Stature

STATURE stat'-ur (madh, middah, "measure" (Numbers 13:32, etc.), qomah, "standing up" (1 Samuel 16:7, etc.); helikia, "greatness"):

This last word means "height of the body," "stature," in Luke 2:52; 19:3; Ephesians 4:13, but it can mean "length of life" equally well and has this force in John 9:21,23; Hebrews 11:11. And this meaning, not "stature" (as in the King James Version), is fixed for Matthew 6:27 parallel Luke 12:25, for to add some 18 inches (see CUBIT) to one's "stature" would be a grotesque feat, while it is the smallness of the act that is emphasized. Hence, the translation "able to extend his long path of life by a single cubit" (the Revised Version (British and American) "measure of life"). Compare also "great of stature" Baruch 3:26 (eumegethes).

Burton Scott Easton

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Bibliography Information

Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. "Entry for 'STATURE'".  "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia".  1915.