Why?

[Anonymous 1]

Why does nobody in the old testament have a last name?

[carterscutie85]

No need for them. You weren't going to have a ton of people named John for example in one area so if you talked about one John everyone knew who you were referring to. As the world got bigger and we traveled more we needed a way to distinguish people.

[Anonymous 1]

No need for them. You weren't going to have a ton of people named John for example in one area so if you talked about one John everyone knew who you were referring to. As the world got bigger and we traveled more we needed a way to distinguish people.

John wasn't ot. But that still doesn't make sense. In the old country that's not how it works.

[Anonymous 2]

Surnames started at different times in different geographic locations. Surnames in ancient Rome started being used around 1800BC but they were reserved for nobility and military leaders. Take the name Pontius Pilate. "Pontius" is the family name.

[Pjmm]

I think a lot of OT stories were fictional, meant to tell a moral. Take Grimm Brothers. A lot of people in Fairy tales don’t have last names either. There not needed. Even if Job existed a last name didn’t matter to whoever wrote it. Everyone in that town knew everyone else. Kings like David and Solomon probably were numbered or just had unique names. Same with Abraham and Isaac. Everyone in the town knew them. But by Christ’s time one needed surnames. And the other poster might be right. Surnames were for nobility. God usually picked the common person in OT stories.

[Valentina327]

Smaller population likely. I think at the time, people were differentiated by who their father was - Jesus Bar Joseph. That "of the father" part is what eventually led into surnames I think is how that went.

[mommy_jules]

Surnames/last names weren’t a thing then. They used other means to identify people for instance Simon the tanner or Simon, son of Judah.

[Deleted User 1990]

https://www.commentary.org/articles/ben ... l-history/

[Anonymous 3]

Interesting. They don't teach this in schools anymore?

[Deleted User 1990]

Interesting. They don't teach this in schools anymore?

Biblical naming practices? No…