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A.V. in Gen. 45: 6, Exod. 34: 21, Deut. 21: 4 and I Sam. 8: 12 and in other
places, meaning ploughing the ground. It is quite obsolete today.
ENSUE. This word was used in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in the sense
of pursue. So in I Pet. 3: 11 "seek peace, and ensue it" means "seek peace and pursue
it".
EQUAL. In these centuries `equal' had the moral meaning of what is fair, just and
right as well as stating size or quantity. Ezekiel makes the protest in the name of the
Lord: "Yet ye say, the way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; is not
My way equal? Are not your ways unequal?". In modern English we should say "Is not
My way just or right? Are not your ways wrong?". In Col. 4: 1, "give to your servants
that which is just and equal" means, "treat your slaves justly and fairly".
ESCHEW. This obsolete word means to avoid wrong doing or escape a danger or
inconvenience. Job is described as "one that feared God and eschewed evil" (Job 1: 1).
Peter says, in his first epistle, let those who would see good days "eschew evil and do
good" (3: 11), which means, of course, turn away from evil and do what is good and
right.
No.7.
pp. 215 - 220
EXPECT, EXPECTATION. The word `expect' occurs in the obsolete sense of
`wait' in Heb. 10: 13: "From henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His
footstool". The word expectation as used in the A.V. means `hope'. In Psa. 9: 18, "the
expectation of the poor" means "the hope of the poor". In Psa. 62: 5 the writer says,
"My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from Him". In modern
English it would read "for my hope is from Him".
Prov. 24: 14 says, "Thy
expectation shall not be cut off" meaning "Your hope will not be cut off". Jer. 29: 11
"to give you an expected end" is "to give you a future and a hope".
FAIN. This obsolete word as a noun, adjective or verb means `glad', coming from
the Old Saxon fagan, `glad'. The word occurs in the parable of the Prodigal Son, "he
would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat". In modern English
this reads, "he would gladly have fed on the pods that the swine ate" (Luke 15: 16
R.S.V.). Coverdale, in the Prayer Book version of the Psalms renders Psa. 71: 23 "my
lips will be fain when I sing unto Thee".