🔼The name El-kana: Summary
- Meaning
- God Of Jealousy, God Of Zeal
- Etymology
- From (1) the word אל ('el), God, and (2) the adjective קנא (qanna), jealous or zealous.
🔼The name El-kana in the Bible
The name El-kana occurs six times in the Bible, although this name is commonly translated as part of the narrative instead of transliterated as a name.
This name occurs most strikingly in the Ten Commandments, where YHWH himself declares that he is El-kana (Exodus 20:5, Deuteronomy 5:9).
Moses calls him such (Deuteronomy 4:24 and 6:15), and even states: יהוה קנא שמו אל קנא הוא (yhwh qana shemu el-qana hewa), or "YHWH is jealous; his name is El-kana" (Exodus 34:14).
Once this name is spelled אל קנוא, namely in Joshua 24:19.
🔼Etymology of the name El-kana
The name El-kana consists of two elements, the first one being אל, El, the prominent Canaanite deity whose name became applied to the God of Israel, or the common abbreviation of Elohim, the genus God:
אל אלה
In names אל ('el) usually refers to אלהים ('elohim), that is Elohim, or God, also known as אלה ('eloah). In English, the words 'God' and 'god' exclusively refer to the deity but in Hebrew the words אל ('l) and אלה ('lh) are far more common and may express approach and negation, acts of wailing and pointing, and may even mean oak or terebinth.
The second part of our name is the adjective קנא (qanna), meaning jealous or zealous:
קנא
The root קנא (qn') has to do with jealousy. It occurs in many languages and appears to have originally denoted becoming red. This is not because jealousy makes one's face red, but rather because in many languages the color red demonstrates the most primitive of considerations (hence also our English words rude and rudimentary).
Depending on the context, the noun קנאה (qin'a) can be translated with ardor, zeal, anger or jealousy. From this noun comes the verb קנא (qana'), to be jealous, angry, and so on. The two adjectives קנוא (qanno') and קנא (qanna) both mean jealous and only apply to God.
🔼El-kana meaning
The name El-kana means Jealous/Zealous God or even God Of Being Jealous/Zealous and God Of Jealousy/Zealousness.