Question A:
Basically, the Greek ὄνομα (onoma), and the Hebrew שֵׁם (shem) have essentially the same meaning - the name of a person or object, which includes their reputation etc.
Question B:
The Hebrew suggests four pairs of double titles; thus we might more helpfully translate Isa 9:6 as:
... And His name will be called
- Wonderful Counselor,
- Mighty God,
- Eternal Father,
- Prince of Peace.
Question C:
The word שֵׁם (shem) is singular for a very simple reason - the name of Messiah was "Jesus" (Matt 1:21) and it was that name that was to be blessed and called, "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace."
That is, the name of Jesus is associated with these double titles. The NT makes clear that Jesus Christ was all these things:
- Jesus was called "counselor" (παράκλητος) in 1 John 2:1
- Jesus is called "God" in Matt 1:23, John 1:1, 18, 20:28, Phil 2:5, 6, Titus 2:13, Heb 1:8, 9, 2 Peter 1:1, etc.
- Jesus was the father of the Christian church (see below)
- Jesus was the "Prince of peace" par excellence!
Comments by Ellicott on Isa 9:6.
It is noticeable that that which follows is given not as many names,
but one. Consisting as it does of eight words, of which the last six
obviously fall into three couplets, it is probable that the first two
should also be taken together, and that we have four elements of the
compound name: (1) Wonderful-Counsellor, (2) God-the-Mighty-One, (3)
Father of Eternity, (4) Prince of Peace. Each element of the Name has
its special significance.
(1) The first embodies the thought of the wisdom of the future
Messiah. Men should not simply praise it as they praise their fellows,
but should adore and wonder at it as they wonder at the wisdom of God
(Judges 13:18, where the Hebrew for the “secret” of the Authorised
version is the same as that for “wonderful;” Exodus 15:11; Psalm
77:11; Psalm 78:11; Isaiah 28:29; Isaiah 29:14). The name contains the
germ afterwards developed in the picture of the wisdom of the true
king in Isaiah 11:2-4. The LXX. renders the Hebrew as “the angel of
great counsel,” and in the Vatican text the description ends there.
(2) It is significant that the word for “God” is not Elohim, which
may be used in a lower sense for those who are representatives of God,
as in Exodus 7:1; Exodus 22:28, 1 Samuel 28:13, but El, which is never
used by Isaiah, or any other Old Testament writer, in any lower sense
than that of absolute Deity, and which, we may note, had been
specially brought before the prophet’s thoughts in the name Immanuel.
The name appears again as applied directly to Jehovah in Isaiah 10:21;
Deuteronomy 10:17; Jeremiah 32:18; Nehemiah 9:32; Psalm 24:8; and the
adjective in Isaiah 42:13.
(3) In “Father of Eternity,” (LXX. Alex. and Vulg., “Father of the
age to come “) we have a name which seems at first to clash with the
formalised developments of Christian theology, which teach us, lest we
should “confound the persons,” not to deal with the names of the
Father and the Son as interchangeable. Those developments, however,
were obviously not within Isaiah’s ken, and he uses the name of
“Father” because none other expressed so well the true idea of loving
and protecting government (Job 29:16, Isaiah 22:21). And if the
kingdom was to be “for ever and ever,” then in some very real sense he
would be, in that attribute of Fatherly government, a sharer in the
eternity of Jehovah. Another rendering of the name, adopted by some
critics, “Father (i.e., Giver) of booty,” has little to recommend it,
and is entirely out of harmony with the majesty of the context.
(4) “Prince of Peace.” The prophet clings, as all prophets before
him had done, to the thought that peace, and not war, belonged to the
ideal Kingdom of the Messiah. That hope had been embodied by David in
the name of Absalom (“ father of peace “) and Solomon. It had been
uttered in the prayer of Psalm 72:3, and by Isaiah’s contemporary,
Micah (Micah 5:5). Earth-powers, like Assyria and Egypt, might rest in
war and conquest as an end, but the true king, though warfare might be
needed to subdue his foes (Psalm 45:5), was to be a “Prince of Peace”
(Zechariah 9:9-10).
Thus, Jesus had a singular name, but that name would be associated with numerous titles, four double titles listed by Isa 9:6 and many more such as:
- Creator: John 20:13, 28, Luke 1:43, Phil 3:8, Matt 22:44, Mark 12:36, Luke 20:42, Acts 2:34
- Savior: Matt 1:21; Acts 4:12; 2 Tim 1:10; Tit 1:4, 2:13, 3:6; 2 Pet 1:1, 11
- Shepherd: John 10:11-16; Heb 13:20, 1 Peter 2:25, 5:4; Rev 7:17
- First and Last: Rev 1:17, 18, 2:8, 22:13
- Lord of Lords: Rev 17:14, 19:16
- Son of David: Matt 1:1, 20, 9:27, 15:22, 20:30, 21:9, 22:42, Mark 10:47, 48, Luke 18:38, 39, etc.
- King of Israel: Luke 1:32, 33, John 1:49, 50, 12:13
- etc.
