Clear

CLEAR; CLEARNESS [ISBE]

CLEAR; CLEARNESS - kler, kler'-nes (bar; diablepo): Equivalent of several Hebrew and Greek words for bright, unclouded, shining without obstruction, distinct, brilliant; "clearer than the noon-day" (Job 11:17): "clear as the sun" (Song 6:10); "clear shining after rain" (2 Sam 23:4); "clear heat in sunshine" (Isa 18:4); "clear as crystal" (Rev 21:11). Adverb, "clearly," for distinctly (Mt 7:5; Mk 8:25; Rom 1:20). Noun, "clearness," for brilliancy, in Ex 24:10, "as the very heaven for clearness."

From this physical, it is applied, in a moral sense, to character, as spotless and free from guilt, or charge, or obligation "from oath" (Gen 24:8); "from transgression" (Ps 19:13). Hence, the verb "to clear" means juridically to declare or prove innocent, to vindicate (Gen 44:16; Ex 34:7; Nu 14:18; compare hagnos, 2 Cor 7:11, the Revised Version (British and American) "pure") "Be clear when thou judgest" (Ps 51:4) refers to the proof and vindication of the righteousness of God.

H. E. Jacobs