I. Name

The Hebrew noun nîr or nēr, denotes a light-giving body and is never used as a divine name, but it may occur as a surname of a deity or as the name of a being participating in the divine sphere, such as an angel. Its Akkadian equivalent nūru, as well as Ugaritic nrt and nyr, are used metaphorically as epithets of the Sun-deity called “the lamp of the gods” or “the lamp of heavens and earth” (AHW 805b; CAD N, 348–349; KTU 1.2.iii:15; 1.3.v:17; etc.). Similar epithets are attributed also to other gods, even to Yahweh…