Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

Uri Hurwitz set forth a nice explanation of the birth name “Abram”, but made no attempt to explain the divinely-changed name “Abraham”:  )B R HM.  Prof. Yigal Levin then wrote in response:  “Uri, While this is probably true for the name Abram, how do you explain the He in Abraham? Does the word "raham" have any meaning?”

 

But that is not the right question.  Rather, the right question to ask is:  How do you explain the resh/R in the name “Abraham”?  )B means “father”, and per Genesis 17: 5, in this divinely-changed name )B is a rare reference to a human father, rather than here being a theophoric.  -HM is also self-explanatory per Genesis 17: 5, as it refers to a “multitude”.  In fact, Genesis 17: 5 explains the divinely-changed name “Abraham” perfectly,  i-f and only  i-f  the resh/R in the middle of that name is a theophoric.  If resh/R in the middle of the name )B R HM is a generic reference to the divine, then Genesis 17: 5 has this name exactly right and is essentially self-explanatory:  “human father, per the divine Will, of a multitude”.

 

In my controversial opinion, a Hebrew author who is capable of portraying heroic Joseph as adopting Egyptian clothes, speaking fluent Egyptian, marrying an Egyptian wife who is the daughter of an Egyptian priest of Ra from On, whose Egyptian master also has a name that honors Ra [spelled resh/R], and who as Pharaoh’s vizier confiscates a great deal of valuable land along the Nile River for Pharaoh at firesale prices, is capable of using resh/R as a generic theophoric in Abraham’s divinely-changed name.  Just like the portrait of Joseph in Egypt, it makes us all nervous as the Egyptian connection is far too strong for our liking today, but that’s the way it was in the Patriarchal Age.

 

Genesis 17: 5 is self-explanatory as to the meaning of )B R HM, once one realizes that the interior resh/R there is used as a generic theophoric. 

 

Jim Stinehart

Evanston, Illinois