Difference between revisions of "City"

<p> ‛Iyr ( '''''עָיַר''''' , Strong'S #5892), “city; town; village; quarter [of a city].” Cognates of this word appear in Ugaritic, Phoenician, Sumerian, and old Arabic. This noun occurs about 1,092 times and in every period of biblical Hebrew.The word suggests a “village.” An unwalled village is represented by the Hebrew word <em> chatser </em> . <em> Qiryat </em> , a synonym of <em> ‛ı̂yr </em> is an [[Aramaic]] loanword. </p> <p> But <em> ‛ı̂yr </em> and its synonym do not necessarily suggest a walled city. This usage is seen in Deut. 3:5, where <em> ‛ı̂yr </em> may be a city standing in the open country (perhaps surrounded by dirt or stone ramparts for protection): “All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many.” A comparison of Lev. 25:29 and Lev. 25:31 shows that <em> ‛ı̂yr </em> can be used as synonym of <em> chatser </em> : “And if a man sell a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; … but the houses of the villages [ <em> chatser </em> ] which have no wall round about them shall be counted as the fields of the country.…” </p> <p> ‛Iyr can signify not only a “village consisting of permanent houses” but also one in a permanent place, even though the dwellings are tents: “And Saul came to a <em> city </em> of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley” (1 Sam. 15:5). </p> <p> In Gen. 4:17 (the first occurrence), the word <em> ‛ı̂yr </em> means a “permanent dwelling center” consisting of residences of stone and clay. As a rule, there are no political overtones to the word; <em> ‛ı̂yr </em> simply represents the “place where people dwell on a permanent basis.” At some points, however, <em> ‛ı̂yr </em> represents a political entity (1 Sam. 15:5; 30:29). </p> <p> This word can represent “those who live in a given town”: “And when he came, lo, [[Eli]] sat upon a seat by the wayside watching: for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and told it, <em> all the city </em> cried out” (1 Sam. 4:13). </p> <p> ‛Iyr can also signify only “a part of a city,” such as a part that is surrounded by a wall: “Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion: the same is the <em> city </em> of David” (2 Sam. 5:7). [[Ancient]] cities (especially larger ones) were sometimes divided into sections (quarters) by walls, in order to make it more difficult to capture them. This suggests that, by the time of the statement just cited, <em> ‛ı̂yr </em> normally implied a “walled city.” </p>

<div> '''1: '''''Πόλις''''' ''' (Strong'S #4172 — Noun [[Feminine]] — polis — pol'-is ) </div> <p> primarily "a town enclosed with a wall" (perhaps from a root ple---, signifying "fullness," whence also the Latin pleo, "to fill," Eng., "polite, polish, politic, etc."), is used also of the heavenly Jerusalem, the abode and community of the redeemed, &nbsp;Hebrews 11:10,16; &nbsp;12:22; &nbsp;13:14 . In the [[Apocalypse]] it signifies the visible capital of the [[Heavenly]] Kingdom, as destined to descend to earth in a coming age, e.g., &nbsp;Revelation 3:12; &nbsp;21:2,14,19 . By metonymy the word stands for the inhabitants, as in the English use, e.g., &nbsp;Matthew 8:34; &nbsp;12:25; &nbsp;21:10; &nbsp;Mark 1:33; &nbsp;Acts 13:44 . </p> &nbsp;Acts 16:13