What's in a name

NAME (noun)
A word by which a person, animal, place, or thing is known, addressed or referred to.

In Biblical times the giving of names was usually an indication of the season, place, time and circumstances surrounding the birth of a baby. Today, depending on the culture we are born into, naming is done in a variety of ways but it rarely has anything to do with the literal circumstances of the birth. Regardless of how we go about naming, my questions are:

1) Are names important to God? 

2) What effect do they have on our lives, if any?

The importance of a NAME

The scripture evidence of the importance of names to God is clearly seen in Genesis, where God changed Abram to Abraham. 

From Abram to Abraham:

Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. (Gen 17:5 KJV)

From Sarai to Sarah:

And God said unto Abraham, “As for Sarai thy wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her and give thee a son also of her; yea I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be of her.” Then Abraham fell upon his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? And shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before Thee!” Then God said: “Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. (Gen 17:15-19 KJV)

Abram means "exalted father", whilst Abraham means "father of a multitude"*
Sarai means "princess", whilst Sarah means "noble woman"*

Isaac means "he laughed"*

Even before Abraham’s renaming, we see in that whilst He brought forth all creation, how in His pleasure, God also gave names: God called the light, Day and the darkness He called, Night… And God called the firmament Heaven... And God called the dry land, Earth.  (Gen 1:5-8 KJV)

After God created Adam (whose name means "man" and also denotes the Hebrew root word for "red" or "ruddy"* i.e. coming from the earth) He then brought the animals and birds to Adam "to see what he would call them and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof."  (Gen. 2:19 KJV)

Part of Adam's dominion and authority over the earth was to give names. It seems that God took such pleasure in naming creation, He wanted Adam to experience the same. Names often reveal the function or nature of an animal or bird, and so too for us, it has a part to play in the unfolding of our lives.

So it’s clear if God changed names and gave names, they have significance but not just to God...

The effect of a NAME

Did Abraham become the "father of a multitude"? Yes, He did! His descendants stretch through the generations, as the stars in the heaven and the sand on the seashore. (Gen. 22:17)

Did Sarah become the mother of many nations and did kings of peoples come from this noble woman? Yes!

The book of Ruth is a good example of how names affect destinies. The events in the book of Ruth take place at a time of famine. People were so desperate for food, that one Israelite family even set out for the country of Moab (not exactly friendly territory) to try and survive. Let’s look at the names of the main people mentioned in this book:

·        Elimelech (head of the family) means “my God is king”*

·        Naomi, (Elimelech’s wife) means “my delight”*

·       Mahlon (a son of Elimelech & Naomi) means “sick”*, which is derived from “chalah” in Hebrew, meaning: to be or become weak, be or become sick, be or become diseased, be or become grieved, be or become sorry

·        Chilion (another son) – meaning “pining”*, which is derived from “killayown” in Hebrew, meaning: 1) completion, destruction, consumption, annihilation, 2) failing, pining

·        Ruth (daughter-in-law) means “friendship”*

·        Orpah (daughter-in-law) means “gazelle”*, derived from “oreph”, meaning back of the neck; stiff of neck or obstinate.

·        Boaz means “fleetness”, rapidity of movement*

As the story unfolds we see the death of Elimelech, the head of the household. His sons had chosen wives from the women of Moab but just ten years later, both sons die. Is this surprising considering the meaning of their names?

So Naomi plans to return to Bethlehem where she is from but she tells her daughters-in-law Ruth and Orpah to go back to their mothers; their people and their gods as there seems to be no future for them with her. Naomi was insistent. After an initial reluctance, Orpah does go back to her people. But Ruth says this:

“Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. 

(Ruth 1: 16 NKJV)

How clearly we see the friendship in Ruth being displayed here! Ruth is not just offering to hold Naomi's hand or accompany her back to Bethlehem, she makes a commitment to stick, no matter what comes - she literally lived out her name and her God-given destiny.

Upon her return to her town, Naomi no longer wants to be called Naomi, she recognises that circumstances have left her anything but "delighted" so she says to the women of Bethlehem, call me “Mara”:

Now the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem. And it happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, that all the city was excited because of them; and the women said, “Is this Naomi?”But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”

(Ruth 1:19-21 NKJV)

As for Boaz, when he was approached to “redeem” the land and widow (Ruth), which he was in a position to do, he acted swiftly. Not only did he know that he needed to act swiftly but so did Naomi, for she said to Ruth:

“Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will turn out; for the man will not rest until he has concluded the matter this day.”

(Ruth 3: 18 NKJV)

It is clear to see how our names and the meaning of our names affect our lives. Not only the names that we are given on our birth certificates but also nicknames or aliases, anything from which identity is derived important.

For my part, I have three names. The first two are of Hindu origin. The third is of Greek. All three of them have meanings. The first two were given after consultation with a Hindu priest. The effect was that partly due to these names and their meanings, my destiny in Jesus had been blocked. Thankfully, the solution is quite easy. The blood of Jesus washed away all of those meanings, all of the effects of those meanings and I was released from the bondage of being called names and destinies that were not meant for me.

I was consistently bullied through high school and even the power of those names that I had been called, have been washed away by the blood of Jesus. The effects of those names (trauma, sadness, rejection) have also all disappeared because again, the blood of Jesus washes us whiter than snow.

Jesus shows us in Matthew 5:22 how what we call others, even in a moment of anger, has consequences: 

But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. (NKJV)

"Raca" is of Aramaic origin and means: empty, i.e. a senseless, empty headed man*

Names are important and affect all our God-given destinies. 

*Source: Blue Letter Bible