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literally or figuratively. Thus, God “formed” not only man (Gen. 2:7-8) but the animals
(Gen. 2:19). God also “formed” the nation of Israel (Isa. 27:11; 45:9, 11); Israel was
“formed” as God’s special servant even from the womb (Isa. 44:2, 24; 49:5). While yet in
the womb, Jeremiah was “formed” to be a prophet (Jer. 1:5). God “formed” locusts as a
special visual lesson for Amos (Amos 7:1); the great sea monster, Leviathan, was
“formed” to play in the seas (Ps. 104:26).
The concreteness of ancient Hebrew thinking is vividly seen in a statement such as
this: “I form the light, and create darkness …” (Isa. 45:7). Similarly, the psalmist
confessed to God: “… Thou hast made summer and winter” (Ps. 74:17). God “formed”
the spirit of man (Zech. 12:1), as well as the heart or mind of man (Ps. 33:15).
'
is
used to express God’s “planning” or “preordaining” according to His divine purpose (Isa.
22:11; 46:11).
Almost one half of the uses of this word in the Old Testament are found in the Book
of Isaiah, with God as the subject of most of them.
FORMER
(
, 7223), “former; chief; first.” This word comes from a common
Semitic root that also yields
(“head”) and
(“beginning”).
, which
appears 182 times (first in Gen. 8:13), is well represented throughout the entire Old
Testament, with the exception of the poetic books and the minor prophets. The basic
meaning of
is “first” in a series. The word is the antonym of
(“last”). On
the one hand,
may refer to the “first month” (Exod. 40:2), the “first day” (Exod.
12:15), the “former temple” (Ezra 3:12)or the “firstborn” (Gen. 25:25ff.).
On the other hand, the word may denote the “most prominent” in a series. Thus God
is “the first” as well as “the last”: “Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations
from the beginning? I the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am he” (Isa. 41:4). The most
prominent people at a banquet sat in the “first place” (Esth. 1:14). The use of
with
“father” in “Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me”
(Isa. 43:27) expresses how Israel’s beginnings started with sin and rebellion.
As a reference to time,
signifies what has been—i.e., the “former.” This usage
appears in phrases meaning a “former position” (Gen. 40:13) and a “deceased husband”
(Hos. 2:7). The “prophets of the past” (Zech. 1:4) and “ancestors” (Lev. 26:45) are both
best understood as expressions referring to the past. The prophetic phrase “former days”
(unlike “latter days”) expresses Israel’s past sin and God’s judgment on Israel: “Behold,
the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I
tell you of them” (Isa. 42:9).
The Septuagint translations are:
(“earlier; former; superior”),
(“first;
earlier; earliest”),
(“ahead; in front”),
(“beginning; first cause; ruler;
rule”). The
KJV
gives these translations: “first; former; before; beginning.”
TO FORSAKE
(
, 5800), “to leave, forsake, abandon, leave behind, be left over, let go.”
This word occurs in Akkadian and post-biblical Hebrew and Aramaic. Similar words