"lord" What does it mean?
The word “lord” is casually tossed around today. We see and hear titles of people and things like “Lord of the Manor”, “Lord of the Dance”, “Lord of the Rings”, or “Lord of the Flies.”
We understand that means the boss of this or that.
The word “lord” is used three different ways in Scripture. It is sometimes spelled “lord”, sometimes “Lord”, and sometimes “LORD”. Each of these words have a different meaning depending on the capitalization. Once you know which is which, the Word will be easier to grasp in each instance. There are always exceptions-but most of the time this will hold true.
Today, we are going to tackle the word “lord.”
When the word “lord” is used-all lower-case letters-it is usually the Hebrew word “adon.” This means master, owner, controller of one human over another human. One who has authority over another. The father would be the “lord” over his wife, children and workers. The elders would be “lord” over the people. In our world today, our bosses, police, mayor, governors, congressmen, and president would be our “lords” because they have authority over us.
A clear example for the word “lord” is in Genesis 18:12. The Angels came to the tents of Abraham and Sarah and told them that Sarah would bear a son. Sarah was too old to have a baby by this time, so when she heard what they said, she laughed:
“And Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?’” Genesis 18:12.
She is referencing her husband, Abraham, as her lord. The man who was the head of the family and authority.
I know, I know. The idea of a husband being the authority and controller over their wife does not sit well with our modern perspective. But God put in place a structure for the family and society that would be an object lesson. That structure of authority was to be an example of God being the authority of over mankind.
So usually when you see the word “lord” in Scripture, it means a term of respect to one human who has authority over another human. Sometimes translations use the same Hebrew word “adon” and translate it as “my master” as it is here:
“And he said, ‘O LORD, the God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today, and show lovingkindness to my master Abraham.’” Genesis 24:12.
While there are always exceptions in the Bible on how Hebrew words are used and translated, in general when the word ‘lord” is used-it means a human authority.
MY DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT AN EXPERT IN THE HEBREW AND GREEK LANGUAGES, NOR HAVE I BEEN EDUCATED IN THESE AREAS. BUT I AM A GOOD RESEARCHER AND I’M SHARING HERE WHAT I’VE LEARNED THAT HAS HELPED ME UNDERSTAND THE BIBLE IN A DEEPER WAY. I DO MY BEST TO EXPLAIN HEBREW WORDS IN A WAY THAT I HOPE CAN ENHANCE YOUR STUDY OF THE WORD.
Carla Killough McClafferty
Funnily enough, the Lord, LORD, lord thing is a major reason I LOVE The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When I was a kid growing up in a Baptist church, we were taught about this in (only one) youth lesson. I asked how we were supposed to know this, was it in the Bible glossary or something? And the teacher answered that that's why they go to "seminary" (a college for pastors, not like the LDS one). It never sat well with me. I LOVE that our church has such an emphasis on teaching kids the doctrine and that ANYBODY can find it through all of the amazing resources they've given (institute manuals, seminary manuals, etc).