His Name Is

As is Your name, O God,
 So is Your praise to the ends of the earth;
 Your right hand is full of righteousness. Psalm 48:10 English NASB (Hebrew Bible 48:11)

As is Your name – “The concept of personal names in the [Old Testament] often included existence, character, and reputation (I Sam 25:25). Often the plural form of šēm is rendered as ‘persons,’ (e.g. Num 1:2, 18, 20; 3:40, 43; 26:55). Further ‘to cut off the name’ was equal to liquidating the person himself (Deut 7:24; 9:14; I Sam 24:21 [H 22] etc.). The name chosen for a child was often descriptive of the parent’s wishes or expectations for the personality that was to mature. This is particularly evident in the renaming process, e.g. Jacob becoming Israel (Gen 35:10). One of the favorite devices (found in seventy-nine passages) was the use of word play; observe this literary form in Jer 1:11–12; Mic 1:10–15; Hos 1:4–5, etc. The same device is found in the Egyptian Westcar Papyrus, a story about the birth of triplets and how they were named and then a pun on each name was recorded!”^[1]

Pay particular attention to Kaiser’s comment about the Westcar Papyrus. Notice that the Hebrew idea of word play names and identity is found in the Egyptian culture. Does that give you pause? What of all those stories in Genesis where names are so significant and where changes in names are purposeful reorientation of lives? Do you suppose that Moses’ recounting of these events drew on Egyptian ideas? Don’t you think that the children of Israel would have been familiar with the importance of name changes as a result of spending hundreds of years under Egyptian influence?

And now jump ahead eight or nine centuries. What about the name “Yeshua”? It is also an obvious word play in Hebrew. Bob Gorelik said, “Re: the name Yeshua – it DOES mean ‘salvation.’ It is just the masculine form of the Hebrew word for salvation, y’shuah (accent on the last syllable) which happens to be feminine. In Mat 1:21, it says: ‘(Mary) will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Yeshua, because he will save his people from their sins.’ – NOT ‘the LORD will save his people from their sins.’ By the way, the Greek word used to transliterate the name ‘Jesus’ is Iesus – it happens to be the Greek word used to translate the name Joshua in the Septuagint. Perhaps that is why so many people are so enamored with the idea that Yeshua’s name is Joshua – but it isn’t. Joshua (Yehoshua) means the ‘LORD is salvation’ or the ‘LORD saves.’ It combines two Hebrew words, the name of God and the word for salvation. The idea that the ‘Hebrew word for “salvation”… is very similar to Messiah’s name, but … spelled differently both in Hebrew and in English’ would be funny, if it wasn’t so sad.”[2]

In other words, YHVH instructs Miriam (“Mary”) to name the child Yeshua because of the play on words in Hebrew with the verb “to save, to deliver.” He knows his name and it is the purpose God intends for him. Anyone who knew his name would marvel at the idea that he was named as the one who saves.

Because names are usually arbitrary phonetic sounds in our culture, we don’t understand the complexity or the power of names in the Bible. We live in a different world. It interferes with our appreciation of God’s orchestration. With the emphasis on names in the Semitic cultures of the ancient Near East, you might ask yourself if you know God’s name. Yes, you know the consonants—YHVH. But do you know the meaning, the purpose, the fullness of His name? And I am not talking about shouting out something in prayer. “Oh, God!” “Oh, Father!” “Oh, Lord.” Or “Oh something” is not knowing His name. Next time you are tempted to use His name, ask yourself first if you know whom you are speaking about.

Topical Index: name, shem, Psalm 48:10, Yeshua, word play

^[1] Kaiser, W. C. (1999). 2405 שֵׁם. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (934). Chicago: Moody Press.

[2]Robert Gorelik in private correspondence

A Note on Paleo-Hebrew: Sometime around the first of August the study of the Paleo-Hebrew Ten Commandments will be available on the web site. The lectures were given in Virginia Beach and Phoenix and after several days, we only made it to the fourth commandment. The material is rich and deep. The work will be available only as a PDF download because it contains so many images of Paleo-Hebrew terms. It is about 150 pages. I’ll make a brief announcement when it is ready.