Earnest (Hastings' Dictionary)

There are three well-known NT patu-yi^'es in which thia word occurs : Eph 1" ' The earueHt of our inheritance' ; 2 Co P' and 2 Co 5' ' The earnest of the Spirit.' In all three instances the Greek word (introduced perhaps by Phoenician traders) is the same, d(ipa(iuiv. Ita Lat. e(]uivalent is arrha or arrhnbo (not pignus), and its Enj;. arlti, now obsolete except in Scotland. The corre- sponding word in Heb. p::"H (Gn 38"- "■ ™) means a pledge or token, something to be returned when the t«rni9 of the contract liave been observeil ; but by ifiliapiiv, ar^habo, artes, we are to under- stand a lirst instalment, given as a sure and binding engagement that the rest sliall follow in due time. The earnest is a pledge, but it is a pledge consisting of part of tlie possession, or LeneUt, or blessing with which the contracting parties are concerned. The arlcs given to a servant signifies that a contract has been entered into, and it is a binding promise that the wages agreed upon will be forthcoming when the term of engage- ment has expired. It is really a part of the wages, and it is tlie same in kind as the money payment to be afterwards made. In very olden times a similar formality used to obtain In connexion with the conveyance of land, or houses, or mills. In buying a held, the purchaser had given him a clod of earth as an earnest that, at the appointed time, he should enter upon complete possession. When houses were transferred from one owner to another, the purchaser or receiver had handed him some of the thatch as artes or earnest that by and by the whole property should pass over into his posses- sion. In tue case of a mill, some small piece of the machinery was passed from hand to hand. These (Imple ceremonies were as binding as an agree- ment written upon parchment and made valid by the impression of a Government stamp. The idea underlying them all appears in various forms in Scripture liistory. Abraham's sojourn in Canaan was a kind of earnest to a wanderer like him tliat bis seed sliould by and by possess the land. When Abraliam's servant, having gone to Mesopotamia to fetch a wife for Isaac, gave Rebekali a nosering and bracelets and jewels of gold and silver, these were to her an earnest of Isaac's wealth, and the evidence of a comfortable home in Canaan. Using the wonl in the sense above explained and illus- trated, the apostle tells us that the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts is an earnest of our heavenly inheritance. Christian knowledge, holi- ness, and happiness are not only a pledge, but also a foretaste of heaven'a bliaa. See Eadie, Enh. p. 68f. G. M. i'HILPS.