When there was a famine in the land Abraham’s son Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.[1] The Lord appeared to Isaac and said (Genesis 26:2-5 NET):
Do not go down to Egypt; settle down in the land that I will point out to you. Stay in this land. Then I will be with you and will bless you, for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, and I will fulfill the solemn promise I made to your father Abraham. I will multiply your descendants so they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands. All the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants. All this will come to pass because Abraham obeyed me and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he replied, “She is my sister.” He was afraid (yârêʼ) to say, “She is my wife,” for he thought to himself, “The men of this place will kill me to get Rebekah because she is very beautiful.”[2] The rabbis who translated the Septuagint chose ἐφοβήθη (a form of φοβέω)[3] here.
Peter and Jesus’ other disciples were in a boat that was taking a beating from the waves because the wind was against it. As the night was ending, Jesus came to them walking on the sea. When the disciples saw him walking on the water they were terrified and said, “It’s a ghost!” and cried out with fear (φόβου, a form of φόβος).[4] But immediately Jesus spoke to them: “Have courage! It is I. Do not be afraid (φοβεῖσθε, another form of φοβέω).”[5] Peter said to him, “Lord, if it is you, order me to come to you on the water.” So he said, “Come.” Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus [Table]. But when he saw the strong wind he became afraid (ἐφοβήθη, a form of φοβέω).[6]
After Isaac had been in Gerar a long time Abimelech looked out a window and saw him caressing Rebekah in a way that caused him to doubt that she was Isaac’s sister. So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, “She is really your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac replied, “Because I thought someone might kill me to get her.”[7] Then Abimelech rebuked Isaac, What in the world have you done to us? One of the men might easily have had sexual relations with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us![8]
As Peter started to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”[9]
Eventually Isaac left Gerar and journeyed to Beer Sheba. The Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid (yârêʼ), for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”[10] The rabbis chose φοβοῦ (a form of φόβος) here.
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy [John the Baptist’s mother], the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. The angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled by his words and began to wonder about the meaning of this greeting. So the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid (φοβοῦ, a form of φόβος), Mary, for you have found favor with God![11]
Then Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the Lord. He pitched his tent there, and his servants dug a well.[12] So Mary said, “Yes, I am a servant of the Lord; let this happen to me according to your word.”[13] Both Isaac and Mary responded admirably to the Lord’s encouragement, Do not be afraid (φοβοῦ, a form of φόβος).
As Isaac’s son Jacob fled (from his elder brother Esau’s threat to kill him) to his mother Rebekah’s brother Laban, he stopped for the night and had a dream (Genesis 28:12-15 NET).
He saw a stairway erected on the earth with its top reaching to the heavens. The angels of God were going up and coming down it and the Lord stood at its top. He said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of your father Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the ground you are lying on. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west, east, north, and south. All the families of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using your name and that of your descendants. I am with you! I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you!”
Then Jacob woke up and thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, but I did not realize it!” He was afraid (yârêʼ) and said, “What an awesome (yârêʼ) place this is! This is nothing else than the house of God! This is the gate of heaven!”[14] The word translated afraid above was ἐφοβήθη in the Septuagint. The next occurrence of ἐφοβήθη (a form of φοβέω) in the New Testament was in John’s Gospel. When Pilate heard what [the Jewish leaders] said, he was more afraid (ἐφοβήθη, a form of φοβέω) than ever…[15]
We have a law, the Jewish leaders had said, and according to our law [Jesus] ought to die, because he claimed to be the Son of God![16] Pilate went back inside and said to Jesus, “Where do you come from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Don’t you know I have the authority to release you, and to crucify you?” Jesus replied, “You would have no authority over me at all, unless it was given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of greater sin.”[17]
Pilate’s fear did not prompt him to fall down at Jesus’ feet and plead for mercy. But, From this point on, Pilate tried to release him.[18] In a similar way Jacob’s fear prompted him to make a deal (Genesis 28:18-22 NET).
Early in the morning Jacob took the stone he had placed near his head and set it up as a sacred stone. Then he poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, although the former name of the town was Luz. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God is with me and protects me on this journey I am taking and gives me food to eat and clothing to wear, and I return safely to my father’s home, then the Lord will become my God. Then this stone that I have set up as a sacred stone will be the house of God, and I will surely give you back a tenth of everything you give me.”
The word translated awesome in Genesis 28:17 (NET) was φοβερὸς[19] in the Septuagint. It does not occur in this form in the New Testament. It was only used three times by the writer of Hebrews (10:26, 27, 28-31; 12:18-21) :
1) For if we deliberately keep on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins is left for us, but only a certain fearful (φοβερὰ, a form of φοβερός) expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume God’s enemies.
2) Someone who rejected the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much greater punishment do you think that person deserves who has contempt for the Son of God, and profanes the blood of the covenant that made him holy, and insults the Spirit of grace? For we know the one who said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a terrifying (φοβερὸν, another form of φοβερός) thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
3) For you have not come to something that can be touched, to a burning fire and darkness and gloom and a whirlwind and the blast of a trumpet and a voice uttering words such that those who heard begged to hear no more. For they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.” In fact, the scene was so terrifying (φοβερὸν, another form of φοβερός) that Moses said, “I shudder with fear (ἔκφοβος).”[20]
Twenty years later, when Jacob fled from Laban with his wives, his children, his flocks, herds, and camels, he explained, “I left secretly because I was afraid (yârêʼ)!” Jacob replied to Laban. “I thought you might take your daughters away from me by force.[21] The phrase because I was afraid was not translated in the Septuagint. But later as he approached his former home and learned that his brother Esau was coming out to meet him with four hundred men, Jacob was very afraid (yârêʼ) and upset. So he divided the people who were with him into two camps, as well as the flocks, herds, and camels. “If Esau attacks one camp,” he thought, “then the other camp will be able to escape.”[22]
After he made these rudimentary preparations he prayed: “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O Lord, you said to me, ‘Return to your land and to your relatives and I will make you prosper.’”[23] He did not yet claim God as his own, but that is the only reference I see to his former oath. Gone is the pride that made that oath. In its place was an humble acknowledgement and request, “I am not worthy of all the faithful love you have shown your servant. With only my walking stick I crossed the Jordan, but now I have become two camps. Rescue me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid (yârêʼ) he will come and attack me, as well as the mothers with their children.”[24]
Twenty years on his own with God taught Jacob something about dealing with fear. Faithfully, he reminded God (and perhaps himself) of God’s own words, “But you said, ‘I will certainly make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand on the seashore, too numerous to count.’”[25]
Jacob’s fear of Esau’s approach was ἐφοβήθη in the Septuagint. The fifth and final occurrence of ἐφοβήθη was in Luke’s account of Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem. The Roman commander probably saved Paul’s life but was about to have him interrogated with torture. Then those who were about to interrogate him stayed away from him, and the commanding officer was frightened (ἐφοβήθη, a form of φοβέω) when he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had had him tied up.[26] The Roman commander feared retribution for his own violation of Roman law. It makes me wonder if Jacob did not sense something of the justice of Esau’s cause despite the overbearing nature of the imagined reprisal. As it turned out Esau had forgotten or forgiven his grievance against Jacob. He welcomed his brother’s homecoming.[27]