Is there more to a name?
Names as a Sign long ago
Many years ago a king was facing a great crisis. It was not financial, but related to accounting. A vastly bigger number of enemy soldiers than the king could assemble were on their way to attack. The enemy was Syria. This king was Ahaz, king of Judah. Ahaz had no choice but to retreat into Jerusalem, his fortified capital.
Ahaz was checking the water supply, as in a siege of the city water was essential to survive, when,
Then said the LORD unto Isaiah, 'Go out now to meet Ahaz, you, and Shearjashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field'; (Isaiah 7:3)
Shearjashub is an odd-sounding name. In Hebrew names are short statements. His name is A-remnant-will-return. In fact all the words (names) in italics above are short statements. When Ahaz (The-owner) looked up he saw a man called Yah-has-saved, and his son, A-remnant-will-return, coming towards him.
Yah-has-saved then told The-owner (the king)
Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted .. Because Syria, Ephraim (Northern Israel), and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against you, saying, 'Let us go up against Judah, and vex it'..: Thus says the Lord GOD, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. ... If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established. (Isaiah 7:4-9)
In other words, Yah-has-saved said 'Look at us. Together we are a sign that Yah-has-saved and of this great army only A-remnant-will-return. If you, The-owner, don't believe this you will cease to own your kingdom'. It's all said in the names.
Then the man named Yah-has-saved said,
'Ask a sign of the LORD your God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above'.
But Ahaz said, 'I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD'. (Isaiah 7:10-12)
But Ahaz is given a sign.
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (With-us-is-God) (Isaiah 7:14)
It is all in the name. The man Yah-has-saved is told next about Mahershalalhashbaz
And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the LORD to me, 'Call his name Mahershalalhashbaz' Hasting-to-the-spoil-swift-to-the-prey. (Isaiah 8:3)
This name was a name to define the era as,
For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, 'My father, and my mother', the riches of Damascus (Syria) and the spoil of Samaria (Northern Israel) shall be taken away by the king of Assyria. (Isaiah 8:4)
The child whose name was to be With-us-is-God equated, in that day, to Assyria's actions in removing Syria. It was summarised in the name Hasting-to-the-spoil-swift-to-the-prey. This kid was famous in the nation. His name defined the era.
Names in our Era?
So what do famous names in politics of the nations say about our era?
Arguably the man who defined the era from 2001-2008 was George W Bush. It was, as we would call it, the 'Bush era'. He had standing “shoulder to shoulder” with him Tony Blair until mid 2007. (co-operating was the Australian leader Howard, their watchman as his name means). Also from 2000 to 2008 in Russia their counterpart was Vladimir Putin.
This set of names defined that era. Bush is an English name and does not need translating. Blair is Scottish for 'field'. Putin is Russian for 'to come from path/way/road’. A bush describes a leafy small tree, or in Bible symbology, a nation in growth. A field is also a place of growth. Whereas Putin led his people in new paths, Bush and Blair (the field) expanded their field of influence and grew their economies.
But from late 2005, early 2006 Angela Merkel has become a name of the era. Her name is German for boundary marker or 'of the border', or fenced off land. Called the 'Iron Lady', she attempted to put Christianity into the EU constitution, an issue of a fenced off, out of bounds area. In 2007 she chaired the G8 and was president of the European Union. She was awarded for her work to mark the boundaries of the growing cohesion of the European Union. It was presented by no less than the French Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008.
She marks the borderland of the era. About 2007 the political world began to change. The spirit of the age changed also. Not gradually, but rapidly. The names also changed. Sarkozy began to be prominent name.
Sarkozy means 'of Sarkoz', a place in Hungary. It is perhaps appropriate someone from a place in Hungary rules France (as this has shades of the glory of the Holy Roman Empire), but it is more interesting that the place Sar-koz means 'mud-hill'. 'Sar' being a term for a muddy swamp. The world seems to have entered a spirit of feeling of being in the mud. Actually a hill of mud in both the political crises of the world and the global financial crisis. And a voice speaking a lot about these issues is the English Prime Minster Brown. Brown is the colour of mud.
Since 2008 Merkel is at the borderland between Europe and Russia. Medvedev in Russian means Bear. Medvedev with Putin is the Bear-come-from-the-way. And since 2008 in Georgia and Ukraine they have gone out of their way to gnaw a bit of power.
But now with a new popular US president, the name that defines the era now is Obama. In the native language of Africa the name means 'crooked', 'slightly bending'.A baby names website says the meaning of the name Obama is 'slightly bent'. Other sources say Obama means 'crooked', 'zigzag', or 'not in a straight line'. This name truly reflects the new spirit of this age since 2008. There are many ideas, some going this way and some another way, but none seem to lead to simple solutions. As Obama says, “the world is now more complicated”. We are like Solomon who sighed,
I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under the sky. It is a heavy burden that God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind. That which is crooked can’t be made straight; and that which is lacking can’t be counted. (Ecclesiastes 1:13-15)
The world may be confused by advice from anther quarter. Since 2005 there is a new Pope, who is very willing to give advice. His name is Ratzinger. In English 'rat' is a rodent or someone who betrays. But in German 'Rat' means 'to support', or 'to help' or 'to support with advice and deed'. The old German word 'Rat' meant household and personal effects. The meaning of this word later changed to "advice" (a "Rathaus" in Germany is the council building). 'Zinger' in German seems to mean "singer". He is for the world politicians the 'household advice singer'. The role of giving advice in world politics has been coveted by the papacy since 1809 when it was removed from political power. But the advice won't change the feel of the era, as it is defined by The Sightly Bent, Brown, Mud-Hill, Borderland, where the Bears are in, having Come-out-of-the-way. (Bears having been in the stock market for some time).
Is there another name as the era definer? The Italian PM Berlusconi? His surname is Milanese for Italian Strabco 'squint' or Storto 'twisted' or 'bent'. Two names of the G20 mean 'bent'. In the Bible a repetition emphasises 'it is established'.
Is there a way out in the name of the new Australian PM Rudd? His name means 'a person who lived by a 'rood' or cross, or a person with red hair or ruddy skin. Red is the colour of the earth in Australia (In Hebrew 'Red' is Adom being from the earth). What about the President of the EU Commission who is speaking for the current G20? Currently it is Jose Manuel Barroso. Barroso is a Galician or Portuguese topographic name for a person who came from an area with clay or loamy soil, from barroso ‘clayey’ (barro ‘loam’).
It does indeed seem as if the world is in the mud. The names do define this era from 2007-8.
Returning to Jerusalem
But what about Israel? They are in the news a lot. They have now a new Prime Minister. Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu means 'Gift of Yah'. He was not elected with a majority. He was selected by the President of Israel to form a coalition. Therefore he was given to the people as 'Son-of-my-right-hand Gift-of-Yah'.
The president of Israel, Shimon Peres, had shown valour in battle. He chose the era name the 'Gift of Yah'. Peres then is also a name that defines the era . Peres in Spanish means 'son of the rock'.
But Peres in Hebrew (and Chaldean related to the Iranian language, Persian) means 'spilt up'.
25 And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN (Peres).
26 This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it.
27 TEKEL; You are weighed in the balances, and are found wanting.
28 PERES; Your kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. (Daniel 5)
The era marker name of Israel is a 'rock' on which the world is 'split up'. This is not Peres personally but the country of Israel that he represents. From the book of Daniel the last days are described as a stone that divides and breaks.
You saw till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. (Daniel 2:34)
And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. (Zechariah 12:3)
The era of Israel as 'the stone' began when Shimon Peres took office on 15 July 2007. This was 40 years since 67. Wikipedia says that "In 2000, the president's term was increased to seven years" ..."president cannot be re-elected to a second term". Therefore the end of the era of Israel as a stone that divides is in 2014.
Is Peres the last president before the "stone" made without hands that smites the political order of the Bear and the Mud and Clay and brings a new constitution?
This harks back to the prophecy given in a day of crisis in ancient Israel, at Jerusalem, when With-us-is-God was a sign that was given by Yah-has-saved and A-remnant-will-return. The sign that was born to Yah-has-saved was called Hasting-to-the-spoil-swift-to-the-prey.
Is this name Peres, for us, a sign: the writing on the wall......?
For more on Names Divinely Appointed
