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CowAid to Bible Understanding
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Samson spoke of his betrothed as his young cow, with which the thirty groomsmen had plowed in order to arrive at the solution to his riddle.—Judg. 14:11, 12, 18.
The fraudulent, oppressive, luxury-loving despoilers dwelling in Samaria are referred to as “cows of Bashan.” (Amos 3:15; 4:1) Ephraim is likened to a “trained heifer loving to thresh.” (Hos. 10:11) This comparison takes on added meaning when considering that the animals doing the threshing were not muzzled and, therefore, could eat of the grain, thus receiving direct and immediate benefits from their labor. (Deut. 25:4) Because of becoming fat as a result of God’s blessing, Israel “kicked,” rebelled against Jehovah (Deut. 32:12-15), and is therefore, appropriately referred to as a stubborn cow, one that is unwilling to bear the yoke. (Hos. 4:16) Egypt is compared to a pretty heifer that would come to disaster at the hand of the Babylonians. (Jer. 46:20, 21, 26) The Babylonians, in their pillaging ‘God’s inheritance,’ Judah, are likened to a frisky heifer pawing in the tender grass.—Jer. 50:11.
In prophecy the peaceful conditions that result from the reign of the Messiah, Christ Jesus, are appropriately represented by amicable relations between the relatively harmless cow and the rapacious bear.—Isa. 11:7; see BULL; CALF.
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CozbiAid to Bible Understanding
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COZBI
(Cozʹbi) [voluptuousness].
Daughter of Zur, a Midianite chieftain. At the time 24,000 Israelites died for immorality in connection with Baal of Peor, Cozbi was killed along with the Simeonite Zimri, who had brought her into his tent, by having her genital parts pierced through by Phinehas. (Num. 25:1, 6-9, 15, 18) Shortly afterward Cozbi’s father was also killed.—Num. 31:7.
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CozebaAid to Bible Understanding
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COZEBA
(Co·zeʹba).
A site in Judah where descendants of Shelah the son of Judah resided. (1 Chron. 4:21, 22) Most authorities consider Cozeba to be the same as Achzib (“Chezib” in some versions) mentioned at Genesis 38:5 and Joshua 15:44, and on this basis it is tentatively identified with Tell el-Beida, somewhat less than sixteen miles (25.7 kilometers) SW of Bethlehem between the suggested locations of Adullam and Lachish. The men of Cozeba are apparently included in the expression “they were the potters.”—1 Chron. 4:23; see ACHZIB No. 1.
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CraftsmanAid to Bible Understanding
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CRAFTSMAN
One skilled in a manual trade or art. The Hebrew word hha·rashʹ is most frequently translated (NW) by the general term “craftsman,” but when it occurs along with some particular material, the phrase is rendered more specifically, for example, “wood-and-metal worker” (Deut. 27:15), “workers in wood and workers in stone” (2 Sam. 5:11), “carver of iron,” “wood carver” (Isa. 44:12, 13), also as “smith” (1 Sam. 13:19) and “manufacturers.” (Isa. 45:16) Further illustrating the many specialties that come under the designation “craftsmanship” is the description of Bezalel who, along with Oholiab, was a worker with metals, precious stones, wood, a weaver and dyer, skilled “in every sort of craftsmanship.”—Ex. 35:30-35; see also 2 Kings 12:11, 12.
Many crafts, such as toolmaking, carpentry, brickmaking, spinning, weaving, textile finishing, making pottery and jewelry, to mention a few, were at one time simple household duties performed by ordinary men or women. Settled communal living, however, with emphasis on developing higher skills, brought about specialization. Even before the Flood certain men were known as specialized craftsmen. (Gen. 4:21, 22) Nebuchadnezzar took the craftsmen along with the princes and military engineers captive to Babylon in 617 B.C.E., the second time he came against Jerusalem. (2 Ki. 24:14, 16; Jer. 24:1; 29:2) In some towns craftsmen of a particular trade lived together in the same section where they eventually associated together in guilds, and became known by their occupation and exercised great influence in the affairs of the town. (Neh. 3:8, 31, 32; 11:35; Jer. 37:21; Acts 19:24-41) Details of how these specialized craftsmen carried on their work are not too well preserved, except those writings and artworks that come from Egypt and which vividly describe and illustrate the various craftsmen at work.
The prohibition against idolatry incorporated into the law of Moses kept the Jews from much of the then-common art of making figurines and the like as objects of devotion. (Ex. 20:4; Deut. 4:15-18; 27:15) Indeed, image worship and the development of art and carving grew side by side in nations such as Assyria and Babylonia. (Ps. 115:2, 4-8; Isa. 40:19, 20; 44:11-20; 46:1, 6, 7; Jer. 10:2-5) Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen in Ephesus made a living by manufacturing silver shrines of Artemis.—Acts 19:24-27.
For detailed considerations of the various crafts themselves, see the individual subjects such as CARPENTER; CARVING; DYES, DYEING; MASON; METALWORKER; POTTER; TANNER and others.
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CragAid to Bible Understanding
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CRAG
See ROCK.
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CreationAid to Bible Understanding
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CREATION
The act of creating or causing the existence of someone or something, or the state or fact of having been created or brought into existence.
Throughout the Scriptures Jehovah God is identified as the Creator. He is “the Creator of the heavens, . . . the Former of the earth and the Maker of it.” (Isa. 45:18) He is “the Former of the mountains and the Creator of the wind” (Amos 4:13), and is “the One who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all the things in them.” (Acts 4:24; 14:15; 17:24) “God . . . created all things.” (Eph. 3:9) Jesus Christ recognized Jehovah as the One who created humans, making them male and female. (Matt. 19:4; Mark 10:6) Hence, Jehovah is fittingly and uniquely called “the Creator.”—Isa. 40:28.
It is because of God’s will that all things “existed and were created.” (Rev. 4:11) Jehovah, who has existed for all time, was alone before creation had a beginning.—Ps. 90:1, 2; 1 Tim. 1:17.
While Jehovah, who is a Spirit (John 4:24; 2 Cor. 3:17), has always existed, the matter of which the universe is made is not eternal. Hence, when creating the literal heavens and earth, Jehovah did not use preexistent material. This is clear from Genesis 1:1, which says: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” If matter had always existed, it would have been inappropriate to use the term “beginning” with reference to material things. However, after creating the earth, God did form “from the ground every wild beast of the field and every flying creature of the heavens.” (Gen. 2:19) He also formed man “out of dust from the ground,” blowing into his nostrils the breath of life so that the man became a living soul.—Gen. 2:7.
Appropriately Psalm 33:6 says: “By the word of Jehovah the heavens themselves were made, and by the spirit of his mouth all their army.” While the earth was yet “formless and waste” with “darkness upon the surface of the watery deep,” it was God’s active force that was moving to and fro over the surface of the waters. (Gen. 1:2) Thus, God used his active force or “spirit” (Heb., ruʹahh) to accomplish his creative purpose. The things he has created testify not only to his power but to his Godship. (Jer. 10:12; Rom. 1:19, 20) And, as Jehovah “is a God, not of disorder, but of peace” (1 Cor. 14:33), orderliness, rather than chaos or chance, marks his creative work. Jehovah reminded Job that He had taken specific steps in founding the earth and barricading the sea and indicated that there exist “statutes of the heavens.” (Job 38:1, 4-11, 31-33) Furthermore, God’s creative and other works are perfect.—Deut. 32:4; Eccl. 3:14.
Jehovah’s first creation was his “only-begotten Son” (John 3:16), “the beginning of the creation by God.” (Rev. 3:14) This one, “the first-born of all creation,”
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