We stayed in our review of the Bible offering female names for babies of Old Testament heroines with the Exodus of Moses and the women of his life, his wife Séfora and his sister Miriam. Today we continue moving forward and we are already in the Promised Land, where milk and honey flows. We are going to meet the women of the time of the Joshua and the Judges, who are sure to be inspiring if you are looking for a beautiful name for your daughters: Rahab, Deborah and Jael.
Rahab
Rahab She is one of my favorite women in the Bible. Matthew names her as one of Jesus' ancestors, which makes her story something especially exciting, especially when we know her better.
Rahab She is a prostitute. There is no doubt about it, Joshua's book explains it clearly. It is a woman who lives in Jericho and will have great importance in the city.
Joshua sends two spies to enter the city and find out how he can take it. They will enter the house of this harlot who lived in a humble house built within the city walls. But it was soon learned that these Hebrew spies had entered and the police of the time went to the house of Rahab and they asked him where were those men who had slept there. She told them that they had left before the doors of Jericho were closed as it was every night and told them where they had fled.
Rahab he lied Possibly he did not feel too much loyalty to his fellow citizens, perhaps they did not treat her well by her profession, to which we can assume that she led to the misery of her family. In addition, knowing what the war trajectory of the Hebrews was should assume that sooner or later Jericho would fall and collaborate with the spies could mean the salvation of herself, her parents and her siblings, whom I usually imagine children. So when the police arrived she hid the two spies on the roof of the house and they were saved.
When they marched, helped by her who facilitated them to descend the walls from her window, they made a pact. When the Hebrews took the city she could signal at her door and no one inside would suffer any damage. The Hebrews did their part of the deal and, when they attacked the city and killed its inhabitants, Rahab was saved and also his whole family.
We could say that Rahab he betrayed his neighbors, but saved his family when no one, possibly, cared for them and was doomed to prostitution.
Rahab then she will reappear being named as Salmon's wife, one of those spies she had hidden in her house and already lived within the Hebrew people. Her husband Salmon was a nephew of Aaron's wife, Moses' brother, so the former prostitute was accepted among the most important families. Not only that, but her son Boaz, whom we will talk about later, is great-grandfather of King David and, therefore, that makes her the ancestor of Jesus in the genealogy that Matthew gives.
The name of Rahab It comes from "RACHAV", root in Hebrew which means "open, aplia, wide". It is not used in Hebrew as a name and there are several theories about the reason why it was named her.
Deborah and Jael
Deborah(in Hebrew DVORA) means "bee." It is the only woman who appears among the judges of the book of the same name, which narrates the visicitudes of the people of Israel from the death of Joshua until the advent of the monarchy.
Deborah She was a prophetess and spoke under a palm tree on Mount Ephraim. When the people of Israel suffered from the oppression of the Canaanites Deborah He accompanied Barak as head of the army of the Hebrews to fight against Sisera, the general of Canaan and free himself.
In the fourth book of Judges we can read the story of Deborah In prose and in the fifth book she sang a song in which she narrated what happened, this being one of the poems that are considered the oldest in the Bible.
Jael (Hebrew is YAEL) is the mountain goat if we think of the letters in Hebrew that make up the name and then make up oleh = go up. Another possibility of interpretation would be "YA" is for JAweh (the name of God) and "EL" is for Elohim, that is, YAEL = Jaweh is the name of God.
Jael It also appears in the Book of Judges, in the chapters dedicated to Deborah. It happens that General Sisera was defeated but escaped, taking refuge in the store of the husband of Jael. She, although her reasons are not explained to us, makes her believe that she will save him, but when she sleeps, she ends her life.
He first offered him milk when he asked to drink, but when he slept quietly under a blanket, he stuck a stake in his head. Logically, the Bible praises his behavior because it helps to end one of Israel's enemies.
Ana and Penina
I do not want to mention here two characters that appear in the chapter of the Book of Samuel destined to tell us about his birth. Elcaná had two wives, one was called Penina and another Ana, from the Hebrew HANNAH, which means "charm and grace."
The first, whose name means "pearl" had several children but Ana It was sterile. Ana's prayer will be heard by God and she will conceive of the great prophet Samuel, who, later educated by the priest Eli, will end up being the guide of his people and who will anoint the first kings of Israel.
We stay here. In the next installment we will go back a bit and finish the Book of Judges and meet the Book of Ruth, where new women appear.
We will continue reviewing the Old Testament to suggest biblical female names and telling the stories of these heroines that have influenced our culture so much. Surely some of the names you like for your daughters.
In Babies and more | Female names for babies: Old Testament characters (I), (II) and (III), (IV), (V)
