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Barrenness
bar’-en, (bar’-en-nes tsiyah; melehah; shakhol; `aqar; steiros; argos):
(1) Of land that bears no crop, either
(a) because it is naturally poor and sterile: tsiyah "dry" (
(b) because it is, under God’s curse, turned into a melechah or salt desert, for the wickedness of the people that dwell therein (
(2) Of females that bear no issue: `aqar: Sarah (
In Israel and among oriental peoples generally barrenness was a woman’s and a family’s greatest misfortune. The highest sanctions of religion and patriotism blessed the fruitful woman, because children were necessary for the perpetuation of the tribe and its religion. It is significant that the mothers of the Hebrew race, Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel, were by nature sterile, and therefore God’s special intervention shows His particular favor to Israel. Fruitfulness was God’s special blessing to His people (
(3) Argos is translated in the King James Version "barren," but in the Revised Version (British and American) more accurately "idle" (