Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
(valley of vision), the servant or boy of Elisha. He was sent as the prophet’s messenger on two
occasions to the good Shunammite, (2 Kings 4:1) ... (B.C. 889-887); obtained fraudulently money
and garments from Naaman, was miraculously smitten with incurable leprosy, and was dismissed
from the prophet’s service. (2 Kings 5:1) ... Later in the history he is mentioned as being engaged
in relating to King Joram all the great things which Elisha had done. (2 Kings 8:4,5)
Gehenna
[Hinnom]
Geliloth
(circuit), a place named among the marks of the south boundary line of the tribe of Benjamin.
(Joshua 18:17) The name Geliloth never occurs again in this locality, and it therefore seems probable
that Gilgal is the right reading.
Gemalli
(camel-driver), the father of Ammiel, the Danite spy. (Numbers 13:12) (B.C. 1490.)
Gemariah
(perfected by Jehovah).
•Son of Shaphan the scribe, and father of Michaiah. He was one of the nobles of Judah, and had a
chamber int he house of the Lord, from which Baruch read Jeremiah’s alarming prophecy in the
ears of all the people, B.C. 606. (Jeremiah 36:1) ...
•Son of Hilkiah, was made the bearer of Jeremiah’s letter to the captive Jews. (Jeremiah 29:3) (B.C.
594.)
Gems
[Stones, Precious, PRECIOUS]
Genealogy
In Hebrew the term for genealogy or pedigree is “the book of the generations;” and because
the oldest histories were usually drawn up on a genealogical basis, the expression often extended
to the whole history, as is the case with the Gospel of St. Matthew, where “the book of the generation
of Jesus Christ” includes the whole history contained in that Gospel. The promise of the land of
Canaan to the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob successively, and the separation of the Israelites
from the Gentile world; the expectation of Messiah as to spring from the tribe of Judah; the
exclusively hereditary priesthood of Aaron with its dignity and emoluments; the long succession
of kings in the line of David; and the whole division and occupations of the land upon genealogical
principles by the tribes, occupation of the land upon genealogical principles by the tribes, families
and houses of fathers, gave a deeper importance to the science of genealogy among the Jews than
perhaps any other nation. When Zerubbabel brought back the captivity from Babylon, one of his
first cares seems to have been to take a census of those that returned, and to settle them according
to their genealogies. Passing on to the time of the birth of Christ, we have a striking incidental proof
of the continuance of the Jewish genealogical economy in the fact that when Augustus ordered the
census of the empire to be taken, the Jews in the province of Syria immediately went each one to
his own city. The Jewish genealogical records continued to be kept till near the destruction of
Jerusalem. But there can be little doubt that the registers of the Jewish tribes and families perished
at the destruction of Jerusalem, and not before. It remains to be said that just notions of the nature
of the Jewish genealogical records are of great importance with a view to the right interpretation
of Scripture. Let it only be remembered that these records have respect to political and territorial
divisions as much as to strictly genealogical descent, and it will at once be seen how erroneous a
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William Smith