Easton's Bible Dictionary

This is a biblical reference work — specifically a dictionary or encyclopedia of the Bible, written in the tradition of 19th-century Protestant scriptural scholarship. The entries cover terms alphabetically from "Homer" (a dry measure of ancient Hebrew capacity) through "Horeb" (another name for Mount Sinai), addressing words, people, and places found in the Old and New Testaments. The work's core content is philological and geographical: it traces the multiple Hebrew terms behind a single English word (as with "honey," where five distinct Hebrew words are carefully distinguished), identifies locations with modern Arabic place names, and cross-references scriptural passages. A distinctive feature is its harmonizing of ancient biblical geography with 19th-century Near Eastern knowledge — for instance, linking Jebel Harun with Aaron's burial site or identifying "dibs" (grape syrup) as the likely referent of certain "honey" passages. The theological entries (notably "Hope") shift register, offering doctrinal summaries that treat the Bible as a unified Christian text. Readers interested in detailed Hebrew word studies, biblical geography, or the history of 19th-century Protestant biblical scholarship will find it substantive; those seeking narrative context or modern critical scholarship will find it dated and exegetically conservative.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

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