Tuesday, April 20
Though the names of God come with spiritual and theological significance, they do not end just with God. Names of people in the ancient Near East were not just meaningless ways of identification as often they are to us. To name a girl Mary or Susy does not make much of a difference today. For the ancient Semites, however, human names came heavy-laden with spiritual significance. All Semitic names of people have meaning and usually consist of a phrase or short sentence that comprised of a wish or an expression of gratitude on the part of the parent. For example, Daniel means “God is my judge”; Joel means “Yahweh is God”; or Nathan means “Gift of God.”
Because of the significance attached to names, names would often be changed to reflect a radical change in someone’s life and circumstances.
Look up the following texts. What situations are they addressing, and why were the names changed in these situations?
3. Daniel 1:7
In one sense, however, it is not that hard, even for modern minds, to understand the significance of what a person is called. There are subtle and, at times, not so subtle effects. If someone is constantly called “stupid” or “ugly,” and if those are the appellations used for them all the time by a lot of people — sooner or later those names could have an impact on how the person views himself or herself. In the same way, by giving people certain names, or changing their names, it seems possible to influence how they would view themselves and thus influence how they would act.
With this in mind, it is not so hard to understand why God would want to change Abram to Abraham. Abram means “Father is exalted”; God changed it to Abraham, which means “Father of a multitude.” When you look at the covenant promise in which God says “And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee”(Genesis 17:6), the name change makes better sense. Perhaps it was God’s way of helping Abraham trust in the covenant promise, which was being made to a 99-year-old man married to an old woman who had up until that time been barren. In short, God did it to help increase Abraham’s faith in God’s promises to him.
