Bible Word Study
מַכְבָּר
makbâr · a cloth (as netted)
מַכְבָּר
a cloth (as netted)
Definition
The Hebrew noun מַכְבָּר (makbâr) refers to a thick cloth or a netted covering. It appears only once in the Old Testament, in 2 Kings 8:15, where it is used to describe the item Hazael used to suffocate King Ben-Hadad of Aram. The word likely denotes a heavy, woven fabric, possibly a blanket or a rug, dense enough to be used as an instrument of suffocation. Its meaning is closely tied to the idea of a covering, derived from its root word.
Biblical Usage
This word is used only in 2 Kings 8:15. In this narrative context, Hazael takes a מַכְבָּר, soaks it in water, and lays it over Ben-Hadad's face, leading to the king's death. The usage is specific to a single, violent historical event, describing an object at hand that could serve as a lethal covering. No other patterns or contexts exist due to its single occurrence.
Etymology
מַכְבָּר derives from the root כָּבַר (kāvar, H3527), which carries the sense of 'to weave' or 'to cover.' The noun form indicates an instrument or result of that action—a woven covering. It is a cognate of מַכְבֵּר (makbēr, H4345), which refers to a grating or lattice, suggesting a shared semantic field of interwoven or net-like structures.
Semantic Range
While the word itself is a mundane object, its sole biblical occurrence in 2 Kings 8:15 is theologically significant as it fulfills God's prophetic judgment. The prophet Elisha had just foretold that Hazael would bring great suffering to Israel (2 Kings 8:12-13), and this act of regicide with a common cloth marks the violent beginning of that fulfillment. It underscores how God's sovereignty works through human actions, even violent and treacherous ones, to accomplish His purposes. In the ancient Near East, thick woven cloths or blankets were common household items. The use of a מַכְבָּר in an assassination would have been seen as a stealthy, intimate method of murder, possibly exploiting an item readily available in a royal bedchamber. This contrasts with modern expectations of assassination weapons, highlighting how ordinary objects could be turned to lethal purposes in the biblical world. שְׂמִיכָה (śəmîḵâ, H7908) — a blanket or covering, generally for warmth, not specified as thick or netted. בֶּגֶד (beḡeḏ, H899) — a general term for garment or cloth, much broader in meaning.
Word Details
How this works
Definitions are from the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon (BDB, 1906, public domain). Concordance and morphology data are from the OSHB (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible).
Full methodology & sources →References
- Abbott-Smith, G. (1921) A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. [Public Domain]
- Brown, F., Driver, S.R. and Briggs, C.A. (1906) A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press. [Public Domain]
- Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Tyndale Brief lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek (TBESG). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
- Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Translators Formatted full LSJ (TFLSJ). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
- Thayer, J.H. (1889) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. [Public Domain]
- Gesenius, W. (1846) Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament. [Public Domain]
- Dodson, J. (2010) Greek Lexicon. Biblical Humanities. [CC0]