🔼The name Binnui: Summary
- Meaning
- Built, Building
- Etymology
- From the verb בנה (bana), to build.
🔼The name Binnui in the Bible
There are three to half a dozen men named Binnui in the Bible. They occur in such close proximity to each other that it's difficult to tell where one Binnui ends and the other one starts:
- The patriarch of 648 "sons" of Binnui, who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel (Nehemiah 7:15). Nehemiah calls this man Binnui and counts 648 sons, but Ezra calls him Bani and reports of 642 sons (Ezra 2:10). It's difficult to sire over 600 descendants while living, so it's pretty safe to assume that this Binnui is not the same as the final three of the following.
- The father of Noadiah, one of the Levites who helped weigh the silver and gold temple utensils, during the time after the exile (Ezra 8:33). Perhaps this Binnui is the same as the one mentioned by Nehemiah among the returnees (Nehemiah 12:8).
- A son of Henadad, who repaired a section of Jerusalem, from the house of Azariah to a certain corner (Nehemiah 3:24). This Binnui is also mentioned among the signers of the sealed document (Nehemiah 10:9).
- A son of Pahath-moab, who divorced his foreign wife during the purge of Ezra (Ezra 10:34).
- A son of Bani, also one who divorced his foreign wife during the purge of Ezra (Ezra 10:38).
🔼Etymology of the name Binnui
The name Binnui comes from the verb בנה (bana), meaning to build:
בנה
The verb בנה (bana) means to build, mostly of stone buildings and thus of houses and thus of families and dynasties: hence the association between this verb and the nouns אבן ('eben), stone, and בן (ben), son.
Noun בניה (binya) means a building in the sense of a structure. Noun מבנה (mibneh) means building in the sense of place of building. Noun תבנית (tabnit) means building in the sense of the act of building: a construction, pattern or image.
Noun תבן (teben) means straw (the stems of grains), which was inserted into clay to enhance the structural integrity of the building. We do the same today with carbon fibers.
🔼Binnui meaning
For a meaning of the name Binnui, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Built and Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names proposes Building. BDB Theological Dictionary doesn't interpret our name but does list it under the root בנה .