כְּלוּהַי
Keluhai, an Israelite
Definition
Keluhai is the name of an Israelite man who lived during the post-exilic period. The name appears only once in the Bible, in Ezra 10:35, where he is listed among the men who had married foreign wives and pledged to divorce them as part of the community's covenant renewal. As a proper noun, it refers solely to this individual. The name's meaning, derived from its root, suggests 'completed' or 'perfected,' possibly indicating a hope or characteristic attributed to him at birth.
Biblical Usage
The word כְּלוּהַי is used exclusively as a personal name in the Old Testament. Its single occurrence is in Ezra 10:35, within a specific historical and legal context: the list of those who violated the prohibition against intermarriage with the surrounding peoples. This places the name firmly within the narrative of Israel's struggle to maintain religious and ethnic identity after the return from the Babylonian exile.
Etymology
The name Keluhai is derived from the Hebrew root כָּלָה (kālâ, H3615), meaning 'to be complete, finished, at an end, or spent.' It is a proper noun formed from this root, likely in a participial or adjective form, meaning 'completed one' or 'perfected.' This connects it conceptually to ideas of fulfillment, completion, or even exhaustion.
Semantic Range
While the name itself is not theologically loaded, its appearance in Ezra 10 is significant. It represents an individual caught in the tension between obedience to God's covenant law and the practical complexities of life in a restored community. Understanding that his name means 'completed' adds a layer of irony or poignancy to his inclusion in a list of those needing to correct an incomplete obedience, highlighting the ongoing process of sanctification for God's people.
In ancient Israelite culture, personal names often carried meaning, reflecting circumstances of birth, parental hopes, or attributes of God. A name meaning 'completed' might express a parent's gratitude for a safe birth or a hope for the child's wholeness. Its appearance in a post-exilic list underscores the importance of genealogy and pure lineage during the restoration period, as the community sought to re-establish its identity distinct from foreign influences.
As a unique proper noun, there are no direct synonyms. It is related etymologically to: כָּלָה (kālâ, H3615) — the root verb meaning 'to complete, finish, or consume.'
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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