Perusing the Insight books years ago it occured to me how many names of Bible charactors seemed prophetic. That is, their name matched to the story they appeared in. "Achan" for example means "bringer of trouble" and sure enough he was. It would have seemed an easy thing to identify the trouble maker in the story yet noone seemed to know it was Achan until Jehovah pointed him out. I pondered, did God inspire his parents to name him "trouble maker" or was Achan not his real name? This pattern of names fitting the charactors role in the story is repeated over and over. (Moses=drawn from the water, Ishmael=God hears, As the story says He did when Ishmael was dying in the desert, Miriam=rebellious, etc.) Sometimes the connection is more subtle but dozens of names refer to roles in the story or to geographical places where the charactor is said to be from. Sometimes the stories surrounding the charactor were abbreviated in the Bible version and were preserved only in extra-bibical literature. I have since also found that secular reference works reveal the meaning of the names far more often than the Insight Volumes. What does this imply? I can see it three ways, either the names are author's creations, the stories were fictional or Jehovah is playing puppetry with humans. Anyway you look at it it's troubling.
Edited by - peacefulpete on 9 January 2003 11:9:6
Edited by - peacefulpete on 9 January 2003 11:42:36
Edited by - peacefulpete on 9 January 2003 14:41:6