Ten Figures Introduced by the Ominous Word He Is

“He [hu] was a mighty hunter before the Lord” – there five instances of hu10When hu (meaning “he is” or “he was”) is used to introduce a description of a person just named. that are in a good sense and five instances of hu that are in a bad sense. [These are the bad ones:] “He was a mighty hunter before the Lord”; “He is Esau, father of Edom” (Genesis 36:43); “He was Datan, and Aviram” (Numbers 26:9); “He was King Aḥaz” (II Chronicles 28:22); “He was Aḥashverosh” (Esther 1:1).

And five are in a good sense: “Abram, he is Abraham” (I Chronicles 1:27); “He was Moses, and Aaron” (Exodus 6:27); “He is Aaron, and Moses” (Exodus 6:26); “He was King Hezekiah” (II Chronicles 32:30); “He was Ezra, ascended from Babylon” (Ezra 7:6). Rabbi Berekhya in the name of Rabbi Ḥanin: We have one that is even better than them all: “He is the Lord our God” (Psalms 105:7), meaning that His attribute of mercy is eternal.