'EBENEZER'--REVISITED

I find our local newspaper's birth announcements a primer in trendy names. I don't find my name very often, but lots of name blends and interesting spellings. But I don't come across a famous name of history and literature, which has (thanks to Charles Dickens' fiction) become synonymous with Christmas. Surely, you have heard of Ebenezer Scrooge.

For many years, I figured he got that name because “Ebenezer” rhymed with “geezer,” and he was all of that besides being a miserable, tightwad merchant who only cared for himself. Early in the story, Dickens gives this description of Scrooge:  "The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shriveled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice." After visits from the three “ghosts” (spirits) of Christmas past, present and future, Scrooge changes his ways. He turns into a better, more generous man.

Thanks to this tale, our English language now has “scrooge” as a handy synonym for “greed” or “misanthropy.” People scoffing Christmas traditions are apt to borrow his phrase, “Bah! Humbug!” But we see little written about his first name, Ebenezer, which actually has a solid Bible story behind it.

The story begins in Israel's early history in the book of First Samuel. The Temple's “ark of the covenant,” a gold-covered box containing the tablets of the Ten Commandments and other sacred items, had been confiscated by the enemy Philistines. They transported it from Jerusalem to their territory--a bad idea. God punished them with physical misery (the NIV calls it “tumors in the groin”) and they returned the ark to a halfway point, not the Jerusalem temple. More battles ensued between the Philistines and the Israelites. In one, God intervened by sending thunder so loud and fearsome that the Philistines desperately retreated and lost the battle.

And that's where the name “Ebenezer” enters Biblical history:

Then Samuel [Israel's prophet-leader] took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far has the Lord helped us.” So the Philistines were subdued and did not invade Israelite territory again. (1 Samuel 7:12-13a)

So, yes--”Ebenezer” is a real name. My online search showed it especially popular these days among prominent citizens of Ghana! In the past, the name was shared by American and English leaders of all stripes. (1)

But what happened to that memorial stone, believed somewhere between Mizpah and Shen? Some researchers think it's one located about seven miles north of Jerusalem. (2)  But the actual stone (which could become like an idol) doesn't matter as much as the principle of this story in Biblical history. Sometimes we have to go through really tough battles. Our enemies don't carry actual swords, knives, or arrows. But they pierce us in our vulnerable spiritual places. We're left helpless, except for the sometimes surprising intervention by our Heavenly Father.

In that sense, we all can recall “Ebenezers,” or times when we relied on the rock-solid trustworthiness of God. When we are helpless and call out to Him, He hears. And later on, in time's perspective, we will be able to declare (as did the Israelites): “Thus far has the Lord helped us.” I recognize such times in my life with a few stones I keep on the window ledge in my office. Could a reminder rock be your gift to someone? Or yourself?

1) Ebenezer (given name) - Wikipedia

(2) Eben-Ezer - Wikipedia