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“chief leader” (ruler) of a smaller region. The word may also be used of a head of a
family (1 Chron. 9:20).
C. Preposition.
(
$&,&
, 5048), “before; in the presence of; in the sight of; in front of; in one’s
estimation; straight ahead.” This word occurs 156 times in biblical Hebrew as a
preposition and an adverb. Basically the word indicates that its object is immediately
“before” something or someone. It is used in Gen. 2:18, where God said He would make
Adam “a help meet for him,” or someone to correspond to him, just as the males and
females of the animals corresponded to (matched) one another. To be immediately
“before” the sun is to be fully in the sunlight (Num. 25:4). In Exod. 10:10 Pharaoh told
Moses that evil was immediately “before” his face, or was in his mind.
:
signifies
“in front of” (Exod. 19:2), “before” in the sense of “in one’s estimation” (Isa. 40:17), and
“straight ahead (before)” (Josh. 6:5). In combination with other particles
means
“contrary to” (Num. 22:32).
D. Adverb.
(
$&,&
, 5048), “opposite; over against.” This meaning of
appears in
Gen. 21:16: “And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off.…”
TEMPLE
(
'
, 1964), “palace; temple.” This word is indirectly derived from the
Sumerian
, “large house, palace,” and more directly from the Akkadian
$
, “large
house.” The influence of the Akkadian
$
spread to the Northwest Semitic languages.
In post-biblical Hebrew the meaning became limited to “temple.” The
B
)
(“Temple of Solomon”) in modern Jerusalem signifies the building of Israel’s chief
rabbinate, in absence of the temple. The word occurs 78 times from First Samuel to
Malachi, most frequently in Ezekiel. The first usage pertains to the tabernacle at Shiloh (1
Sam. 1:9).
The word “palace” in English versions may have one of three Hebrew words behind
it:
, or
!
The Sumero-Akkadian meaning “palace” for
is still to
be found in biblical Hebrew. The
with its 15 usages as “palace” refers to the
palaces of Ahab (1 Kings 21:1), of the king of Babylon (2 Kings 20:18), and of Nineveh
(Nah. 2:6). The “palace” was luxuriously decorated and the residents enjoyed the
fulfillment of their pleasures; cf.: “And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their
desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and
her days shall not be prolonged” (Isa. 13:22). The psalmist compared beautiful girls to
fine pillars in an ornate “palace”: “… That our sons may be as plants grown up in their
youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a
palace” (Ps. 144:12). Amos prophesied that the “songs of the palace” (
KJV
, “temple”)
were to turn to wailing at the destruction of the northern kingdom (Amos 8:3,
NASB
).
B
with the meaning “temple” is generally clarified in the context by two markers
that follow. The first marker is the addition “of the Lord”: “And when the builders laid
the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the priests in their apparel with
trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the Lord, after the