54
FORERUNXEE
FORETELL
house with somethin<» of variety and singular excellency, to entertain him withal as he passed in the streets,' where the ' fore-part' is explained by the editor as ' the space lying between a house and tlie public street or highway, the plot of ground forming a garden or fore-court.'
J. Hastings. FORERUNNER {-rrpSSpo/to!) occurs once in Apocr. and once in NT. Wis 12' ' Thou sentest hornets as forerunners of thy host ' ; He &" ' whither as a forerunner Jesus entered for us.' The meanin" of both these passages is illustrated by the classical usage of Trp6Spoij.oi as a military term (Herod, i. 60, iv. 121, 122 ; ^sch. Theb. SO ; Time. ii. 22, etc.). It was applied especially to the light-armed soldiers who were sent in advance of an army as scouts. A special corps of Tp6Sponoi was attached to the Macedonian army (Arrian, Anab. i. 12; Diod. xvii. 17). When a king was to travel, a forerunner was sent to see that the way was in good order (Is 40'if- ; cf. Mai 3>). Both these OT passages are applied in NT to John the Baptist as the fore- runner of Jesus (Mt ll'", Mk 1=, Lk 7"). In Lk 9'= Jesus sends ' messengers before his face to make ready for him.' Cf. Jn 14* ' I go to prepare a place for you.' The kings of Israel had runners before their chariots (1 S S") ; Doeg the Edomite was the mightiest of Saul's runners (1 S 21', readin" c'^T for o-jn) ; Absalom and Adonijah prepared fifty men to run before them (2 S 15', 1 K P) ; Elijah ran before the chariot of Ahab (1 K. IS'"'). See further under GUAED, RUNNERS.
J. A. Selbie. FORESHIP.— In AV, Ac 27*' only, ' under colour as though they would have east anchors out of the loreship ' (1611 ' fore-ship,' Gr. -n-pdipa, the bow of a ship). RV adds v.". See Forepart. It was Tindale that gave ' forshippe ' as the tr° of irpiipa in v.^ and ' foore parte ' in v.". The translators of AV retained the variety according to their precept, ' that nicenesse in wordes was alwayes counted the next step to trifling ' (The Translators to the Reader). 'Foreship' is still in use. For the anchorage of ships see bmith. Voyage and Ship- wreck of St. Paul, 132, and art. SHIP.
FORESKIN.— See Circumcision.
FOREST.— There are five Heb. words for collec- tions of trees and shrubs : — 1. nn; ya'ar, dpv/x6s. This word, which is by far the most common, is tr. sometimes /or&s< (Jer 46^, Mic 3'-), more frequently wood (Dt 19' RV 'forest,' 2K 2«, Ps 96'^ etc.). Its Arab, equivalent, wa'r, signifies difficult, and is used for rugged and stony regions, whether wooded or not. The expression 'thickets of the forest' (Is 9'*) refers to a forest with tangled undergrowth.
2. a-m horr.sh is used twice for collections of trees :— (a) Wvod{l S 23" etc.), where (reading vin) LXX has the proper name Kaifi;. RV text has wood, marg. the proper name fforcsh (wh. see, and cf. Driver, Text of Samuel, ad loc). Many believe that the reference here is to a town and not to a_ forest. (4) Forest (2 Ch 27^), where it is tr* in LXX by Spv/ids. The same word is used for dense foliage (EzkSP 'shadowing shroud'). It is also used for a ' bough ' (RV ' wood ') Is 17*. The LXX here tr. 'of the Araorites and the Hivites,' and this is probably correct. In every instance of the genuine occurrence of this word, the proper meaning appears to be ' wooded height.'
3. Tijp sibhak, thicket (Is g's IQi^, Jer 4'). This word is given as a proper name in LXX (Gn 22" •ZapiK). It is also tr'' by Spviibs, Ps 74' (AV ' thick trees,' RV ' a thicket of trees ').
i. D'5J/ 'dbhim, dXirri, ' thickets ' (Jer 4^9), called so on account of the darkness of such places.
5. D"n5 pardis, vapaSet<TO!. This is a word of Persian origin, found in Sanskrit, paradeza \ Armenian, pardes ; Syriac, pnrdaysd ; Arab. firdaus. It is used once (Neh 2') of a royal (AV) 'forest' or (RVm) 'park,' under the care of an officer, whose permission had to be obtained in order to fell wood within its limits. It is twic« used for orchards (Ca 4", Ec 2' pi. RV ' parks ').
Pal. and Syria were doubtless much more heavily wooded in ancient times than now. Numerous forests are mentioned in Scripture. (1) The wood lands of the Canaanites and Rephaim clothed the mountains of Samaria and Galilee, and extended apparently to Beth-shean (Jos 17"""). Tabor is a representative of tlnswoodof Ejihraim. For another ' wood of Epliraim ' see (9) below. (2) There was a forest near Bethel, clothin" the sides of the r.avines coming up from the Jordan Valley (2 K 2-^- ^). (3) The ' forest of Hareth ' was on the W. slopes of the Judaian hills (1 S 22=). (4) A forest in the hill-country, probably near Aijalon (1 S H'-''- •", cf. v."), where Jonathan ate the honey. (5) The ' fields of the wood ' (Ps 132') refer to the region of Kiriath-jearim, the 'village of the woods' (1 S 7").