The first occurrence.
And YHVH God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. Gen 2:15
The primitive root.
Strong’s H3947 לקח laqach, a primitive root meaning, “to take” with a wide application. The 3-letter root is lamed + quph + chet.
lamed ל = the shepherd’s staff, thus teach, yoke, to, bind
quph ק = sun on the horizon, thus condense, circle, time
chet ח = the wall, thus outside, divide, half
The story: The shepherd uses his staff to gather (lamed) his sheep at the end of the day (quph), enclosing them behind the wall (chet).
The positive spin on this verb is merely to receive that which has been given, as indicated by the noun “learning,” which comes from this root. The negative spin on this verb is to take by force, as indicated by the nouns “captive,” “prey,” and “oppression,” which also come from this root.
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