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First, this word mually refers to permanent natural watercourses. In its first biblical
appearance
represents the primeval “rivers” of Eden: “And a river went out of
Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads”
(Gen. 2:10).
In some passages
may represent a “canal(s)”: “Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod,
and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams [the branches of
the Nile], upon their rivers [canals], and upon their ponds …” (Exod. 7:19; cf. Ezek. 1:1).
Third, this word is used of “ocean currents”: “For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in
the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves
passed over me” (Jonah 2:3).
Fourth,
is used of underground streams: “For he hath founded it [the earth]
upon the seas, and established it upon the floods” (Ps. 24:2). This passage appears to be a
literary allusion to the pagan concept of the creation and structure of the world—the next
verse is “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?” (Ps. 24:3).
This word plays a prominent role in the figure of divine blessing set forth in Ps. 46:4:
“There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God.…” This may be an
allusion to the primeval “river” in Eden whose water gave life to the garden. In Isa. 33:21
the same Jerusalem is depicted as having “rivers” of blessing: “… A place of broad rivers
and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby”
(cf. Isa. 48:18). In other passages a “river” is a figure of trouble and difficulty: “When
thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not
overflow thee …” (Isa. 43:2). This is in marked contrast to the use of the same idea in
Isa. 66:12, where an “overflowing stream” depicts respectively the onrush of God’s glory
and divine peace.
B. Verb.
(
, 5102), “to flow.” This verb, derived from the noun
, occurs 3
times in biblical Hebrew. The first occurrence is in Isa. 2:2: “And it shall come to pass in
the last days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the
mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.”
ROCK
$
(
, 6697), “rock; rocky wall; cliff; rocky hill; mountain; rocky surface;
boulder.” Cognates of this word appear in Amorite, Phoenician, Ugaritic, and Aramaic.
Other than in names of places and persons, the word appears 70 times in biblical Hebrew
and in all periods.
First,
$
means “rocky wall” or “cliff.” This is probably what Moses struck in Exod.
17:6: “Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite
the rock, and there shall come water out of it.…” Thus God hid Moses in a cleft of the
“rocky cliff” (Exod. 33:21-22).
Second, the word frequently means “rocky hill” or “mountains.” This emphasis
clearly emerges in Isa. 2:10, 19: “Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust.… And
[men] shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth.…” Thus “rock”
is an abbreviation for “caves of the rocks.” A lookout sees someone “from the top of the
rocks [hills] … , from the hills” (Num. 23:9). The “rock” (mountains or hills) flowing
with honey and oil figures the abundant overflowing blessing of God (Deut. 32:13). The