🔼The name Jehallelel: Summary
- Meaning
- God Will Flash Light, He Will Praise God
- Etymology
- From (1) the verb הלל (halal), to shine or praise, and (2) the word אל ('el), God.
🔼The name Jehallelel in the Bible
There are two men named Jehallelel in the Bible:
- A man from Judah, but whose relation to Judah is unclear. But the text states that he is father of Ziph and Ziphah, Tiria and Asarel. This curious formulation may indicate that Ziphah and Asarel are really grandsons or even further descendants of Jehallelel.
- The father of a man named Azariah, who is mentioned among a Merari subgroup of Levites who volunteer to clean the temple during king Hezekiah's reform (2 Chronicles 29:12).
🔼Etymology of the name Jehallelel
The name Jehallelel consists of two elements, the final being אל (El), the common abbreviation of Elohim:
אל אלה
In names אל ('el) usually refers to אלהים ('elohim), that is Elohim, or God, also known as אלה ('eloah). In English, the words 'God' and 'god' exclusively refer to the deity but in Hebrew the words אל ('l) and אלה ('lh) are far more common and may express approach and negation, acts of wailing and pointing, and may even mean oak or terebinth.
The first part of the name Jehallelel comes from the root הלל (halal):
הלל
The verb הלל (halal) means to shine (what exited stars do) or praise and cheer (what exited souls do). It may even denote too much of a good thing: to be raving mad. From the second sense derive: noun הליל (hillul), praise or rejoicing; noun מהלל (mahalel), agent or place of praise, and noun תהלה (tehilla), song of praise. From the third sense come nouns הוללה (holela) and הוללות (holelut), both meaning madness.
🔼Jehallelel meaning
For a meaning of the name Jehallelel, NOBSE Study Bible Name List goes with halal I and reads God Will Flash Light. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names leans towards root halal II and reads He Will Praise God. Similarly, BDB Theological Dictionary offers He Shall Praise God.