CHIOS

(Chiʹos).

One of the larger islands in the Aegean Sea and separated from the western coast of Asia Minor by a strait five miles (8 kilometers) or more wide. The island measures some thirty-two miles (51.5 kilometers) in length (N to S) and varies between eight and eighteen miles (12.9 to 29 kilometers) in breadth (E to W).

Chios is mentioned in the account in Acts 20 concerning Paul’s return trip to Jerusalem at the close of his third missionary journey, in the spring of 56 C.E. The ship on which Paul was traveling left Mitylene (vs. 14) some sixty miles (96.5 kilometers) to the NE, probably in the morning, and “arrived opposite Chios” (vs. 15), likely by sunset. Then, the following day, the voyage continued to Samos, approximately sixty-five miles (104.6 kilometers) farther down the coast.

This may seem like a slow trip by modern travel standards; however, Luke’s eyewitness narrative accords well with the geography of the area and the nautical procedures of that time. The intricate passage through the island-studded waters of the Aegean would require as much light as possible for safe navigation. It has been suggested that sailing at night would have been hazardous for, even if the skies were not overcast, the moon would not have been in its brightest phase and would have set soon after midnight, since this was about three weeks after the full or near-full moon of Passover. (Vss. 6, 7, 13-15) Also, interestingly, it has been observed that the winds on the Aegean about this time of year blow generally from the N during the day and as a calm southerly breeze at night. So, understandably, a ship on a south-bound journey would likely weigh anchor at sunset and set sail with the first breath of N wind the following day.

At the time of Paul’s journey Chios was considered a free city-state of the Roman province of Asia, a status it maintained until the reign of Emperor Vespasian (69-79 C.E.). Both the island and its chief city are today called Khios by the Greeks and Scio by the Italians.

CHISLEV

(Chisʹlev).

The postexilic name of the ninth Jewish lunar month, which falls within November and December. (Neh. 1:1; Jer. 36:9; Zech. 7:1) It corresponded with the third month of the secular calendar. The meaning of the name is uncertain.

This was a winter month, a month of cold and rain. So we read of King Jehoiakim that he was “sitting in the winter house, in the ninth month, with a brazier burning before him.” (Jer. 36:22) In postexilic Jerusalem, the people who gathered for the assembly ordered by priest Ezra beginning on the twentieth day of this month “kept sitting in the open place of the house of the true God, shivering because of the matter and on account of the showers of rain.” (Ezra 10:9, 13) Quite obviously there were no shepherds sleeping in the fields at night at this time of the year, nor for some time afterward.

The festival of dedication, held in the wintertime at Jerusalem, is mentioned at John 10:22. As shown in the Apocryphal book of 1 Maccabees (4:52-59), this eight-day festival was instituted by Judas Maccabaeus on the twenty-fifth day of Chislev in the year 165 B.C.E. to commemorate the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem. This festival is today known as Hanukkah.—See FESTIVAL OF DEDICATION.

CHISLON

(Chisʹlon) [slow].

A Benjamite of Moses’ day whose son Elidad assisted with the division of the Promised Land into inheritance portions.—Num. 34:17, 21.

CHISLOTH-TABOR

(Chisʹloth-taʹbor) [loins or flanks of Tabor].

A city marking Zebulun’s boundary and apparently a variant form of Chesulloth. (Josh. 19:12, 18) It is usually identified with Iksal, less than three miles (4.8 kilometers) SE of Nazareth, at the foot of Mount Tabor, which location may account for its name.—See CHESULLOTH.

CHITLISH

(Chitʹlish) [a man’s wall].

A city in the Shephelah in the inheritance of Judah. (Josh. 15:33, 40) Since the Septuagint uses the term Ma·a·khosʹ instead of Chitlish, it is usually identified with modern-day Khirbet el-Meqhaz five miles (8 kilometers) SW of Lachish. Some authorities associate Chitlish with the name Kentisha mentioned in the Palestinian list of Pharaoh Thutmose III, and a similar name found on an ostracon from a later date at Lachish.

CHLOE

(Chloʹe) [first green shoot of plants].

A woman through whose household Paul received reports concerning the dissensions existing in the Corinthian congregation. (1 Cor. 1:11) Though Paul’s letter does not state that Chloe was a Christian residing at Corinth or at Ephesus where the letter was penned, in view of the apostle’s reference to this household by name, evidently at least some members thereof, either family members or slaves, were Christians known to the Corinthians.

CHORAZIN

(Cho·raʹzin).

A city among those reproached by Jesus and located at the NW end of the Sea of Galilee. (Matt. 11:21) It is usually identified by geographers with Khirbet Kerazeh, only about two miles (3.2 kilometers) N of the suggested site of ancient Capernaum (vs. 23), the city that Jesus apparently used as a base of operations during his great Galilean ministry of over two years’ duration. Jesus pronounced coming “woe” for the Jewish inhabitants of Chorazin who, during that period, were witnesses of “powerful works” that would have moved the pagans of Tyre and Sidon to repentance, yet who failed to act on Jesus’ message. After this, in the fall of 32 C.E., when dispatching the seventy disciples during the later Judean ministry, Jesus inserted a reference to Chorazin’s impenitent attitude into his discussion apparently to illustrate verbally how his disciples were to ‘wipe the dust’ of those cities that ‘disregarded’ them off their feet.—Luke 10:10-16.

CHRIST

[Gr., Khri·stosʹ, anointed; the Anointed One].

This title is equivalent to the Hebrew Ma·shiʹahh, “Messiah,” and in the Authorized Version of the Christian Greek Scriptures it appears 571 times. The title is most often used alone, but is also compounded as “Jesus Christ(’s)” 113 times, “Lord Jesus Christ(’s)” 85 times, “Christ Jesus” 58 times, “the [very] Christ” 20 times. “Christ” is not a mere appellative added to distinguish the Lord Jesus from others of the same name; it is an official title.—See JESUS CHRIST; MESSIAH.

The coming of Christ or Messiah, the one whom Jehovah would anoint with his spirit to be the universal king, had been foretold centuries before Jesus’ birth. (Dan. 9:25, 26) However, at his birth Jesus was not yet the Anointed One or Christ. In foretelling his birth the angel instructed Joseph: “You must call his name Jesus.” (Matt. 1:21) But when the shepherds near Bethlehem were given the angelic announcement, in anticipation of Jesus’ future role they were told: “There was born to you today a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” that is, “who is to be Christ the Lord.”—Luke 2:11, NW, 1950 ed., ftn. a.

The personal name of Jesus followed by the title “Christ” may call attention to the person himself’ and that he is the one who became the Anointed One of Jehovah. This occurred when he reached thirty years of age, was baptized in water, and was anointed with Jehovah’s spirit visibly observed in the form of a dove descending upon him. (Matt. 3:13-17) This is the point Peter made at Pentecost: “God made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus,” evidently recalling the expression he had heard from the lips of Jesus, who first used the term “Jesus Christ.” (Acts 2:36-38;