Exposition of the Moral Law, Book 2 · Commandment 5 · Exercitation 9
EXERCITAT. IX. Of the impoſition of the name to the child. Commandement V.
Gen. 35.18. She called his name Benoni, but his father called him Benjamin.
THe duties which are common to both the parents towards their children, are handled already; to impoſe a name, is a dutie which properly belongeth to the father, for the impoſition of a name ſignifieth authority;It is the fathers part to impoſe a name. Adam Lord over all the creatures, impoſed names to them.
To call how it is taken.To call, when it hath no relation to the firſt impoſition, then it is underſtood of thoſe who had no authority to impoſe the name, as Luc. 1.56. His friends and kinſmen called him after his fathers name, Zechariah; here to call, The woman hath no authority to impoſe the name.is underſtood, they would have called, or they began to call him ſo. So Gen 25.30. They called his name Eſau, they called his name Edom, that is, they began to call, and tooke up this name to call him Edom: for in a ſpeech of many where one is principall it is ſingular or plurall, as Exod. 15.23. he called it bitterneſſe, or they called it bitterneſſe, but it is not ſo to be underſtood when the father giveth the name to the child, that hee or they might call him ſo, but the father by his authority impoſed the name to him.
The father being lord over the children, and the womans head, the woman hath no authority to impoſe the name without the fathers conſent: therefore although the name Iſmael was revealed to Hagar Gen. 16.11. And ſhee is commanded to call him ſo, yet in the ſame chapter it is ſaid, that Abraham called his name Iſmael. So Salomons name was given to him by David his father, and when the Angell Gabriel ſaid to Mary, Thou ſhalt conceive a ſonne and call his name Ieſus, Luc. 1.21. The conception was finiſhed now, and the name was told already to Mary, Luc. 1.31. Yet the holy Ghoſt will have Ioſeph this waies to give him the name, becauſe hee was Chriſts reputed father, Matt. 1.21.
When the mother gave the name to the child,The mothers gave not the name but in extraordinary caſes. there was ſome extraordinary reaſon in it; the reaſon why Leah gave the name to her ſonne, was, that ſhe might recompence the contempt of her husband, for hee loved her not as Rachel, And ſhee called his name Ruben, for ſhee ſaid, the Lord hath ſeene mine affliction, now therefore my huſband will love mee, Gen. 29.31. So the daughters of Lot gave names to their ſonnes, Gen. 19.37.
The mothers impoſed names to their children, although they had a father; that collection then ſeemeth not to hold Eſay. 7.foreign pro foreign mutato in ת Thou ſhalt call his name Emanuel (vekarath) ſpeaking in the feminine gender to the virgin, that Chriſt as man had not a father, ſome read it better vekarath, contracte pro vekaraah, and then it is read, unuſquiſque vocabit, every one ſhall call him Ieſus.
Names which they ſhould impoſe ſhould carry ſome inſtruction with them,What names ſhould not be impoſed. as the names which the Patriarches gave to their children; and ſuch were the names which the fathers gave both to the Greeke and Latine Church, as Deodati, Quod vult Deus, Timotheus, Theophilus.
Names which ſhould not bee impoſed to their children are firſt the names of God, Emanuel, Ieſus, &c.
Queſt. How is this name Ieſus given to one in the Church, Coloſ. 4.11. ſeing it was Chriſts proper name.
Anſw. Whether the name Ieſus may be given to any now.This Ieſus was one of the circumciſion, and amongſt the Iewes, Ioſhua and Ieſus were all one, and they contracted the name of Ioſhua into Ieſus; but now this name is appropriate to Chriſt under the Goſpell, and it were blaſphemie to give it to any but to Chriſt: the name Iaſon ſignified the ſame thing which Ieſus doth, but it is not appropriated as Ieſus name is; therefore a man may call his ſonne Iaſon.
foreignNames of Idols may not be given to children, as Hannibal, [Hhanan Bagnal,] Have mercy Baal; Haſdrubal, Balthaſſer, ſo Malchus from Moloch; ſuch were theſe names, Nebuchadnezer, Nebuzarradan, from the Idol Nebo, Eſay 46.The Heathen called their kings after their Gods. Nebo is falne, and Ier. 51. ſuch was the name Evil-Merodah, from Merodah the god of the Babylonians, Eſay 50. ſo Benhadad from the Syrian god Adad, which they pronounced corruptly for Ehhad, unus.
A father ſhould not delay to give a name to his ſonne.The father ſhould indeavour to give a name to his child as ſoone as hee can; it was a great commendation to Andronicus and Iunia, that they were in Chriſt before Paul. Ro. 16.7. So it is a great priviledge to the child, to be entered ſoone into the covenant: when the child was circumciſed under the law hee was called Hhatam, foreign Sponſus. Whati Zipporah meant by a bloody husband.ſponſus, becauſe then hee was married to the covenant, and ſo Onkelos paraphraſeth the place, Exod. 4.25. Thou art a bloody husband to mee: his paraphraſe is, in ſanguine circumciſionis datus eſt nobis ſponſus, and hee thinketh that it is not Moſes here that is called the bloody husband, but the child who was circumciſed: and therefore as Hhatam in the Hebrew ſignifieth ſponſus: So Hhathan in the Arabicke tongue ſignifieth circumciſion, becauſe they were married to the covenant when they were circumciſed. And touched his feete, they intepret touch here, ſhe hurt, as touch not my Chriſt Pſal. 105.7. that is, hurt them not; and by feete, Pe… pro pudendi….they underſtand the part of the body which was circumciſed, or that part which diſtinguiſhes the ſexes: ſo the feete is elſewhere taken, as Eſay 7. Hee ſhall ſhave the haire of his feet, that is, of the privy part: as the parent rejoiceth to ſee his ſonne ſoone married; ſo ſhould it be a great joy to the parent to ſee his ſonne ſoone entered into the covenant.
The concluſion of this is,Concluſion. the Impoſition of the name argueth the firſt ſoverainty of the father over the child, wherefore the father who reſigneth this to others, depriveth himſelfe of the authority which hee hath over his child.