Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

RHODES

(Gk. Rhódos)

A large island in the Aegean Sea, SW of Asia Minor, with a port city of the same name. Strategically located at the entrance to the Aegean, Rhodes flourished in trade and politics, founding colonies in Sicily and Italy. The city of Rhodes was founded on the northeast part of the island in the late 5th century b.c. The Colossus of Rhodes, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was a statue of the sun-god Helios, more than 30 m. (100 ft.) high located at the entrance to the city (but not straddling the harbor). Cato and Julius Caesar were students at the school of rhetoric on Rhodes.

The earliest biblical reference to the island’s inhabitants may be in the Table of Nations (Gen. 10:4), where some Hebrew manuscripts and the Samaritan Pentateuch read Rodanim (so NRSV, NIV; MT “Dodanim”), as does the par. 1 Chr. 1:7 (cf. Ezek. 27:15, MT “the men of Dedan”; NRSV “Rhodians”).

Rome sent Rhodes and other cities a letter declaring support for Simon’s rule over the Jewish state (1 Macc. 15:23). Herod the Great’s submission to and acceptance by Octavian occurred on Rhodes (Josephus BJ 1.20.1), and Herod had various interests there (1.21.11). On the return leg of his third missionary journey Paul stopped at Rhodes (Acts 21:1).

Douglas Low

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

RHODES

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)