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root (starting around 900 B.C.) means “come forth.”
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occurs about 2,570 times in Old
Testament Hebrew.
First, this verb connotes movement in space from one place toward another. The
meaning “go in” or “enter” appears in Gen. 7:7, where it is said that Noah and his family
“entered” the ark. In the causative stem, this verb can signify “cause to enter” or “bring
into” (Gen. 6:19) or “bring unto” (its meaning in its first biblical occurrence, Gen. 2:19).
In Gen. 10:19, the verb is used more absolutely in the phrase “as thou goest unto
Sodom.” Interestingly, this verb can also mean “to come” and “to return.” Abram and his
family “came” to the land of Canaan (Gen. 12:5), while in Deut. 28:6 God blessed the
godly who “go forth” (to work in the morning) and “return” (home in the evening).
Sometimes
refers to the “going down” or “setting” of the sun (Gen. 15:12). It can
connote dying, in the sense of “going to one’s fathers” (Gen. 15:15). Another special use
is the “going into one’s wife” or “cohabitation” (Gen. 6:4).
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can also be used of
movement in time. For example, the prophets speak of the “coming” day of judgment (1
Sam. 2:31). Finally, the verb can be used of the “coming” of an event such as the sign
predicted by a false prophet (Deut. 13:2).
There are three senses in which God is said “to come.” God “comes” through an
angel (Judg. 6:11) or other incarnated being (cf. Gen. 18:14). He “appears” and speaks to
men in dreams (Gen. 20:3) and in other actual manifestations (Exod. 20:20). For
example, during the Exodus, God “appeared” in the cloud and fire that went before the
people (Exod. 19:9).
Secondly, God promises to “come” to the faithful wherever and whenever they
properly worship Him (Exod. 20:24). The Philistines felt that God had “come” into the
Israelite camp when the ark of the covenant arrived (1 Sam. 4:7). This usage associated
with formal worship may appear in Ps. 24:7, where the gates of Zion are said to open as
the King of glory “enters” Jerusalem. Also, the Lord is “to return” (“come back”) to the
new temple described in Ezek. 43:2.
Finally, there is a group of prophetic pictures of divine “comings.” This theme may
have originated in the hymns sung of God’s “coming” to aid His people in war (cf. Deut.
33:2). In the Psalms (e.g., 50:3) and prophets (e.g., Isa. 30:27), the Lord “comes” in
judgment and blessing—a poetic figure of speech borrowed from ancient Near Eastern
mythology (cf. Ezek. 1:4).
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also is used to refer to the “coming” of the Messiah. In Zech. 9:9, the messianic
king is pictured as “coming” on a foal of a donkey. Some of the passages pose especially
difficult problems, such as Gen. 49:10, which prophesies that the scepter will remain in
Judah “until Shiloh come.” Another difficult passage is Ezek. 21:27: “until he come
whose right it is.” A very well-known prophecy using the verb
is that concerning the
“coming” of the Son of Man (Dan. 7:13). Finally, there is the “coming” of the last day
(Amos 8:2) and the Day of the Lord (Isa. 13:6).
The Septuagint translates this verb with many Greek words paralleling the
connotations of the Hebrew verb, but especially with words meaning “to come,” “to
enter,” and “to go.”
TO COME NEAR, APPROACH