Our Name(s)
BIBLICAL SURNAMES
By Walt Giddings
August 30, 2020
Greetings kindred and fellow sheep. We are on a first name basis here. My name is Walter. The Holy Spirit is the real Teacher. My job is to lead you toward Him. I am your classmate in God’s classroom. As my classmates in God’s classroom you will do the work with me. What is your surname?
Ecclesiastes 7:1-2
1 A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.
2 It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all Adam; and the living will lay it to his heart.
There is so much doctrine in these two verses we could go anywhere in the books of God’s Library. Shall we narrow the scope and lighten our burden? The title of our Fellowship lesson is “Our Name”. And don’t call me by your family names!
Proverbs 22:1: A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches and loving favour than silver and gold.
Whose “loving favour”? When I was a grubby looking, snot nose kid in grammar school, I avoided the bigger kids. When necessary I ran fast. I was a fugitive from war. To see me was to want to beat me. One of the older, bigger boys told me that! They got used to me keeping my distance. So they administered the name-calling test. They were so good at it I went home and complained: Pop, they’re calling me awful cussing, dirty, filthy nasty names. My earthly Father, in his wisdom, never put his thumb in anyone’s steam valve. When I finished blowing out all my frustration, I saw he was smiling. What am I supposed to do? I asked. The next time they start calling you dirty filthy nasty names you tell them, “Oh yeah, takes one to know one, and don’t call me by your family names! ... The prospect of unloading all that on my tormentors made me smile. I learned to run faster.
“A good name is better than precious ointment.” Why would a pedagogue, whose history is doing lessons on Bible Biology, lead a lesson on our family name(s)? Biology has a great deal to do with family. It starts with DNA, genes and chromosomes, who gets whose blood on transfusions, right down to what we eat. Family is biological.
Amos 3:2: You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
The Hebrew word translated “families” is translated elsewhere as “kind” and “kindred”. Even a nation is described as a body of people who all have a common ancestor. Each of us has family. Because of the evils of this life a few of us are a family of one. Yet we have family. Our family name reveals we have family. What is a surname? What is your surname?
From the 1828 Webster dictionary:
SURNAME, n. [L. super and nomen.]
1. An additional name; a name or appellation added to the baptismal or Christian name, and which becomes a family name.
The Latin is a contraction for superimposed name. The Great I Am God of Israel has the end time prophet Isaiah speak of a great Time of Blessing to come.
Isaiah 44:5: One shall say, I am the LORD’s and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel.
“Another shall ... surname himself by the name of Israel.” Do we notice down through History our family has gained many surnames? (verse 7). The Great I Am says, “I appointed the ancient people.” Who are the ancient people? Of all the Kindreds, of the earth, what Family is the most Ancient Family of them all? What is the Apostle Peter’s last name? What is Peter’s surname?
Mark 3:16-17
16 And Simon he surnamed Peter;
17 And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, the sons of thunder.
Who is he? Who surnamed Peter? Jesus. This is His Selection of the Twelve Apostles. Peter’s last name is ...? James and John, sons of Zebedee have a new surname, Boanerges.
How common is the practice of surnames in the Scriptures, Matthew to Revelation? Is it a common practice?
Matthew 10:3-4
3 Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;
4 Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
How many apostles had surnames?
Luke 22:3 Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.
We recall that another was chosen to take Judas’ bishoprick. This is told in Acts 1 where the selection process reduced to two candidates.
Acts 1:23: And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Mathias.
Barnabas is one of the apostles with Paul, who evangelized Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, where Paul was stoned, and Derbe. He is first named here in Acts 4:36.
Acts 4:36 And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus.
As soon as James gave sentence that the Gentiles, called of God, should not be troubled about being circumcized and keeping the law of Moses, the church at Jerusalem sent two of their chief men to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas.
Acts 15:22: Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren.
Here Paul proposed to Barnabas to go to the cities where they had preached to “see how they do”.
Acts 15:37 And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark.
Who is Mark? When Jesus surnamed the Apostles, did he ever forget their lineage? Did Jesus forget the fathers that begat them?
Matthew 16:16-17
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
What does Barjona mean? Who is Simeon Peter’s earthly father? Do Israelites have a sense of humor? Does the God of Israel have a sense of humor? Do the sons of Isaac have a sense of humor? Is the Name Isaac the Hebrew word for laughter? Does Luke 5 tell us Simeon Peter and Zebedee’s sons James and John were business partners? Did four fishermen leave Zebedee and the hired servants to become four fishers of men? Is Peter’s father named after the Prophet who was swallowed by a big fish? Can we say that surnames in the 1st Century were not unusual?
What is your last name? And how far back down the corridors of HIStory do our surnames track?
What was Abraham’s last name? What was Abraham’s surname? What information in the Scriptures would lead us to believe Abraham and all his seed, or descendants, descended from a common ancestor? If John and his wife had 10 sons and 2 daughters, 10 of his children would under common law (the Law common to Israel) carry on the family name of Johnson. Robert the village Blacksmith had sons to carry on the Smith family name. What is Abraham’s last name? Did Abraham and his descendants carry on a prominent family name?
Genesis 14:13: And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner; and these were confederate with Abram.
Do we find a second witness to Abraham’s family name? Did the brethren of Joseph, the great grandsons of Abraham, sell Joseph into slavery? Was Joseph unjustly accused of assaulting his master’s wife? By what family name was Joseph known in Egypt?
Genesis 41:12: And there was there with us a young man, an Hebrew servant to the captain of the guard; and we told him and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each man according to his dream he did interpret.
In Egypt by what family name were the Israelites known? Was Moses of Pharaoh’s household? Did Pharaoh’s daughter give him his name?
Exodus 2:11 And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.
How far down the corridors of time does the Hebrew family name prevail? Jonah boarded a ship for Tarshish, fleeing from the presence of the LORD. God sent a great tempest that threatened to break up the ship. The shipmaster woke up the sleeping Jonah demanding that he pray to his God. The mariners cast lots to see if one of them on board was the cause of God’s anger. The lot fell on Jonah. They demanded of Jonah, the cause of the evil upon them, his occupation, where he came from, his country, and his people.
Jonah 1:9: And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, which hath made the sea and the dry land.
Writing to the believers at Philippi, Paul, in explaining the error of having confidence in the flesh, told them he had more reason than any other man to be drawn into that error.
Phillipians 3:5 Circumcized the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee.
Where do we find the Book of Hebrews? Do we find that Epistle among the Books commonly called the New Testament?
In answer to the question, What was Abraham’s last name (?), what can we say? What is Abraham’s surname? Who is the father of the Hebrew Nation? Who is their common ancestor?
Genesis 10:21-22
21 Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born.
22 The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.
Was Eber the grandson of Arphaxad, and the great grandson of Shem?
Genesis 10:24 And Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber.
Can we see the great great Grandfather of Eber is Noah? Is Eber’s grandfather Arphaxad, and his father Salah? Are we the children of Eber? Are we the Hebrew children? Is Israel in dispersion the dispersed, scattered abroad portion of the Hebrew children?
Back to Genesis 14:13... What was Abraham’s last name? Was his great grandson Joseph, the Hebrew slave? If Abraham and his great grandchild Joseph were Hebrews, what was their last name? If Abraham is an Hebrew is he a son of Heber? If Abraham’s great grandson Joseph is an Hebrew, is he a son of Heber? Is Heber the father of the Hebrews? Have we met the Heberson family? Abraham Eberson? Joseph Heberson?
How far back in time does this surname business go? Is Noah’s last name Adamson?
What is Adam’s last name?
Luke 3:23, 38:
23 And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,
38 Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.
If we say Adam’s last name is Godson, as in Adam Godson, do we run afoul of Genesis 3? Did Adam lose sonship in The Fall?! Was Adam’s last name Godson? Let us not be guilty of underrating the catastrophic, dire, disabling, disastrous extreme pandemic consequences of The Fall of Adam in The Garden. Did Adam lose his last name in the Fall? What is God’s last name? What record in the Scriptures do we have, if any, that God has surnamed himself? Did we verify that a last name is an added name, a super nomen? Among the Christ followers, among the Christians, is a name added to the baptismal name a surname? What is God’s surname?
Most of us are familiar with the Tetragrammaton. It is a compound of two Greek words, tetra the Greek word for the number four, and gramma the Greek word for letter, as in letters of the alphabet. The Tetragrammaton is a writing of four letters. Although tetragrammaton is, in word, Greek, it refers to an Hebrew word containing three of the twenty two Hebrew consonants, Yod, He, Vav, He, for a total of four letters. It is a repeated form of the Hebrew verb "to be".
Exodus 3:13-14
13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, what is his name? what shall I say unto them?
14 And God said unto Moses I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Is I AM THAT I AM God’s first name or his last name? Is this God’s name or surname?
Exodus 3:15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
Shall we compare verse 15 with verse 14? Did verse 14 tell us God’s name is I AM THAT I AM? Did verse 15 say the LORD God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Does verse 15 tell us, the children of Israel, this is his name forever, and his memorial unto all our generations?
Is His Name I AM THAT I AM, or the LORD God?
Is it true that I AM THAT I AM and the LORD God are His Name?
It is not “or.” It is “and.” Both are His Name indeed. The word LORD is The Authorized Version 1611 translation of H3068 transliterated Jehovah. It is a repeated form of the Hebrew verb to be: I AM THAT I AM. LORD is the same in Hebrew as I AM THAT I AM! Notice that LORD comes with an added name, God. “God” is the translation of H430 elohiym, el-o-heem’.
What is Peter’s last name? Peter. What is God’s last name? “The LORD God” appears in 465 verses of the Bible. LORD translates I AM THAT I AM. I AM THAT I AM has been called the Great I AM. Our God is the Great IAM God of Israel.
Is Elohiym God’s last name? Is Elohiym God’s surname? If Elohiym is God’s last name, should we find evidence in the Scriptures that this is true? How did we find Abraham’s last name? Did we find Abraham was known in the Land of Milk and Honey as the Hebrew? Did we find that one of Abraham’s forefathers Eber was the father of the Hebrews?
Is Abraham’s last name Eberson?
Is God’s last name Elohiym? Elohiym is translated, in the collective singular, God, and in the plural small g gods. Is there a relationship between God and the small g gods? What is that relationship?
Psalms 82:1-8
1 God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.
2 How long will ye judge unjust ly, and show partiality to the persons of the wicked? Selah.
3 Defend the poor and the fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
4 Deliver the poor and needy: free them out of the hand of the wicked.
5 They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the Most High.
7 But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.
We have recited the whole of Psalms chapter 82 responsively. For this lesson’s purpose we harvest two things ripe. Classmates, look again at verse 7, which you read. From what Hebrew word is men translated?H120 adam, aw-dawm. Why is the death of a member of Adamkind compared to, or like (simile) the fall of a prince? Are the wages of sin death? Do princes rule principalities? Did Adam lose dominion, sonship, and immortality in The Fall? Through the redemption and grace that is in Christ Jesus, do we regain eternal life and family status making possible our return to exercising Dominion?
Revelation 5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
Do we have a second witness to our current legal standing in heaven and our royal destiny?
1 Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people:
The word peculiar is a 1611 King James English word meaning peculiar to God, signifying that we are God’s private property. Does being God’s private property mean that we are his family returned to Him at last? We are returned to Him at last to do what?
1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, EYE HATH NOT SEEN, NOR EAR HEARD, NEITHER HAVE ENTERED INTO THE HEART OF MAN, THE THINGS WHICH GOD HATH PREPARED FOR THEM THAT LOVE HIM.
From what or where is Paul quoting in his Epistle to the Church?
Isaiah 64:4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.
We have another witness in another end time prophet Micah.
Micah 4:8 And thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion: the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.
Do we see Dominion is no joke? Look at verse 5. Can we discern what this verse is all about?
Micah 4:5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.
Who are the “we” to whom belongs “for ever and ever”? What are small g gods doing in The Kingdom that shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem? Is the answer in verse 6?
Psalms 82:6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the Most High.
Who are the “ye” that are small g gods and “children of the Most High”?
1 John 3:1-2
1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not.
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see Him as he is.
The “sons of God” appears twice, once in each verse. Does the margin in your Bibles give an alternate translation to the word “sons”? “Children”. Does that match the word “children” in Psalms 82:6, “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the Most High”? In John 10 Jesus said “I and my Father are one.” The Jews took up stones again to stone him for blasphemy because “being a man” he was making himself God:
John 10:34-36
34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I SAID, YE ARE GODS?
35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken:
36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son of God?
Jesus speaks in Psalms 82 and John 10: I have said, Ye are gods. Is God’s last name Elohiym? Is God’s surname Elohiym? Is the relationship between God and the small g gods Father, and sons and daughters of God?
Galatians 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
If we are small g gods, are we God’s Family coming home to him? If God’s last name is Elohiym do we his children bear his last name, small g gods?
Galatians 4:4-7
4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5 to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father.
7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
“An heir of God through Christ.” Do we stand to inherit the untold riches of God through our oldest brother Jesus Christ? Is our destiny membership in the most Royal Family in all of Creation? Look at Verse 6 again. Is our legal standing in heaven already Sons and Daughters of God, our names in the Last Will and Testament of Jesus Christ, The Book of Life? Does the Earnest of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of “His Son”, the down payment on the Redemption of our Forever Living Bodies seal us unto the First Resurrection? Is the First Resurrection the Better Resurrection where we rise, not naked, but fully clothed in God’s Clothing, the Shining Garments of Light? Shall we see Him as He is? Shall we be like Him? Look at Verse 5 again. Is the “adoption of sons” the placing of sons in the Kingdom of our soon Coming King Jesus Christ?
Are we the most Ancient People in all of Creation? How long have we been here? Do the Scriptures testify to our being the Ancient People of Scripture? We began this lesson with surnames. We read in Isaiah a future time when “one shall say I am the Great I Am’s, another shall call himself by the name of Jacob, and another shall surname himself by the name of Israel.”
Isaiah 44:7 And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them.
Where do we find the Scriptures that give us the evidence to confirm how ancient the God appointed ancient people are? Can we get a witness?
Psalms 90:1-2
1 A Prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God.
Do we now have two witnesses? Was Psalms 82 our first witness: “God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; He judgeth among the gods”? In “the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel,” do we find a third witness? Solomon had the reputation as the wisest man who ever lived. Legend tells us he knew the names of all the demons, and called them out. The invisible realm feared him. What did Solomon learn in his relationship with our God?
Proverbs 8:22 The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
Was this before God created all things through Jesus Christ? In our lesson on The Beginning we covered the verses on God creating all things by Jesus Christ: [Colossians 1:16 and Ephesians 3:9].
Proverbs 8:23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
Did Solomon just say we go all the way back to the beginning? Was that before the earth was? Did God do all His creating in the presence of His Family?
Proverbs 8:24-26
24 When there were no depths, I was brought forth; When there were no fountains abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:
26 While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.
Did the Great I Am God of Israel, Father of our Fathers, possess us, his children, and do his works of old, which He created to make, in our presence?
Proverbs 8:27-31
27 When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:
28 When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep;
29 When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
30 Then I was by him as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;
31 Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.
Who are the sons of men? Men is translated from H120 adam, aw-dawm. Are the sons of men the children of Adam?
In verses 22-31, look at the pronoun “he”. Who is “he”? Is “he” the LORD in verse 22?
Who is “me”? How ancient are we, the ancient people of God? (Verse 23). Were we “set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was”? Do we clearly remember the LORD possessing us as a father possesses his children “in the beginning of his way, before his works of old”? Do we remember our mother Jerusalem which is above (Galatians)? Is the Fall of Adam that catastrophic, dire, disabling, disastrous, extreme, and pandemic? Are our only remembrances of this, strange visions and/or dreams? Consider Solomon, the composer of the Book of Proverbs. Was he given a clear vision here in verses 22-31?
Do we understand that Adam’s origin is not of the earth?
Genesis 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden and there he put the man whom he had formed.
The same Hebrew word translated “put” in Genesis is translated “placed” in Job. The indication is relocation. Put and placed mean Adam was taken from one place and located in another.
Job 20:4 Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth.
Call to mind our lesson, 2 Foundation. “Of old”, says Jesus, means the Foundation of the World and before? Does Adam come from the heavenlies? Did the wicked angels in rebellion with Lucifer take the principalities in place of the small g gods of God’s Family? Do princes rule principalities? Did Psalms 82:7 say, “But ye shall die like Adam, and fall like one of the princes”? How do the wicked angels feel about our Destiny? Do they with bloody passion hate Adamkind viciously with cruelty to all extremity?
Do we understand Isaiah 44, “the ancient people”, Psalms 90, the LORD “our dwelling place” before (he had) “formed the earth and the world”; Proverbs 8, we were “from everlasting, from the beginning or ever the earth was”; Psalms 82 “ye are gods, ... children of the Most High”; 1 John 3 “when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is”, and all the other witnesses in the Scriptures, old and newer? Would we have to be totally unsound in body, soul, and spirit and insane of mind to choose to walk out on such a Destiny as this? Are Destiny and Destination related? Is weeping and gnashing of teeth a joke? How easy is it to forget who we are, and from where we come?! Do we need to remain in remembrance? Do we have our Heavenly Father’s last name, small (g) god?
Song: How Can We Keep From Singing?
