Language Studies

Hebrew Thoughts

`âmadh - עמד (Strong's #5975)
Stand

עמד ‘âmadh (Strong's #5975) "to stand" can be used in many ways just as in English. It could mean stand as in "to stand for election", "identify with", "take a stand", and often carries the sense of "enduring", as with the counsel of the Lord which "stands forever" (Psalm 33:11).

Its first use is in Genesis 18:8 when the three divine men come and visit Abraham at his tent, he serves them food and remains standing, to serve, like a host at the ready. The passage continues and in verse 22 the two men/angels head for Sodom "but Abraham still stood before the LORD". According to a pre-Masoretic text an earlier Hebrew scribal tradition reads "but the LORD remained standing before Abraham", which clearly caused a problem for the Masoretes who amended it accordingly.

Another tradition, that of the Aramaic Targums, renders this as "he ministered in prayer before the Lord". Standing was often the more biblical and later Jewish posture for prayer, kneeling was for repentance and sitting was for teaching. The ‘Amidah or "Standing" is the name of the main Jewish prayer in the synagogue service also known as the Shemoneh Esreh or 18 Benedictions. Standing was both a prayer posture and a reflection perhaps of having stopped and stood still in the presence of God.

Just as "to lie with" can be a sexually charged phrase so, too, "to stand" can even be used sexually of female to animal sexual perversion (Leviticus 18:23). Perhaps, a little less sordid is the perplexing command concerning "standing" upon your neighbour's blood. No version is slavishly literal but the paraphrased NIV, completely omitting the verb "to stand", is at least intelligible; whilst the JPS prefers "neither shalt thou stand idly by the blood of thy neighbour":

"You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people; nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor." (Leviticus 19:16, NKJV)

"Do not go about spreading slander among your people. Do not do anything that endangers your neighbour's life." (Leviticus 19:16, NIV)

Standing could be taken here, as elsewhere, as an "idle" or passive action. Certainly, "standing before the Lord" would appear to imply being still or perhaps almost military-like, "at attention". Generally, in Hebrew, even apparently passive actions are seen as active verbs. So "to stand" is almost "to rise up" - although Hebrew does have a separate verb קום qûwm (Strong's #6965) for this. Standing before a king or even God is often construed as "serving" or "ministering" as in Daniel 1:4-5 (Daniel before Nebuchadnessar) or 1 Kings 17:1 (Elijah before God), rather than just lining up for display. Given this, standing upon someone's blood seems a more active crushing of their windpipe or cutting off their blood supply.

Stand can be used of an absolute stop, but more in the sense of slowing down to a standstill, hence still an active stopping. It is used in this way of the sun standing still in Joshua's day (Joshua 10:13) to allow them to finish the defeat upon their enemies. Indeed it is used of standing firm in battle (Ezekiel 13:5).

So עמד ‘âmadh "to stand", whilst meaning stillness, still implies strength, action and endurance. To "stand before" someone was to serve or pray, whilst to "stand against" had overtones of strong violence or resistance.

Copyright Statement
'Hebrew Thoughts' Copyright 2024© KJ Went. 'Hebrew Thoughts' articles may be reproduced in whole under the following provisions: 1) A proper credit must be given to the author at the end of each article, along with a link to www.biblicalhebrew.com and https://www.studylight.org/language-studies/hebrew-thoughts.html  2) 'Hebrew Thoughts' content may not be arranged or "mirrored" as a competitive online service.