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Figuratively, men are the “food” or prey for their enemies: “Only rebel not ye against
the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us …” (Num. 14:9).
The Psalmist in his grief says his tears are his “food” (Ps. 42:3). Evil deeds are likened to
food: "[The evil man’s] meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him”
(Job 20:14). In Jer. 11:19,
represents “fruit from a tree” and is a figure of a man
and his offspring: “… And I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying,
Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the
living, that his name may be no more remembered.”
"
(
)
, 4682), “unleavened bread.” This noun occurs 54 times, all but 14 of
them in the Pentateuch. The rest of the occurrences are in prose narratives or in Ezekiel’s
discussion of the new temple (Ezek. 45:21).
In the ancient Orient, household bread was prepared by adding fermented dough to
the kneading trough and working it through the fresh dough. Hastily made bread omitted
the fermented (leavened) dough: Lot “made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread,
and they did eat” (Gen. 19:3). In this case, the word represents bread hastily prepared for
unexpected guests. The feasts of Israel often involved the use of unleavened bread,
perhaps because of the relationship between fermentation, rotting, and death (Lev. 2:4ff.),
or because unleavened bread reminded Jews of the hasty departure from Egypt and the
rigors of the wilderness march.
BREADTH
(
, 7341), “breadth; width; expanse.” The noun
appears 101 times
and in all periods of biblical Hebrew.
First, the word refers to how broad a flat expanse is. In Gen. 13:17, we read: “Arise,
walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto
thee.”
itself sometimes represents the concept length, breadth, or the total
territory: “… And the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O
Immanuel” (Isa. 8:8). The same usage appears in Job 37:10, where the
NASB
renders the
word “expanse.” This idea is used figuratively in 1 Kings 4:29, describing the dimensions
of Solomon’s discernment: “And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding
exceeding much, and largeness [
] of heart, even as the sand that is on the
seashore.”
Second,
is used to indicate the “thickness” or “width” of an object. In its first
biblical occurrence the word is used of Noah’s ark: “The length of the ark shall be three
hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits” (Gen.
6:15). In Ezek. 42:10, the word represents the “thickness” of a building’s wall in which
there were chambers (cf. Ezek. 41:9).
is derived from the verb
as is the noun
or
!
(
, 7339) or
(
, 7339), “town square.”
(or
)
occurs 43 times in the Bible. Cognates of this noun appear in Ugaritic, Akkadian, and
Aramaic.
represents the “town square” immediately near the gate(s), as in Gen.
19:2 (the first occurrence). This “town square” often served for social functions such as
assemblies, courts, and official proclamations.