 | The examples and perspective in this article may not include all significant viewpoints .(July 2021) |
A handmaiden (nowadays less commonly handmaid or maidservant) is a personal maid or female servant. [1] (The term is also used metaphorically for something whose primary role is to serve or assist.) [1] Depending on culture or historical period, a handmaiden may be of slave status or may be simply an employee. The terms handmaiden and handmaid are synonyms. [1]
In the King James translation of the Hebrew Bible, the term handmaid is applied to a female servant who serves her mistress, as in the case of Hagar being described as Sarah's handmaid, [2] Zilpah being Leah's handmaid [3] and Bilhah as Rachel's handmaid. [4] [5] In each of these cases, the mistress "gave" their handmaid to their husbands "to wife", to bear his "seed" (children). The use in the Torah of the prefix "to", as in "gave to wife", may indicate that the wife is a concubine or inferior wife. [6] The text repeats that these people remain handmaids of their mistress though they are also the concubine of the mistress's husband. They are referred to interchangeably by the Hebrew terms אָמָה (’āmāh) and שִׁפְחָה (šip̄ḥāh). Other modern English bible translations use the word slave, slave-girl or servant. [7]
In Christianity, Mary, the mother of Jesus is referred to as the "handmaid of the Lord" or "servant of the Lord", [8] both of which are titles of honour for the mother of Jesus. [9] The Gospel of Luke describes Mary as the "handmaid of the Lord" (Greek δούλη, doulē) when she gives her consent to the message of the Angel (see Luke 1:38), and when she proclaims the greatness of the Lord because of "the great things" he has worked in her (see Luke 1:49)." [9]
Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between two people in which the couple does not want, or cannot, enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar, but mutually exclusive.
The Handmaid's Tale is a futuristic dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood published in 1985. It is set in a near-future New England in a patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state known as the Republic of Gilead, which has overthrown the United States government. Offred is the central character and narrator and one of the "Handmaids", women who are forcibly assigned to produce children for the "Commanders", who are the ruling class in Gilead.
Sarah is a biblical matriarch, prophetess and major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a pious woman, renowned for her hospitality and beauty, the wife and half-sister of Abraham, and the mother of Isaac. Sarah has her feast day on 1 September in the Catholic Church, 19 August in the Coptic Orthodox Church, 20 January in the LCMS, and 12 and 20 December in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
According to the Book of Genesis, Hagar was an Egyptian slave, a handmaiden of Sarah, whom Sarah gave to her own husband Abram as a wife to bear him a child. Abraham's firstborn son, through Hagar, Ishmael, became the progenitor of the Ishmaelites, generally taken to be the Arabs. Various commentators have connected her to the Hagrites, perhaps claiming her as their eponymous ancestor. Hagar is alluded to, although not named, in the Quran, and Islam considers her Abraham's second wife.
Bilhah is a woman mentioned in the Book of Genesis. Genesis 29:29 describes her as Laban's handmaiden (שִׁפְחָה), who was given to Rachel to be her handmaid on Rachel's marriage to Jacob. When Rachel failed to have children, Rachel gave Bilhah to Jacob like a wife to bear him children. Bilhah gave birth to two sons, whom Rachel claimed as her own and named Dan and Naphtali. Genesis 35:22 expressly calls Bilhah Jacob's concubine, a pilegesh. When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob like a wife to bear him children as well.
Issachar was, according to the Book of Genesis, the fifth of the six sons of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Issachar. However, some Biblical scholars view this as an eponymous metaphor providing an aetiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite confederation.
Mazzaroth is a Biblical Hebrew Word found in the Book of Job (38:32) and literally meaning "constellations," according to 10th-century biblical exegete Saadia Gaon, while others interpret the word as Garland of Crowns, but its context is that of Astronomical Constellations, and it is often interpreted as a term for the Zodiac or the Constellations thereof. . The similar word mazalot (מַּזָּלוֹת) in 2 Kings 23:3–5 may be related.
Women in the Bible are wives, mothers and daughters, servants, slaves and prostitutes. As both victors and victims, some women in the Bible change the course of important events while others are powerless to affect even their own destinies. The majority of women in the Bible are anonymous and unnamed. Individual portraits of various women in the Bible show women in a variety of roles. The New Testament refers to a number of women in Jesus' inner circle, and he is generally seen by scholars as dealing with women with respect and even equality.
Psalm 98 is the 98th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "O sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvellous things". The Book of Psalms starts the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and, as such, is a book of the Christian Old Testament. In the slightly different numbering system in the Greek Septuagint version of the Bible, and in the Latin Vulgate, this psalm is Psalm 97. In Latin, it is known as "Cantate Domino". The psalm is a hymn psalm, one of the Royal Psalms, praising God as the King of His people. Like Psalms 33 and 96, it calls for the singing of "a new song".
Carbuncle is another name for a deep red almandine gemstone that has been cut with a smooth, convex face in a method called cabochon. Traditionally, the term referred to any red gemstone, most often a red garnet.
Mizpah was a city of the tribe of Benjamin referred to in the Hebrew Bible.
Psalm 69 is the 69th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul". It is subtitled: "To the chief musician, upon Shoshannim, a Psalm of David". The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a book of the Christian Old Testament. In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint version of the Bible and in the Latin Vulgate, this psalm is Psalm 68. In Latin, it is known as "Salvum me fac Deus". It has 36 verses.
Psalm 41 is the 41st psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Blessed is he that considereth the poor". In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint version of the bible, and generally in its Latin translations, this psalm is Psalm 40. In the Vulgate, it begins "Beatus qui intellegit super egenum et pauperem". The final psalm in Book One of the collection, it is attributed to King David.
Psalm 136 is the 136th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. ". The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a book of the Christian Old Testament. In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate translations of the Bible, this psalm is Psalm 135. In Latin, it is known by the incipit, "Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus". It is sometimes referred to as "The Great Hallel". The Jerusalem Bible calls it a "Litany of Thanksgiving". It is notable for the refrain which forms the second half of each verse, translated as "For His mercy endures forever" in the New King James Version, or "for his steadfast love endures for ever" in the Revised Standard Version.
Psalm 128 is the 128th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways". In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, this psalm is Psalm 127.In Latin, it is known as "Beati omnes qui timent Dominum".
Psalm 123 is the 123rd psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens". The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a book of the Christian Old Testament. This short psalm is one of fifteen psalms that begin with the words "A song of ascents". In Latin, it is known as "Ad te levavi oculos meos", and Baptist writer Charles Spurgeon calls it "the Psalm of the eyes".
Psalm 116 is the 116th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications". It is part of the Egyptian Hallel sequence in the Book of Psalms.
Biblical Egypt, or Mizraim, is a theological term used by historians and scholars to differentiate between Ancient Egypt as it is portrayed in Judeo-Christian texts and what is known about the region based on archaeological evidence. Along with Canaan, Egypt is one of the most commonly mentioned locations in the Bible, and its people, the Egyptians, play important roles in the story of the Israelites. Although interaction between Egypt and nearby Semitic-speaking peoples is attested in archaeological sources, they do not otherwise corroborate the biblical account.
In the biblical story of Adam and Eve, coats of skin were the aprons provided to Adam and Eve by God when they fell from a state of innocent obedience under Him to a state of guilty disobedience.