The Name Game – Adam Adam Bo Badam
September 15th, 2009
If you’ve been reading any of my studies here, you’ll know that I like to look into the names contained in the scriptures. There is nothing placed in the scriptures without a purpose and the names are certainly evidence of that. The first time I was made aware of the importance of Bible names was in a study by Dr. Chuck Missler from Koinonia House. He listed the names from Adam to Noah and came up with something very interesting. (I should note that while I get a lot of material from Chuck Missler, he is not my only source. If you steal from one person it’s called plagiarism. If you steal from many it’s called research.)
This is an abbreviated version of Missler’s study:
| Adam | from adomah, and means "man" |
| Seth | Adam’s son was named Seth, which means "appointed" |
| Enosh | Seth’s son was called Enosh, which means "mortal," "frail," or "miserable." It was in the days of Enosh that men began to defile the name of the Living God. |
| Kenan | Enosh’s son was named Kenan, from which can mean "sorrow" or "dirge". |
| Mahalalel | Kenan’s son was Mahalalel, from mahalal, which means "blessed" or "praise"; and El, the name for God. Thus, Mahalalel means "the Blessed God." Often Hebrew names included El, the name of God, as Dani-el, "God is my Judge," Nathani-el, "Gift of God," etc. |
| Jared | Mahalalel’s son was named Jared, from the verb yaradh, meaning "shall come down". |
| Enoch | Jared’s son was named Enoch, which means "teaching," or "commencement." |
| Methuselah | Methuselah comes from two roots: muth, a root that means "death" ; and from shalach, which means "to bring," or "to send forth." Thus, the name Methuselah signifies, "his death shall bring." |
| Lamech | Methuselah’s son was named Lamech, a root still evident today in our own English word, "lament" or "lamentation." Lamech suggests "despairing". |
| Noah | Noah is derived from nacham , "to bring relief" or "comfort". |
Summarizing it would look like this:
|
Adam |
Man |
| Seth |
Appointed |
| Enos |
Mortal |
|
Kenan |
Sorrow |
|
Mahalalel |
The Blessed God |
|
Jared |
Shall come down |
|
Enoch |
Teaching |
|
Methuselah |
His death shall bring |
| Lamech |
The despairing |
|
Noah |
Rest, or comfort |
Reading it in a sentence, it looks like this:
Man was appointed to be mortal, in sorrow, but the blessed God shall come down teaching, and His death shall bring the despairing rest and comfort.
The entire plan of salvation is spelled out in the names of the men born before the flood. Now before you throw up your hands and say “Yea, but that could have been written in later by Christians who just wanted it to be true” remember, this is in the book of Genesis, in the Torah. The Hebrew text of the Torah was translated into Greek 400 years before Jesus was crucified and both versions are around today. If the Christians added this in later, why would the Jewish scriptures in every synagogue in the world contain that change.
Currently, I’m doing a study of the Book of Esther. Here are some of the key characters in Esther:
| Ahasuerus | “king”, “might man” or "I will be silent and poor" |
| Vashti | "beautiful" or “you will waste away” |
| Mordecai | "little man", “bitter brusing”, “bitterness of my oppressed” |
| Hadassah | "myrtle" queen Esther’s Jewish name |
| Esther | "star" or "she that is hidden" |
| Haman | "magnificent", "well disposed", "alone", "the rager or rioter" |
Honestly, I haven’t found anything in Esther as profound as Missler’s Genesis list, yet. The lists of the princes’ and eunuchs’ names have a lot to say, however. You can see those lists in The Book of Esther – Part 3. I also find it interesting that the names fit the people extremely well.
The one name that is absent from Esther is the name of God, but that doesn’t mean He isn’t very much involved. Like the treasures found in the Bible, sometimes His presence is blatantly obvious and sometimes you have to dig a little deeper to see it. But one thing is certain, He is ALWAYS there.
