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Discover the meanings of thousands of Biblical names in Abarim Publications' Biblical Name Vault: Beth-car

Beth-car meaning

בית כר

Source: https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Beth-car.html

🔼The name Beth-car: Summary

🔼The name Beth-car in the Bible

The name Beth-car occurs only once in the Bible. Right after the Philistines returned the Ark of the Covenant to Israel, they figured they could harass Israel some more and attacked them at Mizpah. But YHWH caused consternation in their ranks by sounding a great thunder, and the Israelites were able to slay them as far as below Beth-car (1 Samuel 7:11). To commemorate that victory, Samuel famously erected a stone he called Ebenezer.

🔼Etymology of the name Beth-car

The name Beth-car consists of two elements. The first part is identical to the common Hebrew word בית (bayit) meaning house:

Excerpted from: Abarim Publications' Biblical Dictionary
בית

The noun בית (bayit) means house. It sometimes merely denotes a domestic building, but mostly it denotes the realm of authority of the house-father, or אב (ab). This ab is commonly the living alpha male of a household, but may very well be a founding ancestor (as in the familiar term the "house of Israel"). The אב (ab) may also be a deity, in which case the בית (bayit) is that which we know as a temple.

In the larger economy, a house interacts with other houses. These interactions are governed by the אב (ab), or "father" and executed by the בנים (benim), or "sons": those people living in the house, irrespective of any biological relation with the אב (ab). The "sons" combined add up to אם ('em), which means both "mother" and "tribe".

The second part of our name is identical to any of the four or five words כר (kar):

Excerpted from: Abarim Publications' Biblical Dictionary
כרר

The verb כרר (karar) is one of a few that describes a circular motion, and particularly a repeated circular motion: a swirl. This verb has the added nuance of amassing something within the circle so formed.

Noun כר (kar) means pasture, a defined region where herds roam and are kept. Identical noun כר (kar) describes a [male] lamb, probably literally as a "unit of herd." Similar noun כר (kor) is a unit of volume. Noun כרכרה (kirkara) is a diminutive and feminine version of כר (kar) and describes some domesticated animal. Noun ככר (kikkar) refers to any "round thing," from a large region to a circular lid or loaf of bread.

Verb כור (kar) means to contain by surrounding or winding about (like a turban). Noun כר (kar) appears to describe a bundle upon a pack animal. Noun כור (kur) describes a smelting pot or furnace; noun כיר (kir) refers to a cooking-furnace, and noun כיר (kir) or כיור (kiyor) describes a cooking pot or laver.

The noun כר (kar) was also used to describe an instrument of war, probably a device that could bundle or leverage force; perhaps a catapult of some sort.

Noun מכרה (mekora) or מכורה (mekurah) literally describes location or agent of the verb כור (kar). In practice it describes the contracting of nomadic social groups into a defining shared cultural identity and ultimately the emergence of a formal nation. Similar noun מכרה (mekera) describes the effect of a sword: probably a forced compliance to a dominating convention.

Verb כרה (kara) emphasizes the accumulative clause of our root. It may describe digging a grave, well or pit but with the understanding that something will be deposited in these holes. This verb may also be used to describe acquisition by means of international trade, or even the concentration of people, goods and merriment in a feast. Noun כרה (kara) refers to the structure created to collect in, and noun מכרה (mikreh) to the act or result of it.

Verb כרת (karat) describes the cutting off what was first rounded up and isolated. This verb may simply describe a cutting down of trees, but it also describes the "cutting" of a covenant. It also describes the social principle by which weaker members of society are isolated and driven out, often to be adopted by another society which not rarely elevates these rejects to an elite class. Noun כריתות (keritut) means dismissal or divorce.

🔼Beth-car meaning

For a meaning of the name Beth-car, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads House Of A Lamb and BDB Theological Dictionary proposes Place Of A Lamb. Alfred Jones (Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names) believes that the car-part has to do with the instrument of war and reads House Of The Battering Rams.