FEAROFTHE

FEAR OF THE Lord THE is in the Old Testament used as a designation of true piety (Proverbs 1=>7; Job 28=>28; Psalm 19=>9). It is a fear conjoined with love and hope, and is therefore not a slavish dread, but rather filial reverence. (Comp. Deuteronomy 32=>6; Hos. 11=>1; Isaiah 1=>2; 63=>16; 64=>8.) God is called “the Fear of Isaac” (Genesis 31=>42, 53), i.e., the God whom Isaac feared. A holy fear is enjoined also in the New Testament as a preventive of carelessness in religion, and as an incentive to penitence (Matthew 10=>28; 2 Corinthians 5=>11; 7=>1; Phil. 2=>12; Ephesians 5=>21; Hebrews 12=>28, 29).