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Bible Dictionaries
Foundation
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or FOUNDATION . Great importance was attached to the laying of the foundation. It was accompanied by human sacrifice, as may be seen in the Babylonian records; a possible trace occurs in the story of Hiel ( 1 Kings 16:34 ). Hence the stress on the size and splendour of the foundation, as in Solomon’s Temple ( 1 Kings 7:9 ). It is a natural metaphor for the ultimate basis on which a thing rests ( Job 4:19 , Ezekiel 13:14 , Luke 6:48 ). Righteousness and judgment are the foundation of God’s throne ( Psalms 89:14; Psalms 97:2 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ). ‘The city that hath, the foundations’ is the type of the real and eternal ( Hebrews 11:10 ). The Apostles themselves are the foundation of the New Jerusalem, formed of all manner of precious stones ( Revelation 21:14; Revelation 21:19 ). ‘The Apostolic Church is conditioned through the ages by the preaching and work of the Apostolate’ (Swete, ad loc.; cf. Isaiah 28:16 , Matthew 16:18 , Ephesians 2:20 ). In 1 Corinthians 3:10 the metaphor is slightly different, the preaching of Jesus Christ being the one foundation (cf. Isaiah 19:10 RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] , where the word is used of the chief men of the State). In the frequent phrase ‘from the foundation of the world,’ the word is active, meaning ‘founding.’ ‘Foundations’ occurs similarly in a passive sense, the earth being more or less literally conceived of as a huge building resting on pillars etc. ( Psalms 18:7; Psalms 18:15; Psalms 24:2 , Isaiah 24:18 ). In Psalms 11:3; Psalms 75:3; Psalms 82:5 , Ezekiel 30:4 , the idea is applied metaphorically to the ‘fundamental’ principles of law and justice on which the moral order rests. In 2 Chronicles 3:3 , Isaiah 6:4; Isaiah 16:7 , Jeremiah 50:15 , RV [Note: Revised Version.] should be followed. In 2 Chronicles 23:5 the ‘gate of the foundation’ is obscurs; possibly we should read ‘the horse-gate.’ See also House, § 3 .
C. W. Emmet.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Foundation'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/f/foundation.html. 1909.
