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It is the origin of the name of the famous Beqa Valley (which means “valley” or “cleft”)
in Lebanon.
In its verbal forms,
%
is found some 50 times in the Hebrew Old Testament. The
word is first used there in Gen. 7:11, which states that the “fountains of the great deep
[were] broken up,” resulting in the Flood. The everyday use of the verb is seen in
references to “splitting” wood (Eccl. 10:9) and the ground “splitting” asunder (Num.
16:31). Serpents’ eggs “split open” or “hatch out” their young (Isa. 59:5). City walls are
“breached” or “broken into” in order to take them captive (Jer. 52:7). One of the horrors
of war was the “ripping open” of pregnant women by the enemy (2 Kings 8:12; 15:16).
Three times God is said “to split open” rocks or the ground in order to provide water for
His people (Judg. 15:19; Ps. 74:15; Isa. 48:21).
In the figurative sense, it is said that the light of truth will “break forth as the
morning” (Isa. 58:8). Using hyperbole or exaggeration, the historian who recorded the
celebration for Solomon’s coronation said that it was so loud “that the earth rent with the
sound of them” (1 Kings 1:40). As here, the
KJV
often renders
%
by “rent.” In other
contexts, it may be translated “burst; clave (cleave); tear; divide; break.”
TO CLOTHE
(
, 3847), “to put on (a garment), clothe, wear, be clothed.” A common
Semitic term, this word is found in ancient Akkadian and Ugaritic, in Aramaic, and
throughout the history of the Hebrew language. The word occurs about 110 times in the
text of the Hebrew Bible.
6
is found very early in the Old Testament, in Gen. 3:21:
“Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skin, and
them.” As always, God provided something much better for man than man could do for
himself—in this instance, fig-leaf garments (Gen. 3:7).
6
is regularly used for the “putting on” of ordinary clothing (Gen. 38:19; Exod.
29:30; 1 Sam. 28:8). The word also describes the “putting on” of armor (Jer. 46:4). Many
times it is used in a figurative sense, as in Job 7:5: “My flesh is clothed [covered] with
worms.…” Jerusalem is spoken of as “putting on” the Jews as they return after the Exile
(Isa. 49:18). Often the figurative garment is an abstract quality: “For he put on
righteousness as a breastplate, … he put on garments of vengeance for clothing …” (Isa.
59:17). God is spoken of as being “clothed with honor and majesty” (Ps. 104:1). Job says,
“I put on righteousness, and it clothed me …” (Job 29:14).
These abstract qualities are sometimes negative: “The prince shall be clothed [
RSV
,
“wrapped”] with desolation” (Ezek. 7:27). “They that hate thee shall be clothed with
shame” (Job 8:22). “Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame” (Ps. 109:29). A very
important figurative use of
is found in Judg. 6:34, where the stative form of the
verb may be translated, “The spirit of the Lord clothed itself [was clothed] with Gideon.”
The idea seems to be that the Spirit of the Lord incarnated Himself in Gideon and thus
empowered him from within. The English versions render it variously: “came upon”
(
KJV
,
NASB
,
JB
); “took possession of” (
NEB
,
RSV
); “took control (
TEV
); wrapped round”
(Knox).
CLOUD