Benaiah - You might recognize part of the name ("Yah") as coming from the God's covenant name in the Old Testament, Yahweh. Many names within God's covenant people bore His name in a small sense: (say them aloud) Jeremiah, Isaiah, Elijah, Hezekiah, Joshua, etc... All of these names for individuals also said something about God! Such is the case with Benaiah and the reason we found it fitting for a first-born. The other part of his name comes from the Hebrew word "banah" which means to build or be built. Thus the combination of "banah" and "Yah" into Benaiah comes out as something like "Yah has built up" or "built by Yah". This was actually a pretty common name in Old Testament times but the most famous Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, was one of David's mighty men and the general of Solomon's armies (2 Sam. 23:20-22)
Around the block today, 26.2 tomorrow!
