🔼The name Marah: Summary
- Meaning
- Bitter, Bitterness
- Etymology
- From the adjective מר (mar), bitter, from the verb מרר (marar), to be bitter.
🔼The name Marah in the Bible
The name Marah occurs four times in the Bible, twice in Exodus 15:23 (once incorporating a locative: מרתה, marata) and twice in Numbers 33:8-9 (מרה, mara). It's the name of one of the stations of Israel on their trek through the wilderness.
🔼Etymology of the name Marah
The name Marah is explained in its first occurrence, where the Israelites find water for the first time since crossing the Sea of Reeds three days earlier, but discover that they cannot drink the waters because they are מרים (marim), which is the masculine plural of מר (mar), bitter, from the verb מרר (marar), to be bitter:
מרר
The verb מרר (marar) means to be strong or bitter and can be used to describe tastes and smells, and hard or difficult situations. Most definitively, this word occurs in the test of adultery (Numbers 5:18-27), where a suspected woman is made to drink "bitter waters". If she was innocent, her husband's suspicions would be lifted, and she would conceive. This obviously ties into the nativity story.
Adjectives מר (mar) and מרירי (meriri) mean bitter. Nouns מרור (maror) and מרורה (merora) refer to any bitter thing, the former specifically to a certain bitter herb, and the latter to gall or poison.
Noun מררה (merera) also means gal. Nouns מרה (morra), מרה (mora), מרירות (merirut), ממר (memer), ממרור (mamror) and תמרור (tamrur) mean bitterness. The latter noun is spelled identical to the noun תמרור (tamrur), meaning marker or sign post, from the root תמר (tamar), meaning to be stiff or erect.
And speaking of such, the nouns מר (mor) and מור (mor) mean myrrh, a bitter and fragrant spice that was originally used to mark the tabernacle, but which came to be used to proclaim, olfactorily, the consummation of marriage. Hence, despite its links to words that mostly describe hardship, myrrh oil was known as the "oil of joy."
Verb מרה (mara) means to be contentious or rebellious, particularly against God. Noun מרי (meri) means rebellion.
The verb מור (mor) means to change. Perhaps the connection between the previous is coincidental but perhaps these words are indeed linked, as change is often reaction to bitterness or opposition. The noun תמורה (temura) means exchange.
Our name appears to be formed from the adjective מר (mar) plus the feminine marker ה (he). This name in plural gives the name Maroth (Micah 1:12).
🔼Marah meaning
For a meaning of the name Marah, both NOBSE Study Bible Name List and Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names read Bitterness. BDB Theological Dictionary does not translate our name but does list it under the verb מרר (marar), to be bitter.