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Bible Dictionaries
Pass Over
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words
or A. Verb.
‛Âbar (עָבַר, Strong's #5674), “to pass away, pass over.” This verb occurs in all Semitic languages and at all periods of those languages, including biblical Hebrew and Aramaic. The Bible attests about 550 uses of this verb in Hebrew.
The verb refers primarily to spatial movement, to “moving over, through, or away from.” This basic meaning can be used of “going over or through” a particular location to get to the other side, as when Jacob “crossed over” the Euphrates to escape Laban (Gen. 31:21). Another specific use of this general meaning is to pass through something; Ps. 8:8 speaks of whatever “passes through” the sea as being under Adam’s control. ‛Âbar can also merely mean “to go as far as”—Amos tells his audience not to “cross over” to Beersheba (Amos 5:5). “To go as far as” an individual is to overtake him (2 Sam. 18:23). Abram “passed through” Canaan as far as Mamre; he did not go out of the land (cf. Gen. 12:6). The word can also be used of “passing by” something; Abraham begged the three men not “to pass by” him but to stop and refresh themselves (Gen. 18:3). ‛Âbar is sometimes used of “passing over” a law, order, or covenant as if it were not binding. When the people decided to enter Palestine against the command of God, Moses said, “Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the Lord?” (Num. 14:41).
This verb first occurs in Gen. 8:1 where it means “pass over on top of.” God caused the wind “to pass over” the flood waters and to carry them away.
The word can also mean “to pass away,” to cease to be, as in Gen. 50:4 where the days of mourning over Jacob “were past.”
A number of technical phrases where this root has a regular and specialized meaning appear. For example, one who “passes over” the sea is a seafarer or sailor (Isa. 23:2—a similar technical usage appears in Akkadian). ‛Âbar is used in business affairs with silver or money in the sense of reckoning money according to the “going” (passing) rate (Gen. 23:16ff.). In Song of Sol. 5:5 (RSV) the verb is used to mean “flow” as what a liquid does (“flowing” or “liquid” myrrh). The phrase “pass over to be numbered” is a phrase meaning to move from one status to another (to move into the ranks of the militia) in Exod. 30:13-14.
The intensive stem of ‛âbar is used in two special senses: of “overlaying” with precious metals (1 Kings 6:21) and of the ox’s act of making a cow pregnant (Job 21:10). The verb also has special meanings in the causative stem: “to devote” the firstborn to the Lord (Exod. 13:12); “to offer” a child by burning him in fire (Deut. 18:10); “to make” a sound “come forth” (Lev. 25:9); “to sovereignly transfer” a kingdom or cause it to pass over to another’s leadership (2 Sam. 3:10); “to put away or cause to cease” (1 Kings 15:12); and “to turn” something “away” (Ps. 119:37).
B. Nouns.
‛Ibrı̂y (עִבְרִי, Strong's #5680), “Hebrew.” The origin and meaning of this word, which appears 34 times, is much debated. The word is an early generic term for a variety of Semitic peoples and is somewhat akin to our word barbarian. So Abram is identified as a “Hebrew” (Gen. 14:13). This ethnic term indicates family origin whereas the term “sons of Israel” is a political and religious term. Unquestionably in the ancient Near East “Hebrew” was applied to a far larger group than the Israelites. The word occurs in Ugaritic, Egyptian, and Babylonian writings describing a diverse mixture of nomadic wanderers or at least those who appear to have at one time been nomadic. Sometimes the word seems to be a term of derision. Such usage recalls 1 Sam. 29:3, where the Philistine leaders asked Achish, “What do these Hebrews here?” There is considerable debate about identifying Hebrew with the well-known Habiru (Semitic warlords) who occupied Egypt in the first half of the second millennium B.C.
Several other nouns are derived from the verb ‘abar. ’Eber, which occurs 89 times, refers to the “side” (1 Sam. 14:1) or “edge” (Exod. 28:26) of something. When speaking of rivers or seas, ‘eber means the “edge or side opposite the speaker” or “the other side” (Josh. 2:10). Ma’barah, which appears 8 times, means “ford” (Josh. 2:7) and “ravine” or “passage” (1 Sam. 14:4). Ma’abar appears 3 times to mean: “sweep” (of a staff, Isa. 30:32); “ford” (Gen. 32:22); and “ravine” or “passage” (1 Sam. 13:23). ‘Abarah, which occurs twice, means “crossing or ford” (2 Sam. 19:18, RSV).
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Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Pass Over'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/p/pass-over.html. 1940.
