ZARAHEMLA

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Lehite PN 1. royal descendant of MULEK, and ancestor of AMMON and CORIANTUMR (Omni 1:14, 18; Mosiah 7:3, 13; 25:2; Helaman 1:15)
2. people of (Omni 1:14; Mosiah 1:18; 7:13-14)
Lehite GN 3. land of (Omni 1:12, 13, 24, 28; Mosiah 1:1, 18; 2:4; 7:9, 13, 14; Mormon 1:6, 10)

Etymology

Possibly hypothetical Hebrew *zerʿa-ḥemlâ "Seed of Compassion" (JH, JAT), or "Merciful scattering," employing ḥemlâ "mercy, compassion, pity, commiseration" (Genesis 19:16), and the same Semitic root is a loanword (ḥml) in 20th Dynasty EGYPT as ḥa-ma-nra "Be merciful, Have Compassion!"[1] PYH argues that ḥemlâ looks like a feminine participle from the verb "to pity." If so, the preceding element in the name would probably not be a verb, thus perhaps leaving us with the meaning "Merciful-scion." This proposed name is structured somewhat like Hebrew zeraʿ hammělûkâ, zeraʿ hammamlākâ "royal descendant" (Jeremiah 41:1, 2; 2 Kings 11:1; 25:25; Ezekiel 17:13; Daniel 1:3),[2] and like Hebrew zeraʽ ʼĕlōhîm "progeny of God, godly offspring" (Malachi 2:15),[3] and the Neo-Babylonian PN Zer-babili,[4] the PN of the late biblical prince and governor Zerubbabel "Scion/Offspring of Babylon, Seed-of-Babylon, Born-in-Babylon" (1 Chronicles 3:19, Ezra 3:2 = Sheshbazzar, Ezra 1:8; NT Zorobabel Matthew 1:12-13).[5] Note also that each is a royal descendant of the House of DAVID. Word-play based on this etymology has been found by Pedro Olavarria and David Bokovoy at Mosiah 9:2, and 3 Nephi 8:24 (based on use of ḥml "spared" at 1 Samuel 15:9).[6]

Cf. also Semitic zhr, zrʽ "to sow" in Demotic ḏrʽ, ḏl3 "spread, scatter" (> Coptic ḏōōre, ḏar, ḏar=, ḏare=, ḏēr, čer=),[7] as the possible prefix of the name.

Alternatively, JH compared KJV PNs Zarah (Genesis 38:30; 46:12), Zerah (Genesis 36:13, 17, 33; 1 Chronicles 1:37; Nehemiah 11:24), Zara (Matthew 1:3), all based on Hebrew Zaraḥ, Zeraḥ, "Shine foroth, Light up; Dawn; Risen-Like-the-Morning-Sun" (hypocoristic PN for KJV Zerahiah Zeraḥ-Yah "YHWH has Risen Like the Morning Sun"[8] Hebrew Zrḥy = LXX Zaraei, and that Hebrew Zryh = LXX Zaraia.[9] Cf. the ASSYRIAN practice of naming a land for its capital city.

Less likely is hypothetical Hebrew *zĕrōʽ-ḥemla "Arm of mercy," an English phrase used three times in the Book of Mormon, including once by JESUS at 3 Nephi 9:14, which could be a play on words (pun) on the name of ZARAHEMLA (using a folk etymology), whose destruction he had just mentioned (JAT). Cf. for example, the reading zeraʽ in MT, which is not supported by LXX Greek omos "shoulder" and Vulgate brachium "forearm," which means that the correct reading should be zĕrōʿa "arm."[10]

Less likely is hypothetical Hebrew *Zārâ-ḥemlâ "Scattering of mercy," employing piel Hebrew zrh "to scatter, spread," i.e., the scattering of JUDAH among the nations (RFS).[11]

Margaret Barker combines several of these meanings into complex wordplay designed to communicate the deeper meaning of the Servant Songs of ISAIAH: "To whom has the arm [zĕrōʿa] of the LORD been revealed?" can also mean "To whom has the seed/son [zeraʿ] of the LORD been revealed?" (Isaiah 53:1 ||Mosiah 14:1; cf. Mosiah 15:31 "The Lord hath made bare his holy arm") without changing the Hebrew consonantal text - especially since the next line reads "he grew up before him as a suckling child" (Isaiah 53:2 [RSV "young plant"; LXX "little child"] ||Mosiah 14:2) - and this coheres with Isaiah 53:10||Mosiah 14:10 "he shall see his seed/offspring, " which can also be read "he shall be revealed as the son."[12] This is merely part of the much broader liturgical and esoteric content of First Temple Israelite religion jettisoned by Deuteronomistic revisionism - according to Barker - a revisionism which did not infect the Book of Mormon.

See ZERAHEMNAH, ZERAM, ZERIN.

Variants

Deseret Alphabet:

Notes

Bibliography

  1. ↑ James Hoch, Semitic Words in Egyptian Texts of the New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period, 226-227.
  2. ↑ Tawil, Akkadian Lexical Companion, 95-96.
  3. ↑ A. Hill, Malachi, Anchor Bible 25D (Yale Univ. Press/Doubleday, 1998), 201.
  4. ↑ So B. Beyer in Freedman, ed., Anchor Bible Dictionary, VI:1085.
  5. ↑ J. Tvedtnes, "Hebrew Names in the Book of Mormon," 3, citing especially Stephen Ricks & John Tvedtnes, "The Hebrew Origin of Some Book of Mormon Place-Names," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 6/2 (Fall 1997):259.
  6. ↑ In Insights 30/5 (2010), online at http://mi.byu.edu/publications/insights/?vol=30&num=58&id=917, and at MDDB online at http://www.mormondialogue.org/topic/52705-zarahemla-revisiting-the-seed-of-compassion/. Cf. Helaman 8:21 "seed of Zedekiah" = people of ZARAHEMLA.
  7. ↑ Westendorf, KHw, 431-432 (an earlier parallel cited there is denied by Hoch, Semitic Words, 392-393).
  8. ↑ So E. Knauf in Freedman, ed., Anchor Bible Dictionary, VI:1080; Reynolds, Dictionary of the Book of Mormon, 315; cf. R. Shearer, "Zerahiah," in Freedman, ed., ABD, VI:1081, who notes additional interpretations: "YHWH will arise/shine; YHWH has dawned"; A. Hill, Malachi, AB 25D (Yale/Doubleday, 1998), 349; cf. the solar symbolism in Psalms 19:4-6; 84:11; Malachi 4:2 (3:20 MT), Luke 1:78-79; Revelation 1:16.
  9. ↑ Wevers in Wevers & Redford, eds., Essays on the Ancient Semitic World, 107, where he compares the Old South Arabic PN Ðrḥ (voiceless interdental spirant).
  10. ↑ A. Hill, Malachi, AB 25D (Yale/Doubleday, 1998), 9, 200-201.
  11. ↑ A. Hill, Malachi, AB 25D (Yale/Doubleday, 1998), 201.
  12. ↑ Barker, Temple Mysticism, 157, 162.
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