This is the final entry in a series of posts on the use of Strong’s Concordance:

How NOT To Use Strong’s Concordance
How NOT To Use Strong’s Concordance Part 2
How To Properly Use Strong’s Concordance
A Good Example of Using Strong’s Concordance

In this last installment I want to show you a good example of how to use Strong’s properly for stronger Bible study. This example comes from Tim Challies, one of the 10 Christian bloggers you should follow.

Tim examines the judgments pronounced on Adam and Eve after the fall. Specifically, he looks at the unusual decree that Eve’s “desire will be for her husband.” Here’s what Tim set out to do:

Today I want to look at the second part of that judgment where God says “Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” …There are two things of importance here: first, what it means that a woman’s desire shall be for her husband, and second, what it means that he shall rule over her.

Steps 1-3: Look Up the Lemma, Read the Gloss,  List Its Occurrences

In his article, Tim does not overtly mention that he is doing a Strong’s word study (I heartily recommend such an approach), but that is what he accomplishes. He seeks out the Hebrew lemma translated as “desire” in our modern English Bibles and finds three occurrences:

To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
Genesis 3:16

If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.
Genesis 4:7

I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me.
Song of Solomon 7:10

Step 4: Identify Verses Which Use the Lemma Similarly

In an effort to understand what is meant by “desire,” Tim first identifies passages which include the word but weeds out those which do not use it in the same way:

What is this desire? Some have taught that this is a kind of sexual desire… These people look to Song of Solomon where this word desire is used; there the woman says, “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me.” That does speak of a kind of longing, a kind of sexual desire. But this hardly sounds like a consequence for sin. Quite the opposite is true. A woman who feels sexual desire for her husband is blessed by God. This is a good desire, a desire a woman should long to have. So what else can it mean?

By recognizing that Song 7:10 uses the word in a different sense than Gen 3:16 Tim can turn to the other occurrence which will help him understand the original verse:

This is a case where we can follow one of those great principles of interpreting the Bible and simply let a more clear passage help us interpret a less clear passage… We need only look to Genesis 4:6-7… “if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” Here is that same word—desire.

Tim has now found all three occurrences of the word in the Old Testament. The two passages from Genesis meet the criteria for helpful Strong’s use very well:

1. Same Use: In both instances, the sentence is formed:

[Subject]‘s desire [conjugated form of "to be"] for [object]

This is essentially a perfect match in regards to how the word is used.

2. Same Author: Both verses are found in the same book within one chapter of each other.

3. Same Audience: The author does not indicate a change of audiences between the two verses.

4. Same Genre: Both passages are historical narrative.

5. Same Timeframe: Both passages were written as a part of the same narrative. Even those who would divide the writing of the pentateuch into multiple authors believe this passage was written by a single author.

Step 5: Use Similar Verses to Explore the Original

All that is now left to do is apply the clearer passage to the original verse:

In this verse sin is described in animal terms—like a lion or tiger hiding by a door… It is out to get you by dominating you.

Keeping that in mind, we can go back to Genesis 3 where God tells the woman, “Your desire shall be for your husband.” What we see is that God is not referring to a good sexual desire, but about that bad, sinful desire, just like in his warning to Cain. A woman’s desire shall be to dominate her husband just like sin seeks to dominate all of us… It should not be lost on us that this is exactly what happened when man fell—the woman was led by a creature and the man was led by his wife.

Tim takes the easily understood passage and carefully applies the nuance to the less clear verse. He is now able to understand the implications of the curse in Chapter 3.

I also want to point out that Tim does not leave his study once he understands the word. Upon learning the nuance of the word, he then seeks out its implications in the surrounding verses and draws even deeper conclusions about the nature of the fall, the curse and humanity. Don’t settle for merely understanding a word; understand the passage.

A Final Note

Compare the robust results Tim was able to discern through properly utilizing Strong’s with what he would have gleaned by treating Strong’s like a dictionary:

desire, longing, craving

a) of man for woman
b) of woman for man
c) of beast to devour

There is simply no comparison between the discoveries Tim was able to make by using Strong’s as a concordance and trying to use it as a dictionary. Be jealous over using this tool well.

_________________

Further Reading:
Have You Called God “Fool?”
What Didn’t Jesus Die For?
“Am I a Christian?” Where Is Your Joy?