🔼The name Gibbar: Summary
- Meaning
- [Mighty] Man
- Etymology
- From the noun גבר (geber), man, from the verb גבר (gabar), to be mighty.
🔼The name Gibbar in the Bible
The name Gibbar occurs only once in the Bible (although it's spelled the same as the name Geber, just pronounced slightly different). It appears in a list of mostly place names from whence people were taken to Babylon and to which they returned.
Both Ezra and Nehemiah give us this list but there are some inexplicable discrepancies. Ezra tells of 95 "sons" of Gibbar who returned (Ezra 2:20), while Nehemiah speaks of 95 "sons" of Gibeon (Nehemiah 7:25).
Since Gibeon is a renowned city, many interpreters assume that Gibbar was another name for that town. Other commentators believe that Gibbar was a human patriarch and Gibeon was his other name. See our article on Kiriath-arim for a brief discussion on these discrepancies.
🔼Etymology of the name Gibbar
The name Gibbar comes from the verb גבר (gabar), meaning to be strong or mighty:
גבר
The verb גבר (gabar) means to be strong or mighty or to prevail. Noun גבר (geber) is one of a few words for man, perhaps comparable to our words "guy" or "dude". Adjective or noun גבור (gibbor) means mighty or strong or valiant man. Noun גבורה (gebura) means strength or might. Noun גביר (gebir) refers to an alpha male: a lord or master, and the feminine equivalents are גבירה (gebira) and גברת (geberet), mistress or queen.