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down into the grave unto my son mourning” (Gen. 37:35). Since one can “descend” into
Sheol alive as a form of punishment (Num. 16:30), this phrase means more than the end
of human life. This meaning is further established because Enoch was rewarded by being
taken off the earth: “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him”
(Gen. 5:24); he was rewarded by not having “to descend” into Sheol.
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may also be used of “coming down,” when the emphasis is on “moving
downward” toward the speaker: “And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower”
of Babel (Gen. 11:5—the first biblical occurrence). This verb may also be used to express
coming down from the top of a mountain, as Moses did when he “descended” from Sinai
(Exod. 19:14). The word may be used of “dismounting” from a donkey: “And when
Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass …” (1 Sam. 25:23). Abigail’s
entire body was not necessarily lower than before, so movement from a higher to a lower
location is not indicated. However, she was no longer on the animal’s back. So the verb
here indicates “getting off” rather than getting down or descending. In a somewhat
related nuance, one may “get out” of bed. Elijah told Ahaziah: “Thou shalt not come
down from that bed on which thou art gone up …” (2 Kings 1:4). Again, the idea is not of
descending
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something. When one comes down from a bed, he stands up; he is
higher than he was while yet in the bed. Therefore, the meaning here is “get out of” rather
than “descend.” This verb is used also to describe what a beard does—it “hangs down”
(Ps. 133:2).
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is used to indicate “coming away from” the altar: “And Aaron lifted
up his hand toward the people, and blessed them, and came down from offering of the sin
offering …” (Lev. 9:22). This special use is best seen as the opposite of “ascending to”
the altar, which is not just a physical movement from a lower to a higher plane but a
spiritual ascent to a higher realm of reality. For example, to “ascend” before a king is to
go into the presence of someone who is on a higher social level. “To ascend” before God
(represented by the altar) is to go before Someone on a higher spiritual plane. To stand
before God is to stand in His presencebefore His throne, on a higher spiritual plane.
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may thus be used of the humbled approach before God. God tells Moses that all
the Egyptians shall “come down” to Him and bow themselves before Him (Exod. 11:8).
Equally interesting is the occasional use of the verb to represent “descending” to a known
sanctuary (cf. 2 Kings 2:2).
Figuratively, the verb has many uses. The “going down” of a city is its destruction
(Deut. 20:20). When a day “descends,” it comes to an end (Judg. 19:11). The “descent”
of a shadow is its lengthening (2 Kings 20:11). Tears “flow down” the cheeks when one
weeps bitterly (Jer. 13:17).
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is also used figuratively of a “descent in social
position”: “The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou
shalt come down very low” (Deut. 28:43).
At least once the word means “to go up.” Jephthah’s daughter said: “Let me alone
two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity …”
(Judg. 11:37).
TO GO OUT, GO FORTH
A. Verb.