The Significant Name of God (27)
The Use and Non-Use of Names in the
Bible
André H. Roosma
28 October 2024 (Dutch original:
10 March 2024)
Did you ever have a conversation with someone who is completely
head-over-heels in love? What often strikes me is that such a person mentions
the name of the loved one in almost every sentence. That’s how it is with me
too. I am deeply moved by the incredibly great Love of God YaHUaH.1
And that has increased enormously since I started studying that wonderful
Name in the Bible. And there is more...
In the Bible, as I was allowed to discover, names are very important.
Names say something about the bearer. Just an example: Elijah was actually called ’Eli-Yahu in the Hebrew source text. He was the prophet who, in a gigantic happening on Mt Carmel (1 Kings 18:20-40), was allowed to realize that many
learned to say: My God (’El-i) is YaHUaH again.
His name was thus a summary of his greatest life work; his lifetime
achievement.
In various articles in this series, and in others as well, I have already
pointed this out but here I want to reiterate how important the use or non-use
of names in the Bible is. In the Bible, by explicitly mentioning someone's
name, you honor him or her and say that you agree with him or her. By clearly
not mentioning someone’s name, you say that you reject him or her
and/or that you strongly disagree with that person.
Here are some examples (with references to articles in which I discuss this
example in more detail):
- There is one Name that is mentioned about 7000 times in the Bible: the
Name of God Himself: YaHUaH. The entire Bible is inspired by Him and
the entire Bible wants to give Him all the glory. Countless Bible verses
call on us to make His Name known worldwide and to sing praises. See my
elaborated study1 and all articles in this series, especially part (4):
‘Call on God’s glorious Name יהוה -
YaHUaH; where do I find that in the Bible?’ (7 May 2020).
- When tempted by the adversary, Yeshu‘a
mentioned a Bible text in each answer, in which the glorious Name of God the
Father, YaHUaH, was named. The adversary also quoted the Bible in
his temptations, but avoided those verses in which the glorious Name of God,
YaHUaH, was mentioned. See part 17 of this series of articles: ‘What we learn from Jesus’ temptation in the desert’ (12 June 2020).
- The mighty king of Egypt who oppressed Israel there and resisted the
request of YaHUaH to let His people go, is not given a name.
Even the name of the country of Egypt is not mentioned; the Bible speaks
of ארץ מצרים - ’erets mitsraïm - ‘land of
oppressions’.
However, the Bible does explicitly mention the names of the
midwives who ensutred that Moses and many more Israelite boys born in Egypt,
and who thereby obeyed God YaHUaH and civilly disobeyed the command of
the then king of Egypt - see Exodus 1:15-22. Their names were Shifrah and
Pu‘ah, and their names were a compliment to their beauty and conduct, and
YaHUaH blessed them. See also part (9) of this series of articles: ‘The
Bible mentions important persons by Name’ (14 May
2020).
- When the people of Israel stood before the land promised to them, twelve
men were chosen - one from each tribe - to explore the land; all twelve are
mentioned by name (Numbers 13). When they return (Numbers 14) they all tell of
the fertility of the land. However, ten of them add that the cities are
fortified and the people are like giants, so that they will not be able to
enter the land. In doing so, they go completely against what YaHUaH
had promised. They also incite the rest of the Israelites to distrust God YaHUaH. Their names are never mentioned again at that time or
afterwards... However, there are two who say: God YaHUaH will give us
the land! These were Yehoshu‘a (‘YaHUaH is
salvation’) and Kaleb (according to the old symbols
   : ‘the hand of authority
over the Shepherd’s house’; later that word was interpreted as: ‘dog’,
because it watches over the house). These Yehoshu‘a and Kaleb, the two scouts who believed God, are mentioned in
Numbers 14 and then again in Numbers 26 and 32, Yehoshu‘a even more often in the entire Bible...
- The adversary of God is not mentioned by name in the Bible. The
Hebrew text speaks of the שׂטן - satan -
simply Hebrew for ‘adversary’ or ‘accuser’. The Greek of the New or Second
Testament speaks of διάβολος - ‘slanderer’,
‘divider’, or ‘accuser’. These are all descriptive titles, not a name. The
opponent is explicitly not honored in the Bible!
- The Pharisees in the time of Yeshu‘a knew
this principle of mentioning = honoring; not mentioning = not honoring, too.
They therefore preferred not to mention the name of Yeshu‘a. They spoke of Him as ‘this one’ or ‘this man’ (Luke 15:2; Mat.26:61; John 7:46; 9:16,24; 11:47; 18:17; Acts 5:28).
- In the Bible (Exodus 23:13) God YaHUaH Himself tells Israel that
it was forbidden to even mention the names of the idols from Canaan,
but not to treat His Own Name in this way (by not mentioning it):
“Concerning everything I have said to you, be on your guard; You shall not mention the name of other gods, nor shall it be heard from your mouth.” And also (Deuteronomy 12:2-4) “You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations you are dispossessing served their gods, on high mountains and on hills and under every green tree. You shall tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn their Asherah poles in the fire, cut down the carved images of their gods and let their names disappear from that place. You shall not do this to YaHUaH your God.” Clear language!
So we see that names in the Bible are meaningful and important and that there are only two options:
- Someone is worthy in God’s eyes; his or her name is mentioned and we may
mention that name; in the case of very great worthiness it is good to mention
the name of the person - or Person - a lot;
- Someone is not worthy in God’s eyes; his or her name is not mentioned
and we may not mention that name.
The glorious Name of the God of the Bible, YaHUaH, belongs
pre-eminently to the first category: His Name is worthy to be mentioned,
praised and proclaimed many times throughout the entire earth!
Hallelu YaHUaH !
Notes
Previous articles in this series on The significant
Name of God:
‘(26) - The יראת יהוה - Yir’at YaHUaH’
(commonly referred to as ‘the fear of the LORD’, but what does the Bible here
really refer to?), 26 October 2024;
‘(25) - The praise-song
of Mosheh (Moses)’, 13 Oct. 2024;
‘(24) His Name is exalted - call upon His Name!’ (a brief note on Is.12),
14 April 2024;
‘(23) The Speaking God of the Exodus and of the entire Bible’,
6 March 2024;
‘(22) The riches of the Title אֵל רַחוְּם
- ’El Rachum’, 13 March 2021;
‘(21) Why Christianity often ignored The Name YaHUaH’,
21 June 2020;
‘(20) YaHUaH - the true God of the Bible - is involved!’,
19 June 2020;
‘(19) The riches of the Title אֵל שַׁדַּי
- ’El Shaddai’, 17 June 2020;
‘(18) Why Rabbinic Judaism refuses to mention THE NAME’,
14 June 2020;
‘(17) What we learn from Jesus’ temptation in the desert’,
12 June 2020.
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