🔼The name Lael: Summary
- Meaning
- Belonging To God, Onto God
- Etymology
- From (1) the prefix ל (le), onto, and (2) the word אל ('el), God.
🔼The name Lael in the Bible
The name Lael occurs only once in the Bible. Lael was the father of Eliasaph, the leader of the Gershonite Levites at the time of the first census of Israel (Numbers 3:24). Nothing further is known about this man.
🔼Etymology of the name Lael
The name Lael consists of two elements. The first element is the prefix ל (le), which in this case means belonging to:
ל
The particle ל (le) means to or onto and may describe a physical or mental motion toward or a behavioral effort, an evolutionary one or express determination or purpose. The name of this letter, lamed, describes a cattle prod or goad.
The second part of our name is אל ('el), the prominent Canaanite deity whose name became applied to the God of Israel, or the common abbreviation of Elohim, the genus God:
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.
🔼Lael meaning
For a meaning of the name Lael, both NOBSE Study Bible Name List and BDB Theological Dictionary read Belonging To God. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names proposes By God.