Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Tony,

George writes:

>The essence of NA`AR is 'inexperienced'. Thus, it can denote someone who
>is young in age
>because they have not experienced much of life. It can also be used as a
>formal word for
>'trainee' or 'apprentice' (as in the beginning of 1 Sam) - someone who is
>in the process
>of gaining experience in a certain vocation, and who is therefore an
>underling of a
>manager (eg, the ne`arim and ne`arot and Ruth). It can be the informal
>word for
>'inexperienced', as in the case of Solomon and Jeremiah. Thus, the
>semantic range is
>'young in experience'. Various words for translation might be:
>
>young
>youth
>lad
>girl
>trainee
>apprentice
>acolyte
>employee
>junior
>inexperienced

To this list should be added the term "retainer, servant," which occurs
about 105 times according to BDB. The servant need not be just a trainee.
In 2 Sam 19:17 Ziba is called the "steward" (NIV) of the household of
Saul," and he is a father with fifteen children and twenty servants.

                                Yours,
                                Harold