spot, spot'-ed (mum; spilos): The Hebrew word is used to denote a blemish which mars the perfection of the face, as inSo 4:7;Job 11:15. It is translated "blemish" inLe 24:19f, where it means an injury the result of violence, and is rendered "blot" inPr 9:7, where it signifies "shame" or "disgrace." The "spotted" cattle ofGe 30:32-39are animals of variegated color (Tala'; compareEze 16:16, "decked with divers colors";Jos 9:5, "patched"). For chabharburah inJer 13:23, seeLEOPARD. Spilos is used in the figurative sense of a stain of sin in2Pe 3:14, and similarly along with rhutis ("a wrinkle") inEph 5:27. The "garment spotted (verb, spiloomai) by the flesh" ofJude 1:23is, as Calvin has para-phrased it, anything that in any way savors of sin or temptation. The "spots" ofJude 1:12the King James Version are spilades, "hidden (sunken) rocks" which are betrayed by the surf beating over them (as in Homer Od. iii.298), and are so rendered in the Revised Version (British and American). "Spot" inLe 13is referred to under FRECKLED SPOT; LEPROSY; TETTER.
"Without spot" inNu 19:2, etc., is tamim, a usual word for "perfect" (so the Revised Version margin); aspilos (the negative form of spilos) occurs in1Ti 6:14;1Pe 1:19;2Pe 3:14, withJas 1:27("unspotted"). For the King James VersionHeb 9:14seeBLEMISH.
Alex. Macalister