🔼The name Shelesh: Summary
- Meaning
- Triad, Third
- Etymology
- From the noun שלש (shalosh), three.
🔼The name Shelesh in the Bible
The name Shelesh occurs only once in the Bible. Shelesh is listed as one of the sons of Helem, the brother of Shemer, who were great-grandsons of Asher, the eighth son of Jacob and second of Zilpah (1 Chronicles 7:35).
🔼Etymology of the name Shelesh
The name Shelesh comes from the root שלש (shlsh), which has to do with the number three:
שלש
The noun שלש (shalosh) or שלוש (shalosh) or שלשה (shalosha) means three and is also the base for the words for thirteen, thirty, third, and so on. The number three may represent confirmation (of two witnesses), the smallest form of "many," i.e. a few or some, or the smallest possible cycle.
It's probably prudent to note that the contemporary idea of a Divine Triad or Trinity stems from the Roman Capitoline Triad and not in the least from anything remotely Biblical. Of course there are Father, Word and Spirit but they are one and not at all three, or five or a hundred. Nobody within the Jewish tradition associated God with any number other than one.
🔼Shelesh meaning
For a meaning of the name Shelesh, Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names reads Triad or Third. For obscure reasons NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads "Might" but that may be an error. BDB Theological Dictionary does not translate the name Shelesh but does list it under the root שלש (shlsh).