Barar, “To select,” Strong’s H1305

First occurrence

With the pure You will show Yourself pure; and with the perverse You will show Yourself perverse. 2 Sam 22:27

(In the Scripture Picture: And I will purge …)

The primitive root

Strong’s H1305 ברר barar, a primitive verb meaning, “to separate or sever, to select or choose.” The ancient pictorgraphs are bet + resh + resh.

bet ב = house, thus house, household, family, in, within
resh ר =  head of man, thus head, first, top, beginning, man
resh ר =  head of man, thus head, first, top, beginning, man

Bet + resh together is painting the picture of the family (bet) of heads (resh), i.e. ripened grain. Ripened grain, after it is harvested, is threshed to separate the wheat from the chaff, a process which selects (bet + resh) the choice (resh) or usuable portion of the grain. The connection to clean, pure, is that the grain stalks were then burned, and the ash used to make soap used for cleansing.

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