Broad

brod (rochabh, "width"; rechobh, "a broadway," "street," "court"; eurchoros, "spacious"): Occurs frequently as a term of dimension (Ex 27:1; 1Ki 6:6; Eze 40:6,43 the Revised Version (British and American), "handbreadth long") and as indicative of strength (Ne 3:8; Jer 51:58). The centers of communal life are called the "broad places," often rendered "streets" (Jer 5:1; So 3:2; Na 2:4). A court before the temple: "the broad place on the east" (the King James Version "the east street," 2Ch 29:4); "broad plates" (Nu 16:38,39, the Revised Version (British and American) "beaten").

Figurative: Relief from distress: "Yea, he would have allured thee out of (Hebrew "the mouth of") distress into a broad place" (Job 36:16); the liberty of obedience or liberty within the law (Ps 119:96, "broad," "roomy," "at liberty"); the all-sufficiency of God for His people (Isa 33:21). Jerusalem could not boast of a river or navy--Yahweh's presence with and within her would more than supply these deficiencies; the road to destruction: "Broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction" (Mt 7:13); the ostentatious piety of the Pharisees: "They make broad (platuno, "widen") their phylacteries" (Mt 23:5).

See CITY; GATE.

L. Kaiser