My prayer for this blog is that it will always help you feast and be satisfied at the table of Scripture. In the process, I hope you will also learn how to prepare scrumptious meals for yourself through personal Bible study. I delight in Scripture, don't you? Even the smallest play on words brings a blessing with it. Here's one I've spoken about before. If you will, say aloud the word Yeshua. That is the word for "Jesus" in Hebrew. "Jesus," of course, means "Savior." Now say aloud yoshia. That means "he will save" in Hebrew. As you can see in this chart, the word play is somewhat lost in both Greek and English.
What Matthew was saying is something like, "You will name him Savior, for it is he (the word is emphatic) who will save his people from their sins."
I am grateful for such mentors as Colin McDougall and Moises Silva and others along the way for teaching me diligence in the study of God's word, including how to pay careful attention to figures of speech such as paronomasia (the one used here in Hebrew). Now, in turn, I want to pass the baton on to you. The longer you study the Scripture, the more you'll see just how beautifully and wonderfully made it is. Furthermore, it is as timeless as it is true. Yeshua was Savior then and he is Savior today. Wow, what a truth!
May God bless you as you study his word.