From Chief Cupbearer to Chief of the Guard: Towards a Closer Identification of the Role Presumed by the Noun רַב in the Tanakh

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the Hebrew noun רַב , which carries the principal meaning of "chief." In particular, the study attempts to determine whether the noun implies anything about the entity it represents without making this explicit. The study, therefore, analyses the occurrences of the noun רַב in the Tanakh to determine whether the noun implies anything about the individuals it designates, irrespective of the literary context. As far as I know, this exercise has not been attempted with the noun רַב before, which is the unique contribution of this publication. In the Tanakh, the noun רַב does not appear on its own in the absolute state but is exclusively used as part of construct formulations. In each case, the analysis begins by focusing on the lexical meaning, etymology and textual application of the nomen rectum (i.e. the noun that follows רַב in the construct term) and ends by considering the nomen regens, which is always רַב in our case.