2. The same observation holds good with regard to the verb aui'Ctii', and the substantive <Tu)Tr]pia, as used in the Sept. An examination of the passages in which they occur shows that they stand as equivalents for words conveying the notions of well-being, succor, peace, and the like. We have further to notice ffuinjijia in the sense of recovery of the bodily health (2 Mace, iii, 32), together with the etymological connection sujjposed to exist between the terms awTiip and aoi^ta, to which Paul evidently alludes in Eph. v, 23; Phil, iii, 20, 21.
3. If we turn to the Hebrew terms, we cannot fail to be struck with their comprehensiveness. Our verb "to save" implies, in its ordinary sense, the rescue of a per- son from actual or impending danger. This is undoubt- edly included in the Hebrew root yashd, and may be said to be its ordinary sense, as testified by the frequent accompaniment of the preposition mhi ("^ ; comp. the (Tbimi airo which the angel gives in explanation of the name Jesus, Jlatt. i, 21). But yashd, bej'ond this, ex- presses assistance and protection of every kind — assist- ance in aggressive measures, protection against attack; and, in a secondary sense, the results of such assistance — victory, safety, prosperity, and happiness, ^^'e may
SAVIOUR
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cite as an instance of the aggressive sense, Deut. xx, 4, " To fight for you against your enemies, to save you ;" oi protection against attack, Isa. xxvi, 1, " Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarlis;" of victory, 2 Sam. viii, G, '• The Lord preserved David," i. e. gave him vic- tory; o{ prosperity and happiness, Isa. Ix, 18, "Thou shalt call thy walls Salvation;" Isa. Ixi, 10, '"He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation." No better instance of this last sense can be adduced than the ex- clamation " Hosanna," meaning, " Save, I beseech thee," which was uttered as a prayer for God's blessing on any joyous occasion (Psa. cxviii, 25), as at our Lord's entry into Jerusalem, when the etymological connection of the terms Hosanna and Jesus could not have been lost on the ear of the Hebrew (ISIatt. xxi, 9, 15). It thus ap- pears that the Hebrew and Greek terms had their posi- tive as well as tlieir negative side; in other words, that they expressed the presence of blessing as well as the absence of danger, actual security as well as the re- moval of insecurity. Tlie Latin language possessed in the classical period no proper equivalent for the Greek aiori]p. This appears from the introduction of the Greek word itself in a Latinized form, and from Cicero's re- mark {in I'e?v. A ct. 2, ii, G3) that there was no one word Avhich expressed the notion qui sahitem dedit. Tacitus {Ann. xv, 71) uses conservator, and Pliny (xxii, 5) servator. The term salrator appears appended as a title of Jupiter in an inscription of the age of Trajan (Gruter, p. 19, No. 5). This was adopted by Christian writers as the most adequate equivalent for ffooTi'jp, though objections were evidently raised against it (Au- gustine, Sei-m. 299, § G). Another term, salutificator, was occasionally used by Tertullian {De Resurr. Cam. 47 ; De Cam. Chr. 14).
4. The historical personages to whom the terms are applied further illustrate this view. The judges are stj'led " saviours," as having rescued their country from a state of bondage (Judg. iii, 9, 15, A. V. "deliverer;" Neh. ix, 27); a "saviour" was subsequently raised up in the person of Jeroboam II to deliver Israel from the Syrians (2 Kings xiii, 5); and in the same sense Jose- phus styles the deliverance from Egypt a " salvation" {Ant. iii, 1, 1). Joshua, on the other hand, verilied the promise contained in his name by his concjuests over the Canaanites : the Lord was his helper in an aggres- sive sense. Similarly, the office of the " saviours" prom- ised in Obad. 21 was to execute vengeance on Edom. The names Isaiah, Jeshua, Ishi, Ilosea, Hoshea, and, lastly, Jesus, are all expressive of the general idea of assistance from the Lord. The Greek sotdr was in a similar manner applied in the double sense of a deliv- erer from foreign foes, as in the case of Ptolemy Soter, and a general protector, as in the numerous instances where it was appended as the title of heathen deities.
5. There are many indications in the Old Test, that the idea of a spiritual salvation, to be effected by God alone, was by no means foreign to the mind of the pious Hebrew. In the Psalms there are numerous pe- titions to God to save from the effects of sin (e. g. xxxix, 8 ; Ixxix, 9). Isaiah, in particular, appropriates the term "saviour" to Jehovah (xliii, 11), and connects it with the notions of justice and righteousness (xlv, 21 ; Ix, 16, 17) : he adduces it as the special manner in which Jehovah reveals himself to man (xlv, 15) : he hints at the means to be adopted for effecting salvation in pas- sages where he connects the term "saviour" with "re- deemer'' {goel), as in xli, 14 ; xlix, 2G ; Ix, IG, and again with "ransom," as in xliii, 3. Similar notices are scat- tered over the prophetical books (o. g. Zech. ix, 9 ; Hos. i, 7), and though in many instances these notices ad- mitted of a reference to proximate events of a tcm|ioral nature, they evidently looked to higher things, and thus fostered in the mind of the Hebrew the idea of a " Sav- iour" who should far surpass in his achievements the "saviours" that had as yet appeared, 'i'he mere sound of the word would conjure up before his imagination visions of deliverance, security, peace, and prosperity.