Strong's Number: H631
Original Word: ’asar
Usage Notes: "to bind, imprison, tie, gird, to harness." This word is a common Semitic term, found in both ancient Akkadian and Ugaritic, as well as throughout the history of the Hebrew language. The word occurs around 70 times in its verbal forms in the Hebrew Old Testament. The first use of ’asar in the Hebrew text is in Gen 39:20, which tells how Joseph was "imprisoned" after being wrongfully accused by Potiphar's wife.
The common word for "tying up" for security and safety, ’asar is often used to indicate the tying up of horses and donkeys (2Kings 7:10). Similarly, oxen are "harnessed" to carts (1Sam 6:7, 10). Frequently, ’asar is used to describe the "binding" of prisoners with cords and various fetters (Gen 42:24; Judg 15:10; 12-13). Samson misled Delilah as she probed for the secret of his strength, telling her to "bind" him with bowstrings (Judg 16:7) and new ropes (Judg 16:11), none of which could hold him.
Used in an abstract sense, ’asar refers to those who are spiritually "bound" (Psa 146:7; Isa 49:9; Isa 61:1) or a man who is emotionally "captivated" by a woman's hair (Song 7:5). Strangely, the figurative use of the term in the sense of obligation or "binding" to a vow or an oath is found only in Num 30, but it is used there a number of times (vv. Num 30:3, 5-6,8-9,11-12). This section also illustrates how such "binding" is variously rendered in the English versions: "bind" (rsv, kjv, nab); "promises" (tev); "puts himself under a binding obligation" (neb, nasb); "takes a formal pledge under oath" (jb).
