“Question & Answer”

Question:
What use does Isaiah make of symbolic names?
Answer:
Isaiah called his own children Shear-Jashub {that is, “A remnant shall return”} ( Isaiah 7:3-7 NIV: Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field. Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’s son have plotted your ruin, saying, “Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.” Yet this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “‘It will not take place, it will not happen) The name Isaiah is derived from the Hebrew “Yeshaʿyahu,” which can be translated to “The God is Salvation”. In the Bible, Hosea and Isaiah were directed to bestow symbolic names on their children, which became recurring symbols of divine justice and mercy, destruction, gathering, and protection. (Isaiah 8:3 NIV: Then I made love to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the Lord said to me, “Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.) ( Isaiah 34:12 NIV: Her nobles will have nothing there to be called a kingdom, all her princes will vanish away.)