Only rarely is this nuance applied to animals: “And I will put enmity between thee [the
devil] and the woman [Eve], and between thy seed and her seed …” (Gen. 3:15). This
verse uses the word in several senses. The first appearance means both the descendants of
the snake and those of the spiritual being who used the snake (evil men). The second
appearance of the word refers to all the descendants of the woman and ultimately to a
particular descendant (Christ). In Gen. 4:25
appears not as a collective noun but
refers to a particular and immediate “offspring”; upon the birth of Seth, Eve said: “God
… hath appointed me another seed [offspring].…” Gen. 46:6 uses the word (in the
singular) of one’s entire family including children and grandchildren (cf. Gen. 17:12).
One’s larger family, including all immediate relatives, is included in the word in passages
such as 1 Kings 11:14. The word is used of an entire nation of people in Esth. 10:3.
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is used of groups and individuals marked by a common moral quality. This
usage was already seen in Gen. 3:15. Isa. 65:23 mentions the “seed” of the blessed of
God. The Messiah or Suffering Servant will see His “offspring,” or those who believe in
and follow Him (Isa. 53:10). We also read about the followers of the righteous (Prov.
11:21), the faithful “seed” (Jer. 2:21), and godly “offspring.” In each case this word
represents those who are united by being typified by the modifier of
Several other
passages exhibit the same nuance except that
is modified by an undesirable quality.
TO SPEAK
A. Verb.
(
(
, 1696), “to speak, say.” This verb occurs in all periods of Hebrew, in
Phoenician (starting from around 900 B.C.), and in imperial Aramaic (starting from about
500 B.C.). In Old Testament Hebrew it occurs about 1,125 times.
This verb focuses not only on the content of spoken verbal communication but also
and especially on the time and circumstances of what is said. Unlike
, “to say,”
often appears without any specification of what was communicated. Those who
“speak” are primarily persons (God or men) or organs of speech. In Gen. 8:15 (the first
occurrence of this verb) God “spoke” to Noah, while in Gen. 18:5 one of the three men
“spoke” to Abraham. Exceptions to this generalization occur, for example in Job 32:7,
where Elihu personifies “days” (a person’s age) as that which has the right “to speak”
first. In 2 Sam. 23:2 David says that the Spirit of the Lord “spoke” to him; contrary to
many (especially liberal) scholars, this is probably a reference to the Holy Spirit (cf.
NASB
).
Among the special meanings of this verb are “to say” (Dan. 9:21), “to command” (2
Kings 1:9), “to promise” (Deut. 6:3), “to commission” (Exod. 1:17), “to announce” (Jer.
36:31), “to order or command” (Deut. 1:14), and “to utter a song” (Judg. 5:12). Such
secondary meanings are, however, quite infrequent.
B. Nouns.
(
(
, 1697), “word, matter; something.” This noun occurs 1,440 times.
The noun
refers, first, to what is said, to the actual “word” itself; whereas
is essentially oral communication (the act of speaking). Before the dispersion from
the tower of Babel all men spoke the same “words” or language (Gen. 11:1). This noun