Servant of God
Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with wrath, and his facial expression was altered toward Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. He answered by giving orders to heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. Daniel 3:19 NASB
Abed-nego – Daniel’s friends had Hebrew names. We just don’t remember them by their real names. We remember them by the names given to them in Babylon; names that reveal the impact of cultural expectation and the conflict with Israel’s God. Daniel’s friend’s real name was Azariah. This Hebrew name means “YHVH has helped.” You can see the combination of Yah with the verb azar. This man’s name was a living testimony to the faithfulness of YHVH. In spite of his captivity, he carried the name of the one true God wherever he went.
Until Nebuchadnezzar changed it.
In Babylon, carrying the name of the God of the conquered was not appropriate. So his name was changed to Abed-nego. And what does Abed-nego mean? “Servant of Nebo.” And who is Nebo? A Babylonian god. The man who was helped by YHVH is to become the servant of a pagan god. The name change is significant. In ancient Near-Eastern thought, naming produces existence. If I rename you, I call into existence something new. I “convert” you from whatever you were before into the essence of your new name. “Yah has helped” becomes a “servant of Nebo.” A Hebrew is converted into a Babylonian. A follower of YHVH becomes a servant of a false god. In Babylon, your name should reflect what the culture believes, not what you used to believe. By the way, all of these men once had names about YHVH and all of them are converted into Babylonians.
So what’s your name? Does it reflect the popular culture? Have you been “converted” into a Babylonian? Most parents today don’t even think that names have essential properties. Names are merely sounds, sometimes associated with a family tradition, sometimes with a celebrity, sometimes with something important to the parents. But few today think like the ancient cultures of the Near-East. As a result, most names in the West have little to do with God—and a great deal to do with our culture. Perhaps that’s why your true name, the one that God inscribed on His palm, will be yours when you are revealed as the one He designed you to be. Once we understand the thinking of the Near-East, name conversions become an important part of the Bible.
You have a name. Perhaps you know the history of your name. Perhaps you know why you were named with this particular sound. But perhaps you have never considered your name from the perspective of the biblical ancient Near-East. Perhaps you were “converted” from the moment you were named and now it’s time to renew the name God gave you, the secret name you have carried since conception that reveals who you were designed to be. Perhaps it’s time to refuse to be abed-nego and recover azariah.
Topical Index: abed-nego, azariah, names, Daniel 3:19
Thanks Skip, This piece is great. I talked to the kids in the township highschool about their names and will use your ” Servant of God” to add to my talk.
I have in the last few years become very interested in the origins and meanings of names but never thought about what my “TRUE” name is or what it means. How do we acquire our secret name, how do we rename ourselves? I do know the origin and meanings of our family’s Babylonian names, but to have a name in the Hebrew would be like coming home.
I would love to know what my true name is, that would be awesome , skip do you know how we could find out? That when the master calls me by my rightful name can you imagine! What a joy that will be, just thinking about it I can’t describe the feeling, thanks skip for this. SHALOM!
I’m afraid that only YHVH knows.
Ask Him
See Revelation 2:17 (The white stone/new name verse). A while back Skip posted a piece by George MacDonald concerning this new name.
I’ve had to go back and study the last three WFD. Asking Yah for our name is necessary. How else will we discover our purpose. The question then becomes will I pursue that purpose. New thinking. New direction. Great hope. Onward.
Bob
Abstractions without purpose frustrate me. I like the way I see this study going.
My first name means “Stranger” as in stranger in the land. My middle name means “christian”; and i’ve often told people a stranger ‘christian’ they are likely to never meet. It just fits me, all the way around, even if it isn’t my ‘true name’, in the end.
Skip – My first and middle names are Jordan and Zacharey. My parents, although not Jewish, somehow gave me two hebrew names. Zacharey, I know, means “Yah remembers”, or “Remembered of Yah”. This pleases me to know this. My first name means “descending”. Since I learned this it has bothered me because I view it as having a negative connotation. Can you shed some light on my first name and either confirm my understanding, or hopefully give me some reason to not view my name in a negative light? I was always proud to share the name of the Yarden river, but with this new knowledge I have been skeptical of it. Please advise.
I wish I could help, but the meanings of names is not my area. And my point was that names given by parents are not the same as names given by YHVH, so that means more work, more listening and more waiting.
Hey Jordan, just a quick note. Scripture is filled with directions, not only north and south, etc. but up and down as well. While nothing in itself is “inherently” negative, what we do with it is the question. Descending isn’t always about destruction, although it has that capability. If the snow just stayed on the top of the mountain, it couldn’t water the fields. It’s a servant term (yes, even in the instance of the satan being thrown down from heaven, it’s for God’s purpose). Who’s the greatest in the Kingdom?
YHWH bless you and keep you……….
My name may not be the name by which God calls me, but even my “Babylonian” name is not without significance in my spiritual walk. Alicia means “truth” and my middle name, Renea, means “rebirth”.
Hmmmm. 😉
Alethia is the Greek for “truth.” You might find it interesting to see how it differs from emunah.
Does that mean we have to wait to find out? Or can we start to kind of feel it out as we walk more with Him. An example if I’m drawn to something could it be that’s my Hebrew name…maybe? And are we even suppose to try to figure it out – or is that a worthless rabbit hole. I ask this in all honesty. But you are so right, everyone gets these name changes, I want one.