Saturday, July 31, 2010

Sons of Solomon continued...

I had a lot to say about the meanings of names in a previous post, so now I want to look at the names of the proposed sons of Solomon. Let's begin with the father himself.

Solomon means peace. Solomon was the son of David and Bathsheba, he succeeded his father as king of Israel. He wrote the Book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. The wisdom of Solomon is proverbial because when asked what gift he would have from God, he asked only for the wisdom he would need to rule.

Isaiah means "salvation of god; the Lord helps me". He is one of the major prophets and writer of the Book of Isaiah. He prophesied the birth Immanuel.

Israel means "God perseveres". When Jacob, son of Isaac, was in his nineties, God changed his name to Israel as a token of blessing. His 12 sons became the ancestors of the Israelite nation.

Zadok means "just, righteous". In the bible Zadok was a high priest who showed great courage during the reigns of David and Solomon.

Bethuel means "house of God". The name Bethuel appears in the Book of Genesis. He is Rebekah's father, and some versions of the story say that Bethuel refused to give his daughter in marriage to Isaac, and for that reason God caused him to die suddenly. Kind of interesting in that Bethuel Reeve's two daughters are still unmarried at the time of the writing of his will.

In a community like Long Island, where there are flocks of James, Davids, Jeremiahs, Thomas, and Daniels, these names kind of stick out as different. It's interesting that they are all from the old testament and that they are all possibilities as Solomon's sons.

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