II. POST-EXILIC
6. DRIED FIGS
While fresh figs have always been an important article of diet in their season (<161315>
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 (<093012>1 Samuel 30:12); Abigail gave 200 such cakes of figs to David (<092518>
1 Samuel 25:18); the people of North Israel sent, with other things, “cakes of figs” as a present to the newly-crowned David
(<131240>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” (<233821>Isaiah 38:21; <122007>2 Kings 20:7); it was a remedy familiar to early medical writers.
E. W. G. Masterman FIGHT
See WAR; GAMES.
FIGURE
<fig’-ur>, <fig’-yur> ([lm,s,, lm,se, cemel, cemel]; [tu>pov, 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” (<050416>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” (<234413>Isaiah 44:13, “shapeth it (the idol) .... after the figure of a man”; compare <050416>
Deuteronomy 4:16); of miqla`ath, “carving,” “carved work” (<110629>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 <110632>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 (<440743>Acts 7:43), “the figures (images) which ye made to worship them”; <450514>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 (<580924>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” (<600321>
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
(<580909>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; 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” (<460406>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” (<200106>Proverbs 1:6; the word is melitsah, only here and <350206>Habakkuk 2:6, meaning properly what is involved and needs interpretation; in <350206>Habakkuk 2:6 it is translated
“taunting proverb,” the Revised Version, margin “riddle”); “figured stone”
for “image of stone” (Leviticus26:1); “figured stones” for “pictures”
(<043352>Numbers 33:52).
W. L. Walker FILE
<fil>: Found only in <091321>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
<fil’-et> ([fWj, chuT], [qvuj;, 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.
<245221>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 <060218>
Joshua 2:18, and
“cord,” “three fold .... is not quickly broken,” in <210412>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”
(<022710>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” (<023638>
Exodus 36:38). The pillars for the court and the gate of the court had fillets of silver (<023810>Exodus 38:10 ff).
The verb is used in <022717>Exodus 27:17; 38:17, “All the pillars of the court were filleted with silver.”
William Edward Raffety FILTH; FILTHINESS; FILTHY
<filth>, <fil’-thi-nes>, <fil’-thi> ([ha;wOx, tso’ah], [ha;m]fu, Tum’ah];
[rJupo>w, rhupoo]): The word once translated “filth” in the Old Testament is tso’ah, “excrement” or “dung,” elsewhere translated “dung” (<230404>Isaiah 4:4, used figuratively of evil doings, sin, “the filth of the daughters of Zion”; compare <203012>Proverbs 30:12); in the New Testament we have perikatharma “cleansings” “sweepings,” offscourings (<460413>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 <230404>
Isaiah 4:4
(<600321>1 Peter 3:21, “the filth of the flesh”).
“Filthiness” is the translation of tum’ah, “uncleanness” (ritual,
Leviticus5:3; 7:20, etc.), used figuratively of moral impurity, translated
“filthiness” (Ezr 6:21; <250109>Lamentations 1:9; <262215>Ezekiel 22:15; 24:11,13 bis; 36:25); niddah, “impurity” (<142905>
2 Chronicles 29:5); figuratively (Ezr 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”) (<261636>Ezekiel 16:36);
aischrotes, primarily “ugliness,” tropical for unbecomingness, indecency (only <490504>Ephesians 5:4, “nor filthiness, nor foolish talking”; Alford has
“obscenity,” Weymouth, “shameful”); akathartes, “uncleanness”
(<661704>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 (<181516>Job 15:16 the King James Version; <191403>Psalm 14:3; 53:3); `iddim, plural of `iddah, from `adhadh, “to number or
compute (monthly courses)”; <236406>Isaiah 64:6, “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags,” the Revised Version (British and American) “as a polluted garment”; compare <263617>Ezekiel 36:17; aischros, “ugly,” tropical for unbecoming, shameful (<560111>
Titus 1:11, “for filthy lucre’s sake”; compare 1:7); shameful discourse aischrologia (<510308>Colossians 3:8 the King James Version); rhupoo, “filthy,” in a moral sense polluted (<662211>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
See FISH.
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 (<140305>2 Chronicles 3:5,8, “fine gold”;
compare <010212>
Genesis 2:12, “good”); fine gold (<250401>
Lamentations 4:1, the King James Version “most fine gold,” the Revised Version (British and American) “most pure gold,” literally, “good fine gold”), copper (Ezr
8:27, the Revised Version (British and American) “fine bright brass”);
Tabh, Aramaic (<270232>Daniel 2:32, “fine gold”).
(2) paz, “refined” (<220511>
Song of Solomon 5:11, “the most fine gold”).
(3) chelebh, “fatness,” “the best of any kind”; compare <014518>Genesis 45:18; <053214>Deuteronomy 32:14, etc. (<198116>Psalm 81:16, “the finest of the wheat,” the Revised Version, margin Hebrew “fat of wheat”).
(4) sariq, “fine combed” (<231909>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”
(<183124>
Job 31:24; <271005>
Daniel 10:5, the Revised Version (British and American)
“pure gold”); paz, used as a noun for refined gold (<182817>Job 28:17; <191910>Psalm 19:10; <200819>Proverbs 8:19; <231312>Isaiah 13:12; <250402>Lamentations 4:2); charuts,
“fine gold” (<200314>Proverbs 3:14; compare <196813>Psalm 68:13, “yellow gold”);
coleth, “flour,” rendered “fine flour,” rolled or crushed small (Leviticus2:1,4,5,7, etc.); semidalis, “the finest wheaten flour”
(<661813>Revelation 18:13); qemach coleth, “fine meal” (<011806>Genesis 18:6);
cadhin, “linen garment” (Septuagint sindon, <203124>Proverbs 31:24 the King James Version; <230323>Isaiah 3:23); shesh, “white,” “fine linen” (<014142>Genesis 41:42; <022504>Exodus 25:4, etc.); in <203122>Proverbs 31:22 the King James
Version has “silk”; sheshi (<261613>Ezekiel 16:13, “fine flour”); ‘eTun, “what is twisted or spun,” “yarn” (<200716>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” (<130421>
1 Chronicles 4:21; <262716>Ezekiel 27:16, etc.; <140512>2 Chronicles 5:12, King James Version “white,” the Revised Version (British and American) “fine”);
bussos, “byssus,” “linen” from buts Septuagint for which, <140214>2 Chronicles 2:14; 3:14), deemed very fine and precious, worn only by the rich (<421619>
Luke 16:19; <661812>Revelation 18:12); bussinos, “byssine” made of fine linen,
Septuagint for buts (<130502>1 Chronicles 5:27) (<661816>Revelation 18:16, “clothed in fine linen,” the Revised Version (British and American) “arrayed,”
<661908>
Revelation 19:8,14); sindon, “fine linen” (<410504>
Mark 5:46, “He bought fine linen,” the Revised Version (British and American) “a linen cloth”;
compare <411451>Mark 14:51,52; <402759>Matthew 27:59; <422353>Luke 23:53); it was used for wrapping the body at night, also for wrapping round dead bodies;
sindon is Septuagint for cadhin (<071412>
Judges 14:12,13; <203124>
Proverbs 31:24);
chalkolibanon (<660115>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 <271006>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 Macc 1:8, the Revised Version (British and
American) “meal offering”).
W. L. Walker FINER; FINING
<fin’-er>, <fin’-ing> (<202504>Proverbs 25:4 the King James Version).
See REFINER.
FINES
<finz>.
See PUNISHMENTS.
FINGER
<fin’-ger> (Hebrew and Aramaic [[B”x]a,, ‘etsba`]; [da>ktulov,
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 <200613>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, <101606>2 Samuel 16:6) are even now not infrequent in Palestine. The same habit is alluded to in
<235809>
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” (<200703>
Proverbs 7:3).
Figurative: In <111210>1 Kings 12:10 and <141010>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 [ˆf,qo, 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 (<190803>Psalm 8:3;
<421120>Luke 11:20), especially in His law (<020819>Exodus 8:19; 31:18;
<050910>Deuteronomy 9:10; compare <023215>Exodus 32:15,16).
The finger or digit as a linear measure is mentioned in <245221>
Jeremiah 52:21 (Greek daktulos; Josephus, Ant, VIII, in, 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
<fin’-ger> ([[B”x]a,, ‘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 (<245221>
Jeremiah 52:21).
See WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.
FINISH
<fin’-ish> ([hl;K;, kalah]; [tele>w, 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”
(<421428>Luke 14:28; <470806>2 Corinthians 8:6), “accomplish” (<430434>John 4:34; 5:36;
17:4), “made an end of doing” (<140411>
2 Chronicles 4:11; compare 24:14), etc.
In Jas 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”
(<010202>Genesis 2:2; <053130>Deuteronomy 31:30), “accomplished” (<431928>John
19:28), “filled up,” “fulfilled” (<661501>Revelation 15:1,8), etc. The grandest Scriptural example of the word is the cry upon the cross, “It is finished”
(Tetelestai, <431930>
John 19:30).
W. L. Walker FINISHER
<fin’-ish-er> ([teleiwth>v, teleiotes]): This word is applied to Jesus
(<581202>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, 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
<fur>, (the Revised Version, margin “cypress”; [vwOrB], berosh], <100605>2
Samuel 6:5; <110508>1 Kings 5:8,10, etc.; ([µytiwrB], berothem] (plural only), an Aramaic form, <220117>Song of Solomon 1:17):