Сí. XXV. § 1.] Hebrew words to express Destruction. 425

CHAPTER XXV.

DESTROY, PERISH.

§ 1. Variety of Hebrew words used to express Destruction.—§ 2. Note on Num. 24. 17.-§ 3. Observation on the usage of the words already discussed. § 4. Meaning and usage of the word Avad.-§ 5. Its representatives in the N. T.-§ 6. Usage and meaning of Shachath.— § 7. Its representative in the N. T.-§ 8. Usage and meaning of Shamad. § 9. Various senses of Charam.-§ 10. The extermination of the Canaanites.—§ 11. Representatives of Charam in the N. T.

§ 1. MORE than fifty Hebrew words have been rendered destroy, destruction, or perish. Some of them need only a brief mention, but others are of greater importance.

Aid (TN) is occasionally so rendered, as in Job 18. 12; and Prov. 1. 27. It is usually rendered calamity, and signifies that which oppresses and straitens, the tribulation and anguish' of Rom. 2. 9.

Asaph (D), which occurs in 1 Sam. 15. 6, means to gather, and we might render the passage 'lest I include you with them.' Compare Ps. 26. 9; also Zeph. 1. 2, 3 ('consume').

Asham (D) is once rendered destroy, viz. in Ps. 5. 10, 'destroy thou them,' i.e. condemn them, or deal with them as guilty. See chap 6. § 14.

In 2 Chron. 22. 7, the 'destruction' of Ahaziah is literally his treading down; and in Is. 10. 25, the destruction of the Assyrians means their being brought to nought or wasted away (so far as this world is concerned). In Prov. 21. 7, 'The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them,' the verb (1) means to saw, sweep away, or drag down, The destruction of the seed royal by Athaliah (2 Chron,

22. 10), is described by a word which signifies to inflict a pestilence' (777); compare the use of the word 'pestilent or pestilential' in our own language.

Daca (7), to dash in pieces, or crush, is used in Job 6. 9, That it would please God to destroy me'; 34. 25, ' He overturneth them in the night, so that they are destroyed'; Ps. 90. 3, Thou turnest man to destruction.' Compare our own mode of saying that a man is crushed' and his hopes 'dashed.'

Bala' (y), to swallow up, is used several times, e.g. in Job 2. 3, 'To destroy him without a cause'; 10. 8, 'Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about, yet thou dost destroy me'; Ps. 55. 9, 'Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues'; Is. 19. 3, 'I will destroy the counsel thereof'; 25. 7, 8, He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death in victory.' Here the same word is rendered 'destroy' in one verse and swallow up' in the other; the last clause might be rendered 'He will utterly destroy death.'

Damah (7), to be silent, or to cease, is rendered destroy in Ez. 27. 32, 'What city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea'; and Hos. 4. 5, 6, 'I will destroy thy mother; my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.' We might perhaps give a more literal rendering here, and say, 'My people are silenced for lack of knowledge.'

In Deut. 7. 23, and in 1 Sam. 5. 9, 11, the word used (on) is supposed to signify commotion or confusion; a similar word (Don), signifying discomfiture, is found in Ex. 23. 27, Deut. 2. 15, and Ps. 144. 6. Harag (n), to kill, is used in Ps. 78. 47, He destroyed their vines with hail.' Haras (D), to tear down, occurs in 1 Chron. 20. 1; of the destruc

§ 1.] Hebrew words used to express Destruction.

427 tion of Rabbah, in Ps. 11. 3; of the destruction of foundations, in Is. 14. 17; of the destruction of cities, in Is. 19. 18, where we read of the city of destruction,' or, as the margin has it, the city of Heres, or the sun.' It also occurs in Ps. 28. 5, and Is. 49. 17, 19.

Chaval (an), to bind, is used in Ezra 6. 12; Prov. 13. 13; Ecc. 5. 6; Mic. 2. 10; Is. 10. 27, "The yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing'; 54. 16, 'I have created the waster to destroy'; Dan. 2. 44, 6. 26, 7. 14, 'In the days of these kings shall the god of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed'; 4. 23, 'Hew down the tree and destroy it.' Perhaps the origin of the figure may be illustrated by our Lord's words, where He teaches us that the binding of a strong man is the preliminary to the spoliation of his goods.

In Prov. 31. 8, the persons described as 'appointed for destruction' are literally sons of passing away' (n). Charav (1), to dry up, occurs in Jud. 16. 24, 'The destroyer of our country'; and in 2 Kin. 19. 17; Ezra 4. 15; Ps. 9. 6, 'Destructions are come to a perpetual end.' The exhaustion of a country, city, or individual, is evidently referred to in these passages.

In seven passages in the Proverbs destruction is literally a breaking up' (л); in Ps. 74. 8, Let us destroy them altogether,' the idea of violent dealing () is implied; in Ex. 15. 9 the verb signifies to take possession (), and the passage is rendered in the margin, 'My hand shall repossess them.' In Job 21. 20, calamity (7) is represented; whilst in Job 9. 22, Lev. 26. 44, and 2 Chron. 31. 1, Calah (n), to finish, to complete, and so to bring to an end, is used. Carath (n), to cut off, is rendered 'destroy' in Ex. 8. 9; Lev. 26. 22; Jud. 4. 24; and 1 Kin. 15. 13. Mul (b), which also signifies to cut off, is found in Ps. 118. 10, 11, 12; Cathath (nn), to beat, in Deut. 1. 44,

2 Chron. 15. 6, and Job 4. 20; Muth (ni), to die, in 2 Sam. 20. 19, and Job 33. 22; and Machah (nn), to blot out, in Gen. 6. 7, 7. 4, 23, in the history of the deluge; also in Jud. 21. 17, and Prov. 31. 3.

In Prov. 15. 25, 'The Lord will destroy the house of the proud,' the word (D) signifies to pluck up, and hence to root out. In Job 19. 26-Though after my skin (worms) destroy this (body) '—the word (p) means to cut down. In Is. 42. 14, I will destroy,' is literally 'I will make desolate' (). In Ps. 9. 6, Thou hast destroyed cities,' Natha (n), to tear, is used; and in Ex. 34. 13, Deut. 7. 5, Job 19. 10, Ps. 52. 5, and Ez. 26. 12, Nathats (n), to tear down, or beat down, is found. Tsadah (ny), to cut down, is the word in Zeph. 3.6. Saphah (□), to scrape, is found in Gen. 18. 23, 24, Wilt thou destroy the righteous with the wicked . . . wilt thou destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous'; also in 1 Chron. 21. 12; Ps. 40. 14, Let them be confounded that seek after my soul (i.e. life) to destroy it'; and Prov. 13. 23, Much food is in the tillage of the poor, but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment.'

Shavar (1), to shiver or break in pieces, is rendered destroy' about thirty times, e.g. in Prov. 16. 18, Pride goeth before destruction'; 29. 1, 'He that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy'; Is. 1. 28, 'The destruction of the sinners and transgressors shall be together'; 59. 7, 'Wasting and destruction are in their paths'; 60. 18, "Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders.' Shiah (n), desolation, occurs in Ps. 73. 18, and Is. 24. 12; the word Shuah (ANI), has the same meaning in Ps. 35. 8, 17, and 63. 9; Shamem (any), to lay waste, or to be astonished, in Ecc.

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Hebrew words for Destruction.

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7. 16, and Hosea 2. 12; Shasah (nov), to spoil, in Jer. 50. 11; Shacol (), to bereave, in Deut. 32. 25.

Shadad (77), to deal violently, is rendered 'destroy' ten times, e.g. in Ps. 137. 8, 'O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed' (P. B. version, wasted with misery'); Hos. 7. 13, Destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me'; Joel 1. 15, 'The day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.'

The word used of the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar in Ezra 5. 12, is Sathar (n), to hide. In Ps. 17. 4, the word () signifies violence; in Job 30. 24, 31. 29, 'we find Pid (75), calamity; in Prov. 13. 20, Rua' (y), evil; in Ez. 7. 25, Kaphḍah (75p), cutting off; in Jer. 46. 20, the word for destruction is taken from the nipping (p) of the gad-fly. Kathav (p), contagion, is found in Deut. 32. 24; Ps. 91. 6; and Hos. 13. 14, O death, I will be thy destruction.' Tsamath (ny), to cut off, is the word used in 2 Sam. 22. 41; Ps. 18. 40, 69. 4, 73. 27, 101. 8.

§ 2. In Num. 24. 17, we read, 'A sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners (or smite through the princes) of Moab, and destroy all the children of Seth.' The word here rendered destroy is somewhat doubtful. Some take it as meaning dig-hence dig through or spoil; others consider that it is used in a favourable sense of the 'building up the wall' of Seth; others, again, deriving it from Karar (p), understand it to signify refresh.' If the last view be true, the passage points forward to a time of refreshing,' such as is referred to in Acts 3. 19, 21.

§ 3. The words hitherto noticed, though very numerous, are used only in a few passages, and do not play a conspicuous part in Scripture. They point to destruction as a calamity, as a work of breaking down or tearing up, as an act of violence, or as a deed of desolation. They apply to