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has been sprung and whose quarry is captured by the “cords” of the trap: “The cords of
Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me” (2 Sam. 22:6,
RSV
).
In other cases, the thing that “binds” is good: “I drew them with cords of a man, with
bands of love …” (Hos. 11:4). Eccl. 12:6 pictures human life as being held together by a
silver “cord.”
A “cord” could be used as a “measuring line”: “And he smote Moab, and measured
them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to
put to death, and with one full line to keep alive” (2 Sam. 8:2). This meaning of
also occurs in Ps. 78:55: “… And [He] divided them an inheritance by line.” Compare
Mic. 2:5: “Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation
of the Lord.” The act referred to by Micah appears in Ps. 16:6 as an image of one’s life in
general: “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.”
)
also means “the thing measured or allotted”: “For the Lord’s portion is his
people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance” (Deut. 32:9). Here the use is clearly figurative,
but in 1 Chron. 16:18 the “portion” of Israel’s inheritance is a concrete “measured thing”;
this nuance first appears in Josh. 17:5. In passages such as Deut. 3:4, the word is used of
a “region” or “a measured area”: “… Threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the
kingdom of Og in Bashan.”
The word may refer to a group of people, describing them as that which is tied
together— “a band”: “… Thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the
high place …” (1 Sam. 10:5).
TO COUNSEL
A. Verb.
(
0
, 3289), “to advise, counsel, consult.” Used throughout the history of the
Hebrew language, this verb occurs in the Hebrew Old Testament approximately 80 times.
'
is found first in Exod. 18:19, where Jethro says to his son-in-law Moses: “I will
give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee.” The word is found only one other time in
the Hexateuch, and that is in Num. 24:14: “I will advise you” (
NASB
,
RSV
, “I will let you
know”;
JB
, “let me warn you”;
NEB
, “I will warn you”).
While
most often describes the “giving of good advice,” the opposite is
sometimes true. A tragic example was the case of King Ahaziah of Judah, whose mother
“was his counselor to do wickedly” (2 Chron. 22:3). The idea of “decision” is expressed
in Isa. 23:9: “The Lord of hosts hath purposed it” (
RSV
,
NEB
,
NASB
, “planned it”;
JB
,
“decision”).
B. Nouns.
(
0
, 3289), “counselor.” Perhaps the most familiar use of this root is the noun
form found in the messianic passage, Isa. 9:6. On the basis of the syntax involved, it is
probably better to translate the familiar “Wonderful Counselor” (
NASB
,
TEV
) as Wonder-
Counsellor (
JB
,
NAB
) or “Wonder of a Counsellor.” The
NEB
renders it “in purpose
wonderful.” Another possibility is that of separating the terms: “Wonderful, Counselor”
(
KJV
).