🔼The name Gederoth: Summary
- Meaning
- Walls
- Etymology
- From a plural of the noun גדרה (gedera), wall.
🔼The name Gederoth in the Bible
The name Gederoth belongs to a village in the lowlands of what came to be the territory of Judah (Joshua 15:51). It's possible that David's mighty-man Jozabad the Gederathite hailed from Gederoth (1 Chronicles 12:4).
During the time of the ridiculous king Ahaz of Judah, the Edomites and Philistines invaded his lands, and the latter captured also Gederoth (2 Chronicles 28:18). Ahaz solicited the assistance of king Tilgath-pilneser of Assyria, but he afflicted him rather than strengthen him. He left a ruined kingdom to his son Hezekiah, who restored the worship of YHWH in Jerusalem.
🔼Etymology of the name Gederoth
The name גדרות is a plural form of the noun גדרה (gedera), meaning wall:
גדר
The verb גדר (gadar) means to wall up; to build a wall to separate innies from outies, and to check any movement between the two. Curiously, this verb is used predominantly in a figurative sense, i.e. to describe a containment of thoughts, deeds, intentions or developments.
Contrarily, the nouns גדר (gader), גדרה (gedera) and גדרת (gederet) all describe the item built and refer predominantly to literal walls and enclosures such as sheepfolds.
🔼Gederoth meaning
For a meaning of the name Gederoth, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Sheepfolds (the noun גדרה, gedera, sometimes denotes a sheepfold; Numbers 32:24). Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has Folds or Fortifications. BDB Theological Dictionary does not translate our name but does list it under the noun גדרה (gedera), meaning wall.