Endnote 25 – What’s in a Name?

The inscriptional evidence is not very helpful here, simply because it is difficult to identify Israelites as Israelites unless they bear Yahwistic names. Babylonian and Assyrian scribes rarely identified people by nationality, and Israelite names were so similar to those of other Northwest Semitic peoples that it is difficult to tell them apart. Even if we hear of a Menahem or Michael or Elisha in Mesopotamia, we can’t be sure if he is an Israelite or, for example, a Moabite or Ammonite or Phoenician.