the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Plow
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words
or A. Verb.
Chârash (חָרֵשׁ, Strong's #2790), “to plow, engrave, work in metals.” This word occurs in ancient Ugaritic, as well as in modern Hebrew where it has the primary sense of “to plow.” It is found approximately 50 times in the Hebrew Old Testament. A fitting word for the agricultural nature of Israelite culture, chârash is frequently used of “plowing” a field, usually with animals such as oxen (1 Kings 19:19). The imagery of cutting up or tearing up a field with a plow easily lent itself to the figurative use of the word to mean mistreatment by others: “The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows” (Ps. 129:3). The word is used to express the plotting of evil against a friend in Prov. 3:29: “Devise not evil against thy neighbor, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee [literally, “do not plow evil”].”
The use of chârash in the sense of “working or engraving” metals is not used in the Old Testament as much as it might have been if Israel had been as given to such craftsmanship as her neighbors, or perhaps because of the commandment against images (Exod. 20:4). The word is used in 1 Kings 7:14: “… His father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass [literally, “a man who works in brass”].…” The first occurrence of chârash is in Gen. 4:22 where it is used of the “artificer in brass and iron.” The figurative use of “engraving” is vividly seen in the expression describing the extent of Israel’s sin: “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart …” (Jer. 17:1). An updating or correction of the KJV is called for in 1 Sam. 8:12 where chârâsh is translated by the old English term, “to ear the ground”!
B. Noun.
Chârâsh (חָרָשׁ, Strong's #2796), “engraver; artificer.” The prophets denounced the craftsmanship of these workers in metals when they made images (Isa. 40:20; Hos. 8:6). A more positive approach to the word is conveyed in 1 Chron. 29:5: “The gold for things of gold … and for all manner of work to be made by the hands of artificers. And who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord?”
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Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Plow'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/p/plow.html. 1940.
