ned'ing.
See BREAD ,III , 2.
ne nel ("knee," berekh; Aramaic 'arekhubbah; gonu; "kneel"; barakh; Aramaic berakh; gonupeto): Most of the uses are obvious, and the figurative use of "knees" as the symbol of strength (Job 4:4; Heb 12:12, etc.) needs no explanation. The disease of the knees mentioned in Dt 28:35 is perhaps some form of leprosy. In Job 3:12 the "knees" seem to be used for the lap, as the place where a child receives its first care. Three times in Gen the knees appear in connection with primitive adoption customs. In 30:3 a fiction is enacted that purports to represent Rachel as the actual mother of Bilhah's children. By a somewhat similar rite in 48:12, Jacob (the "knees" here are Jacob's, not Joseph's) adopts Ephraim and Manasseh, so that they are counted as two of the twelve patriarchs and not as members of a single Joseph tribe. In the same way Machir's children are adopted by Joseph in 50:23, and this is certainly connected with the counting of Machir (instead of Manasseh) as one of the tribes in Jdg 5:14. See TRIBE ; and for the idea underlying this paternal adoption, compareTHIGH . From among classical instances of the same customs compare Homer, Odyssey, xix. 401 ff, where Autolukos, grandfather of Ulysses, receives the newborn grandchild on his knees and gives him his name. Thus also we have to understand the numerous representations in Egyptian sculpture, showing the king as an infant on the knees or the lap of a goddess.
Kneeling was less commonly an attitude of prayer among the Jews than was standing, but references to kneeling are of course abundant. For kneeling (or prostrating one's self) before a superior, see ATTITUDES , 2;SALUTATION .
Burton Scott Easton
nif: (1) ma'akheleth, literally, an instrument for eating; but used of large knives for slaying animals, cutting up a carcass or a sacrificial victim (Gen 22:6,10; Jdg 19:29; Prov 30:14). (2) cherebh, rendered generally "sword," but in Josh 5:2,3 of stone knives for circumcision (compare Ex 4:25), probably of similar knives in 1 Ki 18:28, used by Baal prophets in gashing themselves. In Ezek 5:12 the King James Version, "knife," probably better the Revised Version (British and American), "sword." (3) ta`ar, usually rendered "razor," in combination with ha-copher, "knife of the writer," or "penknife" (Jer 36:23). (4) machalaphim, "slaughter-knives" (Ezr 1:9). (5) sakkin, Aramaic, "knife" (Prov 23:2). Early knives were commonly made of sharp stones, especially of flint, later of bronze and iron. The-former remained in use in religious ceremonies long after the latter were in common use. Knives were not generally used at meals, meats being cut into bits before served, and bread being. broken into fragments. Herod used a knife for paring apples, and attempted suicide with the instrument (Josephus, Ant, XVII, vii, 1; BJ, I, xxxiii, 7).
Edward Bagby Pollard
nok (krouo): The oriental house was fitted with heavy doors which were bolted and locked with wooden keys too large to be carried about, so that even a member of the household could not secure entrance until in response to his knock or call the door should be opened by someone within. At night the delay would be increased by the difficulty of arousing the inmates sleeping within the inner chambers. To persons familiar with such experiences, the words of Jesus concerning a higher entrance, "Knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Mt 7:7; Lk 12:36), would have a unique force not easy for us to appreciate.
Russell Benjamin Miller
nop: In Ex 25:31 ff; 37:17 ff (kaphtor), part of the ornaments of the golden candlestick; in 1 Ki 6:18; 7:24 (peqa`im), gourd-like ornaments of the lining of Solomon's temple, and of the brazen sea (in 1 Ki 6:18, the Revised Version margin "gourds").
See CANDLESTICK ,THE GOLDEN ;TEMPLE ;SEA ,THE MOLTEN .
no, nol'-ej (in Hebrew chiefly yadha`, noun da`ath; in Greek ginosko, oida' "to know fully," epiginosko, noun gnosis epignosis): Knowledge strictly is the apprehension by the mind of some fact or truth in accordance with its real nature; in a personal relation the intellectual act is necessarily conjoined with the element of affection and will (choice, love, favor, or, conversely, repugnance, dislike, etc.). Knowledge is distinguished from "opinion" by its greater certainty. The mind is constituted with the capacity for knowledge, and the desire to possess and increase it. The character of knowledge varies with its object. The senses give knowledge of outward appearances; the intellect connects and reasons about these appearances, and arrives at general laws or truths; moral truth is apprehended through the power inherently possessed by men of distinguishing right and wrong in the light of moral principles; spiritual qualities require for their apprehension spiritual sympathy ("They are spiritually judged," 1 Cor 2:14). The highest knowledge possible to man is the knowledge of God, and while there is that in God's infinity which transcends man's power of comprehension (Job 11:7,9), God is knowable in the measure in which He has revealed Himself in creation (Rom 1:19,20, "that which is known of God," etc.), and supremely in Jesus Christ, who alone perfectly knows the Father, and reveals Him to man (Mt 11:27). This knowledge of God in Jesus Christ is "life eternal" (Jn 17:3). Knowledge is affirmed of both God and man, but with the wide contrast that God's knowledge is absolute, unerring, complete, intuitive, embracing all things, past, present, and future, and searching the inmost thoughts of the heart (Ps 139:1,23); whereas man's is partial, imperfect, relative, gradually acquired, and largely mixed with error ("Now we see in a mirror darkly .... in part," 1 Cor 13:12). All these points about knowledge are amply brought out in the Scripture usage of the terms. A large part of the usage necessarily relates to natural knowledge (sometimes with a carnal connotation, as Gen 4:1,17), but the greatest stress also is laid on the possession of moral and spiritual knowledge (e.g. Ps 119:66; Prov 1:4,7,22,29; 8:10, etc.; Lk 1:77; Rom 15:14; 2 Pet 1:5,6). The highest knowledge, as said, is the knowledge of God and Christ, and of God's will (Hos 6:6; Rom 11:33; Eph 1:17; 4:13; Phil 1:9; 3:8; Col 1:9,10, etc.). The moral conditions of spiritual knowledge are continually insisted on ("If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God," Jn 7:17). On the. other hand, the pride of intellectual knowledge is condemned; it must be joined with love ("Knowledge puffeth up, 1 Cor 8:1). The stronger term epignosis is used to denote the full and more perfect knowledge which is possessed in Christ, the conditions of which are humility and love. Of knowledge as connoting favor, choice, on the part of God, there are many examples (Ps 1:6, Yahweh knoweth the way of the righteous"; Gal 4:9, "know God, or rather to be known by God"; compare Rom 8:29, "whom he fore-knew").ectual knowledge as the Divine omnipotence is different from muscular strength. Consequently, the passage of this knowledge into a human intellect is impossible, and the problem of the incarnation should be stated: What effect did Divine omniscience in the person have on the conscious intellect of the manhood? There is so little help from the past to be gained in answering this question, that it must remain open at present--if, indeed, it is ever capable of a full answer. But that ignorance in the intellect of the manhood is fully consistent with omniscience in the person seems to be not merely a safe answer to the question as stated, but an inevitable answer if the true humanity of Christ is to be maintained at all.
See FOREKNOWLEDGE .
James Orr