Recently, my oldest daughter suggested that it might be good to write an article on some of the unconventional, unexpected or peculiar things that God told people in the Bible to do.

We discussed the idea and came up with quite a long list of cases where the instructions of God were completely unexpected by the people who received them and in many cases would have seemed bizarre.

For example, when God told Noah to build an ark[1] (a big boat, probably shaped like an enormous box), I can imagine that Noah was shocked.  How close he was to any large body of water or what experience he had with building boats, we do not know, but being told to build a boat to save life on the earth would have been a huge and unexpected responsibility!

Throughout the Bible, we read of God giving instructions to various people.  Many of them are things we might expect our creator to say, but there are other cateogies of instruction that would astonish us if we ever received anything similar!

Naming Babies

When parents are expecting a baby, they have an opportunity to choose a name that seems appropriate.  They may select a favourite name, a family name, a name with a special meaning – or perhaps the only name they can agree on!  Whatever the motivation behind the choice, most people find pleasure in choosing a new baby’s name.

However, there are quite a few cases in the Bible where God took over this perk of parenthood and specified the name of the baby while it was still in the womb or even before it was conceived.

Here is a list of such babies, and in every case, the name God gave had a meaning that was important:
    •    Ishamael was the son of Abraham and Hagar, Sarah’s maidservant.  When Hagar was pregnant and ran away from her mistress, an angel of God told her to return and also to name the child Ishmael, which means “God hears”.[2]  Interestingly, a few verses later, we read that after the boy was born, Abraham named him Ishmael,[3] so he obviously believed Hagar’s report of what had happened.
    •    Isaac was the only son of Abraham and Sarah.  When God told Abraham that he and Sarah would have a son, Abraham laughed.  God immediately told him to name the child Isaac, which means “laughter”.[4]  When an angel of God later set the date for the birth, Sarah also laughed, thinking that it was impossible, given that she and Abraham were both old.[5]  Isaac, however, was born as promised, and Sarah rejoiced that people would laugh with her.[6]
    •    When David planned to build God a temple, God told him that he wasn’t allowed to, but that a son of his called Solomon would be a man of peace and would build the temple.[7]  David later committed adultery with Bathsheba and the resulting child died, but Bathsheba was comforted when she had another child.  This child was called Solomon, apparently at God’s command,[8] and later became king as promised.  God also sent a message of love through Nathan the prophet, and in response, David called Solomon Jedidiah – perhaps as a nickname – which means “beloved of the Lord”.[9]
    •    God told the prophet Isaiah to write “Belonging to Maher-shalal-hashbaz” on a large tablet, probably made of clay, and get the writing witnessed by reliable witnesses.  Sometime later, when the prophetess bore Isaiah a baby, he was told to name the boy Maher-shalal-hashbaz, which means “quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil”, and told that the spoil of Damascus and Samaria would be taken away before the boy was old enough to say “My father” or “My mother”.[10]
    •    Hosea was told by God to marry a prostitute called Gomer, which he did.  God then told him to call his first son Jezreel, bringing to mind the town of Jezreel where King Ahab’s sons were massacred and the Valley of Jezreel where Israel’s strength would be broken.[11] 
    •    God then told Hosea to name Gomer’s second child Lo-ruhamah, which means “no mercy”, because God would not have mercy on Israel any longer.[12]
    •    Later, God told Hosea to name Gomer’s third child Lo-ammi, which means “not my people”, because Israel was not God’s people and he was not their God.[13]
    •    In the New Testament, Zechariah the priest was told by an angel of God that his wife Elizabeth would have a son, and that they were to call him John, which means “God is gracious”.[14]  Elizabeth was a relative of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and her son was later known as John the Baptist.
    •    Mary and Joseph were each individually told to name Mary’s baby Jesus, which means “God saves”.[15]

I think that this list is exhaustive, but if you can think of any other examples of babies named by God in the Bible, please let me know.

Renaming

At times, adults change their names, particularly if they have a name that would be difficult for people to pronounce or embarrassing – or if they feel that another name would be more beneficial to their career.  This is quite common among performers and authors, and women also often change their surname to that of their husband when they are married, but the Bible also gives us some examples where God told people to change their names or gave them an extra name to use as well as their existing name.

Can you imagine what it would feel like to have your given name changed at God’s command?

The man Abraham is famous around the world – amongst Jews, Muslims and Christians – but did you know that Abraham was not his original name?  For the first 99 years of his life he was known as Abram, a name with the grand meaning of “exalted father”.  However, when God made a covenent with him and required him to be circumcised as a symbol of that covenant, he also gave him a new name – as if he was a new baby.  The name chosen by God was Abraham, which means “father of a multitude”.[16]

His wife Sarai was also renamed Sarah, which means “princess”.[17] 

That was a day of major change for Abraham and Sarah!  God changed both of their names and promised them a son whom they were to call Isaac.  And as if that was not enough, all the males in their household had to be circumcised, a ritual that was to be continued throughout their generations – including their son Isaac when he was born a year later.

Abraham would have to remember to call Sarai “Sarah” and she would have to call him “Abraham” in return.  All of the men would have to endure a painful operation which would cause them days of suffering.  It says a lot for Abraham’s persuasive piety that there do not seem to have been any objections to the plan!

About 160 years later, Abraham’s and Sarah’s grandson Jacob was also given another name by God, after a puzzling incident in which he met an angel at night.  For some reason, the two of them wrestled for hours before the angel ended the battle by touching Jacob’s hip socket and putting his hip out of joint.  Jacob, however, still refused to let the angel go without blessing him.  The angel satisfied this request by naming him Israel, which means “he struggles with God” or “God strives”.[18] 

Jeremiah the prophet was attacked, beaten, put in the stocks and left there overnight by a priest in Jerusalem called Pashhur.  The next day, Jeremiah told him that God’s name for him was not Pashhur, but Magor-missabib,[19] which means “terror on every side”, an expression used a few times in Jeremiah and the title I chose for a series of novels about the life of Jeremiah.

Aside

We also know of at least one famous man in the Bible whose name was changed, but not at the instigation of God (as far as we know!).  Do you know who this was?

After-effects

How many thousands or millions of people through history have been called Abraham, Sarah, Ishmael, Isaac, Jesus and even John in memory of those people whom God named?  History could sound quite different if the original names had been used instead – imagine a US president called Abram Lincoln or a nation called Jacob!

Despite the popularity of some of these names, I don’t know of anyone who has named their baby Maher-shalal-hashbaz!

Next…

This article has been mostly about God giving people names.  The next in the series will discuss many other unexpected instructions God gave to people.

Notes

[1] Genesis 6:13-21
[2] Genesis 16:11
[3] Genesis 16:15
[4] Genesis 17:15-19
[5] Genesis 18:10-12
[6] Genesis 21:6-7
[7] 1 Chronicles 22:9
[8] 2 Samuel 12:24
[9] 2 Samuel 12:25
[10] Isaiah 8:1-4
[11] Hosea 1:4
[12] Hosea 1:6
[13] Hosea 1:9
[14] Luke 1:13
[15] Matthew 1:21; Luke 1:31
[16] Genesis 17:5
[17] Genesis 17:15
[18] Genesis 32:24-30; 35:10

[19] Jeremiah 20:2-6