Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
of majestic gateways and towers, which were the appendages of later times to the original structure.
The temple properly faces the river, i.e. toward the northwest. The courts land properly connected
with this structure occupy a space nearly 1800 feet square, and the buildings represent almost very
dynasty of Egypt. Ezekiel proclaims the destruction of Thebes by the arm of Babylon, (Ezekiel
30:14-16) and Jeremiah predicted the same overthrow, (Jeremiah 46:25,26) The city lies to-day a
nest of Arab hovels amid crumbling columns and drifting sands. The Persian invader (Cambyses,
B.C. 525) completed the destruction that the Babylonian had begun.
Thebez
(conspicuous), a place memorable for the death of the brave Abimelech, (Judges 9:50) was
known to Eusebius and Jerome, in whose time it was situated “in the district of Neapolis,” 13
Roman miles therefrom, on the road to Scythopolis. There it still is, its name—Tubas—hardly
changed.
Thelasar
[TEL-ASSAR]
Theophilus
(friend of God) the person to whom St. Luke inscribes his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles.
(Luke 1:3; Acts 1:1) From the honorable epithet applied to him in (Luke 1:3) it has been argued
with much probability that he was a person in high official position. All that can be conjectured
with any degree of safety concerning him comes to this, that he was a Gentile of rank and
consideration who came under the influence of St. Luke or under that of St. Paul at Rome, and was
converted to the Christian faith.
Thessalonians, First Epistle To The
was written by the apostle Paul at Corinth, a few months after he had founded the church at
Thessalonica, at the close of the year A.D. 62 or the beginning of 53. The Epistles to the
Thessalonians, then (for the second followed the first after no long interval), are the earliest of St.
Paul’s writings—perhaps the earliest written records of Christianity. It is interesting, therefore, to
compare the Thessalonian epistles with the later letters, and to note the points of These differences
are mainly
•In the general style of these earlier letters there is greater simplicity and less exuberance of language.
•The antagonism to St. Paul is not the same. Here the opposition comes from Jews. A period of
five years changes the aspect of the controversy. The opponents of St. Paul are then no longer
Jews so much as Judaizing Christians .
•Many of the distinctive doctrines of Christianity were yet not evolved and distinctly enunciated
till the needs of the Church drew them out into prominence at a later date. It has often been
observed, for instance, that there is in the Epistles to the Thessalonians no mention of the
characteristic contrast of “faith and works;” that the word “justification” does not once occur; that
the idea of dying with Christ and living with Christ, so frequent in St. Paul’s later writings, is
absent in these. In the Epistles to the Thessalonians, the gospel preached is that of the coming of
Christ, rather than of the cross of Christ. The occasion of this epistle was as follows: St. Paul had
twice attempted to re-visit Thessalonica, and both times had been disappointed. Thus prevented
from seeing them in person, he had sent Timothy to inquire and report to him as to their condition.
(1 Thessalonians 3:1-6) Timothy returned with more favorable tidings, reporting not only their
progress in Christian faith and practice, but also their strong attachment to their old teacher. (1
Thessalonians 3:6-10) The First Epistle to the Thessalonians is the outpouring of the apostle’s
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William Smith