the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Book
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words
or Sêpher (סִפְרָה, Strong's #5612), “book; document; writing.” Sêpher seems to be a loanword from the Akkadian sêpher: (“written message,” “document”). The word appears 187 times in the Hebrew Old Testament, and the first occurrence is in Gen. 5:1: “This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God” (RSV). The word is rare in the Pentateuch except for Deuteronomy (11 times). The usage increases in the later historical books (Kings 60 times but Chronicles 24 times; cf. Esther 11 times and Nehemiah 9 times).The most common translation of sêpher is “book.” A manuscript was written (Exod. 32:32; Deut. 17:18) and sealed (Isa. 29:11), to be read by the addressee (2 Kings 22:16). The sense of sêpher is similar to “scroll” (megillah): “Therefore go thou, and read in the roll [sêpher] which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the Lord in the ears of the people in the Lord’s house upon the fasting day: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities” (Jer. 36:6). Sêpher is also closely related to “book” (sêpher) (Ps. 56:8).
Many “books” are named in the Old Testament: the “book” of remembrance (Mal. 3:16), “book” of life (Ps. 69:28), “book” of Jasher (Josh. 10:13), “book” of the generations (Gen. 5:1), “book” of the Lord, “book” of the chronicles of the kings of Israel and of Judah, and the annotations on the “book” of the Kings (2 Chron. 24:27). Prophets wrote “books” in their lifetime. Nahum’s prophecy begins with this introduction: “The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite” (1:1). Jeremiah had several “books” written in addition to his letters to the exiles. He wrote a “book” on the disasters that were to befall Jerusalem, but the “book” was torn up and burned in the fireplace of King Jehoiakim (Jer. 36). In this context, we learn about the nature of writing a “book.”
Jeremiah dictated to Baruch, who wrote with ink on the scroll (36:18). Baruch took the “book” to the Judeans who had come to the temple to fast. When the “book” had been confiscated and burned, Jeremiah wrote another scroll and had another “book” written with a strong condemnation of Jehoiakim and his family: “Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides unto them many like words” (Jer. 36:32).
Ezekiel was commanded to eat a “book” (Ezek. 2:8-3:1) as a symbolic act of God’s judgment on and restoration of Judah.
Sêpher can also signify “letter.” The prophet Jeremiah wrote a letter to the Babylonian exiles, instructing them to settle themselves, as they were to be in Babylon for 70 years: “Now these are the words of the letter (sêpher) that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon …” (Jer. 29:1).
The contents of the sêpher varied. It might contain a written order, a commission, a request, or a decree, as in: “And [Mordecai] wrote in the king Ahasuerus’ name, and sealed it [sêpher] with the king’s ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, and riders on mules, camels, and young dromedaries” (Esth. 8:10). In divorcing his wife, a man gave her a legal document known as the sêpher of divorce (Deut. 24:1). Here sêpher meant a “certificate” or “legal document.” Some other legal document might also be referred to as a sêpher. As a “legal document,” the sêpher might be published or hidden for the appropriate time: “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Take these evidences [sêpher], this evidence of the purchase, both which is sealed, and this evidence which is open; and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days” (Jer. 32:14).
The Septuagint gives the following translations: biblion (“scroll; document”) and gramma (“letter; document; writing; book”). The KJV gives these senses: “book; letter; evidence.”
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Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Book'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/b/book.html. 1940.
