Bible Lexicons

Girdlestone's Synonyms of the Old TestamentGirdlestone's OT Synonyms

Preaching

The word preach means either to tell good tidings or to proclaim. The first idea is represented by Basar (בשׁר ), εὐαγγελίζομαι, to evangelise; the second by Kara (קרא , Ass. qaru), κηρύσσω. Basar is used in Isaiah 61:1, 'To preach good tidings to the meek;' and in the same verse Kara is rendered 'proclaim' - 'to proclaim liberty to the captives.' Basar is rendered preach in one other passage, namely, Psalms 40:9, 'I have preached righteousness in the great congregation.' Here the use of the word is important. It was not a mere proclamation of righteousness, but the announcing of good tidings concerning righteousness that the Psalmist refers to; and this point is confirmed and expounded by the following verse, where we read, 'I have not hid thy righteousness with in my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.'

This word is translated 'publish' in 1 Samuel 31:9, and in 2 Samuel 1:20; also in Psalms 68:11, where we read, 'The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it' (Prayer Book version, 'Great was the company of the preachers'). The word is here in the feminine gender, and reference is made to the bands of women who proclaimed the good tidings of a victory. An instance of this custom may be found in 1 Samuel 18:6-7. The same word is used in 1 Chronicles 16:23, Psalms 96:2, and Isaiah 60:5-6.

Basar is only once used where evil tidings were to be given, namely, in 1 Samuel 4:17, where we read that 'The messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines.'

Kara, to call or proclaim, is rendered 'preach' in Nehemiah 6:7, 'Thou hast appointed prophets to preach (i.e. proclaim) of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah;' Jonah 3:2, 'Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.' It is usually rendered to call, cry, name, bid, invite, proclaim, publish. It also signifies to read aloud, the only kind of reading ever referred to in the O.T in this sense it is used more than thirty times. Hence the name Karaite, as applied to that sect of Jews which confines its teaching to that which may be gained from the reading of the O.T.; and Keri, the word which signifies what is to be read as opposed to what is written (Chetib) in those passages of the Hebrew Scriptures in which MSS;. differ. Another sense in which the word Kara is frequently used is to mark naming; also invocation, or calling up on the name of the Lord, e.g Genesis 4:26, which our translators have rendered, 'Then began men to call up on the name of the Lord' (margin, 'to call themselves by the name of the Lord'). Luther renders, 'Then began men to preach concerning the name of the Lord.' ['Zu predigen v on des Herrn Namen.' The LXX has ἐπικάλεισθαι.]

In 1 Kings 8:43 we find Kara used in both its senses. 'Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for, that all the peoples of the earth may know thy name to fear thee, as do thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house which I have builded is called by thy name.'

The LXX usually retained the distinction between these two aspects of the verb Kara, which is represented by προσκαλέω in the active and passive voices this Greek word is always used for to name and to be named; but in the middle voice it signifies to invoke or call up on a person instances of the former sense will be found in Numbers 21:3, 'He called the name of the place Hormah;' Deuteronomy 15:2, 'It is called the Lord's release;' Isaiah 43:7, 'Every one that is called by my name;' Daniel 9:18, 'Behold the city which is called by thy name;' Amos 9:12, 'All the heathen that are called by my name.' The middle voice is adopted in the following passages: - Genesis 12:8, 'He builded an altar unto Jehovah , and called up on the name of Jehovah;' Deuteronomy 4:7, 'What nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as Jehovah our God is in all things that we call up on him fort' See also Proverbs 21:13; Isaiah 55:6; Isaiah 64:7; Jonah 1:6; Zechariah 13:9.

The word rendered Preacher in the Book of Ecclesiastes is Koheleth (קהלת ), which is rendered ἐκκλησιάστης in the LXX, whence we have derived the name of the book. It is generally supposed to signify one who convokes an assembly, from Kahal (see chap. xix.). The noun is in the feminine form, perhaps to mark dignity or office. Some critics, however, connect the word with a cognate Arabic root, and translate it the Penitent.

The verb κηρύσσω, to proclaim, is found about sixty times in the N.T., and κήρυγμα eight times. It is used of the public reading of the law of Moses (Acts 15:21), and of the declaration of the Gospel of Christ. Where this word is used, more stress is laid on the publicity of the proclamation than on the nature of the news itself. It has been observed that it is this word, not εὐαγγελίζομαι, which is found in 1 Peter 3:19, a passage which is usually considered to refer to the notification of the fulfilment of the Divine purposes in Christ, made to a special portion of the spirits of the departed. [ in 1 Peter 4:6 the word εὐαγγελίζομαι is used. See Alford's note.]