WHAT'S IN A NAME?

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

This question is taken from a scene in William Shakespeare’s famous play- Romeo and Juliet.

Two families (the Montague’s and the Capulet’s) are feuding with one another. Because of this, it is impossible for Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet to be together! In order to get approval from her parents for their love match, Juliet considers asking Romeo to hide his true identity by changing his last name. From her perspective, changing his name will not change who he is! She will still love him. She contends that your identity is more than your name. Regardless of what you are called, your essence will remain the same. Thus, in Scene 2, Act 2, of the play, Juliet utters these immortal words:

        “What’s in a name?
        That which we call a rose
        By any other name would smell as sweet.”

There is irony in Juliet's statement. Because, of course, you cannot hide who you are simply by changing your name!

For a variety of reasons, in the Bible, some individuals had their birth names changed. Here are a few examples.

        § God changed names (e.g. Abram to Abraham)

        § Naomi changed her name from Naomi to Mara

        § Daniel’s name was changed to Belteshazzar by King Nebuchadnezzar

        § Christ changed a name (e.g. Simon to Peter).

        § Saul changed his name from Saul to Paul.

Why did Saul change his name? Understanding his motives for changing his name is the subject of today’s post.

NAMES HAVE MEANING
Because of the symbolic importance of names, sometimes God Himself changed a person’s given name. Sarai became Sarah. Jacob became Israel. Abram became Abraham.

In the Bible, names were often prophetic.

Moses was named by Pharaoh’s daughter. His name means to ‘pull out or draw out of water’. No doubt, this name was chosen because of how he had been found as a baby. Pharaoh’s daughter probably had no idea that when Moses reached eighty years of age, God would give him the job of pulling the Jews out of Egypt!

This tradition still continues today. When parents name their children, most hope that the given name will motivate and assist the child in achieving the same success and honour, as their namesakes did. Martin Luther King Jnr.- the famed American civil rights leader, was named for Martin Luther. Martin Luther was the German Monk who wrote the ‘95 Theses’. His document transformed Christianity and it is credited with starting the 16th century Protestant Reformation.

APPLYING THE ‘PRINCIPLE OF FIRST MENTION’ TO OUR UNDERSTANDING OF NAMES
The principle of first mention is a very useful way of understanding scripture. This principle states that if you want to interpret anything in the Bible, you must consider the context of its first mention (i.e. its first use) in the Bible.

For example, the number 6 in the Bible is associated with man. Why? Because God created man on the sixth day. This was the first mention of this number.

So if we want to understand why Paul felt it necessary to change his name from Saul to Paul, look at the first time the name Saul is used in the Bible.

THE FIRST SAUL
An Edomite king named Saul is mentioned in Genesis 36:37-38. This is the first mention of this name. This is the first ‘Saul’ in the Old Testament! While he was a person of stature and authority (after all, he was a king), nevertheless, he and his people were rejected by God! The Edomites were not considered to be people of God.

This may explain why Saul of Tarsus changed his name! As a learned Pharisee, he would have understood that persons associated with a ‘Saul’ would never be considered as people of God.

THE SECOND SAUL- A REMINDER FROM GOD
God reminded us about the symbolism associated with the name Saul. Meet the second Saul! He too was a king.

Consider this scripture from 1 Samuel 8:4-7 (KJV, emphasis mine). It details the back story to king Saul’s rise in prominence:

        4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah,

        5 And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.

        6 But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD.

        7 And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, BUT THEY HAVE REJECTED ME, that I should not reign over them.

In this passage, we are introduced to the story of how the second Saul became the first human king of Israel. I emphasise the word ‘human’ because, as you will note in verse 7 above, God had considered Himself the King of Israel until the Israelites rejected Him!

Although Saul reigned for forty-two years, he ultimately lost his life due to three main factors. Firstly, he set a bad example for the people because he used divination for guidance instead of trusting in Samuel, God’s prophet. Secondly, he persecuted David, God’s anointed. And lastly, he disobeyed God. He failed to completely destroy the Amalekites, as he had been commanded to do (see 1 Samuel 15:1-4). He allowed the king of the Amalekites- king Agag, to live and he refused to destroy all of their possessions. Do you remember one important consequence of his disobedience? The Jews came very close to being exterminated because of Haman the agagite (see Esther 3:1). Haman, a descendent of king Agag, was conspiring to kill all the Jews in the Medo-Persian empire.

And just like the first Saul, this second Saul was also rejected by God.

A SMALL DIGRESSION!
By the way, as you read 1 Samuel 8:4-7 above, did you notice anything interesting?

Firstly, Samuel’s sons were wicked. The Israelites genuinely needed relief. But instead of the people asking Samuel to ask God for a solution, they decided to get their own solution.

We get into trouble when we seek our own solutions to problems!

Secondly, did you notice that the people were asking Samuel to repeat Aaron’s mistake? ‘Make us a golden calf’ is not that different from ‘now make us a king’. Be careful what people ask you to do!

And lastly, approximately 1000 years after the second Saul’s reign came to an end, the descendants of the same people who had rejected God as their King, rejected Jesus too (see Matthew 27:17-37).

THE THIRD SAUL: SAUL OF TARSUS
Saul of Tarsus (aka Paul), as a learned Pharisee, would have been very familiar with these negative connotations of his name! He would have known the stories of the first Saul and the second Saul. No doubt, because he understood the prophetic significance of names, he was eager to disassociate himself from his namesakes! Because of his ambitions, he knew that he couldn’t continue as the third Saul. Somebody somewhere would make the connection!

Remember, if the account in Acts is true, even Jesus NEVER referred to Saul of Tarsus as Paul! Jesus always called him Saul (see Acts 9:4)! This is a prophetic warning for those who chose to hear. As Juliet declared, changing your name doesn't change who you are!

THE ENTYMOLOGY OF THE NAME SAUL
In the Hebrew language, Saul is spelt ‘Sha’ul’ or ‘Shaul’ and it means ‘asked for’ or ‘prayed for’. The people of Israel had certainly asked Samuel the prophet for a king!

What most people do not realise is that the root word of Sha’ul/Shaul is also the same as the root word for Sheol.

The word SHEOL is ‘Hades’ in Greek and ‘Hell’ in English!

So, it was this association with hell and the symbolism associated with the first and second Sauls that Paul was trying to hide by changing his name!

That’s why Luke, a member of the Pauline group, renamed him from ‘Saul’ to ‘Paul’ in Acts 13:9! Remember that Paul, Luke, Mark and the unknown author of the book of Hebrews all belong to the Pauline group of New Testament writers (see 2 Timothy 4:11 and Philemon 1:24). This group wrote seventeen books of the New Testament.

The Apostolic Scriptures, on the other hand, contain Christ’s real gospel! The Apostolic Scriptures are the ten books written by Christ’s true Apostles.

NAMES MATTER!
Why is any of this important? You should be careful whose doctrines you listen to! You should be careful whose gospel you share with others!

Do you really think that Jesus would have chosen a person named ‘Saul’ to be His chief representative to deliver His gospel, whether to gentiles or to Jews? I don’t think so! Jesus understood the power of biblical symbolism.

Jesus appointed Peter to head His church and He gave His Apostles the Great Commission. The Great Commission required Christ’s Apostles to share His message with the WHOLE world, not just with the Jews! 

Christianity did not need an ‘apostle for the gentiles’, as Saul of Tarsus is often described.

Is Saul of Tarsus the false apostle of Revelation (see Revelation 2:2 and 2:9)? Possibly! After all, a false apostle is a person who devises his own gospel so as to deceive believers!

What’s in a name? As Juliet said, a rose by any other name is still a rose. A persecutor of Christians- whether called Saul or Paul, is not to be trusted!

Don’t forget: Saul=Shaul=Sheol=HELL!

***** 

‘HARVEST TIME Prophecies’ is the blog post site of TNG Academy. Our blog post site gets its name from Matthew 13:30- the separation of wheat and tares that occurs at harvest time (i.e. the endtimes). Remember, the ‘wheat’ symbolises the things of God and the ‘tares’ symbolise the things of the devil.

The purpose of this blog is threefold.

1. Some of the posts are written to help the reader develop a deeper understanding of the theology of Christ’s core message- i.e. the ‘gospel of the kingdom’.

2. Some of the posts are written for the reader’s personal discipleship journey. We need to understand what God expects from us. After all, all believers should be on a journey of ‘becoming’ our best selves, capable of impacting and changing the world!

3. Finally, some of the posts are written to answer this question:

    What would our faith look like today IF we had fully embraced Christ’s doctrines, as recorded by His Apostles, and rejected the doctrines of Paul and the other false apostles?

If we are sincere about our desire to restore Christianity to its roots, i.e. a return to Christ’s original message, then we must start by admitting that ‘while men slept’ (Matthew 13:25) the enemy planted false teachings (tares) into the New Testament!

Visit our website- WWW.TNGACADEMY.ORG, to see our Bible study books. Which books would I recommend for you to read first? Start with these three-

• WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD?
• MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN!
• THE APOSTOLIC SCRIPTURES.