Bible Dictionary
APPETITE
Appetite is the desire or longing connected with bodily life and the soul. Biblical usage includes hunger and thirst, but can also refer more broadly to desire, greed, lust, or longing for revenge.
Definition
Appetite is the desire connected with bodily life and the soul. It may refer to hunger or thirst, the sustaining of life, the seat of the senses and emotions, or a broader longing. In this wider sense, appetite may include desire, greed, lust, or a longing for revenge.
Biblical Usage
The biblical term may describe the appetite of lions, a person given to appetite, and a soul that is not filled. The soul is said to hunger, thirst, fast, love, rejoice, desire, lust, and long for revenge.
Historical Background
The principal Hebrew term originally means breath, then soul or life, and later the seat of the senses, affections, and emotions. Its usage therefore extends beyond physical hunger.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>ap'-e-tit (chai, nephesh): This word occurs four times in Old Testament text and once in the King James Version margin. Once (Job 38:39) it is a translation of chai, "life"; "Canst thou .... satisfy the appetite (life) of the young lions?" Twice (Pr 23:2; Ec 6:7; also Isa 56:11, the King James Version margin) it is a translation of nephesh: Pr 23:2, ba`al nephesh "a man given to appetite"; Ec 6:7, "the nephesh is not filled." In Isa 56:11, "strong of nephesh" is translated "greedy." Nephesh means originally "breath," hence "the soul," psuche, "the vital principle," "life"; therefore in certain expressions referring to the sustaining of life the nephesh hungers (Pr 10:3), thirsts (Pr 25:25), fasts (Ps 69:10). Nephesh then comes to mean the seat of the senses, affections, emotions, and to it is ascribed love, joy, desire (compare De 12:20; Pr 6:30 the Revised Version, margin; Mic 7:1, where the nephesh "desires"). The idea of desire or appetite of the nephesh may include all forms of longing; e.g. lust (Jer 2:24; "her desire" is literally "the desire of her nephesh"), the appetite for revenge (Ps 41:2, "the will of his enemies" is literally "the nephesh," etc.). The next step is to identify the nephesh with its desire, hence in the cases above nephesh is translated "appetite." In the 4th case (Isa 29:8) "His soul hath appetite" is a free translation of naphsho shoqeqah, literally "His soul runneth to and fro."</p><p>S. F. Hunter</p>