The Hebrew verb chabar means to join together, to associate with, to bind in fellowship, or to practice magic spells (in its darker uses). It covers a broad range of 'joining' — from physical attachment to social union to dangerous alliance.
Chabar expresses the power of partnership and covenant solidarity. Ecclesiastes declares that 'two are better than one' — and chabar is the bonding that makes it so (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10). Psalm 122:3 describes Jerusalem as 'bound firmly together' (chabar) — the city that unites the tribes. But chabar also warns: when Israel 'joined' (chabar) the worship of Baal-Peor (Psalm 106:28), they became bound to death. The same word that describes holy fellowship can describe idolatrous entanglement — a warning about the power and danger of whom or what we join ourselves to.