Bible Dictionary: Era

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

1. (n.) A fixed point of time, usually an epoch, from which a series of years is reckoned.

2. (n.) A period of time reckoned from some particular date or epoch; a succession of years dating from some important event; as, the era of Alexander; the era of Christ, or the Christian era (see under Christian).

3. (n.) A period of time in which a new order of things prevails; a signal stage of history; an epoch.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ERA

e'-ra:

We find no definite era in use in Old Testament times, and such usage does not appear until we reach the period of the Maccabees. There are some references to important events that might have served as eras had they been generally accepted and constantly employed. Such was the Exodus; and this is referred to as the starting-point in fixing the date of the building of Solomon's temple (1 Kings 6:1), and also for the date of Aaron's death (Numbers 33:38).

An earthquake is referred to by Amos 1:1 as a well-known event by which to date the beginning of his prophetic career; and Ezekiel in two passages refers to the captivity of Judah as a date for marking certain events in his life. Of these the Exodus would have been the most appropriate event to use as an era, since it marked the birth of the Hebrew nation; but the universal custom of antiquity was to date from the regnal years of the kings, as we see in the history of Egypt and Babylonia and Assyria; this custom was followed by the Israelites as soon as the kingdom was established, and was continued down to the Captivity. After the return of the Jews they naturally adopted the regnal years of the Persian kings, under whose rule they were, until the overthrow of the kingdom by Alexander. After this event, the era that prevailed most widely in Syria was that of the Seleucid kingdom, which began in 312 B.C., and must have been familiar to the Jews, and we have evidence that they made use of it. When Simon the Maccabee secured the independence of the Jews from the Seleucid king, Demetrius II, in 141-140, they began to date their instruments and contracts from this event as is stated in 1 Maccabees 13:41, 42; and we find that the year of their independence is fixed by reference to the Seleucid era, the first year of Simon being the 170th of that era (see Josephus, Ant, XIII, vi, 7).

After this they used the era of Simon, dating by his regnal years; but whether they used this as a permanent era during the Asmonean Dynasty or dated simply from the accession of each king, we do not know. There is no doubt that the Seleucid era continued to be used throughout the country for several centuries after the downfall of the Seleucid kingdom, as we have abundant evidence from inscriptions. When the Romans took possession of Syria and Palestine, their era was of course employed by Roman officials, but this did not prevail among the people. The dynasty of the Herods sometimes employed their own regnal years and sometimes those of the emperors, as appears from their coins. The Jews must have been familiar with the eras employed by some of the Phoenician towns, such as Tyre and Sidon. Tyre had a local era which began in 126 B.C., and Sidon one beginning in 112 B.C.; and most of the towns on the coast used the era of Alexander, dating from the battle of Issus, until the establishment of the Seleucid era. The Jews would be familiar with these from their commercial connections with the coast towns, but we do not know that they used them. They did not adopt the era of the Creation until after the time of Christ. It was fixed at 4,000 years before the destruction of the later temple, or 3760 B.C.

H. Porter

Greek

2583. kanon -- a rule, standard
... This represented the core theological convictions prevailing in the local churches
in the "post-apostolic era" (particularly from ad 100 on). ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/2583.htm - 7k

Strong's Hebrew

880. Beerah -- "well," a Reubenite
... Beerah (1). Beerah. The same as b'era'; Beerah, an Israelite -- Beerah. see
HEBREW b'era'. 879, 880. Beerah. 881 . Strong's Numbers.
/hebrew/880.htm - 6k

Library

The Era of Persecution
... PART FIRST. WOMEN OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE III THE ERA OF PERSECUTION. PERSECUTION
of the early Christians was preordained by some of ...
/.../brittain/women of early christianity/iii the era of persecution.htm

An Era of Spiritual Darkness
... Chapter 3 An Era of Spiritual Darkness. The apostle Paul, in his second
letter to the Thessalonians, foretold the great apostasy ...
//christianbookshelf.org/white/the great controversy/chapter 3 an era of.htm

Close of the Colonial Era --The German Churches --The Beginnings ...
... A HISTORY OF AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY. CHAPTER XII. CLOSE OF THE COLONIAL
ERA"THE GERMAN CHURCHES"THE BEGINNINGS OF THE METHODIST CHURCH. ...
/.../bacon/a history of american christianity/chapter xii close of the.htm

Of the Era in Abraham's Life from which a New Period in the Holy ...
... Book XVI. Chapter 12."Of the Era in Abraham's Life from Which a New Period
in the Holy Succession Begins. Let us now survey the ...
//christianbookshelf.org/augustine/city of god/chapter 12 of the era in.htm

The Teaching of Matthew 13 Proves that no Era of Millennial ...
... III. Post-millennialism Refuted. 2. The Teaching of Matthew 13 proves that no
era of Millennial blessing precedes Christ's Second Advent. ...
/...//christianbookshelf.org/pink/the redeemers return/2 the teaching of matthew.htm

The Christian's Book
... First Era, the Time of Beginnings (Genesis 1-11:32). This extends from the creation
of the world to the call of Abraham. ... Second Era, the Theocracy. ...
/.../sell/studies in the life of the christian/study vi the christians book.htm

The Shaking of the Heavens and the Earth (Preached at the Chapel ...
... The era looks differently to different minds, just as the first century after Christ
looked differently, according as men looked with faith towards the future ...
/.../kingsley/the water of life and other sermons/sermon vi the shaking of.htm

Infancy and Youth of Jesus --His First Impressions.
... It took place under the reign of Augustus, about the Roman year 750, probably some
years before the year 1 of that era which all civilized people date from the ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/renan/the life of jesus/chapter ii infancy and youth.htm

Introductory Note.
... world 6109 is certainly wrong, and so other scholars would read 6199, but here a
division takes place, for some reckon by the Constantinopolitan era, and so ...
/.../schaff/the seven ecumenical councils/introductory note.htm

Note 1
... Mr. CH Turner sometimes disregards the principle admitted by most of the recent
chronologists " that when any event was taken as an era, the years were not ...
//christianbookshelf.org/ramsay/was christ born in bethlehem/note 1 2.htm

Thesaurus

Era
... 2. (n.) A period of time reckoned from some particular date or epoch; a succession
of years dating from some important event; as, the era of Alexander; the era...
/e/era.htm - 10k

Sis'era (19 Occurrences)
Sis'era. Sisera, Sis'era. Sisera's . Multi-Version Concordance
Sis'era (19 Occurrences). Judges 4:2 And the LORD sold ...
/s/sis'era.htm - 12k

Ja'el (6 Occurrences)
... Judges 4:17 But Sis'era fled away on foot to the tent of Ja'el, the wife of Heber
the Ken'ite; for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the ...
/j/ja'el.htm - 8k

Zerah (22 Occurrences)
... see Petrie, Egypt and Israel, 74), and most writers now identify Zerah with Usarkon
II, though the Egyptian records of this particular era are deficient and ...
/z/zerah.htm - 19k

Time (7245 Occurrences)
... 3. (n.) The period at which any definite event occurred, or person lived; age; period;
era; as, the Spanish Armada was destroyed in the time of Queen Elizabeth ...
/t/time.htm - 21k

Ethiopian (11 Occurrences)
... see Petrie, Egypt and Israel, 74), and most writers now identify Zerah with Usarkon
II, though the Egyptian records of this particular era are deficient and ...
/e/ethiopian.htm - 18k

Exploration
... Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia. PALESTINE EXPLORATION. (as of 1915) " Preliminary
Consideration I. ERA OF PREPARATION 1. Outside of ... I. Era of Preparation. ...
/e/exploration.htm - 38k

Gerasa
... ix, 1). From this disaster it appears soon to have recovered, and the period of
its greatest prosperity lay, probably, in the 2nd and 3nd centuries of our era. ...
/g/gerasa.htm - 10k

Geology
... The Paleozoic areas were lifted above the sea and added to the northern and
southern land areas during or at the end of the Paleozoic era. ...
/g/geology.htm - 16k

Gerasenes (3 Occurrences)
... ix, 1). From this disaster it appears soon to have recovered, and the period of
its greatest prosperity lay, probably, in the 2nd and 3nd centuries of our era. ...
/g/gerasenes.htm - 11k

Subtopics

Era

Related Terms

Sis'era (19 Occurrences)

Ja'el (6 Occurrences)

Zerah (22 Occurrences)

Time (7245 Occurrences)

Ethiopian (11 Occurrences)

Exploration

Gerasa

Geology

Gerasenes (3 Occurrences)