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Bible Dictionaries
Fill
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words
or A. Verb.
Mâlê' (מָלָא, Strong's #4390), “to fill, fulfill, overflow, ordain, endow.” This verb occurs in all Semitic languages (including biblical Aramaic) and in all periods. Biblical Hebrew attests it about 250 times.
Basically, mâlê' means “to be full” in the sense of having something done to one. In 2 Kings 4:6, the word implies “to fill up”: “And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said.…” The verb is sometimes used figuratively as in Gen. 6:13, when God noted that “the earth is filled with violence.” Used transitively, this verb means the act or state of “filling something.” In Gen. 1:22 (the first occurrence of the word), God told the sea creatures to “penetrate” the waters thoroughly but not exhaustively: “Be fruitful, and multiplyand fill the waters in the seas.” Mâlê' can also mean “to fill up” in an exhaustive sense: “… And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Exod. 40:34). In this sense an appetite can be “filled up,” “satiated,” or “satisfied.”
Mâlê' is sometimes used in the sense “coming to an end” or “to be filled up,” to the full extent of what is expected. For example, in 1 Kings 2:27 we read: “So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest unto the Lord; that he might fulfill the word of the Lord, which he spake concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.” This constitutes a proof of the authority of the divine Word.
In a different but related nuance, the verb signifies “to confirm” someone’s word. Nathan told Bathsheba: “Behold, while thou yet talkest there with the king, I also will come in after thee, and confirm thy words” (1 Kings 1:14). This verb is used to signify filling something to the full extent of what is necessary, in the sense of being “successfully completed”: “When her days to be delivered were fulfilled …” (Gen. 25:24). This may also mean “to bring to an end”; so God tells Isaiah: “Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished …” (Isa. 40:2).
Mâlê' is used of “filling to overflowing”—not just filling up to the limits of something, but filling so as to go beyond its limits: “For Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest” (Josh. 3:15).
A special nuance appears when the verb is used with “heart”; in such cases, it means “to presume.” King Ahasuerus asked Esther: “Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume [literally, “fill his heart”] to do so?” (Esth. 7:5). To call out “fully” is to cry aloud, as in Jer. 4:5.
The word often has a special meaning in conjunction with “hand.” Mâlê' can connote “endow” (“fill one’s hand”), as in Exod. 28:3: “And thou shalt speak unto all that are wisehearted, whom I have [endowed] with the spirit of wisdom.…” In Judg. 17:5, “to fill one’s hand” is “to consecrate” someone to priestly service. A similar idea appears in Ezek. 43:26, where no literal hand is filled with anything, but the phrase is a technical term for “consecration”: “Seven days shall they [make atonement for] the altar and purify it; and they shall consecrate themselves.” This phrase is used not only of setting someone or something aside for special religious or cultic use, but of formally installing someone with the authority and responsibility to fulfill a cultic function (i.e., to be a priest). So God commands concerning Aaron and his sons: “And thou … shalt anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office” (Exod. 28:41).
In military contexts, “to fill one’s hand” is to prepare for battle. This phrase may be used of “becoming armed,” as in Jer. 51:11: “Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers.” (KJV, “Make bright the arrows; gather the shields.”) In a fuller sense, the phrase may signify the step immediately before shooting arrows: “And Jehu drew [literally, “filled his hand with”] a bow with his full strength …” (2 Kings 9:24). It can also signify “being armed,” or having weapons on one’s person: “But the man that shall touch them must be [armed] with iron and the staff of a spear …” (2 Sam. 23:7).
B. Adjective.
Mâlê' (מָלָא, Strong's #4390), “full.” The adjective mâlê' appears 67 times. The basic meaning of the word is “full” or “full of” (Ruth 1:21; Deut. 6:11).
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Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Fill'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/f/fill.html. 1940.
