Abarim Publications' online Biblical Hebrew Dictionary
שחר
A solar eclipse is an utterly baffling phenomenon that creates a brief period of nightly darkness in the middle of the day. That happens only when the moon is new, which means it can't be seen until it moves in front of the sun and suddenly obscures it (not unlike a nightly thief). During that brief period in which the moon covers the sun, only the thorns of the sun's radiant corona remain visible. Equally spectacular is the glorious appearance of the stars and planets, which proves that this heavenly host is with us always, even when we can't see it.
Particularly to a society that lived close to nature, the shock of witnessing a solar eclipse can barely be overstated. It would happen suddenly, without any announcement, and constitute such a violation of the natural order that most people would descend into a colossal psychosis, succumb to existential panic and fervently embrace religion — or begin to fervently oppose existing orthodoxy, now that a greater truth has been revealed (Revelation 6:12-17).
A solar eclipse can be observed on earth two to five times every year, but it takes 375 years for an eclipse to occur at the same location. In antiquity, the world was connected through global trading networks (of both goods and information), so stories of solar eclipses certainly circulated. Yet common people rarely traveled and their average lifespan was about 35 years (in theory, one could live as long as we do now, but in practice one would die from disease, calamity or war). That means that at any given location, a solar eclipse and the confirmation that the heavenly host was there, even during the solar day, would occur only once in ten lifetimes. All other people only had the stories to consider.
In our rather elaborate article on the noun κοσμος (kosmos), meaning world-order, we show that the sun is identical to our own private ratio (we can see other people, but we can't see what they see, which means that the sun we see is entirely our own). All light is rational, even when it reflects off the moon, but our emotions correspond to the solar system's center of gravity: wholly opposite our reason during crazy full moons, and somewhat in line with our reason when the moon is new and invisible.
This means that the familiar duality that is proposed to exist between the unenlightened and the enlightened is incomplete, as it lacks a third and most important level, namely that of the controlled eclipse of one's own solar consciousness, so that the stars may appear in the middle of one's day and awaken one's stellar consciousness: a perspective that is illuminated by a vast host of minds rather than solely our own.
Speaking of his imminent crucifixion, Jesus said: "For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father" (John 10:18).
God promised Abraham that his seed would be like the stars (Genesis 15:5), and Daniel noted that the righteous shine like stars forever (Daniel 12:3; see our article on αστηρ, aster, star). The proverbial death of self (John 12:24), the resurrection (Philippians 3:10-11), one's second birth (John 3:3), the unity of the saints (John 17:21-24, Ephesians 4:3-6); all of it refers to one's ability to self-eclipse one's own ratio, and have one's mind enlightened by the multitudes of stars of one's community, or by the Spirit who unifies and animates it (Proverbs 3:5, Zechariah 4:6, Acts 2:4).
Dictionaries commonly split the root שחר (shahar) into two, namely one that means to darken and another one that means the exact opposite, namely to enlighten; hence the noun שחר (shahar), meaning dawn. Here at Abarim Publications we do not think that there are two separate roots. We think that there is only one, which means to darken or eclipse. The noun שחר (shahar), consequently, does not mean dawn but rather solar eclipse.
Following the traditional two contradicting roots:
שחר I
The verb שחר (shahar I) means to be or become dark or black. This verb occurs in the Bible only in Job 30:30, "My skin turns black on me," and from it derive:
- The masculine noun שחור (shehor), meaning blackness (Lamentations 4:8 only).
- The adjective שחר (shahor), meaning black; of hair (Leviticus 13:31), of skin (Song of Solomon 1:5 and 5:11), or of horses (Zechariah 6:2, 6:6). This adjective occurs only these five times.
- The feminine noun שחרות (shaharut), which probably means blackness and possibly refers to hair that is black in one's youth and grey when old. This word occurs in Ecclesiastes 11:10 only, in the curious formula "childhood (ילד, yalad) and blackness are vanity (הבל, habal)."
- The adjective שחרחר (sheharhor), meaning blackish or darkened. This word occurs in Song of Solomon 1:6 only: "Do not stare at me because I am blackish, for the sun (שמש, shemesh) caught sight of me."
שחר II
As said above, commentators assume the existence of a second root, which is spelled identical to the former but means the opposite, namely שחר (shahar II), to become light. This second root is required to explain the otherwise troublesome noun שחר (shahar), which is thought to mean dawn. As said, here at Abarim Publications we propose that this second root does not exist and that the noun שחר (shahar) does not mean dawn but solar eclipse.
The more common word for dawn is בקר (boqer), from the verb בקר (baqar), to split and thus to investigate, which is on a par with the Greek verb σχιζω (schizo), which also means to split and thus investigate (hence our English word "science"). This verb בקר (baqar), to split or investigate, also relates to the noun בקר (baqar), meaning cattle, which isn't a mere cute coincidence. Another word for cattle is the noun אלף ('elep), which derives from verb אלף ('alep), meaning to learn.
Our noun שחר (shahar) often occurs combined with the verb עלה ('ala), meaning to go up or ascend, from which comes the theonym Elyon, or the Most High. This divine name is introduced in the Bible in Genesis 14:18, along with Melchizedek, the king of Salem. Immediately following these events, the Word of God first appears to Abraham (Genesis 15:1).
The great Abrahamic covenant came with the sign of the uncountable stars (Genesis 15:5), but the sun was noted to set seven verses later (in Genesis 15:12). That means that God told Abraham to count the stars in the bright of day. Much later, Paul explained that the Abrahamic covenant was fulfilled by Christ (Galatians 3:6-14). Here at Abarim Publications, we propose that the death and resurrection of the Christ tells of the eclipse of the solar mind and the birth-from-above of the much greater stellar mind. And just like personal salvation existed prior to Jesus (we may assume that men like Moses, David and Elijah were saved in Christ), so this solar eclipse did. What changed at Golgotha is that for the first time, people with stellar minds were able to convene and create a singular community with a true collective mind.
Jesus died in three hours of daytime darkness (Matthew 27:45), and likewise, the prophet Joel speaks of a vast swarm of locusts that blocks out sunlight on "a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness; as shahar spread over the mountains..." (Joel 2:2). Clearly, our noun שחר (shahar) does not speak of the waxing light of dawn, but rather of the unexpected mid-day darkness of a solar eclipse (regardless of whether the agent of the eclipse is the moon or locusts).
The more common word for morning or dawn, בקר (boqer), occurs about two hundred times. Our noun שחר (shahar) occurs about two dozen times. In the Septuagint, this word is commonly translated by the noun ορθρος (orthros), alignment, from ορθος (orthos), straight or upright:
Our noun שחר (shahar) occurs first in Genesis 19:15, when the angels are about to spirit Lot and his family out of Sodom. In Genesis 32:24-26, Jacob wrestles the Angel of YHWH until the rise of shahar, and Jacob the man becomes Israel the people. At shahar on the seventh day, Jericho, the City of the Moon, begins to fall (Joshua 6:15), and likewise at shahar the worm attacks Jonah's shade-giving plant (Jonah 4:7). Rapists release their victim at shahar (Judges 19:25). The judge Samuel wakened Saul at shahar and anointed him Israel's first king (1 Samuel 9:26). After the break with Judah, Hosea predicted that the king of Israel would be cut off at shahar (Hosea 10:15). The Psalmist awakened shahar along with his כבוד (kabud) and harp an lyre (Psalm 57:8, 108:2), but only the Creator makes shahar know its place (Job 38:12).
Significantly, Psalm 139:9, Job 3:9, 41:18 and Amos 4:13 compare shahar with the closing of one's eyelids: "let the stars of his twilight be dark; let it wait for light that is not; let it not see the wings (עפעף, 'ap'ap, eyelid) of shahar."
The familiar depiction of the Assyrian deity Ashur, as a bearded man within a solar disk equipped with broad wings, obviously relates to this image (and see Psalm 91:1-4). Shahar was also a familiar deity in the Ugarit pantheon. He was the brother of Shalim (like the name Salem from שלם, shalem, to be complete, unbroken and whole), and the two were not simply Dawn and Dusk, as is commonly proposed, but completeness (of one's solar ratio), and its death and the subsequent transcendence into one's stellar ratio (hence too Isaiah 14:12 and 47:11).
Nehemiah 4:21 reads "So we carried on the work with half of them holding spears from the rising of shahar until (עד, 'ad) the stars appeared." Likewise, the Bride breathlessly exclaims: "Who is this that grows like shahar, as beautiful as the full moon, as pure as the sun...?" (Song of Solomon 6:10).
Psalm 22, the Psalm of the Cross, is dedicated to Aijeleth Ha-shahar, or Protruding (איל, 'ayil) Onto Shahar. Psalm 110:3 speaks of the womb of [the place of] shahar. And right before his review of the Great Light, Isaiah exclaims: "To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no shahar!" (Isaiah 8:20, also compare 58:7-8 to Matthew 25:31-40).
The prophet Hosea urges: "Let us know! Let us press on to know YHWH! His going forth is as certain as shahar. He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth" (Hosea 6:3). And sure enough, as obvious counterpart of the verb בקר (baqar), to split and thus seek diligently (to pursue "solar" enlightenment), the denominative verb שחר (shahar) refers to the pursuit of stellar enlightenment, which requires the controlled eclipse of one's own understanding (Proverbs 3:5). This verb predominantly speaks of searching for God or wisdom, which can be found in one's intellectual weakness rather than one's strength (Zechariah 4:6).
The denominative verb שחר (shahar) occurs in Job 7:21, 8:5, 24:4, Psalm 63:1, 78:34, Proverbs 1:28, 7:15, 8:17, 11:27, 13:24, Isaiah 26:9 and Hosea 5:15.