West
West
(expressed in Heb. by , behind; , the sea; , the going down of the sun [and so in Greek , sunset]; , evening). The Shemite, in speaking of the quarters of the heavens, etc., supposes his face turned towards the east; so that the east is before him, , strictly what is before or in front; the south on his right hand, , strictly what lies to the right; the north on his left hand, , the left side; and the west behind him, , literally the hinder side. The last Hebrew word, though never translated west in our version, means so: as in Isa 9:12, the Philistines behind, opposed to the Syrians, Sept. ; Vulg. ab occidente; and in Job 23:8.The words (Deu 11:24) the uttermost sea, , are rendered in the Sept. ; Vulg. ad mare occidentale (comp. Isa 34:2; Joe 2:20).
The more general use of the word for the west was doubtless superseded among the inhabitants of Palestine by , literally the sea, that is, the Mediterranean Sea, which lay to the west, and which, as a more palpable object, became to them the representative of the west generally, and chiefly associated with their ideas of it. Accordingly this word and its derivatives, , etc., are thirty-two times rendered by , in the Sept., and only once by ; in the Vulg. by occidens and mare. It is used to signify a quarter of the heavens, or of the earth (Gen 28:14; Deu 33:23; 1Ki 7:25; 1Ch 9:24; 2Ch 4:4; Isa 11:14; Isa 49:12; Eze 48:1; Hos 11:10; Zec 14:4). It is used adjectively in the same sense; as, west border (Num 34:6; Jos 15:12; Eze 45:7); western (Num 34:6); west quarter (Jos 18:14); west side (Exo 26:12; Exo 38:12; Num 2:18; Num 35:5; Eze 48:3-8; Eze 48:23-24); westward (Gen 13:14; Num 3:23; Deu 3:27; Eze 48:18; Dan 8:4); west wind (Exo 10:19).
Those words of Moses, Naphtali, possess thou the west and the south (Deu 33:23), seem to contradict the statement of Josephus, that this tribe possessed the east and the north in Upper Galilee (Ant. 5, 1, 22); but Bochart interprets the south, not with regard to the whole land of Canaan, but to the Danites, mentioned in Deu 33:22; and by the west he understands the lake of Tiberias, otherwise called the sea of Tiberias, or Galilee, or Gennesaret; for the portion of Naphtali extended from the south of the city called Dan or Laish to the sea of Tiberias, which was in this tribe. So all the Chaldee paraphrasts expound the word , here translated west; Sept. ; Vulg. nare et meridiem (Hieroz. pt. 1, lib. 3, c. 18). In some passages the word signifies the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, and the islands of the sea denotes the western part of the world, or European nations. Thus, in regard to the future restoration of the Jews to their own’ land, it is said (Hos 11:10), when the Lord shall roar, then the children shall tremble (that is, hasten; an allusion to the motion of a bird’s wings in flying) from the west(see Hos 11:11, and comp. Isa 24:14-15, with Isa 11:11; Isa 24:14).
In the account given of the removal of the plague of locusts from Egypt, we are told (Exo 10:19), the Lord turned a mighty strong west wind, , . Supposing that these were the very words of Moses, or a literal rendering of his words, it follows that the Egyptians made a similar reference to the Mediterranean, since Moses, all Egyptian, would no doubt use the language of his country in describing an event, which occurred in it. If his words do not refer to the Mediterranean, they must refer to the far-distant Atlantic, which, however, according to Herodotus, was not known to the Egyptians till many ages afterwards. Moses also represents God as saying to Abram, in the land, Lift up thine eyes and look northward, and southward and eastward, and westward, (Gen 13:14). The allusion to the sea in the latter passage may be accounted for upon the supposition that the very words of God to Abram had been preserved, and were inserted by Moses in his history. In two passages (Psa 107:3; Isa 49:12) stands opposed to , but ought still to be rendered the west comp. Amo 8:12; Deu 33:23.
The west is also indicated by the phrase , Sept. ; Vulg. de terra occasus solis. These words are translated the west country in Zec 8:7, literally, the country of the going-down of the sun, and are fully translated in Psa 1:1; Psa 113:3; Mal 1:11; comp. Deu 11:30; Jos 1:4; Jos 23:4. Another word by which the west is denoted is , from , to remove, pass away, disappear as the sun does; hence the quarter of the heavens, etc., where the sun sets, the west. The same idea is conveyed in. the Greek word , from . It occurs in 1Ch 12:15; Psa 75:6; Psa 103:12; Psa 107:3; Isa 43:5; Isa 45:6; Isa 9:19; Sept. ; Vulg. occidens: in Dan 8:5, Sept. ; Vulg. occidens. It is used to denote the west quarter of the heavens or earth. In the Apocrypha and New Test. the word translated west invariably corresponds to (Jdt 2:19; Mat 8:11; Mat 24:27; Luk 12:54; Luk 13:29; Rev 21:13); Vulg. occidens, occasus. Our Lord’s memorable words, They shall come from the east and the west, etc. (Mat 8:11), to which Luke adds and from the north and the south(Mat 13:29), signify all the regions of the world; as in classical writers also (Xenoph. Cyr. 1, 1, 3). Grotius thinks that this passage refers to the promise to Jacob (Gen 28:14). In our Lord’s prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans (Mat 24:27), For as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so also shall the coming of the son of man be, he is supposed to have intimated the precise direction in which the Roman army conducted the invasion. His reference to the cloud, , rising out of the west, as the precursor of a shower (comp. 1Ki 18:43-46); still corresponds to the weather in Palestine. Volney says, The west and south-west winds, which in Syria and Palestine prevail from November to February, are, to borrow an expression of the Arabs, the fathers of showers (Voyage en Syrie, 1, 297; comp. Shaw, Travels, p. 329). Kitto. Notable instances of such showers are those at the battle of Bethhoron (Joshua 11), and Elijah’s sacrifice on Mt. Carmel (1Ki 18:44).
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
West
WEST ().In Palestine the direction of the setting sun is also that of the sea, and the West is therefore the source from which rain is generally expected (1Ki 18:44, Luk 12:54). The observed connexion between western clouds and rain led Christ to remark on the strange inattention to the spiritual trend of the times (Luk 12:56). He attributed such disregard and misrepresentation to self-delusion resulting from insincerity. He recognized that the final stage of imperviousness and impotence had been reached, and that the Kingdom of Heaven required the removal of both teachers and teaching and a re-baptism of religious vision and thought (Mat 23:36-39, Mar 8:12, Joh 4:21).
The reference to North, South, East, and West as the equal sources from which the Kingdom of Heaven was to draw its membership, indicated the universal scope of His own relationship to the world. The same truth is suggested in the vision of the New Jerusalem as the city with an equal number of open gates on its four sides (Rev 21:13). Hence to-day, in the statesmanship of that Kingdom, it is unwise and wasteful to transport to the East the controversies and cleavages of Western Christianity. Only the universal truths of the gospel should be presented to the universal mission field.
G. M. Mackie.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
West
(1) Usually (, yam), sea because the Mediterranean lies to the West of Palestine; not usually in figurative expressions; but compare Hos 11:10. (2) Often (, maarabh); compare Arabic (gharb), and (maghrib), west (maghrib-ush-shems), or simply (maghrib), sunset. (3) ( , mebho’ ha-shemesh), entrance of the sun, (, mabho’, root , bo’), to come in. (Just as , mizrah, is the rising of the sun, or east, so , mabho’ (or , maarabh, is the setting of the sun, or west: From the rising of the sun (mizrah-shemesh) unto the going down (mabho’) thereof (Psa 50:1; compare Psa 113:3; Mal 1:11).) (4) (, dusme, from , duo), to enter, sink, set. The Greek usage is parallel to the Hebrew just cited: Many shall come from the east anatole, rising) and the west (dusme, setting) (Mat 8:11).
The chief figurative use of the word west is in combination with east to denote great or infinite distance, as:
As far as the east is from the west,
So far hath he removed our transgressions from us (Psa 103:12).
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
West
The Shemite, in speaking of the quarters of the heavens, etc. supposes his face turned towards the east; so that the east is before him; the south on his right hand; the north on his left hand, and the west behind him; and the various words employed to designate the quarters of the heavens have literally the signification mentioned (Voyage en Syrie, tom. i. p. 297; Shaw’s Travels, p. 329).
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
West
This was expressed by
1. yam, ‘the Sea,’ referring to the Mediterranean, which lies on the west of Palestine, Gen 12:8, etc.
2. maarab, , ‘sun-setting,’ because the sun sets in the west. 1Ch 7:28; Mat 8:11; etc.
3. maarabah, ‘sun-setting,’ only in Isa 45:6.
4. mebo hashshemesh, from the ‘going down of the sun,’ only in Jos 23:4; Zec 8:7.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
West
“the quarter of the sun-setting” (dusis, “a sinking, setting;” duno, “to sink”), hence, “the west,” occurs in Mat 8:11; Mat 24:27; Luk 12:54 (some regard this as the sunset); Luk 13:29; Rev 21:13.