EARTH. This word is taken, 1. for that gross and terrestrial element, which sustains and nourishes us. The Earth yields fruit, is barren, watered, &c. God called the Gen. i. 10.dry land Earth.
- The Earth is used to signify all that rude matter which was created in the beginning. Moses says, that God then created Gen. i. 1.the Heaven and the Earth; that is to say, the matter of all sensible beings.
Ps. xxiv. 1. Ps. cxv. 16.3. By the Earth is meant the terraqueous globe, the Earth and all that it contains, men, animals, plants, metals, waters, fish, &c. The Earth is the Lord’s, and all that therein is: all the whole Heavens are the Lord’s: the Earth hath he given to the children of men; to them he said, Go forth Gen. viii. 17.and make your selves masters of the Earth.
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The Earth is oftentimes taken for Gen. xi. 1. Gen. vi. 13.those who inhabit it, The whole Earth was of one language. The Earth is filled with with violence. Sing unto the Lord, all the Psalm xcvi. 1.whole Earth.
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Sometimes the whole Earth, signifies no more than all Judæa, or the whole Empire of Chaldæa and Assyria. Thus Cyrus says, The Lord God of heaven hath given Ezra i. 2.me all the kingdoms of the Earth. The Psalmist invites all the Earth, that is to say, Psalm xxxiii. 8.all Israel, to praise and serve the Lord.
To demand Earth and Water, was a customary thing with the antient Persians, when they required any people to acknowledge their dominion; thus Nebuchodonosor, in Judith ii. 7.the Greek text of Judith, commands Holofernes to march against the people of the West, who refused to obey his orders, and declare to them, that they were to prepare earth and water, because he had resolved to go against them in his fury, &c. Darius in like Herod. l. 4. c. 126.manner gave orders to have Earth and Water demanded of the Scythians; and Megabysus sent to require the same of Amyntas King of Idem. l. 5. c. 17.Macedonia in the name of his master Darius. Polybius and Plutarch take notice of the same custom among the Persians. There are some who believe, that these symbolical demands denoted the Empire of the Earth and Sea; others, that they signify the two most necessary things to life, Bread and Water. By the Earth, they represented the several sorts of food which are received from it, such as Corn and Fruits; by Water, Drink, which is the second part of our nourishment.
Ecclesiasticus in much the same sense says, The Lord hath set fire and water before Ecclus. xv. 16. Ecclus. xxxix. 31.thee, stretch forth thy hand unto whither thou wilt; and in another place, Fire and Water are the most necessary things to life. Initium necessariæ rei hominum aqua, ignis, &c. Fire and Water were considered by the Ancients as the first principles of the generation, birth, and preservation of man. Proscribed Persons were debar’d the use of them; and wives in their nuptial ceremonies were obliged Ovid. Fast. l. 4.to touch them.
An quod in his vitæ causa est, hæc perdidit exul?
His nova sit conjux, hæc duo magna putant.
Ecclus. x. 9.Man is but Earth and Ashes, or dust and ashes. The Serpent is condemned to eat Earth, or dust, all the days of his life. Noah Gen. iii. 14.is called vir terræ, or vir agricola, an Husbandman, Gen. ix. 20. Naaman having been cured of his Leprosy by Elisha, desired his permission to carry so much Earth with him out of the land of Israel as would load two mules, that upon this Earth he might pay his adorations to God; believing that he could not do this as he ought upon Earth which was impure, such as he thought that of Syria to be.
God threatens his People that he will make the Earth that they were to inhabit, iron, barren, dry, hard, and unmanageable. Deut. xxviii. 23.