I was born David A. Hoover on January 10, 1960 in Bowling Green, Ohio. However, I legally changed my name to David Ben-Ariel (with the help of my Jewish attorney) during the spring of 1989. It cost me $ 300.00.
It also required that I run 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 the county you were born in) for him to privately question my motivations. My attorney assured him that I was not running from the law or trying to escape any outstanding debt, but that my reasons were religious in nature. The judge accepted that, but wanted to instill in me that he could have “problems” with that name in the United States, without giving more details. I felt he meant because he was Jewish and / or it might be difficult for some to know how to pronounce it. I told him that I was not worried about it as I was planning to move to Israel anyway.
My reasons for changing my name were religious in nature. Why? Because I honestly feel that Ben-Ariel is a God-given name. And why would I feel this way? Because after a Hebrew class where my teacher mentioned how many people change their names when they move to Israel, I went home wondering what last name I would have in Israel, knowing that my first name is already Hebrew.
I had always liked the Hebrew surname of Ben-Ammi, after reading it in Leon Uris’s book Exodus, since it means “son of my people”, but as I thought about it and wondered what name my father would have given me, if he had given me a Hebrew name, I didn’t know. Then I knelt in prayer and asked God what name, if any, He would give me since He is my Heavenly Father, and I couldn’t ask my dad because he died when I was twelve.
I was hoping that maybe God would guide or guide or influence me to like a particular name, but immediately ARIEL popped into my mind and I immediately rejected it. Why? Because it means “the Lion of God” and I felt that that name only belongs to Jesus Christ, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. As I wondered about Ariel’s name, I remembered that Israel’s defense minister was Ariel Sharon (whom I have known since then in Jerusalem and Hebron). I reluctantly decided to keep the name in reserve (since it was really engraved on me!) Until God or circumstances could lead me to accept another and I went to bed.
The Bible mentions MANY INCIDENTS in which God chose to change someone’s name or name them prior to their birth. It is unusual, but it is not unbiblical. There were Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac (Genesis 17: 5, 15, 19); Ishmael (Genesis 16:11); Solomon (1 Chron. 22: 9) and Solomon’s nickname Jedidiah (2 Sam. 12:25); Cyrus (Isaiah 44:28; 45: 4); John the Baptist (Luke 1:13); Jesus (Matt. 1:21); Peter and the two brothers James and John, whom Jesus nicknamed “sons of thunder” (Mark 3: 16-17); Just to name a few.
God promises to give each of us a new and unique name in the Kingdom, either in place of or in addition to the current one (Revelation 2:17), as well as sharing the new name of Jesus and bearing the name of the Father as Priest. Kings (Revelation 3:12, 14; Exodus 28:36; Leviticus 8: 9). God has many names or titles that describe his wonderful qualities and characteristics (Isaiah 9: 6). The Jews even teach that the Hebrew name of God Elohim (literally Gods) is plural due to the fact that God is too big to be limited to one name, and is used in the sense of the real “We”. That is why Elohim said “let us …” We understand that it is also because currently there are two God-Beings in the only Kingdom of God, as Adam and Eve were two separate people who shared the surname Adam as a family unit (Genesis 2:24; 5: 2; John 10:30).
God has his reasons why he would change someone’s name and who are we to question him? The April 1980 issue of Good News Magazine (published by the Worldwide Church of God) carried an article called “Church History” that helps us understand why Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter: “… and gave him a prophetic last name of moral strength and he would eventually prove. Jesus gave him the new name, before he had earned it, so that it could be an incentive for him to realize what Jesus had hoped for. “
After I lay down, about to fall asleep, Isaiah 29: 1 came to mind. The amazing thing is that I had never memorized that Scripture! Reveal 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 (Jer. 51:50), especially after my first visit there to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) in 1980. God has shown me that He has awakened and me He has given a burning desire for Jerusalem and Israel (Isa. 62: 1, 6-7). I finally realized that God was calling me “SON OF JERUSALEM”.
I got out of bed, knelt with tears in my eyes and thanked God for truly knowing us inside and out, just as His Word says, and I embraced the new name that God had given me! I also accepted it as a SPIRITUAL GOAL: to live worthy of someone who bears the name of holy Jerusalem and all that it ideally represents.
I end my prayers facing Jerusalem every night with “Yerushalayim shel Zahav” (Jerusalem of Gold), a plea for Jerusalem to fulfill her 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 dates back to the British and Scottish Royal Families (the Royal House of David) it is also appropriate that Ben-Ariel can mean “son of David” and “son of Judah” (whose tribal emblem is the lion).
I am convinced that the God of the Bible, the God of Israel, and the God of my ancestor David, has blessed me with the name Ariel. Even if I chose Ariel for myself, which I did not do, I originally opposed it, there would be no harm in that, since such a practice is biblical: “One will say: I am from the LORD; and another will call himself. by the name of Jacob, and another will subscribe with his hand to Jehovah, and will surname himself by the name of Israel “(Isaiah 44: 5).
God gave me the last name Ariel around 1982, however, it wasn’t until 1989 that I finally legally changed my name. I knew that even though God had given me my name, I didn’t necessarily have to change my name. I was also hesitant to do so because I am the only son and the only living Hoover males (that I know of) were my grandfather and me. He did not want the name to go extinct, not that he is married and has children 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).
I also didn’t want to hurt or offend my grandfather (Arthur Hoover of Risingsun, Ohio) or possibly be disinherited, but I decided that since I was about to seek citizenship in Israel, to start 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 event, not knowing what he was planning to do. So now I’ve been David Ben-Ariel for years and my family and friends are used to it.
My God given name IS ESTABLISHED BEFORE GOD which mentions Jerusalem twice in it: the City of David and Ariel.