Other information

In the prophecy on the Mount of Olives, Jesus refers to the abomination of desolation mentioned by the prophet Daniel. The relevant verses in Daniel's prophecy are:

Daniel 11 verse 31

Mandrakes are the roots of the Mandragora officinarum, a member of the potato family. It is a common plant all over Palestine, growing particularly in the spring and ripening about the time of the wheat harvest.

A selection of verses showing what the Bible says about teraphim:

The first mention is when Rachel stole her father's teraphim when her family left home:

Genesis 31 verse 19

There are two Bible references to people being cup bearers:

Genesis 40 verse 2

² Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cup bearer and the chief baker.

Nehemiah 1 verse 11

The meanings of Jacob's old and new names may give us a clue as to why his name was changed. Jacob means heel catcher or supplanter. It implies getting the better of someone else by devious means.

In Jacob's early life we can see this trait in him. His brother Esau complained about him:

Genesis 27 verse 36

In ancient Egypt, it was thought that the future could be foretold by looking at how liquids move in a cup.

So it would have been regarded as a serious offence to steal the means whereby a ruler of Egypt could foretell the future.

There is no hint in the record that Joseph ever did use his cup for this purpose. From what we are told about Joseph it is highly unlikely.

Jacob had two wives, Leah and Rachel. Leah had Zilpah as a maid and Rachel had Bilhah. The chart below shows the order in which Jacob's sons were born to Jacob by his wives and their maids.

The word Hebrew comes from a root word meaning to stand on the other side. Some scholars think that the term was applied to Abram because he crossed the River Euphrates to come to the land of Canaan.

Joshua's review of Israel's history would seem to support this idea as he mentions crossing rivers several times:

Joshua 24 verse 3

The word Antichrist occurs four times in the Bible. The first occurence tells us that there were many antichrists around in John's time in the first century. These antichrists were originally part of the first-century community of believers:

1 John 2 verses 18 - 19