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The majority of the uses of
are negative in that they connote human “pride” as
an antonym for humility (Prov. 16:18). Proverbs puts
together with arrogance, evil
behavior, and perverse speech. In her independence from the Lord, Israel as a majestic
nation, having been set apart by a majestic God, had turned aside and claimed its
excellence as a prerogative earned by herself. The new attitude of insolence was not
tolerated by God: “The Lord God hath sworn by himself, saith the Lord the God of hosts,
I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city
with all that is therein” (Amos 6:8).
The Septuagint translations are:
$
(“insolence; arrogance”) and
$
(“arrogance; haughtiness; pride”). Some other nouns are related to |ga’on. Ge’ahoccurs
once to mean “pride” (Prov. 8:13). The noun
(
, which is found 19 times, also
means “pride”: “And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of
Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart …” (Isa. 9:9).
5 $
appears 8 times
and refers to “majesty”: “Let favor be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn
righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the
majesty of the Lord” (Isa. 26:10).
C. Adjectives.
The adjective , which is thought to be a scribal error for
, appears only once
as “proud” (Isa. 16:6).
5
also means “proud” in its 8 occurrences, once in Isa. 2:12:
“For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty.…”
5
, which means “pride,” appears once in biblical Hebrew (Ps. 123:4).
PRIEST; PRIESTHOOD
A. Noun.
(
, 3548), “priest.” This word is found 741 times in the Old Testament.
More than one-third of the references to the “priests” are found in the Pentateuch.
Leviticus, which has about 185 references, is called the “manual of the priests.”
The term
was used to refer not only to the Hebrew priesthood but to Egyptian
“priests” (Gen. 41:50; 46:20; 47:26), the Philistine “priests” (1 Sam. 6:2), the “priests” of
Dagon (1 Sam. 5:5), “priests” of Baal (2 Kings 10:19), “priests” of Chemosh (Jer. 48:7),
and “priests” of the Baalim and Asherim (2 Chron. 34:5).
Joseph married the daughter of the “priest” of On (Gen. 41:45), and she bore him two
sons, Ephraim and Manasseh (Gen. 46:20). Joseph did not purchase the land of the
“priests” of Egypt, because the Egyptian “priests” received regular allotments from
Pharaoh (Gen. 47:22).
A “priest” is an authorized minister of deity who officiates at the altar and in other
cultic rites. A “priest” performs sacrificial, ritualistic, and mediatorial duties; he
represents the people before God. By contrast, a “prophet” is an intermediary between
God and the people.
The Jewish priestly office was established by the Lord in the days of Moses. But prior
to the institution of the high priesthood and the priestly office, we read of the priesthood
of Melchizedek (Gen. 14:18) and of Midianite “priests” (Exod. 2:16; 3:1; 18:1). In Exod.
19:24, other “priests” are mentioned: these may have been either Midianite “priests” or