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 <090301>1 Samuel 3:1; 28:6; <141503>
2 Chronicles 15:3; <260726>
Ezekiel 7:26; <330306>
Micah 3:6); by Zephaniah of the destruction of heathen deities (2:11).
The Revised Version (British and American) has “dearth” for “famine”
(<180522>Job 5:22); “famine” for “dearth” (<014154>Genesis 41:54b; <140628>2 Chronicles
6:28; <440711>Acts 7:11; 11:28); for “hunger” (<243809>Jeremiah 38:9; <263429>Ezekiel 34:29; <660608>Revelation 6:8); “famines” for “famines and pestilences”
(<402407>Matthew 24:7), “famines and troubles” (<411308>Mark 13:8), revised texts.
W. L. Walker FAMISH
<fam’-ish> [b[er;, ra`ebh], [hz;r;, razah]): “To famish” as a transitive verb
is the translation of ra`ebh, “to hunger” (<014155>Genesis 41:55): “All the land of Egypt was famished”; of ra`abh, “hunger” (<230513>Isaiah 5:13), “Their honorable men are famished,” margin “Hebrew their glory are men of famine”; of razah, “to make lean,” “famish” (<360211>Zephaniah 2:11), “For he will famish all the gods of the earth”; it is intransitive as the translation of ra`ebh (<201003>
Proverbs 10:3), “Yahweh will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish.”
FAN, FANNER
<fan’-er>: The word “fan” occurs 3 times only in the American Standard Revised Version (<241507>Jeremiah 15:7; <400312>Matthew 3:12; <420317>Luke 3:17). In
<233024>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 <234116>Isaiah 41:16;
<240411>Jeremiah 4:11; 15:7, the verb zarah is rendered “winnow” in the
American Standard Revised Version. In <245102>Jeremiah 51:2, the Revised Version (British and American) substitutes “strangers” for “fanners.”
FANCY
<fan’-si> ([fanta>zw, phantazo], “to cause to appear,” “show”): In Ecclesiasticus 34:5, “And the heart fancieth, as a woman’s in travail”
(compare The Wisdom of Solomon 6:16; <581221>Hebrews 12:21).
FAR; FARTHER
<far>, <far’-ther>: “Far” (adj.), distant, remote; (advb.) widely removed, is most frequently in the Old Testament the translation of [qwOjr;, rachoq], and in the New Testament of [makra>n, 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. (<011825>Genesis 18:25; <090230>1 Samuel 2:30; 20:9; 22:15;
<102020>2 Samuel 20:20; 23:17; <183410>Job 34:10). Besides its literal sense, distance
in a spiritual sense is expressed by “far,” as “Salvation is far from the wicked” (<19B9155>
Psalm 119:155; compare <201529>
Proverbs 15:29), “far from righteousness” (<234612>Isaiah 46:12), “not far from the kingdom of God”
(<411234>Mark 12:34), etc. For “far” the Revised Version (British and
American) has “aloof” in <183010>Job 30:10; in several places the word in the King James Version is omitted (<070917>
Judges 9:17; <192709>
Psalm 27:9; <231906>
Isaiah 19:6; 26:15; <411334>Mark 13:34); “a far country” is changed to “another”
(<402133>Matthew 21:33; 25:14; <411334>Mark 13:34), etc. For “God forbid” the
Revised Version (British and American) has “far be it,” “far be it from me”
(<480614>Galatians 6:14; in the American Standard Revised Version, <014407>Genesis
44:7,17; <091223>1 Samuel 12:23; <182705>Job 27:5, etc.).
The comparative “farther” occurs only once in the Old Testament
(<210817>Ecclesiastes 8:17), and thrice in the New Testament (<402639>Matthew
26:39; <410119>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” (<233724>
Isaiah 37:24), and “his farthest lodging- place” for “the lodgings of his borders” (<121923>2 Kings 19:23).
W. L. Walker FAR HOUSE
The marginal explanation in the Revised Version (British and American) of Beth-merhak ([qj;r]M, tyBe, beth ha-merchaq], “house of distance”), which is given in the text of <101517>2 Samuel 15:17 instead of “a place that was far off.”
See BETH-MERHAK.
FARE
<far>: Occurs twice in the Old Testament as the translation of two Hebrew words, [µwOlv;, shalom], “peace,” “prosperity,” “completeness” (<091718>1 Samuel 17:18), found in the section on David’s family history omitted by the Septuagint translators, and [rk;c;, sakhar], “hire,” “reward,”
Septuagint [nau~olon, naulon], “passage-money,” “fare” (<320103>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, [kako>w, kakoo], “fare evil” (the Revised Version (British and American) “fare ill”), Sirach 3:26; [ejlatto>w, elattoo], “fare worse”
(the Revised Version (British and American) “suffer loss”), 32:24;
[rJw>nnumi, rhonnumi], “be strong,” “prosper,” in 2 pers. (singular) imperat. ([e]rrwso, err(h)oso]) or plural ([e]rrwsqe, 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 Macc 9:20; 11:21,28, etc.).
Compare <441529>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 (<421619>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 [eujfrai>nomai, euphrainomai], “be merry,” and occurs 14 times in the New Testament, 10 in a good sense (<421523>Luke 15:23,14,29,32, all referring to the merry-making over the return of the lost son; <440226>Acts 2:26, translation of Hebrew [jm”c;, samach], “be glad”; <451510>
Romans 15:10, translation of Hebrew [hn;r;, ranah], “to sing”; <470202>2 Corinthians 2:2; <480427>Galatians 4:27, translation of Hebrew [hn;r;, ranah], “to sing”;
<661212>Revelation 12:12; 18:20); 4 in a bad, or less favorable, sense (<421219>Luke
12:19; 16:19; <440741>Acts 7:41; <661110>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” (<421619>
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 <421619>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 [lamprw~v, lampros],
“sumptuously,” shows that the rich man’s manner of living was “brilliant,”
“magnificent.” the Revised Version (British and American) has “fare” for
“do” (<441536>Acts 15:36), “fared” for “did” (<101107>2 Samuel 11:7), “hath fared”
for “was” (<013029>Genesis 30:29).
Charles B. Williams FAREWELL
<far-wel’> ([cai>rw, 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 [ejrjrJwso, err(h)oso], “Be strong,” imperative of [rJw>nnumi, rhonnumi],
“to make strong” (<441529>
Acts 15:29; 23:30 the King James Version; see the Revised Version, margin; 2 Macc 11:21); once [cai>rete, chairete]
(imperative of [cai>rw, chairo]), “Rejoice!” (<471311>2 Corinthians 13:11, the Revised Version, margin “Rejoice: be perfected”).
(2) As equivalent to our saying “good-bye,” it represents the Greek [ajpota>ssomai, apotassomai], “to separate one’s self,” “to take leave,”
“to bid farewell” (<420961>Luke 9:61, “to bid farewell to them that are at my house”; <441821>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>: <402205>Matthew 22:5 is the only passage where [ajgro>v, 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
<far’-thing>: The rendering of two words in the Greek of the New Testament, [ajssa>rion, assarion], and [kodra>nthv, 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 <400526>Matthew 5:26 and <411242>Mark 12:42, while assarion, which occurs in <401029>
Matthew 10:29 and <421206>
Luke 12:6, is rendered “penny” by the American Standard Revised Version.
FASHION
<fash’-un> ([fP;v]mi, mishpaT]; [sch~ma, 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 (<022630>Exodus 26:30; <110638>1 Kings 6:38; <264211>Ezekiel 42:11).
(2) Tekhunah = literally, “arrangement,” “adjustment” (compare [takhan],
“to set right,” “adjust,” from kun, hekhin, “to set up,” “establish”);
<264311>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 <121610>
2 Kings 16:10, where it means pattern or model. The verb “to fashion”
stands for
(a) yatsar, “to form,” “fashion” (<193315>Psalm 33:15; 139:16 the King James Version; <232211>Isaiah 22:11 the King James Version; <234412>Isaiah 44:12; 45:9);
(b) `asah, “to work,” “make,” “form” (<181008>
Job 10:8);
(c) kun, “to set up,” “establish,” “prepare” (<183115>Job 31:15; <19B973>Psalm 119:73; <261607>Ezekiel 16:7);
(d) tsur, “to bind up together,” “compress” (<023204>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 [scei~n, schein], aorist of [e]cein, 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 [morfh>, morphe], which denotes the essential intrinsic form of a thing, expressing its real nature. (See Lightfoot, Detached Note on Philippians 2;
Trench, New Testament Syn., 252 ff; Gifford, Incarnation, 22 ff. The distinction is rejected by Meyer, on <451202>Romans 12:2, and by others.) In the New Testament, the noun schema occurs but twice: <460731>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 Macc 4:13); and <502308>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,”
<501706>Philippians 2:6, and morphe doulou, “form of servant,” 2:7, which
describe Christ’s real inner nature). The word schema is found in compound verbs in the following passages: <451202>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.); <471113>
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); <600114>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 <500321>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) [Ei+dov, Eioos, eidos], literally, “thing seen,” “external appearance,”
“shape,” is translated “fashion” in <420929>Luke 9:29, of the glorified appearance of the transfigured Christ.
(3) [Pro>swpon, prosopon], literally, “face,” hence, look, appearance, Jas 1:11, “The grace of the fashion of it perisheth.”
(4) [Tu>pov, tupos], type, model, translated “fashion” in <440744>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,
<022540>Exodus 25:40. The same phrase, kata ton tupon, in the parallel passage,
<580805>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 [ou]twv, houtos], “thus” (<410212>Mark 2:12).
D. Miall Edwards
FAST; FASTING
<fast>, <fast’-ing> ([µWx, tsum]; [hN;[I vp,b,, `innah nephesh], “afflict
soul or self,” i.e. practice self-denial; [nhstei>a, nesteia], [nhsteu>ein, 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” (<090107>1 Samuel 1:7). Violent anger produces the same effect
(<092034>1 Samuel 20:34). According to <112104>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 (<100335>2 Samuel 3:35) by fasting, just as the Psalmist indicated his sympathy with his adversaries’ sorry plight in the same way (<193513>Psalm 35:13). In such passages as Ezr 10:6; <160403>
Nehemiah 4:3, it is not clear whether fasting is used in its religious significance or simply as a natural expression of sorrow (compare also <420533>Luke 5:33 and see below). This view explains the
association of fasting with the mourning customs of antiquity (compare
<093113>1 Samuel 31:13; <100112>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 <101216>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 <112127>1 Kings 21:27; Ezr 8:21; <160416>Nehemiah 4:16). Occasionally fasting was proclaimed on a national scale, e.g. in case of war (<072026>Judges 20:26;
<142003>
2 Chronicles 20:3) or of pestilence (<290113>
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 (<072026>Judges 20:26; <091424>1 Samuel 14:24; <100112>2 Samuel 1:12; 3:35). In
<093113>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
(<271003>Daniel 10:3). Moses (<023428>Exodus 34:28) and Elijah (<111908>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