320
HEAVEN
HEAVEN
and love ; in His doctrine of God as the Father of iniliWdual spirits, who welcomes the returning;
f>ro«li;;nl on the sole condition that he repent-s and las mith (Lk 15) ; or, a^'ain, in His aunouncvnicnt that God is a spirit, who mu^t be worsliiiipcd in spirit and in truth (Jn 4'-='). God is the Father of all, and the conditions of acceptance with God are kucIi as all men can and ought to fulfil.
What was implicit in the doctrine of Christ on this matter was made explicit, after a period of conflict with the other apostles, by St. 1 aul. To the latter there is no distinction between Jews and Gentiles, e.\cept that the Jews, as beinj; the better prepared, through the oracles of God entrusted to thera, have the privilege of hearing the gospel first (Ro 3-). But the Gentiles, too, have had a measure of training by the law, tliat which is known through nature and conscience ; and if they turn to God and keep the law, their uncir- cumci.sion will be counted to them for circumcision (Ko 2"-^). In all tliis a continuous plan is seen to be worked out by God, for those wtio sincerely believe are the true descendants of Abraham, having his faith ; and they are the truly circum- cised, for true circumcision is of the heart (Uo 2ff.).
According to the gospel, heathenism proves to bo, not a matter of nationality, but of spirit and character. So in the OT the moral aspect of it is frequently emphasized, especially in the Psalms, where heathenism is often synonymous with wick- eilncss. Its essence is set forth Ijy Christ in Mt G^'- ". To the heathen mind God is a power that needs to be appeased or conciliated for world/ y purposes. The world only is souglit with desire — protection from disease or misfortune, material prosperity, enjoyment bodily or mental. By the faithful spirit, on the other hand, religion is made the first choice, and the God who is worshipped is seen in His true character, is recognized as the true (Jod ; He is reverenced as a righteous Spirit, and loved more than aught else for His faltierly goodness. In this way distinctions of race, name, or profession pass over into such as are moral and spiritual. See Foreigner, Gentile, Gek.
G. FEURIE.S.
HEAYEN. — The word 'heaven' is used in a variety of senses in the OT and NT, but especially in that of the dwelling-place of God, the abode from which Christ came and to which He has returned, and the destination of the perfected saints. The etymological associations of the term are e.xtensive. It is of uncertain root, though it may be connected with the Lat. cavere, and the Eng. have and heave. It appears in oifl'erent forms in many European languages, Sw. he/va, Da. haeve, Go. hafjan, Ic. hcfja, hi/inn, Ger. h^ben, OHG heffan, AS hebban, ME heuen ; Chaucer, CT, 552 ; in Robert of Gloucester, however, hebben. (See Skeat, Etymol. Diet.'').
In the OT it usually represents d;-;>, Aram. v~i\, which expresses ' heaven ' in respect of its height ; and in the NT oipavbi, oiipavol, which may be connected with tpvviu = lift, heave (cf. Ger. Lnft, Scot. ' the lift '), and the Vedic vanirm, from var = tcgcre (see M. Miiller, Oxford Essays, p. 41). In the LXX oiSpaxAt stands not only for d;?^', n;?^', but also for Sx, niS.x, tn-:, p-p, nisnn, '?3ri, Di.in, i"pi. In our AV the word ' heaven ' represents in addition to o:;?* mainly three words of different significa- tions, yp^, ci-c, D'pijy. But there are also certain words of which it is erroneously made the equiva- lent. One of these is the term '73^5, which expresses the idea of roundness, and is rendered ' heaven ' in Ps 77'* (A V), as if it meant the ' round orb of the sky,' but which conveys rather the notion of a ' whirl,' and may be best renuered ' whirlwind ' (so RV). Another is P'^'U^ in Ps 68*, in the description of J" riding
' on the heavens.' But while the term might be taken, as it is by some, in the sense of the large expanse of the sky, it is more accordant with ita usual meaning to take it in the sense of ' deserts.' Another is the term O's^;', which is rendered 'darkness' by the Syr. and the Vulg., and ' heavens ' in the AV in Is S" ; but it means properly 'droppings,' 'clouds,' and expresses prob- ably the idea of the clouds ready to discharge their rains. In Ps 80°- ", too, the word ,-"S' is rendered ' heaven,' which properly denotes ' dust,' and may be.st be rendered the 'clouds' or the 'skies.'
The chief ideas attached to the word 'heaven' in the OT, therefore, are the following. It is used (1) in the largest sense, to signify the one half of the whole system of things, the upper division of the created world, the phrase ' the heavens and the earth' expressing the universe as a whole (Gn 1'). More specilic^illy it is used (2) to denote the Jirmanient {(rrepiufUL), the sky, the expanse which God made on the second day of His creative work, after the formation of the ' earth ' and the institution of ' day ' and ' night ' (Gn !'• *). This 'expanse' is represented as dividing the waters aljove from the waters beneath, hi speak- ing of it in its dill'erent aspects, the OT writers employ a great variety of terms, both literal and boldly metaphorical, which naturally move within the limits of the poi)ular conceptions that pre- vailed among the Semitic and other ancient peoples on the subject of the system of things, and the place which tlie earth held in it as its centre and the proper object of God's creative action. The simple ideas which meet us in ancient Greek poetry (cf. Homer, //. xvii. 425, Od. iii. 2 ; Pindar, 01. Od. 10, Nem. vi. 3) and in the oldest literature of the East (e.g. the Vedic hymns, the Babylonian tablets, etc.), are also expressed in the 01. The ' firma- ment,'or vault of heaven, is de.scribed in terms of a strong cover, curtain, or roof provided for the earth (Is 40--, Ps 104-), resting on jiillars, on the mountains and the waters of the earth (2 S 22", Job 2tj", Pr S-'''^). Its beauty is described as that of crystal or sapphire (Ex 24'*, Job 37'«, Ezk l^-=»). It is represented as the region of the fowls, the winds, the clouds (Dn 4'^ (*• "). In it the ancient Heb- rews, like the Greeks and Romans (cl. Plutarch, iJe plac. phil. 2''', Pliny, 2^), conceived God to have placed the fixed stars and the planets (Gn 1", Is 14'- 34-').