Need a name change?

So many people in the scripture got a name change.  Saul to Paul.  Cephas to Peter.  Abram to Abraham.  The list goes on.  But there is one name change that was not so much given by God, but by one of God’s men.

And it was for good reason.

Oshea

Oshea was the son of Nun.  (Not “a nun”, for the Catholics among us.  And not the son of “none”, for those looking for evolution to conquer God.  Nun was his dad’s name.)

 Oshea is a good name.  It means “salvation.”

But He got a name change.  And it was Moses that gave it to him.

“And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua.” Numbers 13:16

Why would Moses change such a great name?  For a better one.

Jehoshua means Jehovah is Salvation.

We say Joshua.  Which, by the way, is the same Hebrew name as Jesus.

Moses changed his name so that it would put the glory where the glory belonged… on God.

And as a prophet he must have seen who Joshua would become.  And he was guarding against the enemy coming in with pride.

My name is Michael.  It’s meaning is interesting.  It is a question.  It means, “who resembles God?” 

Some would say it means one who resembles God… but I don’t see that at all. 

Every time my name is called the question is asked, “Who resembles God?”

The answer… no one.

But in Christ Jesus, and with Christ in us… we can make Him known.

SDG