Neck

VIEW:24 DATA:01-04-2020

NECK.—The most usual words are ‘ôreph and tsavvâr in Heb., and trachçlos in Greek. Chains upon the neck were a common ornament (Pro_1:9 etc., Eze_16:11). To fall upon one another’s neck has from old time been an affectionate form of greeting in the East (Gen_33:4 etc.). The neck under yoke meant subjection and servitude (Deu_28:48 etc.); breaking of the yoke meant deliverance (Gen_27:40, Jer_30:8). Stiff or hard of neck (Deu_31:27 etc.) signified one difficult to guide, like a hard-necked bullock in the furrow. To put the foot upon the neck of a foe, meant his utter overthrow (Jos_10:24 etc.). To put the neck to work (Neh_3:5) was a phrase equivalent to our own ‘put a hand to.’
W. Ewing.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

"Lay down necks," i.e. risked their lives (Rom_16:4). Psa_18:40, "Thou hast given ... necks of enemies," i.e. made them turn their backs in flight before me (Keil); so Exo_23:27, or enabled me to put my foot on their necks, subjecting them utterly to me; as Jos_10:24; Jos_11:8; Jos_11:12; Psa_110:5. Isa_8:8, "he shall overflow, he shall reach even to the neck": when the waters reach the neck a man is near drowning; Sennacherib's overflowing hosts reached so far, but Jerusalem the head was not overflowed (Isa_30:28; Hab_3:13). The "stiff neck" is an image from oxen unpliant and casting the "yoke" off the neck (Act_7:51; Mat_11:29). Contrast the yoke men must wear who reject Christ's easy yoke (Deu_28:48).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.

nek (צוּר, cawwār, צוּאר, cawwā'r, צוּרן, cawwārōn, צוּארה, cawwā'rāh, Aramaic צוּי, cawwar (Dan_5:7, Dan_5:16, Dan_5:29), ערף, ‛ōreph, מפרקת, miphreḳeth (1Sa_4:18); νῶτος, nṓtos, ?back? (Baruch 2:33); occasionally the words גּרן, gārōn (Isa_3:16; Eze_16:11), and גּרגּרות, gargerōth, plural of gargārāh, literally, ?throat? (Pro_1:9; Pro_3:3, Pro_3:12; Pro_6:21), are translated ?neck?): The neck is compared with a tower for beauty (Son_4:4; Son_7:4) and is decorated with necklaces and chains (Pro_1:9; Pro_3:3, Pro_3:12; Pro_6:21, Hebrew gargerōth; Eze_16:11, Hebrew gārōn, ?throat?; Dan_5:7, Dan_5:16, Dan_5:29, Hebrew cawwār). It is also the part of the body where the yoke, emblem of labor and hardship, dependence and subjection, is borne (Deu_28:48; Jer_27:8, Jer_27:11, Jer_27:12; Jer_28:14; Act_15:10). ?To shake off the yoke,? ?to break the yoke,? or ?to take it off? is expressive of the regaining of independence and liberty, either by one's own endeavors or through help from outside (Gen_27:40; Isa_10:27; Jer_28:11; Jer_30:8). Certain animals which were not allowed as food (like the firstborn which were not redeemed) were to be killed by having their necks (‛ōreph) broken (Exo_13:13; Exo_34:20); the turtle-doves and young pigeons, which were sacrificed as sin offerings or as burnt offerings, had their heads wrung or pinched off from their necks (Lev_5:8). In 1Sa_4:18 the Hebrew word miphreḳeth signifies a fracture of the upper part of the spinal column caused by a fall.
It was a military custom of antiquity for the conqueror to place his foot upon the vanquished. This custom, frequently represented in sculpture on many an Egyptian temple wall, is referred to in Jos_10:24; Baruch 4:25 and probably in Rom_16:20 and Psa_110:1. Paul praises the devotion of Aquila and Priscilla, ?who for my life laid down their own necks? (Rom_16:4). See FOOTSTOOL.
To ?fall on the neck? of a person is a very usual mode of salutation in the East (Gen_33:4; Gen_45:14; Gen_46:29; Tobit 11:9, 13; Luk_15:20; Act_20:37). In moments of great emotion such salutation is apt to end in weeping on each other's neck.
Readiness for work is expressed by ?putting one's neck to the work? (Neh_3:5). Severe punishment and calamity are said to ?reach to the neck? (Isa_8:8; Isa_30:28).
The Lord Jesus speaks of certain persons for whom it were better to have had a millstone put around the neck and to have been drowned in the sea. The meaning is that even the most disgraceful death is still preferable to a life of evil influence upon even the little ones of God's household (Mat_18:6; Mar_9:42; Luk_17:2).
To ?make the neck stiff,? to ?harden the neck? indicates obstinacy often mingled with rebellion (Exo_32:9; Exo_33:3, Exo_33:5; Exo_34:9; 2Ch_30:8; 2Ch_36:13; Neh_9:16, Neh_9:17, Neh_9:29; Psa_75:5 (the Revised Version margin ?insolently with a haughty neck?); Pro_29:1; Jer_7:26). Compare σκληροτράχηλος, sklērotráchēlos, ?stiffnecked? (Act_7:51). Similarly Isaiah (Isa_48:4) speaks of the neck of the obstinate sinner as resembling an iron sinew.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.

Gen_27:40 (b) Here we find a type of the position of servitude. The yoke on the neck indicates subjection to another. The yoke broken from the neck indicates deliverance from the condition of servitude. (See Deu_28:48; Jer_28:10; Jer_30:8; Act_15:10).

2Ch_36:13 (b) In this passage, as in many others, the stiff neck, or the hard neck, represents a rebellious spirit which refuses to bow to the will of GOD. It is equivalent to the expression we use about the horse, who "takes the bit in his teeth." The horse refuses to be guided by the driver. So there are those who refuse to be guided by the Lord, either in their faith or in their practices. (See also Psa_75:5; Isa_48:4; Jer_17:23).

Pro_29:1 (a) That person who refuses to listen to GOD's Word, and rejects the guidance of the Spirit will be surely punished by GOD.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.

Neck
(usually עֹרֶŠ, o'reph, as Gen_49:8; Lev_5:8; often צִוָּאר, tsavvar', as Gen_27:16; and same in Chald., as Dan_5:7; once the plur. cognate צִוְּרֹנַים, Son_4:9; also, garo n', prop. throat, Isa_3:16; or the plur. cognate, גִּרְגְּרוֹן, Pro_3:22; once מִפְרֶקֶת, maphre'keth, 1Sa_4:18; Gr. τράχηλος), a part of the human frame used by the sacred writers with considerable variety and freedom in figurative expressions, though seldom in such a way as to occasion difficulty to a modern reader. With reference to the graceful ornament which a fine neck gives, especially to the female form, it is said of the spouse in the Canticles, "Thy neck is like the tower of David, builded for an armory" (Son_4:4); or, as it is again, "like a tower of ivory" (Son_7:4). The neck, however, being that part of the body through which in man, and still more in the lower animals, the life is frequently destroyed, it is sometimes taken as the representative of the animal life; hence "to lay down the neck" (Rom_16:4) is a strong expression for hazarding one's life; to "give one the necks of one's enemies" (2Sa_22:41) was to surrender their life into his hands; also "to reach even to the neck," or "to the midst of the neck" (Isa_8:8; Isa_30:28), was to approach the point of overwhelming destruction, which, in Hab_3:13, takes the peculiar form of "discovering the foundation to the neck" — the allusion in the last passage being to the foundation of a house, which is like the neck upon which the head rests. But by much the most common reference was to beasts of burden, which bore upon their neck the yoke whereby they did service, and as such were viewed as emblems of men in their relation either to a good or a bad, to a true or a false service. Christ invites all to "take up his yoke" (upon their neck understood), in other words, to yield themselves obediently to his authority (Mat_11:29); and a stiff or hardened neck is a familiar expression for an unpliant, rebellious spirit. In the contrary direction, many passages in the prophets convey threatenings of coming judgment by the hands of enemies under the form of laying bands or yokes upon the people's necks (Deu_28:48; Isa_10:27; Jer_27:2). Hence putting the feet on the neck is a usual expression in the East for triumphing over a fallen foe. In the numerous battle-scenes depicted on the monuments of ancient Egypt and Assyria, we see the monarchs frequently represented treading on the necks of their enemies; and a similar practice obtained among the Hebrews. When Joshua had conquered the five kings, he said unto the captains of the men of war which went with him, Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings.
And they came near, and put their feet upon the necks of them" (Jos_10:24; comp. 2Sa_22:41). In India, when people are disputing, should one be a little pressed, and the other begin to triumph, the former will say, "I will tread upon thy neck, and after that beat thee." A low caste man insulting one who is high is sure to hear some one say to the offended individual, "Put your feet on his neck." Nor was this custom peculiar to the East: Quintus Curtius, relating the particulars of a single combat between Dioxippus, an Athenian, and Horratus, a Macedonian, says that, in the end, the former, closing with the latter, struck up his heels, and threw him with great violence on the ground; then. after taking his sword from him, he set his foot upon his neck, and was about to dash out his brains, when the king (Alexander) interposed his authority to prevent him. SEE TRIUMPH.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

FACEBOOK

Participe de nossa rede facebook.com/osreformadoresdasaude

Novidades, e respostas das perguntas de nossos colaboradores