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Bible Dictionaries
Despise
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words
or Mâ'as (מָאַס, Strong's #3988), “to reject, refuse, despise.” This verb is common in both biblical and modern Hebrew. It occurs about 75 times in the Hebrew Old Testament and is found for the first time in Lev. 26:15: “… If ye shall despise [RSV, “spurn”] my statutes.…”
God will not force man to do His will, so He sometimes must “reject” him: “Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me …” (Hos. 4:6). Although God had chosen Saul to be king, Saul’s response caused a change in God’s attitude: “Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king” (1 Sam. 15:23). As a creature of free choice, man may “reject” God: “… Ye have despised the Lord which is among you” (Num. 11:20). At the same time, man may “reject” evil (Isa. 7:15- 16)When the things that God requires are done with the wrong motives or attitudes, God “de-spised his actions: “I hate, I despise your feast days …” (Amos 5:21). Purity of heart and attitude are more important to God than perfection and beauty of ritual.
These files are public domain.
Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Despise'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/d/despise.html. 1940.
