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There is another word which is translated "to destroy," and that is the Hebrew word
tsamath. The following is a list of the renderings in the A.V., with the number of
occurrences: "cut off," 8 times; "consume," once; "destroy," 5 times; "vanish," once;
"for ever," twice.
In Psa. 101: 8 we read, "Morning by morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land"
(R.V. margin). The Psalm has for its theme, "The coming King and His rule." In that
day sin will be summarily dealt with, even as we have a foreshadowing of the kingdom in
the judgment which fell upon Ananias and Sapphira, as recorded in the Acts of the
Apostles. The Scriptures enlarge upon this meaning in no uncertain way in
II Sam. 22: 41, 43:--
"Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that
hate me. . . . then did I beat them as small as the dust of the earth, I did stamp them as
the mire of the street, and did spread them abroad."
Making all due allowance for the figurative language of the passage, the meaning is
evident to all. There is an interesting illustration of its use in Lev. 25: 23, 30, the word
translated "for ever" being the feminine form of tsamath. "The land shall not be sold
for ever (A.V. margin, `To be quite cut off') for the land is Mine." The land belonged to
the Lord, and all transactions relative to its sale were limited by the number of years to
the Jubilee, when the possession reverted to the original owner. The case of a "dwelling
house in a walled city," however, was different, that was man's erection:--
"If a man sell a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole
year after it is sold. . . . and if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then
the house that is within a walled city shall be established for ever to him that bought it
throughout his generations, it shall not go out in the Jubilee" (Lev. 25: 29, 30).
The use of this word translated "for ever" is striking; when once the house passes
beyond redemption it is absolutely beyond recovery. So far as the original ownership is
concerned it is "cut off," it has passed away.
Let us think of this when we read Psa. 94: 23, "He shall bring upon them their own
iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness, yea, the Lord our God shall cut
them off." Beyond redemption! Cut off! What a word is this! Jeremiah when cast into
the dungeon said, "They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me"
(Lam. 3: 53). Jeremiah realized that unless the Lord came to his help, he was shut up in
that which would prove to be his tomb. Praise be to God, we are taught not to fear those
that, after having killed the body, have no more that they can do, but rather to fear Him
that is able to destroy both body and soul in Gehenna. Job 6: supplies us with one more
illustration. Verses 14-21 of this chapter deal with Job's estimate of his friends:--
"My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass
away. . . . what time they wax warm, they vanish; when it is hot they are consumed out
of their place. The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing, and perish."
Job uses a powerful illustration here. The transitory character of the mountain stream,
which lasts only until it waxes warm, and then vanishes into the atmosphere. This word