offered up as a sacrifice. (Lev. 22:24; compare Malachi 1:6-8; 1 Peter 1:19.) On this account the Israelites did not castrate their animals, for the Law required all domestic animals slaughtered for food to be brought to the sanctuary to be killed and eaten as a communion offering. The same law applied in the Promised Land for those who did not live far off from Jerusalem.—Lev. 17:3-5; Deut. 12:20-25.

The Law further read: “No man castrated by crushing the testicles or having his male member cut off may come into the congregation of Jehovah.” (Deut 23:1) Such ‘castration’ did not relate to congenital defects nor an accidental condition. (Compare Leviticus 21:17-21; Deuteronomy 25:11, 12.) Evidently, therefore, it had to do with deliberate emasculation for immoral purposes, such as homosexuality. Such a one was to be kept out of the congregation, not being allowed to associate with it, thereby protecting its purity.

The respect that Jehovah has for man’s right to have children by his wife, and for the reproductive powers he has placed in man and woman, was emphasized by the Law. Brother-in-law marriage provided for the continuance of a man’s family line, name and inheritance. (Deut. 25:5-10) Immediately following the statement of this arrangement, the Law went on to say that if two men were struggling together and the wife of one of them grabbed the other man by his private parts in order to assist her husband (an act that could destroy the reproductive powers of the man), her hand was to be amputated. (Deut. 25:11, 12) So the law of like for like did not here apply. (Deut. 19:21) God did not require the destruction of her reproductive organs or those of her husband. In this way the marriage could still be fruitful, her husband’s family line being carried on through it.

In the case of the Christian congregation, persons who have been castrated are not barred from entry, for the Law has been set aside on the basis of Christ’s sacrifice. (Col. 2:13, 14) Nevertheless, the laws above quoted illustrate God’s regard for the reproductive organs. They give evidence of his displeasure toward anyone who would willfully and deliberately have an operation performed solely for the purpose of sterilization. A Christian thus deliberately mutilating himself would hardly be presenting his entire body, which belongs to God, as a living sacrifice.—Rom. 12:1; compare 1 Peter 1:18, 19.

GENITAL ORGAN

The Hebrew word for “flesh” (ba·sarʹ) is used in the Scriptures at Leviticus chapter 15:2, 3 with reference to the man’s genital organ, the penis, as separate from the testicles.—See CLEAN, CLEANNESS.

The male genital organ was an object of sex worship by pagans in ancient times, as it is today in some countries. Reference may be made at Ezekiel 8:17 (NW, 1960 ed., ftn.) to such worship as infecting the apostate Israelites in Ezekiel’s day.

THADDAEUS

(Thad·daeʹus) [breast].

An apostle of Jesus Christ. (Matt. 10:2, 3; Mark 3:18) He appears to be called elsewhere “Judas the son of James.”—Luke 6:16; John 14:22; Acts 1:13; see JUDAS No. 3.

THEATER

Dramatic performances, tragedies, comedies, dances, musical presentations and spectacles were staged in the structure to which the Greeks gave the name theʹa·tron. The theater was often the scene of immoral presentations, shunned by faithful Christians. (Eph. 5:3-5) But it also served as a place of public assembly for other purposes.

It was to the theater in Ephesus that Paul’s traveling companions were brought when Demetrius the silversmith stirred up a riot against these Christian missionaries. Though the apostle was willing to go before the people assembled in the theater, the disciples and some friendly commissioners of festivals and games dissuaded him.—Acts 19:23-31.

Theaters were constructed in Greece from about the fifth century B.C.E. onward, and in time they were built in various principal cities. Most Greek theaters were constructed in semicircular fashion on a hillside of concave formation. The seats might be made of wood or stone. Aisles separated them into sections and they were lined up in tiers on the hill’s gradual incline. At the center was the or·kheʹstra (a dancing or chorus area), behind which there was a raised stage backed by a ske·neʹ, or background.

Ruins of theaters have been found in such places as Ephesus, Athens and Corinth. The large theater excavated at Ephesus had sixty-six rows of seats, and could hold an audience of about 25,000 persons. The acoustics were, and still are, so good that even a low voice from the stage can be heard in the topmost row with ease.

The Romans frequently constructed theaters as individual buildings dependent upon no natural sloping ground formation. Sometimes their theaters had a roof over the stage and a portion of the seating area. Another type, the Roman amphitheater, was a roofless circular or oval structure that enclosed a large center space or arena, from which the seats radiated in tiers. The partially standing Colosseum in Rome, finished in 80 C.E., is a noted Roman amphitheater. Herod the Great constructed theaters in various cities, including Damascus and Caesarea. Josephus said that Herod “built a theatre at Jerusalem, as also a very great amphitheatre in the plain.”—Antiquities of the Jews, Book XV, chap. VIII, par. 1.

The Greek word theʹa·tron can denote either the place where a show is presented or the “theatrical spectacle” itself. Paul wrote: “For it seems to me that God has put us the apostles last on exhibition as men appointed to death, because we have become a theatrical spectacle [theʹa·tron] to the world, both to angels and to men.” (1 Cor. 4:9) Paul thus alluded to the customary closing event of Roman gladiatorial contests in the amphitheater arena when certain participants were brought out unclad and defenseless, being subjected to butchery and certain death.

The Greeks and Romans customarily led criminals condemned to death through the theater, where they were subjected to ridicule by the assembled throngs. Paul wrote to the Hebrew Christians, apparently referring to this practice. Though there is no record to the effect that these Christians had been subjected to that treatment, they had endured sufferings that were comparable. The apostle urged them: “Keep on remembering the former days in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great contest under sufferings, sometimes while you were being exposed as in a theater both to reproaches and tribulations, and sometimes while you became sharers with those who were having such an experience.”—Heb. 10:32, 33.

THEBEZ

(Theʹbez) [possibly, brightness or splendor].

A city having a strong tower. When Abimelech had taken Thebez and was attempting to assault the tower where the populace had sought refuge, a woman pitched an upper millstone upon him from atop the wall. His skull shattered by the blow, Abimelech had his attendant put him to death so that no one could say, “It was a woman that killed him.”—Judg. 9:50-54; 2 Sam. 11:21.

Thebez is usually connected with modern Tubas, about ten miles (c. 16 kilometers) NE of Shechem.

THEOPHILUS

(The·ophʹi·lus) [friend of God].

The person to whom Luke addressed both his Gospel and the Acts of Apostles. (Luke 1:3, 4; Acts 1:1) His being called “most excellent” may indicate a high position of some kind, or may simply be an expression of high esteem. Theophilus apparently was a Christian, having been orally taught about Jesus Christ and his ministry. Luke’s written statement served to assure him of the certainty of what he had learned previously by word of mouth.