Basic HTML Version
decline (Deut. 4:19). In 2 Kings 23:5 perhaps one could translate: “Those who burned
incense to Shamshu” (cf. v. 11). Perhaps passages like Ps. 148:3 are allusions to the sun
god (although this is questionable).
-
is used in phrases indicating direction. The east is “the rising of the sun”:
“And they journeyed from Oboth, … toward the sunrising” (Num. 21:11). The west is
“the setting of the sun”: “Are they not on the other side of Jordan, by the way where the
sun goeth down …?” (Deut. 11:30).
In Ps. 84:11 the word represents a sunshaped shield: “For the Lord God is a sun and
shield.…”
-
may be a structural term: “And I will make thy windows [
NASB
,
“battlements”] of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles …” (Isa. 54:12).
There are a few noteworthy phrases related to
!
To be “before the sun” or
“before the eyes of the sun” is to be openly exposed: “Take all the heads of the people,
and hang them up before the Lord against the sun [
NASB
, “in broad daylight”] …” (Num.
25:4). To “see the sun” is “to live”: “… Like the untimely birth of a woman, that they
may not see the sun” (Ps. 58:8). Something “under the sun” is life lived on the earth apart
from God in contrast to life lived on earth with a proper relationship with God (Eccl. 1:3).
TO SWALLOW
(
, 1104), “to swallow, engulf.” Commonly used throughout the history of
the Hebrew language, this word is also found in ancient Akkadian, as well as several
other Semitic languages. It occurs about 50 times in the Hebrew Old Testament.
0
is
first used in Gen. 41:7 in Pharaoh’s dream of seven lean ears of grain “swallowing up”
the seven plump ears.
While it is used of the normal physical swallowing of something quite frequently,
such as Jonah’s “being swallowed” by the great fish (Jonah 1:17), the word is used more
often in the figurative sense, often implying destruction. Thus, the violent “overwhelm”
the innocent (Prov. 1:11-12); an enemy “swallows” those he conquers “like a dragon”
(Jer. 51:34); and the false prophet and priest “are swallowed up of wine” (Isa. 28:7;
RSV
,
“confused with”).
TO SWEAR
(
*
, 7650), “to swear; take an oath.” This is a common word throughout
the history of the Hebrew language. The fact that it occurs more than 180 times in the
Hebrew Bible attests to its importance there also.
-
occurs for the first time in the
Hebrew Bible in Gen. 21:23-24, where Abimelech requests Abraham to “… swear unto
me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son.… And
Abraham said, I will swear.”
Often “to swear or to take an oath” is to strongly affirm a promise. Thus, Joshua
instructs the spies concerning Rahab of Jericho: “Go into the harlot’s house, and bring
out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her” (Josh. 6:22). David
and Jonathan strongly affirmed their love for each other with an oath (1 Sam. 20:17).
Allegiance to God is pledged by an oath (Isa. 19:18). Zephaniah condemns the idolatrous
priests “that worship and that swear by the Lord, and that swear by Malcham [the
Ammonite god]” (Zeph. 1:5). In making and upholding His promises to men, God often