Part of Speech: Verb
Strong's Number: H2790
Original Word: h?aresh
Usage Notes: "to plow, engrave, work in metals." This word occurs in ancient Ugaritic, as well as in modern Hebrew where it has the primary sense of "to plow." It is found approximately 50 times in the Hebrew Old Testament. A fitting word for the agricultural nature of Israelite culture, h?arash is frequently used of "plowing" a field, usually with animals such as oxen (1Kings 19:19). The imagery of cutting up or tearing up a field with a plow easily lent itself to the figurative use of the word to mean mistreatment by others: "The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows" (Psa 129:3). The word is used to express the plotting of evil against a friend in Prov 3:29: "Devise not evil against thy neighbor, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee [literally, "do not plow evil"]." The use of h?arash in the sense of "working or engraving" metals is not used in the Old Testament as much as it might have been if Israel had been as given to such craftsmanship as her neighbors, or perhaps because of the commandment against images (Exod 20:4). The word is used in 1Ki 7:14: "…His father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass [literally, "a man who works in brass"]…." The first occurrence of h?arash is in Gen 4:22 where it is used of the "artificer in brass and iron." The figurative use of "engraving" is vividly seen in the expression describing the extent of Israel's sin: "The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart…" (Jer 17:1).
An updating or correction of the kjv is called for in 1Sa 8:12 where h?arash is translated by the old English term, "to ear the ground"!
Usage Number: 2
Part of Speech: Noun
Strong's Number: H2796
Original Word: h?arash
Usage Notes: "engraver; artificer." The prophets denounced the craftsmanship of these workers in metals when they made images (Isa 40:20; Hos 8:6). A more positive approach to the word is conveyed in 1Chr 29:5: "The gold for things of gold…and for all manner of work to be made by the hands of artificers. And who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord?"
