Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Most scholars would agree that the names Uriah and Araunah are Uria-H and 
Arauna-H, where the final -H is a Semiticized ending that has been attached 
to a foreign name.  Would that explain the middle syllable of the name “
Abraham”?
 
Genesis 17: 5 says that Abram’s name is divinely changed to “Abraham”, 
because I [the divine] make you the father [)B] of a multitude of nations 
[many 
people, or people].  Although the )B in the birth name Abram means “divine 
father”, the )B in the divinely changed name Abraham could easily mean “
human father”, in accordance with Genesis 17: 5.  And the final concept of “a 
multitude of nations” could be “people”, which is (M, and which might be 
abbreviated in a name as simply -M.  Those two elements of the name )B-RH-M 
fit quite nicely with what Genesis 17: 5 says, with )B meaning “[human] 
father”
, and -M being short for (M, and meaning “people”.  The huge problem, of 
course, has always been how to analyze the middle syllable:  -RH-.
 
R + Egyptian ending could refer either to the Egyptian sun-god Ra, or it 
could be a more generalized reference to the divine.  Based on the name of 
Joseph’s Egyptian priestly father-in-law at Genesis 41: 45, we know that the 
Hebrew rendering of this Egyptian divine name in Egypt, with an Egyptian 
ending, would be R(.  But if instead of an Egyptian ending the Hebrew author 
used 
a Semiticized ending, -H, then instead of a blasphemous reference to an 
Egyptian sun-god, there would be a reference to the divine in general, using 
an 
Egyptian word that could mean the divine, which with the Semiticized -H 
ending would clearly mean the divine.
 
Now )B-RH-M means exactly what Genesis 17: 5 says it means:  “[human] 
father, [by] divine [will, of] people”.  The key to understanding the 
divinely-changed name “Abraham” is to recognize the otherwise inexplicable H 
as being 
a Semiticized ending of a foreign name for the divine, the generic, 
non-blasphemous nature of which is guaranteed by that Semiticized ending -H.  
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois