CLEAR; CLEARNESS

kler, kler'-nes (bar; diablepo): Equivalent of several Hebrew and Greek words for bright, unclouded, shining without obstruction, distinct, brilliant; "clearer than the noon-day" (Job 11:17): "clear as the sun" (Songs 6:10); "clear shining after rain" (2 Samuel 23:4); "clear heat in sunshine" (Isaiah 18:4); "clear as crystal" (Revelation 21:11). Adverb, "clearly," for distinctly (Matthew 7:5 Mark 8:25 Romans 1:20). Noun, "clearness," for brilliancy, in Exodus 24:10, "as the very heaven for clearness."

From this physical, it is applied, in a moral sense, to character, as spotless and free from guilt, or charge, or obligation "from oath" (Genesis 24:8); "from transgression" (Psalm 19:13). Hence, the verb "to clear" means juridically to declare or prove innocent, to vindicate (Genesis 44:16 Exodus 34:7 Numbers 14:18; compare hagnos, 2 Corinthians 7:11, the Revised Version (British and American) "pure") "Be clear when thou judgest" (Psalm 51:4) refers to the proof and vindication of the righteousness of God.

H. E. Jacobs