🔼The name Jahzeel: Summary
- Meaning
- God Divides, He Will Allot Of The Lord
- Etymology
- From (1) the verb חצה (hasa), to divide, and (2) the word אל ('el), God.
🔼The name Jahzeel in the Bible
Jahzeel is a son of Naphtali, the sixth son of Jacob and the second son of Bilhah, and he is one of the sixty-six proto-Israelites who move to Goshen (Genesis 46:24). He becomes the patriarch of his own sub-clan of the יחצאלי; the Jahzeelites (Numbers 26:26). In 1 Chronicles 7:13 his name is written as יחציאל (Jahziel).
🔼Etymology of the name Jahzeel
The name Jahzeel consists of two parts, the final bit 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 the name Jahzeel comes from the verb חצה (hasa), meaning to divide:
חצץ
The verb חצץ (hasas) means to divide but seems to emphasize a division into many smaller bits. Noun חצץ (hasas) means gravel and noun חץ (hes) means arrow. From the latter comes the denominative verb חצץ (hasas), to shoot arrows, or literally to "do the thing with the many different bits".
The verb חצה (hasa) means to divide as well, but appears to emphasize a division down the middle: to halve or even to share. Noun חצות (hesot) means division or middle. Nouns מחצה (mehesa), מחצית (mahasit) and חצי (hasi) mean half or middle. Identical to the latter, the noun חצי (hesi) means arrow.
🔼Jahzeel meaning
For a meaning of the names Jahzeel and Jahziel, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads God Divides, and BDB Theological Dictionary reads God Divideth, Apportioneth. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names proposes He Will Allot Of The Lord.