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Bible Dictionaries
Keep, Oversee
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words
or A. Verb.
Nâtsach (נָצַח, Strong's #5329), “to keep, oversee, have charge over.” The word appears as “to set forward” in the sense of “to oversee or to lead” in 1 Chron. 23:4, 2 Chron. 34:12, Ezra 3:8, and Ezra 3:9: “Then stood Jeshua with his sons and his brethren, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together, to set forward the workmen in the house of God.…” The word appears as “to oversee” in 2 Chron. 2:2: “And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men to bear burdens … and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them.”
B. Participle.
Nâtsach (נָצַח, Strong's #5329), “overseer; director.” Used throughout the history of the Hebrew language, this root is used in the noun sense in modern Hebrew to mean “eternity, perpetuity.” While this word is used approximately 65 times in the Hebrew Old Testament, almost all of them (except for 5 or 6) are participles, used as verbal-nouns. The participial form has the meaning of “overseer, director,” reflecting the idea that one who is pre-eminent or conspicuous is an “overseer.” Thus, nâtsach is found in the Book of Psalms a total of 55 times in the titles of various psalms (Ps. 5, 6, 9, et al.) with the meaning, “To the choirmaster” (JB, RSV). Other versions render it “choir director” (NASB); “chief musician” (KJV); and “leader” (NAB). The significance of this title is not clear. Of the 55 psalms involved, 39 are connected with the name of David, 9 with Korah, and 5 with Asaph, leaving only two anonymous psalms. The Hebrew preposition meaning “to” or “for” which is used with this participle could mean assignment to the person named, or perhaps more reasonably, an indication of a collection of psalms known by the person’s name. This title is found also at the end of Hab. 3, showing that this psalm was part of a director’s collection.
The word refers to “overseers” in 2 Chron. 2:18: “… and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work.”
C. Adjective.
Nâtsach is used only in Jer. 8:5 in the sense of “enduring”: “Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding?”
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Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Keep, Oversee'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/k/keep-oversee.html. 1940.
