I was born David A. Hoover January 10, 1960 in Bowling Green, Ohio. However, I legally changed my name to David Ben-Ariel (with the help of my lawyer jew) during the spring of 1989. It cost me $ 300.00.
He also requested that I take out a small ad in a newspaper announcing my intentions 30 days in advance. I put my ad in the Bowling Green Sentinel.
I also had to appear before a judge (it depends on what county you were born) for him to privately question my motivations. It 'been assured by my lawyer that I was not running from the law or trying to escape some debt, but that my reasons were religious in nature. The court acknowledged that, but wanted to impress on me that I could have "problems" with that name in America, without elaborating. I felt he meant because he was jew and / or may be difficult for some to know how to pronounce. I told him I was not concerned about it since I planned to move to Israel, however.
The reasons for changing my name were religious in nature. Why? Because I honestly feel that Ben-Ariel is a God-given name. Why should I feel that way? Because after a class in which my Jewish teacher whom many people change their names when they move to Israel, I came home wondering what surname I would have in Israel, knowing my name is already Hebrew.
I always liked the last Hebrew name Ben-Ammi, after reading the book by Leon Uris' Exodus, as it means "son of my people," but even think about it and wondering what the name of my father would as if he would give me a Jewish name, I did not. Then he knelt in prayer and asked God what name, if present, would give me as is my Heavenly Father, and I could not ask my dad because he died when I was twelve.
I expected God to perhaps lead or guide or influence me as a particular name, but immediately ARIEL flashed into my mind and I immediately dismissed. Why? Because it means "lion of God" and I heard that name belongs only to Jesus Christ, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. While asking the name of Ariel, I remembered that the Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon was (which I have met in Jerusalem and Hebron). I reluctantly decided to keep the name in reserve (since he was really impressed on me!) As long as God or circumstances might lead me to accept another, and went to bed.
The Bible mentions several incidents in which God chose to change someone's name or name them before their birth. And 'unusual, but it is not scriptural. There was Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac (Gen. 17:05, 15, 19), Ishmael (Gen. 16:11), Solomon (I Chron. 22:09) and Solomon's nickname Jedidiah (2 Sam. 12: 25), Cyrus (Isaiah 44:28, 45:4), John the Baptist (Lk 1:13), Jesus (Matt. 1:21); two brothers Peter and James and John who Jesus called "sons of thunder" ( Mk 3:16-17), to name a few.
God promises to give everyone a new and unique name in the United, or alternatively or in addition to our current one (Rev. 2:17), as well as sharing Jesus 'new name' and bearing the name of the Father, as Priest-Kings (Rev. 3:12, 14; Ex. 28:36, Lev. 8.9). God has many name or titles, descriptive of his wonderful qualities and characteristics (Isaiah 09:06). Jews teach that God Hebrew name Elohim (literally Gods) is plural because God is too big to be limited to a name, and is used in the real sense of "we." That's why Elohim said, Let us ...." We know it is because there are currently two beings by God in one kingdom of God, like Adam and Eve were two separate people who both shared the surname Adam as one family unit (Gen. 2:24; 05:02 , Jn. 10:30).
God has his reasons why he changed the name of someone and who are we to question Him? The number of the April 1980 Good News magazine published an article entitled "History of the Church" that helps us understand why Jesus changed Simon's name to Peter: "... and he gave him a surname prophetic of the moral and spiritual strength that would ultimately prove. Jesus bestowed upon him the new name, before he earned might be an incentive for him to realize what Jesus had expected. "
After going to bed, fall asleep, Isaiah 29:1 flashed in my mind. The amazing thing was that I had never memorized that Scripture! It reveals that Ariel is a nickname for Jerusalem! Now I understand why God the Father had chosen Ariel for me. Anyone who knows me knows that Jerusalem is always on my mind (Jeremiah 51:50), especially after my first visit to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) in 1980. God showed me that stirred me and gave me the ardent desire of Jerusalem and Israel (Isaiah 62:1, 6-7). I finally understood that God was calling me "son of Jerusalem."
I got out of bed, knelt down with tears in his eyes and thanked God for truly knowing us inside and out, just as His Word says, and embraced the new name God had given me! I also accepted as a spiritual goal: to live worthy of the name of holy Jerusalem and all that it ideally represents.
I conclude my prayers facing Jerusalem every night with "Yerushalayim shel Zahav (Jerusalem of Gold), a plea for Jerusalem to fulfill his calling (2 Chron. 6:38-39, Dan 6:10). Later, I began to understand how Ariel can also refer to Judah and King David. Since my family tree is traced back to the British and Scottish Royal Family (Royal House of David) is also fitting that Ben-Ariel can mean "son of David" and "Elmer Gantry" (whose tribal symbol is the lion).
I am convinced that the God of the Bible, the God of Israel, and the God of David, my ancestors, I was blessed with the name of Ariel. Even if I chose Ariel for myself - I did not, I originally objected - there's nothing wrong since this practice is Biblical: "One must say, I am the Lord, and another said the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand towards the Lord, and the same surname with the name of Israel "(Isaiah 44:5).
God surnamed me Ariel back around 1982, but it was not until 1989 that I finally changed my name legally. I knew that if God had given me the name I have not necessarily had to change my name. I was also reluctant to do because I am the only son and only Hoover males alive (that I know of) were my grandfather and me. I did not want the name to die, not that I'm married and have kids, anyway (although God assures His "eunuchs" that we will be given excellent and eternal names - Isa. 56:5). I began to see that Hoover was possibly an Anglicized form of German Huber (since many immigrants changed their names upon arrival in America).
Even I did not want to hurt or offend my grandfather or possibly get disinherited, but I made up my mind that since I was about to apply for citizenship in Israel, beginning a new chapter in our family history, I was going to take the ' initiative and change my name. My grandfather ended up dying about four months before the fact, unaware of what I planned to do. So now I'm David Ben-Ariel for years and my family and friends are used to.
My given name is established by God before God that mentions twice in Jerusalem: the City of David and Ariel.
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