Palu

פלוא


Genesis 46:9 names him as a son of Re'u-Ven.

Exodus 6:14 confirms that Re'u-Ven was the first-born son of Ya'akov (Jacob), and names his offspring as Chanoch (חֲנוֹךְ) Palu (פַלּוּא), Chetsron (חֶצְרוֹן) and Karmi (כַּרְמִי).

Numbers 26:5 ff again confirms Re'u-Ven's first-born status, and again names his offspring as Chanoch (חֲנוֹךְ) Palu (פַלּוּא), Chetsron (חֶצְרוֹן) and Karmi (כַּרְמִי). On this occasion the descendants of Palu are also listed, but not those of his three brothers; this is in order to point out the tribal origins of Datan (דָתָן) and Avi-Ram (אֲבִירָם), two of the principal conspirators in the Korachite rebellion against Mosheh, described ten chapters earlier in Numbers 16. Palu's son was Eli-Av (אֱלִיאָב); in addition to Datan and Avi-Ram, Palu also fathered Nemu-El (נְמוּאֵל), his first-born.

The root, and the reason why the name ends with an Aleph (א), is the Aramaic Palah (פלא) = "to separate" or "to distinguish"; in one of its secondary meanings, however, we have Pel'e (פלא), or sometimes Phel'e, for something wonderful or supernaturally extraordinary, even a divine miracle (Exodus 15:11; Psalm 77:12, 78:12 and 88:11). Lamentations 1:9 gives Pela'im (פלאים) for "wonders" and Daniel 12:6 has Pela'ot (פלאות) likewise.

In Polynesian mythology, and specifically in Hawaii, Pele is a goddess of fire, lightning, dance, volcanoes and violence. (In Brazil Pele is a god of football, and the nickname may not be accidental.)

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