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Bible Dictionaries
Sow
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words
or A. Verb.
Zâra‛ (זָרַע, Strong's #2232), “to sow, scatter seed, make pregnant.” Common throughout the history of the Hebrew language, this root is found in various Semitic languages, including ancient Akkadian. The verb is found approximately 60 times in the Hebrew Old Testament. It occurs first in Gen. 1:29 in the summary of the blessings of creation which God has given to mankind: “… In the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed.…”
In an agricultural society such as ancient Israel, zâra‛ would be most important and very commonly used, especially to describe the annual sowing of crops (Judg. 6:3; Gen. 26:12). Used in the figurative sense, it is said that Yahweh “will sow” Israel in the land (Hos. 2:23); in the latter days, Yahweh promises: “… I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast” (Jer. 31:27). Of great continuing comfort are the words, “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy” (Ps. 126:5). The universal law of the harvest, sowing and reaping, applies to all areas of life and experience.
A good example of the need for free translation of the inherent meaning rather than a strictly literal rendering involves zâra‛, in both its verb and noun forms. This is found in Num. 5, which describes the law of trial by ordeal in the case of a wife accused of infidelity. If she was found innocent, it was declared: “… She shall be free, and shall conceive [zâra‛] seed [zera’]” (Num. 5:28). This phrase is literally: “She shall be acquitted and shall be seeded seed,” or “She shall be made pregnant with seed.”
An Old Testament name, Jezreel, has been connected with this root. Jezreel (“God sows”) refers both to a city and valley near Mt. Gilboa (Josh. 17:16; 2 Sam. 2:9) and to the symbolically named son of Hosea (Hos. 1:4).
B. Noun.
Zera‛ (זֶרַע, Strong's #2233), “seed; sowing; seedtime; harvest; offspring; descendant(s); posterity.” This word occurs about 228 times in biblical Hebrew and in all periods. It has cognates in Aramaic, Phoenician, Arabic, Ethiopic, and Akkadian.
Zera‛ refers to the process of scattering seed, or “sowing.” This is the emphasis in Gen. 47:24: “And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food.…” Num. 20:5 should be rendered: “It [the wilderness] is not a place of sowing [NASB, “grain”] or figs or vines or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink.” Ezek. 17:5 should be rendered: “He also took some of the seed of the land and planted it in a field [suitable for] sowing” (NASB, “in a fertile field”). A closely related emphasis occurs in passages such as Gen. 8:22, where the word represents “sowing” as a regularly recurring activity: “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat … shall not cease.”
Zera‛ frequently means “seed.” There are several nuances under this emphasis, the first being what is sown to raise crops for food. The Egyptians told Joseph: “Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate” (Gen. 47:19). The word represents the product of a plant: “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed [food], and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself …” (Gen. 1:11-the first biblical appearance). In this and other contexts zera‛ specifically refers to “grain seed,” or “edible seed” (cf. Lev. 27:30). This may be the meaning of the word in 1 Sam. 8:15: “And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards.…” However, it is possible that here the word refers to arable land, as does its Akkadian cognate. In other contexts the word represents an entire “crop or harvest”: “For the seed [harvest] shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew …” (Zech. 8:12). In Isa. 23:3 zera‛ and the usual Hebrew word for “harvest” (gatsir) are in synonymous parallelism.
Zera‛ sometimes means “semen,” or a man’s “seed”: “And if any man’s seed of copulation go out from him [if he has a seminal emission] …” (Lev. 15:16). A beast’s “semen” can also be indicated by this word (Jer. 31:27). Zera‛ often means “offspring.” Only rarely is this nuance applied to animals: “And I will put enmity between thee [the devil] and the woman [Eve], and between thy seed and her seed …” (Gen. 3:15). This verse uses the word in several senses. The first appearance means both the descendants of the snake and those of the spiritual being who used the snake (evil men). The second appearance of the word refers to all the descendants of the woman and ultimately to a particular descendant (Christ). In Gen. 4:25 zera‛ appears not as a collective noun but refers to a particular and immediate “offspring”; upon the birth of Seth, Eve said: “God … hath appointed me another seed [offspring].…” Gen. 46:6 uses the word (in the singular) of one’s entire family including children and grandchildren (cf. Gen. 17:12). One’s larger family, including all immediate relatives, is included in the word in passages such as 1 Kings 11:14. The word is used of an entire nation of people in Esth. 10:3.
Zera‛ is used of groups and individuals marked by a common moral quality. This usage was already seen in Gen. 3:15. Isa. 65:23 mentions the “seed” of the blessed of God. The Messiah or Suffering Servant will see His “offspring,” or those who believe in and follow Him (Isa. 53:10). We also read about the followers of the righteous (Prov. 11:21), the faithful “seed” (Jer. 2:21), and godly “offspring.” In each case this word represents those who are united by being typified by the modifier of zera‛. Several other passages exhibit the same nuance except that zera‛ is modified by an undesirable quality.
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Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Sow'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/s/sow.html. 1940.
