Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Then David consoled his wife Bathsheba, and went to her, and lay with her; and she bore a son, and he named him Solomon. The Lord loved him, and sent a message by the prophet Nathan; so he named him Jedidiah, because of the Lord.”
NL Daily Devotion for Tuesday, October 25, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
The name “Jedidiah” means “Beloved of the Lord.” What an adorable nickname. The Bible is full of nick-names and renamings. Wordplay was a common in the Israelite tradition and the notes at the bottom of the pages of the Hebrew Bible especially explain those wordplays in the naming of people and places. Jesus was big on nicknames: Simon was called Peter. James and John were the “Sons of Thunder” which still cracks me up for some reason.
So here we have Solomon, Bathsheba’s second child with David. Her firstborn had died, and while a child can never be replaced, Bathsheba and David found joy in this new little boy. They were still smarting from the thought that God had allowed their first child to die as punishment for David’s reprehensible behavior, and were probably in need of reassurance—especially Bathsheba—that this child would not meet the same fate.
God reached out to them in love, sending the prophet Nathan to make it clear to the parents that God loved this little boy and it would all be okay.
I imagine their relief and how the phrase “Our little Jedidiah” came immediately to their lips. I can see that little boy toddling around learning that his name was Solomon but knowing that when mommy and daddy called him Jedediah they were saying “I love you.”
Did my parents have nicknames for me? Do I have nicknames for my kids? What do they mean to me?
