Nachat

נחת


Genesis 36:13 names him as a son of Re'u-El (רעואל), descended from Esav through his second wife Basmat (בשמת); his brothers were Zerach (זרח), Shamah (שמה) and Mizah (מזה).

1 Chronicles 6:11 (in the Yehudit anyway; worth looking at the Christian English translations, which appear to be from a completely different text!) has the name for a son of El-Kanah (אֶלְקָנָה), in the family of Levi; his name is amongst those appointed by King David to the royal choir.

The root means "to descend", which is particularly interesting for the second reference, since a number of Psalms are known as Shirey Ma'alot (שרי מעלות), "Songs of Degrees" or "Songs of Ascent", which is to say the songs that were sung during the procession up to Yeru-Shala'im, when David brought the Ark from Kiryat-Ye'arim (2 Samuel 6), and during the procession to the altar in the Temple later on. Some of the Psalms are known to have been sung on the return journey of those who brought the Ark, and in the descent from the altar, in the same manner that singing still bookends the reading of the law in synagogues to this day. It is not stated which Psalms; nevertheless they would (presumably) have been called Shirey Nochat (שרי נוחת) or Songs of Descent.

Can we read the son of Re'u-El in the same light, especially given that Basmat was herself a participant in the procession, being responsible for the incense? Zerach means "to scatter" and was specifically used for winnowing at the autumn harvest; it can be no coincidence that the procession was precisely the autumn harvest procession. Mizah is less clear; the root is either Mazaz (מזז) = "fear" or, more likely, Mazah (מזה) = "exhausted" - see the notes on that blog-page.




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