WONDERS

with which the Book of Proverbs concludes (ch. 31). See, further, Family, Marriage.

2. In NT (.gyriS, 'woman,' 'wife'; thUeia [Ro 1»- "], 'female'; gynaikarion [dirain. fr. gyne, 2 Ti 3'], BV 'silly women').— Owing to the influence of Rabblnism, Jewish women had lost some of their earlier freedom (ct. with the scene at the well of Haran [Gn 24'i«l the surprise of the disciples by the well of Syehar when they found Jesus 'speaking with a woman' (Jn 4"]). But Jesus wrought a wonderful change. He did this not only by His teaching about adultery (Mt 5"') and marriage and divorce (vv."'- 19^), but still more by His personal attitude to women, whether good and pure like His own mother (there is nothing harsh or discourteous in the 'Woman' of Jn 2*; cf. 19») and the sisters of Bethany, or sinful and outcast as some women of the Gospels were (Lk 7""- 8^, Jn 4). The work of emancipation was continued in the Apostolic Church. Women formed an integral part of the earliest Christian community (Ac 1»), shared in the gifts of Pentecost (2"'-, cf. v."), engaged in tasks of unofllcial ministry (Ro 16"-, Ph i"), and by and by appear (1 Tl 3") as holding the office of the deaconess (wh. see), and possibly (S') that of the 'widow' (wh. see, and cf. Timothy [Epp. to], § 5). St. Paul's conception of woman and of man's relation to her is difficult (1 Co 7), but may be explained partly by his expectation of the Parousia (w.^-"), and partly by the exigencies of an era of persecution (v.»). In a later Pauline Epistle marriage becomes a type of the union between Christ and the Church (Eph 5^-^). And if by his injunction as to the silence of women in the Church (1 Co 14™) the Apostle appears to limit the prophetic freedom of the first Christian days (Ac 2*- "), we must remember that he is writing to a Church set in the midst of a dissolute Greek city, where Christian women had special reasons for caution in the exercise of their new privileges. Else-where he announces the far-reaching principle that in Christ Jesus ' there can be no male and female' (Gal S''^).

J. C. Lambert.

WONDERS (Heb. rndphlth, Gr. ieras; usually in OT and always in NT associated with Heb. 'Bth, Gr. sdmeion, Eng. 'sign'). — In OT the term ordinarily occurs with reference to the miracles at the time of the deliverance from Egypt (Ex 7' etc.) — Jehovah's 'wonders in the land of Ham' (Ps 105"). In NT it is used of the miracles wrought by Jesus (Ac 2^^ etc.), those demanded of Him by the people (Jn i*'); those of the Apostles and the early Church (Ac 2" etc.); those which should be wrought by false Christs (Mt 242« = Mk 1322). It refers primarily to the astonishment produced by a miraculous event, and so it is significant that, as applied to the miracles of Jesus, it is always conjoined with some other term. His miracles were not mere prodigies exciting astonishment, but 'signs and wonders,' that appealed at the same time, through their evidential value, to the reason and spirit. And yet Jesus preferred the intuitive faith that is independent alike of wonders and of signs (Jn 4*'). See, further, Miracles, Sign.

J. C. Lambert.

WOOD. — See Forest, also Writing, 6.

WOOL. — Woollen stufifs were much used for clothes (Lv IS""-, Pr 31" etc.); mainly, however, for outer garments. For underwear, linen was preferred, as being cooler and cleaner. Wool, falling swiftly a prey to moths and larvae (Is 51* etc.), was not used for wrapping the dead. A garment of mingled wool and linen might not be worn (Lv 19", Dt 22"). Josephus says this was reserved exclusively for the priests (Anl. iv. viii. 11). Dyed wool is referred to (He 9", cf. Lv 14"), but its natural colour, white, makes it the criterion of white-ness and purity (Ps 147", Is 1", Dn 7», Rev 1»). Wool was a valuable article of commerce (Ezk 27"), and it figures in the tribute paid by king Mesha (2 K 3').

W. EWINQ.

WORLD

WORD. — Apart from the personal use of 'Word' as a title of Christ (see Logos), its Biblical interpretation presents few difficulties. Both in the OT and in the NT the original terms employed may pass from the meaning ' speech ' to signify ' the subject matter of speech.' In some passages there is uncertainty as to whether the tr. should be 'word' or 'thing.' For example, 1 K 11*' RVm has 'or words, or matters' as alternatives to 'the acts of Solomon.' In Ac S^' ' thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter' probably means ' in the matter in dispute,' which was the coveted power of imparting the gifts of the Holy Spirit; but the RVm ' word ' is preferred by some expositors, who think that the reference is to the word preached by the Apostles and its attendant blessings (cf. Mk l*^, Lk 12). The EV retains ' word ' in Mt 18" and 2 Co 13', although Dt 19" reads: ' At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall every matter be established.' J. G. Taskeb.

WORLD.— 1. In OT.— In general it may be said that the normal expression for such conception of the Universe as the Hebrews had reached is 'the heavens and the earth' (Gn 1', Ps 89", 1 Ch 163'), and that ' world ' is an equivalent expression for ' earth.' So far as there is a difference, the ' world ' is rather the fruitful, habitable earth, e.g., 'the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dweh therein' (Ps 24'; cf. 50'2 90*, Is 34'). The religious sentiments awakened by the contemplation of Nature appear also in references to the heavens and the sea (.e.g. Ps 8. 19, Job 38. 39). But of the ethical depreciation of the world, so prominent in some NT writings, there are in the OT few traces. The ' world ' is to be judged in righteousness (Ps 9' 96" 98'), and punished for its evil (Is 13"). The transient character of its riches and pleasures, with the consequent folly of absorption in them, is perhaps indicated by another Hebrew word (meaning ' duration ' ; cf. 'ceon' below) rendered 'world' at Ps 17" (' men of the world, whose portion is in this life,' cf. RVm) ; also by the same word at Ps 49' (see the whole Psalm). A word of similar meaning is rendered ' worid ' in AV at Ps 73'2, Ec 3", but RV retains ' world ' only in the latter passage, and gives quite another turn to the sense.

The ethical aspect of the 'world' does not receive any fresh emphasis in the Apocrypha, though in the Book of Wisdom both the scientific interest in regard to the world and the impulses of natural religion are notably quickened (717-22 99 1117. 22 i3i-9_ of. Sir 17. 18). There is ample contrast between the stability of the righteous and the vanity of ungodly prosperity (e.g. Wis 1-6), but the latter is not identified with the ' world.' It is noticeable that in the Apocrypha the word kosmos, which in the LXX means 'adornment,' has reached its sense of 'world,' conceived aa a beautif id order; in the NT this becomes the prevalent word.

2. In NT.— (1) aWn {ceon), 'age,' is used of the world in its time-aspect: human history is conceived as made up of ages, successive and contemporaneous, converging to and consummated in the Christ. These in their sum constitute the 'world': God is their Maker (He 1* 11' [AV and RV 'worlds,' but 'world' better represents the thought]) and their King (1 Ti 1" RVm, Rev 15' RV). Hence the phrases ' since the world began,' lit. ' from the age ' (Lk 1", Jn 9'^, Ac IS") ; and ' the end of the world," lit. the 'consummation of the age' (Mt 13'"- "■ " 24' 282") or ' of the ages' (He 9»). All the ' ends of the world ' so conceived meet in the Christian era (1 Co 10" [RV 'ages'], of. He 11"- *<'). Under this time-aspect, also, the NT writers identify their own age with the ' world,' and this, as not merely actual but as typical, is set in new lights. As 'this world,' 'this present world,' it is contrasted explicitly or implicitly with 'the world to come' (Mt 12", Mk 10'», Lk 18'» 20'<- », Eph 1» 2», 2 Ti 4'», Tit 212, He &).

In some of these passages there is implied a moral condemnation of this world; elsewhere this receives

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