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words: “Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst
perceive; of stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand” (Isa. 33:19).
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also refers to objects that are shaped in the form of a tongue. Most important
is the “tongue of fire,” which even takes the character of “eating” or “devouring”:
“Therefore as the [tongues of fire] devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the
chaff …” (Isa. 5:24). The association in Isaiah of God’s appearance in judgment with
smoke and fire gave rise to a fine literary description of the Lord’s anger: “Behold, the
name of the Lord cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is
heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire” (Isa. 30:27).
Notice the words “lips” and “tongue” here with the meaning of “flames of fire,” even
though the language evokes the representation of a tongue (as an organ of the body)
together with a tongue (of fire). Also a bar of gold (Josh. 7:21) and a bay of the sea (Isa.
11:15) shaped in the form of a tongue were called
!
The Septuagint translation is
(“tongue; language”).
TO TOUCH
A. Verb.
(
,
, 5060), “to touch, strike, reach, smite.” Common throughout the history of
the Hebrew language, this word is also found in Aramaic. It is used some 150 times in the
Hebrew Old Testament.
:
first occurs in Gen. 3:3 in the Garden of Eden story,
where the woman reminds the serpent that God had said: “Ye shall not eat of [the fruit of
the tree which is in the midst of the garden], neither shall ye touch it.…” This illustrates
the common meaning of physical touch involving various kinds of objects: Jacob’s thigh
was “touched” by the man at Jabbok (Gen. 32:25, 32); the Israelites were commanded not
“to touch” Mount Horeb under pain of death (Exod. 19:12); and unclean things were not
“to be touched” (Lev. 5:2-3).
Sometimes
is used figuratively in the sense of emotional involvement: “And
Saul also went home to Gibeah; and there went with him a band of men, whose hearts
God had touched” (1 Sam. 10:26;
NEB
, “had moved”). The word is used to refer to sexual
contact with another person, such as in Gen. 20:6, where God tells Abimelech that He did
not allow him “to touch” Sarah, Abraham’s wife (cf. Prov. 6:29). To refer to the touch of
God’s hand means that divine chastisement has been received: “… Have pity upon me, O
ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me” (Job 19:21).
The word is commonly used also to describe “being stricken” with a disease: King
Uzziah “was smitten” with leprosy (2 Chron. 26:20).
B. Noun.
(
,&
, 5061), “plague: stroke; wound.” This noun formed from
occurs
about 76 times in the Old Testament. The word refers to a “plague” most frequently
(Gen. 12:17; Exod. 11:1).
:
can also mean “stroke” (Deut. 17:8; 21:5) or “wound”
(Prov. 6:33). Each meaning carries with it the sense of a person “being stricken or smitten
in some way.”
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