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To: Jan_Sobieski

It would have been stranger if the text had read “Eshbosheth.”


13 posted on 06/16/2015 12:31:07 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: Verginius Rufus
It would have been stranger if the text had read “Eshbosheth.”

In the Book of Samuel, Saul's sons are listed as Jonathan and Ish-boshet. "Ish-bosheth" means "man of shame," and it is highly unlikely that anyone, let alone a king, would name their son that. In I Chronicles 8:33, there is a long list of geneologies, in which we learn that Saul's younger son was named "Ish-baal," meaning "man of Ba'al."

The names now make sense; Saul the politician was appealing to the two religious camps in his country, naming his elder son "Jonathan" ("Gift of Yahweh") and his younger son Man of Ba'al.

The scribes who copied the Book of Samuel were literally ashamed to admit Saul's gesture to his pagan subjects, so changed the name to "man of shame."

14 posted on 06/16/2015 12:55:38 PM PDT by Lurking Libertarian (Non sub homine, sed sub Deo et lege)
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To: Verginius Rufus

You probably know this...Godly men often named their children after Baal, a name for God. Baal eventually morphed into a separate entity like Allah, the moon god. The translators of the Bible were concerned about Baal being a separate god and changed the names to “ bosheth” rather than -baal


15 posted on 06/16/2015 1:02:56 PM PDT by Jan_Sobieski (Sanctification)
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