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Passages in which Enosh occurs.

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Is. 51. 12, 'Who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; and forgettest the Lord thy maker.'

§ 10. A few other passages in which the word occurs may be noticed. In Is. 8. 1, we read of a man's pen,' where the word Enosh may be used to denote the feebleness of the instrument by means of which the Divine message is conveyed, the treasure being in earthen vessels.

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In the same prophecy (chap. 66. 24) it is written, They shall go forth and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me.' Here we may be led from the use of the word Enosh to observe the folly which prompted such insignificant beings to oppose themselves to their Maker; and we may perhaps further gather that those that shall suffer the wrath of God hereafter will be degraded below the level of true humanity; they will not be known as sons of Adam but as heirs of wretchedness.

In Ez. 24. 17, the prophet is forbidden to mourn or to eat 'the bread of men.' Here the Rabbinical commentators incline to take the word men as signifying other men, according to an ordinary Hebrew idiom, and they refer to the custom of the food of the mourner being supplied by a neighbour. Others read it the bread of husbands,' i.e. of widowed husbands, and the usage of the word in Ruth 1. 11, and perhaps in Jer. 29. 6 (in each of which passages Enosh occurs) gives some slight ground for this view. Others again consider the word Enosh here signifies incurable or miserable.

The Authorised Version rendering of the word in 1 Sam. 2. 33, 'in the flower of their age,' is hardly justified by other passages, and might well be replaced by a more literal translation without departing from English idiom; it has the sanction, however, of the Vulgate and of Luther. In 1 Sam. 4. 9, it is strange to find Enosh in the phrase, 'quit you like men,' but it may be here taken as the plural of Ish.

§ 11. When we come to enquire into the etymology and original meaning of the word, we find it intimately connected with the Hebrew root anash. It is true, as observed above, that when Enosh is found in the plural (men') it may be taken as the plural form of Ish, but the word in the singular number yet remains to be accounted for, and there seems to be good reason for connecting it with the root abovenamed.

The word anash occurs (usually in the form anush) in the following passages only :—

2 Sam. 12. 15, David's child was 'very sick.' Job 34. 6,My wound is incurable.' Psalm 69. 20, 'I am full of heaviness.'

Isaiah 17. 11, 'Desperate sorrow.'

Jerem. 15. 18, 'Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed?'

Jerem. 17. 9,

Jerem. 17. 16,

Jerem. 30. 12,

Jerem. 30. 15,

The heart is 'desperately wicked.'

Neither have I desired the woeful day (LXX, 'the day of man.')

Thy bruise is incurable and thy wound is grievous.' 'Thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity.'

Micah 1. 9, Her wound is incurable.'

These passages fix the meaning of the root. But it may be asked why a word which signifies incurable should be used to denote man. In order to find the right answer, it seems best to go back to the name Enosh in Gen. 4. 26, and 5. 6. Seth had been appointed' in the place of Abel ('vanity') as the righteous seed, but alas! time went on, and Seth's son was born, and man remained unchanged and unredeemed. Then began men to call upon the name of Jehovah.' The race was incurable,' but the Lord was its hope. Thus, Seth's son may have been named Enosh, that is to say incurable,' because he was utterly unable to redeem himself from the bondage of corruption. This view of the matter is taken by Cocceius, who says that, as Adam was

§§ 12. 13.]

Enosh and Gever.

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the name given to all who sprang from the dust of earth, so Enosh became the title of all those who are heirs of corruption.'

§ 12. The Messiah was never designated by the name Enosh, because, though appointed to become a descendant of Adam, and destined to be made in the likeness of sinful flesh,' yet in Him there was to be no sin. But it is a remarkable thing that when the glorious coming of the Messiah to rule the nations is unfolded in Daniel 7. 13, the Lord is described as one like the son of man,' literally one like a son of Enosh.' Compare the description in Rev. 5. 6, ‘A Lamb as it had been slain.' He who shall be manifested in glory hereafter was crucified in weakness, and the marks of his humiliation will adorn his glory.

§ 13. The last name for man which has to be noticed is Gever (1), which is used more than sixty times in the Old Testament, and represents man as a mighty being. This title is at first sight inconsistent with the name Enosh; but no one can weigh well the facts which human nature daily presents to his observation without coming to the conclusion that man is a marvellous compound of strength and weakness, and that while he is rightly called Enosh by reason of the corruption of his nature, he may also lay claim to the title of Gever by virtue of the mighty energies which are capable of being exhibited in his life and character.

The Greek translators have rendered Gever by ȧvýp in the majority of places where it occurs, but in fourteen passages they have been content with the more general word ἄνθρωπος. In the English Bible it is usually rendered Man, but in some places the original sense of the word has been adhered to, and it has been translated mighty.

The earliest passages where the word is found, with the exception of Gen. 6. 4,1 are-Ex. 10. 11, 'Go now ye that

In this verse we meet with three of the four words under discussion

are men;' and Ex. 12. 37, 'About six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside women and children.' It is used of the male sex as opposed to the female in Deut. 22. 5, and is rendered 'man by man' where individuals are distinguished from tribes in Jos. 7. 14, and 1 Chron. 23. 3. It is twice applied to David with a significant reference to its real meaning, namely, in 1 Sam. 16. 18, 'A mighty valiant man' (lit. 'a mighty man of strength'), and 2 Sam. 23. 1, The man who was raised up on high.' It is noticeable that Balaam uses this word when he designates himself 'the man whose eyes are open,' Num. 24. 3, 15.

The name Gever is applied in irony to the warriors in Sisera's host in Jud. 5. 30, ‘To every man a damsel or two.' It is used to designate the upright man' in 2 Sam. 22. 26, and its parallel, Ps. 18. 25. The 'very able men for the work of the service of the house of God' (1 Chron. 9. 13), the 'men of might' who gathered themselves to David (1 Chron. 12. 8), the chief men' of the sons of Eleazer (1 Chron. 24. 4; cf. 26. 12), David's 'mighty and valiant men' (1 Chron. 28. 1), and the mighty men of Abijah's and Jeroboam's army (2 Chron. 13. 3), are all described by this word. We have now referred to all the passages in the historical books where the word occurs, with the exception of four passages in Ezra where it is used of the men' who set to work to build the walls of Jerusalem, and certainly they were well worthy of the name (Ezra 4. 21, 5. 4, 10, 6. 8).

§ 14. The above-named passages plainly show the original meaning and the general usage of Gever, but in the poetical books, in which this word occurs with greater frequency, there is not always the same marked clearness of signification. In the Book of Job there appears to be a slight irony in

‘daughters of men' (Adam), ‘mighty men' (Gever), and ‘men (Enosh) of renown.' Enosh here cannot point to weakness, though it may point to sinfulness, but probably it is to be taken in a general sense of the plural, as signifying 'persons.'

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its use.

Thus:

Usage of the word Gever.

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Shall a man (mighty though he be in his own estimation) be more pure than his Maker?' (4. 17); ' Are thy years as the days of a (mighty) man?' (10. 5); ‘(mighty) man dieth and wasteth away' (14. 10); If a (mighty) man die, shall he live again?' (ver. 14). O that one might plead for a (mighty) man with God, as a man (lit. son of Ish) pleadeth for his neighbour' (16. 21); Can a (mighty) man be profitable unto God?' (22. 2); That he may hide pride from (mighty) man' (33. 17); see also 33. 29, 38. 3, 40. 7.

The word Gever is used in Ps. 34. 8, Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him,' where it points to the fact that however great a man may be, yet he is not to trust in his own strength, but in the living God. The same explanation may

The steps of a man (Auare ordered (or established)

be given of its use in Ps. 37. 23, thorised Version, ' of a good man') by the Lord.' Compare Ps. 40. 4, 52. 7, 94. 12, and 128. 4. In Ps. 88. 4, we read, 'I am as a (mighty) man that hath no strength'; the contrast here indicated between the name and the condition is very striking. The Psalmist says again (89.48), What man is he that liveth and shall not see death?' The point of this question comes out far more clearly when the use of the word Gever is noticed, and the sentiment might be thus expressed, 'Is there any living man so mighty as to be able to avoid death ?'

The word occurs a few times in the Book of Proverbs, the most noteworthy passage being chap. 28. 3, 'A poor man that oppresseth the poor is like a sweeping rain which leaveth no food.' A man may be poor and yet powerful, and the tyranny of him who is poor as well as mighty is never satisfied until it has swept away all that is before it. Before leaving this verse it may be noted that two very different words for 'poor' are used in it, the first signifying a needy man, and the second one who is helpless, wretched, and despised.