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Bible Encyclopedias
Daysman
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (מוֹכַיחִ, moki'ach, an adjudicator), "an old English term meaning umpire or arbitrator (Job 9:33). It is derived from day, in the specific sense of a day fixed for a trial (comp. 1 Corinthians 4:3, where άνθρωπίνη ἡμέρα — lit. man's day, and so given in Wycliffe's translation — is rendered ‘ man's judgment' in the A. V.). Similar expressions occur in German (eine Sache tagen = to bring a matter before a court of justice) and other Teutonic languages." "The primitive meaning of the verb יָנִח (according to Gesenius, Thes. p. 592) is ‘ to be clear or manifest;' and in Hiphil ‘ to make manifest;' also ‘ to convince, to confute, to reprove or rebuke;' by these last two words the word is rendered in nearly every passage of the A. V., including the ten instances of the Hiphil participle מוֹכַיחִ . It is not easy to conjecture why in Job 9:33 alone the translators resorted to the not then common word daysman. The marginal rendering umpire seems to convey best the meaning of Job in the passage, ‘ some one to compose our differences and command silence when either of us exceeds our bounds' (Patrick, in loc.). Fü rst's term, Schiedsmann, (Handwirterb. p. 309), very well expresses this idea of authoritative arbitration. As to the old English noun daysman, Johnson's definition, surety, is hardly borne out by his solitary quotation from Spenser (Faerie Queene, 2:8); arbitrator or umpire would better express the sense. In Holland's old translation of Livius (p. 137), Dayesmen and Umpiers are used as synonymes. In the Bible of 1551, 1 Samuel 2:25 is thus employed." In primitive times such a person appears to have been appointed to prescribe just limits to such as were immoderate in their demands, and interpose his authority with those who exceeded the assigned bounds of their cause. The laying the hand on both may allude to some particular ceremony; but it evidently also refers to the power of coercion which the daysman could exercise over both parties. (See MEDIATOR).
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Daysman'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/d/daysman.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
