Bible dictionaries

Brotherhood

What Bible dictionaries say about “Brotherhood”, one article after the other.

Easton’s Bible Dictionary & Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

Brotherhood - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

BROTH'ERHOOD, n. [brother and hood.] The state or quality of being a brother.

1. An association of men for any purpose,as a society of monks; a fraternity.

2. A class of men of the same kind, profession, or occupation.

Matthew George Easton, Easton’s Bible Dictionary; Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language (1828)

The article in Easton + Webster 1828

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE 1915)

bruth'-er-hood: The rare occurrence of the term (only Zec 11:14 and 1Pe 2:17) in contrast with the abundant use of "brother," "brethren," seems to indicate that the sense of the vital relation naturally called for the most concrete expression: "the brethren." But in 1Pe 2:17 the abstract is used for the concrete. In the Old Testament the brotherhood of all Israelites was emphasized; but in the New Testament the brotherhood in Christ is a relation so much deeper and stronger as to eclipse the other.