אָצַל

# אָצַל (atsal): To Reserve or Set Aside The Hebrew verb אָצַל appears only five times in the biblical text, making it a relatively rare word with a focused semantic domain. Its definition—"to reserve"—indicates an action of deliberately setting something apart or withholding it from general use. This suggests intentional separation with a purpose: the word denotes not merely placing items in a location, but removing them from circulation or availability for a specific reason. The scarcity of this word in biblical Hebrew (only five occurrences) indicates it served a particular function rather than being a common everyday term. Despite its limited frequency, its presence across the biblical corpus shows that the concept of reserving or setting aside held sufficient importance to warrant a dedicated verb. This specificity suggests contexts where distinguishing between ordinary use and deliberate preservation mattered—such as ritual, storage, or the allocation of resources according to specific rules or purposes. Without access to the individual biblical passages where אָצַל appears, we cannot determine whether it was used primarily in legal, religious, or domestic contexts. However, the consistent definition across all occurrences points to a stable semantic value: the word reliably conveyed the notion of deliberate separation for purposes of reservation throughout the biblical period.