I have been thinking about God’s name. What is it and what does it mean? Is it important to know and use His name; and why is His name so prominent in early bible translations and totally absent from modern versions? Are there issues created by refusing to use His name? Does any of this really matter?
His actual name first appears in Genesis 2:4 as a series of Hebrew letters יהוה. The letters are a yod, a Hey, a vav, and another Hey, written in English YHWH. The ancient Hebrew written language did not identify vowel sounds and relied on context to provide pronunciation.
In Exodus 3 God told Moses the meaning of His name, “I am”. His name establishes He is self-existence and independence from creation. God is the ultimate being and is subject to no other force or authority. He is the point from which everything else flows. More than an identification; His name clarifies His character. He is eternal and He is immutable. He does not change and is reliable. He is sovereign and He is set apart from creation (Holy). All this evident from “I am.”
Further, He tells us this is His name forever, His name will not change. It is interesting to note we have developed nearly 1000 alternative was to reference “I Am.” These range from “Abba” to “Zor,” but does this matter? Isn’t calling Him God or Lord enough?
Suppose for a moment you get a future call to visit the President. You walk in to the Oval Office feeling just a little intimidated and awestruck. You mumble a greeting to “Mr. President.” He stops you immediately with an enormous smile and asks you to use his personal name, not his title. Would this make a difference or you? I propose God is telling us to use His personal name for the same reason.
But why is His name not used in the Second Testament? There are several common explanations.
It is claimed YHWH is not used in the bible as the pronunciation of His name is unclear. True enough. But is pronunciation necessary? In truth the pronunciation of all early Hebrew words is based on context. Yet translators have no trouble printing English translations of any other word or name? This argument is weak at best.
A second reason argues translators held a deep and profound respect for Jewish believers. Out of this deep respect they withheld God’s name from scriptures. But Judaism is not monolithic and the practice of avoiding His name is not biblical, it is recent man-made doctrine . The Mishnah confirms there was no ancient prohibition about using the name YHWH properly. Also, this deep respect supposedly comes from Christian translators in the second, third and fourth centuries. Read history.
Finally, there is the question. Does this really matter; what’s the problem?
Substituting “Lord” for “YHWH” creates confusion. In the Hebrew Bible YHWH is used more than 6000 times. In modern translations, every use of God’s name has been replaced by “Lord.“ In the Second Testament “Lord” is universally applied to Yeshua. Both YHWH and Yeshuah spoke of each other separately. Of whom do we speak?
If we examine the name Jesus, we find a translation path as follow:
Hebrew to Aramaic to Greek to Latin to English
Yehoshua, to Yeshua, to Iēsous, to Iesus, to Jesus. These are all valid names for one person, the living Son of YHWH. We can pray to any of these names, we know to whom our prayers are addressed, a living being we can instantly identify and know on a personal level.
It should be the same.
YHWH, to Yod-Hay-Vav-Hey, to Yahweh, to Yehovah, to Jehovah follows the same path. These are all valid names for the personhood of our creator to whom we pray.
There is a time for great reverence and there is a time to say, “Jesus, just hold me for a moment.” There is time of great wonder and awe, and a time to say “Thank You Yehovah for who you are.”
His actual name first appears in Genesis 2:4 as a series of Hebrew letters יהוה. The letters are a yod, a Hey, a vav, and another Hey, written in English YHWH. The ancient Hebrew written language did not identify vowel sounds and relied on context to provide pronunciation.
In Exodus 3 God told Moses the meaning of His name, “I am”. His name establishes He is self-existence and independence from creation. God is the ultimate being and is subject to no other force or authority. He is the point from which everything else flows. More than an identification; His name clarifies His character. He is eternal and He is immutable. He does not change and is reliable. He is sovereign and He is set apart from creation (Holy). All this evident from “I am.”
Further, He tells us this is His name forever, His name will not change. It is interesting to note we have developed nearly 1000 alternative was to reference “I Am.” These range from “Abba” to “Zor,” but does this matter? Isn’t calling Him God or Lord enough?
Suppose for a moment you get a future call to visit the President. You walk in to the Oval Office feeling just a little intimidated and awestruck. You mumble a greeting to “Mr. President.” He stops you immediately with an enormous smile and asks you to use his personal name, not his title. Would this make a difference or you? I propose God is telling us to use His personal name for the same reason.
But why is His name not used in the Second Testament? There are several common explanations.
It is claimed YHWH is not used in the bible as the pronunciation of His name is unclear. True enough. But is pronunciation necessary? In truth the pronunciation of all early Hebrew words is based on context. Yet translators have no trouble printing English translations of any other word or name? This argument is weak at best.
A second reason argues translators held a deep and profound respect for Jewish believers. Out of this deep respect they withheld God’s name from scriptures. But Judaism is not monolithic and the practice of avoiding His name is not biblical, it is recent man-made doctrine . The Mishnah confirms there was no ancient prohibition about using the name YHWH properly. Also, this deep respect supposedly comes from Christian translators in the second, third and fourth centuries. Read history.
Finally, there is the question. Does this really matter; what’s the problem?
Substituting “Lord” for “YHWH” creates confusion. In the Hebrew Bible YHWH is used more than 6000 times. In modern translations, every use of God’s name has been replaced by “Lord.“ In the Second Testament “Lord” is universally applied to Yeshua. Both YHWH and Yeshuah spoke of each other separately. Of whom do we speak?
If we examine the name Jesus, we find a translation path as follow:
Hebrew to Aramaic to Greek to Latin to English
Yehoshua, to Yeshua, to Iēsous, to Iesus, to Jesus. These are all valid names for one person, the living Son of YHWH. We can pray to any of these names, we know to whom our prayers are addressed, a living being we can instantly identify and know on a personal level.
It should be the same.
YHWH, to Yod-Hay-Vav-Hey, to Yahweh, to Yehovah, to Jehovah follows the same path. These are all valid names for the personhood of our creator to whom we pray.
There is a time for great reverence and there is a time to say, “Jesus, just hold me for a moment.” There is time of great wonder and awe, and a time to say “Thank You Yehovah for who you are.”
