🔼The name Izrahite: Summary
- Meaning
- He Will Rise
- Etymology
- From the verb זרח (zarah), to rise or break out.
🔼The name Izrahite in the Bible
The curious name Izrahite occurs only once in the Bible. It's the cognomen of king David's army sub-commander Shamhuth, the fifth of twelve commanders (1 Chronicles 27:8).
The name Izrahite is curious because it doesn't really exist. The Hebrew text speaks of שמהות היזרח (Shamhuth the Izrah) and scholars suppose that the author meant to say שמהות הזרחי (Shamhuth the Zerahite), comparable to the ethnonym mentioned in verses 27:11 and 27:13.
🔼Etymology of the name Izrahite
The name Izrah(ite) is almost impossible to explain. The definite article ה would demand a noun to follow, but the word יזרח is the active form of the verb זרח (zarah), meaning to rise or shine:
זרח
The verb זרח (zarah) means to break out or arise, and may describe the breaking out of leprosy, to the rising of the sun, to an outburst of joy or glory.
Noun זרח (zerah) means a dawning. Noun אזרח ('ezrah) describes a native (one who locally arose). Noun מזרח (mizrah) literally means place of rising, which is the east.
🔼Izrahite meaning
Really the only way to get away with this name without reverting to the assumption of text errors and sleepy scribes, is to assume that יזרח (izrah) isn't really a name but rather a title of some sort, meaning He Will Rise. With the definite article: היזרח would mean The He-Will-Rise.