PARBAR. A term identified with parvârîm (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘ suburbs ,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘precincts’) of 2 Kings 23:11 and applied to part of the Temple buildings lying on the W., where two Levites were stationed ( 1 Chronicles 26:18 ). The word is supposed to be of Persian origin and to have been taken over into Hebrew to indicate a colonnade or portico open to the light. The pl. form parvârîm ( 2 Kings 23:11 ) describes the situation of the ‘chamber of Nathanmelech,’ and might be translated ‘in the colonnades,’ but it is difficult to understand how a Persian word could occur so early. Either the word is a late explanatory addition to the text, or perhaps we have a different word altogether, describing the office of Nathanmelech. If we read bappÄ•râdîm instead of bapparvârîm , we get the meaning ‘who was over the mules.’
W. F. Boyd.