Die

DIE [ISBE]

DIE - (muth, gawa`; apothnesko, teleutao): "To die," etc., is of very frequent occurrence, and in the Old Testament is generally the translation of muth, meaning perhaps originally, "to be stretched out" or "prostrate." "To die," should be the consequence of eating the forbidden fruit (Gen 2:17; compare 20:7; 2 Ki 1:4,6). "Die" is commonly used of natural death (Gen 5:8; 25:8). It is used also of violent death (Gen 26:9,11; Ex 21:20); punitive (Ex 19:12; 21:12,14; 28:43; Nu 4:15; Ezek 3:1:8 ff); as the result of willfulness or indifference (Prov 10:21; 15:10; 19:16). To die "the death of the righteous" is something to be desired (Nu 23:10).

In the New Testament the word for "to die," etc., is generally apothnesko, "to die off or away," used of dying in all forms: of natural death (Mt 22:24); of violent death (Jn 11:50,51; 19:7; Acts 25:11); of the death of Christ (Jn 12:33); of death as the consequence of sin (Jn 8:21,24; Rom 8:13); teleutao, "to end (life)," also occurs several times (Mt 15:4); thnesko, "to die," occurs once (Jn 11:21), and apollumi, "to destroy" (Jn 18:14); in Acts 25:16 (Textus Receptus) we have eis apoleian, "to destruction."

Figurative Use:

The figurative use of "to die" is not frequent, if indeed it ever occurs. In 1 Sam 25:37 it may be equivalent to "faint," "His heart died within him, and he became as a stone," but this may be meant literally. In Am 2:2 it is said that Moab "shall die," i.e. perish as a nation. Paul describes the condition of the apostles of Christ as "dying, and behold, we live" (2 Cor 6:9), and says, "I die daily" (1 Cor 15:31), but the references may be to exposure to death. When in Rom 7:9 he says, "When the commandment came .... I died," he may mean that it rendered him liable to death. In Rom 6:2 we have "we who died to sin," i.e. in Christ, and in our acceptance of His death as representing ours; similarly we read in 2 Cor 5:14, "One died for all, therefore all died" (Revised Version (British and American)), i.e. representatively, and in Col 2:20 "if ye died with Christ"; 3:3, "for ye died," the Revised Version (British and American) (in Christ). Compare 2 Tim 2:11; 1 Pet 2:24.

Of the changes in the Revised Version (British and American) may be mentioned "abode" for "died" (Gen 25:18, margin "or settled, Hebrew fell"); "he that is to die" for "worthy of death" (Dt 17:6); "died" for "are dead" (Jn 6:49,58, and the American Standard Revised Version 8:52,53); "though he die" for "were dead" (Jn 11:25); "many died" for "were dead" (Rom 5:15); "died for nought" for "in vain" (Gal 2:21); "when his end was nigh" for "died" (Heb 11:22). Of special importance are the changes from "be, are, were, dead" in Rom 6:2,7,8; 2 Cor 5:14; Col 2:20; 3:3; 2 Tim 2:11, and "having died" for "being dead" in 1 Pet 2:24, as bringing out the truth that in the sight of God all men died in Christ.

See also DEATH.

W. L. Walker