names of Moshe

גָּדַר דְּרָכַי בְּגָזִית (Eichah 3:9), He walled my ways with hewn stone, גָּדַר בַּֽעֲדִי וְלֹא אֵצֵא (Eichah 3:7), He fenced me about and I cannot go out, and אָרְחִי גָדַר וְלֹא אֶעֱבוֹר (Iyov 19:8), He fenced my path and I cannot pass. The sense of all of it is stopping up and closing off.

The noun, from which the verb is taken, is גָּדֵר מִזֶּה וְגָדֵר מִזֶּֽה (Bamidbar 22:24), a fence on this side and a fence on that, and פָּרֹץ גְּדֵרוֹ (Yeshayahu 5:5), breaking down its fence. In the plural לָמָּה פָּרַצְתָּ גְדֵרֶיהָ (Tehillim 80:13), why have You broken down her fences, and יוֹם לִבְנוֹת גְּדֵרָיִךְ (Michah 7:11), a day for building your fences. In the feminine, הֵמָּה הַיּוֹצְרִים וְיֹֽשְׁבֵי נְטָעִים וּגְדֵרָה (Divrei HaYamim I 4:23), these were the potters and those who dwelt among plantings and fences, which he explains: they dwelt in the place of the plantings, where they planted them and made the fences. וְגֶדֶר אֲבָנָיו נֶֽהֱרָֽסָה (Mishlei 24:31), its stone wall was thrown down, is another form, or else the first form itself, changed so in the construct, like גָּזֵל, robbery, and כָּתֵף, shoulder.

Radak says that every wall made for gardens and for vineyards, and every wall that is not strong building of the kind houses and city walls are, is called a גדר, as in גֶּדֶר הֶֽחָצֵר (Yechezkel 42:10), the wall of the courtyard.

The closing in made for a sheep pen bears the word too: גִּדְרֹת צֹאן נִבְנֶה לְמִקְנֵנוּ (Bamidbar 32:16), we will build folds of sheep for our cattle, and וּגְדֵרֹת לְצֹנַֽאֲכֶם (Bamidbar 32:24), and folds for your flocks. Radak says this is what the Chachamim call a דיר, in their words about animals entering the pen to be tithed (Bava Metzia 6b).

Rabbeinu Shlomo explained וְהִתְשׁוֹטַטְנָה בַּגְּדֵרֹות (Yirmiyahu 49:3), and make sport in the folds, from this sense, the sheepfolds; Radak himself lists the word among the plurals. His gloss on Rashi's reading is that they will make sport in the dung of the sheepfolds, by way of contempt. Targum Yonasan renders it וְאִתְהַמְמוּן בְּסִיָען, and they shall be confounded among the bands.

זָנַח (Eichah 2:7) is Hashem casting off His mizbeach, and כִּי לֹא יִזְנַח לְעוֹלָם (Eichah 3:31), for Hashem will not cast off for ever. The form that takes no object is וַתִּזְנַח מִשָּׁלוֹם נַפְשִׁי (Eichah 3:17), and my soul is cast off from peace.

The added form gives וְאֵת כָּל־הַכֵּלִים אֲשֶׁר הִזְנִיחַ הַמֶּלֶךְ אָחָז (Divrei HaYamim II 29:19), and all the vessels that King Achaz cast aside, and וְהֶֽאֶזְנִיחוּ נְהָרוֹת (Yeshayahu 19:6), and the rivers shall be cast off.

Rabbi Yonah wrote that in this word the Hebrews followed the way of Aramaic, which adds an alef, as in אִשְׁתִּיו חַמְרָא (Daniel 5:4), they drank wine, and אֶתְכְּרִיַּת רוּחִי (Daniel 7:15), my spirit was grieved; and that they wrote in it the hei of the form as well. Radak says he has already set out its grammar in the grammar part of his work.

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.

יָרֹד יָרַדְנוּ בַּתְּחִלָּה (Bereishis 43:20), we came down at the first, and רְדוּ־שָׁמָּה וְשִׁבְרוּ־לָנוּ מִשָּׁם (Bereishis 42:2), go down there and buy for us from there. The form that brings a thing down gives הוֹרַדְנוּ בְיָדֵנוּ (Bereishis 43:22), we brought it down in our hand, and וּבִנְסֹעַ הַמִּשְׁכָּן יוֹרִידוּ אֹתוֹ הַֽלְוִיִּם (Bamidbar 1:51), when the Mishkan travels the Leviim take it down. נְהֵה עַל־הֲמוֹן מִצְרַיִם וְהֽוֹרִדֵהוּ (Yechezkel 32:18), wail over the multitude of Mitzrayim and bring it down, is explained by what follows it, אֶל־אֶרֶץ תַּחְתִּיּוֹת, to the nether land; some take it from the sense of אָרִיד בְּשִׂיחִי (Tehillim 55:3), I mourn in my complaint, and Radak says that has no sense. The noun is בְּמוֹרַד בֵּית־חוֹרֹן (Yehoshua 10:11), on the descent of Beis Choron, and וַיַּכּוּם בַּמּוֹרָד (Yehoshua 7:5), and they struck them on the descent. הֵמָּה הָיוּ בְּֽמֹרְדֵי־אוֹר (Iyov 24:13) can be read as from this root too, they were in the going down of the light, and he says he will explain it under the root מָרַד.

עֵינִי עֵינִי יֹרְדָה מַּיִם (Eichah 1:16), my eye, my eye goes down with water, is יורדה במים, going down with water, the beis left out; so וְתֵרַדְנָה עֵינֵינוּ דִּמְעָה (Yirmiyahu 9:17) is תרדנה בדמעה, our eyes go down with tears. It may also be read with no beis missing: because so much of the tear flows down from the eyes, the going down is ascribed to the eyes themselves. In the same way, וְהַגְּבָעוֹת תֵּלַכְנָה חָלָב (Yoel 4:18), the hills shall go with milk, and כֻּלֹּה יְיֵלִיל יֹרֵד בַּבֶּֽכִי (Yeshayahu 15:3), all of it wails, going down in weeping. Some explain the word from the sense of אָרִיד בְּשִׂיחִי (Tehillim 55:3), I mourn in my complaint, and the words of Yiftach's daughter on the hills (Shoftim 11:37) likewise.

Some read אֵפוֹד יָרַד בְּיָדוֹ (Shmuel I 23:6), the ephod came down in his hand, as though it said הוֹרִיד, he brought it down. Radak finds that hard, since this root in its plain form is found only without an object, never taking one. It may be read that when Evyasar went down, he went down with the ephod in his hand. It can also be read that when Evyasar fled and took his vessels and his clothes with him, it was brought about by Hashem that he took the ephod among his vessels without noticing, and he did not know of it until he came to David; so the pasuk does not say הוֹרִידוֹ, that he brought it down knowingly, but יָרַד, that the ephod came down in his hand by chance. That reading, Radak holds, is the right one.

Rabbi Yonah explains וְיָרַדְתִּי עַל־הֶֽהָרִים (Shoftim 11:37), and I will go down upon the hills, as and I will go up, and likewise וְלֹא־יֵרֵד עִמָּנוּ בַּמִּלְחָמָה (Shmuel I 29:4), he shall not go down with us to the war, as not going up. Radak says there is no sense in it, since going up is the opposite of going down, and that going down to war is the plain meaning, war being fought in the valley and not on the mountain. He reads Yiftach's daughter as saying: I will go down from the Mitzpeh to walk on the hills, for Yiftach's house was in the Mitzpeh and the Mitzpeh stood higher than the hills, and she said, I will go down and part from people and be alone there and weep over my maidenhood. So too וַיֵּרֶד הַסֶּלַע (Shmuel I 23:25), and he went down to the rock: it seems there was a valley between the Aravah, where David was, and the rock, and he went down into the valley to go up the rock.

מַעֲשֵׂה מוֹרָד (Melachim I 7:29) is in the sense of beaten work, and that is close to the sense of going down. Targum Yonasan renders it עוֹבַד כִּבּוּשׁ, pressed work, as Onkelos renders עַד רֶדֶת חֹמֹתֶיךָ (Devarim 28:52), until your walls come down, and עַד רִדְתָּהּ (Devarim 20:20), until it comes down; and all of it comes under one sense. The word may instead be of the root רָדַד, and then it would join its sense well, from וַיָּרֶד עַל הַכְּרוּבִים (Melachim I 6:32), and he beat it out over the keruvim, and the Targum's וְרַדִּידוּ for וַיְרַקְּעוּ (Shemos 39:3), and they beat out.

כִּי מִן־הַמַּיִם מְשִׁיתִהוּ (Shemos 2:10), because I drew him out of the water. Some read וַיִּזְכֹּר יְמֵי־עוֹלָם מֹשֶׁה עַמּוֹ (Yeshayahu 63:11), and he remembered the days of old, מֹשֶׁה his people, from this sense; or it is as it sounds, and means Moshe and his people. So too יַמְשֵׁנִי מִמַּיִם רַבִּים (Tehillim 18:17), He drew me out of many waters. The sense of all of them is drawing and bringing out.

וָאֲכַסֵּךְ מֶשִׁי (Yechezkel 16:10), and I covered you with silk, which he glosses as garments of silk, a thing well known.

סֹֽכְכִים בְּכַנְפֵיהֶם (Shemos 25:20), covering with their wings, and כְּרוּב הַסֹּכֵךְ (Yechezkel 28:16), the covering keruv; יְסֻכֻּהוּ צֶאֱלִים (Iyov 40:22), the shady trees cover him. So too וְשַׂכֹּתִי כַפִּי (Shemos 33:22), and I will cover with My palm, though it is written with a sin. Of one who covers another, בְּאֶבְרָתוֹ יָסֶךְ לָךְ (Tehillim 91:4), He will cover you with His pinion, and וַיָּסֶךְ בִּדְלָתַיִם יָם (Iyov 38:8), He screened off the sea with doors.

Most of the root, he says, is סיכוך למעלה, covering from above; but part of it is a partition and shield that divides one thing from another. So וְסַכֹּתָ עַל־הָֽאָרֹן אֶת־הַפָּרֹֽכֶת (Shemos 40:3), you shall screen the aron with the paroches, since the paroches was not over the aron but beside it, dividing between it and the ohel moed; and so פָּרֹכֶת הַמָּסָֽךְ (Shemos 35:12), the screening paroches, and מָסַךְ הַפֶּתַח (Shemos 35:15), the screen of the entrance.

וְסֻכָּה תִּהְיֶה לְצֵל־יוֹמָם מֵחֹרֶב (Yeshayahu 4:6), a booth for shade by day from the heat, and בַּסֻּכֹּת תֵּֽשְׁבוּ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים (Vayikra 23:42), you shall dwell in booths seven days. With an added mem, פָּרַשׂ עָנָן לְמָסָךְ (Tehillim 105:39), He spread a cloud for a screen; its proper form, he says, is מִסְכָךְ, on the pattern of מִכְלָל.

וְהֻכַן הַסֹּכֵֽךְ (Nachum 2:6), the covering is made ready: boards with hides over them, under which those attacking a city come up to the wall and dig beneath it, shielded from the stones thrown down on them from above.

From this root and this sense is מוּסַךְ הַשַּׁבָּת (Melachim II 16:18), the covering for Shabbos. It is on the pattern of מוֹרָד (Melachim I 7:29), whose root is רָדַד; though the one has a shuruk and the other a cholam, the two are one. Rabbi Yonah explained it מחסה המשמרה, the shelter of the watch; Radak takes that to be the place where the men of the watch take cover. Yonasan renders it טִיקוּס, which Radak leaves unexplained. Rashi wrote that it is the roof of a tent made for shade, to sit under in the azarah on Shabbos.

כִּי אֶעֱבֹר בַּסָּךְ (Tehillim 42:5), for I would pass in the סָךְ, is in the number of the congregation, counted within it. Chazal have the like of a total count, סך הכל (Avodah Zarah 11b), the sum of it all, and with a mem added, סכום מקח (Beitzah 29b), the sum of a purchase.

אֲשֶׁר לֹֽא־יֵבֹשׁוּ קוָֹֽי (Yeshayahu 49:23), those who hope in Me shall not be ashamed. In the strengthened form קִוְּתָה נַפְשִׁי (Tehillim 130:5), my soul hoped, וַיְקַו לַֽעֲשׂוֹת עֲנָבִים (Yeshayahu 5:2), he hoped it would make grapes, and יְקַו־לְאוֹר וָאַיִן (Iyov 3:9), let it hope for light and there be none. All of them are of the sense of hope and expectation.

The noun is מִקְוֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל (Yirmiyahu 14:8), the hope of Yisrael, and in another form וַיִּכְלוּ בְּאֶפֶס תִּקְוָֽה (Iyov 7:6), they came to an end without hope, and וְתִקְוָתִי מִי יְשׁוּרֶֽנָּה (Iyov 17:15), and my hope, who shall see it.

וְנִקְוּוּ אֵלֶיהָ כָל־הַגּוֹיִם (Yirmiyahu 3:17), all the nations shall be gathered to her, and יִקָּווּ הַמַּיִם (Bereishis 1:9), let the waters be gathered. The noun is מִקְוֵה־מַיִם (Vayikra 11:36), a gathering of water, and in the feminine וּמִקְוָה עֲשִׂיתֶם בֵּין הַחֹמֹתַיִם (Yeshayahu 22:11), you made a reservoir between the two walls. Radak gives their sense as gathering.

קַו הַמִּדָּה (Yirmiyahu 31:39), the measuring line, and וְקָו שְׁלֹשִׁים בָּאַמָּה יָסֹב אֹתוֹ (Melachim I 7:23), and a line of thirty cubits went round it. קַו־קָו וּמְבוּסָה (Yeshayahu 18:2) he explains as: little by little they will trample him down, the way a builder stretches out the line a little at a time. It may be that אִם־אֲקַוֶּה שְׁאוֹל בֵּיתִי (Iyov 17:13) is of this sense, if I build Sheol as my house, since building is done by stretching the line. So too קַו לָקָו (Yeshayahu 28:10) is building after building, the prophets charging them command after command and they building themselves building after building, since a command and a statute are like a building; and from this, counsel is called a foundation. And in בְּכָל־הָאָרֶץ יָצָא קַוָּם (Tehillim 19:5), their קַו has gone out through all the earth, he glosses קַוָּם as their building.

אֶת־תִּקְוַת חוּט הַשָּׁנִי (Yehoshua 2:18), the line of scarlet thread, is another form, joined to the word for thread as אַדְמַת־עָפָר (Daniel 12:2), the ground of dust, is joined. Targum Yonasan renders it תּוֹרָא דְחוּט זְהוֹרִיתָא, the border of the scarlet thread, and the Targum on the hem at the opening of the garment (Shemos 28:32) gives תּוֹרָא יְהֵא מַקַּף לְפוּמֵהּ, a border shall go round its mouth. Radak draws from this that the Targum takes תקות חוט השני as the hem of a red garment. It may be that וַיִּכְלוּ בְּאֶפֶס תִּקְוָה (Iyov 7:6), and they came to an end with no תִּקְוָה, is of this sense too, since the pasuk likens his days to the weaver's tool that holds the thread of the woof.

Of this sense too is וּמִקְוֵה סֹחֲרֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ יִקְחוּ מִקְוֵה בִּמְחִיר (Melachim I 10:28), and מקוה, the king's traders took מקוה at a price. Radak explains that the king's traders brought the horses out of Mitzrayim and took מקוה in Yerushalayim at the horses' price, carrying it to Mitzrayim; and he allows it may be the other way, that they brought the מקוה out of Mitzrayim as they did the horses, since the working of linen is more at home there than in any other land. On that reading, Pharaoh had granted Shlomo the export of the horses, so that the horses went out without payment while the linen went out for money. In Divrei HaYamim II 1:16 the word is written מִקְוֵא with an alef.