Bible Lexicons

עֶבֶד m.

(1)  a servant, (Knecht), who, amongst the Hebrews, was commonly a slave (Gklan, Leibeigener), Genesis 12:16, 17:23 39:17 Exodus 12:30, 44 Exodus 12:44 and so very frequently. Genesis 9:25, עֶבֶד עֲבָדִים “a servant of servants,” the lowest servant. The name of servant is also applied

(a) to a whole people when subject and tributary to another, Genesis 9:26, 27 27:37.

(b) to the servants of a king, i.e. his ministers and courtiers; e.g. עַבְדֵי פַרְעֹה Genesis 40:20, 41:10, 37 Genesis 41:37, 38 Genesis 41:38, 50:7 Exodus 5:21, 7:10 10:7 עַבְדֵי שָׁאוּל 1 Samuel 16:17, 18:22 28:7 to messengers, -2 Sam. 10:24 ; to military captains, Isaiah 36:9 and to the common soldiers themselves, 2 Samuel 2:12, 13 2 Samuel 2:13, 15 2 Samuel 2:15, 30 2 Samuel 2:30, 31 2 Samuel 2:31, 3:22 8:7 and so frequently.

(c) once figuratively (by zeugma) used of inanimate things, Genesis 47:19 compare Jdt_3:4. The Hebrews, in speaking to superiors, either from modesty or else lowly adulation, call themselves servants, and those to whom they speak lords, (see אָדוֹן ). Genesis 18:3, “pass not by thy servant,” i.e. me, Genesis 19:19, 42:11 44:16, 21 Genesis 44:21, 23 Genesis 44:23, 46:34 Isaiah 36:11; Daniel 1:12, 13 2:4 [Chal.]; so in prayers offered to God, Psalms 19:12, 14 Psalms 19:14, 27:9 31:17 69:18 86:2, Psalms 86:4, 119:17 Nehemiah 1:6,. Daniel 10:17, “how can the servant of my lord talk with my lord?” i.e. how can I talk with thee? עַבְדְּךָ thy servant is thus put for אָנֹכִי; so that the suffix of the first person may refer to it; see Genesis 44:32, “for thy servant became surety (i.e. I became surety) for the lad with my father.” Absent persons even, whom one wishes to commend to the favour of a patron, are called their servants; as Genesis 44:27, “thy servant, my father said to us,” Genesis 30:31, 32:20.

(2) עֶבֶד יְהֹוָה is figuratively applied in various senses. It is

(a) a worshipper of God; Nehemiah 1:10, הֵם עֲבָדֶיךָ וְעַמֶּךָ “they (the Israelites) are thy servants and thy people;” compare Chaldee Ezra 5:11, “we are the servants of the God of heaven,” i.e. we worship the God of heaven; Daniel 6:21, “O Daniel, servant of the living God,” i.e. who worshippest the living God. In this sense it is used as a kind of laudatory epithet applied to the pious worshippers of God; e.g. to Abraham, Psalms 105:6, 42 Psalms 105:42 to Joshua, Joshua 24:29; Judges 2:8 to Job, Job 1:8, 2:3 42:8 to David, Psalms 18:1, 36:1 78:70 89:4, 21 Psalms 89:21; Jeremiah 33:21, seqq.; Ezekiel 34:23 to Eliakim, Isaiah 22:20 to Zerubbabel, Haggai 2:23 and in plur. עַבְדֵי יְהֹוָה is often applied to godly men, Ps. 34:23 69:37 113:1 134:1 135:1, Psalms 135:9, 136:22 Isaiah 54:17, 63:17 65:8, Isaiah 65:9, -1315 ; Jeremiah 30:10, 46:27. In other places it is

(b) the minister, or ambassador of God, called and sent by God for accomplishing some service; Isaiah 49:6, נָקֵל מִהְיוֹתְךָ לִי עֶבֶד לְהָקִים אֶת שִׁבְטֵי יִשְׁרָאֵל וגו׳ “it is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant (i.e. messenger, and as it were instrument), to raise up the tribes of Israel … I will make thee to be a light for the nations,” etc., verse Isaiah 49:5. In this sense it is applied to the Messiah, Zechariah 3:8 to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, whom God used as an instrument in chastising his people, Jerem. 25:9 27:6 43:10 commonly, however, there is the added notion of a familiar servant chosen and beloved of God, on account of piety and approved fidelity, to accomplish his objects; in this sense it is applied to angels (in the other hemistich מַלְאָכִים), Job 4:18 and to prophets, Amos 3:7; Jeremiah 7:25, 25:4 26:5 29:19 35:15 44:4 Daniel 9:6; Ezra 9:11 specially to Moses, Deuteronomy 34:5; Joshua 1:1, 13 Joshua 1:13, 15 Joshua 1:15; Psalms 105:26 to Isaiah, Isaiah 20:3. Sometimes both notions, that of a man piously worshipping God, and of a divine messenger, seem to have coalesced; this is the case in the passages in which it is used of Abraham, Moses, etc., and also especially, as I consider, where Israel or Jacob, i.e. the people of Israel, is called by this honourable and endearing name, Isaiah 41:8, Isaiah 41:9, 42:19 44:1, Isaiah 44:2, 21 Isaiah 44:21, 45:4 48:20 but still it is the godly who are especially to be understood, i.e. those truly called Israelites, ἀληθινοὶ Ἰσρ. Isaiah 43:10, 49:3 (on this place see my observation in the Germ. Trans. ed. 2), [this passage, whatever may be said about it, belongs to Christ]. And amongst these, this name belongs especially to the prophets, Isaiah 42:1, 44:26 49:3, Isaiah 49:5, 52:13 53:11. [All these passages speak of Christ.] That same Jacob who is called the servant of God, is sometimes in the other hemistich called the chosen of God, Isaiah 41:8, 42:1 45:4 sometimes his ambassador and friend, Isaiah 42:19 and even in the plur. ambassadors, Isaiah 44:26. But in all the passages concerning the servant of God in the latter half of Isaiah (-42:17 ; -49:19 ; -50:410 ; -52:1353:12 ), he is represented as the intimate friend and ambassador of God, aided by his Spirit, who is to be the restorer of the tribes of Israel, and the instructor of other nations. [Most of these passages refer to Christ, and to Him only.]

(3) (“servant, sc. of God”), [Ebed], pr.n. m.

(a) Judges 9:26, 28 Judges 9:28.

(b) Ezra 8:6.