“[The document was ratified and sealed with…the leaders of the people:]
…Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub…”
Nehemiah 10:23
Last time we reminded ourselves Yah has answered with His very Self. Today we get to meet our next three leaders.
We begin with Hoshea which means “salvation” from yasha – to deliver, avenge, preserve, safe, defend, wide open and free.
This is the same name as Hosea from the book of Hosea. Interesting, yes? While spelled differently, it is the same root name with the same meaning: salvation.
As you may know, God’s word to His people in Hosea’s time was a tender but jealous portrayal of a scorned lover whose beloved searches after other loves. And He asks the prophet Hosea to act this word out in his life by marrying a woman making her living as a prostitute. He loves, she leaves. He’s heartbroken and furious, just like the Living God Who watches His people run – not walk – after the idols of the nations.
And yet. This brokenhearted prophet’s name means salvation. God gives His people opportunities to repent. Hosea shows love again to his wife. God’s offer through Hosea is to save, avenge, preserve His covenant love with His people. His offer is one of wide open pastures in which obedience means joy and faithfulness is freedom.
Our Deliverer is indeed calling. May we listen and obey.
Next we have Hananiah whose name means “Yah has been gracious” or “Yah has favored.” If this name sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve seen it before in Nehemiah 3:8 as Hananiah a manufacturer of perfumes, 3:30 as Hananiah son of Shelemiah, and 7:2 as Hananiah “the commander of the citadel…a man of integrity [who] feared God more than most people do.”
Popular name. Our leader in today’s verse is likely the commander of the citadel as his position implies his leadership. But I do like how our perfumer or the son of Shelemiah – both of whom threw in on the wall rebuild – could easily be a leader of the people without a position or title as such. We all are, aren’t we?
If you ever wondered if you have influence, you do. There are those God has put in your sphere with whom He intends to show Himself worthy in your life. Likely in spite of you. We can do everything wrong, but because of His love for us and them, He will show up right in us. What a freeing reminder.
But let’s go back to our commander in charge of troops, a man of integrity who fears God. Do you not love that someone signing a covenant to obey Yahweh has a name which means “Yah has been gracious?” The fact that his heart is not divided – that it is integrated, full of integrity – is enough proof that Yah has indeed been gracious in his life. None of us have undivided hearts on our own. But what a relieving description of someone with military power.
Finally today we have Hasshub which means “intelligent” from chashab – to think, calculate, account, compose, consider, ponder, devise, execute, skilled worker, to weave, to fabricate, to contrive maliciously, invent, reckoning.
I appreciate how each of these descriptions for chashab could be used in a positive or negative light. Because we are made in the image of God, our ability to ponder, execute, and invent can lead to joyous work for the good of others. But because we are also very much not God and our motives never 100% pure, our calculating and devising could quickly turn to malicious contriving which harms those affected.
So what to do as people given an intelligence from our Creator? Fear Him and surrender all of ourselves daily. The more we learn, the more we hand it back over to Him, asking how He wants to use what He’s shown us. As we ponder and calculate, we dialogue with Him our conclusions, asking Him to shed light on any darkness or untruths. And when we devise, execute, and fabricate with new skills, we do so with humility that such a Most High God has orchestrated a relationship in which we fill the earth and subdue it in His likeness.
There is much in our world which warrants pondering and in which just execution is vital. For the One Whose eyes search to and fro across the earth will demand a reckoning.