- FOREIGNER a Gentile. Such as resided among the Hebrews were
required by the law to be treated with kindness (Exodus 22:21; 23:9;
Leviticus 19:33, 34; 23:22; Deuteronomy 14:28; 16:10, 11; 24:19). They
enjoyed in many things equal rights with the native-born residents (Exodus
12:49; Leviticus 24:22; Numbers 15:15; 35:15), but were not allowed to do
anything which was an abomination according to the Jewish law (Exodus
20:10; Leviticus 17:15,16; 18:26; 20:2; 24:16, etc.). - FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD Acts 2:23; Romans 8:29; 11:2; 1 Peter
1:2), one of those high attributes essentially appertaining to him the full
import of which we cannot comprehend. In the most absolute sense his
knowledge is infinite (1 Samuel 23:9-13; Jeremiah 38:17-23; 42:9-22,
Matthew 11:21, 23; Acts 15:18). - FORERUNNER John the Baptist went before our Lord in this character
(Mark 1:2, 3). Christ so called (Hebrews 6:20) as entering before his
people into the holy place as their head and guide. - FOREST Hebrews ya’ar, meaning a dense wood, from its luxuriance.
Thus all the great primeval forests of Syria (Ecclesiastes 2:6; Isaiah 44:14;
Jeremiah 5:6; Micah 5:8). The most extensive was the trans-Jordanic forest
of Ephraim (2 Samuel 18:6, 8; Joshua 17:15, 18), which is probably the
same as the wood of Ephratah (Psalm 132:6), some part of the great forest
of Gilead. It was in this forest that Absalom was slain by Joab. David
withdrew to the forest of Hareth in the mountains of Judah to avoid the
fury of Saul (1 Samuel 22:5). We read also of the forest of Bethel (2 Kings
2:23, 24), and of that which the Israelites passed in their pursuit of the
Philistines (1 Samuel 14:25), and of the forest of the cedars of Lebanon (1
Kings 4:33; 2 Kings 19:23; Hos. 14:5, 6).
“The house of the forest of Lebanon (1 Kings 7:2; 10:17; 2 Chronicles
9:16) was probably Solomon’s armoury, and was so called because the
wood of its many pillars came from Lebanon, and they had the appearance
of a forest. (See BAALBEC.)
Hebrews horesh, denoting a thicket of trees, underwood, jungle, bushes, or
trees entangled, and therefore affording a safe hiding-place. place. This
word is rendered “forest” only in 2 Chronicles 27:4. It is also rendered
“wood”, the “wood” in the “wilderness of Ziph,” in which david concealed
himself (1 Samuel 23:15), which lay south-east of Hebron. In Isaiah 17:19
this word is in Authorized Version rendered incorrectly “bough.”