Let us glance for a moment at the meanings of the group of Divine names given above. We have said that, in addition to _Melech_ in _Malchi-_, _Abi_, _Ahi_, and _Ammi_ are to be regarded as Divine names. One reason for this is that their use as prefixes is strictly analogous to that of _El_ and _Jeho-_. We have _Abijah_ and _Ahijah_ as well as _Elijah_, _Abiel_ and _Ammiel_ as well as _Eliel_, _Abiram_ and _Ahiram_ as well as _Jehoram_; _Ammishaddai_ compares with _Zurishaddai_, and _Ammizabad_ with _Jehozabad_, nor would it be difficult to add many other examples. If this view be correct, _Ammi_ will have nothing to do with the Hebrew word for “people,” but will rather be connected with the corresponding Arabic word for “uncle.”(55) As the use of such terms as “brother” and “uncle” for Divine names is not consonant with Hebrew theology in its historic period, the names which contain these prefixes must have come down from earlier ages, and were used in later times without any consciousness of their original sense. Probably they were explained by new etymologies more in harmony with the spirit of the times; compare the etymology “father of a multitude of nations” given to Abraham. Even _Abi-_, father, in the early times to which its use as a prefix must be referred, cannot have had the full spiritual meaning which now attaches to it as a Divine title. It probably only signified the ultimate source of life. The disappearance of these religious terms from the common vocabulary and their use in names long after their significance had been forgotten are ordinary phenomena in the development of language and religion. How many of the millions who use our English names for the days of the week ever give a thought to Thor or Freya? Such phenomena have more than an antiquarian interest. They remind us that religious terms, and phrases, and formulæ derive their influence and value from their adaptation to the age which accepts them; and therefore many of them will become unintelligible or even misleading to later generations. Language varies continuously, circumstances change, experience widens, and every age has a right to demand that Divine truth shall be presented in the words and metaphors that give it the clearest and most forcible expression. Many of the simple truths that are most essential to salvation admit of being stated once for all; but dogmatic theology fossilises fast, and the bread of one generation may become a stone to the next.