Conventions of Names and Numbers

In trying to understand how the Bible was interpreted by the people who first spoke or wrote or read it, there are two things (not really conventions) that I feel are so pervasive throughout that we need to think about them before we start reading at all.

Names

Throughout Biblical times and even today, in some societies, names have been dealt with very differently. We tend to take names rather casually. Not so in ancient times and other societies. To know someone’s name (or even something’s name) was to have control over it. When God gives Adam permission to name the animals, He is also giving him control over them. The reason many Judaic, Islamic, and even some Christians will not speak or write the name of God is that to do so suggests that they have some control over God. That would be sinfully bold. When Moses asks God for a name so that he can tell the people who sent him, he is not given a name, but is told to tell them that he is sent by “I am.”

In many societies, people would keep their “real” name a secret. They gave people a special public name so that people could not control them. A tiny vestige of this is found in our custom of nicknames.  When my mother called for “Bobby,” I knew all was well.  If she called for “Robert,” I knew she was about to exercise control!

It is hard to emphasize strongly enough how important names are throughout Bible times and even to some groups today.

Another facet of this is that when people change in important ways, their names change. God changes the names of Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah.  This indicates that their lives have changed dramatically, but also that God is in control.  Jesus changes the name of Simon to Cephas (or Peter) indicating the same thing. When people change their lives they may take on new names. Saul became Paul. Cassius Clay became Mohamed Ali. Married couples often take on new names. (Okay, granted it is usually the wife in this country, but it still is indicative of a major change in ones life.)

Numbers

Numerology was important throughout Biblical times. Numbers were felt to have a special relationship to events. They were also symbolic of certain things.  There are probably numbers in the Bible that had meaning to folks of ancient times that we have not been able to discover.  But a few are really important and prevalent. The number seven is the perfect number. It is not clear whether that is because it is the number of days of the creation or that the number of days of creation was made seven because the creation was perfect.  All the way to Revelation, seven is the number of perfect things. In Revelation, seven is everywhere. For example, there are seven churches, seven angels,