🔼The name Raphu: Summary
- Meaning
- Cured, Healed
- Etymology
- From the verb רפא (rapa'), to heal.
🔼The name Raphu in the Bible
The name Raphu occurs only once in the Bible. Raphu of Benjamin is the father of Palti, who was among the twelve spies who Moses dispatched to scout out the land Canaan before them (Numbers 13:9).
🔼Etymology of the name Raphu
The name Raphu probably comes from the verb רפא (rapa'), meaning to heal:
רפא
The verb רפא (rapa') means to heal or rather to restore or even repair. Noun רפאה (repu'a) describes a remedy, and nouns רפאות (rip'ut), מרפא (marpe') and מרפה (marpe) mean a healing or a restoration.
רפה
The verb רפה (rapa) means to lower, sink down, let drop or be slack, whether literally or figuratively. Since healing often had to do with bringing a fever down, this verb and the previous are obviously akin. Adjective רפה (rapeh) means slack or weak.
The difficult noun רפאים (repai'm) refers to the "sunken ones," i.e. ghosts or shadows of people that are no longer alive. This is probably best understood as the waning legacy of foregone generations that still influence and shape our world today, even though the members of that generation are dead, inert and decomposing in the ground.
🔼Raphu meaning
For a meaning of the name Raphu, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Cured and Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has Healed. BDB Theological Dictionary doesn't offer an interpretation of the name Raphu but does list it under the verb רפא (rapa'), meaning to heal.