🔼The name Bezek: Summary
- Meaning
- Scattering, Flash Of Lightning
- Etymology
- From the verb בזק (bazaq), to scatter.
🔼The name Bezek in the Bible
Bezek is a town in Canaan. It's mentioned twice in the Bible, first during a scene in which the men of Judah and those of Simeon go on a rampage to conquer the lands promised to them. At Bezek they defeat 10,000 men (Judges 1:4) and torture the king Adoni-bezek. After that they go to Jerusalem, rough it up and leave it again. Had they known that Jerusalem would one day be the capital of Israel, they might have stuck around.
Much later, the newly anointed king Saul is drawn into battle with Nahash the Ammonite and musters his army at Bezek (1 Samuel 11:8).
🔼Etymology of the name Bezek
The name Bezek comes from the unused Hebrew root בזק (bzq), possibly meaning to scatter:
בזק
The unused Hebrew verb בזק (bazaq) probably meant to scatter (it does so in Aramaic). Noun בזק (bazaq) probably describes a lightning bolt — but this in reference to its zig-zag nature rather than its heat, illumination or thunderous noise.
🔼Bezek meaning
For a meaning of the name Bezek, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Scattering and Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has Flash Of Lightning.