פשיד the Judean
To
be a Judean resident in the southern fortress on the border with Egypt, bearing
an Egyptian name, would not be unusual. Social and political influences of the
southern neighbor were on the rise during the Late Monarchic period and
certainly were catalysts in the emergence of foreign names used by the fortress
inhabitants. Besides the intrinsic meaning of the Egyptian harmonizes with the
biblical view, which makes the foreign name acceptable in Judean circles. Like
the Egyptian forerunner, which formed a PN out of the formula, ntr
(deity) the rescuer, so too the biblical onomastics is replete with compound
names connoting God the helper. In the Late Monarchic era, עזריה was the name
of a famous Judean king (2 Kgs 15.6, 8). In a later period, עזריה is known as
the high priest in the Temple of Jerusalem (2 Chron. 26.17, 20).
A
family living in or around Arad could have chosen the name פשיד because of its
contemporary popularity in the region. Considering how the Hebrews, and later
the Jews, selected names for their children, it is not surprising that a
complete Egyptian name, or a blend, would be chosen.
Since
the sojourn in Egypt, there were priestly families or, for that matter, high
officials who bore names with Egyptian roots. No less a personage than the
grandson of Aaron, the High Priest, who was famous during the desert years and
the conquest, is given the name Pinhas (Exod. 6.25; Num. 25.7, 10; 31.6) which,
in the Egyptian, means ‘the reddish brown’. Likewise, the chief of the tribe of
Naphtali is called Ahira (Nom. 1.15; 2.29; 7.78, 83; 10.27), with the prefix
translating as ‘my divine brother’ and the suffix denoting Re, the Egyptian sun
deity.
The
process of borrowing never abates, and in border regions it is a familiar
phenomenon. פשיד, then, might represent a collateral addition to the pool of
alien names adopted by Judean residents yet never mentioned in biblical
onomastics. As excavations have taught us, names that are not mentioned in the
Hebrew Bible or in related literature surface and enrich ancient Hebrew
onomastics.
פשיד, the Judean, a Cleric or Official?
The
פשיד ostracon was unearthed in Arad’s Temple area in a cluster of eight ostraca
containing familiar and unknown names. פשיד and two others, מרמות (written in scriptio
defectiva) and אשיהו בן עזר, were found near the entrance to the cella
(holy of holies). The remaining ostraca were discovered in the vicinity,
outside the cella. Among them was the name פשחר. From the group of eight, two
names were attested in the biblical text: מרמות was mentioned as the personal
name of a priest during the rebuilding of the Second Temple in Jerusalem (Ezra
8.33; Neh. 3.4, 21). פשחר was the priest, serving in an official position during
the late period of the first temple, who severely punished the prophet Jeremiah
(Jer. 20.1-6). What is interesting is that both names are rooted in the
Egyptian language. מרמות is composed of two Egyptian elements,, mr(j),
meaning beloved and mwt, indicating the divinity Mut. In Egyptian פשחר
means the son of Horus.
Since
those ostraca, scattered close to the cella, contained only names, Aharoni
suggested that they were ‘slips’ that ‘most probably served as lots for the
priestly assignments, as practiced in the Jerusalem Temple’. If that is so,
then it is certainly a possibility that the unknown individual פשיד, who bears
an Egyptian name, was a cleric of the Temple, belonging to the priestly tribe.
Yet,
names could be used by lay persons as well as by priestly families. As a matter
of fact, an individual bearing the name of Pashur (Jer. 21.1) was a layman,
albeit an official in the royal court of King Zedekiah. Accordingly, the ostraca
might represent a group of high-ranking personnel, composed of assorted
categories.
.
. .
Conclusion
Thus
פשיד originates in Egyptian onomastics. The one who bears the name in Arad
might have been the progeny of a Judean family who resided in the fortress and
believed that the Egyptian name is more conducive for a successful future
career of their offspring. (Meir Lubetski, “Who is Inscribed on Ostracon #52 of
Arad?,” in Epigraphy, Iconography, and the Bible, ed. Meir Lubetski and
Edith Lubetski [Hebrew Bible Monographs 98; Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press,
2022], 231-33, 237; Ostracon #52 of Arad belonged to the VIII stratum, c. 701-609
BCE [ibid., 225])