section with a brief passage in his own defense: whether or 

        not he had been faithful was for God alone to judge.  Paul rebukes the troublema-

        kers at Corinth and pleads with his readers to change.

                   The apostle now proceeds to abrupt and angry comment on the tolerance  

        shown by the Corinthians to a member guilty of incest.  Paul would have the      

        church meet in solemn assembly and issue an edict of excommunication.  In war-

        ning them against association with immoral men, he had not meant those outside 

        the church, but those inside; they were to be excommunicated.  Paul then turns to 

        the problem raised by litigation in pagan courts.  Christians should not have dif-

        ferences, and should settle these matters among themselves. 

                   He gives a list of moral evils, and states that all such sins of the flesh ought

        to have ended among Christian at baptism, but continued to show themselves at 

        Corinth.  Sexual immorality to Paul the Jewish-Christian was a particularly offen-

        sive manifestation of moral evil.  The  Christian is no longer their own property, 

        so one who makes Christ's body one with a harlot is guilty of an intolerable act 

        of desecration.  

                   To the question “Should believers marry?” Paul answers with a  classic 

        example of an “interim” ethic, a suggested practice to cover the period between

        the end of one age and the beginning of another.   Marriage is a desirable state 

        only for those who cannot sublimate the sex instinct.   In principle marriage is 

        religiously and ethically indifferent, but in practice it can easily interfere with 

        one's dedication to God. 

                   Although Paul believed in celibacy as the ethical ideal, he disagreed with 

        some in Corinth who apparently held married people ought to practice rigorous 

        continence.  The apostle repudiated divorce but acknowledged that he spoke on 

        his own authority. Toward the end of the chapter Paul discusses “spiritual” mar-

        riage.  Some men and women had undertaken to live together in spiritual fellow-

        ship, without sexual intercourse.  Paul indicates that it should not be continued if

        it subjects the natural passions to too great a strain. 

                   In the Greco-Roman world, meat sold on the market had been  obtained 

        from a pagan temple.  Paul's position in Chapter 8 was that “It can do us no 

        harm.”  Paul agrees that for Christians there is but one God and one Lord.  Out 

        of consideration for those who haven't been emancipated from belief in idols, 

        he urges his readers to refrain from sitting at table in an idol's temple.  Unless 

        one is governed by the principle of consideration for others, one may be led by 

        thoughtlessness to sin against Christ. 

                   Paul writes in Chapter 9 in support of the right of the apostle to be suppor-

        ted by the community, using 4 arguments:  1^st, he cites a comparable principle

        in secular occupations;  2^nd, he finds scriptural authority through the symbolic  

        representation of compensation in scripture;  3^rd, temple procedure sets a prece-

        dent;  and 4^th, a word of the Lord Jesus Christ enjoins it in Luke 10:7.   Paul 

        waived his right to compensation.  Paul also refers to his practice of becoming 

        “all things to all men” for the sake of the gospel, which was open to misunder-

        standing then as it is now.  As a result, Paul had to defend himself against 

        charges of inconsistency.

                   In chapter 10 Paul returns to a discussion of the matter of eating meat 

        sacrificed to idols.  Paul states categorically that the Lord's Supper and pagan, 

        sacrificial meals are not compatible.  Paul deals with eating food that originally

        had been offered as a pagan sacrifice.  Anxious questions about where the host

        had obtained the meat needn't be asked.   If someone should point out that it is 

        sacrificial meat, the apostle advises that one should refrain from eating it.

                   Paul criticizes participation of some women at Corinth attending public wor-

        ship without wearing veils in chapter 11.  Later in the same chapter the apostle con- 

        condemns developments at Corinth in celebration of the Lord's Supper.  At Cor-

        inth the well-to-do often arrived early and ate and drank without waiting for wage 

        earners and slaves.  Paul denies that this is the Lord's Supper. 

                                            C-67

                   Paul then relates the words Jesus used to institute the rite.  Paul's account 

        of the Last Supper has marked variations in order, phraseology, and emphasis 

        from the so-called “short text” of Luke.  Paul's account is much the earliest we 

        possess.  Paul's addition to Luke's version of Jesus'  words is the command: “Do 

        this in remembrance of me.”  The rite in which the Last Supper was recalled had     

        become a sacrament by which those who participated and shared in some realistic

        way in the triumph of the Cross and the Resurrection. 

                   Chapters 12-14 answers the question: “Which spiritual gift is the more im-

        portant: ‘prophecy’ or ‘speaking with tongues’?”  Paul differentiates between the 

        Holy Spirit's inspiration and demonic inspiration.  He then insists that the varieties

        of gifts manifest in the life of the church are all from the same Spirit.  Each is in-

        dispensable to the welfare of the whole.  Paul interrupts his argument to assert that

        no gift of the Spirit has any value except as it is exercised in love.  This love which

        is God's grace in Jesus Christ can be recognized both by what it is and by what it 

        is not.  Finally, in chapter 14, Paul comes to the relative value of “prophecy” and 

        “speaking with tongues.”  Both are gifts of the Spirit, but the one edifies and en-

        courages and consoles the church, while the other has value only to the speaker.

                   Chapter 15 is frequently but improperly called “Paul's great argument for 

        immortality.”  It is rather, Paul's argument for the resurrection, addressed to 2

        different groups with very different views on life after death.  For the Jew there 

        could be no real life in the coming age without a body; for the Greek there could

        be no true immortality with a body.  

                   Paul begins by establishing the historical fact of Christ's resurrection.  In 

        what is the earliest account of the resurrection and one of great importance to our 

        understanding of Christian beginnings, the apostle declares that faith in the resur-

        rection of Christ rests on visions of the risen Lord.   After asserting that resurrec-

        tion is the promise of the resurrection of believers, Paul discusses the nature of 

        the body that the Christian will possess when one is raised from the dead.  It will 

        not be the body that clothed one's spirit in this life, but an ethereal, spiritual body.  

        Resurrection will be the first event of the new age, will take place suddenly, and 

        will involve the overthrow of death.

                   In the final chapter Paul gives instructions for assembling the contribution 

        at Corinth toward the collection being made in various Pauline churches for “the 

        saints.”  After discussing traveling plans and giving instructions, the letter ends 

        with Paul's personal signature, a curse, a traditional Aramaic prayer, a benediction,

        and an expression of love.   

CORINTHIANS, SECOND LETTER TO THE   A letter written by the apostle Paul 

        to the church at Corinth; now found as the 8th book of the New Testament (NT) 

        canon.  It covers many aspects of Paul's work during a period that Acts' author 

        passes over.  I Corinthians and this letter provides incomparable source material 

        for a study of a 1st-century church and of 1st-century Christianity.  The only infor-

        mation we have on the 6 months between the 2 letters are hints from the apostle's

        own writing. 

                    Sometime between the writing of I Corinthians and the time of the “severe 

        letter” (Chapters 10-13), a band of teachers came to Corinth, boasting of their pure 

        Jewish descent.   They made a bitter attack on Paul's person, reputation, and apo-

        stolic credentials.  These were not “Judaizers” like those mentioned in the Letter to

        the Galatians, as the issues of circumcision and Jewish Law weren't the issues of 

        II Corinthians.  Possibly they were Jewish Christians who embraced Gnostic be-

        liefs.

                   Timothy was to travel by land through Macedonia and wouldn't arrive until 

        after I Corinthians.  Paul feared an unfriendly reception for him.  From the fact that

        he was replaced in later dealings with the Corinthian church, it has been inferred 

        that the apostle's fear were well grounded.  Paul's next emissaries were his young 

        friend Titus and an unnamed “brother”; Titus had “made a beginning” on his brief 

        mission.

                  Paul proposed to stay in Ephesus until Pentecost and then journey to Corinth 

        with the intention of remaining for a considerable period; these travel plans were 

        abandoned.  It is probable that word of new developments in the turbulent little 

        Christian community that compelled Paul to pay a second precipitous visit.  He 

        was met with disparagement and insult, and suffered what he considered a grie-

        vous wrong.  

                   On his return to Ephesus, Paul wrote a “severe” letter to the Corinthian 

        church in the hope of correcting the situation; its part in II Corinthians will be ex-

        plained later.  It seems likely that the apostle underwent some nerve-racking expe-

        rience late in his stay at Ephesus which seemed to threaten his very life and from 

        which he had been delivered only by God’s intervention; some believe that there 

        was an Ephesian imprisonment.  

                   Paul's original plan while at Ephesus had been to visit Corinth.  While there

        on his second trip, Paul said he would return to them.  Back at Ephesus he once 

        more changed his mind.  In Macedonia, as at Troas,  Paul was torn with anxiety.  

        Then Titus rejoined him, and his whole mental attitude was transformed.  “[Titus]

        told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still 

        more."  Titus' appeal and the apostle's “severe” letter had brought about a radical 

        change of heart.  

                   Now that the crisis was over, Paul wrote again to the Corinthian church.  

        The “majority” had inflicted some form of punishment on the ringleader of the 

        revolt against Paul.  The apostle now set himself against a minority that favored 

        imposing an even heavier penalty; the duty of the Christian community was to 

        forgive and comfort him who had been punished.  

                   While in Macedonia, Paul had assembled the collection from Christians in 

        that area.  He now pleads with the Corinthian to exhibit a similar generosity.  He 

        introduces Titus again and sends him to them in advance of his own visit. Accom-

        panying Titus were 2 unnamed Christian brethren.   By associating them with him-

        self, Paul was protecting himself against being charged with misappropriation of 

        funds.  This advance party was to ensure that there would be no failure, and “so 

        that it may be ready not a an exaction but as a willing gift.”

                                             C-68

                   The letter we have begins with thanks to God for deliverance from deadly 

        peril.  Paul defends himself against reproaches of fickleness.  He had refrained 

        from coming again to spare the congregation a repetition of his earlier, painful 

        visit.  Paul writes that it is the duty of all to forgive and comfort the offender.  As

        one divinely commissioned, Paul sees his task as the spreading of the fragrance 

        of the knowledge of God in Christ.  He is a minister of a new covenant.  The veil 

        with which Moses hid the fading brightness of his face has been a veil that has 

        hidden the truth from the Israelites and one that is lifted only by Christ.

                   Like treasure in an earthen vessel, this glorious gospel is entrusted to a frail

        and suffering minister to show that God is the only source of its transcendent 

        power.  Once again Paul asserts his sincerity to enable his readers to answer those 

        who had questioned it.  Having been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation, 

        Paul's aim had been to be an ambassador on Christ's behalf.

                   While in Macedonia he had been harassed without and distraught within, 

        but all this had changed with the good news that his “severe” letter had effected

        a radical transformation.  Now that relationships of mutual confidence had been 

        re-established, Paul feels free to urge his readers to complete the offering for Jeru-

        salem.  In this they will demonstrate the sincerity of their love and will be acting 

        under the constraint of Christ's own example.  

                   He hopes that the offering will all be in hand in advance of his own arri-

        val.  He assures his readers, God rewards generosity by providing the wherewith

        al to display it, and will fill those whom they aid with gratitude to God.  Thus, the 

        first 9 chapters breathe a spirit of relief and gratitude and can readily be under-

        stood in their entirety as the thankful letter Paul wrote and dispatched from Mace-

        donia shortly before his own departure for Corinth on his final visit.

                   Within these nine chapters is the section from 6:14-7:1.  Not only does the 

        passage appear as an awkward digression, but its imperatives, rhetorical questions,

        and appeals to the Old Testament could have supported the apostle's warning in I 

        Corinthians “not to associate with immoral men,” and caused the misunderstan-

        ding he later sought to correct.  

                   Beginning with chapter 10, there an abrupt change.  Paul's attitude is one of 

        sharp defense and his words are charged with reproach and a sense of injustice.  In 

        words that alternately plead and threaten, words of a hurt, indignant and angry 

        man, Paul seeks to re-establish his authority.  

                   The agitators had implied that Paul didn't belong to Christ.  Paul lays em-

        phatic claim to be Christ's, denies the charges of cowardice, reminds his readers

        that his knowledge makes up for his lack of rhetoric, and explains that he prea-

        ches without pay out of love, and so that he might preach God's gospel without 

        cost.  And, despite an intense dislike of self-commendation, he cannot allow 

        false modesty to prejudice his interests.  His conversion experience at Damas-

        cus, an early ecstatic experience, and some recurring physical ailment were evi-

        dence that even his weaknesses could make manifest the power of Christ.

                   With greater restraint, Paul now seeks to correct some serious moral defects

        of the Corinthian Christians.  His earlier self-defense had been made in the hope 

        that a renewed respect for his authority might lead them to repent.  He warns them

        that he wouldn't hesitate to resort to the extreme measures that he had threatened. 

        The case for regarding chapters 10-13 as originally part of the “severe” letter is a

        strong one, but the letter contained more than we now have.   Any combining and 

        editing of these 3 letters took place before any portion of it was put into indepen-

        dent circulation.

                   If we assume that II Corinthian is a combination of parts of 3 letters, it is 

        helpful to understand each part's dating.   The section from 6:14-7:1 differs in 

        theme and temper from what precedes and follows.  It is possible that this section

        is a fragment of the letter written late in 54 A.D., before I Corinthians.  It is also 

        possible that Chapters 10-13 is part of the “severe” letter Paul mentions in II 

        Corinthians 2:3-4, written in the summer of 55, before Chapters 1-9, which were 

        most likely written in the late autumn or early winter of 55.

CORMORANT  (שלך (shaw lawk))  Any one of a family of large sea birds, which 

        includes cormorants, darters, and gannets.  The common cormorant was reported 

        by Tristram to be found in the 1880s on Palestine's coast, the Sea of Galilee, and 

        the Jordan River.  It would be natural for such a bird to be included in a biblical 

        bird list, but whether this Hebrew word was used to designate it we do not know.

CORN  A general term used in the King James Version for many different food-produ-

        cing grasses.

CORNELIUS.  (KornhlioV)  A centurion of the Italian Cohort stationed in 

        Caesarea, a “devout man” who “feared God.”   His conversion is described in Acts 

        10; only the conversion of Paul is given more attention. Cornelius “gave alms libe-

        rally to the people.”  Cornelius is described as the type of Gentile ideally suited to 

        bridge the gap between Judaism and Christianity:   to show that Judaism is proper 

        preparation for the gospel; that the logic of belief in the God of Abraham, Isaac,       

        and Jacob, leads to belief in God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.   As one who 

        feared God, gave alms, and prayed constantly, Cornelius was ready for revelation.  

        Since God publicly validated his call to Cornelius by the outpouring of the Holy 

        Spirit to him, for Peter to reject Cornelius meant to “withstand God.”

                   The importance of the conversion of Cornelius in Acts is: a.) it provides the 

        occasion whereby Luke can put into Peter's mouth one of the summaries of the 

        Christian proclamation; b.) it provides the event-datum by which Peter is made to 

        defend the Pauline mission to the Gentiles; c.) Luke will show that Paul's mission 

        to the Gentile was preceded by Peter's mission to the Gentiles. 

                                        C-69

                 It is generally conceded that Luke's narrative rests on some sort of event-and 

        source-data, but beyond this there is no agreement.  His importance for Luke is that

        he was the first Gentile convert with sufficient eminence to be used in challenging

        and overcoming Jewish particularism in the church.  The events in Acts do not fit

        well with history outside of the Bible.  It seems best to recognize that here the esta-

        blishment of the historic facts is beyond any certain recovery. 

                   From chapters 10-11, we can't clearly determine the significance of Corne-

        lius’ conversion in the establishment of the universal church, nor the contribution 

        which Peter and the Jerusalem church made toward establishing a church of salva-

        tion of all men by faith.   Luke has used history, but not written history; he has 

        turned a faith-principle into historical form, in which faith both creates history and

        is created by it.

CORNER, UPPER CHAMBER OF  (עלית הפנה  (‘al leeth  ha paw neh)) The 

        last item of Nehemiah's description of the restoration of Jerusalem's walls. The 

        “corner” is the northeast corner of the city.

CORNER GATE  (שער הפונה (shah ‘ar  ha paw neh))  A gate of Jerusalem, close

        to the city’s northwest angle.

CORNERSTONE  (פנה (paw neh); זויות (zaw vee oth))  Normally the large stone 

        placed at the foundation of a wall angle to bind 2 walls together; in some passages

        it may refer to the top stone in a defense tower.

                   In the Old Testament (OT), “cornerstone” usually means the foundation 

        stone.  Its most striking use is in Isaiah 28.   The meaning of “cornerstone” has 

        been variously explained as Yahweh, as the Solomonic temple, as the renewed 

        community, as a messianic figure, and as the faith of a renewed Israel.  In Isaiah 

        19, paneh denotes chieftains who keep tribes firm.  The “chief cornerstone” in 

        Psalm 118 is properly the “head of the corner,” perhaps “the battlement's top.”

                   All New Testament (NT) references to “cornerstone” are either quotations

        of or echoes from the OT.  Psalm 118 is quoted from the Greek in Matthew 21; 

        Mark 12; and Luke 20.  Like Jewish tradition, the NT writers interpret these OT

        verses messianically.  The symbol shows Christ as the foundation on which the 

        church’s faith rests, a foundation rejected by Judaism but the only stable basis.

CORRECTIONS OF THE SCRIBES  ( נקודות (ne ko doeth), marks)  Dots placed 

        over letters, or even words, in fifteen places to indicate the doubts of the scribes 

        about the text.

CORRUPTION  (fqora (fa tho ra))  Its chief biblical connotation is the transience 

        of the present world order with all that belongs to it.  Fthora refers to the liabili-

        ties of the material universe to change and decay. 

CORRUPTION, MOUNT OF (המשחית הר (har  ham mash heeth)) A hilltop 

        east of Jerusalem, presumably the south end of Mount of Olives, where Solomon 

        had built a high place to the gods of his foreign wives.  Josiah destroyed this high

        place along with others.

COS  (KwV)  An island with a city of the same name in the Aegean Sea, off the south-

        west coast of Asia Minor.  It was known as one of the isles of the Blessed, and be-

        came a great Jewish center in the Aegean.  Paul called her on his voyage from 

        Miletus at the close of his third missionary journey.

COSMETICS  The cosmetics mentioned in the Bible include ointment, perfume, eye

        paint, and possibly henna.  Perhaps the most common cosmetic of the Bible is  

        ointment, which was often perfumed.  In the dry, hot climate of the Middle East     

        ointment is necessary to keep the skin and hair from drying out, perfume coun-

        teracts body odors.  Eye paint was usually black and was painted around the 

        eyes; it was associated with women of evil reputation.  Henna is a cosmetic ap-

        plied to hands, feet, nails, and hair, as an orange stain and perfume.  It isn't clearly 

        referred to as a cosmetic in the Bible. 

                   Archaeologists have found cosmetic palettes from around 800-600 B.C. 

        These were small bowls with wide flat rims, measuring 10 cm across, with a shal-

        low depression measuring 5 cm across in the middle.  The rims were often deco-

        rated in geometric design.  Evidence was discovered in Babylonia and Egypt that

        rouge was used on the face.  Some cosmetics used by the Jews in antiquity but not 

        mentioned in the Bible are rouge, powder, and hair dye.   Their use was strictly 

        regulated, and was prohibited on sabbath and Passover.

COSMOGONY (See World, Origin of)     

COTTON  (כרפס (kar pas))  The fibers from the fruit of a plant which have been 

        woven into thread and cloth from very early times.

COUCH (יצוע (yaw tsoo ah); ערש (eh res); klinidion (klin id ee on)) Some-

        thing upon which to recline or sleep; there is no clear distinction between 4 He-

        brew words and one Greek translated as “couch” in the King James Version.  The 

        Revised Standard Version uses “couch” 13 times as a more elegant term than 

        “bed,” or to avoid repetition of “bed” in a sentence.

                                        C-70

COUNCIL, THE COUNCIL, COUNCIL HOUSE,  COUNSEL (עצה (aw tseh);    

        יעץ (yaw ‘ats), to give (human or divine) counsel; סוד (sode), secret;    

        σunedrion (soon ed ree on); boulh (boo lay)) A deliberating body.

                   In the Old Testament (OT), the most common term for “counsel” is tseh, in  

        reference both to counsel given by God and to that given by people.  The term 

        sode refers to confidential discourse or secrets, and frequently the council of Yah-

        weh, God's deliberation in the heavenly assembly with the host of heaven ga-

        thered about God.  Although the OT does not directly connect the possession of 

        sound counsel with the prophet's, king's, or worshipper's entrance into Yahweh's 

        council, true counsel has its source in Yahweh, in God alone. 

                   The New Testament (NT) refers only to human councils.  The term 

        sunedrion may refer to either local councils of cities, or to Jerusalem’s high coun-

        cil.  To take or give counsel in the NT is expressed by boule, among others.  It is 

        remarkable that the NT assigns little place to the wisdom tradition.  The elders’ 

        role in the early church may have continued this tradition.  And the church’s sacra-

        ments may be understood in part as dramatic enactments or representations of 

        God’s secret counsel which has been revealed in Jesus Christ.

COUNCIL OF JERUSALEM  The name given to a conference at Jerusalem to deter-

        mine the terms on which Gentiles would be received into the church; Acts 15 and 

        Galatians 2 give different accounts of this council.  In Galatians, Paul says he 

        went to Jerusalem by divine direction, and that his negotiations with Jerusalem 

        leaders was a conference among equals.   Paul says that he agreed to a request for

        funds for the needy in Jerusalem, and that the Jerusalem leaders “added nothing” 

        to the gospel he had been preaching. 

                   In Acts, the Antioch church sends Paul to Jerusalem for his 3rd visit, and in 

        the company of others; the Jerusalem leaders and church appear to hold superior 

        authority.  Acts makes no mention of the request for funds, but does mention a letter 

        written by Jerusalem leaders with dietary restrictions for Gentile Christians.   

                   There are 5 important proposals to explain this difference.  1st, the visit in 

        Galatians is the same as a visit reported at the end of Acts 11.   2nd, the conferences

        in Chapter 11 and 15 are the same conference, wrongly described as 2 separate mee-

        tings.  3rd, Acts 15 combines 2 sources, one dealing with circumcision of Gentiles

        and the other with rules governing fellowship (There is no linguistic basis for 2    

        sources.).   4th, Acts isn't historical material; the author freely composed the coun-

        cil narrative (This denial of historical basis is at odds with the historical value of 

        Luke and the latter half of Acts.).  5th, the letter with dietary restrictions for Gen-

        tiles is wrongly placed towards the end of Acts 15.

                   Of these varied views, none has won general support, and none is so convin-

        cing as the view that Galatians 2 and Acts 15 describe the same conference.  The 2 

        accounts are independent—Paul writes with the aim of vindicating his independent 

        apostleship—but there is broad agreement.  The differences in the equality or supe-

        riority of authority is best explained by Paul's going to Jerusalem to seek their 

        agreement, thus recognizing a degree of authority, and by the fact that Paul was 

        never given one-sided directive or treated as an inferior. 

                   The letter with dietary restrictions, which seems to contradict Paul's state-         

        ment that they “added nothing,” also excused Gentiles from circumcision and other 

        Levitical regulations.   This was a great victory for Paul and the Gentiles, with a  

        minimum of pacifying concessions to the opposing side, because keeping the law

        was no longer necessary for salvation.  If Paul did accept the decree, however, he 

        later saw it used to support the binding character of the Mosaic ceremonial law for 

        all Christians; he then refused to support restrictions.

COUNSELOR  (יועץ (yaw ‘ats); הדבר (had daw bawr); bouleuteV (bool 

        yoo  tace))  One who advises.

                                        C-71

                   Counselors seem to have been customary court officials of the Israelite 

        kings. David's counselor Ahithophel had an outstanding reputation before his 

        defection to Absalom and later suicide.  In a general sense, parents, elders, pro-

        phets, and wise men act as counselors.  God is also a counselor, and no one can

        counsel God.  God's law and testimony are the people's counselor.  God isn't an

        advice-giver, but his power is the strength of the community.  So also the Holy 

        Spirit is the Counselor.    

COURAGE (אמץ (‘aw mats); חזק (khaw zak)) Across the races and generations 

        of humankind courage has been a widely celebrated virtue.  But courage in the 

        Bible doesn't usually stand as an independent virtue; it is generally found in a 

        religious context, inspired by God and displayed in the service of God.

                   Strength and courage are intimately related in Old Testament (OT) usage.  

        Implicit in the action and movement of the patriarchs is a strong, even an adven-

        turous spirit.  But the accounts leave it to God to supply the initiative and provide 

        the way.  There are cases of individual courage, but even David's victory over Go-

        liath is credited to God.  In the OT, loss of courage and faintness of heart generally 

        come from sin and evil, but God supplies the stout heart & the courageous spirit. 

        (See also the entry in the OT Apocrypha /Influences Outside the Bible section of 

        the Appendix.).

                   The Greek word for courage occurs in the New Testament (NT), but the NT 

        breathes the spirit of courage in its fullest strength.  Here the strong temper that 

        rises above unpopularity, abuse, and hostility to take its stand on the unseen, spiri-

        tual realities.  Jesus' own example of courage in his ministry and passion is the in-    

        spiration of his followers.  Peter, John, Stephen, and Paul all bravely face their ac-    

        cusers and even death.  The martyrs of the church demonstrate a brave endurance

        unto death.

COURIER  (רץ (roats))  A royal messenger who traveled overland and by sea.

         Ancient Persians and Romans had well organized carrier services. 

COURT OF BUILDING (חצר (khaw tsare))  An area enclosed by a wall before a   

         building, but without a roof.

COURT OF LAW  Legal proceedings in the Bible are marked by a lot of develop-

        ments throughout the centuries.  During the patriarchs’ period, legal questions

        were decided between families and tribes.  With the tribal system under Joshua, 

        more difficult cases were settled “before God.”  The earliest court mentioned in

        the Old Testament (OT) is Deborah’s palm tree.  Generally, the city gate served as

        the local place of judgment.

                   With the establishment of the kingship, the king assumed the function for-

        merly exercised by the judges of Israel.  The king served as a kind of supreme 

        court, with the city gate as the gathering place for judgment.  In the case of acts

        of apostasy, the accused was placed “on high” before all the people and heard the 

        testimony of his accusers.  If the accused were found guilty, all the people execu-

        ted the punishment of death.  The OT has no specific term for “court of law.”  

        Where the term “court” is found in the English versions, the translation is general-

        ly not a literal one. The same is true of New Testament passages in which “court” 

        appears.

COUSIN  There is no word for “cousin” in the Bible; the Old Testament uses such ex-     

         pressions as “your uncle's son.”  The cousin has certain obligations and rights per-

         taining to economic transactions and especially to marriage.  The marriage of cou-

         sins was common, particularly of first cousins.

                   The King James Version translates suggehiV (soog geh nees) as “cousin” 

         when used of Mary's relation to Elizabeth, but the Greek term actually requires     

         the translation “kinswoman.”

COVENANT  (ברית (ber eeth); diaqhkh (dee ath ay kay))  A solemn promise

        made binding by an oath, which may be either a verbal formula or a symbolic ac-

        tion.  Covenants between parties of different socio-political groups create a rela-

        tionship regulated by the terms of the covenant.  A covenant within a legal com-

        munity assumes obligations which the law does not provide for.  Since the cove-

        nant usually had sanctions of a religious nature, it was closely connected with 

        religion. In later times, when covenants were enforced by political means, the 

        covenant was simply a form of legislation. 

                   List of Topics—1. Covenants in the Ancient World;     2. Covenant 

       Terminology in the OT;     3. Covenants in which God is Bound;     

       4. Moses Covenant and its Stipulations;     5. Ten Commandments' and 

       its stipulations/ Joshua Tribal Variant/ Monarchy Covenants;     

       6. Covenant in the New Testament (NT)

                   1. Covenants in the Ancient World—In the long time span covered by an-

        cient history there is a great variety of forms and situations in which covenants 

        appear.  Covenants were a very important means for the regulation of behavior.

        The oath seems to have been the primary element which made covenants bin-

        ding, but not every oath was a covenant, especially if it did not involve future 

        actions. 

                   The covenants which are of greatest importance for Old Testament (OT)

        history are those between 2 distinct social or political units. Evidence of such co-

        venants goes back to around 2500 B.C. in Sumerian sources, but the evidence of

        those covenants is too fragmentary for effective analysis. We do not know much

        about covenants from the latter part of the Assyrian/ Babylonian period.  We do 

        know that there are numerous differences and similarities between these cove-

        nants and those of the Hittite Empire. Likewise, the Mari archives from around 

        1700 B.C. don't contain enough details to be very helpful.

                                              C-72

                   By far the most useful and extensive body of material comes from the 

        Hittite Empire between 1400-1200 B.C.  These covenants between empire and 

        vassal have been preserved in abundance, and were the formal basis of the Em-

        pire.  They placed the vassal state under the protection of the Hittites, and placed 

        the vassal state's military resources at the disposal of the ruling authority.  The 

        stipulations of that authority defined the vassal's obligations, and protected them 

        from arbitrary action on the part of vastly more powerful authority.

                   The historical prologue consists of a description of the previous relation-

        ships between the 2 parties.  In the case of the Hittites, it usually described how 

        the vassal gained his throne with the help of the Empire.  The stipulations that 

        followed were what the vassal was agreeing to by accepting the covenant.  The

        military obligations were: no alliances with other independent kings; regulations

        for the refugees' treatment (apparently an important issue during this time); war 

        booty was often regulated in advance of war (also an important issue and a source

        of often violent disagreement); and a stipulated tribute.  An interesting feature of 

        some covenants is the frequent prohibition of “murmuring” against authority. 

                   Typically there was a provision putting the covenant in the vassal's sanc-

        tuary, and for reading it in public from 1 to 4 times a year.   Ancient legal docu-

        ments normally ended with a list of witnesses.  Here however, the gods of both 

        states are named, sometimes in exhaustive detail, along with important features 

        of the natural world.  Inspiring religious awe was the intent of invoking these 

        divine witnesses.  Although the Hittite king used military force against vassals, 

        the covenants mention only religious sanctions.  Following the list of divine wit-

        nesses was a list of the blessings and curses which the gods were called upon to 

        bring upon the vassal for obedience and disobedience respectively.  The written 

        document was not all that was involved in a covenant.  There was an oath re-

        quired of the vassal of which the covenant gives no details.

                   So far as the covenant’s validity is concerned, it seems clear that the oath 

        was binding only upon the one who swore, and therefore the death of the vassal 

        or the ruling authority and his heir’s accession required a new covenant.  The nor-

        mal form of covenants was thus a treaty in which only the vassal is bound by 

        oath.  Covenants between equals existed at this time, where the parties were 

        bound by identical obligations.  Perhaps equally important were covenant allian-

        ces for the purpose of obtaining concerted action against empires.

                   2. Covenant Terminology in the OT—While the term bereeth is the most     

        frequent word for “covenant,” there are numerous references to covenants and 

        covenant relationships where this term does not occur. The use of the term for 

        “covenant” is quite rare in the OT’s earliest sections.  The Decalogue’s designa-

        tion as the “10 words” rests on an early tradition, since covenants were regarded

        as the “words” of the ruling authority.  Theological use of the “word” of God may 

        therefore be closely bound up in its use in describing covenants. 

                   In addition, the Hebrew word translated as “testimony” almost certainly 

        was an designation for the covenant.  Occasionally, the word translated as “oath,”

        may be a synonym of “covenant,” since it was the act by which a covenant was 

        made binding.  In the New Testament, only diatheke has clear connections with 

        covenant concepts; it is also possible, though not firmly established, that the Greek 

        word translated as “witness” may have grown out of covenant patterns, since wit-

        nesses are an integral part of the covenant process.

 αβχδeφγηικλmνοωπρyσςtθυxz     

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPRYSTUWX   

                   In antiquity, covenants were a most frequent basis for human relationships 

        not bound by kinship ties.  Of the covenants in which God was at most a witness, 

        rather than one of the parties, the suzerainty covenant, or covenant between a ruler

        and a vassal, was the most common.  Only the one inferior in power was bound in 

        this type of treaty, but the superior party also gave up some degree of freedom of 

        action. 

                   In parity covenants both parties are bound by oath.  The frequent warnings 

        against treaties with the Canaanites refer to this kind of treaty as well as others.  

        Any relationship regulated by covenant would ordinarily have been sworn to by 

        Canaanite deities as well as by Yahweh.  Such recognition of Canaanite gods, 

        many of whom must have had considerable local prestige, would have opened the

        way to reception of their cult and religious values by Israelite towns and villages. 

                   It is difficult to interpret the covenant between David and Jonathon.  Presu-

        mably this was simply an oath of undying friendship and loyalty.  Nor can we ana-

        lyze the covenant(s) by which David became king.  Since the kingship meant the 

        conferring of sovereignty, it seems likely that the elders must have sworn allegi-

        ance to the king “before the Lord,” but there is no hint that David was bound by 

        oath to any specific obligations.  The covenant that David had with Abner may 

        well have been a 2-sided bargain in which David was bound to some promises as 

        well.

                   At least from Solomon on, the kings had little hesitation in entering into 

        treaties with foreign lands.  The most notable ones were Asa's with Ben-hadad 

        of Damascus, and Ben-hadad's with Ahab.  The prophetic indictments of foreign 

        alliances in dictate how frequent and commonly accepted  such policies were in

        the later monarchy, although we cannot be sure such treaties were in the form of 

        covenants. 

                   The patron covenant is one in which the party in superior position binds him-

        self to some obligation for the benefit of an inferior.   Surprisingly little evidence 

        exists for this type other than the covenant traditions which bound Yahweh.  The 

        promissory covenant shows a considerable change from older patterns of behavior

        and thought in that it was not primarily intended to establish a new relationship be-

        tween 2 parties, but simply guarantees future performance of stipulated obliga-

        tions.  

                                                   C-73

  

                 No new relationship between parties is created by them; they are essentially 

        legislation established by contract between political authority and people, the con-

        tent of which is derived from religious tradition and regarded as religious obliga-

        tion.  Promissory oaths are more frequent in later narratives. 

                   King Jehoiada made such a covenant with the military leaders in order to

        re-establish the Davidic dynasty.  Next, Jehoiada acted as intermediary in establi-

        shing a covenant between Yahweh, king and people, the only stipulation being that

        they “should be the Lord's people.”  Finally, a covenant between the king and peo-

        ple is mentioned with no further detail.

                   3. Covenants in which God is Bound—The classical and probably original 

        covenant of this type is the Abrahamic covenant, preserved by the Jahwistic wri-

        ter(s) or J in Genesis 15, and by the Priestly writer(s) or P in the first part of Gene-

        sis 17.  The covenant preserved by J is thought to be from before Moses for 3 rea-

        sons.  1st, the story in which it is found gives every indication of being very old. 

        The “smoking pot” and “flaming torch” represent God, and the 2 parts of the sa- 

        crificed animal represent the fate of the one making the promise if the promise is

        violated. 

                   2nd, it is known from extra-biblical sources that covenants between the 

        head of a family and a particular deity were customary before the time of Moses.

                   3rd, while Genesis 15 has been colored by traditions developing after 

        Moses, it can hardly be denied that some kind of tradition of a covenant between

        a deity and the patriarchs was an important element in ancient Israel.  Circumci-

        sion, rather than being an obligation, was a sign, a guarantee, and an identifying

        marker of those in later generations who should become the beneficiaries of Yah-

        weh's promise.  The connection of covenant with a “sign” in such a fashion seems

        to have developed very late in OT history.

                   Of the later covenants in which Yahweh bound himself, the Davidic cove-

        nant is by far the most important.  In every form of this tradition it is Yahweh 

        alone who is bound to a promise, and nowhere do we find the story as to how this

        oath of Yahweh, that the Davidic dynasty should remain on the throne forever, 

        was developed and formally established.   There can be no doubt the effect of this 

        covenant tradition was to establish a stable state 7 dynasty to avoid the danger of 

        constant revolution and struggle for power at the death of each king.  The simila-

        rity to Abraham’s covenant is most impressive, and it seems most likely that the 

        each of the 2 traditions have been expressed in the Bible in terms which reflects 

        the other tradition. 

                   In Numbers 25, this same type of covenant is applied to the establishment

        of a priestly line which originated with Phinehas.  In it Yahweh chooses to be 

        bound in response to something Phinehas did for God's benefit.  The covenant 

        with Noah is the 3rd of this type and certainly inspired by the Abraham-David 

        covenant tradition.  Again, only Yahweh is bound in a covenant in perpetuity, the 

        benefits of which extends to lineal descendants, and are guaranteed by a sign.

                   4. Moses Covenant and its Stipulations—In contrast to the Abraham,

        David, Phinehas, and Noah covenants, there is a group of stories which is almost 

        directly opposite, in which Israel is the party bound by the covenant.  There can be

        little doubt this covenant pattern derives ultimately from Moses and is to be identi-

        fied with the short form of the 10 Commandments.

                   Most likely, the covenant tradition stemmed from events in Moses' time, 

        and resulted in the formation of a religious community.  The covenant isn't merely

        a theological concept, but is rather the original form of social and religious organi-

        zation which tied together religious experience and conviction with religious obli-

        gations which preserved the peace.  It seems probable that the covenant eventual-

        ly became more of a symbol than a real foundation of the community, as the poli-

        tical laws replaced the older covenant.

                   Any comparison of the traditions associated with Moses and the internatio-

        nal treaty forms will reveal striking similarities.  Nearly all the old covenant 

        form’s characteristics described above are to be found in the stories of early Is-

        rael’s formative period.   It is possible to identify the Ten Commandments as the    

        covenant between Yahweh and Israel's original text which has gone through some 

        expansion and interpretation.  Early  Israel emerged as a religious community on

        the foundation of this covenant. 

                   And Yahweh was not conceived of as a king, but as a king of kings.   This 

        transference of ruling authority from a flesh-and-blood emperor to a supreme and 

        unique deity was a religious revolution and a protest against the feudalistic impe-

        rialisms.  It placed moral obligations above political and economic interests in the

        scale of religious values, and placed the religious-ethical obligations above insti-

        tutions and political structures in the scale of human values.   

                   As stated earlier, covenants were made up of:   preamble, historical pro-

        logue; stipulations; provisions for where the written covenant is kept and when

        it is to be publicly read; the list of witnesses; and blessings and curses.  If this 

        form is used, the following features of the stories about Moses' period fall into

        place.  The preamble is “I am the Lord your God.” No further identification of

        this ruling authority is necessary or possible. 

                                         C-74

                   The historical prologue (. . . “who brought you out of the land of Egypt”) 

        is extremely brief in comparison with Hittite treaties, but it has the essentials.  The 

        revelation of the deity is inseparable from the historical events which are the foun-

        dation of the covenant itself.  Since the covenant itself combined history and Law,

        it is this which explains the fact that narrative and law codes are so curiously 

        interwoven in the present form of the first 5 books of the Bible.

                   The stipulations begin with the exclusion of relationships to other sove-

        reign powers, in this case, other gods.  There is an obligation to engage in or re-

        frain from war on command.  Little is known of the means by which those com-

        mands were delivered, but charismatic leadership certainly had much to do with

        the process; failure to wage war was a breach of covenant in both the Hittite and

        Biblical covenants.  Unwavering trust in the ruling authority was also mandatory

        in both, and murmuring against it was always a violation of obligation which re-

        quired punishment.  It is important to note that the murmurings that precede the 

        covenant at Sinai weren't punished, while those that took place afterwards were 

        punished.  

                   The stipulations define the interests of the ruling authority which the vas-

        sal is bound to protect and which preserve the peace within the domain of the ru-

        ling authority.  The 10 Commandments prohibit those acts which will most likely 

        disrupt the peace of the community.  Except for the Sabbath observance, the 10 

        Commandments' content wasn't so different from the pagan nations of antiqui-

        ty's customary law. It was the religious conception of God and the relationship of 

        humans to God in the covenant that sharply distinguished Israel from ancient 

        pagan people.      

                   5. 10 Commandments' and its stipulations/ Joshua Tribal Variant/ 

        Monarchy Covenants— The 10 Commandments' traditional text ends with the 

        stipulations, but the other elements of the Hittite treaty form are found throughout

        the first 5 books of the Old Testament (OT).  The provisions for where the written 

        covenant is kept and when it is to be publicly read is found in several places in 

        Deuteronomy.  Since the list of witnesses was the local gods, there could be no 

        parallel in the exclusive, one God covenant between Yahweh and Israel.  Those 

        lists did include the remarkable features of the landscape, which serve a similar 

        role in biblical sources.  

                   The blessings and cursings appear in such variety that little need be said of

        this as a part of the Israelite covenant tradition. The list of blessings and curses in 

        Deuteronomy 27-28 is the most detailed in the Bible.  This aspect of the covenant

        is referred to throughout the prophetic tradition of pre-exilic times.  The content 

        of the oath is lacking in both the Israelite and Hittite covenants.  Almost any ac-

        tion recognized by both parties to a covenant might serve to make a promise one 

        which could not be violated.  The OT alone gives a surprising number of such 

        forms, from the purely verbal oaths to the symbolic actions.  For example, the ac-

        tion of sprinkling blood upon altar and people was simply that which formally

        placed the covenant in effect, like the signing of a legal contract.

                   The story in Joshua 24 preserves almost all the features of the covenant as

        just described, but differs so radically in detail that it must be  regarded as an in-

        dependent story. Where stipulations are expected, Joshua begins to speak instead.  

        Some scholars speculate that the missing stipulations may have been separated 

        and can be found elsewhere in the 1st 5 books, but there is no solid evidence sup-

        porting this.  At any rate, it is still impossible to find any basis for the unity and

        yet diversity of the 12 tribes other than a covenant, which bound them to religi-

        ous, ethical, and military obligations and yet left a very considerable degree of 

        local self-determination and independence.  

                   After the long monarchy period, there was a resurgence of older traditions, 

        initiated by the discovery of a law book in the Jerusalem temple.  King Josiah 

        made a covenant, joined in by all the people, to follow the “words of this cove-

        nant that were written in this book” (II Kings 23: 3).  The actions of Josiah identi-

        fied the legal customs and norms of the past with the covenant obligations to Yah-

        weh.  Though this reform didn't succeed in the short-term, it established a pattern 

        which held until the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.  This covenant was more

        like a promissory oath than a covenant between two parties; if there were parties, 

        they would be the king and the people, not Yahweh and people.

                    In the post-exilic community, poverty, distress, and foreign domination 

        was attributed to the failure of the Jews to obey the law. So, a century more after

        the return of some exiles to Jerusalem, a solemn convocation took place in which

        the law of God was formally enacted as binding upon the community.  From this 

        time on, there is an official orthodoxy that demanded obedience to the traditions  

        accumulated in the Torah and now viewed as holy.  2 traditions have fallen toge-

        ther.   Yahweh is bound by the covenant with Abraham; and Israel is bound by the

        Sinai covenant.  (See also the entry in the OT Apocrypha /Influences Outside the 

        Bible section of the Appendix.).

                                                      C-75 

                   6. Covenant in the New Testament (NT)—In the NT times, the covenant

        for Judaism meant the Mosaic law, and for the Roman Empire a covenant meant

        an illegal secret society.  These two attitudes made it nearly impossible for early 

        Christianity to use the term meaningfully.  Most uses in the NT are quotations 

        from or references to OT covenants.  For a time atleast, the early Christians did 

        regard themselves as bound together by covenant, but that this covenant is a most

        free, creative reinterpretation of the older traditions.

                   If it is possible to connect the Last Supper with OT covenant traditions, 

        then the establishment anticipated the historical event upon which the covenant 

        was based, namely the death of Jesus.  Since the covenant established a personal 

        relationship, stipulations were not necessary.  And the Gospel of John has a refe-

        rence to a “new commandment.”  There is nothing new about the commandment

        of love except its place in the covenant relationship, as the stipulated obligation 

        assumed by those who enter the covenant community.  The purpose of a covenant

        was to bind together the two parties in a firm relationship.  In this covenant, the

        relationship becomes the covenant.

                   We don't have internal Christian sources as to how the early church saw the 

        Eucharist, whether it was seen an oath binding a covenant, but sources outside the 

        church seem to indicate that the Eucharist was regarded as the formal act which 

        established a lasting relationship between the community and Christ.  Since the re- 

        relationship of Christ is both the content and the obligation of the covenant, all the 

        detailed prescriptions of Jewish law are both unnecessary and (for Paul) actually 

        hostile to Christianity. 

                   In Galatians 4, the old and new covenants are contrasted.  The new cove-

        nant is a covenant in the Spirit, in contrast to the written code.  The new covenant 

        rejected the detailed stipulations of religious obligation in the Jewish connection

        of covenant with law.  The Letter to the Hebrews uses the covenant tradition much 

        more frequently. 

                   Every possible argument is drawn on to show that the new covenant fulfills

        and replaces the old. The great emphasis on covenant in the Letter to the Hebrews

        is a strong indication that the early church did take the covenant seriously.  How-

        ever, for Western Christianity at least, with its creativity and radical break with 

        Jewish form, the old covenant patterns lost their usefulness as a means of commu-

        nication of the faith.

                   All we can conclude is that the Last Supper is certainly the central feature

        of early Christian life, in which the community was bound together with Christ; 

        but the detailed stipulations of the Mosaic covenant are absent.   On the other 

        hand, God's act in history, the exclusive relationship to God through Christ, the

        curse done away with by the Cross, the blessings of freedom, even God’s judg-

        ment for rejecting the covenant are taken up in the NT and are inseparable both 

        from Jesus’ person and from the Eucharist sacrament.

                   Neither the act of God in Christ nor the religious obligation of humans to

        God could be adequately expressed in language.  Therefore, Word became flesh,

        a living being and the means of communicating the message of God. And yet, the

        Sinai covenant of the OT and the NT covenant in Christ's blood are one: each cre-

        ated a people of God out of those who were no people, and demanded complete 

        self-surrender to God as a joyful response to the love of God.  The simple stipula-

        tions of the 10 Commandments were summed up in the yet simpler obligation of

        love at Jesus' command—but this is no command; it is rather the very nature of 

        the relationship between God and the community. 

COVENANT, BOOK OF THE (ברית ספר  (say fer  beh reeth)) Moses is reported to

        have read from the “book of the covenant” in connection with making the covenant 

        at Mount Sinai. Most likely this refers to the covenant between Yahweh which deve-

        loped throughout the course of Israelite history.

COVERINGS  (מרבדים (mar ba deem))  Fabric goods used as bedspreads.

COVERLET  (מכבר (mak bar))  Apparently a cloth of some sort which Hazael

        dipped in water and spread upon the face of Ben-hadad until he smothered.

COVETOUSNESS  (אוה (aw vaw); חמד (khaw mad); בצע (baw tsah);     

        pleonexia (play on ex ee ah)  Throughout the Bible, the desire to have some-

        thing for oneself or more than one already possesses.

                   Covetousness is always considered in the Bible as sinful for a variety of 

        reasons, for to deprive another of their fair share is to deprive them of their God-

        given inheritance.  Usually and especially in the New Testament,  covetousness 

        is considered a hindrance to true worship and  faith in God; one who loves ma-

        terial possessions cannot truly love God.

COW  (עגלה (eg lah))  The basic function of the cow, the reproduction of its kind, is 

        mentioned in Leviticus 22.  Cheese is mentioned in the Bible, only as a by-product

        of breeding calves; there is no evidence that cows were used specifically for dairy 

        purposes.  The amount and kind of pasture needed for milch cow is much scarcer 

        than that needed for goats.  The only figurative use of cows is in Joseph's dream 

        (Genesis 41).

                                                 C-76

COZBI (כזבי (lying, false))  Daughter of Zur, one of the chiefs of Midian. Zimri 

        brought her home; both were slain by Phinehas, thus averting a plague.

COZEBA (כזבה (lying, false)) A village in the Judean highlands, mentioned 

        in I Chronicles 4.

CRACKNELS  (קדים (ka deem))  The King James Version's translation of the He-

        brew word The Revised Standard Version translates it as “some bread.”

CRAFTS.  The manual arts requiring special skill.  Many of the crafts were performed

        in the home by both men and women.  Until after the Exile, it is thought, skilled 

        workers were illiterate.  After the Exile the rabbis were often independent by vir-

        tue of their skill in some craft.  Still later, rabbis wouldn't  take money for their 

        teaching but would take the exchange of skilled services. The craftsman was usu-

        ally a free artisan; only a small number of slaves were trained in these skills.  

        Shops were kept by craftsmen, the people of a single craft often occupied special 

        quarters in Israelite towns. 

CRANE  (עגור (aw goor))  Any of a class of tall wading birds with long bills, necks,

        and legs.  A birdwatcher in the 1800s noted the large numbers of these rather noisy 

        birds passing over Palestine on their way to more northerly lands.  The meaning of

        the Hebrew word is not certain.

CRAWLING THINGS  (זחלי (tsaw kha lay), crawl)  In Deuteronomy 32, the refe-

        rence is to poisonous snakes; in Micah it is to reptiles generally. 

CREATION  In the Bible the doctrine of creation depends upon and elaborates the 

        redemptive activity of God in history. In both the Old Testament (OT) and New  

        Testament (NT), the doctrine stresses the complete dependence of the whole of

        creation upon the Creator, the supreme position of honor and responsibility which

        God has given humans, and the divine purpose which is behind history.

                   The most complete and advanced account of the natural world’s creation is 

        given by the Priestly Writer (P) in Genesis 1- verse 3 of 2.  It begins with chaos, a 

        formless substance floating in a primeval sea, soon to be separated into the “waters 

        above” and the “waters below”.  Creation takes places as God brings God’s will to

        bear upon this order-less mass in a series of seven decisive actions: 

            On the:       God Created:               On the:      God Created:

            1st Day        light; day and night       5th Day      sea creatures and birds

            2nd Day       sky “dome”; heavens    6th Day      land creatures and man

            3rd Day        dry lands and seas       7th Day      rest and the sabbath

            4th Day        sun; moon; stars

                   History and Creation—The NT inherits and transform the OT faith that 

        God created all things.   The OT affirms that Yahweh, God of Israel, is the crea-

        tor of heaven and earth. Yahweh's creative work was understood in a completely 

        different sense from the prevalent creation beliefs among Babylonians, Egyp-

        tians, or Canaanites, even though there are numerous points of contact between

        Israel's creation faith and the other ancient views of the universe.

                   The Bible has a three-storied structure of the universe:  heaven, earth, and 

        underworld.  Heaven is made up of highest heaven, heavenly ocean and the fir-

        mament.  Earth rests on pillars which are sunk into the subterranean waters, and

        which also hold up the firmament.  In the underworld, there is the subterranean

        waters.  In this view, the world is surrounded by the chaos waters above and be-

        low, which, unless held back, would engulf the world in chaos.  In various ways 

        ancient peoples affirmed that the world emerged out of primordial chaos.   Al-

        though the Bible takes for granted the contours of ancient cosmology, it has de-

        mythologized the ancient understanding of existence.  The pagan language sur-

        vives only as poetic speech for the adoration of Yahweh, the Lord of history.

                   The earliest summaries of Israel's faith concentrated on Yahweh's mighty

        deeds of history by which Yahweh revealed creative and saving power, from Cre-

        ation to the Red Sea and beyond.   Absence of a Creation story written before the 

        monarchy period doesn’t rule out the existence of one.  The Yahwist writer's story

        dates back to the early monarchy.  It's one sentence allusion to creation implies a 

        longer version of the actual creation besides the Priestly version which is usually

        dated in the time of Exile or later.

                   It is a striking fact that in the early period of Israel's history the creation 

        faith didn't have the prominence that was given it in later times.   Aside from 

        the Priestly version, the creation doctrine comes to its deepest expression in the 

        message of the second part of Isaiah during the Exile.  In contrast to other reli-

        gions, Israel's faith insisted upon the radically historical character of human exis-

        tence.  The meaning of life was not in the rhythms and cycles of nature, but in 

        decisive historical events in which men of faith perceived the revelation of God, 

        for Yahweh is the Lord of history. 

                                        C-77

                   The conflict between Israel's historical faith and the nature religions of the 

        Fertile Crescent continued right to the fall of the nation and the exile of the people.  

        During these years of conflict, creation was associated with the world view of the 

        nature religions, and their creation mythology.  It was no simple task for Israel's 

        interpreters to de-mythologize the doctrine of creation and to bring it into theolo-

        gical relationship with the sacred history of Yahweh's mighty deeds, to convert 

        creation myth into creation history.

                   In the Bible, the story of creation does not stand by itself; creation is the 

        starting point of history, and stands in an inseparable historical relationship to the 

        stories that follow.  In the Priestly version of creation, it is a temporal event, the     

        beginning of a movement of history.  Just as the Creation points forward to the 

        Exodus, the covenant faith reaches backward and includes the Creation.  In fact, 

        the Creation serves as a preface to sacred history which begins with the call of 

        Abraham, and continues throughout Genesis.  Thus a historical line was traced 

        from the faith situation of Israel to the remotest historical beginnings imaginable,

        with the result that all human history was seen in the light of the revelation given

        to Israel.

                   In Israel's understanding, then, creation and history are inseparably related.  

        Creation is the foundation of the covenant, and stands as the first of Yahweh's sa-

        ving deeds.  The writer of Isaiah's 2nd part understands the underlying meaning of 

        Creation better than any other prophet.  He appeals to faith in Yahweh's wisdom 

        and power as Creator in order to demonstrate to despairing exiles that Israel's God

        is sovereign over the whole course of history and that God therefore can and will 

        redeem God's people. 

                      The Sovereignty of the Creator—The Bible does not use a rational mo-

        del of universe.   Instead, it speaks of the covenant relationship between the Cre-

        ator and God's creation.  Israel's understanding is that her life is dependent upon

        God.  The covenant is the ground for the unity of creation, rather than some ra-

        tional principle.  The doctrine of creation is a religious affirmation about the sove-

        reignty of God and the absolute dependence of the creature.  The proclamation that 

        Yahweh is creator is a summons to worship.  Although the language of creation 

        was often mysterious, it was nevertheless sufficiently intelligible to the man who 

        stood within the covenant so that he could exclaim that the heavens declare the 

        glory of God. 

                   The 2 stories of Genesis 1-2 both agree in ascribing creation to the free and 

        spontaneous initiative of God.  In the Jahwist's version, the strong portrayal of 

        God in human form does not reduce the Creator to the level of humans or exalt the     

        creature to equality with God.  God's sovereignty is expressed more forcefully in

        the Priestly account, which bears the marks of greater theological reflection about

        the creation in the widest sense; in it, God punctuates the creative drama with the 

        refrain:  “and God said . . . And it was so.”  

                   The Word of God is the sovereign power which shapes men's lives and con-

        trols the course of history.  The word that goes forth from Yahweh's mouth accom- 

        plishes God's purpose and God's will.  The creation story affirms that God's word, 

        mighty in history, is also the very power which brought the creation into being.

                   The Creator's sovereignty was further emphasized by the doctrine that the 

        world was created out of nothing.  The main intention of the writer is to empha-

        size the absolute sovereignty of God.  There is not the slightest hint that God is 

        bound or conditioned by chaos.  God's creation is characterized by order; not the

        order of a Greek cosmos, but rather a divinely decreed order within which each 

        creature fulfills the Creator's will.  The heavenly bodies are God's servants whose 

        appointed function is to designate the seasons and to separate the day and the night.

        The idea of “nature” as an autonomous sphere governed by natural law is not 

        found in the OT.  At any moment the Creator could allow the creation to fall back

        into chaos, for God's continuing power is necessary to uphold and renew the 

        creatures.

                   When God looks upon God's works, seeing that each creature corresponds

        to God's intention and fulfills its assigned function, God pronounces that it is 

        “Very good.”  The creation faith represents a repudiation of all metaphysical dua-

        lism which leads men to suppose that the created world is evil.  On the contrary, 

        as is admirably expressed in Psalm 104, God may rejoice in all God's works.  Most 

        Yahweh formed the earth to be a human dwelling place.  The natural world is the 

        human's God-given habitat, wherein the human is to find joy in the service of God.

                   Both creation stories affirm that the human is assigned the highest place of 

        all of God's creatures.  In the Jahwist story, the man is formed from the ground 

        first (which contradicts the Priestly version).  The man's special relationship to 

        God is symbolized by the animation of his body by the divine breath.   In the 

        Priestly account that begins Genesis, the creation  of man and woman occurs at 

        the climax of the creative drama. God makes a solemn decision:  “Let us make 

        humans in our image, after our likeness.”  

                   In this version the intention is to indicate the human's task and  their rela-

        tionship to God.  The human’s task is to exercise sovereignty within God's sove-

        reignty.  God crowns the human with glory and honor, not only by making hu-

        mans kings within God's empire, but also by singling them out for God's special     

        concern.  Humans are made to have fellowship with God; their lives are made for 

        conversation with God, for a dialogue in an I-thou relationship. It's said of Israel 

        that Yahweh has formed a people that they may declare God's praise and thus ful-

        fill the vocation of every human.

 

                                              C-78

                  Beginning and End—Just as Israel traced a historical line back to the Cre-

        ation, so it looked forward in hope toward the end when the Creator's purpose 

        would be finally realized.  The Bible also speaks of threats to God's creation 

        which God must overcome before God's purpose is finally realized.  The 1st 

        threat is that of chaos.  God's work of creation did not destroy the chaos and dark-

        ness but pushed them back, so to speak.  Ancient people knew that their lives 

        were suspended above the formless Abyss and hemmed in by the waters of 

        chaos.  Chaos imagery recurs throughout the OT, especially in poetic contexts.

        In the NT, a seer declares that in the end time, when God's redemptive work is 

        complete, the sea under the earth will be gone. 

                  2nd was the prophets’ belief that the work of God was threatened by human

        sin.  The OT doesn't speak of fallen creation, but some of its prophets do speak of 

        Israel's fallen or perverted history.  Sin, it was said, is “unnatural,” a mysterious 

        fault which characterizes humankind alone.  

                   From Jewish scripture the rabbis derived the view that the human heart is 

        the arena of conflict and decision between 2 tendencies.  For believers in the even-

        tual end of this age and the beginning of a new one, this conflict is explained by 

        Satan's rebellion against the Creator, and his subsequent fall from status within the 

        heavenly council. Satan isn't co-eternal with God, but a parasite on God's creation.  

        Satan's rule lasts only as long as Satan deceives humans.  Once God’s judgment 

        has been accomplished, God will make a new beginning, giving humans a new 

        heart.  

                   The new creation theme dominates the message of Isaiah’s second part, 

        which grasps profoundly the interrelation of creation and history.  There the pro-

        phet perceives that history’s new beginning will be God's new act of creation.  

        Yahweh's victory over the chaos monster Rahab occurred in the beginning of 

        Israel's history.  God also dried up the waters of the “great deep” (the Red Sea), 

        which guarantees that the Creator-Redeemer is about to make all things new.  It

        is characteristic of writings about this age’s end that the end-time visions are 

        drawn in terms of the pictures of the first things. History’s goal will be that the 

        Creator’s original intention, frustrated by creaturely rebellion, and threatened 

        by chaos, will be fulfilled.

                   Creation Viewed in Relationship with Christ—During the Greek period,

        the doctrine of creation was a cardinal tenet of faith which distinguished Judaism

        from other religions or philosophies.  The Christian faith is at one with Judaism in 

        affirming that God alone created the world with a word and that God determines 

        its purpose from beginning to end.  The vision of the Creator enthroned in glory 

        at the end of this age vividly expresses God's sovereignty over history.

                   In the NT the church understands creation in the light of God's action in 

        Jesus Christ, who is the fulfillment of Israel's sacred history and the inaugurator

        of the New Covenant.  Since Christ is the center of history, he is also the revela-

        tion of God's purpose, which underlies all of creation.   Christ is the bearer of the 

        meaning of history and creation.  By using the concept of pre-existence, those 

        who followed the teachings of Paul and John believed that God created the world 

        through Christ.  The OT belief in a pre-existent and creative Wisdom and crea-

        tion by the Word converge in the Prologue to John’s Gospel, where Christ is Lo-

        gos, the Word.

                   For Paul and those who wrote using Paul's teachings, everything has its 

        center in Christ, through whom God creates, upholds, and redeems the world.  

        The doctrine of creation validates the truth; that history from beginning to end is 

        under God's sovereign purpose as revealed in Jesus Christ.  Indeed, the very title

        which we find for the first time in the second part of Isaiah is in the book of Reve-

        lation to Christ: he is “the Alpha and the Omega,” “the first and the last,” “the 

        beginning and the end.”  The whole sweep of history, from creation to the new 

        heaven and the new earth, has its fulcrum in Christ.

                   The NT gospel's heart is the proclamation that in Christ, God has already in- 

        augurated God's kingdom, has already introduced new history.   The new creation 

        has already come, but it is a promise and a foretaste of the end-time.  Paul, in com- 

        commenting on the transformed life of the person of faith, exclaims that God's  re-        

        demptive deed is nothing less than a new act of creation. In the writings of both 

        Paul and John the Greek kosmos occasionally designate the world as God's crea-

        tion, but usually it means the historical sphere—the context of social relationships

        in which people live.   

                   In the social context, the kosmos is a fallen world.  Paul goes so far as to say

        that the whole created order, affected by the sin of humans, groans under the bon-

        dage of corruption, waiting eagerly for the creative and redemptive act that will 

        reveal the Sons of God.  Through Christ, God has offered the promise of redemp-    

        tion, and God has already won the decisive victory over the world, and thereby has 

        initiated a new history, a new humanity.  

                   In Jesus Christ, God has restored the human pattern intended at the original 

        creation.  Christ is the beginning of the new humanity into which anyone may be

        born, by their decision in response to divine grace.  The new person lives in a new 

        relation to God and therefore in a new relation to his fellow humans.  Thus, the 

        Christian community looks both backward and forward, for “In Christ all things 

        were created,” and “God will sum up all things in Christ.”  

                                        C-79

                   The truth of both the story of Genesis and Revelation’s poetic visions is 

        perceived by the person who participates in the new creation in Christ and who

        knows in faith that history’s whole span, from beginning to end, is embraced with-

        in the sovereign purpose of the Creator and Redeemer.

                  See also World, Origin Of.

     

CREATURE(S), LIVING  (חיה נפש (neh fesh  khaw yaw), living (breathing crea-

        ture)    In Genesis 2, this phrase is used to describe Adam after Yahweh breathed 

        the “breath of life” into Adam, which he had formed from the ground.  Elsewhere, 

        however, the expression is always applied to animals or water creatures. 

 

CREEPING THINGS  (רמש (reh mes); erpeton (er peh ton))  A term usually

        referring to reptiles, insects, or some other animals.  In Genesis 9,  the Hebrew    

        remes refers to all animals.

CRESCENS  (Krhskhs)  A companion of Paul who had been with him at one of 

        the imprisonments.

CRESCENT  (שהרנים (sah har oh neem), King James Version translates as “orna-

        ment” in Judges 8, and as “round tire like the moon” in Isaiah 3.)   A new-moon-

        shaped decorative pendant or amulet worn around the neck or sometimes sewed 

        on garments.  Crescents were of gold, silver, or bronze. 

CRETE (Krhth)  A large island in the Mediterranean southeast of Greece.  The 

        highly advanced Minoan civilization flourished there from 2000-1500 B.C.  They

        were known as Caphtor to the Hebrews.  Jews were settled onthe island by the 

        100s B.C., if not earlier.  Crete is listed as one of the places from which Jews 

        traveled to Jerusalem.  Paul sailed along the coast of Crete on his voyage to Rome.  

        Christianity was introduced early into the island, despite the low moral conditions 

        there.

CRIB (אבוס (ay boos))  The receptacle for animal fodder; at times it was the stall or 

        manger for the ox or ass.

CRICKET  (חרגל (khar gole))  Any of several dark-colored insects of the Gryllidae     

        family.  The identification of the edible creature identified as khagol is uncertain; it

        is most likely a grasshopper, rather than a cricket.

CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS (עשפ (paw shah), transgression; מעל (mah 'al), 

        trespass; parabasiV (par ab as is), violation; עון (aw vone),  punishment;   

        ekdikhsiV (ek dik ay sis), punishment.   Note:   since these terms may also 

        be rendered by “sin,” it is not always clear whether a wrong is being considered

        as an offense against God or against people))  Crime is an act in violation of a 

        penal law prohibiting such an act; punishment is the penalty imposed for that vio-

        lation.  

                   Biblical law does not place the responsibility of prosecuting upon a public 

        body.  It is the person injured who initiates action in biblical law.  In the execution

        of judgments, often the entire community participates in punishing of the offender.

        The fundamental conception of crime and punishment is from the bodies of laws 

        in the Old Testament (OT).  By the New Testament (NT) period they had been 

        modified, and the influence of Roman penal law can also be seen.

                   List of Topics—I. Bodies of Law in the Bible; 

        II. Criminal Law in the OT: 

              1.) Crimes against God and religion;     2.)  Homicide;       3.) Sexual 

       crimes;    4.)  Insubordination and treason;  5.)  Perjury and defamation;  

              6.)  Crimes against person;     7.)  Crimes against property; 

        III. Modes of Punishment: 

              1.) Capital Punishment;      2.)  Corporal Punishment; 

              3.)  Pecuniary Punishment; 

        IV. Biblical Criminal Law and Other Near East legal traditions; 

        V. Relationship of God and Punishment to the Crime;  

        VI. Crime and Punishment in the NT

                                         C-80

                   I. Bodies of Law in the Bible—There were 3 major bodies of law in the 

        Bible:  the combined laws of the Jahwist and Elohwist writers; the laws of the 

        Priestly Writer; and the laws of the Deuteronomist.  Each of these three have a 

        history and style of their own.  The body of laws in the Jahwist/ Elowhist wri-

        ting is a biblical casebook, and contains nearly all the rules concerning corporal 

        and property injuries. The Priestly writer deals most fully with incest, because of

        its bearing on impurity.   Deuteronomic law considered itself a great authentic 

        compilation of the statutes from the earlier 2 bodies, and was in the form of 

        preached commandments concerned with actualizing old legal traditions for its 

        own time. 

                   However, there is agreement between them on matters of principle.  The 

        following characteristics are common to all 3 bodies of criminal law:

                 a)  All the bodies of law regard God as lawgiver and the ultimate source

               of punishment.

                 b)  All treat religious as well as secular crimes.

                 c)  All explicitly and consistently distinguish accidental homicide from 

               murder.

                 d)  None imposes a death penalty for violating a property right.

                 e)  All state the principle of punishment fitting the crime so as to ex-

               clude unwarranted punishment,  involving people not directly in-

               volved in the offense.

                 f)  None recognizes class differences among Israelites in fixing 

               penalties.                                        

        It should also be noted that the societal framework of all the bodies of law is of a 

        tribal organization and not one organized around a monarchy.

                   II. Criminal Law in the Old Testament        

                    1.) Crimes against God and religion—Having and serving other gods is 

        forbidden in the Ten Commandments.  The offense, and incitement to it was 

        punished by stoning.   A foreign cult pollutes the community; until it is eliminated, 

        all will suffer God's wrath. All that relates to foreign cults is “devoted to destruc-

        tion.” This status is contagious, passing from the object, to the person who took 

        it, to his household's people and objects; all must be destroyed.

                   The slaying of Achan's household isn't an example of “putting sons to death

        for the sins of their father”; the contagiousness of a taboo status is not subject to li-

        mitations by a court.  Magic and divination of every kind are banned, both the prac-

        titioner and those who seek them out for consultation.  The obligation to prosecute 

        them falls on the witness and the community.  Execution usually takes the public 

        form of stoning.

                   Cursing God is banned in Exodus 22, and punished by stoning in Leviticus 

        24.  The law of Leviticus restricts the death penalty to the case in which the word 

        “Yahweh” has been uttered, and shows that it falls upon the witnesses to prosecute

        the offender.  The prohibition of labor on the sabbath is enforced in the priestly 

        writings by the death penalty; prosecution of sabbath-breakers was regarded as a 

        duty of the witnesses.  In the 700s B.C., all commerce was suspended on the sab-

        bath; later the ban wasn't observed, and in the 400s the ban had to be harshly en-

        forced by Nehemiah. The false prophet, who “presumes to speak a word which I 

        have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods,” 

        must die.

                   2.)  Homicide—In the biblical view life is invaluable.  Criminal homicide 

        demands the killer's life, be they human or beast, as penalty for the act.  Prosecu-

        ting the homicide is the duty of the “avenger of blood,” but the law holds the com-

        munity responsible for keeping the redeemer's activity within legal bounds.  When

        a homicide was committed personally and with intent to harm, the killer was a 

        murderer & must be put to death. Intent was presumed  if:  the killer lay in wait; 

        there was enmity between the parties; and a murderous implement was used.

                   The murderer wasn't permitted to ransom his life.   This prohibition is 

        unparalleled among the ancient Near East's laws.   And in response to the concern

        of taking a life for a life the Scripture says,  “Your eye shall not pity him.”  It was

        redeemer of blood's privilege to slay the murderer, but if he didn't others appear to

        have had the right do so, to cleanse the land of evil.   Homicide resulting from an

        act committed with a purpose to only harm isn't distinguished from murder.  Even 

        the immediate death of a slave from a beating is included in this category.  The 

        law demands that even foreign slaves “be avenged” by Israelite justice.

                   When the homicide was unintentional, the laws provide asylum for the kil-

        ler.   Establishment of asylums is a communal responsibility:  if the manslayer is 

        slain by the redeemer of blood before he can reach the asylum, there is bloodguilt

        on the community, but the redeemer of blood is not accountable.

                   When a man's beast commits homicide, legal personalities are involved: the 

        beast,  upon which bloodguilt lies, and the owner, whose degree of responsibility 

        depends on his knowledge of any goring history.  If the ox isn't known for goring, 

        the ox is stoned.  If the ox was known to gore, and its owner neglected to pen his 

        ox, then both ox and owner must die after the ox gores and kills someone.   How-

        ever, since the owner neither meant harm nor committed it, the law permits him 

        to ransom himself with a sum fixed by the victim's kin.

                   Babylonian laws know nothing of the ox's stoning and its taboo status. The 

        religious notion of blood-guilt has no echo in these laws, whose sole concern is 

        compensation.   In these laws, it is said that if a child is a victim of goring, the 

        child of the animal's owner is put to death.  Exodus 21:31 repudiates such an idea.

        Slaying in self-defense entails no bloodguilt.  

                                        C-81

                   A householder is privileged to slay a burglar breaking into his house by 

        night, the presumption being that the night housebreaker would not shrink from     

        murder; the daytime housebreaker may not be slain.  Under Babylonian law, every 

        housebreaker, regardless of whether it was day or night, is liable to summary slay-

        ing; the presumption of theft is enough to warrant the death of the culprit. 

                   3.)  Sexual crimes—Sexual offenses cause “impurity” and "defile” the vic-

        tim.  Except for cases in which amends can be made, as in the rape or seduction of

        an unmarried woman, the legal penalty for such offenses is death.  The guilt and 

        pollution they bring on lies upon the whole community.  While the Israelite con-

        ception of marriage had, a secular, economic aspect, it went its own way in con-

        side ring the marriage bond as divinely sanctioned.   Hence adultery is not just a  

        violation of the husband's rights, but also a sin against God.  Near Eastern law, 

        on the other hand, regards adultery as a wrong against the husband alone and 

        gives him the right to pardon his wife if he wishes. 

                   The law defines as adultery cohabitation of a married woman with a man 

        not her husband.   Both the woman and the man are put to to death if the wo-

        man was consenting, which she is presumed to be if the offense occurred in 

        the city. When the offense was committed in open country, where no help was 

        available to the woman, she is presumed to have been forced; the man alone is ex-

        ecuted.  The adulteress' prosecution was the husband’s duty. The law doesn’t re-

        cognize the wife's right to proceed against her husband’s infidelity.   The violation

        of a slave woman who has been designated to marry a man isn't considered 

        adultery.  

                   It appears that ordinary fornication was not punishable; hence, harlotry is

        prohibited, not penalized.  An exception is the priest's daughter, whose harlotry 

        profanes her father; she is burned.  The newlywed wife who isn't a virgin is 

        stoned.  The rape/ seduction of an unbetrothed virgin are distinguished from the 

        above offenses.  A man who rapes a maiden must pay her father 50 shekels and     

        marry her; he may never divorce her.  If he seduced her, he must still pay mar-

        riage present, but her father may refuse to let her marry him.   

                     The idea of what was a prohibited degree of kinship for sexual relations 

        appears to have broadened during the course of biblical times.  Deuteronomy 27 

        curses the man who cohabits with his father's wife, his sister, or his mother-in-law.  

        The priestly law penalizes by the death of both parties:  union with the father's 

        wife; with the daughter-in-law; and with a woman and her mother.  

                   Later law prescribed scourging for incest not punished by death, but impor-

        ted several more relations into those laws applying the death penalty.  Sodomy 

        and Bestiality are punished by the death of both parties, including the beast in the

        case of bestiality.   In other Near Eastern laws sodomy is punished by sodomy and 

        castration, and bestiality with cattle and sheep is subject to the death penalty; so-

        domy with horses and mules entails no punishment. 

                   4.)  Insubordination and treason—The parents' authority has divine sanc-

        tion.  Striking them, showing scorn, or despising them is punishable by death.      

        Deuteronomy requires the death penalty for all who disobey the supreme court of 

        appeals that was established at the central sanctuary.  Exodus forbids the scorning 

        of a tribal chief.  Since the early bodies of law do not anticipate the establishment 

        of the monarchy, crimes against the king aren't dealt with by them. 

                    Biblical stories help illustrate the Israelite concept of treason; it consists 

        of: plotting or imagining the king’s death (rival claimants are assumed to fall in 

        this  category, at least in the early monarchy); violating the king's wives (the ha-

        rem goes to the king's successor, so cohabiting with one is usurping the future 

        king's right); levying war against the king; siding with the king's enemies and 

        giving them aid and comfort; slaying the king's officer during the performance 

        of his duty.

                   5.)  Perjury and defamation—The law forbids bearing false reports

        and false witness, and punishes the malicious witness with that penalty he had 

        schemed to inflict upon his fellow. A husband who falsely alleges that his new-

        lywed wife wasn't a virgin, is whipped and fined a hundred shekels, which is  

        twice what he had sought to recover by his fraud.  He may not divorce the wo-

        man thereafter. 

                   6.)  Crimes against person—The stealing of an Israelite for sale, even if

        the victim has not been sold yet by the kidnapper, is punishable by death.  For 

        injury inflicted without planning to, upon a sudden heat of passion, the accused 

        must pay for loss of income and physician's costs.  

                   Punishment is to fit the crime when injuries were inflicted maliciously.  A         

        woman who comes to the aid of her husband and seizes his opponent's privy parts, 

        loses her hand.  A man who strikes a pregnant woman and causes her to miscarry, 

        must pay the husband for the fetus. A slave-owner who injures the eye or tooth of 

        his slave must set him free.  This law has no parallel in Near Eastern law in its trea-

        ting the slave as a person in their own right.

                   7.) Crimes against property—One who authors or permits damage is at 

        fault and must make full reparation.  Whoever has acquired the property without     

        consent is considered a thief.  It is immaterial to biblical law whether the property

        came into the culprit's possession legally or not.  If the thief cannot pay, he is sold

        into slavery.  Taking property by force or intimidation and withholding from ano-

        ther their rightful due are forbidden in the laws.  

                   It is remarkable, however, that no penalty is prescribed for convicted offen-

        ders.  Leviticus 6 and Numbers 5 deal with voluntary restitution of property with

        the addition of 1/5 of its value to its rightful owner.  The smallness of the penalty

        is probably to encourage voluntary surrender, where the robbery victims are the 

        poor and defenseless.  Later law only required the convicted robber to make full 

        restitution.

                                       C-82

                   III. Modes of Punishment

                    1.)  Capital Punishment—The commonest form of capital punishment 

        specified by the laws was stoning.  The witnesses placed their hands on the of-

        fender’s head, thus transferring the whole community’s guilt to the criminal, 

        who became an expiatory offering.  They then cast the first stone, followed by 

        the others present.  

                   Death by burning is prescribed for 2 sexual offenses.  Death by the sword

        is prescribed for the population of apostate cities. Presumably the sword was also

        the favored weapon of private execution by the redeemer of blood.  Beheading ap-

        pears to have been the royal mode of executing persons offensive to the king. 

        Hanging wasn’t an execution form, but a means of exposing the body of executed 

        criminals as a public warning. 

                   2.)  Corporal Punishment—There are few specific corporal penalties pre-

        scribed in biblical law.   For bodily injuries inflicted willfully, an exactly corre-

        sponding punishment or talion (“eye for an eye . . .") is prescribed. While talion is

        a principle common to Babylonian and Assyrian law, it is applied differently in the 

        Bible.    

                    Biblical law rejects vicarious punishment, the idea that if one causes the 

        death of someone's child, that person's child is forfeit and must die.  Since bib-

        lical law neither provides for a court executioner  or mutilator, nor ever suggests

        a pecuniary substitute, it doesn't seem seriously to contemplate the infliction of

        talion as a punishment decreed by the courts.  Hence, the talion rule of the Bible

        is directed to the private prosecutor. 

                   The 3 passages in the laws which speak of ransom indicate that it was the 

        practice to offer and accept monetary settlement instead of equivalent punishment.

        The exceptions are that the accidental homicide or a deliberate murderer may not 

        ransom themselves from banishment or their life.  In many cases, the injured party

        is allowed to judge the value of their injury.  Since biblical law recognizes self-

        help, an injured party that inflicted talion was within their rights.  Imprisonment 

        is not found as a punishment in biblical law.

                   3.)  Pecuniary Punishment—Penalties involving money are paid in every 

        case to the injured party.  Fines paid to the court or state are unknown.

                  IV. Biblical Criminal Law and Other Near East Legal Traditions—  

        Biblical criminal law differs from that of the other legal traditions of the ancient 

        Near East in its religious content.  In the biblical view, the law is God’s command; 

        hence violation of it is rebellion against God's will, which makes crime a sin.  And 

        if the community does not punish offenders, God will punish the community.  Wor-

        ship of other gods, sexual offenses, and homicide are singled out as involving the 

        entire community.

                  The other law collections of the ancient Near East are the product of a 

        secular process of developing laws which recognized the state and king as the ulti-

        mate makers and enforcers of law.  To make just laws was considered by the king

        a divinely imposed duty, but the religious motive rarely enters the laws themselves.  

        The primary concern of penal laws was to safeguard property and make losses 

        good.  Inasmuch as biblical law is evidently an adaptation of ancient Near East     

        common law, the divergences between it and other bodies of law are instructive.  

        The following law collections are pertinent to the discussion of the criminal law 

        of the Old Testament:  Laws of Eshnunna (1800s B.C.); Code of Hammurabi 

        (1700s B.C.); Middle Assyrian Laws (1400-1200 B.C.); and Hittite Laws (from

        the 1300s B.C.). 

                   V. Relationship of God and Punishment to the Crime—The notion of 

        objective guilt has but faint echoes in the penal laws of the Bible.  As a rule it 

        is the subjective factor, the mind of the doer, which is determinant in evaluating

        the nature of the offense.  The laws distinguish clearly between murder and homi-

        cide through negligence or accident.  Bloodguilt, which is a religious concept, is 

        involved in homicide.  While it is wrong to take the life of someone who acciden-

        tally killed someone else, the one who took the life, the “redeemer of blood,” can't

        be punished.  The religion of Israel heightened both the awesome sanctity of all 

        and the importance of the individual's moral choice. 

                   Punishment of wrongdoers is an attribute of divine justice.  Capital crimes 

        are a blot upon the whole community; the capital offender must die, not only as 

        punishment, but to “purge the evil from Israel.”  Sexual crimes also “defile” the 

        land and must be purged.  Non-capital punishments aim at a correspondence with

        the offense.  The principle of “life for life,” “eye for eye,” “tooth for tooth . . .” in 

        Exodus 21 applies to acts involving intentional harm to another.  Biblical law dif-

        fers from other ancient Far East law systems in not regarding any offense against 

        property as a capital crime.  Making ritual atonement for intentional violation of 

        the law plays a negligible part in punishment; the penalties of all deliberate offen-

        ses are purely civil.  Sin and guilt offerings are for unwitting violations of the law.

                    The priestly laws punish some 3 dozen religious and sexual offenses by

        the offender's being cut off from the people, or kareth.  Many offenses punished 

        by kareth are elsewhere in the priestly law punished by death.  It isn't clear whe-

        ther kareth involves death or banishment.  Where God pronounces kareth (Levi-

        ticus 20), it's punishment by God of an offender whom men have failed to punish. 

                   Stages in the development of certain concepts are visible in conflicts be-

        tween law and practice.  We can't speak of criminal law’s evolution for 2 reasons.

        1st, we can't date a given law by the whole body's assumed date.  Each succes-

        sive body of law most often didn't revise those of their predecessors.  Each body

        of law has some rules in common with the others, and some that are either ignored

        or only slightly touched upon by the other bodies of law.  In order to gain a view 

        of Hebrew criminal law of the pre-exilic period, the data of the 3 bodies must be 

        combined, which obscures the possible evolution of the law.           

                                                C-83

                   The 2nd obstacle is our ignorance of the extent to which biblical law was 

        considered binding in the pre-exilic period. The laws of all societies contain ideal 

        norms that aren't actually enforced in life.  This appears to be the case for many 

        biblical laws.  The amount of information available outside the laws   concerning 

        Israel's criminal law is, at best, quite small.  Our ignorance of the actual disposi-

        tion of criminal cases makes it very difficult to date laws. 

                   Biblical allusions to points of criminal law sometimes agree with the rule 

        of law, and sometimes do not.  What references we have are usually of question-

        able relevance.  A significant divergence between law and story appears in the 

        attitude taken toward marriage of a paternal sister.  It was accepted as late as the

        time of David, but banned in Leviticus 18.  The laws reflect a later tendency to 

        broaden the concept of incest (The prohibited relations continued to increase as 

        time went on.)

                   Vicarious punishment is prohibited in Deuteronomy 24 “. . . every man 

        shall be put to death for his own crime.”  The observance of this prohibition is 

        noted for the first and only time in the story of Amaziah's reign.  The examples of

        the household of Achan and the people of Jabesh-gilead come under the special 

        law of herem (property belonging to God).  Since this principle belongs to the 

        realm of the sacred and the taboo, it operates in accord with divine rather than 

        legal principles.  Other instances of whole families being punished do not have 

        clear legal sanction.  Outside the realm of sacred and taboo, then, there is no evi-

        dence whatever of the legal infliction of vicarious or collective punishment.  In 

        general, Israelite practice outside the scope of everyday laws fell behind a de-

        mand of Israelite law that is as old as the earliest body of laws.

                   The divine prerogative regarding religious laws has nothing to do with the

        legal penalty prohibited in Deuteronomy 24.  Later prophets replaced “shall be put

        to death [legally]” with “shall die” [by divine decree and from divine causes].  

        These 2 passages refer to entirely separate domains and were practiced at the same

        time in Israelite history.  The non-legal literature does furnish several examples of

        the operation of the laws:  the redeemer of blood (II Samuel 3 and 14); the altar 

        asylum (I Kings 1 and 2); the crime of “cursing” God (and king) and its punish-

        ment (I Kings 21: 10).

                   Philo and Josephus, and, to a lesser extent, the Apocrypha, are valuable wit-

        nesses for the views on biblical law held during the last half of the second temple 

        period.  The legal writings of the Tannaim (rabbinic jurists of the first century B.C.

        to the 200s A.D.), contain much that illuminates biblical law.  The Jews regarded 

        biblical law as a harmonious whole and disregarded historical considerations, 

        which modern critics cannot do in their search for an accurate interpretation of 

        biblical law.                  

                   VI. Crime and Punishment in the New Testament (NT)—The NT does 

        not contain a body of criminal laws.  Jesus' sayings take the form of exhortations

        to saintly behavior, rather than of laws.  For example, in Matthew 5, the demand 

        here is that the injured party waive their rights to sue for reparation of any sort.  

        This saintly teaching is the direct opposite of a legal prescription.  The NT does

        not provide clear information as to the legal situations mentioned there.  The 

        authors of the NT were not concerned with furnishing precise information on 

        legal procedures, not even for the trial of Jesus or the trial of Paul. 

                   Judea continued to enjoy a considerable internal autonomy.  Local juris-

        diction was recognized over all matters involving Jewish law and custom and in-

        cluded Jewish communities outside of the Holy Land.  The right of Jewish au-

        thority to deal with capital offenses against Jewish law is not clearly indicated 

        by historical evidence.  Both the Gospel of John and rabbinic tradition indicate

        that about 40 years before the destruction of the temple, Jewish courts lost the 

        right to exact capital punishment.  Yet, there are several instances of capital trials

        and executions by Jews without the intervention of Roman authority on record.

                   Lynching was recognized as a legitimate mode of punishing gross religi-

        ous offenses.  An unusual privilege gave the Jews right to slay an foreigner, not 

        excluding Roman citizens, who trespassed on the temple precinct.  It is not clear 

        whether sentence is carried out by the courts or by outraged bystanders.  The reli-

        gious offenses for which the Jewish authorities prosecuted Jesus and his follo-

        wers are not clearly defined.  The violation of biblical prohibitions not provided 

        with a specific penalty was punished by Jewish law with 39 stripes.

                   In the Roman criminal law of the NT, the procurator reserved the right to 

        prosecute under Roman law all cases touching the public peace and order, as in 

        when sedition, riot or brigandage is involved.  While the procurator sentenced and 

        executed in such cases, it was up to the Jewish authorities to arrest, examine, and 

        deliver to him persons dangerous to public order. 

                                      C-84

                   The cruelest and most degrading form of capital punishment was crucifixi-

        on, which usually was preceded by scourging.  Beheading was done with the 

        sword, though the ax was still used  in the early empire.  Next to death, the seve-

        rest punishment was condemnation to lifelong work in the mines.  Scourging was 

        used to get information from non-citizens; imprisonment also served as a coercive 

        measure.  

                   Under the law enacted by Augustus, it was a crime to order that a Roman 

        citizen be scourged or placed in  prison.  Being a Roman citizen, Paul enjoyed 

        this immunity, though it wasn't always respected.   In capital cases, a Roman citi-

        zen had the right to be tried, by the governor.  But he was privileged also to re-

        fuse this court and to appeal directly to the emperor in Rome. 

             

CRIMSON (תולע (toe law), maggot) Red color of varying hues, extracted for dye-

        ing from a female scaled insect.

CRISPUS (KrispoV)  A Jew residing in Corinth; leader of the synagogue, who with

        all his household was baptized into the Christian faith by Paul, whose preaching 

        convinced him that Jesus was the Christ.

CROCODILE  (לויתן (leh vie ah than)  Any species of large carnivorous aquatic 

        reptiles, with a long, pointed head, a lizard's body, a long and powerful tail, and

        short legs.  The animal described in Job 41 is now commonly thought to be a cro-

        codile.   Parts of the chapter clearly describe a crocodile, while others could ap-

        ply to any large sea creature, real or mythical.  The crocodile is the largest of the 

        surviving reptiles; it would certainly be the longest animal known to the Hebrews,

        and at one time could probably be found south of Mount Carmel.  Lengths of 

        nearly 8 meters were reported in ancient times. 

CROCUS (חבצלת (khab ‘ats eh leth), lily, narcissus, meadow saffron, (King James 

        Version translates as “rose”)) 

                   A plant which blossoms abundantly.  The Hebrew word appears in Isaiah 35

        in a figure of the blossoming desert.  Several species of crocus are found in Bible 

        lands, but the identification is widely disputed.

CROSS (stauroV (staw ros))  Literally, an upright stake or pole; in the plural, a 

        palisade or stockade.

                   When used for execution, the cross was a vertical stake in the ground. 

        Often, but not always, a horizontal piece was attached to the vertical, sometimes

        at the top forming a “T”, sometimes just below the top, producing the form which 

        inspired the Christian symbol.  Generally the condemned man was forced to carry

        his cross to his execution.  Frequently an inscription was attached to a cross, to in-

        dicate the nature of the crime.

                   To the orthodox Jew it was inevitably a stumbling block that Israel's Mes-

        siah had been executed by the Romans.   To the Gentile pagan, God's son being 

        crucified was a foolish notion.  As Paul said, it couldn't be understood by worldly 

        wisdom.  But, since Christ's death on the cross brought salvation, the cross, with 

        all its offensiveness, became the supreme symbol of the new faith. 

                   In the New Testament this symbolic or metaphorical use of “cross” is far 

        more frequent than are references to the physical instrument; Jesus himself seems

        to have used the “cross” metaphor to describe what his disciples must go through. 

        New Testament writers outside of the gospel seem to have mostly shied away 

        from calling their sufferings “crosses.”  The “cross” was peculiarly Jesus’ own, 

        and stood for the divine act which he alone had accomplished.  For the writers 

        after the New Testament period, the cross of Christ remained the climax and ful-

        fillment of all that Old Testament religion had stood for.

CROWN (זר (zare), wreath; נזר (nay zer), dedication, consecration; עטרה 

        (‘at aw raw); stefanoV (ste fan os), wreath)  Headdress symbolic of royal 

        rank or of special merit or achievement. 

                   2 common headdresses, the cap or turban and the cloth band worn around 

        the temples, evolved into crowns.  The band of cloth evolved into a band of metal; 

        there was an example of this type found in a Jericho tomb dating from 2000 B.C., 

        namely a copper headband apparently belonging to an Amorite chieftain. 

                   The turban and diadem (metal band) were frequently combined into a com-

        posite crown.  Headbands of leaves or flowers were given by the Greeks and Ro-

        mans to victorious athletes and sometimes to citizens of special note. 

                                              C-85

                   The Hebrew word used for the crowns of Israel also mean “dedication” or 

        “consecration.”  Thus, they signify not only the rank and authority of the wearer, 

        but also the sacred nature of his office.  The priestly crown, which was engraved 

        with the words “Holy to the Lord,” was a plate of pure gold worn on the forehead 

        and bound to the turban by a blue lace.  The royal crown was also probably a gol-

        den diadem, possibly worn over a turban.  The crown symbolized the king's royal 

        authority and special election, and was worn by him when he sat on his throne and 

        when he went to war.  In more general usage, 'atarah, the crown, may be worn by 

        the bridegroom, most likely in the form of a garland.  The Hebrew word occurs of-

        ten in poetic books as a metaphor for anything which confers honor or authority.

                   In the New Testament, “crown” almost invariably refers to the garland 

        metaphorically used of eternal life as the prize for patient endurance.  The golden 

        royal crown of princely authority returns in Revelation as a possession of the el-

        ders, the rider of the white horse, the woman clothed with the sun, and the Son of

        Man.

CROWN OF THORNS  (stefanon ex akanqwn (ste fa non  ex ak an thown) The       

        circlet fashioned by Roman soldiers and forced down on Jesus' head as part of 

        their mockery of Jesus, after Pilate had sentenced him to death.  This crown is 

        not mentioned in the Gospel of Luke. 

CRUCIBLE  (מצרף (mits rafe)) A melting pot, probably made of pottery for refin-

        ing silver.  It is used in Proverbs, chapters 17 and 27, in contexts alluding to the 

        testing or judging of a man.

CRUCIFIXION  (staurow (staw ro oh))  The act of putting to death by nailing or 

        binding the victim to a cross or, sometimes, to a tree.  

                   The cruelty of this form of capital punishment lay in the public shame that

        was involved and in its slow physical torture.  The public shame was in the fact 

        that the condemned man was made to carry his cross to his place of execution, and

        that there he was stripped of all his clothing.  The victim, set astride a peg in the 

        upright beam, was fastened to the cross by nails through the hands or wrists, and 

        through the feet or above the heels.  Ropes bound the shoulders or torso to the 

        wooden frame.  He was thus held immobile, unable to cope with heat or cold or 

        insects.  Death came slowly—often after many days—as the result of fatigue, 

        cramped muscles, hunger, and thirst. 

                   Crucifixion had been practiced by the Phoenicians and Persians, and from

        them was taken over by Rome, which reserved the punishment for slaves and fo-

        reigners.  In Palestine, crucifixion was used to punish robbery, tumult, and sedi-

        tion.  Crosses were a familiar sight in Galilee and hence provided a powerful me-

        taphor for Christian discipleship.  All 4 gospels record that Jesus foretold his own 

        death; only Matthew says that he knew it would be a crucifixion.  Jesus' crucifi-

        xion is recounted in Matt.   27; Mark 15; Luke 23; and John 19.   Statements of 

        Acts 5 and 10, that Jesus died on a tree, should probably be taken figuratively.  A

        sign indicating his crime was placed on Jesus' cross (See also the Inscription on 

        the Cross entry). 

                   The next day was a Jewish holy day.  So the Roman authorities permitted 

        the victims to be removed from the crosses at evening, their legs being first bro-

        ken to assure that they didn't escape; Jesus was already dead when the executio-

        ners came to him.  Some believe that he died of a broken heart, but far more pro-

        bable is that Jesus' end was hastened by the scourging, which for the crime of se-

        dition was no doubt merciless.

                   Death by crucifixion brought Jesus into public disrepute.  It placed him 

        under an ancient biblical curse (Deuteronomy 21:23), and provided the greatest 

        obstacle in the subsequent effort to convert Jews to the new faith; for many of 

        them, the Christian claim was a shocking blasphemy.  To Christians, however, 

        the Crucifixion was the most intense demonstration of Christ's love and power.

        To become his follower meant to crucify one's old and sinful self.

CRUSE  (צפחת (tsap pakh ath))  A small, elongated pottery jug about 10 to 15 cm

        tall, used to hold olive oil.  It is referred to in the episode of Elijah's visit to the 

        widow of Zarephath, when he asks for food.  (I Kings 17).

CRYSTAL  (גביש (gaw beesh); קרח (kar khoo); krustalloV (kris tal los))  A 

        quartz, nearly transparent, either colorless or slightly tinged.   The King James 

        Version translates gabeesh as “pearl” in the evaluation of wisdom in Job 28.  In

        the New Testament, the Greek word is a simile for “clearness,” and in different 

        forms is used to describe the sea of glass, the river of life and the radiance of 

        New Jerusalem, all found in Revelation. 

                                            C-86

CUB  (כוב , thorn)  A place mentioned in connection with Cush, Libya, and Lydia, 

        and generally regarded as an error for Libya.

CUBIT  (אמה (‘am maw))  A unit of measure based on the length from elbow to 

        tip of middle finger, 18 inches or a little more.

CUCKOO  (שחף (shakh af))  The King James Version translates the Hebrew word 

        as “Cuckoo,” which refers to any of a family of mostly small birds, of which two 

        species visit Palestine:  the Common Cuckoo, and the Great Spotted Cuckoo.  As

        the cuckoo is an insect-eater, shahaph is probably not a cuckoo.

CUCUMBER (קשאה (kish shoo ‘ah))  A vegetable or fruit of the cucumber family.  

        Some scholars claim that qishua refers to muskmelons.   Linguistic evidence 

        would tend to argue for the cucumber. 

CUMMIN (כמן)  The caraway-like seed and an herb of the carrot family.  The seed

        was apparently much used in ancient times as a condiment for seasoning foods.

        The Pharisees define “grain” to include cummin.

CUN  (כון (koon), stability)  A Syrian town from which David took much bronze.

CUNEIFORM  The wedge-shaped syllabic signs impressed on Clay Tablets with a 

        stylus or carved on stone. Originally pictographic, the signs soon were simplified.

        The script invented by the Sumerians was passed to the Akkadians, Hurrians, 

        Hittites, and Elamites.   Other cuneiform was developed as Old Persian and 

        Ugaritic.

CUP  (כוס (koce); גביע (gheb ee ‘ah); pothrion (po tay ree on))  The cup of Bible 

        times was either similar to our cup, made with or without a handle, or it was a 

        shallow bowl, which was the more common form of cup.  The cup was widely 

        used in figurative language; the symbolic cup contained the kind of life experi-

        ence which God the Host pours out for God's world (e.g. “cup of blessing” 

        (Psalms 23 and 116); “cup of wrath” (Psalms 11 and 75; Isaiah 51;  Revelation 

        14, 16, 17, 18; etc); and Jesus' "cup of suffering” (Matthew 20)). 

                   The Lord might be spoken of as the cup of the faithful.  The “cup of salva-

        tion” may be the wine of temple rites, symbolic of the Lord's saving help.  The 

        “cup of consolation” is perhaps the cup of wine presented to the mourner at the 

        completion of the fast.  The cup of the Lord's Supper is called the “cup of bles-

        sing,” a term used for the third of the cups drunk at the Passover. 

CUPBEARER  (משקה (mash keh))  An official who serves the king wine and enjoys

        his confidence.  Fear of intrigue made this a position of peculiar trust.  Loyalty

        was a prime requirement.  Nehemiah was a cup-bearer to the Persian King, which, 

        since he was a foreigner is a testimony both to the freedom of Persia and to the 

        astuteness of Nehemiah.

CURDS (חמאה (khay mah), King James Version translates as “butter”)  Food prepared 

        by churning fresh milk in a goatskin containing leftover clots from the previous 

        supply.  Curds are a part of the ordinary Near Eastern diet.  Abraham offers them 

        to 3 men (angels) in order show hospitality.  In Isaiah 7, the honey and curds to be 

        eaten by the child Immanuel probably represent the food of poverty; although later

        in the same chapter, curds is used as figurative for material abundance. 

CURSE  (קללה (kel aw law); ארר (aw rar); קבב (kaw bab); kataraomai (kat ar 

        ah om ahee)) Expressing of a wish that evil may befall another.  It found a wide

        variety of uses in Israel & in the cultures surrounding Israel. 

                   Among those cultural institutions exhibiting the use of curses were contrac-

        tual agreements, especially international agreements or treaties.  The curses were 

        designed to protect the terms of the contract by being directed at the future viola-

        tor of the treaty.  They appear in the Old Testament (OT) following the election 

        of a sovereign, which is reflected in Israel's acceptance of the ruling authority of 

        Yahweh, and in the agreement among the independent tribes of Israel, which were 

        gathered in assembly, to bar intermarriage with the tribe of Benjamin.  No He-

        brew royal inscriptions containing curses have been found, but there is an edict of 

        Darius of Persia, which ends in a curse similar to other curses.

                                          C-87

                   As a punitive measure, curses are found to have been leveled against mur-

        derers or against the land, the scene of the homicide.  Sometimes, they were used 

        to explain the ancestor or origin of some abnormality.  Curses served to castigate

        and chastise, to protect, and to punish, and were employed where other protective

        or punitive measures were either lacking or inadequate.

                   The distinctive trait of Hebrew curses lies in the manner of their formula-

        tion.  In Eastern Semitic curses were formulated in a religious and literary tradi-

        tion which sought divine approval and execution; reliance is placed upon the dei-

        ty for the execution of the curse.  West Semitic curses, including Hebrews, relied

        not upon deity, but upon the power of the word.   Since no agent was named to 

        carry out the curse, the power laid within the curse itself.

                   There were 2 OT persons against whom curses were never cited:  God and 

        David.  Though both have been cursed, the words of the curse were not quoted.  

        The concern in refraining from quoting these was the protection of the Davidic     

        dynasty; for a curse might come to fruition in future generations.  This reluctance

        to curse David and God, along with the elaborate arrangements that were made to 

        avoid the curse resulting from marrying into the Benjamin tribe give us a good 

        idea as to the fear and veneration of curses.

CURTAIN  (יריעה (yer ee aw); katapetasma (ka ta peh tas ma))  Normally

        the fabric of which tents were made.  In most uses “curtain” appears in parallel 

        with “tent” and is synonymous with it.  The tabernacle of the ark was made up of

        10 curtains, each measuring 14 by 2 meters. In the New Testament Letter to the 

        Hebrews, the curtain which covered the inner shrine is a figure of Christ's flesh. 

CURTAIN OF THE TEMPLE  The curtain which separated the Most Holy Place 

        from the rest of the temple; it was torn in two, from top to bottom, at the moment

        of Christ's death.

CUSH (כוש)  1.  A Benjaminite name whose solitary reference in the title of Psalm 7 

        permits us to at least infer that he was a bitter foe of David. 

                   2.  An ancient name of the territory south of Egypt, corresponding roughly 

        to the present Sudan.

CUSHAN  (כושן)  A named used to mean the same as Midian, perhaps an older and

        more poetic name.

CUSHAN-RISHATHAIM (כושן רשעתים, Cushan of double-wickedness)  The name    

        or disfigurement of the name of Aram-Naharaim, who was the 1^st oppressor of

        the Israelites in the book of Judges.  It was the identification of a Midianite 

        tribe of Edom and a denouncing of a foreign conqueror.  This king’s identity is 

        uncertain. 

CUSHI  (כושי)    1.  Great-grandfather of Jehudi, a prince in Jehoiakim's court.

              2.  The father of the prophet Zephaniah.  3.  The name of the man who car-

        ried the news of Absalom's defeat and death from Joab to David. 

CUSHION (proskefalaion (pro skeh fa lay ee on))  A regular part of the 

        furnishings of a boat.

CUSTODIAN  (paidagwgoV (pahee da go gos))  A slave who attended a boy, took him 

        to school, etc., until he was of age—i.e. 16 years old.   Paul in Galatians uses

        the term figuratively of the law as custodian, to imply the inferior status of those

        living under it.  The custodian would seem not only to guard, but also in a sense

        to guide, “to Christ.”  In I Corinthian 4, Paul uses the same word to describe the

        others who have gone to Corinth as “guides,” in contrast to himself as the Corin-

        thians' spiritual father. 

CUTH (כות) An ancient northern Babylonian city northeast of Babylon.  It was fa-

        mous as a cult center for Nergal, underworld king. Some city inhabitants settled

        in Samaria, after the Samaritans went into captivity  (721 B.C.) 

CYPRESS  (תאשור (te ash shoor), pine; תרזה (teer zah))  There is not much agree-

        ment on the translation of these words, or what word is used for the cypress tree.

        Many consider the “gopher wood” of Noah's Ark to refer to cypress, but the actual

        tree referred to remains uncertain.

                                        C-88

CYPRUS (כתים (kit tim)) A Mediterranean island situated almost 65 km south of 

        Asia Minor, and 96 km west of Syria.  The oldest name for Cyprus that we have

        written records of is Alashia from several written languages beginning in the 

        1700s B.C.  The name Iadnan is used in Assyrian inscriptions from around 700

        B.C.  Kittim, a name based on Kition, a city colonized by Phoenicians, is used 

        for the whole island in the Old Testament. 

                   Already in the Middle Bronze Age, around 1800 B.C., trade between Cy-

        prus and the mainland countries of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt flourished.  Cy-

        prus later became the base for export of Cypro-Mycenean ware.  Locally made 

        imitations of such wares were found in Palestine, between 1300-1200 B.C.  It 

        was as a source for copper that Cyprus was famous in the ancient world.  The 

        Mari economic archives have affirmed the importation of copper from Cyprus 

        already in the 1700s.

                   In the 1300s, Cyprus was raided by Lukku (Lycian).  It has been claimed 

        that Cyprus was invaded by the “People of the Sea” (Philistines) before they tried 

        to invade Egypt, but conclusive proof is lacking.  From 1100-1000 B.C., Cyprus 

        was independent.  The 900s brought the Phoenicians, who colonized Cyprus and 

        spread from there to the eastern shores of the Mediterranean.  The Phoenicians 

        first founded strong outposts in seacoast ports.  There is a close connection be-

        tween the cities of Tyre and Sidon and the island of Cyprus.

                   During the end of the 700s and into the 600s the Assyrians, under Sargon, 

        Sennacherib, and Esarhaddon, controlled most of Cyprus.  With the decline of 

        Assyria, Egyptian influence grew in Cyprus.  Later, the Cypriotes aided the Per-

        sians under Cyrus against Babylon, and were rewarded with self-rule.  Cyprus 

        was the western seaward limit of Persian expansion.  After the Battle of Issus 

        (333 B.C.), the kings of the city-states joined Alexander, and Cyprus became part

        of the Greek world.  The successors of Alexander who ruled Egypt also ruled 

        Cyprus from 294 to 58 B.C.; the island supplied silver, wood for shipbuilding,

        and grain to them. 

                   There were Jews on the island around 294 B.C., if not a little earlier.  At

        the time of John Hyrcanus, as we are informed by Josephus, the Jews living in 

        Egypt and Cyprus were in a flourishing state.  In 58 B.C., Cyprus was annexed

        by Rome.  There was a large Jewish community spread throughout the island in

        the first hundred years after Christ.  

                   Joseph, surnamed Barnabas, was a Cyprus native and an early convert to     

        Christianity.  Some Christians forced out of Jerusalem by persecution, preached

        in Cyprus. Paul & Barnabas preached in Cyprus, traversing the whole island.  

        Barnabas revisited Cyprus with Mark for missionary work. Paul passed the is-

        land twice more, but is not reported to have revisited there. The Jews on the 

        island rebelled against the Romans in A.D. 116-117.  This revolt led to their mas-

        sacre and banishment from the island.   

CYRENE (Kurhnh)  A Greek city on the northern coast of Africa; capital of

         Cyrenaica.  Cyrene was founded around 630 B.C. by Dorian Greeks from the 

         islands Thera and Crete; they were joined by mainland Greeks.  Cyrene was 

         ruled by a dynasty of kings, the Gattiads, until the middle of the 400s B.C.  Its

         wealth was based mostly on agriculture. 

                   In the 300s B.C., Cyrene was a democracy and acquired fame as the 

        seat of a school of philosophers.  The city submitted to Alexander in 331, and 

        thus later became part of Ptolemy's kingdom.  Bequeathed to Rome in 96 B.C.,

        it was declared free: but after local strife, it became a Roman province and was

        united with Crete.

                  During later Greek and Roman times, a large part of the population of Cy-

        rene consisted of Greek-speaking Jews who were sent as settlers by Ptolemies 

        and enjoyed the same rights as the Greeks.  The later Jewish revolt under Vespa-

        sian had its repercussions in Cyrene, but the major outbreak occurred in 115-116

        A.D., when the pagan monuments of the city were burned and smashed; over 

        200, 000 inhabitants were reputedly killed in the rioting.  Careless exploitation of

        the soil led to the decline of Cyrene.

     

CYRUS  (כורש (ko resh))  A Persian king, founder of the Achaemenian dynasty        

        and the Persian Empire (545-529 B.C.).  Cyrus II was the son of Cambyses, ruler

        of the unified territory of Parsumas-Ansan and Parsa, and Mandane. The foun-

        ding ancestor of his house was Achaimenes. 

                   Several years after succeeding his father, Cyrus turned against Astyages 

        (550 B.C.).  Deserted by his own vassals, Astyages was defeated; Cyrus entered 

        Ecbatana, and took over leadership of Assyria, Mesopotamia, Syria, Armenia, and 

        Cappadocia.  In the following years he defeated the Lydia king Croesus, and cap

        tured Sardes, Lydia, and Asia Minor’s Greek coastal cities. The extent of Cyrus' 

        eastern conquests is not clear.

                                          C-89

                   In the month of Tashritu, when Cyrus attacked Nabonidus' army of Akkad

        in Opis on the Tigris, the inhabitants of Akkad revolted; Nabonidus massacred the     

        inhabitants.  Nabonidus fled.  The army of Cyrus entered Babylon without battle.  

        Cyrus, then proclaimed himself, “king of the world, great king, legitimate king, 

        king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the 4 rims, son of Cambyses, 

        great king, king of Anshan, grandson of Cyrus, great king, king of Anshan, . . .”

                   By the fall of Babylon the Hebrews were aware of the political and military 

        power of Cyrus and had hopes for the restoration of Israel.  Cyrus' Aramaic decree

        on the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem fits into the general picture of a policy

        of tolerance and wisdom practiced by Cyrus.   Before leaving on his campaign 

        against Queen Tomyris and the Massagetae, which resulted in his death (529), 

        Cyrus designated his son Cambyses as successor.  In the book of Daniel, Daniel is 

        pictured as retaining his official position until the Cyrus’ first year, and Daniel’s

        final vision is dated to the third year of Cyrus.   

                                            C-90