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year of its sale or loss. Levitical property was not subject to these rules. Israelites who fell
into bondage were to be released in the jubilee year, or redeemed in the interim period.
TO REBEL
A. Verb.
(
, 4784), “to rebel, be contentious.” The meaning of “being rebellious” is
limited to the Hebrew language, as the meaning of this verb in other Semitic languages
differs: “to make angry” (Aramaic), “to contend with” (Syriac), and “to dispute with”
(Arabic).
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occurs some 50 times in the Old Testament, and its usage is scattered
throughout the Old Testament (historical, prophetic, poetic, and legal literature). Some
personal names are partly composed of the verb:
"
(“stubborn headed”; Neh.
12:12) and
"
(“stubborn headed,” if actually derived from the verb).
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signifies an opposition to someone motivated by pride: “If a man have a
stubborn [
] and rebellious [
] son, which will not obey the voice of his father
…” (Deut. 21:18). The sense comes out more clearly in Isa. 3:8 (
NASB
): “For Jerusalem
has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, Because their speech and their actions are against the
Lord, To rebel against His glorious presence.”
More particularly, the word generally connotes a rebellious attitude against God.
Several prepositions are used to indicate the object of rebellion (
, generally
translated as “against”): “… Ye have been rebellious against [ ] the Lord” (Deut. 9:7);
“… She hath been rebellious against [ ] me …” (Jer. 4:17).
The primary meaning of
is “to disobey.” Several passages attest to this: “…
Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the
commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee” (1 Kings 13:21); cf. 1 Kings
13:26: “It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the Lord.…”
The Old Testament sometimes specifically states that someone “rebelled” against the
Lord; at other times it may refer to a rebelling against the word of the Lord (Ps. 105:28;
107:11), or against the mouth of God (
KJV
, “word”;
NIV
, “command”; cf. Num. 20:24;
Deut. 1:26, 43; 9:23; 1 Sam. 12:14-15). The intent of the Hebrew is to signify the act of
defying the command of God: “The Lord is righteous; for I have rebelled against his
commandment …” (Lam. 1:18).
The verb
is at times strengthened by a form of the verb
(“to be
stubborn”): "[They] might not be as their fathers, a stubborn [
] and rebellious
[
] generation; a generation that set not their heart aright …” (Ps. 78:8; cf. Deut.
21:18, 20; Jer. 5:23).
An individual (Deut. 21:18, 20), a nation (Num. 20:24), and a city (Zeph. 3:1) may be
described as “being rebellious.” Zephaniah gave a vivid image of the nature of the
rebellious spirit: “Woe to her that is rebellious and defiled, the oppressing city! She
listens to no voice, she accepts no correction. She does not trust in the Lord, she does not
draw near to her God” (Zeph. 3:1-2,
RSV
).