What's in a name?

In one sense there's not much interesting to be said about names, I mean everyone has one, or two or five. But in another sense names tell us about a person. For instance, my name is Nathan. 'Nathan' goes back to the Old Testament when the prophet Nathan delivers a message to king David. We know his message better as the Davidic Covenant. But 'Nathan' also has a meaning. The root word natan (נתן) means "to give." Thus my name essentially means, gift.

For me personally, or should I say my parents, this name has some irony, because as I understand it I was an unplanned pregnancy. Yet instead of complaining of the burden that another child might cause them, my parents decided to see my life as a gift. However, if they really thought I was a gift from God they would have added the Hebrew word El to my name calling me 'Nathaniel' (meaning "gift from God").

So in one way, knowing the meaning of my name tells others a small tidbit about me. Now it doesn't explain my personality, or profession, or my talents to anyone, but it does say something. There was a time when names served as a means to define someone or something. For instance the ancient Egyptian gods held names which defined their particular specialty. To know a god's name was to know that god's role in the realm of god-ness.

For example, Horus the Egyptian sun god stood each day high above the earth providing light and heat. The name Horus means "high above" or "the one who is high above." Many names back in Egypt had this kind of connection between role and meaning.

The only character in the Bible who had the gumption to ask God , straight up, "What is your name?" was Moses (Ex. 3:13). Most of our English translations render God's answer as something like, "I am who I am." The funny thing is that God didn't really answer Moses straight up...hmmm.

It may be that Moses didn't wish to return to Egypt and lead a revolt against the super power Egypt. He was scared. So he took a moment to ask this God for a name. And by asking for a name Moses was asking, "just who are you?" Moses wanted to know God's specialty, which would be revealed in God's name. The problem with trying to define God is...you can't. By defining God we would also be confining God. And we all know you can't put God in a box.

So God was saying to Moses, "I can't just give you one name, because one name doesn't cut it." God was unable to adequately describe himself using any of our primitive languages. So he did the next best (or perhaps better) thing. He said, "I am who I am."

Now the problem with just leaving it like that in English is "I am who I am" just doesn't say it either. And here is why. Biblical Hebrew does not have a verb for "to be." To say, "God is good" in Hebrew would read "God good." Hebrew does have a verb haya (hyh), which is similar to the verb "to be." However, haya conveys the state of being, or how things are, or the way things are set up. It would be used to say, "It came to pass that the nation of Israel was divided into two kingdoms." It is not used to say God is good. The KJV translates this verb, "and it came to pass."

This is the verb that most translations of the Bible render as "I am" when God answers Moses. It sounds to me that God is saying much more than, "I am," or simply "I exist." It sounds like God is saying, "I am how it is," or "I am the way things are," or for all the KJVers out there "I am the one who has come to pass." God used a powerful, large, all-encompassing verb to describe himself, thus telling Moses his specialty: everything. God is the one who can do it all, and the one who did it all. He can be anything and has every specialty needed for Godhood.

For some reason, this helps me to see God as bigger than I normally understand him. What does the state of the world look like? Answer, God. He is the being on which the rest of us base our existence.

That is what's in a name.