Names, Meaning

Moses’ Name Is Semitic, Not Egyptian

Moses’ Name Is Semitic, Not Egyptian

Pharaoh’s daughter names the baby מֹשֶׁה, “for I drew him out of the water”—a Hebrew wordplay from an Egyptian princess?! Since the 19th century Egyptologist, Karl Lepsius, scholars have dismissed this biblical explanation as folk etymology, and instead posited that the name derives from Egyptian mśy, “to give birth,” as in Ramesses or Ahmose. But neither the consonants nor the vowels line up, and no ancient author ever made the connection. Rather, Moses’ name derives from the Semitic מ.שׁ.י, “to draw or glean.”

Shabbat, Mid-Fifth Century B.C.E.

Shabbat, Mid-Fifth Century B.C.E.

The book of Ezra–Nehemiah records Nehemiah’s mid-fifth-century B.C.E. attempts to enforce Shabbat, and for the first time in the Bible, the name שַׁבְּתַי, Shabbethai, appears. In this period, similar names derived from Shabbat are also first attested in Babylonian cuneiform tablets, as well as ostraca and papyri from Elephantine, suggesting that Shabbat became a recognized reference within the Judean community.

Jacob’s Struggle at Jabbok: The Limits of Strategy

Jacob’s Struggle at Jabbok: The Limits of Strategy

Jacob makes a series of strategic preparations in anticipation of meeting his estranged brother Esau. Instead of the expected confrontation, we get a totally unexpected, unanticipated, and unprepared for wrestling between Jacob and a mysterious stranger at the ford of Jabbok. By juxtaposing these two accounts, the narrative invites us to think about both the human impulse to control and its limitations.