What Does Genesis 22:24 Mean?
And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she also bore Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.THE KEY
Reumah’s name is commonly understood as “exalted,” and the verse gives her four sons names of their own.
THE MEANING
The verse marks Reumah by her relationship to Nahor while also preserving her own name and naming each of her four sons. Her place in the household may be described as secondary, yet her branch of the family remains distinct and visible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A woman’s secondary status makes her and her children incidental or forgettable. The verse keeps both the mother and her sons in view by name.
THE ROOT
רְאוּמָה
Reʾûmâh
GROWS FROM
רוּם
rûm
To rise, be high, or be exalted.
Reumah is often linked to רוּם (rûm), though the name’s derivation is uncertain. That possible meaning places language of height alongside the verse’s description of her status and the named continuation of her family line.
ALSO GROWS
rām: High, lofty, or exalted.
רָם
This branch carries the possible sense of Reumah’s name.
mārôm: Height or a high place.
מָרוֹם
It shows the root’s reach from being high to the place or state of height.
יָלְדָה
yāledâ
GROWS FROM
ילד
y-l-d
To bear, beget, or bring forth.
“bore” in this verse is yāledâ. The Hebrew root behind “bare” also forms words for a child and for birth. The act and the life that comes from it share one seed, and the verse follows that act by naming four sons.
ALSO GROWS
yeled: Child or boy.
יֶלֶד
The root links the act of bearing directly to the child who emerges from it.
môledet: Birth, kinship, or native land.
מוֹלֶדֶת
This branch extends the root from birth to the family belonging that follows.
THE PATTERN
A family line is carried forward by naming the people through whom it continues, including those on a less central branch.
And she bore him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.And the women who were her neighbors called out a name for him, saying, A son is born to Naomi, and they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.Judah brought forth Perez and Zerah out of Tamar, and Perez brought forth Hezron, and Hezron brought forth Ram.THE THREAD
He raises the bowed one from the dust, and lifts the one in want from the ash heap;Reumah is commonly glossed as “exalted” and may be linked to רוּם (rûm, “rise, be high”), though that derivation is uncertain. Psalm 113 uses this root for lifting the needy, bringing height-language alongside a lowly position and opening the possible nature carried in Reumah’s name.
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