Posts
(The Examples Used Below are for the Hebrew Term ‘eved, Servant)
A. Determine what the word could
mean by exploring the semantic range.
1. Find the Strong’s word number
in reference works or in online sources or Bible software. Do not read the
articles on the term yet. Just write down possible English nuances of the term.
There are several ways to get the Strong’s number. Even if you know Hebrew, it
will save you time to have this number. Here are some options for various tools
you may be able to access.
$ One way to get the Strong’s number is
to use Index to Brown, Drivers, and
Briggs Hebrew Lexicon to find the BDB page number for your term of study. If
your version of BDB has the Strong’s numbers added in the margin, you now have
the number.
$ Look up a text that has the Hebrew
term in your Hebrew English Interlinear as some of these will have the Strong’s
number under each term.
$ The Complete Biblical Library has its own number under each word in the
Bible section. Look it up in the dictionary section with their number. At the
bottom of the article, it lists the resources which include the Strong’s number
for the term.
$ In BibleWorks software, put your mouse
on the English translation of the term you are studying in the NAS or NAU. In
the pop-up window, the Strong’s number is inside the carrots <001 >.
While here, write down the nuances listed in this pop-up window or the other
sources above you used.
$ In E-Sword software (download for
free) look up the verse in KJV+ or Hebrew OT+. The Strong’s number is beside
the word.
$ In Logos Bible software, look up any
verse that has the term. Right click on the English translation. The pop-up window
will have the Strong’s number in it.
Now that you have this number,
look up the English word in Strong’s Concordance and find the first verse you
know that has the same Hebrew term being searched. It may be your verse of
study. Verify that you have the right Hebrew term. The number will be to the
right of the Hebrew term in Strong’s Concordance. You have already used the
online tools, software, and books you have for the shortest route to get the
Strong’s number for your term. Write it down in your word study notes. E.g., Strong’s
5650. If your sources provided page numbers for other tools, include them in
your notes as well, with an abbreviation of the work’s title (e.g., T.W.O.T.,
716).
2. Looks up this word number in
the back of Young’s Concordance under the “Transliterated Hebrew” section and
“The English Universal Subject Guide” and in the back of the NASB Concordance
and or Strong’s Concordance Hebrew dictionary by the Strong’s number. Write the
nuances listed from any of these tools you have under this section that are
new. You can also look in Vines
Expository Dictionary and Wilson’s
Old Testament Word Studies for additional nuances, but don’t rely too
heavily on these two tools as they have some weaknesses. Skim read Brown,
Drivers, and Briggs (BDB) and Holiday’s Hebrew
Lexicon for more nuances without carefully reading the definitions yet.
This is the beginning of considering the semantic range of the Hebrew term, so
you don’t want to be influenced by experts before you look at the biblical contexts
with the nuances you collected and see which one is best for each verse.
[e.g., ‘eved, slave, servant, social inferior, bondsman, worshiper
of God, messenger of God, Messiah, attendant, officer, government official,
male servant, male slave, dependent, minister, advisor, political subject,
military subordinate, military officer, vassal kings, tributary nations,
officers of a king, ambassadors, soldiers of the army and officers.]
If you have a word that has numerous uses, this will need to be done quickly. You will need really sound reasons from the context to differ significantly from modern solid translations. You have your lists of nuances above, but there may be more nuances. There are some cases where the student will be justified in differing from the ASV, ESV, HCSB, NIV, NKJV or NASB because of the methods committee’s use in selecting the final gloss choice in their translation that the committee members are sworn to not share with the public. You are not concerned with copyright laws, differing from standard translations to make yours unique enough to sell or appeasing popular misconceptions. If the KJV or ASV had the best choice of nuance for a verse, use that one. Context is king and at this point you have avoided a strong influence from the Lexicons and word study articles. You have done your own work. After you have charted every use of the part of speech chosen (e.g., noun) of this term in the section selected, make a shorter list of all the nuances used. Under each of these nuances, list four to ten verses references that will provide samples of this shade of meaning. Include the phrase in which the term is found. Make the list like this:
1. Male servant (‘eved)
Gen 12:16 gave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male servants and female servants and female donkeys . . .
Gen 24:35 given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants . . .
2. Government official, cabinet member (‘eved)
Gen 20:8 So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his government officials and told them all these things . . .
Gen 40:20 On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his government officials . . .
4. Depending on the tools you can access, read the Complete Word Study Dictionary Old Testament Lexicon definition, BDB, T.W.O.T., Holliday, TLOT, HALOT closely. Summarize the content of these Lexicons for additional nuances and the semantic rage (domain) of the term with this additional information. Go back and correct any verses you now feel certain you chose the wrong gloss for from reading the context and applying the available nuances. Update your list of nuances as well. But don’t force the resources articles contents into a text. Context is still king and will limit the options of nuance choices.
5. Consult scholarly but trustworthy commentaries. Find the first usage of the term in that Bible book and look at any more well know verses that include the term. The commentators tend to define important terms the first time they are used in a biblical book or in more well know verses or controversial ones that are often misinterpreted. They may cite scholarly articles that helped them reach their conclusions for a particular nuance. Because they are commenting on verses in your chart created in # 3 above, as well as your list of nuances with verse support, you may update your nuance choice now that you have the additional information. But this should be rare, as you applied your list of glosses from the sources above to the context of the paragraph and checked formal equivalent English translations for their choices before selecting yours. And because you will be extremely careful with the clause in the biblical text that you are using this study to help you exegete. It is not a big problem if you did not choose the best nuance for every verse as you work out the semantic range. In some verses several nuances will fit within the context and that is fine for our purposes. Summarize the information from the commentaries in your notes.
Next, the student should review remarks from scholars on the term in word study books, Bible encyclopedias, and Bible dictionaries. Some of these will be high-quality works. Thus, you should not ignore them. Summarize the information from these sources next. List the name of the source, then write a conclusion of their insights in a paragraph or two.
B. Consider the etymology of the term you are studying.
1. Look at etymological resources and note how they compare and differ from your study to this point. Options include Ernest Klein, A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language and Jeff Benner, The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible. Write down the definitions and prepare a concluding paragraph from any insights acquired.
[‘eved, e.g., The basic concept is a person who is under the authority of someone else as that person’s legal property, employee, subject, or vassal; or someone who presents himself in humility when speaking to someone of importance or when praying to God.]
C. Consider synonyms and translations into other languages.
1. Look at Girdlestone’s synonyms book[1] for the Hebrew synonyms first and then look at the Greek ones given. Look in the Appendix of Hatch and Redpath[2] for the Hebrew/Aramaic Index of the Septuagint. Write down the Greek synonyms for the Hebrew term being studied from this resource. Study these Greek terms in the LXX by following these steps. How many Greek terms are used to translate the Hebrew term being studied? Write the number in your notes. Write down the Greek terms that are certain and not in [] or [[implausible]]. Look up these Greek terms in Liddell and Scott[3] and BDAG[4] to do the following: (a) make three charts for each Greek term listing the nuance, then author and the title of the book, then the date of use. (b) Make one chart for the Liddell and Scott’s non-biblical authors, one for LXX Old Testament canonical books and the last one for the apocryphal books (c) For charts two and three, look up each verse from Hatch and Redpath in an English Translation of the LXX (like Brenton’s work[5]) and write down the English gloss and Bible reference used for the Greek term being studied (d) Put nuances at the top of the row of the chart from left to right. Put the dates for each term in the left column going down from oldest to most recent.[6] (e) Summarize the semantic domain of each term for the Classical and Hellenistic periods. (f) Do a conclusion of all the summaries noting the combined semantic domains of all the Greek LXX equivalents and the development of the term. Discuss if there was a Greek term that the LXX authors used the most for the Hebrew term being studied and which nuance they used the least. Does anything in their choices reveal how they understood dominant nuances for the Hebrew term in their era? What is the semantic domain of the most used Greek terms in the LXX for the Hebrew term being studied? Do these supply any insights into ancient understandings of the range of meaning of the Hebrew term being studied in the 250 BC time-period? Was there any observable change (development, progression) in usage over time? Ask key questions concerning the evidence discovered: a) Is this term’s use in the LXX and the Apoc. extensive, occasional, or rare? b) What is the variety of nuances, first in the LXX and then the Apoc.? What conclusion can be drawn from the evidence in these two works? Summarize your findings.
Non-biblical
Author’s (servant, Hebrew ‘eved) >
(Greek) pais
Liddell & Scott and BDAG:
List word meanings, the author and date he wrote.
2. Look up the Greek LXX terms in Moulton and Geden[7] or a Bible software program and make a list of the references followed by an English phrase or clause that contain the New Testament nuances for the Greek term. Follow this by a brief explanation of the gloss chosen. Use a formal equivalence translation (ASV, NASB, NKJV), your own translation or a combination of both.
E.g., Make a list of the Greek New Testament uses of pais, doulos, oiketās, anthrōpos, douleia, douleuein, doulā, ergasia, therapeia, therapeuein, therapōn, estos enopion, oiketās, paidarion, padion, sebein, huparetās (servant, slave) and list the nuance in the biblical phrase, followed by an explanation from the context. Begin by listing the references and clauses for the term pais.
Matt 2:16 Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem . . .
This is male toddlers and babies two years old and less that lived near Bethlehem. They were dependents, descendants, and were under the authority of their parents.
Matt. 8:6 and saying, “Lord, my personal assistant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering great pain.”
This is a military Roman centurion’s favorite assistant, servant, or military leader.
The New Testament authors had the influence of the Hebrew Old Testament, the Aramaic versions and the Septuagint and the further development of the term in Greek literature and culture. What the student is attempting to determine here is to what extent the nuances from the Hebrew Bible are repeated in contexts by the New Testament authors. The term’s development at this stage may be much broader than the original Hebrew uses. Write down the nuances that continue into this future period that match the original Hebrew and LXX. Summarize these findings in some concluding remarks from the evidence reviewed without back reading later nuance development into the older usages of the term. The student is seeking clarity and continuity at this point in the study rather than how the term usage evolved. Just like there are fallacies in making too much of the etymology of a term (e.g., a butterfly must be a fly covered in butter) there are fallacies in back reading a modern nuance of a term into previous time periods (e.g., the 21st century use of term ‘gay’ read back into an English hymn written in the 1600s). Our objective here is discovering the original author’s intentional meaning rather than the possible modern usages. Thus, focus your conclusion on the continuity aspect gained from observing the New Testament’s uses.
3. After carefully considering the Septuagint Greek texts, look at English translations of the DSS and Syriac Peshitta for additional nuances. For a term that is often used in the Old Testament, the Hebrew should dominate your consideration. For terms with less than five uses, these other sources and languages may expand the semantic range of the term from later time periods and understanding and may be helpful when the current known nuances don’t match the context of the original clause. Only the Original Autographs are inspired and inerrant. Only when a translation captures the original author’s (both divine and human) intention in a paragraph in the new language does the translation hold full authority over the believer. Thus, these other sources are not inerrant or written by an Old Testament prophet, priest, or king or a New Testament apostle (e.g., Peter) or prophet (e.g., Mark, Luke) and only inspired when they are a true match for the original Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek text. These translations are from later time periods where word meanings have developed differently. Likewise, we do not know the original language ability of the translators and editors or of their theological biases. So, extreme care must be used here. After acquiring insight from these sources, remember, the English gloss chosen from studying these sources must make sense in the original Hebrew passage.
Step 3: Consider the biblical
use of this term starting with the proximity in the book that the passage you
are seeking to exegete is found. You will do from wider to narrower in that
book and then go wider to other authors.
a. How does the
author of the book use this term in this Bible book you are studying? How does he use it in the chapter of
concern? How does he use it in the paragraph? How does he use it in the verse’s
sentence(s) being studied?
b.
How does this same author use this term in other biblical books he has written?
c. How do different writers of books in this Testament (either Old or New) use this term in their writings? Consider the proposed dates of composition of the books as you observe the developments of the term in the biblical text. Antecedent passages may have an influence on later texts, especially when there is a clear illusion or quote.
D. Check the expert produced word studies and summarize your final conclusions.
1. Check theological dictionaries and other word study sources before making your final conclusions on the semantic range of the term and its best use in any one passage. This step must wait until all the above work has been done or the student’s objectivity will be compromised in the study. Are there nuances that should be included that were missed in the steps above? Are there sources these works cite that were missed that give additional insights into the Hebrew term? Are their nuances used in the steps above that none of the Theological Dictionaries include? Is there a good explanation for the omissions or addition from the biases of the contributors or editors rather than careful objective deduction from the ancient sources? Write down supportable new insights from these works. If these works and your study confirm you have added unsupportable English glosses or missed legitimate glosses that should be included or used the wrong gloss in the study above on any verse cited, go back and correct it. This is part of the learning process. However, the experts are not neutral or inerrant. Thus, it is fine to disagree when the student has significant evidence for their position from the word study steps above. CBL, TLOT, David Clines, VanGemeren, Kittel (search for comments on the Hebrew term by reviewing articles on the Greek synonyms).
2. Make a final list of nuances of the term and conclusions on the term and its use in individual passages.
3. Note doctrinal and devotional insights from the study of the term and its use in various biblical texts.
4. Choose the best nuance for
the Bible verse you are studying from the evidence discovered while doing this
word study.
Works Consulted
Belcher, Richard P. Sr., Doing an Effective Greek Word Study (Columbia, SC: Richbarry, 1985).
Duvall, J. Scott and J. Daniel Hays, Grasping God’s Word: A Hands-on Approach to Reading, Interpreting, and Applying the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001).
Stuart, Douglas, Old Testament Exegesis: A Handbook for Students and Pastors (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2001) 3d ed.
Wenzel, Charles, Greek III Class
Notes, Columbia Bible College (Columbia,
SC: Np, 1984).
[1] Robert B. Girdlestone, Synonyms of the Old Testament (Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983) reprint.
[2] Edwin Hatch and Henry A.
Redpath, A Concordance to the Septuagint
(Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998) 2d ed.
[3] Henry George Liddell and Robert
Scott, An Intermediate Greek English
Lexicon (London: Oxford, 1945) 7th ed.
[4] Walter Bauer, F. Wilbur
Gingrich, William F. Arndt and Frederick W. Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian
Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1979) 2nd ed.
[5] Sir Lancelot C. L. Brenton, The Septuagint with Apocrypha: Greek and
English (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1992) reprint.
