Rom 10:7, "who shall descend into the deep?" A proverb for impossibility: "say not in thine heart, I wish one could bring Christ up from the dead, but it is impossible." Nay, salvation "is nigh thee," only "believe" in the Lord Jesus raised from the dead, "and thou shalt be saved." Greek abyss (Luk 8:31), literally, the bottomless place. Translated in Rev 9:1-2; Rev 9:11; Rev 11:7; Rev 11:17, "bottomless pit." The demons in the Gadarene besought not to be cast into the abyss, i.e. before their time, the day of final judgment. 2Pe 2:4; they are "delivered into chains of darkness, and reserved unto judgment."
They are free to hurt meanwhile, like a chained beast, only to the length of their chain (Jud 1:6). The "darkness of this present world," the "air" (Eph 2:2), is their peculiar element; they look forward with agonizing fear to their final torment in the bottomless pit (Rev 20:10). Language is used as though the abyss were in the lowest depth of our earth. We do not know whether this is literal, or an accommodation to human conceptions, to express the farthest removal from the heavenly light.
(the representative in the A. V. of several Heb. words, especially
1. Hell, the place of punishment, the bottomless pit (Luk 8:31; Rev 9:1; Rev 11:7).
2. The common receptacle of the dead; the grave, the deep or depths of the earth, under which the body is deposited: the state of the soul corresponding thereto, still more unseen, still deeper, still further distant from human inspection, is that remote country, that “bourne from whence no traveler returns” (Rom 10:7).
3. The deepest parts of the sea.(Psa 49:15; Psa 107:26).
4. The chaos, which, in the beginning of the world, was unformed and vacant (Gen 1:2). SEE ABYSS.
By: Emil G. Hirsch, Eduard König
1. In contradistinction to "rock," which is used figuratively for "a refuge" (Isa. xxxiii. 16; Ps. xxvii. 5, xl. 2, lxi. 3), the "deep" ("ma'amaḳḳim") is a metaphorical expression for misfortune or sorrow (Ps. lxix.2,15; cxxx. 1). Thus the "deep valley" ("'emeḳ") designates a "place of affliction and judgment" (Joel iv. 2, 12, 14, Hebr.), and the phrase "deep pit" and similar words are used in the sense of "great danger" (Prov. xxii. 14, xxiii. 27; Isa. xxiv. 17, 22; Zech. ix. 11; Ps. lv. 23, lxxi. 20, lxxxvi. 13, lxxxviii. 6, cvii. 20; Lam. iii. 47, 53; iv. 20; compare the Arabian saying. "They live in a valley that is at the mercy of torrents." Hence "the depths of Shcol" (Prov. ix. 18) is an image of utter affliction.
2. "Deep" is also an expression for the unfathomableand inscrutable. Therefore hardened sinners are said to make deep—that is, heap up—their sins (Isa. xxxi. 6; Hosca v. 2, ix. 9), and "deep" is synonymous with "inexhaustible quantity" (Rom. xi. 33; II Cor. viii. 2). The Bible also speaks of people who are "deep"; that is, are cautious in speech (Isa. xxxiii. 19; Ezek. xxxiii. 5 et seq.). The Bible applies the word "deep" also to the heart (Ps. lxiv. 7; Judith viii. 14), and to a man's words (Prov. xviii. 4), or to his plans (Prov. xx. 5), while it finds "deep things" (secrets) in the universe (Job xii. 22), in the nature of things (Eccl. vii. 24), and in history (Dan. ii. 22). Hence the word "deep" is used in the sense of "inscrutable" in reference to God's thoughts (Ps. xcii. 6). As a further consequence of these metaphorical applications, "to make deep" came to be an equivalent for "to conceal" or "to deceive" (Isa. xxix. 15). It is interesting to note that in the cuneiform texts wisdom is designated as "the deep" ("nimeḳu"), and is characterized thereby as something difficult of attainment and seldom found.
DEEP.—See Abyss.
(
Psa 36:6 (b) This word describes the mysteries of GOD which cannot be fathomed.
Psa 69:2 (b) Here is a description of the terrible sufferings of CHRIST.
Dan 2:22 (b) This is a figure to describe the marvelous mysteries of GOD which cannot be discovered or understood except by divine revelation.
Rom 10:7 (a) Undoubtedly this word refers to "Sheol" of the Old Testament.