Educators have known for years that elementary students will taunt kids with unusual names. In a study of this phenomenon,[1] two psychologists, Herbert Harari and John McDavid, uncovered the powerful perceptions tied to names.
They had papers — supposedly written by grade four and five students — turned into a number of teachers for marking. The only element changed in these reports was the name of the person who wrote it. The papers were turned in for marking under different authors. Students with popular names, such as David and Michael, supposedly wrote some of these papers, while other papers were assigned unusual names such as Hubert and Elmer. Despite the fact that these papers were identical, David and Michael scored on average a full grade higher than the other two names.
“Teachers know from past experience, that a Hubert or Elmer is generally a loser,” the authors said. These perceptions — formed in elementary school — were now firmly entrenched in the minds of the teachers.
I believe Joseph’s father, Jacob, had a similar encounter with name perception. After Jacob’s all-night wrestling match with the Angel of God (Genesis 32:26-28), the patriarch clung to the angel until he bestowed a blessing on the patriarch.
So what was that blessing — the angel changed his name from Jacob to Israel.
Only God would consider a name change a blessing? The rest of us would be looking for a new Cadillac.
But, in Israeli culture, names often reflected important events associated with both people and geographical landmarks and set the stage for how these were perceived from that point on.
Jacob’s name meant ‘deceiver’, ‘supplanter’ or ‘one who grabbed the heel.’ This name was assigned to him at birth, when it appeared that Jacob was trying to supplant his older twin brother Esau as the firstborn of the family (Genesis 25:24-26). The negative connotation associated with Jacob’s name foretold the overt favouritism that Jacob’s father, Isaac, would show his eldest son Esau (Genesis 25:28).
Everytime Jacob’s name was called, the word deceiver was driven home in his young impressionable mind. Slowly, the young boy developed a tragic impression of how his dad and ultimately God looked upon him.
Though second born, Jacob fulfilled his name destiny by deceptively defrauding Esau of his rightful inheritance as the first born of the family (Genesis 27).
God’s gift to his aged patriarch was the choice name Israel which meant ‘to prevail.’ Essentially the new Jacob would be known as a man who could influence the hand of God, a man who was no longer rejected, but favoured by his Father.
This was how God looked upon his son and Jacob’s name change was the first step in changing his perceptions of his Heavenly Father.
1. Ries, Al and Jack Trout, Positioning: The Battle for your mind, (Warner Books: New York, NY) p. 78
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