On the Interpretation of the Bible

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 12, 1861

On the Interpretation of the Bible.

IMPORTANCE OF ATTENDING TO PROPER NAMES.

I. THE same persons or places sometimes have several names. Moses' father-in-law is called in different places Raguel, Reuel, and Jethro. Joshua is twice in the New Testament called Jesus: Acts vii, 45; Heb. iv, 8. Mahash is the same as Jesse [2 Sam. xvii, 25; 1 Chron. ii, 13-16], the father of David; hence we find that Joab and Amasa were near relatives to David, and to each other. We are thus better able to understand many circumstances in their history, and more likely to see the guilt of Joab in the assassination of Amasa. 2 Sam. xx, 10. Mark ii, 14. “And as he passed by he saw Levi,” &c.; this is the same person as Matthew. Thaddeus, Lebbeus, and Judas, are all different names for the apostle Jude. Horeb and Sinai are often spoken of indiscriminately, being different peaks of one and the same range of mountains. Deut. v, 2; Ex. xix, 18-23. Greece, and Grecia, was known by the name of Javan among the Hebrews. In our English Bibles, Javan is sometimes used, as in Isa. lxvi, 19; Eze. xxvii, 13, and sometimes the modern name, Greece, as in Zech. ix, 13; Dan. viii, 21; Joel iii, 6. Javan was the fourth son, Japheth, Gen. x, 2.

II. Different persons and places sometimes have the same name. Ephraim, in Gen. xlviii, 5, refers to a person; in Judges i, 29, to a tribe; in Jer. xxxi, 18, to the ten tribes of Israel; in John xi, 54, to a city. There were several Zachariahs: 1. Zachariah the fourth in descent from Jehu, who reigned just long enough to fulfill God's promise to Jehu, 2 Kings xv, 8, and x, 30. 2. Zachariah, a prophet basely murdered by Joab, who had been redeemed from destruction by his father. 2 Chron. xxiv, 20-22. 3. Zachariah the prophet, whose writings form a part of the Bible, and who was raised up to encourage the Jews to rebuild the temple. Ezra v, 1. 4. Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist, Luke i, 5, 59, 60.

There were several Herods: 1. Herod, infamous for his attempt to murder our blessed Lord in his infancy, but called in profane history, the great. Luke xvi, 15. 2. Herod Antipas, his son—inquisitive about the truth without loving it [Mark vi, 20; Luke xxiii, 8], crafty [xiii, 32], incestuous [Matt. xiv, 3], superstitious [Mark vi, 16], the murderer of John the Baptist [Matt. xiv, 1-10], and the mocker of our blessed Saviour in his last sufferings. Luke xxiii, 11. 3. Herod Agrippa, nephew of Herod Antipas, and grandson of Herod the great, the murderer of the apostle James, and eaten of worms for his pride. Acts xii, 1-3, 20-23.

So there are some names which appear to have been common to several successive kings of a country. Thus we read of Pharaoh, king of Egypt who reproved Abraham for his sin [Gen. xii, 18]; of Pharaoh who commended Joseph, and made him ruler over Egypt [Gen. xli, 38-45]; of Pharaoh who, in attempting the destruction of the people of God, was himself destroyed [Ex. xiv, 28]; of Pharaoh whose daughter Solomon married [1 Kings iii, 1]; of Pharaoh Nechoh who slew Josiah [2 Kings xxiii, 29]; of Pharaoh Hophra (or Apries) his successor, denounced by Jeremiah [chap. xliv, 30], and Ezekiel [chap. xxiv, 2, &c.], for his arrogance, impiety, and treachery. Pharaoh probably means father of the country, and was the name of all the kings of Egypt till the Babylonian captivity, and perhaps longer; as Ptolemy was their name after the time of Alexander.

Abimelech [Gen. xx, 2; xxvi, 8]; which means my father the king, was a name common to the kings of the Philistines. Benhadad was a name common to the Syrian kings. 1 Kings xv, 18; 2 Kings viii, 7; xiii, 3. Jabin was a common name of the kings of Canaan, as evidently the Jabin mentioned in the book of Joshua, xi, 1; xii, 10, was not the Jabin mentioned in the book of Judges iv, 2. Agag was the name of the king of the Amalekites [Num. xxiv, 7; 1 Sam. xv, 8], and Artaxerxes, of the Persian.

The Roman emperors all took the names Cæsar and Augustus. The Augustus mentioned in Luke ii, 1, was the second emperor of Rome. The Cæsar who was reigning when our Lord was crucified, was Tiberius. John xix, 15. The emperor to whom Paul appealed, and who is called both Augustus and Cæsar, was Nero. Acts xxv, 21. The Antioch mentioned in Acts xiii, 1, and the Antioch mentioned in 2 Tim. iii, 11, were different places: the one was in Syria, the other in Pisidia. There were two Bethlehems. Joshua xix, 15. There were at least two Cesareas; viz., Cesarea Philippi [Acts viii, 40], near the spring-head of Jordan, about thirty miles to the north of the sea of Galilee; and Cesarea on the sea coast of Samaria, where Philip the evangelist lived [Acts xxi, 8]; where Peter converted Cornelius [x, 1]; where Paul defended himself against the Jews [xxiv, 23-33]; and where Herod Agrippa was smitten by an angel [xxii, 23].