Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Petr, Yigal, Shoshana et al:

Seeing as the sin and shin were one letter, at least as written, until the
Masoretes, makes the present shin in Samuel a tradition that could very well
be false. In the Bible, we have a complete story—Hannah asked for a son
(opening) then God placed him (completion) hence his name ‘God placed him’.
‘His name is God’ while possible, doesn’t make sense in the context.

A similar full story is found in the naming or Reuben: Leah was despised,
the unwanted wife (opening), but she proved her worth by bearing a son
(completion), hence his name ‘See, a son’.

Sometimes the story is not so clear, but still recognizable: we have heavy
labor because the ground was cursed by God (opening) but this one will
comfort us by giving us rest (closing),  hence his name is ‘Rest’ (Noah).

On the other hand, many, if not the majority, of names in Tanakh did not
have stories connected with them. Only for a very few were the stories
behind the names recorded.

Karl W. Randolph.