Language Studies

Hebrew Thoughts

kôpher - כּפֶר (Strong's #3724)
Cover, ransom

The word כּ^·פֶר kôpher (Strong's #3724,x17) is related to כָּפַר kâphar "to cover" (Strong's #3722, x102). It is first used in Genesis 6:14 of the waterproofing of the ark, using similar cognate language to the Babylonian flood story. The NKJV translation obscures the relationship between noun and verb with "cover it inside and outside with pitch" whilst the KJV and JPS have "pitch it within and without with pitch". A further synonym may lie in the use of the unknown Gopher wood, which only occurs in this verse and is spelled the same apart from the change between the kô of כּ^·פֶר kôpher and the gô of גּ^·פֶר gôpher (Strong's #1613, x1) .

The idea of a a "ransom" perhaps comes from the idea of a "cover note". Similarly, the development of atonement language from the idea of "covering" also crosses over with the idea of a paid ransom. כּ^·פֶר kôpher is first used in the sense of a life-saving ransom in Exodus 21:30 where the owner of a known dangerous ox is held responsible for the death of an injured party. Here a financial payout was sometimes considered an option for the animal's owner himself to be saved from the death penalty. Dangerous dog owners in today's society might put protective muzzles on pit bulls far quicker if they knew of the Mosaic regulations.

Elsewhere, in the Pentateuch, it is used of an identical per head ransom for every person in Israel (Exodus 30:12) but later one that specifically excluded murderers for whom there was to be no ransom for their lives (Numbers 35:31).

Proverbs uses it in 6:35 in the sense of an entreaty or gift; also, 13:8 "A man's riches may ransom his life" (NIV); and again in 21:18, in a confusing verse, of the wicked taking the place of the righteous, perhaps as in Isaiah 43:3's usage "I gave Egypt for your ransom".

Conflicting with the apparent sense of Proverbs 13:8 is Psalm 49:7, "None of them can by any means redeem his brother, Nor give to God a ransom for him", where the preceding v.6 speaks of the folly of trust in riches. The parallel usage of "ransom" with the verb äct pâdâh "to redeem" (Strong's #6299) is significant, as it is with פִּדּיוּן pid'yôwn "redeem" (Strong's #6306), a derivative of äct pâdâh in Exodus 21:30.

On a less positive note the word could be used in the sense of an underhand and unrighteous bribe allowing someone, usually rich, the opportunity to bypass a poor, possibly righteous, person thus, "Afflicting the just and taking bribes; Diverting the poor from justice at the gate" (Amos 5:12). Cf. 1 Samuel 12:3 where Samuel denies ever having taken a bribe.

Song of Solomon 1:14 describes the beloved as "a cluster of henna", cf. 4:13, using כּ^·פֶר kôpher again. The Cypress tree had reddish berries and grayish blossom from which a dark inky extract or dye could be made and used for covering the nails or body art, even to this day in India and the Middle East.

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