Entangle
Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words [1]
see Ensnare.
"to weave in" (en, "in," pleko, "to weave"), hence, metaphorically, to be involved, entangled in, is used in the Passive Voice in 2—Timothy 2:4 , "entangleth himself;" 2—Peter 2:20 , "are entangled." In the Sept., Proverbs 28:18 .
"to hold in," is said (a) of being "entangled" in a yoke of bondage, such as Judaism, Galatians 5:1 . Some mss. have the word in 2—Thessalonians 1:4 , the most authentic have anecho, "to endure;" (b) with the meaning to set oneself against, be urgent against, said of the plotting of Herodias against John the Baptist, Mark 6:19 , RV, "set herself against," AV, "had a quarrel against;" of the effort of the scribes and Pharisees to provoke the Lord to say something which would provide them with a ground of accusation against Him, Luke 11:53 , RV, "to press upon," marg., "to set themselves vehemently against," AV, "to urge."
King James Dictionary [2]
ENTAN'GLE, from tangle. To twist or interweave in such a manner as not to be easily separated to make confused or disordered as, thread, yarn or ropes may be entangled to entangle the hair.
1. To involve in any thing complicated, and from which it is difficult to extricate one's self as, to entangle the feet in a net, or in briers. 2. To lose in numerous or complicated involutions, as in a labyrinth. 3. To involve in difficulties to perplex to embarrass as, to entangle a nation in alliances. 4. To puzzle to bewilder as, to entangle the understanding. 5. To insnare by captious questions to catch to perplex to involve in contradictions.
The Pharisees took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. Matthew 22 .
6. To perplex or distract, as with cares.
No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life. 2 Timothy 2
7. To multiply intricacies and difficulties.
Webster's Dictionary [3]
(1): ( v. t.) To involve in such complications as to render extrication a bewildering difficulty; hence, metaphorically, to insnare; to perplex; to bewilder; to puzzle; as, to entangle the feet in a net, or in briers.
(2): ( v. t.) To twist or interweave in such a manner as not to be easily separated; to make tangled, confused, and intricate; as, to entangle yarn or the hair.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [4]
en - taṇ´g ' l : Found but 5 times in the Scriptures (the King James Version), once in the Old Testament, yet most significant as illustrating the process of mental, moral and spiritual confusion and enslavement.
1. Physical
Used of physical entanglement, as in the mazes of a labyrinth ( בּוּך , būkh , to involve," "be perplexed"). At Moses' command the children of Israel, before crossing the Red Sea, took the wrong way in order to give Pharaoh the impression that they were lost in the wilderness and cause him to say "They are entangled in the land" ( Exodus 14:3 ).
2. Mental
παγιδεύω , pagideúō , "to entrap," "ensnare," with words, as birds are caught in a snare; compare Ecclesiastes 9:12 . The Pharisees sought to "entangle" (the Revised Version (British and American) "ensnare") Jesus in His talk ( Matthew 22:15 ).
3. Moral
ἐμπλέκω , emplékō , "to inweave," hence, intertwine and involve. "A god soldier of Jesus Christ," says Paul, does not "entangle himself," i.e. become involved, "in the affairs of this life" ( 2 Timothy 2:4 ). Having "escaped the defilements of the world," Christians are not to be "again entangled therein" ( 2 Peter 2:20 ).
4. Spiritual
ἐνέχω , enéchō , "to hold in," hence, to hold captive, as a slave in fetters or under a burden. Having experienced spiritual emancipation, freedom, through Christ from bondage to sin and false religion ( Galatians 5:1; compare Galatians 4:8 ), the Gentiles were not to become "entangled again in a yoke of bondage" by submission to mere legal requirements, as the external rite of circumcision.
With reference to the thoroughness and irresistibleness of God's judgments, we read in Nahum 1:10 , "For entangled like thorns" (the King James Version "while they be folden together as thorns"), damp, closely packed and intertwined, "they are consumed utterly as dry stubble" (the King James Version "devoured as stubble fully dry").
