Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah

45degreeN · Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 12:52 pm Post subject: Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah

Does any one know the original meanings of these names and the meanings of the Babylonian names given to them later?

SealedEternal · Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 6:51 pm Post subject:

Better late than never. I looked them up in a concordance:

Azariah means "Jah has helped" but in Babylonian was changed to "servant of Nebo" who was a Babylonian god.

Mishael means "Who is what God is?" but in Babylonian was changed to "Who Is What Aku Is?" Aku was a Babylonian god.

Hananiah means "Yah has been gracious" but was changed to Shadrach which was an honorific for a Babylonian god.

Their original names were all in honor of the true God, so the Babylonians decided to give them very similar names except to honor the pagan gods of Babylon instead of the "I AM" as they were originally.

SealedEternal

45degreeN · Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 1:06 pm Post subject:

Thanks, now why doesn't any one recognize their original names ? I get the weirdest stares when I ask even the most dedicated Bible students among the church members.

cballard · Bear Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 670 Location: WV

45degreeN · Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 12:10 pm Post subject:

I just find it ironic that the names of these young men are remembered as their Babylonian names and not their Hebrew names.

The Babylonian Jews settled there quite well and later we find that one of the best Yeshivas is in Babylon, the Jewish people lost their language and when they returned had to have help understanding their scriptures, which is why the Targums came into being as the priest's explanation of the scriptures.

It also explains why there was such a small group that returned to Jerusalem when they had their opportunity.

Still it was only 70 years and there were people who lived through the whole thing and returned.