Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
The command to honor parents is noticed by St. Paul as the only one of the Decalogue which bore
a distinct promise, (Exodus 20:12; Ephesians 6:2) and disrespect towards them was condemned by
the law as one of the worst crimes. (Exodus 21:15,17; 1 Timothy 1:9) It is to this well-recognized
theory of parental authority and supremacy that the very various uses of the term “father” in Scripture
are due. “Fathers” is used in the sense of seniors, (Acts 7:2; 22:1) and of parents in general, or
ancestors. (Daniel 5:2; Jeremiah 27:7; Matthew 23:30,32)
Fathom
[Weights And Measures AND Measures]
Feasts
[Festivals; Meals]
Felix
(happy), a Roman procurator of Judea appointed by the emperor Claudius in A.D. 53. He ruled
the province in a mean, cruel and profligate manner. His period of office was full of troubles and
seditions. St. Paul was brought before Felix in Caesarea. He was remanded to prison, and kept there
two years in hopes of extorting money from him. (Acts 24:26,27) At the end of that time Porcius
Festus [Festus, Porcius] was appointed to supersede Felix, who, on his return to Rome, was accused
by the Jews in Caesarea, and would have suffered the penalty due to his atrocities had not his brother
Pallas prevailed with the emperor Nero to spare him. This was probably about A.D. 60. The wife
of Felix was Drusilla, daughter of Herod Agrippa I., who was his third wife and whom he persuaded
to leave her husband and marry him.
Fenced Cities
i.e. cities fortified or defended. The fortifications of the cities of Palestine, thus regularly
“fenced,” consisted of one or more walls (sometimes of thick stones, sometimes of combustible
material), crowned with battlemented parapets, having towers at regular intervals, (2 Chronicles
32:5; Jeremiah 31:38) on which in later times engines of war were placed, and watch was kept by
day and night in time of war. (Judges 9:45; 2 Kings 9:17; 2 Chronicles 26:9,15)
Ferret
one of the unclean creeping things mentioned in (Leviticus 11:30) The animal referred to was
probably a reptile of the lizard tribe (the gecko). The rabbinical writers seen to have identified this
animal with the hedgehog.
Festivals
I. The religious times ordained int he law fall under three heads:
•Those formally connected with the institution of the Sabbath;
•This historical or great festivals;
•The day of atonement.
•Immediately connected with the institution of the Sabbath are— a. The weekly Sabbath itself. b.
The seventh new moon, or feast of trumpets. c. The sabbatical year. d. The year of jubilee.
•The great feasts are— a. The passover. b. The feast of pentecost, of weeks, of wheat-harvest or
of the first-fruits. c. The feast of tabernacles or of ingathering. On each of these occasions every
male Israelite was commanded to “appear before the Lord,” that is, to attend in the court of the
tabernacle or the temple, and to make his offering with a joyful heart. (27:7; Nehemiah 8:9-12)
The attendance of women was voluntary, but the zealous often went up to the passover. On all the
days of holy convocation there was to be an entire suspension of ordinary labor of all kinds,
(Exodus 12:16; Leviticus 16:29; 23:21,24,25,35) but on the intervening days of the longer festivals
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William Smith