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Meaning and etymology of the name Bera




Bera Bera


The name Bera occurs only once in the Bible. He is the king of Sodom, featured in the War of Four Against Five Kings (Genesis 14). Bera is one of the coalition of five kings who arise against king Chedorlaomer and three of his associates. The fight takes place in the valley of Siddim and ends poorly for the five. At least two of the five, including Bera, fall in one of the many tar pits in that area and we may assume that they subsequently perished (14:10).

According to BDB Theological Dictionary, the root and meaning of this name are unknown.

Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names, undeterred as ever, submits a compound of the words ben (ben), meaning son (also in the sense of member of a group). See for an exhaustive treatment of this word the name Ben. And the word raa (ra), meaning evil (see below). Hence Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names renders this name Son Of Evil.

However, the lack of the letter nun is the name Bera does not motivate an association with the word ben. Any Hebrew audience may have heard a compound of the following elements:

The very common Hebrew preposition be (be) meaning in, at or by; and either of the following occurrences of raa.

raa (rea) meaning friend or companion, from the root raa (ra'a), meaning to associate with. This word occurs 187 times in the Old Testament. It is also this word that is commonly translated as 'neighbor' in the well-known command from Leviticus: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 19:19);

raa (rea) meaning purpose or aim (Psalm 139:2, 17);

raa (ra meaning evil, badness, distress, the opposite of tob (tob), meaning good or goodness. This noun comes from the verb raa (ra'a), meaning to be evil.

Judging from the context this name is probably meant to mean In Evil or Through Evil.

Similar in meaning in the name Birsha. Other names that are formed from the particle raa are: Ahira, Ruth, Reu and Reuel.






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