The extraordinary power of tlie inana of a deity explains the intense desire to know his name. Only then could liis mxtna be serviceable, for in all the lower cultures to invoeate is not to supplicate, but to call to one's aid the powerful mana of the deity invocated.§
The Hindu priests ' could command the gods to do their will by invoking their hidden names." tl In Chaldaja it was believed that the demonB who caused disease and death could be expelled only by magical spell through the might of the great gods, who could be compelled to act by using their secret names, which the priests alone knew.^J In the time of Ilammurabi the personal names of the deities ' are invoked, apparently as con- taining, in like manner, a measure of the personality of their divine patrons.'** Heitmiiller shows that in the Persian, Mandiean, and other religions the mere utterance of the name of a deity acted as a kind of charm. ft In the under world to know the name of a demon was to be superior to his power. ' To pronounce the name of a deity [the secret names were most erticacious] compelled him to attend to the wishes of the priest or exorcist." U Even in modern times the person who knows ' the most great name of God ' can by uttering it kill the living, raise the dead, transport himself wherever he pleases, and perform other miracles. §§ The Arabs and the Chinese believe that he who knows the name of one of the jinn can make the jinn obey him.|l||
A person who knows the name of another can utilize tliis knowledge in three ways. He does not require such knowledge to aid or bless another, for he can do so directly ; but —
(1) When A knows B's name, A can injure B.
This is true of the Australians, for example. HI The people of Torres Straits when they wish to injure anyone make a rude ertigy of the person, and deal with it as they would have the hated person dealt with ; but the very first action is to call it by the name of the person who is to be injured.*** The Greeks and Romans wrote on a tablet the name of one whom they wished to hurt, and then ' defixed ' it with nails, believing that what was done to the name would be experienced by the person bearing the name. This was called KOTdSecrts or dejixio. One inscription reads ovojuo KaraSiIi koI avrdv (' I nail his name, that is, himself ')-ttt
(2) When A knows B's name, A can compel B to act in a good way towards C.
It was part of the duty of Aaron and his sons to bless in the name of Jahweh. Naaman thought that his cure would be effected by Elisha calling on the name of Jahweh. Jacob invokes the name of the God of his ancestors, his own name, and the name of his progenitors, to bless his grandchildren. A prescribed formula puts Jahweh's ' name upon the children of Israel so that he blesses them.' David blesses the people in the name of Jahweh, and a not unusual good wish came to be, ' We bless you in the name of Jahweh.' IJJ
(3) When A knows B's name A can compel B to injure C.
Hence among the Jews thoughtlessly to invoeate the name of Jahweh in a curse was blasphemy. §§§ When Goliath cursed David by his gods he was solemnly invoking these deities to destroy his antagonist ; and when David retorted, ' I come to thee in the name of Jahweh Sabaoth,* he meant that he had
* Frazer, GB\ pt. i., The Magic Art, i. 241 ; C]i)dd, p. 176 f.
t BDB V. 18la. J lb. V. 280.
§ lb. V. 181.
II J. A. MacCulloch, Religion, its Origin and Forms, 1904, p. 70.
If lb. p. 100.
** ExpT XXV. ri9ia-14] 128.
tt W. Heitinuller, Im Namen Jesu, 1903, pp. 190, 192.
U HDB V. 181 ; Sayce, p. 302.
§§ E. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, 1895, eh. xii.
nil Frazer, GB^, pt. ii., Tabooand the Perils of theSouLp. 390.
in lb. p. 320.
•** Haddon, p. 19; also Exp, 7th ser., x. [1910] 122.
ttt On the d<'fixionum tabellce see F. B. Jevons, in Transac- tions of the Third Intematiinial Congress for the History of Beligions, ii. 131 ff., *Grajco-Italian Magic' in R. R. Marett, Aii- thropolngy and the Classics, 1908, p. 106; Ovid, Atnores, ni. vii. 29; Tacitus, Ann. ii. 69. For similar conceptions among the Chald;Bans, Egyptians, and Scots, see Clodd, pp. 65, 66, 86.
lit 1 Ch 231^ 2 K 5", Gn 4816, Nu 627, 2 S 620, Pg 1298.
§§§ Lv 24".
invoked the aid of his God against the giant. Elisha in cursing the lads of Bethel did so ' in the name of Jahweh.'
When St. Paul calletl down on Klyniaa the doom of Idindne.s.s, the words indicate tliat he did it by means of a solemn invocation of the Divine name.*
This invocttting of the name of a deity marks a stage In the developing of one element in religion. There is (a) the wish to injure, taking a stronger form m (6) a purely magical act aa nailinj^,t to which is added (c) an invocation of the name of a deity ; then gradviall\ ((0 the act becomes symtwlical. and the invoking of the name more important, till (f) the act Is omitted and there remains the simple cursing In the name of the deity. J Or again there is (a) the wish to bless, taking exprrs^^ioii iti (b) a formal act as the laying on of hands, to which is uddt-d (r) a calling on the name of the god; then gradually <d) lliis act becomes merely symbolical and the petitioning of the rk-ity all- importAnt, till at the end the act is omitted and (e) what ren'iaiua is the pure invoking of the deity by name in a blessing or a prayer.