Handle

"to catch, seize, lay hold of, grasp, play." This verb is found in both biblical and modern Hebrew. It occurs approximately 60 times in the Hebrew Old Testament. The word is found for the first time in Gen 4:21, where it expresses the idea of grasping something in one's hand in order to use it: "… He was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ." Other things that are "seized" with the hand, or "handled," are: swords (Ezek 21:11), shields (Jer 46:9), bows (Amos 2:15), and sickles (Jer 50:16). The expert in tôrâ, "law," is one who "handles" the law, but he sometimes mishandles it also: "… They that handle the law knew me not …" (Jer 2:8).

"To seize" someone may be to arrest him: "… Irijah took [nasb, "arrested"] Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes" (Jer 37:14). Frequently, tapas is used in the sense of "to capture": "And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua" (Josh 8:23). "To lay hold of," or "seize," hearts is to terrorize: "That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols" (Ezek 14:5).

"to seize, grasp, take hold, take possession." Found in various Semitic languages, including ancient Akkadian, this word is a common one throughout the stages of the Hebrew language. It occurs almost 70 times in the Hebrew Old Testament. It is used for the first time in the Old Testament in the passive sense with reference to the ram "caught in a thicket by his horns" (Gen 22:13) and thus became a substitute for Isaac.

While ’ahaz is a common term for taking hold of things physically, such as Jacob's "taking hold" of Esau's heel (Gen 25:26), ’ahaz is frequently used in a metaphorical or figurative sense. In His wrath, God "seized" Job by the neck (Job 16:12). On the other hand, the psalmist testifies that in His grace, God "holds" his right hand (Psa 73:23). Pain and trembling "seize" the enemies of Israel (Exod 15:14-15). Horror "seizes" the people of the east (Job 18:20). This word gives us the name of Ahaz, king of Judah (2Kings 16).

"to feel, touch, handle," is rendered by the latter verb in Luk 24:39, in the Lord's invitation to the disciples to accept the evidence of His resurrection in His being bodily in their midst; in 1Jo 1:1, in the Apostle's testimony (against the gnostic error that Christ had been merely a phantom) that he and his fellow Apostles had handled Him. See FEEL.

signifies (a) "to touch, to handle" (though "to handle" is rather stronger than the actual significance compared with No 1). In Col 2:21 the RV renders it "touch," and the first verb (hapto, "to lay hold of") "handle," i.e., "handle not, nor taste, nor touch;" "touch" is the appropriate rendering; in Heb 12:20 it is said of a beast's touching Mount Sinai; (b) "to touch by way of injuring," Heb 11:28. See TOUCH. In the Sept., Exo 19:12.

Note: The shortened form found in the passages mentioned is an aorist (or point) tense of the verb.

"to corrupt," is used in 2Co 4:2, "handling (the Word of God) deceitfully," in the sense of using guile (dolos); the meaning approximates to that of adulterating (cp. kapeleuo, in 2Co 2:17).

"to dishonor, insult," is rendered "handled shamefully" in Mar 12:4. Some mss. have the alternative verb antimao. See DESPISE, DISHONOR.

"to cut straight," as in road-making (orthos, "straight," temno, "to cut"), is used metaphorically in 2Ti 2:15, of "handling aright (the word of truth)," RV (AV, "rightly dividing"). The stress is on orthos; the Word of God is to be "handled" strictly along the lines of its teaching. If the metaphor is taken from plowing, cutting a straight furrow, the word would express a careful cultivation, the Word of God viewed as ground designed to give the best results from its ministry and in the life. See DIVIDE. In the Sept., in Pro 3:6, Pro 11:5, the knowledge of God's wisdom and the just dealing of the upright are enjoined as producing a straight walk in the life.