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it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes,
that the Lord’s law may be in thy mouth …” (Exod. 13:9). “Eyes” are used as typical of
one’s “weakness” or “hurt”: “And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes
were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said …” (Gen.
27:1). The “apple of the eye” is the central component, the iris: “Keep me as the apple of
the eye” (Ps. 17:8). “Eyes” might be a special feature of “beauty”: “Now he was ruddy,
and withal [fair of eyes], and goodly to look to” (1 Sam. 16:12).
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is often used in connection with expressions of “seeing”: “And, behold, your
eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto
you” (Gen. 45:12). The expression “to lift up one’s eyes” is explained by a verb
following it: one lifts up his eyes to do something—whatever the verb stipulates (cf. Gen.
13:10). “Lifting up one’s eyes” may also be an act expressing “desire,” “longing,”
“devotion”: “And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife [looked with
desire at] Joseph …” (Gen. 39:7). The “eyes” may be used in gaining or seeking a
judgment, in the sense of “seeing intellectually,” “making an evaluation,” or “seeking an
evaluation or proof of faithfulness”: “And thou saidst unto thy servants, Bring him down
unto me, that I may set mine eyes upon him” (Gen. 44:21).
“Eyes” sometimes show mental qualities, such as regret: “Also regard not [literally,
“do not let your eye look with regret upon”] your stuff; for the good of all the land of
Egypt is yours” (Gen. 45:20). “Eyes” are used figuratively of mental and spiritual
abilities, acts and states. So the “opening of the eyes” in Gen. 3:5 (the first occurrence)
means to become autonomous by setting standards of good and evil for oneself. In
passages such as Prov. 4:25, “eye” represents a moral faculty: “Let thine eyes look right
on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.” Prov. 23:6 uses the word of a moral
state (literally“evil eye”): “Eat thou not the bread of [a selfish man], neither desire thou
his dainty meats.” An individual may serve as a guide, or one’s “eyes”: “And he said,
Leave us not, I pray thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the
wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes” (Num. 10:31).
The phrase, “in the eye of,” means “in one’s view or opinion”: “And he went in unto
Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was
despised in her eyes” (Gen. 16:4).
Another phrase, “from the eyes of,” may signify that a thing or matter is “hidden”
from one’s knowledge: “And a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of
her husband, and [she be undetected] …” (Num. 5:13).
In Exod. 10:5, the word represents the “visible surface of the earth”: “And they shall
cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be able to see the earth.…” Lev. 13:5 uses
to represent “one’s appearance”: “And the priest shall look on him the seventh day:
and behold, if the plague in his sight be at a stay [
NASB
, “if in his eyes the infection has
not changed”].…” A “gleam or sparkle” is described in the phrase, “to give its eyes,” in
passages such as Prov. 23:31: “Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it
giveth his color [gives its eyes] in the cup.…”
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also represents a “spring” (literally, an “eye of the water”): “And the angel of
the Lord found her by a spring [
KJV
, “fountain”] of water in the wilderness, by the spring
[
KJV
, “fountain”] on the way to Shur” (Gen. 16:7).