🔼The name Abishur: Summary
- Meaning
- My Father Will Raise, My Father Is A Wall, My Father Is A Bull
- Etymology
- From (1) the noun אב ('ab), father, and (2) the verb שור (shur), to be raised up or get excited.
🔼The name Abishur in the Bible
There's only one Abishur in the Bible, and he's the brother of Nadab and a son of Shammai (1 Chronicles 2:28), who is a son of Onam, who's a son of Jerahmeel and Atarah. Jerahmeel is the firstborn son of Hezron and Abijah, and Hezron is a son of Perez, a son of Judah and Tamar. Abishur's wife is Abihail and their sons are Ahban and Molid.
🔼Etymology of the name Abishur
The name Abishur consists of two elements. The first part comes from the common word אב ('ab), meaning father:
אב
The noun אב ('ab) means father, but describes primarily a social relationship rather than a biological one. That social fatherhood was the defining quality of the community's alpha male, the one around whom all economy revolved and from whom emanated all instructions by which the 'sons' (בן, ben) operated. It's unclear where this word אב ('ab) comes from but the verb abu means to decide.
The letter yod probably turns the word ab into a possessive form, meaning either my father or father of, depending on the context.
The second part of the name Abishur comes from the interesting root group שור (shur), meaning either to present, to see or to be raised up or get excited:
שור
The verb שור (shur) means to excite or be raised. Noun שור (shor) means ox or bull. Noun שור (shur) describes a wall and שורר (shorer) a man on it: a watcher. Noun שורה (shura), denotes a row of vines or olives. Noun תשורה (teshura) means gift.
🔼Abishur meaning
The name Abishur means any combination of the above, from The Father Will Raise to My Father Watches or Father Is A Bull. For some reason, however, scholars seem to prefer to translate the שור part with wall:
For a meaning of the name Abishur NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads The Father Is A Wall. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has Father Of A Wall, and BDB Theological Dictionary proposes My Father Is A Wall.