THE NAME OF GOD
January 15th,
2010
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Kimberly Ann Lahud
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The name of God—should
it be of any interest to one who eagerly desires to know his God more
intimately? The answer should be yes! This is the purpose of this
study—to learn more about HIM. It is not
to say, “If you do not know the real name of the One who sits
on the throne in heaven, you cannot be saved.” Salvation is a
free gift to all men through the death and resurrection of God’s
Son. (Rom. 5:18, 19) This study is not to say that He is displeased
by someone simply calling Him “God.” Certainly, there are
truths that we must know and obey to follow the true and living God;
but that is not what this study is about. It is, hopefully, a study
to impart some knowledge on behalf of those who desire to become more
intimate with the God of heaven. If I had known you for many years
and called you by name, let’s say “John,” would
this be more personal than calling you “mister?” Could
we, by knowing God’s name, have a sense of more intimacy with
Him than calling Him by the title “God?”
The word “God”
or “Lord” is a title. We know that God is the Creator of
heaven and earth: “In the beginning God created the heavens and
the earth.” (Gen. 1:1) Therefore one of His titles is Creator.
We know that God created everything through His Son: “And to
make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the
beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things
through
Jesus Christ.” (Eph. 3:9.)
God’s Son has clearly
shown us that the God of heaven is His
and our
Father: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see
your good works and glorify your
Father in heaven.”
(Matt. 5:16) So another title of God is Father. To make it clear to
the reader who I am referring to when I say “God”, it is
the Father: “Yet
for us there is one God, the Father,
of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom are all things, and through whom we live.” (1 Cor.
8:6) There are many titles for God; but we are going to learn about
His personal name.
In the preface of the Nelson
Study Bible, there is a subtitle, The
Format. In
this section it says: “The covenant name of God was usually
translated from the Hebrew as “LORD”
or “GOD”
(using capital letters as shown) in
the King James Old Testament.
This tradition is maintained. In the present edition the name is so
capitalized whenever the covenant name is quoted in the New Testament
from a passage in the Old Testament.”
Also in the preface of
the Nelson New King James Bible under the subtitle, The
Text, it
says: “The covenant name of God in the Old Testament,
represented by the Hebrew consonants YHWH,
is translated “LORD”
or “GOD”
(using capital letters as shown), as
it has been throughout the history of the King James Bible.
In this edition the capitalized form is also used whenever the
covenant name is quoted in the New Testament from a passage in the
Old Testament.”
Here we have the publisher
acknowledging that in the King James Bible whenever the capital
letters “LORD”
or “GOD”
are used it is in place of God’s covenant name. This is also
true in all the other translations of the Bible. Also, we are told in
the preface above that “LORD”
or “GOD”
represents the Hebrew consonants
YHWH.
The above evidence reveals that God has a covenant name. What is it,
and why is it not used today?
In the Ten Commandments, the
third Commandment says: “You shall not take the name of the
LORD
your God in vain, for the LORD
will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.” (Ex.
20:7) Notice the capital letters “LORD;”
God’s covenant
name appeared here in the original text. The first five Commandments
have God’s covenant
name in them, written with His own finger. “And when He had
made an end of speaking with him [Moses] on Mount Sinai, He gave
Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with
the finger of God.” (Ex. 31:18) So God—at one point in
our history—gave His name to man. Notice, that it is important
to Him that His name is not used in vain.
The dictionary definition of the word vain
is: “Of
no value or importance; worthless; empty.”
I hope and pray that the heart and actions of the reader will be to
honor Him and revere His name.
In the Strong’s
Exhaustive Concordance Of the Bible
(by James Strong, LL.D., S.T.D.), almost every time the capital
letters “LORD”
or “GOD”
are used, you will find the #3068.
His covenant name is used at least 6,823 times between Genesis and
Malachi. We will look at this #3068
in the Strong’s shortly; but first we need to understand that
the
Hebrew letters in the alphabet are all consonants, there are no
vowels.
In the book,
Hebrew Grammar: A Practical Grammar For Classical Hebrew
by J. Weingreen, M.A., PH.D., 2nd
Edition 1959, on page 6 he says: “The original Hebrew alphabet
consisted of consonants only; vowels were not represented in writing.
Even today, the
Hebrew scrolls of the Law
which are read in the Synagogues
are
unpointed,
i.e. without vowel signs.” Notice he says even today when the
Jews read the Law in the synagogues the scrolls are with consonants
only.
We want to look for God’s
name that He originally gave to man, not man’s version of His
name. With man’s version, we would only have the title “LORD”
or “GOD”
as we have today. In the book, Biblical
Hebrew: An Introductory Grammar by
Page H. Kelley, he says: “The Hebrew alphabet contains no
vowels, but only consonants. This is because ancient Hebrew was written without vowels.
Its correct pronunciation was based upon an oral tradition handed
down from generation to generation. A written vowel system was
devised in the period between A. D. 500 and 1000 for the primary
purpose of preserving the oral tradition.” There are many other
sources to find the same information; but it would take up too much
of this study. So I have only mentioned these two. Ancient Hebrew was
written without vowels which is when His name was given. Notice the
vowel system was devised somewhere between A. D. 500 to 1000. So we
want to study the original Hebrew consonants to find His name.
The Jews have an oral
tradition
of “laws” called the
Talmud. In
the Talmud, it says that you cannot speak the name of God or it is
punishable by death. When the scrolls or scriptures are read in the
synagogues and they come to the name of God, they too will substitute
His name with the word “Adonai,” which means “Lord.”
You can check this out for yourself by going to the website
www.mechon-mamre.org. The man on the recording will read the
scriptures in Hebrew while you follow along with the King James
Version of the Bible, at the same time, on the screen. Every time the
word “LORD”
appears in the text he will say “Adonai.” We cannot look
to the Jews to get the correct name of God because it is against
their tradition to speak it. Some even go as far to say that you
cannot think it. But we can look at the original Hebrew consonants,
which is pretty simple.
Let’s take a look at
Strong’s #3068.
Remember that almost whenever you see the word “LORD”
or “GOD”
in the scriptures the Strong’s number will be #3068.
You will see four character letters. Hebrew is read from right to
left. The first consonant is called a “Yôwd” (yode)
y,
the second is called Hê’ (hay) h,
the third is called Vâv (vawv) w,
the fourth is called Hê’ (hay) h.
Altogether the letters looks like this: hwhy.
Sometimes you will be sent to #3069
when you look up “GOD;”
but if you notice you will still see the same hwhy.
If you go to the beginning of the Hebrew section of the Strong’s
Concordance, it will show you the letters in our language that these
Hebrews consonants represent. The Yôde is Y,
the Hê’ is H,
the Vâv is v or W,
and the Hê’ is H.
So we have YHWH.
If you recall, above, in the preface of the New King James it said,
“That the Hebrew consonants for the
covenant
name of God was represented by YHWH.”
I would also like to bring to your attention that there is no “J”
in the Hebrew letters. Look for yourself at the first page of the
Hebrew section of the Strong’s; it shows you all the consonants
and what each one represents. There is no
“J.”
Now we need to figure out
what these letters actually say. There is a consistency all through
the Strong’s in the Hebrew words until you come to the Father’s
name; then afterwards this consistency picks up again. Shortly, I
will show you what I mean. Remember the Jews do not speak His name,
nor do they want a bunch of Gentiles doing the same. The good news is
that our Father has left clues to His name. Here are a few
scriptures:
Ps. 68:4
“Sing unto God, sing praises to His name: extol Him that rideth
upon the heavens by His name JAH, and rejoice before Him.” The
Strong’s number for JAH is #3050.
In the book of Psalms when
it says, “Praise the LORD,”
which in Hebrew is HalleluYAH, the number is also #3050.
For instance:
Ps. 113:1, 9
“Praise the LORD!”
(#3050)
Let’s look at #3050—we
have a Yôde and Hê’ (hy)
pronounced “YAH.”
There is no “J.” You can look all through the Hebrew
section and a Yôde and Hê’ is always pronounced
“YAH”
until you start to get closer to the Father’s name, #3068.
I will show you what I mean—look at #3051.
It has Yôde and Hê’ and it says “YAH.”
Now look at #3055
to #3068—they
now say Yôde and Hê’ is “Yeh.”
They are going to take us closer to pronouncing God’s name as
“Yehovah.”
I will show you that it is impossible to get “Yehovah”
out of a Yôde, Hê’, Vâv, and I will give you
much information to back this up. Let’s continue with more
words with Yôde and Hê’—for instance look at
#29.
You will see a Yôde and Hê’ and it says “yah.”
#138
Yôde Hê’, “yah;” #190
Yôde Hê’, “yah;” #223
Yôde Hê’, “yah;” #274
Yôde Hê’, “yah;” #281
Yôde Hê’, “yah;” and this goes on and
on until you get closer to the Father’s name. Now all of a
sudden a Yôde Hê’ is “yeh.” Let’s
look at a few after
His name (#3068)
to see if the same applies: #3131
Yôde Hê’ again is “yah;” #3143
Yôde Hê’, “yah;” #3145
“yah;” #3150
“yah;” #3167
“yah;” and the list goes on and on. Look for yourself!
So now we know that the
first two letters—Yôde Hê’ (hy)—of
the Father’s name is YAH.
Okay, the third letter in the Father’s name is Vâv. This
gives you the double “oo” sound like “too.”
If you look at
#3063,
the third letter (from right to left) is a Vâv (w)
for the name Judah. It shows you the double “oo” sound.
Also, #3037
Vâv
is an “oo” sound; #3442
the third letter Vâv is “oo;” #3443
the third letter Vâv is “oo;” #6832
the third letter Vâv is “oo;” #7238
the third letter Vâv is “oo;” #7307
the second letter Vâv is “oo.” You can continue
searching on your own to find that the letter Vâv is an “oo”
sound. So now we have YAH-OO or YAHU.
Now, there is something very interesting about the name YAHU.
My husband happened to open a book on our shelf one night, and found
something fantastic. The book is titled: ARCHÆOLOGY
AND THE BIBLE
by George A. Barton, copyright 1916. On pp. 486-487 he talks about
“numerous papyri found since 1895 at Elephantine, an island at
the First Cataract of the Nile,” that reveals “the
existence of a Jewish community there. The documents are dated from
the year 494 B.C. to the year 400 B.C.” Apparently, it was
thought that there was a garrison placed there by Psammetik II, King
of Egypt, 593-588 B.C. There was a temple on this island that the
Jews had built there. The priests of the god of Khnub made an
agreement with the acting Governor, Waidrang, to destroy the temple
of the Jews. Waidrang sent a letter to his son, Nephayan, who was
commander of the army at Syene. He mustered up Egyptians with other
forces to destroy the temple. After the temple was destroyed, the
Jewish priests sent a letter to the Governor of Judah for permission
to rebuild the temple. The Governor of Judah, Bagohi, agreed and
said: “Build it again.” Now according to the letter that
was translated, they give the name of the God whom they serve. I will
write here exactly what was said in the letter about His name. I am
only bringing to your attention the name used for God at Yeb (which
is what they called the island) because there is too much to the
letter, and it would take a lot of space and time: 1) “The
temple of YAHU,
the God which is in Yeb…” 2) “…We [the
Jews] and our wives and sons were clothed in sackcloth and were
fasting and praying to YAHU,
God of heaven…” 3) “…Concerning the temple
of YAHU
God, to build it in Yeb…” 4) “…Let them
offer upon the altar of YAHU
God…” 5) “…Then merit (righteousness) shall
be thine before YAHU,
God of heaven.” Notice, the Jews in Bethlehem-Judah agreed to
rebuild the temple to YAHU
God of heaven. Remember that the Jews knew the name of God as it was
given to them by Moses (I will show more on this later) and at Mount
Sinai when God spoke to them the Ten Commandments. But this is not
the first time His name was given. His name is first found in Genesis
2:4.
There is another source of
information confirming Yôde Hê’ Vâv as being
pronounced YAHU
and it is older than the account we just read. The book is titled:
The Lachish
Letters,
by Harry Torczyner. These letters were found inscribed on pottery
fragments. Each translated fragment shows Yôde Hê’
Vâv pronounced as YAHU
(pp. 23,
37, 51, 79, 117, 159). (See Joshua 10:31-35.)
I
would like to bring to your attention that there are 65
names in Hebrew that end in the three letters Yôde Hê’
Vâv (why).
Each one of these names is pronounced YAHU.
I am going to give a list that you can look up; but mostly it is to
make a point that these letters form the name YAHU.
Also, each one of these names describe an aspect of YAH’s
character—for instance: #3414
Yirmeyahu
(Jeremiah) means “YAH will rise;” #452
Eliyahu
(Elijah) means “God is YAH;” #2148
Zekaryahu
(Zechariah) means “YAH has remembered;” #8304
Serayahu
(Seraiah) means “YAH has prevailed;” #558
Amatsyahu
(Amaziah) means “Strength of YAH;” #3012
Yigdalyahu
(Igdaliah) means “Magnified of YAH.”
#223
#1587
#2900
#3203
#3470
#4737
#5718
#6846
#6984
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#274
#1806
#2970
#3204
#3562
#4920
#5812
#7425
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#281
#2069
#2977
#3253
#3659
#4983
#5818
#7645
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#452
#2148
#3000
#3269
#3663
#4993
#5838
#7935
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#568
#2518
#3063
#3404
#4322
#5374
#6271
#8018
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#1141
#2608
#3153
#3414
#4441
#5418
#6305
#8098
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#1296
#2811
#3165
#3449
#4590
#5565
#6410
#8114
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#1436
#2882
#3169
#3460
#4641
#5662
#6667
#8203
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I would encourage you to
look up these numbers. They were a real blessing to me. Almost all
the prophets had a name that said YAHU
at the end. It is beautiful to think that their names were a
description of the Father’s name. To touch lightly on the
pronunciation of God’s name as “Yahweh”—you
cannot get this pronunciation when the first three letters are Yôde
Hê’ Vâv (which we have seen is YAHU).
The Jews accept the name “Yahweh;” but remember that they
are not to speak the name of God.
There is only one letter
left: it is Hê’ (h).
Let’s take a look at some words ending in Hê’. Most
of the Hebrew words end in Hê’, so I will only give a
few. #2847
“chittah”:
this word ends in Hê’ and is translated “ah”.
#2854
“chathullah”: ends in Hê’, “ah”.
#2861
“chathunnah”: ends in Hê’, “ah”.
#2878
“tibchah”: ends in Hê’, “ah”. You
can look at every page in the Strong’s and you will see that
Hê’ at the end of a word is “ah”.
So now we have YAHU and AH,
YAHUAH
(sounds like YAHOO-AH). Another name we can look at is “Judah.”
It is spelled Yôde Hê’ Vâv Daleth Hê’
(hdwhy).
Daleth (daw’-leth) is a “D” and “Judah”
is pronounced YAHOO-DAH—the same letters as the Father’s
name (#3068
hwhy)
except for the daleth (d).
So, to find out how to pronounce the Father’s name, simply
remove the daleth (D) and you have YAHOO-AH (YAHUAH
hwhy).
I mentioned earlier that the Father’s name was given to Moses:
Ex. 3:13-15:
“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?’ And God said to Moses,
‘I AM WHO I AM… Thus you shall say to the children of
Israel, “I AM has sent me to you.”’” Now look
at verse 15: “Moreover
God said to Moses, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of
Israel: The
LORD
[#3068]
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 for ever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’”
Notice the word “LORD”
in all capital letters—this is #3068
YAHUAH! So
the Father has told us that His name, YAHUAH,
is a memorial to ALL generations; and that it is His name for ever.
Jer. 23:26, 27:
(vs. 16 tells us this is YAHUAH
speaking) “How long will this be in the heart of the prophets
who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their
own heart, who
try to make My people forget My name
by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, as
their fathers forgot My name for Baal.”
How sad that God’s chosen people (at that time) forgot the
Father’s name because they wanted to worship the false god Baal.
Jer. 16:19-21:
“O LORD [YAHUAH],
my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of affliction, the
Gentiles shall come to you from the ends of the earth and say,
‘Surely our fathers have inherited lies, worthlessness and
unprofitable things.’ Will
a man make gods for himself, which are not gods?
‘Therefore behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will
cause them to know My hand and My might; and
they shall know that My name is the LORD
[#3068
YAHUAH].’”
The Father will cause us to
know that His name is YAHUAH!
HalleluYAH (praise be to YAH)!
Did His Son call Him YAHUAH?
John 5:43:
“I
have come in My Father’s name
and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, him you
will receive.”
John 17:6:
“I
have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me
out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have
kept Your word.”
John 17:11, 12:
“Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world,
and I come to You. Holy
Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me,
that they may be one as we are. While I was with them in the world, I
kept them in Your name…”
Matt. 22:43, 44:
“He said to them, ‘How then does David in the Spirit call
Him “Lord,” saying: “The
LORD
[#3068
YAHUAH]
said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make your
enemies your footstool?”’”
(Jesus
quoted from Psalm 110:1.)
Matt 23:39:
Jesus says, “For I say to you, you shall see Me no more till
you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the
LORD
[#3068
YAHUAH]!’”
(Jesus quoted from Psalm 118:26.) There are many more scriptures in
the New Testament where Jesus quoted His Father’s name from the Old Testament.
Remember that the Father’s
name, YAHUAH,
was written with His finger in the first five Commandments. Isn’t
it beautiful that He would reveal His name to you and me? I would
like to leave you with this last scripture:
Prov. 30:4:
“Who has ascended into heaven or descended? Who has gathered
the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has
established all the ends of the earth? What
is His name, and what is His Son’s name, if you know?”
Now you know the name of God— YAHUAH.
The name of His Son we will learn next…
This topic was studied,
researched, and written, with love. I hope it is a blessing to you.
Sincerely, Kimberly Ann Lahud
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Revelation Messengers
P O Box 3204
Santa Barbara, CA 93130
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