the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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Bible Dictionaries
Exalted, to Be
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words
or A. Verb.
Rûm (רָמַם, Strong's #7311), “to be high, exalted.” This root also appears in Ugaritic (with the radicals r-m), Phoenician, Aramaic (including biblical Aramaic, 4 times), Arabic, and Ethiopic. In extra-biblical Aramaic, it appears as r’m. The word occurs in all periods of biblical Hebrew and about 190 times. Closely related is the rather rare (4 times) rmm, “to rise, go away from.”
Basically, rûm represents either the “state of being on a higher plane” or “movement in an upward direction.” The former meaning appears in the first biblical occurrence of the word: “And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lifted [rose] up above the earth” (Gen. 7:17). Used of men, this verb may refer to their “physical stature”; for example, the spies sent into Canaan reported that “the people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven …” (Deut. 1:28). The second emphasis, representing what is done to the subject or what it does to itself, appears in Ps. 12:8: “The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.” The psalmist confesses that the Lord will “set me up upon a rock” so as to be out of all danger (Ps. 27:5). A stormy wind (Ps. 107:25) “lifts up” the waves of the sea. Rûm is used of the building of an edifice. Ezra confessed that God had renewed the people of Israel, allowing them “to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem” (Ezra 9:9; cf. Gen. 31:45). In Ezek. 31:4, this verb is used of “making a plant grow larger”: “The waters made him [the cedar in Lebanon] great, the deep set him up on high.…” Since in Deut. 1:28 |gadal(“larger”) and rûm (“taller”) are used in close connection, Ezek. 31:4 could be translated: “The waters made it grow bigger, the deep made it grow taller.” Closely related to this nuance is the use of rûm to represent the process of child-rearing. God says through Isaiah: “… I have nourished [gadal] and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me” (Isa. 1:2).
Rûm sometimes means “to take up away from,” as in Isa. 57:14: “Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people.” When used in reference to offerings, the word signifies the “removal of a certain portion” (Lev. 2:9). The presentation of the entire offering is also referred to as an “offering up” (Num. 15:19).
In extended applications, rûm has both negative and positive uses. Positively, this word can signify “to bring to a position of honor.” So God says: “Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high” (Isa. 52:13). This same meaning occurs in 1 Sam. 2:7, where Hannah confessed: “The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.” Used in a negative sense, rûm eans “to be haughty”: “And the afflicted people thou wilt save: but thine eyes are upon the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down” (2 Sam. 22:28).
Rûm is often used with other words in special senses. For example, to lift one’s voice is “to cry aloud.” Potiphar’s wife reported that when Joseph attacked her, she “raised” her voice screaming. These two words (rûm and “voice”) are used together to mean “with a loud voice” (Deut. 27:14).
The raising of the hand serves as a symbol of power and strength and signifies being “mighty” or “triumphant”: “Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high [literally, “is raised”] …” (Deut. 32:27). To raise one’s hand against someone is to rebel against him. Thus, “Jeroboam … lifted up his hand against the king” (1 Kings 11:26).
The raising of one’s horn suggests the picture of a wild ox standing in all its strength. This is a picture of “triumph” over one’s enemies: “My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, mine horn is exalted in the Lord; my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies …” (1 Sam. 2:1). Moreover, horns symbolized the focus of one’s power. Thus, when one’s horn is “exalted,” one’s power is exalted. When one exalts another’s horn, he gives him “strength”: “… He [the Lord] shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed” (1 Sam. 2:10).
Raising one’s head may be a public gesture of “triumph and supremacy,” as in Ps. 110:7, where it is said that after defeating all His enemies the Lord will “lift up the head.” This nuance is sometimes used transitively, as when someone else lifts a person’s head. Some scholars suggest that in such cases the verb signifies the action of a judge who has pronounced an accused person innocent by raising the accused’s head. This phrase also came to signify “to mark with distinction,” “to give honor to,” or “to place in a position of strength”: “But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter up of mine head” (Ps. 3:3).
To raise one’s eyes or heart is to be “proud” and “arrogant”: “Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt” (Deut. 8:14).
B. Nouns.
Rûm (רֻם, Strong's #7312), “height; haughtiness.” This word occurs 6 times, and it means “height” in Prov. 25:3. Rûm signifies “haughtiness” in Isa. 2:11.
Mârôm (מָרוֹם, Strong's #4791), “higher plane; heighthigh social position.” Mârôm appears about 54 times in biblical Hebrew. It also is attested in Ugaritic and Old South Arabic. In its first biblical occurrence (Judg. 5:18), mârôm means “a higher plane on the surface of the earth.” Job 16:19 and Isa. 33:5 contain the word with the meaning of “the height” as the abode of God. Job 5:11 uses the word to refer to “a high social position.” Mârôm can also signify “self-exaltation” (2 Kings 19:22; Ps. 73:8).
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Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Exalted, to Be'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/e/exalted-to-be.html. 1940.
