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thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath
scattered thee” (Deut. 30:3).
A special use of the verb
%
appears in Joel 2:6, namely “to glow” or “glow with
excitement” or “become pale [white]”: “Before their face the people shall be much
pained: all faces shall gather blackness.”
(
, 622), “to gather, gather in, take away.” This verb also occurs in
Akkadian, Ugaritic, Phoenician, and Aramaic. It is attested at all periods of biblical
literature, and it appears about 200 times.
Basically,
refers to “bringing objects to a common point.” This may mean to
“gather” or “collect” something such as food. The first occurrence is when God told
Noah to “gather” food to himself (Gen. 6:21). Eventually, the food was to go into the ark.
This verb can also refer to “gathering” food at harvest time, or “harvesting”: “And six
years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof” (Exod. 23:10).
Second Kings 22:4 refers not to a process of going out and getting something together,
but to standing still as someone brings money to one. Also notice Gen. 29:22: “And
Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast”; this verse similarly
focuses on the end product of gathering. But here the “gatherer” does not physically
handle what is “gathered.” He is simply the impetus or active cause for a congregating of
all those men. God may “gather” a man to his fathers—i.e., cause him to die (2 Kings
22:20). Here the emphasis is on the end product, and God as the agent who “gathers.”
*
may represent not only the process of bringing things to a common location;
the word may also represent “bringing” things to oneself. After the harvest is brought
(“gathered”) in from the threshing floor and wine vat, the Feast of Booths is to be
celebrated (Deut. 16:13). In Deut. 22:2, a man is to “gather” into his home (bring home
and care for) a lost animal whose owner cannot be found. In this manner, God “gathers”
to Himself those abandoned by their family (Ps. 27:10). A special application of this
nuance is to “receive hospitality”: “… When he went in he sat him down in a street of the
city: for there was no man that took them into his house to lodging” (Judg. 19:15). “To
gather in” also may mean “to be consumed by”—God promises that His people “shall be
no more consumed with hunger” (Ezek. 34:29). Finally, used in this way the verb can
mean “to bring into,” as when Jacob “gathered up his feet into the bed” (Gen. 49:33).
The third emphasis is the “withdrawal” or “removal” of something; the action is
viewed from the perspective of one who loses something because someone has taken it
(“gathered it in”). In Ps. 85:3, the “gathering” represents this sort of “withdrawal away
from” the speaker. Thus, anger “disappears”: “Thou hast taken away all thy wrath.”
Compare also Rachel’s statement at the birth of Joseph: “God hath taken away my
reproach” (Gen. 30:23). In this case, Sarah speaks of the “destruction” of her reproach.
“To gather one’s soul” is “to lose” one’s life (Judg. 18:25). God can also be the agent
who “gathers” or “takes away” a soul: “Gather not my soul with sinners …” (Ps. 26:9). In
this sense,
can mean “being cured” of a disease; “Would God my lord were with
the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy” (2 Kings 5:3).
GENERATION
(
(
, 1755), “generation.” This noun belongs to a common Semitic root, which
signifies “duration” in East Semitic and “generation” in West Semitic. The Akkadian