September 2005

QUESTION #1: God told Israel not even to take the names of pagan gods on their lips. Should Christians be concerned about using the names of the week which are named after pagan gods?

ANSWER: Christians need not be concerned about using the names of pagan deities that have come into common usage in modern-day languages. You may live on a street, or in a town, named after a pagan deity.

As you pointed out, several days of the week are named for ancient pagan gods. Even the English word "god" may derive from pagan sources—either Sanskrit or Persian, depending on which etymological authority you trust. In any case, we know this word wasn't used for the God of the Bible until the 12th century A.D. or so.

When the Bible says that we're not supposed to have the names of pagan gods on our lips, it means we're not supposed to worship or give homage to these false deities. Look carefully at the context of one such passage:

"Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god; their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take up their names on my lips." Psalm 16:4

David is clearly referring to someone who is "hastening" after a pagan deity, offering blood offerings to it, and calling out its name. This is the person he says will have multiplied sorrows, not someone who merely calls the second day of the week Monday ("Moon Day").



QUESTION #2: You said on the radio recently that Abraham was a Gentile. If this is true, how can the Jewish people claim to be his descendants? How can Jews come from Gentiles?

ANSWER: Abraham (whose name was changed from Abram) is recognized as the father of the Hebrew race. Later, the Hebrews were known as “Jews” (a term that originated with the ancient tribe of Judah) and as “Israelites” (from Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, whose name was changed to “Israel”). Although Abraham’s father, Terah, was a Gentile (that is, a non-Jew), he was nonetheless a Semite (that is, from the godly—and messianic—line of Shem; Gen. 11:1-32). God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees to begin a new nation (Gen. 12:1-3), but he is actually the father of both the Jewish and Arab peoples.

What distinguishes the Jewish line is that it descends through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—father, son, and grandson—while the Arab line is through another son of Abraham, Ishmael, whose mother was an Egyptian named Hagar. Many linguistics experts believe the term “Hebrew” derives from an ancient word meaning “to pass over.” Whether or not this etymology is accurate, it is certainly appropriate because Abraham and his family most likely would have “passed over” the Euphrates River several times while traveling from Ur to Haran, and then they would have passed over it yet again on their way from Haran to Canaan. It is not difficult, then, to imagine their gaining a reputation for being “the Hebrews”—that is, the clan that repeatedly crossed the Great River. This is how a Gentile became the first Hebrew and ultimately gave rise to the Jewish nation.