🔼The name Keziah: Summary
- Meaning
- Cassia, Scraped Off, Ended
- Etymology
- From the verb קצע (qasa), to scrape off.
🔼The name Keziah in the Bible
Keziah is the second of three daughters of Job (Job 42:14), the others being Jemimah and Keren-happuch. He also has seven sons but they remain unnamed. These ten children are his second batch, because the first batch perished during the difficult to understand trial of God by satan (Job 1:2). Of his second batch of three daughters it was said that they were the fairest in the land (42:15).
🔼Etymology of the name Keziah
The name Keziah comes from the verb קצע (qasa):
קצץ
The verb קצץ (qasas) means to remove by cutting off. Noun קץ (qes) means end. Adjective קיצון (qison) means outermost or at the end.
The verb קצה (qasa) also means to cut off. Nouns קצה (qaseh), קצה (qasa), קצה (qeseh), קצו (qasu), קצת (qesat) all mean end. Sometimes these words indicate a mere corner (the "end" of a wall), and sometimes a combination of them convey an "end to end" or "whole" of something.
The noun קצון (qasin) describes the position of a man who has the authority to rule or make decisions: an end-maker, so to speak.
Verb קצע (qasa') means to scrape or scrape off. Noun קציעה (qesi'a) describes cassia, a kind of sweet smelling cinnamon powder, harvested by scraping it off from trees. Noun מקצעה (maqsu'a) denotes a scraping tool.
Perhaps a second verb קצע (qasa') appears to means to be cornered or to be set in corners. Noun מקצע (miqsoa') describes a corner structure.
Job called his second daughter after a sweet smelling cinnamon powder, but probably not, as Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names cheers "because God had healed him of his sores and trials, and made his latter end to be sweet". Here at Abarim Publications, we're guessing he called her that way because his sores and trials had finally ended. Job gives his first daughter a name that reminds of a dove as much as the sea (see our article on the name Jemima); perhaps deliberately reminiscent of Noah's final survival and arrival at dry land. He calls his two youngest daughters after kinds of powder, perhaps bringing to mind the ashes he once sat in (Job 2:8).
Restoration theology deals with mankind's evolution from the fall back towards something worth keeping around. Of course, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is pivotal in that restoration but perhaps Job's naming of his three daughters illustrates that even though our sin will be cast into the deepest sea and remembered no more (Micah 7:19, Jeremiah 31:34), the past will always be the foundation of the present.
🔼Keziah meaning
The name Keziah means Cassia, but it also means It Is Done (John 19:30).