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the opposite of the heavens or skies. This emphasis is especially prominent in the Song of
Moses, where the word represents the ever-existing (but not eternal), ever-threatening,
and perilous “deep,” not simply an element of nature but a dangerous element: “The
depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone” (Exod. 15:5). On the
other hand, in such contexts
may mean no more than “deep water” into which
heavy objects quickly sink.
can represent an inexhaustible source of water or, by way of poetic
comparison, of blessing: “… With blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that
lieth under …” (Gen. 49:25). In such contexts the word represents the “water table”
always available below the surface of the earth—what was tapped by digging wells, out
of which flowed springs, and what was one with the waters beneath the surface of oceans,
lakes, seas, and rivers. This was what God opened together with the waters above the
expanse (Gen. 7:11; cf. 1:7) and what later was closed to cause and terminate the great
Flood (Gen. 8:2; cf. Ps. 33:6; 104:6; Ezek. 26:19). In such contexts the word represents a
“flood of waters” (Ps. 33:6).
In Gen. 1:2 (the first occurrence of the word)
is used of “all waters” which
initially covered the surface of the entire earth: “… And darkness was upon the face of
the
3
(cf. Prov. 3:20; 8:24, 27-28).
WAY
A. Nouns.
(
(
, 1870), “way (path, road, highway); distance; journey; manner, conduct;
condition; destiny.” This noun has cognates in Akkadian, Ugaritic (where it sometimes
means “power” or “rule”), Phoenician, Punic, Arabic, and Aramaic. It occurs about 706
times in biblical Hebrew and in all periods.
First, this word refers to a path, a road, or a highway. In Gen. 3:24 (the first
occurrence of the word) it means “path” or “route”: “… And he placed at the east of the
garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every [direction], to [guard]
the way of the tree of life.” Sometimes, as in Gen. 16:7, the word represents a pathway,
road, or route: “And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the
wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.” The actual road itself is represented in
Gen. 38:21: “Where is the [temple prostitute], that was openly by the wayside?” (In Num.
20:17 the word means “highway,” a well-known and well-traveled road: “… We will go
by the king’s highway, we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left, until we have
passed thy borders.”
Second, this noun represents a “distance” (how far or how long) between two points:
“And he set three days’ journey [a distance of three days] betwixt himself and Jacob …”
(Gen. 30:36).
In other passages
refers to the action or process of “taking a journey”: “And to
his father he sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten
she asses laden with corn and bread and meat for his father by the way [on the journey]”
(Gen. 45:23). In an extended nuance
means “undertaking”: “If thou turn away thy
foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a
delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways,