🔼The name Zabdiel: Summary
- Meaning
- God Has Given, Gift Of God
- Etymology
- From (1) the verb זבד (zabad), to give, and (2) the word אל ('el), God.
🔼The name Zabdiel in the Bible
There are two men named Zabdiel in the Bible:
- The first Zabdiel we meet is the father of Jashobeam, who is one of twelve commanders of subdivisions of Israel under king David (1 Chronicles 27:2).
- The other Zabdiel is a son of Haggedolim and an overseer of the Levites in the post-exilic period (Nehemiah 11:14).
🔼Etymology of the name Zabdiel
The name Zabdiel consists of two elements; the final part being אל (El), the common abbreviation of Elohim:
אל אלה
In names אל ('el) usually refers to אלהים ('elohim), that is Elohim, or God, also known as אלה ('eloah). In English, the words 'God' and 'god' exclusively refer to the deity but in Hebrew the words אל ('l) and אלה ('lh) are far more common and may express approach and negation, acts of wailing and pointing, and may even mean oak or terebinth.
The first part of the name Zabdiel comes from the verb זבד (zabad), meaning to give or bestow:
זבד
The verb זבד (zabad) means to give and the noun זבד (zebed) means gift. Both these words are used only once, in Genesis 30:20. These words' more common equivalents come from the root נתן (natan).
The letter yod that ties the two elements together may either be due to an active form (he gives) or a possessive form (my gift).
🔼Zabdiel meaning
For a meaning of the name Zabdiel, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads God Has Given. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names proposes Gift Of God. BDB Theological Dictionary has My Gift Is God.