Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

Dear Ted,

In general, Wiki articles are not a good source of information. While most
tend to be informative, they often have small mistakes or disinformation,
which someone who is not knowledgeable will not notice. And since Wiki
articles are anonymous, there is no way of knowing whether "unconventional"
views are those of a reputable scholar or of whatever quack wrote of edited
the article.

In this case, while the general idea of theophoric names is of course
correct and well known, there are not a few errors in the details. For
example, Samuel ("Shemuel") does NOT mean "heard by God". That would be
Shama'el, with an Ayin, similar to "Yishma'el" - Ishmael. "Shemuel" means
"his name is God", or as Samuel's mother says in 1 Sam. 1:20, "asked from
God" (although that etymology actually reminds us of Shaul - Saul, and
actually invokes YHWH, not El).

There are other mistakes in the article, but I won't list them all.


Yigal Levin

-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of TedBro AT aol.com
Sent: Sunday, December 27, 2009 5:04 PM
To: jaihare AT gmail.com; b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [b-hebrew] Theophoric Names

Hi, All:
 
In ancient times, people's names often carried an imbedded divine name or  
attribute. Elizabeth and Israel are examples of El, God at the beginning and

end  of human names. Jehonatan and Isaiah are examples of imbedded YHWH or 
YH. There  are also more than a few examples of Baal being used in personal 
names, e.g.  Jonathan's son Merib-baal. 
 
If you want to see something most interesting, yielding some insight into  
the mind set of the scribes, check out the origins and occurences of  
Ishbosheth.
 
I hope this overview provides clear evidence that the inclusion of a  
theophoric element in a personal name does not indicate anything about the  
divine status of the bearer as a god, messiah, priest or prophet.
 
_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophoric_name_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophoric_name) 
 
Warm Regards,
Ted Brownstein
_______________________________________________
b-hebrew mailing list
b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com 
Version: 9.0.722 / Virus Database: 270.14.120/2588 - Release Date: 12/26/09
21:02:00