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Is there any need to continue the study of this word to confirm us in its simple and
primary meaning? The instances of Korah and his company, of Esther and her people, of
the sailors in the vessel with Jonah, of the overthrow of Pharaoh and his host, and the
burning, breaking down, hewing down, and overthrowing of the heathen places of
worship, supply us with God's own usage of the word, against which all the sophistry of
man is as nothing. As is the case with all languages, words take secondary and even
more remote meanings, but none of these can ever lessen the bearing of the primary
sense, or alter their original force. Thus we find the word abad translated "lost," as in the
case of the lost asses of I Sam. 9: 3, or the lost sheep of Psalm 119: 176; and again
"fail," in Psalm 142: 4, "refuge failed me," or "every vision faileth" (Ezek. 12: 22).
The use of this word, translated "spendeth" in Prov. 29: 3, is full of power. "He that
keepeth company with harlots spendeth his substance." This word abad, bearing the
meaning the foregoing passages indicate, is used by the Lord as one of the many
descriptions of the wages of sin, e.g.:--
"The way of the ungodly shall perish" (Psalm 1: 6).
"The wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs;
they shall consume; into the smoke shall they consume away" (Psalm 37: 20).
"As wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God"
(Psalm 68: 2).
"His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, in that very day his thoughts perish"
(Psalm 146: 4).
We shall consider the figures used by the Lord under a separate head, but we cannot
help drawing attention to God's simile in Psalm 68: 2, or Psalm 37: 20. Melting
wax and consuming fire are quite consistent with the teaching of the Scriptures, and the
meaning of the word abad. Never-ending torments, and a deathless state are utterly
foreign to the meaning of the word, and antagonistic to the figures used by the Lord, or
the historic usages of the word. John 3: 16, so often quoted yet so little believed, gives
perishing as the alternative to "everlasting life." So far, we are able to see that the
Scriptural expression, "the wages of sin is death," needs no modification. As applied to
abad it entirely coincides with its meaning and usage.
Before we leave the consideration of this word we would draw attention to the way in
which it enters into the name of the king of the supernatural beings mentioned in
Rev. 9: 11, "whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath
his name Apollyon." This is of the utmost importance, for it fixes the meaning of the
Greek word rendered "destroy," "perish," &100: (which we shall, D.5:, consider in
subsequent issues), as being equivalent to the word abad. The word abaddon is
translated "destruction" in the following passages: Job 26: 6; 28: 22; 31: 12;
Psalm 88: 11; Prov. 15: 11 and 27: 20. Note the connection with "Sheol" and
"Death."
Another Hebrew word which we must consider is shamad. This word is translated
"destroy," 66 times; "be destroyed," 19 times; once only by the following, "destruction;"
"be overthrown;" "perish;" "bring to nought;" "pluck down;" and twice "utterly." It
will be seen that just as the word abad was translated the greater number of times by the