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(
, 2416), “living thing; life.” The use of this word occurs only in the oath
formula “as X lives,” literally, “by the life of X”: “And he said, They were my brethren,
even the sons of my mother: as the Lord liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I would not
slay you” (Judg. 8:19). This formula summons the power of a superior to sanction the
statement asserted. In Judg. 8:19 God is the witness to Gideon’s pledge to kill his
enemies and this statement that they brought the penalty on themselves. A similar use
appears in Gen. 42:15 except that the power summoned is Pharaoh’s: “Hereby ye shall be
proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother
come hither.” In 1 Sam. 1:26 Hannah employs a similar phrase summoning Eli himself to
attest the truthfulness of her statement: “And she said, Oh my lord, as thy soul liveth, my
lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the Lord.” Only God swears
by His own power: “And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word: But as
truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord” (Num. 14:20-21).
The feminine form of the word,
, means “living being” and is especially used
of animals. When so used, it usually distinguishes wild and undomesticated from
domesticated animals; the word connotes that the animals described are untamed: “And
God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the
ark …” (Gen. 8:1). Job 37:8 uses
of rapacious beasts: “Then the beasts go into
dens, and remain in their places.” This same word may also connote “evil beast”: “Come
now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil
beast hath devoured him …” (Gen. 37:20). In another nuance the word describes land
animals as distinct from birds and fish: “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,
and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air,
and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth” (Gen. 1:28).
Infrequently
represents a domesticated animal: “And the cities shall they
have to dwell in; and the suburbs of them shall be for their cattle, and for their goods, and
for all their beasts” (Num. 35:3). Sometimes this word is used of “living beings” in
general: “Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures: (Ezek.
1:5). In such passages the word is synonymous with the Hebrew word
!
The plural of the noun
, is a general word for the state of living as
opposed to that of death. This meaning is in Deut. 30:15: “See, I have set before thee this
day life and good, and death and evil.” Notice also Gen. 27:46: “And Rebekah said to
Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth.…” In a second nuance the
plural signifies “lifetime,” or the days of one’s life: “… And dust shalt thou eat all the
days of thy life” (Gen. 3:14). The phrase “the years of one’s life” represents the same
idea: “And Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of
the life of Sarah” (Gen. 23:1). The “breath of life” in Gen. 2:7 is the breath that brings
“life”: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (cf. Gen. 6:17).
The “tree of life” is the tree which gives one eternal, everlasting “life.” Therefore, it is
the tree whose fruit brings “life”: “And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow
every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst
of the garden …” (Gen. 2:9). In another nuance this word suggests a special quality of
“life,” life as a special gift from God (a gift of salvation): “I call heaven and earth to