the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Bind
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words
or 'Âsar (אָסַר, Strong's #631), “to bind, imprison, tie, gird, to harness.” This word is a common Semitic term, found in both ancient Akkadian and Ugaritic, as well as throughout the history of the Hebrew language. The word occurs around 70 times in its verbal forms in the Hebrew Old Testament. The first use of 'âsar in the Hebrew text is in Gen. 39:20, which tells how Joseph was “imprisoned” after being wrongfully accused by Potiphar’s wife.The common word for “tying up” for security and safety, 'âsar is often used to indicate the tying up of horses and donkeys (2 Kings 7:10). Similarly, oxen are “harnessed” to carts (1 Sam. 6:7, 10). Frequently, 'âsar is used to describe the “binding” of prisoners with cords and various fetters (Gen. 42:24; Judg. 15:10, 12-13). Samson misled Delilah as she probed for the secret of his strength, telling her to “bind” him with bowstrings (Judg. 16:7) and new ropes (Judg. 16:11), none of which could hold him.
Used in an abstract sense, 'âsar refers to those who are spiritually “bound” (Ps. 146:7; Isa. 49:9; 61:1) or a man who is emotionally “captivated” by a woman’s hair (Song of Sol. 7:5). Strangely, the figurative use of the term in the sense of obligation or “binding” to a vow or an oath is found only in Num. 30, but it is used there a number of times (vv. 3, 5-6, 8-9, 11- 12). This section also illustrates how such “binding” is variously rendered in the English versions: “bind” (RSV, KJV, NAB); “promises” (TEV); “puts himself under a binding obligation” (NEB, NASB); “takes a formal pledge under oath” (JB).
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Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Bind'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/b/bind.html. 1940.
