Judah

Judah 基 Elliot

Blessed is the man

who fills his quiver with them.
 --Psalm 127:5

Judah Motoi (基) Elliot was born on 17 May 2010 in the bedroom of our apartment at Wycliffe College, University of Toronto.  He was in such a rush to get out that the midwife barely made it in time to catch him. As is the case with his siblings, Judah has dual citizenship and therefore carries both a Canadian passport (like his father) and a Japanese passport (like his mother). We named him Judah in honour of the line and tribe of Christ, who is the "Lion of the tribe of Judah." We specifically had in mind the prophetic passage of Genesis 49:8-12, especially v.10 which reads:

The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until he to whom it belongs [ie. "Shiloh"] shall come
and the obedience of the nations shall be his.

His Japanese name "Motoi" (基) is the kanji character meaning "foundation." It is also one of the two characters used to read "Christ" (基督). In naming him Motoi we had in mind the hymn "The Church's One Foundation." In English he goes by Judah (or Jude), and in Japanese he goes by his middle name Motoi.  It is our prayer that he, along with his siblings, will build his life on Jesus Christ, the Church's one foundation.