🔼The name Gamul: Summary
- Meaning
- Investment
- Etymology
- From the verb גמל (gamal), to invest.
🔼The name Gamul in the Bible
The name Gamul occurs only once in the Bible. Gamul is one of the descendants of Eleazar and Ithamar, the two surviving sons of Aaron, who were assigned priestly duties at the end of the reign of David (1 Chronicles 24:17).
🔼Etymology of the name Gamul
The name Gamul comes from the verb גמל (gamal), meaning to invest:
גמל
The verb גמל (gamal) means to invest, or more precise, to willfully nurture any sort of fledgling toward productive maturity by means of continued input or infusion. And just like an infusion of money has the intended result of returning more money, an infusion of vice will return more vice, and an infusion of virtue will return more virtue.
Noun גמול (gemul) describes a single act of such an investment: a deed that is designed to give a return. Noun גמולה (gemula) means investment. In Jeremiah 51:56 occurs the title El-gemulot, literally: God Of Investments. Noun תגמול (tagmul) also means investment.
Noun גמל (gamal) is the source of our word camel, and a camel was for the ancients primarily a proverbial unit of international trade, comparable to our modern barrel of oil or a tanker — just like the horse was a unit of warfare (our Jeep) and the donkey a unit of civilian transportation (our Volkswagen). That means that when camels feature in an ancient story, that story is probably about international trade rather than about some animal.
🔼Gamul meaning
For a meaning of the name Gamul, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Rewarded and BDB Theological Dictionary has Weaned. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names appears to have skipped this name but for the identical gamul-part of the name Beth-gamul, Jones reads Recompensed.