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rock” so as to be out of all danger (Ps. 27:5). A stormy wind (Ps. 107:25) “lifts up” the
waves of the sea.
$
is used of the building of an edifice. Ezra confessed that God had
renewed the people of Israel, allowing them “to set up the house of our God, and to repair
the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem” (Ezra 9:9; cf. Gen.
31:45). In Ezek. 31:4, this verb is used of “making a plant grow larger”: “The waters
made him [the cedar in Lebanon] great, the deep set him up on high.…” Since in Deut.
1:28 |gadal(“larger”) and
$
(“taller”) are used in close connection, Ezek. 31:4 could be
translated: “The waters made it grow bigger, the deep made it grow taller.” Closely
related to this nuance is the use of
$
to represent the process of child-rearing. God says
through Isaiah: “… I have nourished [
] and brought up children, and they have
rebelled against me” (Isa. 1:2).
$
sometimes means “to take up away from,” as in Isa. 57:14: “Cast ye up, cast ye
up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people.” When
used in reference to offerings, the word signifies the “removal of a certain portion” (Lev.
2:9). The presentation of the entire offering is also referred to as an “offering up” (Num.
15:19).
In extended applications,
$
has both negative and positive uses. Positively, this
word can signify “to bring to a position of honor.” So God says: “Behold, my servant
shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high” (Isa. 52:13). This
same meaning occurs in 1 Sam. 2:7, where Hannah confessed: “The Lord maketh poor,
and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.” Used in a negative sense,
$
means
“to be haughty”: “And the afflicted people thou wilt save: but thine eyes are upon the
haughty, that thou mayest bring them down” (2 Sam. 22:28).
$
is often used with other words in special senses. For example, to lift one’s voice
is “to cry aloud.” Potiphar’s wife reported that when Joseph attacked her, she “raised” her
voice screaming. These two words (
$
and “voice”) are used together to mean “with a
loud voice” (Deut. 27:14).
The raising of the hand serves as a symbol of power and strength and signifies being
“mighty” or “triumphant”: “Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their
adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is
high [literally, “is raised”] …” (Deut. 32:27). To raise one’s hand against someone is to
rebel against him. Thus, “Jeroboam … lifted up his hand against the king” (1 Kings
11:26).
The raising of one’s horn suggests the picture of a wild ox standing in all its strength.
This is a picture of “triumph” over one’s enemies: “My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, mine
horn is exalted in the Lord; my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies …” (1 Sam. 2:1).
Moreover, horns symbolized the focus of one’s power. Thus, when one’s horn is
“exalted,” one’s power is exalted. When one exalts another’s horn, he gives him
“strength”: “… He [the Lord] shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his
anointed” (1 Sam. 2:10).
Raising one’s head may be a public gesture of “triumph and supremacy,” as in Ps.
110:7, where it is said that after defeating all His enemies the Lord will “lift up the head.”
This nuance is sometimes used transitively, as when someone else lifts a person’s head.