Meaning of Samuel Jose

As Rob and I thought of names of our little boy- we considered many angles.
We wanted it to capture some of his cultural heritage.
We desired the name to have a meaning that was, well, "meaningful"
We hoped the name would sound good with Gillgrist
And we wanted to like the name!!

Everytime we kept coming back to Samuel for his first name.
I have always loved the name Sam for a little boy.

Samuel pronounced in Spanish sounds more like "Sam-well".
And we liked that it wasn't completly foreign to those in Guatemala.

Samuel means "heard of God" or "asked of God".
And it's Hebrew in origin- which I'm sure is cool for his Hebrew professor dad.

And of course I have loved the story in the Bible of Hannah who pleas to God for a child. In her anguish and sorrow she pleas with such abandon that the priest Eli thinks she is drunk.
And when God answers her prayer, she names her son Samuel.
As a child he first hears God still voice in the middle of the night.
And he grows into a wise man who hears, listens to and responds to God.

I just reread this story to remind myself of Samuel- of my hopes and prayers for him.
And this time I was struck by her words regarding naming him Samuel because "I asked the Lord for him".

And I started thinking does the Hebrew word mean "I asked God for ...." or "God heard me"
Or does it mean God hears or I hear of God.
In other words- in naming our baby Samuel- are we saying- we asked God for him.....or God heard us ask for him.....or he will be one who hears God.
I loved realizing they are the same.
For me to ask God means that God heard me.
And to be one that God hears, means that I hear him.
How interesting that there is one word in Hebrew that means both.
(Now I haven't run this by the before mentioned Hebrew scholar of a husband- but this is my own hermenuetical lens)

When I think of asking God for something- my mind doesn't automatically think "God is hearing me". There are days or seasons when he seems noticeably quiet- and I wonder if I'm talking to a wall. And there are seasons where he responds loudly.

Either way, I take comfort in knowing I am heard- even when I don't think I'm hearing back.

And on to Jose.
While we were waiting on the referral of our son, we had decided we would keep his birthname as part of his name. And so when we go the phone call on 2/20, we learned his name was Jose.

When I looked up the meaning of Jose- I thought, how fitting of God to combine these names.
Jose comes from Joseph- which is also Hebrew.
(Don't worry- our next child will not be Melchizedek)
In the Hebrew, the word means- "God adds" or "God will enlarge or increase".
Usually in the context of land or family or influence. (Think of Joseph's brothers selling him into slavery and then him becoming a ruler in Egypt.....Or Joseph, husband of Mary, raising the son of God.)

So our son's name means: "over seven years we have asked God for you and he has heard our plea and now he adds to our family and increases our capacity for love and to bring glory"

For our son, my prayer is that his name will come to mean for him "I am one who is heard by God, I have the audience of the King and I will listen for his voice in the night and I will follow it in order for him to add to his kingdom."

How good it is for my heart, after such a blah day yesterday, to remember my son. I'll go through anything to bring him hom.