• Sivan
    Aid to Bible Understanding

    • were fully ripe. (Isa. 28:4; Jer. 24:2) In the coastal area of the Mediterranean apples were also in season.—Song of Sol. 2:3; compare Joel 1:10-12.

      The Festival of Weeks or Pentecost was celebrated on the sixth day of Sivan, accompanied by the offering of the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, just fifty days after the offering of the firstfruits of the barley harvest. (Ex. 34:22; Lev. 23:15-21) It was on this sixth day of Sivan, in the year 33 C.E., that the holy spirit was poured out on the group of about 120 disciples assembled in the upper room at Jerusalem. From the crowds gathered at the city for the feast came the three thousand persons who were baptized on that day.—Acts 1:15; 2:1-42.

      It was in the month of Sivan that King Asa celebrated a grand feast following his reform activity in eradicating false religion from Judah and Jerusalem and other areas. (2 Chron. 15:8-10) The swift couriers sent by King Ahasuerus to deliver the message granting the Jews the right to defend themselves on the thirteenth day of Adar were dispatched almost nine months earlier, on the twenty-third day of Sivan, to the 127 jurisdictional districts of the Persian Empire extending from India to Ethiopia.—Esther 8:9-14.

  • Skins
    Aid to Bible Understanding

    • SKINS

      The skin is classified as an organ of the body, and indeed performs many functions for the body’s well-being, including protection, regulation of body temperature, and removal of certain waste materials. The Bible mentions skin afflictions (Lev. 13:1-46; 21:20; Deut. 28:27) and certain deteriorating effects of disease and starvation upon the skin.—Job 7:5; 30:30; Lam. 4:8; 5:10.

      According to the Law, skins of animals used for certain sin offerings were burned outside the camp of Israel, or outside the gate of Jerusalem. (Ex. 29:14; Lev. 4:11, 12; 8:17; 9:11; 16:27; Heb. 13:11) The priest received the skin of an animal presented by an Israelite for a burnt offering.—Lev. 7:8.

      Jehovah provided skin garments for Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness, after they had sinned. (Gen. 3:21) Undressed skins were used for garments by some, notably some of the prophets (2 Ki. 1:8; Matt. 3:4), including some false prophets. (Zech. 13:4) Animal skins also served for sandals (Ezek. 16:3, 10), bags (1 Sam. 17:40), skin bottles for water, milk, wine, and so forth (Gen. 21:14; Josh. 9:13; Judg. 4:19; Matt. 9:17), as drumheads and possibly as a sounding base for the neʹvel or “stringed instrument.” (Isa. 5:12) Skins were used as coverings for the tabernacle.—Ex. 25:2, 5; 26:14; 35:7, 23; 36:19.

      Skin of sheep, goats or calves was also employed as a writing material.—See PARCHMENT.

      FIGURATIVE USE

      Concerning Job, Satan said to Jehovah: “Skin in behalf of skin, and everything that a man has he will give in behalf of his soul.” (Job 2:4) The Devil thereby challenged man’s integrity.

      Job himself said: “I escape with the skin of my teeth.” (Job 19:20) This harmonizes with the fact that tooth enamel is produced by epithelial or skin cells. A possible reading is: “And my flesh becomes hairless in my teeth.” (Compare Job 13:14.) But if the usual reading is taken, Job likely meant that he had a very narrow escape from death.

  • Sky
    Aid to Bible Understanding

    • SKY

      [Heb., shaʹhhaq (apparently from a root meaning “to pulverize, beat in pieces or pound fine”), “dust” as being made fine, “cloud of dust,” “cloud.” Sha·maʹyim, “heavens,” is occasionally rendered “skies.” Gr., ou·ra·nosʹ, “heaven” or “sky”].

      “Sky [shaʹhhaq],” as used by the Bible writers’ may mean the expanse of atmosphere that surrounds the earth in which clouds float (Isa. 45:8), or the apparent vault or dome over the earth that is blue at daytime and star-studded at night. (Ps. 89:37) In most cases the writer evidently is merely referring to what is high above man without specifying which aspect of the “sky” is involved.—Ps. 57:10; 108:4.

      The fine dust particles in the atmosphere, the molecules of water vapor and, to some extent, the molecules of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere, scatter the rays of light, the blue rays being most diffused, which gives the clear sky its characteristic blue color. Fine dust particles also play a large part in producing clouds, the water vapor collecting around these particles.

      Jehovah speaks of himself as the One who “beat out the skies hard like a molten mirror.” (Job 37:18) The particles forming the atmosphere are indeed compressed under the pull of gravity, and are held to a limit as to their outer boundaries, gravity preventing their escape from the earth. (Gen. 1:6-8) They do reflect the sunlight in a manner comparable to a mirror. Because of this the sky looks bright, whereas without an atmosphere the sky observer on earth would see only blackness, with the heavenly bodies glowing brilliantly on a black background, as is the case with the atmosphereless moon. Astronauts can observe the earth’s atmosphere from outer space as an illuminated, glowing halo.

      Jehovah used figurative language in warning Israel that, for disobedience, the skies overhead would become copper and the earth beneath, iron, and powder and dust would be the rain of their land. Doubtless under such conditions of lack of rain the “shut up,” cloudless skies would become reddish, copper, in color, because increased dust particles in the atmosphere tend to diffuse the blue light to the point that the red waves are more prominent, just as the setting sun appears red because of the greater depth or thickness of atmosphere that the sun’s rays must traverse.—Deut. 28:23, 24; compare 1 Kings 8:35, where “heaven” is used as referring to the expanse.

      When Jesus ascended toward heaven, a cloud caught him away from the disciples’ vision. As they gazed into the sky, angels appeared and said: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who was received up from you into the sky will come thus in the same manner as you have beheld him going into the sky.” (Acts 1:9-11) The angels, in effect, told the disciples that there was no point in their gazing into the sky, expecting him to appear to their vision there. For the cloud had caught him up, and he had become invisible. But he would come back in like manner, invisibly, unobserved by the physical eyes.

      Occasionally, “sky” is used in parallel with “heaven,” but for a discussion of the application of the more comprehensive term “heaven,” see HEAVEN.