Barren
Barren
(when spoken of persons, properly , akar’, ). Barrenness is, in the East, the hardest lot that can befall a woman, and was considered among the Israelites as the heaviest punishment with which the Lord could visit a female (Gen 16:2; Gen 30:1-23; 1Sa 1:6; Isa 47:9; Isa 49:21; Luk 1:25; Niebuhr, p. 76; Volney, 2:359; Lane’s Egyptians, 1:74). In the Talmud (Yeramoth, 6:6) a man was bound, after ten years of childless conjugal life, to marry another woman (with or without repudiation of the first), and even a third one if the second proved also barren. Nor is it improbable that Moses himself contributed to strengthen the opinion of disgrace by the promises of the Lord of exemption from barrenness as a blessing (Exo 23:26; Deu 7:14). Instances of childless wives are found in Gen 11:30; Gen 25:21; Gen 29:31; Jdg 13:2-3; Luk 1:7; Luk 1:36. Some cases of unlawful marriages, and more especially with a brother’s wife, were visited with the punishment of barrenness (Lev 20:20-21); Michaelis, however (Mosaisches Recht, v. 290), takes the word (destitute, childless) here in a figurative sense, implying that the children born in such an illicit marriage should not be ascribed to the real father, but to the former brother, thus depriving the second husband of the share of patrimonial inheritance which would otherwise have fallen to his lot if the first brother had died childless. The reproach attached to sterility, especially by the Hebrews, may perhaps be accounted for by the constant expectation of the Messiah, and the hope that every woman cherished that she might be the mother of the promised Seed. This constant hope seems to account for many circumstances in the Old Testament history which might otherwise appear extraordinary or exceptionable (Gen 3:15; Gen 21:6-7; Gen 25:21-23; Gen 27:13; Gen 28:14; Gen 38:11-18; Deu 25:9). This general notion of the disgrace of barrenness in a woman may early have given rise, in the patriarchal age, to the custom among barren wives of introducing to their husbands their maid-servants, and of regarding the children born in that concubinage as their own. by which they thought to cover their own disgrace of barrenness (Gen 16:2; Gen 30:3). SEE CHILD.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Barren
For a woman to be barren was accounted a severe punishment among the Jews (Gen. 16:2; 30:1-23; 1 Sam. 1:6, 27; Isa. 47:9; 49:21; Luke 1:25). Instances of barrenness are noticed (Gen. 11:30; 25:21; 29:31; Judg. 13:2, 3; Luke 1:7, 36).
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Barren
from a root ster– meaning “hard, firm” (hence Eng., “sterile”), signifies “barren, not bearing children,” and is used with the natural significance three times in the Gospel of Luke, Luk 1:7, Luk 1:36; Luk 23:29; and with a spiritual significance in Gal 4:27, in a quotation from Isa 54:1. The circumstances of Sarah and Hagar, which Isaiah no doubt had in mind, are applied by the Apostle to the contrast between the works of the Law and the promise by grace.
denoting “idle, barren, yielding no return, because of inactivity,” is found in the best mss. in Jam 2:20 (RV, “barren”); it is rendered “barren” in 2Pe 1:8, AV, (RV, “idle”). In Mat 12:36, the “idle word” means the word that is thoughtless or profitless. See IDLE, SLOW; cp. katargeo, under ABOLISH.
Fuente: Vine’s Dictionary of New Testament Words
Barren
Exo 23:26 (c) Here is indicated a failure in service so that the person does not reproduce himself in others. He has no spiritual children. He has led none to CHRIST. That unfortunate situation will not exist in the life of one who walks with the Lord and yields to the Holy Spirit. (See also Deu 7:14; 2Ki 2:19; Psa 113:9; Son 4:2).
1Sa 2:5 (b) Hannah is telling us in this figure that those whose hearts are right with GOD, and who desire the glory of GOD will find that the life which has been barren will now become unusually fruitful.