Three Names With Marvelous Meanings

​Intro: I have always been intrigued by the importance of names in the OT. I have pondered how so many names had meanings in the Hebrew that described the character of the person so named.
Just a few examples:
The first name of a man was given by God- Adam- meaning from the earth. I can understand how a name God gave was true to life but after that men gave their children names and many of them also were true to life.
Enoch- dedicated
Methusaleh- when he dies it will come
Abraham- father of a multitude
Jacob- deceiver
Ichabod- glory has departed
Hosea had 3 children whose names were given by God and the meanings of those names were prophecies concerning Israel’s future. These are only a few examples but it is an interesting study.
Some time ago as I read through this listing of names of the children of David, I noticed these three names in one verse and found that these 3 names have Marvelous Meanings, and they provide a great message for all of us as well.


I. Elishama- the God Who Hears
Isn’t it encouraging to be reminded that God really does Hear Us?! I know there are times that prayer seems powerless; seems that they are not effective; that God is not listening. The devil tells us that we are wasting our time and energy when we pray. But the Fact is, God does Hear us.
David spoke about how his enemies were mocking him for praying in Ps. 59- they were saying, “Who doth hear??!!” His enemies were laughing at him for praying and asking him who he thought was even hearing him when he prayed. Well, in another Psalm, 4:3 David declared this- “the Lord will Hear.”
Our God is a God who Hears. When Israel was in bondage their situation became desperate. In Ex. 2 it says “the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. 24 And God heard their groaning...”
He heard their Sighs; He heard their Cries; He heard their Groaning. I assume the Sighs and the Groaning in particular had no actual spoken words, but God heard anyway.
“He that planted the ear, shall he not hear?” Ps. 94:9
“The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open to their prayers.” 1 Peter 3:12.
God heard Israel’s sighs.
God heard Ishmael’s hungry cries under the shrub.
God heard Moses’ cries in the basket in the river.
God heard David’s prayers.
God heard Solomon, Hezekiah, Josiah, Jeremiah, Malachi and He even Heard Jonah when he was in the belly of a Whale!
Prayer is not an exercise in futility! 1 Jn. 5:14- This is the confidence we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will, He Hears Us.


II. Eliada- the God Who Knows
Our God not only hears us when we pray and bring our needs to him- HE KNOWS.
Ps 147 states that his “under standing is Infinite!” [limitless, boundless, inexhaustible]
Isaiah said that God knows the Number of the Stars. (That’s quite impressive) And he also Calls them by NAME! (That’s Really impressive)
1 Jn 3:20 says God knows all things.
Jesus said in Mt. 6:8 that our heavenly Father “knows what things we have need of before we ask him...”
God Knows! He knows the things we want him to know and he knows the things we wish he didn’t know. He knows the good and the bad. He knows the visible and invisible. He knows the outward and the inward. He knows the past and present and the future.
Even though we sometimes cringe to think that God knows everything about us because we are aware of how much negative stuff there is for God to know, we should really Rejoice to think that God knows everything about us for there is a lot of Positive in His Knowing.
He knows our heart when others don’t.
He knows our motives when others don’t.
He knows our fears when others don’t.
He knows our Faith when others don’t.
He knows our situation completely and he knows the solution to our predicaments.
He is a God who Knows!


III. Eliphalet- the God Who Delivers.
This is the icing on the cake so to speak. It’s great that God hears us and Knows us, but its even greater that God delivers Us. He is not only Mighty in his Awareness, He is Mighty in his Action.
Israel found out that he was not only the God who hears and knows, but he was the God who Delivers.
Joseph found out he was the God who delivers.
Gideon, Jephthah and Samson found out he was the God who Delivers.
David found that he was the God who Delivers.
Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego found that he was the God who Delivers.
King Darius wrote this decree after Daniel was delivered from the Lion’s Den: “He is the Living God...He delivers and rescues, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth,...”
Ps. 34:15 The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. 17 The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
Peter found that God Delivers; Paul and Silas found that God delivers; Saints through the ages have found that God Delivers.
Paul said in 2 Cor. 1:10 that God “delivered us from so great a death (past deliverance) and doth deliver (present deliverance) in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.” (Future deliverance)
Our God Hears.
Our God Knows.
Our God Delivers.