Easton's Bible Dictionary

28

Festivals, Religious

There were daily (Lev. 23), weekly, monthly, and yearly festivals, and great stress was laid on the regular observance of them in every particular (Num. 28:1-8; Ex. 29:38-42; Le...

29

Festus, Porcius

The successor of Felix (A.D. 60) as procurator of Judea (Acts 24:27). A few weeks after he had entered on his office the case of Paul, then a prisoner at Caesarea, was reported ...

30

Fever

(Deut. 28:22; Matt. 8:14; Mark 1:30; John 4:52; Acts 28:8), a burning heat, as the word so rendered denotes, which attends all febrile attacks. In all Eastern countries such dis...

31

Field

(Heb. sadeh), a cultivated field, but unenclosed. It is applied to any cultivated ground or pasture (Gen. 29:2; 31:4; 34:7), or tillage (Gen. 37:7; 47:24). It is also applied to...

32

Fig

First mentioned in Gen. 3:7. The fig-tree is mentioned (Deut. 8:8) as one of the valuable products of Palestine. It was a sign of peace and prosperity (1 Kings 4:25; Micah 4:4; ...

33

Fillets

Heb. hashukum, plur., joinings (Ex. 27:17; 38:17, 28), the rods by which the tops of the columns around the tabernacle court were joined together, and from which the curtains we...

34

Finer

A worker in silver and gold (Prov. 25:4). In Judg. 17:4 the word (tsoreph) is rendered “founder,” and in Isa. 41:7 “goldsmith.”

35

Fining pot

A crucible, melting-pot (Prov. 17:3; 27:21).

36

Fir

The uniform rendering in the Authorized Version (marg. R.V., “cypress”) of berosh (2 Sam. 6:5; 1 Kings 5:8, 10; 6:15, 34; 9:11, etc.), a lofty tree (Isa. 55:13) growing on Leban...

37

Fire

(1.) For sacred purposes. The sacrifices were consumed by fire (Gen. 8:20). The ever-burning fire on the altar was first kindled from heaven (Lev. 6:9, 13; 9:24), and afterwards...

38

Firebrand

Isa. 7:4, Amos 4:11, Zech. 3:2, denotes the burnt end of a stick (Heb. ‘ud); in Judg. 15:4, a lamp or torch, a flambeau (Heb. lappid); in Prov. 26:18 (comp. Eph. 6:16), burning ...

39

Firepan

(Ex. 27:3; 38:3), one of the vessels of the temple service (rendered “snuff-dish” Ex. 25:38; 37:23; and “censer” Lev. 10:1; 16:12). It was probably a metallic cinder-basin used ...

40

Firkin

Used only in John 2:6; the Attic amphora, equivalent to the Hebrew bath (q.v.), a measure for liquids containing about 8 7/8 gallons.

41

Firmament

From the Vulgate firmamentum, which is used as the translation of the Hebrew raki’a. This word means simply “expansion.” It denotes the space or expanse like an arch appearing i...

42

First-born

Sons enjoyed certain special privileges (Deut. 21:17; Gen. 25:23, 31, 34; 49:3; 1 Chr. 5:1; Heb. 12:16; Ps. 89:27). (See BIRTHRIGHT.)The “first-born of the poor” signifies the m...

43

First-born, Redemption of

From the beginning the office of the priesthood in each family belonged to the eldest son. But when the extensive plan of sacrificial worship was introduced, requiring a company...

44

First-born, Sanctification of the

A peculiar sanctity was attached to the first-born both of man and of cattle. God claimed that the first-born males of man and of animals should be consecrated to him, the one a...

45

First-fruits

The first-fruits of the ground were offered unto God just as the first-born of man and animals.The law required, (1.) That on the morrow after the Passover Sabbath a sheaf of ne...

46

Fish

Called dag by the Hebrews, a word denoting great fecundity (Gen. 9:2; Num. 11:22; Jonah 2:1, 10). No fish is mentioned by name either in the Old or in the New Testament. Fish ab...

47

Fish-hooks

Were used for catching fish (Amos 4:2; comp. Isa. 37:29; Jer. 16:16; Ezek. 29:4; Job. 41:1, 2; Matt. 17:27).

48

Fish-pools

(Cant. 7:4) should be simply “pools,” as in the Revised Version. The reservoirs near Heshbon (q.v.) were probably stocked with fish (2 Sam. 2:13; 4:12; Isa. 7:3; 22:9, 11).

49

Fisher

Besides its literal sense (Luke 5:2), this word is also applied by our Lord to his disciples in a figurative sense (Matt. 4:19; Mark 1:17).

50

Fishing, the art of

Was prosecuted with great industry in the waters of Palestine. It was from the fishing-nets that Jesus called his disciples (Mark 1:16-20), and it was in a fishing-boat he rebuk...

51

Fitches

(Isa. 28:25, 27), the rendering of the Hebrew ketsah, “without doubt the Nigella sativa, a small annual of the order Ranunculacece, which grows wild in the Mediterranean countri...

52

Flag

(Heb., or rather Egyptian, ahu, Job 8:11), rendered “meadow” in Gen. 41:2, 18; probably the Cyperus esculentus, a species of rush eaten by cattle, the Nile reed. It also grows i...

53

Flagon

Heb. ashishah, (2 Sam. 6:19; 1 Chr. 16:3; Cant. 2:5; Hos. 3:1), meaning properly “a cake of pressed raisins.” “Flagons of wine” of the Authorized Version should be, as in the Re...

54

Flame of fire

Is the chosen symbol of the holiness of God (Ex. 3:2; Rev. 2:18), as indicating “the intense, all-consuming operation of his holiness in relation to sin.”