Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet meet and fall in love in Shakespeare's lyrical tale of "star-cross'd" lovers. They are doomed from the start as members of two warring families. Here Juliet tells Romeo that a name is an artificial and meaningless convention, and that she loves the person who is called "Montague", not the Montague name. This one short line encapsulates the central struggle and tragedy of the play, and is one of Shakespeare's most famous quotes.
Now in a sense I agree. True love doesn't care about names or titles. Names are important in Western culture. Parents choose names for their children after much thought and discussion. For the rest of a person's life, he is identified by the name he was given before birth. But the significance of names in our day cannot compare with the significance of names in biblical times. Ancient peoples understood that a name expressed the essence or identity of a person. According to Proverbs 22:1, "A good name is more desirable than great riches." In the biblical world, a good name meant more than even a good reputation, because it identified the character of the person carrying it.
In many cases biblical names are fragments of ancient history, revelations of divine purposes, expressions of hopes and prophecies of the future. From Ananias, who's name meant "the grace of God," and was used as the first thing Saul saw when he regained his sight. Then you have the name Abram, which means multitude, but was changed by God to Abraham which means "father of many". Then you have Moses, which means "taken out/drawn forth, deliverer". All carried a meaning for the destiny they would fulfill. The list goes on and on. Names given by parents that had no idea of the weight they would carry in the future. But like so many other areas of the bible, humanity has forgotten and turned away from being led to choose a name for their child. We have went from being led to choose names with great significance, and instead chosen for ourselves names of food or inanimate objects.
There were no first, middle, and last names. It was just your name and your parents name, such as Abraham son of Terah. My parents were led to call me Michael Shane. Which, as I've gotten older, has shown to be profoundly significant. Michael means "which man is like God?", which is a rhetorical question suggesting a negative answer. There is no man like God. So alone, this describes the entire human race. Shane is a variant of Sean, itself an Irish variant of John. John originates in Hebrew language and means "God is merciful"or "God's gracious gift. Wow right! So although none can be like God, He is merciful and bestows His gracious gift of salvation. All of that in the name of a virtual nobody. And by leading my parents to name me that, He set my destiny as someone that would bring His word of this gracious gift to the world.
To name someone or something implies that the namer understands enough about the named and its circumstances to describe it and make use of it. Adam named the creatures of the earth. This meant he understood each one clearly enough to describe its character and function. (In Adam's case, he also was able to determine that none of them was an appropriate mate for him, Gen. 2:19-20.) Our word 'classify' comes close to the activity of naming. So, when God tells us "I know you by name" (Ex. 33:17), it means more than that he recognizes us individually. Rather, it indicates that he understands completely who and what we are and who we will become.
To give another example a good friend of ours name described him more than he realized, and quite possibly gave him a glimpse to what the Father may lead him. His first name means "harvester." His middle name means "for the ruler of the world."And his last name means to "establish a settlement." Now where it really gets deep is when you look at the Hebraic meanings. Only his middle name as Hebrew roots and it means "donkey rider."So, we have a harvester for the ruler of the world that rides on a donkey and will lead him to establish a settlement. Again Wow right! What makes this profound is he is an outdoors-man and farmer. And his family is in the process of looking for a large parcel of land to move to.
The examples are endless. Just remember you are not worthless. A good name is not worthless. Because the Father knew you long before you were born, and established what He would call you to do; and that story is all hidden in you name.
