One of my great-grandsons is named Isaac, another is named Judah. Obviously, both are Bible names. Names for sons and daughters in the ancient world, and among various cultures, had some deliberate meaning, perhaps expectation. In the modern style the old formations may seem quaint, even forced. Some of the doubts of persons about the Bible relate to naming about events and persons, so they turn them into fables or tribal parables about events rather than the events themselves. For them in different cultures, the old seems contrived, even false. For purposes of God some persons were given pseudonyms for names to separate them from their own private experiences and lives so to illustrate principles without settling judgment on real persons. I have no doubt that on occasion that has been the case, especially for authors (Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain). What was a real life and situation is lifted out of a local reality and made a general pattern to be followed or rejected. The point here is that naming infants once meant something related to family life, and was seen as informative in some way. The American Indian generally used nature. It is likely that Sitting Bull’s parents saw a bull on or about his day of birth, a bull half reclining in a field of buffalo grass, so the baby was named. Flying Cloud was an easy one. Chief Joseph was an indication that something new was appearing in American aboriginal culture. Cultures with original meanings lost have emerged through the centuries, especially related to connotations.
The general American culture emerged using Bible names commonly – an indication of the influence of the Bible on daily life in Europe and America. When John Wycliffe graduated from university many centuries ago, four of every five classmates were named John. The Apostles and their protégés came off well in the naming sweepstakes so we have many males named John, James, Paul, Timothy, Peter, and others. For the girls there were many through the centuries named Elizabeth, Mary, Ruth, Lydia, Sarah, Rebekah, Martha, Esther. I wanted Bible names for our children, and so did my wife, so we had Sharon, Mark and David. Five years after our third child, we were about to have another. We had discussions about names. If a girl I wanted Rachel, but my wife, touched by the story in the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, wanted Jody. We agreed on Rachel Jody Lee. (Everyone, including me, calls her Jody. Her mother won this one.) All this has been somewhat amended so that names are chosen because of the sound, or the leaning toward nick-names as for William (Bill or Billy); Robert (Bob); Edward (Ed or Eddie). The Afro-American community is tending toward creating names apart from those of tradition. Asian-Americans tend to give their children standard western first names, and retain the traditional family names. The point is made here, that names once had a meaning that has given way to a changing concept of a feeling for the name’s sake, not for any historical or nature meaning. It is possible that we may have lost something in the shift.
We are informed in Scripture there would be born a child who would be known as Emmanuel which means God with us. In a poignant scene appearing in the New Testament (Luke 1:5-25; 2: 57-80) even the forerunner of Emmanuel is named John, instead of Zechariah after his father. Then was born Jesus (Savior) named so by an angel. (Luke 2:21) All this has meaning. When anyone said the word Jesus they were saying Savior. It had been used as a common name earlier in Joseph, Joshua, Hosea and now the term that had evolved from that background. But there was a significant difference that was far more commonly understood than we may realize. He was the Christ (Anointed) who would be the Emmanuel. (Luke 2:11). Of all the saviors the people had ever looked to for assistance here was the anointed savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus the human child was also the unique child in the generating from God, so the divine child, providing rescue for mankind. It explains in part the rabid resistance Jesus faced in those held by traditional faith. Here was a person who preached and demonstrated that he would conquer sin through forgiveness and the love of God. They did not realize they would assist in his sacrifice. Nothing has changed in the meaning of his name. The meaning of these Pages relates to Emmanuel (God with us) – Jesus Christ. To gain a full understanding of Jesus (God/man) we do well to study the various names visited to him. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020