🔼The name Makheloth: Summary
- Meaning
- Assemblies, Place Of Assembly
- Etymology
- From the verb קהל (qahal), to assemble or congregate.
🔼The name Makheloth in the Bible
The name Makheloth belongs to one of the stations camped at by Israel en route from Egypt to Canaan. Makheloth was situated between Haradah and Tahath (Numbers 33:25).
🔼Etymology of the name Makheloth
The name Makheloth comes from the verb קהל (qahal), meaning to assemble or congregate:
קהל
The unused verb קהל (qahal) probably had to do with contracting or compacting. Nouns קהלה (qehilla) and קהל (qahal) mean assembly, group, company or congregation and the denominative verb קהל (qahal) means to assemble or group up. Noun מקהל (maqhel) also means assembly.
The unused and probably related verb קול (qul) has to do with speaking or addressing an assembly, or perhaps even with the sound that emanates from an assembly. Noun קול (qol) means voice, speech or proclamation. It may also describe the sounds animals make and even that of musical instruments, the sea or other items.
Our name could be the same as a feminine version of the noun מקהל, but spelled with an old fashioned ת in the end instead of the more modern (Bible-wise) letter ה. Our name could also be a contracted (or old-fashioned) form of the plural feminine of the noun מקהל, which would be מקהלות. The letter מ (mem), with which our name starts, could obviously have to do with the מ with which our noun starts, but it may also be the particle מ that means "place of".
🔼Makheloth meaning
For a meaning of the name Makheloth, NOBSE Study Bible Name List goes with a clean plural and reads Assemblies. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names also opts for the plural and proposes Congregations, Choirs. BDB Theological Dictionary takes the מ to be the particle, and the whole name to be a singular form, and reads Place Of Assembly.