Châtsêr (חָצֵר, Strong's #2691), “court; enclosure.” This word is related to a common Semitic verb that has two meanings: “to be present,” in the sense of living at a certain place (encampment, residence, court), and “to enclose, surround, press together.” In the Hebrew Old Testament, châtsêr appears about 190 times; its usage is welldistributed throughout, except for the minor prophets.

In some Hebrew dictionaries, the usage of châtsêr as “settled abode,” “settlement,” or “village” is separated from the meaning “court.” But most modern dictionaries identify only one root with two related meanings.

The first biblical occurrence of châtsêr is in Gen. 25:16: “These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations.” Here châtsêr is related to the first meaning of the root; this occurs less frequently than the usage meaning “court.” The châtsêr (“settlement”) was a place where people lived without an enclosure to protect them. The word is explained in Lev. 25:31: “But the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them shall be counted as the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubilee.” Châtsêr signifies the “settlements” of seminomadic peoples: the Ishmaelites (Gen. 25:16), the Avim (Deut. 2:23), and Kedar (Isa. 42:11).

Châtsêr also denotes a “settlement” of people outside the city wall. The cities of Canaan were relatively small and could not contain the whole population. In times of peace, residents of the city might build homes and workshops for themselves outside the wall and establish a separate quarter. If the population grew, the king or governor often decided to enclose the new quarter by surrounding it with a wall and incorporating the section into the existing city, in order to protect the population from bandits and warriors. Jerusalem gradually extended its size westward; at the time of Hezekiah, it had grown into a large city. Huldah the prophetess lived in such a development, known in Hebrew as the mishneh: “… she dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter” (2 Kings 22:14, RSV).

The Book of Joshua includes Israel’s victories in Canaan’s major cities as well as the suburbs: “Ain, Remmon, and Ether, and Ashan; four cities and their villages …” (19:7; cf. 15:45, 47; 21:12).

The predominant usage of châtsêr is “court,” whether of a house, a palace, or the temple. Each house generally had a courtyard surrounded by a wall or else one adjoined several homes: “Nevertheless a lad saw them, and told Absalom: but they went both of them away quickly, and came to a man’s house in Bahurim, which had a well in his court; whither they went down” (2 Sam. 17:18). Solomon’s palace had several “courts”— an outer “court,” an “enclosed space” around the palace, and a “court” around which the palace was built. Similarly, the temple had various courts. The psalmist expressed his joy in being in the “courts” of the temple, where the birds built their nests (Ps. 84:3); “For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness” (Ps. 84:10). God’s people looked forward to the thronging together of all the people in God’s “courts”: “… In the courts of the Lord’s house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem” (Ps. 116:19).

The Septuagint translations are: aule (“courtyard; farm; house; outer court; palace”), epaulis (“farm; homestead; residence”), and kome (“village; small town”). The KJV gives these translations: “court; village; town.”

Bibliography Information
Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Court'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/c/court.html. 1940.

Bible Dictionaries Court

Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words

Bible Dictionaries
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