What’s in a name?
Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Matthew 10:1-4
One of the great things about the gospel accounts of Jesus is the details. We don’t pay attention to most of them. But if you do, there’s gold to be found.
For instance, the names. Why do we get context for James, John, Matthew and Judas whereas Philip and Batholomew - none. Well, it’s all got to do with how popular their name is.
Think about it today. If we got 12 people together from a town of a few thousand people. If you had a Penny in the group would you need to say which Penny? Probably not. But what if you had a Michael or an Amelia? You might need to give context - “son of” or “that worked at Woolies” or something like that.
And fascinatingly. The popularity of names in the gospel accounts correlates perfectly with what we know about the popularity of names in first century Israel. Now why is that important? Well, because just like today, name frequency changes across generations. Today - I don’t know many Audrey’s my age. But lot’s that are my daughter’s age and my Nan’s!
It’s a lovely little piece of evidence that the gospel accounts are accurate and written by people who lived at the time rather than even a hundred years later.
Today:
Pray:
2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Matthew 10:1-4
One of the great things about the gospel accounts of Jesus is the details. We don’t pay attention to most of them. But if you do, there’s gold to be found.
For instance, the names. Why do we get context for James, John, Matthew and Judas whereas Philip and Batholomew - none. Well, it’s all got to do with how popular their name is.
Think about it today. If we got 12 people together from a town of a few thousand people. If you had a Penny in the group would you need to say which Penny? Probably not. But what if you had a Michael or an Amelia? You might need to give context - “son of” or “that worked at Woolies” or something like that.
And fascinatingly. The popularity of names in the gospel accounts correlates perfectly with what we know about the popularity of names in first century Israel. Now why is that important? Well, because just like today, name frequency changes across generations. Today - I don’t know many Audrey’s my age. But lot’s that are my daughter’s age and my Nan’s!
It’s a lovely little piece of evidence that the gospel accounts are accurate and written by people who lived at the time rather than even a hundred years later.
Today:
- How popular is your name?
- Did you skip over the details of these names?
- Do details like this help you trust in the Bible?
Pray:
- Praise the Father for giving us the details of Scripture.
- Give thanks that Jesus came to change the world.
- Ask God for His Holy Spirit to help you and others pay more attention to the Scriptures.
Posted in Matthew
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