NAMES MATTER

Exodus 20:7 states: "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain."

Names in Scripture are not just labels but revelations of identity, character, calling, and relationship—both for God and for human beings. 

The Second Commandment underscores the profound holiness of God's name by prohibiting its misuse, reflecting its intimate connection to divine identity and authority.

This protects "the name" as a revelation of God's essence, demanding reverence rather than casual or irreverent use.

Observant Jews use Hashem in conversation—"Baruch Hashem" for "Thank God"—to express gratitude or faith, preserving the mystery of the divine while bearing His name through righteous living. 

Hashem, meaning "The Name" in Hebrew (הַשֵּׁם), serves as a reverent substitute for the sacred Tetragrammaton YHWH (יהוה), the personal name of God revealed in Scripture.

Names Matter

To say “names matter in the Bible” is to say that naming is a theological act bound up with creation, covenant, and destiny. 

Jewish mysticism and midrashic traditions, holds that an angel whispers the child's destined name to the mother at birth, infusing it with prophetic significance tied to the soul's essence.

This belief posits that parents receive a spark of divine inspiration (רוּחַ הַקֹּדֶשׁ) the Ruach Hakodesh when selecting a name, guided by an angel who reveals the name "from on high" that matches the infant's neshamah (soul).  Midrash suggests parents intuitively know this name, embodying one-sixtieth of prophecy, ensuring the child's identity aligns with heavenly decree.

Call Me By My Other Name

Me - Tashlich 2016

Everyone who knows me prior to 2016 calls me by my first name, "Bobby." During the Jewish High Holidays, between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, I asked everyone at my temple to call me by other name, my Hebrew middle name, Jonah. 

At the time, I wrote this explanation. 

What a “Name” Means:

In biblical thought a name expresses a person’s essence, character, or nature, not just a sound used to address them.

To know someone’s name is, in some sense, to know the person. Names often summarize a life-calling or destiny: they can be prophetic, commemorative (marking an event), or descriptive of a person’s character or circumstances.

God’s Name and God’s Self-Revelation

The Second Commandment’s prohibition of taking the divine name in vain presupposes that the name of the Lord is holy and intimately tied to God’s own being. 

Calling on the name of the Lord is associated with salvation and covenant loyalty, for example Joel 2:26 -- 

You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
And praise the name of the Lord your God,
Who has dealt wondrously with you;
And My people shall never be put to shame.

 Joel 2:32--

And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls. 

At the burning bush, in Exodus 3:14 God reveals the name “I Am Who I Am” (Hebrew: Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh), a self-designation that discloses God’s eternal, self-existent nature and ongoing faithfulness. 

Name Changes and New Identity

When God changes a person’s name, it signals a deep shift in identity and mission: Abram (“exalted father”) becomes Abraham (“father of many nations”) with the covenant promise that many nations will come from him.

Jacob (“supplanter” or “heel-grabber”) becomes Israel, “for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed,” marking a transformed relationship with God and a new role as the patriarch of Israel.

CHRIST-MAS

I trust everyone knows that "Christ" is Greek for the Hebrew word Messiah is Mashiach (מָשִׁיחַ). In Greek, "mas" (μας) is a possessive and personal pronoun meaning "our." So Christ-mas is essentially "Our Messiah." Therefore, Christmas is the celebration of the birth of "Our Messiah."

This begs the question of "who is the our" in that statement. It is fair to say that it is "the world" which includes the Jew and the Gentile. In fact, Jesus came for the Jew first. He also prophetically said that "the first would be last in the last would be first." Haven't we seen that enough times in the stories of the Hebrew Patriarchs? I'm reminded of Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.

One God

Prior to Jesus, the only flame of holy Light, was burning in the temple in Jerusalem, in Zion.  With the birth of Jesus, a new Light was established. 

יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ יְהֹוָ֥ה | אֶחָֽד

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Deuteronomy 6:4

Hashem tells us the Light is אֶחָֽד Echad, One. On Hanukkah, in John 10, Jesus makes the statement that rocks the world. 

 "I and My Father are one.” -- John 10:30

Tonight, on the last night of Hanukkah, the supernatural 8th night, I will be lighting the Menorah at a senior home in Millbrook called "The Fountains." How fitting! A devine appointment. I'm sure there will be Jews and Christians there.  If I have my way, we will all be one! 

The Birth of Jesus

With Christmas, the Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus just days away, and with so much strife in the world, it helps to understand the name of Jesus. 

Isaiah 7:14 foretells: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us). 

The Hebrew text word virgin reads "almah (עַלְמָה)" which is literally "young woman." The Jewish understanding of an almah is a "young woman" of marriageable age, implying sexual maturity but not necessarily virginity. 

Interestingly, Mary's (Miriam) "to be husband" Joseph has the same question about Mary's "virginity." Mary's betrothal to Joseph mirrors almah's profile: a young, pledged woman whose unexpected pregnancy prompts Joseph's concern over fidelity (Matthew 1:18-19). 

This sets the stage for Isaiah's sign of divine intervention when an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, he instructed him, “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21 NKJV). 

Sounds Familiar

Yeshua, or Joshua, Jesus’ name in Hebrew, means “Yahweh saves” or “The Lord is salvation.” Where have we heard the concept of "Yahweh saves” or “The Lord is salvation” before?  One answer is in the book of Jonah, verse 2.9:

וַאֲנִ֗י בְּק֚וֹל תּוֹדָה֙ אֶזְבְּחָה־לָּ֔ךְ אֲשֶׁ֥ר נָדַ֖רְתִּי אֲשַׁלֵּ֑מָה יְשׁוּעָ֖תָה לַֽיהֹוָֽה" 

But I, with a voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to You; that which I have vowed, I will pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD!

That proclamation is enough. Immediately after Jonah declairs "Salvation belongs to the LORD!" Is verse Jonah 2:10

"And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land."

The book of Jonah starts by telling us in 

Jonah 1.1 "And the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai"

Jonah is the son of Truth. Jonah, (pronounced Yona in Hebrew) means "Dove."  There is another time in scripture when a Dove, a "Yona" is linked to dry land. It is in the story of the Great Flood and the New Creation told to us in Genesis 8:8.

"He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground."

The Dove (Yona) is the sign of the new earth, new creation!

The verses continue 8:9-13

But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark.  Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.

And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. 

Jonah 2.9 -- But I, with a voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to You; that which I have vowed, I will pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD! 

Baruch Hashem -- Thank God.