Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

THIGH

The upper part of the leg. The term (Heb. yārēḵ) has sexual connotations and probably refers to genitals. When used in conjunction with the verb yāzāʾ, “to come from,” the expression is understood as a reference to “offspring” (those who “come from” the thigh; Gen. 46:26; Exod. 1:5; Judg. 8:30). Sometimes the term is translated “hip” or “hip socket.” The related Hebrew word yarkâ also has cultic connotations, meaning “side” (of the altar; Exod. 40:22, 24; Lev. 1:11; Num. 3:29, 35; 2 Kgs. 16:14) or “base” (of the golden lampstand; Exod. 25:31; 37:17; Num. 8:4).

Swords were worn on the thigh (sometimes rendered “side”; Exod. 32:27; Judg. 3:16, 21; Ps. 45:3[MT 4]; Cant. 3:8). One might be hit or “smote” there in battle or to express remorse (Judg. 15:8; Jer. 31:19; Ezek. 21:12[17]). The priests wore linen breeches from the loins to the thigh (Exod. 28:42). When a woman has been unfaithful to her husband, and a priest makes her drink the “water of bitterness” (Num. 5:16-28), her thigh will “fall away” (vv. 21, 22, 27), perhaps meaning to suffer a miscarriage. The thigh is part of the stew in the cookingpot in Ezekiel’s vision of the rebellious house (Ezek. 24:4). Finally, the author of Canticles describes his lover’s thighs as jewels (Cant. 7:1[2]).

Abraham’s servant swears that he will carry out Abraham’s dying wish (Gen. 24:2, 9), placing his hand under the “thigh” of Abraham. This is clearly a serious oath, sworn on the genitals, the source of life, and thus under threat of the loss of fertility. When Jacob struggles with God at Penuel, God hits Jacob in the genitals/thigh (Gen. 32:25-26[26-27]), causing Jacob to limp (v. 31[32]); the account becomes an etiological story about a ban on consuming that portion of an animal (v. 32[33]). Like Abraham’s servant, Joseph places his hand under the thigh of his dying father Jacob and swears an oath (Gen. 47:29).

In the NT Gk. mērós occurs only in Rev. 19:16, where the phrase “King of kings and Lord of lords” is written upon the “thigh” and robe of Christ.

Bibliography. S. Gevirtz, “Of Patriarchs and Puns: Joseph at the Fountain, Jacob at the Ford,” HUCA 46 (1975): 33-54; M. Malul, “More on paḥad yiṣḥāq (Genesis XXXI 42, 53) and the Oath by the Thigh,” VT 35 (1985): 192-200; S. H. Smith, “ ‘Heel’ and ‘Thigh’: The Concept of Sexuality in the Jacob-Esau Narratives,” VT (1990): 464-73.

John R. Spencer

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

THIGH

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)