StrongerBible

aras

אָרַשׂ

HebrewH0781“betroth, engaged, ...”

Appears 11 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Exo 22:16(15)Deu 20:7Deu 22:23Deu 22:25Deu 22:27Deu 22:28Deu 28:302Sa 3:14Hos 2:19(21) (2×)Hos 2:20(22)
Root family
Word studyResearch-gradeah-RAHSverb

What aras means

to betroth: to complete the binding first step of marriage by paying the bride-price, pledging a woman as wife before the couple begins living together

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

This is a single, precise word from the world of marriage law. To betroth was not to get engaged in the modern sense but to complete the binding first step of marriage: a man paid the bride-price and the woman became his pledged wife, even though the two did not yet live together. Marriage in ancient Israel happened in two moves, and this word names the first; a second word, taking (לָקַח) a wife, names the second, when the groom brought her into his home. Deuteronomy 20:7 sets the two side by side, describing a man who has betrothed a wife but not yet taken her.

Because the bond was already legally real, the betrothed woman was treated as a wife. The law in Deuteronomy 22 calls a betrothed woman who sleeps with another man an adulteress, punishable like a married wife, and David could later reclaim Michal simply on the ground that he had betrothed her with the price he paid. It was the bride-price, not the wedding night, that made the bond binding.

Hosea takes this hard-edged legal word and turns it into a picture of grace. Three times God says, "I will betroth you to me," promising to bind Israel to himself as a groom pledges a bride, and to bring as his bride-price qualities like righteousness, justice, love, mercy, and faithfulness. The choice of word matters. Because a wife who had been divorced and married to another could not simply be taken back, God does not speak of remarrying Israel but of betrothing her fresh, as though the relationship were beginning again from the start.

Nuances

1aa man legally binds a woman as his wife-to-be by paying the bride-price, so she is pledged to him and counts as a wife before the two live together
Exo 22:16(15)Deu 20:7Deu 22:23Deu 22:25Deu 22:27Deu 22:28Deu 28:302Sa 3:14
1bfiguratively, God binds Israel to himself as a groom pledges his bride, sealing the covenant as a fresh, unbreakable marriage
TranslatabilityApproximate
Hos 2:19(21) (2×)Hos 2:20(22)
Hos 2:19

Whether the qualities God brings to the betrothal in Hosea 2:19 (righteousness, justice, love, mercy) are the bride-price he pays or descriptions of the renewed relationship.

  • majorityThey are the bride-price God pays to seal the betrothal, matching the price-language that governs this verb elsewhere, such as David's hundred foreskins for Michal.; A. A. Macintosh, Hosea (ICC, 1997), p. xcv; Francis I. Andersen and David Noel Freedman, Hosea (Anchor Bible 24, 1980), pp. 278-279
  • minorityThey are covenant qualities that characterize the whole renewed relationship rather than a bride-price in the strict sense.; Hans Walter Wolff, Hosea (Hermeneia, 1974); Ehud Ben Zvi, Hosea (FOTL XXIA/1, 2005)

What scholars say about aras

The verb is a technical term of Israelite family law meaning to betroth. It occurs only eleven times, and only in the active (of the man) and passive (of the woman), never in the simple base form; Ernst Jenni (Das hebraische Piel, 1968) analyzes it as a denominative verb, which accounts for the missing base form. Standard lexica (HALOT 1:91-92; DCH 1:380; NIDOTTE 1:529) agree the act is constituted by payment of the bride-price (mohar), which is why a betrothed woman already counts as a wife under the adultery law of Deuteronomy 22:23-24 and why David can claim Michal on the ground that he had betrothed her (2 Samuel 3:14). Raymond Westbrook (Property and the Family in Biblical Law, 1991) set this within his influential inchoate-marriage model: betrothal creates full marital status short of cohabitation, dissolved only by divorce. Samuel Greengus and Michael Satlow (Jewish Marriage in Antiquity, 2001) qualify the wider ancient background and argue the institution lapsed for much of the Second Temple period before the rabbis revived it under the new name qiddushin (from the verb meaning to consecrate). Most scholars trace the etymology to Akkadian eresu, to desire or request (so Haupt), a sense preserved in the related Hebrew noun areshet, meaning request; Benjamin Suchard notes a sibilant mismatch that leaves this derivation short of certain. In Hosea 2:19-20 (Hebrew 2:21-22) the prophet redeploys this legal vocabulary as covenant metaphor, and commentators (Andersen and Freedman, Hosea, 1980; Macintosh, Hosea, 1997; Wolff, Hosea, 1974) debate whether the paired qualities are the bride-price God pays or attributes of the renewed relationship. The prophet's avoidance of remarriage language is widely read against Deuteronomy 24:1-4, which forbids taking back a wife who has since belonged to another man.

In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • HALOT, s.v. ארשׂ, vol. 1, pp. 91-92lexicon
  • BDB, p. 76lexicon
  • DCH, vol. 1, p. 380lexicon
  • V. P. Hamilton, NIDOTTE, vol. 1, p. 529dictionary
  • Ernst Jenni, Das hebraische Piel (Zurich: EVZ, 1968), pp. 130, 267monograph
  • Jeffrey H. Tigay, Deuteronomy (JPS Torah Commentary, 1996), pp. 187, 207-208commentary
  • Raymond Westbrook, Property and the Family in Biblical Law (JSOTSup 113, 1991)monograph
  • Francis I. Andersen and David Noel Freedman, Hosea (Anchor Bible 24, 1980)commentary
  • A. A. Macintosh, Hosea (ICC, 1997)commentary
  • P. Kyle McCarter, II Samuel (Anchor Bible 9, 1984), pp. 112-117commentary
  • Michael L. Satlow, Jewish Marriage in Antiquity (Princeton, 2001), pp. 68-89monograph

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of אָרַשׂ

piel consecutive-perfect 1cs

וְאֵרַשְׂתִּי

Hos 2:19, Hos 2:19, Hos 2:20

pual passive-participle f s absolute

מְאֹרָשָׂה

Deu 22:23, Deu 22:25, Deu 22:27

pual perfect 3fs

אֹרָשָׂה

Exo 22:16, Deu 22:28

piel imperfect 2ms

תְאָרֵשׂ

Deu 28:30

piel perfect 1cs

אֵרַשְׂתִּי

2Sa 3:14

piel perfect 3ms

אֵרַשׂ

Deu 20:7