🔼The name Jehiah: Summary
- Meaning
- Yah Lives
- Etymology
- From (1) the verb חיה (haya), to live, and (2) יה (yah), the shortened name of the Lord.
🔼The name Jehiah in the Bible
The name Jehiah occurs only once in the Bible. In 1 Chronicles 15:24 he and Obed-edom are somewhat oddly added to a list of names of people who made preparations to move the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark had been swiped by the Philistines, had been brought back to Israel and had been parked in the house of Abinadab at Kiriath-jearim. The subsequent wrongful transportation of the Ark cost Uzza his life and the Ark was placed in the care of Obed-edom of Gath for three months. After that it was correctly moved to Jerusalem and was placed in David's tabernacle (1 Chronicles 16:1).
🔼Etymology of the name Jehiah
The name Jehiah is generally understood to consist of two parts, the first part of our name coming from the verb חיה (haya), meaning to live:
חיה
The verb חיה (haya) means to live and life is all about resonance between elements — molecules working together to make a living cell, cells working together to make a living organism and human minds working together to make a living nation.
Adjective חי (hay) means living and adjective חיה (hayeh) means lively. Noun חיה (hayya) means life or living thing, and may also be used to describe a vibrant community. Plural noun חיים (hayyim) literally means livings but describes the whole palette of activities a living being engages in: one's making-a-living.
The name Jehiah may be regarded as the verb or one of the derivatives prefixed with the letter yod, which either makes the verb active (He Will Live) or possessive (My Liveliness, My Community). Still, most if not all commentators insist that the latter part of the name Jehiah comes from יה (Yah) = יהו (Yahu) = יו (Yu), which in turn are abbreviated forms of the Tetragrammaton; the name of the Lord: YHWH.
🔼Jehiah meaning
For a meaning of the name Jehiah, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Yahweh Lives and BDB Theological Dictionary suggests May Yah Live. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has He Lives Of The Lord, and relates this name to the name Eve, but that's disputed.