1 Chronicles 1:1-54 Adam, Sheth, Enosh,… The first nine chapters contain the largest extant collection of Hebrew names. 1. These names have an individual significance. A mere parish register is not in itself attractive, but if we consider even such a list, the very names interest us and kindle our imaginations. It is almost impossible to linger in a country churchyard, reading the half-effaced inscriptions upon the headstones, without forming some dim picture of the character and history and even the outward semblance of the men and women who once bore the names. A name implies the existence of a distinct personality. In its lists of what are now mere names the Bible seems to recognise the dignity and sacredness of bare human life. 2. These names have also a collective significance. They are typical and representative — the names of kings and priests and captains; they sum up the tribes of Israel, both as a Church and a nation, down all the generations of its history. 3. The meanings of names reveal the ideas of the people who used them. "The Hebrew names bear important testimony to the peculiar vocation of this nation. No nation of antiquity has such a proportion of names of religious import." The Old Testament contains more than a hundred etymologies of personal names, most of which attach a religious meaning to the words explained. 4. How far do these names help us to understand the spiritual life of ancient Israel? The Israelites made constant use of El and Jehovah in their names, and we have no parallel practice. Were they then so much more religious than we are? Probably in a sense they were. Modern Englishman have developed a habit of almost complete reticence and reserve on religious matters, and this habit is illustrated by our choice of proper names. 5. According to the testimony of names, the Israelites' favourite ideas about God were that He heard, and knew, and remembered; that He was gracious, and helped men and gave them gifts; they loved best to think of Him as God the Giver. This is a foreshadowing of the Christian doctrines of grace and of the Divine sovereignty. God hears and remembers and gives — what? All that we have to say to Him and all that we are capable of receiving from Him. (W. H. Bennett, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Adam, Sheth, Enosh,WEB: Adam, Seth, Enosh, |
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