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B. Participle.
(
, 7891), “singers.” In the Books of Chronicles,
is used in the participial
form some 33 times to designate the Levitical “singers” (1 Chron. 15:16). “Female
singers” are referred to occasionally (2 Sam. 19:35; 2 Chron. 35:25; Eccl. 2:8).
C. Noun.
(
, 7892), “song.” This noun is found about 30 times in the titles of various
psalms as well as elsewhere in the Old Testament.
-
is used of a joyous “song” in Gen.
31:27: “… And didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth, and with
songs, with tabret, and with harp?” In Judg. 5:12 the word refers to a triumphal “song,”
and in Neh. 12:46 the word is used of a religious “song” for worship.
The book that is commonly designated “The Song of Solomon” actually has the title
“The Song of Songs” in Hebrew. While this love “song” continues to create questions in
the minds of many regarding its inclusion in the biblical canon, it must have had some
special meaning to have earned the title it has. Rather than rationalize its place in the
canon by stating that it is an allegory of the love between God and Israel, and then Christ
and the church, perhaps one should simply recognize that it is a love “song,” pure and
simple, and that love has its rightful place in the divine plan for mature men and women.
SISTER
(
"
, 269), “sister.” Like the words for “brother” and “father,” this noun is
common to many Semitic languages. Whereas “brother” appears 629 times, “sister”
occurs only 114 times. The usage is rare in the poetic literature with the exception of the
Song of Solomon (7 times). The first occurrence is in Gen. 4:22: “And Zillah, she also
bare Tubal-cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubal-
cain was Naamah.”
The translation of “sister” for
is only the beginning. In Hebrew custom the
word was a term employed to refer to the daughter of one’s father and mother (Gen. 4:22)
or one’s half-sister (Gen. 20:12). It may also refer to one’s aunt on the father’s side (Lev.
18:12; 20:19) or on the mother’s side (Lev. 18:13; 20:19).
The use of
more generally denotes female relatives: “And they blessed
Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of
millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them” (Gen. 24:60). This
meaning lies behind the metaphorical use, where two divisions of a nation (Judah and
Israel; Jer. 3:7) and two cities (Sodom and Samaria; Ezek. 16:46) are portrayed as
sisters—Hebrew names of geographical entities are feminine.
The more specialized meaning “beloved” is found only in Song of Sol. 4:9: “Thou
hast ravished my heart, my sister [or beloved], my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart
with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.” Here
is used as a term of
endearment rather than a term for a blood relative.
The Septuagint translates the word
(“sister”).
TO SLAUGHTER
A. Verb.