Qir: The WALL Pt.2

Wall/side- qir, masculine noun (Strong’s 7023)

Root: קִיר

Sounds like: keer

Back in early June we looked at khomah, another word for walls, used mostly when describing walled cities. This week we look at qir, another wall word. Although qir can be used to describe a wall, it is also used to denote the side of a building or object, like the side of a house or the side of a box. 

The first time we come across this word in the Torah it is in the description of the Jewish High Altar:

Exodus 30:1-3 (see also Ex 37:26)

[YHWH:]“Now you shall make an altar as a place for burning incense; you shall make it of acacia wood. Its length shall be a cubit, and its width a cubit; it shall be square, and its height shall be two cubits; its horns shall be of one piece with it. You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and its sides [qi’rotaw קִירֹתָ֛יו] all around, and its horns; and you shall make a gold molding all around for it…”

We see qir associated with the altar when sacrificed blood drained off the side (qir) of the altar (Lev.1:15) and again when blood was sprinkled on the side (qir) of the altar (Lev. 5:9).

There was a verse that included both qir and khomah together. Here’s how the NASB presents the translation:

Joshua 2:15

Then she [Rahab] let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall, so that she was living on the wall.

וַתֹּורִדֵ֥ם בַּחֶ֖בֶל בְּעַ֣ד הַֽחַלֹּ֑ון כִּ֤י בֵיתָהּ֙ בְּקִ֣יר הַֽחֹומָ֔ה וּבַֽחֹומָ֖ה הִ֥יא יֹושָֽׁבֶת

Essentially there are three words in a row for wall: ba-qir ha-khomah u-va-khomah

Hyper-literally this would be read as: And she let them down by rope through the window for her house [was] in-side [ba-qir] the wall [ha-khomah], and on the wall [u-va-khomah]  she dwelt. 

The walls in this instance were the well-known city walls which would just be called ha-khomah (the wall). So if qir could be a side of a wall, it makes sense that Rahab’s house would be in the side of the wall which was on the wall of the city. It’s awkward in English, but it would make perfect sense to a Hebrew reader from ancient Israel.

Qir Stories

Walls are mentioned all over the Bible (not surprisingly), but here are a few interesting qir moments that stand out:

• Balaam’s donkey pushed against the side/wall [ha-qir הַקִּ֔יר] when she saw the Angel of YHWH ahead. In doing so she pushed Balaam’s foot into the side/wall [ha-qir הַקִּ֑יר] which made him quite angry (Numbers 22:25)
• Saul hurled his spear at David twice, hoping to pin him to the wall [u-va-qir וּבַקִּ֑יר] (1 Sam 18:11; 1 Sam 19:10)
• The Shunammite woman had a walled/side [qir קִיר֙] upper chamber built in her home for Elisha to use as needed (2 Kings 4:10)
• When Jezebel was thrown to the death, out of her window, some of her blood sprinkled onto the wall [ha-qir הַקִּ֛יר] (2 Kings 9:33)
• When faced with death, king Hezekiah turned his face to the wall [ha-qir הַקִּ֑יר] and prayed (2 Kings 20:2; Isaiah 38:2)

The wall visually grounds the narrative. Balaam’s foot scraped against the wall; Saul wanted to pin David to the wall; Jezebel’s blood didn’t just splatter, it splattered against the wall; Hezekiah turned away from distractions and faced the wall.

Walls and the Prophets

Walls were good visual subjects for prophetic poetry. Isaiah used qir to show how ruthless people can tear others down, and how YHWH can overcome their impact:

Isaiah 25:4

For You have been a stronghold for the helpless, a stronghold for the poor in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat; for the breath of the ruthless is like a rain storm against a wall [qir קִֽיר].

In other words, when ruthless people speak they erode and tear down what is good but YHWH is a stronghold who conquers the storm.

Isaiah also used wall imagery to describe what it’s like to be lost in an unjust land:

Isaiah 59:9-11

Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us; we hope for light, but there is darkness, for brightness, but we walk in gloom. We grope for the wall [qir קִ֔יר] like people who are blind, we grope like those who have no eyes.

We stumble at midday as in the twilight; among those who are healthy we are like the dead. All of us growl like bears, and moan sadly like doves; we hope for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us. 

The only use of qir in the scroll of Jeremiah can be found in the following verse:

Jeremiah 4:19

My soul, my soul! I am in anguish! Oh, my heart! My heart is pounding in me; I cannot keep silent, Because, my soul, you have heard The sound of the trumpet, The alarm of war.

Did you read the word wall or side? No? For some reason most translations leave it out. They choose to say “Oh, my heart” leaving the wall out of the picture. One of the few translations to include wall is the ESV:

Jeremiah 4:19

My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh the walls [qiroht קִירֹ֥ות] of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent, for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

This is a much more graphic, gut-wrenching, rendition of the verse and I think it captures the horrors of what Jeremiah was experiencing. He felt like his heart was caving in. He knew the devastation that was about to hit Jerusalem and it broke his heart.

Ezekiel’s use of qir shows up primarily in his visions:

Ezekiel 8:7-13

Then He brought me to the entrance of the courtyard, and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall [ba-qir בַּקִּֽיר]. And He said to me, “Son of man, now dig through the wall [va-qir בַקִּ֑יר].” So I dug through the wall [ba-qir בַּקִּ֔יר], and behold, an entrance. Then He said to me, “Go in and see the wicked abominations that they are committing here.” So I entered and looked, and behold, every form of crawling things and animals and detestable things, with all the idols of the house of Israel, were carved on the wall [ha-qir הַקִּ֖יר] all around. And standing in front of them were seventy elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them, each man with his censer in his hand; and the fragrance of the cloud of incense was rising. Then He said to me, “Do you see, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each man in the rooms of his carved images? For they say, ‘YHWH does not see us; YHWH has abandoned the land.’” And He said to me, “Yet you will see still greater abominations which they are committing!”

In Ezekiel 12 YHWH called on Ezekiel to publicly prepare for exile. He was told to claw his way through a wall to escape as a visual warning, for everyone to see, of the exile to come. Following this public display, YHWH railed against false prophets:

Ezekiel 13:9-16

[YHWH:] “So My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will have no place in the council of My people, nor will they be written down in the register of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel, so that you may know that I am the Lord YHWH. It is definitely because they have misled My people by saying, ‘Peace!’ when there is no peace. And when anyone builds a wall [gader גָדֵ֖ר], behold, they plaster it over with whitewash; so tell those who plaster it over with whitewash, that it will fall. A flooding rain will come, and you, hailstones, will fall, and a violent wind will break out. Behold, when the wall [ha-qir הַקִּ֑יר] has fallen, will you not be asked, ‘Where is the plaster with which you plastered it?’” Therefore, this is what the Lord YHWH says: “I will make a violent wind break out in My wrath. There will also be in My anger a flooding rain and hailstones to consume it in wrath. So I will tear down the wall [ha-qir הַקִּ֨יר] which you plastered over with whitewash and hurl it down to the ground, so that its foundation is exposed; and when it falls, you will perish in its midst. And you will know that I am YHWH. So I will expend My wrath on the wall [ba-qir בַּקִּ֔יר] and on those who have plastered it over with whitewash; and I will say to you, ‘The wall [ha-qir הַקִּ֔יר] is gone and those who plastered it are gone, along with the prophets of Israel who prophesy to Jerusalem, and who see a vision of peace for her when there is no peace,’ declares the Lord YHWH.

Note, in this passage, a third Hebrew word for wall: gader. Gader is occasionally transcribed as wall, but more frequently transcribed as hedge or fence. In verb and noun form it only shows up about twenty times in the Tanakh, including this passage.

Later, in Ezekiel, YHWH offered hope, calling His people to come closer in proximity to Him:

Ezekiel 43:8-9

[YHWH:] …by putting their threshold by My threshold, and their door post beside My door post, and with only the wall [w-ha-qir וְהַקִּ֖יר] between Me and them. And they have defiled My holy name by their abominations which they have committed. So I have consumed them in My anger. Now let them remove their prostitution and the corpses of their kings far from Me, and I will dwell among them forever.

YHWH wanted his people by his side with only a thin wall between them. But there would be a time to come when even that wall would come down. It would be the Messiah to come that would  dismantle the wall.

Before Ezekiel, the prophet Habakkuk passionately told the people that they were sinning against themselves and that their wickedness would be seen for what it was:

Habakkuk 2:9-14

“Woe to him who makes evil profit for his household, to put his nest on high, to be saved from the hand of catastrophe! You have planned a shameful thing for your house by bringing many peoples to an end; so you are sinning against yourself.

For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the rafter will answer it from the framework. Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed, and founds a town with violence! Is it not indeed from YHWH of armies that peoples labour merely for fire, and nations become weary for nothing? For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of YHWH, as the waters cover the sea.”

God created everything in the universe, so if we won’t cry out against injustice and if we don’t praise the God of the Universe, nature just might do it for us.

Luke 19:37-40

And as soon as He [Jesus] was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, shouting:

“Blessed is the King, the One who comes in the name of the LORD; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 

And yet some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples!” 

Jesus replied, “I tell you, if these stop speaking, the stones will cry out!”

Walls are human constructs of division, made with stone and brick. Paul took the image of the wall and showed how Yeshua’s life, death, and resurrection broke the dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles:

Ephesians 2:11-22

[Paul to the Gentiles of Ephesus:] Therefore remember that previously you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision” which is performed in the flesh by human hands— remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the people of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who previously were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall [Greek: mesotoichon], by abolishing in His flesh the hostility, which is the Law composed of commandments expressed in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two one new person, in this way establishing peace; and that He might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the hostility. And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

Yeshua broke down the wall that divides us, so let’s make sure we don’t put up more walls, excluding others. Segregation is not acceptable; we need to have our arms open, inviting everyone (and I mean everyone) to the table.

What walls need to come down in your life?

Next week: Sprinkle