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judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring
unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge.…”
B. Verb.
+
means “to be small, insignificant.” This verb occurs 4 times in biblical Hebrew
and emphasizes smallness in quality or quantity. The word refers to “being insignificant”
in Gen. 32:10: “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which
thou hast showed unto thy servant …” (cf. 2 Sam. 7:19,
NASB
). In Amos 8:5,
%
refers
to “making small.”
TO SOJOURN, DWELL
A. Verb.
$
(
%
, 1481), “to dwell as a client, sojourn.” This verb occurs only in Northwest
Semitic and outside Hebrew only as a noun. In biblical Hebrew the verb
$
occurs 84
times and in every period of the language. This sense of
$
should be distinguished from
one that means “to be afraid of” (Num. 22:3).
This verb means “to dwell in a land as a client.” The first occurrence of the word is in
Gen. 12:10, where it is reported that Abram journeyed to Egypt and dwelt there as a
client. In Gen. 21:23, Abraham makes a covenant with Abimelech, saying, “…
According to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the
land wherein thou hast sojourned.”
B. Nouns.
(
%
, 1616), “client; stranger.”
5
occurs about 92 times and in every period of
biblical Hebrew.
A “client” was not simply a foreigner (
) or a stranger (
). He was a permanent
resident, once a citizen of another land, who had moved into his new residence.
Frequently he left his homeland under some distress, as when Moses fled to Midian
(Exod. 2:22). Whether the reason for his journey was to escape some difficulty or merely
to seek a new place to dwell, he was one who sought acceptance and refuge.
Consequently he might also call himself a
, a settler. Neither the settler nor the
“client” could possess land. In the land of Canaan the possession of land was limited to
members or descendants of the original tribal members. Only they were full citizens who
enjoyed all the rights of citizenry, which meant sharing fully in the inheritance of the
gods and forefathers—the feudal privileges and responsibilities (cf. Ezek. 47:22).
In Israel a , like a priest, could possess no land and enjoyed the special privileges
of the third tithe. Every third year the tithe of the harvest was to be deposited at the city
gate with the elders and distributed among “the Levite, (became he hath no part nor
inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are
within thy gates …” (Deut. 14:29). In the eschaton such “clients” were to be treated as
full citizens: “And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it [the land] by lot for an
inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, which shall beget
children among you: and they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children
of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel” (Ezek. 47:22).
Under the Mosaic law aliens were not slaves but were usually in the service of some