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figurative sense and in poetic usage, as in Jer. 4:14: “O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from
wickedness, that thou mayest be saved.”
WATCH
A. Nouns.
(
"
, 4931);
(
"
, 4929), “watch; guard; post;
confinement; prison; custody; division.” The first or feminine form of this word appears
78 times, while the masculine form is attested 22 times. These forms are scattered
through biblical literature.
The noun
means a “military watch” over a city: “Nevertheless we made our
prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night because of them [our
enemies]” (Neh. 4:9). This word represents the place where a guard or watchman fulfills
his task: “… And appoint watches of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, every one in his watch,
and every one to be over against his house” (Neh. 7:3). Someone who guards something
keeps “watch” over it: “Mattaniah, and Bakbukiah, … were porters keeping the ward at
the thresholds of the gates” (Neh. 12:25). In Job 7:12
means “watch” or “guard”
in general (over a potentially dangerous criminal): “Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou
settest a watch over me?”
"
can also represent a “place of confinement,” such as a jail: “And he put
them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where
Joseph was bound” (Gen. 40:3—the first occurrence of the word). Joseph put his brothers
“into ward three days” (Gen. 42:17) and thereafter allowed 9 of them to return to
Palestine to get Benjamin (an act supposedly proving they were not spies) while 1 of
them remained in the Egyptian “prison” (Gen. 42:19). Under Mosaic law there were to be
no prisons where people were held for extended periods after being convicted of a crime.
Instead, those charged were held for a very short time (sometimes) immediately
preceding trial until the trial could be arranged (Lev. 24:12). After the trial the guilty
party was killed, punished, fined, or indentured until he worked out his fine.
"
sometimes represents a group of attendants, especially in the temple. In this nuance the
word may represent the temple guardunits: “To Shuppim and Hosah the lot came forth
westward, with the gate Shallecheth, by the causeway of the going up, ward against
ward” (1 Chron. 26:16). However, in Neh. 12:24 the service rendered is the Levitical
service in general, therefore, “division corresponding to division.” All these Levitical
“divisions” constituted the full services of the temple (Neh. 13:14) The noun
appears with the same meanings as those just set forth. It can mean a “military watchman
or guard” (cf. Neh. 7:3). In Isa. 21:8 the word signifies the place where one keeps watch:
“… I am set in my
(
whole nights.…” The phrase “to keep watch,” in the sense of to
fulfill the function of a watchman or guard, appears with
in 2 Kings 11:5: “A
third part of you that enter in on the sabbath shall even be keepers of the watch of the
king’s house.”
"
represents a place of confinement in 2 Sam. 20:3: David put 10
of his concubines who had been defiled by Absalom into a house of confinement (
NASB
,
“under guard”).