In the last teaching I touched on how a part of our identity is formed from our name. I also taught that everything has a name, unless it's a thing. Today I would like us to explore the idea of "name assigning" from a Biblical, Jewish perspective.
I find it interesting how parents during those times, named their children. A child was given a name based on the circumstances surrounding their birth. If they were a "wanted" child they had a name more endearing. But if there were difficulties at their birth, the name chosen was reflective of that difficulty.
This was usually how the naming process went, except for when God told the parents to give the child a specific name. His actions in doing this lead me to believe that what they were called was very important. Most of the names assigned in the Bible, were fitting to that person. However, we do see several places where a person's birth name was changed either by that person, another person or God.
Let's look at the first example of a name change.
Other's doing-
Now among them from the sons of Judah were Daniel (God is my judge), Hananiah (God has favored), Mishael (who is what God is) and Azariah (Jehovah has helped). Then the commander of the officials assigned new names to them; and to Daniel he assigned the name Belteshazzar (lord of the straightened treasure), to Hananiah - Shadrach (royal, or the great scribe) to Mishael - Meshach (guest of a king) and to Azariah -Abed-(servant of nebo). (Daniel 1:6, 7)
Now let's look at the second example of a name change.
Self doing-
So they both went until they came to Bethlehem. And when they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was stirred because of them, and the women said, “Is this Naomi?” She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi (my delight); call me Mara (bitterness), for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. (Ruth 1:19, 20)
Here's the third example of a name change.
God's doing-
Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob (he who supplants or held by the heel), but Israel (God prevails); for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.” (Genesis 32:24-28)
Above we see three perceptions. How others see us, how we see ourselves and how God sees us. Let's call this the "me, myself and I" point of views. We are made up of body, soul and spirit.
The body: represents how you see me. It did not matter what Hebrew name Daniel and his three counterparts had, the commander of the officials was not going to call them by those names because who they believed themselves to be didn't mean anything to him. The only thing he was concerned with was his perception of the men.
The soul: represents how I see myself. Isn't it something that even though others saw Naomi as blessed she was unable to receive herself how they saw her? Unlike the previous example of how people see you, this time it goes a little deeper into self perception. Naomi saw herself through a different lens than those around her. She misjudged her circumstances as a bad thing and decided to change her name to create a person God never intended for her to live.
And lastly,
I: this represents who God sees. This is the person you really are. This is the person who God created with potential and purpose. Sometimes others can misname us and we can misname ourselves, so God speaks up and tells us exactly who we are. Jacob had to wrestle with the Angel in order to find out who he was. From his birth he had been known as supplanter. That night Jacob wrestled with the opinion of man and his desire to know what God felt about him and he prevailed. He had determined not to let the angel go until he blessed him. And the angel did just that...he blessed him- with a name change.
This is where many people are today. They know what they have been called by others and they know what they call themselves and yet they are still unsure of who they are. Is it possibly an encounter with Jehovah that is needed in order to achieve the desired answer? Yes, because He is the only one who really knows who you are. He created you!
So much has changed today from the traditional process of name assigning. I think it is safe to say that who you are cannot be determined alone by the name given to you at birth. Many of us have been given names that are total opposite to the desired end God has ordained for us. I wanted to change my name Lucretia (succeed, rich, rewarded, profitable) to Renee (reborn, rebirth) because that's who I wanted them to see. I was rebirthing the image of myself in my own eyes and the eyes of all who saw me.
Today I call myself by my full name because I know who God created me to be. And although, this was the name given me at birth, it still doesn't capture the essence of who I am. That is what I want you to get out of this blog. Yes, it is important how others see you, how you see yourself but more importantly how God sees you. Because His point of view is the only one that is an accurate point of view!
Next week we will study from the topic "If I am not my name - Who am I?"
Daily Declaration- I AM CALLED BY A NEW NAME
You shall be called by a new name, Which the mouth of the Lord will name.
Isaiah 62:2b
Beautiful Lucretia
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