What’s in a Name?

I thought I would give a brief linguistic explanation for little Jireh’s name.

Jireh Hebrew

It comes from the Hebrew verb ??????? (yir’eh) which is a qal imperfect (3rd person, mascular singular) form of the verb ??? which has as its first English gloss “to see.” However, the semantic range can extend from that basic idea to mean “to look out for; to see to it; to provide.”

In Genesis 22:8 and 14 (in the story of Abraham offering up his son Isaac) we see the form that Hannah and Philip chose for Jireh’s name. In those passages we read:
Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. (Gen. 22:8, ESV)

So Abraham called the name of that place, ‘The Lord will provide‘; as it is said to this day, ‘On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.’ (Gen. 22:14, ESV)

The Lord has provided this special son to Hannah and Philip, and He will continue to provide everything that Jireh will need in his life.

2 thoughts on “What’s in a Name?”

  1. barbara

    A truly wonderful name indeed! May Jireh come to know the fullness of what his name means and all that it stands for. How blessed he is to have parents who name him so.

  2. Amy & David

    Karyn, Mark, Hannah, Philip,
    We wish you all well and many congratulations! It is a wonderful name — and it will be wonderful to see how the Lord may use it and the child upon which it has been bestowed.

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