🔼The name Nehum: Summary
- Meaning
- Consolidation
- Etymology
- From the verb נחם (naham), to be sorry or to comfort.
🔼The name Nehum in the Bible
The name Nehum occurs only once in the Bible, but it should be noted that it's spelled the same as the name Nahum. Nehemiah mentions Nehum among the men who returned from the exile in Babylon together with Zerubbabel (Nehemiah 7:7). Ezra, who submits a similar list, calls this man Rehum. Nehemiah also speaks of a Rehum (among the signers of the Sealed Document — Nehemiah 10:25) and many scholars assume that all these people are the same one. That assumption, however, is rather groundless.
🔼Etymology of the name Nehum
The name Nehum comes from the verb נחם (naham), meaning to be sorry or compassionate:
נחם
The verb נחם (naham) basically means to be sorry. It may mean to have regret but also to have compassion and often to comfort and console whoever one is sorry for. This verb often describes God's attitude toward mankind.
Noun נחם (noham) means sorrow or repentance. Nouns נחום (nihum) and נחמה (nehama) mean comfort or compassion. Noun תנחום (tanhum) meaning consolation.
🔼Nehum meaning
For a meaning of the name Nehum, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Consolidation. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has Merciful. And BDB Theological Dictionary proposes Comfort.