Fear (Hastings' Dictionary)

For the theology of Fear see next article. Some obsolete or arcliaic uses deserve notice. 1. Following the Heb. idiom, 'my fear,' 'thy fear,' etc., stands for the 'fear of me,' 'of thee,' etc. : Ex 23" 'I will send my fear before tliee' ('n:?-!, RV ' my terror ') ; Job Sr ' let not his fear terrify me ' {'r\-><, RV ' his terror ') ; Jer 2" ' my fear is not in thee ' ("07175). Similarly Ps 90" ' even according to thy fear, bo is thy wrath ' (tinNi*?

, RV ' according to the fear that is due unto thee,' so Perowue ; Del.* Cheyne, 'the fear of thee,' witli tlie same meaning ; De Witt, ' But who has yet learned the power of Thine anger, And Thy wrath as measured Ly the reverence due Thee ? ') j Is 63" ' O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear?' (^riKTip, so RV ; Del.

' so that we fear tlice not,' evidently the geni- tive of the object ; Orelli, ' that it fears not thee ') ; M'-l 1 ' if I be a master, where is my fear ?' ('><^iD). Earlier VSS contained this idiom yet oftener, as Gn V Wye. (1382) ' youre feor and youre tremblyng be upon alle the beestis of erthe' (1388 'youre drede and tremblyng,' AV ' the fear of you and the dread of you ). 2. After another Heb. idiom The rjfflx. says Delltzsch, b either the genitive of the sub- ject, is.

according to Tiiy fcarfulneMs (-"IN^, as in Ezk \^^) ; or of the object, 'ace. to the fear that is due unto thee.* The latter way of taking it is more natural in iuelf (cf. v.s, Ex ^o-"". Dt !i^), and here cliaracterixeH tile knowledge that is so rarely found as a knowledge ttmt is det«rmineil by the fear of God and tnilv religious.

'fear' is used for the object of fear, that which is feared : Gu 31" ' the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac ' (nn;, RV ' Fear,' as a proper name : but to personify is to miss the idiom, of which S])urrell {Motes on tJte Text of Gen.) gives examples from Pesli. Targ. etc.), so v."

, Ps 31" 'I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaint- ance' (ins); Is 24' ' he who Heeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit' (nris) ; Ps 53' 'There were they in great fear, wiiere no fear was' (d^" in? n;rrii'? inj-nnj ) ; Pr 1" ' I will mock when your fear coraeth ' (Qj'ins) ; Is 8"- " ' neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.

Sanctify the Lord of Hosts himself ; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread ' (nrxTD . . 'iKiiD) ; Ps 34 'I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears' ('nnsiD) ; Pr 10" 'The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him' (yj'T nii:p) ; Is ti6 ' I also will choose their delusions, and bring their fears upon them ' (Dvnuo). Cf. Pr 10^ Cov.

' The waye 01 the LoRDE geuetli a corage vnto ye godly, but it is a feare for wicked doers ' ; Herbert, The Temple, 120, 1. 29— ' Gall in thy death's-head there, tie ap thy fean.' 3. There are two kinds of fear, a ' slavish feare, and a sonlike feare' (Hieron, Works, i. 130). The latter is now used only of our relation to God.

But it was formerly applied to the reverence due to any superior, as Ro 13' ' Render to all their dues : tribute to whom tribute is due ; custom to whom custom ; fear to whom fear.' Cf. Knox, Hist. 194, ' we deny neither Toll, Tribute, nor fear, to her [the Queen Regent] nor her olhcers.' Ascham {Toxophilus, B. fol. 35, ed. 1545) says that a priest should have ' a bodye f ul of manlye authoritie to fear ill men.' i.

The article being formerly used freely with abstract nouns, we find ' a fear,' Ezk 30'" ' 1 wdl put a fear in the land of Egypt ' (nijn:, RV retains); Ad. Est 15' 'in a fear' (dyundffos, RV ' in an agony '). In the quotation from Ascham above, the verb to fear is used in the active sense of put fear into, terrify. This meaning, though it occurs but once in A V, is common in the earlier VSS and in Eng. writers of the time. Thus Lv 26M Wye.

' the sown of a fleynge leef shal fere hem ' ; Dn 411 Gov. ' O Balthasar, let nether the dreame ner the inter- pretacion thereoff feare the' ; i Co lu» Gen. 1600, ' Thu I jay that I may not seme as if wen to feare you with letters ' (so Wye). Cf. Elyot, The iioveriumrA.

247, 'the good husbande, wiian he hath sowen his grounde, settethe up cloughtes or thredes, which some call sliailes, some blenchars, or otlier like showes, to feare away birdcs, which he foreseeth redy to de- uoure and hurte his come.' So Foxe, Actet and Man. i. 436 (ed. 1583).

'A wonderfull an<i terrible earthquake fell through out al Englond : wherupon diuera of the sullraganes being feared by the strange and wonderfull demonstration, doubting what it should nieane, thought it good to leaue of from their determin- ate purpose ' ; Spenser, /''V n. xii. 25— ' For all that here on earth we dreadftill hold. Be btit as bugs to fearen l>abes withall. Compared to the creatures in the seas enthrall.' More, f7(opio ( Itob. tr>, Lumby's e<l. p. 145, I. 26).

expresses his ideal of tolunition in the words, * They also which do not ai^reo to Christes religion, feare no man from it, nor speake agiunst any man that hath received it.' Tindale, WorLi, i. 7, says Scripture is ' a comfort in adversity that we despair not, an<l feareth us in prosperity, that we sin not'; and lizpoiitumt, 148. 'fearing you with tile bilg of excommunication.' From Shaks. take /'am. 0/ Shrnc, I.

it 806— •Have I not in a pitched battle heard Loud 'larums, neigliing steeds, and trumpet's okuig t And do you tell me of a woman's tongue, Ttiat gives not half so great a blow to hear As will a chestnut in a fanner's fire? Tush I tush I fear Iwys with bugs." * Earle (I'laltrr of 1630, p. 201) says that in this example 'fear 'is used in t)ie ancient sense or F.Kli, sudden aliinii, shock of rlanger.

Hut that Hense seems to have been dropped very early, long before the days of Coverdalo, who first uses 'fear' here (Wyclif as usual liaving ' dread '), and tile Heb. is the siune as in the other ;:aHsages quoted above. DavleB quotes from Bp. Andrewes (v. 8), * Knowing tTiat we fear Uonovir and power, though it laat but for a small time, He feareth UB with One whose honour and power lastt^th for ever,' where the neuter and active seiuefl of the word are found tog^ether.

■ The example in AV is Wis 17' ' For though no terrible thing did fear them ; yet being scared with beasts tliat passed by, and hissing of serpents, they died for fear ' {i<p63ei, RV ' affrighted '). A Heb. idiom is expressed in the phrase ' fear before,' which occurs 1 Ch IG*", Ps 96», Ec 8"- ^, Hag 1". Tlius Ps 96' ' O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness : fear before him, all the earth ' (iS>n VJ50, ItV ' tremble before him ').

The verb is nsed in a grammatical misconstruction in Is 57" ' And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared,' which is rectified in RV 'And of whom hast thou been afraid and in fear t ' Fearful in older Eng. meant 'greatly fearing' as well as 'greatly to be feared.' Both senses are used in AV and retained in RV. 1. Dt 20« ' What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted ? ' (Kvn); Jg 7' 'fearful and afraid' (kx) ; Is 35* ' Say to them that are of a fearful heart. Be strong, fear not' (D^-'i.

qDj^, lit. 'hasty of heart,' as RVm) ; Mt 8^ ' Wliy are ye fearful, O ye of little faith ? ' [SeiUi ; bo Mk 4*>, Rev 218 [all]) ; Sir 2'2 22'8, 1 Mac 3« 2 Mac 8". Cf. Adams, // Peter, 55, ' If thou lovest God, thou wilt be fearful to offend him, careful to please him ' ; and Chapman, Homer's Iliads, xxiii. 740 — ' On the shore, far-ofT, he caus'd to raise A ship-mast ; to whose top they tied a fearful dove by th' foot, At which all shot.' 2.

Ex 15" ' Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders ? ' (nS.iii K-ii:, lit. ' feared [in] praises ' ; usually understood ' to be feared even when praised ' ; Kalisch, ' awful in praises, — the qualities which are mentioned in praising Him fill the mind with awe and rever- ence ' ; in Kautzsch, Du furchtbarer in Ruhmes- thaten, ' fearful in deeds of praise ' ; the last, or Oxf. Heb. Lex.

' terrible In attributes that call for praise,' being best) ; Dt 28'* ' that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY odd' (xi.i:); Lk 21" 'fearful sights' (TR (pS^Tp-pa, edd. 06^i)9pa, RV ' terrors ') ; He 10-'' 'a certain fearful looking for of judgment' {<popep6s ; so v.", but in 122> ' terrible,' RV ' fear- ful' : <p. is always used of that which inspires fear) ; 2 Es 8^ 12» 15^', 2 Mac 1". Cf. Melvill, Diary (Wod. p. 271), 'The ministerie of Mr.

Robert Bruce was verie steadable and mightie that yeir, and divers yeirs following, maist com- fortable to tlie guid and godly, and maist feirfuU to the enemies.' ' Awful ' and ' dreadful ' have both meanings also. Fearfully is found only in Ps 139' ' I am fear- fully and wonderfully made' ("n'S!:) n'iN-i'ij, Del. ' " I am wonderfully come into being under fearful circumstances," i.e. circumstances that excite a shudder, sc. of astonishment ' ; Cheyne, ' graced so fearfully and gloriously ').

t FeapfulneBS has in tlie earlier VSS both the meanings of fearful, as Ezk 30" Gov. ' a fearful- ness will I sende into the Egipcians londe ' ; 2 Mac 15^ Gov. ' sende now also thy good angell before us (o LORDE of heavens) in the fearfulnesse and drede of thy mightie arme.' But in AV ' fearfulness ' means always the feeling of fear, apprehension, timidity : Ps 55», Is 33" 21. 2 Es 5" 11" 15". • See Davidson, Syntax, g 71, Rem. 2. t See Cheyne'B whole note (Book qf PscUmg, p.

S52) ; it is par- ticularly good. lie says, ' Uitzig considers such a burst of admiration inappropriate to the case of human birth. But whyf Take the production of a human hand. AVhy should not a senBitive poet thrill, Uke Browning's heroine (James Lee's W\f; viiiX at~ •• The beauty in this — how free, how fine To fear almost " ? ' RV adds Wis 17' ' These were themselves sick witii a ludicrous fearfulness' (KaTayiXarrov fv\ipetar, AV ' fear worthy to be laughed at '). J. Hastings.