🔼The name Taberah: Summary
- Meaning
- Consumption, Burning, Cleaning Out
- Etymology
- From the verb בער (ba'ar), to consume.
🔼The name Taberah in the Bible
There's only one place named Taberah in the Bible. It's where Israel camped and decided to complain about all their adversities (Numbers 11:3, Deuteronomy 9:22). When YHWH heard these complaints, his anger was kindled and so was the camp. As the outskirts of the camp sizzled, Israel cried out to Moses and Moses beseeched the Lord to kill the fire. This happened, and the place was called Taberah, but the people kept complaining until Moses broke down and began to complain as well.
Then the Lord told Moses to gather seventy men and approach him in the tabernacle, where he famously told Moses that he would send quail for the Israelites to eat, so much even that it would come out of their noses. And to top it off, he also sent a plague of untold characteristics, which impelled Israel to call that place Kibroth-hattaavah (Numbers 11:34).
🔼Etymology of the name Taberah
The name Taberah comes from the Hebrew verb בער (ba'ar), meaning to consume:
בער
The verb בער (ba'ar) seems to essentially mean to consume or clean out. Noun בערה (be'era) is a rare word for fire; it literally means consumer or that which consumes. Noun בעיר (be'ir) denotes cattle, and particularly cattle that would graze whole fields clean.
The verb essentially means to consume but covers a broad pallet, ranging from being beastly stupid to raging madly to be purifying as fire. It often denotes the removal of evil.
🔼Taberah meaning
For a meaning of the name Taberah, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Burning, Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has Consuming or Burning, and BDB Theological Dictionary also reads Burning and lists this name under the verb בער (ba'ar).