Dictionaries :: Birthday

Birthday:

burth'-da:

(1) The custom of observing birthdays of great men, especially of kings, was widespread in ancient times (see Ge 40:20 f, "the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday," etc.; compare 2 Macc 6:7; and Herod. ix.110; in the New Testament, Mt 14:6; Mr 6:21, "Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords," etc., i.e. Herod Antipas). Here we see the ancient custom reflected in two conspicuous instances centuries apart:

(a) Pharaoh, on his birthday "made a feast unto all his servants," etc., and

(b) Herod on his birthday "made a supper to his lords, and the high captains," etc.

The King James Version (Mt 14:6) has it "when Herod's birthday was kept," etc. The correct text here (Tischendorf, Westcott-Hort) has a very peculiar construction, but without material difference of meaning. The locative case gives the time of the principal action, "danced on Herod's birthday, when it occurred." The construction is not unexampled (see Jelf, section 699). This need not be called "a case absolute," though it corresponds to the Latin ablative (locative) absolute; and the Greek genitive absolute is itself not really "absolute," i.e. it is not cut loose from the rest of the construction, but gives some event to which the principal action is referred, for the indication of its circumstances.

(2) The term "birthday" (ta genesia) was applied also to the anniversary of a king's accession to the throne (Edersheim); but Wieseler's argument that such is the case here is not conclusive. It is easy to suppose that when Herod's birthday approached he was sojourning at the castle of Macherus, accompanied by leading military and civil officials of his dominions (Mr 6:21). Petty ruler as he was, not properly "king" at all, he affected kingly ways (compare Es 5:3,6; 7:2).

(3) Genesia, which in Attic Greek means the commemoration of the dead, in later Greek is interchangeable with genethlia =" birthday celebrations"; and there is no good reason why the rendering of the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) here, "birthday," should not be right (See Swete on Mr 6:21, and HDB, under the word)

Written by George B. Eager

See JESUS CHRIST

See CALENDAR

Birthday: Celebrated by Feasts

Gen 40:20; Mat 14:6

Birthday: Cursed

Job 3; Jer 20:14, 18

Birthday:

a neuter plural (akin to genesis, "lineage," from ginomai), primarily denoted "the festivities of a birthday, a birthday feast," though among the Greeks it was also used of a festival in commemoration of a deceased friend. It is found in Mat 14:6; Mar 6:21. Some have regarded it as the day of the king's accession, but this meaning is not confirmed in Greek writings.

Birthday:

The custom of observing birthdays is very ancient; Genesis 40:20; Jeremiah 20:15 and in Job 1:4 etc., we read that Job's sons "feasted every one his day." In Persia birthdays were celebrated with peculiar honors and banquets, and in Egypt those of the king were kept with great pomp. It is very probable that in Matthew 14:6 the feast to commemorate Herod's accession is intended, for we know that such feasts were common, and were called "the day of the king." (Hosea 7:5).