Biblica Analytica

אַלְמֹן

al.mon (H0489)

widower

1 verses 1 books OT 1 / NT 0
AI Word Study

# Analysis of אַלְמֹן (almōn) — "Widower" The Hebrew term אַלְמֹן refers to a man who has lost his wife through death. Based on the lexical data provided, this word appears only once in the biblical text, making it a rare term in Hebrew Scripture. Its existence alongside more common vocabulary for grief and loss suggests it served as a specific designation for a particular social condition rather than a frequently referenced concept. The rarity of this word's occurrence—appearing just once in the entire biblical corpus—indicates that widowerhood may not have been a central category in biblical Hebrew discourse, at least not one requiring frequent explicit naming. This contrasts with the more common biblical attention to widows themselves, who are mentioned multiple times throughout Scripture. The existence of a distinct term for widowers, however, demonstrates that Hebrew had the linguistic capacity to distinguish men's marital loss from women's, even if the concept received minimal textual attention. Without additional context from the single usage, the precise social or legal implications of this status remain defined only by its basic denotation: a man bereaved of his spouse. The word itself provides straightforward semantic content without embedded assumptions about religious significance or social duty, functioning as a simple descriptive term for a demographic condition.

AI synthesis uses only provided lexicon data -- never training knowledge.

Isaiah 47:9

But these two things will come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children and widowhood. They will come on you in their full measure, in the multitude of your sorceries, and the great abundance of your enchantments.