Names of the Bible

In order to understand the Bible in its context we need to understand a little bit or more if given the chance to study Hebrew and perhaps learn how the Jewish people lived at that time. It will help us to quote the Bible correctly and believe the truths. Many times I hear people misquote John 8:32 saying the truth will set you free, no, the truth will not set you free, unless you have the knowledge of the truth then it will set you free. The Bible is God breathe and inspired by the Holy Spirit and so it can enable us to live our lives with joy and abundance.
The Hebrew language is an ancient language that first started in pictograph form (meaning that originally the words were pictures that eventually evolved into letters.) But as time went on, the letters still retained many of their original meanings. Whereas the letters of the English alphabet have no meaning until combined with other letters to make a word, the Hebrew letters have meanings individually as well as when they are combined to form a word. So not only do you have the obvious meaning of the word, but you also have the hidden meaning as you combine the individual meanings of each letter. There are no vowels in the Hebrew alphabet (aeiou). For example in the Hebrew alphabet, the first letter is Aleph meaning an Ox and the last letter is Tav meaning cross (+)/mark/sign/covenant. When you pause and think, you can see that the ox represent the lamb who was Jesus and the cross/convent represents Jesus’ death on the cross. It is finished cried Jesus. Every human being's sins have been paid for, past present and future. There is hope for all who are alive.
God Himself emphasises the importance of names.
In Hebrew thought, a name is not merely a random combination of sounds created for random designation. The name conveys the nature and essence of the thing named. It represents the history and reputation of the being named. Many times, Hebrew mothers would name their children based on what they looked like, or their initial personality. The ancient Hebrews believed that your name was representative of your character. The emphasis that God and the Hebrews put on names was so weighted, that at certain times, He finds it necessary to change the names of certain people to properly reflect their new nature or prophetic role.
Let me illustrate just a few. The name “Adam” is spelled with the letters “Aleph, Dalet, and Mem”, in the Hebrew language (no vowels in Hebrew). The letter Aleph means “breathe, first, leader or divine”. Dalet means “to enter, door”. And Mem means “water, chaos”. So what is the meaning of Adam’s name? It could mean “The first divine leader that entered through the door of many waters”.
In the book of Psalms 18:16 He sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of many waters. Interestingly enough, the last two letters of Adam’s name (Dalet and Mem) combined make up the Hebrew word for “blood” (Dam).”. And Aleph by itself means “first or divine”. So, his name also means, “The first one with Divine Blood”, which he obviously did have, as he was created directly from the Father. This is partly why Jesus is referred to as the second Adam as He also had “divine blood” and carried a similar role.
Furthermore, in Genesis 17:1 – 27 God made a covenant with Abram and his wife Sarai and then told them of their new names. Originally the name Abram was given to him by his father Terah and later changed to by God. Abram means exalted father and Abraham means father of many.
In Genesis chapters 1 and 2 we have the naming of all creation. We find that Adam named Eve, his children and all the animals, while God named the darkness, light, sky and land. This is very interesting. It looks as if Adam had authority over his wife, children and the animals, while God had authority over sky land light and darkness. When someone owns something or if they give birth to a child they name that thing or person because they have authority and responsibility over that thing or person. Abram was named by his father, the one who had authority over him. But when Abram left his father’s house and headed on his own, God, who respected Terah’s authority previously, now takes his authority and changes his name indicating a change in authority.
The name “Abram” means, “The first leader of house, the most important head of house over many.” When God changed his name, He added a “heh” before the “mem” and so changed the meaning of his name to “The first leader of house, the most important head of house THAT WOULD REVEAL OR OPEN for many.” The tremendous significance is found in the covenant and promise that God gave to Abraham that through him, the Seed of the Messiah would come forth that would open the door for the Gentiles to come near to the Father. In Galatians 3:16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, "And to seeds," as referring to many, but rather to one, "And to your seed," that is, Christ. God changed his name from being the “Father of many”, to the “Father that would reveal or open for many”. His name could not stay the same, because his mission had changed. Now that we understand Abraham we can then move on to find out about Sarai.
Firstly, in Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between you (Satan) and the woman, And between your seed (Satan’s kingdom) and her Seed (Christ’s kingdom); He (Christ) shall bruise your (Satan’s) head, and you (Satan) shall bruise His (Christ) heel."
In this verse we see that the seed of the woman will finally tear down or crush the head of the serpent. With this in mind, let us look at how this might relate to the meaning of the name “Sarai” and why God changed her name at the same time he changed her husband’s. “Sarai” means “To destroy head of house (authority) through hands or deeds”. Up until this point there was no promise given that would destroy the “head of house” (satan) and his curse on mankind. All we had was, these prophesy, in Genesis 3, but there was no action taken on it until the Covenant with Abraham. But interestingly enough, right after God gives them the promise of the Messiah through their seed, He changed both of their names to reflect the promise and their new roles in that promise. Remember, at this time, her womb is closed and cannot bear children in her old age. Watch this! He removes the last letter (Yud), which means “hand or deeds” and adds the letter “Heh”, which means, “To reveal or open”. And what did God do? He opened her womb, so as the promise of the Messiah could come through her! So her new name (Sarah) would now mean, “The one who would destroy the head of the household (Satan) through the opening of the womb”! And of course, we know that Christ came from the line of Isaac, Sarah’s son. I’ll pause here and will write some more...
Till then, God bless