Terminologia ‘Gniewu Bożego’ w Biblii Hebrajskiej

Abstract

Both the New and the Old Testament Books draw rich illustration of human feelings reffered to God. The described article treats of the Hebrew terminology concerning the wrath of God in the Hebrew Bible. There are more than several Hebrew terms that define the expressions of both human and God’s anger in the Old Testament. Among them the most important are: אף, חמה , חריך, כעם , (or כעש), קצף , זעם , זעף עברה , characterized more precisely in the main part of the article. The first part contains some of the introductory informations concerning the discussed matter and some particularities of terminology in the Hebrew language and its origins. The second part enumerates each of the most important Hebrew terms of anger and wrath, indicating, if it is possible, their sources, roots, occurrences and potential and conceivable meanings. It contains eight points, each about one of the eight main terms. The third and last part depicts some of the conclusions that may be drawn of the analysis of this termonology. The Hebrew terminology expressing the wrath of God is very rich and in teresting. It may be concidered as one of the aspects of biblical athropomorphism, or more specifically - biblical anthropopathism - which is the showing or treating God as if He was human in apperance or behaviour, and, in this particular case, as if He had human feelings. The expressions of God’s anger appear in the Hebrew Bible two times more than the expressions of human one! This explains why this subject is so relevant and intriguing. And even more important as we think of the problem that many people face - that the anger of God in the Bible, being so difficult to understand and hardly acceptable, may arise difficulties in reading, comprehending and appproving the whole theological messaggio of the Old Testament. For that reason the exact study of the terminology not only is the work concerming the language, but also may be the introduction to a further reasearch in the exegetic and theological field of the Old Testament studies.