1961. 'And Abram called the name of his son whom Hagar bore, Ishmael' means the nature of it. This is clear from the meaning of 'the name' as knowing the nature of, dealt with in 144, 145, 1754, and also from the representation and meaning of 'Ishmael' as rational truth, described in verses 11 and 12 by the words,

You will call his name Ishmael because Jehovah has hearkened to your affliction. And he will be a wild-ass man; his hand will be against all, and the hand of all against him; and he will dwell in opposition to ¹ all his brothers.

For the meaning of these words, see the explanation of those two verses. It is the nature of this rational that is described here.

Poznámky pod čarou:

144. As to 'calling by name' meaning recognizing their nature, it must be realized that the ancients understood nothing else by 'a name than the essential nature of a real thing, and by 'seeing and calling them by name' recognizing the nature of such. This was why they gave their sons and daughters names in keeping with the things that were meant by them; for there was something unique to every name, as a means of knowing the origin and nature of those children, as will also be seen later on where, in the Lord's Divine mercy, the twelve sons of Jacob are dealt with. Since therefore a name embodied a person's origin and nature nothing else was meant by 'calling by name'. This manner of speaking was customary among them; but anyone who does not understand is sure to wonder whether they do have these meanings.