Unit 1 Test Flashcards
the brother of Moses; Israel’s first high priest
Aaron
king of Gerar; deceived by Abraham and Isaac about their respective wives, Sarai and Rebekah
Abimelech
the second son of Adam and Eve; he was murdered by his brother Cain
Abel
the first father (patriarch) of Israel; first called Abram, God made a covenant with him in which God promised to make him a great nation; Isaac was his son by Sarah, and Ishmael was his son by Hagar
Abraham
the first male who God created; he and his mate, Eve, disobeyed God and were expelled from the garden of Eden; he was created out of the ground (adamah in Hebrew)
Adam
Rachel’s maid; she bore Jacob two sons: Dan and Naphtali
Bilhah
the twelfth son of Jacob; the younger brother of Joseph; Rachel was his mother; he was the ancestor of the tribe of Benjamin
Benjamin
the first son of Adam and Eve; he murdered his brother Abel
Cain
one of Joseph’s two sons; he became the ancestor of one of the tribes of Israel; the name was often used as a designation of the ten northern tribes after the division of the kingdoms
Ephraim
the first son of Isaac and Rebekah; the twin of Jacob; he was the ancestor of the Edomites; he sold his birthright to his brother for lentil stew
Esau
the first female who God created; mated to Adam, her name means “life”
Eve
the servant of Sarah and one of Abraham’s wives; the mother of Ishmael, who was driven away from the family by Sarah
Hagar
derived from Egyptian for “rulers of foreign countries,” these Semitic rulers of Egypt from 1750-1550 BCE were probably the people in control of Egypt during the sojourn of Joseph and Jacob’s descendants
Hyksos
the son of Abraham and Sarah who inherited the ancestral promises; he married Rebekah and was the father of Esau and Jacob
Isaac
the son of Abraham and Hagar; he was not the son of the promise; he and his mother were expelled by Sarah and Abraham
Ishmael
the second son of Isaac and Rebekah; he was the twin brother of Esau; his name was changed to Israel after he wrestled with God at the Jabbok River; he became the recipient of the ancestral promises and his twelve sons became the ancestors of the tribes of Israel
Jacob
father of Zippporah and father-in-law of Moses; also called Reuel
Jethro
son of Jacob by Rachel; brother of Benjamin; he was sold into slavery by his brothers and became a high official within the Egyptian government; his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, became tribes within Israel
Joseph
Moses’s aide during the wilderness sojourn; after the death of Moses, he led the Hebrews into the Promised Land
Joshua
(640-609) King of Judah who reformed Judean religion and died in battle at Megiddo
Josiah
Jacob’s fourth son, he was the ancestor of the tribe of Judah; became the name of the southern kingdom after the northern ten tribes separated from Judah and Benjamin; seduced by his daughter-in-law Tamar
Judah
Rebekah’s brother and Jacob’s uncle who lived in Aram; Jacob became wealthy there and married his daughters, Rachel and Leah
Laban
the nephew of Abraham who accompanied him to Canaan; settled in Sodom and Gomorrah
Lot
Joseph’s firstborn son; Jacob chooses to bless his brother Ephraim instead of him
Manasseh
king of Salem; blessed Abraham in the name of “El Elyon, Creator of heaven and earth” after he defeated the enemies of Sodom and Gomorrah and rescued Lot
Melchizedek
the sister of Moses and Aaron; she led the Israelites in worship after the crossing of the Reed Sea
Miriam
the leader of the Hebrews at the time of the Exodus from Egypt (thirteenth century BCE); he led the people of Israel out of Egyptian bondage, God revealed to Torah to him on Mount Sinai; described as the first Hebrew prophet
Moses
built a boat and survived the Flood with his family and representatives of the animal world; God made a covenant with him, promising never again to destroy the world with a flood
Noah
Egyptian term for “great house” that became the title for a king of Egypt; it is not a king’s name
Pharaoh
the Egyptian administrator in Genesis who purchased Joseph to be his slave
Potiphar
the daughter of Laban, most loved wife of Jacob, and mother of Joseph and Benjamin
Rachel
king of Egypt at the time of the Hebrews’ Exodus (thirteenth century BCE)
Ramses II
the sister of Laban, Isaac’s wife, mother of Esau and Jacob
Rebekah
the wife of Abraham; called Sarai before Genesis 17; she was barren until God enabled conception, and Isaac was born in her old age
Sarah
the daughter-in-law of Judah; the daughter of David
Tamar
Leah’s maid who bore Jacob two sons: Gad and Asher
Zilpah
“binding of Isaac;” the Pentateuchal narrative describing God’s command to Abraham to offer Isaac, the son of his old age, as a sacrifice
Akedah
a term for the attribution of human behavior or characteristics to inanimate objects, animals, natural phenomena, or deity
anthropomorphism
it is law stated in an unconditional manner without qualifying clauses
apodictic law
the territory north and east of Palestine where Abraham’s ancestors had settled and from where the wives of Isaac and Jacob came; roughly the region of modern northern Syria and northwestern Iraq
Aram
an evil spirit of the wilderness to which a scapegoat was sent by the ancient Hebrews in a ritual of atonement
Azazel
the name of a Mesopotamian city with a tower as told in Genesis 11; the name means “gate of God”
Babel
a city that became a center of Israelite worship; literally means “house of El”
Bethel
the special inheritance rights of the firstborn son that gave him claim to the bulk of the ancestral property
birthright
legal sayings with modifying clauses often in the “if…then” form: “if this is the situation, …then this is the penalty”
casuistic law
the cave which Abraham bought, together with the field in which it stood, from Ephron the Hittite, for a family burying-place; here were laid the bodies of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah
cave of Machpelah
a fissure/opening in the rock where God reveals His glory to Moses, but Moses doesn’t see God’s face
cleft of the rock
Exodus 20:22-23:33; a collection of Israelite laws
covenant
Greek for “ten words;” refers to laws collected into a group of ten; the Ten Commandments received by Moses on Mount Sinai
Decalogue
the body of material that consists of the introduction to Deuteronomy and Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings; an extended review of Israel’s history from the conquest under Joshua through the destruction of 587 BCE written from the perspective of principles found in the book of Deuteronomy
Deuteronomic history
a Babylonian epic centering on Gilgamesh, an ancient king of Uruk; the eleventh tablet of this epic contains a story of a flood that has parallels to the biblical story of Noah and the ark
Gilgamesh Epic
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength”
the Great Commandment
a statue constructed by Aaron at Mount Sinai that the Israelites worshipped
golden calf
the territory in the eastern Nile delta of Egypt where Joseph settled the family of Jacob
Goshen
the term used in the Elohist and Deuteronomist sources to designate the location where God delivered the commandments and covenant to the Israelites through Moses; apparently the equivalent of Mount Sinai
Horeb
site where Jacob wrestled with God before being reunited with Esau; place where his name is changed to Israel
Jabbok
(Hebrew=kashrut) refers to ritually correct Jewish dietary practices; traditional Jewish dietary laws are based on biblical legislation; only land animals that chew the cud and have split hooves are permitted and must be slaughtered in a special way; further, meat products may not be eaten with milk products or immediately thereafter; of sea creatures, only those having fins and scaled are permitted; fowl is considered a meat food and also has to be slaughtered in a special manner
Kosher
a biblical system of marriage in which the levir marries his brother’s widow
levirate law
Hebrew for “what is it?”; the food that God provided to the Hebrews while they sojourned in the wilderness for forty years
Manna
Greek for “between the rivers”; the land defined by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, this is the location of the birth of civilization and the origin of the Israelites
Mesopotamia
territory south of Canaan, of uncertain exact location; perhaps in the Sinai Peninsula or western Arabia; Moses’s father-in-law, Jethro, was a priest of this place
Midian
the desert region south of Canaan and east of Egypt
Sinai
the festival recalling the escape from Egypt in the Exodus
Passover (Pesach)
the father and ruler of a family; the head of a tribe
patriarch
aka a sojourner, a person who lives in a country but does not hold citizenship; the Old Testament specifies certain rights for resident aliens
resident alien
the seventh day of the week, a day of rest and worship; it extends from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday; the sign of the Mosaic covenant and became especially important as an identifier of Jewishness beginning in the Babylonian exile
Sabbath
title of the Great Commandment, the fundamental, monotheistic statement of Judaism, found in Deuteronomy 6:4 (“Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One”); affirms the unity of God and is recited daily in the liturgy and customarily before sleep at night
Shema
the portable tent shrine constructed at Mount Sinai that served as the residence of YHWH in the wilderness and until the time of Solomon
tabernacle
Greek for “appearance of God”; a manifestation or appearance of the divine–for example, when God appears to Moses in a burning bush
theophany
an ancient Sumerian and Babylonian city on the Euphrates River in southern Mesopotamia; the home of Abraham before he left for Canaan
Ur
Hebrew for “Day of Atonement”; annual day of fasting, penitence, and atonement, occurring in the fall on the tenth day of the month Tishri; the most solemn and important occasion of the Jewish religious year
Yom Kippur
divination dice that allowed the high priest to consult with God directly
Urim and Thummin
