Bible Lexicons

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

Will

The English word will is sometimes merely the sign of the future tense, whilst at other times it expresses the willingness of the agent in the Hebrew, as in the Greek, those ideas are represented by different words, and in many passages it is important to notice the distinction.

Avah (אבה , Ass. Abitu) represents the inclination which leads towards action, rather than the volition which immediately precedes it in the LXX, Avah is rendered both by βούλομαι and θέλω. It is rendered 'will' or 'willing' in the following passages: Genesis 24:6; Genesis 24:8; Exodus 10:27 ('He would not let them go'); Leviticus 26:21 ('If ye will not hearken unto me'); Deuteronomy 1:26 ('Ye would not go up'); Deuteronomy 2:30 (Sih on 'would not let us pass by him'), 10:10 (the Lord 'would not destroy thee'), 23:5, 25:7, 29:20; Joshua 24:10; Judges 11:17; Judges 19:10; Judges 19:25; Judges 20:13; 1 Samuel 15:9; 1 Samuel 22:17; 1 Samuel 26:23; 1 Samuel 31:4; 2 Samuel 2:21; 2 Samuel 6:10; 2 Samuel 12:17; 2 Samuel 13:14; 2 Samuel 13:16; 2 Samuel 13:25; 2 Samuel 14:29; 2 Samuel 23:16-17; 1 Kings 22:49; 2 Kings 8:19; 2 Kings 13:23; 2 Kings 24:4; 1 Chronicles 10:4; 1 Chronicles 11:18-19; 1 Chronicles 19:19; 2 Chronicles 21:7; Job 39:9; Psalms 81:11; Isaiah 1:19 ('If ye be willing'), 28:12, 30:9, 15, 42:24; Ezekiel 3:7 ('The house of Israel will not hearken unto thee, for they will not hearken unto me'); see also chap.20:8.

It is remarkable that these passages, with two exceptions (Isaiah 1:19, and Job 39:9), are negative. Where they refer to the disobedience of Israel, they imply that the refusal to hearken to God's Word was voluntary, and that they were responsible for it. Where reference is made to the Divine action, it is implied that God is a moral governor, and that his dealings with men are deliberate, and to some extent dependent up on their obedience or disobedience.

In Hosea 13:10; Hosea 13:14, we read, 'I will be thy king;' 'O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction.' The word for will (ehi, אהי ) might probably be better rendered where? as in the margin and in the R. V.; and this rendering would identify the passage all the more closely with St. Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 15:55.

Chaphets (חפץ ), to delight, is usually rendered θέλω or βούλομαι in the LXX in the A. V., it is rendered 'will' in Ruth 3:13 ('If he will not do the part of a kinsman to thee'); 1 Samuel 2:25; 1 Kings 13:33; 1 Chronicles 28:9; Job 9:3; Proverbs 21:1; Proverbs 31:13.

This word is used in the phrase 'there is a time for every purpose' (Ecclesiastes 3:1; Ecclesiastes 3:17; Ecclesiastes 8:6); also in Ecclesiastes 12:10, 'The preacher sought to find out acceptable words' The Psalmist uses it when he says, 'Let them be put to shame that wish me evil' (Psalms 40:14).

Chaphets is rendered please or pleasure in several passages, including Judges 13:23; Job 21:21; Job 22:3; Psalms 5:4; Psalms 35:27; Psalms 115:3; Isaiah 42:21; Isaiah 53:10; Ezekiel 18:23; Ezekiel 18:3; Ezekiel 33:11; Matthew 1:10.

It is rendered 'favour' in 2 Samuel 20:11, Psalms 35:27; Psalms 41:11 in these passages there is no reference to what we call 'favouritism,' i.e. the overlooking of the claims of some so as to gratify the wishes of special friends; it is simply recorded that pleasure was found in certain persons, whatever the ground of it might be.

It is often rendered desire, e.g in 1 Samuel 18:25; Psalms 34:12; Psalms 40:6; Psalms 51:6; Psalms 51:16; Hosea 6:6. It is also rendered delight very frequently; see especially 1 Samuel 15:22, 'Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?' 2 Samuel 22:20, 'He delivered me because he delighted in me;' Psalms 1:2; Psalms 22:8; Psalms 40:8; Isaiah 1:11; Isaiah 62:4 (Hephzi-bah, 'My delight is in her').

on reviewing all the passages where the word Chaphets is used, the reader will probably come to the conclusion that its true meaning is not so much an intense pleasurable emotion, as a favourable disposition, or the prompting of the heart to take a certain course of action from a sense of fitness. It is usually relative rather than absolute. It teaches us that God is naturally disposed to look for obedience, trust, and holiness in those who were created after his own likeness; that He deals tenderly but uprightly with his creatures; that He confers life rather than death, if morally possible; that He administers judicial punishment where necessary; and that He has seen fit to inflict suffering up on the Messiah. It also marks his unwillingness to be put off with ceremonial observances as a substitute for the devotion of the heart.

Rats on (רצון ), which properly means good pleasure or acceptance, is occasionally translated 'will,' e.g. Genesis 49:6, ' in their self-will they digged down a wall;' Leviticus 1:3, [It is true that the Hebrew word nephesh is used in certain idiomatic expressions with reference to the Divine Being, but not in such a way as to invalidate what is affirmed above.] ' of his own voluntary will;' 19:5, 'At your own will;' 22:19, 29; Nehemiah 9:24, ' as they would;' Esther 9:5; Psalms 40:8, 'I delight to do thy will;' 143:10, 'Teach me to do thy will;' Daniel 8:4, 'He did according to his will;' 11:3, 16, 36. The word is less abstract than the previous ones. It sets forth a pleasurable emotion, whether leading to action or not. Both the substantive and the verb are used to represent that which is pleasant, delightful, acceptable, or approved of by God.

The LXX usually adopts θέλημα, εὐδοκία, or δεκτός as a rendering for this word.

It is interesting to observe what a number of passages there are in the N.T in which reference is made to 'the will of the Lord.' God's good pleasure is everywhere regarded as the law whereby all things, human and divine, are ordered. Christ is regarded as its embodiment and manifestation; and the Christian, being - by profession at least - one with Christ, is supposed to be conformed to that will in all things.

The θέλημα, answering to Ratson, is that which God decides to have done because it is pleasing to Him; the βουλή, which answers to Chaphets, marks his disposition rather than his counsel or purpose. The two words are found together in Ephesians 1:11. The latter word implies not so much that there has been a consideration of the circumstances which call for action, as that they are in accordance with the nature and attributes of God; whilst the former points to the fact that the course of action determined on gives a real pleasure to Him.