Pillows
Placed on the divans around an eastern reception room. The luxurious appliances mentioned in Eze 13:18-19, were temptations to ease and voluptuousness; and emblems of similar so...
Dictionary
American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
A Dictionary of the Holy Bible, American Tract Society, c. 1859, edited by W. W. Rand.
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149 entries
Pine
In Ne 8:15, denotes some tree of a resinous nature. A different word in Isa 41:19 60:13, probably indicates the pine; a noble emblem of the promised prosperity of the church. Se...
Pinnacle
Literally a wing; probably some part of the battlements on the outer wall of the temple, perhaps of Solomon’s porch, accessible by stairs, Mt 4:5-6. Josephus describes a gallery...
Pipe
A musical wind instrument, consisting of a tube with holes, like a flute or clarinet, 1Sa 10:51Ki 1:40Isa 5:12 30:29 Jer 48:36Mt 9:23. The double pipe had two tubes, uniting in ...
Pisgah
A mountain ridge, the northern part of the Abarim range, east of the Dead Sea; Nebo was one of its summits, De 32:49 34:1. It was in the southern part of the kingdom of Sihon, N...
Pisidia
A province of Asia Minor, separated from the Mediterranean by Pamphylia, lying on Mount Taurus and the high table land north of it, and running up between Phrygia and Lycaonia a...
Pison
One of the four rivers that watered Paradise, Ge 2:11-12, and which ran through all the land of Havilah, where excellent gold was found. It has, of course, been placed as variou...
Pit
A reservoir, either natural or artificial, for water. Pits were sometimes used as dungeons, Ge 37:20; Jer 38:6; or being slightly covered, and baited, they served as traps to ca...
Pitch
Ge 6:14Ex 2:3, translated "slime" in Ge 11:3 14:10, is properly bitumen or asphaltum, anciently found on and near the Dead Sea, which was hence called the lake Asphaltities. It ...
Pithom
One of the cities built by the children of Israel for Pharaoh in Egypt, during their servitude, Ex 1:11. This is probably the Pathumos mentioned by Herodotus, which he places ne...
Plague
See PESTILENCE.
Plain
See CANAAN, and OAK.
Planets
2Ki 23:5. The Hebrew word means inns or lodgings, and is used with reference to the sun, denoting the twelve constellations of the zodiac, the houses of the sun in its annual ap...
Pledge
The Jewish law protected the poor who were obliged to give security for a loan or the fulfillment of a contract. If a man pawned his robe, the usual covering of the cool nights,...
Pleiades
A cluster of seven stars in the neck of Taurus, or the Bull, one of the twelve signs of the zodiac. The sun enters Taurus about the middle of April; and the appearance of the Pl...
Plough
A slight and inefficient instrument in the East, but used from the earliest times, Ge 45:6De 22:10Job 1:14. See cut in MEROM.The plough now generally used in Syria consists subs...
Poetry Of The Hebrews
Of all the fine arts, poetry alone was cultivated among the Hebrews; and under the inspiration of the Almighty was carried to the highest degree of perfection. The poetry of thi...
Poll
The head, Nu 2:34. To poll the head is to cut off the hair, 2Sa 14:25,26; Eze 44:20.
Pollux
See CASTOR.
Pomegranate
Grained apple, the Punica Granatum of Linnaeus; called also Malum Granatum, in French pomme granate, whence its English name. The tree grows wild in Persia and Syria, as general...
Pommels
Globular ornaments affixed to the capitals of columns, 2Ch 4.12- 13.
Pontus
The sea, the northeastern province of Asia Minor, bounded north by the Euxine Sea, west by Galatia and Paphlagonia, south by Cappadocia and part of Armenia, and east by Colchis....
Pools
See CISTERNS.
Poor
Ps 12:5 41:1-3, especially cared for in the Jewish dispensation, Ex 23:6Pr 14:31, and even more so under the gospel, Mt 25:42-45Jas 2:5. The slight offerings required of them by...
Popular
Ge 30:37; Ho 4:13, probably the white poplar, so called from the whiteness of the under side of the leaves. It is a beautiful and shady tree, common in Palestine and its vicinit...
Porch
See HOUSE and TEMPLE.
Porters
Kept the gates of private houses and of cities, 2Sa 18:262Ki 7:10Mr 13:34Joh 10:3. The porters of the temple were Levites, at one period four thousand in number, divided into co...