🔼The name Chislon: Summary
- Meaning
- Factless Confidence
- Etymology
- From the verb כסל (kasal), to be a mental invertebrate.
🔼The name Chislon in the Bible
The name Chislon occurs only one time in the Bible. He is the father of Elidad of Benjamin, who was one of twelve men who were appointed to assist Moses in dividing Canaan into territories for the various tribes of Israel to live in (Numbers 34:21).
🔼Etymology of the name Chislon
The name Chislon comes from the verb כסל (kasal), extended with the common ון (waw-nun) termination that localizes or personifies the idea of the root:
כסל
The verb כסל (kasal) means to have no skeletal strength or engage in pareidolia (falsely recognizing images in random patterns, such as Mickey Mouse in a cloud). It describes muscle- and boneless body parts, or a "belief" in the systematic link between uncorrelated events. It typically describes stellar constellations, which are obviously as fantastic as useless.
Nouns כסל (kesel) and כסלה (kisla) mean stupidity or (misplaced) confidence. The former may also describe a body part, probably the loin or lower belly (or blubber butt). The feminine noun כסילות (kesilut) means stupidity.
Noun כסיל (kesil) means fool or dunce; someone who "sees" structure in uncorrelated events. This is also the word for stellar constellations in general, and more specific the constellation Orion.
🔼Chislon meaning
For a meaning of the name Chislon, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Trust, Hope, and Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names proposes Firm Confidence. But these interpretations fail to acknowledge the negativity of the root it comes from. The name Chislon speaks of confidence without confirmed science or proven technology backing it up: Factless Confidence.
BDB Theological Dictionary does not translate this name.