Bible Dictionary
ENLIGHTEN
To give light or make bright. Biblically, it can describe natural brightness, renewed health, deliverance from gloom, or spiritual understanding given through God’s word.
Definition
To enlighten is to give light or make bright. It may describe natural illumination, renewed bodily vigor, deliverance from gloom, or the giving of spiritual understanding.
Biblical Usage
Scripture uses enlightenment of bright eyes restored after weariness, deliverance from adversity, and spiritual light given to the soul. This spiritual illumination comes through God’s word and enables discernment, while sin damages understanding.
Historical Background
Biblical usage moves from the ordinary brightness of light and healthy eyes to the figurative brightness associated with joy, knowledge of God, and spiritual discernment.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>en-lit'-'-n:</p><p>(1) 'or, "illumination" in every sense, used in the ordinary sense of giving natural light (Ps 97:4 the King James Version; see also Ezr 9:8) or as a sign of health and vigor (1Sa 14:27,29). "His eyes were enlightened," literally, "became bright." He had become weary and faint with the day's exertions and anxieties, and now recovers (see Job 33:30 and compare Ps 13:3). Thus in sickness and grief, the eyes are dull and heavy; dying eyes are glazed; but health and joy render them bright and sparkling, as with a light from within.</p><p>(2) In Ps 18:28 the King James Version, The word naghah, figuratively describes the believer's deliverance from the gloom of adversity and the restoration of joy in the knowledge of God.</p><p>(3) Most frequently the terms so translated mean the giving of spiritual light to the soul (Ps 19:8; Eph 1:18, photizo; Heb 6:4; 10:32). This spiritual enlightening the Spirit of God brings about through the Divine word (Ps 119:130; 2Ti 3:15; 2Pe 1:19). Sin mars the intellectual discernment; "but he that is spiritual discerneth all things" (1Co 2:15 King James Version, margin).</p><p>M. O. Evans</p>