After the Great Flood, Noah and his family began their new life on an unpopulated planet earth. Noah planted a vineyard and got drunk tasting his wine. We can make special note of the aftermath of Noah’s drunken nakedness after he and his family exited the ark and settled down. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham revealed Noah’s nakedness by telling his brothers, Shem and Japheth. Then good Shem and Japheth walked backwards into Noah’s chamber with a blanket, averting their eyes and covering their father. Now Shem was not only his name, but actually was the Hebrew word for name. There is more to a name than its pronunciation. In the Old Testament, which mirrored much of ancient Hebrew culture, the naming of the newborn would at times attempt to capture the person’s anticipated character, or the circumstances of his birth. Today we say that we want to honor a person’s good name. In this sense, the Old Testament referred to the good name of a person, and even his renown or fame. We could say that Shem meant not only “name” but also “fame” or “renown.”

The use of the word shem for fame may be found in examples such as this one, which addresses Solomon’s fame for his wisdom:

We know so little of Shem from the Flood account and thereafter, but we do read of the blessing that Noah pronounced after he woke up from his drunken state. Noah blessed Shem and Japheth, and especially noted the future of Shem’s descendants. There developed a Semitic group (“Shemites”) that resided in Ur of southern Mesopotamia – Ur being a Chaldean city. Abram, later named Abraham, came from Ur as the tenth generation from Noah after the Great Flood. Now Abram’s family had moved northward to the Mesopotamian city of Haran, and from there God spoke to him. We make note of the commissioning of Abram to leave his home and family and travel to an unknown country, Canaan (Genesis 12:1-5). The blessing of Shem given by Noah was realized through Abraham’s descendants, who became the Hebrew people. The promise God gave Abraham through a sacred covenant pledged that all nations would be blessed through Abraham. Most of Genesis tells the beginnings of the redemptive story that began with Abraham and his descendants and ultimately resulted in the life of the Messiah, the anointed kingly One who would save all people of all nations who place their faith in Him.

As an aside to our theme and complementary to it, consider Solomon, whose name became synonymous with wisdom:

For he [Solomon] was wiser than all other men, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Carcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame [shem] was in all the nations round about. – 1 Kings 4:31

How much more does the name of the Messiah, Jesus, apply for all humanity! The theme of the entire Bible focuses on how we find eternal life through this Messiah, this Anointed One, who in Greek of the New Testament is known by the word for Messiah, which is Christ. This may be a lot to digest if you are new to the Bible, but the history and prophecy gradually becomes manifest through the entire Bible as we proceed.

What’s in a name? The name of the Holy One gives His character of faithfulness, holiness, mercy, and grace. God’s name (Exodus 3:14-15) represents Himself, and His Son, Messiah, also holds the essence of His greatness. We first begin at the beginning by acknowledging that the promised offspring who would drive back the devil was mentioned in Genesis 3:15, as the One who would destroy the devil’s head. As mentioned in “The First Sin,” a previous article on this site, Genesis 3:15 is known as the first citing of the gospel of the Savior of mankind. The verse is therefore called the protoevangelium. By this kernel of the gospel imbedded at the beginning of the Bible, in Genesis 3:15, we understand that God’s gospel is for each of us. In fact, He knows each of us by name. How can we assert this? We know from the pronouncements of God and His servants in Scripture:

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. -Psalm 139:16

Thus wrote David, the Psalmist, of his own beginning in the womb as God formed his body. The Lord Himself affirmed this when He commissioned Jeremiah as a prophet to the nations in the book of Jeremiah:

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” -Jeremiah 1:5

The Lord Himself looks into our hearts and deeds; He cares about what we think and do!

“I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” -Jeremiah 17:10

We know the Lord is watching each of us:

13 The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men. 14 From the place of His dwelling He looks on all the inhabitants of the earth; 15 He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works. -Psalm 33:13-15

David wrote of a relationship with the Holy God in Psalm 23:

You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies. -Psalm 23:5

We have a similar Scripture in the New Testament, in Revelation 3, by the voice of Christ:

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me.” -Revelation 3:20

God watches you; God knows you. His knowledge is infinite (Psalm 147:5); how much more may He know about each and every one of His image bearers, human beings (Genesis 1:27)! Whoever calls on God will be saved (Acts 2:21), and the Lord even calls you to bring you unto Himself (Acts 2:39). By these personal details ordained between God and people, we know that He knows you by name! What’s in a name? It is your personal invitation to trust the Lord in faith and call on the name of the Lord.