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may mean “to shout” or “to call out loudly.” Goliath “shouted” toward the
ranks of Israel (1 Sam. 17:8) and challenged them to individual combat (duel).
Sometimes ancient peoples settled battles through such combatants. Before battling an
enemy, Israel was directed to offer them peace: “When thou comest nigh unto a city to
fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it [call out to it in terms of peace]” (Deut.
20:10).
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may also mean “to proclaim” or “to announce,” as when Israel proclaimed
peace to the sons of Benjamin (Judg. 21:13). This sense first occurs in Gen. 41:43, where
we are told that Joseph rode in the second chariot; “and they cried before him, Bow the
knee.” Haman recommended to King Ahasuerus that he adorn the one to be honored and
“proclaim” (“announce”) before him, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king
delighteth to honor” (Esth. 6:9). This proclamation would tell everyone that the man so
announced was honored by the king. The two emphases, “proclamation” and “announce,”
occur in Exod. 32:5: “… Aaron made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the
Lord.” This instance implies “summoning” an official assemblage of the people. In
prophetic literature,
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is a technical term for “declaring” a prophetic message: “For
the saying which he
by the word of the Lord … shall surely come to pass” (1 Kings
13:32). Another major emphasis of
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is “to summon.” When Pharaoh discovered
Abram’s deceit concerning Sarai, he “summoned” (“called”) Abram so that he might
correct the situation (Gen. 12:18). Often the summons is in the form of a friendly
invitation, as when Reuel (or Jethro) told his daughters to “invite him [Moses] to have
something to eat” (Exod. 2:20, “that he may eat bread,”
KJV
). The participial form of
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is used to denote “invited guests”: “As soon as you enter the city you will find him
before he goes up to the high place to eat … afterward
(
2
will eat” (1
Sam. 9:13,
NASB
). This verb is also used in judicial contexts, to mean being “summoned
to court”if a man is accused of not fulfilling his levirate responsibility, “then the elders of
his city shall call him, and speak unto him …” (Deut. 25:8).
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is used of
“summoning” someone and/or “mustering” an army: “Why hast thou served us thus, that
thou calledst us not, when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites?” (Judg. 8:1).
The meaning “to read” apparently arose from the meaning “to announce” and “to
declare,” inasmuch as reading was done out loud so that others could hear. This sense
appears in Exod. 24:7. In several prophetic passages, the Septuagint translates
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“to
read” rather than “to proclaim” (cf. Jer. 3:12; 7:2, 27; 19:2).
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means “to read to
oneself” only in a few passages.
At least once, the verb
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means “to dictate”: “Then Baruch answered them, He
[dictated] all these words unto me … and I wrote them with ink in the book” (Jer. 36:18).
B. Noun.
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(
, 4744), “public worship service; convocation.” The word implies the
product of an official summons to worship (“convocation”). In one of its 23 appearances,
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refers to Sabbaths as “convocation days” (Lev. 23:2).
CAMP