Tenons and Hands: A Word Study on יד (Yad)
TEN'ON , n. [L. teneo, to hold.] In building and cabinet work, the end of a piece of timber, which is fitted to a mortise for insertion, or inserted, for fastening two pieces of timber together. (Websters)
By using this type of connector, common in traditional Chinese architecture, the boards could interlock with perfect fit, without requiring glues or fasteners, and allows the wood to expand or contract according to humidity.
Tenon (in Hebrew יד or yad) means hands. It also has many figurative uses, such as describing someone who would be a right-hand man (assistant) or in the hand of (in the custody of). The only place in the bible that yad is translated as tenon is in the tabernacle description in Exodus (26:17,19 and 36:22,24).
“ Exo 26:19 You shall make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards: two sockets under each of the boards for its two tenons [hands].”
Yad occurs 1536 times in the old testament, and only four of those times is it translated tenon, all four of those times being in the context of describing the tabernacle construction in Exodus 26 and 36. Most of the time, yad means hands, or the work of the hands.
- Moses stretched out his hand (same word) to instigate many of the plagues.
- God stretched out his hand (same word) to smite people with pestilence.
- When Isaac felt Jacob’s hands to identify that he was Esau, yad is the word used for hand (Gen. 27:2).
Yad also appears to have a less frequent secondary meaning as an edge, border, or boundary. The “coasts” of Cypress (Num 24:24) and the “side” of the great River Tigris (Dan 10:4) are also uses of yad.
Deu. 6:21, the hand of God brought the Israelites out of Egypt.
- YAD:
- a) hand (of man)
- b) strength, power (fig.)
- c) side (of land), part, portion (metaph.) (fig.)
- d) (various special, technical senses)
- 1) sign, monument
- 2) part, fractional part, share
- 3) time, repetition
- 4) axle-trees, axle
- 5) stays, support (for laver)
- 6) tenons (in tabernacle)
- 7) a phallus, a hand (meaning unsure)
- 8) wrists
| Digging Deeper: Other Examples of use of Yad in the Bible: |
- Gen 27:22 So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau." [Literal meaning of hand]
- Gen 3:22 Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever
- Gen 9:2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand.
- Gen 43:21 but it happened, when we came to the encampment, that we opened our sacks, and there, each man's money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight; so we have brought it back in our hand.
- Lev 25:26 Or if the man has no one to redeem it, but he himself [by his hand] becomes able to redeem it…
- Num 24:24 But ships shall come from the coasts [hands/edge] of Cyprus, And they shall afflict Asshur and afflict Eber, And so shall Amalek, until he perishes."
- Dan 10:4 Now on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was by the side [hands/edge] of the great river, that is, the Tigris…
- Psa 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork [work of his hands].
- Pro 13:11 Wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished, But he who gathers by labor [his own hands] will increase.
- Exo 14:31 Thus Israel saw the great work [handiwork, work of the Lord’s hands] which the LORD had done in Egypt; so the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD and His servant Moses.
- Exo 17:12 But Moses' hands became heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
- Psa 36:11 Let not the foot of pride come against me, And let not the hand of the wicked drive me away.
- Eze 1:3 the word of the LORD came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was upon him there.
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