The name changes intrigue me to no end. As you say, a lifetime of study involved there.
The yud in Sarai being made into two heis, one for Sarah, one for Abraham, for example.
YHVH is yud-hei-vav-hei, and Ehyeh (I AM) is alef hei yud hei.
The letter hei itself is a fascinating topic re name changes and progeny.
And then there's the Kabbalistic concept about a woman needing a hei in her name in order to have children.
(Corresponding video, 7:22 min long)
Sarah, Rebeccah, Leah, Rachel...
Ah, but Rachel didn't have the letter hei in her name. The explanation is that Bilhah had two heis in her name, so one was extra,"for" Rachel.
But as we see, the name changes were literal. So if Rachel didn't have a hei, what did she have for her name blessing (this relates to progeny)? The "look-a-like" letter chet, with a value of 8.
If you compare the word Mashiach, it's the common letter. And upon the birth of Joseph, Rachel named him saying, "God will add to me another son." In the short term, that was Benjamin. But odd thing there, is that his name was changed by his father at birth. Rachel named her "another" son Benoni (בן-אוני), which permutes to "Yinon comes" (בא ינון), tying in to a whole other study about names of the Messiah (Psalm 72:17).
Messiah. It permutes to shemi 8/chet, "my name is 8" (meaning the letter chet), and living name (shem chai, a name [that is] alive).
Rachel is the matriarch known as Imenu, "our mother". Her yahrzeit is a day of pilgrimage to her grave, and that day is Jewish Mother's Day. She was the one weeping along the road as the exiles passed, and who waits along the road for their return to their borders.. that is to say, Rachel, like Joseph, is "still alive". The bones (essence) of Joseph were a requirement for the Exodus to proceed, the oath being honored by the children of Israel to take him with them into the Promised Land.
Sons and their mothers, you know there's a very deep connection. Joseph had the dream of the sun and moon and stars when he was 17, eight years after Rachel's death. Jacob interpreted the moon as being Joseph's mother, but many commentaries suggest he was referring to Bilhah because Rachel had long since died. Well, it depends on one's definition of death. Her soul "went out".
Rachel... Imenu. The word for life, chai (חי):
ר
משיח
ל
Everybody has two family lines. The father's line, and the mother's. Rachel died on the way to fruitfulness (Ephrat), which was Bethlehem, where David was born. The incident with the Dudaim (mandrakes) took place during the wheat harvest, the tradtional date for the birth and death of King David (Shavout). What's in the name "dudaim"? Two Davids.
Rachel is still alive, as Joseph is alive . Her son is known as "the Tzaddik". Even the word another (achar, אחר) as in "another son" = ha-tzaddik (הצדיק), 209. Achar + ha-tzaddik = 209 + 209 = 418 = the letter chet (spelled chet yud tav). Another son, another "ha-tzaddik".
Going back to original names, with the woman hers followed after a situation with a tree and a fruit:
Gen 3
19. In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread [lechem], till you return to the ground [ha-adamah: hei - Adam - hei]; for out of it you were taken; for dust [aphar] you are, and to dust [aphar] shall you return:
20. And Adam called his wife's name Eve (Chavah); because she was the mother of all living [chai]:
Eve: Chavah (חוה, 19) is spelled chet vav hei, "chet and hei". "Chet and hei" - this is the mother of all the living. "8 and 5": 13 = echad = one
Funny thing about cycles of life, how the moon and the sun interrelate and seasonally reset with the metonic cycles. 19 solar years (one metonic cycle) = 235 lunar months. If Rachel were spelled Rahel (with a hei), her name would = 235. Eh, so maybe Chavah and Rachel will exchange letters one day, in order to "return the letter hei".
Why did the King James translators do that anyway in the one instance. It's not like the Hebrew was any different. You'd think they were seeing the letter hei:
Jeremiah 31:15 Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.
Makes sense that "Rahel" had no children, because her name isn't Rahel, it's Rachel. Hey I'm not joking, the weirdness continues over in the KJV's NT reference to this same verse:
Matthew 2:17 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,
Matthew 2:18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
Jeremy, Rama. It's like they were dropping heis all over the floor.
Anyway, just as the word echad (אחד, one) includes the name David when the chet is formed by a dalet and vav (a hei is a yud and dalet), Chavah includes David in its components as well:
dalet vav (chet) - vav - dalet yud (hei).
It all goes back to the mother.
Family lines. It's taken a few thousand years to get this all wrapped up to account for every. single. detail.
And Betulah (Is 62.5) = Beth El = 443, and what do you know, it's also the phone prefix for Bath (ME). Cute. Just thought I'd toss that in.
The woman is responsible for the house.
