🔼The name Ben-zoheth: Summary
- Meaning
- Son Of Zoheth, Son Of Detachment
- Etymology
- From (1) the noun בן (ben), son, and (2) the verb זחח (zahah), to detach.
🔼The name Ben-zoheth in the Bible
The name Ben-zoheth occurs only once in the Bible. He is mentioned as a son of Ishi of Judah, and that's all we know about him. He plays no further part in the Bible.
🔼Etymology of the name Ben-zoheth
The name Ben-zoheth obviously consists of two parts, the first one being the common Hebrew 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 part of our name is the same as the name Zoheth, which is difficult to explain, but which might be associated to the verb זחח (zhh), meaning to be detached:
זחח
The rarely used verb זחח (zahah) means to detach. It has no extant derivatives.
🔼Ben-zoheth meaning
For a meaning of the name Ben-zoheth, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads a rather lame Son Of Zoheth, and Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names proposes a rather dramatic Son Of Most Violent Transportation. BDB Theological Dictionary does not offer an explanation of our name and deems its meaning and etymology unknown.