the Fourth Week of Advent
Click here to join the effort!
Bible Dictionaries
Rock
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words
or Tsûr (צֻר, Strong's #6697), “rock; rocky wall; cliff; rocky hill; mountain; rocky surface; boulder.” Cognates of this word appear in Amorite, Phoenician, Ugaritic, and Aramaic. Other than in names of places and persons, the word appears 70 times in biblical Hebrew and in all periods.
First, tsûr means “rocky wall” or “cliff.” This is probably what Moses struck in Exod. 17:6: “Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it.…” Thus God hid Moses in a cleft of the “rocky cliff” (Exod. 33:21-22).
Second, the word frequently means “rocky hill” or “mountains.” This emphasis clearly emerges in Isa. 2:10, 19: “Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust.… And [men] shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth.…” Thus “rock” is an abbreviation for “caves of the rocks.” A lookout sees someone “from the top of the rocks [hills] … , from the hills” (Num. 23:9). The “rock” (mountains or hills) flowing with honey and oil figures the abundant overflowing blessing of God (Deut. 32:13). The “rock” (or mountain) serves as a figure of security (Ps. 61:2), firmness (Job 14:18), and something that endures (Job 19:24).
Third, tsûr can mean “rocky ground” or perhaps a large flat “rock”: “And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock …” (2 Sam. 21:10; cf. Prov. 30:19).
Fourth, in some passages the word means “boulder.” in the sense of a rock large enough to serve as an altar: “… There rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes …” (Judg. 6:21).
“Rock” is frequently used to picture God’s support and defense of His people (Deut. 32:15). In some cases this noun is an epithet, or meaningful name, of God (Deut. 32:4), or of heathen gods: “For their rock [god] is not as our Rock [God] …” (Deut. 32:31).
Finally, Abraham is the source (rock) from which Israel was hewn (Isa. 51:1).
These files are public domain.
Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Rock'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/r/rock.html. 1940.
