🔼The name Jahdiel: Summary
- Meaning
- God Makes Glad, God Gives Joy
- Etymology
- From (1) the verb חדה (hada), to rejoice, and (2) the word אל ('el), God.
🔼The name Jahdiel in the Bible
The name Jahdiel occurs only once in the Bible. He was a family head of the half-tribe of Manasseh at the time of Israel's deportation to Assyria (1 Chronicles 5:24).
🔼Etymology of the name Jahdiel
The name Jahdiel consists of two elements, the final one being אל (El), the common abbreviation of Elohim, which is the Hebrew word for 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 first part of our name is a future form of either of the two verbs חדה (hada), but note that the Hebrew future forms correlates with the present tense in English:
חדד
The verb חדד (hadad) means to be sharp or keen or even swift. Adjective חד (had) means sharp (mostly of swords) and adjective חדוד (haddud) means sharpened or pointed.
The verb חדה (hada) is similar to the previous, but appears to lean more toward keenness, swiftness or even gladness and resonance. In some cases it plainly means to rejoice. Noun חדוה (hedwa) means joy or gladness.
The ideas of sharpness and joyfulness meet in the noun חידה (hida), which means riddle; a verbal exercise meant to sharpen the mind and give joy in the process. Posing riddles was an important element of life in societies that were wisdom-based, which explains the many Biblical scenes that revolve around riddles. The denominative verb חוד (hud) means to pose a riddle.
Note the emphasis on collectivity in these words, as well as the principle of preservation of momentum that underlies both the mechanical process of resonance and social phenomena such as humor, fashion and even language itself.
🔼Jahdiel meaning
For a meaning of the name Jahdiel, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads God Makes Glad, Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names proposes the more literal He Will Be made Glad Of The Lord, and BDB Theological Dictionary has God Giveth Joy.