the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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Bible Encyclopedias
Race
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
(prop. מֵרוֹוֹ , Ecclesiastes 9:11; δρόμος, "course;" but in the A.V. the rendering, likewise, of אֹרִח, a path, and in the New Test. only of ἀγών and στάδιος ). Races were evidently known to the Hebrews (Ecclesiastes 9:11). In the New Test. there are allusions to the various gymnastic sports and games celebrated by the Greeks. So the term "race" is often used in comparisons drawn from the public races and applied to Christians, as expressing strenuous effort in the Christian life and cause; and we are exhorted to strive after the rewards of the Gospel as strenuously as the athletes did in the public games (1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Galatians 2:2; Galatians 5:7; Philippians 2:16; Philippians 3:14; 2 Timothy 2:5; 2 Timothy 4:6-8; Hebrews 12:1). Among the principal public games noticed by the historians are the Olympic, which were celebrated every fifth year, the Pythian, Nemean, and the Isthmian. These exercises principally consisted in trials of strength and skill — in running on foot, wrestling, leaping, throwing the dart and discus, also in the horse-race and chariot-race. (See GAME).
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