What did the first man sound like? How about Noah, or Abraham? Scientists argue over how long ago human language started. They can’t come up with a definitive date, let alone what it sounded like. And there is just as much uncertainty from the religious world. Some claim Adam spoke a language no longer known to us today, while others say it was Hebrew. In truth, we can’t definitively know. We don’t know what the original name for elephant was, or for lion, when Adam named all the animals. We also don’t know the exact words God spoke to Adam and Eve when He instructed them about the Sabbath, or about the forbidden tree. We certainly don’t know what language the Godhead used when saying: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26).
But we do know what God meant. And we know what He meant when He instructed Adam to name the animals, and when He educated Adam and Eve about the Sabbath, or from which tree not to eat. We can understand the meaning of the Genesis discourse. This is an important principle that has been true from the very beginning: God gave us words, sentences and whole languages to communicate meaning.
If we focus on the meaning of words, it will boost our memory and application of truths, improve our communication and cooperation with one another, and ultimately, prepare us to rule. Unless words and names are more than mere permutations of sounds or letters, they are rather useless. But if we can use them to communicate meaning, they are of great value.
Naming the Animals
It was a lesson that God taught Adam shortly after he was created, and in a very hands-on way. God gave Adam a little bit of insight into what it took to create a language: you have to produce names for everything! God brought the animals to Adam, and he had to name them (Genesis 2:19). Adam quickly became acquainted with the fact that words have a connection to the real world—they have meaning. The word elephant—or whatever Adam’s version of that was—isn’t just a sound, it represents something real.
This was important for Adam to know. The words God was using to instruct Adam were not just nice combinations of sounds that were pleasing to the ear. They conveyed tremendous meaning. The word Sabbath may be a bit abstract to us human beings, but it is not meaningless! After naming the animals, this would’ve been much clearer in Adam’s mind.
God had given Adam dominion over all the animals (Genesis 1:26), so Adam was given the responsibility of naming them. There are over a million species of animals on Earth today. Naming all of them would’ve been quite laborious for Adam, and impossible to be completed in the short time he was given. He would’ve named all the broad categories of animals. The King James Version of the Bible only names 93 different species, while arguments based on the original language may bring this number over 120. The point is, Adam would not have been naming a million species of animals.
Mankind has become much more specific in this quest of naming animals since Adam—coming up with names such as long eared flying squirrel and Rodrigues solitaire; specifying 304 species of squirrels, 308 species of doves and over 200 species of turtles, for example. There were plenty of names to go around in the animal kingdom, and so it was with the rest of language. Languages have gotten more and more specific with time, adding words as new concepts and inventions are made. We’re still involved in the business of naming things.
Name Things What They Are
“I have said that names are important to God,” Herbert W. Armstrong wrote in a November/December 1972 Good News article. “God names things or people what they are. Names are used to convey meaning.”
Mr. Armstrong showed that the specific sound or spelling of words was not as important to God as conveying the right meaning. This is the case, even with God’s name. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew name for God describes this Being to a Hebrew audience; in the New Testament, the Greek name is used to a Greek audience; and in English, we use the word God because it makes sense to our English minds. It isn’t about the sound, but about the meaning.
Great cooperation is made possible through the use of words and names, but only if we can use them to convey meaning. Man must agree on the meaning of words for them to be used effectively in communication. Paul explained that he would rather use five words to communicate a message that could be understood than 10,000 that were unintelligible to his audience (1 Corinthians 14:19). When communication broke down at the tower of Babel, so did cooperation. Agreement on the meaning of words is vital for smooth cooperation.
Names Bear Authority
Mr. Armstrong also explained that the Greek word for “name” used in the New Testament denotes authority. When you pray in Christ’s name, you are using His authority. When you are arrested in the name of the law, that is referring to the authority of the law, not the sound of the word “law.”
Consider also the meaning behind the name Donald Trump. He is president of the United States, and therefore his name carries much greater authority than does yours or mine. When Mr. Trump makes a deal with Iran, all of America makes a deal with Iran. When he changes the name of the Gulf of America, Google Maps changes the name too.
Consequently, when people start naming things whatever they please, communication breaks down, and cooperation ceases. God gave Adam authority over the animals. He was the one who determined what their names were. It would’ve been a strange day if one of Adam’s children claimed an elephant is not actually an elephant, but a zebra. If enough of his children came up with their own names for elephants, the term would have lost its meaning.
This is essentially what the transgender advocates are doing by their rejection of the established definition of male and female, they are rendering those terms meaningless. But God calls things what they are, and He knows what is male and female, because He created them.
Naming the Sabbath
One day after the creation of man, God created a rest day and named it the Sabbath (Exodus 20:11). God owns the Sabbath (e.g. Mark 2:28). He determines what it entails. When others disagree with Him, communication between them and God breaks down. As Mr. Armstrong explained in Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath: “Sunday is my day—and Monday, and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday—those are all my days—but Friday sunset until Saturday sunset is not my day—that is God’s day—that is the Lord’s day!”
Mr. Armstrong’s definition aligned with God’s definition of the Sabbath. It is very important to God that we “call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord …” (Isaiah 58:13). We must recognize that it is God’s Sabbath. He is the one who has defined it. And of course, this goes further than words. God requires that we recognize that it is His day by our actions. This is not about the sound of the word Sabbath, but about the meaning. This verse says we shouldn’t do our own thing, or seek our own pleasure—not even speaking our own words. Everything about our behavior that day reflects that it is God’s day, set apart for Holy use.
Adam would’ve clearly understood that “sabbath” is not just a sound. It is a word that means something real—just like how all the animal names represented real things. An elephant has a trunk and horns, and massive flapping ears. A lion has a mane, sharp teeth, and a tuft at the end of his tail. The sunset-to-sunset time-frame and the requirement to rest are more firmly attached to the Sabbath than a trunk to an elephant or a mane to a lion.
Meaning Through Application
One can’t truly understand the Sabbath without keeping it. We wouldn’t know what “resting” meant unless we had done it. Keeping the Sabbath is also vital in seeing how it sets you apart. Mr. Armstrong wrote, “If you haven’t, just start keeping God’s Sabbath holy as He commands you—and you’ll soon learn that you are automatically set apart from all other people!”
The meaning of the Sabbath is discovered through action. This is true for all God’s truths (James 1:22).
Some eloquent speaker may be able to string together words in a way that sounds pleasing, but unless we act on it, we won’t understand the meaning. This was the problem with the people mentioned in Ezekiel 33. They focused on the sound of the message; it was actually rather pleasant to them (verse 32). But to them, the prophecies that were spoken were completely detached from reality. There was no connection to their lives, and no need to act on them. Understanding came when it was already too late (verse 33).
God promises understanding if we act on what He commands (Psalm 111:10). This is how it worked for Adam when obeying God’s order to name all the animals. He may not have understood why he had to name all the animals, but he just did it. As stated earlier, this would have taught him much about language itself. And it would have motivated Adam to take care of these animals as God had commanded. He now had a personal investment in each of these creatures.
And so it is when we start applying God’s truth. The meaning will become clearer and clearer, and we will actually begin to desire to keep God’s law. I have kept the Sabbath command from my early youth, but I desire to keep it all the more to the extent that I obey the rest of the command: “Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work” (Exodus 20:9). Think about it: How could you ever appreciate the meaning of a rest-day, if you didn’t work those other days? All other days would be rest-days too. Rest is merely a pause from work. We wouldn’t know what “resting” meant unless we were used to working. The more diligently we keep the Sabbath command, the more deeply we will understand its meaning, and the more grateful we will be for it. It was made for us, after all.
Name What Is Yours
Pet-owners know that you want to name what you own. Whereas mankind had been given dominion over the things on Earth, God Himself has dominion over the whole universe. He names what He owns as well. He named the Sabbath. He ruled the stars and planets, calling them all by their names (Isaiah 40:26). It is by God’s power that the whole universe is held together (Colossians 1:16). Communication is a vital part in God’s maintenance of His creation—he upholds “the universe by his word of power” (Hebrews 1:3, rsv). The God Family communicates clearly about what they are going to accomplish in this vast expanse, and naming the stars and planets was a vital part in ruling and maintaining the universe.
God had also already given names to four broad categories of animals: “the fish of the sea, … the fowl of the air, … the cattle, and … every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” (Genesis 1:26). But man was to help God in finishing that naming project. He had the first man participate in the creation of language. After naming the animals, man could communicate about the things he had dominion over: Can you feed the cows and shear the sheep? How many eggs did the chickens produce yesterday? What is your fastest horse? He could cooperate with other people; he could imagine; he could think more clearly. This is a uniquely human quality; animals don’t have the ability to name things, and then to talk about them. It was a quality that God installed within the first human beings, and for a great purpose.
Man’s Potential
Ultimately the naming process is one of creativity and discovery. When someone discovers a new species of animal, he has to come up with a name for it. When a man founds a city, he has to name it. When a baby is born, he is named by his parents. Kids also love naming their toys—when they name them, not only does this boost their mental development, it builds greater attachment to those toys.
God created man in His image and likeness. He allows us to name things, just as He names things. This is one way we exercise dominion over the physical Earth: we have names for all the different atoms and chemical elements; we name plants, trees, fruits and vegetables that grow out of the soil; different types of weather or climate have their own names; even moods have names. Man really has become an expert at naming things.
However, there is also a lot of confusion beyond Earth. For example, there are at least 46 different names for the star that is most commonly known as Betelgeuse. Less than a thousand stars have proper names; most stars are merely cataloged under different and obscure names in large datasets all over the world. All these different naming conventions stem from different ways of thinking about the universe. Most star names convey their position and brightness as seen from Earth. That is what is important to scientists. But ultimately, God is the authority over all these stars. His name for them conveys the true meaning, and He wants to teach us.
Naming the Heavens
Throughout the book of Job, God reveals some of His names for the heavenly bodies. “He has given us some of those names to help us set our minds on the universe in a practical way,” Royal Vision editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in a 2022 article titled “How The Heavens Prophesy!”
Instead of names like SAXWFC J0535.3-0525.4 and 2MASS J05551028+0724255, God gave the stars names like “Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades” (Job 9:9). But these names are the Greek translations, and have come to take on a different meaning from their original intent.
Arcturus is seen as “the Great Bear” in Greek astrology, but the Hebrew word is Ash, and comes from a root meaning “to assemble oneself.” Furthermore, God referred to the “tail” of the Great Bear as the sons of Ash (see Job 38:32). The Greeks saw Orion as a great hunter, but God’s name for him comes from a root meaning fool or simpleton. And instead of referring to Pleiades as the “daughters of Pleione,” God used a name that refers to the globules on a necklace.
As Mr. Flurry explains in that article, the real purpose and meaning of those heavenly bodies is lost, but the way astrologers think about them today is drenched in myth and fable. And more importantly, God doesn’t want us to see the stars merely for their brightness and location—as scientists do—He says that they are groaning in pain right now, eagerly anticipating our role in their future (Romans 8:22). Though we do not know the exact purpose for each star that is out there, it most certainly involves great diversity of life.
“I have put my words in thy mouth … that I may plant the heavens” (Isaiah 51:16). Mr. Flurry comments on this verse in a Trumpet article titled “Tomorrow’s Universe,” writing, “God wants to get His Word into our minds and mouths so we can understand His goal: to plant the heavens — to seed distant planets with life, just as He has already done with this planet! He is talking about the universe!” God wants us to think as He does.
And remember, when it comes to words and names, the important thing is meaning. God wants us to understand and voice the meaning of the universe. The whole universe was created for life! Every star will be surrounded with life-bearing planets, every planet covered with a great variety of animals and plants—all in need of a name. But God will not leave this universe ungoverned: He is creating a great taskforce that is ready to name the universe.
A More Excellent Name
Occasionally in biblical history, God changed the names of individuals. A name change implies a change in what you are. When God changed Jacob’s name to Israel, he was no longer a “supplanter,” but now “an overcomer with God.”
Mr. Armstrong explains how this happened to Lucifer, whose name meant “light-bearer.” When Lucifer rebelled, “God changed his name to Satan, which means ‘adversary’—‘enemy’—‘competitor,’” he wrote. And so those angels who rebelled with Lucifer were now called demons. When a star no longer acts like a star, we give it a new name; it may be called a black hole, a red giant, or a white dwarf. So it is with God. God calls things what they are.
The names of the demons—and all the righteous angels—bear much greater power and authority than ours. Christ recognized Satan had dominion over the whole world (Matthew 4:8-10). But this is only temporary. God has a much greater name stored away for all of us. He wants to give us the whole universe!
What makes it so that we will inherit a “more excellent name” than the angels? We are begotten sons of God the Father! (Hebrews 1:4-5). How precious! And when we are finally born into God’s family, we will be due for name changes. The very elect will be given positions in New Jerusalem, which will be reflected in their “new name” (Revelation 3:12). And everyone who overcomes Satan, qualifying to replace him, will be given a special, precious name, that is between God and them (Revelation 2:17). How much will the name your Father gives you mean to you?