Decree

VIEW:53 DATA:01-04-2020

DECREE.—What theologians speak of as the ‘decrees of God,’ and describe as one, immutable, eternal, all-embracing, free, etc., do not receive this designation in Scripture. The equivalents are to be sought for under such headings as Election, Predestination, Providence, Reprobate. In the EV [Note: English Version.] the term is frequently used in Esther, Ezra, Daniel, with different Heb. and Aram. [Note: Aramaic.] words, for royal decrees (in Dan_6:1-28 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘interdict’; in Dan_2:9 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘law,’ elsewhere ‘decree’). In the NT also the Gr. word dogmata is employed of decrees of Cæsar (Luk_2:1, Act_17:7); in Act_16:4 it is used of decrees of the Church; elsewhere (Eph_2:15, Col_2:20) it is tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘ordinances.’ The nearest approach to the theological sense of the term is, in OT, in the Heb. word hôk, ordinarily tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘statute,’ which is used in various places of God’s sovereign appointments in nature and providence (Job_28:26, Psa_148:6, Pro_8:29, Jer_5:22, Zep_2:2). The Hebrews had not the modern conception of ‘laws of nature,’ but they had a good equivalent in the idea of the world as ordered and founded by God’s decrees; as regulated by His ordinances (cf. Psa_104:5; Psa_104:9; Psa_119:88-91, Jer_10:12 ff.). The same word is used in Psa_2:7 of God’s ‘decree’ regarding His king; in Dan_4:17; Dan_4:24 (Aram. [Note: Aramaic.] ) we have ‘decree’ of ‘the watchers’ and ‘the most High.’
James Orr.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

Decree
(properly דָּתdath [Dan_2:9; Dan_2:13; Dan_2:15, elsewhere “law”], δόγμα [Luk_2:1; Act_16:4; Act_17:7, elsewhere “ordinance”], an edict; also גָּזִר, gazar' [Est_2:1, κρίνω [1Co_7:37, elsewhere usually “judge”], to determine; but represented by several other Heb. words), an official resolution passed by magisterial authority (see Crabbe's Engl. Synonymes, s.v.). Among the Orientals the enactments of the kings were proclaimed publicly by criers (Jer_34:8-9; Jon_3:5-7), who are designated in Daniel (Dan_3:4; Dan_5:29) by the term כָּרוֹזָא, karoza', the herald. They were made known in distant provinces, towns, and cities by messengers sent for that purpose (1Sa_11:7; Ezr_1:1; Amo_4:5). The message thus to be communicated in any town or city was publicly announced when the messenger had arrived in the gate of the city, or in some other public place. At Jerusalem it was announced in the Temple, where there were always a great many persons present. It was for the same reason that the prophets were accustomed to utter their prophecies in the Temple. SEE PROCLAMATION.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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