Basically abad represents the disappearance of someone or something.
1. In its strongest sense the word means "to die or to cease to exist". The LORD warned Israel that disobedience and godlessness would be punished by their removal from the Promised Land and death in a foreign land.
Leviticus 26:38 - "And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up."
This sense may be further heightened by the use of the intensive stem (note) so that the verb comes to mean "utterly destroy." The stem also changes the force of the verb from intransitive to transitive.
Numbers 33:52 - "Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and [utterly] destroy all their pictures, and [utterly] destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places:" (Utterly destroy as to "bring to non-existence").
The force of this command was further heightened when He said: "Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods.. and destroy the names of them out of that place" [Deuteronomy 12:2-3].
This intensified sense is used of the destruction of peoples (armies) too; as for Pharaoh's army, "the LORD hath destroyed them unto this day" [Deuteronomy 11:4].
2. A somewhat different emphasis of abad is "to go to ruin" or "to be ruined". After the second plague Pharaoh's counsellors told him to grant Israel's request to leave because the nation was in ruins: "...knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed [ruined]?" [Exodus 10:7 - 1st mention].
In a similar sense Moab is said "to be ruined" or laid waste: "Woe to thee, Moab! thou art undone, O people of Chemosh: he hath given his sons that escaped, and his daughters, into captivity unto Sihon king of the Amorites. We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba." [Numbers 21:29-30].
3. Closely related to the immediately preceding emphasis is that of "to succumb." This use of abad focuses on the process rather than the conclusion. The sons of Israel spoke to Moses about the disastrous effects of everyone drawing near to God. They needed some mediators (priests) who could focus on keeping ritualistically prepared so they would not die when they approached God. They used the verb, therefore, in the sense of the nation gradually perishing, or "succumbing" to death: "And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish. Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of the Lord shall die: shall we be consumed with dying?" [Numbers 17:12-13].
God responds by establishing the priesthood so "that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel" [Numbers 18:5].
4. Abad can also speak of being carried off to death or destruction by some means. The leaders of the rebellion against the Aaronic priesthood (Korah, Dathan and Abiram) and their families were swallowed up by the ground: ".... and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation" [Numbers 16:33].
This same nuance appears when God says the people will "perish" from off the land if they do not keep the covenant: "...Ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed" [Deuteronomy 4:26].
As a nation they will be destroyed as far as the land is concerned.
5. The verb may mean to disappear but not be destroyed, in other words "to be lost". God instructs Israel concerning lost possessions: "In like manner shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost things of thy brother's, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise: thou mayest not hide thyself" [Deuteronomy 22:3].
Israel is called "lost sheep" whose "shepherds have caused them to go astray" [Jeremiah 50:6].
Jeremiah 50:6
My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.
NB: The term "lost sheep" applies to Israel only? What about Gentiles? Lost child?
6. Another nuance of the verb is "to go astray" in the sense of wandering. At the dedication of the first fruits Israel is to recognize God's rights to the land, that He is the land-owner and that they are the temporary tenants, by confessing "a Syrian ready to perish was my father" [Deuteronomy 26:5].
NB: Refer to the parable of the tenant. Mark 12:1-12.
7. Finally, abad can be applied to human qualities which are lessening or have lessened: "For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them" [Deuteronomy 32:28].
The word can also be used of the failure of human wisdom as in Psalm 146:4: as for men "his breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish."
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