🔼The name Ohel: Summary
- Meaning
- Tent
- Etymology
- From the noun אהל ('ohel), tent.
🔼The name Ohel in the Bible
There's only one person named Ohel in the Bible and he appears to be a son of Zerubbabel, listed as one of a cluster of five who are grouped for no clear reason (1 Chronicles 3:20).
🔼Etymology of the name Ohel
The name Ohel is the same as the noun אהל ('ohel), meaning tent:
אהל
The unused verb אהל ('ahal) appears to have described the formation of a deliberate and artificial societal hub for the explicit purpose of exchanging thoughts and forming language and cultural expressions.
In such hubs, minds could both be honed and made to merge into great synergic entities such as widespread standardized language. The ancients created massive hubs such as the one found at Göbekli Tepe long before the agricultural revolution took place. The obvious purpose of those centers was to create shared wisdom.
This synergetic effect is deeply essential to the way the universe works and is mimicked by processes such as the making of wine from mushed grapes or perfume from mushed flowers. It also occurs as nuclear fusion in stars, and the Bible's many similes featuring stars and minds strongly suggests that the ancients knew more about the universe than was previously surmised.
Derived noun אהל ('ohel) describes a place where minds merge. It is the common word for tent (and thus the Tabernacle; a.k.a. the Tent of Meeting) but may also refer to a general settlement or habitation. Denominative verb אהל ('ahal) means to pitch or make a tent.
🔼Ohel meaning
For a meaning of the name Ohel, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Family, which is projective nonsense. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names proposes Tabernacle, which is a touch too specific. BDB Theological Dictionary doesn't translate our name but does list it under the noun אהל ('ohel), meaning tent.