Ish-Boscheth

Ish-Boscheth , actually Esch-Baal , was one of the sons of King Saul in the Old Testament and an opponent of David to succeed Saul.

Surname

The name Ish-Boscheth ( Hebrew אִישׁ-בֹּשֶׁת, ̓Κ-bošæt ) translated means "man of shame". In the Septuagint this is represented with Ιεβοσθε Iebosthe and Μεμφιβοσθε Memphibosthe .

This name is a subsequent name for the son of Saul. The original name is Esch-Baal ( Hebrew אֶשְׁבָּעַל ̓Æšbāʽal ). In the Hebrew Bible, for example, it can only be found at 1 Chr 8.33  EU and 1 Chr 9.39  EU ( reproduced in the Septuagint as Ασαβαλ Asabal and Ισβααλ Isbaal ). The second part of the name denotes the deity Baal , for the translation of the first there are three theories. If one leads him back to the word אִישׁ ʼîš "man", the name could be translated as "man of Baal / the Lord". If one derives it from the identical particle ʼîš “there is”, the translation “Baal is / exists” results. If one brings it finally with the Hebrew root אושׁ 'wš in connection, which means "to give / reward" one can translate "gift of Baal" or "Baal gave".

According to a theory by Abraham Geiger , those names that could be associated with the alien deity Baal were subsequently changed. The second half of the name was replaced by Boscheth "shame". This is derived from the verb בושׁ “to be ashamed / ashamed”. The same phenomenon can also be seen in the names Merib-Baal (changed to Mefiboschet) and Jerubbaal, a second name of Gideon (changed to Jerubbehet).

According to another theory of Matitiahu Tsevat this brings Boschet with the Akkadian Bastu as theophorem element connected and suspects behind an epithet and replace the name of Baal .

The name Isch-Boschet is still used today in the form Isboseth .

Biblical narration

Isch-Boschet was one of the sons of King Saul and was declared by Abner to succeed him on the royal throne of Israel after his death (approx. 1000 BC; 2 Sam 2.8  EU ). At the same time, another party made David king ( 2 Sam 2.12  EU ). Conflicts broke out between the two parties and after a short reign of no more than two years, Isch-Boschet was murdered by his own followers ( 2 Sam 4.5  EU ). They wanted to win David's favor with their deed, but achieved the opposite: David described his political opponent Isch-Boschet as a "just man", distanced himself from the murder, had the two murderers executed and Isch-Boschet's head, which was brought to him was to be buried with honor.

Web links

Commons : Ish-bosheth  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Matthias Helmer:  Eschbaal / Isch-Boschet. In: Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (Eds.): The Scientific Biblical Lexicon on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff.