🔼The name Seneh: Summary
- Meaning
- Thorn Bush, Thorny
- Etymology
- From the noun סנה (seneh), thorn bush.
🔼The name Seneh in the Bible
The name Seneh occurs only once in the Bible. It's the name of a sharp ridge in the mountains near Geba, which was a city a little north of Jerusalem, and about a third closer to the Jordan (1 Samuel 14:4). There were two ridges, one of either side of the pass of Michmash, and the other was called Bozez.
Even though Saul was king over Israel, the Philistines dominated the land, and to avoid armed skirmishes with the Hebrews, the Philistines had outlawed blacksmithing. No blacksmiths, no swords and spears, they figured (1 Samuel 13:19). But Jonathan still had some and he used them to smite a garrison of Philistines at Gibeah of Benjamin (13:3). Jonathan had a thousand men with him, but the Philistines mustered an army of countless infantry, 30,000 chariots and 6000 cavalry (13:5). Saul, in the meantime, was at Gilgal with 2,000 men waiting for seven agonizing days for Samuel to show up and bring the burnt offering. At long last, Saul decided to perform the ritual himself, but as he finished, Samuel suddenly appeared and told him that if he couldn't keep God's ordinances, he could also not keep the kingdom (13:13).
While waiting, Saul's army of 2,000 had dwindled to 600 (13:15), and they were armed with plowshares and axes (13:20). The situation was grim, and Jonathan decided to change tactics. Without telling anyone, he and his armor bearer slipped out of camp and crossed over to a Philistine garrison, via the pass of Michmash between the ridges Seneh and Bozez. They killed twenty men, and confused the others (14:14). Saul's watchmen saw the Philistine camp in disarray and the Hebrews attacked. By the end of the day, the Philistines had been driven out of the region (14:23).
🔼Etymology of the name Seneh
The name Seneh is the same as the word סנה (seneh), which denotes a kind of thorn-bush:
אסם
Verb אסם ('asam) means to gather or store. Noun אסם ('asam) means storehouse. A close cognate equivalent of the latter is אסנא ('asna'), which also means thorn bush (see next).
סנה
Possibly related to the previous, the noun סנה (seneh) describes a kind of thorn bush, particularly the one which famously burned.
Much of the Biblical narrative is devoted to the history of information technology, from the rise of nominal reason to the invention of script and the alphabet, and ultimately to the development of the literary tradition within which the Word of God could be received in human form.
🔼Seneh meaning
For a meaning of the name Seneh, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Thorn-Bush and BDB Theological Dictionary has Thorny. Alfred Jones (Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names) derives our name from an Arabic verb meaning "to lift up" and translates Seneh with High.