Metaphysical meaning of Etam (mbd)
Etam, e'-tam (Heb.)--aerie; numbers of rapacious birds; lair of ravenous beasts.
a A village of Simeon (I Chron. 4:32). b A city of defense in Judah, built, or fortified, by Rehoboam (II Chron. 11:6; see I Chron. 4:3). c The rock where Samson went to live after he had destroyed the Philistines' crops and had killed many of their people (Judg. 15:8).
Meta. Aggregations of thoughts in consciousness given over to force, violence, greed. Some of these thoughts have the characteristics of birds (they are free, unattached), and others belong to the "beast" life in the organism. In other words, Etam signifies the beast life's running wild and having gained a degree of ascendancy over the religious and spiritual attitudes of thought that are represented by Simeon, Judah, and Samson.
Man needs to be watchful in his overcoming, that he may keep in the spirit of love and not give way to vengeful, fighting, warring states of mind in his conflicts with seeming error. Even in the overcoming life he can fall into the attitude of "beasts" in striving against apparent error, if he is not watchful always to magnify the good in his thoughts instead of looking at error until it becomes a mountain in his sight rather than the nothingness that it actually is in Truth.
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Preceding Entry: Esther
Following Entry: Etham
