The Names of Isaiah’s Sons

Many Americans researching their ancestry run into ancestors with religion-inspired names like Constance, Faith, Salvation, Perseverance. Piety, Redemption, Prudence, and many others. These are technically called theophoric names, names derived from or related to a god.

Some of the personal theophoric names were quite unwieldy. In one family in my genealogical research, there is a man named Indignation, as in God’s righteous indignation at sin. Not surprisingly, Indignation went by the personal name Ignatious.

Imagine being a Puritan woman with the personal name of Fight-the -Good-Fight-of-Faith or a man named Flee-Fornication.

The Hebrew prophet Isaiah had two sons whose names he said God gave to him for “signs and wonders in Israel.” (Isaiah 8:18) The sons were Shear-Jashub (Isaiah 7:3) and Mahershalalhashbaz (Isaiah 8:3).

The name Shear-Jashub ((Isaiah 7:3) translates from the Hebrew as “the remnant shall return.” Isaiah carried this son with him when he went to confront King Ahaz of Judah. He told King Ahaz that if he would just trust in God, then God would bless him. Instead, Ahaz asked Tiglath -pileser III, the king of Assyria, for help. The help arrived, but at a great price. Judah was eventually destroyed with only a remnant remaining to return to the land.

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13513-shear-jashub

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/464021/jewish/King-Ahaz.htm

The name Mahershalalhashbaz (Isaiah 8:3) translates loosely from the Hebrew as “hasten to seize the prey and to take away the spoil.” A more literal translation is “spoil speeds prey hastes.” The name is a reference to the impending conquest of Samaria and Damascus by the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III (734 - 732 BC) and is a warning to Judah, which wwould be conquered later.

http://jaymack.net/isaiah-commentary/Cf-The-Sign-of-Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.asp

Jesus Spoke Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek

The New Testament is written in Greek, the common language of the Roman Empire at the time.  It was the Greek language which helped spread the gospel across the then known world. Some, myself included, believe that God arranged events so that at the arrival of Jesus there was one essentially global empire with one universally understood language. Communications across the Empire were much faster across great distances than we today would imagine.

The languages of the subjugated peoples were still in use and the Jews spoke Aramaic among themselves. The sacred language in use in their synagogues was Hebrew and they considered it to be a great honor to speak and read before the congregation.  Jesus would have been conversant in both languages and he also read before the congregation. The Samaritan Woman at the Well would have been speaking Hebrew. (Luke 2: 39-52; John 4:4-26: Luke 4:16-21)  Some of Jesus' sayings  in the New Testament are presented in untranslated Aramaic. ("Talitha cumi" and "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani!")

Many Jews probably spoke only Aramaic and Hebrew, but to function in the Roman environment it was very helpful to also speak and understand Greek. Jesus was able to talk to Pilate (John 18: 28-38) and the Roman soldiers  (Matthew 8: 5-13 ), answering them in Greek It is unlikely that Pilate or the centurions understood a single word of Aramaic.

Film Comment: Mom’s Night Out

The Erwin Brothers of Birmingham, Alabama (USA) have set a new standard for Christian films which too often in the past have been obviously low budget, preachy, and sadly, painfully amateurish in execution. The movement began with the Kendrick brothers of Georgia who recruited their church members to produce and act in surprisingly high quality films such as Fireproof, Courageous, Flywheel, and Facing the Giants. 

I have said before that truly quality films are rarely about what they appear to be about on the surface. The Erwin Brother’s films are examples of this. October Baby can be seen as an anti-abortion film but the deeper meaning is about the redemptive power of forgiveness. Woodlawn is a football film which is not in any way about football. Football is merely the setting of this film which recounts events which seem impossible but which actually happened. The film depicts the personal, social, and racial reconciliation which can occur when the power of the Lord is unleashed.

Mom’s Night Out (2015) is another Erwin Brothers film but it is a departure from the others in that it is a comedy. A real comedy, A fall on the floor and laugh out loud comedy. And a totally Christian film. Just remember to forget subtlety.

The film is about a woman who is living her dream, She has a loving, loyal, and successful husband, a nice home, beautiful children, and attends an actively growing and supportive evangelical church. She is miserable.

She feels stressed from every direction and feels inadequate to handle her life. She often fells as if she is a failure, especially when she explodes like a volcano during her frequent emotional “moments.”

The plot of Mom's Night Out involves a stress-free night she plans with her friends, who are also secretly suffering from serious stress. The fathers will keep the children! The women invite the pastor’s wife whom they all admire because she always seems so able to remain calm in any situation.(An aside: the pastor’s wife is touched that the other women chose to include her in the event since no one has invited her to anything in five years.) Surprise! The simple event rapidly devolves into a worst night of your life scenario.

Without ruining anything for you if you choose to view this film, here are the take-aways:

1. Everyone is stressed. Stress is normal.
2. Pastors and their families are just like everyone else. They are stressed too.
3. You cannot fix everything.
4. God does not take away all of our problems.  He helps us find meaning in the problems and chaos.
5. Take the focus off of yourself and return it to God where it belongs. He is in control.

Psalms 46:10

What They Think of Us: Plastic Jesus

This is a repost with a link to a version of the song.

Plastic Jesus is an American folk song written by Ed Rush and George Cromarty in 1957, some also attribute Ernie Marrs as a writer. Ed Rush has stated that the inspiration for the song came from a religious radio station from Del Rio, Texas which "sold the most outrageous stuff imaginable, all with magical healing properties." Every city in America probably has such a shop, selling tacky religious trinkets and doodads. In Birmingham, we had Prophet Carlisle who sold scented candles and healing oils. Christians need to assiduously separate themselves from such crap. There is no reason to give the unbelievers ammunition for their sarcasm.

Plastic Jesus has been recorded by multiple artists. Additional verses continue to be added about Mary, Joseph, the Apostles, Moses, Buddha, Krishna, and on and on and on. Here is the original song. Read more about it on Wikipedia.

I don't care if it rains or freezes
'Long as I got my plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
Through my trials and tribulations
And my travels through the nations
With my plastic Jesus I'll go far

Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
I'm afraid He'll have to go
His magnets ruin my radio
And if I have a wreck He'll leave a scar

Riding down a thoroughfare
With His nose up in the air
A wreck may be ahead, but He don't mind
Trouble coming He don't see
He just keeps His eye on me
And any other thing that lies behind

Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
Though the sunshine on His back
Make Him peel, chip and crack
A little patching keeps Him up to par

When I'm in a traffic jam
He don't care if I say "damn"
I can let all my curses roll
Plastic Jesus doesn't hear
'Cause he has a plastic ear
The man who invented plastic saved my soul

Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
Once His robe was snowy white
Now it isn't quite so bright
Stained by the smoke of my cigar

If I weave around at night
And policemen think I'm tight
They never find my bottle, though they ask
Plastic Jesus shelters me
For His head comes off, you see
He's hollow, and I use Him for a flask

Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
Ride with me and have a dram
Of the blood of the Lamb
Plastic Jesus is a holy bar

Another version of the song. And another. There are many.

Religious Place Names

Glennahaglish, Ireland: This place incorporates the Irish word “eaglais” which translates as “church.”

Saqqara, Egypt: This place name reflects the name of the ancient Egyptian hawk-headed god of death, Sokar or Seker. HIs name is believed to be derived from the ancient Egyptian phrase “sy-k-ri,” which means “hurry to me.”

Pihana - a- ka -lani, Hawaii State, United States of America: The Hawaiian word “lani” translates as “heaven,” “sky,” or “king” and “pihana” means “a gathering place.”  Pihana was used as a temple site for the sacrifice of war captives to the king’s Hawaiian deities. It was a “gathering place of the supernatural.”

Braganca, Portugal: Walled settlements began to appear in this area in about 1000 to 700 BCE, Brigantia, “the elevated one,” was a Celtic goddess whose name is believed to have come from the Proto-Indo-European words “bhrg hnti” meaning “high,” “lofty,” or “elevated.”

Luang Prabang, Laos: The Lao words “Phra Bang” translate as “royal Buddha image.” The city-state already existed when it entered history in 698 CE when it was conquered by a Tai prince.

The Importance of Archeology

“ In a letter to Biblical Archeology Review (May - June 2016, professor Amihai Mazar of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem states, “If we would have to rely on archeology alone, we would not be able to say anything about Israel until the ninth century B.C.E., except the one mention in the Merneptah Stele in the late 13th century.”    

The Bible mentions cities and peoples otherwise unknown to history, Speaking about unidentified Iron and Bronze Age settlements, Professor Mazar believes that “It is only the Biblical tradition that provides clues to the identity and context of these archeological phenomena.”

One of the cultures mentioned by the Bible which archeology and history declared to be mythological was the Hittite Empire. That is, until the Hittite capital, Hattusas, was identified near Bogas Koy, Turkey in 1884. It was then realized that other ruins discovered in 1834 were also Hittite.  

Opinions about the historicity of the Bible vary wildly depending on numerous factors: educational level, religious background, preconceived biases, etc.  They range from the utterly ridiculous, "2/3 0f Bible is fictional," to the extreme literalist, to the skeptical, to those who give a somewhat grudging acknowledgment.

Ken Ham, writing on the website, Answers in Genesis, quotes from a letter he received from the Smithsonian Institution in response to a question about the historicity of The Flood recounted in Genesis. ’In the best analysis, the Bible is a religious book, not an historical document.’

The historicity of the Bible is the message of the massive apologetic work The Bible as History, written by Werner Keller. Dr. Keller recounts thousands of archeological and scientific items which point to the fact that the Bible is accurate in its historical assertions. Kings and cultures are mentioned in the Bible in the same order and historical context as established by secular sources. The cultural contexts spoken of are consistent with known facts.

The apparent historicity of the Bible is not proof of the truth of the religious claims of Christianity or of Judaism. It does, though, add to the overwhelming evidence pointing toward that truth.  

Deceptively Beautiful

                                                                

                                                                                                                           

The beautiful giant “corpse  flower” is about ten to fifteen feet (3.1 to 4.6 meters) tall, blooms for about one to two days every seven or more years, and smells like rotting meat. In a Christian context, the flower may be seen as a visual metaphor for evil, which can often seem to be beautiful but inside is stinking and vile.