🔼The name Harod: Summary
- Meaning
- Trembling, Fear
- Etymology
- From the verb חרד (harad), to tremble with fear.
🔼The name Harod in the Bible
The name Harod occurs only once in the Bible. The Spring of Harod is where Gideon and the Israelite army camped right before their war with the Midianites (Judges 7:1).
Gideon had called Israel to arms and 32,000 soldiers showed up. But YHWH deemed this number too high, and ordered all who were afraid and trembling (obviously a pun on the name Harod; see below) to go home, and 22,000 men went. The remaining 10,000 were tested on their water-drinking habits, and a mere 300 passed. With this small contingent Gideon engaged the enemy.
Note that one of David's mighty men was known as a Harodite (2 Samuel 23:25).
🔼Etymology of the name Harod
The name Harod comes from the verb חרד (harad), meaning to tremble or be afraid:
חרד
The verb חרד (harad) means to shake or tremble with fear. Adjective חרד (hared) means trembling or afraid, and noun חרדה (harada) means a trembling or fear.
🔼Harod meaning
For a meaning of the name Harod, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Fountain Of Trembling (which obviously incorporates the spring-part, which the name Harod doesn't). Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names proposes Trembling, Fear. BDB Theological Dictionary does not translate Harod but does list it under the verb חרד (harad).