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TO RIDE
(
'
, 7392), “to ride, cause to ride.” Already found in ancient Akkadian and
Ugaritic, this word is also common to both ancient and modern Hebrew. It occurs
approximately 70 times in the text of the Hebrew Bible and is found for the first time in
Gen. 24:61: “And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels.…” In
addition to camels, the biblical account records the riding of mules (2 Sam. 13:29), asses
(1 Sam. 25:42), horses (Zech. 1:8), and chariots (2 Kings 9:16). “To ride” upon horses is
symbolic of an alliance with Assyria (Hos. 14:3).
Isaiah’s statement that “the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud” (Isa. 19:1) is an
interesting parallel to the Ugaritic text’s reference to the god Baal as “a rider on the
clouds.” This is not to equate Baal with God, but simply to note the similar imagery
which is used, and the apparent influence of one literature on another.
RIGHT HAND
(
, 3225), “right hand.” This word has cognates attested in Ugaritic, Arabic,
Syriac, Aramaic, and Ethiopic. It appears about 137 times and in all periods of biblical
Hebrew.
First, the word represents the bodily part called the “right hand”: “And Joseph took
them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left
hand toward Israel’s right hand …” (Gen. 48:13). Ehud was “bound as to his right hand”;
he was lefthanded: “But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised
them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded …” (Judg.
3:15).
'
may be used in a figurative sense. God’s taking one’s “right hand” means
that He strengthens him: “For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto
thee, Fear not: I will help thee” (Isa. 41:13). The Bible speaks anthropomorphically,
attributing to God human parts and, in particular, a “right hand” (Exod. 15:6). The Bible
teaches that God is a spirit and has no body or bodily parts (cf. Exod. 20:4; Deut. 4:15-
19). This figure is used of God’s effecting His will among men and of His working in
their behalf (showing His favor): “And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember
the years of the right hand of the Most High” (Ps. 77:10).
Second,
represents the direction, to the “right.” In this use the word can
specify the location of someone or something: “But the children of Israel walked upon
dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand,
and on their left” (Exod. 14:29). In other contexts
signifies “direction toward”: “Is
not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take
the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go
to the left” (Gen. 13:9— the first biblical appearance).
Third,
can be used of bodily parts other than the right hand. In Judg. 3:16 the
word is used of one’s thigh (literally, “thigh of the right hand”): “But Ehud made him a
dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon
his right thigh.” The word is used in 1 Sam. 11:2 in conjunction with one’s eye and in
Exod. 29:22 with a thigh.
Fourth, this word is used to mean “south,” since the south is on one’s “right” when he
faces eastward: “Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David