Ichabod
by Patrick Henry Reardon
I know nobody—nor have I met anybody—named “Ichabod.” The name is rare. From history, I can count only three Ichabods, and the most recent of these, Deacon Washburn, died in 1868. From literature I recall only the schoolteacher at Sleepy Hollow. Since I started doing it almost sixty years ago, I have baptized hundreds of little boys; no parents ever requested the name Ichabod for their son. I never inquired, “Why not Ichabod?” but I feel sure they all would have answered, “His friends would just call him ‘Icky.’” That seems like a perfectly reasonable explanation.
A better, however, may be the meaning of the name itself: “the glory is exiled.” “Ichabod” (’i-kavod) was the name his mother gave to the son whose birth coincided with the Philistines’ capture of the Ark of the Covenant at the Battle of Aphek, around 1050 b.c. (1 Sam. 4). If Ichabod has been a rare name in modern times, it was rarer still in biblical times, for this is the only Ichabod in Holy Scripture. The name of this child, a grandson of the priest Eli, denoted a God-sent disaster. Because of his unique and ominous-sounding name, he would be for the Israelites a living reminder of the Lord’s judgment on the priestly family of Shiloh.
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
Patrick Henry Reardon is pastor emeritus of All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church in Chicago, Illinois, and the author of numerous books, including, most recently, Out of Step with God: Orthodox Christian Reflections on the Book of Numbers (Ancient Faith Publishing, 2019).
• Not a subscriber or wish to renew your subscription? Subscribe to Touchstone today for full online access. Over 30 years of publishing!
personal subscriptions
Purchase Print &
Online Subscription
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives including pdf downloads for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
gift subscriptions
GIVE Print &
Online Subscription
Give six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for the reduced rate of $29.95. That's only $2.50 per month!
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
kindle subscription
OR get a subscription to Touchstone to read on your Kindle for only $1.99 per month! (This option is KINDLE ONLY and does not include either print or online.)
Your subscription goes a long way to ensure that Touchstone is able to continue its mission of publishing quality Christian articles and commentary.
more on bible from the online archives
32.2—March/April 2019
on Preserving Physical & Spiritual Nourishment by Nathanael Devlin
24.3—May/June 2011
The Making & Endurance of the King James Bible, 1611-2011 by Barton Swaim
5.3—Summer 1992
Everything You Need to Know About Morality & the Bible by David Mills
more from the online archives
33.1—January/February 2020
on a Saint's Charism That Cures Toxic Perfectionism by Colleen Carroll Campbell
32.1—January/February 2019
Answers Secular & Religious by Allan C. Carlson
14.6—July/August 2001
The Transformed Relics of the Fall
on the Fulfillment of History in Christ by Patrick Henry Reardon
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
