I. Name

The element laḥ has been interpreted as a divine name in certain Hebrew proper names. These are the place names Beer-Lahai-roi (Gen. 16.14; Gen. 24.62; Gen. 25.11), Ramath-lehi (Judg. 15.17; 2 Sam. 23.11) and Bethlehem, and in particular, the Hebrew personal name Methu-selah (Gen. 5.21, Gen. 22, Gen. 25, Gen. 26, Gen. 27; 1 Chr. 1.3).

It has been suggested that the personal name Methu-selah is not to be analysed as mt, ‘man’ + šlḥ, ‘(the god) Shelah’, but rather as mĕtu, ‘man’ + še, ‘of’ + laḥ, ‘(the god) Laḥ’. Similarly, lḥy ha…