אוּאֵל
Uel, and Israelite
Definition
Uel is a proper name of an Israelite man mentioned in the list of those who had married foreign women during the post-exilic period. The name means 'wish of God' or 'will of God.' It appears only once in the Bible, specifically in Ezra 10:34, where Uel is among those who pledged to put away their foreign wives to obey the covenant. As a personal name, it carries no other major senses or meanings beyond this single biblical reference.
Biblical Usage
This word is used only once in the entire Old Testament, in Ezra 10:34. It appears in a specific historical and legal context: a registry of men who had taken foreign wives, violating the post-exilic community's covenant reforms led by Ezra. The usage is purely as a personal identifier within a list, with no narrative or descriptive development.
Etymology
The name אוּאֵל (ʼÛwʼêl) is derived from the Hebrew elements אוֹ (ʼô, H176), meaning 'desire' or 'wish,' and אֵל (ʼēl, H410), the common word for 'God.' It is a compound name, a typical Hebrew theophoric name meaning 'wish of God.' Similar constructions are common in biblical Hebrew, where names express a relationship or attribute connected to God.
Semantic Range
While the name itself is not central to major doctrines, its appearance in Ezra 10 highlights the theme of covenant faithfulness and communal purity in the restoration period. Understanding that the name means 'wish of God' adds a layer of irony or poignancy to the narrative, as the bearer is listed among those whose actions initially contradicted God's law, yet who then committed to correction. It reminds readers of the tension between human failure and the divine desire for a holy people.
In ancient Israelite culture, names were often meaningful and reflected parental hopes or theological statements. 'Uel' is a theophoric name, embedding the name of God (El), which was a common practice to express devotion or a characteristic attributed to God. The context of Ezra 10 involves a crisis of ethnic and religious identity after the Babylonian exile, where marrying outside the community was seen as a threat to the survival of Israel's distinct covenant relationship with Yahweh.
No direct synonyms as a proper name. Theophoric names with similar elements include: נְתַנְאֵל (Nethanʼēl, H5417) — 'given of God'; יוֹאֵל (Yôʼēl, H3100) — 'Yahweh is God'.
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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