Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 180:720 (Oct 2023)
Article: The Lexical Meaning Of “Holy” In Hebrew
Author: Peter J. Gentry

BSac 180:720 (October-December 2023) p. 387

The Lexical Meaning Of “Holy” In Hebrew

Peter J. Gentry

Peter J. Gentry is Senior Professor at The Southern Baptist Seminary, Distinguished Visiting Professor of Old Testament at Phoenix Seminary, and Senior Research Fellow at Text & Canon Institute. This article is an expansion of material that appeared in this journal ten years ago: Peter J. Gentry, “The Meaning of ‘Holy’ in the Old Testament,” Bibliotheca Sacra 170.680 (2013): 400–17.

Abstract

The Scriptures reveal a holy God. Further, his covenant people are called to be holy. But what does “ holy” mean? Systematic theologians have often understood the word “ holy” as referring to moral purity and transcendence. This article argues that moral purity and transcendence, while related to holiness, cannot define the word in the Bible. It examines the word’s meaning in relation to the Exodus and roots the definition of “ holy” in the exegesis of Exodus 3; 19; and Isaiah 6.

Hannah’s bold praise when God granted her request for a child was that there was “no one holy like Yahweh” (1 Sam 2:2).1 Hannah’s praise is based not only on her own experience but also on the revelation given at the Exodus. Moses’s Song of the Sea rang out, “Who is like you among the gods, Yahweh? Who is like you—majestic in holiness!” (Exod 15:11). The revelation of God as holy and the creation of a covenant people who are holy are specifically connected with the events of the Exodus.2

Unfortunately, the church of Jesus Christ, at least in the Western world, has not understood very well the meaning of the word “holy” or what it means to worship a holy God. We can quickly survey theologians from the Reformation to the present. Muller,

BSac 180:720 (October-December 2023) p. 388

describing the Reformed orthodox doctrine of divine holiness, notes:

Holiness has, moreover, two implications, both of which are typically stated in relation or in contrast to creatures. First, it can indicate the absolute “moral purity” of God and stand, therefore, in relation to his justice or righteousness. . . . Second, “the word is also employed to denote God’s infinite excellence above all that is low and created.3

Thus holiness is roughly equivalent to “purity”...