Bible Review

Bickerman, “The Generation of Ezra and Nehemiah,” p. 24.

Elias Bickerman, “The Generation of Ezra and Nehemiah,” Proceedings of the American Academy of Jewish Research 45 (1978), pp. 1–28.

Esther was also called Hadassah (“Myrtle”), and since that name is mentioned first (Esther 2:7), perhaps that was her original name and Esther was given to her later (perhaps as a royal name, when she married Ahasuerus). Likewise Daniel and his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were given the Babylonian names Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego in addition to their Hebrew names (Daniel 1:6–7).

Others think that Sheshbazzar is derived from Babylonian Shamash-apla-utzur, “Shamash [the sun-god], guard the child” (Shamash-apla-utzur > Shawash-bala-utzur > Shawash-bal-tzur > Shashbatzar > Sheshbatzar).

The inscriptional evidence is not very helpful here, simply because it is difficult to identify Israelites as Israelites unless they bear Yahwistic names. Babylonian and Assyrian scribes rarely identified people by nationality, and Israelite names were so similar to those of other Northwest Semitic peoples that it is difficult to tell them apart. Even if we hear of a Menahem or Michael or Elisha in Mesopotamia, we can’t be sure if he is an Israelite or, for example, a Moabite or Ammonite or Phoenician.

Olyan, Asherah, pp. 35–37.

Athtart appears in no names, Athirat in one, and Anath in a dozen or so names, relatively few for Ugarit. See Gröndahl, Die Personennamen der Texte aus Ugarit, pp. 103, 111, and 83.