Basic HTML Version
The Lord uses men to take vengeance, as He said to Moses: “Avenge the children of
Israel of the Midianites.… And Moses spake unto the people, saying, Arm some of
yourselves unto the war, and let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the Lord of
Midian” (Num. 31:2- 3). Vengeance for Israel is the Lord’s vengeance.
The law stated, “And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die
under his hand; he shall be surely punished” (Exod. 21:20). In Israel, this responsibility
was given to the “avenger of blood” (Deut. 19:6). He was responsible to preserve the life
and personal integrity of his nearest relative.
When a man was attacked because he was God’s servant, he could rightly call for
vengeance on his enemies, as Samson prayed for strength, “… that I may be at once
avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes” (Judg. 16:28).
In the covenant, God warned that His vengeance may fall on His own people: “And I
will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant …” (Lev.
26:25). Isaiah thus says of Judah: “Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts … Ah, I
will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of my enemies” (1:24).
B. Noun.
%
( , 5359), “vengeance.” The noun is first used in the Lord’s promise to
Cain: “Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold”
(Gen. 4:15).
In some instances a man may call for “vengeance” on his enemies, such as when
another man has committed adultery with his wife: “For jealousy is the rage of a man:
therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance” (Prov. 6:34).
The prophets frequently speak of God’s “vengeance” on His enemies: Isa. 59:17;
Mic. 5:15; Nah. 1:2. It will come at a set time: “For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance,
and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion” (Isa. 34:8).
Isaiah brings God’s “vengeance” and redemption together in the promise of messianic
salvation: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; … he hath sent me … to proclaim the
acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God …” (61:1-2). When
Jesus announced that this was fulfilled in Himself, He stopped short of reading the last
clause; but His sermon clearly anticipated that “vengeance” that would come on Israel for
rejecting Him. Isaiah also said: “For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year
of my redeemed is come” (63:4).
TO AWAKE
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(
, 5782), “to awake, stir up, rouse oneself, rouse.” This word is found in both
ancient and modern Hebrew, as well as in ancient Ugaritic. It occurs approximately 80
times in the Hebrew Old Testament. Its first use in the Old Testament has the sense of
“rousing” someone to action: “Awake, awake, Deborah” (Judg. 5:12). This same
meaning is reflected in Ps. 7:6, where it is used in parallelism with “arise”: “Arise, O
Lord, in thine anger, … awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded.” The
RSV
translates this passage: “… Awake, O my God; thou hast appointed a judgment.”
This probably is more in harmony with the total parallelism involved (arise/awake,
Lord/God) than the KJ version. Also, the
RSV
’S change from “for me” to “O my God”
involves only a very slight change of one vowel in the word. (Remember that Hebrew
vowels were not part of the alphabet. They were added after the consonantal text was
written down.)