Names are fun. We all like to play with names. We get excited about naming our babies. We give each other nicknames. We call each other names –sometimes for fun, sometimes not in the best spirit! We give our children ancestral names, biblical names, and sometimes, off-the-wall names! We name our animals according to what they look like, or what they mean to us.
Names are identity markers. They reveal something about how we see the world around us and the people in it. They reveal something about our deepest feelings concerning our relationships and place within community. They reveal something about our understanding of ourselves and who we are in relationships to others. They can invoke feelings, images, memories, and stories. They can reveal the true state of our spirit.
When we name our dog Precious, we also reveal what that dog means in our life and heart. If we name him Rover, it may indicate the dog’s own adventurous spirit. Or ours.
In The Story, names have that same importance. In the Hebrew scriptures, many times place names and the names of people in the stories are enmeshed and create greater levels of meaning. Names like “Canaan” invoke connotations of an original tribal interaction and what “baggage” Canaan will bring to its future relationships due to “his” rebellious nature. Names like “Babylon” will invoke the story of the Tower of Babel and everything that this story brings to the table with it. The name Israel comes out of Jacob’s struggle and will indicate the state of Jacob’s relationship with his brother, himself, and with God, as well as the “state of the nation” both in Jacob’s time and going forward into the future.
Jesus too uses clever nicknames for his disciples, such as the Sons of Thunder or Peter, the stone/rock. Jesus even has metaphors for his own identity as messiah –the gate, the door, the way, truth, life, cornerstone, shepherd, and so forth.
Looking at names is like taking a DNA sample of the scripture story and the characters in it, as well as their story and interactions. Names reveal the true identity or nature of the heart, discipleship, or relationship with God depicted, enmeshed, and encoded within the story.
Today in our Story lectionary, we have three significant stories that, at first glance, may seem as though they have no connection to each other. But when we investigate the names of these characters, we see an interesting pattern. As in all seemingly “random” encounters, sometimes the pattern is even more interesting and unique and packed with meaning than we could ever have expected. And the relationships between them may reveal new insights about what the scripture stories have to tell us, and teach us about life, community, God, and our relationship with our Creator and Life-Giver.
Today, we are looking specifically at the stories of first Dinah (Hebrew), then Delilah (Hebrew), and then Dorcas (Greek; otherwise known as Tabitha in Aramaic).
The story of Dinah occurs in Genesis –in the Torah. The story of Delilah occurs in Judges. The story of Dorcas appears in the Acts of the Apostles. But all three tell something about the community of faith in that time and how one person or one heart can be a change agent for an entire people or an entire community. Like the name Israel, these names too indicate a kind of “state of the union” on both a micro and macro level, a personal and also a communal level.
In the story of Dinah, we see an Israelite (Jewish) culture that is not sure how to co-exist within its world. The question for us today: How do we follow Jesus in a culture that is of an entirely different and foreign mindset is not far from Dinah’s culture. For some like Jacob the patriarch, the key to it all is peace, to co-exist, to get along, to communicate, to intermingle. Some of Jacob’s sons however disagree. As separatists, they believe that intermingling is dangerous, and they see the other culture’s customs, traditions, and existence near them as a threat.
Interestingly, We don’t know much about Dinah, except that we get the feeling, she jives with her father’s way of looking at things. But in her story, she serves as a unwilling catalyst for disaster. Voiceless, Dinah’s character is essentially nearly missing from her own story. Yet she stands as a barometer in an ambivalent culture clash. The conflictive decision of building walls or bridges between Israel and other cultures/religions is revealed and, in a sense, weighed in by the figure of Dinah. The meaning of covenant is also revealed in macro and micro, as we examine too what it means to be in covenant with Jesus –what it means to be a disciple in a multi-cultural world.
Dinah’s name in Hebrew means to “judgment” or “contention.” Dinah’s presence in the story serves as a “weighing in” on the “state of the union.” She also serves as a “catalyst” –someone who brings polar conflict to a head. In the sense of Dinah’s name, her presence and circumstances in the story causes friction which serves to bring opposition into conflict. She creates the spark between two flint stones that erupts into a bloody tragedy. Interestingly, the act that brings the cultures to a clashing point is Dinah’s “union” with Shechem, the son of Hamar the Hivite (a Canaanite). The metaphor for covenant or marriage (peace) is possible, as Hamar asks Jacob to bless the union of his son with his daughter. As in European history, often tribes and kingdoms would be united in peace by the intermarriage of both rulers’ children. This is the case here.
However, Simeon, Levi, and others disagree. They want no intermarriage. They refuse to recognize the binding obligation of their intercourse. Therefore, the negotiation is called a defilement, a sham, a breech of honor. In consequence, the brothers destroy their neighbors.
Hate destroys. The story of Dinah is the story of our modern-day Romeo and Juliet. Separatism, hate, seeing people as their culture instead of their culture as an aspect of their humanness creates divisions and tragedy.
Dinah’s story is a story of change. It’s a story asking, how do we negotiate our identity in this world. As disciples of Jesus (or followers of YHWH in Dinah’s time), how do we as Christians negotiate our world today? Who are the Dinah’s that dare to cross boundaries, breech walls, scale fences in order to let love and honor mean more than tribalism and separatism? While Dinah’s union had the potential to give life, the inability of the tribe to bless their union and find a way to be followers of God while still engaged with the world created instead a valley of shadows, a land of dry bones.* When we take things into our own hands, rather than relying on and acknowledging the power and presence of God within it (the force of love), nothing will end well.
In the story of Delilah (Judges 16), we again see a nation struggling with how to deal with their neighbors, this time, hostile neighbors. The Philistines are descendants of the Canaanites and were known to be a pirate kind of people. Again, we have a Romeo and Juliet kind of story but not one in which the two fall into genuine, innocent love. In this story, the dangers of losing your identity in another culture, or another person reigns.
Samson is a Nazirite (or Nazarite) and has taken vows to God to uphold certain traditional behaviors that symbolize his deep commitment to his faith and God’s power. That consecration runs through him as one of Israel’s tribal “judges” (Saviors). Delilah is a Philistine who takes advantage of Samson’s love for her and his desire to please her and betrays him to his enemies for a sum of money (think Judas). The story warns us not only that there are true dangers in the world outside our own. But the danger is not coming from the other people, but from Samson’s loss of faith in God’s guidance, wisdom, strength, and power.
The story of Delilah and Samson reminds us of the story of young David, who stood up to face a giant Philistine simply by affirming that the power of God could not be defeated. Samson too is a powerful force in this story. As a Nazirite, he is a forceful vehicle pointing to God’s power and might. God’s spirit runs strong through his body and bones. But when Samson becomes distracted and his eyes long for Delilah, he temporarily forgets who he is.
The name Delilah comes from the verb dalal, to be low, weak, to be dry, or to be a temptress. She is a metaphor of “death” –what it means to be “not” with God, or God not with her. She is like the siren who lures sailors to their deaths on the sea. You cannot take your eyes off your purpose and your goal. Delilah is a like a death star. She’s a pawn used by takers of lives. While Dinah has the potential to be life giver but instead serves silently as a combustible for opposing sides, Delilah is a dry spirit, a woman lured by money to destroy the man she claimed to love. She is a wolf is sheep’s clothing, a jagged rock to cut the feet of those who would walk with God. Delilah is Distraction. Like the many metaphors of Israel as a wandering eyed whore, Delilah represents the glittery fake love that dupes Samson and distracts him from keeping his eyes on God and the power of that love to heal or overcome the Philistine community.
Samson thought he could do it himself. Like the brothers of Dinah, we can get so used to feeling the power of God within us, we can mistake it for our own! We can assume, we can live life without Him. But Jesus is the life. Jesus is the power. Jesus is the presence. Jesus is our identity. Without Him, we cannot do anything. With Him, everything. And there is no better story that shows this than the story of Dorcas.
The story of Delilah is one for all of us. As disciples, we must learn how to retain our identity as a disciple of Jesus, even as we interact within our sometimes hostile world. We must retain our faith in the presence and power of Jesus to heal and to overcome. We can walk through the valley of shadows if God is with us and Jesus within us. But the moment we become tempted by the ways of the world, we block God from using us as a vehicle of love and wisdom, strength and life. We are called to live within our world. We are not called to live outside of it. But we must also not live “of” it. We must not let it control and consume us, and we must not become consumers of it. But within the world, we are called to be God’s light and fire to draw people to ourselves, so that God might be acknowledged as the Life Giver of the world. The question is one of identity. Do we know who we are enough to live within the world as Jesus’ light? Or is our heart made of shifting sand? Delilah’s are everywhere. But they can only harm us if we let them.
The story of Dorcas is a story of what it means to live as Jesus’ true Disciple in a “gentile” world. It is a story that teaches us what it means to live into the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, and to allow Jesus to live His resurrection Life within us and through us. It is a story that exudes identity. A story of a Life receiver, and a Life giver.
In the story of Dorcas, we get a glimpse of a woman, who is a disciple of the early church, but who we know spends the bulk of her time creating clothing/cloaks for people in her community. We get a sense of her servant’s heart. We get a sense too of her giving, life-giving spirit in the way the people of the community mourn her at the time of her death. Because of this mourning (think Lazarus’ sisters), Peter resuscitates her back to life and we can assume, she then continues with her mission and ministry. But more important to the story are the metaphors, and much of the depth of the story can be found in her name.
The name Dorcas is a Greek name. Like many in the first century, she had a Greek name and an Aramaic name. Her Aramaic name was Tabitha. In Aramaic, Tabitha was a name fashioned upon the verb “Talitha.” We read in the scriptures that when Peter raises up her, he repeats the very same words that Jesus spoke when raised Jairus’ daughter: Talitha cum! In the Book of Acts, Peter tells Dorcas (Tabitha) to get up! The replication of Jesus’ miracle in which a servant of God is restored marks Peter’s power as the “founding stone” of Jesus’ incarnational power! The idea of youth and beauty is inherent in this story as well as in the story of the daughter of Jairus. But while restoration began as a foreshadowing in the Jairus encounter, here the resurrection promise, the continued power of Jesus even post-death/resurrection, and the incarnational Holy Spirit power bestowed upon the apostles/disciples in order to continue that restoration/granting of new life is driven home!
Both the Greek name and the Aramaic one refer to a kind of deer, doe, or gazelle. In the Song of Songs, the sensual story of God’s relationship with humankind is illustrated in the “garden” of love in which the gazelle represents the beauty of commitment, discipleship, servanthood, and love. Dorcas/Tabitha/Talitha then is a metaphor of the “love story” of God, whose disciples not only love God in a “marriage” of eternal bliss, but also demonstrate that love for all humanity by acting with a servant’s heart, loving others into a place of “life.”
Life is a major theme through this story. Life and resurrection evoked/provoked by sacrificial love. Not just in her name but in the act of resurrection, we see not only Dorcas’s life restored, but her ministry and her life-giving ability rekindled. Like the raising of Peter’s mother in law by Jesus in which she immediately gets up and begins “serving” the people in the room, Dorcas too is raised up in order to continue with her life-giving activity. Life breeds life. Resurrection breeds new seeding, planting, harvesting, and ultimately, eternal Life in Jesus.
Dorcas/Tabitha then is a change agent. But the power belongs to God. The raising of Dorcas/Talitha drives home that the power for healing and life is not merely in the ministry of Dorcas or anyone else. But that ministry is fueled by the amazing, life-giving power of Jesus. Just as Jesus’ miracles point to his identity and to the presence and restorative power of God, here too Dorcas’ resurrection reveals the source behind the servanthood, the resurrection power of Jesus that enables all ministry and mission.
Each one of us in our own identity as a child of God is more than a change agent in our communities. We are God agents—agents of goodness, beauty and truth in our faith community, in our civil community, in our relationships, and in our world.
What is your name? What will you be called? Or more importantly, what role will your life play in God’s mission to unify God’s people? Are you a Dinah with good intentions but a silent voice? Are you a Delilah, distracting others from their faith and leading them away from the life that sustains them? Or are you a Dorcas, living in the light of Jesus, and exuding that Light and Life to everyone around you, a humble servant of the God Most High?
Jesus is the Life. Jesus is your Life. For all who trust in Him will be resurrected too. All who bear His power will be life-givers in His Name. Your life is in your faith.
Do you know who you are? What is your name?
*Note: For more information on the Dinah story, see jwa.org. For information on the names of the three women, see abarim.com.
Based on the Story Lectionary
Major Text
The Story of Dinah and Schechem (Genesis 34)
The Story of Samson and Delilah (Judges 16)
Aeneas and Dorcas (Acts 9)
Minor Text
The Story of the Saving of Moses by Batya (Bithiah), Daughter of Pharaoh (Exodus 1-2)
The Story of Ruth
Psalm 37: The Salvation of the Righteous Comes from the Lord
Psalm 51: Create in Me a New Heart O God
Psalm 106: The Gathers from the Nations
Psalm 119: Seek God with Your Heart
Psalm 145: The Lord Has Compassion on All He Has Made
The Mountain of the Lord to Which All Peoples Will Come (Isaiah 2)
Isaiah’s Prophecy of the Lord’s Anger at Those Who Persecute Others with False Traditions (59)
The Lord Our Shepherd Will Gather All People of the Nations (Ezekiel 34)
Jesus’ Story of the Good Samaritan
Jesus’ Healing of the Syro-Phoenician (Gentile) Woman’s Daughter
Jesus’ Teaching on Defilement and God’s True Way (Mark 7:1-23 and 24-30; Luke 11:37-54; Matthew 15)
Peter’s Dream and His Meeting with Cornelius (Acts 10)
Image Exegesis: Have Heart
The stories chosen for this week bear the question, “What does it mean to be a disciple”? My conclusion is that is means to allow Jesus, son of God, ultimate Life-Giver to work through you, so that you not only receive life, but become a life-giver for others in your own life and ministry.
Names in scripture are significant. By delving into the names of Dinah, Delilah, and Dorcas, we can get a glimpse into one of the biggest issues not only of biblical times, but in our time too –how do we live in a world hostile to our faith? But more importantly, how does our discipleship sustain our identity in Jesus, so that we never forget, our “power” in this world comes from God, and not from our own doing. How can we keep our “eye on Him”?
As this week, the names of the women are exegeted within the sermon text, I will shorten this exegesis this time. But if you are interested in learning more about these women and the names they bear, you will find a rich depth of meaning stored in those metaphors.
For Jesus, the heart is always the most important aspect of us. And Jesus drew upon the scriptures that pointed to the fact that God has always felt this way. It’s not about our lineage, or our biology, or our heritage, or our culture. It’s about a heart rooted in God, one that has faith and trust in God’s presence and power. It’s about a heart that can receive life as it gives life, a heart interested in loving in the way of God’s love.