יוֹרָה
Jorah, an Israelite
Definition
Yôwrâh (יוֹרָה) is a proper noun referring to an Israelite man named Jorah, who is listed among the exiles returning from Babylon to Jerusalem. The name appears only once in the Old Testament, in Ezra 2:18 (parallel to Nehemiah 7:24). As a personal name, it carries the meaning 'rainy' or 'he teaches,' derived from the Hebrew root יָרָה (yārâ). In the biblical context, it functions solely as an identifier for a specific individual within a genealogical record, with no additional narrative or descriptive details provided about his life or actions.
Biblical Usage
This word is used exclusively as a personal name in a single context: the post-exilic census list. It appears in Ezra 2:18 (and its parallel in Nehemiah 7:24) as the name of the head of a family group ('the children of Jorah') who returned from captivity. The usage is purely administrative and genealogical, documenting the restoration community. There are no other occurrences or varied usages in the Hebrew Bible.
Etymology
The name Yôwrâh is derived from the Hebrew root יָרָה (yārâ, H3384), which has a primary meaning of 'to throw, shoot (arrows),' or 'to point out, instruct, teach.' A secondary, homonymous root relates to rainfall. Thus, the name likely means 'rainy' or 'he teaches/instructs.' It is related to words like תּוֹרָה (tôrâh, H8451), meaning 'law' or 'instruction,' which comes from the same instructive sense of the root.
Semantic Range
In ancient Israelite culture, personal names often held significant meaning, reflecting circumstances of birth, parental hopes, or attributes of God. A name meaning 'rainy' could invoke blessing and fertility, as rain was a vital sign of God's provision in the agrarian society (Deuteronomy 11:14). A name meaning 'he teaches' might express a desire for wisdom or divine instruction. The recording of Jorah's name in the post-exilic lists underscores the importance of lineage and tribal identity for re-establishing the covenant community in the land.
Yô'ēl (יוֹאֵל, H3100) — A more common name meaning 'Yahweh is God,' also borne by a prophet. Yirmeyâh (יִרְמְיָה, H3414) — A name meaning 'Yahweh exalts' or 'Yahweh loosens,' borne by the prophet Jeremiah. Both are theophoric names (containing God's name), whereas Yôwrâh is not explicitly theophoric.
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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