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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] The H in the Name "Abraham"
  • Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:13:10 -0500 (EST)


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



  • [b-hebrew] The H in the Name "Abraham", JimStinehart, 01/30/2012

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