translated is arrhabon, a word exactly the same as the Hebrew of Genesis 38:17

except, of course the characters used are Hebrew instead of Greek.  This word

seems to have passed from the Phoenecians in their trading, to the Greeks, and

thence to the Romans, (Latin, arrha, arrhabo).  Our English `earnest' is a

descendant of this Hebrew word.  The terminal `t' is an addition, and like many

other additions, it may have grown out of the idea that the word meant that one

was in earnest when promising, and this form of speculation is a cause of many

etymological pitfalls.  In Middle English, the word was spelt ernes, and

sometimes earles, whence comes the early English equivalent `earlespenny', a

term not unknown in some parts of Scotland today.  The English word was derived

from the Old French arrhes.

Blackstone in his commentary says of the earnest:

`If any part of the price is paid down, if it be but a penny, or any

portion of the goods delivered by way of earnest, the property of the goods is

absolutely bound by it ...'.

Erabon, the Hebrew word which appears in Greek form in Ephesians 1:14

occurs three times in Genesis 38 and is translated `pledge'.  The simpler word

arab occurs thirty times, and is translated `surety', `pledge', `mortgage',

`engaged', `undertake', `mingle', `meddle', and `sweet', `pleasing', `occupy'.

Note, although for certain reasons one word begins in English with E, and the

other with A, both represent the one Hebrew letter Ayin.  It may not be at first

obvious how this word can have such a variety of meanings.  The root meaning of

the word is `to mix, or mingle' as in Ezra 9:2, and in Leviticus 13 in nine

verses, a cognate word is translated `the woof', a word meaning the threads that

cross the warp, the threads running the long way of the fabric.  In all its

varied renderings, the one idea of `intermingling' is present.  Take the word

`surety'.  Judah realized the serious implications of suretyship saying:

`For thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If I

bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father for

ever.  Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the

lad' (Gen. 44:32,33).

The surety is so intermingled with the one for whom he becomes pledged as

to be practically inseparable.  All these features enter into the thought of the

`earnest' in Ephesians 1:14.  Whether the pledge be a penny or a pound it is

equally binding.  Whether the earnest include the confirmation of supernatural

gifts, including even the raising of the dead, or whether it be but the

possession of that faith which is the substance of things hoped for; whether it

be the `manifestation of the spirit' or whether the witness of the spirit be so

simple, so quiet, so unobtrusive as to exclude all apparent `evidence', one

thing abides, the earnest has been given, and those who have been thus sealed

have received the pledge of the God of truth, Whose promises in every

dispensation find their Yea and their Amen in Christ.

The seal and earnest are related to hope, promise and inheritance in

Ephesians 1:12-14 or as it is summed up at the close `until the redemption of

the purchased possession'.  The preposition eis is only translated `until' once

and `till' once, and although these are noted in Young's Analytical Concordance