The Bible's Built-In Dictionary

By the time they were two, each of my nine children became fairly conversant in our native tongue.  They did not attend language school or have the benefit of Babbel or Rosetta Stone.  No part of the day was set aside to teach them new words. 

How did they learn it so soon so young?  The built-in dictionary.  It’s how everyone learns their parents’ language. 

The built-in dictionary is simply usage- words are defined by how they are used in context, contrast, and comparison.    Come here to Mom.  Go there to Dad.  Context identifies Mom and Dad. Contrast tells them come and go are opposites. Comparison locates here and there.  Yes, no.  Hot, cold.  Cat, dog.  Couch, chair.  Up, down.  Eat, drink.  Children learn the meaning of words by hearing them consistently used.  

The Bible has a built-in dictionary.  It’s the same thing - usage.  Words are defined by how they are consistently used.  A word is not going to be used over and over again in its plain and primary sense, then inexplicably be employed to express something entirely different.  Even if a word is used figuratively, it will be true to the figure.  For example, in the previous chapter I used the word handkerchief both literally and figuratively.  But in each case handkerchief meant handkerchief.  

As I write this book, I carefully choose words to clearly communicate my intended meaning.  I’ll write and read what I wrote, then reread and rewrite until I think I’ve got it right.  You can be the judge if I have chosen adequate words, but we should have no doubt that the Author of Scripture knows how to use words to effectively communicate.  You need not depend on a Greek lexicon or English dictionary or Bible commentary.  Useful tools, but not necessary to decipher a word that God has abundantly defined by consistent usage.

Let’s put the Bible’s built-in dictionary to work on perish. Some form of the word (perish, perished, perishing, perisheth) is found 154 times (in 25 Old Testament books and 15 New Testament books).  If this many examples in this many places are consistently clear and clearly consistent, then we can be certain of the Author’s intended meaning.

Consider Deuteronomy 4:26: I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.  

Context says it would be performed soon, utterly, and from off the land.  Contrast says it is the opposite of prolong your days.  Comparison says it’s the same as utterly be destroyed.  This one verse alone helps clearly define perish.

And Job 6:15-18: My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away; Which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid: What time they wax warm, they vanish: when it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing, and perish.

The built-in dictionary supplies descriptive terms: pass away; vanish; consumed; go to nothing.  The picture is of melting ice and snow.  When it is warm, they vanish; when it is hot; they are consumed.  Like melted ice and snow, they go to nothing, and perish.

The following are some examples of how the built-in dictionary conclusively defines perish.  See the Perish List and Perish Chart for a thorough treatment of all 154 occurrences. 

In context, perish means: die (Numbers 17:12, 1 Samuel 26:10; Job 36:12; Psalms 41:5; 49:10); destroyed (Deuteronomy 4:26; 8:20; 28:20; Psalm 73:27; Jeremiah 48:8); slain (Esther 7:4; 8:11; Jeremiah 40:15; Acts 5:37).

In contrast, perish is the opposite of: alive (Numbers 16:33); live (Numbers 24:23, 24); prolong your days (Deuteronomy 4:26; 30:18); have no end (Psalm 102:26, 27); endure (Job 8:13-15); endure for ever (Psalm 9:6, 7); prolongeth life (Ecclesiastes 7:15); eternal life (John 3:15; 10:28); everlasting life (John 3:16; 6:27); renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16); remainest (Hebrews 1:11).

In comparison, perish is similar to: eat you up (Leviticus 26:38); laid waste (Numbers 21:30); cut off (2 Kings 9:8; Job 4:7); consumed (Job 4:9); vanish, go to nothing (Job 6:17, 18); a perpetual end (Psalm 9:6); be as nothing (Isaiah 41:11) no more (Jeremiah 49:7); fade away (James 1:11).

We also see in the built-in dictionary that perish is illustrated by: dung for the earth (Job 20:7; Psalm 83:10); turn again unto dust (Job 34:15); into smoke consume away (Psalm 37:10); as wax melteth before the fire (Psalm 68:2); a vine being burned (Psalm 80:14-16); melt away (Psalm 112:10); withered grass, falling flower (James 1:11).

But there’s more.  The built-in dictionary also provides defining information about things that perish (eye, beasts, riches, land, houses, body members, meat, money, and flowers), and what causes things to perish (famine, drought, consumption, fever, sword, drowning, and fire).

So the built-in dictionary defines perish as to die, go to nothing, and be destroyed, and is like dung, dust, smoke, and melting wax.  This is the very word God chose multiple times to describe the final fate of unbelievers (Psalm 37:20; Luke 13:3, 5; John 3:15, 16; 6:27; 10:28; Romans 12:2; 1 Corinthians 1:18; 2 Corinthians 2:15, 16; 2 Thessalonians 2:10; 2 Peter 2:12; 3:9).  This is the very word Jesus used in speaking to Nicodemus to contrast with eternal and everlasting life (John 3:15, 16).

To then say that perish means or doesn’t contradict endless torment is to reject reason.  It is to suppose that God thought to Himself, “Hmm... how can I best communicate that unbelievers will be endlessly tormented?  What is just the right word I need to make sure they understand? I know… I’ll choose the word I’ve used dozens of times to mean die, go to nothing, and be destroyed   I’ll choose the word I’ve used as the opposite of enduring, abiding, prolonging, remaining, and living. I’ll choose the word I’ve pictured as flesh turning to dust, dung used as fertilizer, fat consuming into smoke, fire melting wax, heat consuming snow, and the sun withering grass.  All those are common real life illustrations they’ll readily understand.   Yes, I’ll use the word perish.  And to make sure it’s abundantly clear, I’ll contrast it to everlasting life.” 

It’s not my intention to be irreverent or farcical by such an absurd notion.  It’s my intention to show just how absurd it is.  How could any Bible believer with confidence in the inspiration and authority of scripture deduce such nonsense?  But that’s exactly what is being done to imagine perish as endless torment.

But as important as how the built-in dictionary defines perish by what it says, it is equally important to understand what it doesn’t say.  In all 154 times the Bible uses some form of perish, it never, not once, expresses a process without an understood end.  Think about that.  Never, not once, does it speak of an endless process.  And, never, not once, does it remotely describe, imply, or even hint at the theory of endless torment.  Zero.  Nada.  None.

The Bible’s built-in dictionary should firmly establish the truth of everlasting life only in Christ and an end to life without Him.  And if believers first learned the Word like babies first learn words, it most certainly would.