Series: Namesakes~Isaac & Rebekah

Our names are more than just what we are called. They can reveal a lot about our character. When God gave names, or changed names, in Scripture, it signified that a change was about to take place in the lives of those whose names were changed. Do you have a Scripture-based name? Are you living up to the character of that name? Or, do you feel a name-change is in order?

Isaac

Laughter

English spelling: Isaac

Hebrew Transliteration: Yitschaq

Hebrew Spelling: יִצְחָק

from tsachaq meaning laughter, play, make sport

from a primitive root word meaning to laugh

outright (in merriment or scorn)

Genesis 17:17, 19, 21

Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, "Will a child be born to him who is one hundred years old? Will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?"... God said, "No, but Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son. You shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him. ... But my covenant I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year."

Isaac’s name comes from what both his mother and father did when they learned that Sarah would be having a son at ninety years old, not from an indication that his life would be filled with humor. Isaac’s purpose was set, regardless of the name given him.

We can think of Isaac’s name when God gives us a prophecy that we know is humanly impossible,  and then laugh with pleasure when it comes about.

Rebekah

Agreement

English Spelling: Rebekah/Rebecca

Hebrew Transliteration: Ribqah

Hebrew: רִבְקָה

from an unused root  meaning to bind by tying up the fetlock; fettering (by beauty); by extension, a binding, an agreement, a joining together

Genesis 24:56-59

He said to them, "Don't hinder me, since Yahweh has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master." They said, "We will call the young lady, and ask her." They called Rebekah, and said to her, "Will you go with this man?" She said, "I will go." They sent away Rebekah, their sister, with her nurse, Abraham's servant, and his men.

Genesis 24:65-67

She said to the servant, "Who is the man who is walking in the field to meet us?" The servant said, "It is my master." She took her veil, and covered herself. The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife. He loved her. Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.

The Rebekah in Scripture served her name well, by agreeing to go with Abraham’s servant, and then joining together with Isaac to become his wife. When it came time for Isaac to bless his elder son, she made sure that Jacob got the blessing. Some have faulted her for this, but I believe she acted out of the knowledge that was given to her by God, which was a binding agreement between the two of them.

photo courtesy of http://www.personalcreations.com/ |  License