Concordances

1. Concordances

2. Bible Atlases • Should provide maps sufficiently detailed • To accurately plot historic sites • To give the names as they appeared in Bible times • To show ancient roads & highways & places of importance.

3. Bible Atlases • Should clearly mark geographical features, but not so as to crowd the text on a given page. • Longitude and latitude should show the location of places in terms of degrees from the Equator and the Prime Meridian.

4. Bible Atlases • By means of an atlas you will be able to • Locate as nearly as possible the places made famous by those living in Bible times • Trace the movements of peoples and armies • Understand the significance of events mentioned in the Bible

5. Bible Atlases The Zondervan NiVAtlas of the Bible by Carl G. Rasmussen (1989) is a work with many excellent features. Replete with colorful maps by Carta of Jerusalem, the reader soon becomes aware of the fact that this work is in reality an historical geography of the lands of the Bible. This does not detract from its value, but only serves to warn the beginning Bible student that not everything with the word “atlas” in the title is in reality an atlas. The biblical text used throughout this atlas is the New International Version (MV), but this does little to improve the overall worth of this work. The value of what Rasmussen wrote lies in his eye-witness report of the geographic features of the Holy Land coupled with a masterful description of different historic events that took place at these sites. The result is an “atlas” that lends itself to being read through from cover to cover. Used in this way, the benefit to the user will be great.

6. Bible Atlases • The Macmillan Bible Atlas was edited by Y. Aharoni and M. Avi-Yonah—two Jewish scholars of international repute. The revised third edition (1993) is the work of A. F. Rainey and Z. Safrai. MBA is a work of rare excellence, containing maps identifying biblical sites and events; and inasmuch as it follows the chronology of the Bible (though some of the dating is questionable), it may be used to good effect when ever one is studying an historical book of either the Old or New Testa ment. Concentration is on the Holy Land, and so it evidences a lack when it comes to treating the expansion of the early Church. In spite of this limitation, MBA quickly grows on the user until it becomes one of the first sources (if not the first) the researcher reaches for whenever trying to locate where an event took place.

7. Bible Atlases The Moody Atlas of the Bible by Barry J. Beitzel (1985) is a work of considerable erudition. It begins appropriately with an extensive section on “The Physical Geography of the Holy Land,” and this is followed by informative discussions of “The Historical Geography of the Holy Land” and “The History of Biblical Mapmaking.” Colored maps, plates and pictures further enhance this excellent work. Coverage extends to both Testaments, the Old as well as the New.

8. Bible Atlases By means of an atlas you will be able to locate as nearly as possible the places made famous by those living in Bible times (e.g., Shechem, Bethel, Shiloh, Mizpah, Zion, Ephesus, Troas [ Troy], Athens, Corinth, Rome, and the islands of the Mediterranean visited by the Apostle Paul during his travels), and trace the movements of peoples and armies (e.g., the mute of the Exodus, the settlement of the twelve tribes in Canaan, and attacks upon Jerusalem by Syrians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyp tians, Romans). And you will also come to understand the significance of events mentioned in the Bible (e.g., the routing of Sisera’s army, Judges chap. 4; the location of Joppa, Tarshish and Nineveh in the Bookof Jonah; the close proximity of Bethpage and Bethany to the Mount of Olives, Luke 19:29), and a host of other details.

9. Bible Atlases • While you need accuracy for your own study, be aware of aids that can assist you in your communication of this kind of information to Bible classes. • Manna Bible Maps (Power Point) • Then and Now Bible Maps (also have a Power Point version)

10. Concordances • Use and Misuse • 1) To locate a verse in the Bible. • Not a misuse, but there are far more valuable uses of the tool. • 2) To collect disconnected statements which without discrimination are arbitrarily woven into a doctrinal framework. • At best is an abuse of the purpose of the tool.

11. Concordances • Proper Uses • 1) To determine the true meaning of words. • May be done more surely by concordance than by lexicon; word meanings are to be determined more through usage than definition. • A foreign student, wishing to pay high respect to an American teacher, addressed him in a letter, “August and awful Sir!”

12. Concordances • Proper Uses • Dictionary definitions on which he depended may have contained the desired meaning, but usage gives those words an entirely different connotation. • An illustration of this principle in a study of the term “Son of man.” • Obvious meaning would seem to be the true humanity of Jesus.

13. Concordances • Proper Uses • An illustration of this principle in a study of the term “Son of man.” • Study of term by means of concordance, however, revises this original conception and replaces it with a messianic meaning. • Term is J’s favorite designation of himself, used with far greater frequency. • Further, in the Gospels it is used by Jesus only (one exception when enemies ask what he means by it).

14. Concordances • Proper Uses • An illustration of this principle in a study of the term “Son of man.” • Many of passages in which Jesus uses the title are those in which he is making exalted claims for himself. • Is used only 3 times outside the Gospels—in Acts by Stephen with messianic meaning and twice in Revelation where it has exalted significance.

16. Concordances • Proper Uses • An illustration of this principle in a study of the term “Son of man.” • Where did it come from? Concordance takes you back to the Psalms, Ezekiel and Daniel. • NT usage suggests a strong affinity to Daniel’s usage, where the one with this title is given an “everlasting dominion” that “all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.”

17. Concordances • Proper Uses • 2) For the enriching of word meanings. • II Cor. 5:14 Paul writes that “the love of Christ constraineth us.” • Strongest lexical meaning given for “constrain” is “to urge, impel.” • Survey of usage elsewhere in NT points to a richer meaning. • The seizure of a dread disease (Lk. 4:38) • The overwhelming force of the pressure of a great throng of people (Lk. 8:45).

18. Concordances • Proper Uses • 2) For the enriching of word meanings. • The inescapable ring of force which closes in on a besieged city (Lk. 19:43). • The tight clutch with which a prisoner is held (Lk. 22:63). • What did it mean for P. to be “constrained” by the love of Christ? It meant he was caught up by a mighty energy equal to those described above.

19. Concordances • Proper Uses • 3) To distinguish the fine shades of meaning in synonyms translated by the same English word. • A reader of the KJV might be perplexed by Paul’s statement in Gal. 1:6-7 about “another gospel, which is not another.” • Without Greek knowledge, he could determine (e.g., from Young’s Analytical Concordance) that two different words are translated by the English word “another.”

22. Concordances • Proper Uses • Following the two words through the concordance, he would find that in many cases no distinction in meaning is made. • But where they are used in juxtaposition, or with distinct meanings, one means “another of a different kind” whereas the other means “another of the same kind.” • Translations may help, but the meaning may be made even clearer by tracing shades of meaning through the concordance.

23. Concordances • Proper Uses • 4) For studying the distinctive truths of any particular book of the Bible. • One can readily discover the importance which any great truth assumes in any book by noting the relative frequency of the occurrence of the words which express it. • The idea of faith in the Gospel of John is an example. • One might be surprised to find the noun “faith” is not found, but the verb “to believe” is used 100 times.

25. Concordances • Proper Uses • 4) For studying the distinctive truths of any particular book of the Bible. • In comparison with 19 occurrences of both noun and verb in Matthew, 20 in Mark, and 20 in Luke, John’s 100 uses of the word show how important belief is in his gospel. • The exclusive use of the verb tells us that to John faith is an activity, not a concept. • To understand it better, one studies the context of each passage listed.

27. Concordances • Proper Uses • 5) To trace the growth of an idea through the Bible. • Would involve tracing the word which best conveys the idea, and related words, first through the OT, and then through the NT. • An involved process. • An example of this: J. B. Lightfoot’s “On the Meaning of Pleroma,” in Saint Paul’s Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon.

28. Concordances • Proper Uses • 6) To make a character study. • Nearly every concordance has a section which lists all the leading characters of the Bible in each instance where their names are mentioned. • To spot those instances, to study the circumstances surrounding each one, to survey the interrelations of other characters, makes Bible characters come to life.

29. Concordances • Proper Uses • 7) To interpret the significance of outstanding place which for one reason or another became the centers of outstanding events. • Places sometime assume more than geographical importance; they become symbols of spiritual significance. • For example, trace references to the city of Shechem.

30. Concordances • Proper Uses • There Abraham raised his first altar. • There Jacob rededicated himself to God upon his return to Canaan. • There Joseph had gone to find his brothers when he was sold into slavery. • There that the Israelites stopped and held a solemn ceremony after entering the promised land. • Is it any wonder that Joseph instructed that his bones be buried there?

31. Concordances • For independent, first hand Bible study, a good concordance may be the most indispensable tool. • Questions answered by concordance use— • What is the relative frequency or infrequency of a word or idea? • In what areas of the Bible is it used most frequently? • What are the interrelations of thought which gather around it?

32. Concordances • Questions answered concordance use— • Is there any discernible growth in the idea? • How does it point forward to Christ? • What light does Christ cast back on it?

33. Concordances • Advice • Avoid an abridged concordance. • Use a concordance based on the translation you are using. • All modern concordances owe a debt to the past; it is helpful to have an understanding of the leading tools of the recent past so as to be aware of the strengths upon which contemporary compilers have relied.

34. Concordances • Advice • Important to understand that publishers occasionally display some semantic elasticity in hawking their concordance wares. • The three principal terms are “analytical,” “exhaustive,” and “complete.”

35. Concordances • Analytical • An analytical concordance is one in which the words of the translated Bible are presented alphabetically, with passages in which each term occurs being apportioned under the respective Hebrew or Greek words underlying the term.

36. Young’s Analytical

37. Concordances • Exhaustive • An exhaustive concordance is one that lists passages in sequence under a headword, without classifying under the various original terms and in some way accounts for every occurrence of a word in the translation, including the word “if” and other frequently used conjunctions, relatives, and particles.

40. Concordances • Complete • A complete concordance is one in which every word is cited and at least one passage is indicated for a word, as is the case especially for words that occur hundreds or thousands of times. • When in doubt, read the preface. • In the case of reprints that lack detailed editorial information, caveat emptor, “buyer beware.”

41. Concordances • Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible • Based on text of the AV • Form of the different Greek & Hebrew words accompany the English word • Provides ready reference to each passage in which that word appears, making it easy to study words like “faith,” “love,” and “obedience.”

42. Concordances • Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible • The arrangement also show how different Heb & GK words have translated by a single English word (e.g., “lord,” “sleep,” “son,” “will.” • The flexibility as well as the precision of the original languages is thus readily evident. • Included at the end is a handy lexicon to words appearing in the Old & New Testaments.

43. Concordances • Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible • Also based on the AV • Format established by Strong has set a standard of excellence for accuracy and completeness. • Unique feature: against each entry there is a number directing the researcher to a Hebrew or Greek index at the back that contains information about the word used and its meaning(s).

44. Concordances • Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible • E.g., under “offering” a number is indicated: 4503. Lower down, another number is given: 8641. • References to 4503 & 8641 in the “Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary” at the back will give you the meaning(s) of each word. • Greek words can be traced in the same way.

45. Concordances • Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible • what this means is that with little technical knowledge of the biblical languages, you may have access to the learning of others. • Tools like the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament and the Logos Library System on CD-ROM have been coded to Strong’s Concordance.

46. Concordances • R. L. Thomas, New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible • Patterned after Strong’s • Illustrative of the new works available today • Lists every word which may be used to locate a verse in the NASB & also notes the Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek word from which the English is translated. • 10 yrs of work went into the work & computers were used to compile an alphabetical listing of words and frequencies.

47. Concordances • R. L. Thomas, New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible • As with Strong’s, the Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek dictionaries are included at the back. • They have been arranged in such a way that those lacking a knowledge of the original languages may nevertheless be appraised of the root form of the word, the frequency of its occurrence, and its meaning(s).

48. Concordances • George V. Wigram, The Englishman’s Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance of the Old Testament • Arranged by Hebrew word, this work lists passages in the OT containing the term with its translation in the KJV • Because it is the usage of the word that determines its meaning, and because language is always changing, by using a concordance you will be able to

49. Concordances • George V. Wigram, The Englishman’s Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance of the Old Testament • By using a concordance you will be able to • Assess the general meaning of a given word • Tie in its usage with different writers and/or eras of history (e.g., Mosaic period, united or divided monarchy, early or later prophets)

50. Concordances • Solomon Mandelkern, Veteris testamenti concordantiae Habraicae atque Chaldaicae • Contains citations according to sense, proper placement of entries misplaced under false roots, corrections of grammatical confusions, and the addition of hapax legomena omitted in previous works. • If beginning student only uses the biblical references at side of each citation, study will be enhanced.