BAR (2)

bar (substantive):

(1) beriach = "a bolt" (Exodus 26:26-29; 35:11; 36:31-34; 39:33; 40:18; Numbers 3:36; 4:31; Deuteronomy 3:5; Judges 16:3; 1 Samuel 23:7; 1 Kings 4:13; 2 Chronicles 8:5; 14:7; Nehemiah 3:3,6,13-15; Job 38:10 "bars and doors" for the sea (the bank or shore of the sea); Psalms 107:16; 147:13 "the bars of thy gates": the walls of the city were now rebuilt and its gates only closed and barred by night (see Nehemiah 7:3); Proverbs 18:19, "bars of a castle"; Isaiah 45:2; Jeremiah 49:31; 51:30; Lamentations 2:9; Ezekiel 38:11): meaning "a rock in the sea" (Jonah 2:6).

(2) moT = "a staff," "stick," "pole" (Numbers 4:10,12 margin); "strong fortification and great impediment" (Isaiah 45:2; Amos 1:5, "the bolt of Damascus": no need here to render prince, as some do (G. A. Smith in the place cited.)).

(3) badh = "staff," "part of body," "strength" (Job 17:16, "bars of Sheol": the gates of the world of the dead; compare Isaiah 38:10; some read, "Will the bars of Sheol fall?").

(4) meTil = "something hammered out, a (forged) bar" (Job 40:18).

See DOOR ; GATE ; HOUSE .

Frank E. Hirsch

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.