Morning Moments

Today I want to do something a little unusual in response to a recent question about "What do you call your God?"

I found the question provocative and found some interesting information that I wanted to pass on to you.  But first let me say that I get very disturbed at our current Western casualness about those whom we certainly ought to show deep respect.  I admit I am a Southern boy from Georgia, but we were always taught to say sir and m'am to our elders.  That may not have been the case where you grew up, but it certainly should have been in my humble opinion.

Today we hear children refer to their parents by their first name and it is like scrapping one's finger over a chalk board to me.  It shows so little respect.  But  it is indicative of a disrespectful society.  Shame on you as a parent if you are so interested in becoming your child's friend at a young age that you do not demand respect.  If they do not respect you, they will not respect your GOD!

In any event, the basis of the original question was Exodus 6:3 -

Consider:


YHWH Yahweh. The personal name of the living God found 6,823 times in the Old Testament. It is his redemptive, covenant-keeping name, called the Name (Lev. 24:11,16) and "this glorious and awesome name" (Deut. 28:58).

To Moses, God revealed the meaning of his personal name "Yahweh" by connecting it with the Hebrew phrase ehyeh, usually translated "I am," though it is better translated "I will be." In Exodus 3:12 God said, "I will be (ehyeh) with you." Then in verse 14 God went on to say, Ehyeh asher ehyeh, which can be translated "I am who I am," or, "I will be what I will be." However, ehyeh is a Hebrew imperfect which indicates action going on. Thus, it has the meaning: "I will show you who and what I am by who and what I will be to you, for I will be with you."

Comparing Exodus 3:14 and 15 we see that "I am has sent me to you" is parallel to "Yahweh, the God of your fathers... has sent me to you." Yahweh thus appears to be a form of "He is," or "He will be." Some (e.g., Moffatt and the French Louis Segond) translate Yahweh as "The Eternal." He is that and more. He was revealed to Moses as the Covenant-Keeper.

The JEDP theory developed by naturalistic, antisupernatural critics, tried to use the names of Yahweh (J) and Elohim (E) to reflect differing literary sources dated long after the time of Moses. However, this has proved untenable. The name Yahweh is very old. Archaeologists have found evidence of its use in the Middle East at least 200 years before the time of Abraham. But the Bible notes that even though Abraham knew and used the name, he did not know God in his own experience as Yahweh, the Covenant-Keeper (Exo. 6:3). He knew him in his experience as El-Shaddai, "God, Almighty," for he saw his power. But no part of the fulfillment of the covenant came in his lifetime. Not until the time of Moses and Joshua did God begin to fulfill the covenant given to Abraham by bringing Israel out of Egypt and into the promised land (Gen. 15:18-21; Exo. 6:4-8).

Because the ancient Hebrews wrote only consonants, not vowels, the pronunciation of words and names was passed down by the parents to the children. Throughout Old Testament times people used the name freely. It was also abbreviated as Yah in hallelu Yah ("Praise Yah!"), and was used as yahu as an ending of many proper names such as Yesha`yahu (Isaiah, "Yahweh has saved"), and Chizkiyyahu (Hezekiah, "Yahweh has strengthened"). It was also used as yeho to begin many other names such as Yehoshaphat (Jehoshaphat, "Yahweh has judged") and Yehoash (Joash, "Yahweh has come to help). In the generation after Nehemiah, the Jews who lived on the island of Yev (called Elephantine by the Greeks) apparently pronounced it Yahu. However, Clement of Alexandr ia, about 200 A.D., wrote it in Greek as iaoue, and Yahweh is probably as close to its original pronunciation as we can get.

When the rabbis began to add their traditions about 300 B.C., they noted that the Third Commandment forbids misusing the name of Yahweh (Exo. 20:7). Therefore, they decided it was too holy to pronounce, so they quit pronouncing the name. Whenever they came to the name (YHWH, sometimes called the Tetragrammaton) in Scripture, they read Adhonai, "Lord." In time, everyone forgot how to pronounce the name. In the Septuagint (ca. 200 B.C.) the Greek kurios (Lord) is used (in excess of 6,700 times) for Yahweh. The New Testament also translates it curios.

In the sixth to seventh centuries after Christ, Jewish scholars of tradition (Masoretes) added vowel marks to the Hebrew Bibles to help them remember the traditional pronunciation. Wherever they came to YHWH they put vowel marks to remind them to read Adhonai (Lord), unless the verse had Adhonai YHWH. Then they put vowel marks to remind them to read Elohim (God). Later, some European scholars wrote JHVH instead of YHWH. Then (about 1220 A.D.) some of them took the vowels for Lord (modified by Hebrew grammatical rules), and put them with JHVH to come up with Jehovah—which is not a real name, for it has the consonants of a proper name and the vowels of a title. Some modern English versions do use Jehovah (e.g., ASV). Others (e.g., NIV), because the New Testament uses "Lord," read Lord or God (using small capitals) to represent the Hebrew YHWH.

Yahweh is compounded as Yahweh Elohim (Yahweh God) in many passages (Gen. 24:7; Ex. 3:15; Deut. 4:1; Josh 10:42, etc.) and as Adhonai Yahweh (Lord Yahweh) in many others (Gen. 15:2; Deut. 9:6; Ps. 69:6, etc.). More often Elohim is used in passages that speak of God's sovereignty, while Yahweh is used in passages that speak of personal redemption. For example, Elohim gave commands to Noah, but Yahweh shut the door of the ark (Gen. 7:16). In Ps. 19:1-6, the heavens declare the glory of Elohim, but in 19:7-14 Yahweh is "my Rock and my Redeemer."

Other compound names include Yahweh-yir'eh (Yahweh will provide). Abraham gave this name to the place where God provided a ram caught in a thicket as a substitute for the sacrifice of Isaac (Gen. 22:13f). God would see human need and provide for it. Jesus may have had this in mind when He said, "Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad" (John 8:56).
When God in his mercy showed Moses a tree to throw into the bitter waters of Marah, they became sweet. Then God gave Israel a conditional promise of divine health available to those who would believe and obey. He said "I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am Yahweh-roph'eka" (Exo. 15:26). This is a powerful name. It could be translated "Yahweh who keeps healing you." or "Yahweh your physician." Rophe is translated "physician" five times in the KJV (as in Jer. 8:22). The suffix, ka, is the singular form of "you" or "your" and is used in a personal sense. Thus, this name reveals that God is the Great Physician who is yours personally and individually.

At Rephidim on the way to Mount Sinai, Joshua fought the Amalekites in the valley and won the victory while Moses, sitting on the hilltop, held up his hands with the aid of Aaron and Hur. To commemorate the victory, Moses built an altar and called it Yahweh-nissi, "Yahweh is my Banner" (Exo. 17:15). It reminded them that only as they rallied around the Lord as their banner would they continue to win victories. It also let them know that no enemy could bring their banner down as long as Yahweh was their banner.

When Gideon saw the angel of Yahweh, he was afraid. But Yahweh said to him, "Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die." So Gideon built an altar to Yahweh and called it Yahweh-shalom, "Yahweh is peace" (Judg. 6:22ff). Gideon knew the peace of God in his heart.

Ezekiel (48:35) prophesied that the name of the future city would be Yahweh-shammah, "Yahweh is there," an assurance of His divine presence there in a special way.

Yahweh-sabaoth, "Yahweh of hosts" is His divine, heavenly title, first used when Elkanah went to sacrifice at Shiloh (1 Sam. 1:3). David also used it as he went to meet Goliath depending on Yahweh of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel (1 Sam. 17:45). The psalmists and the prophets use it frequently, often implying that the hosts are angels who do God's will (cf. Ps. 89:5-8; 148:2). Romans 9:29 quoting from Isaiah 1:9, translates Yahweh as Lord, but leaves Sabaoth untranslated. James 5:4 does the same. Because the name expresses sovereignty over all powers in the universe, the NIV renders it "the Lord Almighty."Complete Biblical Library Hebrew-English Dictionary - The Complete Biblical Library Hebrew-English Dictionary – Heth-Yodh.

May we REVERE the NAME of the LORD!

BLESSINGS!