t Frazer, GB^, pt. ii., Taboo and the Peril) of th» Soul, 1911, pp. 318-320.
§ O. Squire, The Mythology of the British Islands, new ed., 1910, p. 236.
H ERE i. 643.
II Frazer, GB^, pt. i!.. Taboo and the Perils of the Soul, p. 331.
•* A. H. Sa\ce, Lectures on the Origin ajid Grotrth of Religion^ (BL, 1887), 1891, p. 302 ; cf. ExpT xxiii. ll»ll-l'^l ».
tt J. Rhvs, quoted by Iladdon, p. 23.
Jt UDUv. 181".
§§ lb. ; Exp, 7th ser., x. (1910] 122.
III! Deissmann, bible Studies, pp. 146, 147.
HH Farnell, The Evolution of Religion, p. 188.
68
NAME
NAME
secret names of the (tods of Eicypt were specially honoured.* Passages in the OT, too numerous to quote, indicate the preat place this conception had in the minds o( the Hei.rews. There 18 a glory due to Jahweh's name : men are to sing forth the glory of ilis name, to exalt His name, to sing praises to His name, to hiess His name, to fear His glorious and fearful name, and even to love His nanie.t
Our Lord carried forward to deeper meaning the ancient iisa;_'e when He prayed, ' Father, glorify tliy name,' and xvhen He taught His disciples to pray ' May thy name be revered.' Through a proces.s of thought "to be explained immediately the name of Jesus came to be similarly honoured. Through certain occurrences at Eplie.sus the name of the Lord Jesus was magnitiecf, the Thessalonians were entreated to live so that the name of the Lord Jesus might be glorified in them ; while the saints are described as those who reverence, fear, and glorify the name.* Here it is necessary strongly to emphasize the fact that similarity of expression does not necessarily imply identity of meaning. In the realm of idea.s a word or expression may have its content essentially changed. But the change is ever gradual, hence the exact meaning at any one moment is reached only when the evolution which preceded and which followed becomes clear. This is especially true of the Apostolic Age when through the welter of religions many expressions were in a constant state of flux. The practical identity of the name and the personality implied further that the continuance of the personality depended on the continuance of the name.
In E^'ypt ' one could do nothing belter for any one than by inscriptions and representations to " cause his name to live," and nothing worse than to allow it to perish.' § The god Amon assures Ramses in. that ' as long as heaven endures thy name sliall endure, and shall grow eternally.'ll The Egyptians of all classes erased the names and figures of their enemies from tombs and memorials.H Amenhotep iv. went even further, and through the whole country erased the name of the god Amen whose worship he had forsaken.** In Mesopotamia the preservation of names was of unique importance. 'Terrible curses are denounced [by the kings] against those who should destroy or injure " the writing of their names." ' ft This belief in connexion with the worship of ancestors deeply influenced the mind of the Jew. Jahweh is represented as saying of His enemies, ' Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven.' The Levirate marriage was enforced that the firstborn son of a woman by her deceased husband's brother should ' succeed in the name of his brother who is dead, that his name be not blotted out of Israel.' The writer of Ecclesiastesdescribesthesad caseof a man ' who begets an hundred children, and lives many years, so that the dajs of his years are manj', but his soul is not filled with good, and moreover he has no burial,' i.e. has no tomb with his name on it, because ' an untimely birth is better than he, for it comes in vanity, and departeth in darkness, and the name thereof is covered with darkness.' The fiercest hatred is that of those who say ' when will he die, and his name perish,' while the glory of the Messianic King is that ' his name shall endure for ever, his name shall have issue as long as the sun.' It
In the Apostolic Age we find this conception linked with another widely spread idea that in heaven there is a register of life, the insertion in which of a person's name ensures to him the cer- tainty of a blessed immortality, and identification in the other world, as with us the insertion of a person's name in a voter's roll entitles the person to exercise his vote, or his enrolment in a society opens to him the privilege of that society. Our .Lord calls upon His disciples to rejoice because their 'names are enrolled in heaven.' St. Paul describes his fellow- workers as those 'whose names are in the book of life.' In the same way the omission, or non-insertion, or erasure of the name indicates the exclusion from all such privileges.
• ERE i. 4401' ; G. Ebers, Joshua, Eng. tr., 2 vols., 1890, i. 79 : Sayce, p. 3nu.
f Ps -292. 343 662 6936 9fi2 lool 1353, Dt 2S58. For the honour given to the name of God, of Moses, and of a king see Exp, 8th ser., viii. 307.
: Jn 1227. '28, Mt 69, Lk 112, Ac IQ", 2Th 112. Rev 1118 154.