Yishvah/Yishvi

ישוה/ישוי


Genesis 46:17 - a son of Asher; his brothers were Yimnah (יִמְנָה), Yishvi (ישוי), and Beri'ah (or possibly Veri'ah; the Masoretic pointing here insists on the first letter Vet - בְרִיעָה), plus one sister, Serach (שֶׂרַח).
The name means "even" or "level" according to Gesenius.

However there are problems of lettering here. Is it, first of all, Yishva, as the Masoretic pointing insists, or Yeshu'ah, which would conform much more clowrly with the general pronunciation in the region (in the same way that what we call David is normally Daoud in the world of Arabic)? 


If Yishvah, then does it come from Shavah (שוה) = "to set/place" or Shavah (שוה) = "to be level/equal/even"? However there is also Shavah (שוה) = "to be suitable" and Shavah (שוה) = "to fear", though this latter is Chaldean and only appears in the Book of Job. There is also Shaveh (שוה) = "a field/plain/valley", from the root "to be level"; whence the Shaveh of Genesis 14:17 known as "the King's Dale", where Av-Shalom later died; and the Shaveh Kiryatayim of Genesis 14:5 (this warrants an explanation as to why so many seemingly different meanings stem from the same root: there must be some common denominator).

If on the other hand we read it as Yishu'ah, then the root may well be Yishiyah (ישיה) with the Yud (י) replaced by a Vav (ו) as so often. This would give the meaning "wealthy" or "abundant", which is identical to the meaning of his father, Asher - presuming Yishu'ah to be a son, as stated, and not a daughter, as will be shown in a moment. There are several characters bearing this name, all of them Levites, Yishi'ah or possibly Yishi-Yah (
יִשִּׁיָּה) in 1 Chronicles 7:3 and Ezra 10:31, definitely Yishiyahu (יִשִּׁיָּהוּ) in 1 Chronicles 12:7 (12:6 in some Christian translations).

The next problem is Yishu'ah’s brother Yishvi/Yishu'i. All the same problems apply as stated above, plus the final letter. Are they two people, or one? Sarai (שרי) becomes Sarah (שרה) elsewhere, and it is perfectly plausible that these two names are likewise dialect variations of the same name - especially as their sister Serach is quite likely another dialect variation of Sarah too. However there is another Yishvi (
יִשְׁוִי), who appears in 1 Samuel 14:49 as a son of Sha'ul. Are they then twin brothers, or more likely twin brother-and-sister?

If Yishvi is correct, then we must see a connection to Yishay/Jesse (
יִשַׁי), the father of David, for though Yishay appears as a name, it is in fact a title, derived from the unused root YASHAH (ישה) = "to be upright" or simply, in the existentialist sense, "to be", which ancient root itself is the root of several important verbs, including HOSHE'A (הושיע) = "to deliver/redeem/save", whence the names Yehoshu'a (Joshua - יהושוע) and Yesha-Yahu (Isaiah - ישעיה) and the concept of the Messiah.

Given that Asher is really Osher (Osiris), who his children were is worth the deducing. Sadly, the textual evidence does not allow us to go any further than this, except to note that the root YASHAH also yields the name of Isis, both in the form of Yah (יה) and of Yeshesh (ישש) – Osiris' mother-spouse.




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