Bible Dictionary
SEARCH
To search means to investigate carefully, examine the Scriptures, or discover what is hidden. When God searches the heart, He exposes and knows a person’s inward thoughts and motives.
Definition
To search means to investigate carefully, examine, study, or discover what is hidden. It may describe spying out a land, studying the meaning of Scripture, critically examining a matter, or exposing what lies within the human heart.
Biblical Usage
People search or examine the land, the Scriptures, and difficult matters. When God searches the heart or spirit, He lays bare and discloses what is hidden. The term therefore includes both human investigation and God’s complete knowledge of inward thoughts and motives.
Historical Background
The English word represents several Hebrew and Greek terms with related meanings, including careful investigation, examination, and disclosure.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>surch: Some peculiar senses are:</p><p>(1) In the books of Moses, especially in Nu, "searching out the land" means to spy out (raggel), to investigate carefully, to examine with a view to giving a full and accurate report on.</p><p>(2) When applied to the Scriptures, as in Ezr 4:15,19 (baqqer); Joh 5:39; 1Pe 1:11 (eraunao), it means to examine, to study out the meaning. In Ac 17:11, the Revised Version (British and American) substitutes "examining" for the "searched" of the King James Version. See SEARCHINGS.</p><p>(3) "Search out" often means to study critically, to investigate carefully, e.g. Job 8:8; 29:16; Ec 1:13; La 3:40; Mt 2:8; 1Co 2:10; 1Pe 1:10.</p><p>(4) When the word is applied to God's searching the heart or spirit, it means His opening up, laying bare, disclosing what was hidden, e.g. 1Ch 28:9; Ps 44:21; 139:1; Pr 20:27; Jer 17:10; Ro 8:27.</p><p>G. H. Gerberding</p>