Meadow
Meadow
a term used in the A. V. as the translation of two Hebrews words, neither of which seems to have this meaning, although terms otherwise rendered doubtless have. SEE ABEL.
1. Gen 41:2; Gen 41:18. Here the word in the original is (with the definite article), ha-Achu. It appears to be an Egyptian term, literally transferred into the Hebrew text, as it is also into that of the Alexandrian translators, who give it as’ . (This is the reading- of Codex A. Codex B, if we may accept the edition of Mai, has ; so also the rendering of Aquila and Symmachus, and of Josephus [Ant. 2:5, 5]. Another version, quoted in the fragments of the Hexapla, attempts to reconcile sound and sense by . The Veneto-Greek has .) The same form is retained. by the Coptic version. Its use in Job 8:11(A.V. flag)-where it occurs as a parallel to gome (A.V. rush), a word used in Exo 2:3 for the bulrushes of which Moses’s ark was composed- seems to show that it is not a meadow, but some kind of reed or water plant. This the Sept. supports, both by rendering in. the latter passage , and also by introducing as the equivalent of the word rendered paper reeds in Isa 19:7. Jerome, in his commentary on the passage, also confirms this meaning. He states that he was informed by learned Egyptians that the word achi denoted in their tongue any green thing that grew in a marsh-omne quod in palude virens nascitur. But, as during high inundations of the Nile-such inundation’s as are the cause of fruitful years-the whole of the land on either side is a marsh, and as the cultivation extends up to the very lip of the river, is it not possible that Achu may denote the herbage of the growing crops? The fact that the cows of Pharaoh’s vision were feeding there would seem to be as strong a figure as could be presented to an Egyptian of the extreme fruitfulness of the season: so luxuriant was the growth on either side of the stream, that the very cows fed among it unmolested. The lean kine on the other hand, merely stand on the dry brink. SEE NILE, No one appears yet to -have attempted to discover on the spot what the Signification of the term is. SEE REED.
2. Jdg 20:33 only: the meadows of Gibeah. Here the word is , Maareh’, which occurs nowhere else with the same vowels attached to it. The sense is thus doubly uncertain. Meadows around Gibeah can certainly never have existed: the nearest approach to that sense would be to take maareh as meaning an open plain. This is the dictum of Gesenius (Thesaur. p. 1069), on the authority of the Targum. It is also adopted by De Wette ( Die Plane von G.). But, if an open plain, where could the ambush have concealed itself? SEE PLAIN.
The Sept., according to the Alex. MS. (the Vatican Codex transfers the word literally- ), read a different Hebrew word from the west of Gibeah. Tremellius, taking the root of the word in a figurative sense, reads after Gibeah had been left open, i.e. by the quitting of its inhabitants-post denudationem Gibhoe. This is adopted by Bertheau (Kurzgef. Handb. ad loc.). But the most plausible interpretation is that of the Peshito-Syriac, which by a slight difference in the vowel- points makes the word , the cave; a suggestion quite in keeping with the locality, which is very suitable for caves, and also with the requirements of the ambush. The only thing that can be said against this is that the liers-in-wait were set round about Gibeah, as if not in one spot, but several. SEE GIBEAH.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Meadow
(1.) Heb. ha’ahu (Gen. 41:2, 18), probably an Egyptain word transferred to the Hebrew; some kind of reed or water-plant. In the Revised Version it is rendered “reed-grass”, i.e., the sedge or rank grass by the river side.
(2.) Heb. ma’areh (Judg. 20:33), pl., “meadows of Gibeah” (R.V., after the LXX., “Maareh-geba”). Some have adopted the rendering “after Gibeah had been left open.” The Vulgate translates the word “from the west.”
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Meadow
Gen 41:2. Achu; an Egyptian word, akh akh, “verdant,” translated therefore rather “in the reed grass.” So Job 8:11 “rush,” the paper reed or papyrus of the Nile; “can the achu grow without water?” The fat kine fed on the reed grass which in the plenteous years grew to the very margin of the water, but the lean stood on the dry “brink” (Gen 41:2-3). “Out of the meadows of Gibeah” (Jdg 20:38): ma’areeh; rather, “from the naked (from ‘arah ‘to strip of trees) plains of Gibeah.” Not that the treeless plain was the hiding place of the ambush, but when the men broke from the ambush they came “from the treeless plain toward the town.” The Peshito Syriac, reads the vowel points slightly different, me’arah, “the cave.”
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Meadow
MEADOW.This word disappears from RV [Note: Revised Version.] in the only two places where it is found in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] (Gen 41:2; Gen 41:18, Jdg 20:33). In the former passages the Heb. reads ch, an Egyptian word which probably means reed grass (RV [Note: Revised Version.] ), and may possibly cover the natural pasture lands of old Egypt. It occurs again in Job 8:11 (EV [Note: English Version.] rush, RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] papyrus). In Jdg 20:33, where RV [Note: Revised Version.] simply transliterates Maareh-geba, it is practically certain that we should read maarab, and translate from the west of Gibeah; see Gibeah, No. 2. In RV [Note: Revised Version.] meadows stands for rth (Isa 19:7, AV [Note: Authorized Version.] paper reeds), where it is possible that rth may be a misreading for chth.
W. Ewing.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Meadow
medo: (1) , aroth, the meadows (the King James Version paper reeds) by the Nile (Isa 19:7); , maareh-gabha, the King James Version meadows of Gibeah, the Revised Version (British and American) Maareh-geba, the Revised Version margin the meadow of Geba, or Gibeah (Jdg 20:33); from , arah, to be naked; compare Arabic ariya, to be naked, ara’a’, a bare tract of land. Aroth and maareh signify tracts bare of trees. (2) , ‘ahu, in Pharaoh’s dream of the kine, the King James Version meadow, the Revised Version (British and American) reed grass (Gen 41:2, Gen 41:18). ‘Ahu is found also in Job 8:11, the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) flag, the Revised Version margin reed-grass. According to Gesenius, ‘ahu is an Egyptian word denoting the vegetation of marshy ground. (3) , ‘abhel keramm, Abel-cheramim, the Revised Version margin The meadow of vineyards, the King James Version the plain (the King James Version margin, Abel) of the vineyards (Jdg 11:33); Abel-beth-maacah (1Ki 15:20; 2Ki 15:29; compare 2Sa 20:14, 2Sa 20:15, 2Sa 20:18); Abel-shittim (Num 33:49; compare Num 25:1; Jos 2:1; Jos 3:1; Jdg 7:22; Joe 3:18; Mic 6:5); Abel-meholah (Jdg 7:22; 1Ki 4:12; 1Ki 19:16); Abel-maim (2Ch 16:4); Abel-mizraim (Gen 50:11); stone, the King James Version Abel, the Revised Version margin Abel, that is a meadow (1Sa 6:18); compare Arabic ‘abal, green grass, and ‘abalat, unhealthy marshy ground, from wabal, to rain.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Meadow
Meadow.
1. In Gen 41:2; Gen 41:18, meadow appears to be an Egyptian term meaning some kind of flag or waterplant, as its use in Job 8:11, (Authorized Version, “flag”), seems to show.
2. In Jdg 20:33, the sense of the Hebrew word translated meadow is doubly uncertain. The most plausible interpretation is that of the Peshito-Syriac, which by a slight difference in the vowel-points makes the word mearah, “the cave”.