McClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Sinew

Online Resource Library

Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | Download

McClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Sinew


Subjects in this Topic:

(once for òֹøֶ÷ , a gnawer, i.e. pain [Job_30:17]; elsewhere âַּéã , gid) occurs especially in the phrase âַּéã äַðָּùֶׁä , gid han-nasheh, “the sinew that shrank” (Genesis 32:33), i.e. the nervus ischiadicus, or thigh cord (Gesenius, Thesaur. p. 921). Josephus renders it the broad nerve ( íåῦñïí ðëáôý , Ant. 1, 10, 2), being that which is on the thigh ( òִì ëִּ äִéָּøֵêְ ), extending from the knee upwards, and in fact but a continuation of that along the shin (Rosenmuller, Hand. d. Anatomie, 6th ed. p. 519). Many understand by it the hamstring, or tendo Achillis; but this is no proper nerve nor muscle. Modern Jews, in general, regard this part, even of clean animals, to be inedible, although the Mosaic law contains no prohibition on the subject. For the Talmudic prescription see the Mishna (Cholin, 7). The rabbins mostly understand the sinews of the hips to be intended (see Philippson, ad loc.),