MADNESS — the noun of meshugga, the madman. ⭐ It stands in three verses of the Hebrew Bible: Deuteronomy 28:28, madness and blindness and bewilderment of heart; 2 Kings 9:20, where the watchman knows Jehu by his driving, for he drives madly; and Zechariah 12:4 (neither yet on these pages), where all three of Deuteronomy’s nouns fall on cavalry — I will strike every horse with bewilderment and its rider with madness … every horse of the peoples with blindness. Its two companions, ivvaron and timhon, each stand only in those two verses. ⚠ The participle meshugga (28:34) becomes, after this chapter, mostly what people call prophets: David feigning it at Gath (1 Samuel 21:16), the officer’s word for Elisha’s messenger (2 Kings 9:11), Jeremiah 29:26 (already on these pages), every madman who prophesies, and Hosea 9:7. → first discussed at Deut 28:28