The Jewish Annotated New Testament (179 page)

seder
(Heb “order”) the ritual
Passover
meal.

Seder Olam
(“order of the world”) a rabbinic history of the world and the Jewish people up to the second century CE.

Sefer ha-Zikronot
a Masoretic concordance labored on for twenty years by Elijah Levita (1468–1549). He was a grammarian, Masorite, and poet. The work is in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.

Seleucids
the rulers of Syria and surrounding areas after Alexander the Great’s death.

Seliḥot
penitential prayers.

semeion
Gk “sign”; used especially in John’s Gospel (e.g., 2.11) to describe Jesus’ acts of power.

Septuagint
(abbreviated
LXX
) main ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. The Septuagint was translated over a lengthy period beginning probably in the third century BCE. It contains additional works, grouped in
NRSV
as the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books, most of which were originally written in Greek; some form of it was the Bible of early Christians.

Shabbat
(Heb “cessation”) the Sabbath day. The church preserved the day of rest but moved it from Saturday to Sunday, both to commemorate the proclamation of Jesus’ resurrection and to distinguish its practices from that of the synagogue.

Shammai, Rabbi
(50 BCE – 30 CE) see
Hillel
.

Shavuot
(Heb) the festival of “Weeks” (also “
Pentecost
,” Gk for “fiftieth” [day]), the spring harvest, occurring fifty days (seven full weeks) after
Pesach
.

shekhinah
a post-biblical term for the “dwelling” or “presence” of God with Israel; by extension, the divine manifestation in the community’s life or the sense of divine immanence within the world.

Shem
,
ha-Shem
“name” or “the Name,” a circumlocution for the
tetragrammaton
(see Deut 28.58).

Shema
(Heb “hear”) the first word, used as a title, of the exhortation (Deut 6.4), “Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God is one LORD” (or, “the LORD our God, the LORD is one”); also the name of the best-known prayer in Judaism, comprised of Deut 6.4–9; 11.13–21; Num 15.37–41.

Shemonah Esrei
see
Amidah
.

Sheol
the abode of the dead.

Shepherd of Hermas
second-century Christian apocalypse.

Shulchan Arukh
(Heb “set table”) the authoritative compendium of Jewish law, compiled by Yosef Karo and first published in Venice in 1565.

Sibylline Oracles
collection of Jewish and Christian texts (dating perhaps from the second century BCE to the first few centuries CE) pseudonymously attributed to the Sybils, Greek prophetesses.

Sicarii
(Lat “dagger men”) a term for the Jewish movement in Roman Judea which advocated armed rebellion; see
zealot
.

Siddur
(Heb “order”) the Jewish prayer book.

Sifra
(Heb “writing [of]”) a rabbinic commentary on Leviticus.

Sifre
(Heb “writings [of]”) rabbinic commentaries on Numbers and Deuteronomy.

Signs source
a posited source used by the author of John’s Gospel (Gk
semeia
, sing.
semeion
).

Sinaiticus
(so-called because it was discovered in a Greek Orthodox monastery on Mount Sinai) a fourth century
codex
(containing the entire NT; about half of the Septuagint; the
Epistle of Barnabas
; and parts of the
Shepherd of Hermas
.

Son of Man
a
Hebraism
(from
ben adam
, e.g., Ps 8.4 [Heb v. 5]; Ezek 2.1) meaning “human being, mortal” or an
Aramaism
(
bar enosh
, e.g., Dan 7.13). It was apparently Jesus’ self-designation (e.g., Mk 2.10,28).

soteriology
(Gk
sōtēr
, “savior”) the study of views of salvation.

source criticism
effort to discover the written sources behind a text.

Stoics
Greek philosophers who taught that emotions should be controlled by reason.

Sukkot
(Heb “booths”) autumn harvest pilgrimage festival during which it is customary, following Lev 23.42–43, to dwell in temporary booths.

suffering servant
the figure in Isa 52.13–53.11 who bears the disease, punishment, or sins of others. The passage taken by Jesus’ followers (e.g., Mt 8.17, in the context of Jesus’ healing ministry; Acts 8.27–35, referring to Jesus’ death) to be a prophecy of his life; Jewish tradition typically regards the servant as the people Israel.

Symmachus
a second to third century translator of the Bible into Greek, see
Hexapla
.

synagogue
(Gk “coming together with”) an assembly; a congregation; later a building where the community met.

Synoptic Gospels
the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. “Synoptic” means “view together,” and is applied to these writings because they, unlike John, can be readily compared.

synoptic problem
The determination of the literary relationship among the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. According to the most widely-held theory, Matthew and Luke relied on Mark and on another document,
Q
(now lost), that contained mostly sayings of Jesus. In addition, Matthew and Luke each had their own sources (
M
and
L
).

Syriac
eastern form of
Aramaic
.

Syrohexapla
see
Hexapla
.

T

tabernacle
portable sanctuary used by the Israelites in the wilderness, as described in Exodus, chs 25–30 and chs 35–40.

Taheb
in Samaritan teaching, the one who will restore the people to their land and kingdom, analogous to
messiah
.

talion
see
lex talionis
.

tallit
originally “a garment,” also a four-cornered fringed shawl worn during prayer; also called
tallit gadol
, “large tallit,” in contrast to
tallit katan
, “small tallit,” worn throughout the day beneath the clothing by observant Jewish men (see Num 15.38–39; Deut 22.12).

Talmud
(Heb “teaching”) the title of the two great collections of rabbinic teaching, the
Jerusalem Talmud
or Yerushalmi and the
Babylonian Talmud
or Bavli. The Talmuds consist of comments on, and extensions of, the
Mishnah
as well as information on a wide range of topics.

Tanakh
acronym formed from the beginning letters of the three divisions of the Hebrew Bible:
Torah
,
Nevi’im
,
Ketuvim
.

tanna
(pl.
tannaim
; adj.
tannaitic
) (Aram/Heb
tanna/shana
, “repeat”) rabbis who contributed to and compiled the Mishnah, from ca. 70 to 200 CE.

Tanhuma
a rabbi who is often cited in the Midrash Tanhuma. This Midrash compilation was printed by Salomon Buber in 1885.

Targum
Aramaic translations of the Bible. There are two main texts on the Torah:
Targum Onkelos
and
Targum Yerushalmi
or the Jerusalem Targum. There is also Targum Jonathan to the prophets, as well as targums to other biblical books such as Ruth and Esther.

Teacher of Righteousness
(Heb
moreh ha-tzedek
) presumed founder of the community at
Qumran
(see e.g., CD 1.9–11).

tefillin
small black leather boxes containing biblical passages from Ex 13.1–10; 13.11–16; Deut 6.4–9; 11.13–21. Two are worn during weekday morning prayer: one on the head and one on the arm (see e.g., Deut 6.8). Also called “
phylacteries
.” Many copies were found among the
Dead Sea Scrolls
.

Temple
the central place of worship for Israelite religion in Jerusalem, referring either to the
First Temple
built by Solomon or the post-exilic
Second Temple
rebuilt and enlarged by Herod the Great.

Temple tax
Jewish males annually paid a half-shekel tax for the Jerusalem Temple (Ex 30.11–16; Neh 10.33; cf.
t. Ketub
. 13.3).

Tertullian
Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus (ca. 160–ca.225), early Christian theologian and exegete. He opposed the views of Marcion, who advocated discarding the “Old Testament” in Christian use.

Testament of Abraham
a text dating from the first or second century CE, depicting an encounter between the archangel Michael, a vision of judgment in the context of the death of Abraham, and the ascent of Abraham’s soul to heaven.

Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs
the purported last words of the twelve sons of Jacob (separate texts include the Testaments of Benjamin, Judah, Issachar, Levi, and Simeon). Although it may contain material from the second century BCE, as a whole it dates from the second century CE.

Testimonia
(1) a Dead Sea Scroll (4Q175), consisting of a series of quotations from Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua, all of which may be of messianic interest; (2) any collection of quotations taken as messianic predictions.

tetragrammaton
(Gk “four letters”) the Hebrew divine name,
YHWH
.

textual criticism
the effort to establish, by scholarly assessment of manuscript copies and other sources, an original and accurate version of a text

textus receptus
(Lat “received text”) the standard text in a tradition. For the Hebrew text the “received text” is the
Masoretic text
, particularly that in the Rabbinic Bible (
Miqraot Gedolot
) in the 1525 edition published in Venice. For the NT (Gk) text, the Stephanus edition of 1550 became known as the received text and was the basis of the King James NT. Most modern NT translations use a critical text based on comparison of numerous manuscripts.

theodicy
the effort to justify divine goodness in the face of human suffering.

Theodotion
(ca. second century ce) a translator of the Bible into Greek and reviser of the
Septuagint
.

theophany
(Gk “appearance of god”) a temporary appearance or manifestation of a divine being.

Therapeutae
a Jewish community of men and women in Egypt, described by Philo, who practiced temperance, asceticism, and contemplation.

Thomas, Gospel of
an early collection of sayings attributed to Jesus. Some sayings resemble those in the canonical Gospels, but other speak of salvation through knowledge of escaping the material world (rather than through the death and resurrection of Jesus).