friend

כָּל אֵלֶּה חָבְרוּ (Bereishis 14:3), all these joined together, and שְׁתֵּי כְתֵפֹת חֹבְרֹת (Shemos 28:7), two shoulder pieces joining. The nouns are חֶבֶר, a gathering, as חֶבֶר כֹּהֲנִים (Hoshea 6:9), a gathering of kohanim, and מַחְבֶּרֶת, a joining. הַיְחָבְרְךָ כִּסֵּא הַוּוֹת (Tehillim 94:20), shall the throne of wickedness be joined with You, is in his own view a passive, the word meaning היחבר עמך, shall it be joined with You, in the way of לֹא יְגֻרְךָ רָע (Tehillim 5:5), evil shall not dwell with You.

חָבֵר אָנִי לְכָל אֲשֶׁר יְרֵאוּךָ (Tehillim 119:63), I am a companion to all who fear You, and כְּאִישׁ אֶחָד חֲבֵרִים (Shoftim 20:11), companions as one man. The feminine is חֲבֶרֶת, as וְהִיא חֲבֶרְתְּךָ (Malachi 2:14), and she is your companion. חַבָּרִים (Iyov 40:30) he explains as בני החבורה, the members of a company.

וְעֵצִים לַמְחַבְּרוֹת (Divrei HaYamim II 34:11), and timber for the מְחַבְּרוֹת, and וּבַרְזֶל לָרֹב לַמִּסְמְרִים לְדַלְתוֹת הַשְּׁעָרִים וְלַמְחַבְּרוֹת (Divrei HaYamim I 22:3), and iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates and for the מְחַבְּרוֹת. Rabbi Yonah explained the word as a place where they would gather and assemble for the service of Hashem. It may be, Radak says, that it is another matter, belonging to the work of building the house: that is why it says that the nails were needed for the מְחַבְּרוֹת, that is, to join board to board, and so the timber needed for them, as is done in the walls of houses, where planed wood is set beneath the joins of the boards for beauty, so that the crack between one board and the next is not seen. So too it says after it, ולקרות את הבתים, and to roof the houses.

וְחֹבֵר חָבֶר (Devarim 18:11), the charmer, is from this sense. Chazal say that it takes in a great charmer and a small one alike (Sanhedrin 65a), and Radak explains that the great one whispers and gathers troops of large beasts, and the small one whispers and gathers troops of small ones, such as snakes and scorpions.

חַבּוּרָה תַּחַת חַבּוּרָה (Shemos 21:25), wound for wound. A חבורה is a scratch or a cut; from Chazal's words (Shabbos 106b), Radak says, it appears to be the blow in which the blood is bound up without coming out, and it is called חבורה because the blood is joined together at the place of the blow. Since the חבורה lies in the flesh like a stain, the leopard's spots are called חברבורות, as וְנָמֵר חֲבַרְבֻּרֹתָיו (Yirmiyahu 13:23), or a leopard its spots.

וְעַל־גֶּבֶר עֲמִיתִי (Zecharyah 13:7), against the man who is My fellow; וְכִחֵשׁ בַּעֲמִיתוֹ (Vayikra 5:21), and he deals falsely with his fellow; וְאֶל־אֵשֶׁת עֲמִיתְךָ (Vayikra 18:20), to your fellow's wife. All of them, he says, are חבר, a companion.

לְעֻמַּת הֶעָצֶה יְסִירֶנָּה (Vayikra 3:9), he shall remove it over against the backbone, is לנכח העצה, opposite the backbone, and וְקוֹל הָאוֹפַנִּים לְעֻמָּתָם (Yechezkel 3:13), and the sound of the wheels over against them, is לנכחם, opposite them. The lamed in them is a servile letter, as in לְנִכְחוֹ and לְנֶגְדּוֹ, opposite him and before him. With a cholam, לְעֻמּוֹת אַחַד הַחֲלָקִים (Yechezkel 45:7), over against one of the portions, is like לְעֻמַּת, as שְׁבֻעוֹת יָמִים מַצּוֹת יֵאָכֵל (Yechezkel 45:21), for seven days matzos shall be eaten, is like שבעת ימים.

כָּל־עֻמַּת שֶׁבָּא (Koheles 5:15), just as he came, stands without the servile lamed. Some joined כָּל to עמת in the manner of the Aramaic כָּל־קְבַל־דִּנָה, all over against this. Radak holds right what the Gaon Ibn Giat wrote: לעמת never comes without its lamed, as לְמַעַן, for the sake of, never lacks its lamed, nor בַּעֲבוּר, because of, its beis; so in this phrase the kaf is the kaf of comparison and the lamed belongs to לְעֻמַּת, and it should have been one word, כָּלְעֻמַּת, and was written apart, as many joined words are, like וְלַאֲסוּרִים פְּקַח־קוֹחַ (Yeshayahu 61:1), and to the bound, release, two words whose sense is one.