word will be looked for in vain, because human language is constructed for human affairs, and we can find no parallel in our transactions with one another for the wonderful and gracious mode in which God has set forth his loving-kindness to the human race in the Covenant confirmed in Christ. this, as in many other cases, the student of Scripture gradually learns to attach a new and sacred meaning to the words which he uses, and he is thus preparing for the day when linguistic difficulties shall have passed away, and when the tongue of the stammerer shall be loosed.'

6

In

The Messiah was set forth in the O. T. as the embodiment of the Divine Covenant. He was given as a covenant,' Is. 42. 6, 49. 8, 54. 10; Ez. 34. 25, 37. 26; He is (apparently) the angel (i.e. the agent) of the Covenant (Mal. 3. 1; compare chap. 2. 4); and all its terms are fulfilled in Him (Jer. 31. 32, 33, 32. 40; and Ez. 16. 59). He is thus its mediator, that is to say, the medium wherein the Disposition of God is carried into effect, whether as regards the individual or the race as a whole (Heb. 8. 6, 9. 15, and 12. 24). The inheritance which was given by promise to Christ (Gal. 3. 16), was conveyed by covenant (through His atoning work) to all believers (Gal. 3. 17, 29), who are made one with Christ by faith; and it is this union, first, of God with man in atonement; secondly, of man with God in faith, which is summed up in the word berith.

§ 1.]

Various words used for Worship.

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CHAPTER XVIII.

WORSHIP, PRAY, PRAISE, PREACH, TEACH.

1. Various words used for Worship.-§ 2. Shachah, to prostrate oneself. § 3. Note on Gen. 47. 31.-§ 4. Other instances of the use of the word. § 5. The worship rendered to Christ in the N. T.-§ 6. Other references to Worship in the N. T.-§ 7. Hebrew words which express Prayer.—§ 8. Prayer, according to the N. T.-§ 9. Hebrew words which express Praise and Blessing.—§ 10. The same, according to the N. T.-§ 11. Bashar, to evangelise, and Kara, to proclaim.-§ 12. Various senses and Greek renderings of Kara.-§ 13. Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher.-§ 14. Preaching and Evangelising in the N. T.-§ 15. Hebrew words used to express Teaching.

§ 1. Two classes of words are put together in this chapter. First, there are those adopted in Scripture to set forth man's public and private expression of his dependence on God, and of his gratitude towards the Being who 'giveth to all. men liberally and upbraideth not.' Prayer and praise are uniformly regarded in Scripture as actions well pleasing to God; they are based on an acknowledgment of His Personality, of His greatness, and of His power and willingness to interfere in the temporal and spiritual affairs of men. Secondly, there are the words by which the Jews, acting in accordance with Scripture, set forth the mode of conveying truth from man to man. In each case there is something of that pictorial power, to which attention has been called in previous chapters, and there is a force in the original words which must have given much instruction to the pious Jew.

The word worship is the general representative of the Hebrew Shachah (nn), and of the Greek πроσкννεîν. The following are the only exceptions:-The Chaldean word Segid

(D) is used in Dan. 2. 46, where we read that the king prostrated himself before Daniel, and commanded that they should offer sweet odours and an oblation unto him; it is also read throughout the third chapter for the prostration or worship which was to be offered to the image of gold. 'Atsav (ayy), is found in Jer. 44. 19, where it appears to signify the fashioning of cakes as images of the queen of heaven.' The words 'did we make her cakes to worship her,' might be rendered did we make her cakes to represent her?' In 2 Kin. 10. the word used for the worshippers of Baal is 'Eved, which signifies a servant or slave.

§ 2. Shachah originally signified prostration as a mark of respect, and is applied in Scripture not only to God and to false gods, but also to men, just as the English word 'worship' is used of the husband's reverence for his wife in the marriage service of the English Church, and is retained as a title of respect for a civil magistrate. Shachah is also rendered in the A. V. by the words bow, stoop, crouch, fall down, beseech humbly, make obeisance, and do reverence. It is used of Abraham's reverent prostration before his three visitors from another world, Gen. 18. 2; and of his obeisance before the Hittites, Gen. 23. 7, 12; it occurs in the blessing which Isaac gave to Jacob, 'Let nations bow down to thee: let thy mother's sons bow down to thee' (Gen. 27. 29); Jacob himself bows down or prostrates seven times on meeting Esau, Gen. 33. 3, 6, 7; Joseph dreams that he receives this worship from his parents and brethren, Gen. 37. 10; and he does receive it, Gen. 42. 6.

§ 3. In Gen. 47. 31, we read that Israel bowed himself (worshipped or prostrated) on the bed's head, or, according to the LXX, as quoted in the Epistle to the Hebrews, on the top of his staff. Various explanations are given of this

statement. The difference between the LXX and the Hebrew depends not upon the letters, but upon the vowel

$ 4.]

Other instances of the Use of the Word.

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points. On comparing the passage with others in which the same verb is used with the same preposition in Hebrew and in the LXX, it will be seen that the top of the rod was not that which he leaned upon, as might seem to be implied by the italics in the A. V., but that which he touched with his forehead in the act of prostration; and the only question remains whether the worship thus offered was directed to Joseph, in fulfilment of the dream and in reverence for his high office, or whether it was directed to God, in accordance with whose promise he exacted an oath from Joseph concerning the transmission of his bones to Canaan; or finally, whether by faith he saw in Joseph a type or foreshadowing of the true deliverer of the people. De Sacy in his French version, gives an interpretation to which Calvin is very much inclined also. Bearing in mind the Egyptian custom of carrying a staff of authority, such as may still be seen graven on the walls of the ancient temples, he holds that Jacob bowed to the staff which Joseph bore in his hand, and thereby recognised his son's secular authority and fulfilled the dream of Joseph.

§ 4. In Gen. 48. 12, we find Joseph worshipping or prostrating before his father, and in 49. 8, Judah has the promise that his father's children shall worship him-a repetition in fact of the promise made by Isaac to Jacob. In Ex. 11. 8, Moses says to Pharaoh, All these thy servants shall come to me and shall bow down themselves to me (or worship me).' Other instances of this secular but reverential worship are to be found in the history of Ruth and Boaz (Ruth 2. 10); of David and Jonathan (1 Sam. 20. 41); of David and Saul (1 Sam. 24. 8); of Nathan and David (1 Kin. 1. 23); and of the sons of the prophet and Elisha (2 Kin. 2. 15).

Turning to the more directly religious use of the word Shachah, it may be observed that the worship of God was to be carried out by the people themselves, and was not done

for them by the priest. It was not only to consist of outward prostration, such as they offered as a mark of reverence to one another, or such as the heathen' offered to their false gods, but was to be accompanied by the devotion of the heart. In a few passages it is referred to in connexion with the tabernacle or temple. The annual keeping of the three feasts was considered a mark of worship (1 Sam. 1. 3). Saul worshipped the Lord in company with Samuel (1 Sam. 15. 25), before the people; David came into the house of the Lord and worshipped' (2 Sam. 12. 20); Hezekiah (according to the account of Rab-Shakeh) said to the Jews Ye shall worship before the altar in Jerusalem' (2 Kin. 18. 22); the Psalmist says 'As for me I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy, and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple' (Ps. 5. 7); 'Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness' (29. 2); 'We will go into his tabernacles, we will worship at his footstool' (Ps. 132. 7); ‘I will worship towards thy holy temple' (Ps. 138. 2); they Shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem' (Is. 27. 13).

All these passages show clearly first that the worship of the Jew under the Old Testament was personal, not vicarious; and secondly, that it was often connected with the tabernacle, the temple, or some pledge of the presence of God with his people; moreover, it consisted not in external prostrations only, but in the expression of allegiance and devotion to God, whether by prayer or otherwise.

It is this reverent worship which was to be offered to the Messiah, as seems evident from Ps. 22. 27, All the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee'; verse 29, All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship; all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him '; Ps. 45. 11, 'He is thy Lord; and worship thou him '; Is. 49. 7, Thus saith the Lord . . . to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, kings