$$ 4. 5.]

Earth and Land in the N. T.

415

The Greek rendering for adamah is always yn. The same word is the most general rendering for erets, but we also find Xapa, territory, in about fifty passages, and oixovμévn, a habitable world, in nine passages. There are other occasional renderings, but none which call for special notice.

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4. The word for earth,' in the sense of earthen vessels, potsherds, or potter's clay, is always Cheras (n), except in 2 Sam. 17. 28, where Yatsar (y) is used, referring to the vessels being moulded. In Dan. 2. 10, There is not a man upon the earth, &c.' the word used (nwa'), signifies dry land; whilst 'Aphar (v), dust, is found in Gen. 26. 15; Is. 2. 19; Dan. 12. 2; Job 8. 19, 28. 2, 30. 6, and 41. 33, in most of which passages holes or cavities in the upper surface of the earth are referred to.

§ 5. In the N. T. it is to be remembered, as in the O. T., that where the Greek representation of erets is found in contrast or juxtaposition with heaven, we know that it must signify the earth as a whole. This would apply to such passages as the following :—

'Heaven and earth shall pass away,' Matt. 5. 18.

"Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,' Matt. 6. 10. 'Whatsoever ye bind in earth shall be bound in heaven,' Matt. 18. 18.

In some passages the interpretation admits of a doubt. Thus Matt. 5. 5, ' Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.' Here our Lord is making use of the LXX rendering of Ps. 37. 11, in which passage it is natural to suppose that the land of Canaan would be primarily referred to. Here, however, the Hebrew word is erets, as was noticed above; and thus the larger sense of the word is admissible. In Eph. 6. 3, That thou mayest live long in the earth,' the Hebrew (Ex. 20. 12), is adamah, and the land of Canaan is plainly meant.

The context in these and other cases is the only means

whereby the reader can decide whether by yŷ is signified the soil, the territory, or the world.

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§ 6. The general word translated world in the A. V. is tevel (an). There are a few exceptions: thus in Is. 38. 11, we read, 'I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world'; here the word (b) may perhaps signify the place of rest, cessation, forbearance. In Ps. 17. 14, From men of the world,' and 49. 1, 'Inhabitants of the world,' we find a word (75), which may refer to the transitory state of things in this world which 'passeth away.' It is rendered age in Job 11. 17; Ps. 39. 5, and 89. 47. In Ps. 22. 27; Is. 23. 17, 62. 11, and Jer. 25. 26, erets is used. 'Olam (ny), is found in Ps. 73. 12, 'These prosper in the world'; Ecc. 3. 11, 'He hath set the world in their heart'; and in Is. 45. 17, 64. 4.

By tevel is signified, first, the solid material on which man dwells, and which was formed, founded, established, and disposed by God; and secondly, the inhabitants thereof. It is usually rendered οἰκουμένη in the LXX, never κόσμος, which was originally used only to denote order and ornament.

The origin of the word is a little doubtful. A word spelt similarly, and used in Lev. 18. 23, and other passages, signifies pollution, confusion, or dispersion (from ). It is supposed, however, by Gesenius to be connected with the root yaval (b), to flow, and to indicate the stream of people with which the world is flooded. Perhaps a slight confirmation of this view might be derived from the fact that waters are often taken in Scripture as a symbol of large populations. Whilst this point remains in uncertainty, the general application of the word is not at all doubtful.

In one or two passages only does the word tevel or

We find the root rendered forbear in Ez. 3. 27; frail in Ps. 39. 4; and rejected in Is. 53. 3.

$ 7.]

The same in the N. T

417

oikovμén appear to refer to a limited portion of the earth. Perhaps Is. 24. 4, may be mentioned as an example.

§ 7. In the New Testament the word oixovμévn is certainly used of the Roman Empire in Luke 2. 1, and perhaps in the quotation in Rom. 10. 18, where the larger sense of the word implied in the Psalms could hardly be intended. In other passages we must understand the word as signifying all the earth, e. g. in Matt. 24. 14; Acts 17. 31; Heb. 1. 6, 2. 5. Prophetic students have a right to either interpretation in Rev. 3. 10, 12. 9, and 16. 14, but the Roman use of the word is not so likely to be adopted by St. John as the Jewish use in the larger sense.

EE

CHAPTER XXIV.

HEAVEN, HOST OF HEAVEN, FIRMAMENT.

§ 1. Hebrew words for Heaven.-§ 2. Shammaim, its various significations. § 3. The same in the N. T.-§ 4. 'The Queen of Heaven.'-§ 5. 'The Host of Heaven.'-§ 6. The Firmament: the ideas conveyed by the Hebrew and the Greek words.

§ 1. THE Hebrew word generally in use to represent the heaven and also the air, is Shammaim (D). Sometimes it signifies the atmosphere immediately surrounding the earth, in which the fowls of the air' fly; sometimes it is used of the space in which the clouds are floating; in other places it refers to the vast expanse through which the stars are moving in their courses. Shammaim is also opposed to Sheol, the one being regarded as a place of exaltation, the other of degradation; the one being represented as the dwelling-place of the Most High and of the angels of God, the other as the abode of the dead.

In Ps. 77. 18, where we read, "The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven,' the word Galgal (b), which is used, probably signifies a whirlwind. The LXX has v TÔ TPOXÊ. In Ps. 68. 4, Extol him that rideth upon the heavens,' we find the word 'Arabah (na¬y), which generally means a desert; hence clouds of sand, and clouds generally. In Ps. 89. 6 and 37, the word Shachak (prv), rendered heavens, originally signifies dust; compare our expression 'a cloud of dust.' In Is. 5. 30, 'The light is darkened in the heavens thereof,' our margin has in the destruction thereof'; the Hebrew word (y) used here probably signifies darkness.

§ 2.]

Shammaim, its various significations.

419

§ 2. In all but these few passages the word Shammaim is used where Heaven is found in the A. V. It is to be noticed that the form of the word is neither singular nor plural but dual. This is supposed by some commentators to imply the existence of a lower and an upper heaven, or of a physical and spiritual heaven-'the heaven and the heaven of heavens.' The original idea represented by the root is generally considered to be height, and if this is a right conjecture, the word exactly answers to its Greek equivalent oùpavós, and to its English translation heaven,' that which is heaven or heaved up. It includes all space that is not occupied by the terrestrial globe, and extends from the air we breathe and the winds which we feel around us to the firmament or expanse which contains the innumerable stars. This it includes, and exceeds, for where our intellect ceases to operate, and fails to find a limit to the extension of space, here faith steps in and tells us that whilst before the eye of the body there is spread out an infinity of space, the possession of a supermaterial nature brings us into communion with a Being whose nature and condition cannot adequately be described by terms of locality or extension. The heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him; the countless stars are not only known and numbered by Him, but are called into existence and fixed in their courses by His will and wisdom. Wherever He is, there the true heaven is, and the glories of the firmament faintly shadow forth the ineffable bliss which those must realise who are brought into relationship with Him.

The popular phraseology about 'going to heaven' represents the truth, but certainly not in the form in which it is generally presented in Scripture. We rarely read in the Old or New Testament that the godly will go to heaven, either at death or after the resurrection. We are rather told of a kingdom being set up on earth, of a heavenly city descending