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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] The Name "Judah"
  • Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:11:16 EST


We now turn our attention to the name “Judah”. When we looked at the names
of the three older sons -- Reuben, Simeon and Levi -- we saw that (i) the
puns
on these names always involved at least two different words, not just one
word, and (ii) in addition to being a pun on how the mother hoped the son’s
birth
would immediately affect the mother’s relationship to her husband Jacob, the
puns in those three cases each foreshadowed the most important aspect of the
son’s future life. That is to say, the names “Reuben”, “Simeon” and “Levi”
each foretells what those three sons will do later in life (which in those
three cases earn them a terrible ultimate curse by their father Jacob).

We will now apply the same approach to the name “Judah”, and see how the
grand name “Judah” foreshadows that this is the son who will receive his
father
Jacob’s grandest blessing. Here is the text:

“And she conceived again, and bore a son; and she said: 'This time will I
praise the LORD [YHWH].' Therefore she called his name Judah…..” Genesis
29:
35

וַתַּהַר עוֹד וַתֵּלֶד בֵּן, וַתֹּאמֶר הַפַּעַם
אוֹדֶה אֶת-יְהוָה--עַל-כֵּן קָרְאָה שְׁמוֹ, יְהוּדָה;
וַתַּעֲמֹד, מִלֶּדֶת

The word “praise” as a verb in Hebrew is: yadah/yod-dalet-heh/YDH. [Or,
this word could be translated as the verbal phrase “sing praise”, or even “
throw praise” or “extend praise”. Here, this word appears in the form
aleph-vav-dalet-heh.]

YHWH is: yod-heh-vav-heh/YHWH

“Judah” is: yod-heh-vav-dalet-heh/YHWDH

To me, it seems obvious that (i) the name “Judah” is a pun on the phrase “
praise YHWH”, namely a deft combination of the two key words “praise”/YDH and
YHWH, and that (ii) the name “Judah” accordingly means “praise YHWH”.

The puns on these two words work to form the name “Judah” in two possible
ways. First, the root word “praise” can be used (instead of the particular
form in which this word appears at Genesis 29: 35). On that view, a 3-letter
word (“praise”/YDH) and a 4-letter word (YHWH) are deftly, and explicitly,
combined to form a new 5-letter name: YHWDH/“Judah”. All letters in both of
these two underlying words are in the name “Judah”, and are in the right
order.

Note that Leah does not merely say “praise” (or “sing praise”). No, Leah
specifically says, significantly enough, “praise YHWH”. You need both of
those two key words, “praise”/YDH and YHWH, not just “praise”/YDH alone, to
form
the name “Judah”.

Alternatively, we could start with the form in which the word for “praise”
appears at Genesis 29: 35, which is aleph-vav-dalet-heh/AWDH. For punning
purposes, the aleph/A drops out, because (i) it is not a true Hebrew
consonant, as
we have noted before for punning purposes, (ii) it does not appear in the
root word “praise”, and (iii) it does not appear in the only other use of
this
word “praise” in the Patriarchal narratives (at Genesis 49: 8, which is
important as discussed below, and where there is no aleph, but there is again
a vav;
the name “Judah” has no aleph, but it does have a vav). The remaining
three letters in this form of the word “praise” are WDH, which are the last
three
letters in “Judah”/YHWDH. As before, all four letters in YHWH are there, in
order, with a dalet/D having been inserted before the final heh/H in order to
make the pun with the word “praise”.

Either way you look at it, “Judah” is a brilliant pun on two words: “praise
YHWH”. YDH + YHWH = YHWDH Or, aWDH + YHWH = YHWDH.

For reasons I cannot fathom, scholars seem insistent on asserting that each
of these sons’ names (i) is a pun on only a single word, and (ii) has no
relationship to anything in the text except the immediate circumstances of
each son’
s birth. If that were the case, these names would have little importance.
But as we keep on seeing, that definitely is not the case. Each of these
sons’
names in fact (a) is an explicit pun on at least two separate words, as
expressly set forth in the line of text that explains the son’s name, and (b)
a
critical part of the pun is to foretell the son’s future.

As with the names “Reuben”, “Simeon” and “Levi” that we have examined, (i)
the immediate, explicit puns relate to the particular circumstances of the son
’s birth, that is how his mother hopes his birth will help her situation with
her husband Jacob, but (ii) the more profound meaning of the puns on multiple
words is to foretell what the most important aspect of the son’s life will
turn out to be. Here, Leah hopes that by having borne four sons in quick
succession to Jacob, Leah may thereby obtain the great love and affection
that Jacob
seems only to be bestowing on his other main wife, Rachel. So Leah thinks “
praise YHWH” at Judah’s birth. Yet more profoundly, the name “Judah”
foreshadows that Judah will be the one son who is named by Jacob, near the
end of the
Patriarchal narratives, as the leader of the next generation of monotheists.

The word “praise”/yadah/YDH appears 114 times in the Bible, but that word
appears only twice in the Patriarchal narratives. We have just seen “praise”
referenced in the name “Judah”. The only other use of the word “praise” in
the Patriarchal narratives also refers specifically to Judah, and appears in
the sentence that decides Judah’s fate:

Genesis 49: 8: “‘Judah, thee shall thy brethren praise [YDH]; thy hand
shall be on the neck of thine enemies; thy father's sons shall bow down
before
thee.’”

To me it seems quite obvious that (i) the puns on the name “Judah”, and (ii)
the fact that Judah is ultimately anointed as being the leader of the next
generation of the new monotheists, go hand in hand.

Of Jacob’s 12 sons, the name “Judah” is by far the grandest name of all. It
is all-positive all the way, and it references both “praise”/YDH and YHWH,
which is as good as it gets. The son with the most spectacular name is fated
to be the son who will succeed his father Jacob as the leader of the next
generation of the new monotheists. As we will soon see, Jacob’s favorite son
Joseph, by contrast, has a mediocre name that foreshadows that heroic Joseph
will
not be named the leader. Judah, with the super-terrific birth name, will
triumph over Joseph, who has a mediocre birth name.

In my view, if we focus closely on the explicit puns that the author of the
Patriarchal narratives makes on the names of the 12 sons of Jacob/“Israel”,
we
can see what the author is trying to tell us in the second half of the
Patriarchal narratives. It is my opinion that persons who insist on ignoring
those
many puns risk misunderstanding what the text is trying to tell us.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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