Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

Dewayne Dulaney:

1.  You wrote:  “I doubt that Nabal—meaning "fool": 1 Sam. 25:25, כשׁמו 
כן־הוא נבל שמו ונבלה עמו —was named by his parents because he was a 
particularly foolish infant….”

Rather than this story passively reporting the name of this man, the name NBL 
has been chosen to show how “foolish”/NBL he is in his reactions to David.  I 
Samuel 25: 25 makes that point explicitly:  “Let not my lord, I pray thee, 
regard this man of Belial, [even] Nabal: for as his name [is], so [is] he; 
Nabal/NBL is his name, and folly/NBLH is with him: but I thine handmaid saw 
not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.”

NBL is a west Semitic name that was chosen by the author of I Samuel 
precisely because of its west Semitic meaning:  “fool”.  How could you doubt 
that after reading I Samuel 25: 25?

2.  You wrote:  “And here's a point to consider that nobody, I think, has 
mentioned in this discussion: maybe Yael's parents named her that way because 
they liked the sound of the name. Meaning may not have even been an issue.”

(a)  If this were a west Semitic name, then surely whoever came up with this 
name knew that the west Semitic common word Y(L means “male ibex”.

(b)  Do you honestly think that Biblical authors are passively recording 
names of people that were given to such people by their parents?  So it’s a 
“coincidence” when NBL acts like a “fool”/NBL?  And it’s a “coincidence” when 
the Kenite/Hurrian Y(L has a name that just happens to mean “Grand Lady” in 
Hurrian [A-a-li], while not having a suitable meaning [“male ibex”] in west 
Semitic?

3.  For a Biblical character who is an active character [not just a name in a 
genealogy, etc.], and about whom the Biblical author has a specific opinion 
[such as NBL being a “fool”, and Y(L being a “grand lady”], in most cases the 
Biblical name has a relevant meaning.  Except for the names of certain 
historical kings, few Biblical names have been passively recorded as names 
actually given by their parents, with the name having no relevance to what is 
happening in the Biblical story.  In particular, every personal name in the 
Bible paired with the Hurrian names Kenite or Kenzzite or “Hittite” or 
Jebusite will be a Hurrian personal name, not a west Semitic name.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois