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judges, and for their officers, and said unto them; I am old and stricken in age …” (Josh.
23:2). The “elders” were consulted by the king, but the king could determine his own
course of action (1 Kings 12:8). In a given city, the governing council was made up of the
“elders,” who were charged with the well-being of the town: “And Samuel did that which
the Lord spake, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his
coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably?” (1 Sam. 16:4). The elders met in session by
the city gate (Ezek. 8:1). The place of meeting became known as the “seat” or “council”
(
KJV
, “assembly”) of the elders (Ps. 107:32).
The Septuagint gives the following translations:
$
(“man of old; elder;
presbyter”),
$
(“old man; aged man”),
$
(“council of elders”). The
KJV
gives various translations of
% &
“old; elder; old man; ancient.” Note that the
KJV
distinguishes between “elder” and “ancient”; whenever the word
%
does not apply to
age or to rule, the
KJV
uses the word “ancient.”
# %
means “beard.” The word
%
refers to a “beard” in Ps. 133:2: “It is like the
precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that
went down to the skirts of his garments.…” The association of “old age” with a “beard”
can be made, but should not be stressed. The verb
%
(“to be old”) comes from this
noun.
ENCHANTER
(
2
, 825), “enchanter.” Cognates of this word appear in Akkadian,
Syriac, and biblical Aramaic (6 times). The noun appears only twice in biblical Hebrew,
and only in the Book of Daniel.
The vocation of
$
is known from earliest times in the Akkadian (Old
Babylonian) society. It is not clear whether the
$
was an assistant to a particular
order of Babylonian priests (
$
) or an order parallel in function to the
$
order. In either case, the
$
offered incantations to deliver a person from
evil magical forces (demons). The sick often underwent actual surgery while the
incantations were spoken.
In the Bible,
first occurs in Dan. 1:20: “And as for every matter of wisdom
and understanding about which the king consulted them he found them ten times better
than all the magicians and enchanters (
NASB
, “conjurers”) who were in his realm.”
TO ENCOUNTER, BEFALL
%
(
, 7122), “to encounter, befall.”
+
represents an intentional
confrontation, whereby one person is immediately before another person. This might be a
friendly confrontation, in which friend intentionally “meets” friend; so the kings of the
valley came out to “meet” Abram upon his return from defeating the marauding army of
Chedorlaomer (Gen. 14:17). A host may go forth to “meet” a prospective ally (Josh. 9:11;
2 Sam. 19:15). In cultic contexts, one “meets” God or “is met” by God (Exod. 5:3).
+
may also be used of hostile “confrontation.” In military contexts, the word
often represents the “confrontation” of two forces to do battle (Josh. 8:5); so Israel is told: