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“finely ground material” in Deut. 9:21: “And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made,
and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as small
as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount.”
*
can represent the “ashes” of something that has been burned: “And the king commanded
Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to
bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for
the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them [outside] Jerusalem … and
carried the ashes of them unto Bethel” (2 Kings 23:4). In a similar use, the word
represents the “ashes” of a burnt offering (Num. 19:17).
The “rubble” of a destroyed city sometimes is called “dust”: “And Ben-hadad sent
unto him, and said, The gods do so unto me, and more also, if the
$
of Samaria shall
suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me” (1 Kings 20:10). In Gen. 3:14 the
serpent was cursed with “dust” as his perpetual food (cf. Isa. 65:25; Mic. 7:17). Another
nuance arising from the characteristics of dust appears in Job 28:6, where the word
parallels “stones.” Here the word seems to represent “the ground”: “The stones of it are
the place of sapphires: and it hath dust of gold.”
*
may be used as a symbol of a “large mass” or “superabundance” of something.
This use, already cited (Gen. 13:16), appears again in its fulfillment in Num. 23:10:
“Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel?”
“Complete destruction” is represented by
in 2 Sam. 22:43: “Then did I beat them as
small as the dust of the earth: I did stamp them as the mire of the street.…” In Ps. 7:5, the
word is used of “valuelessness” and “futility”: “Let the enemy persecute my soul, and
take it; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth, and lay mine honor in the dust.”
To experience defeat is “to lick the dust” (Ps. 72:9), and to be restored from defeat is “to
shake oneself from the dust” (Isa. 52:2). To throw “dust” (“dirt”) at someone is a sign of
shame and humiliation (2 Sam. 16:13), while mourning is expressed by various acts of
selfabasement, which may include throwing “dust” or “dirt” on one’s own head (Josh.
7:6). Abraham says he is but “dust and ashes,” not really important (Gen. 18:27).
In Job 7:21 and similar passages,
represents “the earth” of the grave: “For now
shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.” This
word is also used as a simile for a “widely scattered army”: “… For the king of Syria had
destroyed them, and had made them like the dust by threshing” (2 Kings 13:7).
TO DWELL
A. Verbs.
(
, 3427), “to dwell, sit, abide, inhabit, remain.” The word occurs over
1,100 times throughout the Old Testament, and this root is widespread in other ancient
Semitic languages.
'
is first used in Gen. 4:16, in its most common connotation of “to dwell”:
“Cain went out … and dwelt [
NASB
, “settled”;
NIV
, “lived”] in the land of Nod.…” The
word appears again in Gen. 18:1: “He [Abraham]
in the tent door.” In Gen. 22:5,
is translated: "
*
ye here [
NIV
, “stay here”] with the ass; and I and the lad will
go yonder and worship.…” The word has the sense of “to remain”: “Remain a widow at