v. What is in a Name?

 

 ירה (yara) שלם (shalem) or Jerusalem

yara; {yaw-raw’}; a primitive root; properly to flow as water (i.e. to rain); transitively, to lay or throw (especially an arrow, i.e. to shoot); figuratively, to point out (as if by aiming the finger), to teach.1from Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon

Many little impulses that cause a larger and unified event, or serve to obtain a larger and unified objective.2Arie Uittenbogaard from Abarim Publication Biblical Name Vault http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Jerusalem.html#.VXHJuyi0xUQ 

shalem {shaw-lame’};

complete (literally or figuratively); especially friendly:–full, just, made ready, peaceable, perfect(-ed), quiet, whole. Peaceful; Shalem, an early name of Jerusalem:–Salem.3from Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon 

What is in a name? Power and depth of echoes past that joyfully heralding fulfillment in the ages to come—the tender nickname Jeshurun—meaning upright one4“a poetical and a tender and loving appellation of the people of Israel” from Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon falls from the lips of the Maker; then, the Israel of God5Galatians 6:16 NIV; and, for the end of history the name of culmination: Yara Shalem, or Jerusalem, one that perfectly captures the essence of the new triune being.

 

Resonant with all other namings from the unseen reaches of eternity, the Maker names the new being many names, calls forth meanings like signposts appearing in mist, demarcates the essential self of the one being named: her creed and conduct, her comport, what will unfold and blossom from the present tightly compacted bud to burst upon the earth in full view of watching heavenly beings to reveal new aspects of the Maker’s glory.

 

Yara can mean rain for this new being will come down like rain upon a mown field6Psalm 72:6 NIV to be an everlasting spring of refreshment, the Maker’s own well of running water7Proverbs 5:15

 

Yara can mean to shoot, as like an arrow, to teach because the Maker draws back this new life in a bow to send her soaring amidst the unclouded ether. Through her life will teach, wlll make known the manifold wisdom that lies at the heart of creation. All the heavenly beings, rulers and authorities well drink this lesson deep with eye, ear and heart, learning by heart lines of the Maker’s fine, subtle and ingenious ways.

 

Yara can mean the gathering of many little impulses that cause a larger and unified event: multitudes of people cells gathered together from across the face of the earth and from throughout all stages of history–all redeemed beings who have walk this earth in any era. From their hum and throb, the Maker creates a coherent entity: these single-celled organisms…pulse and move into overarching designs…further growth/division until a…structure is created.8Stanley Kemelman, Emotional Anatomy and so she shall be comprised of the life force and woven spirit-thread of people-cells. Their composite life will multiply, teem, differentiate and mature, finally rising up in all things to the ultimate measure, to the majesty, strength and rightness of the Maker.

 

And Shalem can mean full, for like the dawn she grows ever brighter to the full day9Proverbs 4:18—rising up in magnificent and sensual clarity.

 

Shalem can mean just, and so one day she will be: striding across the earth, grown up in both compassion and coordination––so that wherever she turns she brings succor to the suffering, food to the hungry, justice of the oppressed.10Psalm 146:7

 

Shalom can mean peaceable, quiet, perfected whole. She will be unbroken, radiant… without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.11 Ephesians 5:27 NIV With a whole heart she will be devoted to the Maker. Unbroken, her relationship to the Maker will be one of peace: she will not be like rottenness in the bones.12Proverbs 12:4 ESV but will bring the Maker good, not harm all the days of her life13Proverbs 31:12 ESV for all ages to come.

 

Shalem can mean friendly. She will smile at the Maker’s Son, extend a welcome to possess her own self, body and soul, will come to stand beside him, throw back her head and with ringing voice cry out: I have found Him who my heart loves and I will hold on to Him and will not let Him go!14Song of Solomon 3:4

 

Now Yara Shalem bears the stamp of these gathered and far-flung meanings that sum her personality, presage her eventual path, and joyfully foretell her destiny as the beloved one. She delineates and is delineated by this many-stranded name, multiplied in meaning; she speaks forth their definition into being and is spoken forth as their embodiment.

References

References
1 from Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon
2 Arie Uittenbogaard from Abarim Publication Biblical Name Vault http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Jerusalem.html#.VXHJuyi0xUQ
3 from Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon
4 “a poetical and a tender and loving appellation of the people of Israel” from Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon
5 Galatians 6:16 NIV
6 Psalm 72:6 NIV
7 Proverbs 5:15
8 Stanley Kemelman, Emotional Anatomy
9 Proverbs 4:18
10 Psalm 146:7
11 Ephesians 5:27 NIV
12 Proverbs 12:4 ESV
13 Proverbs 31:12 ESV
14 Song of Solomon 3:4
Three in One... all three parts woven and unbreakable...

Three in One… all three parts woven and unbreakable…

 

“Out of three strands, the story is woven, a unity which has come out of the story which God first embarked on searching to create a “three in one” kind of unity.”                                                                                  –Casia

One response to “v. What is in a Name?

  1. Sarah

    The various meanings are Like the multiple facets of a single jewel.

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