Honors Freshman Religious Studies Q4 Study Guide (vocab)

Critical vocabulary terms and historical contexts from the Freshman Religious Studies Q4 curriculum focusing on the Old Testament from Exodus through the Divided Kingdoms and Wisdom Literature.

Allegory

A story that is an extended metaphor; Christians often read the OT allegorically.

Ban, the

The ancient Near Eastern practice of destroying everyone and everything (women, children, animals) in a defeated town and burning it as a sacrificial offering to (a) God.

Dead Sea Scrolls

By far the oldest manuscripts of the Old Testament, discovered in $1947$. They contain minor variations from the later, accepted Hebrew Bible (Masoretic Text).

Despoil

To pillage or plunder.

Deuteronomistic history

The continuous narrative, edited by the same person/group, that runs from Deuteronomy through Joshua, Judges, and Samuel, concluding in Kings. It is a tragedy ending with the fall of Judah and Jerusalem in $586$ BCE.

Divine retributive justice

The Old Testament belief that God punishes people for their sins during this lifetime; this view attributed all things directly to God as there was no concept of heaven and hell.

Hyperbole

Extreme exaggeration.

Israel

a) The name God gave Jacob. b) The descendants of Jacob (Israelites). c) The northern kingdom with its capital in Samaria. d) The modern nation founded in $1948$ after World War II.

Jerusalem

The city David chose as the capital of his united kingdom. After the division, it was the capital of the southern kingdom of Judah, which was destroyed in $586$ BCE by Babylonia.

Judah

a) A son of Jacob/Israel. b) The tribe descended from Judah. c) After the division, the southern kingdom with its capital in Jerusalem. It was destroyed in $722$ BCE by Assyria.

Lament

A poem crying out to (a) God, bemoaning the destruction of a city or other tragedy.

Messiah

Literally, "anointed one", someone God chose for a purpose; principally refers to the king of Israel and the Jewish hope of a future restorer of the fallen Davidic kingdom.

Oracle

A poetic message from God delivered through a prophet (e.g., Deborah, Nathan, Amos).

Passover

The Jewish festival celebrating the $10$th plague, when God "passed over" the houses of the Israelites, sparing their firstborn.

Prophet

An intermediary between God and the people who delivers poetic messages from God, almost always about the imminent future.

Redeem, redemption

Literally, to "buy back": God's deliverance of his chosen people.

Resurrection

Introduced late in the Old Testament (Daniel $12:1-3$), the belief that in the Messianic age, the dead will rise bodily to be judged and rewarded or punished by God.

Repentance

Turning back to God after having sinned and crying out to him for mercy.

Sabbath

The day of rest commanded by God, observed from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday.

Samaria

The capital of the northern kingdom of Israel.

Satan, the

Literally, "the adversary" or "the devil." In Job, he is a "son of God" who serves as the prosecuting attorney in God's heavenly court.

Septuagint

The ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament containing extra books not found in the Hebrew versions, such as $1$ & $2$ Maccabees, Judith, and Tobit.

Sheol

The underworld below the earth where the "shades" of all the dead exist in darkness.

Shofar

A ram's horn blown like a trumpet for military or liturgical (worship) purposes.

Ten Commandments

The first $10$ of the many laws God gives to the Israelites on Mt. Sinai.

Wisdom

The virtue by which a person discerns what to do or not to do in a particular situation.

Wisdom literature

An ancient genre of writing about wisdom, morality, life, and meaning.

Yam Suph

"Sea of Reeds," the body of water the Israelites crossed, which is interpreted as the Red Sea.

YHWH

God's name as revealed to Moses, meaning "I am who I am".