NO Bible student can fail to have been struck by the many prophecies and promises, contingent upon the due honoring of the name of God, to be found both in the Old and New Testaments; and in the Psalms of David and the book of Isaiah we read of a longing and desire to know this name. Now a mere name or designation is in itself powerless to procure good, or to arouse this longing, and so we are led to search for some deeper and wider meaning. What does the word "name" imply to the ordinary human being? Webster defines it in part thus: "That by which any person or thing is called;... reputation, character, quality; a power inherent in the person named." Now reputation, character, quality, form the essential nature of the individual, and in our daily experience we find this constantly admitted.
Involuntarily, when we hear a family name, we form an idea of the probable character, quality, nature to be looked for. This is very noticeable in any large public school; how often one hears such remarks as this: "What is the new fellow's name?" "S——." "All of the S——'s are workers, all of the S——'s are cricketers, sportsmen, idlers, etc." In a still greater degree we find this connection of name and nature apparent in our thought of races; in fact, any name, when spoken, seems immediately to convey a sense of type, quality, and nature, and almost invariably means far more than a mere designation.
The latter part of Webster's definition, "a power inherent in the person named," has also a practical illustration in human affairs. The belief in it has led mortals to ask permission to use another's name, in order through its merits to gain favorable consideration, some special advantage, some measure of confidence and vicarious respect, to which their own attainment has not entitled them. We see, then, that in human affairs we recognize this threefold definition of the word "name," viz., as a designation, as nature, and as a power inherent in the person named. And yet, when we come to the things of God, mankind seem to have stultified the meaning of this word to such an extent that to the average reader the name God in the Old Testament has meant mainly a designation, in the New a power inherent in another's name to procure undeserved good.
