Ransom – Receipt Of Custom

Ransom

ran'-sum (the noun occurs in the English Bible 12 times (Exodus 21:30 the King James Version pidhyon; Exodus 30:12; Job 33:24; Job 36:18; Proverbs 6:35; Proverbs 13:8; Proverbs 21:18; Isaiah 43:3, kopher; Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45, lutron; 1 Timothy 2:6, antilutron); the verbal form occurs 4 times (Isaiah 35:10; Hosea 13:14, padhah; Isaiah 51:10 the King James Version; Jeremiah 31:11, ga'al; these two Hebrew verbs are generally rendered in other passages by the English "redeem"))

1. Usage by Christ

2. Old Testament Usage--the Law

(1) General Cases

(2) Redemption Money--the Firstborn

(3) Connection with Sacrifice

(4) Typical Reference to the Messiah

3. The Psalms and Job

4. Apostolic Teaching

5. To Whom Was the Ransom Paid?

(1) Not to Satan

(2) To Divine Justice

(a) Redemption by Price

(b) Redemption by Power

LITERATURE

1. Usage by Christ:

The supremely important instance is the utterance of the Lord Jesus Christ as reported by Matthew and Mark (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45), and in looking at it we shall be able, by way of illustration, to glance at the Old Testament passages. The context refers to the dispute among the disciples concerning position in the Kingdom, with their misconception of the true nature of Christ's Kingdom. Christ makes use of the occasion to set forth the great law of service as determining the place of honor in that Kingdom, and illustrates and enforces it by showing that its greatest exemplification is to be found in His own mission: "For the Son of man also came not to be ministered unto, but to minister" (Mark 10:45). His ministry, however, was to pass into the great act of sacrifice, of which all other acts of self-sacrifice on the part of His people would be but a faint reflection--"and to give his life (soul) a ransom for many" (same place). He thus gives a very clear intimation of the purpose and meaning of His death; the clearest of all the intimations reported by the synoptists. The word He uses bears a well-established meaning, and is accurately rendered by our word "ransom," a price paid to secure the freedom of a slave or to set free from liabilities and charges, and generally the deliverance from calamity by paying the forfeit. The familiar verb luo, "to loose," "to set free," is the root, then lutron, that which secures the freedom, the payment or forfeit; thence come the cognate verb lutroo, "to set free upon payment of a ransom," "to redeem"; lutrosis, "the actual setting free," "the redemption," and lutrotes, "the redeemer." The favorite New Testament word for "redemption" is the compound form, apolutrosis.

2. Old Testament Usage--the Law:

The word lutron was common in Greek classical literature, constantly bearing the sense of "ransom price," and was frequently connected with ritual usage, with sacrifice and expiation. But for the full explanation of our Lord's great thought we have to look to the Old Testament usage. The two leading Hebrew verbs translated in our version by "redeem," are generally rendered in the Septuagint by lutroo, and derivatives of these words conveying the idea of the actual price paid are translated by this very word lutron.

(1) General Cases.

In Exodus 21:30 we have the law concerning the case of the person killed by an ox; the ox was to be killed and the owner of it was also liable to death but the proviso was made, "If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him" (the King James Version). The Hebrew for "sum of money" is kopher, literally, "atonement" (the Revised Version (British and American) "ransom"); the word for "ransom" (the Revised Version (British and American) "redemption") is pidhyon (from padhah); the Septuagint renders both by lutron (rather by the plural form lutra). In Leviticus 25:1–55, among the directions in relation to the Jubilee, we have the provision (25:23) that the land was not to be sold "in perpetuity," but where any portion has been sold, opportunity is to be given for re-purchase: "Ye shall grant a redemption for the land" (25:24). The Hebrew is ge'ullah, a derivative of ga'al, the Septuagint lutra. In 25:25,26, the case is mentioned of a man who through poverty has sold part of his land; if a near kinsman is able to redeem it he shall do so; if there is no one to act this brotherly part, and the man himself is able to redeem it, then a certain scale of price is arranged. In the Hebrew it is again ga'al that is used with the cognate go'el for "kinsman." The last clause rendered in the King James Version, "and himself be able to redeem it" (in the Revised Version (British and American) "and he be waxed rich and find sufficient to redeem it"), is literally, "and his hand shall acquire and he find sufficient for its redemption"; the Septuagint has the verb lutroo in the first part, and renders the clause pretty literally, "and there be furnished to his hand and there be found with him the sufficient price (lutra) of it." In Leviticus 25:51,Leviticus 25:52, in reference to the redemption of the Jew sold into slavery, we have twice in the Hebrew the word ge'ullah, rendered in English accurately "the pricen of his redemption"; and by Septuagint with equal accuracy, in both cases, lutra, "the ransom-price." In Leviticus 27:31 the King James Version, the phrase "if a man will at all redeem aught of his tithes" is intended to represent the emphatic Hebrew idiom, "if a man redeeming will redeem," which is rendered by Septuagint ean de lutrotai lutro anthropos.

(2) Redemption Money--the Firstborn.

But perhaps the most important passage is the law concerning the half-shekel to be paid by every Israelite from 20 years old and upward when a census was taken. It was to be the same for rich and poor, and it was called "atonement money," "to make atonement for their souls." In the opening words of the law, as given in Exodus 30:12 (the King James Version), we read "Then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord"--the Hebrew kopher; the Septuagint rendering is lutra tes psuches autou, "a ransom price for his soul." All the people were thus considered as doomed and needing atonement, and it is significant that this atonement money paid at the first census furnished the silver for the sockets of the tabernacle boards, intimating that the typical tabernacle was built upon atonement. The same thought, that the people's lives were forfeited, comes out in the provision for the consecration of the Levites, recorded in full in Numbers 3:40–51. The firstborn represented the people. God claimed all the firstborn as forfeited to Himself, teaching that Israel deserved the same punishment as the Egyptians, and was only spared by the grace of Yahweh, and in virtue of the sprinkled blood. Now He takes to Himself for His services the Levites as the equivalent of the firstborn, and when it was found that the number of the firstborn exceeded the number of the Levites, equivalence was maintained by ransoming at a certain price the surplus of the firstborn males. In the Septuagint account, lutra occurs 4 times, twice for the phrase "those to be redeemed," and twice for "redemption money." Thus the idea of ransom for the forfeited life became familiar to the people as educated by the typical system, and redemption expressed the sum total of their hopes for the future, however faulty might be their conception of the nature of that redemption.

(3) Connection with Sacrifice.

It is also clear in the typical teaching that sacrifice and ransom were closely related. Even in classical Greek, as we have noted, the two conceptions were connected, and it is not surprising to find it so in the Old Testament. Kopher, we have seen, is literally, "atonement" and comes from kaphar, literally, "to cover," and thence by covering to make atonement, or to cover by making atonement; and so it is in the Piel form, the most common and technical Hebrew word for making atonement, or expiation, or propitiation, and is frequently rendered in the Greek by hilaskomai, often too by the compound exilaskomai. In Exodus 21:30, kopher, we noted, is used interchangeably with pidhyon, both being represented in the Septuagint by lutra, and so in Exodus 30:12; Numbers 35:31,Numbers 35:32; the Hebrew kopher is lutra in the Greek In the latter place, where it is twice stated that no satisfaction shall be taken for the life of a murderer, the Hebrew is kopher, the Septuagint has lutra; the Revised Version (British and American) has "ransom;" the King James Version has "satisfaction."

(4) Typical Reference to the Messiah.

Sacrifice was thus linked with ransom. Sacrifice was the divinely-appointed covering for sin. The ransom for the deliverance of the sinner was to be by sacrifice. Both the typical testimony of the Law and the prophetic testimony gave prominence to the thought of redemption. The Coming One was to be a Redeemer. Redemption was to be the great work of the Messiah. The people seem to have looked for the redemption of the soul to God alone through the observance of their appointed ritual, while redemption, in the more general sense of deliverance from all enemies and troubles, they linked with the advent of the Messiah. It required a spiritual vision to see that the two things would coincide, that the Messiah would effect redemption in all its phases and fullness by means of ransom, of sacrifice, of expiation.

Jesus appeared as the Messiah in whom all the old economy was to be fulfilled. He knew perfectly the meaning of the typical and prophetic testimony; and with that fully in view, knowing that His death was to fulfill the Old Testament types and accomplish its brightest prophetic anticipations, He deliberately uses this term lutron to describe it (Matthew 20:28); in speaking of His death as a ransom, He also regarded it as a sacrifice, an expiatory offering. The strong preposition used intensifies the idea of ransom and expiation, even to the point of substitution. It is anti, "instead of," and the idea of exchange, equivalence, substitution cannot be removed from it. In Numbers 3:45, "Take the Levites instead of all the first-born," the Septuagint uses anti, which, like the English "instead of," exactly represents the Hebrew tachath; and all three convey most unmistakably the idea of substitution. And as the Levites were to be substituted for the firstborn, so for the surplus of the firstborn the "ransom money" was to be substituted, that idea, however, being clearly enough indicated by the use of the genitive. Indeed the simpler way of describing a ransom would be with the genitive, the ransom of many; or as our version renders, "a ransom for many"; but just because the ransom here is not simply a money payment, but is the actual sacrifice of the life, the substitution of His soul for many, He is appropriately said "to give his soul a ransom instead of many." The Kingdom of God which Christ proclaimed was so diverse in character from that which Salome and her sons anticipated that, so far from appearing in dazzling splendor, with distinguished places of power for eager aspirants, it was to be a spiritual home for redeemed sinners. Men held captive by sin needed to be ransomed that they might be free to become subjects of the Kingdom, and so the ransom work, the sufferings and death of Christ, must lie at the very foundation of that Kingdom. The need of ransom supposes life forfeited; the ransom paid secures life and liberty; the life which Christ gives comes through His ransoming death.

3. The Psalms and Job:

Besides the passages in the Pentateuch which we have noted, special mention should be made of the two great passages which bear so closely upon the need of spiritual redemption, and come into line with this great utterance of Christ. Psalms 49:7,Psalms 49:8, "None of them can by any means redeem (padhah; lutroo) his brother, nor give to God a ransom (kopher; exilasma) for him (for the redemption of their life is costly, and it faileth forever)." (The Hebrew gives pidhyon for "redemption"; the Greek has "the price of the redemption of his soul.") No human power or skill, no forfeit in money or service or life can avail to ransom any soul from the doom entailed by sin. But in Psalms 49:15 the triumphant hope is expressed, "But God will redeem (padhah; lutroo) my soul from the power of Sheol." In Job 33:24, "Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom": God is the speaker, and whatever may be the particular exegesis of the passage in its original application, it surely contains an anticipation of the gospel redemption. This divine eureka is explained in the light of Christ's utterance; it finds its realization through the cross: "I have found a ransom," for "the Son of Man" has given "his soul a ransom for many."

4. Apostolic Teaching:

This great utterance of the Saviour may well be considered as the germ of all the apostolic teaching concerning redemption, but it is not for us to show its unfolding beyond noting that in apostolic thought the redemption was always connected with the death, the sacrifice of Christ.

Thus, Paul (Ephesians 1:7), "In whom we have our redemption through his blood." Thus Peter (1 Peter 1:18,1 Peter 1:19), "Ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things .... but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ." So in Hebrews 9:12 it is shown that Christ "through his own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption"; and in the Apocalypse (Revelation 5:9) the song is, "Thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with thy blood men of every tribe," etc. In all but the last of these passages there is an echo of the very word used by Christ, apolutrosis and lutrosis, both being connected with lutron. In 1 Timothy 2:5,1 Timothy 2:6 Paul has a still closer verbal coincidence when he says, "Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all" (antilutron). The word used in the Apocalypse is agorazo, to buy in the open market, and is frequently used of the redeeming work of Christ (Revelation 14:3,Revelation 14:4; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Corinthians 7:23). In the two places where Paul uses it he adds the means of purchase: "Ye were bought with a price," which from his point of view would be equivalent to ransom. In the passage in Galatians 3:13; Galatians 4:5, Paul uses the compound exagorazo, which is equivalent to "redeem, buy off, deliver by paying the price."

5. To Whom Was the Ransom Paid?:

The question "Who receives the ransom?" is not directly raised in Scripture, but it is one that not unnaturally occurs to the mind, and theologians have answered it in varying ways.

(1) Not to Satan.

The idea entertained by some of the Fathers (Irenaeus, Origen) that the ransom was given to Satan, who is conceived of as having through the sin of man a righteous claim upon him, which Christ recognizes and meets, is grotesque, and not in any way countenanced by Scripture.

(2) To Divine Justice.

But in repudiating it, there is no need to go so far as to deny that there is anything answering to a real ransoming transaction. All that we have said goes to show that, in no mere figure of speech, but in tremendous reality, Christ gave "his life a ransom," and if our mind demands an answer to the question to whom the ransom was paid, it does not seem at all unreasonable to think of the justice of God, or God in His character of Moral Governor, as requiring and receiving it. In all that Scripture asserts about propitiation, sacrifice, reconciliation in relation to the work of Christ, it is implied that there is wrath to be averted, someone to be appeased or satisfied, and while it may be enough simply to think of the effects of Christ's redeeming work in setting us free from the penal claims of the Law--the just doom of sin--it does not seem going beyond the spirit of Scripture to draw the logical inference that the ransom price was paid to the Guardian of that holy law, the Administrator of eternal justice. "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us" (Galatians 3:13). This essential, fundamental phase of redemption is what theologians, with good Scripture warrant, have called redemption by blood, or by price, as distinguished from the practical outcome of the work of Christ in the life which is redemption by power.

(a) Redemption by Price:

As to Satan's claims, Christ by paying the ransom price, having secured the right to redeem, exercises His power on behalf of the believing sinner. He does not recognize the right of Satan. He is the "strong man" holding his captives lawfully, and Christ the "stronger than he" overcomes him and spoils him, and sets his captives free (Luke 11:21,Luke 11:22). In one sense men may be said to have sold themselves to Satan, but they had no right to sell, nor he to buy, and Christ ignores that transaction and brings "to nought him that had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Hebrews 2:14), and so is able to "deliver all them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Hebrews 2:15).

(b) Redemption by Power:

Many of the Old Testament passages about the redemption wrought on behalf of God's people illustrate this redemption by power, and the redemption by power is always founded on the redemption by price; the release follows the ransom. In the case of Israel, there was first the redemption by blood--the sprinkled blood of the Paschal Lamb which sheltered from the destroying angel (Exodus 12:1–51)--and then followed the redemption by power, when by strength of hand Yahweh brought His people out from Egypt (Exodus 13:14), and in His mercy led forth the people which He had redeemed (Exodus 15:13).

So under the Gospel when "he hath visited and wrought redemption for his people" (Luke 1:68), He can "grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies should serve him without fear" (Luke 1:74). It is because we have in Him our redemption through His blood that we can be delivered out of the power of darkness (Colossians 1:13,Colossians 1:14).

See further, REDEEMER, REDEMPTION.

LITERATURE.

See works on New Testament Theology (Weiss, Schmid, Stevens, etc.); articles in Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible (five volumes); Hastings, Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels. Archibald M'Caig

Rape

rap. See CRIMES; PUNISHMENTS.

Rapha, Raphah

ra'-fa (rapha'):

(1) In the Revised Version margin these names are substituted for "the giant" in 1 Chronicles 20:4,1 Chronicles 20:6,1 Chronicles 20:8 and in 2 Samuel 21:16,2 Samuel 21:18,2 Samuel 21:20,2 Samuel 21:22. The latter passage states that certain champions of the Philistines who were slain by David's warriors had been born to the raphah in Gath. The text is corrupt; Raphah is probably an eponym. Originally the name of one of the Philistines who was of the body "Rephaites" stood in the text. The plural of this word, or at least a plural of this stem, is REPHAIM (which see).

(2) Raphah (the King James Version "Rapha"), a descendant of Saul (1 Chronicles 8:37).

See REPHAIAH.

Horace J. Wolf

Raphael

ra'-a-el, ra'-fa-el (repha'el, from rapha' 'el, "God has healed"; Rhaphael): The name of the angel who, as Azarias, guides Tobias to ECBATANA and RAGES (which see). The purpose of his mission is, in accordance with his name, to cure Tobit of blindness, and to deliver Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, from the power of the evil spirit Asmodaeus (Tobit 3:8; 12:14). Later, in addition, when he reveals himself (Tobit 12:15), he declares that he is "one of the seven holy angels, which present the prayers of the saints, and go in before the glory of the Holy One." These seven angels are derived, according to Dr. Kohut, from the seven Am-shaspands (Amesha-spentas) of Zoroastrianism (compare Revelation 4:5). At the head of the elaborate angelology of the Enoch books there are "four presences," and Raphael is one of them (En 40:9; 54:6). In the first of these passages Raphael is the healer; in the second, he with Michael, Gabriel and Phanuel lead the wicked away to punishment. These four presences seem related to the four "living creatures" of Ezekiel (1:5) and of the Apocalypse (Revelation 4:6). While this is the general representation of Raphael's position in Enoch, in 20:3 he is named among the angels who "watch," whose number according to the Greek text is seven. Raphael shared in the function assigned to the archangels, in the Oracula Sibyllina, of leading souls to the judgment seat of God (II, 215, Alexandre's text). He occupies a prominent place in Jewish medieval writings; he with Michael and Gabriel cured Abraham (Yoma' 37a); according to the book Zohar, Raphael conveyed to Adam a book containing 72 kinds of wisdom in 670 writings. The painters of the Renaissance frequently depicted Raphael.

J. E. H. Thomson

Raphaim

raf'-a-im, ra-fa'-im (Codex Vaticanus omits; Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Alexandrinus have Rhapha(e)in): An ancestor of Judith (Judith 8:1).

Raphon

ra'-fon (@Rhapheion]): The place where in his campaign East of Jordan Judas inflicted disastrous defeat on the host of Timotheus, the fugitives fleeing for refuge to the temple at Carnaim (1 Macc 5:37 ff; Ant, XII, viii, 4). The same place is doubtless referred to by Pliny as "Raphana" (NH, v.16). It may possibly be represented by the modern Rafeh, on the East of the pilgrimage road, about 17 miles North of Der`ah, and 11 miles Northeast of Tell el-`Ash`ary. It is a mile and a half North of Wady Kanawat, which would thus be the "brook" mentioned in the narrative. It is perhaps far enough away from Carnaim, if this is rightly placed at Tell el-`Ash`ary.

W. Ewing

Raphu

ra'-fu (raphu', "one healed"): The father of Palti, the spy selected from the tribe of Benjamin (Numbers 13:9).

Rasses

ras'-ez (Rhaasseis, Codex Alexandrinus and Codex Vaticanus, Rhasseis; Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) Tharsis; Old Latin Thiras et Rasis): The children of Rasses are mentioned with Put, Lud and the children of Ishmael as having been subdued by Holofernes (Judith 2:23).

Their identity is a matter of conjecture only. Some think Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) Tharsis (= Tarsus) is meant, others Rosh (Ezekiel 38:2,Ezekiel 38:3; Ezekiel 39:1), others Rhosos, a mountain range and city South from Anunus, on the Gulf of Issus. Most probably a district, not a town, is named, situated in the eastern part of Asia Minor.

S. F. Hunter

Rathumus

ra-thu'-mus (Rhathumos): One of those who joined in writing a letter to protest to Artaxerxes against the Jews (1 Esdras 2:16 ff). In 1 Esdras 2:17 he is styled "story-writer," the Revised Version margin "recorder" (ho ta prospiptonta sc. (graphon) = "Rehum the chancellor" of Ezra 4:8, Rathumus being a Greek form of Rehum. In 1 Esdras 2:16 his title appears as an independent proper name, BEELTETHMUS (which see) (here the King James Version margin gives "Bahumus," a misprint), and in 1 Esdras 2:25 R. and Beeltethmus are given as distinct persons.

Raven

ra'-vn (`orebh; korax; Latin Corvus corax): A large family of the smaller birds of prey belonging to the genus Corvus corax. A bird of such universal distribution that it is known from Iceland to Japan, all over Asia, Europe and Africa, but almost extinct and not of general distribution in our own country. In no land is it more numerous than in Palestine In general appearance it resembles the crow, but is much larger, being almost two feet long, of a glossy black, with whiskers around the beak, and rather stiff-pointed neck feathers. A bird exhibiting as much intelligence as any, and of a saucy, impudent disposition, it has been an object of interest from the beginning. It has been able to speak sentences of a few words when carefully taught, and by its uncanny acts has made itself a bird surrounded by superstition, myth, fable, and is connected with the religious rites of many nations. It is partially a carrion feeder, if offal or bodies are fresh; it also eats the young of other birds and very small animals and seeds, berries and fruit, having as varied a diet as any bird. It is noisy, with a loud, rough, emphatic cry, and its young are clamorous feeding time.

Aristotle wrote that ravens drove their young from their location and forced them to care for themselves from the time they left the nest. This is doubtful. Bird habits and characteristics change only with slow ages of evolution. Our ravens of today are, to all intents, the same birds as those of Palestine in the time of Moses, and ours follow the young afield for several days and feed them until the cawing, flapping youngsters appear larger than the parents. In Pliny's day, ravens had been taught to speak, and as an instance of their cunning he records that in time of drought a raven found a bucket containing a little water beside a grave and raised it to drinking level by dropping in stones.

Palestine has at least 8 different species of ravens. This bird was the first sent out by Noah in an effort to discover if the flood were abating (Genesis 8:6–8). Because it partially fed on carrion it was included among the abominations (see Leviticus 11:15; Deuteronomy 14:14). On 1 Kings 17:4–6, see ELIJAH and the present writer's Birds of the Bible, 401-3. Among the marvels of creation and providence in Job 38:41, we have this mention of the raven,

"Who provideth for the raven his prey,

When his young ones cry unto God,

And wander for lack of food?"

The answer to this question is in Psalms 147:9:

"He giveth to the beast his food,

And to the young ravens which cry."

Both these quotations point out the fact that the young are peculiarly noisy. In Proverbs 30:17 it is indicated that the ravens, as well as eagles, vultures and hawks, found the eye of prey the vulnerable point, and so attacked it first. The Hebrew `orebh means "black," and for this reason was applied to the raven, so the reference to the locks of the bridegroom in the So of Solomon becomes clear (Song of Songs 5:11). The raven is one of the birds indicated to prey upon the ruins of Edom (Isaiah 34:11). The last reference is found in Luke 12:24: "Consider the ravens, that they sow not, neither reap; which have no store-chamber nor barn; and God feedeth them." This could have been said of any wild bird with equal truth.

Gene Stratton-Porter

Raven; Ravin

rav'-n, rav'-in: "Raven" (verb) is from "rapine," "violent plundering, used for Taraph, in Genesis 49:27; Psalms 22:13; Ezekiel 22:25,Ezekiel 22:27, while "ravin" (noun) is the object ravened, in Nahum 2:12 the torn carcasses (Terephah). So "ravenous bird" (Isaiah 46:11; Ezekiel 39:4) is a bird of prey (not a "hungry bird"), `ayiT, literally, "a screecher." "Ravenous beast" in Isaiah 35:9 is for parits, "violent one." In the New Testament harpax, "rapacious," is translated "ravening" in Matthew 7:15, while for the cognate harpage (Luke 11:39), the King James Version gives "ravening," the Revised Version (British and American) "extortion."

Razis

ra'-zis (Rhazeis): "An elder of Jerusalem," "lover of his countrymen," and for his good will toward them called "father of the Jews," accused before the Syrian general Nicanor as an opponent of Hellenism. In order to escape falling into the hands of Nicanor's soldiers he committed suicide with the greatest determination in a rather revolting manner (2 Macc 14:37 ff), in his death calling upon "the Lord of life" in the hope of a resurrection. His suicide--contrary to Jewish sentiment--was regarded with approbation by the author of 2 Macc (14:42,43).

Razor

ra'-zer (ta`ar, "knife" (Numbers 6:5; Psalms 52:2; Isaiah 7:20; Ezekiel 5:1), morah, "razor" (Judges 13:5; Revelation 16:9; 1 Samuel 1:11)).

See BARBER; HAIR.

Reading

red'-ing (miqra'; anagnosis): As a noun occurs once in the Old Testament (Nehemiah 3:8) and 3 times in the New Testament (Acts 13:15; 2 Corinthians 3:14; 1 Timothy 4:13), each time with reference to the public reading of the Divine Law. The verb "to read" (qara'; anaginosko) occurs frequently both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament: (1) often in the sense of reading aloud to others, especially of the public reading of God's Law or of prophecy, as by Moses (Exodus 24:7), Ezra (Nehemiah 8:3,Nehemiah 8:18), Jesus in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:16), of the regular reading of the Law and the Prophets in the synagogues (Acts 13:27; Acts 15:21), and of the reading of apostolic epistles in the Christian church (Colossians 4:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:27); (2) also in the sense of reading to one's self, whether the divine word in Law or prophecy (Deuteronomy 17:19; Acts 8:28–30, etc.), or such things as private letters (2 Kings 5:7; 2 Kings 19:14; Acts 23:34, etc.).

D. Miall Edwards

Ready

red'-i (]~mahir]): Occurs twice in the sense of apt, skillful (Ezra 7:6; Psalms 45:1). the Revised Version (British and American) gives "ready" for "fit" (Proverbs 24:27), for "asketh" (Micah 7:3), for "prepared" (Mark 14:15), for "not be negligent" (2 Peter 1:12).

Reaiah

re-a'-ya, re-i'-a (re'ayah, "Yah has seen"; Septuagint: Codex Vaticanus, Rhada, A, Rheia):

(1) The eponym of a Calebite family (1 Chronicles 4:2). The word "Reaiah" should probably be substituted for "Haroeh" in 1 Chronicles 2:52, but both forms may be corruptions.

(2) A Reubenite (1 Chronicles 5:5, the King James Version "Reaia").

See JOEL.

(3) The family name of a company of Nethinim (Ezra 2:47; Nehemiah 7:50 = /RAPC 1Es 5:31).

Reaping

rep'-ing (qatsar; therizo): Reaping in ancient times, as at present, consisted in either pulling up the grain by the roots or cutting it with a sickle (see SICKLE), and then binding the stalks into bundles to be carried to the threshing-floor. If the Egyptian sculptures are true to life, reaping was sometimes divided into two operations, the heads of grain and the stalks being reaped separately. In Palestine and Syria both pulling and cutting are still practiced, the former when the ground is stony and the spears scarce. Even where the sickle is used, much of the grain comes up by the roots, owing to the toughness of the dried stalks or the dullness of the sickle. The reaper sometimes wears pieces of cane on the fingers of the hand which gathers the grain in order to protect them from injury by the sharp grasses or the sickle. There were definite laws established by the Hebrews in regard to reaping (Leviticus 19:9; Leviticus 23:10; Leviticus 25:5,Leviticus 25:11; Deuteronomy 16:9). Samuel mentions the task of reaping the harvest as one of the requirements which would be made by the king for whom the people were clamoring (1 Samuel 8:12).

Figurative:

The certainty of the consequences of good and evil doing were often typified by the sowing and the reaping of harvests (Job 4:8; Proverbs 22:8; Hosea 8:7; Hosea 10:12,Hosea 10:13; 2 Corinthians 9:6; Galatians 6:7,Galatians 6:8). "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy" is found in the liberated captives' song (Psalms 126:5). "He that regardeth the clouds shall not reap," i.e. a lack of faith in God's care will be punished (Ecclesiastes 11:4); compare also the lesson of trust drawn from the birds (Matthew 6:26; Luke 12:24). Sowing and not reaping the harvest is mentioned as a punishment for disobedience (Job 31:8; Jeremiah 12:13; Micah 6:15). Reaping where he sowed not, showed the injustice of the landlord (Matthew 25:26), as did also the withholding of the reapers' wages (James 5:4). In God's Kingdom there is a division of labor: "He that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together" (John 4:36–38). In John's vision he saw an angel reap the earth (Revelation 14:15,Revelation 14:16).

See AGRICULTURE; GLEANING.

James A. Patch

Rearward

rer'-word ('acaph, "to gather," Numbers 10:25; Joshua 6:9 (the King James Version margin "gathering host"); Isaiah 52:12).

See ARMY; DAN, TRIBE OF; WAR, 3.

Reason; Reasonable; Reasoning

re'-z'n, re'-z'n-a-b'l, re'-z'n-ing (yakhach, etc.; logos, dialogizomai, -ismos, etc.): "Reason" with related terms, has a diversity of meanings, representing a large number of Hebrew and Greek words and phrases. In the sense of "cause" or "occasion" it stands in 1 Kings 9:15 for dabhar, "a word" (the Revised Version margin "account"), but in most cases renders prepositional forms as "from," "with," "because of," "for the sake," etc. As the ground or argument for anything, it is the translation of ta`am (Proverbs 26:16, the Revised Version margin "answers discreetly"), of yakhach, as in Isaiah 1:18, "Come now, and let us reason together" (compare Job 13:3; Job 15:3); in 1 Samuel 12:7, the word is shaphaT, the Revised Version (British and American) "that I may plead," etc. The principal Greek words for "reason," "reasoning," are those given above. The Christian believer is to be ready to give a reason (logos) for the hope that is in him (1 Peter 3:15 the King James Version). "Reason" as a human faculty or in the abstract sense appears in Apocrypha in The Wisdom of Solomon 17:12 (logismos); Ecclesiasticus 37:16, "Let reason (logos) go before every enterprise," the Revised Version (British and American) "be the beginning of every work." In Acts 18:14, "reason would" is literally, kata logon, "according to reason"; in Romans 12:1, for "reasonable (logikos) service," the Revised Version (British and American) has "spiritual," and in the margin "Greek `belonging to the reason.' " In the Revised Version (British and American) "reason," etc., occurs much oftener than in the King James Version (compare Leviticus 17:11; Deuteronomy 28:47; Judges 5:22; Job 20:2; Job 23:7, etc.; Luke 3:15; Luke 12:17; Acts 17:17, etc.).

W. L. Walker

Reba

re-bek'-a (rebha`, "fourth part"; Septuagint: Codex Vaticanus Rhobe; Codex Alexandrinus Rhebek): One of the five chieftains of Midian who were slain by the Israelites, under Moses (Numbers 31:8; Joshua 13:21). Like his comrades, he is termed a "king" in Numbers, but a "chief" or "prince" in Joshua.

Rebekah

re-bek'-a (ribhqah; Septuagint and New Testament Rhebekka, whence the usual English spelling Rebecca): Daughter of Bethuel and an unknown mother, grand-daughter of Nahor and Milcah, sister of Laban, wife of Isaac, mother of Esau and Jacob.

Her name is usually explained from the Arabic, rabqat, "a tie-rope for animals," or, rather, "a noose" in such a rope; its application would then by figure suggest the beauty (?) of her that bears it, by means of which men are snared or bound; The root is found in Hebrew only in the noun meaning "hitching-place" or "stall," in the familiar phrase "fatted calf" or "calf of the stall," and in view of the meaning of such names as Rachel and Eglah the name Rebekah might well mean (concrete for abstract, like riqmah, chemdah, etc.) a "tied-up calf" (or "lamb"?), one therefore peculiarly choice and fat.

Rebekah is first mentioned in the genealogy of the descendants of Nahor, brother of Abraham (Genesis 22:20–24). In fact, the family is there carried down just so far as is necessary in order to introduce this woman, for whose subsequent appearance and role the genealogy is obviously intended as a preparation. All this branch of the family of Terah had remained in Aram when Abraham and Lot had migrated to Canaan, and it is at Haran, "the city of Nahor," that we first meet Rebekah, when in Genesis 24 she is made known to Abraham's servant at the well before the gate.

That idyllic narrative of the finding of a bride for Isaac is too familiar to need rehearsal and too simple to require comment. Besides, the substance both of that story and of the whole of Rebekah's career is treated in connection with the sketches of the other actors in the same scenes. Yet we note from the beginning the maiden's decision of character, which appears in every line of the narrative, and prepares the reader to find in subsequent chapters the positive, ambitious and energetic woman that she there shows herself.

Though the object of her husband's love (Genesis 24:67), Rebekah bore him no children for 20 years (Genesis 25:20,Genesis 25:26). Like Sarah, she too was barren, and it was only after that score of years and after the special intercession of Isaac that God at length granted her twin sons. "The purpose of God according to election," as Paul expresses the matter in Romans 9:11, was the cause of that strange oracle to the wondering, inquiring parents, "The elder shall serve the younger" (Genesis 25:23).

Whether because of this oracle or for some other reason, it was that younger son, Jacob, who became the object of his mother's special love (Genesis 25:28). She it was who led him into the deception practiced upon Isaac (Genesis 27:5–17), and she it was who devised the plan for extricating Jacob from the dangerous situation into which that deception had brought him (Genesis 27:42–46). When the absence of Jacob from home became essential to his personal safety, Rebekah proposed her own relations in Aram as the goal of his journey, and gave as motive the desirability of Jacob's marrying from among her kindred. Probably she did not realize that in sending her favorite son away on this journey she was sending him away from her forever. Yet such seems to have been the case. Though younger than Isaac, who was still living at an advanced age when Jacob returned to Canaan a quarter of a century later, Rebekah seems to have died during that term. We learn definitely only this, that she was buried in the cave of Machpelah near Hebron (Genesis 49:31).

Outside of Genesis, Rebekah is alluded to in Scripture only in the passage from Romans (9:10-12) already cited. Her significance there is simply that of the wife of Isaac and the mother of two sons of such different character and destiny as Esau and Jacob. And her significance in Gen, apart from this, lies in her contribution to the family of Abraham of a pure strain from the same eastern stock, thus transmitting to the founders of Israel both an unmixed lineage and that tradition of separateness from Canaanite and other non-Hebrew elements which has proved the greatest factor in the ethnological marvel of the ages, the persistence of the Hebrew people.

J. Oscar Boyd

Rebuke

re-buk': As a verb "rebuke" is in the Old Testament the translation of ga`ar and yakhach; another word, ribh, in Nehemiah 5:7, is in the Revised Version (British and American) translated "contended with." "Rebuke" (noun) is most frequently the translation of ge`arah; also in the King James Version of cherpah (Isaiah 25:8; Jeremiah 15:15, the Revised Version (British and American) "reproach"), and of a few other words signifying reproach, etc. "Rebuker" (mucar, literally, "correction," "chastisement") in Hosea 5:2 has the Revised Version margin "Hebrew `rebuke.'" In the New Testament "to rebuke" is most often the translation of epitimao (Matthew 8:26; Matthew 16:22; Matthew 17:18, etc.); also in the King James Version of elegcho, always in the Revised Version (British and American) rendered "reprove" (1 Timothy 5:20; Titus 1:13; Titus 2:15; Hebrews 12:5; Revelation 3:19). Another word is epipletto (once, 1 Timothy 5:1); "without rebuke" in Philippians 2:15 is in the Revised Version (British and American) "without blemish." On the other hand, the Revised Version (British and American) has "rebuke" for several words in the King James Version, as for "reprove" (2 Kings 19:4; Isaiah 37:4), "reproof" (Job 26:11; Proverbs 17:10), "charged" (Mark 10:48). In Isaiah 2:4; Micah 4:3, the English Revised Version has "reprove" for "rebuke," and in the margin "decide concerning," which is text in the American Standard Revised Version. In Ecclesiasticus 11:7 we have the wise counsel: "Understand first, and then rebuke" (epitimao).

W. L. Walker

Recah

re'-ka (rekhah; Codex Vaticanus Rhechab; Codex Alexandrinus Rhepha; the King James Version Rechah): In 1 Chronicles 4:12 certain persons are described as "the men of Recah," but there is absolutely no information either about the place or its position.

Receipt Of Custom

re-set.

See CUSTOM.