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after the guild—for example, the Bakers’ Street: “Then Zedekiah the king commanded
that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison, and that they should give
him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city were
spent” (Jer. 37:21). The absence of justice in the marketplace was an indication of the
wickedness of the whole population of Jerusalem. Jeremiah was called to check in the
“streets” to find an honest man: “Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and
see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be
any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it” (5:1).
Other descriptions of the “streets” are given by the prophets. Several mention that the
“streets” were muddy: “… And to tread them down like the mire of the streets” (Isa.
10:6; cf. Mic. 7:10; Zech. 10:5). Others make reference to the blood (Ezek. 28:23), the
famished (Lam. 2:19), and the dead (Nah. 3:10) which filled the “streets” in times of war.
The area outside a city was also known as the
$ !
In this case it is better translated
as “open country” or “field”; cf. “That our garners may be full, affording all manner of
store, that sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets” (Ps. 144:13,
KJV
;
RSV
, “fields”; cf. Job 5:10; Prov. 8:26).
B. Adverb.
$
(
0
, 2351), “outside.” The first occurrence of this word is in Gen. 6:14: “Make
thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within
and without [
$
] with pitch.”
By
$
the general idea of “the outside” is intimated. It is sometimes indeterminate
where “outside” is, especially when connected with a verb: “You shall also have a place
outside the camp; he may not reenter the camp” (Deut. 23:12,
NASB
). The area could be
“outside” a home, tent, city, or camp—hence the adverbial usage of “outside.” The word
is also connected with a preposition with the sense of “in, to, on, toward the outside”: “If
he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit: only
he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed” (Exod.
21:19).
STRENGTH
(
, 2458), “strength; power; wealth; property; capable; valiant; army;
troops; influential; upper-class people (courtiers).” The cognates of this word have been
found in Aramaic, Akkadian, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic. Biblical Hebrew attests it
about 245 times and in all periods.
First, this word signifies a faculty or “power,” the ability to effect or produce
something. The word is used of physical “strength” in the sense of power that can be
exerted: “If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more
strength …” (Eccl. 10:10). Quite often this word appears in a military context. Here it is
the physical strength, power, and ability to perform in battle that is in view. This idea is
used of men in 1 Sam. 2:4: “The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that
stumbled are girded with strength” (cf. Ps. 18:32, 39). Ps. 33:17 applies the word to a war
horse. An interesting use of
appears in Num. 24:17-18, where Balaam prophesied
the destruction of Moab and Edom at the hands of Israel: “And Edom shall be a
possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies; and lsrael shall do valiantly”
(v. 18). The idea here is dynamic; something is happening. One might also render this