| Translation | Verse | Text |
| Strong Concordance | Nu 3:15 | Number [06485] the children [01121] of Levi [03878] after the house [01004] of their fathers [01], by their families [04940]: every male [02145] from a month [02320] old [01121] and upward [04605] shalt thou number [06485] them. |
| Word | Easton Dictionary - Definition |
| BY | in the expression "by myself" (A.V., 1 Cor. 4:4), means, as rendered in the Revised Version, "against myself." |
| Word | American Tract Society - Definition |
| CHILDREN | A numerous offspring was regarded as a signal blessing, Ps 127:3-5, and childless wives sought various means to escape the reproach of barrenness, which was deprecated in the blessing given to a newly married couple, Ru 4:11. The pangs of childbirth, in their suddenness and sharpness, are often alluded to in Scripture. The apostle Paul speaks of them as fruits and evidences of the fall; but assures those who abide in faith, that, amid all the suffering that reminds them that woman was first in the transgression, Ge 3:16, they may yet look trustfully to God for acceptance and salvation, 1Ti 2:15. A newborn child was washed, rubbed with salt, and wrapped in swaddling clothes, Eze 16:4 Lu 2:7-11. On the eighth day he was circumcised and named. At his weaning a feast was often made, Ge 21:34. The nurse of a female child often attended her through life, Ge 24:59 35:8. Children were to be instructed with great diligence and care, De 6:20-23. They were required to honor and obey their parents, and were subject to the father's control in all things, Ge 22:21 Nu 30:5; they were even liable to be sold into temporary bondage for his debts, Le 25:39-41 2Ki 4:1 Mt 18:25. The first-born son received, besides other privileges, (see BIRTHRIGHT,) two portions of his father's estate; the other sons, one portion each. The sons of concubines received presents, and sometimes an equal portion with the others, Ge 21:8-21 25:1-6 49:1-27 Jud 11:1-7. The daughters received no portion, except in cases provided for in Nu 27:1-11. The term child or children, by a Hebrew idiom, is used to express a great variety of relations: the good are called children of God, of light, of the kingdom, etc.; the bad are named children of the devil, of wrath, of disobedience, etc. A strong man is called a son of strength; an impious man, a son of Belial; an arrow, the son of a bow, and a branch the son of a tree. The posterity of a man is his "sons," for many generations. |
| Word | American Tract Society - Definition |
| HOUSE | Is often put for dwelling, residence; and hence the temple, and even the tabernacle, are called the house of God. The universal mode of building houses in the East, is in the form of a hollow square, with an open court or yard in the center; which is thus entirely shut in by the walls of the house around it. Into this court all the windows open, there being usually no windows towards the street. Some houses of large size require several courts, and these usually communicate with each other. These courts are commonly paved; and in many large houses parts of them are planted with shrubs and trees, Ps 84:3 128:3; they have also, when possible, a fountain in them, often with a jet d' eau, 2Sa 17:18. It is customary in many houses to extend an awning over the whole court in hot weather; and the people of the house then spend much of the day in the open air, and indeed often receive visits there. In Aleppo, at least, there is often on the south side of the court an alcove in the wall of the house, furnished with divans or sofas, for reclining and enjoying the fresh air in the hot seasons. In the middle of the front of each house is usually an arched passage, leading into the court-not directly, lest the court should be exposed to view from the street, but by turning to one side. The outer door of this passage was, in large houses, guarded by a porter, Ac 12:13. The entrance into the house is either from this passage or from the court itself. The following extracts from Dr. Shaw will interest the reader, and at the same time serve to illustrate many passages of Scripture. He remarks, "the general method of building, both in Barbary and the Levant, seems to have continued the same from the earliest ages, without the least alteration or improvement. Large doors, spacious chambers, marble pavements, cloistered courts, with fountains sometimes playing in the midst, are certainly conveniences very well adapted to the circumstances of these climates, where the summer heats are generally so intense. The jealously likewise of these people is less apt to be alarmed, while all the windows open into their respective courts, if we except a latticed window or balcony which sometimes looks into the streets", 2Ki 9:30. "The streets of eastern cities, the better to shade them from the sun, are usually narrow, with sometimes a range of shops on each side. If from these we enter into one of the principal houses, we shall first pass through a porch or gateway with benches on each side, there the master of the family receives visits and dispatches business; few persons, not even the nearest relations, having a further admission, except upon extraordinary occasions. From hence we are received into the court, or quadrangle, which, lying open to the weather, is, according to the ability of the owner, paved with marble, or such materials as will immediately carry off the water into the common sewers. When many people are to be admitted, as upon the celebration of marriage, the circumcising of a child, or occasions of the like nature, the company is rarely or never received into one of the chambers. The court is the usual place of their reception, which is strewed accordingly with mats and carpets for their more commodious entertainment. Hence it is probable that the place where our Savior and the apostles were frequently accustomed to give their instructions, was in the area, or quadrangle, of one of this kind of houses. In the summer season, and upon all occasions when a large company is to be received, this court is commonly sheltered from the heat or inclemency of the weather by a veil or awning, which, being expanded upon ropes from one side of the parapet wall to the other, may be folded or unfolded at pleasure. The psalmist seems to allude either to the tents of the Bedaween, or to some covering of this kind, in that beautiful expression, of spreading out the heavens like a curtain, Ps 140:2. The court is for the most part surrounded with a cloister or colonnade; over which, when the house has two or three stories, there is a gallery erected, of the same dimensions with the cloister, having a balustrade, or else a piece of carved or latticed work going round about it to prevent people from falling from it into the court. From the cloister and galleries we are conducted into large spacious chambers, of the same length with the court, but seldom or never communicating with one another. One of them frequently serves a whole family; particularly when a father indulges his married children to live with him; or when several person join in the rent of the same house. From whence it is, that the cities of these countries, which in general are much inferior in bigness to those of Europe, yet are so exceedingly populous, that great numbers op people are always swept away by the plague, or any other contagious distemper." The chambers of the rich were often hung with velvet or damask tapestry, Es 1:6; the upper part adorned with fretwork and stucco; and the ceilings with wainscot or mosaic work or fragrant wood, sometimes richly painted, Jer 22:14. The floors were of wood or of painted tiles, or marbles; and were usually spread with carpets. Around the walls were mattresses or low sofas, instead of chairs. The beds were often at one end of the chamber, on a gallery several feet above the floor, with steps and a low balustrade, 2Ki 1:4,16. The stairs were usually in a corner of the court, beside the gateway, Mt 24:17. "The top of the house," says Dr. Shaw, "which is always flat, is covered with a strong plaster of terrace; from whence, in the Frank language, it has attained the name of the terrace. It is usually surrounded by two walls; the outermost whereof is partly built over the street, partly makes the partition with the contiguous houses, being frequently so low that one may easily climb over it. The other, which I call the parapet wall, hangs immediately over the court, being always breast high; we render it the ?battlements,' De 22:8. Instead of this parapet wall, some terraces are guarded in the same manner the galleries are, with balustrades only, or latticed work; in which fashion probably, as the name seems to import, was the net, or ?lattice,' as we render it, that Ahaziah, 2Ki 1:2, might be carelessly leaning over, when he fell down from thence into the court. For upon these terraces several office of the family, are performed; such as the drying of linen and flax, Jos 2:6, the preparing of figs and raisins; here likewise they enjoy the cool, refreshing breezes of the evening; converse with one another, 1Sa 9:25 2Sa 11:2; and offer up their devotions, 2Ki 23:12 Jer 19:13 Ac 10:9. In the feast of Tabernacles booths were erected upon them, Ne 8:16. When one of these cities is built upon level ground, we can pass from one end of it to the other, along the tops of the houses, without coming down into the street." "Such, in general, is the manner and contrivance of the eastern houses. And if it may be presumed that our Savior, at the healing of the paralytic, was preaching in a house of this fashion, we preaching in a house of this fashion, we may, by attending only to the structure of it, give no small light to one circumstance of that history, which has given great offence to some unbelievers. Among other pretended difficulties and absurdities relating to this fact, it has been urged that the uncovering or breaking up on the roof, Mr 2:4, or the letting a person down through it, Lu 5:19, suppose that the crowd being so great around Jesus in the court below, that those who brought the sick man could not come near him, they went upon the flat roof, and removing a part of the awning, let the sick man down in his mattress over the parapet, quite at the feet of Jesus." Dr. Shaw proceeds to describe a sort of addition to many oriental houses, which corresponds probably to the upper chambers often mentioned time the Bible. He says, "To most of these houses there is a smaller one annexed, which sometimes rises one story higher than the house; at other times it consists of one or two rooms only and a terrace; while others that are built, as they frequently are, over the porch or gateway, have (if have not) all the conveniences that belong to the house, properly so called. There is a door of communication from them into the gallery of the house, kept open or shut at the discretion of the master of the family; besides another door, which opens immediately from a privy stairs down into the porch, without giving the least disturbance to the house. These smaller houses are known by the name alee, or oleah, and in them strangers are usually lodged and entertained; and thither likewise the men are wont to retire, from the hurry and noise of their families, to be more at leisure for meditation or devotion, Mt 6:6; besides the use they are at other times put to, in serving for wardrobes and magazines." This then, or something like this, we may suppose to have been the ali'yah or upper chamber of the Hebrews. Such was the "little chamber upon the wall," which the Shunammite had built for Elisha, 2Ki 4:10; the "summer parlor" of Eglon, Jud 3:20; and the "chamber over the gate," where David retired to weep, 2Sa 18:33; and perhaps in the New Testament the "upper chamber" where Tabitha was laid out, Ac 9:37, and whence Eutychus fell from the window of the third loft into the court, Ac 20:9. The flat roof of oriental houses often afford a place of retirement and meditation; here Samuel communed with Saul, 1Sa 9:25; and from /1Sa 9:26, they would seem also to have slept there, as is still common in the East, 2Sa 11:2 Da 4:30. Mr. Wood says, "It has ever been a custom with them," the Arabs in the East, "equally connected with health and pleasure, to pass the nights in summer upon the house-tops, which for this very purpose are made flat, and divided from each other by walls. We found this way of sleeping extremely agreeable; as we thereby enjoyed the cool air, above the reach of gnats and vapors, without any other covering than the canopy of heaven, which unavoidably presents itself in different pleasing forms, upon every interruption of rest, when silence and solitude strongly dispose the mid to contemplation, Ac 10:9. The roof of an ancient house was the best and often the only place, from which to get a view of the region around; hence the resort to it in times of peril, Isa 15:3 22:1. In many cases roofs were coated with hardened earth, through which, when cracked or soaked through by rain, the water dripped, Pr 27:15; and in which, when neglected, the grass grows in spring, but soon withers after the rains have ceased, Ps 129:6,7 Isa 37:27." The common material for building the best oriental houses is stone. Brick is also used. But the houses of the people in the East in general are very bad constructions, consisting of mud walls, reeds, and rushes; whence they become apt illustrations of the fragility of human life, Job 4:19; and as mud, pebbles, and slime, or at best unburnt bricks are used informing the walls, the expression, "digging through houses," Job 24:16 Mt 6:19 24:14, is easily accounted for; as is the behavior of Ezekiel, Eze 12:5, who dug through such a wall in the sight of the people; whereby, as may be imagined, he did little injury to his house; notwithstanding which, the symbol was very expressive to the beholders. So also the striking illustration in Eze 13:10-16. On the sites of many ancient cities of Syria and Babylonia only the ruins of public edifices disappeared ages ago. Travellers near the Ganges and the Nile speak of multitudes of huts on the sandy banks of those rivers being swept away in a night by sudden freshets, leaving not a trace behind. This may illustrate our Savior's parable, in Mt 7:24-27. See TENT. |
| Word | Easton Dictionary - Definition |
| HOUSE | Till their sojourn in Egypt the Hebrews dwelt in tents. They then for the first time inhabited cities (Gen. 47:3; Ex. 12:7; Heb. 11:9). From the earliest times the Assyrians and the Canaanites were builders of cities. The Hebrews after the Conquest took possession of the captured cities, and seem to have followed the methods of building that had been pursued by the Canaanites. Reference is made to the stone (1 Kings 7:9; Isa. 9:10) and marble (1 Chr. 29:2) used in building, and to the internal wood-work of the houses (1 Kings 6:15; 7:2; 10:11, 12; 2 Chr. 3:5; Jer. 22:14). "Ceiled houses" were such as had beams inlaid in the walls to which wainscotting was fastened (Ezra 6:4; Jer. 22:14; Hag. 1:4). "Ivory houses" had the upper parts of the walls adorned with figures in stucco with gold and ivory (1 Kings 22:39; 2 Chr. 3:6; Ps. 45:8). The roofs of the dwelling-houses were flat, and are often alluded to in Scripture (2 Sam. 11:2; Isa. 22:1; Matt. 24:17). Sometimes tents or booths were erected on them (2 Sam. 16:22). They were protected by parapets or low walls (Deut. 22:8). On the house-tops grass sometimes grew (Prov. 19:13; 27:15; Ps. 129:6, 7). They were used, not only as places of recreation in the evening, but also sometimes as sleeping-places at night (1 Sam. 9:25, 26; 2 Sam. 11:2; 16:22; Dan. 4:29; Job 27:18; Prov. 21:9), and as places of devotion (Jer. 32:29; 19:13). |
| Word | American Tract Society - Definition |
| LEVI | 1. The third son of Jacob and Leah, born in Mesopotamia; and father of three sons, and of Jochebed the mother of Moses, Ge 29:34 Ex 6:16-20. For his share in the treacherous massacre of the Shechemites, Ge 34:1-31, his father at death foreboded evil to his posterity, Ge 49:5-7; but as they afterwards stood forth on the Lord's side, Moses was charged to bless them, Ex 32:26-29 De 33:8-11. The tribe of Levi was, according to Jacob's prediction, scattered over all Israel, having no share in the cities in the portions of other tribes. All the tithes, first fruits, and offerings, presented at the temple, as well as several parts of all the victims that were offered belonged to the tribe of Levi. See LEVITES. 2. The apostle Matthew was also called Levi. See MATTHEW. |
| Word | Easton Dictionary - Definition |
| LEVI | adhesion. (1.) The third son of Jacob by Leah. The origin of the name is found in Leah's words (Gen. 29:34), "This time will my husband be joined [Heb. yillaveh] unto me." He is mentioned as taking a prominent part in avenging his sister Dinah (Gen. 34:25-31). He and his three sons went down with Jacob (46:11) into Egypt, where he died at the age of one hundred and thirty-seven years (Ex. 6:16). (2.) The father of Matthat, and son of Simeon, of the ancestors of Christ (Luke 3:29). (3.) Luke 3:24. (4.) One of the apostles, the son of Alphaeus (Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27, 29), called also Matthew (Matt. 9:9). |
| Word | American Tract Society - Definition |
| MONTH | The Hebrews months were lunar months, that is, from one new moon to another. These lunar months were each reckoned at twenty-nine days and a half; or rather, one was of thirty days, the following of twenty-nine, and so on alternately: that which had thirty days was called a full or complete month; that which had but twenty-nine days was called incomplete. The new moon was always the beginning of the month and this day they called new-moon day, or new month. The Hebrews usually designated the months only as first, second, etc.; and the names by which they are now known are believed to be of Persian origin, and to have been adopted by the Jews during the captivity. At the exodus from Egypt, which occurred in April, God ordained that that month-the seventh of the civil year?should be the first of the sacred year, according to which the religious festivals were to be reckoned; and from that time both these modes of numbering the months continued to be employed. As the Jewish months were governed by the moon, while ours entirely disregard it, the two systems cannot wholly coincide. It is generally agreed, however, that their month Nisan answers most nearly to our April, Iyar to our May, etc. Twelve lunar months making but three hundred and fifty-four days and six hours, the Jewish year was short of the Roman by twelve days. To recover the equinoctial points, from which this difference of the solar and lunar year would separate the new moon of the first month, the Jews every three years intercalated a thirteenth month, which they called Veadar, the second Adar. By this means their lunar year nearly equaled the solar. See YEAR. |
| Word | Easton Dictionary - Definition |
| MONTH | Among the Egyptians the month of thirty days each was in use long before the time of the Exodus, and formed the basis of their calculations. From the time of the institution of the Mosaic law the month among the Jews was lunar. The cycle of religious feasts depended on the moon. The commencement of a month was determined by the observation of the new moon. The number of months in the year was usually twelve (1 Kings 4:7; 1 Chr. 27:1-15); but every third year an additional month (ve-Adar) was inserted, so as to make the months coincide with the seasons. "The Hebrews and Phoenicians had no word for month save 'moon,' and only saved their calendar from becoming vague like that of the Moslems by the interpolation of an additional month. There is no evidence at all that they ever used a true solar year such as the Egyptians possessed. The latter had twelve months of thirty days and five epagomenac or odd days.", Palestine Quarterly, January 1889. |
| Word | American Tract Society - Definition |
| NUMBER | Isa 65:11. See GAD 3. |
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