🔼The name Beulah: Summary
- Meaning
- Married
- Etymology
- From the verb בעל (ba'al), to be lord.
🔼The name Beulah in the Bible
The name Beulah occurs only once in the Bible. The prophet Isaiah mentions it in a small list of nicknames for Jerusalem and Zion (Isaiah 62:4). The name Beulah is applied to these cities' land, which is Judah and Israel.
🔼Etymology of the name Beulah
The name Beulah comes from the verb בעל (ba'al), meaning to own, rule:
בעל
The verb בעל (ba'al) means to exercise dominion over; to own, control or be lord over. The ubiquitous noun בעל (ba'al) means lord, master and even husband, and its feminine counterpart בעלה (ba'ala) means mistress or landlady.
God is obviously called 'lord' all over the Bible and the sin of the Baal priests (1 Kings 18:40) was not that they called upon some other deity but rather their incessant howling of the word 'lord' without any further responsibility or effects (see Matthew 7:21 and 11:4-5).
🔼Beulah meaning
The name Beulah is a passive participle of the verb ba'al and means Married.
Isaiah explains this name by stating that Jerusalem will no longer be called Azubah (Forsaken) and her land Shemamah (Desolate), but Jerusalem will be called Hephzibah (My Delight Is In Her) and her land Beulah (Married), "because YHWH delights in you, and your land will be married (62:4)".