Let us consider for a moment the divine power of naming, which according to the Bible we humans have as gift. It is worth noting that in the Scriptures God rarely names, though he does sometimes call by name.[1] In Genesis 1 God gives the names day and night, sky, land and sea. It can be argued that in saying for example “let there be light,” God named streams of photons “light”, but the text does not say that.
Elsewhere God renames Abram as “Abraham” and Jacob “Israel”, and the ultimate naming is in the mouth of the angel Gabriel: “You are to call his name Jesus.” (Mt. 1:21; Lk.1:31) In Hebrew, ישוע (yēšūă‘) means “salvation, deliverance, rescue”, and so we can understand the angel’s explanation in Matthew, “for he will save his people from their sins.”
And of course, there is that supreme Name that God reveals to Moses: Exodus 3:14: “God said to Moses, ‘I Am Aho I Am. He said further, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “I Am has sent me to you””. The so-called Tetragrammaton (יהוה) is usually transliterated as “Yah’weh”. In Jewish tradition God’s Name is never pronounced aloud, but rather replaced with the word “Adonai” (אֲדֹנָי) meaning “Lord” or as it is rendered typographically in most English-language Bibles, “Lord” in small caps.
Jesus also gives names. Simon becomes Cephas (Peter), James and John become “the sons of thunder” (Βοανηργές — Mark…
