What I Learned About God from a Deeper Study of My Name

A couple of years ago, I finished an email course on website optimization as part of my ACFW membership. One of the first things the instructor asked me was, “How do you pronounce Mishael?” After I gave her the short answer on how to say my name, I shared the full, long story of how I got the name, what it means, etc.

She said, “That would be a great thing to put on your website. People who search for you and who read your books will be interested in that information, for sure. It’s a good story.”

I agreed with her at the time, but I kept putting off the actual writing of the post. I’m finally getting around to it now. I’ve earned my round tuit token!*

How to Pronounce Mishael – The Short(ish) Answer

Usually, when I meet someone for the first time, I just tell them my name. I don’t worry about whether they know how to spell it or not. The pronunciation is easy. It’s familiar.

I pronounce Mishael the same way other people pronounce Michelle or Michele, both of which are pronounced “mish-EL.” You know, like the Beatles song, except Paul McCartney sang the name with a little more emphasis and a long “e” sound on the first syllable. I guess that’s how you would pronounce it in French.

When I was a teenager, I actually had a dentist who sang that song to me while his hands were in my mouth. It’s one of the more memorable, and cringe-worthy, moments in my life. I hated that song for a while afterwards, but I’ve since gotten over it. Mostly.

How I Got My Name

I get to blame my mother for this one. She was reading the book of Daniel in the Bible one day, and she happened to come across this name. You remember the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Those were all Babylonian names given to the men after they were taken captive. Their given, Hebrew, names were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (see Daniel 1:6).

What’s interesting to me in this, despite the fact that my name is in this passage, is that the Babylonian names given to the men mean pretty much the same thing as their Hebrew names, except for Azariah/Abednego. I’m not really sure what happened there.

Maybe the Babylonians didn’t have any concept of a god who would help them. Or maybe they couldn’t see (at least not at that point) where God was helping these men. They would find out all about how God helped them later, though.

Hebrew Name	Hebrew Meaning	Babylonian Name	Babylonian Meaning
Hananiah	Yahweh is gracious	Shadrach	Gift from God (in this case, god – Aku)
Mishael	Who is like God?	Meshach	Who is what Aku is?
Azariah	Helped by God	Abednego	Servant of light, shining

Two Other Guys in the Bible Named Mishael

Meshach is perhaps the most famous person with the name Mishael who can be found in the Bible. But, as I’ve read through the Bible a few times in the past several years, I noticed that a couple other people mentioned were also named Mishael.

One was the son of Uzziel (Exodus 6:22), who was the brother of Amram. So, this Mishael was Moses’ cousin. He was one of the men Moses asked to carry out the dead bodies of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, after they messed up by offering an unholy fire to the Lord (Leviticus 10:1-5).

The other Mishael stood next to the priest Ezra while he read the law to Israel in Nehemiah 8. He and the other eleven men who stood by Ezra as he read were probably Levites. So, they were related to Moses and Aaron too. Note: this account is also mentioned in 1 Esdras 9.

I Used to Hate My Name

My mother may have thought my name was cool. I disagreed for a long time, although I had to concede its uniqueness. There were a few reasons I didn’t appreciate having a biblical name.

First, my name is, after all, a man’s name. I am not a man. I don’t even identify as one, so having a man’s name is kind of weird.

Second, people most of the time just don’t understand how to pronounce Mishael when they see it in print (which is part of the reason why I’m writing this blog post). I have actually had people argue with me before about how to pronounce my own name. They refused to see the “s,” and insisted it was a misspelled version of Michael. This, as you can imagine, was extremely frustrating, and I just knew I wouldn’t have had to deal with so much conflict if I had a more “normal” name like Jane or Mary.

Finally, I didn’t like what I thought it meant. When I was a teenager, I used to look at all those “name meaning” card displays in stores for my name (well, actually not MY name. I looked for Michael and Michelle because they were closest). I remember seeing one name card that said my name meant “One who is like God.” This didn’t sit well with me, as I am pretty much the farthest thing from who God is. He’s perfect. I’m just … not.

Now I Love My Name

Since then, I’ve discovered that the literal meaning of Mishael is “Who is like God?” By the way, the Hebrew pronunciation is quite a bit different than the way I pronounce Mishael. It’s more like “mĭsh’ ĭ əl” or “mĭsh’ ah el.” Below, you can see the name written in the original Hebrew.

It’s not a statement. It’s a question. And the answer?

Spoiler alert. No one.

Absolutely no one is like God. So, now when I think about my name and what it means, I’m reminded of the importance of humility – understanding who I am in relation to God and others.

There’s a reason why Jesus said these were the two most important commandments:

 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” Matthew 22:37-38, NIV

When we obey these commands, we discover the secret to humility.

Also, it’s kind of hard to not love a name that has the name of God in it. For a long time, I didn’t know that “El” was a name of God. Now that I do, I’m kind of happy my mom decided to name me what she did.

One Day, I’ll Get a New Name

I also believe, from my reading of the Bible, that God will give me a new name when I prove victorious through the work Christ has done in my heart and life.

Revelation 2:17 (ESV) says:

“To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.”

Obviously, I don’t know what that new name will be, but He does. And I can’t wait to hear Him tell me what it is.

I just hope it’s a lot easier to pronounce than Mishael.