🔼The name Bath-shua: Summary
- Meaning
- Daughter Of Prosperity, Daughter Of Salvation
- Etymology
- From (1) בת (bat), daughter, the female version of בן (ben), son, and (2) the verb ישע (yasha'), to save.
🔼The name Bath-shua in the Bible
The name Bath-shua occurs twice in the Bible, and both times as a secondary designation:
- The first Bath-shua is the same as the "daughter of Shuah" and wife of Judah as mentioned in Genesis 38:2 (as the "daughter of a Canaanite named Shuah"), 38:12 and 1 Chronicles 2:3 (both as בת־שוע).
- The other Bath-shua is in fact Bathsheba, daughter of Ammiel, and the wife of Uriah and later king David. She bore Shimea, Shobab, Nathan and Solomon to David in Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 3:5).
🔼Etymology of the name Bath-shua
The name Bath-shua consists of two elements. The first element is the Hebrew word בת (bat), meaning daughter, from the word בן (ben), meaning son:
בן
The noun בן (ben) means son, or more general: a member of one particular social or economic node — called a "house", which is built upon the instructions of one אב ('ab), or "father" — within in a larger economy (hence: the "sons of the prophet" are the members of the prophet-class; the prophets). This noun obviously resembles the verb בנה (bana), to build, and the noun אבן ('eben), stone.
Our noun's feminine version, namely בת (bat), means daughter, which resembles the noun בית (bayit), meaning house. Sometimes our noun is contracted into a single letter ב, whose name beth comes from בית (bayit) and means "house" as well. As a prefix, the letter ב (be) means "in." The word for mother, אם ('em), is highly similar to that of tribe or people, אמה ('umma).
The second element of the name Bath-shua is שוע, which is identical to the name Shuah. The meaning of the name Shuah is unclear (see that name for etymology and meaning), but it may be A Cry, Riches/Opulence or Nobility, coming from the root cluster שוע and ישע:
שוע ישע
The verb ישע (yasha') means to be unrestricted and thus to be free and thus to be saved (from restriction, from oppression and thus from ultimate demise). A doer of this verb is a savior. Nouns ישועה (yeshua), ישע (yesha') and תשועה (teshua) mean salvation. Adjective שוע (shoa') means (financially) independent, freed in an economic sense.
Verb שוע (shawa') means to cry out (for salvation). Nouns שוע (shua'), שוע (shoa') and שועה (shawa) mean a cry (for salvation).
The noun תשע (tesha'), nine, looks like תושע (tohasha'), he or it will cause to save: the third person masculine singular Hiphil of the verb ישע (yasha'), to save. See our article on the Greek word for nine, εννεα (ennea).
🔼Bath-shua meaning
For a meaning of the name Bath-shua, NOBSE Study Bible Name List translates this name as Daughter Of Prosperity. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names clings to Bathsheba and renders Daughter Of An Oath (which is technically incorrect; Bath-shua and Bathsheba are different names).