🔼The name Sucathites: Summary
- Meaning
- Dwellers In Booths, Hedged In People
- Etymology
- From the root סכך (sakak), to weave a protection.
🔼The name Sucathites in the Bible
The Sucathites are mentioned only once in the Bible. Apparently they were a family of scribes that lived in Jabez of Judah together with their scribal colleagues the Tirathites and Shimeathites (1 Chronicles 2:55). Collectively these scribal families were known as Kenites and they all seem to have descended from Hammath, the father of the house of Rechab.
🔼Etymology of the name Sucathites
The name Sucathites is obviously an ethnonym, but it's not clear which location this ethnonym points at. It could be a place (or person) named שוכת or שוכה, and the latter form is identical to one of the forms of the name Socoh. And Socoh was a village in the south of Judah, in or near the valley of Elah.
The name Sucathites comes from any of the following verbs:
סכך שכך
The root סכך (sakak) or שכך (sakak) speaks of the creation of a hedge of sorts from interwoven strands of sorts. It commonly describes how prickly branches interweave to create a defensive hedge to hide behind and to look intently out from. In a figurative sense it may describe any sort of protective thing that consists of many separate branches, and from which one looks out.
The Psalmist famously connected this verb to the formation of a human fetus (Psalm 139:13), but it also obviously links to human culture and science and technology at large. The evangelists openly referred to all this by means of the famous "crown of thorns."
Nouns מסך (masak), מסכה (mesuka) and מוסך (musak) describe coverings or screens (mostly of the tabernacle). Noun סך (sak) means throng or multitude; an "interwoven mass" of people. Nouns סך (sok) and סכה (sukka) describe a thicket or lair from where a lion would lay in wait to pounce on a prey. The latter noun is also often used to describe woven booths to stall cattle or even to house soldiers or guards. This noun occurs frequently in the legislation concerning the Feast Of Booths.
Noun שך (sok) means booth or pavilion. Noun משכה (mesukka) means hedge. Noun שך (sek) means thorn and noun שכה (sukka) means barb. Noun שכון (sakkin) means knife. This noun may actually be a loanword but it fits right in.
Verb נסך (nasak I) means to pour out. Nouns נסך (nesek), נסיך (nasik) and מסכה (masseka) mean both libation or a cast artifact. The latter is the word for the familiar Gold Calf. Identical verb נסך (nasak II) means to weave. Noun מסכה (masseka) means anything woven
Verb סוך (suk) or סיך (syk) describes the administration of oil — apparently in the expectation that this would protect the recipient, since this two-faced verb may also be used to mean to hedge in. To solve this conundrum, dictionaries propose a whole separate verb, which accidentally may also be spelled in two identical ways. Noun אסוך ('asuk) means [oil-] flask. Noun מסכה (mesuka) means hedge and is obviously similar to משכה (mesukka) meaning hedge.
Verb שוך (suk) means to hedge or fence up. It too yields a noun משכה (mesuka), meaning hedge. Nouns שוך (sok) and שוכה (soka) mean branch.
Verb שכה (saka) means to look out, keep watch or even hope for. Nouns שכוי (sekwi) and שכיה (sekiya) denote a kind of celestial sign or appearance. Noun משכית (maskit) denotes a kind of show-piece, real or imaginary.
🔼Sucathites meaning
For a meaning of the name Sucathites, Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names reads Dwellers In Booths. Note that when Jeremiah addresses the Rechabites, they tell him that they have always lived in tents, in obedience to the commands of Jonadab, the son of Hammath (Jeremiah 35:10).
BDB Theological Dictionary does not offer an interpretation but lists the Sucathites under the verb שוך (suk). NOBSE Study Bible Name List doesn't translate our name and declares the Sucathites to be descendants of Caleb, which is incorrect.