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(
, 216), “to become light, become lighted up (of daybreak), give light, cause
light to shine.” This verb is found also in Akkadian and Canaanite. The Akkadian word
$ $
means “light,” but generally “day.”
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means “to become light” in Gen. 44:3: “As soon as the morning was light, the
men were sent away, they and their asses.” The word means “to give light” in Num. 8:2:
“… the seven lamps shall give light over against the candlestick.”
B. Nouns.
(
, 216), “light.” This noun appears about 120 times and is clearly a poetic
term.
The first occurrence of is in the Creation account: “And God said, Let there be
light: and there was light” (Gen. 1:3). Here “light” is the opposite of “darkness.” The
opposition of “light” and “darkness” is not a unique phenomenon. It occurs frequently as
a literary device: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for
light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isa. 5:20);
and “In that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look
unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens
thereof” (Isa. 5:30). In Hebrew various antonyms of are used in parallel constructions:
“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of
the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined” (Isa. 9:2).
The basic meaning of is “daylight” (cf. Gen. 1:3). In the Hebrew mind the “day”
began at the rising of the sun: “And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun
riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springeth out of the earth by
clear shining after rain” (2 Sam. 23:4). The “light” given by the heavenly bodies was also
known as
&
“Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the
light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord
bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound” (Isa. 30:26).
In the metaphorical use signifies life over against death: “For thou hast delivered
my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before
God in the light of the living?” (Ps. 56:13). To walk in the “light” of the face of a
superior (Prov. 16:15), or of God (Ps. 89:15), is an expression of a joyful, blessed life in
which the quality of life is enhanced. The believer is assured of God’s “light,” even in a
period of difficulty; cf. “Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise;
when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me” (Mic. 7:8; cf. Ps. 23:4).
In the Septuagint has many translations, of which
(“light”) is most frequent.
The noun
$
means “shine; light-giving.” This word occurs infrequently, once in Isa.
50:11: “Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk
in the light [
$
] of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled.”
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refers to “light.” This noun means “light” in Ps. 139:12: “Yea, the darkness
hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both
alike to thee.”