What’s in a Name?

 Why are names important?  

How often to you encounter names like Judas or Jezebel?  Or how about Ninel (Lenin spelled backward), Semaj (James spelled backward), Derfla (Alfred spelled backward).  

Usually names are chosen to inspire and encourage, but now it seems as if names are an afterthought created by picking up a spilled Scrabble board.

In this Biblical lesson, we look at the greatest name of all and WHY this name is so great. Isaiah 42:1-12 speaks of a coming “servant” who would represent God. Stop and think about that for a moment.  A human being on this earth who represents God. In this context the word represent means to show, express, display, bring to mind.  It may also refer to symbolize, serve as a type or embodiment of. It may also refer to being the representative of the authority of another. This word arises from ancient words prae and esse, referring to before and to be respectively.

This suffering servant’s mission was to represent God and God’s name to humanity accurately, and to bring honor and glory to God’s name. Let’s discover how Isaiah said this suffering servant would do that.

Isaiah 42:1-4

1 “This is my servant; I strengthen him, this is my chosen one; I delight in him. I have put my Spirit on him; he will bring justice to the nations. 2 He will not cry out or shout or make his voice heard in the streets. 3 He will not break a bruised reed, and he will not put out a smoldering wick; he will faithfully bring justice. 4 He will not grow weak or be discouraged until he has established justice on earth. The coasts and islands will wait for his instruction.”

Isaiah is often called the prince of biblical prophets because his tenure as prophet spanned four kings and almost sixty years, dating from 740–680 B.C. That is some 700 years Before Christ, or what our “modern” culture likes to call Before Common Era in order to remove any reference to a Christ or anointed one.  Yet this common era referred to IS the date reckoned from the birth of the person known as Jesus Christ, or more accurately Yeshua the Christos.

Isaiah’s book has the most sweeping prophecies of this anointed one of God, also termed messiah (from Hebrew mashiach) from which the Greek term christos or as we know it today christ arises. Isaiah covers everything from how this anointed one would enter the world, to how he would leave it. 

Two themes fill these verses: justice and humility. Justice is mentioned three times. This anointed servant will: 

Bring justice to the nations, including the Gentiles, i.e. all non-Jewish peoples.

Faithfully bring justice. He will be true to the creator's purpose. 

Establish justice on earth. He will not be disheartened until His work is finished. 

The word used for justice means “a fair judgment” or “to set things right.” The servant is to set things right between God and all His rebellious children, and God has empowered his chosen servant to bring his justice to the earth.

While we are discussing names, Isaiah's  name means “Yahweh saves.” He ministered in the southern Kingdom of Judah although he also prophesied concerning the northern Kingdom of Israel. Isaiah’s wife is called “the prophetess” and she and Isaiah had at least two sons. Their symbolic names conveyed warnings to God’s people.  Their sons names were Shear-jashub meaning “a remnant will return”; and Maher-shalal-hash-baz means “the spoil speeds, the prey hastens.” How would you like either of those for your name?

Themes that Isaiah emphasized include divine sovereignty and holiness. Chapter 42 contains the first of what biblical scholars have identified as servant songs or poems.  The servant suffers not for any wrong he has done but rather for the sins of others. Christians believe these songs find their ultimate fulfillment in Jesus.  The Hebrew belief is that Isaiah’s descriptors are descriptors for the Hebrew People.  These verses describe the role of the Messiah.

The Servant’s mission involved bringing justice, not only to Israel or Judah, but also to the nations. The Hebrew word translated nations can also be rendered “Gentiles”--non-Jewish peoples who were not in relationship with the Lord. 

The Hebrew word rendered justice in these verses can convey a broad range of meanings. It refers to all functions of governing, and the terms a bruised reed/smoldering wick suggest items that appear weak and useless. The common reed grew in shallow water or wet salty sand. When the fragile stalk was cracked or broken it was not strong enough to hold up its plumage and would fall over, unable to stand on its own.

Lamp wicks were typically made of twisted flax. Lights symbolically depicted life in abundance in biblical times in contrast to death and darkness. A smoldering wick refers to one burning with smoke but without flame. 

Both reed and wick images suggest that although the Servant possessed royal power, without divine assistance he could not “stand” on his own and his “light” could not shine.  But did you know that you can relight a candle from a distance?  Smoldering wicks can be relit from a distance, and smoldering lives can be “relit” with a divine spark.

These verses also demonstrate that this anointed servant would not use divine power in a damaging way. The expressions depict the gentle nature of the Servant’s ministry. 

The phrase Coasts and islands refers in these verses refer to distant nations and thus functions as a way of referring to all nations. The entire world will one day heed Divine instruction.  More than referring to an authoritative law that must be followed, Divine instruction refers to the wisdom of Divine guidance, in all its forms.

Motivated by His love, the Divine has revealed to human beings basic insight into how to have a relationship with the Divine and with one another. The servant referenced in Isaiah, for Christians–Jesus, and for Hebrews–the nation of Israel, is the one who came to teach, and to show, us that reunion with God is doable.  While, at times, both of these institutions have failed in their mission of adequately representing the Divine, the suffering servant that Isaiah referenced did not.

Isaiah 42:5-8

5 This is what God, the Lord, says—who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it— 6 “I am the Lord. I have called you for a righteous purpose, and I will hold you by your hand. I will watch over you, and I will appoint you to be a covenant for the people and a light to the nations, 7 in order to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, and those sitting in darkness from the prison house. 8 I am the Lord. That is my name, and I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.

There is a sovereign Creator who alone deserves glory, accolades, applause, praise, etc. Isaiah tells us that this Creator has purposed to work through his servant to bring humanity into a relationship with the creator AND the creation; but more than just a relationship he describes a covenantal relationship.  

A covenant is a formal, solemn, and binding promise or contract between two or more parties to perform or abstain from specific actions. This relationship, in effect, is like the marriages of old–people joining together as a team agreeing to perform  specific actions AND to abstain from specific actions in a formal, solemn and binding promise. This is a special relationship and not merely a casual acquaintance.

Notice that in verse 5 the power and sovereignty behind God’s words are emphasized. The expression who created the heavens calls to mind the first words of Scripture. God displayed His power at creation by simply speaking the universe and its contents into being. The Hebrew word translated created is limited to divine activity. Only God is identified as the subject who creates. Because the verb never occurs with the mention of any material used in creating and because the main emphasis falls on the newness of what has been created, the clear implication is of creation of something out of nothing.

God appointed His Servant for a specific purpose. The Lord stated that he had “put” his spirit on the servant. The Lord’s putting his spirit on the servant enabled the servant to perform his divinely appointed task (think support for the bruised reed). In verse 1 the task is described as bringing justice to the nations. In verse 6 the responsibility is identified as being “a covenant for the people and a light to the nations (think relighting the smoldering wick).” 

The Lord’s covenant included not only the promise to make his descendants a great nation (Israel) but also the pledge to bless all peoples through the patriarch. The Lord’s promise to make the servant “a covenant for the people and a light to the nations” informs us that the servant is not to be identified only with Israel.  The servant's mission was to Israel, but the phrase a light to the nations implies the widening of the scope of revelation to include all nations or Gentiles, i.e. Humanity.

Verse 7 refers to opening blind eyes and bringing out prisoners from the dungeon. Freeing prisoners suggests giving liberty. Opening blind eyes involves spiritual enlightenment. Thus, the Servant’s mission included giving both liberty and light.

Verse 8 notes I am the Lord. That is my name. This literally reads "I AM, YHWH, that is my name." God revealed the significance of this title to Moses at the burning bush when God responded to Moses’s request to know God’s name with the expression, “I AM WHO I AM”. 

The designation is derived from the Hebrew verb “to be” and denotes God as "a being of the past, the present, and the future." A self-existent, covenant God who acts independently of any outside influences.

Think of it this way. The creator who created everything out of nothing, all energy and matter, means that every aspect of the creation is a part of the creator, and just as you would not, under normal circumstances, be harmful to parts of your own body, or life, the creator is not harmful to his own creation. 

Isaiah 42:9-12

9 The past events have indeed happened. Now I declare new events; I announce them to you before they occur.” 10 Sing a new song to the Lord; sing his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea with all that fills it, you coasts and islands with your inhabitants. 11 Let the desert and its cities shout, the settlements where Kedar dwells cry aloud. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy; let them cry out from the mountaintops. 12 Let them give glory to the Lord and declare his praise in the coasts and islands.

The expression past events refers to historical events of which everyone was aware, e.g “we all know the history”. But now Isaiah gives God's words of new events “before they occur”, literally “before they spring up,” which carries the idea of a plant or grass blade breaking through the surface and suddenly appearing out of the ground. It’s the result of hidden work below the surface. There’s little doubt that this new thing is the work of the Servant that Isaiah discusses.

The new song is a song of praise occasioned by the servant’s work. The reference to a new song implies the existence of a previous “song”. Verse 13 suggests that the previous song may have been the one the Israelites sang when the Lord delivered them from Egyptian bondage. The servant’s work of which Isaiah prophesied may include a new exodus and a great victory over the opponents of the Creator. It will include liberation from the bondage of our limited human nature which misses the mark of the creator’s intention. 

Because of the new events that God was bringing about through his servant, the prophet called people to praise Him from the ends of the earth. This expression denotes extremity. While there is no literal end of the earth since it is a sphere, the loneliest place on earth is point Nemo. 

Point Nemo is the farthest point from any landmass in every direction. It's so remote that at times astronauts aboard the international space station when passing over this point at 248 miles in altitude are closer to it than any human on earth. It is some 1670 miles away from any land.  That is from Brenham to Billings, Montana, or Boise, Idaho. That's a long way to swim!

Isaiah then goes on to describe some of these remote places. Kedar means “mighty,” “black,” or “swarthy.” The man named Kedar is first mentioned in Genesis 25:13. He was a son of Ishmael and grandson of Abraham. Apparently a tribe developed from this individual. The Kedarites inhabited the area south of biblical Palestine and east of Egypt. These nomadic peoples raised sheep, goats, and camels, which they sold to Tyre.  

The place name Sela means “rock”. It was a major fortified city located in Edom. Sela has traditionally been identified with Petra, Edom’s capital. The two sites of Kedar and Sela together represent isolated desert and mountainous areas.

Verse 8 reveals that the Divine will share His glory with no one else. There is none with the reputation for greatness that God alone deserves not only because He is Creator and King but also because He is Savior and Deliverer.

A name expressed essence, character, and nature. Knowing someone’s name implied a relationship between the two individuals. For God to reveal His name indicates His desire to enter into personal relationship with human beings, whom He created in His image. God’s name deserves glory because of the relationship He offers. God has given Jesus (Christian Messiah) or Israel (Hebrew Messiah) a name above every name; one day every tongue will confess that the Divine has the greatest name of all.

For those who like to claim that faith in one individual is unreasonable, remember that the name for Jesus is Yeshua, a shortened form of the older name Yehoshua. Both names mean "the Lord saves" or "salvation," stemming from the root word yasha, which means "to save, deliver, or rescue". The name then means, "Yah is rescue."

The word moshi'ah [Think Moses, think messiah] literally means "one causing another to be rescued," or simply, a "rescuer," but this word is usually translated as "deliverer" or "savior."  

The Aramaic form of the Hebrew name is yeshu'a, the name "Jesus" which is the Latin transliteration of the Greek Iesous, which is the Greek transliteration of the Aramaic Yeshua, which is the Aramaic transliteration of the Hebrew Yehoshuah.

So God deserves glory, not the LEAST of which because the relationship he offers through "God saves." 

The Greatest Name is the name chosen by God – "The being of the past, the present and the future" who is the one who rescues, or saves – and whose theme is rescuing humanity, and creation, back to himself.  “I AM, YHWH.  That is my name.”

Because of what the Divine has done, is doing, and will do, we are to give The Divine glory and praise. NO ONE, or NO THING else is capable of rescuing humanity back into a relationship with God other than God himself.

There is only one God, one rescuer and only God’s name (his character) deserves glory.

That’s what’s in a name.