Language Studies

Hebrew Thoughts

chôl - חוֹל (Strong's #2455)
Common'

The word חוֹל chôl "common" (Strong's #2455, x7) meaning "unholy, profane" or simply "common" in translation derives from חָלַל châlal (Strong's #2490, x141) which seems to have at its root the idea of opening through piercing, hence to begin something, to loosen, to wound, to profane by opening something up to common usage, treating as public that which is private.

The idea of unholy, unclean, common does not necessarily correlate to sinful. The concept is more about separation unto, that which belongs to God versus that whichy is "open" to all.

The first use is in Leviticus 10:10 where it is in opposition to קוֹדֶשׁ qôdhesh (Strong's #6944, x470) "holy" and frequently therefore translated in this passage as "unholy", yet holy is itself a commonly misunderstood word, perhaps meaning set apart, different, extraordinary, numinous.

"And the priest answered David and said, 'There is no common bread on hand; but there is holy bread, if the young men have at least kept themselves from women.' Then David answered the priest, and said to him, 'Truly, women have been kept from us about three days since I came out. And the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in effect common, even though it was sanctified in the vessel this day.'" (1 Samuel 21:4-5)

The passage above is instructive for it again distinguishes between "common" and "holy" and how ordinary bread became "holy" (for not only God is holy) by virtue of being "sanctified, set apart", קָדַשׁ qâdhash (Strong's #6942, x173), the root verb behind קוֹדֶשׁ qôdhesh. The nature of the bread is not changed, nor transformed, as in some beliefs about the Catholic Mass, it is simply set apart, devoted or dedicated to a reserved use, and David and the priests argue that so long as the men have kept themselves apart then they may eat of it.

A particular type of Jewish bread is of course חַלָּה challâh (Strong's #2471, x14), a "cake, bread" as if pierced or perforated but often made with oil and hence perhaps richer than traditional bread. Modern Jewish chollah bread may have half a dozen eggs for richness and glaze. In most of its biblical occurrences it seems distinguished from but closely affiliated with ordinary bread. According to Numbers 15:20 the חַלָּה challâh was also the part of the dough bread that was set aside for priests who were sustained by tithes.

As Ezekiel 22:26; 44:23 shows the issue for the priests was about making a disctinction or difference. "Hallowing" God, from the root verb חָלַּל châlal, was about regarding God as different, above, not like other gods, not like man. The priests' failure was to blur the distinction between "common" and "holy". The description of the temple in Ezekiel 42:20; 48:15 describe parts as holy (private) and certain sections as common (public).

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