-
Sower, SowingAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
Instructing, caring for the congregation
When writing to the congregation at Corinth, Paul compared his instruction and help to the congregation to sowing, and explained to them that, doing so, he had authority to receive material things from them to assist him in carrying on his ministry. But he did not do this, so as not to offer any hindrance to the good news.—1 Cor. 9:11, 12.
Must be done in peace
Just as a farmer sows seed in peace, so the good news is sown in peace, not with wrangling, strife, tumult and the use of force. And the men doing the sowing are men of peace, not quarrelsome, belligerent or riotous. Therefore peaceful conditions must exist in the Christian congregation in order for their sowing to produce fruitage of righteousness.—Jas. 3:18.
The resurrection
When discussing the spiritual resurrection, Paul likened the burial of the physical body to the sowing of a seed, stating: “Nevertheless, someone will say: ‘How are the dead to be raised up? Yes, with what sort of body are they coming?’ You unreasonable person! What you sow is not made alive unless first it dies; and as for what you sow, you sow, not the body that will develop, but a bare grain, it may be, of wheat or any one of the rest; but God gives it a body just as it has pleased him, and to each of the seeds its own body. . . . And there are heavenly bodies, and earthly bodies; . . . So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised up in incorruption. . . . It is sown a physical body, it is raised up a spiritual body. . . . For this which is corruptible must put on incorruption, and this which is mortal must put on immortality.”—1 Cor. 15:35-53.
Such ones who are chosen by God to be joint heirs with his Son, to receive incorruption and immortality, in order to obtain the heavenly body, must die, giving up the body of flesh, to receive the new body by a resurrection, just as a seed planted “dies,” disintegrates, and is of an entirely different form and appearance from the plant that results.—Rom. 6:3-5.
For a discussion of the sowing mentioned at Isaiah 28:24, with its illustrative significance, see PLOWING.
-
-
SpainAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
SPAIN
The country situated on the Iberian Peninsula in SW Europe, the southern part of which was evidently called Tarshish in ancient times. After visiting the Roman Christians, the apostle Paul hoped to be escorted part way there by his fellow believers in Rome. (Rom. 15:23, 24, 28) Whether the apostle ever reached Spain is not certain. However, Clement of Rome stated (c. 95 C.E.) that Paul “came to the extreme limit of the W[est],” which could have included Spain. If he reached that land, the visit probably occurred between Paul’s release from his first imprisonment in Rome (c. 61 C.E.) and his imprisonment there once again in c. 64 C.E. At that time Spain was under Roman rule.—See TARSHISH No. 1.
-
-
SpanAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
SPAN
A linear measure approximately corresponding to the distance between the end of the thumb and the end of the little finger when the hand is spread out. (Ex. 28:16; 39:9; 1 Sam. 17:4; Ezek. 43:13) Two spans equal one cubit; and three handbreadths, one span. There is evidence that the cubit commonly used by the Israelites was about 17.5 inches (44.5 centimeters) in length. (See CUBIT.) Accordingly, the span would be 8.75 inches (22.25 centimeters) in length.
When highlighting Jehovah’s greatness, the prophet Isaiah asked: “Who has . . . taken the proportions of the heavens themselves with a mere span?”—Isa. 40:12.
-
-
SparrowAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
SPARROW
[Gr., strou·thiʹon].
The English name “sparrow” is applied to several different small birds, principally of the finch family. Similarly, the Greek word strou·thiʹon is a diminutive form meaning any small bird, but was used especially as applying to sparrows. The common house sparrow is abundant in Palestine, particularly so in the coastal towns. Small brown and gray birds, the sparrows are noisy and gregarious, chirping and twittering, fluttering from their perch on a house-top, tree or bush to the ground and back again. Their nests are to be found in orchards, vineyards, gardens, and often in cracks or ledges of homes. Their diet consists chiefly of seeds, insects and worms. Along the Jordan valley the marsh sparrows are very numerous, nesting in the thickets there.
The only direct references to sparrows in the Bible are found in a statement that Jesus made during his third Galilean tour and evidently restated about a year thereafter in his later Judean ministry. Pointing out that “two sparrows sell for a coin of small value [literally, an assarion, worth about one cent]” or, if bought in quantities of five, “for two coins of small value,” Jesus stated that, though these small birds were counted as of such little worth, “yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s knowledge,” “not one of them goes forgotten before God.” He then encouraged his disciples to be free from fear, assuring them, “You are worth more than many sparrows.”—Matt. 10:29-31; Luke 12:6, 7.
Both anciently and modernly, sparrows have been sold in the markets of the East. As an item of food, they were plucked and spitted on wooden skewers and roasted (like shish kebabs). An ancient inscription of Emperor Diocletian’s tariff law (301 C.E.) shows that, of all the birds sold for food, sparrows were the cheapest. Often sold in lots of ten, the maximum price for this number was fixed in the law at sixteen denarii, evidently the copper denarii introduced by Diocletian and worth about one-fifth of a cent each. At this fourth-century rate, five sparrows would have cost somewhat less than two cents, or about the same price as was current when Jesus was on earth.
Although the sparrow appears in the Hebrew Scriptures in the Authorized Version (Ps. 84:3; 102:7) and in other translations, the Hebrew term so rendered (tsip·pohrʹ) is evidently a generic term referring to small birds in general and not specifically identifying the sparrow.
-
-
SpearAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
SPEAR
See ARMS, ARMOR.
-
-
SpearmenAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
SPEARMEN
These soldiers anciently comprised a section of the light infantry, and were backed up by archers and slingers. Charioteers and cavalrymen often carried spears. Spearmen were a part of the Roman occupational forces in Palestine, two hundred of whom were included in secretly escorting Paul out of Jerusalem.—Acts 23:23; see ARMS, ARMOR, pages 128, 129.
-
-
SpellAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
SPELL
See CHARM.
-
-
SpeltAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
SPELT
An inferior kind of wheat, the kernels of which are not readily separated from the chaff. Spelt was anciently cultivated in Egypt (Ex. 9:32), where, according to the Greek historian Herodotus (Book II, par. 39), it was made into bread. (See Ezekiel 4:9.) The Israelites seem to have planted it as a border around their fields to serve as a kind of fence.—Isa. 28:25.
-
-
SpiceAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
SPICE
Any of a variety of fragrant plant products, including aloe, balsam, calamus, cassia, cinnamon, frankincense, galbanum, labdanum, myrrh and stacte. Spices were employed in making the holy anointing oil and the incense designated for exclusive sanctuary use. (Ex. 30:23-25, 34-37) They were also used in preparing the dead for burial, myrrh and aloes being specifically mentioned in Jesus’ case. (John 19:39, 40; see also Mark 16:1; Luke 23:56; 24:1.) In connection
-