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The noun
refers to “acts of judgment.” One of the 16 occurrences is in
Num. 33:4: “For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the Lord had smitten
among them: upon their gods also the Lord executed judgments.”
K
TO KEEP, OVERSEE
A. Verb.
(
, 5329), “to keep, oversee, have charge over.” The word appears as “to
set forward” in the sense of “to oversee or to lead” in 1 Chron. 23:4, 2 Chron. 34:12, Ezra
3:8, and Ezra 3:9: “Then stood Jeshua with his sons and his brethren, Kadmiel and his
sons, the sons of Judah, together, to set forward the workmen in the house of God.…”
The word appears as “to oversee” in 2 Chron. 2:2: “And Solomon told out threescore and
ten thousand men to bear burdens … and three thousand and six hundred to oversee
them.”
B. Participle.
(
, 5329), “overseer; director.” Used throughout the history of the
Hebrew language, this root is used in the noun sense in modern Hebrew to mean
“eternity, perpetuity.” While this word is used approximately 65 times in the Hebrew Old
Testament, almost all of them (except for 5 or 6) are participles, used as verbal-nouns.
The participial form has the meaning of “overseer, director,” reflecting the idea that one
who is pre-eminent or conspicuous is an “overseer.” Thus,
is found in the
Book of Psalms a total of 55 times in the titles of various psalms (Ps. 5, 6, 9, et al.) with
the meaning, “To the choirmaster” (
JB
,
RSV
). Other versions render it “choir director”
(
NASB
); “chief musician” (
KJV
); and “leader” (
NAB
). The significance of this title is not
clear. Of the 55 psalms involved, 39 are connected with the name of David, 9 with Korah,
and 5 with Asaph, leaving only two anonymous psalms. The Hebrew preposition
meaning “to” or “for” which is used with this participle could mean assignment to the
person named, or perhaps more reasonably, an indication of a collection of psalms known
by the person’s name. This title is found also at the end of Hab. 3, showing that this
psalm was part of a director’s collection.
The word refers to “overseers” in 2 Chron. 2:18: “… and three thousand and six
hundred overseers to set the people a work.”
C. Adjective.
:
is used only in Jer. 8:5 in the sense of “enduring”: “Why then is this people
of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding?”
TO KEEP, WATCH, GUARD
A. Verb.
(
, 5341), “to watch, to guard, to keep.” Common to both ancient and
modern Hebrew, this verb is found also in ancient Ugaritic. It occurs some 60 times in the