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SaulAid to Bible Understanding
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had been incurred by Saul and his house in connection with the Gibeonites was avenged when seven of his descendants were slain.—2 Sam. 21:1-9.
2. A Benjamite of the city of Tarsus in Asia Minor who persecuted Christ’s followers but later became an apostle of Jesus Christ. (Acts 9:1, 4, 17; 11:25; 21:39; Phil. 3:5) In all of his letters he referred to himself by his Latin name Paul.—See PAUL.
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SaviorAid to Bible Understanding
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SAVIOR
One who preserves or delivers from danger or destruction. Jehovah is identified as the principal Savior, the only source of deliverance. (Isa. 43:11; 45:21) He was the Savior and Deliverer of Israel, time and again. (Ps. 106:8, 10, 21; Isa. 43:3; 45:15; Jer. 14:8) He saved not only the nation but also individuals who served him. (2 Sam. 22:1-3) Often his salvation was through men raised up by him as saviors. (Neh. 9:27) During the period of the Judges, these special saviors were divinely selected and empowered to deliver Israel from foreign oppression. (Judg. 2:16; 3:9, 15) While the judge lived, he served to keep Israel in the right way, and this brought them relief from their enemies. (Judg. 2:18) When Jesus was on earth, Jehovah was his Savior, supporting and strengthening him to maintain integrity through his strenuous trials.—Heb. 5:7; Ps. 28:8.
Along with his role as Savior, Jehovah is also the “Repurchaser.” (Isa. 49:26; 60:16) In the past he redeemed his people Israel from captivity. In delivering Christians from sin’s bondage, he does the repurchasing through his Son Jesus Christ (1 John 4:14), Jehovah’s provision for salvation, who is therefore exalted as “Chief Agent and Savior.” (Acts 5:31) Accordingly, Jesus Christ can rightly be called “our Savior,” even though he performs the salvation as the agent of Jehovah. (Titus 1:4; 2 Pet. 1:11) The name Jesus, given to God’s Son by angelic direction, means “Salvation [or Help] of Jehovah,” for, said the angel, “he will save his people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:21; Luke 1:31) This name points out that Jehovah is the Source of salvation, accomplished through Jesus. For this reason we find the Father and the Son spoken of together in connection with salvation.—Titus 2:11-13; 3:4-6.
Salvation is provided by Jehovah through Jesus Christ for “all sorts of men” (1 Tim. 2:4; 4:10) from sin and death (Rom. 8:2), from Babylon the Great (Rev. 18:2, 4), from this world under Satan’s control (John 17:16; Col. 1:13), and from destruction and everlasting death. (Rev. 7:14-17; 21:3, 4) A “great crowd” is shown at Revelation 7:9, 10 attributing salvation to God and to the Lamb.
The ransom sacrifice is the basis for salvation, and as King and everlasting High Priest Christ Jesus has the authority and power “to save completely those who are approaching God through him.” (Heb. 7:23-25; Rev. 19:16) He is “a savior of this body,” the congregation of his anointed followers, and also of all who exercise faith in him.—Eph. 5:23; 1 John 4:14: John 3:16, 17.
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SawAid to Bible Understanding
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SAW
A cutting tool with a notched or toothed blade and one or two handles, or sometimes consisting of a blade fixed to a frame. Early saws did not cut in both directions; some were designed to cut when pulled toward the user; others, when pushed away. Egyptian saws were generally made of bronze and usually had teeth that slanted in the direction of the handle. Such a saw would cut when drawn toward the person using it. The blade was either inserted in the handle or fastened to it by means of thongs. Two-handled saws having iron blades were in use among the Assyrians. Hebrew and other carpenters employed the saw to cut wood, and masons used saws capable of cutting stone.—Isa. 10:15; 1 Ki. 7:9.
David put captive Ammonites to work at such tasks as sawing stones. (2 Sam. 12:29-31) Their tools included “axes,” or, literally, “stone saws,” according to the Masoretic text at 1 Chronicles 20:3. In some cases it appears that copper-bladed saws with stone teeth were used to cut stone. But apparently an abrasive such as emery powder was sometimes put under the cutting edge of a saw having a copper or a bronze blade so as to facilitate the cutting of stone.
Persecution of faithful pre-Christian witnesses of Jehovah was so severe at times that some were killed by being “sawn asunder.” (Heb. 11:37, 38) According to tradition, wicked King Manasseh had Isaiah put to death in such an extremely painful manner, though the Scriptures do not say so.
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ScalesAid to Bible Understanding
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SCALES
A number of Hebrew and Greek words are appropriately rendered by the English word “scales,” which has various meanings.
ANIMAL SCALES
Flattened, rigid plates forming part of the outer body covering of many fishes and reptiles. The Law ruled as ceremonially clean for food “everything that has fins and scales in the waters.” Water animals lacking such could not be eaten; they were “a loathsome thing.” (Lev. 11:9, 10, 12; Deut. 14:9, 10) Thus scales (Heb., qas·qeʹseth) were one of the easily recognizable signs as to whether a certain fish could be eaten. Though there are four types of fish scales, most common are ctenoid scales (with a comblike edge) and cycloid scales (with a rounded border). These are arranged in overlapping rows, forming a thin, light and flexible covering.
The same Hebrew word is used in Ezekiel 29:4, where the Egyptian Pharaoh is symbolically described as what seems to be a crocodile. The entire body of a crocodile is covered with strong plates of horn set in its leathery skin. Job 41:15-17 apparently also refers to the scales (AS, NW, MR) of the crocodile, in this case using the Hebrew word that is often translated “shield.”—See CROCODILE.
SCALES FOR WEIGHING
A device for weighing objects. The ancients were acquainted with the simple beam scale or balance. It consisted of a horizontal bar or beam pivoted at the center on a peg or cord, and from each end of the beam hung a pan or hook. The object to be weighed was put in one pan (or hung on one hook, as with a small bag of money) and the known weights were put on the other side. (Jer. 32:10; Isa. 46:6; Gen. 23:15, 16; Ezek. 5:1; see MONEY.) During a famine, even food might be measured carefully on a balance. The rider of the black horse described at Revelation 6:5 held a pair of scales “for measuring bread by weight, to personify bad times, when provisions became cruelly expensive.”—The Expositor’s Greek Testament, Vol. V, p. 390.
Jehovah commanded honesty and accuracy in using scales (Lev. 19:35, 36), for a cheating pair of scales was detestable to him. (Prov. 11:1; 16:11; Ezek. 45:10) Scales could be made inaccurate by having the arms of unequal length, or rendered less sensitive by having the arms relatively short or by making the beam thicker and heavier. At times Israelites used scales fraudulently (Hos. 12:7; Amos 8:5), and they multiplied the deception by using inaccurate weights, one set for buying and another for selling.—Prov. 20:23.
Weighing scales were spoken of figuratively, as when Job mentioned ‘weighing his adversity on scales.’ (Job 6:2) The littleness of earthling men was emphasized by saying that they are lighter than an exhalation on the scales (Ps. 62:9), and the nations were compared to an insignificant film of dust on the scales from the standpoint of Jehovah, who could, as it were, weigh all the hills in the scales. (Isa. 40:12, 15) Scales were sometimes used to represent accurate measurement in judgment.—Job 31:6; Dan. 5:27.
SCALES OF ARMOR
A coat of mail might have attached to it scales (Heb., qas·qeʹseth) consisting of small metal plates that overlapped and provided a relatively flexible
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