“[The document was ratified and sealed with…the leaders of the people:]
…Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah…”
Nehemiah 10:22
Last time we let some of our leaders’ names show us where to be faithful in staying and letting go, and being obedient in justice. Today we get to see more goodness in leaders.
Our first leader is Pelatiah which means “Yah has delivered” from peletah (an escape, fugitive, survivors, remnant), the feminine form of paliyt (fugitive, refugee) and from palat (carries it off, delivers, preserve, rescue, carry away, save, to slip out).
Has Yah delivered you? You gotta love that this root is a feminine form of a refugee. Perhaps He has delivered you from an abusive relationship? Maybe you are a refugee from a family which does not seek to honor God and you have found shelter in His Church? Have you been rescued from lies about your worth or His purpose for you in our generation? Perhaps you are a genuine, physical refugee – seeking refuge in a place or country not your own. And maybe you know this refuge-seeking in the spiritual sense.
I know all of us are survivors in a broken world in which patriarchal power and dominance is not in line with God’s design. God only knows none of us of the female gender get to claim innocence, but His heart toward us as daughters is one of loyalty and love.
And while we do not get to escape the pains of this world or the ravaging effects of sin, we are saved and carried away by Him soon and very soon to the place which He has prepared for us as a groom.
Next up is Hanan whom we have seen before in Nehemiah 8:7. The name means “gracious, favor” and is from chanan – beseech, to show favor, be gracious, bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior, move to favor by petition.
I saw somewhere on Twitter this week a writer extolling the virtues of the persistent widow in Jesus’ parable. Basically she made herself a nuisance. An annoyance. And Jesus encourages His closest earthly friends – with whom He shared all of His life for three years – to become that annoying to the Father in how they “pray and never give up.”
Except I don’t think it annoys Him. What do you think? When we seek His face about issues which are unjust or distressing, blatantly biased or painfully partisan, do you think He prefers that we take it to His lap? Me, too. Mostly because He’s asking us to do it. We’re going to feel the sting and aggravation either way. Should probably deal with it in His presence. It moves Him to favor.
Finally today we have Anaiah which means “Yah has answered” from anah – to answer, respond, sing, shout, testify, announce. Such a rich name meaning. I realized at church this week I was sitting next to a precious family who had lost a 23-year-old family member just days before. In the meantime I was excitedly awaiting a friend getting baptized into newness of life – the rushing waters representing her second birth into His kingdom.
How do we testify to a watching world with such highs and lows?
Yeah, I’m not sure either, but may those definitions be true of us as His people. We who know we’re not the Messiah so we announce He Who is. Who can painfully testify we are not in control, but have found Him Who can be trusted with ultimate power. And who, while perhaps not responding with a perfect answer to all of life’s disturbing questions, can sing a song of Truth and shed tears for that which we don’t understand.
Because the fact that He came and shared in it all with us is enough to know Yah has answered.