Lectionary Calendar
Friday, March 29th, 2024
Good Friday
There are 2 days til Easter!
Attention!
Take your personal ministry to the Next Level by helping StudyLight build churches and supporting pastors in Uganda.
Click here to join the effort!

Bible Dictionaries
Male

Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words

Search for…
or
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y
Prev Entry
Make (Cut) a Covenant
Next Entry
Man
Resource Toolbox
Additional Links

A. Noun.

Zâkâr (זָכָר, Strong's #2145), “male.” Cognates of this word appear in Akkadian, Aramaic, and Arabic. It occurs 82 times and usually in early prose (Genesis through Deuteronomy), only 5 times in the biblical prophets, and never in biblical wisdom or poetical literature.

Zâkâr emphasizes “maleness” as over against “femaleness”; this word focuses on the sex of the one so named. Thus, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Gen. 1:27). The word can be used not only of an “adult male” but also of a “male child” (Lev. 12:7). Zâkâr is used collectively in many passages—in singular form, with a plural reference (Judg. 21:11).

In some contexts the word represents a “male animal”: “And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female” (Gen. 6:19).

B. Adjective.

Zâkâr (זָכָר, Strong's #2145), “male.” Sometimes zâkâr is used as an adjective: “Number all the firstborn of the males of the children of Israel from a month old and upward …” (Num. 3:40). The word appears in Jer. 20:15: “A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad.”

Bibliography Information
Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Male'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/​dictionaries/​eng/​vot/​m/male.html. 1940.
adsFree icon
Ads FreeProfile