🔼The name Elishua: Summary
- Meaning
- God Is Salvation, God Is Opulence
- Etymology
- From (1) the word אל ('el), God, and (2) the verb ישע (yasha'), to be saved or rich.
🔼The name Elishua in the Bible
There's only one Elishua mentioned in the Bible and he is one of the sons of David who were born to him in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5:15, 1 Chronicles 14:5). It seems plausible that this Elishua is the same as the Elishama mentioned in 1 Chronicles 3:6.
🔼Etymology of the name Elishua
The name Elishua consists of two elements. The first part is אל ('el), the prominent Canaanite deity whose name became applied to the God of Israel, or the common abbreviation of Elohim, the genus God:
אל אלה
In names אל ('el) usually refers to אלהים ('elohim), that is Elohim, or God, also known as אלה ('eloah). In English, the words 'God' and 'god' exclusively refer to the deity but in Hebrew the words אל ('l) and אלה ('lh) are far more common and may express approach and negation, acts of wailing and pointing, and may even mean oak or terebinth.
The second part of our name probably comes from the verb שוע (shawa'), meaning to cry or ישע (yasha'), meaning to save or be rich and free:
שוע ישע
The verb ישע (yasha') means to be unrestricted and thus to be free and thus to be saved (from restriction, from oppression and thus from ultimate demise). A doer of this verb is a savior. Nouns ישועה (yeshua), ישע (yesha') and תשועה (teshua) mean salvation. Adjective שוע (shoa') means (financially) independent, freed in an economic sense.
Verb שוע (shawa') means to cry out (for salvation). Nouns שוע (shua'), שוע (shoa') and שועה (shawa) mean a cry (for salvation).
The noun תשע (tesha'), nine, looks like תושע (tohasha'), he or it will cause to save: the third person masculine singular Hiphil of the verb ישע (yasha'), to save. See our article on the Greek word for nine, εννεα (ennea).
🔼Elishua meaning
For a meaning of the name Elishua, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads God Is Salvation. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names proposes God The Rich or God Of Crying. And BDB Theological Dictionary suggests God Is Salvation or God Is Opulence.