דֹּבְרָה
a raft
Definition
The Hebrew noun דֹּבְרָה (dôbᵉrâh) refers specifically to a raft or float made of logs, used for transporting timber by water. It is derived from the verbal root meaning 'to drive' or 'to lead,' capturing the sense of logs being driven or floated down a river. This term appears only once in the Old Testament, in 1 Kings 5:9 (in some versions 1 Kings 5:23), describing the method by which Hiram of Tyre would send cedar and cypress logs from Lebanon to King Solomon's construction site on the coast. There are no other biblical senses or meanings for this word.
Biblical Usage
This word is used exclusively in 1 Kings 5:9 in the context of an international trade agreement. It describes the practical logistics of Solomon's temple construction: 'My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them into rafts (דֹּבְרֹת) to go by sea to the place you direct.' The usage is technical and commercial, detailing the maritime transport of heavy lumber.
Etymology
דֹּבְרָה is the feminine active participle of the root דָּבַר (dāḇar, H1696), which primarily means 'to speak,' but in this specialized form, it draws from a secondary sense of the root meaning 'to drive' or 'to lead.' The connection is to the driving or guiding of the logs on the water. It is cognate with דֹּבֶר (dōḇer, H1699), meaning 'a plague' or 'pestilence'—another concept of something being 'driven' or spreading. Here, the meaning developed to denote the vehicle (raft) that 'drives' the cargo.
Semantic Range
The raft (דֹּבְרָה) was a vital technology in ancient Near Eastern commerce, especially for empires like Phoenicia and Israel that lacked efficient overland routes for heavy materials. Transporting massive cedar logs from the mountains of Lebanon to coastal Israel by raft was the most practical method. This reflects the advanced logistics and international cooperation (here between Tyre and Israel) required for large-scale projects like temple building, contrasting with simple local construction.
אֲנִיָּה (ʾoniyyâ, H590) — a general term for a ship or large vessel, not a makeshift raft. סְפִינָה (sᵉp̄înâ, H6716) — another general term for a ship, often for sea-going vessels.
Word Details
How this works
Hebrew definitions are from Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906) and Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (1890), both public domain. BDB was groundbreaking for its era but reflects 19th-century assumptions about Semitic etymology. Modern scholarship (HALOT, DCH) has revised many entries. Use these definitions as a starting point for exploration, not as the final word on a term's meaning in context.
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