A Christmas Carol (1843) by Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

This is the best-loved of Charles Dicken’s three Christmas Books. My Boxing Day reading.

This carol in prose implied the two main protagonists are Jews. Ebenezer Scrooge and Jacob Marley.

Ebenezer is a Hebrew name. It means stone of help.

Ebenezer was the name given by Samuel to the stone which he set up as thanksgiving for God’s help to the Israelites in their victory over the Philistines at Mizpah (1 Samuel 7:12).

In the Bible Ebenezer is also the name of a biblical place mentioned in 1 Samuel 4 and 5, though its exact location is shrouded in mists.

Scrooge is a surname invented by Charles Dickens. It has since entered our English vocabulary to mean ‘a miserly person.’

Jacob is a typical Hebrew name. Jacob is the son of the Biblical Isaac and Rebekah. Marley is not a Hebrew surname as far as I am aware.

The names were chosen by Charles Dickens based on his era. One should not read too much into them, in my view, whether he was anti-semitic or not.

Just enjoy A Christmas Carol as a tale of redemption. In Tiny Tim’s closing words:

“God Bless Us, Every One. “

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