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Early in their relationship, Moses asked
God to reveal His name. God readily complied with Moses' request by
giving Him not one but TWO names of God... |
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Then
Moses said to God, "Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and
say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say
to me, 'What is His
name?' what shall I say to them?"
Ex 3.13 |
- Name
#1
- The first name that God told Moses about was
Hayah.
- Hayah
is a Hebrew word meaning I AM.
- Part One of this
analysis discusses
Hayah.
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God said
to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. Thus you shall say to the children of Israel,
'I AM (hayah)
has sent me to you.'"
Ex 3.14 |
- Name #2
- The second name that God told Moses about was
YHWH.
- YHWH
is a Hebrew word for which we have only the four consonants. We do
NOT have the vowels.
- Ergo, we aren't quite sure what
YHWH means, or how to pronounce it.
- Part Two of this
analysis discusses
YHWH.
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Moreover
God said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: 'The
LORD (YHWH)
God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob, has sent me to you.
This is My name forever,
and this is My memorial to all generations.'"
Ex
3.15 |
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Part One:
God's name:
Hayah
- I AM
Jesus often referred to Himself by
God's name, "I AM"
(Hayah). |
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Jesus
said...
- I AM
the bread of life
John 6.35a
- I AM
the light of the world.
John 8.12a
- I AM
the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may
die, yet he shall live.
John 11.25a
(See also John 8.57-58,
9.5, 10.7, 10.9, 10.11, 10.14, 14.6, 15.1, 15.5) |
NOTE:
The New Testament of your English-language Bible is a translation of
Bible manuscripts written in Koine Greek.
- Where those Greek manuscripts
record words spoken by Jesus, they are themselves a translation of
His actual words.
- It is our OPINION that Jesus
primarily spoke Aramaic, a Semitic language closely related to
Hebrew.
- As the basis for the preceding
opinion, we note that the Lord's actual words (in Aramaic) were
recorded in some cases, as shown by the four examples alongside.
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Jesus
took the child by the hand, and said to her, "Talitha,
cumi," which is translated, "Little
girl, I say to you, arise."
Mk 5.41
At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eloi,
Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is
translated, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
Mk 15.34
When Jesus looked at him, He said, "You are Simon the son of Jonah. You
shall be called
Cephas" (which is translated, A
Stone). John 1.42
(Jesus said...)
No one can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love
the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You
cannot serve God and
mammon.
Mt 6.24 |
- Accordingly, it is our studied
OPINION that, when Jesus referred to Himself as "I AM," He said
Hayah
-- the name of God.
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Jesus
said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was,
I AM."
John 8.58 |
- The Jews were well aware that
Jesus was calling Himself
Hayah -- God's name. This
fact is clearly demonstrated by their violent reaction to His words.
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Then
they took up stones to throw at Him
John 8.59a |
Of
course, Jesus was perfectly within His rights to call Himself
"I AM"
(Hayah).
He was, IS, and always shall be God. |
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(We
are...) looking for the blessed
hope and glorious appearing of
our great God and Savior
Jesus Christ
Titus 2.13
Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:
God was manifested in the
flesh
1 Tim 3.16a |
Shortly before His
crucifixion, Jesus referred to Himself as "I AM"
(Hayah)
one final time...
- The event took place one evening
in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Judas brought an armed troop to
arrest Jesus on trumped-up charges.
- The leaders of the troop asked
Christ if He was Jesus of Nazareth.
- Christ simply replied,
"I AM!"
- Hayah
!!!!
The name of God Almighty, spoken from God's own lips, caused the
troop to be flung backwards, onto their (uhh) posteriors.
- This tired old world was fortunate
indeed that our Lord ALLOWED Himself to be taken captive and slain,
so that you and I might have eternal life in Him. Halleluyah!
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Then
Judas, having received a band and officers from the chief priests and
Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons.
Then Jesus, knowing all things that were coming upon Him, went out and
said to them, "Whom do you seek?"
They answered Him, "Jesus of Nazareth."
Jesus said to them,
"I AM!" And Judas who betrayed Him
also stood with them.
As soon as Jesus
said to them," I AM," they went backward and fell to the ground.
John 18.3-6 |
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Part Two:
God's name:
YHWH
Now let's move to the subject of God's
other name, YHWH.
We will discuss possible meanings of
YHWH
in a moment. But first we have to explain some rather odd translating
practices to you. |
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The
verse shown alongside gives the first use of God's name,
YHWH,
in the Bible.
- Notice that the King James Version
translates YHWH
as "LORD" -- all in capital letters.
- The practice of representing
YHWH
by "LORD" is done in many translations, including but not limited to
the KJV, NKJV, NIV, and NAS.
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These
are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were
created, in the day that the LORD (YHWH)
God made the earth and the heavens
Gen 2.4, KJV |
Of
course, "Lord" is also a title
of God...
- When God is referred to as "Lord"
(in caps and lower case) it translates the Hebrew word
adonay,
as shown alongside.
- So
LORD
represents God's name,
YHWH
- Whereas
Lord
represents God's title,
adonay.
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And
Abraham replied, "Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord (adonay),
although I am but dust and ashes.
Gen 18.27 |
As you
might expect, there are times when the Bible refers to God by both His
title (adonay)
AND His name (YHWH).
- Not wanting to translate "adonay
YHWH" as "the Lord LORD,"
the Bible's translators did what you see in the verse alongside.
- That is, in cases such as that
shown, the translators translated
YHWH
with the word GOD -- all in capital letters.
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Abram
said, "O Lord (adonay)
GOD (YHWH),
what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is
Eliezer of Damascus?"
Gen 15.2 |
Thus,
the Old Testament of many English-language Bibles has the following
usages...
- God (caps and lower case) almost
always translates
Elohiym,
which means "mighty ones."
- GOD (all in caps) translates
YHWH.
- Lord (caps and lower case)
translates
adonay.
- LORD (all in caps) translates
YHWH.
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Now we
are at last ready to seek out the POSSIBLE meaning and pronunciation of
YHWH...
- The Jewish people often read the
Hebrew Bible aloud.
- When they come to
YHWH
they do not pronounce it, because of the Third Commandment (quoted
alongside).
- Instead of
pronouncing
YHWH, they
say "adonay,"
which is the Hebrew word for "Lord."
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You
shall not take the name of the LORD (YHWH)
your God (Elohiym)
in vain, for the LORD (YHWH)
will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
Ex 20.7 |
- Ergo: When Hebrew scribes copied
the Bible's ancient manuscripts, they inserted the vowels
a-o-a
(from adonay)
above God's name,
YHWH.
- Using our letters (rather than
Hebrew letters) the result would have looked something like this...
YaHoWaH
- And now you know why our old Bible
translations (such as KJV and ASV) use
Jehovah
as a possible representation of God's personal name.
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Nowadays
(in the year 2002, that is)...
- Some Bible scholars
think
that YHWH
is a form of Hayah
(I AM) and should be pronounced
Yahweh.
- The extracted portions of Exodus
3.14-15, shown alongside, support this scholarly OPINION.
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(God
said to Moses...) Thus you
shall say to the children of Israel...
- HAYAH
has sent me to you.
- YHWH
Elohiym is My name forever,
and this is My memorial to all generations.
Extracted from Exod
3.14 & 3.15 |
- Additional support for pronouncing
God's name as Yahweh
is given by Psalm 68.4, quoted alongside.
- Moreover, the oft-heard expression
"Halleluyah" means... Praise Yah!
- In Bible Bell's
OPINION,
Yahweh is
probably a good representation of God's personal name.
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Sing to
God, sing praises to His name; extol Him who rides on the clouds, by His
name YAH (Yahh),
And rejoice before Him.
Psalm 68.4 |
Speaking
of God's name, please be aware that...
- The family and friends of Jesus
probably never called Him
Iesous (His name in Greek)
or Jesus (His name in English).
- Rather, Christ's family and
friends most likely called Him by His Hebrew name,
Yeshua.
- P.S. Christ's Hebrew name is also
spelled and pronounced
Yehoshua.
Yeshua
is what most Hebrew believers use as the Christ's personal name.
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In
either case (Yeshua or Yehoshua) Christ's name means
Yahweh is salvation.
Thus, the name Yeshua
tells you two altogether beautiful facts about Christ...
- He is Yahweh, the
LORD God, AND
- He is Yahweh, YOUR
salvation!!!
Amen and amen. |
