Basic HTML Version
those who were true believers. Jesus argued that such texts taught the reality of life after
death (Matt. 22:32).
*
can represent the individuals who together form a familial (and covenantal)
group within a larger group: “Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their
lives unto the death in the high places of the field [on the battlefield]” (Judg. 5:18). Some
scholars have suggested that the reference here is to a fighting unit with the idea of blood
relationship in the background. One must never forget, however, that among nomadic and
semi-nomadic tribes there is no distinction between the concepts “militia” and
“kinsmen”: “And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all
the people of war with thee, and arise …” (Josh. 8:1). Compare Josh. 8:5 where
by
itself means fighting unit: “And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto
the city …” (cf. Gen. 32:7).
*
may signify the inhabitants of a city regardless of their familial or covenantal
relationship; it is a territorial or political term: “And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto
all the people, Ye are witnesses …” (Ruth 4:9).
This noun can be used of those who are privileged. In the phrase “people of the land”
may signify those who have feudal rights, or those who may own land and are
especially protected under the law: “And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the
people of the land, even to the children of Heth” (Gen. 23:7). This sense of a full citizen
appears when the phrase is used of Israel, too (cf. 2 Kings 11:14ff.). In some contexts this
phrase excludes those of high office such as the king, his ministers, and priests; “For,
behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls
against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the
priests thereof, and against the people of the land” (Jer. 1:18). In Lev. 4:27 this same
phrase signifies the entire worshiping community of Israel: “And if any one of the
common people [people of the land] sin through ignorance.…” The sense of privileged
people with a proper relationship to and unique knowledge of God appears in Job 12:2:
“No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.” Could it be that in Isa.
42:5 all mankind are conceived to be the privileged recipients of divine revelation and
blessing: “Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out;
he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto
the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein.”
Finally, sometimes
used of an entire nation has political and territorial overtones.
As such it may be paralleled to the Hebrew word with such overtones ( ): “For thou art
a holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar
people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth” (Deut. 14:2; cf. Exod.
19:5-6).
PERADVENTURE
$
(
, 194), “peradventure; perhaps; suppose; if; less.” The 43 occurrences of
this word appear in every period of biblical Hebrew.
This word meaning “peradventure or perhaps” usually expresses a hope: “Behold
now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may
be that I may obtain children by her” (Gen. 16:2—the first occurrence). Elsewhere
$