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high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the
spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”
TO BE HUMBLED, AFFLICTED
A. Verb.
(
, 6031), “to be afflicted, be bowed down, be humbled, be meek.” This
word, common to both ancient and modern Hebrew, is the source of several important
words in the history and experience of Judaism: “humble, meek, poor, and affliction.”
*
occurs approximately 80 times in the Hebrew Old Testament. It is found for the
first time in Gen. 15:13: “… they shall afflict them four hundred years.”
*
often expresses harsh and painful treatment. Sarai “dealt hardly” with Hagar
(Gen. 16:6). When Joseph was sold as a slave, his feet were hurt with fetters (Ps. 105:18).
Frequently the verb expresses the idea that God sends affliction for disciplinary purposes:
“… the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to
prove thee, to know what was in thine heart …” (Deut. 8:2; see also 1 Kings 11:39; Ps.
90:15). To take a woman sexually by force may be “to humble” her (Gen. 34:2,
KJV
,
RSV
), but the word is more appropriately translated “dishonor” (
JB
,
NEB
). In the Day of
Atonement observance, “to humble oneself” is probably connected with the requirement
for fasting on that day (Lev. 23:28- 29)
B. Noun.
(
, 6041), “poor; humble; meek.” Especially in later Israelite history, just
before the Exile and following, this noun came to have a special connection with those
faithful ones who were being abused, taken advantage of, by the rich (Isa. 29:19; 32:7;
Amos 2:7). The prophet Zephaniah’s reference to them as the “meek of the earth” (Zeph.
2:3) set the stage for Jesus’ concern and ministry to the “poor” and the “meek” (Matt. 5:3,
5; Luke 4:18; cf. Isa. 61:1). By New Testament times, “the poor of the land” were more
commonly known as
, “the people of the land.”
I
IDOL
(
!
, 8655), “idol; household idol; cultic mask; divine symbol.” This
word is a loanword from Hittite-Hurrian (
) which in West Semitic assumes the
basic form
!
Its basic meaning is “spirit” or “demon.” Biblical Hebrew attests this
word 15 times.
first appears in Gen. 31:19: “And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel
had stolen the [household gods] that were her father’s.” Hurrian law of this period
recognized “household idols” as deeds to the family’s succession and goods. This makes
these
(possibly a plural of majesty as is
when used of false gods; cf. 1
Kings 11:5, 33) extremely important to Laban in every way.