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TO SCATTER
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(
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, 6327), “to scatter, disperse, be scattered.” This term is found in both
ancient and modern Hebrew. Occurring some 65 times in the Hebrew Old Testament, the
word is found for the first time in Gen. 10:18: “… The families of the Canaanites spread
abroad.” The word is used 3 times in the story of the tower of Babel (Gen. 11:4, 8-9),
apparently to emphasize how men and their languages “were spread” throughout the
world.
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, in the sense of “scattering,” often has an almost violent connotation to it. Thus,
when Saul defeated the Ammonites, “they which remained were scattered, so that two of
them were not left together” (1 Sam. 11:11). Such “scattering” of forces seems to have
been a common thing after defeats in battle (1 Kings 22:17; 2 Kings 25:5). Many
references are made to Israel as a people and nation “being scattered” among the nations,
especially in the imagery of a scattered flock of sheep (Ezek. 34:5- 6; Zech. 13:7).
Ezekiel also promises the gathering together of this scattered flock: “… I will even gather
you from the people, … where ye have been scattered …” (Ezek. 11:17; 20:34, 41).
In a figurative sense, this word is used to refer to lightning as arrows which God
“scatters” (2 Sam. 22:15). According to Job, “the clouds scatter his lightning” (Job 37:11,
RSV
). No harvest is possible unless first the seeds “are scattered” in rows (Isa. 28:25).
SEA
(
, 3220), “sea; ocean.” This word has cognates in Aramaic, Akkadian,
Ugaritic, Phoenician, and Ethiopic. It occurs about 390 times and in all periods of biblical
Hebrew.
This word refers to the body of water as distinct from the land bodies (continents and
islands) and the sky (heavens): “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea
and all that in them is …” (Exod. 20:11). Used in this sense
means “ocean.” This is
its meaning in Gen. 1:10, its first biblical appearance; unlike the use in the singular,
where the word is a collective noun, it appears here in the plural: “And God called the dry
land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas.…”
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may be used of “seas,” whether they are salty or fresh. The Great Sea is the
Mediterranean: “From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river
Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the Great Sea toward the going down of
the sun, shall be your coast” (Josh. 1:4). This sea is also called the sea of the Philistines
(Exod. 23:31) and the hinter or western sea (Deut. 11:24;
KJV
, “uttermost sea”). The Dead
Sea is called the Salt Sea (Gen. 14:3), the Arabah (Deut. 3:17; KV, “plain”), and the east
sea (Ezek. 47:18). Thus,
can be used of an inland salty “sea.” It can also be used of a
fresh water “sea” such as the Sea of Galilee: “… And the border shall descend, and shall
reach unto the side of the Sea of Chinnereth eastward” (Num. 34:11).
The word is sometimes used of the direction west or westward, in the sense of toward
the (Great) Sea: “Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art
northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward” (Gen. 13:14). In Gen. 12:8
means “on the west side”: “And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of
Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Hai on the east.…” This
word can also refer to a side of something and not just a direction, but it is the side that