Hebrew Thoughts Archives
First available on February 17, 2007 Pethach 'door'
The word PEtAx pethach (Strong's #6607) means the actual doorway, entrance or space
which is closed by a door, rather than DElEt
deleth (Strong's #1817) which refers to the physical door or
hanging itself. It is derived from the root verb PFtAx pâthach "to open or loose" (Strong's #6605). Its first few Biblical uses are quite
interesting.
In Genesis 4:7 God says to Cain that "sin lies at the door" and
that its desire is for you. Like a cat perhaps sat at the threshold of a
mousehole, waiting to pounce. This is not dissimilar to Peter's description of
the devil prowling around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). The use of "opening" rather than the word for
a physical door or gate suggests the voracious opened mouth of sin waiting to
devour or of a tempting open doorway waiting to be gone through.
In Genesis 6:16 it is used of Noah's ark having a doorway in
it, the door of salvation, which God Himself shuts (Genesis 7:16). Significantly, the ark is only seen as a
vehicle of salvation, the end purpose is for all the animals to go out through
the same doorway into the post-flood earth rather than stay in the ark
forever. In John 10:7,9 Jesus describes himself as the doorway for the
sheep. Again, he sees the image as a 2-way door, through which the sheep go
"in and out" to find salvation from the wolf, thief and robber, and out to
find pasture. In middle-eastern shepherding the shepherd himself lay across an
entrance to a corral, so that he
literally was "the door".
Genesis 18:1 has God coming down to meet Abraham whilst he
is sitting in the doorway to his tent. John sees a similar image, as described
in Revelation 3:20, of Jesus standing at the door and knocking
in order for 2-way fellowship/dining to occur.
A significant use is in Exodus 12:23 where in the night of the plague on the
firstborn in Egypt God passes over the "door", ûphâçach YHVH
‘al-happethach, of the houses on which the blood had been placed.
PEtAx pethach could describe the opening
of doors, houses, tents, the ear, the mouth, the ground (as with a plough) and
loosing from bonds, indeed it was used of the opening to the tabernacle/tent
in Exodus 36:26.
Micah 7:5 uses the phrase pith'chêy-phîykhâ literally
translated as the "doors of the mouth" by many versions, but as "lips" by the
NAS and "words" by the NIV; Young's actually renders most
accurately but particularly meaningfully by "openings of thy mouth".
Psalm 119:130's familiar, "the entrance of Your words
gives light, it gives understanding to the simple", uses PEtAx pethach (Strong's #6608) for "entrance" and PEtIy pethîy (Strong's #6612) for "simple, naïve". Perhaps, the Hebrew
wordplay could be preserved by translating as "the opening-up of Your words
give light, they give understanding to the open-minded".
In Nahum 3:13 a typical use of Hebrew word doubling emphasises
the vulnerability of the people, the men are described as women and the gates
of the land as "opened so that they are really open!". In Hebrew this is just
two words, pâthach repeated.
Copyright Statement:
'Hebrew Thoughts' Copyright 2002-2009 © Jonathan Went. 'Hebrew Thoughts' articles may be reproduced in whole under the following provisions: 1) A proper credit must be given to the author at the end of each story, along with a link to http://www.studylight.org/col/ht/ 2) 'Hebrew Thoughts' content may not be arranged or "mirrored" as a competitive online service. | 
Enter the Archives
Printer friendly version
Send to a Friend
Discuss this column
HOME
TOP