Other figurative uses

David said concerning the wicked: “May they dissolve as into waters that go their way.” (Ps. 58:7) David may have had in mind the torrent valleys common in Palestine, many of which are filled with a swelling, threatening torrent during a flash flood. But the water quickly runs off and disappears, leaving the valley dry.

When repulsed during the assault on the city of Ai, the hearts of the people of Israel “began to melt and became as water,” meaning that, sensing they had somehow incurred Jehovah’s displeasure and were without his help, they lost all their courage and could not make a firm stand before the enemy. Joshua was very upset, evidently not so much because of the thirty-six men that were killed, but, rather, because their hearts turned to water and they fled in fear before their enemies, for this defeat was a reproach to Jehovah’s name.—Josh. 7:5-9; see CLOUD; RAIN.

WATER GATE

See GATE, GATEWAY.

WATERMELON

One of the items of diet for which the mixed crowd and the Israelites expressed a longing while in the wilderness after leaving Egypt. (Num. 11:4, 5) Watermelons have long been cultivated in Egypt and other parts of the Near East.

WAVE OFFERING

See OFFERINGS.

WAW

[ו].

The sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet and also later used, outside the Hebrew Scriptures, to denote the number six. The name of the letter means “hook” or “peg.”

In pronunciation this letter corresponds generally to the English “w,” as in “wine”; at times, however, in modern Hebrew it is given the sound of English “v.” In this work it is transliterated as “w” (ו), “u” (וּ) and “oh” (וֹ). It is rarely used as an initial letter, usually being substituted for by the letter yohdh (י). In the Hebrew, it appears at the beginning of each of the eight verses of Psalm 119:41-48.

WAX

Biblical references to wax are apparently to beeswax, a dark-yellow substance that bees use in forming walls of honeycomb cells where they deposit honey or larva. Wax is produced by worker bees, which, after consuming large amounts of honey, manufacture wax in special glands in their abdomens. The wax is excreted through tiny pores and forms as small white flakes on the exterior of the abdomen. The flakes of wax are then transferred to the bee’s mouth, where they are chewed prior to construction use. The bee has control over the production of wax and makes it only when a supply is needed.—See BEE.

The wax is easily separated from the honey by melting it in warm water, which causes the wax to rise to the surface, where it can be skimmed off. The melting of wax is used in poetic Scriptural illustrations to express a distressed condition of the heart (Ps. 22:14), the dissolution of mountains and of plains (Ps. 97:5; Mic. 1:4), and the destruction of God’s enemies, the psalmist exclaiming: “As wax melts because of the fire, let the wicked ones perish from before God.”—Ps. 68:1, 2.

WAY, THE

This expression can be applied to a road, street, track or path; a mode of action or conduct, or a normal course, manner or method. In the Scriptures it is often used with reference to a course of conduct and action that is either approved or disapproved by Jehovah God. (Judg. 2:22; 2 Ki. 21:22; Ps. 27:11; 32:8; 86:11; Isa. 30:21; Jer. 7:23; 10:23; 21:8) With the coming of Jesus Christ, an individual’s enjoying a proper relationship with God and approaching him acceptably in prayer depended on acceptance of Jesus Christ. As the Son of God stated: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6; Heb. 10:19-22) Those who became followers of Jesus Christ were spoken of as belonging to “The Way,” that is, they adhered to a way or manner of life that centered around faith in Jesus Christ, following his example.—Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:22.

WEANING

In ancient times, a mother usually breast-fed her child for some time, unless such circumstances as inability to produce sufficient milk or her untimely death required that a nursing woman be acquired for that purpose. (Ex. 2:5-10) The time when breast feeding was discontinued and the child was accustomed to other food for nourishment marked a significant point in the young one’s life. (Isa. 11:8; 28:9) This happy event could call for a feast such as the one Abraham arranged at the weaning of Isaac.—Gen. 21:8.

In those days, women nursed their children much longer than they do now in most parts of the earth. Upon being weaned, Samuel was old enough to be placed in the care of High Priest Eli and to serve at the tabernacle. (1 Sam. 1:24-28) He must have been at least three years old then, for the registration of Levite males began at that age. (2 Chron. 31:16) Raphael Patri (Family, Love and the Bible, p. 175) says of Arab children: “Cases are known where a child was suckled until his tenth year.” The evidence indicates that Isaac was about five years old when weaned.—See ISAAC (When Weaned?).

A weaned child, though no longer yearning for nourishment from its mother, still finds security and satisfaction in her arms. Comparably, David had soothed and quieted his soul “like a weanling upon his mother,” and his soul was ‘like a weanling upon him.’ It was soothed, quieted, satisfied, apparently because he did not desire prominence, had manifested humility, avoided haughtiness and refrained from walking in things too great for him. He urged Israel to act similarly, humbly ‘waiting for Jehovah to time indefinite.’—Ps. 131:1-3.

WEAPONS

See ARMS, ARMOR.

WEAVING

The process of interlacing sets of threads lengthwise and crosswise to make cloth has long been known to man. The group of threads running the length of the fabric is the warp, and the set running across it is the woof or weft. Woof thread is woven alternately over and under the warp threads. (Lev. 13:59) Weaving was often done by women, but was also apparently an occupation of men. (2 Ki. 23:7; 1 Chron. 4:21) In weaving, the Hebrews, Egyptians and others used the loom, basically a frame.—Judg. 16:13, 14; Isa. 19:1, 9, 10.

Ancient looms were either vertical or horizontal. One type of vertical loom consisted of two upright stakes with a crossbeam at the top. The warp threads hung from it and had weights attached to keep them straight. In some looms a lower beam took the place of weights, and in others this beam could be rotated to serve as a roller for the woven cloth. A common horizontal loom consisted of two parallel beams kept in place some distance apart by four pegs driven into the ground at their extremities. Warp threads were stretched between these beams. The wooden shaft of Goliath’s spear was possibly being compared to such a heavy beam when it was likened to “the beam of loom workers.”—1 Sam. 17:4, 7.

On the loom the warp threads were usually separated into two sets, so that the woof thread would pass over one set when drawn across the warp in one direction and under that set when moved across it in the opposite way. For this, two “sheds” or passages were needed. In a simple horizontal loom a flat “shed stick” was placed across the warp under alternate warp threads and by turning it on edge one “shed” was made, through which the woof thread was passed in one direction. Alternate warp threads