the Fourth Week of Advent
Click here to join the effort!
Bible Encyclopedias
Hook
Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
or Several Hebrew words are so rendered in the English Version.
Hook, 1
Hook (), 'I will put my hook in thy nose.' The parallel passage () the Sept. reads 'I will put my muzzle, halter, or noose,' etc. Jehovah here intimates his absolute control over Sennacherib, by an allusion to the practice of leading buffaloes, camels, dromedaries, etc. by means of a cord, or of a cord attached to a ring, passed through the nostrils. 'Canst thou draw out Leviathan with a hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? Canst thou place a reed-cord in his nose, or bore through his cheek with a thorn?' (clasp, or possibly bracelet, etc.). 'Wilt thou draw out a dragon with a hook? Wilt thou bind a band about his nose? Wilt thou fasten a ring in his nose, or bore his lip with a bracelet?' This passage in Job has undergone the following speculations. It has been assumed, that Bochart has completely proved the Leviathan to mean the crocodile. Herodotus has then been quoted, where he relates that the Egyptians near Lake Mœris select a crocodile, render him tame, and suspend ornaments to his ears, and sometimes gems of great value; his fore-feet being adorned with bracelets (ii. 69); and the mummies of crocodiles, having their ears thus bored, have been discovered. Hence it is concluded that this passage in Job refers to the facts mentioned by Herodotus; and, doubtless, the terms employed, especially by the Sept. and Vulg., and the third and following verses, favor the supposition; for there the captive is represented as suppliant and obsequious, in a state of security and servitude, and the object of diversion, 'played with' as with a bird, and serving for the sport of maidens. Herodotus is further quoted to show that in his time the Egyptians captured the crocodile with a hook, and with which he was drawn ashore; and accounts are certainly given by modern travelers of the continuance of this practice. But does not the entire description go upon the supposition of the impossibility of so treating Leviathan? Supposing the allusions to be correctly interpreted, is it not as much as to say, 'Canst thou treat him as thou canst treat the crocodile and other fierce creatures? Dr. Lee has, indeed, given reasons which render it doubtful, at least, whether the leviathan does mean the crocodile in this passage, or whether it does not mean some species of whale, as was formerly supposed; the common grampus, found in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and also in the Nile [LEVIATHAN]. , 'I will put my hooks in thy jaws,' etc.; 'and I will cause thee to come up out of the midst of thy rivers,'where the prophet foretells the destruction of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, by allusions to the destruction, possibly, of a crocodile, the symbol of Egypt. Thus Pliny states, that the Tentyritæ (inhabitants of Egypt) followed the crocodile, swimming after it in the river, sprung upon its back, thrust a bar into its mouth, which, being held by its two extremities, serves as a bit, and enables them to force it on shore (comp. ).
Hook, 2
Hook (;; ), 'hooks,' where the Sept. and Jerome seem to have understood the capitals of the pillar and it has been urged that this is more likely to be the meaning than hooks, especially as 1775 shekels of silver were used in making them for the pillars, overlaying the chapiters, and filleting them (); and that the hooks are really the taches (;;;; ). Yet the Sept. also renders the word 'rings' or 'clasps' (;; ); and from a comparison of these two latter passages it would seem that these hooks, or rather tenters, rose out of the chapiters or heads of the pillars.
Hook, 3
Hook (), 'flesh-hook.' This was evidently a trident 'of three teeth,' a kind of fork, etc. for turning the sacrifices on the fire, and for collecting fragments, etc. (2) (, and elsewhere) 'beat their spears into pruning-hooks.' In , weeding-hooks, or shovels, spades, etc. Joel reverses the metaphor 'pruning-hooks into spears' (). (3) (), 'hooks,' which Gesenius explains stalls in the courts of the Temple, where the sacrificial victims were fastened: our translators give in the margin 'andirons, or the two hearth-stones.' Dr. Lightfoot, in his chapter 'on the altar, the rings, and the laver,' observes, 'On the north side of the altar were six orders of rings, each of which contained six, at which they killed the sacrifices. Nearby were low pillars set up, upon which were laid overthwart beams of cedar; on these were fastened rows of hooks, on which the sacrifices were hung; and they were flayed on marble tables, which were between these pillars.'
Public Domain.
Kitto, John, ed. Entry for 'Hook'. "Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature". https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/kbe/h/hook.html.
