The Hebrew expression עבד־יהוה , 'ebed Yhwh, is found 20x in the Old Testamnet, and is expressive of the honour of being an instrument of God. It was first used of Moses in Deut 34:5; Moses was afterwards referred to by this expression another 15x. It is also applied to Joshua (2x; Jos 24:29; Judg 2:8) and David (2x; Psm 18:1; 36:1). It comes into its own when it is used by Isaiah in his prophecy of the Messiah (42:19) and, after that, when the Messiah is simply referred to as "my Servant."
While the expression is not found in the NT, this high view of service in the cause of God is easily recognizable in the ease and sense of honour with with Paul (Rom 1:1; Tit 1:1), Peter (2 Pet 1:1), James (Jam 1:1), and Jude (1:1), e.g., speak of themselves as a doulos of Christ Jesus, or of Paul using it of Ephaphras (Col 4:12).
Christians who live amidst a majority of Muslims will know many such Muslim neighbours who go by the name Abdullah. This is, of course, simply Arabic for "servant of Allah," the Arabic version of 'ebed Yhwh. It is interesting that, in Malaysia, Abdullah is no longer a popular name among the Malays (who are, by legal definition of the term, Muslims), but is increasingly the name "reserved" for non-Malay converts to Islam.
©ALBERITH
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