Basic HTML Version
The stress on the family role of a “wife” appears in passages such as Gen. 8:16: “Go
forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee.”
In one special nuance the word connotes “wife” in the sense of a woman who is under
a man’s authority and protection; the emphasis is on the family relationship considered as
a legal and social entity: “And Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and
all their substance that they had gathered …” (Gen. 12:5).
In Lam. 2:20
is a synonym for “mother”: “Shall the women eat their
[offspring, the little ones who were born healthy]?” In Gen. 29:21 (cf. Deut. 22:24) it
appears to connote “bride” or “betrothed one”: “And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my
wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her.” Eccl. 7:26 uses the word
generically of “woman” conceived in general, or womanhood: “And I find more bitter
than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets …” (cf. Gen. 31:35).
This word is used only infrequently of animals: “Of every clean beast thou shalt take
to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the
male and his female” (Gen. 7:2).
This word can also be used figuratively describing foreign warriors and/or heroes as
“women,” in other words as weak, unmanly, and cowardly: “In that day shall Egypt be
like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the
Lord of hosts …” (Isa. 19:16).
In a few passages
means “each” or “every”: “But every woman shall borrow
of her neighbor, and of her that sojourneth in her house …” (Exod. 3:22; cf. Amos 4:3).
A special use of this nuance ouurs in passages such as Jer. 9:20, where in conjunction
with
$
(“neighbor”) it means “one” (female): “Yet hear the word of the Lord, O ye
women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing,
and every one her neighbor lamentation.”
WONDER
(
"!
, 4159), “wonder; sign; portent.” The 36 appearances of this word are in
all periods of biblical literature except wisdom literature. Poetical literature manifests it
only 5 times and only in the Psalter.
First, this word signifies a divine act or a special display of divine power: “When thou
goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I
have put in thine hand …” (Exod. 4:21—the first biblical occurrence of the word). Acts
effecting the divine curses are called “wonders.” Thus the word does not necessarily refer
to a miraculous act, if “miracle” means something outside the realm of ordinary
providence.
Second, the word can represent a “sign” from God or a token of a future event: “This
is the sign which the Lord hath spoken: Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that
are upon it shall be poured out” (1 Kings 13:3). This sense sometimes has the nuance
“symbol”: “Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in
front of you— indeed they are men who are a symbol …” (Zech. 3:8,
NASB
; cf. Ps. 71:7).
TO WORK
A. Verbs.
(
#
, 6466), “to do, work.” Common to both ancient and modern Hebrew, this
word is used in modern Hebrew in the sense of “to work, to act, to function.” Found only