🔼The name Lebanah: Summary
- Meaning
- White, Moon
- Etymology
- From the noun לבנה (lebanah), moon, from the verb לבן (laban), to be white.
🔼The name Lebanah in the Bible
There's only one man named Lebanah in the Bible. He is the patriarch of a family whose members were counted among the Nethinim (temple servants) who returned from the exile in Babylon (Ezra 2:45, Nehemiah 7:48).
🔼Etymology of the name Lebanah
The name Lebanah is the same as the noun לבנה (lebanah), meaning moon, from the verb לבן (laben), meaning to be or become white:
לבן
The verb לבן (laben) means to be or become white. Contrary to modern understandings of white as a symbol, in the Bible white either denotes a blank state (and thus emptiness or stupidity) or the state of greatest resistance to the absorption of light, which comes down to pride, stubbornness and more stupidity. Hence leprosy, or the "white disease" signifies unwarranted pride and arrogance.
Contrary to popular conception, black and white are both dark, but black things absorb light and become hot (or smart), whereas white things reflect light and stay cold (or stupid).
Adjective לבן (laban) means white (i.e. blank, un-written upon: stupid). Noun לבנה (lebanah) refers to the moon. Nouns לבנה (lebonah) and לבונה (lebonah) describe frankincense. Noun לבנה (lebneh) describes the poplar. Noun לבנה (lebenah) means brick, and the denominative verb לבן (laban) means to make bricks.
🔼Lebanah meaning
For a meaning of the name Lebanah, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads White. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has Moon. BDB Theological Dictionary does not interpret this name but does list it under the verb לבן (laben), meaning to be or become white.