ED'S HOMAGE
Josh. 22:34 And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar Ed: for it shall be a witness
between us that the LORD is God.
For those of us in the English speaking world, it seems peculiar that the name "Ed" would appear in the Old Testament amongst names of people and places-many of which are very archaic now and at times hard to pronounce. Yet, here we have "Ed".
Let's set the scene and get a little background.
Much of the Promise land had been settled and conquered by the Israelites. There was a meeting on the west side of the Jordan in Shiloh. Each of the tribes and families had representatives. Joshua was allocating the parcels of land each family and tribe was to possess and own. The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manassah were there though they already knew where they would live. Before Moses died, he gave each of these three tribes their lands which were across the Jordan on the east side. When the meeting was over, all the representatives
headed back to their respective tribes. Each tribe began moving to their piece of land. The representatives of Reuben, Gad, and half tribe of Manassah began their trek as well. They arrived to the area on the west side of the Jordan where the Jews had originally crossed over and entered into the Promised land. There, they erected a huge altar to the LORD. When the other tribes heard of this, they were inflamed! They presumed it to be a sign of extreme blasphemy! They sent the high priest as well as other tribal representatives to the location to challenge the idea and go to war with the three tribes. The three tribes were able to successfully state their case that the altar was an offering to the LORD so that all who saw it would remember what He had done for all the Jews. Phineas, the high priest, and the tribal representatives realized that it was a sincere offering to the LORD and in no way blasphemous. War between the families was averted and everyone returned to their families and lands. The name of the altar-"Ed".
The Hebrew word "Ed" means a witness or testimony and is found throughout the O.T. in translated form as "witness" or "witnesses" nearly 70 times. This is the only place where it appears untranslated as "Ed". Many original manuscripts do not have it. The consensus is that it was added by a scribe or translator for clarification purposes. Most of our modern translations do not have "Ed". They either replace it with "witness", or drop it altogether assuming the next phrase "...a witness..." will suffice. Some will add an explaination in the margin or bottom notes. The phrase "...a witness..." in our verse is actually the Hebrew word "Ed". So, the name "Ed" is actually here twice. Once as "Ed", once as witness. You might call it a double Ed-ed sword!
Incidentally, the man's nickname "Ed" does NOT come from here.
1. Edgar = rich , happy +spear(gar)
2. Edmond = rich, happy + protection(mond)
3. Edsel = rich + hall(sel)
4. Edward = rich, happy + guardian(ward)
5. Edwin = rich, happy + friend(win)
These are all Old English names, but they do not derive from the Hebrew.
Josh. 22:34 And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar Ed: for it shall be a witness
between us that the LORD is God.
For those of us in the English speaking world, it seems peculiar that the name "Ed" would appear in the Old Testament amongst names of people and places-many of which are very archaic now and at times hard to pronounce. Yet, here we have "Ed".
Let's set the scene and get a little background.
Much of the Promise land had been settled and conquered by the Israelites. There was a meeting on the west side of the Jordan in Shiloh. Each of the tribes and families had representatives. Joshua was allocating the parcels of land each family and tribe was to possess and own. The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manassah were there though they already knew where they would live. Before Moses died, he gave each of these three tribes their lands which were across the Jordan on the east side. When the meeting was over, all the representatives
headed back to their respective tribes. Each tribe began moving to their piece of land. The representatives of Reuben, Gad, and half tribe of Manassah began their trek as well. They arrived to the area on the west side of the Jordan where the Jews had originally crossed over and entered into the Promised land. There, they erected a huge altar to the LORD. When the other tribes heard of this, they were inflamed! They presumed it to be a sign of extreme blasphemy! They sent the high priest as well as other tribal representatives to the location to challenge the idea and go to war with the three tribes. The three tribes were able to successfully state their case that the altar was an offering to the LORD so that all who saw it would remember what He had done for all the Jews. Phineas, the high priest, and the tribal representatives realized that it was a sincere offering to the LORD and in no way blasphemous. War between the families was averted and everyone returned to their families and lands. The name of the altar-"Ed".
The Hebrew word "Ed" means a witness or testimony and is found throughout the O.T. in translated form as "witness" or "witnesses" nearly 70 times. This is the only place where it appears untranslated as "Ed". Many original manuscripts do not have it. The consensus is that it was added by a scribe or translator for clarification purposes. Most of our modern translations do not have "Ed". They either replace it with "witness", or drop it altogether assuming the next phrase "...a witness..." will suffice. Some will add an explaination in the margin or bottom notes. The phrase "...a witness..." in our verse is actually the Hebrew word "Ed". So, the name "Ed" is actually here twice. Once as "Ed", once as witness. You might call it a double Ed-ed sword!
Incidentally, the man's nickname "Ed" does NOT come from here.
1. Edgar = rich , happy +spear(gar)
2. Edmond = rich, happy + protection(mond)
3. Edsel = rich + hall(sel)
4. Edward = rich, happy + guardian(ward)
5. Edwin = rich, happy + friend(win)
These are all Old English names, but they do not derive from the Hebrew.
