Today in the Bible

Av 9, 5784; from sunset August 12, 2024, to sunset August 13, 2024

(The ninth day of the fifth month)

Today in the Bible, we are continuing our look at the men and women who spent 52 days working together to restore the walls and gates of Jerusalem.  Today we’ll meet a man named Zadok, the son of Baana.  Given the other events we’ve remembered today, it seems important to recall the restoration of Jerusalem at the hands of a “righteous” man.

The name Zadok is mentioned about 50 times in the Bible.  Probably the most famous Zadok was the high priest in the days of David and Solomon.  There is even a man named Zadok in the ancestry of Jesus.  Our Zadok lived during the days of Nehemiah and returned from the exile to leave his mark upon the wall of Jerusalem.

צָדוֹק

Tzadok = Zadok

Zadok is probably our simplest to define name yet.  It stems from the root “tzadek” (צדק) meaning “to be just or righteous.”

Verb Root	Transliteration	Meaning
צדק	tzadek	to be just or righteous

“Zadok“ means “Righteous” or “Righteous One.”

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בַּעֲנָא

Ba’ana = Baana

Our research shows that most scholars see the letter beit (b) at the beginning of this word as a remnant of the word ben (son).

The root word “anah” (ענה) has three possible meanings:

Prefix	Transliteration	Meaning
ב	b	believed to be a shortened form of the word “ben” – meaning “son”
Verb Root	Transliteration	Meaning
ענה	anah	to answer, respond, etc -or- to be busy, occupied -or- to afflict, oppress, humble

The name “Baana“ means something like, “Son of Response” or “Son of Affliction.” The latter could be a reflection of what his parents were feeling if Baana was born in Babylon -or- it could be a description of someone who was an exile himself, similar to Hakkoz whom we studied a few days ago.