“[From the tribe of Judah]…son of Amaraiah, son of Shephatiah, son of Mahalalel, of the family of Perez.”
Nehemiah 11:4b NLT
Last time we looked at two of Attaiah’s descendants and their name meanings, reveling that our strength is in Yahweh and He remembers. Today we continue on with the descendants of our first listed provincial leader making his home in Jerusalem.
First is Zechariah’s father, Amariah, whom we have seen in both Ezra 10:43 and Nehemiah 10:4 in our study. Amariah means “Yah has promised,” a significant meaning, encouraging us to ask ourselves what, indeed, Yahweh has promised His people.
Well, for starters, He has promised to never leave or forsake us. To lead us along unfamiliar paths, to be light in our darkness and to be the voice behind us saying, “This is the way, walk in it.”
He has promised when we go through the fire to not let us burn. To be the Potter as we are the clay, and to use simple clay vessels to show the all-surpassing greatness comes from Him and not from us.
He has promised we will have trouble in this world, and others will hate us, for we are not above our Teacher. We will have enemies in this life, and our job is to love and pray for them. It is guaranteed we will suffer and He will prune us as the Vine Dresser. He has promised when we suffer for a while, He Himself will restore us and make us strong, firm, and steadfast.
He has promised we can take heart, for He has overcome the world. And greater is He Who is in us than he who is in the world. The God of Angel Armies fights for His people, and the world will know we are His by how we love one another.
He has promised to make a new heaven and a new earth. That it is better for us that He is with His Father, preparing a place for us, so He might return to bring us back with Him. And to allow the Comforter and Counselor to work through us doing even greater things as His Body.
It’s enough, isn’t it? And clinging to what He has promised will help us when expectations are not met for things He never did.
Amariah is the son of Shephatiah, who is listed next in our lineage. This name has appeared in Ezra 8:8 and Nehemiah 7:9, and means “Yah has judged” from Yah and shaphat.
Synonyms for shaphat include “argue our case, defend, deliver, execute judgment, freed, plead, avenge, reason, rule, vindicate, contend, pronounce sentence.” If you’re like me, you are a fan of the ones like “argue our case, free, and vindicate.” And not so much for “execute judgment, avenge, and pronounce sentence.”
But we know a God of perfect Love must hate things opposed to love. We want a God Who executes judgment on evil, avenges His glory, and pronounces a guilty verdict on those who violate love. Our sense of justice demands it, an imperfect reflection of a God of Perfect Justice.
Oh, praise Him He took our judgment as Jehovah-Tsidkenu on the cross. But as God continues to bring forth things that violate love in our nation, and refine His Church, may we as believers hate what is evil and cling to what is good.
Yah has judged.