Alice C. Linsley
The bride's naming prerogative pertains only to cousin brides. Afro-Asiatic chiefs maintained two wives. One was a half-sister and the other was a patrilineal parallel cousin. As the sister wife had the same father as her husband, there was no need to identify her first-born with the ruling father. On the other hand, the cousin bride's father would be identified through the naming of her first-born son after her father. We first see this pattern in Genesis 4 and 5 where Lamech's daughter marries her cousin Methuselah and names their first-born son 'Lamech' after her father. The pattern remains consistent throughout Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, and Chronicles. It remains so consistent among the ruler-priests of Abraham's people that it can be used to trace descent from Abraham to Jesus and his cousin John.
The bride's naming prerogative pertained to noble wives, not to ordinary people. An aspiration to nobility has led men to take multiple wives, as this was the practice of chiefs only among Abraham's people.
Name Changes
Throughout the Bible we find examples of women naming their sons. In the case of Benjamin, Rachel's name choice of 'Ben Oni' was overruled by Jacob (Gen. 35:17-20). Mary was told to give to her Son the name Jesus, which was a common name of that time. Elizabeth also was told to name her son John. Throughout the Bible God assigns names to those called according to His purpose. Remember how Jacob was re-named Israel?
Right of Primogeniture and Line of Descent
The first son borns were the ones who inherited the chief's property, territory, authority and legal prerogatives. As the chief had 2 first-born sons there was a certain amount of competition between these sons. Nahor and Abraham illustrate this. Nahor was the older brother. We know that he was the first-born son because he was named after his mother's father. That is why Nahor inherited Terah's property in Haran.
While right of primogeniture was figured through the fathers, blood line was figured through the mothers. This is evident even today among Jews. One is Jewish only if one's mother is Jewish.
Abram's name doesn't appear anywhere else in the Genesis genealogical lists, but these ancients took names very seriously, so we can be sure that Abram's name was no coincidence. It was probably a common name in his mother's homeland between Mt. Harun (near Petra in Jordan) and Mt. Hor (near Hebron).
Why Does God Sing?
6 hours ago
4 comments:
I was named after my mom's dad....
Makes me feel rather royal now.
If you are a sinner, redeemed by the Lamb, you ARE royal.
Is there anything in your cousin bride's naming prerogative thesis that helps with daughter's names? For example, would you be able to provide any insight into understanding the significance of the name "Bathsheba," (daughter of ... ?), who appears to us in II Sam. 11:3 with the name we know most familiarly. But in I Chronicles 3:5, the second part of her name is "shua" ? Jonathan
Her name in Hebrew is בת שבע, Bat Sheva, which simply means daughter of Sheba. The House of Sheba is a prominent Horite clan. Sheba, along with Peleg and Joktan, was one of the 3 heads of the Horites.
The Samuel passage is closer to Genesis than I Chronicles, which represents a later period. You see this in the way I Chronicles 4:4 lists Hur (Hor or Horite) as the "father of Bethlehem". In fact, Bethlehem is a place, not a son. Yet the author of I Chronicles knew that Bethlehem was originally a Horite settlement, less than 10 miles from Mt. Hor.
The name 'Bathshua' appears to be influenced by the Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint).
The geneologies of Genesis trace only male rulers and the naming of the first-born son after the cousin bride's father was a way to trace royal lineage.
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