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sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the
priest’s office.…”
PRINCE
A. Nouns.
(
*
, 5387), “prince; chief; leader.” This noun appears 129 times in biblical
Hebrew. An early occurrence of
is in Gen. 23:6: “Hear us, my lord: thou art a
mighty prince among us.…” The books of Numbers and Ezekiel use the word most
frequently. Elsewhere it rarely occurs.
Though the origin and meaning of
are controversial, it is clearly associated
with leadership, both Israelite and non-lsraelite. M. Noth proposed the idea that the
was originally a tribal representative or a “deputy, chief.” Ishmael was promised to give
rise to twelve “princes” (Gen. 17:20; cf. 25:16); the Midianites had “princes” (Num.
25:18), as well as the Amorites (Josh. 13:21), the peoples of the sea (Ezek. 26:16), Kedar
(Ezek. 27:21), Egypt (Ezek. 30:13), and Edom (Ezek. 32:29). Also Israel had her
“princes” (“rulers”): “… On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers
for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses” (Exod. 16:22).
The “princes” (“leaders”) of Israel did not only participate in the civil leadership; they
were also regarded as pillars in Israelite religious life, the upholders of the covenantal
way of life: “And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the
congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them” (Exod. 34:31; cf. Josh.
22:30). Hence, Israel was to obey her “leaders”: “Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse
the ruler of thy people” (Exod. 22:28).
The Septuagint translation is
@
(“ruler; lord; prince; authority; official”), and the
KJV
has these translations: “prince; captain; chief; ruler.”
Another noun,
, is related to
!
The word, which is found 4 times, means
“clouds”: “Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain”
(Prov. 25:14; cf. Ps. 135:7; Jer. 10:13; 51:16).
B. Verb.
(
*
, 5375), “to lift up, carry.” This verb appears 654 times in the Old
Testament; once in Gen. 44:1: “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can
carry.…”
PROPERTY
A. Noun.
$
(
7 .
, 272), “property; possession.” This word appears 66 times, with
most of its appearances being in Genesis-Joshua and Ezekel.
Essentially
$
is a legal term usually used of land, especially family holdings
to be passed down to one’s heirs. In Gen. 17:13 (an early occurrence of the word) Abram
is promised the territory of Palestine as a familial or tribal possession until the
indiscriminate future. In Gen. 23:20 (cf. vv. 4, 9) the word bears a similar meaning. The
difference appears to be that here no feudal responsibilities were attached to this
“possession.” However, the rather small lot belonged to Abraham and his descendants as