NEUM

Brass Plates PN	1.	A non-biblical ISRAELITE prophet (1 Nephi 19:10)

Etymology

The PN NEUM may perhaps be a shortened form of nĕʾūm-YHWH, “declaration of Yahweh” (= LXX Greek legei kyrios), which is part of the oracle formula common to Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.^[1] This, in its own turn, may be from the HEBREW nĕʾūm “visionary utterance; decree” (Genesis 22:16; Numbers 24:3-4, 15-16; 2 Samuel 23:1a; Proverbs 30:1; Psalm 36:2; Ezekiel 36:23; Zechariah 12:1; Malachi 2:1).^[2] It is normally restricted to divine speech. However, the Tannaim used it with human speech (TB Yebamot 12:11), and use with human speech was originally a North Israelite feature.^[3]

However, as with the supposed name Malachi “My-messenger,”^[4] there may be an erroneous assumption here that a PN is meant. The phrase, “according to the words of NEUM” (1 Nephi 19:10) might be equivalent to HEBREW kidĕbar nēʾūm, or kĕdibrēy nēʾūm “according to the words of prophecy,” which is similar to a frequently used biblical formula (Genesis 44:2; Exodus 8:9; Leviticus 10:7; 2 Kings 2:22; 5:14; Jeremiah 13:2; 32:8; Haggai 2:4).

Or, less likely, the closely collocated HEBREW term, naʿim “bard; priestly meistersinger” (2 Samuel 23:1b; cf. 2 Kings 3:15) = Greek aoidos “bard, oral-poet, composer-singer”; cf. Ugaritic nʿm “bard,” and Arabic nģm “sing,” naģmat “melody.”^[5]

See JENEUM / JONEUM, MALACHI, NAHOM.

RFS

Variants

Deseret Alphabet: 𐐤𐐀𐐊𐐣 (niːʌm)

Notes

↑ HALOT.
↑ H. Kosmala, in Vetus Testamentum 14/3 (1964): 428, 431-32.
↑ Gary Rendsburg, “Hebrew Philological Notes (1),” Hebrew Studies 40 (1999): 29-30.
↑ A. Hill, Malachi (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press/New York: Doubleday, 1998), 135-36.
↑ F. M. Cross, From Epic to Canon, 140, citing Ugaritic CTA 3.1.19, and 1 Chronicles 25:7, where the High Priest is the Meistersinger; Cross, “Toward a History of Hebrew Prosody,” in Fortunate the Eyes That See, eds. Beck, Bartelt, Raabe, and Francke, 302-303 (as in CTA 3.1.19); see also D. N. Freedman, Pottery, Poetry, and Prophecy: Studies in Early Hebrew Poetry (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1980).

Bibliography

Cross, Frank Moore, Jr. “Toward a History of Hebrew Prosody,” in Fortunate the Eyes That See: Essays in Honor of David Noel Freedman in Celebration of His Seventieth Birthday, eds. A. Beck, A. Bartelt, P. Raabe, and C. Francke, 298-309. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995.

Cross, Frank Moore, Jr. From Epic to Canon: History and Literature in Ancient Israel. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1998.

Freedman, David Noel. Pottery, Poetry, and Prophecy: Studies in Early Hebrew Poetry. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1980.

Kosmala, Hans. “Form and Structure in Ancient Hebrew Poetry (A New Approach),” Vetus Testamentum 14/3 (Oct 1964):423-445.

Rendsburg, Gary, “Hebrew Philological Notes (1),” Hebrew Studies 40 (1999):28-32.

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