So What's a Name?

Your name implies who you are. More importantly a good name in biblical names meant more than just a good reputation, it expressed the essence or identity of that person.

There are 3 aspects to names and naming that we need to be aware of, especially when talking about biblical names.

1. Identity

A person's name identified something about that person's character or circumstances. For example Sarah (Genesis 17:17, 21:6) had her first son Isaac when she was in her 90's, do you know what the first thing she did was? She laughed. Do you know what Isaac means in Hebrew? Laughter. Another great example is Moses, when he was born his mother put him in a basket in the river, and Pharaoh's daughter drew him out of the the river (Exodus 2). What do you think Moses means? To draw out. If you dig a little deeper, peel back another layer you find that Moses drew the people out of Egypt. Amazing, simply amazing.

2. Knowledge

It was understood that the namer knew something about the named and his/her circumstances. For example Adam named (or classified) the animals (Genesis 2:18-25). This knowledge implies more than just knowing something about who they are individually and goes much deeper than that. It means that namer understands us completely, from begining to end, top to the bottom. In Exodus 33 God told Moses that he knows him by name, this was huge for him and it's huge for us still today.

3. Authority

In order to name someone you had to have authority over that person, or things (Adam and the animals). God changed Abram's name to Abraham (Gen 17:5) and Pharaoh changed Joseph's name (Gen 41:45).

I go through all of this to tell you that your name is who you are. When people hear your name they think of you. They picture the things that you've done, or haven't done. Our name can shape who we are.........

BUT

If you look in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 you find this guy named Jabez whose name means pain, or sorrow, or suffering. What a horrible name to walk around with, almost as bad as a boy named Sue. Now Jabez did not allow his name that his mother gave him to dictate what his future would be like. He drew his Identity straight from God...... WOW. That's what we can do today. No matter the crap in our lives or the things people associate our names with we have the oppurtunity to draw our Identity from God. Which is what he intended for us to do in the first place.

Here's a good site to find out what your name means: Behind The Name