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ArtemisAid to Bible Understanding
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The Artemis worshiped at Ephesus has been closely connected with prominent goddesses of other peoples, and it is suggested that they have a common origin. A Dictionary of the Bible, edited by James Hastings, Volume I, page 605, observes: “Artemis presents such close analogies with the Phrygian Cybele, and with other feminine envisagements of the divine power in Asiatic countries, like the Cappadocian Ma, the Phoenician Astarte or Ashtaroth, the Syrian Atargatis and Mylitta, as to suggest that these are all mere varieties of one ultimate religious conception, presenting in different countries certain differences, due to varying development according to local circumstances and national character.”
The ancients ranked the temple of Artemis at Ephesus as one of the seven wonders of the world. It was an imposing structure made of cedar, cypress, white marble and gold. So sacred was it believed to be that treasures could be deposited in it without any fear of thievery, and criminals could find asylum within an area extending around the temple for a distance of about 600 feet (c. 183 meters), although this varied considerably at different periods A great number of virgin priestesses and eunuch priests served at this temple, married women not even being permitted to enter it under penalty of death.
For the great festivals held in the month of Artemision (March-April) visitors numbering up to 700,000 arrived at Ephesus from all of Asia Minor. One feature of the celebration was the religious procession, with the image of Artemis being paraded about the city in a most jubilant manner.
The making of silver shrines of Artemis proved to be a profitable enterprise for Demetrius and other Ephesian silversmiths. Therefore, when the apostle Paul’s preaching in Ephesus caused a considerable number of persons to forsake the unclean worship of this goddess, Demetrius stirred up the other craftsmen, telling them that Paul’s preaching not only posed a threat to their financial security, but also the danger existed that the worship of the great goddess Artemis would come to nothing. This culminated in a riot that was finally dispersed by the city recorder.—Acts 19:23-41; see EPHESUS.
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ArubbothAid to Bible Understanding
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ARUBBOTH
(A·rubʹboth) [the lattices].
A town that served as an administrative center under one of the twelve deputies assigned by King Solomon to provide food for the royal household. The son of Hesed functioned there, having oversight over Socoh and the land of Hepher. (1 Ki 4:7, 10) Arubboth is presently identified with modern ʽArrabeh, situated near Dothan and about nine miles (14.5 kilometers) N of Samaria, hence in the territory of Manasseh. Hepher lies W of it on the Plains of Sharon and Socoh to the SW.
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ArumahAid to Bible Understanding
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ARUMAH
(A·ruʹmah) [height].
A town in the territory of Ephraim in which Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, resided and from which he launched his attack on the Shechemites. (Judg. 9:41) It is tentatively identified with El ʽOrmeh, about six miles (9.7 kilometers) SE of Shechem. Some suggest that it is the same as the “Rumah” referred to at 2 Kings 23:36.—See RUMAH.
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ArvadAid to Bible Understanding
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ARVAD
(Arʹvad) [perhaps, wandering].
In Ezekiel’s prophetic dirge concerning Tyre reference is made to men from Arvad who served as skilled rowers in Tyre’s navy and as valorous warriors in her army. (Ezek. 27:8, 11) Arvad is identified with the small rocky island today known as Ruad, lying about two miles (3.2 kilometers) off the coast of northern Syria (Phoenicia), some 125 miles (201 kilometers) N of Tyre. The inhabitants were descendants of Canaan.—Gen. 10:15, 18.
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ArvaditeAid to Bible Understanding
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ARVADITE
(Arʹvad·ite).
A member of the family descended from Ham through Canaan and that evidently inhabited Arvad, an island just off the N Phoenician coast. (Gen. 10:6, 15, 18; 1 Chron. 1:16) The only other mention of them is Ezekiel’s reference to Arvadites as being skilled sailors and valiant soldiers for Tyre.—Ezek. 27:8, 11.
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ArzahAid to Bible Understanding
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ARZAH
(Arʹzah) [perhaps, earthiness; or, firm; or gracious].
Steward of the household of Elah, king of Israel (952-951 B.C.E.), in whose house in Tirzah the king was “drinking himself drunk” when assassinated by Zimri.—1 Ki. 16:9, 10.
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AsaAid to Bible Understanding
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ASA
(Aʹsa) [perhaps, physician; or contraction for Jehovah has healed].
1. The third king of Judah following the division of the nation into two kingdoms. Asa was the son of Abijam and grandson of Rehoboam. Since his father’s three-year rule began in the eighteenth year (980 B.C.E.) of the reign of Jeroboam, king of Israel, and Asa’s began in the twentieth year of Jeroboam, apparently Abijam died before completing his third full year and Asa completed that year as an accession period, followed by his forty-one-year rule (977-936 B.C.E.).—1 Ki. 15:1, 2, 9, 10.
ASA’S ZEAL FOR PURE WORSHIP
The twenty years since the national split had steeped Judah and Benjamin in apostasy. Asa demonstrated a zeal for pure worship “like David his forefather,” and courageously set about to clean the male temple prostitutes and the idols out of the land. He removed his grandmother, Maacah, from her position as a sort of ‘first lady’ of the land because of her making a “horrible idol” to the sacred pole or Asherah, and he pulverized the religious idol.—1 Ki. 15:11-13.
The record at 2 Chronicles 14:2-5 states that Asa “removed the foreign altars and the high places and broke up the sacred pillars and cut down the sacred poles.” However, 2 Chronicles 15:17 and 1 Kings 15:14 say that ‘the high places he did not remove.’ It therefore appears that the high places referred to in the earlier Chronicles account were those of the adopted pagan worship that infected Judah, while the Kings account refers to high places at which the people engaged in worship of Jehovah. Even after the setting up of the tabernacle and the later establishment of the temple, occasional sacrificing was done to Jehovah on high places, which was acceptable to him under special circumstances, as in the cases of Samuel, David and Elijah. (1 Sam. 9:11-19; 1 Chron. 21:26-30; 1 Ki. 18:30-39) Nevertheless, the regular approved place for sacrifice was that authorized by Jehovah. (Num. 33:52; Deut. 12:2-14; Josh. 22:29) Improper modes of high-place worship were also carried on in Jehovah’s name (compare Exodus 32:5), and such may have continued in spite of the removal of the pagan high places, perhaps because the king did not pursue their elimination with the same vigor as the removal of the pagan sites. Or it is possible that Asa did effect a complete removal of all high places but that such cropped up again in due time and were
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