עצם “Bone” Cognate Permutations
includes מ ↔︎ נ
Impression עצם cognate permutations (influence positively/negatively) also (withhold/provide) ((see אזן))
Includes שמע and שען
Includes משח, the root for משיח Messiah.
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- I purposely listed the cognate permutation of this group as עצם “bone” in order to help the reader visualize the idea behind the meaning. Think of a major bone, say the femur in the thigh. We “rely” on it (even without thinking) to provide support as we stand or walk. If the bone is broken, then support is lost/withheld. This is the parable of the spectrum or continuum built into this word group, and thus you see it can influence positively or negatively. When the support is there, it is positive, but when the support is withdrawn, negative. And we become dependent upon the support. The meaning of the root עצם is “store power.” You may want to think of this stored power as confidence, as we saw with בטח/יבטחin Job 40:23 in Blog 161.
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h8172. שָׁעַן šâ‘an
According to NKJV Strongs, in Olive Tree Bible Study, h8172. שָׁעַן šâ‘an occurs 20 times in TaNaKh. See the ways it is interpreted in NKJV:
⦁ Genesis 18:1-5
1 Then the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. 2 So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, 3 and said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. 4 Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. 5 And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your servant.”
They said, “Do as you have said.”
⦁ Numbers 21:13-18
13 From there they moved and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites; for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. 14 Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the LORD:
“Waheb in Suphah,
The brooks of the Arnon,
15 And the slope of the brooks
That reaches to the dwelling of Ar,
And lies on the border of Moab.”
16 From there they went to Beer, which is the well where the LORD said to Moses, “Gather the people together, and I will give them water.” 17 Then Israel sang this song:
“Spring up, O well!
All of you sing to it—
18 The well the leaders sank,
Dug by the nation’s nobles,
By the lawgiver, with their staves.”
And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah,
⦁ Judges 16:25-27
25 So it happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said, “Call for Samson, that he may perform for us.” So they called for Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. And they stationed him between the pillars. 26 Then Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars which support the temple, so that I can lean on them.” 27 Now the temple was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there—about three thousand men and women on the roof watching while Samson performed.
⦁ 2 Samuel 1:6-10
6 Then the young man who told him said, “As I happened by chance to be on Mount Gilboa, there was Saul, leaning on his spear; and indeed the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him. 7 Now when he looked behind him, he saw me and called to me. And I answered, ‘Here I am.’ 8 And he said to me, ‘Who are you?’ So I answered him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’ 9 He said to me again, ‘Please stand over me and kill me, for anguish has come upon me, but my life still remains in me.’ 10 So I stood over him and killed him, because I was sure that he could not live after he had fallen. And I took the crown that was on his head and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them here to my lord.”
⦁ 2 Kings 5:17-18
17 So Naaman said, “Then, if not, please let your servant be given two mule-loads of earth; for your servant will no longer offer either burnt offering or sacrifice to other gods, but to the LORD. 18 Yet in this thing may the LORD pardon your servant: when my master goes into the temple of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow down in the temple of Rimmon—when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the LORD please pardon your servant in this thing.”
⦁ 2 Kings 7:1-2
1 Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the LORD: ‘Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.’”
2 So an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, “Look, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, could this thing be?”
And he said, “In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”
⦁ 2 Kings 7:17-18
17 Now the king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. But the people trampled him in the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. 18 So it happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “Two seahs of barley for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, shall be sold tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria.”
⦁ 2 Chronicles 13:13-18
13 But Jeroboam caused an ambush to go around behind them; so they were in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them. 14 And when Judah looked around, to their surprise the battle line was at both front and rear; and they cried out to the LORD, and the priests sounded the trumpets. 15 Then the men of Judah gave a shout; and as the men of Judah shouted, it happened that God struck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. 16 And the children of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hand. 17 Then Abijah and his people struck them with a great slaughter; so five hundred thousand choice men of Israel fell slain. 18 Thus the children of Israel were subdued at that time; and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the LORD God of their fathers.
⦁ 2 Chronicles 14:9-11
9 Then Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah. 10 So Asa went out against him, and they set the troops in battle array in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. 11 And Asa cried out to the LORD his God, and said, “LORD, it is nothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O LORD our God, for we rest on You, and in Your name we go against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; do not let man prevail against You!”
⦁ 2 Chronicles 16:7-10
7 And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said to him: “Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the LORD your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand. 8 Were the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the LORD, He delivered them into your hand. 9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.” 10 Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in prison, for he was enraged at him because of this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time.
⦁ Job 8:11-15
11 “Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh?
Can the reeds flourish without water?
12 While it is yet green and not cut down,
It withers before any other plant.
13 So are the paths of all who forget God;
And the hope of the hypocrite shall perish,
14 Whose confidence shall be cut off,
And whose trust is a spider’s web.
15 He leans on his house, but it does not stand.
He holds it fast, but it does not endure.
⦁ Job 24:22-24
22 “But (God)(he) draws the mighty away with His power;
He rises up, but no (man) is sure of life.
23 He gives them security, and they rely (on it);
Yet His eyes (are) on their ways.
24 They are exalted for a little while,
Then they are gone.
They are brought low;
They are taken out of the way like all (others);
They dry out like the heads of grain.
⦁ Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust (h0982. בָּטַח ḇâṭaḥ) in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
⦁ Isaiah 10:20-23
20 And it shall come to pass in that day
(That) the remnant of Israel,
And such as have escaped of the house of Jacob,
Will never again depend on him who defeated them,
But will depend on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
21 The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob,
To the Mighty God.
22 For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea,
A remnant of them will return;
The destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
23 For the Lord GOD of hosts
Will make a determined end
In the midst of all the land.
⦁ Isaiah 30:12-14
12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel:
“Because you despise this word,
And trust in oppression and perversity,
And rely on them,
13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you
Like a breach ready to fall,
A bulge in a high wall,
Whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant.
14 And He shall break it like the breaking of the potter’s vessel,
Which is broken in pieces;
He shall not spare.
So there shall not be found among its fragments
A shard to take fire from the hearth,
Or to take water from the cistern.”
⦁ Isaiah 31:1-3 (NKJV – The Folly of Not Trusting God)
1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,
(And) rely on horses,
Who trust in chariots because (they are) many,
And in horsemen because they are very strong,
But who do not look to the Holy One of Israel,
Nor seek the LORD!
2 Yet He also (is) wise and will bring disaster,
And will not call back His words,
But will arise against the house of evildoers,
And against the help of those who work iniquity.
3 Now the Egyptians are men, and not God;
And their horses (are) flesh, and not spirit.
When the LORD stretches out His hand,
Both he who helps will fall,
And he who is helped will fall down;
They all will perish together.
⦁ Isaiah 50:10-11
10 “Who among you fears the LORD?
Who obeys the voice of His Servant?
Who walks in darkness
And has no light?
Let him trust (h0982. בָּטַח ḇâṭaḥ) in the name of the LORD
And rely upon his God.
11 Look, all you who kindle a fire,
Who encircle (yourselves) with sparks:
Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled—
This you shall have from My hand:
You shall lie down in torment.
⦁ Ezekiel 29:3-7
3 Speak, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD:
“Behold, I am against you,
O Pharaoh king of Egypt,
O great monster who lies in the midst of his rivers,
Who has said, ‘My River is my own;
I have made it for myself.’
4 But I will put hooks in your jaws,
And cause the fish of your rivers to stick to your scales;
I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers,
And all the fish in your rivers will stick to your scales.
5 I will leave you in the wilderness,
You and all the fish of your rivers;
You shall fall on the open field;
You shall not be picked up or gathered.
I have given you as food
To the beasts of the field
And to the birds of the heavens.
6 “Then all the inhabitants of Egypt
Shall know that I am the LORD,
Because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.
7 When they took hold of you with the hand,
You broke and tore all their shoulders;
When they leaned on you,
You broke and made all their backs quiver.”
⦁ Micah 3:9-12
9 Now hear this,
You heads of the house of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel,
Who abhor justice
And pervert all equity,
10 Who build up Zion with bloodshed
And Jerusalem with iniquity:
11 Her heads judge for a bribe,
Her priests teach for pay,
And her prophets divine for money.
Yet they lean on the LORD, and say,
“Is not the LORD among us?
No harm can come upon us.”
12 Therefore because of you
Zion shall be plowed (like) a field,
Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins,
And the mountain of the temple
Like the bare hills of the forest.
① leaning
⦁ Numbers 21:15 see context above
15 And the slope of the brooks
That reaches to the dwelling of Ar,
And lies on the border of Moab.”
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⦁ Exodus 9:9
9 And it will become fine dust in all the land of Egypt, and it will cause {boils} (h7822. שְׁחִין šeḥîyn) that break out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt.”
- For those familiar with the book of Job, this is the word for the boils that break out on his entire body in verse 2:7. Two verses earlier, Satan had mentioned touching “bone and flesh.”
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⦁ Exodus 21:26-27
26 “If a man strikes the eye of his male or female servant, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for the sake of his eye. 27 And if he knocks out the {tooth} (h8127. שֵׁן šên) of his male or female servant, he shall let him go free for the sake of his {tooth} (h8127. שֵׁן šên).
② supporting
⦁ Psalms 23:4
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your {staff} (h4938. מִשְׁעֵנָה miš‘ênâ), they comfort me.
③ staff; rod
⦁ Numbers 21:18
18 The well the leaders sank,
Dug by the nation’s nobles,
By the lawgiver, with their {staves} (h4938. מִשְׁעֵנָה miš‘ênâ).”
And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah,
Something that you rely on is able to hold you up; you can lean on it/count on it – it might be a staff like a walking stick; it might be the bones within us. When we speak of שמע (hear/listen/obey), we have to be able to count on what we are told. Can we depend upon the word of anyone but the word of the LORD? Remember the repetitive prayer in Judaism, the Shema שמע.
“Hear שמע, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.
Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom for ever and all time.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. These words which I command you today shall be on your heart. Teach them repeatedly to your children, speaking of them when you sit at home and when you travel on the way, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be an emblem between your eyes. Write them on the doorposts of your house and gates.”
The grand idea behind this teaching is the cycles of the generations. Just as the commandment to “honor your father and your mother,” the Shema is a focus on minimizing the amplitude of the generational cycles. Our children have a natural tendency in adolescence to rebel against, separate themselves from our ways in attempting to define themselves as individuals. Such commands make an attempt to avoid extremes in this rebellion.
The Teacher was pointing out the error in the other extreme. If one limits/controls too much, there will be an equal and opposite reaction, more extreme in the opposite direction. Visualize sine waves of different amplitudes.
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(from iStock)
Blessings, PG
Ⓒ Copyright Philip E. Gates; LogAndSpeck.com January 2025.