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(
, 6031), “to afflict, oppress, humble.” This verb, which also appears in
Arabic, occurs about 74 times in biblical Hebrew and in every period. The first
occurrence is in Gen. 15:13: “Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land
that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years.”
C. Adjective.
(
(
/
, 6035), “humble; poor; meek.” This adjective, which appears about 21
times in biblical Hebrew, is closely related to
and derived from the same verb.
Sometimes this word is synonymous with
!
Perhaps this is due to the well-known
( (/
interchange.
* (
appears almost exclusively in poetical passages and
describes the intended outcome of affliction from God, namely “humility.” In its first
appearance the word depicts the objective condition as well as the subjective stance of
Moses. He was entirely dependent on God and saw that he was: “Now the man Moses
was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth” (Num. 12:3).
TO POSSESS
A. Verb.
(
, 3423), “to inherit, subdue, take possession, dispossess, impoverish.”
This word is attested in all Semitic languages except Akkadian, Phoenician, and biblical
Aramaic. The word appears in all periods of Hebrew; the Bible attests it about 260 times.
Basically
means “to inherit.” The verb can connote the state of being
designated as an heir. Abram said to God: “Behold, to me thou hast given no [offspring]:
and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir [literally, “is the one who is inheriting me”]”
(Gen. 15:3—the first biblical occurrence of the word). Whatever Abram had to be passed
on to his legal descendants was destined to be given to his servant. Hence his servant was
his legally designated heir.
This root can also represent the status of having something as one’s permanent
possession, as a possession which may be passed on to one’s legal descendants. God told
Abram: “I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land
to inherit it” (Gen. 15:7).
'
can mean “to take over as a permanent possession”:
“And if his father have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his kinsman
that is next to him of his family, and he shall possess it …” (Num. 27:11). The verb
sometimes means to take something over (in the case of the Promised Land) by conquest
as a permanent possession: “The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he
have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it” (Deut. 28:21).
When people are the object,
sometimes means “to dispossess” in the sense of
taking away their inheritable goods and putting them in such a social position that they
cannot hold possessions or inherit permanent possessions: “The Horim also dwelt in Seir
beforetime; but the children of Esau succeeded them, when they had destroyed them from
before them, and dwelt in their stead …” (Deut. 2:12). To cause someone to be
dispossessed is “to impoverish” him: “The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich …” (1
Sam. 2:7), the Lord makes one to be without permanent inheritable possessions.
B. Nouns.