🔼The name Jehdeiah: Summary
- Meaning
- May Yah Give Joy, Yah Will Make Glad
- Etymology
- From (1) the verb חדד (hadad), to be sharp, keen or swift, and (2) יהו (yahu), the shortened name of the Lord.
🔼The name Jehdeiah in the Bible
There are two men named Jehdeiah (or rather: Jehdeiahu) in the Bible. The first one we meet is a son of Shubael, who descends from Levi through Gershom the son of Moses (1 Chronicles 24:20). The second Jehdeiah is a Meronothite who was in charge of the donkeys of David (1 Chronicles 27:30).
🔼Etymology of the name Jehdeiah
The name Jehdeiah consists of two elements. The first part comes from the verb חדה (hada), meaning to rejoice:
חדד
The verb חדד (hadad) means to be sharp or keen or even swift. Adjective חד (had) means sharp (mostly of swords) and adjective חדוד (haddud) means sharpened or pointed.
The verb חדה (hada) is similar to the previous, but appears to lean more toward keenness, swiftness or even gladness and resonance. In some cases it plainly means to rejoice. Noun חדוה (hedwa) means joy or gladness.
The ideas of sharpness and joyfulness meet in the noun חידה (hida), which means riddle; a verbal exercise meant to sharpen the mind and give joy in the process. Posing riddles was an important element of life in societies that were wisdom-based, which explains the many Biblical scenes that revolve around riddles. The denominative verb חוד (hud) means to pose a riddle.
Note the emphasis on collectivity in these words, as well as the principle of preservation of momentum that underlies both the mechanical process of resonance and social phenomena such as humor, fashion and even language itself.
This first part of the name Jehdeiah is the verb hada prefixed with the letter yod, which makes the verb active: he will rejoice, or he will make or be made glad.
The final part of the name Jehdeiah is יה (Yah) = יהו (Yahu) = יו (Yu), which in turn are abbreviated forms of the Tetragrammaton; the name of the Lord: YHWH.
🔼Jehdeiah meaning
For a meaning of the name Jehdeiah, NOBSE Study Bible Name List proposes Yahweh Will Make Glad. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has He Will Be Gladdened Of The Lord, and BDB Theological Dictionary suggests May Yah Give Joy.