A personal name meaning 'God is my happiness' or 'vow of God' โ borne by a descendant of Manasseh and a son of Gilead.
The name Asriel (H844) combines asher (H835, happy/blessed) with El (God), producing 'God is my joy' or 'God has filled with happiness.' It appears in Numbers 26:31 as a clan of Manasseh, in Joshua 17:2 as a son of Gilead receiving a territorial allotment, and in 1 Chronicles 7:14 as a descendant of Manasseh by an Aramean concubine. Though primarily a genealogical name, its meaning is theologically rich.
Personal names in the OT were not mere labels but theological confessions โ compressed statements of faith or hope. Asriel ('God is my joy') parallels the beatitude-spirit of Psalm 144:15: 'Blessed (ashre) is the people whose God is the LORD.' When a Manassite family named their son 'God-is-my-joy,' they were encoding a doctrine of divine happiness into their genealogy. God is not merely the source of blessing but is Himself the joy โ a truth the NT amplifies in Philippians 4:4: 'Rejoice in the Lord always.'