It has been pointed out, e.g., by B. D. Eerdmans that the primitive Israelites 'assumed the existence of a mvsterlous power, that dwelt in all things that lived, and in all things that appeared to contain unseen sources of action. . . . The name of this power was Klohim or EL' This Hebrew conception, which corresponds to mana, can be traced in such expressions as ' the El of my hand.' § As Jahweh advanced to the supreme place among the gods, all such power became attributed to Him, and His name, as embodying this and His other attributes, attained unique importance. His worship is described aa * calling on the name of Jahweh." ll ' To proclaim his name ' is to reveal the essence of His character ; the Levites are those who ' minister in his name,* and * bless in his name,' while the ark was holy because there had been called over it the name of Jahweh. 1[ HIstinSd, ' messenger 'or * angel,'** who was to guide the Israelites to Palestine, was to be treated with profound reverence, ' for my name is in him,' i.e., he is the representative of my being.ft It follows, as E. Kautzsch remarks, that to know it [the name of Jahweh] is of vital Importance, for this is the condition of being able to use it in invocation ; and invoc^ition has, according to primitive notions, a real efficacy, giving to the invoking party a kind of power over the name invoked, so that he can compel its aid.' This we have seen in the case of David. It Hence the most solemn oath was taken in the name of Jahweh, for the mana of Jahweh fell on the breaker of such an oath.
An allusion to the ancient pi'actice is found in the words of St. Paul : ' Every one who invokes the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how are they to invoke one in whom they do not believe, and how can they believe in one of whom they have not heard ?' — as well as in the custom of the primitive Christians of invoking the name of Jesus. §§
The close connexion between the person and the name of a deity comes out in primitive ideas of creation. *To pronounce a name is to call up and conjure the being who hears it. The name pos- sesses personality. ... To name a thing is to create it : that is why creation is often represented as accomplished by the word.'HH
The Egyptians believed that the god created himself by uttering his own name, and that when he named a thing it inmiediately sprang into existence.HH In the Babylonian cos- mogony there is not so much a period of chaos as a period when things were not named and therefore did not exist. ' \Vl\en in the height heaven was not named, And the earth beneath did not bear a name. When none of the gods had come forth, They bore no name.' ***
A reference of a similar kind lingers in such Hebrew myths as ' Elohim said let there be light, and light was,' or that which tells that in order to meet the loneliness of the first man Jahweh
* 1 S 1745, Ac 1310. n.
t Tacitus, loc, dt. I Ovid, loc. dt.
§ Exp, Sth ser„ vi. [1913] 385, 386; Gn 3129; j. Skinner, ICCt ' Genesis,' 1910, p. 398 ; Dt 2832, etc. ; UDB v. 640.
Ii On 128 4'^B 2025.
11 Ex 3319 345, Dt 183 21», 2 S 62.
** Ex 23'-:o.-J3. ft HDB v. 640^, 1 S 17«.
I* 1 S 20-12. J§ Ro lOl^i- 14, Ac 2-'l 91*. 21 2216.
nil HDB V. 181; Tiele, quoted by J. M. Robertson, Pagan Chri8ts,\9n,-p. 220.
mi HDB V. 181 ; Budge, quoted by Farnell, The Evolution of Religion, p. 188 ; G. Iilaspero, The Damn of Civilization, 1897, p. 187.
*** Maspero, p. 637; G. Smith, The Chaldean Acco-unt of Genesis, 1876, p. 62 ; T. G. Pinches, The OT in the Light of the Historical Records of Assyria and Babylonia^, 1903, p. 16 ; J. Skinner, ICC. 'Genesis,' 1910, p. 43.
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NAME
XA.MK
mule the brute creation and brought them to him to see what he would name them.*
In the writinjp* of the Apostolic Age this concep- tion has passed into that of creation l»y wonl. ' The world was fasluonetl hy tlie word of God ' ; * tlie earth by the word of Uod was formed of water and by water ' ; for * God calls into being wliat does not exist.' t
7. Name and tabu.— As primitive man rejrarded his name as a vital portion of himself he took extraordinary care of it ; lie kept it secret. Tliis was neeessarVi for if it was known and properly used in a correct formula by an enemy, tlie wish of his enemy immediatelj' took etl'ect.+
The Amerinds believed in a personal soul which was neither the bodily life nor yet mental power, but a kind of third soul, or spiritual body. This had a very intimate connexion with the name. It was believed by many of the tribes to come into existence with the name; hence the personal name was sacred and rarely uttered, (or it was part of the individuality, and throuK^h it the soul could be injured.} Sava^jes have strorij; objections to uttering their own names. This is true of the Australians, the Tasmanians, the Amerinds, and the primitive Scots and Irish. In Abyssinia the real, i.e. tlie baptismal, name is kept secret, and is only used in church services, such as prayers for the dead. The people of Torres Straits, like those of the west of Ireland, refuse to tell their names ; for their doing so would put them in the power of the person to whom they were told, who could thus work his will upon them.H A person's name must not be uttered by one related to him by blood and especially by marriage. This prevails among the South African tribes, those of Borneo, and North America. Among the Ainus a woman must not pronounce her husband's name ; to do so would be to bring harm on him.^ An Abipone will not commit the sin of uttering his own name, for that would be literally ' to give himself away,' though he does not object to mention that of other people."* Cases are known where a man had completelj' forgotten his own name, and was thus saved from the possible mistake of inadvertently letting it become known. tt Among the Battaks ... a man, on becoming the father of a boy, N.N., is henceforth known only as 'father of N.N.' X* An Amazulu woman must not name her husband, but calls him * the father of N.,' meaning the child. §§ So the Hindu wife speaks of her husband as ' he,' the English wife of hers as 'my man' or 'my master,' while the Scotch woman uses 'oor ain.' The expressions ' the mother of Sisera,' ' Peter's wife's mother," ' the mother of Zebedee's children,' are familiar instances of the same practice. |l II