Possess
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words [1]
A. Verb.
Yârash ( יָרֵשׁ , Strong'S #3423), “to inherit, subdue, take possession, dispossess, impoverish.” This word is attested in all Semitic languages except Akkadian, Phoenician, and biblical Aramaic. The word appears in all periods of Hebrew; the Bible attests it about 260 times.
Basically yârash means “to inherit.” The verb can connote the state of being designated as an heir. Abram said to God: “Behold, to me thou hast given no [offspring]: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir [literally, “is the one who is inheriting me”]” (Gen. 15:3—the first biblical occurrence of the word). Whatever Abram had to be passed on to his legal descendants was destined to be given to his servant. Hence his servant was his legally designated heir.
This root can also represent the status of having something as one’s permanent possession, as a possession which may be passed on to one’s legal descendants. God told Abram: “I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it” (Gen. 15:7). Yârash can mean “to take over as a permanent possession”: “And if his father have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his kinsman that is next to him of his family, and he shall possess it …” (Num. 27:11). The verb sometimes means to take something over (in the case of the Promised Land) by conquest as a permanent possession: “The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it” (Deut. 28:21).
When people are the object, yârash sometimes means “to dispossess” in the sense of taking away their inheritable goods and putting them in such a social position that they cannot hold possessions or inherit permanent possessions: “The Horim also dwelt in Seir beforetime; but the children of Esau succeeded them, when they had destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead …” (Deut. 2:12). To cause someone to be dispossessed is “to impoverish” him: “The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich …” (1 Sam. 2:7), the Lord makes one to be without permanent inheritable possessions.
B. Nouns.
Several nouns related to yârash occur infrequently in biblical Hebrew. Yereshah which appears twice, means “something given as a permanent possession; to be taken over by conquest” (Num. 24:18). Yerushshah occurs 14 times; it means “to have as a possession” (Deut. 2:5), “to be designated as a possession, to receive as a possession” (Deut. 2:9). The noun morash —means “a place one has as a permanent possession” in its 2 appearances (Isa. 14:23; Obad. 17). Morashah , which occurs 9 times, can refer to “a place one has as a permanent possession” (Exod. 6:8), “a thing one has as a permanent possession” (Deut. 33:4), and “people to be dispossessed” (Ezek. 25:4).
Some scholars associate reshet , “net,” with yarash . Hence, a “net” is conceived as a thing which receives and holds (possesses) something or someone (Job 18:8). Others suggest that can also mean “pit” (cf. Ps. 9:15; 35:7-8).
King James Dictionary [2]
Possess', L possessus, possideo, a compound of po, a Russian preposition, perhaps by, and sedeo, to sit to sit in or on.
1. To have the just and legal title, ownership or property of a thing to own to hold the title of, as the rightful proprietor, or to hold both the title and the thing. A man may possess the farm which he cultivates,or he may possess an estate in a foreign country, not in his own occupation. He may possess many farms which are occupied by tenants. In this as in other cases, the original sense of the word is enlarged, the holding or tenure being applied to the title or right, as well as to the thing itself. 2. To hold to occupy without title or ownership.
I raise up the Chaldeans, to possess the dwelling-places that are not theirs. Habakkuk 1
Neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own. Acts 4
3. To have to occupy. The love of the world usually possesses the heart. 4. To seize to gain to obtain the occupation of.
The English marched towards the river Eske, intending to possess a hill called Under-Eske.
5. To have power over as an invisible agent or spirit.
Luke 8 .
Beware what spirit rages in your breast
For ten inspired, ten thousand are possess'd.
6. To affect by some power.
Let not your ears despise my tongue,
Which shall possess them with the heaviest sound
That ever yet they heard.
To possess of, or with, more properly to possess of, is to give possession, command or occupancy.
Of fortune's favor long possess'd
This possesses us of the most valuable blessing of human life, friendship.
To possess one's self of, to take or gain possession or command to make one's self master of.
We possessed ourselves of the kingdom of Naples.
To possess with, to furnish or fill with something permanent or to be retained.
It is of unspeakable advantage to possess our minds with an habitual good intention.
If they are possessed with honest minds.
Webster's Dictionary [3]
(1): ( v. t.) To enter into and influence; to control the will of; to fill; to affect; - said especially of evil spirits, passions, etc.
(2): ( v. t.) To occupy in person; to hold or actually have in one's own keeping; to have and to hold.
(3): ( v. t.) To have the legal title to; to have a just right to; to be master of; to own; to have; as, to possess property, an estate, a book.
(4): ( v. t.) To obtain occupation or possession of; to accomplish; to gain; to seize.
(5): ( v. t.) To put in possession; to make the owner or holder of property, power, knowledge, etc.; to acquaint; to inform; - followed by of or with before the thing possessed, and now commonly used reflexively.
