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מַרְאָה marʾāh – vision, mirror

Semantic Fields: Utensils   
Author(s): Archibald L.H.M. van Wieringen
First published: 2011-11-01
Last update: May 2025 (Marten van Dam)
Citation: Archibald L.H.M. van Wieringen, מַרְאָה marʾāh – vision, mirror,
               Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database (sahd-online.com), 2011 (update: May 2025 (Marten van Dam)) (WORK IN PROGRESS)

Introduction

Grammatical type: noun fem.
Occurrences: 12x HB (3/9/0); 0x Sir; 0x Qum; 0x Inscr. (Total: 12)

  • Torah: Gen 46:2; Exod 38:8; Num 12:6.
  • Nebiim: 1 Sam 3:15; Ezek 1:1; Ezek 8:3; Ezek 40:2; Ezek 43:3; Dan 10:7 (2x), 8, 16.

A.1 For the moment, this entry addresses only the occurrences with the meaning ‘mirror’.

1. Root and Comparative Material

A.1 Semitic. The root occurs in several Semitic languages.1 See also → רְאִי. A comparable semantic development may be observed in Akkadian nāmaru, ‘mirror’, from amāru, ‘to see’. Syriac borrowed this Akkadian noun in the form of nāwrā, ‘mirror’.

A.2 Postbiblical Hebrew. מַרְאָה, ‘mirror’.2

A.3 Classical Arabic. mirʾah, ‘mirror’.3

A.4 Modern Arabic. Mehri mīrōt/mōer, ‘mirror’;4 Soq. ʾimrehor, mére, ‘mirror’;5 Palestinian Arabic mrēye (plur. -āt), ‘mirror’, √mry, ‘to make someone look in a mirror’.6

2. Formal Characteristics

A.1 [Discussion will be added later.]

3. Syntagmatics

A.1 [Discussion will be added later.]

4. Ancient Versions

a. Septuagint (LXX) and other Greek versions (αʹ, σʹ, θʹ):

  • LXX κάτοπτρον, ‘mirror’: Exod 38:26(8).7
  • Var. κάτοπτρον, also ‘mirror’.8

b. Samaritan Targum (TgSmr):

  • זימנונה משכן תרח דאתעילי חיליה באתחזות, ‘with the apparition of the powers that are strong (in) the gate of the Tent of Meeting’: Exod 38:8. Possibly paraphrasis on the basis of Aramaic מרא, ‘be powerful’.

c. Targum (Tg):

  • The Targumim on Exod 38:8 reflect various stages of elimination of the potentially offensive nature of this verse (cf. 1 Sam 1:22; Isa 3:23):
  • TgO זמנא משכן בתרע לצלאה דאתין נשיא במחזית, ‘with the mirrors of the women who came to pray in the gate of the Tent of Meeting’;
  • TgN זימנא משכן בתרע מצליין דהוון צדיקתא דנשייא במחזיין, ‘with the mirrors of the righteous women who were praying in the gate of the Tent of Meeting’;
  • Tg440 etc. זימנא משכן בתרע צניען דהוון צניעתא נשיא בחזיין, ‘with the mirrors of the chaste women who were being chaste in the gate of Tent of Meeting’;
  • TgJ דימהון סואבות מן דמידכן בזמן צדיקין בנין וילדן לגובריהון ותייבן ומודן ומשבחן ארמותהין קרבן על הואןקיימן משכןזימנא בתרע לצלאה דאתיין ובעידן צניעתא דנשיא דנחשא אספקלירי מן, ‘from bronze mirrors of chaste women. When they came to pray in the gate of the Tent of Meeting, at that time they were standing with their heave-offering praising and thanking and upon returning to their husbands bore righteous sons when they had been purified from the impurity of their menses’.

d. Peshitta (Pesh):

  • byt mḥzyʾ dnšʾ dʾtyn lmṣlyw btrʿʾ dmškn ʿzbnʾ ‘in the house of mirrors (or: apparitions?) of the women who came to pray in the gate of the Tent of the Sojourn’: Exod 38:8. Reflects the same concerns as the Targumim.

e. Vulgate (Vg):

  • speculum, ‘(metal) mirror’: Exod 38:8.

f. Rabbinical literature:

  • In 1QM V.5 bronze shields are said to be polished like a face-mirror (פנים מראת) and in V.11 javelins of purified iron are said to be whitened like such a face-mirror. Comparable is the expression na-ma-ar pāni ša siparri, ‘bronze face-mirrors’, in EA 14:ii.75-76.

5. Lexical/Semantic Fields

A.1 [Discussion will be added later.]

6. Exegesis

6.1 Literal Use

A.1 The normal meaning of מַרְאָה is ‘vision’ and it is difficult to make a clear distinction between the feminine form and the masculine מַרְאֶה, ‘appearance’, but also ‘vision’ (see esp. Ezek 43:3). However, the meaning ‘vision’ does not fit Exod 38:8 where the bronze laver (→ כִּיֹּור) and its base have to be made from the מַרְאֹת of the women ministering at the door of the Tent of Meeting. This instruction is lacking in the parallel text Exod 30:18 and was probably added to explain where the bronze came from.

6.2 Figurative Use

A.1 Not attested.

6.3 Pictorial Material and Archeology

A.1 See → גִּלָּיֹון, 6.2 Pictorial Material and Archeology.

7. Conclusion

A.1 On the basis of the use in Qumran, the versions, several cognates, and the circumstance that women appear to be in possession of the מַרְאֹת mentioned in Exod 38:8, the meaning ‘mirrors’ has been firmly established.

A.2 Why these women were supposed to have possessed mirrors and were instructed to part with them is a matter of conjecture9 but possibly the author of this note felt that coquetry at the entrance of the sanctuary had to be eliminated (cf. 1 Sam 1:22; Isa 3:23). Mirrors were typical attributes of women (→ גִּלָּיֹון10). Whether earlier these women had been servants of a goddess11 cannot be established with certainty. Perhaps the mirrors had fulfilled a function in the pre-exilic ancestor cult.12 In any case it is remarkable that in contrast to later prescriptions the women fulfilled some kind of temple service with their mirrors.13

Bibliography

For the abbreviations see the List of Abbreviations.

All dictionaries of Biblical Hebrew recognise the meaning ‘mirror’ in Exod 38:8. Furthermore:

Busink, 1077-8

De Moor 1997
J.C. de Moor, The Rise of Yahwism: The Roots of Israelite Monotheism (BEThL, 91A), Leuven 1997
Everhart 2004
J.S. Everhart, ‘Serving Women and Their Mirrors: A Feminist Reading of Exodus 38:8b’, CBQ 66 (2004), 44-54
Görg 1984
M. Görg, ‘Der Spiegeldienst der Frauen (Ex 38, 8)’, BN 23 (1984), 9-13 (repr. in: M. Görg, Aegyptiaca - Biblica: Notizen und Beiträge zu den Beziehungen zwischen Ägypten und Israel ((ÄAT, 11), Wiesbaden 1991, 143-7)
Houtman 2000
C. Houtman, Exodus, vol. 3, Leuven 2000
Marsman 2003
H.J. Marsman, Women in Ugarit and Israel: Their Social and Religious Position in the Context of the Ancient Near East (OTS, 49), 2003, 565-6
Winter 1983
U. Winter, Frau und Göttin: exegetische und ikonographische Studien zum weiblichen Gottesbild im alten Israel und in dessen Umwelt (OBO, 53), Freiburg 1983, 58-64.

  1. Leslau, CDG, 458-9; Klein, CEDHL, 600; Beeston, SD, 113; Biella,
    DOSA, 474. ↩

  2. Levy, WTM, Bd. 3, 235-6. ↩

  3. Lane, AEL, 1002. ↩

  4. Johnstone, ML, 268. ↩

  5. Leslau, LSoq, 251. ↩

  6. Barthélemy, 265, 785. ↩

  7. GELS-L, 251; LSJ, 929. ↩

  8. GELS-L, 251. ↩

  9. Houtman 2000, 569-72. ↩

  10. See also Everhart 2004. ↩

  11. Winter 1983; Görg 1984. ↩

  12. Cf. De Moor 1997, 350-2 and cf. SPT and Pesh. ↩

  13. Busink, 1077-8; Marsman 2003, 565-6. ↩

Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database