🔼The name Bilhan: Summary
- Meaning
- Worn Out, Depleted
- Etymology
- From the verb בלה (bala), to wear out.
🔼The name Bilhan in the Bible
There are two men named Bilhan in the Bible, both with very little context:
🔼Etymology of the name Bilhan
The name Bilhan comes from the verb בלה (bala), meaning to wear out:
בלה
Verb בלה (bala) means to wear out, annul or use until worthlessness. Adjective בלה (baleh) means worn out. Noun בלוא (belo) describes worn out things or rags. Noun תבלית (tablit) means annihilation or destruction.
Adverb of negation בל (bal) means not. Noun בלי (beli) describes a wearing out, a destruction or a worthlessness. Noun בלימה (belima) meaning nothingness. Noun בליעל (beliya'al) means worthlessness.
Noun בלהה (ballaha) means terror or calamity, but some scholars insists that this noun stems from a second, yet identical verb בלה (bala II), to trouble. If this verb is not a whole other one, it evidently describes trouble of a courage draining and strength depleting nature.
🔼Bilhan meaning
Alfred Jones (Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names) derives our name from בלה (bala II), meaning to trouble, and reads for a meaning of the name Bilhan Timid. NOBSE Study Bible Name List offers the similar Foolish, Simple. BDB Theological Dictionary does not interpret this name. Why these commentators veer so far off the verb isn't clear, but to any Hebrew speaker, the name Bilhan would mean Worn Out or perhaps Depleted.