Flock (Hastings' Dictionary)

Four Heb. words are tr^ flock : — 1. -n^ etlcr, irolfxyioi', aydXii. This word, when used alone (Gn 29'- «, Jg 5'«, I S 17", Ps 78", Ca 1' etc. ), usually signifies a Jlock of sheep or goats, or both mingled. It corresponds to the Arab. kati'. The exception to this is m Gn 32"'- '", where it is tr" drove, [tix -iij; (Gn 29-, Jl 1", Mic 5*) signifies jlocki of sheep, and 13? "t;;', in the same sentence in Jl, is herds of cattle, and c-iyn i^V (Ca 4' &") flock of goats.

niiT iiy (Jer 13") is the /lock of ./", that i.s, God's people (cf. Zee 10'), and D'Sn-in Tiy (Ca 6") a flock of ewes. Tjy Vnp the tower of 'cder (the flock) (Gn 35^') is a place near Bethlehem, men- tioned again (Mic 4") as the 'hill' (luarg. 'Heb. Ophel ') of the daughter of Zion. Some suppose it to have been a tower on the hill Ophel at Jerusalem. If Ophel be Zion, the allusion would be perfect in its details. See Hkrd. 2. IK'S zO'n.

This word, which means sheep, is the original of most of the passages in OT tr" flock. It corresponds to the Arab, ddn, but d/in refers to sheep as distinguished by having wool, from goats, which are Known by the name of ma':. Zij'n may include both, Gn 38" RV (cf. AV) 'I will send thee a kid of the goats from the flock' {:'i'n). In some cases the context makes it clear tliat it does not include both, as in 1 S '2.')' 'he had three thou.

sand sheep (z6'n), and a thou- sand goats ('izzim), and he was shearing his sheep (?(5'«) in Carmel.' Where ifu'n and bdkar are men- tioned together, they are always tr' flocks and herds. It would be better, in every ca.se where the context does not clearly demand the rendering flock, to translate z6'n sheep. 3. |Nsn njp? 7nikneh hazzO'n (Gn 47"), is tr* AV, RV 'flocks.' RVm 'cattle of flocks.'

It would 16 FLOOD FLOOD have been better rendered possesion of sheep, and mikneh habbfikAr, in the same verse, possession of oxen (cf. Ec 2"). 4. njijp mir^neh (Ps 78"), U tr* AV, RV 'flocks.' It is elsewhere generally rendered ' cattle ' ; once 'possessions' (Ec 2'). The NT words for flock are rol/wi] and rolityior, the latter of which is used exclusively in a fig. sense of the Church (Lk 12"^ Ac 20^, 1 P 5» etc.) G. E. Post.