Difference between revisions of "Air"

<div> <span> 1: <a> ἀήρ </a> </span> <div> <button> ► </button> </div> <span> ( <a> Strong's #109 </a> — noun, masculine — aer — ah-ayr' </span> ) </div> <p> Eng., "air," signifies "the atmosphere," certainly in five of the seven occurrences, <span> Acts 22:23 </span> ; <span> 1 Corinthians 9:26 </span> ; <span> 14:9 </span> ; <span> [[Revelation]] 9:2 </span> ; <span> 16:17 </span> , and almost certainly in the other two, <span> Ephesians 2:2 </span> ; <span> 1 Thessalonians 4:17 </span> . </p> <div> <span> 2: <a> οὐρανός </a> </span> <div> <button> ► </button> </div> <span> ( <a> Strong's #3772 </a> — — ouranos — oo-ran-os' </span> ) </div> <p> denotes "the heaven." The RV always renders it "heaven." The AV translates it "air" in <span> [[Matthew]] 8:20 </span> . [[In]] the phrase "the fowls (or birds) of the heaven" the AV always has "air;" "sky" in <span> Matthew 16:2,3 </span> ; <span> [[Luke]] 12:56 </span> ; in all other instances "heaven." The word is probably derived from a root meaning to cover or encompass. [[See]] <a> HEAVEN </a> , <a> SKY. </a> </p>

<p> <translit> âr </translit> ( <span> ἀήρ </span> , <i> <translit> aḗr </translit> </i> ): [[In]] the [[Old]] [[Testament]] "air" is used (with one exception) in the phrase "fowl" or "fowls (birds) of the air." The [[Hebrew]] word is usually rendered "heaven" or "heavens." According to ancient Hebrew cosmogony the sky was a solid dome (firmament) stretching over the earth as a covering. In the above phrase the air means the space between the earth and the firmament. In [[Job]] ( <span> Job 41:16 </span> ) "air" renders <span> רוּח </span> , <i> <translit> rūaḥ </translit> </i> , "breath," "wind," "spirit." The scales of the leviathan are so closely joined together that no air can penetrate. In the New Testament the phrase "birds (or fowls) of the air," occurs ten times. This simply reproduces the [[Hebraism]] noticed above. [[Apart]] from this expression "air" in the [[King]] [[James]] [[Version]] represents <i> <translit> aēr </translit> </i> , which denotes the atmosphere which surrounds us. The expression "beating the air" ( <span> 1 Corinthians 9:26 </span> ) means to "deal blows that do not get home" - that miss the mark. In his conflict with the lower life represented by the body, [[Paul]] compares himself to a boxer who aims with unerring accuracy at his opponent. [[No]] stroke is lost. Paul also uses the phrase "speaking into the air" ( <span> 1 Corinthians 14:9 </span> ) in reference to the unintelligible utterances of those who "spake with tongues." In the expression, "prince of the powers of the air" ( <span> Ephesians 2:2 </span> the King James Version) we find an echo of the current belief that the air was the dwelling place of spirits, especially of evil spirits. </p>

<p> ( <span> ἀήρ </span> ) <span> , </span> the atmosphere, as opposed to the ether ( <span> αἰθήρ </span> ) <span> , </span> or higher and purer region of the sky ( <span> Acts 22:24 </span> ; <span> 1 Thessalonians 4:17 </span> ; <span> [[Revelation]] 2:2 </span> ; <span> Revelation 16:17 </span> ). The [[Hebrew]] term <span> רוּחִ </span> ,, <span> ru <span> ’ </span> ach, </span> occurs in this sense but once ( <span> [[Job]] 41:16 </span> ); "air" is elsewhere the rendering of <span> שָׁמִיַם </span> , <span> shama <span> ’ </span> yim, </span> in speaking of <span> birds of the heavens. </span> The later [[Jews]] (see Eisenmenger, <span> Entd. Jud. </span> 2, 437 sq.), in common with the [[Gentiles]] (see Elsner, <span> Obs. </span> 2, 205; Dougtaei <span> Annal. </span> p. 127), especially the Pythagoreans, believed the air to be peopled with spirits, under the government of a chief, who there held his seat of empire (Philo, 31, 28; Diog. Laert. 8:32; Plutarch, <span> Quaest. [[Romans]] </span> p. 274). These spirits were supposed to be powerful, but malignant, and to incite men to evil. That the Jews held this opinion is plain from the rabbinical citations of Lightfoot, Wetstein, etc. [[Thus]] in <span> Pirke Aboth, </span> 83, 2, they are described as <span> filling the whole air, </span> arranged in troops, in regular subordination (see Rosenroth, <span> [[Cabbala]] denud. </span> 1, 417). The early [[Christian]] fathers entertained the same belief (Ignat. <span> ad Ephes. </span> <span> § </span> 13), which has indeed come down to our own times. It is to this notion that [[Paul]] is supposed to allude in <span> Ephesians 2:2 </span> , where [[Satan]] is called "prince of the power (i.e. of those who exercise the power) of the air" (see Stuart, in the Biblioth. Sacra, 1843, p. 139). Some, however, explain "air" here by darkness, a sense which it bears also in profane writers. But the apostle no doubt speaks according to the notions entertained by most of those to whom he wrote, without expressing the extent of his own belief (see Bloomfield, Rec. Syn., and Meyer, Comment. in loc.). (See <a> POWER </a> ); (See <a> PRINCIPALITY </a> ). The sky as the midst of heaven, or the middle station between heaven and earth, may symbolically represent the place where the [[Divine]] judgments are denounced, as in <span> 1 [[Chronicles]] 21:16 </span> . (See <a> ANGEL </a> ). </p> <p> The phrase <span> είς </span> <span> ἀέρα </span> <span> λαλεῖν </span> <span> , to speak into the aim </span> ( <span> 1 Corinthians 14:9 </span> ), is a proverbial expression to denote speaking in vain, like ventis verba profundere in [[Latin]] (Lucret. 4:929), and a similar one in our own language; and <span> εἰς </span> <span> ἀέρα </span> <span> δέρειν </span> , to beat the air ( <span> 1 Corinthians 9:26 </span> ), denotes <span> acting </span> in vain, and is a proverbial allusion to an abortive stroke into the air in pugilistic contests (comp. Virgil, <span> <span> — </span> AEn. </span> 5, 377). (See <a> GAMES </a> ). </p>