Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

The Name “Rachel”

 

I agree with Isaac Fried that Rachel’s father Laban, as a blood descendant of Abraham’s father Terah, likely was [like Abraham himself] a native speaker of a west Semitic language that was a very close forerunner of Biblical Hebrew.  Moreover, Rachel, unlike Esau [whose name makes no sense in west Semitic], ends up living [and dying] in Canaan.  Accordingly, we should expect that the name “Rachel”/RXL will have as one of its intended etymologies a Hebrew etymology.  But it’s not the conventional Hebrew etymology that we have all been taught.

 

The conventional scholarly view of this name is that RXL [“Rachel”] means “Ewe”, being one and the same as the Hebrew common word RXL for “ewe”.  But although the letters match, please note that Rachel does not act like a “ewe”!  On the contrary, Rachel to her credit is aggressive and assertive to a fault, rather than being passive and meek like a “ewe”.  [Nor, for that matter, does her sister Leah act like a “cow”.  How can scholars think that Rachel and Leah are like “cattle”?  Not.]  A woman whose name is “Ewe” would not be expected to talk like this:  “And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister;  and [Rachel] said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.”  Genesis 30: 1.

 

Moreover, we should give great weight to Isaac Fried’s good advice to “Look for theophorics”, since most names in the ancient world indeed used a theophoric.  Attested names for women in the ancient world do not include “Ewe” or “Cow”, for heaven’s sake.  And if these Biblical names were made up by an early Hebrew, rather than being historically-attested names, then how can scholars ask us to believe that an early Hebrew made up names meaning “ewe” and “cow” for two women who in no way are treated like “cattle” in the Patriarchal narratives?  Not.

 

Consider now the following proposed new west Semitic/Hebrew analysis of RXL [“Rachel”]:

 

RXL  =  RX - L  =  RX - )L

 

Per Isaac Fried’s sage advice to look for a theophoric, we suddenly see that it’s right there, hiding in plain sight as it were:  -L in final position is short for -)L, meaning “El” or “God”.

 

In final position, -L is often recognized as being short for )L [“El”].  See for example Gary A. Rendsburg (1982)

http://jewishstudies.rutgers.edu/component/docman/doc_view/50-semitic-przl-brzl-brdl-iron?Itemid=158 , who sees the 3-letter root of “iron”/BRZL as being BRZ, to which -L is added, being short for -)L, indicating that this metal is exceptionally strong/god-like.  Likewise, he sees kerem/KRM “vineyard” as becoming karmel/KRML “choice vineyard” with the addition of a final -L, which is short for -)L, indicating that this vineyard is particularly fine/god-like.  As to proper names, the Biblical name )$BL at Genesis 46: 21 is sometimes viewed [for example by Gesenius] as being short for )$B-)L, meaning “Opinion of God”.  [The alternative would be to view BL as being a shortened form of “Baal”, so that )$ - BL would then mean “Man of Baal”;  but it seems unlikely that the pagan god Baal would be openly honored in this Hebrew name.]

 

If -L is short for -)L and references El or God in Rachel’s name, then what does RX - L : RX -)L [“Rachel”] mean?

 

RX is the root of the word for “millstones” in Hebrew.  Adding the singular ending would be RXH, and the attested plural at Exodus 11: 5 is RXYM, with the root in both cases being simply RX.

 

The meaning of RX - )L is:  “Millstone of God”.

 

That name could have a positive meaning, implying that Rachel will properly do whatever God asks her to do.  A pair of millstones is needed for grinding wheat to be able to make bread, and bread is a necessity of life.  Yet RX actually means “to pulverize”, so there is a possibly negative implication here that Rachel may end up being “pulverized”/RX or “ground down”/RX in accordance with the Will of “God”/El/)L:  RX -)L.  In fact, Rachel dies in childbirth, Rachel is not buried in the place of honor at the Patriarchs’ Hebron [even though all the other Patriarchs and Matriarchs are], and most importantly of all, neither of Rachel’s sons ends up being selected by her husband Jacob/“Israel” to be his rightful successor, which great honor instead ends up [per Genesis 49: 8-10] going to Judah, who is a son of Rachel’s sister Leah.

 

Finally, consider in this connection Rachel’s poignant words as she is dying in childbirth:  “And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she [Rachel] called his name Benoni [‘son of my sorrow’]….”  Genesis 35: 18.  A woman named RX -L was “ground down”/RX per the inscrutable Will of God/El/-)L/-L, to the point that the last words of RX -L/RX -)L were “son of my sorrow”.  Thus this proposed west Semitic/Hebrew meaning of the name RX -L deftly foreshadows Rachel’s sad end. 

 

It cannot be overemphasized that Rachel is not a “ewe”.  As such, her name is not to be understood as intending to signify the single Hebrew common word RXL [even though the letters are the same], but rather is intended to be recognized as being [in west Semitic/Hebrew] two Hebrew words, including a theophoric:  RX -L : RX - )L : “Millstone of God”.  Rachel’s traumatic life story is deftly foreshadowed by the intended Hebrew etymology and meaning of her name:  RX -L. 

 

Jim Stinehart

Evanston, Illinois