Etymology

Sherebiah is a theophoric name, in which יָה (yah) combines with שׁרב (shrb) to provide the contested meaning of “Yahweh has sent burning heat.” Hebrew lexicons such as BDB and HALOT provide a verb stem meaning “parch,” attested in postbiblical Hebrew and in Aramaic (BDB, 1055; HALOT, 1010). When the noun שָׁרָב (sharav) is found in Isa 35:7 and 49:10, it refers to heat. Zadok posits a root meaning “to go before,” or “to send” in the Piʿel form, a suggestion supported by the Arabic sariba, which means “to flow, run” or “to send in groups” (Zadok, “Sherebiah,” 259). A combination of these meanings provides the definition above. Another possibility, connected with Sherebiah’s role, could be “Yahweh has sent,” or “Yahweh has sent beforehand.”