Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

KNOW, KNOWLEDGE

The words for “knowledge” and “knowing” in the Bible (Heb. yāḏaʿ; Gk. ginṓskō) represent significant biblical concepts that are difficult to capture with a simple definition; they have a broad range of meaning. Nevertheless, some degree of generalization is useful in an attempt to characterize what is distinctive about the use of “knowledge” in the OT and NT.

In the OT knowledge is experiential and relational. The “man of sorrows” in Isa. 53:3 “is acquainted with” (Heb. “knows”) grief; i.e., he has experienced grief. When the prophet Hosea announces that there is “no knowledge of God in the land” (Hos. 4:1), he is equating knowledge with loyalty and faithfulness. To know God is to be in relationship to God (Hos. 6:6). Knowledge of God involves reverent obedience to him (Prov. 1:7).

The same is true on the human plane: to know another is to have a relationship with that person. For instance, near the beginning of Exodus it is reported that “a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph” (Exod. 1:8); i.e., this new pharaoh did not acknowledge any relationship with or obligations toward the descendants of Joseph. The experiential and relational element in the OT use of knowledge is perhaps best seen in the numerous passages in which it refers to sexual intercourse (e.g., Gen. 4:1; 1 Kgs. 1:4). At the same time, knowledge can have the abstract senses of realization (Judg. 13:21), rational discourse (Job 15:2), and insight into the nature of reality (Job 12:3; Eccl. 1:16).

In the NT knowledge can also be experiential and relational, as in the OT (e.g., “the Lord knows those who are his”; 2 Tim. 2:19). In general, however, the NT uses knowledge in a more theoretical sense, consistent with its range of meaning in Greek. For instance, knowledge of Jesus is insight into a revealed truth, namely, that Jesus, against appearances, is actually the eternal Word of God (John 1:10). Because knowledge, both in Greek philosophy and in Hellenistic religion, can have an abstract, even mystical, quality, Paul could be critical of knowledge, casting it as inferior to the supreme virtue, love (1 Cor. 8:1-3). The Apostle Paul’s words in 1 Cor. 13:8 (“Love never ends. But . . . as for knowledge, it will come to an end”) would not make sense to an OT prophet for whom, in Hebrew terms, knowledge of God is equivalent to love for God (Ps. 91:14).

Gregory Mobley

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

KNOW, KNOWLEDGE

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)