🔼The name Huppim: Summary
- Meaning
- Protection, Coverings
- Etymology
- From the verb חפף (hapap), to cover or shield.
🔼The name Huppim in the Bible
There are two men named Huppim in the Bible:
- A son of Benjamin (Genesis 46:21). This Huppim (חפים) is called Hupham (חופם) in Numbers 26:39, where he is reported to have become the patriarch of the Huphamites (חופמי).
- The brother of Shuppim, sons of Ir, also of Benjamin (1 Chronicles 7:12, spelled חפם). It may be that this man named Ir is the same as Iri, who is a grandson of Benjamin through Bela (1 Chronicles 7:7).
🔼Etymology of the name Huppim
The name Huppim looks like a masculine plural form of a noun that comes out of the root group חפף (hapap).
Excerpted from: Abarim Publications' Biblical Dictionary
חפף
The verb חפף (hapap) means to surround, cover and protect. Noun חוף (hop) means shore or coast and noun חפה (huppa) means canopy. Adjective חף (hap) refers to one's mental order and stability.
Verb חפה (hapa) means to cover or overlay with a protective layer of sorts, and verb חפא (hapa') means to do covertly or secretly.
🔼Huppim meaning
For a meaning of the name Huppim, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads the singular Protection, and Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has the plural Coverings. BDB Theological Dictionary doesn't translate this name but does list it under the verb חפף (hapap).