ed without the aspirate in Greek, though there are exceptions, e.g. 'EXкava, 1 Sam. i. 1, &c. But in the very same verse is rendered 'Hov. If Heli is from, and is short for anything, it is more probably for Elijah, or Elihu, or Eliab, or some similarly compounded name. For in names where the name of God is compounded with a verb, or other word which takes the lead in the sense of the name, the common abbreviation is to understand the Divine name, as in Melchi, Neri, Achim, &c. 'Iwonp, Joseph. See p. 134. Upon a general review then of all those names of the ancestors of Christ recorded by the Evangelists, but not found in the genealogies of the Old Testament, we find, with some exceptions, partly perhaps attributable to corruption of the genuine names, and partly to those incidental and soonforgotten circumstances which occasionally influence parents to give particular names to their children, that there is a most remarkable accordance in these names with one another, with those names of the house of David which are preserved in the Old Testament, and with those names of our Lord's kinsmen or brethren which are incidentally mentioned in the Gospels. This accordance is of a kind which could hardly have been designed; but is in exact agreement with the customs and feelings of the Jews, and betrays the evident care and pride with which, through many a dark and dreary cen tury, the descendants of David and his royal house treasured up the memory of their illustrious ancestry, and fed upon the hope of Messiah which was to come, and was to be of the house and lineage of David. And we are thus enabled, through the good Providence of God, to re-echo the pious sentiment of Africanus, with regard to the genealogies, τὸ μέντοι εὐαγγέλιον πάντως ἀληθεύει· “At any rate the Gospel tells truth,' not only upon the ground of a general faith in the Word of God, but upon the ground of a rational conviction, based upon internal evidence of a most conclusive kind. With the view of completing this argument, and exhibiting its force and truth in as distinct a manner as possible, the reader will find in the following chapter the principal names of the house of David, arranged under the Hebrew roots which connect them, and a few, out of very many which might have been added, selected from other families, shewing that the practice of giving names either identical or etymologically connected to different members of the same family in different ages, prevailed generally among the Jews. CHAPTER VI. Classification of Names in the House of David under their common Roots. R OSENMÜLLER observes, in a note on Joshua xiv. 6, 'Solebant in familiis majorum nomina sæpius repeti.' 'It was the custom in Jewish families for ancestral names to be often repeated, generation after generation.' And we have distinct evidence of the existence of such a custom down to the times of Christ, in the wonder expressed at the name of John being given to the son of Zacharias, Luke i. 59-63: 'And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John. And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred which is called by this name. And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called. And he asked for a writing-table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all.' But, on examining the names of Jewish families, it appears that not only does the identical name of an ancestor often reappear in his descendants, but that members of the same family loved to vary such names by various forms of the same root, or by a variety of compositions, or transposition, of the same elements, or even by the substitution of words of similar sense. Thus in one family, the name of whose founder meant He gave, we find, among his descendants or kinsmen, names signifying Gift, The Lord's Gift, God gave, The Lord gave, A thing given, &c. In another we find three consecutive generations called Good-is-God, Goodness, Goodis-the-Lord. In another, different modifications of 'to hear' appearing at different times through a long course of years. The following examples are designed to prove these assertions, by shewing the prevalence of these customs in the house of David in particular, and also in other families. And, first, in the house of David. Derivatives of or ", a father.' , Abijah, My Father is the Lord,' 1 Chron. iii. 10. 7, Abinadab, 'My Father is willing or liberal,' 1 Chron. ii. 13. , Abishai, (Whose) Father is Jesse,' Ib. 16. rs, Abigail, (Her) Father's joy,' Ib. , Absalom, Father's peace,' or 'Father of peace,' Ib. iii. 2. 6 S, Abihail, Father of strength,' da. of Eliab, 2 Chron. xi. 18. 77, Abiud, Father of Judah, or of praise,' Matth. i. 13. Cf. 1 Chron. viii. 3. , Joab, 'The Lord is (my) Father,' Ib. ii. 16. , Eliab, My God is (my) Father,' Ib. 13. , Abital, Father of dew,' i.e. 'refreshment, solace,' Ib. iii. 3. Chileab, perhaps 'Father's armour,' (for ), 2 Sam. iii. 3; if not a corruption for, Caleb,' who might be a son of Abigail by her first husband Nabal, who was of the house of Caleb, 1 Sam. xxv. 3, and inserted here by mistake instead of Daniel, who is found in the corresponding passage, 1 Chron. iii. 1. Derivatives of or God.' , Eliab, 'My God is a Father,' 1 Chron. ii. 13. y, Eliam, 'God's people,' 2 Sam. xi. 3. ya, Elishua, 'God's help or salvation,' Ib.v. 15. y, Elishama, ‘God has heard,' Ib. 16, Jer. xli. 1. y, Eliada, God knows,' 1 Chron. iii. 8. , Eliphelet, God is a refuge,' Ib. 6. Elioenai, God the Lord is mine eyes,' or, , Eliashib, God will bring back (from captivity),' Ib. 24. |