Preparation

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

The preparation of the heart is the great subject of enquiry in a work of this kind, and to which therefore I would particularly direct the attention. To prepare any person or thing may be easily understood in fitting and qualifying, in disposing or making ready; but in Scripture language the whole of the work, both in fitting and qualifying, in disposing or making ready, is of the Lord. So Solomon was commissioned to teach the church; and so every individual of the church is made sensible. ( Proverbs 16:1) The word preparation seems to be taken from military maxims; and as soldiers are put in order under arms, and made ready for their service, so the Lord disposeth the frames and motions of his people's hearts for his service. And it is very blessed when a child of God feels this predisposing grace, and is conscious of being led on and carried through every duty. From the first awakenings of grace until grace is consummated in glory, the whole preparations of the heart, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord. And when the soul of a poor sinner hath been first prepared of the Lord, by regenerating, illuminating, convincing, and converting grace, and is thus brought into an union with Christ, all the subsequent acts of grace, in the goings forth of the soul upon the person, blood and righteousness of Christ, sweet preparing and disposing work of God the Holy Ghost. It is most blessed to know this, and to enjoy it. The daily access to the throne of God in Christ is by the Spirit. ( Ephesians 2:18) It is that blessed, holy and eternal Spirit, in his own office-work, which prepares the soul, by calling off the mind from every object, and fixing the affections on the person of Jesus. It is he which awakens desire, creates a longing in the soul, points to the Lord Jesus as alone able to supply and satisfy the desires of the soul, and opens a communication between Christ and the soul. He that "searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God," searcheth both the heart, and prepareth the heart for enjoyment. He spreads the rich table, and prepares both the spiritual food and the spiritual appetite to receive and enjoy it. In a word, it is the Holy Ghost that is the great Author and Giver of all that life and joy and peace in believing, when the souls of the redeemed are made to abound "in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." Hence, therefore, to him alone should believers be always looking for the preparations of the heart; for in this sweet office of the Spirit, God's Christ and the redeemed soul are brought together; and the Lord the Spirit doth more in one moment to prepare our unprepared hearts than, without his influence, could be accomplished in ten thousand years by all our labours in prayers and tears. How blessedly the church sings to this note of praise, for the preparing and disposing grace of the Spirit, when she cried out: "Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib!" ( Song of Song of Solomon 6:12) As if she had said, before I had the least apprehension of the mercy, my Lord my Husband made me willing, by the swift manifestations of his love, and the awakenings of his grace in my heart, as rapid as the chariot wheels of a princely people.

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

In the NT Epistles the word appears only in  Ephesians 6:15 : ‘having shod your feet with the preparation (ἑτοιμασία) of the gospel of peace.’ The exhortation was suggested by the sandals (caligCE) of the Roman soldier. They were very heavy, thickly studded with hobnails, and strongly laced. The purpose which they served in the equipment of the Roman soldier is to be served by the ἑτοιμασία provided by the gospel of peace. The sandals gave the soldier firm footing, and fitted him for fighting or marching through any kind of country. The word has two meanings: in general, that of ‘preparation,’ ‘preparedness,’ or ‘readiness,’ and in particular, ‘firm foundation’ or ‘firm footing.’ Illustrations of the latter meaning are found in  Psalms 89:14 (15) ‘Righteousness and judgement are the foundation of thy throne’ (RV_), also in  Zechariah 5:11, Ezr (LXX_ 2 Es) ezr  Ezra 2:68. The verb ‘to prepare’ (ἑτοιμάζειν) in the sense of ‘firmly fix’ or ‘establish’ is found in  Psalms 24:2, ‘and established it upon the floods,’ also  Psalms 99:4,  Proverbs 3:19; Proverbs 3 : 2 Samuel 5:12. In the NT it has the sense of ‘destined’ in  Matthew 20:23 (‘for whom it hath been prepared of my Father’)  Matthew 25:34;  Matthew 25:41,  1 Corinthians 2:9,  Hebrews 11:16. The common translation of ἑτοιμασία in  Ephesians 6:15 is ‘preparation’ (EV_, Erasmus, Hodge, Eadie, etc.), but ‘foundation’ or ‘firm footing’ is strongly supported (Chrysostom, Bengel, Hatch). The weakness of the translation ‘preparation’ is that it does not indicate the kind of equipment which is referred to. It translates the word but not the idea. The more restricted meaning of ‘firm footing,’ with its suggestions of confidence or assurance, brings out more clearly what the gospel of peace provides. This ‘firm confidence’ is not only necessary for ‘standing’ in ‘the evil day,’ but for the general warfare of the Christian at all times.

Literature.-The principal Commentaries in loco; E. Hatch, Essays in Biblical Greek, 1889, pp. 51-55; A. F. Buscarlet, ExpT_ ix. [1897-98] 38-40, where there is also a fine illustration of the foot-gear of a Roman soldier.

John Reid.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) The state of being prepared or made ready; preparedness; readiness; fitness; as, a nation in good preparation for war.

(2): ( n.) The act of preparing or fitting beforehand for a particular purpose, use, service, or condition; previous arrangement or adaptation; a making ready; as, the preparation of land for a crop of wheat; the preparation of troops for a campaign.

(3): ( n.) That which makes ready, prepares the way, or introduces; a preparatory act or measure.

(4): ( n.) That which is prepared, made, or compounded by a certain process or for a particular purpose; a combination. Specifically: (a) Any medicinal substance fitted for use. (b) Anything treated for preservation or examination as a specimen. (c) Something prepared for use in cookery.

(5): ( n.) An army or fleet.

(6): ( n.) The holding over of a note from one chord into the next chord, where it forms a temporary discord, until resolved in the chord that follows; the anticipation of a discordant note in the preceding concord, so that the ear is prepared for the shock. See Suspension.

(7): ( n.) Accomplishment; qualification.

King James Dictionary

PREPARA'TION, n. L. proeparatio. See Prepare.

1. The act or operation of preparing or fitting for a particular purpose,use, service or condition as the preparation of land for a crop of wheat the preparation of troops for a campaign the preparation of a nation for war the preparation of men for future happiness. Preparation is intended to prevent evil or secure good. 2. Previous measures of adaptation.

I will show what preparations there were in nature for this dissolution.

3. Ceremonious introduction. Unusual. 4. That which is prepared, made or compounded for a particular purpose.

I wish the chimists had been more sparing, who magnify their preparations.

5. The state of being prepared or in readiness as a nation in good preparation for attack or defense. 6. Accomplishment qualification. Not in use. 7. In pharmacy, any medicinal substance fitted for the use of the patient. 8. In anatomy, the parts of animal bodies prepared and preserved for anatomical uses.

Preparation of dissonances, in music, is their disposition in harmony in such a manner that by something congenial in what precedes, they may be rendered less harsh to the ear than they would be without such preparation.

Preparation of medicines, the process of fitting any substance for use in the art of healing.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

The day on which our Savior was crucified was called the "day of preparation," or "the preparation of the Passover," as preceding the Passover Sabbath, which commend at sunset,  Matthew 27:62;  John 19:31 .

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

PREPARATION (Gr. paraskeuç ). A term applied by the Jews to the day preceding the Sabbath, or any of the sacred festivals, especially the Passover.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

prep - a - rā´shun  : The concordances indicate that the word "preparation" occurs only twice in the Old Testament, once in   1 Chronicles 22:5 , where it is used in the ordinary sense "to make preparation," and once in  Nahum 2:3 , "in the day of his preparation," both of them translating the same Hebrew root and requiring no special elucidation. In  Ephesians 6:15 the apostle speaks of the equipment of the Christian as including the "feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace," which means, according to Thayer, "with the promptitude and alacrity which the gospel produces."

The word occurs with technical significance (" the Preparation ") in the gospel narratives of the crucifixion, translating the Greek παρασκευή , paraskeuḗ (  Matthew 27:62;  Mark 15:42;  Luke 23:54;  John 19:14 ,  John 19:31 ,  John 19:42 ). It is used as a technical term indicating the day of the preparation for the Sabbath, that is, the evening of Friday. This is its use in Josephus, Ant. , Xvi , vi, 2, and presumably in the Synoptics. Later its use seems to have been extended to denote regularly the 6th day (Friday) of each week. So in the Didache , viii and the Martyrdom of Polycarp , vii.

The addition of the phrase τοῦ πάσχα , tou páscha , "of the passover," in   John 19:14 , and of the phrase "for the day of that sabbath was a high day," in  John 19:31 , seems to indicate that the author of the Fourth Gospel regarded the Passover as occurring on the Sabbath in the year of the crucifixion. This is clearly the natural interpretation of the words of John's Gospel, and if it were not for the seeming contradiction to the narrative of the Synoptics it is very doubtful whether any other interpretation would ever have been put upon them. This question is discussed in the articles on the date of the crucifixion and the Lord's Supper, and it will be necessary only to allude to it here.

It is possible that the phrase the "Preparation of the passover" in  John 19:14 may mean it was the preparation day (Friday) of the Passover week (see Andrews, Life of Our Lord , 451 ff; and most recently Zahn, Das Evangelium des Johannes , 1908, 637 ff). This method of harmonizing seems to the present writer to be forced, and it therefore seems wiser to give to the words of  John 19:14 their natural interpretation, and to maintain that, according to the author of the Fourth Gospel, the Passover had not been celebrated at the time of the crucifixion. There seems to be reason to believe that the ordinary view that the Lord's Supper was instituted in connection with the Passover, based upon the narrative in Mark (  Mark 14:12 ff), does not have the unanimous support of the Synoptic Gospels.

Literature.

In addition to references in the body of the article, the commentaries, especially Plummer, Cambridge Bible , "St. John," Appendix A; Allen, Icc , "St. Matthew," 270-74; Godet, Commentary on the New Testament  ; Gospel of John , English translation, New York, 1886, II, 378,379; and the significant articles on the interpretation of   Luke 22:15 ,  Luke 22:16 by Burkitt and Brooke, Journal of Theological Studies , IX, 569 ff, and by Box, ib, X, 106.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

( Παρασκευή ) in  Mark 15:42;  Luke 23:54;  John 19:42, and  Matthew 27:62, is doubtless the day or evening before the commencement of the Sabbath, with which, at that time, according to the Synoptical Gospels, coincided the first day of the Passover. (But Schneckenburger [ Beitrage Z '''''Ü''''' R Einleit. Ins N.T . p. 1 sq.] supposes the "preparation" in Matthew to mean the feast-day of the Easter period, and which was viewed as a preparatory festival to the Passover.) This day was devoted to preparation for the holyday -especially preparing food for the Sabbath. Mark explains the word by "the day before the Sabbath" ( Προσάββατον ; comp.  Judith 8:6; Josephus, Ant. 16:6, 2). The Jewish expression for it is ערובתא (see Buxtorf, Lex. Talm . col. 1660). So, too, the Peshito renders in the places quoted above. Every feast, like the Sabbath, had a preparation-day before it, which is often mentioned by the Talmudists (Deyling, Observ . 1, 162; with this may be compared Παρασκευὴ Τοῦ Πάσχα ,  John 19:14; Preparation For Easter , the 14th of Nisan; comp. Bleek, Beitr Ä Ge Zur Evangelienkritik , p. 114 sq.). See Passover.