Bible Encyclopedias
Melzar

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

mel´zar ( המּלצר , ha - melcar ; Septuagint Ἀβιεσδρί , Abiesdrı́ , Theod. Ἁμελσάδ , Hamelsád ): Possibly a transliteration of the Babylonian Ameluucur, the officer to whom was entrusted the bringing-up of Daniel and his three companions ( Daniel 1:11 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "the steward," margin "Hebrew: Hammelzar"). It has been suggested that the name is not the name of a person, but denotes the office of guardian, like the Babylonian maṣṣaru . In this case the l would come by dissimulation from the first of the two ṣ sounds, which on its side has come from an assimilated n , the root being naṣaru , "to protect" "to guard."