🔼The name Jaareshiah: Summary
- Meaning
- Yah Will Cause To Recline
- Etymology
- From (1) the verb ערש ('aras), to recline, and (2) יה (yah), the shortened name of the Lord.
🔼The name Jaareshiah in the Bible
The name Jaareshiah occurs only once in the Bible. He's mentioned in a genealogy of Benjamin as a son of Jeroham (1 Chronicles 8:27).
🔼Etymology and meaning of the name Jaareshiah
The name Jaareshiah consists of two parts; the final bit being יה (Yah) = יהו (Yahu) = יו (Yu), which in turn are abbreviated forms of the Tetragrammaton; the name of the Lord: YHWH.
The first part of the name comes from the verb ערש ('rsh), which is unused in the Bible. Alfred Jones (Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names) cites the formidable Scripture theorist Gesenius, who recognized a Syriac verb meaning to fatten, and concluded our Hebrew verb had to mean to nourish. Hence for a meaning of the name Jaareshiah, Jones reads He Will Be Nourished Of The Lord.
BDB Theological Dictionary, a later publication which also draws heavily on the work of Gesenius, denies this claim and deems origin and meaning unknown.
NOBSE Study Bible Name List, an even younger publication is back at Jones' certainty and renders our name Yahweh Nourishes.
Long after Chronicles was written, scribes began to point the words and the letter ש split into שׂ (sin) and שׁ (shin). Our name Jaareshiah became known as יערשׁיה but the chance exists that it was derived, not from the unknown root ערשׁ but from the root ערשׂ ('rs):
ערש
The unused verb ערש ('aras) probably meant to recline or repose. Noun ערש ('eres) means couch, divan or bed.
That way, the name Jaareshiah may also mean Yah Will Cause To Recline.