🔼The name Sharar: Summary
- Meaning
- Firm
- Etymology
- From the verb שרר (sharar), to be rigid due to absorbed liquidity.
🔼The name Sharar in the Bible
The name Sharar occurs only once in the Bible. Sharar the Ararite is the father of Ahiam, one of David's mighty-men (2 Samuel 23:33). In the parallel text of 1 Chronicles 11:35 there is no Ahiam son of Sharar the Ararite but there is an Ahiam son of Sacar the Hararite. Commentators generally deem these people to be the same.
🔼Etymology of the name Sharar
The name Sharar comes from the root שרר (sharar), which has to do with hardness or firmness:
שרר
Root שרר (sharar) has to do with rigidity resulting from the absorption and retention of liquids (called turgor in plants), liquidity in economy, or data in IT and so on — and the ultimate effects thereof. The promise of Jesus', that streams of living water would emerge from within (John 7:38), tells of a curing of social lymphedema, when pools of stagnant wealth (whether fat, cash or data) are re-released into society to benefit all (for more on this, see our article on the noun δουλος, doulos).
Noun שר (sar) means chief or ruler (someone in whom a society's wealth is concentrated). Its feminine form, שרה (sara), denotes a princess, noble lady or perhaps a ruling class collectively. The denominative verb שרר (sarar) means to be a chief.
Noun שרירות (sherirut) describes firmness in a negative sense: stubbornness. Noun שר (shor) refers to the umbilical cord and noun שרה (shera) to a bracelet of some sort. Noun שריר (sharir) apparently denotes a sinew or muscle.
Mystery verb שרה (sara) is used only to describe what Jacob did with the Angel (Genesis 32:29 and Hosea 12:4). It's traditionally been translated as "to wrestle," but it obviously metaphorizes Israel's formation into a political unity based on the retention of knowledge and skills. Derived noun משרה (misra) literally means "place or agent of שרה (sara)." It occurs only in the famous prediction that "the misra will be upon his shoulders" (Isaiah 9:6).
Verb שרה (shara) means to fill and release. Noun משרה (mishra) denotes the juice of grapes. Noun שריה (shirya) denotes a kind of weapon and noun שריון (shiryon) or שרין (shiryan) describes body armor — the link between physical, political and intellectual rigidity is obvious (see Ephesians 6:14).
🔼Sharar meaning
For a meaning of the name Sharar, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Firm. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names follows the interpretation of Simonis (who proposed the Latin stabilimentum), and submits the entirely incomprehensible Hand, Stay and adds "i.e. of family," which doesn't help either. BDB Theological Dictionary does not offer an interpretation of the name Sharar but does list it under the root שרר.