1. Comprehension. The root is
used figuratively especially to speak of God’s incomprehensibility. Isa. 40:12
expresses this attribute by means of rhetorical questions that bring out the
immensity of creation. In the same vein are the statements in Solomon’s prayer
at the dedication of the temple (1 K. 8:27 par. 2 Ch. 6:18; cf. 2 Ch. 2:5),
which apply this notion to God himself: God is so great that neither “heaven”
nor the whole heavenly realm constitutes a vessel large enough to contain him.
He is in the truest sense of the word incomprehensible, beyond measure or
definition. Elsewhere, too, rhetorical questions (like the one beginning with mî, “who?” in Isa. 40:12) serve to
underscore the incomprehensible immensity of God, his day (Joel 2:11; Mal.
3:2), or his glory (1QS 11:20).
2. Endurance. In these last
passages, however, the meaning of kwl
(possibly influenced by klʾ) tends in
the direction of “withstand, endure.” Even here, though, a spatial element is
still present, especially when we recall that the coming of the yôm YHWH or Yahweh’s kāḇôḏ is experienced as an inward shock.
According to Jer. 10:10, for example, Jeremiah is filled to the bursting point
with the wrath of God, which is likened to an earthquake; he also strives in
vain to hold in the wrath of Yahweh (Jer. 6:11). Jer. 20:9
describes the prophet’s attempt to forget and repress his prophetic calling:
the words entrusted to him are like fire within him and he cannot hold them in.
Here, too, we have a futile effort on the part of the prophet to “contain”
himself. When such contexts use the pilpel, the reference is probably to a
repeated experience; Prov. 18:14 speaks similarly of repeated endurance of
sickness.
The basic notion of physical capacity is also present in Am. 7:10. The
land is pictured as an enormous container in danger of bursting asunder with
the rebellious words of Amos. It can no longer endure the pressure; the measure
is full. (Arnulf Baumann, “כול,” Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, ed. G. Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren, and Heinz-Josef
Fabry, 16 vols. [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1995], 7:88)
Further Reading:
Lynn Wilder vs. Latter-day Saint (and Biblical) Theology on Divine Embodiment