Zebulun, Dinah

Today’s names are ‘Zebulun’ and ‘Dinah.’

You may remember that Jacob, who wanted to marry Rachel and worked for 7 years to win her, was cheated by her father, Laban, who gave him at the wedding night his other daughter, Leah, instead of Rachel. He was forced to serve Laban for 7 more years for the right to marry Rachel, whom he loved. According to the Hebrew Bible, Leah was hated by Jacob, but God opened her womb and gave her five sons, while Rachel was still barren.

Zebulun

“And Leah said, ‘God has endowed me with a good dowry; now will my husband live with me, because I have born him six sons’; and she called his name ‘Zebulun’”

In this verse, we witness another pun-style wording, but one of the two words used to explain the name, ‘Zevuloon,’ ‘iz•be•le•ni,’ is somewhat vague, both in the Hebrew and in the English. The English translation ‘live with me’ is one option that remotely takes the meaning from a similar word in Isaiah 63:15 where it means ‘habitation.’ Other Bible scholars think that this word is connected to Baal Zevuv, the ancient Canaanite god (Lord of the Flies). With this connotation, Leah may have said: my husband will treat me with much respect, as ‘towards a goddess’. (Remember that during this era, idol worship was still common, and even Rachel, Leah’s sister, stole their father’s idols just before their journey to the land, Israel). Obviously, it’s more palatable for us to accept the ‘live with me’ option, although we have not seen another usage of such a verb in the entire Bible.

Dinah

“And afterwards she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah”

The meaning of this name is not offered in verse, but it has a similar meaning to her brother’s name Dan, meaning judgment.