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pharaoh expresses his fears that the Israelite slaves will multiply and join an enemy “to
fight” against the Egyptians.
While the word is commonly used in the context of “armies engaged in pitched
battle” against each other (Num. 21:23; Josh. 10:5; Judg. 11:5), it is also used to describe
“single, hand-to-hand combat” (1 Sam. 17:32-33). Frequently, God “fights” the battle for
Israel (Deut. 20:4). Instead of swords, words spoken by a lying tongue are often used “to
fight” against God’s servants (Ps. 109:2).
In folk etymology,
is often connected with
the Hebrew term for
“bread,” on the contention that wars are fought for bread. There is, however, no good
basis for such etymology.
B. Noun.
(
, 4421), “battle; war.” This noun occurs more than 300 times in
the Old Testament, indicating how large a part military experience and terminology
played in the life of the ancient Israelites. Gen. 14:8 is an early occurrence of
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“And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, … and they joined
battle with them in the vale of Siddim.”
TO FILL
A. Verb.
(
, 4390), “to fill, fulfill, overflow, ordain, endow.” This verb occurs in all
Semitic languages (including biblical Aramaic) and in all periods. Biblical Hebrew attests
it about 250 times.
Basically,
means “to be full” in the sense of having something done to one. In 2
Kings 4:6, the word implies “to fill up”: “And it came to pass, when the vessels were full,
that she said.…” The verb is sometimes used figuratively as in Gen. 6:13, when God
noted that “the earth is filled with violence.” Used transitively, this verb means the act or
state of “filling something.” In Gen. 1:22 (the first occurrence of the word), God told the
sea creatures to “penetrate” the waters thoroughly but not exhaustively: “Be fruitful, and
multiplyand fill the waters in the seas.”
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can also mean “to fill up” in an exhaustive
sense: “… And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Exod. 40:34). In this sense an
appetite can be “filled up,” “satiated,” or “satisfied.”
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is sometimes used in the sense “coming to an end” or “to be filled up,” to the
full extent of what is expected. For example, in 1 Kings 2:27 we read: “So Solomon
thrust out Abiathar from being priest unto the Lord; that he might
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the word of the
Lord, which he spake concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.” This constitutes a proof of
the authority of the divine Word.
In a different but related nuance, the verb signifies “to confirm” someone’s word.
Nathan told Bathsheba: “Behold, while thou yet talkest there with the king, I also will
come in after thee, and confirm thy words” (1 Kings 1:14). This verb is used to signify
filling something to the full extent of what is necessary, in the sense of being
“successfully completed”: “When her days to be delivered were fulfilled …” (Gen.
25:24). This may also mean “to bring to an end”; so God tells Isaiah: “Speak ye