§ 21.]

Words marking Intelligence.

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§ 19. Coming to the words which designate man's intellectual capacities, we may begin with the word wisdom. This word generally answers in the A. V. to the Hebrew Chacam (n). This is an important word in Scripture, and is used to represent the discernment of good and evil, prudence in secular matters, skill in arts, experience in Divine things, and even dexterity in magic. In the reflexive form it signifies to be wise in one's own eyes, and hence to outwit another. The general rendering of the LXX is σοφία, which is used in the same largeness of sense in the N. T. See especially James 3. 17.

§ 20. The understanding is most generally represented by the word bin (), to perceive, to be intelligent. This word, again, is used with many shades of meaning, such as to consider, discern, feel, know, look, mark, perceive, view. The LXX usually represents this word by σύνεσις, but occasionally by ἐπιστήμη and φρόνησις.

§ 21. Sacal (b), to look, to be knowing, and hence to prosper, is used to represent a certain kind of wisdom in Gen. 3. 6, and a good many other passages. The LXX renderings are generally the same as those last mentioned. In Ex. 23. 8, The gift blindeth the wise,' we find the word pakah (p), which signifies open-eyed. In Prov. 8. 5, 'armah (ny), subtilty is used, being the same word as that which designates the craft of the serpent in Gen. 3. 1; Tha'am (DVD), to taste, is used in Dan. 2. 14, and Job 12. 20; Yada' (y), to know, in a few passages; and shama' (yo) to hear, in others.

One word remains to be noticed, namely, tushiah (nn). The LXX renderings for this word are very variable. Some critics understand it as signifying essentia or existent being. Hence it is rendered that which is in Job 11. 6, 26. 3. It is rendered substance in Job 30. 22, Thou dissolvest my substance.' A shortened form of the word () has the

same rendering in Prov. 8. 21. In Is. 28. 29, it is translated working, 'wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.' In Job 5. 12, we find the word enterprise adopted—' Their hands cannot perform their enterprise' (literally perhaps 'that which is to be '). The most general rendering, however, is wisdom, or sound wisdom. Thus we read in Job 6. 13, 'Is wisdom quite driven from me?' Job 12. 16, With him is wisdom and strength '; Prov. 2. 7, 'He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous'; 3. 21, 'Keep sound wisdom and discretion'; 8. 14, Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom'; 18. 1, Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom' here the margin has intermeddleth with every business'; Mic. 6. 9, The Lord's voice crieth unto the city, and (the man of) wisdom shall see thy name'; the margin has here Thy name shall see that which is.'

The usage of this peculiar word may teach us that true wisdom is a substantial knowledge of the essence or reality of things. This knowledge is closely connected with right action. With God all that is is known; man, on the contrary, knows only in part at present, but hereafter he will know things not as they seem, but as they are.

$1. The Pictorial Power of the Hebrew Language. 127

CHAPTER VI.

SIN, WICKEDNESS, TRESPASS, AND GUILT.

§ 1. The pictorial power of the Hebrew language.—§ 2. Chatha, its general meaning and usage as Sin.-§ 3. Its peculiar usage in the Piel form of the verb.-§ 4. Its various representations in the LXX.-§ 5. Avah, or Wrong.-§ 6. 'Amal, or Travail. § 7. 'Aval, or Evil.— § 8. 'Avar, or Transgression.-§ 9. Ra', or Mischief.-§ 10. Pasha,' or Rebellion. § 11. Rasha', or Wickedness.-§ 12. Ma'al, or Brech of Trust. § 13. Aven, or Vanity.-§ 14. Asham, or Guilt; examination of the passages in which it is referred to, and conclusion as to its meaning.- 15. Words for sin, &c., in the N. T.

§ 1. THE pictorial power of the Hebrew language is seldom brought more prominently before the student than in its mode of designating the various aspects of evil. Every word is a piece of philosophy; nay, it is a revelation. The observer of human affairs is painfully struck by the wearisomeness of life, and by the amount of toil and travail which the children of men have to undergo to obtain a bare existence; he sees the hollowness, vanity, and unreality of much that seems bright and charming at first; he notes that human nature, in its social and individual aspects, is distorted and out of course; that the chain of love which ought to bind the great family in one has been snapped asunder; that isolation and desolation have taken the place of unity and happiness; that the relationship between man and his Maker has become obscured, and that even when man knows the will of God, there is something in his nature which prompts him to rebel against it; lastly, he comes to the conviction that this state of things is not original, but that like a dark cloud, it has intervened between the children of

earth and the sun of righteousness, and has poured trouble upon humanity, opposing men's best instincts, and frustrating the original design of their creation.

The Hebrew Bible meets us with a full acknowledgment of these manifold aspects of human suffering, and blends together wrong-doing and suffering to a most remarkable degree, setting forth sin in its relation to God, to society, and to a man's own nature, depicting it in its negative aspect as iniquity or unrighteousness, and in its positive aspect as rebellion and a breach of trust.

§ 2. The word translated sin throughout the O. T., with very rare exceptions, is derived from the word Chatha (N), which originally signifies to miss the mark, and answers to its universal Greek representative åμaprávo, notifying the fact that all wrong-doing is a failure or a coming short of that aim which God intended all His children to reach. The word is used in its original sense in Jud. 20. 16, where we read of seven hundred chosen men left-handed, every one of whom could sling stones at an hair's breadth, and not miss.' If man was originally made in the image of God, it must have been implanted in him as a first principle that he should live as God lives, or, to use a venerable idiom, that he should walk with God. Every departure, therefore, from the law of Right is a coming short of the purpose for which man was made, and a missing the goal which ought to be reached.

On examining the general usage of this word through the O. T., it will be found that it usually implies blame-worthiness, and that it is very largely used in confessions, to express a conviction that wrong has been done either towards God or towards man. This wrong is not necessarily wilful, for many sins were committed through ignorance-see Lev. 4. 2, 5. 15, Num. 15. 28. Sin is not usually regarded as a condition, but as a definite act, whether of thought, word,

$ 3.]

Usage of Chatha, to Sin.

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or deed. The word was applied not only to moral evil and to idolatry (which is theological evil), but also to breach of ceremonial regulations.

The following are the only passages in which other words besides Chatha have been rendered sin by the translators of the A. V. In Lev. 4. 13, and Num. 15. 28, 29, we find the word Shagah (n), to err; in 1 Kin. 17. 18, 'Aven (¡y), vanity or iniquity is used; in Prov. 10. 12, 19, 28. 13, Pesha' (), rebellion or transgression is adopted.

Besides the general rendering for Chatha, we find it otherwise rendered by our translators in a few passages. Thus it is rendered fault in Gen. 41. 9, and Ex. 5. 16; trespass in 1 Kin. 8. 31; harm in Lev. 5. 16, 'He shall make amends for the harm he has done'; blame in Gen. 43. 9, 'Let me bear the blame for ever,' compare chap. 44. 32; offend in Gen. 20. 9, 'What have I offended thee?' also in Gen. 40. 1; 1 Kin. 1. 21; 2 Kin. 18. 14; Ecc. 10. 4; Is. 29. 21; and Jer. 37. 18.

3. The word under consideration must not be dismissed until the meaning which it has in the Piel or Intensive Voice has been noticed. There are several verbs which assume a peculiar technical or ceremonial signification in this voice, and in its passive form, the Hithpael, but none of them present more remarkable peculiarities than the word Chatha. The Piel form of this verb is rendered as follows:to make reconciliation, 2 Chron. 29. 24; to bear loss, Gen. 31. 39; to offer for sin (Leviticus passim); to cleanse from sin, Ex. 29. 36; Lev. 14. 49, 52; Ez. 43. 20, 22, 23, 45. 18; to purge or purify, Lev. 8. 15; Num. 8. 7, 21, 19. 9, 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 31. 19, 20, 23; also in the familiar words of the Psalm (51. 7), 'Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean,' and in Job. 41. 25, where we read of the Leviathan that when he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid; by reason of breakings they purify themselves.'

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