🔼The name Aharah: Summary
- Meaning
- After Brother
- Etymology
- From (1) the preposition אחר ('aher), after or behind, and (2) the noun אח ('ah), brother.
🔼The name Aharah in the Bible
There's only one Aharah in the Bible, and, according to 1 Chronicles 8:1, he's the third son of Benjamin, and brother of Bela and Ashbel. In the genealogy of Genesis 46:21, Aharah is not mentioned among the ten sons of Benjamin. But in Numbers 26:38 we find an Ahiram, and BDB Theological Dictionary proposes that Aharah may be a contracted form of that name.
Aharah wasn't present at the migration to Goshen, but the elevation of Aharah's position to number three may be due to inter-familial politics (something similar happened to Jacob and later his son Judah).
🔼Etymology of the name Aharah
The name Aharah seems to be drawn from the very common Hebrew word אחר ('aher), meaning after or behind:
אחר
The verb אחר ('ahar) means to come after or later, to derive or even to delay (to make to come after or later). Adjective אחר (aher) means another, adjective אחרי (aharay) means afterwards, and adjective אחרון (aharon) means hindermost. Noun אחרית (aharit) refers to some after part and noun אחור (ahor) to some back part. Adverb אחרנית (ahoranit) means backwards. Preposition אחר (ahar) means behind.
Scholars propose that the final heth comes from a word that is a common name-element, namely אח ('ah), meaning brother. Although this word seems quite essential and occurs all over the Bible, the origins of this word are unknown:
אח
The noun אח ('ah) means brother, or more broadly: a fellow member of a social economic node (a "house") within a broader economic whole.
This word's lavish inclusion in names strongly suggests that the deity was reckoned by this word — in modern times we mostly speak of Our Father in Heaven but in antiquity the deity appears to have also been addressed as Our Brother. The New Testament appears to entertain that dynamic in the tenet that the Word is God's Son, and all who have the Word are godly brothers. Also note the similarity with the verb חוה (hawa), to show, tell, make known.
The noun אחוה ('ahawa) means brotherhood and אחות ('ahot) means sister.
🔼Aharah meaning
For a meaning of the name Aharah, NOBSE Study Bible Name List offers After His Brother, and Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names reads the more general After A Brother.