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| PentecostalTheology.com
Was Immanuel (עִמָּנוּאֵל, “God with us”) a legitimate name that predated Isaiah’s writing it? Was it something that you might actually name your baby boy? Or is it a made-up symbolic name just like Isaiah’s Maher-shalal-hash-baz (“Hurry to the spoils!”) or Pele-joez-el-gibbor-abi-ad-sar-shalom (“Wonderful in counsel is God the mighty, the Everlasting Father, the Ruler of Peace”)? To what extent was Immanuel a popular Hebrew name?
If Immanuel were an obviously symbolic name, that would be relevant for why Jesus of Nazareth was not named Immanuel.
