International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

F

Fable — Fire, Strange

Fable

Fable - fa'-b'-l (muthos):

(1) Primitive man conceives of the objects around him as possessing his own characteristics. Consequently in his stories, beasts, trees, rocks, etc., think, talk and act exactly as if they were human beings. Of course, but little advance in knowledge was needed to put an end to this mode of thought, but the form of story-telling developed by it persisted and is found in the folk-tales of all nations. More particularly, the archaic form of story was used for the purpose of moral instruction, and when so used is termed the fable. Modern definitions distinguish it from the parable (a) by its use of characters of lower intelligence than man (although reasoning and speaking like men), and (b) by its lesson for this life only. But, while these distinctions serve some practical purpose in distinguishing (say) the fables of Aesop from the parables of Christ, they are of little value to the student of folk-lore. For fable, parable, allegory, etc., are all evolutions from a common stock, and they tend to blend with each other.

See ALLEGORY; PARABLE.

(2) The Semitic mind is peculiarly prone to allegorical expression, and a modern Arabian storyteller will invent a fable or a parable as readily as he will talk. And we may be entirely certain that the very scanty appearance of fables in the Old Testament is due only to the character of its material and not at all to an absence of fables from the mouths of the Jews of old. Only two examples have reached us. In Judges 9:7 through Judges 15:1-20 Jotham mocks the choice of AbimeItch as king with the fable of the trees that could find no tree that would accept the trouble of the kingship except the worthless bramble. And in 2 Kings 14:9 Jehoash ridicules the pretensions of Amaziah with the story of the thistle that wished to make a royal alliance with the cedar. Yet that the distinction between fable and allegory, etc., is artificial is seen in Isaiah 5:1-2, where the vineyard is assumed to possess a deliberate will to be perverse.

(3) In the New Testament, "fable" is found in 1 Timothy 1:4; 4:7; 2 Timothy 4:4; Titus 1:14; 2 Peter 1:16, as the translation of muthos ("myth"). The sense here differs entirely from that discussed above, and "fable" means a (religious) story that has no connection with reality--contrasted with the knowledge of an eyewitness in 2 Peter 1:16. The exact nature of these "fables" is of course something out of our knowledge, but the mention in connection with them of "endless genealogies" in 1 Timothy 1:4 points with high probability to some form of Gnostic speculation that interposed a chain of eons between God and the world. In some of the Gnostic systems that we know, these chains are described with a prolixity so interminable (the Pistis Sophia is the best example) as to justify well the phrase "old wives' fables" in 1 Timothy 4:7. But that these passages have Gnostic reference need not tell against the Pauline authorship of the Pastorals, as a fairly well developed "Gnosticism" is recognizable in a passage as early as Colossians 2:1-23, and as the description of the fables as Jewish in Titus 1:14 (compare Titus 3:9) is against 2nd-century references. But for details the commentaries on the Pastoral Epistles must be consulted. It is worth noting that in 2 Timothy 4:4 the adoption of these fables is said to be the result of dabbling in the dubious. This manner of losing one's hold on reality is, unfortunately, something not confined to the apostolic age.

Burton Scott Easton

Face

Face - fas: In Hebrew the translation of three expressions: (1) panim (2) `ayin, literally, "eye" and (3) 'aph, literally, "nose," "nostril," already noted under the word COUNTENANCE, which see. The first and second of these words are used synonymously, even in metaphorical expressions, as, e.g. in the phrase "the face of the earth," where panim is used (Deuteronomy 6:15 et passim) and `ayin (Numbers 22:5 et passim). The third expression preserves more clearly its original meaning. It is generally used in the phrases "to bow one's self to the earth," "to fall on one's face," where the nose actually touched the ground. Often "my face," "thy face" is mere oriental circumlocution for the personal pronoun "I," "me," "thou," "thee." "In thy face" means "in thy presence;" and is often so translated. A very large number of idiomatic Hebrew expressions have been introduced into our language through the medium of the Bible translation. We notice the most important of these phrases.

"To seek the face" is to seek an audience with a prince or with God, to seek favor (Psalms 24:6; 27:8 bis; Psalms 105:4; Proverbs 7:15; Hosea 5:15; compare Proverbs 29:26, where the Revised Version (British and American) translates "Many seek the ruler's favor," literally, many seek the face (Hebrew pene) of a ruler).

If God "hides his face" He withdraws His presence, His favor (Deuteronomy 32:20; Job 34:29; Psalms 13:1; 30:7; 143:7; Isaiah 54:8; Jeremiah 33:5; Ezekiel 39:23, 14; Micah 3:4). Such withdrawal of the presence of God is to be understood as a consequence of man's personal disobedience, not as a wrathful denial of God's favor (Isaiah 59:2). God is asked to "hide his face," i.e. to disregard or overlook (Psalms 51:9; compare Psalms 10:11). This is also the idea of the prayer: "Cast me not away from thy presence" (literally, "face," Psalms 51:11), and of the promise: "The upright shall dwell in thy presence" (literally, "face," Psalms 140:13). If used of men, "to hide the face" expresses humility and reverence before an exalted presence (Exodus 3:6; Isaiah 6:2); similarly Elijah "wrapped his face in his mantle" when God passed by (1 Kings 19:13). The "covering of the face" is a sign of mourning (2 Samuel 19:4 = Ezekiel 12:6, 12); a "face covered with fatness" is synonymous with prosperity and arrogance (Job 15:27); to have one's face covered by another person is a sign of hopeless doom, as if one were already dead. This was done to Human, when judgment had been pronounced over him (Esther 7:8).

"To turn away one's face" is a sign of insulting indifference or contempt (2 Chronicles 29:6; Ezekiel 14:6; Sirach 4:4; compare Jeremiah 2:27; 18:17; 32:33); on the part of God an averted face is synonymous with rejection (Psalms 13:1; 27:9; 88:14).

"To harden the face" means to harden one's self against any sort of appeal (Proverbs 21:29; Isaiah 50:7; Jeremiah 5:3; compare Ezekiel 3:9).

Fact

Fact - Lit. "a deed." The word occurs only in the heading of the chapter, 2 Kings 10:1-36 the King James Version, "Jehu excuseth the fact by the prophecy of Elijah," and in 2 Maccabees 4:36, with reference to the murder of Onias, "certain of the Greeks that abhorred the fact (the deed) also" (summisoponerounton, literally, "hating wickedness together with (others)," the Revised Version (British and American) "the Greeks also joining with them in hatred of the wickedness."

Fade

Fade - fad (nabhel; maraino): "To fade" is in the Old Testament the translation of nabhel, "to droop or wither," figuratively, "to fade," or "pass way" (Psalms 18:45; Isaiah 1:30; 24:4; 1, 4; Isaiah 40:7-8); once it is the translation of balal "to well up," "to overflow"; perhaps from nabhal (Isaiah 64:6, "We all do fade as a leaf"); in the New Testament of maraino, "to come to wither or to fade away" (James 1:11, "So also shall the rich man fade away in his ways," the Revised Version (British and American) "in his goings"); compare Wisdom of Solomon 28, "Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds, before they be withered" (maraino); amardntinos (amaranth), "unfading," occurs in 1 Peter 5:4, "the crown of glory that fadeth not away," and amarantos (1 Peter 1:4), "an inheritance .... that fadeth not away"; compare Wisdom of Solomon 6:12, "Wisdom is glorious (the Revised Version (British and American) "radiant"), and fadeth not away."

For "fade" (Ezekiel 47:12), the Revised Version (British and American) has "wither"; for "fall" "falleth" "falling" (Isaiah 34:4), "fade," "fadeth," "fading.

W. L. Walker

Fail

Fail - fal (kalah, karath; ekleipo): "Fail" is both intransitive, "to fall short," "be wanting," and trans, "to be wanting to."

Of the many words translated "fail" in the Old Testament, kalah is the most frequent, meaning "to be consumed," "ended" (Job 11:20; 17:5; Psalms 69:3; 71:9, etc.; Proverbs 22:8; Isaiah 15:6, etc.; Jeremiah 14:6; Lamentations 2:11; 3:22; 4:17); it is the translation of karath, "to be cut off" (2 Samuel 3:29, of failure in succession; so 1 Kings 2:4, etc.); `adhar, "to marshal," "to be missed" or "lacking" (Isaiah 34:16 the King James Version; Isaiah 40:26 the King James Version; Isaiah 59:15 the King James Version; Zephaniah 3:5); of raphah, "to become faint" or "to make feeble" (Deuteronomy 31:6, 8; "I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee," Joshua 1:5; 1 Chronicles 28:20); of '-abhadh, "to perish," "be lost" (Psalms 142:4, "Refuge hath failed me"; Ezekiel 12:22, "Every vision faileth"). Many other Hebrew words are translated "fail," "faileth," for the most part in single instances.

In the New Testament, ekleipo, "to leave out" or "off," is thrice rendered "fail" (Luke 16:9 "when it shall fail"; Luke 22:32, "that thy faith fail not"; Hebrews 1:12, "Thy years shall not fail"); ekpipto, "to fall off or away" (1 Corinthians 13:8, "Charity (the Revised Version (British and American) "love") never faileth"); katargeo, "to make useless" (1 Corinthians 13:8 the King James Version, "Whether prophecies, they shall fail"); hustereo, "to be behind," "to lack" (Hebrews 12:15 the King James Version); apopsucho, "to swoon away," "failing" (Luke 21:26 the King James Version).

The Revised Version (British and American) has "fail," in a new translation of Jeremiah 18:14, for "fall" (Lamentations 1:14, margin "stumble"); "his hand fail" for "fallen in decay" (Leviticus 25:35); "I will in no wise fail thee" for "I will never leave thee" (Hebrews 13:5; compare Deuteronomy 31:6; Joshua 1:5); "failed to enter" for "entered not" (Hebrews 4:6); "faileth" (American Standard Revised Version) for "ceaseth" (Psalms 49:8), the English Revised Version "must be let alone for ever"; "failing" for "was darkened" (Luke 23:45); for "fail" (Ezra 4:22), "be slack," "be missing" (Isaiah 34:16); "falleth short of" (Hebrews 12:15, maqrgin, "falleth bacf from"); for "failed," "was all spent" (Genesis 47:15); "wholly" (Joshua 3:16); "fail (in looking)" (Lamentations 4:17); for "faileth," "is lacking" (Isaiah 40:26; 59:15); for "men's hearts failing them" (Luke 21:26), "men fainting," margin "expiring."

W. L. Walker

Fain

Fain - fan (advb.): Occurs twice in English Versions of the Bible, in the sense of "gladly": (1) in Job 27:22 as the rendering of barach, "to flee with haste" (from anything), "He would fain flee out of his hand," literally, as in in of the King James Version, "in fleeing he would flee"; (2) in Luke 15:16, as the translation of epithumeo, "to fix the mind or desire on," "He would fain have filled his belly with the husks which the swine did eat." the Revised Version (British and American) adds two instances: (1) Luke 13:31, "Herod would fain kill thee"; (2) Acts 26:28, "Thou wouldest fain make me a Christian.

See ALMOST.

Faint

Faint - fant (`ayeph, `uph, ya`aph, `alaph, aTaph, dawway, yaghea`, macac, rakhakh, paghar, kahah; ekluo, ekkakeo, kamno): The Hebrew vocabulary for the depressing physical conditions and mental emotions which are rendered in the King James Version by the English words "faint," "fainthess," and other compounds of that stem, is, as will be seen above, wide and varied in derivation. The 11 Hebrew and 3 Greek words and their derivatives are used in 62 passages in the King James Version to express these conditions.

`Ayeph is used to express the exhaustion from fatigue and hunger in the case of Esau (Genesis 25:29-30). This and its variants come from a root which primarily means "to cover or conceal," therefore "to be dark or obscure," and so, figuratively, "to be faint or depressed." Israel's helpless state when harassed by Amalek (Deuteronomy 25:18) and the plight of Gideon's weary force when they sought in vain for help at Succoth (Judges 8:4) are described by the same word. Isaiah also uses it to picture the disappointed and unsatisfied appetite of the thirsty man awakening from his dream of refreshment (Isaiah 29:8). In 2 Samuel 16:14, `ayephim is probably a proper name of a place (Revised Version, margin).

`Uph in 1 Samuel 14:28-31 describes the exhaustion of Saul's host in pursuit of the Philistines after the battle of Michmash. The same word expresses the failure of David's strength when in conflict with the same foes, which led to his imminent peril and to the consequent refusal of the commander of his army to allow him to take part personally in the combat (2 Samuel 21:15).

Ya`-aph is used by Ziba when he brought refreshments to David's men on the flight from Absalom (2 Samuel 16:2); see also its use in Isaiah 40:28. Cognate verbal forms occur in Isaiah 40:30-31; Jeremiah 2:24; 58, 64; Habakkuk 2:13, as also in Judges 8:15, meaning in all cases the faintness or exhaustion of fatigue or weariness.

`Alpah expresses the faintness from thirst in Amos 8:13, or from the heat of the sun (Jonah 4:8), and figuratively, the despondency which was the result of the captivity (Isaiah 51:20). Ezekiel uses it allegorically

as describing the withering of the trees for grief at the death of the Assyrian kings (Ezekiel 31:15).

`ATaph is the weariness of the wanderers in the desert (Psalms 107:5), the faintness from hunger (Lamentations 2:19), or the despondency of Jonah dispelled by his remembrance of God's mercies (Jonah 2:7).

Dawway, from a root which signifies the sickness produced by exhaustion from loss of blood, is used in Isaiah 1:5 for the faintness of heart, the result of remorse for sin, and in Jeremiah 8:18 for the prophet's sorrow for the sins of Israel. A cognate form expresses his sorrow on account of the judgments of God which were incurred as punishments for the national backsliding (Lamentations 1:13, 12; 5:17).

Macac, literally, "dissolving or melting," is applied to the contagious fear which the example of a cowardly soldier produces among his comrades (Deuteronomy 20:8, the Revised Version (British and American) "melt"). In the remarkable passage in Isaiah 10:18, in which God pronounces the doom of Assyria when his purposes of chastisement on Israel have been fulfilled, the collapse of Assyria is said to be "as when a standard-bearer fainteth." For this the Revised Version, margin substitutes "as when a sick man pineth away," which is probably the correct rendering. The word macac may mean either a sick man, or else something glittering and seen from afar, such as a standard, but the former sense is more intelligible and suggestive in the context. The rarely used verbal form cognate to macac is used on account of its assonance.

Yaghea` (yagha`), which is usually translated "grieved" or "tormented" or "fatigued," is rendered as "fainted" in Jeremiah 45:3. This passage, "I fainted in my sighing" the King James Version, is in Hebrew the same as that which reads, "I am weary with my groaning" in Psalms 6:6, and is similarly rendered in the Revised Version (British and American).

Rakhakh, like macac, primarily signifies "to melt" or "to become soft," and is used in prophetic exhortations in which the people are encouraged not to be panic-stricken in the presence of enemies (Deuteronomy 20:3, and also Jeremiah 51:46; Isaiah 7:4). Another related word, morekh, in the sense of despair and utter loss of courage, is used in expressing the consequences of God's wrath against Israel (Leviticus 26:36). In its literal sense it signifies "blandness," as of the words of a hypocritical enemy (Psalms 55:21).

Paghar is the prostration of utter fatigue whereby one is unable to raise himself or to proceed on a journey, as were some of David's little band (1 Samuel 30:10-21). A cognate word describes the prostration of amazement and incredulity with which Jacob heard of Joseph's condition in Egypt (Genesis 45:26).

Kahah, the pining of earnest, longing desire, is translated "fainteth" in Psalms 84:2; 119:81; elsewhere it is rendered by words expressing wasting or languishing. The panic in Canaan due to famine is expressed (Genesis 47:13) by the word lahah, which implies a state of frenzy.

The only records of actual fainting are (1) Daniel, in Daniel 8:27, where the word used is the Niphal of the verb hayah, literally, "became," meaning that he became weak; (2) swooning is mentioned in Additions to Esther 15:7-15.

In the New Testament "faint" is used in the sense of physical exhaustion (Matthew 9:36 the King James Version; Matthew 15:32; Mark 8:3), where it is part of the verb ekluo, "to relax." Otherwise it is used figuratively of discouragement of spirit. The same verb is used in Galatians 6:9; Hebrews 12:3, 5; but in Luke 18:1; 2 Corinthians 4:1-16; Ephesians 3:13 it is part of the verb ekkakeo (according to some authorities egkakeo, pronounced enkakeo, meaning "to be faint-hearted" or "to be culpably negligent"). In Revelation 2:3 it is kopiao, literally, "to be tired."

Alexander Macalister

Fair

Fair - far: The word translated in the King James Version from 9 Hebrew and 4 Greek expressions has nowhere in the Bible the modern sense of "blond," "fair-skinned." The translation of Isaiah 54:11, "fair colors," refers to the cosmetic use of pukh, stibium, antimony powder, with which black margins were painted around the eyelids, so as to make the eyes appear large and dark. The stones of rebuilt Jerusalem, beautifully laid in their black mortar, are compared with such eyes. We can distinguish the following varieties of meaning: (1) Beautiful, attractive, Tobh, yaphah, yapheh; Aramaic shappir; Septuagint kalos; in the New Testament asteios. This latter word is in both places where it is found used of Moses (Acts 7:20; Hebrews 11:23, the Revised Version (British and American) "goodly"), and means literally, town bred (as opposed to boorish), polite, polished in manners, urbane, then nice, pretty. (2) Pure, free of defilement, the Revised Version (British and American) "clean," Tahor (Zechariah 3:5). (3) "Fair speech," plausible, persuasive (leqah, Proverbs 7:21; eulalos, Sirach 6:5; compare eulogia, Romans 16:18). (4) Making a fine display (euprosopein, Galatians 6:12, "to make a fair show"). (5) Good (of weather) (zahabh, "golden," "clear," Job 37:2, 2, the Revised Version (British and American) "golden splendor"); eudia (Matthew 16:2).

H. L. E. Luering

Fair Havens

Fair Havens - far ha'-v'-nz (Kaloi Limenes): A roadstead on the South coast of Crete, about 5 miles East of Cape Matala, the most southerly point of the island. The harbor is formed by a bay, open to the East, and sheltered on the Southwest by two small islands. Here Paul waited for a considerable time (Acts 27:9); but while it afforded good anchorage and a shelter from North and Northwest winds, "the haven was not commodious to winter in" (Acts 27:8, 12).

See CRETE.

Fairs

Fairs - farz: Found only 5 times in the King James Version (Ezekiel 27:12, 14, 16, 19, 27), apparently incorrect translation of `izzabhon, according to modern Hebraists (though Gesenius gives "fair" as one of its meanings). The Septuagint translates the Hebrew of the above five passages by two different words, agora, "market-place" (Ezekiel 27:12, 14, 16, 19), and misthos, "hire," "pay" (Ezekiel 27:27, 33). The King James Version follows the Wyclif version in Ezekiel 27:12 and the Geneva version throughout, although it properly translates "wares" in Ezekiel 27:33. the Revised Version (British and American) gives "wares" (which see) throughout.

Faith

Faith - fath:

1. Etymology

2. Meaning: a Divergency

3. Faith in the Sense of Creed

4. A Leading Passage Explained

5. Remarks

6. Conclusion

In the Old Testament (the King James Version) the word occurs only twice: Deuteronomy 32:20 ('emun); Habakkuk 2:4 ('emunah). In the latter the Revised Version (British and American) places in the margin the alternative rendering, "faithfulness." In the New Testament it is of very frequent occurrence, always representing pistis, with one exception in the King James Version (not the Revised Version (British and American)), Hebrews 10:23, where it represents elpis, "hope."

1. Etymology: The history of the English word is rather interesting than important; use and contexts, alike for it and its Hebrew and Greek parallels, are the surest guides to meaning. But we may note that it occurs in the form "feyth," in Havelok the Dane (13th century); that it is akin to fides and this again to the Sanskrit root bhidh, "to unite," "to bind." It is worth while to recall this primeval suggestion of the spiritual work of faith, as that which, on man's side, unites him to God for salvation.

2. Meaning: a Divergency: Studying the word "faith" in the light of use and contexts, we find a bifurcation of significance in the Bible. We may distinguish the two senses as the passive and the active; on the one side, "fidelity," "trustworthiness"; and "faith," "trust," on the other. In Galatians 5:22, e.g. context makes it clear that "fidelity" is in view, as a quality congruous with the associated graces. (the Revised Version (British and American) accordingly renders pistis there by "faithfulness.") Again, Romans 3:3 the King James Version, "the faith of God," by the nature of the case, means His fidelity to promise. But in the overwhelming majority of cases, "faith," as rendering pistis, means "reliance," "trust." To illustrate would be to quote many scores of passages. It may be enough here to call attention to the recorded use of the word by our Lord. Of about twenty passages in the Gospels where pistis occurs as coming from His lips, only one (Matthew 23:23) presents it in the apparent sense of "fidelity." All the others conspicuously demand the sense of "reliance," "trust." The same is true of the apostolic writings. In them, with rarest exceptions, the words "reliance," "trust," precisely fit the context as alternatives to "faith."

3. Faith in the Sense of Creed: Another line of meaning is traceable in a very few passages, where pistis, "faith," appears in the sense of "creed," the truth, or body of truth, which is trusted, or which justifies trust. The most important of such places is the paragraph James 2:14-26, where an apparent contradiction to some great Pauline dicta perplexes many readers. The riddle is solved by observing that the writer uses "faith" in the sense of creed, orthodox "belief." This is clear from James 2:19, where the "faith." in question is illustrated: "Thou believest that God is one." This is the credal confession of the orthodox Jew (the shema`; see Deuteronomy 6:4), taken as a passport to salvation. Briefly, James presses the futility of creed without life, Paul the necessity of reliance in order to receive "life and peace."

4. A Leading Passage Explained: It is important to notice that Hebrews 11:1 is no exception to the rule that "faith" normally means "reliance," "trust." There "Faith is the substance (or possibly, in the light of recent inquiries into the type of Greek used by New Testament writers, "the guaranty") of things hoped for, the evidence (or "convincing proof") of things not seen." This is sometimes interpreted as if faith, in the writer's view, were, so to speak, a faculty of second sight, a mysterious intuition into the spiritual world. But the chapter amply shows that the faith illustrated, e.g. by Abraham, Moses, Rahab, was simply reliance upon a God known to be trustworthy. Such reliance enabled the believer to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen. In short, the phrase here, "faith is the evidence," etc., is parallel in form to our familiar saying, "Knowledge is power."

5. Remarks: A few detached remarks may be added: (a) The history of the use of the Greek pistis is instructive. In the Septuagint it normally, if not always, bears the "passive" sense "fidelity," "good faith," while in classical Greek it not rarely bears the active sense, "trust." In the koine, the type of Greek universally common at the Christian era, it seems to have adopted the active meaning as the ruling one only just in time, so to speak, to provide it for the utterance of Him whose supreme message was "reliance," and who passed that message on to His apostles. Through their lips and pens "faith," in that sense, became the supreme watchword of Christianity.

See JUSTIFICATION;UNION WITH CHRIST .

6. Conclusion: In conclusion, without trespassing on the ground of other articles, we call the reader's attention, for his Scriptural studies, to the central place of faith in Christianity, and its significance. As being, in its true idea, a reliance as simple as possible upon the word, power, love, of Another, it is precisely that which, on man's side, adjusts him to the living and merciful presence and action of a trusted God. In its nature, not by any mere arbitrary arrangement, it is his one possible receptive attitude, that in which he brings nothing, so that he may receive all. Thus "faith" is our side of union with Christ. And thus it is our means of possessing all His benefits, pardon, justification, purification, life, peace, glory.

As a comment on our exposition of the ruling meaning of "faith" in Scripture, we may note that this precisely corresponds to its meaning in common life, where, for once that the word means anything else, it means "reliance" a hundred times. Such correspondence between religious terms (in Scripture) and the meaning of the same words in common life, will be found to be invariable.

Handley Dunelm

Faithful Sayings

Faithful Sayings - sa'-inz (pistos ho logos): "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation" (the King James Version). These words form a striking formula which is found--with slight variations--only in the Pastoral Epistles, in 1 Timothy 1:15; 3:1; 4:9; 2 Timothy 2:11; Titus 3:8. A similar expression occurs in Rev (21:5 and 22:6 the King James Version), "These sayings are faithful and true."

The Five "Sayings."

Paul's faithful sayings are thus five in number, and "were no doubt rehearsed constantly in the assemblies, till they became well-known watchwords in the various churches scattered over the Mediterranean-washed provinces of the Roman empire" (Ellicott, New Testament Commentary on 1 Timothy 1:15).

1. The First "Saying": The first of the faithful sayings speaks of the pre-existence of Christ, of His coming into the world, and the purpose why He came is distinctly stated--to save the lost, irrespective of race or nationality, sinners who, apart from Christ, are without God and without hope.

2. The Second "Saying": The second of the faithful sayings refers to the work of being a minister of the gospel, a work then so full of danger and always full of difficulty. The office in question is honorable and Christlike, and, in those early days, it meant stern and ceaseless work, grave and constant danger. This faithful saying would act as a call to young men to offer themselves for the work of proclaiming the gospel to the world, and of witnessing for Christ.

3. The Third "Saying": The third saying is that godliness has an influence that is world-wide; it consists, not merely in holiness and in that fellowship and communion with God which is the very life of the soul; it is also an active force which springs from "the love of Christ constraining us," and manifests itself in love toward all our fellow-men, for they are God's creatures. Godliness transfigures every rank and condition of life. It has the promise of the life that now is: to those who seek the kingdom of God first, all other things will be added. And it has the promise of the life that is to come, the rich prospect of eternal blessedness with Christ. Compare with this saying the remarkable words in Titus 1:2, "in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before times eternal." Godliness gives all gladness here, and future glory too. This is a faithful saying.

4. The Fourth "Saying": The fourth of the faithful sayings speaks of the Christian believer's union with Christ, and of the blessedness of that union. The Christian is "dead with Christ," he "suffers with Christ." But the union with Christ is eternal, "We shall also live with him; .... we shall also reign with him" in life that is fadeless, endless and full of glory. Surely then, no one will draw back, for "if we deny him," "if we believe not," "he also will deny us," for "he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself."

5. The Fifth "Saying": The fifth and last of the faithful sayings speaks of our former unconverted state, "for we also once were foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures. But .... the kindness and love of God .... toward man appeared, not by works which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved us." Blessedness is now the Christian's lot, and this is the result not of our works: we owe it all to the tender love of God, to His Divine pity, to His redeeming grace. Yes, this is a faithful saying.

John Rutherfurd

Faithful; Faithfulness

Faithful; Faithfulness - fath'-fool, fath'-fool-nes:

1. Faithfulness of God in the Old Testament

2. Faithfulness of God in the New Testament

LITERATURE

Faithfulness is a quality or attribute applied in the Scripture to both God and man. This article is limited to the consideration of the Scripture teaching concerning the meaning of faithfulness in its application to God.

Faithfulness is one of the characteristics of God's ethical nature. It denotes the firmness or constancy of God in His relations with men, especially with His people. It is, accordingly, one aspect of God's truth and of His unchangeableness. God is true not only because He is really God in contrast to all that is not God, and because He realizes the idea of Godhead, but also because He is constant or faithful in keeping His promises, and therefore is worthy of trust (see TRUTH). God, likewise, is unchangeable in His ethical nature. This unchangeableness the Scripture often connects with God's goodness and mercy, and also with His constancy in reference to His covenant promises, and this is what the Old Testament means by the Faithfulness of God (see UNCHANGEABLENESS ).

1. Faithfulfulness of God in the Old Testament: In the Old Testament this attribute is ascribed to God in passages where the Hebrew words denoting faithfulness do not occur. It is implied in the covenant name Yahweh as unfolded in Exodus 3:13-15, which not only expresses God's self-existence and unchangeableness, but, as the context indicates, puts God's immutability in special relation to His gracious promises, thus denoting God's unchangeable faithfulness which is emphasized in the Old Testament to awaken trust in God (Deuteronomy 7:9; Psalms 36:5 (Hebrews 6:1-20); Isaiah 11:5; Hosea 12:6, 9). (For fuller remarks on the name Yahweh in Exodus 3:13-15, see articleUNCHANGEABLENESS .) It is, moreover, God's faithfulness as well as His immutability which is implied in those passages where God is called a rock, as being the secure object of religious trust (Deuteronomy 32:4, 15; Psalms 18:2 (Hebrews 3:1-19); 42:9 (Hebrews 10:1-39); Isaiah 17:10, etc.). This same attribute is also implied where God reveals Himself to Moses and to Israel as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and their fathers' God (Exodus 3:6, 15-16). The truth concerning God here taught is not simply that He stood in a gracious relation to the Patriarchs, but that He is faithful to His gracious promise to their fathers, and that what He was to them He will continue to be to Moses and to Israel. This is the fundamental idea in the Old Testament concerning the faithfulness of God.

This can be seen also from the Hebrew words which are used to express this quality of God's nature and activity. These words are ne'eman, the Niphal participle of the verb 'aman used as an adjective--"faithful"--and the nouns 'emeth and 'emunah--"faithfulness." The verbal stem 'aman means "to be secure or firm." In the Qal it denotes the firmness of that which supports something, being used in the participle of a nurse who carries a child (Numbers 11:12; 2 Samuel 4:4; Isaiah 49:23). In the Niphal it denotes the firmness of that which is supported, for example, a child which is carried (Isaiah 60:4); a well-founded house (1 Samuel 2:35; 25:28); a wall which firmly holds a nail (Isaiah 22:23, 15); a kingdom firmly established (2 Samuel 7:16); persons secure in political station (Isaiah 7:9); a heart which is faithful (Nehemiah 9:8). Hence, in the Niphal the verb comes to have the meaning of being true in the sense of the agreement of words and assertions with reality; for example, of words and revelations (Genesis 42:20; Hosea 5:9); and of persons (Isaiah 8:2; Jeremiah 42:5). It has also the meaning of being faithful, being applied to men in Numbers 12:7; Psalms 101:6; Nehemiah 13:13, etc. In this sense the term is applied to the covenant-keeping Yahweh to express the truth that He is firm or constant, that is, faithful in regard to His covenant promises, and will surely fulfill them (Deuteronomy 7:9; Isaiah 49:7; and possibly Hosea 11:12 (Hebrews 12:1)).

A similar use is made of the nouns 'emeth and 'emunah. Apart from the instances where 'emeth denotes the idea of truth or the correspondence of words and ideas with reality, and the instances where it denotes the agreement of acts and words with the inner disposition, that is, sincerity, it is also used to denote the idea of faithfulness as above defined. As regards the noun 'emunah, apart from a few passages where it is doubtful whether it means truth or faithfulness, it usually denotes the latter idea. Both these nouns, then, are used to signify the idea of faithfulness, that is, constancy or firmness, especially in the fulfillment of all obligations. In this sense these words are not only applied to men, but also to God to express the idea that He is always faithful to His covenant promises. It is this attribute of God which the Psalmist declares (Psalms 40:10 (Hebrews 11:1-40)), and the greatness of which he affirms by saying that God's faithfulness reacheth to the clouds (Psalms 36:5 (Hebrews 6:1-20)). It is this which he makes the object of praise (Psalms 89:1-2 (Hebrews 2:1-18, 3); Psalms 92:2 (Hebrews 3:1-19)); and which he says should be praised and reverenced by all men (Psalms 89:5, 8 (Hebrews 6:1-20, 9)). And even this faithfulness is itself characterized by constancy, if we may so speak, for the Psalmist says that it endures to all generations (Psalms 100:5). Being thus a characteristic of God, it also characterizes His salvation, and becomes the basis of confidence that God will hear prayer (Psalms 143:1). It thus becomes the security of the religious man (Psalms 91:4); and the source of God's help to His people (Psalms 31:5 (Hebrews 6:1-20)). Accordingly in the teaching of prophecy, the salvation of the covenant people rests upon no claim or merit of their own, but solely upon Yahweh's mercy, grace and faithfulness. When Israel incurred God's judgments, it might have appeared as if His promise was to fail, but, so far from this being true, as Yahweh, He is faithful to His word of promise which stands forever (Isaiah 40:8). Even from eternity His counsels are characterized by faithfulness and truth (Isaiah 25:1); and this is not because of Israel's faithfulness, but it is for His own sake that Yahweh blotteth out their transgressions (Isaiah 43:22-25; Micah 7:18-20). It is, moreover, this same characteristic of Yahweh which is asserted in many cases where the Hebrew words 'emeth and 'emunah are translated by the word "truth" in the King James Version. In Exodus 34:6 it is God's faithfulness ('emeth) which is referred to, since it evidently signifies His constancy from generation to generation; and in Deuteronomy 32:4 it is also God's faithfulness ('emunah) which is mentioned, since it is contrasted with the faithlessness of Israel. The same is true of 'emeth in Micah 7:20; Psalms 31:5 (Hebrews 6:1-20)); 91:4; 146:6. This is also true of the numerous instances where God's mercy and truth ('emeth) are combined, His mercy being the source of His gracious promises, and His truth the faithfulness with which He certainly fulfills them (Psalms 25:10; 57:3 (Hebrews 4:1-16); 61:7 (Hebrews 8:1-13); 85:10 (Hebrews 11:1-40); 86:15). And since the covenant-keeping Yahweh is faithful, faithfulness comes also to be a characteristic of the New Covenant which is everlasting (Psalms 89:28 (Hebrews 29)); compare also for a similar thought, Isaiah 54:8 ff; Jeremiah 31:35 ff; Hosea 2:19 f; Ezekiel 16:60 ff.

It is in this connection, moreover, that God's faithfulness is closely related to His righteousness in the Old Testament. In the second half of the prophecy of Isaiah and in many of the psalms, righteousness is ascribed to God because He comes to help and save His people. Thus righteousness as a quality parallel with grace, mercy and faithfulness is ascribed to God (Isaiah 41:10; 42:6; 13, 19, 21; 63:1). It appears in these places to widen out from its exclusively judicial or forensic association and to become a quality of God as Saviour of His people. Accordingly this attribute of God is appealed to in the Psalms as the basis of hope for salvation and deliverance (Psalms 31:1 (Hebrews 2:1-18); 35:24; 71:2; 143:11). Hence, this attribute is associated with God's mercy and grace (Psalms 36:5 (Hebrews 6:1-20); 36:9 (Hebrews 10:1-39); 89:14 (Hebrews 15)); also with His faithfulness (Zechariah 8:8; Psalms 36:6 (Hebrews 7:1-28)); Psalms 40:10 (Hebrews 11:1-40); 88:11,12 (Hebrews 12:1-29, 13); 89:14 (Hebrews 15); 96:13; 119:137,142; 143:1). Accordingly the Old Testament conception of the righteousness of God has been practically identified with His covenant faithfulness, by such writers as Kautzsch, Riehm and Smend, Ritschl's definition of it being very much the same. Moreover, Ritschl, following Diestel, denied that the idea of distributive and retributive justice is ascribed to God in the Old Testament. In regard to this latter point, it should be remarked in passing that this denial that the judicial or forensic idea of righteousness is ascribed to God in the Old Testament breaks down, not only in view of the fact that the Old Testament does ascribe this attribute to God in many ways, but also in view of the fact that in a number of passages the idea of retribution is specifically referred to the righteousness of God (see RIGHTEOUSNESS; compare against Diestel and Ritschl, Dalman, Die richterliche Gerechtigkeit im Alten Testament).

That which concerns us, however, in regard to this close relation between righteousness and faithfulness is to observe that this should not be pressed to the extent of the identification of righteousness with covenant faithfulness in these passages in the Psalms and the second half of Isa. The idea seems to be that Israel has sinned and has no claim upon Yahweh, finding her only hope of deliverance in His mercy and faithfulness. But this very fact that Yahweh is merciful and faithful becomes, as it were, Israel's claim, or rather the ground of Israel's hope of deliverance from her enemies. Hence, in the recognition of this claim of His people, God is said to be righteous in manifesting His mercy and faithfulness, so that His righteousness, no less than His mercy and faithfulness, becomes the ground of His people's hope. Righteousness is thus closely related in these cases to faithfulness, but it is not identified with it, nor has it in all cases lost entirely its forensic tone. This seems to be, in general, the meaning of righteousness in the Psalms and the second half of Isaiah, with which may also be compared Micah 6:9; Zechariah 8:8.

The emphasis which this attribute of God has in the Old Testament is determined by the fact that throughout the whole of the Old Testament the covenant relation of Yahweh to His people is founded solely in God's grace, and not on any merit of theirs. If this covenant relation had been based on any claim of Israel, faithfulness on God's part might have been taken for granted. But since Yahweh's covenant relation with Israel and His promises of salvation spring solely from, and depend wholly upon, the grace of God, that which gave firm assurance that the past experience of God's grace would continue in the future was this immutable faithfulness of Yahweh. By it the experience of the fathers was given a religious value for Israel from generation to generation. And even as the faithfulness of God bridged over the past and the present, so also it constituted the connecting link between the present and the future, becoming thus the firm basis of Israel's hope; compare Psalms 89:1-52 which sets forth the faithfulness of God in its greatness, its firmness as the basis of the covenant and the ground it affords of hope for future help from Yahweh, and for hope that His covenant shall endure forever. When God's people departed from Him all the more emphasis was put upon His faithfulness, so that the only hope of His wayward people lay not only in His grace and mercy but also in His faithfulness, which stands in marked contrast with the faithlessness and inconstancy of His people. This is probably the meaning of the difficult verse Hosea 11:12 (Hebrews 12:1).

2. Faithfulness of God in the New Testament: In the New Testament teaching concerning the faithfulness of God the same idea of faithfulness to His gracious promises is emphasized and held up as the object of a confident trust in God. This idea is usually expressed by the adjective pistos, and once by the noun pistis, which more frequently has the active sense of faith or trust.

An attempt has been made by Wendt (SK, 1883, 511 f; Teaching of Jesus, English translation, I, 259 f) to interpret the words aletheia and alethes in many instances, especially in the Johannine writings, as denoting faithfulness and rectitude, after the analogy of the Septuagint rendering eleos kai aletheia for the Hebrew phrase "mercy and truth," in which truth is equivalent to faithfulness. But the most that could be inferred from the fact that the Septuagint uses the word aletheia to translate the Hebrew word 'emeth, and in about one-half the cases where 'emunah occurs, would be that those Greek words might have been prepared for such a use in the New Testament. But while it is true that there is one usage of these words in John's writings in an ethical sense apparently based on the Old Testament use of 'emeth and 'emunah, the Greek words do not have this meaning when employed to denote a characteristic of God. Neither is the adjective alethinos so used.

See TRUTH.

In the Epistles of Paul the word aletheia occurs quite frequently to denote the truth revealed by God to man through reason and conscience, and to denote the doctrinal content of the gospel. In two passages, however, the words alethes and aletheia seem to signify the faithfulness of God (Romans 3:4, 7; 15:8). In the former passage Paul is contrasting the faithfulness of God with the faithlessness of men, the word alethes, Romans 3:4, and aletheia, Romans 3:7, apparently denoting the same Divine characteristic as the word pistis, Romans 3:3. In the latter passage (Romans 15:8), the vindication of God's covenant faithfulness, through the realization of His promises to the fathers, is declared to have been the purpose of the ministry of Jesus Christ to the Jews.

This faithfulness of God to His covenant promises is frequently emphasized by Paul, the words he employs being the noun pistis (once) and the adjective: pistos. The noun pistis is used once by Paul in this sense (Romans 3:3 ff). In this place Paul is arguing that the unbelief of the Jews cannot make void God's faithfulness. Both Jew and Gentile, the apostle had said, are on the same footing as regards justification. Nevertheless the Jews had one great advantage in that they were the people to whom the revelation of God's gracious promises had been committed. These promises will certainly be fulfilled, notwithstanding the fact that some of the Jews were unfaithful, because the fulfillment of these promises depends not on human conduct but on the faithfulness of God, which cannot be made void by human faithlessness and unbelief. And to the supposition that man's faithlessness could make of none effect God's faithfulness, Paul replies `let God be faithful (alethes) and every man a liar' (Romans 3:4), by which Paul means to say that in the fulfillment of God's promises, in spite of the fact that men are faithless, the faithfulness of God will be abundantly vindicated, even though thereby every man should be proven untrue and faithless. And not only so, but human faithlessness will give an opportunity for a manifestation of the faithfulness (aletheia) of God, abounding to His glory (Romans 3:7). God's faithfulness here is His unchangeable constancy and fidelity to His covenant promises; and it is this fidelity to His promises, or the fact that God's gracious gifts and election are without any change of mind on His part, which gave to Paul the assurance that all Israel should finally be saved (Romans 11:25-29). Moreover this covenant faithfulness of God is grounded in His very nature, so that Paul's hope of eternal life rests on the fact that God who cannot lie promised it before the world began (Titus 1:2); and the certainty that God will abide faithful notwithstanding human faithlessness rests on the fact that God cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13). It is because God is faithful that His promises in Christ are yea and amen (2 Corinthians 1:18, 20). This attribute of God, moreover, is the basis of Paul's confident assurance that God will preserve the Christian in temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13); and establish him and preserve him from evil (2 Thessalonians 3:3). And since God is faithful and His gracious promises trustworthy, this characteristic attaches to the "faithful sayings" in the Pastoral Epistles which sum up the gospel, making them worthy of trust and acceptance (1 Timothy 1:15; 4:9; Titus 3:8).

This faithfulness of God in the sense of fidelity to His promises is set forth as the object of sure trust and hope by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews. It was the basis of Sarah's faith that she would bear a child when she was past age (Hebrews 11:11); and it is because God is faithful to His promise in Christ that we can draw nigh to Him with full assurance of faith, holding fast without wavering the profession of hope (Hebrews 10:23).

John also ascribes this attribute to God. Since one of the most precious of God's promises through Christ is the pardon of sin through the "blood of Jesus Christ," John says that God's faithfulness, as well as His righteousness, is manifested in the forgiveness of sin (1 John 1:9).

The faithfulness of God is viewed from a slightly different point by Peter when he tells his readers that those who suffer as Christians and in accordance with God's will should "commit their soul's in well-doing unto a faithful Creator" (1 Peter 4:19). The quality of faithfulness, which in the Scripture is more frequently ascribed to God in His relation to man as gracious Saviour, and as the ground of hope in His gracious promises, is here applied by Peter to God in His relation to man as his Creator, and is made the ground of comfort under persecution and suffering. The omission of the article before the words "faithful Creator" makes emphatic that this is a characteristic of God as Creator, and the position of the words in the sentence throws great emphasis on this attribute of God as the basis of comfort under suffering. It is as if Peter would say to suffering Christians, "You suffer not by chance but in accordance with God's will; He, the almighty Creator, made you, and since your suffering is in accordance with His will, you ought to trust yourselves to Him who as your Creator is faithful." It is, of course, Christians who are to derive this comfort, but the faithfulness of God is extended here to cover all His relations to His people, and to pledge all His attributes in their behalf.

This attribute is also ascribed to Christ in the New Testament. Where Jesus is called a faithful high priest, the idea expressed is His fidelity to His obligations to God and to His saving work (Hebrews 2:17; 2, 6). But when in the Book of Revelation Jesus Christ is called the "faithful witness" or absolutely the "Faithful and True," it is clear that the quality of faithfulness, in the most absolute sense in which it is characteristic of God in contrast with human changeableness, is ascribed to Christ (Revelation 1:5; 3:14; 19:11). This is especially clear in the last-named passage. The heavens themselves open to disclose the glorified Christ, and He appears not only as a victorious warrior whose name is faithful and true, but also as the one in whom these attributes have their highest realization, and of whom they are so characteristic as to become the name of the exalted Lord. This clearly implies the Deity of Jesus.

In summing up the Scripture teaching concerning God's faithfulness, three things are noteworthy. In the first place, this characteristic of God is usually connected with His gracious promises of salvation, and is one of those attributes which make God the firm and secure object of religious trust. As is the case with all the Scripture teaching concerning God, it is the religious value of His faithfulness which is made prominent. In the second place, the so-called moral attributes, of which this is one, are essential in order to constitute God the object of religion, along with the so-called incommunicable attributes such as Omnipotence, Omnipresence and Unchangeableness. Take away either class of attributes from God, and He ceases to be God, the object of religious veneration and trust. And in the third place, while these moral attributes, to which faithfulness belongs, have been called "communicable," to distinguish them from the "incommunicable" attributes which distinguish God from all that is finite, it should never be forgotten that, according to the Scripture, God is faithful in such an absolute sense as to contrast Him with men who are faithful only in a relative sense, and who appear as changeable and faithless in comparison with the faithfulness of God.

See RIGHTEOUSNESS; TRUTH;UNCHANGEABLENESS .

LITERATURE.

Besides the Commentaries on the appropriate passages, see Oehler, Theology of the Old Testament, English translation, 95, 112 f 505: Dillmann, Handbuch der alttest. Theol., 268-76, 269-70; Schlatter, Der Glaube im New Testament, 21-22, 259-60. In the works on New Testament theology this subject is treated under the sections on the truthfulness of God.

On the relation of God's truth and faithfulness, see Wendt, Der Gebrauch der Worter, und im New Testament,SK , 1883, 511 f; Stanton, article "Truth," inHDB ,IV , 816 f; and the above-mentioned work of Schlatter. On the relation of the faithfulness to the righteousness of God, see Diestel, "Die Idee der Gerechtigkeit vorzuglich im Altes Testament," Jahrbucher fur deutsche Theologie, 1860, 173 f; Kautzsch, Ueber die Derivate des Stammes im Altes Testament Sprachgebrauch; Riehm, Altes Testament Theol., 271 f; Smend, Alttest. Religionsgeschichte, 363 f; Ritschl, Justification and Reconciliation; Dalman, Die richterliche Gerechtigkeit im Altes Testament; and the above-mentioned Old Testament Theologies of Dillmann and Oehler.

Gaspar Wistar Hodge

Faithless

Faithless - fath'-les: The translation of apistos, "without faith," having the sense of "unbelieving," "disbelieving." Jesus upbraids the people, "O faithless and perverse generation!" (Matthew 17:17; Mark 9:19; Luke 9:41); He says to Thomas, "Be not faithless, but believing" (John 20:27); the Revised Version (British and American) adds, "If we are faithless," instead of "believe not" (2 Timothy 2:13); compare 1 Corinthians 7:12-15; 10:27; 22, 24, etc.; Titus 1:15. In Luke 12:46 apistos has the sense of "unfaithful," so the Revised Version (British and American); perhaps also Revelation 21:8, "unbelieving."

Falcon

Falcon - fo'-k'-n, fol'-k'-n, fal'-kun: The Hebrews did not know the word. Their bird corresponding to our falcon, in all probability, was one of the smaller kestrels covered by the word nets, which seemed to cover all lesser birds of prey that we include in the hawk family. That some of our many divisions of species were known to them is indicated by the phrase "after its kind." The word occurs in the Revised Version (British and American) in Job 28:7, to translation 'ayyah, Greek gups (compare Leviticus 11:14; Deuteronomy 14:13):

"That path no bird of prey knoweth,

Neither hath the falcon's eye seen it."

This substitutes "falcon" for "vulture" in the King James Version. The change weakens the force of the lines. All ornithologists know that eagles, vultures and the large hawks have such range of vision that they at once descend from heights at which we cannot see them to take prey on earth or food placed to tempt them. The falcons and sparrow hawks are small members of the family, some of which feed on little birds, some on insects. They are not celebrated for greater range of vision than other birds of the same location and feeding habits. The strength of these lines lay in the fact that if the path to the mine were so well concealed that the piercing eye of the vulture failed to find it, then it was perfectly hidden indeed.

Gene Stratton-Porter

Fall

Fall - fol (vb.): The idea of falling is most frequently expressed in Hebrew by naphal, but also by many other words; in Greek by pipto, and its compounds. The uses of the word in Scripture are very varied. There is the literal falling by descent; the falling of the countenance in sorrow, shame, anger, etc. (Genesis 4:5-6); the falling in battle (Genesis 14:10; Numbers 14:3, etc.); the falling into trouble, etc. (Proverbs 24:16-17); prostration in supplication and reverence (Genesis 17:3; Numbers 14:5, etc.); falling of the Spirit of Yahweh (Ezekiel 11:5; compare Ezekiel 3:24; 8:1); of apostasy (2 Thessalonians 2:3; Hebrews 6:6; Jude 1:24), etc. the Revised Version (British and American) frequently changes "fall" of the King James Version into other words or phrases, as "stumble" (Leviticus 26:37; Psalms 64:8; 2 Peter 1:10, etc.), "fade" (Isaiah 33:4), etc.; in Acts 27:1-44, the Revised Version (British and American) reads "be cast ashore on rocky ground" for "have fallen upon rocks" (Acts 27:29), "perish" for "fall" (Acts 27:34), "lighting upon" for "falling into" (Acts 27:41).

W. L. Walker

Fall, The

Fall, The - fol:

1. Meaning of Genesis 3:1-24

2. Genesis 3:1-24 in the Old and New Testaments

3. The Fall and the Theory of Evolution

4. The Character of the Fall

The question concerning the origin, the age and the written record of the history of the Fall in Genesis 3:1-24 need not be discussed here. For in the first place, science can never reach to the oldest origins and the ultimate destinies of humanity, and historical and critical inquiry will never be able to prove either the veracity or the unveracity of this history. And in the second place, exactly as it now lies before us, this history has already formed for centuries a portion of holy Scripture, an indispensable element in the organism of the revelation of salvation, and as such has been accepted in faith by the Hebrew congregation (Jewish people), by Christ, by the apostles, and by the whole Christian church.

1. Meaning of Genesis 3: That Genesis 3:1-24 gives us an account of the fall of man, of the loss of his primitive innocence and of the misery, particularly death, to which he has since been subjected, cannot reasonably be denied. The opinion of the Ophites, Kant, Schiller, Hegel, etc., that Genesis 3:1-24 relates the awakening of man to self-consciousness and personality (see ADAM IN THE OLD TESTAMENT), and therefore does not tell us of a fall, but a marked progression, is disputed by the name which the forbidden tree bears, as indicating to man not merely a tree of knowledge in the ordinary way, but quite specially a tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 3:1-24 is not in the least meant to relate to us how man obtained the idea of his nakedness and sexual passions, and from a state of childlike innocence changed in this respect to manlike maturity (Eerdman's De Beteekenis van het Paradijsverhaal, Theologisch Tijdschrift, 1905, 485-511). For according to Genesis, man was created full-grown, received a wife immediately as helpmeet, and at the same time saw himself allotted the task of multiplying and replenishing the earth. Moreover, the idea that sexual desire is something sinful and deserves punishment was entirely foreign to ancient Israel.

Finally, the interpretation of Wellhausen (Geschichte Israels, 1878, 344) cannot be accepted, that man in Genesis 3:1-24 should obtain "die intellektuelle Welterkenntniss, die metaphysische Erkenntniss der Dinge in ihrem Zusammenhange, ihrem Werth oder Unwerth, ihrem Nutzen oder Schaden" ("the intellectual knowledge of the world, the metaphysical knowledge of things in their connection, their worth or unworth, their utility or hurtfulness"). For in the first place, according to Gen, this was man's peculiar province from the beginning; he received indeed the vocation to subdue the earth, to keep and till the ground, to give the animals their names. And in the second place, the acquiring of this knowledge among the Israelites, who esteemed practical wisdom so highly, is difficult to represent as a fall, or as a punishment deserved for disobedience.

There is no other explanation possible of Genesis 3:1-24 than that it is the narration of a fall, which consists in the transgression of an explicit command of God, thus bearing a moral significance, and therefore followed by repentance, shame, fear and punishment. The context of the chapter places this interpretation beyond all doubt, for before his fall man is represented as a creature made after God's image and receiving paradise as a dwelling-place, and after the fall he is sent into a rough world, is condemned to a life of labor and sorrow, and increases more and more in sin until the judgment of the Flood.

2. Genesis 3 in the Old and the New Testaments: It is indeed remarkable how very seldom the Old Testament refers to this history of the Fall. This is not a sufficient reason for pronouncing it of later origin, for the same peculiarity presents itself at the time when, according to all criticism, it was recorded in literature. Prophets, Psalms, Proverbs never quote it; at the most, allusions may be found to it in Hosea 6:7 and Ecclesiastes 7:29; and even Jesus and His apostles in the New Testament very seldom appeal to Genesis 3:1-24 (John 8:44; Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:22; 2 Corinthians 11:3; 1 Timothy 2:14). But it may be considered that the Prophets, Psalms and Proverbs only mention special facts of the past by way of exception, that the apostles even hardly ever quote the words and deeds of Jesus, and that all lived at a time when revelation itself was still proceeding and did not lie before them as a complete whole. With us it is quite a different matter; we are in a certain sense outside revelation, make it a subject of our study and meditation, try to discover the unity which holds all its parts together, and devote our special interest to Adam as a figure and counterpart of Christ. The creation and fall of man occupy therefore a much broader place in the province of our thoughts than they did among the writers of the books of the Old and New Testaments.

Nevertheless, the Fall is the silent hypothesis of the whole Biblical doctrine of sin and redemption; it does not rest only on a few vague passages, but forms an indispensable element in the revelation of salvation. The whole contemplation of man and humanity, of Nature and history, of ethical and physical evil, of redemption and the way in which to obtain it, is connected in Scripture with a Fall, such as Genesis 3:1-24 relates to us. Sin, for example, is common to all men (1 Kings 8:46; Psalms 14:3; 130:3; 143:2), and to every man from his conception (Genesis 6:5; 8:21; Job 14:4; Psalms 51:7). It arouses God's anger and deserves all kinds of punishment, not only of an ethical but of a physical nature (Genesis 3:14-19; 4:14; 7, 13; 11:8; Leviticus 26:14 f; Deuteronomy 28:15; Psalms 90:7, etc.); the whole of Scripture proceeds from the thought that sin and death are connected in the closest degree, as are also obedience and life. In the new heaven and new earth all suffering ceases with sin (Revelation 21:4). Therefore redemption is possible only in the way of forgiveness (Psalms 32:1; Isaiah 43:25, etc.), and circumcision of the heart (Deuteronomy 10:16; 30:16; Jeremiah 4:4), and this includes, further, life, joy, peace, salvation. When Paul in Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:22 indicates Adam as the origin of sin and death, and Christ as the source of righteousness and life, he develops no ideas which are contrary to the organism of revelation or which might be neglected without loss; he merely combines and formulates the data which are explicitly or silently contained in it.

3. The Fall and the Theory of Evolution: Tradition does little toward the confirmation and elucidation of the Biblical narrative of the Fall. The study of mythology is still too little advanced to determine the ideal or historical value which may be contained in the legend of a Golden Age, in many people's obsequious honoring of the serpent, in the equally widespread belief in a tree of life. The Babylonian representation also (a seal on which a man and woman, seated, are figured as plucking fruit from a tree, while a serpent curls up behind the woman as if whispering in her ear), which G. Smith, Lenormant and Friedrich Delitzsch compare with the Paradise narrative, shows no similarity on nearer view (A. Jeremias, Das Altes Testament im Lichte des alten Orients2, Leipzig, 1906, 203). Indirectly, however, a very powerful witness for the fall of man is furnished by the whole empirical condition of the world and humanity. For a world, such as we know it, full of unrighteousness and sorrow, cannot be explained without the acceptance of such a fact. He who holds fast to the witness of Scripture and conscience to sin as sin (as anomia) cannot deduce it from creation, but must accept the conclusion that it began with a transgression of God's command and thus with a deed of the will. Pythagoras, Plato, Kant, Schelling, Baader have all understood and acknowledged this with more or less clearness. He who denies the Fall must explain sin as a necessity which has its origin in the Creation, in the nature of things, and therefore in God Himself; he justifies man but accuses God, misrepresents the character of sin and makes it everlasting and indefeasible. For if there has not been a fall into sin, there is no redemption of sin possible; sin then loses its merely ethical significance, becomes a trait of the nature of man, and is inexterminable.

This comes out, in later years, in the many endeavors to unite the Fall with the doctrine of evolution (compare Tennant, The Origin and Propagation of Sin2, 1905; A. S. Peake, Christianity: Its Nature and Its Truth, 1908; W. E. Orchard, Modern Theories of Sin, 1909; Francis J. Hall, Evolution and the Fall, 1910). All these endeavors lead to setting on one side the objective standard of sin, which is the law of God, and determining the nature and importance of sin subjectively by the feeling of guilt, which in its turn again depends on the knowledge of and the love for the moral ideal, and itself forms an important factor in moral progress. It is true that the strength of all these endeavors is drawn from theory of the descent of man from the animal. But as to this theory, it is worthy of notice: (1) that it is up to the present day a hypothesis, and is proved by no single observation, whether direct or indirect; (2) that the fossils of prehistoric men, found in Germany, Belgium, France and elsewhere have demonstrated the low degree of culture in which these men have lived, but in no sense their dissimilarity with mankind of today (W. Branca, Der Stand unserer Kenntnisse vom fossilen Menschen, Leipzig, 1910); (3) that the uncivilized and prehistoric man may be as little identified with the first man as the unjustly so-called nature-people and children under age; (4) that the oldest history of the human race, which has become known through the discoveries at Babylon in the last century, was not that of a state of barbarism, but of high and rich culture (D. Gath Whitley, "What was the Primitive Condition of Man?" Princeton Theol. Review, October, 1906; J. Orr, God's Image in Man, 1906); (5) that the acceptance of theory of descent as a universal and unlimited rule leads to the denial of the unity of the human race, in a physical and also in an intellectual, moral and religious sense. For it may be possible, even in the school of Darwin, to maintain the unity of the human race so long a time as tradition exercises its influence on the habit of mind; but theory itself undermines its foundation and marks it as an arbitrary opinion. From the standpoint of evolution, there is not only no reason to hold to the "of one blood" of Acts 17:26 the King James Version, but there has never even been a first man; the transition from animal to man was so slow and successive, that the essential distinction fails to be seen. And with the effacing of this boundary, the unity of the moral ideal, of religion, of the laws of thought and of truth, fails also; theory of evolution expels the absolute everywhere and leads necessarily to psychologism, relativism, pragmatism and even to pluralism, which is literally polytheism in a religious sense. The unity of the human race, on the other hand, as it is taught in holy Scripture, is not an indifferent physical question, but an important intellectual, moral and religious one; it is a "postulate" of the whole history of civilization, and expressly or silently accepted by nearly all historians. And conscience bears witness to it, in so far as all men show the work of the moral law written in their hearts, and their thoughts accuse or excuse one another (Romans 2:15); it shows back to the Fall as an "Urthatsache der Geschichte."

4. The Character of the Fall: What the condition and history of the human race could hardly lead us to imagine, holy Scripture relates to us as a tragic fact in its first pages. The first man was created by God after His own image, not therefore in brutish unconsciousness or childlike naivete, but in a state of bodily and spiritual maturity, with understanding and reason, with knowledge and speech, with knowledge especially of God and His law. Then was given to him moreover a command not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This command was not contained in the moral law as such; it was not a natural but a positive commandment; it rested entirely and only on God's will and must be obeyed exclusively for this reason. It placed before man the choice, whether he would be faithful and obedient to God's word and would leave to Him alone the decision as to what is good or evil, or whether he would reserve to himself the right arbitrarily to decide what is good or evil. Thus the question was: Shall theonomy or autonomy be the way to happiness? On this account also the tree was called the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It did not bear this name in the sense that man might obtain from it the empirical knowledge of good and evil, for by his transgression he in truth lost the empirical knowledge of good. But the tree was so named, because man, by eating of it and so transgressing God's commandment, arrogated to himself "die Fahigkeit zur selbstandigen Wahl der Mittel, durch die man sein Gluck schaffen will": "the capacity of independent choice of the means by which he would attain his happiness" (Koberle, Sunde und Gnade im relig. Leben des Volkes Israel bis auf Christenrum, 1905, 64). Theonomy, as obedience to God from free love, includes as such the idea and the possibility of autonomy, therefore that of antinomy also.

But it is the free act and therefore the guilt of man that has changed the possibility into reality. For the mind, there remains here an insoluble problem, as much in the question, why God allowed this Fall to take place, as in the other, how man, created in the likeness of God, could and did fall. There is a great deal of truth in the often-expressed thought, that we can give no account of the origin of sin, because it is not logical, and does not result as a conclusion drawn from two premises. But facts are brutal. What seems logically impossible often exists in reality. The laws of moral life are different from those of thought and from those also of mechanical nature. The narrative in Genesis 3:1-24, in any case, is psychologically faithful in the highest degree. For the same way as it appears there in the first man, it repeatedly takes place among ourselves (James 1:14-15). Furthermore we ought to allow God to justify Himself. The course of revelation discovers to faith how, through all the ages, He holds sin in its entire development in His own almighty hands, and works through grace for a consummation in which, in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He will gather together in one all things in Christ (Ephesians 1:10). (J. Orr, Sin as a Problem of Today, London, 1910.)

Herman Bavinck

Falling Stars

Falling Stars - See ASTRONOMY.

Fallow

Fallow - fal'-o (damam): Damam is translated only once in the sense of "fallow" (Exodus 23:11). The law required that the Israelites allow their ground to lie fallow one year in, seven. the King James Version is (Deuteronomy 14:5) nir, and is translated "fallow" in its more obsolete sense of "tilled ground" in the King James Version (Jeremiah 4:3; Hosea 10:12).

False Prophets

False Prophets - See PROPHESYINGS, FALSE.

False Swearing; False Witness

False Swearing; False Witness - See OATH; PERJURY;CRIMES .

False, Christs

False, Christs - fols.

See CHRISTS, FALSE.

Falsehood

Falsehood - fols'-hood.

See LYING.

Fame

Fame - fam (shem, shema`; akoe, pheme): "Fame" has the twofold meaning, (1) of report or rumor, (2) of renown or reputation (in the Old Testament it is not always easy to distinguish the two senses). "Fame," shema`, "fame," "rumor," "reports" (Numbers 14:15; Job 28:22, the Revised Version (British and American) "rumor") probably means "report"; but in 1 Kings 10:1; 2 Chronicles 9:1; Isaiah 66:19, it is most probably "renown," or "reputation"; shemu`ah (1 Kings 10:7; 2 Chronicles 9:6) may have either meaning; shoma` (Joshua 6:27; 9:9; Esther 9:4) seems to mean "fame" in the sense of reputation; but in Jeremiah 6:24 (as the American Standard Revised Version) "report"; shem, "name," has the sense of reputation (1 Kings 4:31; 1 Chronicles 14:17; 22:5; Zephaniah 3:19, the Revised Version (British and American) "name"); qol, "voice," is report (Genesis 45:16, the American Standard Revised Version "report"). In the New Testament akoe, "hearing," is "report," so the Revised Version (British and American) (Matthew 4:24; 14:1; Mark 1:28); pheme, "word," "rumor," is report, fame in this sense (Matthew 9:26; Luke 4:14); echos, "a sound," "noise" (Luke 4:37, the Revised Version (British and American) "rumor"), and logos, "word" (Luke 5:15, the Revised Version (British and American) "report") have the same meaning; diaphemizo, "to say throughout," "to report publicly" (Matthew 9:31, "they .... spread abroad his fame"), seems to imply fame in the sense of reputation.

In 1 Maccabees 3:26, we have "fame" in the sense of reputation, "His fame (onoma, the Revised Version (British and American) "name") came near even to the king"; Song of Solomon 3:41, "heard the fame of them."

ERV has "fame" for "report" (shema`), Jeremiah 50:43.

W. L. Walker

Familiar

Familiar - fa-mil'-yar: Is found as an adjective qualifying "friend" and "spirit."

(1) Used, in a number of Old Testament passages, of spirits which were supposed to come at the call of one who had power over them. 'obh, literally, something "hollow"; compare 'obh, "bottle" (Job 32:19 the King James Version); because the voice of the spirit might have been supposed to come from the one possessed, as from a bottle, or because of the hollow sound which characterized the utterance, as out of the ground (Isaiah 29:4); or, as some have conjectured, akin to 'ubh, "return" (nekromantis). Probably called "familiar" because it was regarded as a servant (famulus), belonging to the family (familiaris), who might be summoned to do the commands of the one possessing it. The practice of consulting familiar spirits was forbidden by the Mosaic law (Leviticus 19:31; 6, 27; Deuteronomy 18:11). King Saul put this away early in his reign, but consulted the witch of Endor, who "had a familiar spirit" (1 Samuel 28:3, 7-8, 9; 1 Chronicles 10:13). King Manasseh fell into the same sin (2 Kings 21:6; 2 Chronicles 33:6); but Josiah put those who dealt with familiar spirits out of the land (2 Kings 23:24).

It seems probable, however, that the practice prevailed more or less among the people till the exile (Isaiah 8:19; 19:3). See "Divination by the 'Ob" in The Expositor T,IX , 157; ASTROLOGY, 1; COMMUNION WITH DEMONS.

(2) "Familiars," "familiar friend," from yadha`, "to know," hence, "acquaintance," one intimately attached (Job 19:14); but more frequently of 'enosh shalom, "man of (my or thy) peace," that is, one to whom the salutation of peace is given (Psalms 41:9; Jeremiah 20:10; 38:22; also in Obadiah 1:7, rendered "the men that were at peace with thee").

Edward Bagby Pollard

Family

Family - fam'-i-li (mishpachah, bayith; patria):

1. The Foundation

2. Monogamy, the Ideal Relation

3. Equality of the Sexes

4. Polygamy

5. The Commandments and the Family (5th Commandment)

6. The Commandments and the Family (7th Commandment)

7. The Commandments and the Family (10th Commandment)

8. Primitive Monogamic Ideal

9. Reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah

10. The New Testament

11. The Teaching of Jesus

12. The Teaching of Paul

13. Modern Dangers

LITERATURE

1. The Foundation: The Bible is the world's great teacher of monogamy--the union for life of one man and one woman in marriage as the basis of the family. Whatever may be said about the time of the writing of the books of the Bible, or of parts of them, the testimony of the whole is incontrovertibly to the point that marriage springs from the choice of one man and one woman of each other for a permanent family relation. Over and through the whole of the Bible this ideal is dominant. There may be instances shown here and there of violation of this rule. But such cases are to be regarded as contrary to the underlying principle of marriage--known even at the time of their occurrence to be antagonistic to the principle.

There may be times when moral principle is violated in high places and perhaps over wide reaches in society. The Bible shows that there were such times in the history of man. But it is undeniable that its tone toward such lapses of men and of society is not one of condonation but one of regret and disapproval. The disasters consequent are faithfully set forth. The feeling that finds expression in its whole history is that in such cases there had been violation of the ideal of right in the sex relation. The ideal of monogamic relation is put in the forefront of the history of man.

2. Monogamy, the Ideal Relation: The race is introduced synthetically as a species in the incoming of life. "And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them" (Genesis 1:27). But with the first particularization of the relation of the sexes to each other the great charter of monogamy was laid down so clearly that Jesus was content to quote it, when with His limitless ethical scrutiny He explained the marriage relation. "And the man said (when the woman was brought to him), This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh" (Genesis 2:23, 14). It is well to pause and look at the grammatical number of the nouns: "a man," "his wife." The words of the charter hold the sexes to monogamy. The subsequent words make marriage life-lasting. "They twain shall be one flesh." A dualism becomes an individualism. So said Christ: "Wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh" (Matthew 19:6 the King James Version). Nothing but death separates a man from his own flesh. Nothing but life-monogamy can find place in the language of this charter.

There is much in the setting of this charter in the account given in Gen that is suggestive of the fine sentiment which we know has always gone along with love and marriage. That this account should have held the place in history that it has had adds testimony to the fine perception of sentiment and the strong grasp on principle out of which it came.

3. Equality of the Sexes: Eve, "the mother of all living," comes out as distinctly as Adam on the canvas in the portraiture of the first pair. She is the feminine representative--'ishshah--of the race, as Adam is the masculine--'ish (Genesis 2:23). The personality of Eve is as complete as that of Adam. She is a rational and accountable creature, as Adam is. In primitive intellectual and moral transactions she has share on equality with Adam, and is equally involved in their results. Different physical consequences fall on her for "transgression," because she is "woman," "the mother of all living" (Genesis 3:16). But Adam does not escape retribution for sin, and it may be questioned whether its burden did not fall hardest on him (Genesis 3:18-19), for motherhood has its joy as well as its pain, in the companionship of new-born child-life; but the wrestler for subsistence from a reluctant earth must bear his hardship alone. It cannot but be that much of the primitive conjugal love survived the fall.

4. Polygamy: According to the record, monogamy seems long to have survived the departure from Eden. It is not till many generations after that event that we find a case of polygamy--that of Lamech (Genesis 4:19-24). Lamech is said to have had "two wives." The special mention of "two" seems to show that man had not yet wandered far away from monogamy. The indications seem to be that as the race multiplied and went out over the face of the earth they forgot the original kinship and exhibited all manner of barbarities in social relations. Lamech was a polygamist, but he was also a quarrelsome homicide: "I have slain a man for wounding me, and a young man for bruising me" (Genesis 4:23). If such acts and dispositions as are disclosed in the case of Lamech become common, it will certainly not be a long while before the only apt description of the condition of society must be that upon which we come in Genesis 1:1; 6:5: "And Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Out of such condition will come war and slavery, and polygamy--and come they did. It is a straight road from Genesis 6:5 to "The Koran, tribute or the sword," and the polygamy of Mohammedans.

5. The Commandments and the Family (5th Commandment):

The commandments (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16) are a succinct summary of the supreme moral relations and duties of man. The first four pertain to our relationship to God. The six following concern human relations. Of these six, three have considerations of the family involved in them. Commandments do not come to people ignorant of the subjects to which they relate. A commandment to cover an unknown moral relation is an absurdity. The text of the Fifth Commandment is, "Honor thy father and thy mother." This refers to the relation of children to parents. This commandment could scarcely have arisen when polygamy was a common practice, certainly never from promiscuity. The equality of father and mother is stamped on its face. That idea never could have had strength and solemnity enough, except in a prevailing condition of monogamy, to entitle the command in which it appeared to rank with the important subjects covered by the other commands. Before the gaze of the children to whom this commandment came, the family stood in monogamic honor--the mother a head of the family as well as the father. There is no question about the position of the mother in this commandment. She stands out as clear as Sinai itself. There is no cloud on her majesty. Such honor as goes to the father goes to the mother. She is no chattel, no property, no inferior being, but the mother; no subordinate to the father, but his equal in rank and entitled to equal reverence with him. The commandment would not and could not have so pictured the mother had she been one of the inmates of a harem.

6. The Commandments and the Family (7th Commandment):

The Seventh Commandment (Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 5:18) gives the family. It secures the home. It says that whatever children are born to the race shall be born in a home and of the home--shall be family-born. The terms adultery and fornication have now become synonymous. Under the influence of polygamous practices a distinction was made in respect to unlawful sex union as to whether one or both of the parties thereto were married or not, or whether one or both were single. Such distinction will not hold in morals. All or any sex union out of marriage is barred by the family idea. Outside of that all sex union is sin.

While it is true that in the laws of Israel sex sin outside the family relation was treated as a subject by itself, yet when we remember how early in life marriage came in those ancient days, and that betrothal in childhood was deemed as sacred as marriage itself, we see that even then the sweep of the commandment was well-nigh universal and over what a broad range it protected the family. The family is the primal eldest institution of man--the greatest and the holiest. Over this institution this commandment stands sentry. It prevents men from breaking up in complete individual isolation, from reverting to solitary savagery. Think to what a child is born outside of the family relation! Then think of all children being so born, and you have the picture of a low plane of animalism from which all trace of the moral responsibility of fatherhood has disappeared, and where even motherhood will be reduced to simple care during the short period of helpless infancy, to such care as belongs to animal instinct. Put up now the idea that marriage shall be universal and that the children born in marriage shall belong genuinely to it, and you have a new heaven and a new earth ia the sex relations of the race of man.

7. The Commandments and the Family (10th Commandment):

The Tenth Commandment seems almost out of place on the list of the commandments. All the others enjoin specific acts. This tenth seems to be a foregleam of the Savior's method--going to the thoughts and intents of the heart. It is an attempt at regulation in man. It goes beyond outward acts and deals with the spirit. Its purpose seems not regulation of man in society but in himself. So far as it has outward relation it seems to apply primarily to the rights of property. We have at common law the expression, "rights of persons; and rights of things," i.e. to property. But the list of things enumerated in the commandment comprises the things most common to family life: house, servants, animals. One is forbidden not only to take but even to desire such things. They are necessary to family life. In this list of things belonging to a neighbor that a man is forbidden to desire occurs the term "wife." To first thought it may seem strange that she should be listed with property in house and chattels. But it may not be very singular. One of woman's greatest blessings to man is helpfulness. Eve, the mother of all living, came as a helpmeet for Adam. Sarah is mistress of domestic operations. A wife quick of thought, accurate in judgment and deft of hand is usually the key to a man's material prosperity. As such help a man's desire might stray to his neighbor's wife as well as to his cattle. Even on this lower plane she is still a constituent element of the family. Here the thought of sex is scarcely discernible. Covetousness unlimited in the accumulation of property is what comes under ban. To treat of that matter would lead too far astray.

See COVETOUSNESS.

It is well to remember in taking leave of the commandments that half of those pertaining to human relations hold the family plainly in view. This is as it should be. The race is divided equally between male and female, and their relations to each other, we might expect, would call for half of the directions devoted to the whole.

8. Primitive Monogamic Ideal: The laws against adultery and incest (Leviticus 20:1-27 and the like) may seem barbarously severe. Be it so; that fact would show they were carried along by a people tremendously in earnest about the integrity of the family. Beneath pioneer severity is usually a solemn principle. That the children of Israel had a tough grasp on the primitive monogamic ideal is not only apparent in all their history, but it comes out clear in what they held as history before their own began. Mr. Gladstone said the tenth chapter of Genesis is the best document of ancient ethnography known to man. But it is made up on family lines. It is a record of the settlement of heads of families as they went forth on the face of the earth. The common statement for the sons of Noah as they filed out over the lands of which they took possession is, `these are the sons of .... after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, in their nations.' Mr. Gladstone called attention to the fact that modern philology verifies this classification of the nations which rests on outgrowth from families.

9. Reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah: Turning now to a very distant point in history--the return of the Jews from captivity in Babylon--we find in Ezra and Nehemiah the most critical regard for genealogy. The effort to establish "pure blood" was fairly a fanaticism and might even be charged with injustice. Yet this effort was ratified by the people--sufferers in degraded name though many of them must have been. This could never have been done had not the monogamic family idea rested in their hearts as just and right. Nehemiah (13:26) unsparingly condemned the mighty Solomon for his polygamy, and Israel upproved the censure.

10. The New Testament

When we come to the times of the New Testament, contemporaneous polygamy in Jewish society was dead. Wherever New Testament influences have gone, contemporaneous polygamy has ceased to be.

There has been in the United States by Mormonism a belated attempt to revive that crime against the family. But it has had its bad day, and, if it lives at all, it is under the ban of social sentiment and is a crime by law. Consecutive polygamy still exists in nations that are called Christian by the permission of divorce laws. But the tide of Christian sentiment is setting strongly against it, and it takes no special clearness of vision to see that it must go to extinction along with polygamy contemporaneous.

Jesus reaffirmed the original charter of the monogamic family (Matthew 19:1-12; Mark 10:2-12). It is to be noticed that He affirmed the indissolubility of the family not only against the parties thereto but against the power of society.

See DIVORCE.

11. The Teaching of Jesus: At first sight it seems a little strange that Jesus said so little about the family. But as we reflect on the nature of His mission we shall catch the explanation of His silence. He said, "Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfill" (Matthew 5:17), that is, to fill out, to expound and expand. He also said, "For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost" (Matthew 18:11 the King James Version), and, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners" (Matthew 9:13), that is, to rectify what was wrong. To what was right He gave the right of way--let it go on in its own course. When the law was right, He said, not one jot or tittle of it should fail (Matthew 5:18). With regard to the family, He held the old charter written in the heart of man, before it was burned in brick or committed to manuscript, was right. It was comprehensive, would and ought to stand. So He stood by that, and that sufficed His purpose. Christ did not try to regulate the family so much as to regulate the persons who entered into family life. This may explain why we have no utterance from Him in regard to the conduct and duties of children toward parents. Still stood the ancient statute, "Honor thy father and thy mother." He came not to destroy but to fulfill that. That still indicated the right relation of children to parents. If a child had asked about his relation to his parents, Christ would doubtless have referred him to that commandment, as He did other inquirers about duties to the commandments that cover so large a part of the ethical realm.

12. The Teaching of Paul: Paul, who particularizes so much in explanation of duties in all relations, scarcely gets beyond the old commandment, "Honor thy father and thy mother," when he says, "Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing in the Lord." It has always been well-pleasing in the Lord. To be sure there was new inspiration to obedience from the new revelation of duty which came to them in Christ, but the duty was enforced by the Fifth Commandment, and that was copied from the deeper revelation in the heart of man.

13. Modern Dangers: In modern society the two great foes of the family are Divorce and Migration. Families no longer live a continuous life together. We have less family life than the old pastoral nomads. They had to keep together for several generations in order to protect their lives and their flocks and herds. So arose the clan, the tribe and the nation. Family influence can be detected through them. Modern Industries are very much localized. We should easily think that families would be under their controlling influence. But they are not; the industries are localized, the workers are becoming rovers. When trouble comes in an industry, a workman's first resort is to try somewhere else. Cheapness of transportation gives him the opportunity he desires. So with a satchel he goes hunting, much as a barbarian roams the forest for game, alone. He may take his family or leave it behind. He may be separated from his family for months or years--possibly abandon it forever. A very common cause of divorce is abandonment of family by its male head.

In fact, those engaged in a great deal of legitimate industry are looking out for a better place quite as much as to develop the capacities of business in their own locations. The signs over places of business are few that carry the same name in town or city for a generation. Moving is perhaps more the order of the day than movement. The families are few that can be found in the same place for a quarter of a century. The wealthy cannot stay in the same house six months at a time. They have a house in the city for the winter and one in the country for the summer, and then forsake both and fly over the sea, perhaps to remain for years--traveling. How can family ties survive under such migratory life? Society supersedes the family.

Even education is subject to this malign influence. At their most impressive age, when they need family influence most around them, children are sent away to prepare for or to enter upon higher courses of education. This fits them for something else than life in the family from which they sprang and they rarely return to it. We may not be able to check this drift, but we ought to see its tendency to degrade the estimate of the value of the family.

LITERATURE.

Wolsey, Divorce, Scribners; Publications of the National Divorce Reform League; Reports State and National, ad rem; Peabody, Jesus Christ and the Social Question, chapter iii; Caverno, Divorce, Midland Publishing Co., Madison, Wis.; The Ten Words, Pilgrim Press, Boston.

C. Caverno

Family Relationships

Family Relationships - See RELATIONSHIPS, FAMILY.

Famine

Famine - fam'-in (ra`abh; limos):

1. Natural Causes

2. Famines Mentioned

3. Divine Relations

4. Figurative Uses

The common Old Testament word for "famine" is ra`abh; re`abhon also occurs (Genesis 42:19, 33; Psalms 37:19), and kaphan (Job 5:22; 30:3), all meaning "hunger" and "famine"; in the New Testament the word is limos, meaning primarily "failure," "want of food."

1. Natural Causes: In early times, especially in lands dependent on their own productions, famines were not infrequent. They were generally caused by local irregularities of the rainfall, by destructive hail storms (Exodus 9:23, 11, 32), by ravages of insects (Exodus 10:15; Joel 1:4) and by enemies (Deuteronomy 28:51); in a city a famine might be caused by a siege (2 Kings 6:25); pestilence often followed in its wake, and the suffering was great.

2. Famines Mentioned: Famines are recorded in the time of Abraham (Genesis 12:10, etc.), of Isaac (Genesis 26:1), of Jacob, when Joseph was in Egypt--seven years of famine even in Egypt after seven of plenty (Genesis 41:54), which also affected Canaan (Genesis 42:1), and, indeed, "was over all the face of the earth" (Genesis 41:56); in the time of the Judges (Ruth 1:1), of David, for three years (2 Samuel 21:1), of Ahab and Elijah (1 Kings 17:1; 18:2; Ecclesiasticus 48:2, 3), of Elisha (2 Kings 4:38), during the siege of Samaria (2 Kings 6:25), the seven years foretold by Elisha (2 Kings 8:1), in the reign of Zedekiah in Jerusalem when besieged by Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 25:3; Jeremiah 52:6; compare Jeremiah 14:1), its great severity is referred to (Lamentations 5:10; Baruch 2:25); a "dearth" is also mentioned after the return from Captivity (Nehemiah 5:3); when the city was besieged by Antiochus Eupator (1 Maccabees 6:54), after the death of Judas (1 Maccabees 9:24), when Jerusalem was besieged by Simon (1 Maccabees 13:49), in the time of Claudius (Acts 11:28, in his reign there were frequent famines, one of which in 45 AD severely affected Palestine; Josephus, Ant, XX, v); Christ predicted "famines .... in divers places" as characterizing the end of the age (Matthew 24:7; Mark 13:8; Luke 21:11); in the siege of Jerusalem by Titus a terrible famine raged, the consequences of which to the people have never been surpassed.

3. Divine Relations: Famines are frequently said to be sent as punishments sometimes threatened as such (Leviticus 26:19 f; Deuteronomy 28:49-51; 2 Kings 8:1; Psalms 105:16; Isaiah 14:30; 51:19; Jeremiah 14:12, 15; 18:21, etc.; Ezekiel 5:16, etc.; Amos 8:11; 2 Esdras 15:5, 49; 16:19; Tobit 4:13; Ecclesiasticus 39:29; 40:9).

The righteous or godly should be preserved by God in time of famine (Job 5:20, "In famine he will redeem thee from death"; Psalms 33:19, "to keep them alive in famine"; Psalms 37:19, "In the days of famine they shall be satisfied"); this was a special mark of the Divine favor and power.

4. Figurative Uses: A famine is used by Amos to indicate the absence of Divine communications as a punishment that should come on the people, a "famine .... of hearing the words of Yahweh" (8:11; compare 1 Samuel 3:1; 28:6; 2 Chronicles 15:3; Ezekiel 7:26; Micah 3:6); by Zephaniah of the destruction of heathen deities (Micah 2:11).

The Revised Version (British and American) has "dearth" for "famine" (Job 5:22); "famine" for "dearth" (Genesis 411:5Ge 4:1-26b; 2 Chronicles 6:28; Acts 7:11; 11:28); for "hunger" (Jeremiah 38:9; Ezekiel 34:29; Revelation 6:8); "famines" for "famines and pestilences" (Matthew 24:7), "famines and troubles" (Mark 13:8), revised texts.

W. L. Walker

Famish

Famish - fam'-ish ra`ebh, razah): "To famish" as a transitive verb is the translation of ra`ebh, "to hunger" (Genesis 41:55): "All the land of Egypt was famished"; of ra`abh, "hunger" (Isaiah 5:13), "Their honorable men are famished," margin "Hebrew their glory are men of famine"; of razah, "to make lean," "famish" (Zephaniah 2:11), "For he will famish all the gods of the earth"; it is intransitive as the translation of ra`ebh (Proverbs 10:3), "Yahweh will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish."

Fan, Fanner

Fan, Fanner - fan'-er: The word "fan" occurs 3 times only in the American Standard Revised Version (Jeremiah 15:7; Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17). In Isaiah 30:24 mizreh is translated "fork," which is a much better translation if the instrument referred to was shaped like the winnowing fork used by the Syrian farmer today and still so called. In Isaiah 41:16; Jeremiah 4:11; 15:7, the verb zarah is rendered "winnow" in the American Standard Revised Version. In Jeremiah 51:2, the Revised Version (British and American) substitutes "strangers" for "fanners."

Fancy

Fancy - fan'-si (phantazo, "to cause to appear," "show"): In Ecclesiasticus 34:5, "And the heart fancieth, as a woman's in travail" (compare Wisdom of Solomon 6:16; Hebrews 12:21).

Far House

Far House - The marginal explanation in the Revised Version (British and American) of Beth-merhak (beth ha-merchaq, "house of distance"), which is given in the text of 2 Samuel 15:17 instead of "a place that was far off."

See BETH-MERHAK.

Far; Farther

Far; Farther - far, far'-ther: "Far" (adj.), distant, remote; (advb.) widely removed, is most frequently in the Old Testament the translation of rachoq, and in the New Testament of makran, but also of other Hebrew and Greek words. The word chalilah, an exclamation of abhorrence or aversion Septuagint me genoito; see FORBID), is rendered "far from me," "far from thee," etc. (Genesis 18:25; 1 Samuel 2:30; 20:9; 22:15; 2 Samuel 20:20; 23:17; Job 34:10). Besides its literal sense, distance in a spiritual sense is expressed by "far," as "Salvation is far from the wicked" (Psalms 119:155; compare Proverbs 15:29), "far from righteousness" (Isaiah 46:12), "not far from the kingdom of God" (Mark 12:34), etc. For "far" the Revised Version (British and American) has "aloof" in Job 30:10; in several places the word in the King James Version is omitted (Judges 9:17; Psalms 27:9; Isaiah 19:6; 26:15; Mark 13:34); "a far country" is changed to "another" (Matthew 21:33; 25:14; Mark 13:34), etc. For "God forbid" the Revised Version (British and American) has "far be it," "far be it from me" (Galatians 6:14; in the American Standard Revised Version, Genesis 44:7, 17; 1 Samuel 12:23; Job 27:5, etc.).

The comparative "farther" occurs only once in the Old Testament (Ecclesiastes 8:17), and thrice in the New Testament (Matthew 26:39; Mark 1:19; 10:1), and in each case is replaced in the Revised Version (British and American) by another word or phrase. The Revised Version (British and American), on the other hand, has "its farthest height" for "the height of his border" (Isaiah 37:24), and "his farthest lodging-place" for "the lodgings of his borders" (2 Kings 19:23).

W. L. Walker

Fare

Fare - far: Occurs twice in the Old Testament as the translation of two Hebrew words, shalom, "peace," "prosperity," "completeness" (1 Samuel 17:18), found in the section on David's family history omitted by the Septuagint translators, and sakhar, "hire," "reward," Septuagint naulon, "passage-money," "fare" (Jonah 1:3). In Hebrew both words are substantives; in English the former is a verb meaning "to go," or "get on as to circumstances" (Century Dict.), the latter, a substantive meaning the price which Jonah paid for a sea-voyage to Tarshish.

In Apocrypha the English verb "fare" helps in the translation of three Greek words, kakoo, "fare evil" (the Revised Version (British and American) "fare ill"), Sirach 3:26; elattoo, "fare worse" (the Revised Version (British and American) "suffer loss"), 32:24; rhonnumi, "be strong," "prosper," in 2 pers. (singular) imperat. (err(h)oso) or plural (err(h)osthe) as a farewell salutation, or at the close of a letter, or to describe the welfare (usually physical or social) of a friend (2 Maccabees 9:20; 21, 28, etc.). Compare Acts 15:29; 23:30 margin.

In the New Testament the English verb "fare," in addition to its occurrence in the word "farewell" (which see), occurs only once (Luke 16:19), where it is said that the rich man "fared sumptuously every day" (the Revised Version, margin "living in mirth and splendor every day").

The Greek is euphrainomai, "be merry," and occurs 14 times in the New Testament, 10 in a good sense (Luke 15:23, 14, 29, 32, all referring to the merry-making over the return of the lost son; Acts 2:26, translation of Hebrew samach, "be glad"; Romans 15:10, translation of Hebrew ranah, "to sing"; 2 Corinthians 2:2; Galatians 4:27, translation of Hebrew ranah, "to sing"; Revelation 12:12; 18:20); 4 in a bad, or less favorable, sense (Luke 12:19; 16:19; Acts 7:41; Revelation 11:10). The Greek word is variously translated in the New Testament, "be merry," "make merry," "be glad," "rejoice," "make glad," and only once "fare" (Luke 16:19). In the last passage it means the general physical and material welfare of the rich man (so the Geneva (1560), the Bishops' and Rhemish Bibles, the Revised Version (British and American) (1881), and not simply partaking of rich food so Vulgate, Wyclif, Coverdale, Cranmer, Geneva (1557) and the King James Version). Luther translates Luke 16:19, "lebte alle Tage herrlich und in Freuden"; Weizsacker, "genoss sein Leben alle Tage in Glanze"; Ostervald, "se traitoit bien et magnifiquement"; Oltremare, "faisait brillante chere"; Segond, "menait joyeuse et brillante vie"; Weymouth, "enjoyed a splendid banquet every day," all of which virtually agree with the view taken by us as to meaning of "fare." The lampros, "sumptuously," shows that the rich man's manner of living was "brilliant," "magnificent." the Revised Version (British and American) has "fare" for "do" (Acts 15:36), "fared" for "did" (2 Samuel 11:7), "hath fared" for "was" (Genesis 30:29).

Charles B. Williams

Farewell

Farewell - far-wel' (chairo), Fare ye, or thou, well: Originally a wish at parting for those faring forth (traveling):

(1) As a parting wish at the close of a letter it represents the Greek err(h)oso, "Be strong," imperative of rhonnumi, "to make strong" (Acts 15:29; 23:30 the King James Version; see the Revised Version, margin; 2 Maccabees 11:21); once chairete (imperative of chairo), "Rejoice!" (2 Corinthians 13:11, the Revised Version, margin "Rejoice: be perfected").

(2) As equivalent to our saying "good-bye," it represents the Greek apotassomai, "to separate one's self," "to take leave," "to bid farewell" (Luke 9:61, "to bid farewell to them that are at my house"; Acts 18:21, "bade them farewell," the Revised Version (British and American) "taking his leave of them").

See FARE; GREETING.

W. L. Walker

Farm

Farm - farm: Matthew 22:5 is the only passage where agros, has been rendered "farm." In the many other passages where the same word occurs it is rendered "field" or "piece of ground." Farms such as the Occidental is accustomed to see, namely, isolated dwellings with their groups of outbuildings, surrounded by walls or hedges and overlooking the planted fields, were probably unknown in Palestine. For protection against wild beasts and Arab marauders everyone lived in a village and went out to his fields, located perhaps miles away, only as occasion required.

James A. Patch

Farthing

Farthing - far'-thing: The rendering of two words in the Greek of the New Testament, assarion, and kodrantes, Latin quadrans. The assarion was the tenth part of the denarius, and hence in value about one penny or two centuries The quadrans was the fourth part of the Roman as, and worth only about three mills, or less than the English farthing, and is the only term rendered farthing by the American Standard Revised Version. It occurs in Matthew 5:26 and Mark 12:42, while assarion, which occurs in Matthew 10:29 and Luke 12:6, is rendered "penny" by the American Standard Revised Version.

Fashion

Fashion - fash'-un (mishpaT; schema, the make, pattern, shape, manner or appearance of a thing (from Latin faction-em, "a making," through Old French fatson, fachon)): In the Old Testament the noun "fashion" represents 3 Hebrew words:

(1) MishpaT = literally, "judgment," hence, judicial sentence, right, custom, manner; usually translated "judgment" (very frequent), but also a few times "sentence," "cause," "charge," and more frequently "manner" (nearly 40 times in the King James Version). In 3 passages it is translated "fashion," in the sense of style, shape, make, in each case of a building or part of a building (Exodus 26:30; 1 Kings 6:38; Ezekiel 42:11).

(2) Tekhunah = literally, "arrangement," "adjustment" (compare takhan, "to set right," "adjust," from kun, hekhin, "to set up," "establish"); Ezekiel 43:11, "the form of the house, and the fashion thereof." A cognate word in the preceding verse is translated "pattern" (the Revised Version, margin "sum").

(3) Demuth = "resemblance" (from damah, "to be similar"), generally translated "likeness" in English Versions of the Bible, but "fashion" in 2 Kings 16:10, where it means pattern or model. The verb "to fashion" stands for (a) yatsar, "to form," "fashion" (Psalms 33:15; 139:16 the King James Version; Isaiah 22:11 the King James Version; Isaiah 44:12; 45:9); (b) `asah, "to work," "make," "form" (Job 10:8); (c) kun, "to set up," "establish," "prepare" (Job 31:15; Psalms 119:73; Ezekiel 16:7); (d) tsur, "to bind up together," "compress" (Exodus 32:4, of Aaron fashioning the golden calf out of the golden rings).

In the New Testament, the noun represents 5 Greek words:

(1) Of these, the most interesting is schema, "figure," "shape," "fashion" (from schein, aorist of echein, "to have," compare Latin habitus, from habeo, "I have"). Schema denotes a transient, external semblance or fashion, and so it may be distinguished from its synonym morphe, which denotes the essential intrinsic form of a thing, expressing its real nature. (See Lightfoot, Detached Note on Philippians 2:1-30; Trench, New Testament Syn., 252 ff; Gifford, Incarnation, 22 ff. The distinction is rejected by Meyer, on Romans 12:2, and by others.) In the New Testament, the noun schema occurs but twice: 1 Corinthians 7:31, "The fashion of this world passeth away," where there seems to be an allusion to theatrical scenes, which are in their very nature transitory (compare 2 Maccabees 4:13); and Philippians 2:8, "being found in fashion as a man," i.e. having the outward figure and bearing of a man, such marks of human nature as strike the senses (contrast morphe Theou, "form of God," Philippians 2:6, and morphe doulou, "form of servant," Philippians 2:7, which describe Christ's real inner nature). The word schema is found in compound verbs in the following passages: Romans 12:2, "Be not fashioned (sunschematizesthe) according to this world: but be ye transformed (metamorphousthe) by the renewing of your mind" (so the Revised Version (British and American)), paraphrased by Sanday and Headlam, "Do not adopt the external and fleeting fashion of this world, but be ye transformed in your inmost nature" (Comm. in the place cited.); 2 Corinthians 11:13 f, metaschematizomai, the King James Version "transformed," better the Revised Version (British and American) "fashioned," the reference being to "the fictitious, illusory transformation whereby evil assumes the mask of good" (Lightfoot, Commentary on Phil, 131); 1 Peter 1:14, "not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts," paraphrased by Lightfoot, "not falling in with the capricious guidance of the passions" (same place) . In Philippians 3:21, the adjective summorphos is translated "fashioned" in the King James Version, but better "conformed" as in Revised Version (British and American).

(2) Eioos, eidos, literally, "thing seen," "external appearance," "shape," is translated "fashion" in Luke 9:29, of the glorified appearance of the transfigured Christ.

(3) prosopon, literally, "face," hence, look, appearance, James 1:11, "The grace of the fashion of it perisheth."

(4) tupos, type, model, translated "fashion" in Acts 7:44 the King James Version (the Revised Version (British and American) "figure"), the Greek word being taken from the Septuagint of the quoted passage, Exodus 25:40. The same phrase, kata ton tupon, in the parallel passage, Hebrews 8:5, is translated "according to the pattern."

(5) In one instance the phrase "on this fashion," "in this manner," represents the Greek adverb houtos, "thus" (Mark 2:12).

D. Miall Edwards

Fast; Fasting

Fast; Fasting - fast, fast'-ing (tsum; `innah nephesh, "afflict soul or self," i.e. practice self-denial; nesteia, nesteuein): It is necessary to get rid of some modern notions associated with fasting before we can form a correct idea of its origin and significance in the ancient world. For instance, in the case of many ailments the dieting of the patient is an essential part of the remedy. But we may readily assume that originally fasting was not based on the salutary influence which it exercised on the health of the subject. Considerations of therapeutics played no part in the institution. The theory that fasting, like many other ancient customs, had a religious origin, is in favor with scholars, but we must not assume a religious origin for all practices which in process of time came to be associated with religion.

Many customs, purely secular in their origin, have gradually obtained a religious significance, just as purely religious customs have been dissociated from religion. It is also possible and, in the light of some usages, probable, that different motives operated in the association of fasting, as of some other customs, with religion. Scholars have been too ready to assume that the original significance of fasting was the same in all countries and among all nations. Robertson Smith in his Religion of the Semites advanced and defended theory that fasting was merely a mode of preparation for the tribal meal in which sacrifice originated, and came to be considered at a later stage as part of the sacrificial act. This hypothesis apparently accounts for the otherwise strange fact that both fasting and feasting are religious acts, but it does not give a satisfactory explanation of the constant association of fasting with the "wearing of sackcloth," the "putting of ashes on the head," and other similar customs. It is obvious that very different motives operated in the institution of fasting and of feasting religious observances.

It is a matter of common observation and experience that great distress causes loss of appetite and therefore occasions abstinence from food. Hannah, who was greatly distressed on account of her childlessness, "wept, and did not eat" (1 Samuel 1:7). Violent anger produces the same effect (1 Samuel 20:34). According to 1 Kings 21:4, Ahab, "heavy and displeased" on account of Naboth's refusal to part with his estate, sulked and "would eat no bread." Fasting, originally the natural expression of grief, became the customary mode of proving to others the inner emotion of sorrow. David demonstrated his grief at Abner's death (2 Samuel 3:35) by fasting, just as the Psalmist indicated his sympathy with his adversaries' sorry plight in the same way (Psalms 35:13). In such passages as Ezra 10:6; Esther 4:3, it is not clear whether fasting is used in its religious significance or simply as a natural expression of sorrow (compare also Luke 5:33 and see below). This view explains the association of fasting with the mourning customs of antiquity (compare 1 Samuel 31:13; 2 Samuel 1:12). As fasting was a perfectly natural and human expression and evidence of the subject's grief, it readily claimed a place among those religious customs whose main object was the pacification of the anger of God, or the excital of His compassion. Any and every act that would manifest the distressful state of the suppliant would appeal to the Deity and move Him to pity. The interesting incident recorded in 2 Samuel 12:16-23 suggests the twofold significance of fasting as a religious act or a mode of appealing to the Deity and as a funeral custom. David defends his fasting before and not after the child's death on the ground that while the child was alive David's prayer might be answered. His fasting was intended to make his petition effectual (compare also 1 Kings 21:27; Ezra 8:21; Esther 4:16). Occasionally fasting was proclaimed on a national scale, e.g. in case of war (Judges 20:26; 2 Chronicles 20:3) or of pestilence (Joel 1:13 f). Fasting having thus become a recognized mode of seeking Divine favor and protection, it was natural that it should be associated with confession of sin, as indisputable evidence of penitence or sorrow for sin.

Fasting might be partial, i.e. abstinence from certain kinds of food, or total, i.e. abstinence from all food as well as from washing, anointing, sleeping. It might be of shorter or longer duration, e.g. for one day, from sunrise to sunset (Judges 20:26; 1 Samuel 14:24; 2 Samuel 1:12; 3:35). In 1 Samuel 31:13 allusion is made to a seven days' fast, while Daniel abstained from "pleasant bread," flesh, wine and anointing for three weeks (Daniel 10:3). Moses (Exodus 34:28) and Elijah (1 Kings 19:8) fasted for 40 days. It is probable that these last three references presuppose a totally different conception of the significance of fasting. It is obvious that dreams made a deep impression on primitive man. They were communications from the departed members of the family. At a later stage they were looked upon as revelations from God. During sleep there is total abstinence from food. It was easy to draw the inference that fasting might fit the person to receive these communications from the world of spirits (Daniel 10:2). The close connection between fasting and insight--intellectual and spiritual--between simple living and high thinking is universally recognized.

See further under ABSTINENCE; FEASTS AND FASTS.

LITERATURE.

Nowack, Hebadische Archaologie; Benzinger, Hebadische Archaologie; Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites.

T. Lewis

Fasts and Feasts

Fasts and Feasts - See FEASTS AND FASTS.

Fat

Fat - (chelebh, chelebh): The layer of subcutaneous fat and the compact suet surrounding the viscera and imbedded in the entrails, which, like the blood, was forbidden as food in the Mosaic code (Leviticus 3:17). It was to be sacrificed to God by being burnt upon the altar (Leviticus 3:16; (30)). This had to be done on the very day on which a beast had been slaughtered, to remove temptation from the Israelite to use it otherwise (Exodus 23:18). The law was probably a sanitary restriction, for, at an early date, leprosy, scrofula and disfiguring cutaneous diseases were thought to be caused by the use of fat as food. It was, moreover, an important pedagogical provision teaching the idea of self-denial, and the maxim that the richest and best meat of the edible animal belonged to Yahweh.

Fat (Vat)

Fat (Vat) - WINE, WINE PRESS, II.

Father

Father - fa'-ther (Anglo-Saxon, Foeder; German, Vater; Hebrew 'abh, etymology uncertain, found in many cognate languages; Greek pater, from root pa, "nourisher," "protector," "upholder"):

1. Immediate Male Ancestor: Immediate male ancestor. The father in the Hebrew family, as in the Roman, had supreme rights over his children, could dispose of his daughter in marriage (Genesis 29:1-35), arrange his son's marriage (Genesis 24:1-67), sell his children (Exodus 21:7), but not his daughter to a stranger (Nehemiah 5:5), had power of life and death, as in the case of Isaac (Genesis 22:1-24), Jephthah's daughter (Judges 11:34 ff), the sacrificing of his children to Molech (Leviticus 18:21; Leviticus 20:3-5), etc. Respect, reverence and affection for fathers (and equally for mothers) is most tenderly, explicitly and sternly prescribed from the earliest times (Exodus 20:12; Leviticus 19:3; Deuteronomy 5:16; Micah 7:6; Ezekiel 22:7, etc.). A symmetrical and beautiful picture of the duties and character of the ideal human father may be built up from the Old Testament, with added and enlarged touches from the New Testament. He loves (Genesis 37:4); commands (Genesis 50:16; Proverbs 6:20); instructs (Proverbs 1:8, etc.); guides, encourages, warns (Jeremiah 3:4; 1 Thessalonians 2:11); trains (Hosea 11:3); rebukes (Genesis 34:30); restrains (Eli, by contrast, 1 Samuel 3:13); punishes (Deuteronomy 21:18); chastens (Proverbs 3:12; Deuteronomy 8:5); nourishes (Isaiah 1:2); delights in his son (Proverbs 3:12), and in his son's wisdom (Proverbs 10:1); is deeply pained by his folly (Proverbs 17:25); he is considerate of his children's needs and requests (Matthew 7:10); considerate of their burdens, or sins (Malachi 3:17, "As a man spareth his own son"); tenderly familiar (Luke 11:7, "with me in bed"); considerately self-restrained (Ephesians 6:4, "Provoke not your children to wrath"); having in view the highest ends (ibid., "Nurture them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord"); pitiful (Psalms 103:13, "as a father pitieth his children"); the last human friend (but one) to desert the child (Psalms 27:10: "When (a thing to the psalmist incredible) my father and my mother forsake me, then Yahweh will take me up").

2. Ancestors, Immediate or Remote: (a) Ancestor, immediate or remote: Genesis 28:13, "Abraham thy father" (grandfather); 1 Kings 22:50, "Jehoshaphat .... David his father"; Jeremiah 35:6, "Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our father"; Daniel 5:11, "Nebuchadnezzar thy father" (personal or official ancestor); Genesis 15:15, "Go to thy fathers in peace" (and so (in the plural) in over 500 passages). The expressions "slept with his fathers," "go down to his fathers," "buried with his fathers," "gathered to his fathers," are self-explanatory euphemisms. (b) The founders of the (Hebrew) race, specifically the patriarchs:' Romans 9:5, "whose are the fathers," considered here also as in a sense the religious ancestors of all believers. (c) Progenitors of clans, i.e. (Revised Version (British and American)) "fathers' houses": Exodus 6:14; 1 Chronicles 27:1, etc. (d) Gods as progenitors of men: Jeremiah 2:27, "Who say to a stock, thou art my father."

3. Figurative and Derived Uses: (a) A spiritual ancestor, one who has infused his own spirit into others, whether good, as Abraham, the father of the faithful, Romans 4:11; or bad, as John 8:44, "Ye are of your father the devil." (b) Indicating closest resemblance, kinship, affinity: Job 17:14, "If I have said to corruption, Thou art my father." (c) A source: Ephesians 1:17, "Father of glory"; Job 38:28, "Hath the rain a father?" (d) Creator: James 1:17, "the Father of lights." (e) The inventor or originator of an art or mode of life: Genesis 4:20, "father of such as dwell in tents" (a hint here of hereditary occupations? Probably not). (f) One who exhibits the fatherly characteristics: Psalms 68:5, "a father of the fatherless." (g) One who occupies a position of counsel, care, or control (frequently applied by sultans to their prime ministers): Genesis 45:8, "a father to Pharaoh"; Judges 17:10, "Be unto me a father and a priest." (h) A revered or honored superior: 2 Kings 5:13, "My father, if the prophet had bid thee"; but especially applied to prophets: 2 Kings 2:12, "My father, my father!" also to elderly and venerable men: 1 John 2:13, "I write unto you, fathers"; hence also, with perhaps an outlook on (2) (a), deceased early Christians: 2 Peter 3:4, "from the day that the fathers fell asleep." An ecclesiastical title, condemned (in principle) by our Lord: Matthew 23:9, "Call no man your father on the earth"; but applied, under the power of the Spirit, to members of the Sanhedrin (probably) by Stephen: Acts 7:2; and by Paul: Acts 22:1, but the latter, perhaps also the former, may simply refer to the elderly among his hearers. Christ's condemnation is clearly of the praise-seeking or obsequious spirit, rather than of a particular custom.

"Father," used by Mary of Joseph, in relation to Jesus, equals "putative father," a necessary reserve at a time when the virgin birth could not yet be proclaimed (Luke 2:49). But note Jesus' answer: "my Father's house."

Philip Wendell Crannell

Father, God The

Father, God The - In the Christian religion God is conceived of as "Father," "Our Father .... in heaven" (Matthew 6:9, 14, 26, etc.), "the God and Father of the Lord Jesus" (2 Corinthians 11:31, etc.). The tenderness of relation and wealth of love and grace embraced in this profound designation are peculiar to Christ's gospel. Pagan religions also could speak of God as "Father" (Zeus Pater), and in the general sense of Creator God has a universal fatherly relation to the world (Acts 17:24-28). In the Old Testament God was revealed as Father to the chosen nation (Exodus 4:22), and to the special representative of the nation, the king (2 Samuel 7:14), while fatherly love is declared to be the image of His pity for those who fear Him (Psalms 103:13). In the gospel of Jesus alone is this Fatherhood revealed to be of the very essence of the Godhead, and to have respect to the individual. Here, however, there is need for great discrimination. To reach the heart of the truth of the Divine Fatherhood it is necessary to begin, not with man, but with the Godhead itself, in whose eternal depths is found the spring of that Fatherly love that reveals itself in time. It is first of all in relation to the eternal Son--before all time--that the meaning of Fatherhood in God is made clear (John 1:18). In "God the Father" we have a name pointing to that relation which the first Person in the adorable Trinity sustains to "Son" and "Holy Spirit"--also Divine (Matthew 28:19). From this eternal fountain-head flow the relations of God as Father (1) to the world by creation; (2) to believers by grace. Man as created was designed by affinity of nature for sonship to God. The realization of this--his true creature-destiny--was frustrated by sin, and can now only be restored by redemption. Hence, the place of sonship in the gospel, as an unspeakable privilege (1 John 3:1), obtained by grace, through regeneration (John 1:12-13), and adoption (Romans 8:14, 19). In this relation of nearness and privilege to the Father in the kingdom of His Son (Colossians 1:13), believers are "sons of God" in a sense true of no others. It is a relation, not of nature, but of grace. Fatherhood is now the determinative fact in God's relation to them (Ephesians 3:14 ff). It is an error, nevertheless, to speak of fatherhood as if the whole character of God was therein sufficiently expressed. God is Father, but equally fundamental is His relation to His world as its Moral Ruler and Judge. From eternity to eternity the holy God must pronounce Himself against sin (Romans 1:18); and His fatherly grace cannot avert judgment where the heart remains hard and impenitent (Romans 2:1-9). For the fuller discussion of these points see GOD; CHILDREN OF GOD; TRINITY.

James Orr

Father-in-law

Father-in-law - fa'-ther-in-lo.

See RELATIONSHIPS, FAMILY.

Fatherless

Fatherless - fa'-ther-les (yathom; orphanos): The fatherless are frequently mentioned in the Old Testament, generally in association with the widow and the stranger, as typical instances of the unprotected and necessitous, who are, specially subject to oppression, and also to God's special protection. Great philanthropic regard is bestowed on this class throughout. In early legislation there is a special clause to guard them against affliction (Exodus 22:22-24). They have a still more prominent place in the Deuteronomic legislation, which gives instructions that a charitable fund be formed out of the tithe, once every three years, for the relief of the destitute (Deuteronomy 14:28-29; Deuteronomy 26:12-14), and that gleanings be left in the cornfield, the olive garden, and the vineyard for the benefit of this class (Deuteronomy 24:19-22; compare Leviticus 19:9 f; Leviticus 23:22, where, however, the "fatherless" are not specially mentioned). The Deuteronomist declares that God is on their side (Deuteronomy 10:18), and strongly condemns those who would oppress them (Deuteronomy 24:17; 27:19). The prophets and psalmists are equally emphatic in pleading for mercy and justice to the fatherless, and in declaring that God is their special guardian (Isaiah 1:17; Jeremiah 7:6 f; Jeremiah 22:3; Hosea 14:3; Zechariah 7:10; Psalms 10:14; 68:5; 82:3; 146:9; compare Proverbs 23:10). Oppressing the fatherless is frequently mentioned as a typical act of cruelty and injustice (compare Job 6:27; 22:9; 3, 1; 29:12 f; Job 31:16-17, 21; Psalms 94:6; Isaiah 1:23; 10:2; Jeremiah 5:28; Ezekiel 22:7; Malachi 3:5). Here we have instances of the prophetic passion for righteousness and compassion for the helpless, inspired by a profound sense of the value of human life. Passages in the Apocrypha reflect the same spirit (2 Esdras 2:20; Ecclesiastes 4:10).

In the New Testament the word "fatherless" occurs but once, where James declares, in the spirit of the Old Testament prophets, that true religious ritual consists in visitation of the fatherless and widows and in moral purity (James 1:27). Here the word for "fatherless" is orphanos ("bereft," "orphaned"), which is the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament yathom. In the New Testament the Greek word is found besides only in John 14:18, where it means destitute of a teacher or guide (compare Lamentations 5:3).

D. Miall Edwards

Fathers' Brother

Fathers' Brother - See RELATIONSHIPS, FAMILY.

Father's House, Fathers' House

Father's House, Fathers' House - (beth 'abh, beth 'abhoth): Father's house in the Old Testament is (1) a dwelling, the family home (Genesis 12:1; 14, 30; 38:11; 1 Samuel 18:2); (2) a family or household (Genesis 41:51; 46:31; Exodus 12:3, the Revised Version (British and American) "fathers' houses"); (3) the group of households, of several of which the "family' or "clan" was constituted, aggregations of which formed the "tribe," generally "fathers' houses" (Numbers 1:18, 20 ff; Numbers 17:2; Ezra 2:59; Nehemiah 10:34, etc.); (4)the "family" (clan), mishpachah, "fathers' houses" (Exodus 6:14 f; Numbers 3:20 ff); (5) the tribe, "fathers' house," "houses" (Numbers 7:2; Numbers 17:1-3, etc.).

In the New Testament "father's house" (oikos tou patros) occurs in the sense of dwelling, house (Luke 16:27; compare Luke 16:4). our Lord also uses the phrase (1) of the earthly temple-dwelling of God at Jerusalem (John 2:16, "Make not my Father's house a house of merchandise"; compare Psalms 11:4; Isaiah 63:15); (2) of heaven as the abode of God and His children (John 14:2, "In my Father's house are many mansions," the Revised Version, margin "abiding places," oikia "house," "dwelling," also household, family; compare Psalms 33:13; Isaiah 63:15; Matthew 6:9). The phrase occurs also (Acts 7:20) of Moses, "nourished .... in his father's house" (oikos).

Revised Version has "father's hquse" for "principal household" (1 Chronicles 24:6), "heads of the fathers' houses" for "chief fathers" (Numbers 31:26; 32:28; 36:1; 1 Chronicles 9:34, etc.); "one prince of a father's house," for "each of" (Joshua 22:14); "the heads of the fathers' (houses)" for "the chief of the fathers," and "the fathers' houses of the chief," for "the principal fathers" (1 Chronicles 24:31).

W. L. Walker

Fathom

Fathom - fath'-um (~orguia): The literal meaning is the length of the outstretched arms, and it was regarded as equal to 4 cubits, or about 6 feet. (Acts 27:28).

See WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

Fatling; Fatted

Fatling; Fatted - See CALF.

Fatness

Fatness - fat'-nes (deshen; piotes):

1. Literal: The translation of deshen (Judges 9:9, "But the olive-tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness?"; Job 36:16 (of food)), "full of fatness"; of chelebh, "fat," "the best part," "the marrow" (Job 15:27; Psalms 73:7; Isaiah 34:6-7); of mishman, "fathess," "fertility" (Genesis 27:28, "the fatness of the earth"; Isaiah 17:4, "the fatness of his flesh"); of shemen, "fatness," "oil" (Psalms 109:24); of piotes, "fat," "fatness" (Romans 11:17, "partaker .... of the root of the fatness of the olive tree").

2. Figurative: "Fatness" is used figuratively for the richness of God's goodness; as such it is the translation of deshen ("They shall be abundantly satisfied (margin "Hebrew watered") with the fatness of thy house" (Psalms 36:8); "Thy paths drop fatness" (Psalms 65:11; compare Isaiah 55:2; Jeremiah 31:14).

"With fatness" is supplied, Deuteronomy 32:15 the King James Version, "covered with fatness"; the Revised Version (British and American) has "become sleek"; for "The yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing" (Isaiah 10:27) the American Standard Revised Version has "by reason of fatness," margin "Hebrew oil"; the English Revised Version as the King James Version, with margin as the American Standard Revised Version; the text is believed to be corrupt; Septuagint has "from your shoulders."

W. L. Walker

Fauchion

Fauchion - fo'-shun.

See SCIMITAR.

Fault

Fault - folt (chaTa'; aitia, memphomai): Implies defect, of less moral weight than crime or sin. It is the translation of chaTa', "error," "failure," "sin" (Exodus 5:16); of cheT', same meaning (Genesis 41:9, "I do remember my faults this day"); of `awon, "perversity," "iniquity" (2 Samuel 3:8; Psalms 59:4); of rish`ah, "wrongness," "wickedness" (Deuteronomy 25:2, the Revised Version (British and American) "wickedness"); of shechath (Aramaic) "corruption" (Daniel 6:4 twice); me'umah, "anything" (1 Samuel 29:3, "no fault in him," literally, "not anything"); of aitia, "cause," "case," "guilt," (John 18:38; 4, 6; Pilate of Jesus, "I find no fault in him," the Revised Version (British and American) "no crime"; the same word is rendered "accusation," i.e. `legal cause for prosecution,' Matthew 27:37; Mark 15:26; compare Acts 25:18, 27); of aition, same meaning (Luke 23:4, 14, 22, aition thanatou "cause of death"); of hettema, "a worse condition," "defect" (1 Corinthians 6:7, the Revised Version (British and American) "a defect," margin "a loss to you"); of paraptoma, "a falling aside" (Galatians 6:1, "If a man be overtaken in fault," the Revised Version (British and American) "in any trespass," margin "by"; James 5:16, "Confess your faults one to another," the Revised Version (British and American) "Confess therefore your sins one to another"); hamartano, "to miss," "err," "sin," is translated "your faults" (1 Peter 2:20 the Revised Version (British and American), "when ye sin"); memphomai, "to blame," is translated "to find fault" (Mark 7:2 omitted the Revised Version (British and American); Romans 9:19; Hebrews 8:8); elegcho, "to convict," "to tell one's fault" (Matthew 18:15, the Revised Version (British and American) "show him his fault"); amomos, "without blemish," "spotless," is translated "without fault" (Revelation 14:5, the Revised Version (British and American) "without blemish," "faultless"; Jude 1:24, "able to present you faultless," the Revised Version (British and American) "without blemish"); amemptos, "blameless," "without reproach" (Hebrews 8:7, "for if that first covenant had been faultless"). "Faulty" is the translation of 'ashem, "guilty" (2 Samuel 14:13, "as one which is faulty," the Revised Version (British and American) "guilty"); of 'asham, "to be or become guilty" (Hosea 10:2, Revised Version "guilty").

W. L. Walker

Favor

Favor - fa'-ver (chen, ratson, with other Hebrew words; charis): Means generally good will, acceptance, and the benefits flowing from these; in older usage it meant also the countenance, hence, appearance. Alternating in English Versions of the Bible with "grace," it is used chiefly of man, but sometimes also of God (Genesis 18:3; 30:27; 39:21; Exodus 3:21; 2 Samuel 15:25, "in the eyes of Yahweh," etc.). It is used perhaps in the sense of "countenance" in Proverbs 31:30, "Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain" (the King James Version), where for "favor" the Revised Version (British and American) has "grace"; the reference is to external appearance. "Favored" is used in the sense of "appearance" in the phrase "well-favored" (Genesis 29:17; 39:6; 2, 4).; conversely, "ill-favored" (Genesis 41:3-4). For "favor" the Revised Version (British and American) has "have pity on" (Psalms 109:12), "good will" (Proverbs 14:9), "peace" (Song of Solomon 8:10); the English Revised Version "grace" (Ruth 2:13), the American Standard Revised Version "kindness" (Esther 2:17; Daniel 1:9), etc. In the American Standard Revised Version "the acceptable year of the Lord" (Isaiah 61:2) is changed Into "the year of Yahweh's favor"; "Do I now persuade men" (Galatians 1:10) into, "Am I now seeking the favor of men," and there are other the Revised Version (British and American) changes.

W. L. Walker

Fawn

Fawn - fon.

See DEER.

Fear

Fear - fer (yir'ah, yare'; phobos, phobeo):

Terms, etc.:

"Fear" is the translation of many words in the Old Testament; the chief are: yir'ah, "fear," "terror," "reverence," "awe," most often "the fear of God," "fear of Yahweh" (Genesis 20:11; 2 Chronicles 19:9, etc.); also of "fear" generally (Job 22:4; Isaiah 7:25; Ezekiel 30:13, etc.); yare', "to be afraid," "to fear," "to reverence" (Genesis 15:1; Leviticus 19:3, 14; Deuteronomy 6:2, etc.); pachadh, "fear," "terror," "dread" (Genesis 31:42, 53; Deuteronomy 11:25; 1 Samuel 11:7 the King James Version; Job 4:14; Isaiah 2:10 the King James Version, etc.).

"Fearful" (timid) is the translation of yare' (Deuteronomy 20:8; Judges 7:3); "to be feared," yare' (Exodus 15:11; Deuteronomy 28:58; compare Psalms 130:4); in Isaiah 35:4, it is the translation of mahar, "hasty," "them that are of a fearful heart," margin "Hebrew hasty"; perhaps, ready to flee (for fear).

"Fearfully" (Psalms 139:14): yare', "I am fearfully (and) wonderfully made," so the Revised Version (British and American); "and" is not in the text, so that "fearfully" may be equivalent to "extremely," to an awesome degree; compare Psalms 65:5, "by terrible things .... in righteousness"; Psalms 66:3, "How terrible are thy works (yare' "fearful "); the Septuagint, Peshitta, Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) have "Thou art fearfully wonderful."

"Fearfulness" occurs In Psalms 55:5 (yir'ah); Isaiah 21:4 (pallatsuth), the Revised Version (British and American) "horror"; Isaiah 33:14 (re`adhah, "trembling"), "Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites," the Revised Version (British and American) "Trembling hath seized the godless ones."

In the New Testament the chief words are phobos, "fear," "terror," "affright" (Matthew 14:26; 4, 8; Luke 21:26; 1 John 4:18, etc.), and phobeo, "to put in fear" (both used of ordinary fear) (Matthew 1:20; 10:26; 28:5; 2 Corinthians 12:20, etc.); of the fear of God, the noun (Romans 3:18; 2 Corinthians 7:1), the verb (Luke 18:4; 23:40, etc.); deilia, "timidity," "fear," occurs in 2 Timothy 1:7, "God hath not given us the spirit of fear," the Revised Version (British and American) "a spirit of fearfulness"; ekphobos, "frightened out (of one's senses)," "greatly terrified" (Hebrews 12:21; compare Deuteronomy 9:19; Wisdom of Solomon 17:9 the King James Version); apo tes eulabeias is translated (Hebrews 5:7) "(of Christ) who was heard in that he feared," the Revised Version (British and American) "having been heard for his godly fear"; so all the Greek commentators; eulabeia, properly, "caution," "circumspection," is used in the New Testament for godly fear (Hebrews 12:28, the Revised Version (British and American) "reverence and awe," margin as the King James Version); compare eulabes (Luke 2:25; Acts 2:5; 8:2); eulabeomai, "to act with caution" (Acts 23:10). Deilos, "fearful," "timid," occurs in Matthew 8:26; Mark 4:40; Revelation 21:8, "Their part shall be .... the second death"; phoberos, "fearful," "terrible" (Hebrews 10:27, 31); phobetron, "something fearful," "a terrible sign or portent" (Luke 21:11, Revised Version (British and American) "terrors").

Fear is a natural and, in its purpose, beneficent feeling, arising in the presence or anticipation of danger, and moving to its avoidance; it is also awakened in the presence of superiors and of striking manifestations of power, etc., taking the form of awe or reverence. Fear has been said to be the source of religion, but religion can never have originated from fear alone, since men are impelled to draw nigh with expectation to the object of worship.

"Fear" is certainly a prominent element in Old Testament religion; the "fear of God" or of Yahweh, "the fear of the Lord," is indeed synonymous with religion itself (Psalms 34:11; Proverbs 1:7; Isaiah 11:2-3; Jeremiah 2:19; Ecclesiastes 12:13, "the whole duty of man," the Revised Version, margin "the duty of all men"). But although the element of dread, or of "fear" in its lower sense, is not always absent and is sometimes prominent in the earlier stages especially, though not exclusively (Exodus 23:27, 'emah; 1 Samuel 11:7; 2 Chronicles 20:29; Psalms 119:120; Isaiah 2:10, 19, 21), it is more the feeling of reverent regard for their God, tempered with awe and fear of the punishment of disobedience. As such it is a sentiment commanded and to be cherished toward Yahweh (Exodus 20:20; Deuteronomy 6:13; Joshua 4:24; 1 Samuel 12:24; Job 6:14; Psalms 33:8; 34:9; Proverbs 23:17; Ecclesiastes 5:7, etc.). It is an essential element in the worship and service of Yahweh (2 Kings 17:1-41 often; Psalms 2:11, etc.); it is a Divine qualification of the Messiah (Isaiah 11:2-3). This "fear of Yahweh" is manifested in keeping God's commandments, walking in His ways, doing His will, avoiding sin, etc. (Exodus 20:20; Deuteronomy 6:13-14; 2 Samuel 23:3; Psalms 34:4, 9 parallel Proverbs 8:13; 16:6). It is the true wisdom (Job 28:28; Psalms 25:14; Proverbs 1:7; 15:33); it gives life (Proverbs 10:27, etc.), blessedness (Psalms 128:1, 4), sufficiency (Psalms 34:9), Divine friendship (Psalms 25:14), protection (Psalms 34:7), deliverance (Psalms 85:9), forgiveness (Psalms 130:4). In Psalms 90:11 the King James Version has "According to thy fear so is thy wrath," the Revised Version (British and American) "and thy wrath according to the fear that is due unto thee"; the meaning probably is "thy wrath is in proportion to thy fear."

The "fear of the Lord" is a frequent phrase in Apocrypha, and is highly exalted, e.g. Ecclesiastes 1:11-18; the idea of it became gradually more and more elevated; in Ecclesiastes 2:15-16 it is joined with the love of God.

"Fear" is the natural consequence of sin (Genesis 3:10; Genesis 4:13-14; Proverbs 28:1); it comes as a punishment (Deuteronomy 28:25, 28). The fear of man and of evils are dangers to be avoided, from which the fear of God delivers (Numbers 14:9; 21:34; Psalms 23:4; 31:14, etc.).

"Fear" sometimes stands for the object of fear (Proverbs 10:24; Isaiah 66:4); for the object of worship (Genesis 31:42, 53, "the God of Abraham, and the Fear of isaac," pachadh).

In the New Testament dread, or fear of God in the lower sense, is removed; He is revealed as the loving and forgiving Father, who gives to men the spirit of sonship (Romans 8:15; 2 Timothy 1:7; 1 John 4:18); we are invited even to come "with boldness unto the throne of grace," with confidence, assurance (parrhesia), which, however, may have its literal meaning of free "utterance" (Hebrews 4:16; 10:19); but there remains a filial fear and sense of awe and of the greatness of the issues involved (Romans 11:20; Ephesians 5:21, the Revised Version (British and American) "of Christ"; 1 Timothy 5:20; Hebrews 4:1); all other fears should be dismissed (Matthew 8:26; Matthew 10:26-28, 31; Luke 12:32); in Matthew 10:28; Luke 12:5, "fear" is used in the sense of "stand in awe of," so perhaps Luke 23:40; to "fear God" is sometimes used in the New Testament as equivalent to religion (Luke 18:4; Acts 10:2, 35; 16, 26, used of proselytes); in Hebrews 10:27, it is said that if Christ be willfully rejected, nothing remains but "a fearful looking for (the Revised Version (British and American) "expectation") of judgment," and Hebrews 10:31, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God," in which places "fearful" means "terrible," something well to be feared. the Revised Version (British and American) gives frequently a more literal rendering of the words translated "fear."

W. L. Walker

Feasts and Fasts

Feasts and Fasts - fests (mo`edh, "an appointed day" or "an assembling," chagh, from chaghagh, "to dance" or possibly "to make a pilgrimage"; tsom, "fast," ta`anith, "a day of affliction"):

I. PRE-EXILIC

A) Annual

1. Passover, 15th-22d Nican

2. Pentecost, 6th Ciwan ) Pilgrimage

3. Tabernacles, 15th-22d Tishri ) Festivals

4. Shemini `Atsereth, 23d Tishri

5. New Year, Feast of Trumpets, 1st Tishri

6. Atonement, 10th Tishri

B) Periodic

1. Weekly Sabbath

2. New Moon

3. Sabbath Year

4. Jubilee Year

II. POST-EXILIC

1. Feast of Dedication, 25th Kiclew

2. Fast of Esther, 13th 'Adhar

3. Feast of Purim, 14th 'Adhar

4. Fast of the Fourth Month, 17th Tammuz

5. Fast of the Fifth Month, 9th 'Abh

6. Fast of the Seventh Month, 3rd Tishri

7. Fast of the Tenth Month, 10th Tebheth

8. Feast of Acra, 23d Iyar

9. Feast of Nicanor, 18th 'Adhar

10. Feast of Woodcarrying, Midsummer Day, 15th 'Abh

11. New Year for Trees, 15th ShebhaT

12. Bi-weekly Fasts, Mondays and Thursdays after Festivals

13. Second Days of Festivals Instituted

14. New Modes of Observing Old Festivals Instituted

The Nature of the Hebrew Festivals:

The Hebrews had an abundance of holidays, some based, according to their tradition, on agriculture and the natural changes of times and seasons, some on historical events connected with the national or religious life of Israel, and still others simply on immemorial custom. in most instances two or more of these bases coexist, and the emphasis on the natural, the agricultural, the national, or the religious phase will vary with different writers, different context, or different times. Any classification of these feasts and fasts on the basis of original significance must therefore be imperfect.

We should rather classify them as preexilic and post-exilic, because the period of the Babylonian captivity marks a complete change, not only in the kinds of festivals instituted from time to time, but also in the manner of celebrating the old.

I. Pre-exilic. The pre-exilic list includes the three pilgrimage festivals, the Passover week, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles, together with the Eighth Day of Assembly at the conclusion of the last of these feasts, and New Year and Atonement Days, the weekly Sabbath and the New Moon.

1. Observances Common to All: The preexilic festivals were "holy convocations" (Leviticus 23:1-44; Numbers 28:1-31). Special sacrifices were offered on them in addition to the daily offerings. These sacrifices, however, varied according to the character of the festival (Numbers 28:1-31; Numbers 29:1-40). On all of them trumpets (chatsotseroth) were blown while the burnt offerings and the peace-offerings were being sacrificed (Numbers 10:10). They were all likened to the weekly Sabbath as days of rest, on which there must be complete suspension of all ordinary work (Leviticus 16:29; Leviticus 23:7-8, 21, 24-25, 28, 35-36).

2. Significance of the Festivals: The three pilgrimage festivals were known by that name because on them the Israelites gathered at Jerusalem to give thanks for their doubly joyful character. They were of agricultural significance as well as commemorative of national events. Thus, the Passover is connected with the barley harvest; at the same time it is the zeman cheruth, recalling the Exodus from Egypt (Exodus 12:6; Leviticus 23:5, 8; Numbers 28:16-25; Deuteronomy 16:1-8).

Pentecost has an agricultural phase as chagh habikkurim, the celebration of the wheat harvest; it has a religious phase as zeman mattan Thorah in the Jewish liturgy, based on the rabbinical calculation which makes it the day of the giving of the Law, and this religious side has so completely overshadowed the agricultural that among modern Jews the Pentecost has become "confirmation day" (Exodus 34:26; Leviticus 23:10-14; Numbers 28:26-31).

The Feast of Tabernacles is at once the general harvest festival, chagh he-'aciph, and the anniversary of the beginnings of the wanderings in the wilderness (Exodus 23:16; Leviticus 23:33 ff; Deuteronomy 16:13-15). The Eighth Day of Assembly immediately following the last day of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:36; Numbers 29:35 ff; John 7:37) and closing the long cycle of Tishri festivals seems to have been merely a final day of rejoicing before the pilgrims returned to their homes.

New Year (Leviticus 23:23-25; Numbers 29:1-6) and the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:1 ff; Leviticus 23:26-32; Numbers 29:7-11) marked the turning of the year; primarily, perhaps, in the natural phenomena of Palestine, but also in the inner life of the nation and the individual. Hence, the religious significance of these days as days of judgment, penitence and forgiveness soon overshadowed any other significance they may have had. The temple ritual for these days, which is minutely described in the Old Testament and in the Talmud, was the most elaborate and impressive of the year. At the same time Atonement Day was socially an important day of rejoicing.

In addition to these annual festivals the pre-exilic Hebrews celebrated the Sabbath (Numbers 28:9-10; Leviticus 23:1-3) and the New Moon (Numbers 10:10; Numbers 28:11-15). By analogy to the weekly Sabbath, every seventh year was a Sabbath Year (Exodus 23:11; Leviticus 25:1-7; Deuteronomy 15:1), and every cycle of seven Sabbath years was closed with a Jubilee Year (Leviticus 25:8-18) somewhat after the analogy of the seven weeks counted before Pentecost.

For further details of all of these preexilic festivals see the separate articles.

II. Post-exilic. In post-exilic times important historical events were made the basis for the institution of new fasts and feasts. When the first temple was destroyed and the people were carried into captivity, "the sacrifice of the body and one's own fat and blood" were substituted for that of animals (see Talmud, Berakhoth 17a). With such a view of their importance, fasts of all sorts were as a matter of course rapidly multiplied. (Note that the Day of Atonement was the only pre-exilic fast.) Of these post-exilic fasts and feasts, the Feast of Dedication (1 Maccabees 4:52-59; John 10:22; Mishna, Ta`anith 2 10; Mo`edh QaTon 3 9; Josephus, Ant, XII, vii; Apion, II, xxxix) and the Feast of Purim (Esther 3:7; 9:24 ff; 2 Maccabees 15:36); and the fasts of the fourth (Zechariah 8:19; Jeremiah 39:1-18; Jeremiah 52:1-34; Mishna, Ta`anith 4 Jeremiah 6:1-30), the fifth (Zechariah 7:3, 1; 8:19; Ta`anith 4 Zechariah 6:1-15), the seventh (Zechariah 7:5; 8:19; Jeremiah 41:1 ff; 2 Kings 25:25; Cedher `Olam Rabba' 26; Meghillath Ta`anith c. 12), the tenth months (Zechariah 8:19; 2 Kings 25:1-30), and the Fast of Esther (Esther 4:16 f; Esther 9:31) have been preserved by Jewish tradition to this day. (The Feast of Dedication, the Feast of Purim and the Fast of Esther are described in separate articles.)

Significance:

The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months are based on historical incidents connected with one or more national calamities. In several instances the rabbis have by close figuring been able to connect with the dates of the fasts as well as the feasts other important national events than those for which the days were primarily instituted. Not less than four incidents are connected with the fasts of the fourth month (17th of Tammuz): (a) on this day the Israelites made the golden calf; (b) Moses broke the tables of law; (c) the daily sacrifices ceased for want of cattle when the city was closely besieged prior to the destruction of Jerusalem; and (d) on this day Jerusalem was stormed by Nebuchadnezzar. The fast of the fifth month (9th day of 'Abh) receives its significance from the fact that the First Temple was destroyed upon this day by Nebuchadnezzar, and the Second Temple on the same day of the year by Titus. In addition it is said that on this day Yahweh decreed that those who left Egypt should not enter the land of promise; the day is also the anniversary of the capture of the city of Bether by the Emperor Hadrian. The fast of the seventh month (the 3rd day of Tishri) commemorates the murder of Gedaliah at Mizpah. That of the tenth month (10th day of Tebheth) commemorates the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.

Other fasts and feasts no doubt were instituted on similar occasions and received a local or temporary observance, for example, the Feast of Acra (1 Maccabees 13:50-52; compare 1:33), to celebrate the recapture of Acra ("the citadel") on the 23rd of 'Iyar 141BC , and the Feast of Nicanor, in celebration of the victory over Nicanor on the 13th day of 'Adhar 160BC (1 Maccabees 7:49).

Several other festivals are mentioned in the Talmud and other post-Biblical writings which may have been of even greater antiquity. The Feast of Woodcarrying (Midsummer Day: Nehemiah 10:34; Josephus, BJ, II, vii, 6; Meghillath Ta`anith c.v, p. 32, Mishna, Ta`anith 4 8a), for example, is referred to as the greatest day of rejoicing of the Hebrews, ranking with Atonement Day. It was principally a picnic day to which a religious touch was given by making it the woodgatherers' festival for the Temple. A New Year for trees is mentioned in the Talmud (Ro'sh ha-Shdnah 1 1). The pious, according both to the Jewish tradition and the New Testament, observed many private or semi-public fasts, such as the Mondays, Thursdays and following Monday after Nisan and Tishri (the festival months: Luke 18:12; Matthew 9:14; 6:16; Mark 2:18; Luke 5:33; Acts 10:30; Meghillah 31a; Ta`anith 12a; Bdbha' Qama' 8 2). The day before Passover was a fast day for the firstborn (Copherim 21 3).

In post-Biblical times the Jews outside of Palestine doubled each of the following days: the opening and closing day of Passover and Tabernacles and Pentecost, because of the capheq, or doubt as to the proper day to be observed, growing out of the delays in the transmission of the official decree of the Sanhedhrin in each season. Differences in hours of sunrise and sunset between Palestine and other countries may have had something to do at least with the perpetuation of the custom. New Year's Day seems to have been doubled from time immemorial, the forty-eight hours counting as one "long day."

Many new modes of observance appear in post-exilic times in connection with the old established festivals, especially in the high festival season of Tishri. Thus the cimchath beth ha-sho'ebhah, "water drawing festival," was celebrated during the week of Tabernacles with popular games and dances in which even the elders took part, and the streets were so brilliantly illuminated with torches that scarcely an eye was closed in Jerusalem during that week (Talmud, Chullin).

The last day of Tabernacles was known in Talmudic times as yom chibbuT `arabhoth, from the custom of beating willow branches, a custom clearly antedating the various symbolical explanations offered for it. Its festivities were connected with the dismantling of the booth. In later times the day was known as hosha`na' rabba', from the liturgical passages beginning with the word hosha`na', recited throughout the feast and "gathered" on that day. The day after Tabernacles has been made cimchath Torah, the Feast of the Law, from the custom of ending on that day the cycle of fifty-two weekly portions read in the synagogues.

In general it may be said that although the actual observance has changed from time to time to meet new conditions, the synagogal calendar of today is made up of the same festivals as those observed in New Testament times.

Ella Davis Isaacs

Feasts, Seasons for

Feasts, Seasons for - Regulated by the sun and moon.

See ASTRONOMY, sec. I, 5.

Feathers

Feathers - feth'-erz (notsah; Latin penna): "Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? or wings (the Revised Version (British and American) "pinions") and feathers (the American Standard Revised Version "plumage") unto the ostrich?" (Job 39:13 the King James Version); "He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust; his truth shall be thy shield and buckler" (Psalms 91:4 the King James Version). In the Revised Version (British and American) this is again changed to pinions. in Daniel 4:33 the word "feathers" is left. The wonderful plumage of birds was noted and prized in those days, just as now. Old ostriches were too tough and rank of flesh for food. They were pursued for their feathers, which were used for the headdressing and shield ornaments of desert princes. No one doubts that the ships of Solomon introduced peacocks because of their wonderful feathers. Those of the eagle were held in superstitious reverence as late as the days of Pliny, who was ten years old at the time of the crucifixion of Christ. Pliny wrote that the eagle was so powerful that if its feathers be laid in a box with those of other birds, the eagle feathers would "devour and consume all the rest."

Gene Stratton-Porter

Feeble Knees

Feeble Knees - fe'-b'-l nez: The expression. is found in three places (one being a free quotation of another): Job 4:4, "Thou hast made firm the feeble (kara`, "bending," "bowing") knees," and Hebrews 12:12, "Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the palsied (the King James Version "feeble") knees." The Greek word used here (paralelumena, "paralyzed," "motionless") implies the loss of junction, interrupted articulation, the cutting off of vital strength; compare Greek cholos, "lame," and see Delitzsch in his Commentary on Heb, in the place cited

Such an affection of the knees may be due to different causes. It is, e.g., a very frequent symptom of the disease known in the Orient as beriberi, when the muscles of the lower leg shrink to such a degree as to render voluntary locomotion impossible. It always disables its victim, and is therefore often expressive of general debility, e.g. in Psalms 109:24, where such weakness is described as the outcome of protracted fasting in Ezekiel 7:17 and Ezekiel 21:7, "All knees shall be weak as water," the expression indicates a complete relaxation of the muscles. Fear effected the same condition in Belshazzar's case, when he saw the writing on the wall (Daniel 5:6), "The joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another" (compare Nahum 2:10).

The "sore boil .... in the knees, and in the legs," a disease announced in Deuteronomy 28:35 as a punishment upon Israel for disobedience, cannot now be fully determined. Driver (in his commentary on the passage) thinks of elephantiasis, which is possible but not probable on account of the additional statement, "whereof thou canst not be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the crown of thy head" which would be unexplained, as elephantiasis rarely presents a form in which the whole body is sympathetically affected. I rather think of some form of bubonic plague, which causes very high fever all over the body. In Deuteronomy 28:27 in the enumeration of plagues mention is made of the "boil of Egypt," and some commentators have explained this as "bubonic plague." There is, however, no doubt that the "boil or botch of Egypt" is identical with the disease known to modern medicine as bouton du Nil, Biskra button, Bagdad or Aleppo sore.

H. L. E. Luering

Feeble-minded

Feeble-minded - fe'-b'-l-min'-ded (oligopsuchos): Only in 1 Thessalonians 5:14 the King James Version, in the sense of "fainthearted," as in the Revised Version (British and American). In Septuagint it is used as the equivalent of koshel, the tottering or feeble-kneed in Isaiah 35:3; 54:6; oligopsuchia occurs in Septuagint twice (Exodus 6:9; Psalms 54:7), for "anguish of spirit" and "trouble." The term refers to weakness of will and vacillation of purpose rather than to idiocy or morbid imbecility.

Feeling

Feeling - fel'-ing: The following varieties of meaning are to be noted:

(1) "To touch," "handle," "grope after" (mashash (Genesis 27:12, 22; Exodus 10:21; mush, Genesis 27:21; Judges 16:26; pselaphao, Acts 17:27).

(2) "To know," "understand," "experience" (bin, Psalms 58:9; yadha`, Proverbs 23:35; ginosko, Mark 5:29).

(3) "To have a fellow feeling," "to place one's self into the position of another," especially while suffering, "to have compassion" (sumpathein, Hebrews 4:15; compare Hebrews 10:34; which is to be carefully distinguished from the similar verb sumpaschein, which means "to share in the same suffering with another," Romans 8:17; 1 Corinthians 12:26). See Delitzsch, Commentary on Hebrews 4:15.

(4) "To feel harm," "pain," "grief," "to be sensitive" (paschein, with the roots path- and penth-, Acts 28:5); or with the negation: "to have ceased to feel," "to be apathetic," "past feeling," "callous," apelgekos, perfect participle of apalgeo (Ephesians 4:19) which describes the condition of the sinner, who by hardening his heart against moral influences is left without a sense of his high vocation, without an idea of the awfulness of sin, without reverence to God, without an appreciation of the salvation offered by Him, and without fear of His judgment.

H. L. E. Luering

Feet, Washing of

Feet, Washing of - See FOOT; WASHING OF FEET.

Feign

Feign - fan (badha, nakhar; plastos): Occurs (1) in the sense of "to devise," "invent" as the translation of badha', "to form," "to fashion" (Nehemiah 6:8, "Thou feignest them out of thine own heart"; compare 1 Kings 12:33, English Versions of the Bible "devised of his own heart"); of plastos, "formed," "molded" (2 Peter 2:3, "with reigned words make merchandise of you"); (2) in the sense of "pretense," nakhar, "to be foreign," "strange" (1 Kings 14:5, "feign herself to be another woman," 1 Kings 14:6; compare Genesis 42:7; Proverbs 26:24); 'abhal, "to mourn," "to act as a mourner" (2 Samuel 14:2); halal, "to make a show," Hithpael, "to be mad," "to feign madness" (of David, 1 Samuel 21:13; compare Jeremiah 25:16; 50:38); hupokrinomai, "to give judgment, or act, under a mask" (Luke 20:20, "who feigned themselves to be righteous"); (3) in the sense of "deceit" "fraud," "insincerity," mirmah, "prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips" (Psalms 17:1); sheqer, "falsehood," "a lie," "Judah hath not returned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly" (Jeremiah 3:10; compare 2 Esdras 8:28); kahash, "to lie," "to feign, or flatter" (2 Samuel 12:31; Psalms 18:44; 66:3; 81:15), where the text of the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American), "shall submit themselves," is rendered the margin (the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American)), "yield feigned obedience, Hebrew lie." the Revised Version (British and American) has "feign" for "make" (2 Samuel 13:5), and "feigned" for "made" (2 Samuel 13:6).

W. L. Walker

Felix; Antonius

Felix; Antonius - fe'-liks, an-to'-ni-us (Phelix, from Latin felix, "happy"): A Roman procurator of Judea, appointed in succession to Cumanus by the emperor Claudius. The event which led to the introduction of Felix into the narrative of Acts was the riot at Jerusalem (Acts 21:27). There Paul, being attacked at the instigation of the Asiatic Jews for alleged false teaching and profanation of the temple, was rescued with difficulty by Lysias the chief captain. But Lysias, finding that Paul was a Roman citizen, and that therefore the secret plots against the life of his captive might entail serious consequences upon himself, and finding also that Paul was charged on religious rather than on political grounds, sent him on to Felix at Caesarea for trial (Acts 21:31 through Acts 23:34). On his arrival, Paul was presented to Felix and was then detained for five days in the judgment hall of Herod, till his accusers should also reach Caesarea (Acts 23:33-35). The trial was begun, but after hearing the evidence of Tertullus (see TERTULLUS) and the speech of Paul in his own defense, Felix deferred judgment (Acts 24:1-22). The excuse he gave for delay was the non-appearance of Lysias, but his real reason was in order to obtain bribes for the release of Paul. He therefore treated his prisoner at first with leniency, and pretended along with Drusilla to take interest in his teaching. But these attempts to induce Paul to purchase his freedom failed ignominiously; Paul sought favor of neither Felix nor Drusilla, and made the frequent interviews which he had with them an opportunity for preaching to them concerning righteousness and temperance and the final judgment. The case dragged on for two years till Felix, upon his retirement, "desiring to gain favor with the Jews .... left Paul in bonds" (Acts 24:27). According to the Bezan text, the continued imprisonment of Paul was due to the desire of Felix to please Drusilla.

Felix was the brother of Pallas, who was the infamous favorite of Claudius, and who, according to Tacitus (Annals xiii. 14), fell into disgrace in 55 AD. Tacitus implies that Felix was joint procurator of Judea, along with Cumanus, before being appointed to the sole command, but Josephus is silent as to this. Both Tacitus and Josephus refer to his succeeding Cumanus, Josephus stating that it was at the instigation of Jonathan the high priest. There is some doubt as to the chronology of Felix' tenure of office. Harnack and Blass, following Eusebius and Jerome, place his accession in 51 AD, and the imprisonment of Paul in 54-56 AD; but most modern commentators incline to the dates 52 AD and 56-58 AD. These latter interpret the statement of Paul, "Thou hast been of many years a judge unto this nation" (Acts 24:10), as referring to some judicial office, not necessarily that of co-procurator (see Tacitus), previously held by Felix in the time of Cumanus, and argue that this earlier connection of Felix with Judea supplied a reason for the advocacy by Jonathan of Felix' claims to the procuratorship on the deposition of Gumanus. The testimony of Acts as to the evil character of Felix is fully corroborated by the writings of Josephus (BJ, II, xiii). Although he suppressed the robbers and murderers who infested Judea, and among them the "Egyptian" to whom Lysias refers (Acts 21:38), yet "he himself was more hurtful than them all." When occasion offered, he did not hesitate to employ the sicarii (see ASSASSINS) for his own ends. Trading upon the influence of his brother at court, his cruelty and rapacity knew no bounds, and during his rule revolts became continuous, and marked a distinct stage in that seditious movement which culminated in the outbreak of 70 AD (so Schurer). His leaving Paul in bonds was but a final instance of one who sacrificed duty and justice for the sake of his Own unscrupulous selfishness. For more detailed information as to dates, etc., compare Knowling (Expos Greek Test., II, 477 ff).

C. M. Kerr

Felloes

Felloes - fel'-oz (1 Kings 7:33).

See WHEEL.

Fellow

Fellow - fel'-o (chabher, rea`; hetairos): Meant originally a "partner," from fe, "property," and lag, "to lay," then "a companion," "an equal," "a person or individual," "a worthless person."

(1) As "companion" it is the translation of chabher, "associate," "companion," "friend" (also chabbar, Job 41:6 (Hebrews 40:30), where we have the original sense of partnership, translated "bands" the Revised Version (British and American), the King James Version "companions"); Psalms 45:7, "God hath anointed thee .... above thy fellows"; of habhrah (Ecclesiastes 4:10; Daniel 7:20); of rea`, "companion," "friend," "another" (Exodus 2:13; Judges 7:13-14, 22); re`ah (or ra`yah), "a female friend" (Judges 11:37, "I and my fellows," the Revised Version (British and American) "companions"; here the King James Version applies "fellow" to a female; compare Baruch 6:43, "She reproacheth her fellow," he plesion); in Judges 11:38, "companions" is the translation of `amith, "fellowship"; `amith (Zechariah 13:7, "the man that is my fellow," literally, "the man of my fellowship"); hetairos, "companion" (Matthew 11:16); metochos, "partner"; (compare Luke 5:7; Hebrews 1:9, quoted from Psalms 45:7, Septuagint for chabher).

(2) As an individual or person "fellow" is the translation of 'ish, "a man," "an individual": "make this fellow return" (1 Samuel 29:4 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "the man"); in the same verse "fellow" is supplied instead of "he"; "fellow" in 1611 meant simply "a man," and it is difficult to say in what passages the ideas of "worthless," etc., are meant to be implied; probably, however, in Judges 18:25, where the Hebrew is simply 'enosh, "man," and the text is almost the only deviation from the rendering "man," "men," "lest angry (margin, Revised Version "bitter of soul") fellows fall upon you"; also Acts 17:5, aner, "a man," "certain lewd fellows of the baser sort," the Revised Version (British and American) "vile fellows"; compare 2 Samuel 6:20, "vain (req) fellows" (supplied); 1 Maccabees 10:61, "contain pestilent fellows" (aner); Ecclesiastes 8:15, "a bold fellow" (tolmeros), the Revised Version (British and American) "a rash man"; in several places of the Old Testament "fellow" represents zeh, "this," and in these instances there seems to be something of worthlessness or contempt implied (1 Samuel 21:15 bis; 1 Samuel 25:21; 1 Kings 22:27; 2 Kings 9:11, and, as before, 1 Samuel 29:4 the Revised Version (British and American)); in the New Testament also "fellow" often represents houtos, "this," and in most of these cases the King James Version seems to intend something depreciatory to be understood; the Revised Version (British and American) gives simply "man" (Matthew 12:24; 61, 71; Luke 22:59; 23:2; John 9:29; Acts 18:13); so Ecclesiasticus 13:23, "If the poor man speaks, they say, What fellow is this?" the Revised Version (British and American) "who is this?" 1 Maccabees 4:5, "These fellows flee from us," the Revised Version (British and American) "these men." the Revised Version (British and American) has "fellows" for "persons" (Judges 9:4), for "men" (Judges 11:3); "base fellows" for "men the children of Belial" (Deuteronomy 13:13), margin, "sons of worthlessness"; the American Standard Revised Version "worthless fellow" for "son of Belial" (1 Samuel 25:17, 25), "base fellows" for "sons of Belial" (Judges 19:22; 20:13, etc.); the Revised Version (British and American) has also "companions" for "fellows" (Judges 11:37, as above; Ezekiel 37:19; Daniel 2:13), "each man his fellow" for "one another" (2 Kings 3:23); "fellow by" for "neighbor in" (1 Kings 20:35).

Fellow-citizen, Fellow-disciple, Fellow-heirs, Yokefellow, etc. In composition, "fellow" always means partner or companion.

W. L. Walker

Fellowship

Fellowship - fel'-o-ship.

See COMMUNION.

Female

Female - fe'-mal: Two Hebrew words are thus translated:

(1) neqebhah, which is merely a physiological description of the sexual characteristic (from naqabh, "to perforate"), and which corresponds to zakhar, "male" (see under the word).

(2) 'ishshah, with the irregular plural nashim (only Genesis 7:2, in all other places "wife," "woman"), the feminine form of 'ish, "man."

The Greek word is thelus, literally, "the nursing one," "the one giving suck" (from thelazo, "to suckle").

Israelitic law seems frequently guilty of unjust partiality in favor of the male sex, but we have to consider that most of these legal and religious disabilities of women can be explained from the social conditions prevailing at the time of legislation. They are therefore found also in contemporaneous Gentilereligions. Though traces of this prejudice against the weaker sex are found in the New Testament, the religious discrimination between the sexes has practically ceased, as is evident from Galatians 3:28: "There can be no male and female; for ye all are one man in Christ Jesus"; compare also 1 Peter 3:7.

H. L. E. Luering

Fence

Fence - fens (batsar, mibhtsar): Commonly used in the King James Version in the description of fortified places, as the translation of batsar, "to cut off," "to separate," "to fortify" (and forms) (Deuteronomy 3:5; 9:1; 28:52, etc.); mibhtsar, "fenced city," is a fortified place (Numbers 32:17, 36; Joshua 10:20; 19:35, etc.); matsor, "fenced cities," means "bulwark," "citadel" (2 Chronicles 8:5); metsurah, "fortification" (2 Chronicles 11:23; 12:4; 14:6; 21:3); for "fenced" the American Standard Revised Version substitutes "fortified" in all these instances; in Daniel 11:15, mibhtsar is "a well-fortified city," margin "the fortified cities," the English Revised Version "well-fenced"; "fence" is also the translation of gadher, "a wall" or "fence" (Job 19:8 the American Standard Revised Version, "walled up" (gadhar); Psalms 62:3); `azaq, "to loosen" (the ground) as with a mattock (Isaiah 5:2, where the King James Version has "fenced" it (the vineyard), the American Standard Revised Version "digged it," the English Revised Version "made a trench about it," it" margin "digged it" sukh, "to interweave" or "interlace" (Job 10:11, the Revised Version (British and American) "clothed"); male', "to be or become full" (2 Samuel 23:7, the Revised Version (British and American) "armed," margin "Hebrew filled").

ERV has "fence" for "wall" (Numbers 22:24; Isaiah 5:5; Hosea 2:6; the American Standard Revised Version retains "wall"), for "hedge" (Ecclesiastes 10:8; Ezekiel 13:5; 22:30; the American Standard Revised Version "wall"); "fenced" for "walled" (Numbers 13:28; Deuteronomy 1:28; the American Standard Revised Version "fortified"); compare for "strong" Joshua 19:29; Nehemiah 9:25; Psalms 108:10 (margin Joshua 19:29, "the city of Mibzar-zor, that is, the fortress of Tyre," the English Revised Version ,"fenced"), for "hedged" (Lamentations 3:7, American Revised Version, "walled"); compare for "defenced," the English Revised Version "fenced," the American Standard Revised Version "fortified" (Isaiah 36:1; 37:26, etc.); "fences" for "hedges" (Psalms 80:12, the American Standard Revised Version "walls"); in Jeremiah 49:3, the English Revised Version and the American Standard Revised Version have "fences."

Fenced Cities

Fenced Cities - See FORTIFICATION.

Ferret

Ferret - fer'-et ('anaqah, the Revised Version (British and American) GECKO): Occurs only in Leviticus 11:30 the King James Version, in the list of animals which are unclean "among the creeping things that creep upon the earth." the Revised Version (British and American) has "gecko" with the marginal note, "Words of uncertain meaning, but probably denoting four kinds of lizards." The list of animals in Leviticus 11:29-30 includes (1) choledh, English Versions of the Bible "weasel"; (2) `akhbar, English Versions of the Bible "mouse"; (3) tsabh, the King James Version "tortoise," the Revised Version (British and American) "great lizard"; (4) 'anaqkah, the King James Version "ferret," the Revised Version (British and American) "gecko"; (5) koach the King James Version "chameleon," the Revised Version (British and American) "land crocodile"; (6) leTa'ah, English Versions of the Bible "lizard"; (7) chomeT, the King James Version "snail," the Revised Version (British and American) "sand lizard"; (8) tinshemeth, the King James Version "mole," the Revised Version (British and American) "chameleon." It will be noted that while Revised Version makes the first two mammals and the remaining six reptiles, the King James Version makes not only (1) and (2) but also (4) and (8) mammals, and (7) a mollusk. So far as this general classification is concerned the King James Version follows the Septuagint, except in the case of (7). It must be borne in mind that all these words except (2) and (8) occur only in this passage, while (2) and (8) occur each in only a few passages where the context throws but uncertain light upon the meaning. Under these circumstances we ought to be content with the rendering of the Septuagint, unless from philology or tradition we can show good reason for differing. For 'anaqah, Septuagint has mugale, which occurs in Herodotus and Aristotle and may be a shrew mouse or a field mouse. Just as the next word, koach, is found in other passages (see CHAMELEON) with the meaning of "strength," so 'anaqah occurs in several places signifying "moaning" or "sighing" (Psalms 12:5; 79:11; 102:20; Malachi 2:13). It seems to be from the root, 'anaq, "to choke," "to be in anguish" (compare `anaq, "a collar"; chanaq, "to choke"; Arabic `unq, "neck"; Arabic khanaq, "to strangle"; Greek anagke; Latin angustus; German enge, Nacken; English "anxious," "neck"). Some creature seems to be meant which utters a low cry or squeak, and neither "ferret" (the King James Version) nor "gecko" (Revised Version (British and American)) seems to have a better claim than the older Septuagint rendering of mugale = "shrew mouse" or "field mouse."

Alfred Ely Day

Ferry-boat

Ferry-boat - fer'-i-bot (2 Samuel 19:18).

See SHIPS AND BOATS.

Fervent

Fervent - fur'-vent (dalaq; ektenes, zeo): "Fervent" (from Latin fervere, "to boil") does not occur in the King James Version of the Old Testament, but the Revised Version (British and American) gives it as the translation of dalaq, "to burn" (Proverbs 26:23), instead of "burning," "fervent lips and a wicked heart." In the New Testament it is the translation of ektenes, "stretched out," hence, intent, earnest (1 Peter 4:8, "being fervent in your love among yourselves"); of zeo, "to boil," "to be hot" (Romans 12:11, "fervent in spirit," Acts 18:25); of zelos, "zeal," "fervor" (2 Corinthians 7:7, the Revised Version (British and American) "zeal"), in James 5:16 the King James Version has: "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much," where the Greek is: polu ischuei deesis dikaiou energoumene, which the Revised Version (British and American) renders, "The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working."

"Fervently" is the translation of agonizomai, "to strive or struggle" (agonize), Colossians 4:12 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "Epaphras .... striving for you in his prayers"; of ektenos, literally, in an outstretched manner (1 Peter 1:22, the Revised Version (British and American) "Love one another from the heart fervently"; compare 1 Peter 4:8, "fervent in your love among yourselves"). Christian love too often lacks this fervency, but Christ's love for us was "stretched out" to the uttermost.

The Revised Version (British and American) has "fervently" for "earnestly" (James 5:17, margin "with prayer").

W. L. Walker

Festival

Festival - fes'-ti-val.

See FEASTS AND FASTS.

Festus; Porcius

Festus; Porcius - fes'-tus, por'-shi-us Porkios Phestos): The Roman governor or procurator who succeeded Felix in the province of Judea (Acts 24:27), and was thus brought into prominence in the dispute between Paul and the Sanhedrin which continued after the retirement of Felix (Acts 25:1-27; Acts 26:1-32). Upon the arrival of Festus in Jerusalem, the official capital of his province, the Jews besought of him to send Paul from Caesarea to Jerusalem to appear before them, intending to kill him on the way (Acts 25:3). Festus at first refused their request, and upon his return to Caesarea proceeded himself to examine Paul (Acts 25:6). But on finding that the evidence was conflicting, and reflecting that, as the accused was apparently charged on religious rather than on political grounds, the Sanhedrin was a more suitable court for his case than a Roman tribunal, he asked Paul if he were agreeable to make the journey to Jerusalem (Acts 25:7-9). But Paul, who knew well the nefarious use that the Jews would make of the pleasure which Festus was willing to grant them, made his appeal unto Caesar (Acts 25:10-11). To this request of a Roman citizen accused on a capital charge (compare Acts 25:16), Festus had perforce to give his consent (Acts 25:12). But the manner of his consent indicated his pique at the apparent distrust shown by Paul. By the words "unto Caesar shalt thou go," Festus implied that the case must now be proceeded with to the end: otherwise, had it been left in his own hands, it might have been quashed at an earlier stage (compare also Acts 26:32). Meantime King Agrippa and Bernice had arrived in Caesarea, and to these Festus gave a brief explanation of the circumstances (Acts 25:13-21). The previous audiences of Festus with Paul and his accusers had, however, served only to confuse him as to the exact nature of the charge. Paul was therefore summoned before the regal court, in order both that Agrippa might hear him, and that the governor might obtain more definite information for insertion in the report he was required to send along with the prisoner to Rome (Acts 25:22-27). The audience which followed was brought to an abrupt conclusion by the interruption of Paul's speech (Acts 26:1-23) by Festus: "Paul, thou art mad; thy much learning is turning thee mad" (Acts 26:24). Yet the meeting was sufficient to convince both Agrippa and Festus that "this man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds" (Acts 26:31). While Festus displayed a certain contempt for what he regarded as the empty delusions of a harmless maniac, his conduct throughout the whole proceeding was marked by a strict impartiality; and his straightforward dealing with Paul formed a marked contrast to the dilatoriness of Felix. The praise bestowed upon the latter by Tertullus (Acts 24:2) might with better reason have been bestowed on Festus, in that he freed the country from many robbers (Sicarii: Josephus, Ant, XX, viii-x; BJ, II, xiv, 1); but his procuratorship was too short to undo the harm wrought by his predecessor. The exact date of his accession to office is uncertain, and has been variously placed at 55-61 AD (compare Knowling in Expositor's Greek Testament,II , 488-89; see also FELIX).

C.M. Kerr

Fetch

Fetch - fech (laqach): Has generally the meaning of "to bring"; it is commonly the translation of Hebrew laqach, "to take" or "lay hold of," Hoph. "to be brought, seized or snatched away" (Genesis 18:4, etc.; Genesis 27:9, etc.; Genesis 42:16; 1 Samuel 4:3; 1 Kings 17:10, etc.); twice of nasa', "to lift up" (2 Chronicles 12:11, the American Standard Revised Version "bare"; Job 36:3); of bo', "to come in" (2 Chronicles 1:17; Nehemiah 8:15); of `alah, "to cause to come up" (1 Samuel 6:21 7:1); of yatsa', "to cause to come out" (Numbers 20:10, the American Standard Revised Version "bring forth"; Jeremiah 26:23), and of a number of other words.

In the New Testament it is the translation of exago, "to lead out" (Acts 16:37, "Let them come themselves and fetch us out," the Revised Version (British and American) "bring"); "to fetch a compass" is the translation of cabhabh (Numbers 34:5; Joshua 15:3, the Revised Version (British and American) "turn," "turned about"; 2 Samuel 5:23, the Revised Version (British and American) "make a circuit"; 2 Kings 3:9, the Revised Version (British and American) "made a circuit"); of perierchomai (aor. 2, perielthon), "to go about," "to wander up and down" (of a ship driven about; Acts 28:13, the Revised Version (British and American) "made a circuit," margin "some ancient authorities read cast loose").

The Revised Version (British and American) has "fetch" for "bring" (1 Kings 3:24), for "call for" (Acts 10:5; 11:13); "fetched" for "called for" (Esther 5:10), for "took out" (Jeremiah 37:17); "fetched" for "took" (2 Chronicles 8:18).

W. L. Walker

Fetter

Fetter - fet'-er: Found only in the plural in both Old Testament and New Testament; fetters of iron (Psalms 105:18; 149:8; so probably Mark 5:4; Luke 8:29) or brass (Judges 16:21; 2 Kings 25:7) were frequently used for securing prisoners.

See CHAIN.

Figurative: of trouble (Job 36:8).

Fever

Fever - fe'-ver (qaddachath, dalleqeth; puretos, derived from a root signifying "to burn"): A generic term, applied to all diseases characterized by high temperature of body. Several forms of febrile disease are among the commonest of all maladies in Palestine today, as they were also in the period covered by the Bible history. Of these the most prevalent is ague or intermittent malarial fever, which is common in all parts but especially in low-lying districts or places where there are pools or marshes in which mosquitoes breed, these insects being the commonest carriers of the malaria bacillus. These fevers are generally more severe in late summer and autumn, when the mosquitoes are most numerous, and when there is a liability to chill, owing to the sudden drop of temperature at sunset. During the day one uses as light clothing as possible, but immediately after sunset the air becomes chilly and damp, and the physiological resistance to the influence of the parasite is remarkably diminished. On this account travelers in Palestine at this season should be particular to avoid exposure to these evening damps, and to use mosquito curtains invariably at night. In most tropical countries now houses are rendered mosquito-proof by close wire netting, and thereby the risk of infection is much diminished. In Palestine the marshes of the north about Banias and the Water of Merom, the Shephelah, and the Jordan valley are the most fever-stricken regions of the country. The word qaddachath is translated burning ague in Leviticus 26:16 the King James Version (the Revised Version (British and American) "fever"), and is coupled with dalleqeth, translated inflammation in Deuteronomy 28:22. Septuagint renders the former word puretos, and the latter rhigos in this passage, a collocation which is interesting as Galen uses these words together rhigopuretos in his description of a fever identical with that common in Palestine. In Lev the word in Septuagint is ikteros which literally means jaundice, a disease otherwise not mentioned in the Bible. In Palestine as in other malarious countries the condition of jaundice or yellowing of the skin frequently accompanies repeated and protracted attacks of fever which cause organic disease of the liver. On this account Hippocrates describes all fevers as due to a perverted secretion of bile. These fevers begin with severe shivering fits, hence, the name rhigos which is used by Hippocrates. This is followed by a period of burning dry heat, ending in a period of profuse perspiration. Such attacks may take place daily, a few hours of interval with normal temperature separating the end of one fit from the onset of the next. The commonest type however is that called tertian, in which a whole day separates one fit from the next. In some of the severe fevers which are rife in the Jordan valley the temperature never falls to the normal, and while there is a short remission between the attacks with a body heat a little above the normal, there is no intermission. Rarer febrile conditions which have been met with in Palestine, such as the Malta fever, present the same characteristics and may continue for months. Cases also of genuine blackwater fever have been recorded by several authorities. It is probable that in former days these fevers were even worse than they are now, as ancient medicine knew of no certain remedy for them. At present they generally yield at once to treatment by quinine, and in my own experience I believe that the administration of this remedy in large and repeated doses is the most effectual treatment.

Other febrile diseases are rife in certain districts in Palestine, and probably existed in Bible times. Typhoid is common in some crowded towns and villages, and considering how little protected the wells are from contamination, the wonder is that it is not much more prevalent. It is probable also that typhus then, as now, was present as an occasional epidemic in the more crowded cities, but even the physicians of Greece and Rome did not differentiate these diseases. All these fevers seem also to have existed in Egypt to much the same extent as in Palestine. The Papyrus Ebers speaks of "a fever of the gods" (46) and another called "a burning of the heart" (102). Its causation is attributed to the influence of the "god of fever," and the evil sequelae of the disease as it affects the heart, stomach, eyes and other organs are described in terms which remind us of the minatory passages in Leviticus 26:1-46 and Deuteronomy 28:1-68. The conditions there mentioned, such as consuming the eyes and causing sorrow of heart or pining away of the soul, graphically describe the state frequently seen affecting those in the Shephelah villages who have suffered from frequent returns of fever, and who in consequence have developed serious local affections of the liver, spleen and other organs. Before the introduction of quinine, cases of this kind must have been much more commonly met with than they are now. It is probable that this state is that called shachepheth, or consumption, in these passages.

Another form of fever, charchur, the "extreme burning" of the King James Version or "fiery heat" of the Revised Version (British and American), is coupled with the other forms of fever in Deuteronomy 28:22. This is called in Septuagint erethismos or irritation, and may have been a feverish condition with a reddened skin, possibly erysipelas or else one of the eruptive fevers. At present outbreaks of scarlatina, measles and erysipelas are of fairly frequent occurrence and are often very severe.

In the New Testament fever is mentioned eight times. The disease which affected Simon's wife's mother is called a "great fever" (Luke 4:38), and that which nearly proved fatal to the nobleman's son in the same district was also a fever (John 4:52). Cases of the kind are common all round the Sea of Galilee at the present day.

Alexander Macalister

Field

Field - feld.

See AGRICULTURE.

Fiery Heat

Fiery Heat - fi'-er-i, fir'-i het: In Deuteronomy 28:22, where the King James Version has "an extreme burning."

See FEVER.

Fiery Serpent

Fiery Serpent - See SERPENT.

Fig, Fig-tree

Fig, Fig-tree - fig'-tre (te'enah, plural te'enim, specially "figs"; paggim, "green figs" only in Song of Solomon 2:13; suke, "fig-tree," sukon, "fig"):

1. Fig-Trees in the Old Testament: The earliest Old Testament reference to the fig is to the leaves, which Adam and Eve converted into aprons (Genesis 3:7). The promised land was described (Deuteronomy 8:8) as "a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates," etc. The spies who visited it brought, besides the cluster of grapes, pomegranates and figs (Numbers 13:23). The Israelites complained that the wilderness was "no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates" (Numbers 20:5). When Egypt was plagued, the fig-trees were smitten (Psalms 105:33); a similar punishment was threatened to unfaithful Israel (Jeremiah 5:17; Hosea 2:12; Amos 4:9). It is only necessary to ride a few miles among the mountain villages of Palestine, with their extensive fig gardens, to realize what a long-lasting injury would be the destruction of these slow-growing trees. Years of patient labor--such as that briefly hinted at in Luke 13:7--must pass before a newly planted group of fig-trees can bear profitably. Plenitude of fruitful vines and fig-trees, specially individual ownership, thus came to be emblematical of long-continued peace and prosperity. In the days of Solomon "Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig-tree" (1 Kings 4:25). Compare also 2 Kings 18:31; Isaiah 36:16; Micah 4:4; Zechariah 3:10; 1 Maccabees 14:12. Only a triumphal faith in Yahweh could rejoice in Him "though the fig-tree shall hot flourish" (Habakkuk 3:17).

2. Natural History of the Fig-Tree: The Ficus carica, which produces the common fig, is a tree belonging to the Natural Order. Urticaceae, the nettle family, which includes also the banyan, the India rubber fig-tree, the sycamore fig and other useful plants. Fig-trees are cultivated all over the Holy Land, especially in the mountain regions. Wild fig-trees--usually rather shrubs than trees--occur also everywhere; they are usually barren and are described by the fellahin as "male" trees; it is generally supposed that their presence is beneficial to the cultivated variety. The immature flowers harbor small insects which convey pollen to the female flowers and by their irritating presence stimulate the growth of the fruit. Artificial fertilization has been understood since ancient times, and there may be a reference to it in Amos 7:14.

Fig-trees are usually of medium height, 10 or 15 ft. for full-grown trees, yet individual specimens sometimes attain as much as 25 ft. The summer foliage is thick and surpasses other trees of its size in its cool and dense shade. In the summer owners of such trees may be seen everywhere sitting in their shadow (John 1:48). Such references as Mac 4:4; Zechariah 3:10, etc., probably are to this custom rather than to the not uncommon one of having a fig-tree overhanging a dwelling.

3. Figs: The fruit of the fig-tree is peculiar. The floral axis, instead of expanding outward, as with most flowers, closes, as the flower develops, upon the small internal flowers, leaving finally but a small opening at the apex; the axis itself becomes succulent and fruit-like. The male flowers lie around the opening, the female flowers deeper in; fertilization is brought about by the presence of small hymenopterous insects.

There are many varieties of figs in Palestine differing in sweetness, in color and consistence; some are good and some are bad (compare Jeremiah 24:1, 8; 29:17). In Palestine and other warm climates the fig yields two crops annually--an earlier one, ripe about June, growing from the "old wood," i.e. from the midsummer sprouts of the previous year, and a second, more important one, ripe about August, which grows upon the "new wood," i.e. upon the spring shoots. By December, fig-trees in the mountainous regions of Palestine have shed all their leaves, and they remain bare until about the end of March, when they commence putting forth their tender leaf buds (Matthew 24:32; Mark 13:28, 32; Luke 21:29-33), and at the same time, in the leaf axils, appear the tiny figs. They belong to the early signs of spring:

"The voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land;

The fig-tree ripeneth her green figs" (paggim)

--Song of Solomon 2:12-13.

4. Early Figs: These tiny figs develop along with the leaves up to a certain point--to about the size of a small cherry--and then the great majority of them fall to the ground, carried down with every gust of wind. These are the "unripe figs" (olunthos)--translated, more appropriately in the King James Version, as "untimely figs"--of Revelation 6:13. Compare also Isaiah 34:4 the King James Version--in the Revised Version (British and American) "leaf" has been supplied instead of "fig." These immature figs are known to the fellahin as taksh, by whom they are eaten as they fall; they may even sometimes be seen exposed for sale in the markets in Jerusalem. In the case of many trees the whole of this first crop may thus abort, so that by May no figs at all are to be found on the tree, but with the best varieties of fig-trees a certain proportion of the early crop of figs remains on the tree, and this fruit reaches ripe perfection about June. Such fruit is known in Arabic as dafur, or "early figs," and in Hebrew as bikkurah, "the first-ripe" (Isaiah 28:4; Jeremiah 24:2; Hosea 9:10). They are now, as of old, esteemed for their delicate flavor (Micah 7:1, etc.).

5. The Cursing of the Barren Fig-Tree: The miracle of our Lord (Matthew 21:18-20; Mark 11:12-13, 10, 21) which occurred in the Passover season, about April, will be understood (as far as the natural phenomena are concerned) by the account given above of the fruiting of the fig-tree, as repeatedly observed by the present writer in the neighborhood of Jerusalem. When the young leaves are newly appearing, in April, every fig-tree which is going to bear fruit at all will have some taksh ("immature figs") upon it, even though "the time of figs" (Mark 11:13 the King James Version), i.e. of ordinary edible figs--either early or late crop--"was not yet." This taksh is not only eaten today, but it is sure evidence, even when it falls, that the tree bearing it is not barren. This acted parable must be compared with Luke 13:6, 9; now the time of judgment was surely coming, the fate of the fruitless Jewish nation was forcibly foretold.

6. Dried Figs: While fresh figs have always been an important article of diet in their season (Nehemiah 13:15) the dried form is even more used. They are today dried in the sun and threaded on strings (like long necklaces) for convenience of carriage. A "cake of figs" (debhelah, literally, "pressed together") is mentioned (1 Samuel 30:12); Abigail gave 200 such cakes of figs to David (1 Samuel 25:18); the people of North Israel sent, with other things, "cakes of figs" as a present to the newly-crowned David (1 Chronicles 12:40). Such masses of figs are much used today--they can be cut into slices with a knife like cheese. Such a mass was used externally for Hezekiah's "boil" (Isaiah 38:21; 2 Kings 20:7); it was a remedy familiar to early medical writers.

E. W. G. Masterman

Fight

Fight - See WAR; GAMES.

Figure

Figure - fig'-ur, fig'-yur (cemel, cemel; tupos): The translation of cemel, or cemel, "a likeness or image"; perhaps a transposition of tselem, the usual word for likeness; it is elsewhere translated "idol" and "image" (Deuteronomy 4:16, "the similitude of any figure," the Revised Version (British and American) "in the form of any figure"); of tabhnith, "form or likeness" (Isaiah 44:13, "shapeth it (the idol) .... after the figure of a man"; compare Deuteronomy 4:16); of miqla`ath, "carving," "carved work" (1 Kings 6:29: "And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubim and palm-trees and open flowers, within and without," only here and in 1 Kings 6:32; 7:31 where the word is translated "carving" and "graying"); in the New Testament "figure" is the translation of tupos, primarily "a mark," "print," "impression," "something made by blows," hence, "figure," "statue," tropically "form," "manner"; a person bearing the form or figure of another, having a certain resemblance, preceding another to come, model, exemplar (Acts 7:43), "the figures (images) which ye made to worship them"; Romans 5:14, "who is the figure (Revised Version, "a figure") of him that was to come," that is, the first Adam was a type of the second Adam, Christ; of antitupon, that which corresponds to a type or model (Hebrews 9:24 the King James Version, "Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself"); the meaning is simply the correspondence, or likeness (of the tabernacle to heaven), therefore the Revised Version (British and American) renders "like in pattern to the true" (1 Peter 3:21, "the like figure whereunto (even) baptism doth also now save us," i.e. baptism is the antitype of the ark "wherein .... eight souls were saved (or brought safely) through water," Revised Version "which also after a true likeness (m "in the antitype") doth now save you even baptism"); of parabole, "a placing alongside", a "comparison," "similitude," hence, image, figure, type (Hebrews 9:9, "which was a figure for the time then present," the American Standard Revised Version "which is a figure for the time present," the English Revised Version "parable" and "(now) present," namely, the entrance of the high priest into the Holy of Holies was a type of Christ's entrance into heaven; Hebrews 11:19, "from whence (from the dead) also he received him in a figure," i.e. Abraham received Isaac back from the dead as it were, in the likeness of a resurrection, he not being actually dead, the American Standard Revised Version "from whence he did also in a figure receive him back," the English Revised Version "in a parable"); metaschematizo, "to change the form or appearance," "to transfer figuratively" (1 Corinthians 4:6,"These things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos"; the Geneva version reads "I have figuratively described in my own person"). Paul is "substituting himself and Apollos for the teachers most in repute at Corinth that he might thus avoid personality."

"Figure" is supplied in Ecclesiasticus 49:9, with en ombro, "He made mention of the enemies under the figure of the rain," the Revised Version (British and American) "He remembered the enemies in storm," margin "(Greek) rain."

The Revised Version (British and American) has "a figure" margin "an interpretation," for "the interpretation" (Proverbs 1:6; the word is melitsah, only here and Habakkuk 2:6, meaning properly what is involved and needs interpretation; in Habakkuk 2:6 it is translated "taunting proverb," the Revised Version, margin "riddle"); "figured stone" for "image of stone" (Leviticus 26:1); "figured stones" for "pictures" (Numbers 33:52).

W. L. Walker

File

File - fil: Found only in 1 Samuel 13:21, but the text here is obscure. The Hebrew (petsirah phim) signifies "bluntness of edge," and is so rendered in the Revised Version, margin.

See TOOLS.

Fillet

Fillet - fil'-et (chuT, chashuq):

(1) Chut, from a root not used, meaning probably "to sew," therefore a string or a measuring rod or cord, and so a line, tape, thread, fillet. Jeremiah 52:21 translated "line" (the King James Version "fillet"), measuring 12 cubits long, encircling brass pillars standing 18 cubits high, part of the temple treasure plundered by the Chaldeans; and many other things "that were in the house of Yahweh, did the Chaldeans break in pieces." Translated "thread," used by Rahab, in Joshua 2:18, and "cord," "three fold .... is not quickly broken," in Ecclesiastes 4:12.

(2) Chashuq, from a root meaning "to join" and therefore something joined or attached, and so a rail or rod between pillars, i.e. a fillet. The hangings of the court of the tabernacle were supported by brass pillars set in brass sockets, "The hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver" (Exodus 27:10-11). The embroidered screen for the door of the Tent was supported by five pillars socketed in brass: "And he overlaid their capitals and their fillets with gold" (Exodus 36:38). The pillars for the court and the gate of the court had fillets of silver (Exodus 38:10 ff). The verb is used in Exodus 27:17; 38:17, "All the pillars of the court were filleted with silver."

William Edward Raffety

Filth; Filthiness; Filthy

Filth; Filthiness; Filthy - filth, fil'-thi-nes, fil'-thi (tso'ah, Tum'ah; rhupoo): The word once translated "filth" in the Old Testament is tso'ah, "excrement" or "dung," elsewhere translated "dung" (Isaiah 4:4, used figuratively of evil doings, sin, "the filth of the daughters of Zion"; compare Proverbs 30:12); in the New Testament we have perikatharma "cleansings" "sweepings," offscourings (1 Corinthians 4:13, "We are made as the filth of the world," the Revised Version, margin "or refuse"); rhupos, "filth," "dirt," Septuagint for tso'ah in Isaiah 4:4 (1 Peter 3:21, "the filth of the flesh").

"Filthiness" is the translation of tum'ah, "uncleanness" (ritual, Leviticus 5:3; 7:20, etc.), used figuratively of moral impurity, translated "filthiness" (Ezra 6:21; Lamentations 1:9; Ezekiel 22:15; 11, 13 bis; Ezekiel 36:25); niddah, "impurity" (2 Chronicles 29:5); figuratively (Ezra 9:11); the Revised Version (British and American) has "uncleanness," but "filthiness" for uncleanness at close of verse (niddah); nechosheth, "brass," figuratively (for "impurity" or "impudence") (Ezekiel 16:36); aischrotes, primarily "ugliness," tropical for unbecomingness, indecency (only Ephesians 5:4, "nor filthiness, nor foolish talking"; Alford has "obscenity," Weymouth, "shameful"); akathartes, "uncleanness" (Revelation 17:4 the King James Version), corrected text, ta akatharta, "the unclean things," so the Revised Version (British and American).

"Filthy" is the translation of 'alach, "to be turbid," to become foul or corrupt in a moral sense (Job 15:16 the King James Version; Psalms 14:3; 53:3); `iddim, plural of `iddah, from `adhadh, "to number or compute (monthly courses)"; Isaiah 64:6, "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags," the Revised Version (British and American) "as a polluted garment"; compare Ezekiel 36:17; aischros, "ugly," tropical for unbecoming, shameful (Titus 1:11, "for filthy lucre's sake"; compare Titus 1:7); shameful discourse aischrologia (Colossians 3:8 the King James Version); rhupoo, "filthy," in a moral sense polluted (Revelation 22:11, "He that is filthy, let him be filthy still," the Revised Version (British and American) "let him be made filthy still" (corrected text), margin "yet more"; Alford, "Let the filthy (morally polluted) pollute himself still" (in the constant middle sense of passive verbs when the act depends on the man's self)).

In Apocrypha we have (Ecclesiasticus 22:1): "A slothful man is compared to a filthy (ardaloo) stone," the Revised Version (British and American) "a stone that is defiled," 22:2 "A slothful man is compared to the filth (bolbiton) of a dunghill"; 27:4 "So the filth (skubalon) of a man in his talk (the Revised Version (British and American) "of man in his reasoning") remaineth."

See UNCLEANNESS.

W. L. Walker

Fin

Fin - See FISH.

Fine

Fine - fin (adj., from Latin finire, "to finish"): Indicates superior quality. Only in a few instances does "fine" represent a separate word: (1) Tobh, "good," qualifies gold (2 Chronicles 3:5, 8, "fine gold"; compare Genesis 2:12, "good"); fine gold (Lamentations 4:1, the King James Version "most fine gold," the Revised Version (British and American) "most pure gold," literally, "good fine gold"), copper (Ezra 8:27, the Revised Version (British and American) "fine bright brass"); Tabh, Aramaic (Daniel 2:32, "fine gold"). (2) paz, "refined" (Song of Solomon 5:11, "the most fine gold"). (3) chelebh, "fatness," "the best of any kind"; compare Genesis 45:18; Deuteronomy 32:14, etc. (Psalms 81:16, "the finest of the wheat," the Revised Version, margin Hebrew "fat of wheat"). (4) sariq, "fine combed" (Isaiah 19:9, "fine flax," the Revised Version (British and American) "combed flax").

In other places it expresses a quality of the substantive: kethem, "fine gold" (Job 31:24; Daniel 10:5, the Revised Version (British and American) "pure gold"); paz, used as a noun for refined gold (Job 28:17; Psalms 19:10; Proverbs 8:19; Isaiah 13:12; Lamentations 4:2); charuts, "fine gold" (Proverbs 3:14; compare Psalms 68:13, "yellow gold"); coleth, "flour," rendered "fine flour," rolled or crushed small (Leviticus 2:1, 4-5, 7, etc.); semidalis, "the finest wheaten flour" (Revelation 18:13); qemach coleth, "fine meal" (Genesis 18:6); cadhin, "linen garment" (Septuagint sindon, Proverbs 31:24 the King James Version; Isaiah 3:23); shesh, "white," "fine linen" (Genesis 41:42; Exodus 25:4, etc.); in Proverbs 31:22 the King James Version has "silk"; sheshi (Ezekiel 16:13, "fine flour"); 'eTun, "what is twisted or spun," "yarn" (Proverbs 7:16 the King James Version, "fine linen of Egypt" the Revised Version (British and American) "yarn of Egypt"); buts, "fine white cloth," "cotton or linen," "fine linen" (1 Chronicles 4:21; Ezekiel 27:16, etc.; 2 Chronicles 5:12, King James Version "white," the Revised Version (British and American) "fine"); bussos, "byssus," "linen" from buts Septuagint for which, 2 Chronicles 2:14; 3:14), deemed very fine and precious, worn only by the rich (Luke 16:19; Revelation 18:12); bussinos, "byssine" made of fine linen, Septuagint for buts (1 Chronicles 5:26) (Revelation 18:16, "clothed in fine linen," the Revised Version (British and American) "arrayed," Revelation 19:8, 14); sindon, "fine linen" (Mark 5:43, "He bought fine linen," the Revised Version (British and American) "a linen cloth"; compare Mark 14:51-52; Matthew 27:59; Luke 23:53); it was used for wrapping the body at night, also for wrapping round dead bodies; sindon is Septuagint for cadhin (Judges 14:12-13; Proverbs 31:24); chalkolibanon (Revelation 1:15; 2:18, the King James Version "fine brass").

The meaning of this word has been much discussed; chalkos is "brass" in Greek (with many compounds), and libanos is the Septuagint for lebhonah, "frankincense," which word was probably derived from the root labhan, "to burn"; this would give glowing brass, "as if they burned in a furnace"; in Daniel 10:6 it is nehosheth qalal, the King James Version "polished brass," the Revised Version (British and American) "burnished" (qalal is "to glow"). Plumptre deemed it a hybrid word composed of the Greek chalkos, "brass," and the Hebrew labhan, "white," a technical word, such as might be familiar to the Ephesians; the Revised Version (British and American) has "burnished brass"; Weymouth, "silver-bronze when it is white-hot in a furnace"; the whiteness being expressed by the second half of the Greek word. See Thayer's Lexicon (s.v.).

In Apocrypha we have "fine linen," bussinos (1 Esdras 3:6), "fine bread"; the adjective katharos, separate (Judith 10:5, the Revised Version, margin "pure bread"); "fine flour" (Ecclesiasticus 35:2; 38:11); semidalis (Bel and the Dragon verse 3; 2 Maccabees 1:8, the Revised Version (British and American) "meal offering").

W. L. Walker

Finer; Fining

Finer; Fining - fin'-er, fin'-ing (Proverbs 25:4 the King James Version).

See REFINER.

Fines

Fines - finz.

See PUNISHMENTS.

Finger (1)

Finger (1) - fin'-ger (Hebrew and Aramaic 'etsba`; daktulos): The fingers are to the Oriental essential in conversation; their language is frequently very eloquent and expressive. They often show what the mouth does not dare to utter, especially grave insult and scorn. The scandalous person is thus described in Proverbs 6:13 as "teaching" or "making signs with his fingers." Such insulting gestures (compare e.g. the gesture of Shimei in throwing dust or stones at David, 2 Samuel 16:6) are even now not infrequent in Palestine. The same habit is alluded to in Isaiah 58:9 by the expression, "putting forth of fingers. "

The fingers were decorated with rings of precious metal, which, with other jewelry worn ostentatiously on the body, often formed the only possession of the wearer, and were therefore carefully guarded. In the same way the law of Yahweh was to be kept: "Bind them (my commandments) upon thy fingers; write them upon the tablet of thy heart" (Proverbs 7:3).

Figurative: In 1 Kings 12:10 and 2 Chronicles 10:10 Rehoboam gives the remarkable answer to his dissatisfied people, which is, at the same time, an excellent example of the use of figurative language in the Orient: "My little finger is thicker than my father's loins," a figure explained in the next verse: "Whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions." The Hebrew word used here for little finger is qoTen, literally, "pettiness," "unimportant thing."

The "finger of God," like the "hand of God," is synonymous with power, omnipotence, sometimes with the additional meaning of the infallible evidence of Divine authorship visible in all His works (Psalms 8:3; Luke 11:20), especially in His law (Exodus 8:19; 31:18; Deuteronomy 9:10; compare Exodus 32:15-16).

The finger or digit as a linear measure is mentioned in Jeremiah 52:21 (Greek daktulos; Josephus, Ant, VIII, iii, 4). It is equal to one finger-breadth, 1/4 of a hand-breadth (palm) = 18,6 millimeters or .73 inches.

H. L. E. Luering

Finger (2)

Finger (2) - fin'-ger ('etsba`): The smallest of the Hebrew linear measures. It was equal to the breadth of the finger, or about 3/4 inches, four of which made a palm (Jeremiah 52:21).

See WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

Finish

Finish - fin'-ish (kalah; teleo, with other Hebrew and Greek words): The proper sense of "finish" is to end or complete; so for "finish," "finished," in the King James Version, there is sometimes met with in the Revised Version (British and American) the change to "complete" (Luke 14:28; 2 Corinthians 8:6), "accomplish" (John 4:34; 5:36; 17:4), "made an end of doing" (2 Chronicles 4:11; compare 2 Chronicles 24:14), etc. In James 1:15, for "sin, when it is finished," the Revised Version (British and American) reads "sin when it is full-grown," corresponding to "conceived" of the previous clause. On the other hand, the Revised Version (British and American) has frequently "finished" for other words, as "ended" (Genesis 2:2; Deuteronomy 31:30), "accomplished" (John 19:28), "filled up," "fulfilled" (Revelation 15:1, 8), etc. The grandest Scriptural example of the word is the cry upon the cross, "It is finished" (Tetelestai, John 19:30).

W. L. Walker

Finisher

Finisher - fin'-ish-er (teleiotes): This word is applied to Jesus (Hebrews 12:2), and comes from teleioo, "to complete," "to make perfect"; hence, it means finisher in the sense of completing; the King James Version "the author and finisher of our faith," the Revised Version (British and American) "the author (margin "captain") and perfecter of our faith"; but "our" is supplied, and in the connection in which the passage stands--after the examples which have been adduced of the power of faith--most probably the best rendering is "the Leader (or Captain) and Perfecter of the Faith," that is of the faith which has been illustrated by those mentioned in Hebrews 11:1-40, who are as "a great cloud of witnesses" to the power of faith; but above all "looking to Jesus, our Leader" in whom it was perfected, as is shown in what follows: "who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross," etc. "In His human nature He exhibited Faith in its highest form, from first to last, and placing Himself as it were at the head of the great army of heroes of Faith, He carried Faith, the source of their strength, to its most complete perfection and to its loftiest triumph" (Westcott).

W. L. Walker

Fir; Fir-tree

Fir; Fir-tree - fur, (the Revised Version, margin "cypress"; berosh, 2 Samuel 6:5; 1 Kings 5:8, 10, etc.; (berothem (plural only), an Aramaic form, Song of Solomon 1:17):

1. Old Testament References: This tree was one of the chief trees of Lebanon (Isaiah 60:13); one of usefulness (Isaiah 41:19; 55:13); associated with the cedar (2 Kings 19:23; Psalms 104:17; Isaiah 14:8; Zechariah 11:2); its boughs were wide and great (Ezekiel 31:8); it was evergreen (Hosea 14:8); it could supply boards and timber for doors (1 Kings 6:15, 24); beams for roofing the temple (2 Chronicles 3:5); planks for shipbuilding (Ezekiel 27:5). In 2 Samuel 6:5 we read: "David and all the house of Israel played before Yahweh with all manner of instruments made of fir-wood," etc. It is practically certain that the reading in the parallel passage in 1 Chronicles 13:8 is more correct: "David and all Israel played before God with all their might, even with songs," etc. This view is supported by the Septuagint translation (en pase dunamei). There is therefore no necessity to suppose that berosh was a wood used for musical instruments.

2. The Identity of "Berosh": The identity of berosh is uncertain. It was a name applied either to several of the Coniferae in common or to one or more outstanding species. If the latter is the case we can only seek for the most suited to Old Testament requirements. The Aleppo pine, Pinus Halepensis, is a fine tree which flourishes in the Lebanon, but its wood is not of special excellence and durability. A better tree (or couple of trees) is the sherbin of the Syrians; this name includes two distinct varieties in the suborder Cypressineae, the fine tall juniper, Juniperis excelsa and the cypress, Cypressus sempervirens. They both still occur in considerable numbers in the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon; they are magnificent trees and produce excellent wood--resinous, fragrant, durable. If these trees were not classed locally, as now, under one name, then the cypress is of the two more probably the berosh. The coffins of Egyptian mummies were made of cypress; a compact variety of this cypress is cultivated all over the Turkish empire by the Moslems as an ornament in cemeteries. From early times the cypress has been connected with mourning.

In the Apocrypha there are two definite references to the cypress (kuparissos). In Sirach 24:13, Wisdom says:

"I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus,

And as a cypress tree on the mountains of Hermon."

And in Sirach 50:10 the high priest Simon is said to be

"As an olive tree budding forth fruits,

And as a cypress growing high among the clouds."

These passages, especially the former, certainly favor the idea that berosh was the cypress; the name may, however, have included allied trees.

E. W. G. Masterman

Fire

Fire - fir ('esh; pur): These are the common words for fire, occurring very frequently. 'Ur, "light" (Isaiah 24:15 the King James Version; compare the Revised Version (British and American); Isaiah 31:9, and see FIRES), nur (Aramaic) (Daniel 3:22 ff) are found a few times, also 'eshshah (Jeremiah 6:29), and be`erah (Exodus 22:6), once each. Acts 28:2-3 has pura, "pyre," and Mark 14:54; Luke 22:56, phos, "light," the Revised Version (British and American) "in the light (of the fire)." "To set on fire," yatsath (2 Samuel 14:31), lahat (Deuteronomy 32:22, etc.), phlogizo (James 3:6).

Fire was regarded by primitive peoples as supernatural in origin and specially Divine. Molech, the fire-god, and other deities were worshipped by certain Canaanitish and other tribes with human sacrifices (Deuteronomy 12:31; 2 Kings 17:31; Psalms 1:1; 106:37), and, although this was specially forbidden to the Israelites (Leviticus 18:21; Deuteronomy 12:31; 18:10), they too often lapsed into the practice (2 Kings 16:3; 21:6; Jeremiah 7:31; Ezekiel 20:26, 31).

See MOLECH; IDOLATRY.

1. Literal Usage: Fire in the Old Testament is specially associated with the Divine presence, e.g. in the making of the Covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15:17), in the burning bush. (Exodus 3:2-4), in the pillar of fire (Exodus 13:21), on Sinai (Exodus 19:18), in the flame on the altar (Judges 13:20). Yahweh was "the God that answereth by fire" (1 Kings 18:24, 38). In the Law, therefore, sacrifices and offerings (including incense) were to be made by fire (Exodus 12:8-9, 10; Leviticus 1:1-17). Fire from Yahweh signified the acceptance of certain special and separate sacrifices (Judges 6:21; 1 Kings 18:38; 1 Chronicles 21:26). In Leviticus 9:24 the sacrificial fire "came forth from before Yahweh." The altar-fire was to be kept continually burning (Leviticus 6:12-13); offering by "strange fire" (other than the sacred altar-fire) was punished by "fire from before Yahweh" (Leviticus 10:1-2). Fire came from heaven also at the consecration of Solomon's Temple (2 Chronicles 7:1).

According to 2 Maccabees 1:19-22, at the time of the Captivity priests hid the sacred fire in a well, and Nehemiah found it again, in a miraculous way, for the second Temple. Later, Maccabeus is said to have restored the fire by "striking stones and taking fire out of them" (10:3).

Fire was a frequent instrument of the Divine primitive wrath (Genesis 19:24; Exodus 9:23 (lightning); Numbers 11:1; 16:35, etc.; Psalms 104:4, the American Standard Revised Version "Who maketh .... flames of fire his ministers"). Fire shall yet dissolve the world (2 Peter 3:12). It was frequently used by the Israelites as a means of destruction of idolatrous objects and the cities of their enemies (Deuteronomy 7:5, 25; 12:3; 13:16; Joshua 6:24; Jgs, frequently); sometimes also of punishment (Leviticus 20:14; 21:9; Joshua 7:25; 2 Maccabees 7:5).

The domestic use of fire was, as among other peoples, for heating, cooking, lighting, etc., but according to the Law no fire could be kindled on the Sabbath day (Exodus 35:3). It was employed also for melting (Exodus 32:24), and refining (Numbers 31:23; Numbers 3:2-3, etc.). For the sacrificial fire wood was used as fuel (Genesis 22:3, 1; Leviticus 6:12); for ordinary purposes, also charcoal (Proverbs 25:22; Isaiah 6:6, the Revised Version, margin "or hot stone"; Habakkuk 3:5, the Revised Version (British and American) "fiery bolts," margin "or burning coals"; John 21:9, "a fire of coals" the Revised Version, margin "Gr, a fire of charcoal"; Romans 12:20); branches (Numbers 15:32; 1 Kings 17:12); thorns (Psalms 58:9; 118:12; Ecclesiastes 7:6; Isaiah 33:12); grass and other herbage (Matthew 6:30; Luke 12:28).

2. Figurative Use: Fire was an emblem (1) of Yahweh in His glory (Daniel 7:9); (2) in His holiness (Isaiah 6:4); (3) in His jealousy for His sole worship (Deuteronomy 4:24; Hebrews 12:29; Psalms 79:5; perhaps also Isaiah 33:14); (4) of His protection of His people (2 Kings 6:17; Zechariah 2:5); (5) of His righteous judgment and purification (Zechariah 13:9; Malachi 3:2-3; 1 Corinthians 3:13, 15); (6) of His wrath against sin and punishment of the wicked (Deuteronomy 9:3; Psalms 18:8; 89:46; Isaiah 5:24; 30:33, "a Topheth is prepared of old"; Matthew 3:10-12; 5:22, the Revised Version (British and American) "the hell of fire," margin "Greek, Gehenna of fire"; see Isaiah 30:33; Jeremiah 7:31; Matthew 13:40, 42; 25:41, "eternal fire"; Mark 9:45-49; see Isaiah 66:24; 2 Thessalonians 1:7; Hebrews 10:27; Jude 1:7); (7) of the word of God in its power (Jeremiah 5:14; 23:29); (8) of Divine truth (Psalms 39:3; Jeremiah 20:9; Luke 12:49); (9) of that which guides men (Isaiah 50:10-11); (10) of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:3); (11) of the glorified Christ (Revelation 1:14); (12) of kindness in its melting power (Romans 12:20); (13) of trial and suffering (Psalms 66:12; Isaiah 43:2; 1 Peter 17; Isaiah 4:6); (14) of evil (Proverbs 6:27; 16:27; Isaiah 9:18; 65:5); lust or desire (Hosea 7:6; Sirach 23:16; 1 Corinthians 7:9); greed (Proverbs 30:16); (15) of the tongue in its evil aspects (James 3:5-6); (16) of heaven in its purity and glory (Revelation 15:2; see also Revelation 21:22-23).

W. L. Walker