Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words

Y

Year — Youth

Year

SAhâneh (שָׁנָה, Strong's #8141), “year.” This word has cognates in Ugaritic, Akaddian, Arabic, Aramaic, and Phoenician. Biblical Hebrew attests it about 877 times and in every period.

This Hebrew word signifies “year”: “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years” (Genesis 1:14—the first biblical occurrence of the word). There are several ways of determining what a “year” is. First, the “year” may be based on the relationship between the seasons and the sun, the solar year or agricultural year. Second, it can be based on a correlation of the seasons and the moon (lunar year). Third, the “year” may be decided on the basis of the correlation between the movement of the earth and the stars (stellar year). At many points the people of the Old Testament period set the seasons according to climatic or agricultural events; the year ended with the grape and fruit harvest in the month Elul: "[Thou shalt keep] the feast of harvest, the first fruits of thy labors, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field” (Exodus 23:16).

The Gezer calendar shows that by the time it was written (about the tenth century B.C.) some in Palestine were using the lunar calendar, since it exhibits an attempt to correlate the agricultural and lunar systems. The lunar calendar began in the spring (the month Nisan, MarchApril) and had twelve lunations, or periods between new moons. It was necessary periodically to add a thirteenth month in order to synchronize the lunar calendar and the number of days in a solar year. The lunar calendar also seems to have underlain Israel’s religious system with a special rite to celebrate the first day of each lunar month (Numbers 28:11-15). The major feasts, however, seem to be based on the agricultural cycle, and the date on which they were celebrated varied from year to year according to work in the fields (e.g., Deuteronomy 16:9-12). This solar-agricultural year beginning in the spring is similar to (if not derived from) the Babylonian calendar—the names of the months are Babylonian derivatives. These 2 systems, therefore, appear side by side at least from the time of Moses. An exact picture of the Old Testamem “year” is difficult, if not impossible, to obtain.

Youth

Na‛ar (נַעַר, Strong's #5288), “youth; lad; young man.” This word is found in Ugaritic, and it seems that the Egyptian word na-arma (“armed retainers”) is also related to the West Semitic usage. The root with the meaning of “youth” occurs only as a noun and occurs in Hebrew in the feminine (na‛arah, “young girl”) as well as the masculine form (e.g., Genesis 24:14).

Na‛ar occurs 235 times in the Hebrew Old Testament. Its use is predominant in the Pentateuch and in the historical books. The first occurrence is in Genesis 14:23-24: “… I will not take any thing … save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.”

The basic meaning of na‛ar is “youth,” over against an older man. At times it may signify a very young child: “For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings” (Isaiah 7:16). Generally na‛ar denotes a “young man” who is of marriageable age but is still a bachelor. We must keep in mind the opposition of youth and old age, so that we can better understand that Jeremiah, while claiming to be only a “youth,” was not necessarily a youngster. In truth, he argued that he did not have the experience of the older men, when he said: “Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child” (Jeremiah 1:6).

Absalom was considered a na‛ar, even though he was old enough to lead the troups in rebellion against David: “And the king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom” (2 Samuel 18:5). A derived meaning of na‛ar is “servant.” Jonathan used a “servant” as armorbearer: “Now it came to pass upon a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that bare his armor, Come, and let us go over to the Philistines’ garrison, that is on the other side” (1 Samuel 14:1). The na‛ar (“servant”) addressed his employer as “master”: “And when they were by Jebus, the day was far spent; and the servant said unto his master, Come, I pray thee, and let us turn into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it” (Judges 19:11). Kings and officials had “servants” who were referred to by the title na‛ar. In this context the word is better translated as “attendant,” as in the case of the attendants of King Ahasuerus, who gave counsel to the king: “Then said the king’s servants [NASB, “attendants”] that ministered unto him, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king” (Esther 2:2). When a na‛ar is commissioned to carry messages, he is a “messenger.” Thus, we see that the meaning of the word na‛ar as “servant” does not denote a “slave” or a performer of low duties. He carried important documentswas trained in the art of warfare, and even gave counsel to the king.

Another noun no‛ar means “youth.” This noun appears only 4 times in the Bible, once in Psalms 88:15: “I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted” (cf. Job 36:14).

The Septuagint gives the following translation(s): paidarion (“little boy; boy; child; young slave”); neos (“novice”); neaniskos (“youth; young man; servant”); paidion (“infant; child”); pais (“child”); and neanias (“youth; young man”).