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perhaps connotes a “violent wrongdoing” which has not been righted, the
guilt of which lies on an entire area (its inhabitants) disrupting their relationship with God
and thereby interfering with His blessings.
It is this latter sense which appears in the phrase “the earth was full of violent
wrongdoing”: “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with
violence” (Gen. 6:11—the first occurrence of the word). Thus, in Gen. 16:5 Sarai
summons God to judge between Abram and herself because he has not acted properly
toward her keeping Hagar in submission: “My wrong [done me] be upon thee: I have
given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised
in her eyes: the Lord judge between me and thee.” Abram as God’s judge (in God’s
stead) accepts the correctness of her case and commits Hagar to Sarai’s care to be dealt
with properly.
B. Verb.
B
means “to treat violently.” This verb, which occurs 7 times in biblical
Hebrew, has cognates in Aramaic, Akkadian, and Arabic. This verb appears in Jer. 22:3
with the meaning of “to do no violence”: “… And do no wrong, do no violence to the
stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.”
VIRGIN
(
, 5959), “virgin; maiden.” This noun has an Ugaritic cognate, although
the masculine form also appears in Aramaic, Syriac, and Arabic. The feminine form of
the root appears 9 times; the only 2 appearances of the masculine form (
) are in First
Samuel. This suggests that this word was used rarely, perhaps because other words bore a
similar meaning.
That
can mean “virgin” is quite clear in Song of Sol. 6:8: “There are
threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins [
NASB
, “maidens”] without
number.” Thus all the women in the court are described. The word
represents
those who are eligible for marriage but are neither wives (queens) nor concubines. These
“virgins” all loved the king and longed to be chosen to be with him (to be his bride), even
as did the Shulamite who became his bride (1:3-4). In Gen. 24:43 the word describes
Rebekah, of whom it is said in Gen. 24:16 that she was a “maiden” with whom no man
had had relations. Solomon wrote that the process of wooing a woman was mysterious to
him (Prov. 30:19). Certainly in that day a man ordinarily wooed one whom he considered
to be a “virgin.” There are several contexts, therefore, in which a young girl’s virginity is
expressly in view.
Thus
appears to be used more of the concept “virgin” than that of “maiden,”
yet always of a woman who had not borne a child. This makes it the ideal word to be
used in Isa. 7:14, since the word
$
emphasizes virility more than virginity
(although it is used with both emphases, too). The reader of Isa. 7:14 in the days
preceding the birth of Jesus would read that a “virgin who is a maiden” would conceive a
child. This was a possible, but irregular, use of the word since the word can refer merely
to the unmarried status of the one so described. The child immediately in view was the
son of the prophet and his wife (cf. Isa. 8:3) who served as a sign to Ahaz that his
enemies would be defeated by God. On the other hand, the reader of that day must have