Basic HTML Version
(
=
, 1100), “wickedness; wicked; destruction.” The 27 occurrences of
this noun are scattered throughout the periods of biblical Hebrew.
The basic meaning of this word appears in a passage such as Judg. 20:13, where the
sons of
are perpetrators of wickedness (they raped and murdered a man’s
concubine): “Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial [
NASB
, “worthless
fellows”] which are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from
Israel.” In its first appearance the word represents men who lead others into idolatry:
“Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have [seduced]
the inhabitants of their city …” (Deut. 13:13). In Deut. 15:9 the word modifies Hebrew
, “word” or “matter.” Israel is warned to avoid “wicked” words (thoughts) in their
hearts.
0
is a synonym for
(“wicked rebellious one”) in Job 34:18. In Nah.
1:11 the wicked counselor plots evil against God. The psalmist uses
as a
synonym of death: “The cords of death encompassed me, and the torrents of ungodliness
[
KJV
, “floods of ungodly men”] terrified me” (Ps. 18:4,
NASB
).
WIDOW
(
, 490), “widow.” Cognates of this word appear in Aramaic,
Arabic, Akkadian, Phoenician, and Ugaritic. Biblical Hebrew attests it 55 times and in all
periods.
The word represents a woman who, because of the death of her husband, has lost her
social and economic position. The gravity of her situation was increased if she had no
children. In such a circumstance she returned to her father’s home and was subjected to
the Levirate rule whereby a close male relative surviving her husband was to produce a
child through her in her husband’s behalf: “Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter-in-
law, Remain a widow at thy father’s house, till Shelah my son be grown …” (Gen. 38:11
the first occurrence of the word). These words constitute a promise to Tamar that the
disgrace of being without both husband and child would be removed when Shelah was
old enough to marry. Even if children had been born before her husband’s death, a
widow’s lot was not a happy one (2 Sam. 14:5). Israel was admonished to treat “widows”
and other socially disadvantaged people with justice, God Himself standing as their
protector (Exod. 22:21-24).
Wives whose husbands shut them away from themselves are sometimes called
“widows”: “And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women
his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward, and fed them,
but went not in unto them. So they were shut up unto the day of their death, living in
widowhood” (2 Sam. 20:3).
Destroyed, plundered Jerusalem is called a “widow” (Lam. 1:1).
TO WILL, BE WILLING
(
, 14), “to will, be willing, consent.” Common throughout the history of
the Hebrew language, this word occurs in the Hebrew Bible just over 50 times. It is found
for the first time in Gen. 24:5, where Abraham’s servant who is about to be sent to find a
wife for Isaac says: “Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this
land …?”