One’s name does bare an importance!
It can tell a story, it displays your identity and can even influence one’s predispositions towards you. It’s important to choose a child’s name wisely!
Therefore, I decided to start this “Name Series” to provide all parents, future parents or people like me who just like random facts, information about the meaning of one’s name in Hebrew !
Today I chose the name JOSEPHINE ! It’s a beautiful girl’s name and quite unusual in today's day and age in north America, though it’s a name I particularly affectionate!
According to familyeducation.com, Josephine is a Hebrew name that means “Jehovah increases” or “He shall increase”. The name takes its roots from the name Joseph or Yosef and has been reported to have reached its peak in popularity in 1916, in the USA.
Joseph is an important figure in the Bible, he was the son of Jacob. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers out of jealousy because he was his father's favorite. They sold him after debating if they should kill him or not. He finally ended up a slave in Egypt, where he got noticed for his good work, he was educated compared to the other slaves since he was from a well-established family back in his land, the land of Canaan. Long story short, he landed a great position working for a guy named Potiphar, a captain of Pharaoh's guard, but was falsely accused of abusing the captain's wife, who in fact fancied Joseph but when he refused himself to her, she lied about him abusing her and got him jailed.
Fast forwarding many eventful events :) Joseph, with the Hand of God, elevated to Pharaoh's second in charge. During that time, there was a raging famine (which he Joseph, had prophesied, by interpreting Pharaoh's dream) and his brothers who had sold him many years prior, came to Egypt to ask for food. There was Joseph....sold as a teen and now standing in charge of all Pharaoh's belongings. His brothers did not recognize him after all those years, he now looked like an Egyptian, but Joseph remembered them...He was moved...anger...sadness...resentment...He finally forgave his brothers and understood that everything happens for a reason! He was meant to be sold into slavery so that many years later he could save his family and many other inhabitants of Canaan from famine. As Joseph very well said himself ; What his brothers meant for evil, God turned into a good (I'm paraphrasing Genesis 50:20).
Who said the Bible was boring? It's a great story, with a valuable lesson and it's a meaningful name to wear!
What do you think of that name and what name should we look into next ?
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