Walk
1
WALK.
Figurative. Walk is often used in Scripture for conduct in life, general demeanor, and deportment. Thus it is said that Enoch and Noah “walked with God,” i.e., they maintained a course of action conformed to God’s will and acceptable in His sight. In the OT and NT we find God promising to walk with His people, and His people, on the other hand, desiring the influence of the Holy Spirit that they may walk in His statutes. To “walk in the darkness” (1 John 1:6) is to be involved in unbelief and misled by error; to “walk in the light” (v. 7) is to be well informed, holy, and happy; to “walk by faith” (2 Cor. 5:7) may be rendered “through faith we walk,” i.e., faith is the sphere through which we walk. To “walk according to the flesh” (Rom. 8:4; cf. 2 Pet. 2:10) is to gratify the carnal desires, to yield to fleshly appetites, and to be obedient to the lusts of the flesh; while to “walk by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16) is to be guided and aided by the Holy Spirit, the active and animating principle of the Christian life.
WALL (Heb. properly qı̂r, as a “defense”; or ḥômâ, as a “barrier”; sometimes shūr, perhaps from its “rocky” character; Gk. teichos). In ancient times the walls of cities and houses were usually built of earth or of bricks (which see) of clay, mixed with reeds and hardened in the sun. When any breach took place in such a mass of earth, by heavy rains or a defect in the foundation, the consequences were serious (Ps. 62:3; Isa. 30:13); and we can easily understand how such walls could be readily destroyed by fire (Amos 1:7, 10, 14). The extensive mounds on the plains of Mesopotamia and Assyria, marking the sites of ancient cites, show that the walls were principally constructed of earth or clay. The wall surrounding the palace of Khorsabad is fixed by Botta at 48 feet 9 inches; probably about the same as that of Nineveh, upon which three chariots could be driven abreast. The wall of Babylon was 87 feet broad, and six chariots could be driven together upon it. Not infrequently stone walls, with towers and a moat, surrounded fortified cities (Isa. 2:15; 9:10; Neh. 4:3; Zeph. 1:16).
Figurative. In Scripture language a wall is a symbol of salvation (Isa. 26:1; 60:18); of protection—by God (Zech. 2:5); by those who provide protection (1 Sam. 25:16; Isa. 2:15; 5:5); by the wealth of the rich in his own conceit (Prov. 18:11). A “wall of bronze” is symbolical of prophets in their testimony against the wicked (Jer. 15:20); the “dividing wall” (Eph. 2:14), of the separation of Jews and Gentiles; “whitewashed walls” (Acts 23:3), of hypocrites.
Unger, M. F., Harrison, R. K., Vos, H. F., Barber, C. J., & Unger, M. F. (1988). The new Unger's Bible dictionary. Revision of: Unger's Bible dictionary. 3rd ed. c1966. (Rev. and updated ed.). Chicago: Moody Press.
