One method of Bible study is called a word study. In this method, a concordance or search feature is used to look up all the instances when a word is used in the Bible. Then the similarities and differences in use for each case are noted and studied. This is the perfect method to employ when trying to understand strange symbols in the Bible.
When you do not want to be overwhelmed by the number of verses you need to study, you can limit the number of texts in two ways. One way is to pick a word that is uncommon. A second way is to limit your search to only a portion of the Bible, such as Paul’s letters. Be careful. Just because a word is translated the same in English, it does not mean that it is the same word in the original language. It is helpful to have a Hebrew/Greek dictionary, such as Strong’s or Thayer to check on the original word, so that you do not draw erroneous connections between unrelated words. You should also compare the word in different translations.
Example Word Study: Hook
Introduction: (Note: I excluded pruning hooks from my word study.)
In Ezekiel the word translated as “hook” is pronounced /chach/ in Hebrew. The 2 Chronicles verse uses a form of this word pronounced /choach/. Not all Bible translations use the word “hook” when translating these words. Sometimes, the word is translated as “bridle”, “chains”, and in one case “branch”. Bridle and chains make perfect sense within the context, but I am a little confused about branch. The word translated as hook in Amos is totally different and is pronounced /tsinnah/. All the translations that I have found use the word “hook” in Amos 4:2.
Example 1: Ezekiel 19
This passage is speaking of the fates of some of the kings of Judah before and during the time of the Babylonian exile. They are compared to young lions who are captured and taken away.
Ezekiel 19:1-4 (chach)
And you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, and say: What was your mother? A lioness! Among lions she crouched; in the midst of young lions she reared her cubs. And she brought up one of her cubs; he became a young lion, and he learned to catch prey; he devoured men. The nations heard about him; he was caught in their pit, and they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt.
This verse is speaking of King Josiah’s son Jehoahaz. The mother is not a specific woman. It is the people of God—more specifically Israel or Jerusalem. Being compared to a predatory beast in the Bible is not a good thing. It indicates the use of force and abuse of power by worldly kingdoms. Israel was to operate by God’s lamblike principles, but instead, it had become worse in its abuses than the pagan nations surrounding it. Jehoahaz only ruled for a short time, but in that time he became a predatory ruler abusing and killing the weak. In 609 B.C. he was taken to Egypt by Pharaoh Necho as a prisoner after only reigning for three months. The ESV version translates /chach/ as hooks, but other versions translate it as a bridle or chains. The point is that there is something restraining him so that his fierceness is useless. He is quickly transformed from victimizing king to captive victim and taken as a helpless prisoner to Egypt.
Ezekiel 19:8-9 (chach)
Then the nations set against him from provinces on every side; they spread their net over him; he was taken in their pit. With hooks they put him in a cage and brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into custody, that his voice should no more be heard on the mountains of Israel.
Some commentators identify this lion as Jehoahaz’s (probably older) brother Eliakim. Pharaoh Necho renamed him Jehoiakim and set him up as a puppet king owing allegiance to Egypt. Jehoiakim reigned for eleven years and was just as evil as his brother. During Jehoiakim’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon conquered Judah and made him revoke his allegiance to Egypt and swear allegiance to Babylon. However, after three years Jehoiakim went back on his oath of allegiance and rebelled. Nebuchadnezzar used a mixed group of military including Chaldeans (Babylonians), Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites to go back and conquer Jerusalem a second time. According to 2 Chronicles 36:6 Nebuchadnezzar bound him in chains to take to Babylon. However, 2 Kings 24:6 says that Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, i.e., he died. Jeremiah 22:19 prophesied that Jehoiakim would not be buried, but instead he would be dragged out and dumped beyond the gates of Jerusalem. Taken together, it seems that Babylon did have him, but he died in their custody shortly thereafter and was never buried.
Other commentators identify the second lion in Ezekiel 19 as the son of Jehoiakim named Jehoiachin. Jehoiachin was also evil and was taken to Babylon as a captive only three months after being made king of Judah. He lived a long time in captivity with his wives and children. He never returned to Jerusalem and his uncle was made king in his stead.
In either case, the significance of “hooks” would be the same. It was a way of demonstrating that the fierce young lion had been dominated and controlled by a more powerful opponent. Some versions translate the word for “hooks” as “chains”. I envision this lament as God telling kings who thought that they were mighty predators, that instead they were domesticated cows being led around by a ring or hook in the nose.
Example 2: Ezekiel 29
Ezekiel 29:3-5 (chach)
speak, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lies in the midst of his streams, that says, ‘My Nile is my own; I made it for myself.’ I will put hooks in your jaws, and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales; and I will draw you up out of the midst of your streams, with all the fish of your streams that stick to your scales. And I will cast you out into the wilderness, you and all the fish of your streams; you shall fall on the open field, and not be brought together or gathered. To the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the heavens I give you as food.
The use of hooks in this passage is obvious. God calls Pharoah a dragon in the river. God is going fishing for Pharoah and once Pharaoh is caught, he will be taken out of the Nile and lay flopping around on dry land easy prey for the other predators surrounding him. Egypt’s ability to rule was the result of their position on the Nile River. Thus, the obvious metaphor for the pharaoh and his kingdom would be some kind of river dweller, in this case, a great dragon or crocodile. How do you catch and control a water animal? In this case, the mighty river creature was to be caught with fish hooks. Even though this metaphor is obvious because of the water habitat, it shares symbolic characteristics with other uses of hooks. The tiny hook will dominate the mighty beast and lead to his humiliation and destruction.
Examples 3 and 4: 2 Chronicles 33:11 and Amos 4:2
2 Chronicles 33:11 (choach)
Therefore the LORD brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon.
Amos 4:2 (Assyria) (tsinnah)
The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness that, behold, the days are coming upon you, when they shall take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks.
The last two verses are grouped together even though the original word that is translated as hooks is different. The words are different, but the ideas share a similar context. Both are speaking of situations involving the Assyrians. In 2 Chronicles 33, wicked King Manasseh, the ruler of Judah, is captured by Assyria and taken with hooks to Babylon. (Babylon was under Assyrian control at this time.) Amos 4:2 is warning the women of Israel that they will go into captivity to Assyria because of their evil lives. Why use hooks in speaking of Manasseh where there is no metaphor involved in the verse? Why use fishhooks when warning the women of Israel of their punishment when the metaphor being used is cows? In these cases, the hooks were not symbolic. This was the literal way that Assyria would cruelly treat important captives in order to humiliate them. Archaeologists have found evidence that the Assyrians would insert hooks into the nose or lip with a string or rope attached and lead the captives around in this manner. Note the lines going from the little kings’ mouths up to the big king’s hand.
Summary:
In several verses, God uses the symbol of a hook to get across the idea that someone was captured and could not escape. The hook is used to lead the captive away from his home. The hook is also a method of humiliating or showing that the captive is at the mercy of his captor. The powerful are not so powerful when they have a little hook in them.