Image courtesy Bizzell Bible Collection,

University of Oklahoma Libraries

(1) So e.g. Barrett. See 1 Kings 11:29ff; Isa. 8:1-4; 20:1ff;

Jer. 19:1ff; 27:2ff; Ezek. 4-5.

(2) Exodus 10:4-19; Deut 28:38,42; 1 Kings 8:38; 2 Chron

7:13; Psalm 78:46; Psalm 105:34; Joel 1:4; 2:25; Amos 4:9;

7:1.

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‘While we were staying there for

several days, a prophet named

Agabus came down from Judea. He

came to us and took Paul’s belt,

bound his own feet and hands with it,

and said, "Thus says the Holy Spirit,

‘This is the way the Jews in

Jerusalem will bind the man who

owns this belt and will hand him over

to the Gentiles.’"’(Acts 21:10-11)

Agabus’s prophetic sign was an

acted parable comparable with those

of the OT prophets.(1)

Agabus was the Judean prophet who predicted the famine

(Acts 11:28), and his name probably means ‘Locust’. Locusts

were associated with food shortages in OT prophecies.(2)

Since the name is otherwise unattested or nearly unattested,

it seems likely that it was a new name given to this OT-style

prophet who predicted the famine. Otherwise we have an

extraordinary coincidence.

We do not know Agabus’s original name.

The naming of Agabus would be a case of religious

name-giving, but it is not a faithfulness name like so many of

the others. This name could accurately be called a nickname.