Tanach Thoughts

Just came across this article , which suggests that the Phoenician word פמי (PMY) refers to a lion, and as a theophoric component, it refers to an Egyptian lion god with a similar name. There are several synonyms for lion in Tanach - Aryeh, Kfir, Lavi, Layish, Shachal, perhaps Shachatz - so I wondered whether this suggestion could explain a difficult word in Tanach. A quick search found Chuppim, Muppim, Shuppim and Shefufam - various sons of Binyamin. Muppim's name might come from the Egyptian city of Mof (Memphis). Shuppim and Shefufam might be related to Shefifon, a type of snake. But what about Chuppim? Well, as PMY comes from Egyptian, I checked what Khu (חו) means in Egyptian. And lo, it refers to a part of the soul per the Egyptian conception of the soul. So, potentially, Chuppim's name (Khu + PYM/PM = PMY) could mean "lion's soul". (image taken from here )

According to Shmuel 1:10:21 , Shaul's family was part of a clan called Matri (Matrites). Curiously, in aggadic descriptions of Shaul's full genealogy all the way to Binyamin, Matar or Matri or Matari or something similar is nowhere to be found (see here ). Little is otherwise known about this clan. Ze'ev Erlich thought  that the Matrites lived in what is now known as Khirbet Rimnah, as nearby there's a later site called Khirbet al-Matari - evidently preserving the name of the Matrites. Both sites are located in the vicinity of the Gibdeonite cities, and since it's known that Shaul's family came from that region, this suggestion is quite plausible. The name of the forefather of the family, Matar or Matari or Matri, shares the root of MTR (מט"ר), 'rain' (often referring to abundant rain). However, a few days ago I came across another possibility: This article by Norbert Nebes (p. 19, line 3) mentions that in Ethio-Sabaean, a 1st millennium BCE Semiti...

A few weeks ago, one of my papers was accepted for publication by the Jewish Bible Quarterly! It's a paper on Hoham, king of Chevron (Hebron) during the time of the Israelite conquest of Canaan in Sefer Yehoshua. Yep, my favorite: Writing about details in Tanach no one thinks about twice. In this case, the most anyone's done is suggest etymologies for his name. One scholar suggested an Anatolian etymology for his name, from " ẖuẖ(ẖ)a " , meaning ‘grandfather’, with an added Hebrew suffix of " (-a)m " . In the paper I suggest a biblically-rooted etymology, which connects him to various giants mentioned in other books of Tanach, and then propose some background for this otherwise obscure figure. I won't spoil much, but I'll definitely link it here once it goes online (should be in about half a year)! In other news, tomorrow I'll be delivering a lecture on my Levitical Cities paper. I'm super nervous about it. But, in other other news, a non-Tan...

A strange thought passed through my mind during kriat ha'Torah today: What if Chevron was named after Efron? Explanation: The Hebrew letters Ayin (ע) and Chet (ח) sometimes get mixed up in variant Semitic dialects, including Hebrew and Aramaic. So, for example, the midrash notes  that in the Galilee people pronounced the proper noun Chivim ( ח ויא, Hivites) as Ivim ( ע ויא, Ivites)  (this midrash is originally in Beresheet Rabbah, however the version brought in Sefaria is distorted and has אויא with an Alef instead of עויא) . Similarly, the letters Peh (פ) and Bet (ב) also get mixed up. For example, in Bavli Shabbat 57b a braita is quoted, where it says that a woman may go out with a ס ב כה (hairnet) on Shabbat. However, in the parallel Tosefta, it says a woman may go out with a ס פ כה ( link ). And there are many other examples for both, and from different time periods. So, if we change the letters Ayin and Peh (well, Pheh in this case) in Efron (עפרון) with Chet and Bet (Ve...

Fourty years ago, Steven Bowman published an article discussing the possibly meaning of the name of Khirbet Qumran, which gave its name to the famous scrolls found in its vicinity. In the article he raised the likelihood of the word 'qumran' having Syriac-Aramaic origins and coming from the word 'Kumri(a)' (כומרי, כומריא), which means 'priest(s)' (although in Hebrew this root is usually associated with priests of idolatrous religions, and at some point after the rise of Christianity became the common word for Christian priests, Komer (כומר)). He suggested connecting this with a commonly-accepted notion (although I have some doubts) that the ancient Qumran sect(s) was(/were?) a group of priests or had an association with a priestly sect. The exact identification of the ancient settlement that was located at Qumran is debated. Many have suggested Tanachic Sechachah (סככה), others have suggested Tanachic Ir Ha'melach (עיר המלח) as Iron Age remnants were found...

I read on Shabbat a cool paper on the meaning of the word "tzinor" (צינור) as it appears in Tanach. The paper, titled "ויגע בצינור", is by linguist Tzion Okashi and was published very recently in a festschrift for linguist Dr. Uri Melammed, "לקט אורות: אסופת מאמרים לכבוד ד"ר אורי מלמד בהגיעו לשיבה", Yerushalayim 2024, pp. 253-263. The tzinor was most famously mentioned by David in relation to his conquest of Yerushalayim. The near-and-dear bit in the post's title refers to the blog's banner, which is a drawing of a midrashic imagining of another of David's conquests, that of an Amalekite city (see more here ). Both conquests featured Yoav ben Tz'ruyah in a lead role. The word tzinor in modern Hebrew means "pipe" but in context doesn't make sense as the meaning of the tanachic word. Shmuel 2:5:6-9 : "The king and his men set out for Jerusalem against the Jebusites who inhabited the region. David was told, “You will ne...

A thought that I had a bit earlier: When I think about the word "dvir" (דביר), I understand what it's used to refer to: The inner sanctum of a temple (also borrowed to refer to a city in Eretz Yehudah). But I don't know the etymology of the word. What does the word itself literally mean? What do all of its parts put together mean? Why does dvir specifically mean inner sanctum? Well, I don't have a clear answer on that, but I had a thought: Many letters in Semitic languages are interchangeable and often get switched around. And it just so happens that all of the letters in dvir can be interchanged. In this case, some meaning of the word dvir can be leaned by switching three of its four letters: ד, י, ר with their parallels ז, ו, ל. Keeping the ב, we get the word "Zvul" (זבול) which is also a term used to refer to a temple, or part of a temple. I think that's pretty neat.

Not long ago I was reading a section of Epiphanius's Panarion. Epiphanius was a Jewish apostate who converted to Christianity. He was born in the Land of Israel and eventually became the Bishop of Salamis (no surprise there. Jews + salami...okay, I'll stop...). Epiphanius wrote a book called " Panarion " (thought to mean "bread basket" in Latin or "medicine chest" in Greek) about Jewish, Judeo-Christian and Christian sects from before his time and during his time. The book provides a lot of interesting information. In the section I was reading he discussed a certain Jewish or Judeo-Christian sect (unclear from the bits of information he provides) called "the Osseans" (he writes that it either means "impudent ones" or "strong ones". To me that means that in Hebrew or Aramaic their name was העזיים or העזאיים, since עז (Az) means both strong and impudent. Strangely, I have yet to come across an academic scholar who makes...

 "Pride Rock! So majestic, so mysterious, so...bizarrely named. Pumbaa, how can a rock be proud?" "Well, actually, I think it's a metaphor--" These words come to mind with the twin names Reuel and Deuel. Reuel is actually a name that belongs to multiple people in Tanach: There's of course Yitro, AKA Reuel, and then there's Esav's son Reuel, and Reuel ben Yevanyah of the Tribe of Binyamin, and of course, Reuel, father of Elyasaf, the Nasi of Gad in the desert. That's quite a quartet: Two Israelites, a Midianite and an Edomite. All descendants of Avraham, of course. Then there's Deuel, father of Elyasaf, the Nasi of Gad in the desert. Wait, what? Yup. Elyasaf's father is at time called Reuel and at time Deuel. What's going on? Well, people with double names aren't that rare in Tanach. In fact, I think that a great many mysteries in Tanach could be solved with properly identifying certain people with other people. But that's of c...

 Just a couple of additions to what I wrote here  on the connection between Egypt and Yehudah: Zerach, son of Yehudah - Similarly named: Zerach the Cushite, who Rabbi Ahron Marcus says was the son-in-law of Pharaoh Shishak. In my opinion, Zerach and Shishak led armies of a unified Egypt - Egyptians, Libyans and Cushites. Achan son of Carmi, a descendant of Zerach, in Aramaic means "snake", so we've got another "snake name" to add to Nachash, Nachshon and Saraf.

 One of the names that has long puzzled me is Ivtzan. You know, short-time judge from the Book of Shoftim, comes from Beit Lechem. According to the gemara, Ivtzan was Boaz. But that's another story. Perhaps worthy of a post around Shavuot-time. I first began pondering Ivtzan's name around the summer of my fifth year in Yeshiva. For a while I thought it might come from the mineral name Avatz (אבץ) - zinc, but I couldn't find any evidence that Avatz is an old word. Also, why name a person after zinc? A few months ago, I noticed that there was a place in Israel called Tevetz (תבץ). That still doesn't explain the etymology, but it is  a plausible direction. It would work with multiple other names of people that are merely taken from place-names; evidence of early Zionism. However, a couple of weeks ago, while reading Ben-Tzion Luria's Shaul and Binyamin, I came across a paragraph where he pointed out that the meaning of Gilad comes from the treaty between Yaakov and Lav...

 For years now I've been acutely aware that though King David is a very impressive and inspiring person, the meaning of his name  still eludes me. So far, I've gathered a few options, but none of these are perfect. David is a short-form of Dodyahu. This is suggested by Da'at Mikra. A side problem with this is the question of why David's parents would prefer a short-form and not the full name. But I suppose that could be rectified if one would understand the name-choices of that era. A bigger problem would be that the letter Vav in David is a root-letter, making that actual Vah sound, rather than being a vowel letter, that are there simply to make the Oh or Oo sound, such as in Dodyahu. There are a few other such names in Tanach. The two that come to mind at the moment are Vafsi and Hodvayahu. Like David, I'm not entirely sure what their names mean. Hodvayahu is a bit easier, being clearly a mashup of Hod and Hashem's name. But the Vav in the middle is a mystery....

In a previous post  I discussed some possible Egyptian influences on the Tribe of Yehudah. One of the names mentioned was one Ashchur (אשחור) of the tribe. As it turns out, in some of the documents recovered from the Jewish military settlement in the Elephantine, a man named Aschur (אסחור) is mentioned! I saw this in the book "The Ten Tribes" by Alter Walner. He states there that the man was an Egyptian who eventually married one of the possibly more prominent Jewish women of the settlement (there were also non-Jews stationed there) and in later documents, his name was changed to "Natan", so perhaps he converted. I was a bit skeptical to his Egyptian status, though. True, his full name is Aschur ben Tzacha, not really a Jewish name, but the ending of the Alef in Tzacha made me think that perhaps Tzacha was the Aramaic shortening of Tzachyah, much like Ezra is the shortening of Azaryah. As to why he had two names, perhaps it was like other figures who had more than o...