The Book of all Books
Dr. Azila (Tzili) Talit Reisenberger
Head of Hebrew
University of Cape Town
Lecture 2:
What’s in the name?
Short recap:
The Name of The Book
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•
•
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Bible – Bibliotheca (bibliothèque) – library
Hebrew Bible
(in French? German?)
Old Testament
(passé?)
TaNaK
(Torah/ Nevi’im/Ketuvim)
The Bible
Names of the individual books
• The authors of the book, prophets, main
hero/heroine etc
• Main theme: Kings, Psalms, Proverbs
• In some cases: English names adhere to
above (logic), while Hebrew names of
books are words from 1st verse in the book
(Shemot, Vayikra etc)
The significance of names
• “A boy named Sue” (part of essence)
• “The great Escape” (power of knowing)
• Oscar Wilde (treat with care & respect)
•…..
Creation by words
Creating something / someone
by naming it
The creation of the world by God –
was by a word
(Michelangelo's error)
Adam as a partner of creation
Naming the animals
Naming the woman
man woman
wo-man
‫איש‬
‫איש‬
‫אשה‬
‫אשה‬
‫אש‬
‫יה‬
Eve – ‫חוה‬
Hava
Mother of all living
in English it has no special
meaning
In Hebrew LIFE (Le’Haim)
Adam - ‫אדם‬
Adama
Adam
dam
Adom
(Earth)
(human)
(blood)
(red)
The “namers”
The creators:
Father, Mother, God
Yizhak ‫יצחק‬
Yizhak ‫יצחק‬
Laughter
Jacob’s children
Mothers name the sons:
Lea:
Reu-ben
Shim-e’n
Levi
Yehu-da
Is-sachar
Zavulun
Lea gives birth to a daughter,
and names her (no
explanation)
Dina
Rachel names her 2 sons
Joseph
Ben-oni - - Ben-jamin
Naming children as a parental
discretion: Father or Mother
Judah had a Canaanite wife (the
daughter of Shua) Gen 38:2
They had three sons:
•Judah named the first one: Er
•She named the following 2: Onan
Shela
Names which are turned into
‘Terms’
Sometimes names of Biblical characters are
immortalized by turning into ‘terms’ which
are used even now, thousands years later:
For example:
Onan
Sodom
(and Joseph.. which we will see in a
minute)
We saw examples of parents naming their
children; what about the 3rd partner in creating
life: God ?
• The prophet Hosea and Gomer’s children
(Hosea 1:3)
• They had 3 children and God commanded him
to call them:
– Yisrael (like the valley of Yisrael)
– Lo Ruhama
– Lo Ami
another child’s name as a prophecy,
as commanded by God:
Maher Shalal Hash Buzz
Which means: ‘the looters are coming
faster than you can imagine’ (Isa 8:4)
A situation ‘names’ the baby
Tamar’s and Judah’s twins: (Gen. 38:29-30)
• Peretz (the one who bursts out)
• Zerach (shiny marker)
• Ben-oni (Gen. 25:18 - son of my sorrow)
• I-Kavod (1Sam 4:21 - no-respect)
Name is part of personality
As the name is the signifier of the person
and always stays with her/him, sometimes one
needs to change it
As Jacob changed his son’s name:
• Ben-Oni to Ben-Jamin (Benjamin)
• Jacob’s name was changed to Isra’el
• Hosea’s children
Change or addition of names
Change of name can be induced by
1. The need to record a change of
status
2. A wishful thinking (for change of
status)
Change of names
due to change of status
Abram ‫אברם‬
Abraham ‫אברהם‬
Saray ‫שרי‬
Sarah
‫שרה‬
Record of a change of status
Joseph’s name was changed to:
Zaphnat Pa’a’ne’ach
This gave rise to two Hebrew terms
Zaphnat
Zophan–code
Pa’a’ne’ach
Pa’ane’ach-Decipher
Another example of a change of
name to mark a change in status
• Naomi to Mara (Ruth 1:20)
If there is no change of name,
there can be an addition of a name
Sometimes instead of changing the name,
another name is added, as the circumstances
dictate or as the needs arise:
Solomon – Yedidya, Kohelet
Gideon - Yerubaal
Surname????
Surnames are a modern innovation.
People were known by their : first name
Their father’s name (or mother’s name)
The clan
The tribe or city
(Laban ben Betuel,
Yoav ben Tzeruya
Elimelech of Beit-Lechem Yehuda…)
Fictitious names
symbols / signifiers
The book of Ruth is a didactic narrative:
i.e. main Characters who carry historical
significance have “real” names.
But secondary characters are ‘called’ by their
contribution to the story:
i.e. Naomi
Elimelech
Machlon
Kilyon
Orpah
Names of God
• God has many ‘titles’
El Elyon
El Kano
El Shadday
and many many more
BUT
The name of God
‫יהוה‬
‫‪Name of God‬‬
‫יהוה‬
‫היה‬
‫הוה‬
‫יהיה‬
Amazing
isn’t it?
Thank you
I would like to thank Jutta Schoof for editing
these notes.