Bible Encyclopedias
Walk

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(prop. הָלִךְ, or יָלִךְ, περιπατέω ). The Hebrew verb not only signifies to advance with a steady step, but also to augment a moderate pace until it acquires rapidity. It is used in this sense by the evangelical prophet with the greatest propriety in the following passage: "Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint" (Isaiah 40:30-31).

Walking for the sake of exercise is rarely practiced in the East; indeed, the indolent Orientals are quite unable to comprehend the conduct of Europeans in walking for mere recreation, without any immediate purpose of business. They attribute this to a spirit of restlessness which they believe to be a kind of curse inflicted upon Christian nations; and, in a dispute between Turks, it is not uncommon for one of the parties, as his worst execration, to wish that his opponent should be condemned "to walk like a Frank." Among the females, this dislike of locomotion is carried to a still greater extent, and there is scarcely any epithet which would be more offensive to a Turkish or Persian lady than to be called "a walker." This appears also to have been the case with the Egyptian ladies, for there are but few instances of their being represented on the monuments in walking attitudes. Wilkinson observes (Anc. Egypt. 2, 347, 348):

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